Peter Cottontail

We had a visit from the Easter Bunny last night...which explains the spastic sugar rush that our children are experiencing currently. Breakfast = Peeps...Hmmmm....

Last night we colored our eggs and I've decided that next year we are jumping on the natural dying bandwagon. One, as a way to continue to decrease our footprint and two, because the natural dyes seem to create such beautiful egg designs. But, these aren't too shabby if I say so myself...

Yesterday we went to the thinkGREEN fair at Marvin's Organic Gardens and had a GREAT time. They had a lot of great vendors with "green" information. It is good to see where we stand and understand some of the additional options available to us. We found a group that organized "the nation's first contiguous coast-to-coast roadside litter pick-up" - support these people if you can! You can find their site here: PickUpAmerica. We purchased three reusable sandwich bags from them (for the kids lunches) - the company that makes the bags donates the product to PickUpAmerica and they sell them, then all the money goes directly to the organization. LOVE IT.

News on the farm buying front...I have to warn you...it's not good. We waited six weeks - during that time we paid over $1000 in old bills (mostly medical), continued to pay all of our bills on time, and even paid extra on our one remaining credit card (that has a small balance)...and our score didn't budge! Not at all...Nadda! How freaking heart breaking is that!? It is frustrating that I see others cheating the system and we struggle and work hard to do the right thing and we just aren't able to make the numbers we need. We'll just continue to plug away at this...there's really not much else we could pay...now it is just about waiting to prove, over time, that we are worthy of a home loan. Our lendor did say that she was going to see if she could work some magic...but I'm definitely NOT counting on that. This will all be worth it someday. In the meantime, we will just keep nurturing our trees and bushes (including our new Paw Paw trees!!!)...and dream about the day we get to dig holes and put them in the ground...
Happy Easter...Happy Earth Day...and a very special Happy Birthday to my daughter Kait...no longer a teenager...a beautiful, intelligent, 20 year old.

The gang's all here!

Yesterday, while working from home, I heard a tap-tap-tap at the door. Imagine how excited I was when I opened the door and found a long triangular box leaning against the door frame. I brought it in and slide a knife along the tape. I opened the box and inside were our tiny little scrappy trees! They are around 3-4 ft. tall...no leaves (arbor day ships the dormant). Since we don't have our land yet, these little bad boys will be potted along with the rest and await their new home (just like we are doing!).

In this box, a pecan, Belle of Georgia Peach, Kiefer Pear, 2-Methley Plum, 2-Apricot and since we ordered all those, they gave us a Red Maple and 2-Forsythias for FREE! Today is a tree seedling give away at the Second Street Market ~ Part of our Five Rivers MetroPark system. I think I'll take my lunch hour to head down to see what they have to offer. For now we are fairly set with our trees...perhaps a fig or a couple cherry trees are in our future... Once we get the land and know exactly how much we are dealing with, we can focus on black and red raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes and grape vines. We also need to bulk up our strawberry production!!!

Welcome Spring...I've missed you so...

A while back, we went to an open house for a beautiful home. See how the porch wraps around ever so slightly? LOVE! This house has three bedrooms and a full bath upstairs and a bedroom and a half bath downstairs...not to mention a living room and parlor...and a HUGE dining room...I'm talking big enough to fit everyone for dinner (plus extra friends and family). This place is great!

After being just a few points off last time we had our credit pulled, we've continued to pay everything on time, paid off a few more things (old medical bills), and reduced our overall debt. My promotion went through well and I have a paycheck that reflects the new amount. I have gone through and printed check stubs, bank statements and tax returns. We are ready. I think we are going to try to pull our credit on Monday the 25th (fingers crossed). Other good news...When I checked our bank account this morning, I noticed a charge for the Arbor Day Foundation...which means that the rest of our trees are ready to ship (and may already be on the road here!)!! How exciting! Oh...AND...we got word from Mark's cousin that they have 5 new baby goats (2 female, 3 male) and essentially if/when we are ready, we can have one (or two)!! I'm hoping we will be ready for goats this year...but I don't want to get everything too fast! I want to make sure that we are smart about how we grow our farm. The other day, we went to visit the trees that we have at Grandma's house. It was funny because our son Drake was going around naming the trees that we have...Peach, Pear, Dwarf McIntosh Apple....ERRRR! Dwarf McIntosh?! We don't have one of those! We have a regular McIntosh, but that is at the apartment. So here's the back story, last week, I mentioned to the kids that I saw the Dwarf McIntosh at a local big box store (I was there for work). I mentioned that I would love one of these trees - apparently, Tiff, our oldest daughter, went out and bought one and took it to Grandma's hoping that she'd take me over to Grandma's before I randomly went there myself...OOPS! The surprise was still there and I'm so excited to think about the pies and apple sauce that I will be making for my children (...and, one day, grandchildren) with this tree (along with all the others)...Tiff, if you read this...that tree means more to me than you can imagine...thank you very much. Also, while we were doing a tree visitation, we noticed that not only were the trees growing leaves...but they are actually flowering this year! Actual Flowers...which HOPEFULLY means actual fruit! Never thought I'd be so excited about fruit blossoms. My how life changes.

Peach Tree Blossom...Fresh peaches, sweet and still warm from the sun... Nectarine Tree Blossoms...Smooth skin and juicy...Love. Look at the beautiful Pear Tree Blossom...this tree is a champ! It was first one with the leaf buds, first one with flower buds...and now those flowers are even beginning to open.