A Little Good With the Bad

This morning, all 3 kids went with me to work.  I'm thankful that I am able to work for my parents and have the opportunity to have my kids with me.  I'm also thankful that at 16, 15 and 10, my kids still want to be with me.  We are pretty much on a break for a few weeks from homeschooling...at least at the moment.  We may try to do some more before the actual year ends on June 30, but after having our first year kind of a year of confusion, I really need a bit to regroup and plan for next year.  I'm hoping to do much better at choosing curriculum this time and have gained a bit more knowledge on the whole homeschool process to make things a bit easier.  On with the day...Troy called mid-afternoon to let me know we have chicks hatching.  Our poor silkies have been trying to hatch babies for nearly 3 years.  Currently, 3 hens are on nests.  We candled the eggs a couple of weeks ago and removed all the non-fertile ones.  Troy closed up the barn with netting in hopes of saving these babies.  Our track record this year with poultry hasn't been good.  Predators have pretty much wiped us out of chickens, and today I found a pile of feathers where one of our royal palm hens was nesting.  Turkeys are pretty good size, I'm getting really curious to find what is killing them.  Zack drove the tractor home from work to till us a garden spot, better late than never!  I wanted one done and planted by the first of May, but that just didn't happen.  I have big plans this year for preserving and freezing, I just hope my plans work out. There would be nothing better than to go through this winter with canned garden tomatoes.  I'm hoping for enough veggies to give some relief from our grocery bill.  So far, we couldn't be more blessed...fresh milk from mom and dad's Jersey and Holstein cows, beef also from mom and dad, eggs and chicken from our own back yard, we have apple and peach trees with fruit this year, and if I can stand it, we will be having heritage turkey in our freezer.