Tales from Belleview Cottage: Preparing for Spring

Our house feels like a small zoo with animals and kids galore. Just in time for spring we ordered butterfly larvae and a butterfly garden to keep them in. Painted ladies to be exact. They just emerged from their cocoons today and the children are so excited. What a fun learning experience it has been.


Chickens:
We have five chickens now. They won't be ready to lay until this summer. They are so sweet and so fun.

We have a Buff Orpington, a New Hampshire Red, and a Brown Longhorn. We also have some pure breeds which are a blue cochin and a black silkie bantam.

Garden:
Last year's garden was so successful that we decided to expand it and also to give each child a small plot to grow what they want to. We suggested themes and many of them chose color themes. I ordered the seeds from an Heirloom site online called rareseeds.com. Here is what we ended up with. 


My flowers:
Black Prince - Snapdragon

Meredith's Cowboys and Indian plot {7}
Royalty Purple Pod Bush Bean
Giant Indian Flint Corn
Yellow Wonder Wild Strawberry

Makenzie's Assorted Mix plot {10}
Stone Mountain Watermelon
Yok Kao Cucumber
Albino Bullnose Pepper

Cailynn's Snow White plot {16}
Alaska Shasta Daisy - Wildflower
White Emerald Cucumber
Snow White Carrot

Madison's "Scarlett" Red Garden plot {8}
Early Wonder Beet
Red Mini Bell peppers
Chadwick Cherry tomatoes

Bella's purple extravaganza plot {5}
Pandora Striped Rose Eggplant
Cosmic Purple Carrot
Cupani Original Sweet Pea flowers

Benjamin's Pepper Bonanza plot {13}
Golden Cal Wonder peppers
Sweet Yellow Stuffing peppers
Lemon Drop Pepper

Charisa's kitchen garden plot {14}
Tendercrisp Celery
Corne De Belier Snow Peas
Early White Vienna Kohlrabi

Until next time...