Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Compost Crew

Fall is a composter's favorite season.  The leaves start falling and the neighbors start bagging them up.  This is my first fall with the truck and I've been putting it to good use, trust me. 
 This was part of the haul a few  weeks ago

 Some bags end up under the deck to use as bedding in the chicken coops throughout the winter.

Replace lattice and no one is the wiser regarding the 30 bags of leaves

 Some bags get spread out in the driveway and run through the mulcher

Beautiful shredded leaves

On Tuesday, the kids had the day off of school so I recruited these little helpers.




I decided to put some fencing around my giant compost pile this year since when I don't, the chickens just tear the pile apart in about 1 day.  I still plan to let the chickens in the pile on a weekly basis to stir things up and help break down the contents.  The pile contains not only leaves, but also all the tomato/pepper/sweet potato plants from the garden, litter from the duck & chicken houses, & several spent annuals from neighbor hanging baskets/potted plants.

Our neighbor Layni has learned a lot of composting and today, I dubbed the trio "The Compost Crew".


Today, the girls decided they wanted to help collect the leaves around town, not just unload them.

Four pick up truck loads later, we collect just about 100 bags  
(Can you see how high the compost pile is in the background on the left of the picture?)


The best part of the day, Essie pulled this stick out of the fire and in her best Alicia Keys impression, belted out, "This Stick is on FIRE-R".
She kills me sometimes.


Saturday, November 1, 2014

Family Photo Shoot 2014

It's that time of year again - family photo time.  This year we had our pictures taken along the street in our town that divides Asbury University's campus from Asbury Seminary.  Our pictures were taken on both campuses.  Here are the results:







Essie, age 9

Chloe, age 9

A.J. - age 12







Matt & A.J. pose with Charles Wesley


This picture is taken outside the chapel where Mom & Dad got married!