Farm Family Fun: Baby A's First Tooth, Tree Clearing, and Rabbit Genetics

 Baby A's first tooth came through this week. He has been our least droolly baby so far. I only thought to check his teeth because he has been a little fussy.  

He also had his first tastes of Kix cereal puffs. Very good for fine motor skills and keeping him occupied. 

We made a new rule last week -- no pets at church.

Baby A loves to sleep with me. And apparently Big Sis A too.  He was crying one night around 10:30pm and I thought Daddy picked him up.  When I went upstairs I found them like this. 

First graham cracker mess. It was love at first taste. 

We are raising two new (to us) breeds of rabbits for the kids' 4H projects. Big sister A is raising Polish (1st litters due Jan 31st!). Brother M is raising the critically endangered Silver rabbits (not to be confused with Silver Fox that we have raised for the last 5 years). The color genetics work differently on the different breeds - for the Silvers, agouti brown color is dominant; but for the Silver Foxes, black is dominant. We did a homeschool lesson on genetics to help me and them understand it better. 

I peeled the skin off a granny smith apple and gave it to Baby A to gnaw on. He loved it. 

It's a good time of year for making and sharing herbal remedies. I made a big batch of Elderberry Syrup to share with our friends and because Miss L had been asking me for more. 

Remember how we were going to clear the berry patch in 3 phases? Well, we changed our mind because one of the phase 3 trees was getting very rotten. We are ALL done cutting trees in this area now. Ready for Hubby's "favorite" task -- chainsawing and clearing. He is going to be VERY careful not to touch poison ivy this year. 

If all goes well, we might be ready to plant the berry patch by this fall!!!

It's a perfect time of year for canning dried beans. I did a double batch (14 qts) the kids' favorite baked beans this week. On to pinto beans next week. Last year, I did 21 quarts of pintos, but we used them up in about 8 months. I will try to do around 35 qts this week.