No, we do not have enough OWN PROJECTS YET ...

First, let me think of whom I can blame... Our Christian upbringing? Our big hearts? Our unselfish mothers who somehow managed to pass that gene on?

Here are the leftovers from our project list:

• Terrace the backyard with two parallel running walls (my poor Roberto!!!)
• Build Chicken Coop (Roberto is hammering in the garage RIGHT NOW!)
• Build Animal Enclosure
• Transplant heirlooms  Peas, Leek, Cabbage
• Get / Plant Pakistani Mulberry tree
• Seed / Plant: Herbs and insect benefitial flowers: Thyme, Mint, Echinacea, Purple Basil, Camomille, Coriander, Stevia, Rosemary, Dianthus, Zinnia
• Set up Bee Hive with a Carneolean Queen (less aggressive) - they are supposed to arrive in April.
• Build hive
• Schoko pregnant (gestation is 63 days)

And here is what happened: I volunteered to help at Aurelia's Preschool. I volunteered not only MY TIME but also ROBERTO'S TIME (yes, you may say I am a generous person), thinking we would be done in one hour. Just putting some veggies (I donated an assortment of our hundreds of seedlings) in the soil.



My seedling donation

 Needless to say: We spend an ENTIRE day at the school.

As a result, nothing got checked off on OUR LIST. And the bees are coming and the hive is not ready, and the chickens need to go into the run, and I cannot plant anything without the terraced walls, and ....

Against the original plan, we decided to just prepare the raised beds but let the kiddies plant the seedlings. More fun, more educational, BETTER OVERALL!  

Since the school has two flying chickens, I somehow also volunteered to clip their wings, so they won't fly into the raised beds. Great, now I am committing to things that I have never even done before.

Well, I can explain: I need to clip our hens' wings anyways, so I can practise on the school's hens. Problem is, the school hens are not used to being held, let alone having a mani/pedi...  Thank goodness, it only needs to be done once a year and Iam planning on next weekend. So, I got one whole week to learn how to do it.

Anywho, here is the real resume of the day:

• We have met a bunch of wonderful new people whose children Aurelia goes to school with,
• we had fun helping (always makes me feel good to help others and I also enjoy working in a group),
• Aurelia's school is all clean (EVERYTHING!), spruced up and fancied out now (tons of new pretty flowers planted),
• the kids can start planting the seedlings asap because the raised beds are cleaned and prepared,
• all the flowerbeds have wooden borders (Roberto),
• I get to practise wing-clipping,
• and Ms Healthy had Kraft Mac & Cheese for the first time in her life (not as bad as I thought).

That sure makes up for it! Besides my unchecked boxes on our To Do List and some minor back pain, I am super glad we did it!

"Nature never says one thing and wisdom another." Decimus Junius Juvenalis