THE CHASE - by emily

It was just an ordinary afternoon on the farm.  Mom, Ben, Jonny, and I (Emily) were all in the garden digging, washing, and crating up carrots to store away for the winter.  I was standing by the sink as mom was washing some carrots and she thought she saw a ladybug on my neck (eeeeek!) and told me to look the other way.  I turned my head, and to my unsuspecting surprise found myself looking straight at a great big grayish/brown rabbit!  He was hopping along the fence, looking for a way to get out.  I started hollering to my accomplices, "EVERYONE!  QUICK!  A RABBIT!  I'M NOOOOOT KIDDING!  RUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!"  I excitedly raced to the end of a row, grabbed up some wooden stakes used for marking rows, and raced towards Peter Rabbit, the boys on my heels.  Peter then realized his most dangerous situation and began frantically attempting to go through the fence.  It didn't work.  The screaming, wooden-stake armed ruffians were dangerously close to him.  We chased him up and down the fence.  At times I was only about a foot away from him but never had time to strike...
finally we got him cornered, and Ben, who was the closest, gathered up all of his almost-12-year-old might and swung with a tremendous whack, hitting squarely on the ground next to the so-far-fortunate Peter.  Oooops!  Realizing the gravity of the situation all the more as the stick whacked beside him, the bunny dogged through us all and raced towards poor unsuspecting mom, who was watching discreetly from a distance, while cheering us on.  It really looked like he was trying to attack her as she jumped back, screaming. He then decided to try out his luck in the asparagus patch and raced into the thick plants.  We were surrounding the patch when I looked and saw he had already gone through it and was bounding across the garden in great leaps.  "RUNNN!  HE'S GOING TOWARDS THE PLAYHOUSE!"  We raced furiously after him.  But before we caught up with the garden robber, he had dodged UNDER the PLAYHOUSE!  By this time, Dad had come hurrying up with a gun, wondering why we were all screaming bloody murder.  He commented later, "I thought it was something at least more dangerous than a rabbit!"  So... back to the action... my bright homeschooled mind immediately came up with a solution.  The boys guarded our prisoner while I raced up to the house, grabbed Lady & Charlie, our trusty cats, by the scruff of the neck, and with one in each hand, raced back to the scene of action.  I set them down by the playhouse, hoping they would catch on.  Charlie, not understanding what this mad ruckus was all about, raced away like he was being chased by a bunch of country ruffians.  Lady, however, was the smarter (or maybe hungrier?) of the pair.  Her tail was switching back and forth and her ears were pricked up as she peered under the playhouse.  Then, she wiggled under and all was silent.  We waited, the air tense.  Then suddenly "SQUEEEAK!"  Then a little later there was some scratching, and again all was quiet. 
It was probably a good 20 minutes before my wonderful cat, Lady, crawled out from under the playhouse.  How did we know she really caught the rabbit?  Well, being the wonderfully smart detective that I am, I picked her up and looked at her paws.  Uh hu.  Yup, just as I thought.  Although I'm sure she washed her hands well after her meal, there was still some fresh blood in between the pads of her paws, and .... some very incriminating evidence... grayish/brown bunny fur!  Yeah!  Good job Lady!  I immediately took that fur and put it in an envelope and wrote the story and date on the envelope.  The reason for that?  Next time one of my unnamed male relatives accuses lady of being a good for nothing, lazy cat, I have my evidence to prove otherwise!  :)  
So in conclusion, it was a wonderful day!  I just LOOOVE living on a farm in the country!  I love the unexpected, exciting, crazy fun things that happen that put a twist into a "boring" (not that digging carrots is really that boring... it's just not  overly exciting) day!  Like bunnies showing up in the garden!  It was definitely a wonderful end to an otherwise ordinary day. 

THE END.

    :)


Oh... and I might want to mention... some of the Great Huntress Lady's kittens will be for sale in about a week!  $20.00 a piece and worth every cent!  =]  Will be great hunters,just like their mother!  Not to mention they are absolutely adorable and the sweetest things ever!!!  :) 

Farmgirl's Journal - July 12th

I sold a bunny today to a friend of mine, Gabrielle.  While she was here we had fun putting chickens to sleep!  To put a chicken asleep you tuck it's head under it's wing and hold it for a while until it starts breathing heavily and it's feet sorta' curl up and it's asleep!  It's really hilarious!  :)  Then we put it on the ground and watch it until it wakes up!  Sometimes you can even lay it down on it's back and it stays sound asleep.  We had great fun with it!  ....even had some contests to see whose chicken would sleep the longest.

Today we started picking raspberries!  Yum!  We will have some for sale this Friday.
We also put up the blueberry netting (a family project).  We are starting to get a few blueberries, so we will probably have lots of those soon!


"Sleeping" Chickens

FarmGIRLS Journal - May 19th ;)

Today the concrete people ;) poured concrete for our new building.



Ben and Jonny watching every move and probably asking 100 questions! :)

Whenever there are guys here working, Ben and Jonny get the day off of school to go watch them, so they have the opportunity to learn something new.

 
There ended up being some extra concrete, so they were able to try their hand at concrete work! :)

Home school at its best! :)

Mom and I went out and ran some errands in the morning and when we got home I began baking up a storm. :)  I made Lemon Curd, Cinnamon Raisin Bagels, Herb Bagels, Scones, and Rhubarb Bars. :)  Later in the afternoon, Ben and Jonny set up the garage for the market.  It will be so nice when we can have it in the building... set up and tear down will be MUCH easier! 

My bunnies are doing really wonderful and getting SO big and SO cute.  My poor family... all I ever talk about is bunnies, just about! :)