I'm impressed with these kids!!  One of our friends alerted us to this article Students Lobby for Hedgehog Ownership. Hedgehogs have been illegal as pets in PA and these students are trying to change the law in their state.  I encourage you to read the article, post a comment, and spread the word to help our friends in PA be able to enjoy hedgehogs as pets!

Here's a copy of my comment:

I have been breeding hedgehogs in Northwest Ohio for 14 years. Over the years I have had countless Pennsylvania residents contact me about owning hedgehogs. All express frustration about the laws concerning hedgehogs in their state but few have made an attempt to change the law that prohibits hedgehog ownership. I applaud the students for their research and their tenacity in trying to change the law. I would like to give kudos to Ms. Bodnar for the encouragement she has given her students. It is also important to acknowledge the administration that allows pets in the classroom and that has supported their students with such a positive learning environment.

If the students are successful in their attempt to change the law I would like to donate a hedgehog, cage and accessories for their classroom. I would also like to personally deliver the hedgehog and provide the students with a care and handling seminar so they can better educate other potential hedgehog owners.

Thank you Pa. House Representatives Jennifer Mann and Edward Staback who proposed House Bill 1398. I encourage Pa residents to support the students who have worked so hard to give all residents within state the opportunity to own such an endearing creature as a pet. For those of you who have never been charmed by a hedgehog - you don't know what your missing!

 April 30 and May 1 I visited www.caroleesherbfarm.com/  Carolee has been a wealth of information as I am planning my newest business venture "Hedgehogs in the Garden" Herb and Vegetable Farm.  I was in total awe of all the herbs and beautiful gardens just beginning to emerge from their winter dormancy.  Carolee and her husband David were super kind and gracious to me and allowed me to stay over at their home.  We talked a lot about hedgehogs too and how the two businesses are intertwined and I was able to admire some of Carolee's hedgehog collectables too!  I'm so thankful for their inspiration and generosity!

 On Saturday, April 30, I went to see the Naked Gardener.  Yep that's her with one of my hedgehog babies!    I borrowed this picture from Shawna's blog http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/2011/05/road-trip-carolees-herb-farm-or-how-i.html   My husband was all for me going to learn about Naked Gardening but was a little disappointed to learn that naked gardening is done with clothes. Shawna's message is "One person can make a difference and I want to empower you to be that person!".  I left her seminar with lots and lots of ideas, encouragement, and excitement.  Stay tuned for more information on how hedgehogs and gardens can make a difference! I  In the meantime check out http://www.shawnacoronado.com/

Life on the farm is never dull.  Sunday we had an AWESOME church service and a great time with the extended family for dinner.  It was a beautiful day so we took the opportunity to transplant about 100 or so tulip plants.  I'm covered in dirt and focused on my work when I looked up and saw AE coming towards me from the barn carrying one of the chickens.  She was proud as could be and I thought it would be a great picture moment so I went to the house for the camera.  In the mean time AE gave the chicken to her big sis and headed to the barn for another.  She got back and wouldn't stand still for a picture but instead headed for the play set.  Needless to say we now know chickens don't mind going down a slide when they feel they're in safe hands....

All but a few tulips are transplanted and with all the rain it looks like they'll do just fine.  I was also able to take some ginger mint, apple mint, peppermint, bee balm, chocolate mint and lemon balm plants to Farmer Joanne.  She's the local greenhouse that is starting some herb seeds for me for the expanded herb garden.  Glad to return the favor to her.

Monday was a fairly rough day as I started CRT therapeutic contact lenses Sunday night and Monday I had a LOT of trouble seeing.  I think it will have long term benefit but in the meantime I'm having a lot of trouble seeing to work and added eye doctor visits this week.  Another reason for delays getting emails answered...

Throw in time working at the school, Tuesday AM Mom's Group, and working on moving the girls room I'm working away at the 70 emails in my "inbox" but not getting nearly enough finished.

Another bit of exciting news:  we're meeting with the builder tonight to get us another step closer to a new building!  The new building will be home to our expanded "Hedgehogs in the Garden" shop and educational classroom, larger hedgehog breeding facility, and Dick's Dwarf's Rabbitry.  Plans include a Square Foot Garden Co-op, Produce Stand, and Pick-Your-Own Herb Garden! More on all the other projects in the works coming soon!  

Off to tackle those emails!

Gail 4/27/11

I was getting ready for church and I heard Logan ask Jeff "Are you the Easter Bunny".  "Nope.  It isn't me" Jeff said.  Logan quickly responded "That's good news for us.  That means we still get candy from you!  After all, we're your kids and your supposed to give us candy at Easter."  I had to fess up and tell them that we had to pay the Easter Bunny to come just like we have to pay Santa and so we already HAD given them their candy.....  4/24/11

It is a little after 6 AM and I've been up and working for awhile but I haven't made a dent on my "Inbox".  I totally missed the Easter Bunny but he left a message for the kids.  There are Easter eggs hidden in the living room and I suspect they have chocolate in them!  There is a note from the Easter Bunny instructing the kids to wait to open their eggs until AFTER they have eaten breakfast and are ready for church.  We were all up late last night after our trip to OSU.  More about that later...  I'm guessing the kids will be motivated to hurry this morning.

 Today is one of my favorite days of the year!  Our church is my favorite places to be and today it is hard to tell what will happen.  Actually,  you never know what might happen at our church.  Here's a link to our church www.lcrfwired.org/  and here's a link to a video that describes what our church is all about   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWuPq1UMq0Q   In the video it talks about the difference between a RELATION ship with our Living God versus a RELIGION.  It also talks about how Jesus isn't our "get out of hell free card"  it is a "live life to the fullest" invitation.  Living life to it's fullest doesn't mean there aren't ups and downs of life. With Christ as the center of your life it  DOES mean that the ups are so good that it is hard not to want to share the thrill with others.  When you are in the lows of life you are never alone, there is always hope and there is peace that God will use our pain for His glory.  If you are not sure what to think about the whole "Jesus thing" it might be worth investing a few minutes to read this book  The Case for Easter: Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection by Lee Strobel.  If you think you might be interested in reading it I will be happy to send you a FREE copy and if you have any type of question about what Christ has done in my life or what He can do in YOUR life please let me know. Call my home 419-485-3734 or send an email because I am more than happy to drop what I'm doing spend some time with you.

Yesterday was a big day for our family too.  There were 99 people from our community who went to Columbus to see the OSU Buckeyes play their spring game.  We left Montpelier at 7:7:45 AM on two school buses and got home about 9:30 PM last night.  It was so fun to see kids and adults spend time together and it was my privilege to be able to coordinate this event through our school.  One of the benefits of being self employed is that I can take the time I need to do things outside of my "work".  I take a lot of pride in my business and I want to serve my customers the best I can but I also think it is important to serve my church, family, and community.  One of the ways I'm active in the community is by being on the local School Board.  Again, it is an honor and a joy to serve in this capacity.  So thank you for your patience when I'm behind on emails, returning phone calls etc.

HOSHI is FOUND!  On Friday I discovered a cage door slightly ajar and discovered that Hoshi, one of our breeding females, was missing.  Hedgehogs can be quite the escape artists and they LOVE the game hide-and-seek.  Many times they win!  I recruited a posse of hunters but still couldn't find her even in our critter room and shop that are fairly hedgie-proof.  I knew that eventually I'd see evidence of which room she'd been (door was open between shop/critter room) and I could narrow down my search.  Sure enough I heard a strange noise behind the couch this AM a few minutes after I came out to work and it was Hoshi enjoying a stroll looking for whatever.  She had access to the cat's food and water so I knew she was fine and knew it was just a matter of time before she'd make a mistake.

Off to get ready for church and family dinner afterward!

Gail 4/24/11

Hello Friends!

This is my first "Farm Happenings" blog attempt so please be patient as I learn how to use this new tool on my website   A lot has been happening on the farm this week but here are just a few of the things that have kept me busy.

*Our new bathroom in our shop is nearly complete after many moths of waiting and almost three weeks of construction.  This may not sound like a big deal to some but if you've driven a distance to visit us you will understand the benefit of this simple accommodation.  Our customers no longer have to travel through the house to use our facilities and our girls have their own "space" to do their hair and get ready for school.  We've waited a long time for this so we're very excited.

*Monday was a crazy busy evening with a bit of extra drama to boot.  AH had softball practice (Jeff helps coach) so Jeff got home from work and whisked her away.  When they got home I immediately left for a School Board meeting.  As soon as I got home Jeff headed out to a meeting for his work.  Jeff got home a little after 8PM as his meeting was over by the time he got there and we sat down to look at our new building plans.  We hadn't had about two minutes of conversation when WD came running out to us screaming and holding his head as blood poured through his fingers.  I'm still not certain what he was hanging where when he slipped and fell on his bed.  I ran and grabbed a towel and with one look Jeff and I knew it was off to the ER.  WD has 11 brand new stitches and I have to find a plastic surgeon...

*Wednesday I came home from running errands with the girls only to find Lady Camael (our Haflinger horse) and her two donkey buddies Brownie and Blazer enjoying some fresh grass - not in their pasture.  It seems Lady Camael is getting better at opening her gate in the barn so she can help herself to hay and grain.  She can also open the slider door to go out of the barn to check out some new scenery.  She knows when she is in trouble and therefore refuses to be "caught" until she has tired from her game.  Butterscotch (her Nigerian dwarf goat friend) seldom stays in his pen and so the two of them took off from the road and made my heart pound.  Luckily traffic was light and the truck that did stop had emergency lights to flip on which encouraged Lady Camael and Butterscotch to head back to the house.  It took awhile but everyone was safely returned to where they belonged.

*Thursday the guineas (gray African birds about the size of chickens) were foraging too close to the road and one got "smoked" according to the contractor working on our bathroom.  Guineas aren't the brightest birds so instead of learning their lesson from their friend and getting off the road they decided to hang out with their buddy who met his demise.  Guinea herding is a lot easier than herding renegade horses and goats.

*Our daughter AE turns five and her present this year is a "new" room.  The three girls are moving upstairs to a newly painted room.  Newly painted in the brightest pink, purple, and teal any girl could desire.  It isn't easy finding bedspreads and accessories to accommodate three girls with three different favorite colors.  Lots of reorganizing to do for this much needed project to be complete.  All five kids currently share a divided room and WD got his monster buck mount back from the taxidermist this week and the only wall big enough for him to hang is on the girls side.  Needless to say everyone is happy about the upcoming move.

*Tomorrow the family is headed down to Columbus with over 115 other OSU fans and two school buses to see the spring expedition game and hopefully meet some Buckeyes.  This trip is part of a program called "Share the Experience" through our schools.  One of my other duties besides wife, mom, and business woman is I am a local School Board member and we created this program for our school and community.  I've had lots of help, but being the main coordinator has been a considerable amount of work and put me a little behind on getting hedgehogs listed and other activities.

*Raya, our web assistant, has been helping us improve our facebook page.  I'd put a link here to find us but not sure how  I've been told fb is a great thing but I hardly ever have time to check it out.   The new fb page is an attempt to use technology to better serve our customers and I'm curious to see how it will work.

*Well, it is 6:43AM and the kids came out to visit me as they "slept in" on their day off school.  Signing out to make breakfast!

I hope you enjoy a glimpse of what life is like on the farm.

Gail 4/22/11