my quest for the perfect birch: a tree adventure

we have been working on our landscaping for our front and back yard.  when we moved in, there was just a huge backyard with...a bunch of grass and the front was a square of mulch and weeds-lots of weeds.

we decided to do a lot of the landscaping now, since many of the shrubs, plants and trees are on sale due to the time of the year.  thus, my tree adventure begins. 

my quest for the perfect birch started out by visiting several nurseries, home depot, lowes and meijer.  some of the stores didn't have any because they had sold out early in the season, some were ridiculously overpriced and some looked like they had seen better days.  i was about to give up and just wait until the spring to plant the tree, when my mom came to the rescue.  she came across a tree farm about 25 minutes from my house.  so, we decided to check it out the morning the landscapers were coming. 

so, i was expecting another regular nursery with trees, bushes etc.

when we pulled up, this is the first thing i saw...

then we got out of the car...and this chicken is greeting me right at my feet.

 and what plant nursery isn't complete without a pair of swans sitting in the shade

next to the pigs, miniature horses, and ducks.

the owner just bought this to give rides with one of her 8 horses.  mixed in with the horses was a donkey mixed with a zebra...didn't get a picture because we were in a golf cart going to see the trees in her fields.

{if you can imagine the body of a zebra-but a little bit more stocky and the head of a donkey}

 they sold pumpkins, jam, squash, and fresh eggs- along with the hundreds of trees.

 as you can imagine, this was a great surprise for jaxon. 

'mommy, are we at the zoo?'

 this is what he was looking at - emus

 and there were two of these

this guy is from south america and is like a raccoon

 check out that tail!

so in the end, the trip was a success.  i bought the birch, at a great price, and we had a great time checking out the rest of the farm.  pictures of the finished yard are coming up on friday.