As we move through Fall, we are more aware than ever of the full impact of the change of seasons.
Some things, like mowing the lawn, cutting the field of hay, and planting/harvesting the kitchen garden take less time.
Others take more time - like water for the animals (due to overnight freezing temperatures, our hose systems do not work in really cold weather), like us getting dressed to go outside(shorts/T-shirt vs. lots of clothes & heavy coats, and it just seems we move a little slower. The days are shorter so we have longer nights after the dusk when all the animals are tucked in for the night, which is nice.
The sunsets are absolutely gorgeous on most days, we enjoy the early-morning pileated woodpecker on the dead tree (wow, is he/she loud!), and the freshly cut field is giving us better views of the deer.
One chicken died - Susan thought it was sick a few weeks ago as the crown was not straight but what do we know, as rookies at this? Bad thing is it was a hen, not one of the 3 roosters. And an older hen at that so this will cut down on the eggs. One of the roosters born this year is really pretty with many colors - he's really a mixed breed but wish all of you could see him. His feathers are many colors, including a shiny green. Right now, the chickens are still molting and not producing eggs. We're faced with the sad possibility of maybe having to buy some from the co-op. But maybe they'll get going again soon.
One goat - Chloe - somehow found herself outside the goat pen fence - and since it is electric (in theory), she was quite distraught until we led her back into her familiar territory. That was a first and we hope a last. I think she was just jumping around and crashed through the fence accidentally.
We enjoyed identifying trees in the fall by their leaf color and found that we have a dwarf sumac, which is brilliant red (like a sugar maple).
Our friend Jerry cut the field yesterday for the winter. Looks really good - from a distance, like it was mowed but really it was bush-hogged.
One of our cats, Jerry, just seems to come and go for long periods. He leaves when we are away for a couple of days and he returns after a week, or sometimes after a month. He looks well fed. His brother Tom stays around. Tom has asthma and knows not to play very far ...
Della is doing fine - she's our black lab. She may be smarter than most people. Loves chasing deer, barking at strange things (which is her paying job - we pay with food and good heath care) that show up (like the UPS man), and snuggling with us. Really, she is pretty sharp. We can almost talk to her in our English. Still have to fiugure out how to keep her close by as she is beginning to wander towards the road and on the neighbors lands as she fruitlessly pursues deer. We tried an invisible, radio fence but it scared her too much so we sent it back. To fence in her area would be about 1000' of fencing - yuk. So still open thing to be solved.
Lots of hawks mixed in with eagles and buzzards these days. They're incredible at how they just seem to float.
The sky is clear most nights so the moon and stars are spectacular. Esp. since we do not have outside lights in this area. Very dark.
Susan is harvesting winter crops - mustard greens, some lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, broccoli rob, some spinach. Still getting swiss chard - great stuff. She also planted a few flats of pansies as a buffer with the kitchen garden fence - looks really good.
Next week is Thanksgiving and we expect about 26 people. Will tell you about that later.
Anyway, that's the way things are in the Fall of 2008 here on the farm.
