Animal Behavior

Several animal behavior situations have arisen recently that amaze Susan and me and I wanted to share those with you:

1. Our goats have learned to unlatch the farm gate at the barn and go outside on their own. We find it hard to do at times but we think Chloe as the lead goat is the ring leader. Still trying to figure this out.

2. Our cat Tom was locked in the laundry room (so we could eat dinner in peace) but was able to open the outside door to go out. The door opens to the inside which is all the more remarkable. Now we have to lock all the doors to keep the cat either in or out.

3. A pair of cardinals continues to roost outside my office window and the male is pecking continuously at the window. This is due to the reflective nature of the window and the male is protecting his female against what he thinks is another male in the window. Meanwhile I am trying to work in my office. Last year, I tried everything possible to run them off (including expert advice from a birding friend) but nothing works until it gets dark outside and the reflection is gone.

4. Our baby chickens, that have grown up to be adults, are now transitioned to the adult hen house for their nightly roost. We had left the second hen house in the chicken yard and they were using it but we wanted to put it in the garage as it was not designed to be a long term chicken house. These chickens learn fast where to go at night.

So our animals continue to amaze us with what they do.

Eating Outside & Italian

We are entering the fall season which means for us that we eat outside every meal possible - we have a table on the front porch that overlooks our animals and pasture, a table on the back porch that overlooks the courtyard and the waterfall/pond, a table in the courtyard for bigger groups near the gas grill, and a picnic table over under the poplars and maples near the pasture. So, no shortage of places to eat outside depending on the mood, the weather, and the menu.

Also we both love Italian food and, outside of Italy, my wife Susan is the best cooker of Italian cuisine I know. Seriously, she is so creative and uses fresh ingredients. I can't begin to tell you how good the fresh farfalle with pesto was, or the spaghetti with cream sauce, or tonight's dish I can't even pronounce but it was Italian sausage with fresh tomatoes and peppers and garlic etc.

Anyway, that's the way it is here on the farm as the seasons begin to change. Come visit anytime.

New Animals

One of the neat aspects of our farm life is the diversity of wild life we have in this heavily wooded, low population density area of Orange County NC. Last week, we had occasion to see two new animals for us (which is really unusual).

One was a coyote that walked out of the woods next to our pasture, wandered around for a few minutes, then lay down in the grass, and after about 30 minutes, decided to return to the woods. We were in the house and observed this through binoculars. Oh, the house is probably 1,000 feet from where the coyote was, so no danger to us or any of our domestic animals. Also he was out of sight of our guard dog, Daisy, who would outweigh him about 120 pounds to maybe 50 pounds. So no safety concerns and it was interesting to watch a big cat (or at least a bigger than domestic cat). We had seen one other coyote here and that was one who streaked across the top of the hill from one patch of woods to another, so only a fleeting glimpse - nothing like the one we saw last week.

The other animal was a skunk who simply walked through the front yard at a leisurely pace about 20 feet from the front porch. We were inside and just watched him as he went through, seemingly in no big hurry. Skunks seem to be rare in this area as we have never seen (or smelled) skunk roadkill, which is a sure sign that they are around. A long-time farmer, Rob Hogan, said he did not usually see them in this part of the county, only in the northern part (which would be 10-15 miles north).

All of our domestic animals, including Susan and Dwight, are doing fine and we're looking forward to the fall temperatures and garden prep for the winter. Still getting lots of peppers, tomatoes, and some okra. Susan dug our first sweet potatoes of the season today for dinner tonight.


So there we are on the farm on this Labor Day of 2010.