We had a bumper crop of sweet potatoes. It's the first time we've grown them. I don't know how many pounds we harvested, but one of the larger ones weighed in at about 6 pounds. To say the least, we have plenty of them!
So my dilemma now is what to do with them all. Sweet potato fries are a real hit with the grandchildren. I can cook one sweet potato and have a whole pan full of fries. So that takes care of one at a time. There's still plenty more to cook.
I checked on the internet for recipes. There really are lots of ways to cook them. So far I've tried sweet potato muffins, sweet potato pound cake, sweet potato cheese cake. I've already tried a recipe for a sweet potato and black bean burrito and will do that one again. Of course, for Thanksgiving, I'll fix the traditional sweet potato casserole that my mom always cooked. I couldn't get by without doing that.
What I've found is that sweet potatoes are a great versatile vegetable. They're quite healthy. They can be used as a side or a dessert. I think I'll plant them again next year.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Results of the Summer Garden - GREAT!
Well, it's now into September and the gardens are showing signs of the cooler nights (down to upper 50s a couple of days recently) and the lower sun angles. So it's time to give you a report on the summer gardens. Mostly great news!
The asparagus produced nicely after two years of waiting, the corn was great (though organic corn will have some worm issues which we cut around OK), the tomatoes are prolific (still), the butterbeans were a bust (probably due to bad seeds), the swiss chard has continued to produce all summer, the okra is prolific and requires cutting most days even though we only have 4 plants, the squash is still coming on and Susan squashes the squash beetles every day (get that?), the peppers are still going (both the hot ones for Jody and the sweet ones for us), the eggplant is steady (thanks to Hope Hodgkins providing us some of her plants plus the ones we bought from Shoe at the Hillsborough farmers market, and I could goon. as you can see, it has been and still is a great garden season.
The cucumbers were amazing - Susan did not plant any but three volunteered from last year and they were prolific! Susan has put up 14 quarts of sweet pickles and this without planting anything! God is enjoying the garden as much as we do I think.
Then the tomatoes - we started with about 10 plants of different varieties, including heirlooms, sun golds, granddaddy, and cherokees. Then Susan amazingly broke the suckers off these plants after they were up a few feet and stuck the suckers into a raised bed with a little organic fertilizer mixture and lots of watering and guess what - we hads 22 more plants survive which were then transplanted to the lower garden and are vigorously producing. I picked over 50 tomatoes in one day last week (not sun golds either). Susan has developed quite a green thumb as you can tell. Our largest tomatoes weighed in at 1.5 pounds earlier in the summer. The plants are about 6-7 feet tall and would likely be taller except our cages are only 4 feet.
Now the lettuce - i had challenged Susan to get lettuce to grow long enough into the summer to have fresh lettuce with tomato sandwiches and shge did and we have actually had a small amount of lerttuce all summer - now the fall lettuce is growing nicely in three beds so it looks like fresh BLT sandwiches on into October at least. By the way, our fresh BLTs have Susan's homemade soft bread plus bacon from our local co-op Weaver Street Market with Organic Canola Mayo. Nothing tastes any better than this!
The first fall plantings are done - lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, collards, sweet potatoes, cauli flower and brussel sprouts. All look good so far.
Later we will try white potatoes (if we can find seed potatoes) and for sure lots of garlic.
Oh, Susan has put up a lot of pasta sauce and more to come in the coming days.
The goats continue to contribute nice mulch for composting and the chickens are doing their job too. They all work around here and the end result is great tasting food that we do not have to worry about what has been done to it. (A lady at the farmers market said if the corn was pretty (perfect rows) then it muct be treated with pesticides - she only buys buggy/wormy corn for this reason.)
We have also befriended a great local organic farmer who is known as "Shoe" since he does not wear shoes at all, even in the winter. His real name is Rex. He knows an amazing amount about organic farming, works with heritage seeds, and sells wonderful plants from his seeds. We visited his farm two weeks ago and we could have stayed for days listening to him. He taught Susan how to save tomato seeds and gave her some rare tomatoes that he is working with to try to save for next year. We'll keep you posted on this project.
I'm sure there's more but I'll stop for now. Hope you enjoyed reading about Our Life Now.
The asparagus produced nicely after two years of waiting, the corn was great (though organic corn will have some worm issues which we cut around OK), the tomatoes are prolific (still), the butterbeans were a bust (probably due to bad seeds), the swiss chard has continued to produce all summer, the okra is prolific and requires cutting most days even though we only have 4 plants, the squash is still coming on and Susan squashes the squash beetles every day (get that?), the peppers are still going (both the hot ones for Jody and the sweet ones for us), the eggplant is steady (thanks to Hope Hodgkins providing us some of her plants plus the ones we bought from Shoe at the Hillsborough farmers market, and I could goon. as you can see, it has been and still is a great garden season.
The cucumbers were amazing - Susan did not plant any but three volunteered from last year and they were prolific! Susan has put up 14 quarts of sweet pickles and this without planting anything! God is enjoying the garden as much as we do I think.
Then the tomatoes - we started with about 10 plants of different varieties, including heirlooms, sun golds, granddaddy, and cherokees. Then Susan amazingly broke the suckers off these plants after they were up a few feet and stuck the suckers into a raised bed with a little organic fertilizer mixture and lots of watering and guess what - we hads 22 more plants survive which were then transplanted to the lower garden and are vigorously producing. I picked over 50 tomatoes in one day last week (not sun golds either). Susan has developed quite a green thumb as you can tell. Our largest tomatoes weighed in at 1.5 pounds earlier in the summer. The plants are about 6-7 feet tall and would likely be taller except our cages are only 4 feet.
Now the lettuce - i had challenged Susan to get lettuce to grow long enough into the summer to have fresh lettuce with tomato sandwiches and shge did and we have actually had a small amount of lerttuce all summer - now the fall lettuce is growing nicely in three beds so it looks like fresh BLT sandwiches on into October at least. By the way, our fresh BLTs have Susan's homemade soft bread plus bacon from our local co-op Weaver Street Market with Organic Canola Mayo. Nothing tastes any better than this!
The first fall plantings are done - lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, collards, sweet potatoes, cauli flower and brussel sprouts. All look good so far.
Later we will try white potatoes (if we can find seed potatoes) and for sure lots of garlic.
Oh, Susan has put up a lot of pasta sauce and more to come in the coming days.
The goats continue to contribute nice mulch for composting and the chickens are doing their job too. They all work around here and the end result is great tasting food that we do not have to worry about what has been done to it. (A lady at the farmers market said if the corn was pretty (perfect rows) then it muct be treated with pesticides - she only buys buggy/wormy corn for this reason.)
We have also befriended a great local organic farmer who is known as "Shoe" since he does not wear shoes at all, even in the winter. His real name is Rex. He knows an amazing amount about organic farming, works with heritage seeds, and sells wonderful plants from his seeds. We visited his farm two weeks ago and we could have stayed for days listening to him. He taught Susan how to save tomato seeds and gave her some rare tomatoes that he is working with to try to save for next year. We'll keep you posted on this project.
I'm sure there's more but I'll stop for now. Hope you enjoyed reading about Our Life Now.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Planting Season for 2009
It's hard to keep these blogs going ... amazing that we have not given you an update since December, but here it is.
Winter is always harder on the farm because of the freezing ... so the hose does not work and we have to bucket water into the barn for Daisy, Della and the goats (Heidi, Muffin and Chloe). It's not but a few feet of course but it's still cold. The ice has to be cracked out of the water trough and the water buckets. Plus it gets slippery walking to the barn some mornings as it has iced over or there is a heavy frost.
But then it is spring and the gardens have to be prepped. This year we are resurrecting the lower garden from the clutches of the Johnson grass (we hope). This meant tilling it four times, raking out the grass and weeds, and building the raised beds. Susan and I worked very hard on this through last week and i even took a week off from my Alcatel-Lucent job to help get it done. It was literally a pain in the back ... but it looks great right now. Susan has planted 4 rows of corn and butter beans intermixed. There are 18 rows altogether (I think). We were surprised to find the asparagus from two years ago had survived the weed infestation of last year and we had several nice meals of fresh asparagus. we also had a hill of garlic survive from 2 years ago and we will harvest that in later June. The rest of the lower garden, as we call it, will be planted in corn and butter beans and a variety of other things that Susan has bought seeds for. We also rebuilt the drip hose system so that the watering can be done easily in the hotter weather. The challenge is to keep the Johnson grass pulled up. We will use the barn hay left by the goats to mulch the footpaths between the rows. The soil is great in this bottom land and we expect great things out of our work.
The upper garden, or kitchen garden, required composted horse manure to be added to the beds to continue enriching the soil. Susan bought a truck load and had it dumped right outside the garden so it was easy to move it into the garden via wheelbarrow ... but it took a lot of trips! but it's done. This garden has tomatoes of a diversity of types, onions, spinach, bell peppers, hot peppers, peas, Swiss chard, lettuce (3 kinds), carrots, basil, and some cucumbers. Lots more to go as this will be our main eating garden. Susan has pruned the tomato plant suckers, rooted them, and has an entire bed of new plants made from these suckers. It's amazing to watch this process. Needless to say this garden is already a winner. we are eating Swiss chard, lettuce, and basil. Lots of tomatoes are formed so not long before we eat them as well. By the way, we use wire cages made from cattle fence and then tie the plants on the long stakes used to secure and stabilize the cages. Susan is an expert at knowing how to do these things and i just help and watch!
The third garden is the herb garden in front of the guest house. It is in great shape with a variety of raised bed sizes and shapes with walkways between the beds. The beds are planted with a large variety of herbs, some new and some that wintered over. It's very tasty to have fresh herbs that you can use and eat within minutes of them being cut.
The chickens continue to be an interesting story. I think we told you that we hatched 3 chickens last year and two of them were roosters (yuk). Well, we finally had to get rid of the two extra roosters. They were constantly fighting with each other and with their Daddy (Earl) and it had gotten pretty bloody a few times. So I used our fish net to catch the two roosters (Earl Jr and Goldilocks), loaded them into the dog crate in the back of the truck, and took them to Peter Efland at Efland Milling. He said he would give them away. I'll find out their disposition next week when i go pick up the dog crate. It was awful watching them fight so i can understand why cock-fighting is illegal. Also 3 roosters and 6 hens made it really difficult for the poor hens. They were constantly being jumped by one or more of the roosters. the hens took to roosting on top of the chicken coop to escape the roosters. Things are very quiet now in the chicken yard and we continue to get 4-6 eggs daily from the six hens.
Daisy, who is the goat guard dog, got her summer haircut last week (a lion cut). She looks much smaller but is still big! and seems to have more energy without all of her thick winter dog hair.
We still enjoy the birds. A pair of pileated woodpeckers have taken up in the trees next to the house and we see and hear them every day. These are very large (24" +) woodpeckers who are able to make very loud pecking sounds in the dead trees nearby. This sound is soloud and so unique that it gives them away. Lots of blue birds, cardinals, hawks and buzzards all the time. This week I hung a hummingbird feeder on the window of my office and it has seen a steady stream of ruby-throated hummingbirds p male, female and juvenile. they are lined up to drink the sugar water... only about 5 feet from my office chair but because of the reflective window tine, they cannot see me during daylight hours. So this is a great distraction for me.
So basically, there are still some seeds to be planted, some watering to be done until they germinate, and weeds to be pulled. But the foundational work is done and it's the best it's been in our three years here on the farm. We only need to get composted straw on the footpaths between some of the rows to help dampen the weed growth. A good season of harvesting and eating and preserving will follow.
One of the wonderful, unsung aspects of living on a farm is that you can see first hand the miracle of God's creation and his bounty. To see these seeds and plants grow and produce our food is a miracle that could only happen by His grace and provision. Living in the city and buying from the super market (who buys it through a distribution network of big truckers, big growers, etc. ) causes you to not know this aspect of God's love for us. The early morning dew and fog before sunrise, the floating of the hawk or buzzard or eagle overhead in the updrafts, the production of 4-6 eggs per day, the painted beauty of the sunsets, the peraceful herd of feeding deer in the pasdture, and the brilliant stars in a night skywithout man-made lights are all reminders that our God is a great God and that He is a creator with much creativity and He wants us to enjoy His creation with Him, even in it's fallen-ness.
We invite you to visit and enjoy this with us. And we're serious.
Winter is always harder on the farm because of the freezing ... so the hose does not work and we have to bucket water into the barn for Daisy, Della and the goats (Heidi, Muffin and Chloe). It's not but a few feet of course but it's still cold. The ice has to be cracked out of the water trough and the water buckets. Plus it gets slippery walking to the barn some mornings as it has iced over or there is a heavy frost.
But then it is spring and the gardens have to be prepped. This year we are resurrecting the lower garden from the clutches of the Johnson grass (we hope). This meant tilling it four times, raking out the grass and weeds, and building the raised beds. Susan and I worked very hard on this through last week and i even took a week off from my Alcatel-Lucent job to help get it done. It was literally a pain in the back ... but it looks great right now. Susan has planted 4 rows of corn and butter beans intermixed. There are 18 rows altogether (I think). We were surprised to find the asparagus from two years ago had survived the weed infestation of last year and we had several nice meals of fresh asparagus. we also had a hill of garlic survive from 2 years ago and we will harvest that in later June. The rest of the lower garden, as we call it, will be planted in corn and butter beans and a variety of other things that Susan has bought seeds for. We also rebuilt the drip hose system so that the watering can be done easily in the hotter weather. The challenge is to keep the Johnson grass pulled up. We will use the barn hay left by the goats to mulch the footpaths between the rows. The soil is great in this bottom land and we expect great things out of our work.
The upper garden, or kitchen garden, required composted horse manure to be added to the beds to continue enriching the soil. Susan bought a truck load and had it dumped right outside the garden so it was easy to move it into the garden via wheelbarrow ... but it took a lot of trips! but it's done. This garden has tomatoes of a diversity of types, onions, spinach, bell peppers, hot peppers, peas, Swiss chard, lettuce (3 kinds), carrots, basil, and some cucumbers. Lots more to go as this will be our main eating garden. Susan has pruned the tomato plant suckers, rooted them, and has an entire bed of new plants made from these suckers. It's amazing to watch this process. Needless to say this garden is already a winner. we are eating Swiss chard, lettuce, and basil. Lots of tomatoes are formed so not long before we eat them as well. By the way, we use wire cages made from cattle fence and then tie the plants on the long stakes used to secure and stabilize the cages. Susan is an expert at knowing how to do these things and i just help and watch!
The third garden is the herb garden in front of the guest house. It is in great shape with a variety of raised bed sizes and shapes with walkways between the beds. The beds are planted with a large variety of herbs, some new and some that wintered over. It's very tasty to have fresh herbs that you can use and eat within minutes of them being cut.
The chickens continue to be an interesting story. I think we told you that we hatched 3 chickens last year and two of them were roosters (yuk). Well, we finally had to get rid of the two extra roosters. They were constantly fighting with each other and with their Daddy (Earl) and it had gotten pretty bloody a few times. So I used our fish net to catch the two roosters (Earl Jr and Goldilocks), loaded them into the dog crate in the back of the truck, and took them to Peter Efland at Efland Milling. He said he would give them away. I'll find out their disposition next week when i go pick up the dog crate. It was awful watching them fight so i can understand why cock-fighting is illegal. Also 3 roosters and 6 hens made it really difficult for the poor hens. They were constantly being jumped by one or more of the roosters. the hens took to roosting on top of the chicken coop to escape the roosters. Things are very quiet now in the chicken yard and we continue to get 4-6 eggs daily from the six hens.
Daisy, who is the goat guard dog, got her summer haircut last week (a lion cut). She looks much smaller but is still big! and seems to have more energy without all of her thick winter dog hair.
We still enjoy the birds. A pair of pileated woodpeckers have taken up in the trees next to the house and we see and hear them every day. These are very large (24" +) woodpeckers who are able to make very loud pecking sounds in the dead trees nearby. This sound is soloud and so unique that it gives them away. Lots of blue birds, cardinals, hawks and buzzards all the time. This week I hung a hummingbird feeder on the window of my office and it has seen a steady stream of ruby-throated hummingbirds p male, female and juvenile. they are lined up to drink the sugar water... only about 5 feet from my office chair but because of the reflective window tine, they cannot see me during daylight hours. So this is a great distraction for me.
So basically, there are still some seeds to be planted, some watering to be done until they germinate, and weeds to be pulled. But the foundational work is done and it's the best it's been in our three years here on the farm. We only need to get composted straw on the footpaths between some of the rows to help dampen the weed growth. A good season of harvesting and eating and preserving will follow.
One of the wonderful, unsung aspects of living on a farm is that you can see first hand the miracle of God's creation and his bounty. To see these seeds and plants grow and produce our food is a miracle that could only happen by His grace and provision. Living in the city and buying from the super market (who buys it through a distribution network of big truckers, big growers, etc. ) causes you to not know this aspect of God's love for us. The early morning dew and fog before sunrise, the floating of the hawk or buzzard or eagle overhead in the updrafts, the production of 4-6 eggs per day, the painted beauty of the sunsets, the peraceful herd of feeding deer in the pasdture, and the brilliant stars in a night skywithout man-made lights are all reminders that our God is a great God and that He is a creator with much creativity and He wants us to enjoy His creation with Him, even in it's fallen-ness.
We invite you to visit and enjoy this with us. And we're serious.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Della, our Black Lab that guards us
This is all about Della, who is our 2 1/2 year old black lab that is smarter than both of us and most other humans.
Here on the farm, everybody has a job and Della's job, which she does quite effectively, is to protect Susan and me from strange things and strange people. She does this with a menacing bark that is directed at anybody or anything that shows up unexpectedly (Fed-ex, UPS, etc.). Once we show we are friendly with the visitors, Della is their friend too. She is all bark and will let it fly from the porch but, so far, has not tried to bite or attack anyone. Also Della has so many faces to fit her moods and I think we know them all by now. That's the good side of Della.
The bad side is Della likes to chase deer and the deer lead her on long runs in the surrounding area. Once onto the trail of a deer she is relentless but never seems to catch a live deer.
Now the worst side of Della is that while on these deer chasing jaunts, she comes up on dead deer (carcasses) left by hunters after they have cleaned off all the useable meat (at least useable by us human types). Then Della has to bring her find home so we can share in her joy, so to speak. i think she competes with the black and turkey buzzards for these finds.
Well, last night about 3 am, Della, who sleeps in our bedroom on her rug at night) stirred and Susan let her out, presumably to take care of her bladder business. Then she returned about 4 and Susan let her back in. Off to sleep until daybreak. Then when we went out to feed the chickens and goats about 7 am, Susan cried out "Come here!" And there, under the walkway that connects the garage to the house was a full grown deer carcass that Della had drug up in the night. It was huge but obviously a hunter had cleaned it so what Della got was mostly ribs and a few bones, but the skeleton was still fresh and intact. Well, we promptly loaded it in a big black trash bag and put iut in the truck to go to the dump later. Only then did we realize how strong Della can be. It weighed about 15 pounds and the nearest hunting is probably 1000 feet away. She has been recuperating all day with more sleeping than normal. We're not 100% sure it was Della that drug this carcass up to the house, but if it was not, then we've got a bigger problem I suppose (Coyote, Mountain Lion, etc.) but this is not likely or Della would have had a fit last night (remember her guard role?).
Oh, the life of a dog! We love Della as do all of our 8 grand-children but sometimes she can be very frustrating. But most of you would kill for a dog as great as Della.
And to think we got her from the local Animal Protection Society! That's the place to go for good dogs. And that's Della's story for today. I'm sure that all her chapters have not been written.
Here on the farm, everybody has a job and Della's job, which she does quite effectively, is to protect Susan and me from strange things and strange people. She does this with a menacing bark that is directed at anybody or anything that shows up unexpectedly (Fed-ex, UPS, etc.). Once we show we are friendly with the visitors, Della is their friend too. She is all bark and will let it fly from the porch but, so far, has not tried to bite or attack anyone. Also Della has so many faces to fit her moods and I think we know them all by now. That's the good side of Della.
The bad side is Della likes to chase deer and the deer lead her on long runs in the surrounding area. Once onto the trail of a deer she is relentless but never seems to catch a live deer.
Now the worst side of Della is that while on these deer chasing jaunts, she comes up on dead deer (carcasses) left by hunters after they have cleaned off all the useable meat (at least useable by us human types). Then Della has to bring her find home so we can share in her joy, so to speak. i think she competes with the black and turkey buzzards for these finds.
Well, last night about 3 am, Della, who sleeps in our bedroom on her rug at night) stirred and Susan let her out, presumably to take care of her bladder business. Then she returned about 4 and Susan let her back in. Off to sleep until daybreak. Then when we went out to feed the chickens and goats about 7 am, Susan cried out "Come here!" And there, under the walkway that connects the garage to the house was a full grown deer carcass that Della had drug up in the night. It was huge but obviously a hunter had cleaned it so what Della got was mostly ribs and a few bones, but the skeleton was still fresh and intact. Well, we promptly loaded it in a big black trash bag and put iut in the truck to go to the dump later. Only then did we realize how strong Della can be. It weighed about 15 pounds and the nearest hunting is probably 1000 feet away. She has been recuperating all day with more sleeping than normal. We're not 100% sure it was Della that drug this carcass up to the house, but if it was not, then we've got a bigger problem I suppose (Coyote, Mountain Lion, etc.) but this is not likely or Della would have had a fit last night (remember her guard role?).
Oh, the life of a dog! We love Della as do all of our 8 grand-children but sometimes she can be very frustrating. But most of you would kill for a dog as great as Della.
And to think we got her from the local Animal Protection Society! That's the place to go for good dogs. And that's Della's story for today. I'm sure that all her chapters have not been written.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thanksgiving
I almost forgot - yes, Thanksgiving was great. We had the 26 expected and it went well. Two tables outside (it was nearly 70 degrees) and one inside. Very inter-generational and inter-family. Lots of fun. We really are blessed.
Winter Is Coming
Thanksgiving is behind us and the wonderful Christmas season has begun. We have two plans for the winter: Plan A is what we do when it is below 32 degrees and Plan B is what we do when it is above 32 degrees. Keeping the animal water flowing is a challenge. Plan B is haul it in buckets and plan B is use the hose system for the goats and Daisy. So these are big questions in the morning and in the evening: Is it going to freeze tonight? We really like Plan B best - easier, quicker and more pleasant.
Yesterday I saw a young bald eagle fly by as I was sitting in my office. Still hear the pileated woodpecker in the mornings.
Two days ago, one chicken got loose and two goats got loose, unrelated events. Took a while to get everything back under control. Third goat got tangled in the electric fence (juice was not flowing at the time). Today I repaired the fence so that it will be harder to get tangled. Also got the juice flowing.
Chickens not laying eggs yet and we hope it is still due to the molting --- otherwise we'll have a big problem --- not feeding chickens that don't do eggs for long. It's been 6 weeks now.
Bought Christmas tree last Friday, erected it in the stand last night and will finish decorating it this Friday. This is pretty good for us.
Garden is growing winter crops but slow to get to harvest. Amazing how they hunker down in the mornings when it is so cold and then rebound as it warms up. God really knew what he was doing, didn't he? We get mint, cilantro, and some other herbs from the yard as we need them for dinner. Susan still is creative in using what we have for the meals. We eat fresh stuff most of the time.
The field is cut for the winter and on heavy frost mornings it looks like a nice dusting of snow.
Beautiful moon these past few nights with Venus and Jupiter hanging close by.
So a little slow these days on the farm, but that's the way it is ... and should be.
Come see us.
Dwight
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fall Events at our Farm
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.
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.
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