the untidy farm

The Kraken!

2011-01-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

Interesting

2010-05-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

I attended a permaculture workshop at TS Designs in Burlington yesterday, and the subject of untidiness was raised. I was not aware of it, precisely, when I named this blog, but apparently Bill Mollison, one of the founders of today's permaculture system (much of it is ancient wisdom, really), had problems with tidiness, too. A couple of quotes:

"Untidiness is a natural state, tidiness is maintained disorder"

"Order is found in things working beneficially together. It is not the forced condition of neatness, tidiness, and straightness, all of which are, in design or energy terms, disordered. True order may lie in apparent confusion . .
Thus the seemingly-wild and naturally-functioning garden of a New Guinea villager is beautifully ordered and in harmony, while the clipped lawns and pruned roses of the pseudo-aristocrat are nature in wild disarray.
Neatness, tidiness, uniformity, and straightness signify an energy-maintained disorder in natural systems."

So, perhaps I am on the right track. I so prefer a sprawl of jungle like plants, buzzing with beneficial insects, giving shelter and food to birds and wildlife and me, to a neatly manicured lawn. I am glad to know that I am not the only one who is crazy in this particular way.

Here we are..

2010-05-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

The untidy farmer has moved! I am now a resident of Plowgirl Farm in Chapel Hill, NC. It has taken almost a month of moving, as I have brought 30 chickens, 4 turkeys, 12 geese, 3 dogs and a kitten. Shew! We have joined 3 beautiful horses and 5 amazing goats, the current residents on the farm. We will all soon be joined by 10 hives of bees!

It is quite the glorious zoo.

And then there's Henry.. He was a foster dog, rescued from a terrible animal shelter, that was living here, and is currently undergoing heartworm treatment. Since he and Maybelle have become such good friends, and since he is such a sweet and intelligent fellow, erm, mwell, I guess he will be staying with us. What's one more?

mystery plant

2010-04-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

It sort of looks like an azalea, with a growth habit more like a climbing rose-I have only seen them in yellow. Does anyone know what it is?

sheepish

2010-04-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

Now, this felted messenger bag did not turn out very well, but in the interest of this story, let us pretend it is not a wonky mess, ok? Thank you!

Ernesto

2010-03-31T06:40:00.001-07:00

Success!

2010-03-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Meet Gladys' new son. There was no problem with the birth-in fact, it happened so fast, we missed it! The foal started out a bit weak though, and the vet had to give him a plasma transfusion, hence the bandage, but he is doing very well now.

Foal Watch

2010-02-22T05:27:00.000-08:00

We have been eagerly and anxiously anticipating the arrival of Gladys' foal for over two weeks now. She is absolutely enormous. She has only been with foal once before, the difficulties of which I wrote about last year. It is my failing that she became pregnant again- after the harrowing experience, I confined Jose to a large stall while Gladys recovered, but, erm, I evidently let him out too soon!

So here we are again, and we have been watching her closely. We have consulted with our vet, Dr. Tillotson, and have been watching for the signs of imminent labor. Trouble is, these signs don't seem to be all that reliable-and I have made myself foolish to family and friends, saying "I think it's happening!" "Okay, now, for real!" "Er, not yet, maybe tonight!" Wrong again-

Some of the signs have been:

"Pointy Belly" When the foal moves into position for birthing, it is actually sort of sitting in the jennet's womb, and its little behindermost makes a distinct "point". This indicates birth within 48 hours-that was two and a half weeks ago. She is no longer pointy.

Waxy spots on the teats-according to the vet, these indicate birth within 10 days. That was two weeks ago. They are still there.

Forming a "bag". Her milk started coming in Saturday-this is apparently not a reliable indicator in terms of timing, but she seemed restless last night, too, so I thought for sure....but, nope.

We need to be there when it happens, because there is a narrow window of time, 30 minutes or so, that we have to make sure it is born alive. This means it has been a worrisome couple of weeks of getting up several times every night to go down to the barn and check on her.

We have set her up in a roomy stall, which I am keeping nice and clean, and she is getting plenty of petting and grooming and words of encouragement. She seems well, and is eating like a, well, horse! Jose is not amused by this arrangement.

I do remember from reading "Babycatcher", an excellent collection of birthing stories written by a midwife, that the general rule is "First births are hard, second births are easy..." Does this apply to donkeys, as well? I hope so. Wish us luck.

Snow and Tigers

2010-02-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

More snow-another seven or so inches. Perhaps not so much, but enough to mostly shut down the world around here for another four days. I have enough chores to keep me busy-and to keep my feet sopping wet, as my boots leak, but not enough to make me feel actually productive, mind you. Although, I have been enjoying the time to admire the lovely winter scenery.

With a high of 48 degrees today, and the sun shining, it is all melting away, forming pools and rivulets all over, and lending a background of dripping and gurgling to the hushed landscape. One thing I love about winter is the absence of lawnmowers, weed trimmers, leaf blowers, etc. You can just listen to the birds chirping, and breathe, and be quiet.

Chickens are not amused by snow. Many of them will not set one scaly little foot in it, when it can be avoided, a trait I think might be attributed to their origins-there's not much snow in the jungle. Wiley is especially insulted that she has not been invited to come in and warm up by the fire.

On the other hand, turkeys don't seem to mind it much-

and the geese seem to enjoy it some. Especially now that the melting ice has created more puddles for them to muck around in.

The next new moon will bring us the Chinese year of the Tiger. The golden, or metal tiger, to be precise. The tiger year should bring dramatic and active change for us, so the forecasts read. I say bring it-I am not afraid. The tiger also defends your house from fire, thieves, and ghosts. I expect this little tiger to do his worst.

Small tigers will also do a number on your philodendron.

The Persistence of Chickens

2010-01-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

For the past six months, we have been reducing our flocks, as I have mentioned several times before. We have gone from having 30-ish turkeys and nearly 200 chickens, to 12 and 60 now, respectively. Over the years, we have put quite a bit of work into selecting and breeding these animals, so it has been difficult to examine each group and make the decision of who to keep and who needs to go. I am pleased to say that many of these guys have gone to excellent homes, and with folks I am confident will appreciate them and treat them well.

But, beyond examining their more obvious production qualities, I have to recall their personal stories, how they got here, who they are. Obviously, this can sometimes make it harder to "get rid" of them. I was thinking of the story of the "Potatoes" recently, and their mama-

It was about this time of year, actually Mid-February, three years ago, when the winds blow cold and constantly across the the farm. This hen, one of a group of 100 or so Buffs, decided that she just had to hatch some chicks. She made a nest way up high on the stacks of hay in the livestock barn. We tried to dissuade her, we put her back in with her group every day, and every morning she returned to her nest. So, we let her set, despite the driving winds and the cold rain, and she set stalwart and unmoved by the harshness of the weather.

Hens set for 21 or so days, and as the time for hatching grew near, we checked on her every morning. We brought her little sips of water and nibbles of feed. The location she chose seemed pretty secure for her own safety, but once the chicks hatched, we wondered how she would even get them down from the hay bales, so we set up a brood room for her in the hen house, thinking that once she hatched her brood, we would scoop them all up, and remove them to safer environs. She was one of our very first truly broody birds, and one lesson we have learned since then is that when chicks or poults begin to hatch, they peep, and that is a dinner bell for many different predators.

One morning, Farmer Steve set out to check on all the critters, and a short time later, came running in the house, his shirt full of eggs, and told me that something had killed our hen. As he put the eggs into the dinky styrofoam incubator we had at the time, he said, "three of them had already hatched". As I zoomed out the door, he called after me "they're already dead!" I went on anyway. I observed the kill scene, where mama hen had, most likely, tried to lure the predator away from her nest, or possibly had just panicked and run. I gathered up the the three cold and limp little bodies from the nest.

Well, I just don't give up easily, so cradling their seemingly lifeless bodies in my hands, I booked it back to the house. I ran upstairs to the bathroom, laid them out on the floor, and turned my hair dryer on them. Miracle of miracles, after a minute or so of this, all six little legs started kicking! In a moment that I sincerely hope will be included when they make a movie of my life, I threw open the upstairs window, and yelled: "STEVE!!! GET THE HEAT LAMP!.....THEY'RE ALIVE!!!!

Yes they were, and they did just fine. Of the 24 (!) eggs that hen was setting on, 14 of them hatched and 12 of those lived. So wait, what about the "potato" thing? As they hatched in the little incubator, we removed them to a potato box with a heat lamp over it in the spare room. When they were toughened up enough to be moved to the brood room, already set up for them, we set them out of the box on the floor. In a comical moment, they all contemplated the box in a serious manner, as if thinking, ah, Potatoes-so that's what we are! Maybe you had to be there. Anyway, it stuck.

Of the twelve, 3 were boys and 9 girls. We kept the the best of the boys, Sweetums, who last year went to live on our friend Will's new farm. The other two, we et. I know it seems harsh, doesn't it?

Some of the girls have gone to live on other farms, also, but two of them returned to the house. They were put in with all the other Buffs, but found their way "home" to my yard. I tried to return them to the group more than once, but they would just come stomping back and huffy, shooting me dirty looks. They are as determined as their mama was. So of course, I want to keep these two.

I acknowledge that I am not cut out to be the very best of poultry farmers. I know my work well, and I am capable of being objective and practical when it comes to making selections. Last week, I helped choose 50 more birds to send to slaughter. What I can't do is ignore the inner voice that says, in this case, I know you, little ones. I know how much your mama wanted you and how hard she worked to get you here. I know your story and I care.

Of the 50 we just sent, I knew many of their stories, too. I may very well be the only one who cares, as I am the one who knows them best, but I will remember, and write them down so I don't forget. As, I am sure, you all have your own book of stories that you hold dear.

(My great grandfather, with chicken)

Update from the Doldrums

2010-01-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

I fear this post will come off a bit whiney, and I apologize in advance. I never forget to count all my blessings every day, and with all of the real horror that exists in the world at the moment, I know I have no reason to complain. My heart aches for all of those in Haiti who are suffering at this time, I can't even comprehend what it must be like to be a part of such devastation. My own heartbreak seems inconsequential by comparison-but, it's mine.

I haven't updated in a while, because my story remains the same. I must find gainful employment in order to move on with my life, and though I spend tedious hours every day searching job boards, identifying potential opportunities, emailing, calling, etc., I have been spinning my wheels for going on six months now. I know the poor economy has much to do with it, and it doesn't help a bit that I am so far out in the country, it is at least a 45 minute drive to anywhere the jobs are-but I am immensely frustrated. I have a fairly diverse work background, solid references, experience and skills, and it really seems that there is nothing out there for me! So I am feeling kind of purposeless.

The farmer in me is frustrated, too. Normally, this time of year, I would be getting ready for the season to come. Working on seed orders, planning crops, scheduling transplant starting in the greenhouse, and I would be planting like crazy in the hoophouse.

Sadly, we lost the hoophouse in the last snow. We only got around seven inches, but it all came down very quickly. We had cleaned the snow off of the top twice in the space of about an hour, but when we went to check it the third time:

Squasho. Total loss, and the wretches at Farm Bureau refused to pay us a cent for it. Funny, I thought that was the kind of thing insurance was for. Silly me.

The monotony of my days has been broken up a bit recently, though. One morning as I set out to do the the chores, I found this napping in a chicken tractor.

Thinking he must surely be feral, I (somewhat stupidly, in retrospect) sneaked up and grabbed him, secured him in a havahart trap, and said I would take him to the local animal shelter. Very soon, though, it became apparent that he wasn't wild at all, only scared from his rude awakening. I moved him inside, and set him up in Maybelle's dog crate in the spare room. Within a day or so, he overcame his shyness and turned out to be, in fact, a snuggly, precious lil' dumpling. He is also the picture of health, good with the dogs, and handsome, to boot.

So, no animal shelter for this guy, he is really special. I would like to find him an excellent home. So far all my queries to friends have turned up no interest, so here's another go. I fear if he doesn't go somewhere soon, I won't be able to part with him. I need another critter to feed like I need a hole in my head-BUT, he's awesome. Perhaps my new farm-to-be will require the services of a mouser.

Most all extraneous chickens have left the farm to one end or another, a sad thing for me, but I still have a very small number of Buff Orpingtons that would make someone a nice little backyard flock. They are mostly descendents and relatives of Tiger, my pride and joy, who was taken from us by a stray dog last year.

I hope to eventually find a way to use all of the things I have learned to help others, and will continue to strive to do so. The stupid bills must be paid, first. There must be something a-waitin' for me just around the corner. Hope is what's left in the jar.

First Snow

2009-12-20T06:05:00.001-08:00

Sixteen paws and what do you get?

2009-12-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

Another day older and deeper in debt? check. Unconditional love and immense gratitude? Most likely. Also-fleas.

We rescued this little girl, who had apparently been abandoned at a country crossroads, about two weeks ago.

It took a week, and a great deal of convincing to get her to trust us. She was so skinny and nervous, and would bark and run back into the woods. Then, one night she caved, showed us her belly, and let us bring her home. Very insecure at first, she would hide behind Steve's legs, and snarl and lash out at the other dogs. Then, the fabulous Miss Maybelle won her over with a peace offering of frog toy. Now, they are BFF.

Interestingly, she didn't have a problem with the other dogs after that either. Maybelle wins the peace prize!

Unfortunately, the little bitch came with a flea infestation. She was thoroughly bathed with Dr. Bronner's peppermint castile soap twice, and that didn't have much effect. I sprayed the dogs and all bedding with my essential oil formula, and that didn't do much either. I found a couple of fleas on the 13 year old Otis. Then, I panicked. I really hate fleas.

So, this has been one of those times in my life when the universe has said to me "think more, react less", or even "shut up and listen", and here's why.

I gave up using permethrin based topical products for my dogs over seven years ago, because I began to question their saftey, given that that there have been no studies as to their long term health side effects. These products are stored in the oil glands under your pet's skin, and are then distributed continuously to the skin and hair of your pet through the hair follicles for 30 days. Pretty weird, at least. Then there is the chance of side effects ranging from skin redness and irritation to drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy or seizures. My concern here is that these are symptoms of what? Liver or kidney toxicity? It is not real clear. Yikes.

However, I ran down to the feed store and picked some up, and proceeded to treat all four dogs. Just this once, I said, to get rid of these vermin. The problem was, it didn't work at all. No effect.

Which forced me to recall that the last time I used something permethrin based it didn't work so great either.

The donkeys are plagued by flies every summer. They will have nothing to do with a spray bottle-one little "sshhh", and they are OUTTA there, man! Unfortunately, a bucket and sponge produces the same sort of reaction. So, some years ago, I tried using a permethrin based, spot on treatment, called Equispot, that works the same way as the ones for dogs and cats. It was a beautiful thing, for a while. It worked like a charm, I only had to treat them twice a summer, they were comfortable, and everything was fine. Then, after their first treatment this past summer, I realized, the flies were still chewing up their legs and ears, and they were mad as heck. So, what did I do? The shame and desperation of it-I purchased a roll on product that had many of the same ingredients to "back it up".

It worked. However, permethrin is extremely toxic to amphibians, and though I tried to apply it well away from their muzzles, it got in their water trough and killed their mosquito-eating goldfish. I felt horrible. I felt like a murderer. I loved those fish.

So it would seem that these flies and fleas have developed a resistance to permethrins. Upon further research, I have found studies that prove it can cause resistance in ticks and mites after 12 or so applications. Resistance to permethrin is coded in the genes and then passed on to the offspring-which totally sounds like something I don't wish to be a part of.

My sister sent me a link to this site, where I found several testimonies of people who had treated their animals with these topical products, found that they didn't work, and then found success with treating their pets with apple cider vinegar. How simple is that?

So-all four pups got a vinegar dip last night. Otis won the Good Sport prize, I think a good hot bath is just what his 13 year old bones needed.

The result? Haven't found any more fleas so far. The dogs are unusually clean, smell good, and their fur is soft and shiny. I really hope that this is all it takes. Dadgum, it seems I have to be taught over and over that some of the best solutions are those that are really the most simple, and the most natural. Less is more. Don't freak out. Etc.

Now, I have all winter to consider what I will do about donkey flies next year. I don't think they will fit in the tub.

Ruffled Feathers

2009-11-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

I am climbing back up on my soapbox, today. Why am I all riled up this time? It is my frustration at the issue of wintertime egg scarcity. Every year, without fail, we have customers who become downright irate, we even lose business, because we do not have an abundance of eggs. So, let us consider how chickens work.

Keep in mind, first of all, that a chicken lays an unnaturally large number of eggs. The purpose of laying eggs, for a bird, is to reproduce. So, most birds will lay a clutch or two a year, hatch them, and go on with their lives. Chickens have been selectively bred over centuries to lay eggs just for us to eat. Even in the last century, the average number of eggs per year, per chicken, has gone from 83 eggs to 300 or more, thanks to our clever genetic manipulation.

The strain this puts on a body is significant. As I have harped on before, an egg contains everything necessary to make a baby chicken, and provide it with enough food and water for three days after it hatches. So a chicken is, essentially, always pregnant.

What stimulates a chicken to lay is light. To keep a chicken constantly laying eggs, she must have sixteen hours of light every day. Now, when the days are so short, it is a signal to her body to cease production. This is naturally when they begin to molt.

Both eggs and feathers are protein. Laying eggs consumes all of a hen's resources, and there are none left over for making feathers. Feathers that are old and worn out, damaged or lost, cannot regrow until laying has ceased. So, the timing is just right, as the days grow shorter and the weather gets colder, to grow a fluffy new set of pajamas to keep warm for the winter. Shown here in progress by the fabulous Clovinda.

Winter, to my mind, is a time for things to rest, and I believe the chickens earn their right as much as anything else.

But! Aren't the holidays a big time for baking? Don't you need eggs for all the bread and cookies and pie? What are we to do?

In the old days, folks used several methods to preserve their surplus eggs for the winter, including coating them with a layer of fat. Mother Earth News did an interesting experiment using some of them-read about it here.

I notice that their best method is also my favorite-don't wash em, don't refrigerate em! Shocking, I know. I only keep the very clean ones, and they sit there on my kitchen counter, happily not spoiling forever until I am ready to use them. Eggs are coated with a cuticle, or "bloom" when laid, which prevents bacteria from penetrating the shell. This is very helpful if you are a growing chick inside!

Note: the eggs we sell are promptly washed and refrigerated, 'cause thems the rules.

Secondly, if you raise chickens, and allow them to follow their own individual rhythms, you will find that some will molt in the late summer or the spring, which means they won't all quit laying at exactly the same time. So, a few troopers will keep on laying through the winter months. If you have a hen that lays well late in the year, take note, and breed her, for her daughters are likely to share the same trait.

I don't believe little Red, here, has molted yet in her two years, and still lays an egg almost every day. I expect when she does, she will grow her little scalp feathers back out-meantime she looks kind of pirate-y.

What if you don't have chickens? Heck, I am not saying do without, but be aware that the eggs you will find in your grocery store may have been produced in less than desirable ways. In a commercial system, egg production is kept optimal by the use of 16-18 hours a day of artificial lighting. If the hens are not intended to be slaughtered at eighteen months, after their first year of lay, molting is forced by two weeks of starvation. This means more efficiency, as all are on the same schedule.

Eggs will also keep at 33 degrees for several months, so it is possible, if you can find organic, high welfare products, that there is nothing wrong with these store eggs except that they are old. My feeling is that nutritional value is lost in this method, but that is just me, and not based on any scientific evidence, at least none I have found so far.

It is not always convenient or easy to be a good locavore. I think that it is important, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or an omnivore with a dilemma, that you respect your food. Whatever you eat, it was once a living thing. To know what it was, what it looked like, where it came from, and how it was treated-that is how you honor the thing that is giving you life.

We had the pleasure of touring our state university's poultry research facility not long ago. The scientists who led the tour were wonderful, welcoming, open minded, and sympathetic to us small farmers and homesteaders. They do most of their research for big industry-but then, that's who pays for them to do it. What are ya gonna do? It is not to say that their work isn't important (but it can be pretty scary). We are ever seeking more efficient ways to exploit our food animals.

One of the tour leaders said to us-what y'all do, you will never "feed the masses."

That may be very true, but the way the masses are being fed is not sustainable-that is also true. Right now, it is a matter of consumer education and choice. If peak oil is here, there will come a time when it is no longer a choice. We ought to change our ways now.

Whew! That is my two cents and then some, so I will step down from here now. Love your food, love your farmers. Thank a chicken.

Sunday Morning Visitor

2009-11-22T06:57:00.000-08:00

Good luck? Or, I wonder if she would like to come in and warm up by the fire..

Life of Maybelle

2009-11-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

I love the destructo-pup. She's very polite to chickens.

Terrorizes poor old Starry relentlessly, though I believe Starling enjoys it.

Has a Linus and Lucy relationship with Otis.

Maybelle: You're my sweet baboo.

Otis: I am NOT your sweet baboo!!!

He manages to tolerate her somewhat when she's asleep.

When it comes to her frogs, well, she has little sympathy for them.

Then she says, "Hey! Give that here! It's still good!"

Sigh, and on to the next one. At least it's not the furniture. Sorry, froggy.

November

2009-11-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

So, I have been slack lately about updating the blog, but there just hasn't been much happening. I am still spinning and knitting things, and trying to dream up amazing ideas for knitted Christmas gifts. I haven't come up with anything brilliant yet, and would welcome suggestions!

Any knitters out there should check this out. You can upload any image you like and this program will convert it into a knitting pattern for you. I used the swallow on a felted bag for my sister.

I have been working on my propagation skills, taking cuttings of figs, blueberries, and some perennials before it gets too cold. I am still figuring out who likes soil and who prefers sand, who likes to be covered, and who likes to "breathe", so I have had to do several sets. I have decided that hydrangeas, in particular, seem to do best from cuttings taken in the Spring.

Steve found and identified some wonderful wild mushrooms that we have been nomming on-they are so delicious. These are "pear shaped puffballs". This one is especially charming.

Our donkey Gladys's expanding girth seems to indicate that she may be in foal again (though it's hard to tell for sure, she is naturally wide), so a visit from the vet will be in order soon. If she is, we can expect her little one, with any luck, sometime in March.

The old swine flu has been getting around over here, and we are both feeling a bit under the weather, so I think I will go make a nice pot of spicy ginger tea.

Things that give me hope

2009-10-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

Chocolate chess pie, for one. Seen here with "mandatory shot of espresso".

Ah, it is a frustrating time for me right now, as I am not so much farming at the moment. The air is crisp and the temparature is pleasant, and I feel like I ought to be planting and planning and and celebrating the harvest, and I am doing none of those things. I've got farming in my blood, for sure, I daydream of cabbages and collards, leeks and strawberries.

However, I find comfort in my part time job of two years as a server in the grooviest little restaurant I know. Panciuto, located in historic downtown Hillsborough, is doing an exemplary job of promoting local farm products by making them into unforgettable yums.

It's a cute little place. Cozy and inviting.

The chef shops at the farmers' markets a couple times a week, and works his magic on whatever fresh items are available.

The best part for me, other than the satisfaction of seeing our own farm products being turned into something amazing, is the real pleasure the customers take in consuming them. It's hard not to have pride, when folks are always telling you things like "This is the best thing I have ever eaten my life"! They really mean it. Some of them even tear up a little. I have taken empty plates back to kitchen sometimes that look suspiciously like they might have been licked.

One of our eggs, looking all elegant.

So, it makes me hopeful that in showcasing the fruits of our labors this way, folks will go home equating local produce with good eating! It is not only healthy to eat fresh, local, seasonal veggies, it is also awesomely delicious. Spread the word.

The first days of Fall

2009-09-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

My favorite tree, I think, with the groovy name Diospyros virginiana, American persimmon. They aren't ripe yet, but I am keeping my eye on 'em.

September

2009-09-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

"Sorrow and scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather.
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!"- Thomas Parsons, 1880, A Song For September

Autumn is beginning to creep on in. The nights are so cool now, the leaves just beginning to turn a bit, the seeds ripening.

The overall feeling I have is of being in limbo. There are no answers for how to move forward from what I have been working for these past years. There is not much to plant or harvest, no hints as to what my next opportunity will actually look like. The weather has echoed my mood. Neither hot nor cold, not much sun, and, though we are getting a good shower today, not much rain, either. Most days are a damp and fuzzy gray stillness.

Still except for the sound of tractors, harvesting tobacco, the sounds of construction at the neighbor's house, crickets chirping, and bees still busy putting by for the winter.

There are still a few things producing, always a happy sight. The squash blossoms,

surely one of the most radiant flowers on this earth! The figs are still ripening, along with some apples. The turkeys are happily feasting on windfall in the orchard.

The three koi in our pond have been, er, fruitful. The little koi are such a delight to see every day, although I am becoming alarmed by the rate at which they are growing!

Anybody need some koi?

We have found good homes for quite a few turkeys and chickens, but it seems that there is no further interest, which leaves us with 80 or so young laying hens that will have to meet some end. It is sad for me to tend to them every day, they are no longer needed, but still here, chasing crickets, doing their thing, totally blameless for their lack of necessity.

So, I keep looking for the next step, and I wait. It will come.

"I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and Autumn garner to the ends of time."- Robert Browning

Watermelon harvest

2009-09-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

= happy chickens.

I have been saving seeds from a particular variety for a few years, now. The most perfect ones have golden yellow flesh with a delicate blush of pink in the center. Each one is like a work of art.

The variety still isn't totally stable, I usually get a few plain yellows, and was surprised to have a couple of plain reds this year. Oh well, I'll just keep trying. With the help of my lovely assistant Wiley, I saved a good quantity of mature seeds from the best melons.

Washed them well, and spread them out on paper to dry.

The poultry feasted on the rest.

Evidence of happy chicken-ness.

You Spin Me Right Round

2009-08-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

As you may know from reading the great wool fiasco, I have a great store of lovely rovings to be spun into yarn. So, I obtained a spinning wheel a few weeks ago, and now I have a new obsession. I hated trying to spin with a drop spindle, but where it was clumsy, tedious, and mind numbingly slow, the little wheel is efficient, easy, and fun! Yeah, it really is fun, but perhaps I am easily entertained. I find myself trying to sneak in a little spinning time whenever I can, taking procrastination to a new level.

The quality of my yarn still leaves something to be desired, but practice, practice! It is gradually improving. Now that I have a pretty good stash going, I thought I would experiment with some overdying.

On the far left here, is the pink that I so strongly objected to initially, since it was supposed to be "scarlet". I confess, it has really grown on me, it has sort of a nice warm, coral tone to it. So, I am letting it be. The other two colors just seem dull and washed out though, blah-boring.

I had heard of dying natural fibers with koolaid, so I did a little research. Everyone seems to like the effect, and it has enough acid that you do not need to add anything else to it to set the color. In fact, the first ingredient is citric acid. So, I tried dying these two skeins with similar colors to see if I could brighten them up a bit.

Here's the procedure, it couldn't be simpler. Presoak the skein in cool water for a couple of minutes:

Meanwhile, hotten up about 3 liters of water in a big pot, and stir in a couple packs of koolaid. The water should be smoking hot, but not boiling, I set the eye on the lowest setting.

Toss your skein in there. I am using Tropical Punch here, good ole red dye # 40!

Then wait for the wool to suck all the color out of the water. Neat, huh?

Next, I just squeezed out the excess water, and hung up the skeins in this elegant fashion-ha. I have given them a bit of weight in the form of a rolling pin wrapped in a towel. This will help gently straighten the yarn as it dries, so it doesn't get all kinked up and weird.

I must say, I really like the end result. The colors are definitely deeper and more intense. Unfortunately, it's a bit hard to see the difference in the photo below, because this wool has such a nice luster to it-it really reflects light. You'll have to take my word for it. I especially like the blue-the Blue Raspberry Lemonade turned it a pretty robin's egg color. Yes, koolaid is the dye for me. It seems to be colorfast-the wet wool left no stain on the white towel. It does make your house smell a little fruity, but I'll take fruity over sheepy.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen..

2009-08-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

Wow- it has been an incredible year for tomatoes! I can't remember another season when they have done so well, it's a real blessing. So, we have been working on getting a goodly amount canned and put up for winter. It's hot and sweaty work, but a nice change of pace, really. It's a chance to put some good tunes on the stereo, roll up your sleeves, and make a godawful mess of the kitchen.

I am especially pleased with the yield on my favorite heirlooms this year, these Golden Sunrays:

Normally, they make great sauce, but this year the best I've been able to do is soup. That works, too. They are the prettiest color, too, they remind me of mangos.

Yes, the sipping of beer is an essential element of the canning procedure. Ta da. On to the next batch-salsa, this time?

Oh! The horrors of vegetation

2009-08-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

The bane of my existence, wiregrass is taking over everything here at the farm. It got a foothold in our yard and in our pastures, and now it threatens to consume all. Why is it so bad? Well, first of all, it can grow anywhere.

In the sandy driveway:

In pure pine shavings:

In the water! Anywhere..

It is extremely competitive with other plants for water and nutrients, and it spreads by both stolons and seed. So in the pastures we are seeing the change from a nice diverse mix of grasses and legumes:

To here, you can see the hazy line of an intruding mat of wiregrass:

To this-wiregrass monoculture:

So, secondly, what can you do to control it? In the pastures, we have tried many things.

1. Harrowing it when it is already stressed from drought

2. Spraying with roundup (I am sorry) when it is already stressed from drought

3. Harrowing it when it is dormant, then overseeding with smothering crops that grow at a time of year it doesn't, hoping they would out compete it

4. Mowing before it can go to seed

Result? It's worse than ever.

Four years ago, I had a vision of a beautiful, no-till, permanent raised bed garden. I mulched like crazy with composted manure, leaves and grass clippings. I amended with wood ash for potassium, calcium, and trace minerals. I mowed the weeds before they could set seed, I spent hours, whole days, pulling weeds. It was once an incredibly productive space. I felt pretty good when we got our soil test results and the "cottage garden" was juuust right!

Then the wiregrass started creeping in from the pasture, first in little clumps, then in rapidly spreading mats.

In my no chemical zealotry, I tried pulling it by hand first. Then I tried pulling it, and smother mulching it with cardboard or paper feed bags and hay or straw. Then, more desperate now, I tried spraying it with roundup. Then, I tried pulling it, spraying it, and mulching it. All to no avail.

Totally desperate now, I got some geese. I hatched these beautiful, amazing creatures about a year and a half ago.

I had read that if you feed them a certain weed as babies, they will seek out that particular weed to eat as adults. I had also read that geese will really grub down in the soil to get to roots they are after (they certainly did a number on my celeriac (: ), so I thought it might just work. I fed them chopped up wiregrass with their baby ration, then they graduated to a fenced area in our wiregrass yard. Now, I prepared the beds in the cottage garden before I sent them out there, I weeded once again, in the hopes that they could control the baby shoots just coming up.

Their first action upon being introduced to the garden was to devour my watermelons, growing on hay bales, in entirety, leaves, vines, and all. After that, sure they ate the wiregrass, but there was no way they could keep it under control. It just grows way too fast, and there is too much of it! Also, it thrives in the blasting heat of summer, when it is too hot much of the day for the little guys to work.

So, despite my best efforts, the cottage garden has become mostly an expanse of wiregrass. With geese in it.

What else can be done? This truly terrifying weed is starting to creep in everywhere on the farm. The only other option it seems, would be to spray absolutely everything with something so toxic it would kill absolutely everything. We would never do that, of course, and I honestly don't think it would work anyway. The only solution seems to be to run away! Run away, before it eats us, too!!!

A Positive Note

2009-07-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Um, I should really be doing chores right now, but if there are two things I really love, they are nature and photography. I just encountered the most perfect luna moth I think I have ever seen, and had to share her-

I took these with my blackberry, so they are not very good quality, oh well. You get the idea.

And here is Mantis, master of disguise!

I love luna moths-a few years ago I came across a pair. They are a little beat up, but very neat, nonetheless.

Difficult Decisions

2009-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lately things here at the farm have taken a serious turn for the worse. I have been debating whether this blog is an appropriate place to discuss them. Right now I have far more questions than I do answers. Certainly, it seems I will not continue to live and farm here. However, it is a blog about the farm, so leaving the personal bits out, I would like to continue to tell the story of the farm.

One of the areas in which there has always been some serious conflict for us is the poultry aspect of the farm, which is a large part of what we do here. We hold ourselves to extremely high standards when it comes to the quality of life of our birds. Knowing that hatcheries have questionable standards regarding selection and care of breeding flocks, and treatment of the extraneous male chicks, we made the decision to keep a "closed flock" and breed our own chickens and turkeys, and hatch our own chicks. This way we are indeed responsible for their whole lives and the lives of their parents.

The tricky issue then, is the final one. When you hatch your own birds, you then have many "extra" little boys, and the ladies that do not have the appropriate points to be healthy and productive, or that do not meet the breed standard. We have always taken them to an independent, USDA inspected processing facility, to be be processed for eating. This is the only time in their lives when they leave our farm and our care. Our options our limited here, but we had put our trust in a certain place in Virginia, one that claims to be very concerned with the humane treatment of animals, seemed like minded in intent, and whose owner is a certified reiki healer, in fact. The last time we took chickens to this facility to be processed, it was last fall, and the condemned happened to be the sweetest, gentlest, most laid back bunch of fellas I have ever raised. It caused a particular sadness for me to help load them into the crates to go, because in their trusting way, they didn't struggle, weren't especially upset, they let me catch them without too much fuss.

We picked them up, brought them home, opened the cooler-and were horrified. Many of the birds were bruised, some severely. One of them had a leg so extremely bruised that I am certain it was broken.

Furthermore, they were badly packaged, and mislabeled "stew hen". They were young cockerels, not old hens. Furious, we both called the place, I obtained the owner's cell phone number and tried to call him, I e-mailed. I wanted to know what happened to them, what was the explanation, why our birds were given back to us in this state? I understand that accidents or mistakes can happen, but if, say, a crate of birds was accidentally dropped, I felt I at least deserved the courtesy of being told. There was never any response. So much for customer service.

So, there is the stress not having an adequate processor for the product. That aside, we are losing money on the birds, no fault of theirs. We hatched a good number of chickens last fall in order to have plenty of eggs to sell at market, but as I have said, for all the reasons I have mentioned before, the eggs aren't selling. Trying other avenues, such as selling hatching eggs, hasn't panned out. Feed costs remain very high, and it is a lot of work to tend a large flock, so the result has been Steve working off the farm to afford the feed for birds that aren't making us any money, and on my end..

While Steve is off working I have been taking care of the birds, and it is an average of three hours a day to take proper care of them. For us both, it has become drudgery. Because it is a large, complex system, we have been unable to leave the farm for a vacation, or any sort of break, because we lack the funds and an appropriate candidate to train to take care of them while we are gone.

Also, I am facing the fact that, though I have tried to make myself accept it, I do not want to raise animals to kill them any longer. It goes against my basic nature, I can't be comfortable with it, it is simply not my calling. Both of us believe strongly in raising our own food, in eating food that is raised right, be it animal or vegetable. We believe in "you are what you eat" at a fundamental and even spiritual level. However, every time I have to sort a flock of chickens and decide who gets to stay and who goes, and when I help catch and load them into the truck the morning they go away, it hurts my heart, and that feeling never goes away. I believe in what we do, but I can't do it. So there is that.

The decision then, has been made that we will disperse most all of the flock. These young hens I mentioned are in the prime of their lives, and we hope to be able to place as many of them as possible in good homes. I have a few small groups of old timers that I feel I must keep, a few favorite youngsters, a few turkeys, and my geese that I feel the need to hold on to. Go ahead and call them pets, if you must, but at least these pets have jobs. They provide poison-free pest control, and produce nutritious eggs, and fertilizer, which is more than I can say about my dogs!

The ones we can't place, Steve will process himself. Neither of us likes it, but there it is. We hear every day about another poultry producer that is going out of business, selling off the flock. It is a serious crisis, trying to remain a viable small poultry farmer in this economy, and I have wished that we could make it work, but it looks like it is our turn to quit.

Next up: why wiregrass is the devil's weed

Busy, busy, busy

2009-07-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

What an amazing time of year, the harvest is rolling in. The heat is getting us down some, but these long days keep us working hard. This is peak harvest time for the only two flowers I seem to be capable of growing in any quantity, gladiolus and sunflowers. I adore the elegance, height, and fortitude of glads. This is the new kid on the block this year, and vying for my favorite; it is an heirloom by the name Violetta.

What's not to love about sunflowers? You can't have too many in my opinion. I planted several varieties when I first came to the farm, five years ago, and now they just volunteer in great numbers, reliably, year after year. That's not to say I don't plant more! As you can see, they really bring in the bees, and a multitude of other insects. I understand they can be an effective trap crop for cucumber beetles, though I haven't seen many of those this year. I can sell them as cut flowers, and when the seeds mature, I can cut those that haven't already been cleaned out by the songbirds and give them to the chickens and turkeys. They are a highly nutritious, high protein and fun to eat snack! I tend to leave the volunteers in row crops that might benefit from their shady shelter from the intense summer sun, like these leeks.

Yes, they are weedy, and would benefit temendously from some rain and some mulch, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

The blueberries are doing well, it hasn't been the best year for them, but not the worst, either. Of the several varieties we have, the very large, plump sweet ones were most affected by the late frost we had, yielding fruit only in the middle of the plant, where presumably the blossoms were most protected by the surrounding branches and leaves. The varieties (unknown) with the smaller, more tart berries are producing like mad. Diversity counts, people, when planting, don't put all your eggs in the one proverbial basket!

Despite my fears, the potato harvest is going well so far. we did have some rotten ones, but the others are perfectly beautiful.

We haven't dug all the varieties we planted yet, but there are plenty of potatoes available for your independence day potato salads!

( Note: all of the above items will be available for purchase at the Hillsborough Farmers' Market tomorrow 8-12, (-; )

It is a really good time of year to be a chicken, or a pig, or, ahem, a squirrel, at the Shady Grove Farm. Produce culls abound. Sweet corn with ear worms is a special chicken delicacy, the wormier, the better. This little fellow in our yard was delighted to find a spent cob.

I have strung up the onion harvest to cure on our font porch. It is the perfect environment for them, dry and shady, with plenty of air circulation. It might just be enough to see us through the next year. Not bad, I must say. I have found two varieties I am quite enamored with: a Japanese red and a Spanish yellow.

The ticks this year have been absolutely awful. Of us all, Maybelle and farmer Steve seem to be magnets for them. Some years ago, I abandoned using the popular Frontline type products. I was introduced to the concepts of Ayurveda, whose followers believe that the the body absorbs whatever is put on the skin, and therefore, one shouldn't put anything on one's skin that one wouldn't eat! Makes sense, right? So what about one's dogs? It doesn't seem right to assault them with toxic chemicals on a regular basis, and the companies that manufacture these products recommend that you do it monthly, even through the winter, no doubt in an effort to maximize profits. I think it is just criminal, given that there are no studies to long term effects. Furthermore, I am hearing reports more and more often that these products don't work as well anymore, that the ticks and fleas are developing a tolerance for the chemicals-creating pesticide resistance, and potentially "superbugs": not a good idea. So, I did a little internet research, and came up with a concoction to try. Using what I happened to have already, to a spray bottle full of plain water I added several drops of the following essential oils: Cedar, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Sweet Orange, and Peppermint (I understand that sage oil and rose geranium are also effective, but didn't have them laying around).

I spritzed some of this on the little lady's legs, belly, and under her chin, and not enough that you can even smell it on her, and it seems to work really well. In the past week we have found one tick on her lip, and one under her collar, where before we were removing multiple vermin each day. Herbs-use them. They want you to!

Lastly, but not leastly, I was the proud recipient of a prize. Billie Jane, over at technobillies, went on a grand African adventure, and I was the lucky winner of a flip flop key chain (slightly puppy chewed), AND a beautiful carved stone heart that came from Nigeria to Oxford, UK, and then here to Hurdle Mills, NC, USA. How about that? They have received a place of honor on my shelf of special things. They are now nestled amongst such items as a bamboo flute and favorite picture frames from my mother, a custom tiny birdhouse that my stepmother made for us, a bird's nest lined with fur from our beloved deceased dog Willow, feathers from my favorite birds, Steve's skull candle he bought one Halloween 'cause he thought it was cool, and the candle my sister gave her family and friends to burn when she went into labor with my incredibly wonderful niece! Something from everyone I care about, here. Somewhere around here I also have a perfect arrowhead that belongs on this shelf, I will thank you to remember the Native Americans that were here before us on this Independence Day. Read about Billie Jane's amazing African adventure, if you dare! http://www.technobillies.net/search/label/Soapmission%20Africa

Now, I am off from from work this weekend, and this fourth-of-july weekend mission is to deal with my extremely untidy yard! -and eagerly anticipating the tomatoes that should be ripe any minute now....

The Great Wool Fiasco

2009-06-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year we sent a good bit of raw wool from our sheep to a processing mill to be washed, carded, dyed and spun. This was the first time we have done so, and it was a bit tricky to figure out exactly what to do with it. Now, I hate to make this post a complain-o-rama, but frankly, I am a bit disappointed with the result. Our sheep are shetland/cotswold crosses, so I thought it would be nice to have it spun fairly fine, and have some dyed in rich, autumnal colors with the idea of trying my hand at some Fair Isle knitting.

We sent it off on April 20, and a few days later got a call from the mill. What had not been clear on the order form was that, in order to spin, they require a 15 lb clean weight minimum per lot. Ours was in 5-10 lb lots. This seems a bit ridiculous, as that is just a whole lot of wool. Several sheep's worth. 15 pounds-think about how many sweaters that is! The trouble was, our fleeces were in four different natural colors: white, brown, black, and grey. So I asked the nice lady at the mill, who was very helpful, if we forgot about the dying, and just put the four colors in lots, if that would be enough to spin. It wasn't. So we settled on having rovings done, and went ahead with the dying.

They were running a little behind at the mill, and my anticipation grew. Yesterday I came in from the field to find these boxes on my front porch. So exciting!

Now, as I said, I had envisioned deep, vibrant colors for the knitting. We selected colors that would be appropriate for fall and winter, when woolen items are most appreciated. Hmmmm. At the upper left we have what was supposed to be "scarlet". This is something like watermelon or bubblegum. Definitely pink. It couldn't be pinker if it tried. Next to that is the "vermilion". What we picked was a lovely, rusty orangey red. This is wine. Not good wine, either. Less a robust cabernet and more like a watery pinot noir. Below that, we have "turquoise". Meh, not really. It was supposed to be pure white wool dyed this color, and for some reason they mixed in the grey, which just makes it sort of a murky blah blue. The "golden ochre" is sort of mustardy, it has grown on me, I rather like it.

Now the "violet". That I like. The natural colors are beautiful, too. I suppose we can experiment with overdying the others, but when you have paid good money to have it done right the first time (grrrrr)....

Now for the spinning. I am a knitter. I have tried spinning, but found it not to be my cup of tea. I have the old drop spindle out, though, and am giving it another whirl (so to speak). Maybe I can learn to love it. I suppose now a spinning wheel purchase is in order. We have a mountain of this stuff to work through! I will just set my mind to all the lovely knitted things it may become. It really does have a nice sheen to it, it's gorgeous wool.

Maybelle's First Trip to the Beach

2009-06-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

Alternate title: I Have the Best Dog in the World

To celebrate our fifth anniversary, and Maybelle's first birthday, we farmers shirked our responsiblities for one day, put the dog in the car, and headed to the beach.

Maybelle has never been in the car for so long before. After some initial anxiety, she was consoled by the fact that it is basically like a couch that rolls.

After the 3+ hour drive there, she had a few shrimp and some french fries for lunch (Naughty! But she was on holiday). Then she was introduced to the ocean!

Turns out, she is a beach dog. How did we get so lucky?

A Month of Rain

2009-06-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

Lots and lots of rain. 10 inches and change so far. As Steve wrote in the farm blog, with that much rain comes rot. It has me gravely concerned for our potatoes, near ready to harvest, sitting there in the slop. It has been too wet to cultivate or weed, which is frustrating. It's not all bad, though. The frogs are living easy, they have stocked all our catchment ponds with tadpoles.

We have been enjoying some beautiful wild oyster mushrooms, a variety named Angel Wings, and have been admiring all the lovely fungus growing everywhere.

Did I mention the wildflowers? Untidiness does sometimes have its benefits. There are some areas on the farm that I protest being mowed. Well, so far I haven't had to lay down in front of the tractor. This year, my "weeds" have been spectacular.

In other news, all the kids are growing up and doing well. The little turkeys will be ready to go out on pasture before too long. The Buff Orpington family continues to be delightful. These are the most playful bunch of chicks I have ever known. I am especially impressed with how good a father the rooster is. He has infinite patience, and is very gentle with them, even when they invent such games as Hop on Pop to play.

Not to be outdone, the lovely Ms Elberta has hatched some wee ones of her own. Her hatch was more complicated, unfortunately. She hatched her babies in the goat house, which was a pretty good idea in terms of security from predators, but I couldn't feed them in there once they hatched. She was also living with another hen and a rooster, one of which killed three of the babies before I realized what was happening and relocated them. I kept a close watch, and when she was done hatching, moved her and her six biddies to a little cottage nearby, where she can bring them up in peace and safety.

Our little goat Djali, a Saanen cross, has begun to produce milk. She has never been bred, but being a dairy breed, they sometimes lactate anyway. This was news to me. We have been milking her, and so far have about a cup and a half, but hope we will perhaps collect enough to make a little cheese. I have enjoyed learning to milk, never having done it before. However, I am hindered somewhat by the antics of our other goat Thunder, who doesn't have, shall I say, the most sparkling of personalities. While I am hunched over, she likes to sneak up on me and grab a mouthful of my hair, then jerking it out of my head. When I scream, she looks at me with a devilish smirk, several strands of long blond hair dangling from her lip. My threats of barbecue don't seem to faze her at all.

By Gum, She's done it!

2009-05-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

Sure, the last thing we need right now is more chickens, but I am so thrilled for this little family. Two of our five year old Buff Orpington chickens were moved to a "retirement condo" earlier this year. The rooster, let's call him "Brad", was a living in a large group with his son. The younger fellow decided it was time to take over the flock, and was giving the old fellow a devil of a time. His lovely companion, let's call her "Angelina", survived a narrow scrape with a hawk the winter before last. It was fortunate timing, really, I had just stepped out on our porch one morning when I heard an unnatural amount of wing flapping in the Buff's paddock. I ran over, and the hawk was on her back! It flew away when it saw me, and I dashed inside and scooped her up. Bless her heart, she screamed for about a minute straight, as I am sure I would, wow. She had a bad bite on the back of her head, some talon marks, and a bloody eye, but after a few days rest in the "hospital crate" she was ready to return to the flock. Unfortunately, the experience left her with impaired vision in one eye, so she seemed a good choice to keep Brad company.

Now, they've gone and hatched a whole bunch of kids! I have counted five so far, but I am not sure that is all of them. They don't seem to object to my curiosity.

Pa is on his guard, he is constantly watching for any danger. I imagine it will be a nervewracking few weeks for all of us. They are very secure where they are, from everything except snakes! I shall try to stay alert, myself, and keep an ear open for any alarm. Congratulations to these two, and welcome to the world little ones!

What's happening

2009-05-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Desmond and his hens may be the new luckiest chickens on the farm. When I set up their paddock, I left a large plant growing in the middle, thinking it would be a safe and attractive, shady spot for chicken siestas. This year it started to bloom, and when I came in from work one day, Farmer Steve was near dancing a jig. "Elderberries!", he said. To my knowledge, we haven't had any here before, so it is a wonderful surprise. We will be able to add elderberry to our winemaking repertoire, with any luck, and the chickens can feast on the immune system boosting windfall.

When we set up our livestock paddocks, we try to either situate them in places where there are 'bonus' food plants growing, or plant things along their fencelines to supplement their available forage. It reduces our feed costs and increases their happiness to clean up seasonal treats such as muscadine grapes, persimmons, herbs like comfrey and wormwood, blackberries, and now elderberries, what luck.

We'll see how that luck holds out. We planted our two little American chestnut trees today. We brought back the seeds from a mountainside in Virginia last fall. They stayed in a plastic bag of slightly moist peat in our refrigerator over the winter, and then we planted them in pots in the greenhouse this spring.

They were all vigorous and ready to be planted, so we considered carefully where to put them. We chose spots inside two of the chicken paddocks, with rich soil and some protection from a mature treeline.

The little guys were then given a protective chicken wire cage to shield them from potential nibblers.

We hope they will be happy, it can't hurt to try, after all.

The sour cherry tree next to our front porch is ripening its fruit, and I believe it might be the most ornamental plant on our farm.

The wildflowers are in their full glory, they surely rival any cultivated thing we could grow.

Our week old little turkeys are happily kicking around in their brooder room at the hen house, and their little brothers and sisters will be ready to join them this evening. 43 in all, that's a good bit of fuzzy cuteness.

Making Hay Part 2

2009-05-21T05:08:00.001-07:00

So, Sunday it rained all day long, but only very lightly. Then, we finally got some dry, sunny weather, and the hay was rolled and fluffed twice more. It was okay, we could finally bale it and put it in the barn! Harold Newton came back out to bale it all-

We have the very best kind of country neighbors. Ernst and his brother HB came over to help get the bales out of the field and stack them in the barn.

Steve found a little serpent while rearranging the palettes for hay stacking. Just think of how many pesky mice this fellow could take care of! Yet another good friend to have.

While not the very best quality hay, it is darn good considering all it went through. 459 bales in the barn, I am calling it a success!

High Drama of Hay Cutting

2009-05-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Making hay has got to be one of if not the most anxiety producing things a farmer can do. You need hot dry weather for several consecutive days, in the spring, at the right time. Last year, we managed pretty well. The hay was cut, rolled and, even though it rained on it a bit the morning we baled it, it turned out feedable, if not sellable.

This year has been a real bust, though. With all the rain, the hay fields were lush and beautiful. But then it kept raining. The grasses were starting to get a bit stemmy and starting to flower, so we had to cut it. A gamble-either try to make the hay, or lose it to age.

It was looking pretty good

Cut on Wednesday, it rained a bit overnight. Nailbiting begins here. It dried out and was sunny on Thursday, and our hearts swelled with hope, so Steve hooked up my old Oliver hayrake and rolled it. This flips the windrow over so the underside can dry out.

Friday it rained a third of an inch. Broken and weeping, we were consoled only by the thought of a Whole lot of Mulch.

Then Saturday it was dry and sunny again! "I think I can save it!" cried Farmer Steve, firing up tractor and rake once more.

The forecast is for more rain tonight, and another half an inch tomorrow. I am afraid all is lost, and the best we can hope for is a second cutting later on in the season. What will happen next-can we save the hay? Will we all get the swine flu? Stay tuned...

Turkey Mamas

2009-05-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

Most of our turkey hens have now decided to sit on nests of their own. I kinda miss seeing their little faces when I go around to feed. Turkeys have not had their motherly instincts bred out of them over years of domestication to the extent that chickens have, so when they must brood, they must brood.

This one disapproves of being photographed. It's moments like these when their inner dinosaur is most apparent. This posture is accompanied by hissing.

They are fierce, but their success rate in hatching is usually pretty low. This time of year the snakes have woken up, and are Hungry, and turkey eggs for breakfast sounds lovely. Raccoons will run a turkey off her nest to get the eggs. Unfortunately, short of dropping a cage over them, and wrapping it in electrified razor wire, there isn't much I can do. Some of them make it, though, and I guess that is natural selection at work.

Really, I wonder sometimes how any of the wild turkeys manage around here, we have quite a large population. They will even come over and socalize with ours sometimes. One wild hen decided to stay once, but that's another story. I think good nest site selection has a lot to do with successful hatching. The best nest choosing I have seen here is that of my Bourbon Red hen. Can't see her? Right! She is also surrounded by thorny roses and goji berries, (nature's barbed wire). I think she is pretty safe, smart girl! Her husband seems lonely without her though. I see him anxiously pacing by where she is setting. It reminds me of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, where the chicken mama is setting on a pile of eggs, and the rooster wears a path in the floor pacing back and forth, looking at his watch, or crossing off days on the calendar. Ha!

Turklets

2009-05-13T04:23:00.000-07:00

They are here! The first batch began hatching Sunday night, and we have another set due in about a week. They are near impossible to photograph, since they are never still, and with their heat lamp turned off, they get chilly quick. So, take my word for it, little turkeys are dangerously precious. With all I have that needs doing, I could spend the day just watching the fuzzy littles do their thing.

Summer-izing Chicken Tractors

2009-04-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

As is typical for us, the weather is quickly becoming summer like, with temperatures in the 80s and 90s expected for the next few days. So, I hauled the shade tarps out of the barn to put on our "chicken tractors".

I suppose it would be more proper to call them range houses now, since they don't move anymore. In our old chicken tractor system, we would hook them up to our 'big' tractor and move them a full length forward every day, or every other day. This meant that the chickens inside were on completely fresh pasture all the time, leaving behind an even amount of manure. It was great for a while, but over time we realized that driving across the pasture so much was compacting the soil. Another disadvantage was that it took a long time to do the chores-you have to move these things s-l-o-w-l-y, and it required two people-one to drive the tractor, and one on the ground to watch chickens to make sure no one's toes got caught under the runners.

So, now they stay put, and they have movable fence around them to put them on fresh ground when they wear out what they're on. The chickens seem to prefer this set up. They are really quite habitual-they like to dust bathe in the same place every day, have their mid day siesta under a particular tree, etc. It's much easier to do chores and only requires one person. The disadvantage now is, the chickens stay where they are, and we have to move the manure! We fill the houses with pine shavings, and clean them out, which is a drag, but once composted, it makes a fabulous mulch/fertilizer.

As you can see in the above picture, the houses are covered with greenhouse plastic. In the winter, this provides them with extra warmth and light, and in case of particularly severe weather, the sides roll down for extra protection. In the summer though, they need the shade. I found these excellent 'sunblocker' tarps at tarps.com. They really work, are super quality, and very affordable. If you need a good tarp, this is the place, and they will ship it to you so fast you won't believe it.

In other news, Steve and crew have finished fencing off the first of our large pastures. It is ginormous.

On one hand, it is a little bit of a shame to have more fence impeding the 'view', but this fencing will enable us to improve our multi-species rotational grazing system. That is a beautiful thing.

Achillea-I will miss you

2009-04-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

When bad things happen to nice critters

2009-04-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's yet another drizzly, gray and soggy day, so I decided to clean and organize my Emergency Kit. I expect some of you folks with livestock may have something similar. We have found that it is best to be prepared to handle any critter emergency as best we can, ourselves. We have only recently had access to a vet that will see goats, for example, and we do have a bird vet that is happy to see chickens, but he ain't cheap!

I like to keep all of my first aid items together, so if anything happens, I can just grab it and run! It is better, in my mind, to have all this stuff and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Also, our dear critters seem to like to have any emergencies on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, when the stores are closed and the vets charge double, or worse, are not available at all. So, here's what I got:

A variety of scrubs, disinfecting solutions, my own calendula salve, and antibiotic ointment. Not pictured, but also helpful, is Swat, a fly repelling ointment made for horses. It is especially helpful in the summer for superficial wounds when maggots can become an issue. Ewww, Yeah. Vetwrap self adhering bandage material, a fantasic invention-I can even bandage little bird toes with this stuff, gauze, non stick dressings, tape, etc. Scissors that stay in the kit! Seriously, when you are in a panic because your precious boo boo is gushing blood you do not want to be running around the house looking for your scissors.

Scary stuff! A variety of syringes for flushing wounds, giving water or medications; the one with the little cup attached is for gentle irrigation. Sterile syringes and Penicillin G, which actually lives in the refrigerator, is an excellent injectable broad spectrum antibiotic suitable for a variety of species. I don't use it much, but is invaluable for preventing infection when someone has been bitten or scratched by a wild animal. Cat bites are the worst! All cotton thread and gut for stitches. Hemostats. Lubricating jelly and latex exam gloves. I am glad I did this, it reminded me that I really need a thermometer. I am also lacking activated charcoal in case of poisoning. I am making a mental note-there.

Other things we keep on hand:

B vitamins-the miracle goat cure. Anytime our goats have had stress or trauma, we give them a B-complex vitamin, I don't know why, but it always works.

Bach rescue remedy

homeopathic Arnica montana 30 c. A treatment for bruises and muscle soreness, but also incredibly helpful in the case of acute shock and trauma. I gave Gladys six pellets under her tongue while we were waiting for the vet to arrive, and she was on the ground convulsing. She visibly relaxed and calmed down.

Sorghum, honey, or molasses. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. All of these are also rich in trace nutrients and very healthful. A weak animal will typically have low blood sugar-it gives them a little energy boost.

A plant everyone ought to know about. Cranesbill, or Wild Geranium. The whole plant works as a hemostat, internally and externally. I have some dried and powdered, and I made a tincture. When one of my old roosters broke his spur the other day, and was bleeding fairly profusely, I tried applied direct pressure first, and that wasn't working. A cranesbill was nearby, so I simply chewed up a few leaves, applied them to the wound, and dang if it didn't work like a charm. Plants are your friends.

It is very sad when something happens to beloved animals, but as a farmer, it is inevitable that something will happen sometime. Best to be prepared.

Turkey Time

2009-04-14T12:04:00.001-07:00

It is time to start hatching little turkeys in preparation for Thanksgiving. They will spend 28 days in the incubator, then a few more weeks in a cozy heated brooder room, then out to pasture.

Finding eggs to hatch, to start with, can be like an "Easter egg hunt" a couple of times a day, for several weeks. This is particularly true of the orchard turkeys.

I love that they have so much savannah like space to romp and play and forage, but when it's time to look for eggs, it's a lot of ground to cover! I also have to compete with the crows, who love turkey eggs, and have keener eyes than mine, or at least, a better perspective.

With a regular pencil, each egg gets marked with a code of its origin, this one came from the "barn" turkeys, and the date which it was collected. This helps us keep track of fertility rates.

The eggs go into a regular box cooler as they're collected. You can store them before hatching for up to two weeks, but I prefer to keep them for no more than seven or eight days before we set them in the incubator.

The incubator gets fired up a full 24 hours before setting the eggs. This gives it time to warm up to the correct temperature, and we can make sure the turners are working right, and all systems are go!

Dandelion Wine

2009-04-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hooray, hooray, it is time once again!

Due to rather extended illness that left us wimpy and respiratorily challenged, we are way behind on farm work. This time of year for us puts me in mind of the Red Queen from Through the Looking Glass-"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

However, the dandelions are Prime. That means it is time to Act. We had a perfectly beautiful day to pick, too! The bees are all out now, warm sun, cool breeze. Lovely.

The first step in making dandelion wine is to pick dandelion blossoms until you just can't stand it anymore. So, Steve and I got to work, along with Maybelle, our special dandelion sniffing dog.

Maybelle is learning to be a good girl off the leash now-she is making me proud.

We picked about 10 quarts, which will produce around 3 gallons of wine.

They get all wilty as you pick them, but that's okay, because the next step is to pour boiling water over them, cover tightly, and let them steep for a couple of days. Then we will boil them gently with some orange and lemon peel, add the sugar, some golden raisins for body, a few cloves and the yeast, and let the fermentation begin!

To celebrate, naturally, we opened a bottle from last year.

The flavor is incredible. Dandelions taste the same way they look-warm and cheery. This batch is unfortunately on the sugary side, something that will likely change the longer it ages in the bottle, but I think we will try to produce a drier wine this year. We'll hold back on the sugar a bit, and cheer on the yeast to ferment more vigorously.

With any luck, I hope to put up several batches this year. You can't have too much dandelion wine!

Life! It's happening..

2009-04-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

The first blush of new buds appearing on the trees...

Apple and pear blossoms...

Mercy, the violets...

Even the pastures are alive with color. Hooray for April!

Bad Chickens

2009-04-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

As I have said before, each season presents a unique set of challenges. One spring it was aggressive bluebirds-they would attack anything reflective. All day they would furiously thrash the shiny flashing of our chimney pipe. The side mirrors of our cars also felt their wrath. We had an invasion of skunks one year, theiving eggs and burrowing under the sides of buildings to munch on our youngest birds. Last fall, we had to keep all the chickens in lock down, because the hawk predation was so fierce, and we had a family of Bald eagles in the mix, they would kill four or five chickens at a time, and carry them off into the air, kicking and screaming, with us on the ground looking helplessly on! This year, the hawks seem to be downright friendly. There are several pairs nesting nearby, and I hear and see them every day. Steve and I have both seen them perched on the fence around our henhouse, BUT, nary a feather on a little head harmed. Go figure.

So, this, my friends, is the season of chicken anarchy. Normally, those with moveable paddocks have been content and cozy with our four foot electronet (not electrified) fence from Premier. Something's gotten into them now, though. Fence, shmence, they say, I can see greener grass over there! And away they go.

I suppose I feel sort of flattered, in a way, to have raised such a flock of free thinkers and go getters. It can be irritating, however, when it is time to close them up for bed at night, and I have to trek far into the pasture to round up strays.

Perhaps they are telling me that they need yet more room to roam. Perhaps the total lack of predation this year has emboldened them. Maybe our resident herd of 17 deer are a bad influence.

Ms Wiley definitely goes where she likes, she frequently ambles along behind the tractor when I am doing the chores.

When she comes to visit us on the porch, Farmer Steve says: Chicken on the porch-chicken in the pan! This makes her laugh.

What does one do when one's chickens go "wild"?

Marching ahead

2009-03-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry no updates lately, Steve and I have been in the grips of some kind of horrific virus. High fevers, aching joints, etc, etc. Bizarre fever dreams, including one in which an alligator was trying to sell me art supplies-interpretation? Productivity of late has been close to nil.

March here is continuing to be very lion like, we are still waiting for the lamb part! We have had another inch and a half of rain over the past four days. It's actually a convenient (ha!) time to be sick, as it is too muddy sloppy to do much anyway.

Spring is definitely upon us, though, and it is such an exciting time. The turkeys are just beginning to lay, the fruit trees are blooming, the world is warming and waking up and becoming vibrant and green again. And so, a word on spring by Wendell Berry:

Wendell Berry
A Purification

by Wendell Berry

At start of spring I open a trench in the ground.

I put into it the winter's accumulation of paper,

pages I do not want to read again, useless words, fragments, errors.

And I put into it the contents of the outhouse:

light of the sun, growth of the ground, finished with one of their journeys.

To the sky, to the wind, then, and to the faithful trees,

I confess my sins: that I have not been happy enough, considering my good luck,

have listened to too much noise, have been inattentive to wonders,

have lusted after praise.

And then upon the gathered refuse of mind and body, I close the trench,

folding shut again the dark,the deathless earth.

Beneath that seal the old escapes into the new.

It's spring, you have just dug a trench, what will you put in it? Failures, regrets, excess weight from the winter, fears, clutter...........?

Idealism doesn't pay..

2009-03-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

The truth is, we have an egg surplus problem on our hands. This was Sunday's yield: That's around eight dozen. Our lovely young ladies that we hatched back in the fall are all laying like champs, and the older ones are keeping right up with them. The problem is, no one's buying. These beautiful eggs are piling up in our cooler. That is, in part, because in our area, everyone has jumped on the chicken bandwagon. That's right, pastured poultry is a huge thing right now, and everyone has a dozen or two, or 50 chickens.

Also, everyone is buying "cheap". Thanks, economy! These small farmers are selling cheap, probably in part because they haven't bothered to do the math and figure out what the cost of an egg actually is to them, because it matters less if you have 25 chickens, and are losing a few cents a day, than if you are a little bigger and losing a few dollars a day.

On the other hand, the grocery stores are dealing out the cheap, free range, organic eggs, and they are selling like hot cakes. Thanks, Trader Joe's! So, let me just splain something to you. The smiling words on those egg cartons may seem appealing and "all-natural", but it is clever marketing, first and foremost. Under the organic label, the hens are cage free, and must be fed certified organic feed. Fine. Okay, here is the reality of free range rules, from cok.net:

“Free-Range” Eggs
There is no inspection system for companies that label their eggs “free-range.”
The popular myth that “free-range” egg-laying hens enjoy fresh grass, bask in the sunlight, scratch the earth, sit on their nests, and engage in other natural habits is often just that: a myth. In many commercial “free-range” egg farms, hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once.
Both battery cage and “free-range” egg hatcheries kill all male chicks shortly after birth. Since male chicks cannot lay eggs and are different breeds than those chickens raised for meat, they are of no use to the egg industry. Standard killing methods, even among “free-range” producers, include grinding male chicks alive or throwing them into trash bags and leaving them to suffocate.
Whether kept in sheds or cages, laying hens—who can naturally live more than ten years—are considered “spent” when they are just one or two years old and their productivity wanes. Rather than being retired, “free-range” hens are slaughtered to make room for another shed of birds.
With no federal regulations overseeing the use of animal welfare claims on egg cartons, misleading or exaggerated claims are rampant. Consumers may be deceived by phrases such as “animal-friendly” or “naturally-raised,” which can be found on cartons of eggs from caged hens. Read about COK’s truth in labeling campaign urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require the full disclosure of production methods on eggs cartons sold nationwide.

This means that hippified looking carton of eggs you slapped down two bucks for may have come from a place like this.

Better than battery cages? Maybe. But, probably not the image you had in mind? I am sure this sort of system has a neat profit margin, passing the savings on to you.

Of course, the big problem, obviously, is that you cannot know for sure, by looking at a carton of eggs, what sort of place they came from. Here is our dilemma. If you are not cutting corners-how can you make this apparent to the consumer, other than inviting them to come on over and see for themselves?

Not to imply that we are perfect, that all our systems are just how we want them, or that we don't sometimes make mistakes, but here is my attempt to prove our eggs are worth at least a measly quarter apiece.

Thich Nhat Hahn advises us to eat healthy eggs from happy hens. Happy hens. This a term that gets used a whole lot in marketing. What does it actually mean? I have never run across any interviews with contented hens explaining why their life is more fulfilling than another's. So here's my interpretation.

Clean water and good nutrition. We are not feeding any 50$/bag organic feed, that is true. But, we provide a good quality, balanced laying pellet with adequate protein and calcium, not scratch grains, which are for sure cheaper, but woefully short on the nutrients a chicken needs to stay well. Keep in mind that a chicken produces, at the peak of her cycle, an egg every day and a half. An egg is the equivalent of a baby chicken. Imagine your dog having a puppy every day and a half-it takes a high level of nutritional input to keep a system like that going! In addition, we make sure everyone has access to plenty of forage. Grass and weed seeds to eat, bugs and worms, fallen fruit. Some have more pasture-y areas, some have more wooded areas, but ideally I like for them to have some of both.

Adequate space to play is also important for social harmony. The big poultry producers are trying to breed chickens with "close personal space". They really do like their elbow room. Enough room to ramble about will ensure that you will not experience social problems like bullying and cannibalism.

Chickens will get low on forage in the wintertime, which can cause boredom. A bored chicken is not a happy chicken. We make sure they get produce culls-throw a cabbage or kale into a group of chickens, and it's exactly like watching a school of piranhas attack-little bits of green flying through the air. Even a bale of hay will keep them occupied, they will scratch and pick through it all day long.

We have three heritage breeds, Delawares, Buff Orpingtons, and Buckeyes, and two hybrid breeds of our own design. We breed and hatch our own. We select our breeders for traits that will produce an all around healthy bird, not just one that will produce eggs or meat quickly and well. Thanks to the folks at the ALBC for showing us how to do this. It also means that we take responsibility for their whole lives, starting with the care of their parents.

Many folks buy their chicks from hatcheries, use their birds for the most productive two years, and toss 'em out and get new ones. Well selected stock will remain productive for years, and some of our best breeders are no "spring chickens"!

Sanitation! We try to make sure our flock is living as clean as possible and vermin free.

Nutritional content. It's night and day, folks. Here are some interesting test results from Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx

I am sad that our results came in a little low, but these were tested when we were in the midst of a terrible drought, and the pastures were brown and crispy. Still, our eggs make the competition look weak and pale. So there.

I am sure there is much more to say on this subject, but that's all I got right now. There is more information on egg carton labeling and the welfare of laying hens at www.cok.net/camp/inv/egg.php, and www.hsus.org/farm/resources

The Frogs Say It's Spring

2009-03-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Golly, it is hard to believe it was a "winter wonderland" here 6 days ago.
Today was a blissful, sunshiny 80-some degrees. We were wearing shorts, for pete's sake, and there was hammock time to be had.

The frogs are all singing their hearts out, it is such a lovely springtime thing to hear. Now, today was supposed to be my day "off" but I forgot to plant the basil when I planted the peppers a couple days ago, so I was headed to the greenhouse to plant the little basils real quick, and then Steve said,
"What about some Thai basil?", and then I remembered the summer savory seeds I bought last year, and how about some white sage, oh, and dill, of course... Yep, that's how it goes.

We took the dogs for a nice long walk around the farm-they were overjoyed. You can tell by the tongues.

Maggie even found a little treat. You can't hide nothin from that fifteen year old dog.

The fishes were all out and about.
Yes, our animals even have their own animals. These two goldfish have been happily living in the donkey waterer for more than three years now. Their job is to eat up all the mosquitos and other buggies that might want to make it their home, or their watery demise. They do their job well, I feed them from time to time, out of motherly concern, I suppose, though it is probably not even necessary. The piece of fence is in the top to keep any wayward poultrys from drowning in it.

More Snow

2009-03-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Blah. I don't like it. Steve and I had to get up at 2:00 AM and brush snow off the tops of the greenhouses. There are fences down, branches broken. Oh, I am weary of winter. Not to gripe overly, I realize some folks got much worse, I just seem to have a very low threshhold of pain for winter shenanigans.

The chickens are with me on this.

Poor Tiger even refuses to get out of "bed" when there is snow on the ground.

The geese, however, seem to find it delightful. They were splashing around in their pool today, even though chunks of ice were forming on their feathertips. They seem to think its funny. Oh, my.

Hopefully, at least the snow and ice will insulate and protect all the tender new buds when it is 10 degrees tonight!

Lastly, the great picture that coulda been. What can I say, I was snowblind and couldn't focus.

Darkness and Lights

2009-02-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

Life ain't pretty nearly as much as it ought to be. Farming is a good way to understand this very well. Our dear donkey Gladys had a terrible surprise for us yesterday, and spent much of the day with our vet. Gladys and Jose came to live with us four years ago when their then owners got real jobs in Washington DC.

Now, Jose is a 'real' boy, but these two have been together more than 10 years, and Gladys has never been pregnant before.

Well, when I went out to give them breakfast yesterday, it was obvious something was very, very wrong with our girl. The vet came out straight away, and upon examining her, said "You've got a dead foal in there". Imagine our shock and horror. So, Gladys got an epidural, the foal was pulled out, and we are both astounded and utterly heartbroken. We have no doubt, though, that Gladys will be just fine. She is so tough. Thank goodness.

So how did we not know that she had been pregnant for 11 months? Well, she is naturally very round, but still. What's more, when the vet came out to examine her this morning, she said that the problem might have been that the foal was just too big, as our petite little lady has, she said, as much room in her uterus as a full sized mare. He was a big, beautiful, long-legged foal, and I wish we had gotten the chance to know him.

Though with an aching heart, I had to plant the tomatoes today. Time hurtles forward. It is still a bit chilly, even in the greenhouse, to plant warm soil loving seeds, so I have been scheming up, in my "poor man's" fashion, a way to supplement their warmth. I had read about folks who were using christmas lights for this purpose, and thought it sounded like a plan. Do you know how much those fancy germination mats cost??? Way too much.

So, starting with my super fancy professional grade greenhouse benches (those are buckets and pallets, people, and they work just swell), we strung our old fairy lights in between the slats.

A couple of layers of greenhouse plastic on top, to prevent them from getting wet and soiled:

And voila. Cozy and warm. Happy little roots commence growing.

Hurdle Mills

2009-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Has seen better days. What is well preserved is charming, history that still stands bravely in a resplendent setting of rolling countryside.

Yet there are so many ruins of better times gone by.

I really wonder what life was like 100 years ago here.

It is probably wrong to think of the past as "simpler times". It must have been unspeakably hard to try to farm without the convenience and insurance of irrigation, modern technology, etc. But then, it must have been more pure. I often wish that I could talk to the farmers that were here before the green revolution, before we literally beat our swords into ploughshares and turned our munitions factories to the task of cranking out ag chemicals. I would love to know why they did what they did and what it meant to them. I bet they didn't expect to have fresh tomatoes and strawberries in the winter!

Pea in the cup

2009-01-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

As I was doing the livestock chores this morning, in my car, since my tractor is still in the shop, and it is too muddy for Steve's truck (thanks AWD!), I was pondering on what I could plant. This morning, Steve made a comment that we have not been doing much farming lately. It is true, the weather has not been cooperative in that regard.

I am limited to greenhouse work, then. So, I was thinking lettuce would be a option, another round of arugula, maybe. Then I thought, what about peas? That might work, except for my 'little' vole problem. Pea greens sound like a delicious treat for rodentia. Hmmm.

What if I covered the row with rat wire? No, I would have to do something about the ends, and they would probably just dig under the edge anyway. Cut off lengths of PVC? No. little rat wire cages for each pea? No, too much trouble, I would have to attach them somehow.

Then I thought of all the plastic cups that have been sitting in our kitchen cabinet since our wedding party five years ago. Hmm, what if I cut a hole in the bottom of each one, and set it upside down on top of the peas? Plastic is no fun to chew through, when there is easier prey, and it would be easy, and use what I have on hand. Maybe it will work, why not, why not?

First Market

2009-01-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

This Saturday was our debut at the Hillsborough Farmers' Market.

We didn't have much to bring in the way of produce, due to the unusually severe winter we have had, and the elements were working against us with gusty winds and cold, and still, we had had a great time. To my surprise, the turnips and watermelon radishes were a hit, and we sold a fair number of sweet potatoes, too.

The other vendors were very friendly and welcoming, and the customers that braved the weather all bundled up and shivering seemed to be glad we were there. We are looking forward to future markets, fairer weather, and the season to come!

Bottling The Harvest

2009-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

It was time at last to put up our 2008 concord grape wine! We had a very good year for grapes. They consistently produce a staggering abundunce for us, and we are grateful. There is always more than enough for a good store of grape jam, handfuls of juicy treats to toss to the chickens, and this year, two carboys of vino. I regret that I don't have photos of the actual stomping procedure, that is the best part!

Once the bottles have all been scrubbed and sterilized, we boil the corks,

siphon the precious liquid,

cork em',

and then put them away and try to forget about them for two years. That's right, these will be ready for tasting in August 2010. Sigh. However, with any luck, I will look forward to more grape stomping this summer.

It snew! What's snew?

2009-01-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

So we stayed in mostly, and watched the inauguration. We did have to make a run to the feed store, though.

Yep, it is country. 'Spose we are, too. Hurdle Mills feed and farm supply has the very best in customer service, in the form of Leroy.

He is there to help you! So friendly.

Snow is pretty and all, but I am still ready for spring-

It has been so cold lately that we have covered some of our plants inside the greenhouse, to keep them from getting frostbitten. These are the ghosts of artichokes:

Spring's Eternal Hope

2009-01-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

Ah, Winter is a time of dreams for farmers. It is a brand new beginning, all is possibility. We prepare the cold barren ground so carefully, laying out the beds and tucking them under a thick, fluffy blanket of mulch.

Sure, I know that the weather will warm and wake up the weeds, which will rise up and be made fine and well fed from all the delicious compost, but that doesn't bother me now.

I will fill the greenhouse with carefully seeded flats, certain that every seed will germinate, that the aphids will remain at bay, the crickets won't come out at night and nip off the tiny cotyledons, leaving the teensiest green stumps, oozing sap. Certain that I will get the timing just right, and the young plants will thrive.

As we plan what will be planted, our visions are full of perfect tomatoes, bushels of green beans, bouquets of vibrant flowers. In our minds, this could be the perfect season. For now, there could be no cutworms, whiteflies, potato beetles, or squash bugs, no disease or drought or hail. It hasn't happened yet, after all.

As we consider the coming season, we think of happily buzzing bees, tall stands of sunflowers and corn, the limbs of trees bowed low with the weight of fragrant, ripening fruit.

I think you have to have a lot of hope in your soul to be a farmer, to not give up. Every season we are confronted with old problems and new. It is never easy, never not a struggle to get it all done, to solve new problems, to make a living at it all. Yet we keep on, year after year, for some reason. In the beginning, anything is possible.

Syngenta's New Baby

2009-01-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

How can anyone possibly think that this is a good idea? Corn is wind pollinated, and those teeny grains of pollen can travel for miles.

There is more information on the Center For Food Safety Website.

Event 3272 corn:
Raises serious environmental and human health concerns. It contains an exotic enzyme derived from "thermophilic" (heat-loving) microorganisms living near deep sea hydrothermal vents. This enzyme might be capable of causing food allergies in people who inadvertently consume this corn. Humans have never been exposed to this form of alpha amylase before (no history of safe use).

While meant for fuel and not food, this corn will enter the food supply. USDA admits that if Event 3272 corn is intentionally or accidentally diverted into the food supply, it could negatively impact food quality. But instead of reviewing the foreseeable negative impacts of biological contamination to organic and conventional corn from this unprecedented new industrial crop, USDA has improperly relied on Syngenta, the creator of the GE corn, to protect non-industrial corn from contamination. If we learned anything from the StarLink episode, it is that voluntary, industry-led agreements to curtail contamination do not work in the real world.

Is not needed "to help the U.S. meet its goals for ethanol production" as USDA has erroneously suggested. Ethanol production from corn surpassed the 2012 target (7.5 billion gallons) in 2007 (8.2 billion gallons)! And with 10 billion gallons of ethanol produced in 2008, we're well on the way to achieving the mandate for 2022 without the introduction of Event 3272 corn.

Is engineered for fuel, not food. The dramatic worldwide surge in food prices last year--which has already pushed 100 million more of the world's poor into hunger and poverty--has caused a radical rethinking of how biofuels are produced, especially the use of corn for ethanol. Food experts from academia to the World Bank have decried the massive diversion of corn from food to fuel, blaming it for at least part of the steep price increases in food staples like corn, wheat and rice. Event 3272 corn will only exacerbate this situation.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

We have been having many days of nasty cold rainy weather, which I suppose is typical for this time of year. It sure is making it difficult to get things done. However, when the weather permits, Steve has been busy working on a fancy fence for a fellow down the road.

It is an interesting place-while at work one day, Steve noticed these festively blooming lichens.

Meanwhile, planning is underway for the season to come. Our kitchen table is groaning under the weight of all the seed catalogs. Now, we do have our favorite companies, such as Baker Creek. They are fiercely committed to providing GMO free seeds, to the extent that they started testing their sweet corn this year, in order to provide pure stock, only. Recently, a study has uncovered that the cause of CCD in bees may in fact be Bt corn!

However, they make the darn catalogs so attractive, one can't help but take a look through them all, and there are so many tempting varieties. Orange pimientos, striped marigolds, beautiful shiny beans, spotted, speckled, swirled. I tell you, it is difficult to focus!

Gone, but not forgotten..

2008-12-27T04:57:00.000-08:00

We lost Willow, our Anatolian shepherd, one year ago today. It was unexpected and tragic, and I still miss her all the time. I wish I had more pictures of her, I wish we had taken more walks, I wish that I had worked more on her fear of being in the car.

I try to remember the good stuff, though. That dog could laugh, she invented games to play with you, she could run like the wind. She was a budding archaeologist, she would dig stuff up in her lot and put it on display. I have an old mule shoe that she found, and a old glass seal for a mason jar. She was a junkie for belly rubs. She once 'rescued' me from a black snake that I was trying to rescue from her, poor thing. She was a ferocious napper.

When we went to breeder to pick her up, we got to meet many of her family members, which was so wonderful. Her grandfather, mother and father, her brother and sister.

This was her brother, as a puppy.

Her sister Calypso's puppies were born Jan 07

I hope that wherever she is, there is a lot of fun to be had, and warm sunshine to snooze in.

Willow, 'Briar Patch Farms Montana' 12/11/04- 12/27/07

Update on Maybelle..

2008-12-23T07:21:00.001-08:00

She's still cute. But, she ate my glasses up, and that is extremely naughty. Especially because she must have carefully removed them from my sleeping face first.

Beautiful Mushrooms

2008-12-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

Hey, at least the ridiculous volume of rain that we have had is good for something. We have been happily consuming mass quantities of wild oyster mushrooms, and then there are these:

Phyllotopsis nidulans, such a beauty.

Just for fun..

2008-12-21T05:04:00.001-08:00

Manifesto:The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know. So, friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannotunderstand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.Call that profit. Prophesy such returns. Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Listen to carrion -- put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come. Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.
"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright ® 1973 by Wendell Berry, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Miss Maybelle

2008-12-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

The holidays are always a stressful time of year. There is so much to be done, and the days are so short, and people get so crazy. Wal-mart stampede? So, so wrong.

So, what do you do when you're broke, and tired, and short on time? Well, if you are wacko, you go to your local animal shelter, and get you a Puppy!!!

I really can't say why, exactly, but when I 'accidentally' looked at the Person County Animal Control website, this wrinkly little face just kinda got me. Miss Maybelle is around five months old, a Shar pei crossed with something tiny and speckled-beagle, maybe? In fact, she is so little, she hardly counts as another dog, even, so there.

In all seriousness, it was time to either get a puppy, or forget about it, as the other dogs are now twelve and fourteen years old. They are still spry enough to deal with the kid, but poor Otis has already thrown his back out whipping around to snap at her. He will be just fine with some rest and good biscuits, but I wish he would quit looking at me with that "What have I ever done to deserve this?" face. Really, it will all be all right though, as she is perfectly sweet, and a darn good pup.

Turkey shoot

2008-11-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

Photo shoot, ha, ha

I tried to get some brilliant shots of the little guys, now around three weeks old, but it is impossible. Twitchy little brats! Oh, I love them-here are some turkey-like blurs:

Steve tacked up the cardboard on the walls of the brooder to provide extra draft protection on the recent 20 degree nights. When I went to check on them tonight, however, they were all roosting up on the windowsill like a row of tiny vultures. Ay, kids, what are you going to do? They can get back down under the heat lamps if they want to, I suppose-you know that's where I would be!
I took a few pics of their moms and dads, anyway. This is our most gorgeous hen, Isabella.

With the turkeys, guineas, and geese-the boys usually get along really well, darn reasonable of them.

Of course, if they are ever naughty, I can simply tell them that Sarah Palin is coming to pardon them!

Nooooooooo!

And, this is Bar Code and Spot, not turkeys, but so handsome.

When life gives you lemons..

2008-11-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

Feel a little smug that you got lemons.

I haven't blogged in a while. Honestly, it is hard this time of year, to haul your cranky self out of bed in the morning, in the cold and frost, and try to cram a full day's work in before the sun sets on you at 5:00. Obviously, I am not a winter person.

There is a golden lining to the cloud over my head today, though. Our little lemon tree in the greenhouse has gifted us with 14 lovely lemons (not counting the ones that have already been consumed in the form of whiskey sours). So what does one do with such sumptuous, sunshiny orbs? Why, one makes limoncello, of course.

Thank you, little tree.

One thing about farming the way we do-when you are tired and sore and filthy, and you have been slaving away with snow in your face and cold wind blowing through every dern layer you have on, and your lips are chapped as heck, there is always something to warm your heart. Lemons work. I have a young hen who is just like her mama, who I adore, and that's pretty cool. Things of this nature keep me going. I think if everyone really understood where food comes from, and how it gets to their plates, the world would be a very different place.

We are also still harvesting apples. Apples are such individuals in the fruit world. There are so many different types, and the potential for many more. This Lady Williams apple waits until the winter to ripen.

It is so thoughtful, she waits until everything else is dead and gone, and then makes the best apples you can imagine, a perfect balance of sweet and tart. They are best enjoyed right off the tree, in my opinion.

While I am being opinionated, may I suggest you add Michael Pollan's 'Botany of Desire' to your winter reading list? He explains so well the fascinating history of apples in America. Also, pick up a copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver. I thoroughly enjoyed it, except that I felt she insinuates that chickens are dumb, a popular myth that I wholeheartedly disagree with. But, that is a rant for another day...

I'm feeling good about stuff..

2008-11-06T08:21:00.001-08:00

This time of year is hard to beat for sheer spectacle and pastoral splendor. I have been taking lots of pictures, the light is so golden.

I am real pleased about the results of the election. Check this out:

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. & ORLAND, Calif., Nov 05, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- This evening, Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection organization, celebrates a landmark victory for farm animals: the passage of Proposition 2 in California. The YES on Prop 2 campaign was run by Californians for Humane Farms, a coalition headed by Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society of the United States. This law phases out some of the most restrictive confinement systems used by factory farms -- gestation crates for breeding pigs, veal crates for calves and battery cages for egg laying hens -- affecting 20 million farm animals in the state by simply granting them space to stand up, stretch their limbs, turn around and lie down comfortably. This evening, Farm Sanctuary's President and Co-Founder Gene Baur released a statement on the Prop 2 victory:
"The passage of Prop 2 in the country's largest agricultural state marks a monumental victory for farm animals. This campaign did an amazing job of raising public awareness about the cruel treatment farm animals endure at the hands of an industry that has consistently fought meaningful change for animals. Farm Sanctuary supporters and campaign volunteers have seen California voters respond with reason and compassion agreeing that all animals deserve humane treatment. Today marks a significant change in the way we view and treat farm animals and falls closer in line with public sentiments and values of compassion. We look forward to seeing these confinement systems phased out nationwide."

Awesome! Now, if everyone else will follow suit, I will be so proud. Also, it is time to work on making foie gras production illegal everywhere forever. I am going to work on it.

I think Djali's going to give a stump speech.

Elberta enjoys the flattering Autumn sunlight.

The chickens want to thank y'all for voting!

All Soul's Day

2008-11-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

-and it's 70 degrees. The air is full of ladybugs, swooping around. Not that I am complaining, it feels lovely, but it can be very confusing for the plants, especially the fruit trees.

We had more seasonally appropriate weather earlier in the week. Amy and Bea came out for a visit, and we put them right to work!

They helped us break up garlic cloves to prepare them for planting. It is never to early to begin training future farm workers, folks.

We made a couple of scarecrows, as well. This is a dual learning opportunity-it could be that Bea has a future in the fashion industry!

The critters were all a little wary of this tiger, though. Even if it was just a tiny and sweet little tiger.

We got 40 pounds or so of garlic planted and mulched, which was about 600 row feet. The strawberries will be planted soon, and we still have 6 plum trees, and some blueberries and grapes to be planted. Then it's weed, weed, mulch, weed, mulch, mulch, mulch.

Things are at last starting to slow down for us, though. The short winter days are kind of a bummer, but we all need the opportunity for a rest. It is soon time to spend hours by the woodstove, reading books, knitting, looking through seed catalogs and planning for next year, sippin on a whiskey.

We have plenty of outside winter projects to keep us busy. Steve has worked hard on 'renovating' the pastures. They have been harrowed and reseeded in orchard grass, alfalfa, red and white clover, canola, and buckwheat, and I must say they do look fabulous. Now, we need to get some good paddock fencing up so that we can work on our rotational grazing system.

Steve is also planting barley in some of the farther fields. Feed costs are absolutely killing us right now, and they just keep on going up. We plant to cut and bale the barley when the seeds mature, and heap it up in the chicken paddocks. We did something similar earlier in the year with sunflowers and corn. The chickens pick all the seeds out of the pile, and then the vegetative material becomes a hospitable environment for crickets, grasshoppers, worms, etc, all wonderful and delicious sources of protein for the ladies. The critters crawl in the pile overnight, and the hens scratch up their breakfast in the morning. When the pile breaks down it creates a nice mulchy layer which adds to and improves the paddock soil. In certain paddocks, you can walk in, and your feet will sink an inch into the spongy, humusy, rich soil. Delightful!

We are looking forward to next season, and hope to have everything cleaned up, lookin good, and running like a well oiled machine when the light returns in the Spring!

Tiny Turkeys

2008-10-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

They're here! Yes, October is a weird time to hatch turkeys. These little fellas are from our Black turkey flock, one of the oldest breeds in the world of heritage turkeys. They are genetically important, and, we just like them a whole lot. So, why hatch now? Well, unfortunately, our turkey hens took a hard hit from predators this year. We lost a couple to dogs and raccoons this spring, then we were down to six. Recently, we lost two more small hens to a barred owl-it left an incriminating, eau de skunk soaked feather at the scene. Also, our breeding flock isn't as young as they used to be. So, since one of the ladies was still laying, we decided to go for it.

So far, these five have hatched, and there are another four eggs in the incubator that we are expecting to hatch over the next couple of days. It is so cold out now, that these tender sprouts will be living in our laundry room in their big tub until they are feathery and vigorous enough to be relocated to the brooder room.

Black turkey chicks are especially cute-they remind me of little mimes.

It is pretty difficult to get a good shot of them, though, as they very rarely hold still for a second. Unless they are napping-then you can get a good picture of a massive pile of fuzz!

Speaking of tender sprouts, even with the chilly weather, we are planting away. The hoophouse is already half planted with cool weather crops. I decided to use all our old feed bags to hold down the grass in the aisles. It works great, maybe covered with a little straw it would be more aesthetically pleasing. The rest is waiting to be planted with overwintering crops, such as onions.

Mushrooms and Turkeys

2008-10-11T08:54:00.001-07:00

It is starting to seem like October here on the farm. The little guineas are getting bigger-they are getting pretty well feathered and are trying out the whole flying thing.

Our shiitakes are still coming in. The logs we have are so old and crumbly, it is hard to believe they are producing anything anymore, but the weather is just perfect, and they keep on coming.

This one's a nice one

Most of the birds are in some state of molting, growing in a fresh new set of feathers for the cold weather to come. For those of you just dying to know, this is what a turkey looks like when molting.

Yark! This is an extreme case, actually. In my perfect world, there would be an on-farm spa for molting birds, with herbal wraps, meditation, warm towels and tea.

"I feel like a porcupine!"

"You're not a porcupine. Just relax, and focus on your breath...."

Then, when they are all done, they look like this.

Whoa, Mama!

using your noodle, or, What the @#*! is he up to now?

2008-10-03T05:55:00.001-07:00

...is what the neighbors might be saying. So, our packing shed is surrounded by large oak trees, and for weeks now, we have listened to acorns hitting the roof-it is so incredibly loud: ker-POW!wacka wacka wacka. They have started piling up under the low side of the roof. Well, it got the old gears crunking along, and we recalled that in the old days, folks used to let their hogs roam around in the woods and feed themselves on acorns. With the high cost of feed and all, we thought it might be a good opportunity to supplement Babe and Lyle's diet. So, Steve came up with the idea of shopvacing them up. Did it work?

Yup!

But, would our piggies like acorns? These piggies that have been spoiled on corn, apples, peaches, and the occasional chocolate chip?

Yes. Yes, they would. With some pears on the side.

why so untidy?

2008-10-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ah well, partly it is a bit of bitter humor that we always have unfinished projects laying about. And, wow, no matter how hard you try, there is always stuff that isn't tended to in a timely fashion, usually weeds. Partly, though, it is method. This is my preferred way of planting things:

In a big old blob. Rows, shmows. This is in our yard actually, but here you have rosemary, rue, chives, marjoram, and a rose. Right next door is some basil and lemon balm. When grown this way, the plants fill in each other's negative spaces and keep the weeds down.

I also like the way it looks. Functional landscaping.

When growing annuals in the field, too, I try to maximize available crop space by growing several crops in the same space. Radishes and carrots will coexist peacefully, and I had pretty good success last year growing pole beans on the stakes in between my tomatoes.

Also, I really hate to see everything perfectly mowed. This is the cause of many heated discussions throughout the growing season! I really like to leave brushy spots nearish the field as much as possible, letting the native wildflowers and grasses grow and set seed. These untidy spots attract so many butterflies, pollinators, and other beneficial insects, and snakes like to hang out in them. And snakes like mice. And mice like crops. See how that works?

Lastly, I must point out that I have the untidiest geese of all-Sebastopols.

Those long, curly feathers mean that they are naturally flightless, so as a breed, they don't feel compelled to fly away. They originated near the Black Sea, so cold weather is a joke to them! Overall, they are serene and quiet-and beautiful. When they are running around being goofy, it is the 'ghostly ballet of frolicking Sebastopols'.

The chicken and the egg

2008-10-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Seems like a good place to start a brand shiny new blog. After being part of the farm these past 4 1/2 years, I have become a bit of a poultry geek, it is true. Maybe we manage our birds differently than most, but I firmly believe that happiness=health=productivity, so I spend a lot of time observing our birds and our systems to make certain that all is harmonious and working well.

We got ourselves a nice Sportsman 180 egg cabinet incubator about a year and a half ago, and since then have hatched all our own chickens, turkeys and even geese from our parent stock here on the farm. This has given us not only the opportunity to improve the quality of our birds through selective breeding, but it increases the happiness, also. When our babies hatch, they are lifted with gentle hands to a warm comfy brooder, instead of being chucked in a box and sent through the mail. I have to think it is a much better way to start.

Although I have hatched hundreds of birds, it never ceases to seem like a miracle to me. Eggs are so elegant, and efficient. Contained within is all that is needed to make a chicken, and provide it with food and water for three more days after it hatches-this is why day old chicks may be sent through the mail. The ones that don't spend 21 days in the incubator to hatch fuzzy new babies, are one of our most perfect sources of nutrition. Eggs contain all of the essential amino acids that we need, and are the only 100% complete and utilizable source of protein we consume. It seems a shame to me that egg consumption is so important and ubiquitous, and the ladies responsible aren't shown more respect. Think good thoughts about a chicken today, please.