Off The Farm

For the first time in months, we took a weekend away from the farm and visited our sons in Charlotte, N.C. It was a wonderful weekend of sleeping in (something we never get to do) and eating out (also a rare treat). We spent the weekend catching up with great conversation and lots of laughter.

I wanted you to meet the newest member of our family....Sam. Sam is their new dog. He is a 14 week old Lab/Golden mix (they think) from the pound. He is doing great with the house training and already knows to sit on command. What a smart boy!!

We tried to sneak Sam into our suitcase to bring him home, but the boys wouldn't let us have him. We can't wait for Thanksgiving, when they all come to the farm for a visit....with Sam, too!

Guinea Update

This past summer's guinea keats are all now full grown and spending their days doing that guinea "thing".

At this point, I can honestly say that their "training" has paid off. For the past week, now, they have routinely returned to their house to roost at sunset.

You might remember that we tried training them to return home for a tasty treat of white

millet each evening when the light turned on in their house. At first they were afraid of the millet (something new to them always elicits a fear response), but after about 10 days (this seems like the magic number for guineas) they were obviously delighted at the sight of the treat.

So, now each day the routine is to open their house first thing in the morning.

They eventually all work their way out and about for a day of bug hunting in and around the goat pens. They still have not become terribly adventurous and spend their days no further than 20 yards from their house. The good news is, though, that each evening they make their way back into their house to roost. This affords them the necessary protection from predators at night.

So, I am happy to say that, for now at least, the guineas were trainable. Months and months of training have paid off. But then again, tomorrow IS another day. And for 20 birds with only half a brain amongst them, the future is always tenuous.

For those of you who think you might like to train your guineas....have patience....and don't rest on your laurels.....you never know what tomorrow will bring.

MoJo Found His MOJO!

Happily, I can report that our little MoJo has bred with Sissy. Was it successful?....only time will tell. I thought at first that our stealthy little fellow viewed mating as a "covert op", but today he was caught in the act several times. Sissy is "in season" so she is a very willing partner. They spent the better part of the day in courting rituals, chasing each other around....going "steady" as we used to call it.

Oh, how I hate to break it to Sissy, that as soon as O'Malley is "in",

Sissy will be yesterday's news.

For now, I won't burst her bubble!

Do you remember little Kramer from last Spring's kids?

Here is a picture of him then......

and now.....Becky had the opportunity to snap a picture of him this week as she was at his new home doing a veterinary visit. Wow, has he grown up!!

Breathtaking

I had to share this evening's view from our back deck.

Here is the scene.....the air is crisp and cool; the smell is that wonderful autumnal scent of decaying leaves and wood fires in distant stoves; the only sound is the "who,who,who-hoooooo" of a great horned owl calling to his mate. This sunset is right at the top of the top 10 sunsets list! I hope wherever you are, that you had the opportunity to see this spectacular close to another perfect day here in that paradise we call planet Earth.

I'm A Believer!

Well, who would have guessed that after months of therapy, daily massages, yoga classes and a whole foods diet, that our hens would finally begin to lay again. Yes, we are finally getting 20+ eggs a day from our thirty old layers.

I am guessing that it was the therapy that finally got the gals back in the groove....or was it that talk that I had with Elvis...you know the one....where I just happened to mention chicken stew. Unfortunately, though, in order to pay off our enormous therapy bill (we submitted the bill to our health insurance, but they rejected it!) we will have to start charging $25.99 per dozen eggs. Well, perhaps we will have to market them as "stress-free" chicken eggs!

Seriously though, what I have learned is this: chickens do stop laying when they moult...and it takes a bit of a while for them to get back in the groove. Coincidentally, though, they stopped laying right after we had a neighbor's dog attack and kill several of their friends. We had blamed post traumatic stress disorder for their lack of laying. So, the mystery still remains....was it the moult, or PTSD. Gosh, with what we paid in therapy bills, I sure hope it wasn't just the moult!

Whatever the cause, I am just glad to see these girls hard at work again!! Keep it up girls, you have to make up for quite a deficit!

It's a Mystery

A couple of days ago, while I was feeding my youngest flock of chickens,

I heard a familiar sound from inside their henhouse.

It was the sound of a young rooster, trying out his cock-a-doodle.

Now, I was quite shocked to hear this sound from this particular bunch of chickens.

I had been quite sure that they were all females.

That was, afterall, what I had ordered.

I realize that with each order, they ship two extra chickens that are surprise chickens

and in this particular order,

I had thought that my surprises were the two Transylvanian Naked Neck chickens.

It seems, however, that there is a third surprise somewhere amidst my flock.

Yesterday I decided to solve this mystery and sat down inside the chicken yard. I summoned my best "cock-a-doodle-do" as an invitation for mimicry....but no sound met my call. I tried over and over.....silence. No one was talking. I asked Babs if she knew who the rooster was...

but, she wasn't talking.

Is it you?

How about you two?

Does anyone know who it is?

I suspect that this might be the fellow. His comb is much redder and larger than any of the others. I also caught him doing a little rooster-type posturing out in the chicken yard. Time will tell. It is hard to disguise a rooster once he's mature.

Goat Herding

This weekend we moved our bucks into one of the big pastures...to serve as their winter home. Imagine this scene: It is 24 degrees out, 7 AM. Becky, Jack and I meet at the goat pens that are situated between our two properties. The smell of stinky bucks hangs in the air...even in the cold. Becky opens the gate to the bucks pen and lures them out with the ever tasty Ritz crackers. Jack's job is to stand at the high end of the goat pens with pine branches in each hand to act as arm extenders (making him look truly scarey and a deterrent to goats who think they might run in the wrong direction. My job, as usual, is that of camera crew. With very little difficulty (except for the fact that Chip took off and ran laps around the fenced in area with Jack chasing behind) the boys were herded to their new home. Almost made me want to yodel!!

Earlier this week, Becky and I led the does and the wethers up to the goat yards on her property. This will be their winter home (the delivery room and nursery are there...so they will winter there in preparation for spring kidding season). The bucks will winter in a larger pasture that has a large run-in shed for shelter.

Once the bucks were introduced to their new home, we led MoJo (this summer's buckling acquisition....our newest little stud) up to the upper pen with the does and wethers. His job over the next couple of weeks will be to mate with O'Malley and Sissy. You can see that he was a little reluctant to leave his buddies. But, once he reached the does, he quickly forgot what he had left behind.... and started to reacquaint himself with the girls and guys.

He and Forest did a little dominance posturing. It didn't take long for MoJo to discover the girls on the other side of the fence.Now we will see if he can figure out the rest of his job. After a day of courting through the fence, MoJo joined Sissy and O'Malley in the same pen. Forest is with them...to run interference. Let's hope MoJo finds his MOJO!!!!

Sleep Tight, Strawberries

Temperatures are dropping. Nightly lows are consistently in the low 30's. It is time to put the strawberries to bed for the winter....snugly tucked in beneath a blanket of straw. I have read that strawberries can tolerate frost, but when temperatures dip into the 20's, they need a bit of insulation. I set out to do this task earlier this week. As usual, I had lots of help.

Tom Tom, in his typical fashion was in the midst of the action.

Sadie scowled and reminded him not to play with sharp objects.

Is there anything more fun than wrestling with a bunch of twine?

Of course.....wrestling with your brother!!

Eight bales of straw later, all of the plants were safely tucked away. Amazingly, some still have blossoms. You've gotta love those ever-bearing strawberries...they produce for months and months.

Five or so months from now, I will remove this straw, do a spring weeding and transplant this year's runners.....ensuring the health of the strawberry patch for yet another year.

We love our strawberries. Most become "low sugar" preserves that we add to our homemade yogurt....yummy!

Babies On Board!!

Happy news for Bee Haven Acres: Missy and Myrtle are pregnant!

You might remember a post from about two months ago, when we led our bucks, kicking and screaming, down to the yard closer to the gals. Here is Smoochie in an act of protest.

We put Chip and Missy together, and Myrtle with Smoochie. Smoochie was quite the gentleman and kindly got to work....in a rather gentle fashion.

Chip, on the other hand was a bit rough with Missy

and she appeared to not care too much for him.

As a result, we weren't sure that Missy had actually been bred.

Becky and I did an ultrasound pregnancy check on both does yesterday. Becky handled the technical aspect. I kept the goats quiet with the ever-popular Ritz crackers (the all-time goat favorite) and recorded the event by camera. Becky shaved a spot on their abdomen, applied the KY and moved the Ultrasound wand around.....and found.......

Myrtle is pregnant with triplets.

Here is a picture of one of her fetuses....you can see its head and spinal cord (looks like a tail).

Good job, Myrtle!!! Missy was next....shave, KY....a quick look around revealed......

twins!! (yes, I know...it just looks like a blob)

Way to go girls (and guys, too)!

Next it is time to mate O'Malley and Sissy with our little MoJo....sure hope he's up for the task. So far he has shown no interest in girls. I suppose he is at that "girls are yucky" stage of adolescence. Keep your fingers crossed.....time will tell.

Winterizing Bee Hives

It's that time of year...time to put certain parts of the farm to bed for the winter. Each autumn around this time....before the winds turn too cold, we do a final inspection of our hives and get them winterized. Yesterday I had a bit of help....my daughter. Check her out in her bee suit....

I open each hive and inspect its health and strength, remove any supers that are empty, remove the queen excluder and place a top feeder on the top beneath the inner cover. This feeder is filled with sugar syrup (that I made this morning) and will serve to feed the bees...helping to make their honey stores stretch a bit further.

I use black roofing paper as a blanket around the hives. The black helps to absorb the warmth of the winter sun and also acts as a wind break for those cold winter winds.

I also turn my entrance reducers to the smallest opening.

This year has been a learning experience for me....and one of the things I learned is that my bees did not like the supers above the queen excluders. In the two hives that I used queen excluders, there was absolutely no activity above the excluders....no comb being drawn or anything. The hives without excluders did much better....and ended up with larger honey stores.

Of course, while we were working on the hives, TomTom was busy supervising....from a safe distance!!

Growing, Growing, Growing...

Happily, those lettuce and spinach seeds that I planted last Wednesday have germinated and are growing like weeds (oh I hope there are no weeds in my indoor beds....I just couldn't take that after this past summer!) The lettuce germinated in 2 days....I am sure due to the heat mats.

(lettuce at 3 days)

The spinach took 4 days.

Oh, I can hardly wait for some home grown salad!! I will start a few more flats as soon as these have a strong foothold.

(lettuce at 5 days)

The Great Free-Ranging Escapade

Well, Saturday was the big day. Since the fancy chickens are full grown and laying now, we decided to allow them to free range around the farm in the afternoons when they are finished laying. They have complete freedom until roosting time (nightfall) when hopefully they return to their henhouse and snuggle in for the night. Hubbs and I opened their gate and slowly most of them made their way out.

Rod Stewart is a pro now. He has taken to roosting at night on a low branch of a red maple that grows right next to the barn, behind the chicken coop.

Most of the fancies make their way back into their henhouse to roost at night. However a few need to be rounded up and placed back in the house. Hubbs thinks that those top hats impede their vision and make it hard for them to see the door to their house. We'll have to see if they get any better at this with time. It's always something! Hubbs says our farm is one big biology experiment.

(Yes, O'Malley is really wearing that hat.... it's not Photo-shopped. She actually ate her breakfast with that hat on! Such a sweet goat.)

Crazy Roosters

This story is unedited and told in the words of a very little horse-boy named Ollie. If you've ever had little boys, you will remember that they have their own unique sense of humor.

Hello everybody! My name is Oliver Twist....but everybody calls me Ollie. I am Red's little brother and I am just 4 months old. Last weekend, when Red got to tell you a story, I asked my Mom, "Hey Mom, how comes I don't get to tell stories to the nice people like Red and Sissy do?" And Mom said that next time there was a very special tale to tell, I could tell it. So, here I am today and I am going to tell you a story. ("Pssst, Mom, [whispering] what story am I going to tell???") Oh, yea, I am going to tell you about our crazy roosters. Mom wanted to call this story "Pecking (Dis)Order" but I wanted to call it "Crazy Roosters". Well, since it is my story, I get to name it!Ok, here goes....[deep breath]

It was another rainy morning ("Psssst, Mom, what morning was it?") Oh, yea, it was Thursday. The morning chores were going much like all mornings. We Littles helped Mom clean up the Big's poop (heeheee, I said "poop")...we like to help.

When we were finished, we ate our breakfast and Mom went to the fancy chicken's house to do some clean-up. She keeps all the chicken houses very clean so that the cute little eggs that they lay land in clean bedding and not poopy bedding (heehee, I said "poopy"). ("Sorry, Mom") Anyways, all of a sudden out came Mom and she was carrying Phillip; we call him Rod Stewart. It seems that lately, Rod Stewart has been hiding in the corner of the henhouse trying to avoid that mean old Hank. Rod Stewart is scared of Hank, cause Hank is a bully.

Well, Mom decided that the only way to give Rod Stewart a good life, free from Hank, was to let him run free outside of the fancy's yard. She says that eventually they will all run free during the day....but not quite yet (they just started laying eggs, and she wants them to get used to laying them in their nesting boxes).

At first Rod Stewart seemed a little freaked out. But he soon relaxed and set off to explore the farm. He headed up to the grape arbor....followed by a very curious Tom Tom.
Rod Stewart ran into the dry lot where Red was running and playing and Red chased him. It was so funny, and Mom tried to get a picture but it didn't turn out. Well, Rod Stewart flew out of the dry lot in a hurry. Red didn't mean to scare him, he just wanted to play with his new friend.

He spent the rest of the morning exploring the farm....with Tom Tom close behind....his own personal body guard!
Ok, that's my story. And now Mom says I have to go take a nap. So I will say goodbye. Maybe I can tell you another story again some time ("Can I Mom, can I?")

Winter Gardening

Every year, by the end of winter, you will hear me say how I long to get my fingers back into the soil again. We have a 6 month gardening season here in PA....definitely not long enough to suit me. But this is the trade off when you live in an area with dramatic season changes. And I love the changing seasons...so PA is where I will stay.

All summer long we enjoy the fruits of our labor with large quantities of home grown fruits and vegetables. What we don't grow, we buy from local farmers. But in the winter, well, that is a different story. Nothing is grown locally in the winter, so we are left with buying what is offered in the supermarket and eating what we have "put up" over the summer. Usually I have lots of frozen carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower.

The problem is: Hubbs and I are big salad eaters. In the summer we grow our own lettuce and spinach. In the winter we have nothing available but those big plastic vats of organic baby lettuces. They are shipped in from California and southern states....which means a big carbon expense to the environment....not to mention un-recyclable plastic containers.

This winter I have decided to try my hand at indoor gardening.

Hubbs set up old storage shelves equipped with grow lights in our basement. Here is where I will attempt to grow our fresh leafy greens for the coming winter.

I sorted through my seed packs and pulled out those that I thought would be good for indoor gardening.

I bought a few heat mats....to speed up germination.
Then I filled a few open flats (with drainage holes) with organic potting soil and set each inside of a flat with no drainage holes. These flats were seeded with a variety of lettuces and spinach.
A few clay pots were seeded with herbs.
Everything was placed on heating mats and set beneath a grow light.
Each container is labelled...
Now I will mist each container with a generous amount of water daily (maybe twice daily)...and wait. I will post pictures when the begin to germinate.

This was such a satisfying project for a cold, rainy, day!

In case you are interested in starting your own indoor garden. Here are a few tips:

You can purchase "Grow Lights" that are sold for that purpose, but they are a bit pricey. Or....you can just purchase 48 inch shop lights that plug in. You will want to make sure that they take the same gauge fluorescent tube as your fluorescent grow bulbs. These are all readily found at your local hardware or lighting store.

You will need to water more often than you do for outside gardening....as the dry winter heat of your house will dry out your containers quite quickly. Draping clear plastic sheeting over your shelving will help to keep the humidity in...much like a greenhouse.

Use potting soil, not soil from outside.

Provide warmth to encourage germination....especially if you are doing this project in your basement or other cooler area of the house.

You can plant seeds that have shallow root systems such as lettuces, spinach, herbs and such. I am also trying a few clay pots with cucumbers. If your pots are deep enough you can grow peppers and small tomato plants. I plan to experiment throughout the coming months.

Nighttime Tuck-In

It is seven o'clock and the sun has long since set beyond the horizon. No remnants of its light are left in this part of the world. Tonight the moon is hidden behind a solid wall of rain clouds. I pull on my muck boots as I do every night at this time. Tonight, however, a rain slicker and hat are part of the uniform. I grab my lantern and call out for the dogs. "Hey girls, anyone want to go tuck in the birds with me?" Maddie's reply is best illustrated by this picture.....

Sadie follows me into the garage, but seeing the rain, remains within the shelter of the house.

So, off into the night I go alone.

When I get to the barn the kitties are all nestled in for the night. Ella Bella and TomTom are quite toasty under their heat lamps. TomTom looks at me and yawns...

And Bobby in his thick winter coat is curled up in the feed room.

It seems that tonight's activity is sleep. Even the Littles are stretched out in the thick pine shaving that lines the floor of their stall....peacefully slumbering. Oh how I wish I were snuggled up in a warm bed instead of out in this damp, dark, dreary night!

I head out to close up each of the henhouses...each glowing red from their prospective heat lamps. The chickens and guineas are all quietly roosting for the night. The goats have sought shelter from the rain within their houses....quietly munching on hay.

Night time is such a peaceful time on the farm....and sleep is a universal need. Besides, what else is there to do on such a drizzly night. And so I head back to the house...the finish of another day...with the promise of a warm bed awaiting me also.

A New Tale

Congratulations are in order!

Our Doctor Becky has published another book.

This time her book is a work of fiction....for adolescent and teen girls who love horses.

From the back cover.....

"Amanda Wilkes has her summer completely planned - work at the veterinary hospital, ride at Rough and Ready Stable, and hang out with her best friend Samantha. But when she loses her job to the boss's nephew and Samantha takes a position as a working student in another state, Amanda realizes that this summer is going to be anything but predictable.

Before leaving town, Samantha asks Amanda to promise her two things. The first request is that Amanda takes care of Samantha's new upper level event horse prospect, Indefensible. While a talented and fearless jumper, "Indy" has the reputation of being unpredictable and a danger to his rider. amanda is thrilled to have the chance to work with the horse as she has been in love with him since the first time she saw him. However, she soon learns that her love is not enough to prevent Indy's bad behavior from surfacing.

Samantha's second request is that Amanda be kind to Justin, the pre-vet student who took her position at the veterinary hospital. Having sworn to hate the person who took her job, Amanda is dismayed to find herself drawn to the handsome and charming Justin, and with the encouragement of her friends and family, she begins to develop a relationship with him that goes beyond simple friendship.

As she struggles with her feelings of loneliness in Samantha's absence and the mixed emotions of her first real love interest, Amanda struggles to unravel the source of and cure for Indy's dangerous behavior. She knows that his future as an event horse can only be secured if he becomes a safe, relable mount and she will soon discover that his very life depends upon it."

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this book, please email me.

The price is $12.00 plus shipping.

If you are interested in having it autographed, let me know.

A Quiet Weekend

Good morning, everybody! Big Red here to tell you about our weekend. It was a pretty typical weekend without any unusual excitement. Ollie and I spent a few hours each day in the pasture. Saturday it poured on us and gave us quite a shower. We didn't mind though, as our winter coats have grown in and are quite thick and insulating. Sunday the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. We had some company on Sunday. Our friend Kimbra brought her doggie nephew Koby to visit us. He wouldn't look me in the eye....maybe he thought that if he couldn't see me, I wasn't there!
He wouldn't look at Ollie, either.....

Seems he only had eyes for Babs.....silly puppy!

A Few Tails

Finally, the day has arrived.

The fancy chickens have begun laying.....the teeniest, tiniest, little eggs.

7 eggs were laid this first day.

Hooray!!! Good work girls.

Did I mention that I accompanied Doctor Becky on a Vet call....to check and vaccinate a littler of Welsh Corgi pups? Oh, did I mention that I was thinking I might like a Welsh Corgi pup? No? Well....here is a little girl that almost stole my heart.....and no, I did not bring her home. I practiced great restraint, because I still am not sure what breed I want. Perhaps just a mutt....I would feel great about a rescue dog. But still.....isn't she adorable? How about a closer look... I thought I would give you a glimpse of exercise time at the Fat Farm. As I mentioned before, the Bigs are on a bit of a diet...trying to shed a few pounds that they put on eating that rich grass all summer. Because we are in the midst of a wonderful Indian Summer this week, I have been walking them up to our arena almost daily for a little exercise. The great thing about the arena is the lack of vegetation. So, they can run and kick up their heels with no grass to tempt them. And boy do they kick up their heels. I love the sound of thundering hooves!That is Doctor Becky's roof that you see in this picture. She has a log home, also....a nice walk through the woods from our home.

Weeding the Strawberry Patch.....With Help

It is time to get the strawberries ready to tuck in for the Winter. By the time the temperatures dip into the 20's I will need to have the strawberry patch weeded and all of the plants covered with a blanket of straw.

Seeing my presence in the garden.....my help comes running....down the lane....
....and in through the garden gate.
....a little stop to rub against the Trug Tub (gardening essential!!)...

.....stopping for a little scratch.....oooooo, yea, right there, that's it!.....
Now down to business....nothing like the shade of a shovel for a little nap.
Ok, TomTom...let go of my camera strap.

Believe it or not, we actually did get a little weeding done!