Today I was finishing up the fencing around the garden and needed the post driver. I thought I remembered asking Androo to take it to the barn. It was not in its accustomed place, so I called him and asked him what he did with it. He didn't really remember, but was pretty sure he put it right where I said, and seemed to remember leaning it against a wall. Neither of us thought he would have found a new place for it.
I was so frustrated! I wanted to get the job finished. It's blackout time on my biodynamic calendar, and that means leave the plants alone. Don't seed, don't weed, don't till, don't transplant. So it is the perfect time for things like fencing, fencing being inanimate last time I checked.
About that time, Verle came down to look at the cooler door in the milk room. One side isn't closing as tight as it should. I showed him the problem and excused myself to go back to the barn for one more search for the post driver. I didn't find the driver, but I found a nest with five eggs in it! The barn door has been stuck open because of snow drifts, so it would have been easy for a hen to sneak in there. I just finally got it closed again a few days ago. One of the girls lays off-white eggs, a lovely ivory color. The rest lay pure white. These were all ivory, so I think it is safe to say that it is the same chicken that has been sneaking into the barn daily.
I went back to the milk room to talk to Verle and showed him the eggs. He told me she was going to set. I said, "No, these chickens aren't broody. They won't set, and besides, I would have noticed if one of them was setting. I would have been short a chicken when I counted at night."
I really do need educating about some things. Verle said, "Oh, she won't start to set until she has twice that many eggs. She's just saving them up." Well, I never! So that's how they do it!! I put them back and tucked some loose hay into her nest, which was composed of Styrofoam packing peanuts. I think she deserves better than that, being as she is going to be a mother!
So the barn door is opened back up. This is so exciting! I didn't think I would be blessed with Golden Campine chicks. Like I said, they are not supposed to be broody - but one of them is. And they are only supposed to lay five eggs a week - but they are laying more than six on average. And everyone is surprised that I let them out to run free in snow drifts - but they loved it and dug through the drifts to get to their grubs. Hah! These are Superhens!! Ta-da!!!!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Coming attractions . . .
I got a new camera. It doesn't have all of the features I would like, but I know my budget. I opted for the best lens I could get for the money. The zoom isn't bad - much better than my old one, and it takes good pictures. I just need to finish installing software so that I can upload them into these blogs. So when I get that done, you will be able to read about these happenings.
Oh, a chicken update - the girls are laying seven to nine eggs a day. They have definitely exceeded what is to be expected for their breed. It's all those good bugs, and a lot of fresh air! Someone asked me about how they did living in the Moop in the winter. I said they didn't live in the Moop, only at night when they are locked up for protection against the predators. Every day, without fail, the door was open and they were free to roam. And roam they did. One of the reasons I got this breed is because they are supposed to be good foragers. That was no lie. Even when the snow was deep, they were out in it, scratching away until they got down to the good stuff. Yesterday it was nine eggs again. Oh, they are superstars!! :)
I am finally working down the "eggs owed" column. Those who worked on the Moop were promised eggs for their time, and I ended up with an "eggs payable" column of 1,700 eggs!! But I'm down to 1,472. One of these days . . .
- To Market, To Market - pictures of the people I work with at the market and their booths
- Tommy Goes a Courtin' - starring several Tom turkeys on a mission with the hens
- Growing the Garden - not what's growing IN the garden, but making the garden bigger
Oh, a chicken update - the girls are laying seven to nine eggs a day. They have definitely exceeded what is to be expected for their breed. It's all those good bugs, and a lot of fresh air! Someone asked me about how they did living in the Moop in the winter. I said they didn't live in the Moop, only at night when they are locked up for protection against the predators. Every day, without fail, the door was open and they were free to roam. And roam they did. One of the reasons I got this breed is because they are supposed to be good foragers. That was no lie. Even when the snow was deep, they were out in it, scratching away until they got down to the good stuff. Yesterday it was nine eggs again. Oh, they are superstars!! :)
I am finally working down the "eggs owed" column. Those who worked on the Moop were promised eggs for their time, and I ended up with an "eggs payable" column of 1,700 eggs!! But I'm down to 1,472. One of these days . . .
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Last Supper
Why is this the last supper? No, I am not going to butcher a chicken. Hopefully this is not the last day on earth for any of them. But this is their last supper in my garden - at least until next winter! They are enjoying the dormant garden ever so much -- and proving that it is not really dormant, but very much alive with little critters.
My garden has way too many grubs, but I just live with them and leave it to nature to balance things out. Now the chickens are adding to the equation, and the balanced state will look a little different - fewer grubs for one thing. It will be interesting to see if the chickens' work in the garden will have a positive effect on it.
There are broccoli plants and Asian greens ready to set out, but it would be hopeless at this time. These voracious eaters would be following me down the row gobbling up the plants and saying, "Thank you very much! What's the next course?" So the deer netting is going up tomorrow, and the dinner party at the Garden of Eden is over. They will have to go back to scrounging in the pastures.
Androo worked very hard on Friday. I wanted to extend the garden another four feet so that I can move some things into the main garden inside the fence, like strawberries and herbs, rather than having to put up fencing around many small beds that are scattered here and there. The garden is 100' long, so Androo removed the sod from a strip 4' x 100' feet, a formidable task, and then was on board to milk Friday night. He usually does my morning chores on Saturday so that I can get to market a little earlier, but I gave him the morning off because I knew he would appreciate being able to sleep in. He put in a long, hard day!
The number of plants starting in the greenhouse continues to grow. Today is a leaf day, so I put in some herbs, cabbage, and lettuce. I re-seeded lettuces that didn't germinate very well from our planting a couple of weeks ago. Old seeds --I knew they wouldn't do well, but I emptied remaining seeds from the packages into the cells and am giving them one more chance. Time to get the oldies out of the inventory.
The weather is cold, damp and windy, a very nasty combination. My wood stoves have been cold for nearly a week, but I cranked up the one in my bedroom so that I could have a warm and toasty place to go after being outside off and on all afternoon. It is good to be in my cozy house for the night.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time flies when you're having fun . . .
Last night Androo got the first of the tomato seeds into seedling trays. I'm about to go out to the greenhouse and finish the job for our first planting of tomatoes. I'm carrying 67 different varieties this year, more than usual. That is primarily a result of my seed suppliers sending more complementary seeds than usual, or because I'm phasing out some old ones, and I always try a few replacements. Next year, I will try to be back down to Heinz size again, you know, "57 varieties." ;-)
A new offering this year is a miniature bush pea plant. You supposedly can keep this on your kitchen table (if you have enough light) and it will bear a mountain of regular sized peas. I'm anxious to see if it really does. This could become a very popular addition to the lineup. My neighboring vendor started doing large bowls of cut-and-come-again lettuces, and they just fly off her shelf.
I'm already getting pre-orders. Everyone is itching to get outside. This was a nasty winter - not nearly as cold as last year, and not as much snow - but it was so DREARY! Day after day of clouds, spitting snow, misting rain mixed with sleet and ice - and that makes for winter misery.
But at last I think it is behind us. The pastures are already greening up. Last year at this time they were still under snow. I am hopeful that we will not have to buy any more hay this year, that we will eke out the last of the winter feed with the few bales we have left. The cows are already leaving the dry hay behind to wander around in the pastures for some bits of grass. I can see Paddock #5 from my office window, and it is quite green - not exactly Emerald Isle green yet, but it's moving in that direction.
The chickens are loving it too. They were all the way down into Paddocks #5 and #6 yesterday. There are a lot of trees in those two, and that means lots of leaves to scruff around in. They are really into it - leaves flying, beaks down, only to come up and let their flock mates know of a particularly good find, methinks, based on the cackling that breaks out from time to time.
This is truly a magical time here on the farm. I consider it a privilege to live here. Life is good.
Blessed be!
A new offering this year is a miniature bush pea plant. You supposedly can keep this on your kitchen table (if you have enough light) and it will bear a mountain of regular sized peas. I'm anxious to see if it really does. This could become a very popular addition to the lineup. My neighboring vendor started doing large bowls of cut-and-come-again lettuces, and they just fly off her shelf.
I'm already getting pre-orders. Everyone is itching to get outside. This was a nasty winter - not nearly as cold as last year, and not as much snow - but it was so DREARY! Day after day of clouds, spitting snow, misting rain mixed with sleet and ice - and that makes for winter misery.
But at last I think it is behind us. The pastures are already greening up. Last year at this time they were still under snow. I am hopeful that we will not have to buy any more hay this year, that we will eke out the last of the winter feed with the few bales we have left. The cows are already leaving the dry hay behind to wander around in the pastures for some bits of grass. I can see Paddock #5 from my office window, and it is quite green - not exactly Emerald Isle green yet, but it's moving in that direction.
The chickens are loving it too. They were all the way down into Paddocks #5 and #6 yesterday. There are a lot of trees in those two, and that means lots of leaves to scruff around in. They are really into it - leaves flying, beaks down, only to come up and let their flock mates know of a particularly good find, methinks, based on the cackling that breaks out from time to time.
This is truly a magical time here on the farm. I consider it a privilege to live here. Life is good.
Blessed be!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The greenhouse
We are already starting to pot up seedlings. Several trays of broccoli are sitting there, roots free to expand in the larger pots, reaching for the sun that has FINALLY shown for the past few days. I'm offering them at my Purple Porch Co-op next week. Plenty of people will be happy to nurse along a little four-pack of broccoli plants until they can be put in the ground in a few weeks. Broccoli is such a prolific plant! And so long as you pick, it will continue to bear, a real work horse. So that four-pack will probably provide enough broccoli for the average family of four for the whole summer. What a bargain!
Today is a fruit day on my biodynamic calendar, so it is time to start planting tomato seeds. And peas. I bought these nifty pea seeds that make a fat little plant that can sit in a flower pot in the house near a sunny window. It will produce peas for picking and eating as you walk by the plant. Yum!!
But the tomatoes and hot peppers are my babies. They are the ones I love to grow and raise and eat fresh and can. This year I am growing 67 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Last year I ran out of nearly all of my red tomatoes. I get carried away with black ones and orange ones and green ones and striped ones. I just love them! Not so much with my customers, so I've added several new reds to the line-up, including three new red cherry tomatoes. To my taste buds, there is no better cherry tomato than Snow White, but I guess most people associate cherry tomatoes with, well, cherry RED.
As for the hot peppers, I'm growing 20 different varieties this year. Again, I ran out of hot peppers last year, accidentally selling a tray of them that I had set aside for myself. I ended up with only one jalapeno plant. And because I cannot put anything but organic plants into my garden, I just had to do without. Needless to say, there are going to be many trays of jalapeno plants for sale this year, and my plants are going to be better marked!
Well, it's a busy day today, so I had better get on with it. Time to let out the hens and Buster. They are enjoying this warmer weather and having the snow gone. They are venturing far out into the pastures, and the egg production is up - undoubtedly a combination of longer days and more worms.
Today is a fruit day on my biodynamic calendar, so it is time to start planting tomato seeds. And peas. I bought these nifty pea seeds that make a fat little plant that can sit in a flower pot in the house near a sunny window. It will produce peas for picking and eating as you walk by the plant. Yum!!
As for the hot peppers, I'm growing 20 different varieties this year. Again, I ran out of hot peppers last year, accidentally selling a tray of them that I had set aside for myself. I ended up with only one jalapeno plant. And because I cannot put anything but organic plants into my garden, I just had to do without. Needless to say, there are going to be many trays of jalapeno plants for sale this year, and my plants are going to be better marked!
Well, it's a busy day today, so I had better get on with it. Time to let out the hens and Buster. They are enjoying this warmer weather and having the snow gone. They are venturing far out into the pastures, and the egg production is up - undoubtedly a combination of longer days and more worms.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A birthday celebration
Yesterday I went to Indianapolis to spend the afternoon and evening with my daughter and her family. Her youngest, and my youngest grandchild, was celebrating her 11th birthday. What a joyous day! How different from the day of her birth 11 years ago.
You see, Sarah has Down Syndrome. My daughter was 34, certainly not at the "dangerous" age, and there was no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. Short arms and legs are a sign that the baby may have Down Syndrome, but ultrasounds showed a baby with arms and legs of normal length. The doctor didn't take into consideration the fact that in our family, we all have very long arms and legs.
So Mike and Val found out after Sarah's birth, in the delivery room, when Valerie kept asking why everyone was so quiet, was anything wrong? Well, the answer is yes and no. Yes, she has Trisomy 21, the medical term for Down Syndrome. This means that every cell in her body, at the 21st set of chromosomes, has three chromosomes instead of a pair. Sarah has challenges. She faces a more difficult world in many ways. She had to have surgery to close a hole in her heart. She wears glasses, and her eyes tend to cross. She wore braces on her legs, then graduated to shoes with special inserts. She has had more dental work than you or I would want for our child. That's the "yes" part.
There is also a "no" part to this story. No, there is nothing wrong. Sarah is just fine, thank you very much! She is a healthy happy child with red hair and the temper to go with it, legs that are strong and sturdy (braces and shoe inserts are gone), a heart that is working just fine, and glasses that stay on her face most of the time. Oh, the bills for glasses were pretty bad for the first few years - lost, broken, left behind.
Sarah has a lot of self confidence. She reads well. She is very creative. She will never be a doctor, but then neither will I. I'm not sure what path Sarah will take as she matures, but I know it will include bossing people around.
Here is my favorite Sarah story. This happened about five years ago, on a hot summer day sitting around the pool. Sarah had just learned to sing Pop Goes the Weasel. She went up to a total stranger, a woman, and said, "Let's dance!" She and the woman danced in a circle together while Sarah stumbled through the words, pretty unintelligible, but the lady got the drift and began singing with her. Then Sarah saw another woman and said to her, "Come on. Dance!" So the three of them began circling and singing. Then Sarah stepped back from the circle, put the two women's hands together, said, "Now you dance!" and walked off! I still laugh out loud thinking of that. Social director in the making, perhaps?
Yesterday when I went out to meet Sarah as she got off the bus, I hugged her and impulsively said, "Sarah, I am so glad you were born."
"Thank you, Gramma," she said.
Later, over dinner, one of our guests (a teacher from her school) said, "Sarah, what a wonderful day it was when you were born!"
My son-in-law Mike looked across the table at Sarah at one point and said to her, "Sarah, it was such a great day when you were born!"
My daughter said it with her eyes, and the lovely smile on her face, "I'm glad you were born, Sarah!"
That seemed to be the theme of the day, this realization from all of us that we are so GLAD that she was born!
Oh, yes, it was a great day, a very great day, and my daughter's love and devotion to HER daughter is so much of the reason that all of us can say that now, eleven years later, after all of the trials and tribulations that accompanied Sarah's birth and the early years of her life. Yes, Sarah, we are all so glad you were born.
You see, Sarah has Down Syndrome. My daughter was 34, certainly not at the "dangerous" age, and there was no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. Short arms and legs are a sign that the baby may have Down Syndrome, but ultrasounds showed a baby with arms and legs of normal length. The doctor didn't take into consideration the fact that in our family, we all have very long arms and legs.
So Mike and Val found out after Sarah's birth, in the delivery room, when Valerie kept asking why everyone was so quiet, was anything wrong? Well, the answer is yes and no. Yes, she has Trisomy 21, the medical term for Down Syndrome. This means that every cell in her body, at the 21st set of chromosomes, has three chromosomes instead of a pair. Sarah has challenges. She faces a more difficult world in many ways. She had to have surgery to close a hole in her heart. She wears glasses, and her eyes tend to cross. She wore braces on her legs, then graduated to shoes with special inserts. She has had more dental work than you or I would want for our child. That's the "yes" part.
There is also a "no" part to this story. No, there is nothing wrong. Sarah is just fine, thank you very much! She is a healthy happy child with red hair and the temper to go with it, legs that are strong and sturdy (braces and shoe inserts are gone), a heart that is working just fine, and glasses that stay on her face most of the time. Oh, the bills for glasses were pretty bad for the first few years - lost, broken, left behind.
Sarah has a lot of self confidence. She reads well. She is very creative. She will never be a doctor, but then neither will I. I'm not sure what path Sarah will take as she matures, but I know it will include bossing people around.
Here is my favorite Sarah story. This happened about five years ago, on a hot summer day sitting around the pool. Sarah had just learned to sing Pop Goes the Weasel. She went up to a total stranger, a woman, and said, "Let's dance!" She and the woman danced in a circle together while Sarah stumbled through the words, pretty unintelligible, but the lady got the drift and began singing with her. Then Sarah saw another woman and said to her, "Come on. Dance!" So the three of them began circling and singing. Then Sarah stepped back from the circle, put the two women's hands together, said, "Now you dance!" and walked off! I still laugh out loud thinking of that. Social director in the making, perhaps?
Yesterday when I went out to meet Sarah as she got off the bus, I hugged her and impulsively said, "Sarah, I am so glad you were born."
"Thank you, Gramma," she said.
Later, over dinner, one of our guests (a teacher from her school) said, "Sarah, what a wonderful day it was when you were born!"
My son-in-law Mike looked across the table at Sarah at one point and said to her, "Sarah, it was such a great day when you were born!"
My daughter said it with her eyes, and the lovely smile on her face, "I'm glad you were born, Sarah!"
That seemed to be the theme of the day, this realization from all of us that we are so GLAD that she was born!
Oh, yes, it was a great day, a very great day, and my daughter's love and devotion to HER daughter is so much of the reason that all of us can say that now, eleven years later, after all of the trials and tribulations that accompanied Sarah's birth and the early years of her life. Yes, Sarah, we are all so glad you were born.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Refreshed and renewed
I spent the weekend at a woman's conference in Milwaukee. What an experience! Our keynote speaker was Starhawk, a magnetic and powerful woman, and the subject was "Nurturing Ourselves, Sustaining Our World." Of course that dovetails nicely with so much of what I believe in - this farm, my use of sustainable farming methods, my belief that the answer to most if not all of our world's problems lies in moving away from monolithic institutions and back towards micro farms and micro businesses.
It is good to hear my beliefs confirmed, and it was good to learn so many new things. Each of us had the opportunity to attend two workshops. My morning workshop was fun - how movement affects our brain, you know, dance to stay young, that sort of thing.
The afternoon workshop was how to use wild herbs (better known as weeds to many) to nourish ourselves. If our leader was any indication of how we could expect to feel as we introduce more wild food into our diets, then I'm on board! She had long thick hair, skin that glowed. Eighty-two acres here, every imaginable weed and wild vegetable growing underfoot, and it is time to start taking advantage of that. With the exception of stumbling onto a morel mushroom now and then and harvesting a little ramp each spring, I ignore what is out there for the most part.
I got a book at the conference that will help me do a better job of identifying plants. I also get a lot of help from Bob, who works for a large native plant nursery and knows more about plants than anyone I know. He comes out here from time to time to walk through my woods.
Soon the redbud trees will be blooming. The first time he was here, he said, "You know, these blossoms are really very tasty." He proceeded to strip a handful of blooms from a branch and pop them in his mouth. Yup, they are very tasty. Who knew? He showed me wild ginger and ramp, showed me what an Indiana banana tree looks like, and pointed out mushrooms that were edible. That brings to mind an old saying - there are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are NO OLD, BOLD mushroom hunters. Point taken. I will leave the bold mushroom hunting to others and stick with my morels and the big white ones that look like volley balls. (Do you understand now why I am not the best person to go 'shrooming with?)
My enthusiasm runs high - TOO high - at this time of year, so I am tempering my desire to become a botanist and settling for taking a little more time to walk in the woods, and to get a lesson or two about all that grows here from Bob when he has some time this spring.
It is good to hear my beliefs confirmed, and it was good to learn so many new things. Each of us had the opportunity to attend two workshops. My morning workshop was fun - how movement affects our brain, you know, dance to stay young, that sort of thing.
The afternoon workshop was how to use wild herbs (better known as weeds to many) to nourish ourselves. If our leader was any indication of how we could expect to feel as we introduce more wild food into our diets, then I'm on board! She had long thick hair, skin that glowed. Eighty-two acres here, every imaginable weed and wild vegetable growing underfoot, and it is time to start taking advantage of that. With the exception of stumbling onto a morel mushroom now and then and harvesting a little ramp each spring, I ignore what is out there for the most part.
I got a book at the conference that will help me do a better job of identifying plants. I also get a lot of help from Bob, who works for a large native plant nursery and knows more about plants than anyone I know. He comes out here from time to time to walk through my woods.
Soon the redbud trees will be blooming. The first time he was here, he said, "You know, these blossoms are really very tasty." He proceeded to strip a handful of blooms from a branch and pop them in his mouth. Yup, they are very tasty. Who knew? He showed me wild ginger and ramp, showed me what an Indiana banana tree looks like, and pointed out mushrooms that were edible. That brings to mind an old saying - there are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are NO OLD, BOLD mushroom hunters. Point taken. I will leave the bold mushroom hunting to others and stick with my morels and the big white ones that look like volley balls. (Do you understand now why I am not the best person to go 'shrooming with?)
My enthusiasm runs high - TOO high - at this time of year, so I am tempering my desire to become a botanist and settling for taking a little more time to walk in the woods, and to get a lesson or two about all that grows here from Bob when he has some time this spring.
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