Wandering mind

There are days like today when working off the farm is extremely difficult.  Even after a morning low temperature of twenty below zero, the sun came out and temperatures reached well into the teens this afternoon.  While many may consider teens intolerable, after double digits below zero with double digit wind speeds to match over the weekend, high teens is WARM.

For the second year in a row a good snow pack and below normal temperatures have inhibited progress on outdoor projects.  Looking out from my office window as I shuffled papers from in progress to completed and billed, I thought about the greenhouse and how today's sunshine and warm temperatures would allow for some melting around the base if only I were there to remove the top layers of snow.  This warmer weather also might entice our pampered birds out from inside their coop if I could get out and clear some snow from on top of and inside their run.

I turned back to my billing for the items which we moved from their origin to their destination, then proceeded on to monthly statistics.  When I broke for lunch and warmed up last night's supper of shepherd's pie - made with local potatoes and squash from last year's garden - my mind wandered to fences.  Some to keep the chickens out of the garden and some to keep this spring's feeder pigs separate from the boar we bought last year.  The plan is to raise one to trade for half a cow and keep the second for a breeding sow.  While the walking would be a little difficult, the sun would be shining on the pig's pasture right about now and it is pretty well protected from the wind.  Any leftovers from the fence material could go to the minor repairs needed on the smaller of the pig shelters.

Stepping outside for a few minutes of fresh air was probably the nail in the coffin of productivity today.  It was all I could do not to keep walking towards my car - after all my keys and wallet were already in my pocket.  Reluctantly I headed back inside and answered the phone and updated my databases and did a little more billing, all the while the mind was 23 miles northeast of my current physical location mentally working through all the projects which have only seen slow progress; all done in fifteen minute segments before my fingers froze or the skin on my face started turning white from the early stages of frost bite.

As I traveled those miles home with the sun dipping below the hills to my west, I thought about the future of our farm and whether or not my dream of being home when Little man gets off the school bus each day is financially possible.  Being met at the door by a toddler with the story of four-wheeling down by the landing where my cousin is logging on the family's land recharges the desire and fuels the enthusiasm which started this humble homestead in the first place.

Sitting next to the tub while stories of swimming in the lake this summer spill forth from Little man's imagination, I am planning the framing for the revised greenhouse and perhaps scheduling a day off from off-farm employment to work on farm projects.

If only cats were good at taping

One of the projects that was on the to-do list for this summer was to tear out and re-insulate the south wall in our kitchen.  Last year the frost built up on and around the windows and when the breezes came from the south we couldn't leave a candle burning near or on the window sill as it would not stay lit.

One weekend was allotted to complete the majority of this project, demolition, insulation and sheet rock.  In early August the plaster and lath was torn out from the wall and we discovered that the windows were installed without headers or sills - this does not make for very strong construction.  I build sturdy, but never seem to achieve square or plumb.  The headers and sills would have to wait until I had some help. 

Late in September, my father came to visit and he took one of his valuable vacation days to re-frame around the front door and the two south facing windows.   A friend and contractor was enlisted to install the sliding glass door.  Then the door was delayed.  Three to four days turned into weeks and bow-hunting season was looming, scheduled to start at the beginning of October.  The door arrived two days before he was headed into the woods.

Then it started to rain.  One thing that you generally try to avoid is having a huge hole in the side of your house when the rain is pouring in from the east.  It dried up slightly and between rain drops, even though it was hunting season, he came to the house and installed our new door.  Two days later the rain stopped long enough for him to return and repair the sheathing, install the flashing and trim out the door.  Sheet rock and insulation went in the day before my birthday and the first coat of taping was completed last week.  

The weather has turned damp and cold this week.  I was able to scrape enough money together to get a delivery of propane and the wall is closed up so that we can turn the heat on.  Our weekend project took the path of many of the projects that are tackled on this farm.  Now just over two months later there remains another coat of taping, priming, paint and re-installation of the trim boards.  But the house is warm for the time being and the rest will get done as time permits.  If only Patches could yield a putty knife as well as she holds the ladder still.

The weather is starting to turn

Meteorologists are threatening, several days in advance so I am not sure how much is actual predictions or more hype/hope, our first winter storm.  Preparations for a cold, snowy winter continue as we put away chicken tractors, stack pallets collected free from the road sides, pull the last of the weeds from beds long unattended, collect radish seed pods, and check on the sugar beets that will be over wintered for Spring piglets. 

These next couple days will include the last push to ensure that the important tasks are attended to before the possibility of our first real snow -  the lawn tractor will go in the barn, perhaps some of the floor boards can be moved around so a couple of the tractor attachments can go in there as well; if not, I will be scavenging old tarps to cover them where they lay.  Items stored in the barn are lost to us for the winter season as snow from most of the front of the old dairy barn falls in front of the door; what doesn't fall there naturally is deposited there to allow regular access the area of the barn that my uncle and cousin use as their workshop. 

Discussions of where to store currently empty rabbit cages included the feasibility of getting the cages up the inside stairs or risk having to chop ice from the exterior entrance to the basement should we need more room for growing bunnies.  The last of the plastic will be removed from the hoop-style greenhouse to allow for quick excavation of snow later this winter and easy application of new plastic for early garden starts.  We had hoped to have the plastic on before the snow arrived, but heating fuel and electricity take precedence when you have an 11-month old.

Avenues where snow is typically piled will be weed whacked, dried hydrangea stems and overgrown grass removed along with any other possible hang-ups for the plow.  A lonely perennial shrub will be carefully protected from falling ice off the roof and brushes with the plow by an A-frame of plywood.  I do not own a plow rig and my small Kubota, while it could clear the entire 1/3 mile driveway, would not do well with repeated abuse of that type all winter long.  My cousin and my uncle, who are also my closest neighbors, do most of the plowing with my husband and I to clean up immediately around the house.  When there is some extra cash on hand, a plow rig is on the wish list and perhaps I can repay some of that favor; until then I am extremely thankful for all that they do here.

One more immediate task is to eradicate the family of mice/rats who have decided that snuggling in with the rabbits for the winter is a good idea.  They have started collecting hay and hair from around the cages and are making a nest somewhere underneath the shelves at the back of the garage.  We can hear them scratching and packing when we open the door to the garage.  Traps will be set and if those don't work then I may resort to chemical warfare.  Feed costs are high enough right now, I don't need to be feeding those destructive little critters.

In between there will be the regular chores of cleaning out the rabbit cages, scooping the litter box, burning the few remaining piles of brush (now that there is a light coating of snow on the ground), cleaning out the chicken coop, vacuuming, dishes, etc.  Perhaps there will even be time to add some more products to the website.

Last night I made a great quick side dish of cheddar broccoli macaroni, I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Living in fear of a kitchen appliance

"Hello, My name is Jennifer and I am afraid of my pressure canner."

I stand in front of you and admit my fear.  Now I need to face it head on and hope I don't blow up the house or send fragments of metal across my kitchen.  I actually have two, one that was my grandmother's for which I have purchased a new rubber seal and an instruction manual.  The other is tiny, meant for quick cooking single servings of meals and such.

We have been blessed with an abundance of green and wax beans this summer.  Later tonight or tomorrow we will be pulling all the plants and harvesting the beans.  DH has frozen several batches already and with designs to use what remains of my freezer space, I have to seek other options for items that cannot be canned using a water bath.  I made this mistake with carrots a few years back - DO NOT open a jar of carrots after four months that has been water bath canned. 

Yesterday I was talking with a colleague who uses her pressure canner all the time and she assures me that it is extremely easy to use.  They can green beans every year and she does it herself now when all canning used to be done in the company and under the tutelage of her mother.

Sometime between baking apple pies, berry pies, squash pies, whoopie pies, breads, and a couple more dessert items  for farmers market; I will be attempting to use my pressure canner for the first time.
Wish me luck!

So many projects, so little time

Do you ever get the feeling that when you start one project that you end up doing six others before you start the project you had planned on doing first?  That seems to happen all the time here at the farm.

Fall clean up begins (a little late)

Life on the farm continues, albeit with a few brief interruptions.  There are certain days when you plan ahead, you have your list, all your supplies, and even back up parts and fluid for all the equipment you plan to use.  Everything is ready, you have had a great breakfast, several cups of coffee, the temperature outside is perfect, the sun is shining, and you are all ready to go.  Ring Ring…

Thinking nothing of it you answer the phone.  And there goes that days plans.  Pack a bag, make frantic phone calls to see who can take the dog and care for the birds, especially the brand new little ones which require feeding and watering twice a day.  One the road we go.  Five days later, everyone on the mend, the list has grown longer but the farm is still here.  The birds were well taken care of and even though the dog was mad, she forgave us when she got too many treats and was able to cuddle in bed with us again.

Threat of frost looming, all the remaining tender plants needed to come inside.  My grandmother kept a collection of geraniums which I am told are hundreds of years old.  Each year since being back on the farm, they are carefully exhumed and moved inside to be neglected in the cooler regions of the house.  When they come in, they get watered less regularly until such time as we are watering them only every three to four weeks.  Very little new growth appears, but they stay green and healthy all winter long.  Sometime around Memorial Day, when the soil has warmed sufficiently and the weather people are no longer predicting frost, the flowers come out from their long winters rest to spend their summers basking the sun shine and adding great color to the front flower bed.

The neglect which we had shown the lawn for several weeks became quite obvious while cleaning up the front flower bed.  Thankfully we are getting cooler weather else I would have needed to get the bush hog and borrow the neighbors hay tedder.  In the midst of mowing I came across these strange looking mushrooms – anyone have any idea what kind they are? 

When the lawn was all done, I was gathering all of the stuff that the lawnmower couldn't cut up, along with the hay from the chicken coop and getting ready to take it down to the compost pile when I made a concerning discovery.  Some kind of critter had taken up residence underneath the coop.  It has made holes on two side of the coop and associated tunnels under the ground all around the building. 

I am thinking they are mice, but if you have confirmation on what the tracks could be, I would be interested to know.  Attempts at evicting my new tenants have been futile; including burying their holes, adding more dirt, flooding them out, and putting chicken wire down around the base of the coop.  When we get ready to work on the drainage situation in the pen outside the coop it looks like we will be burying chicken wire all around the perimeter to avoid future squatters from taking up residence.

Surprise!

My husband and I had noted a marked decreased in the number of eggs we were getting from our chickens.  We figured that some of our older birds were getting ready to molt and the new layers hadn’t started yet.  We didn’t think much of it… until Tuesday morning.

When my husband got home from work he came inside and asked me if I had work clothes on because I needed to get underneath the porch. (DH and I are not small people).  My expression must have said it all because he told me that he noticed some strange noises coming from underneath the back porch. ‘The eggs we were missing are now up and walking around’, he said.

He found eight brand new little ones running around.  One of the hens that our friend bestowed upon us when she moved in June had made herself a little nest and had been hiding out under there for at least a month now.  It was forecast to get down below freezing on Tuesday night.  We proceeded to dig out the feeder and waterer which was put away after our spring pullets, ran out to the feed store to get some growing mash, got out the heat lamp from the workshop, and began assembling a brooder box.  We took a spare cardboard box outside and I began squeezing my not so little self underneath the back porch.  Momma didn’t mind so much that I was coming under there to visit her, she was used to us collecting eggs from nearby nesting boxes in the chicken coop.  It wasn’t until I started removing her new babies that she got really upset with me.  Imagine lying on your tummy in a two foot tall crawl space, reaching in front of you trying to catch day old pullets and having Momma peck at your hands, your head, your shoulders, etc.  The pecks don’t hurt so much, but trying to protect my face from flying dirt and debris while she was dancing around was interesting.

There are still eight more eggs in the nest and she is still sitting on them.  We are watching every day or two to see if any new little ones have emerged.  Fall pullets were not in the plans for this year due to the lack of heat and some repairs which need to be made to the weatherproofing in the chicken coop.  Apparently Creator decided that more laying birds were in our immediate future.

To-Do List Items for the Chicken Coop:

• 
  
  Re-seal the roof
• 
  
  Wash and paint the exterior walls
• 
  
  Remove hay insulation (doesn’t work together with leaky roof – very messy and moldy), wash down inside walls with mold preventative and replace insulation
• 
  
  Fix drainage problem in coop yard (we are hoping this is as simple as digging out the existing dirt and adding some layers of varying sizes of gravel and sand).
• 
  
  Add roof to ½ of coop yard (tarp is getting worse for the wear).
• 
  
  Replace coop yard fence running chicken wire 8-12 inches under soil level to deter whatever has been digging at the side of the coop yard fence and to keep the ducks from hiding their eggs under the coop itself.

Hopefully I will remember to bring the camera along as we attempt these and other fall projects around the house.

Stop taking my picture!

Do you have any interesting fall projects that you are planning to tackle?