We were blessed to spend a few hours with Tina and Ken and Jackson and Addie on Saturday. The morning was cloudy with even a few light rain showers moving through but by the time they got to the farm around 2:00 p.m. the rain was finished, and we had as much sunshine as clouds. We even had a nice breeze to help keep the mosquitoes at bay for a while.
We started out by picking blueberries.
I’m not sure how many we picked but they did leave with a little over a quart of berries. I did see Addie eating them by the handful while we were picking so we likely picked much more than it appeared. As they were leaving I noticed Addie trying to open the container that the berries were in so I’m not sure if any actually made it home with them. LOL!
Then Tina and I took the kids in the pond. They are both trying very hard to learn to swim. They kept their floatation devices on and practiced kicking their feet and paddling with their hands. They are both seeming to catch on.
Meanwhile my husband and Ken went fishing. They were reeling in fish one after another. This large blue gill is a mystery fish. How it got in our pond is a mystery as we never put blue gills in there. The rest of the fish they caught were perch (we had stocked the pond with perch in 2013).
When they were finished fishing Ken took Jackson and Addie for a boat ride. (Those are some happy faces.)
The three-hour visit passed much too quickly, but we are so thankful for these precious moments with them.
Over the spring and summer as we’ve watched them grow it became apparent that, coupled with the 9 old hens that we already had and even though we lost two of the young chicks, our flock had become too large. During the day, when the chickens were outside, we didn’t have problems, but at night when they were all going into the coop issues would arise. Old hens squawking and pecking at young ones and blocking their way into the coop, then the young ones began pecking at each other. 36 chickens are just too many for our coop. We also discovered, as the chicks grew, that instead of just three roosters that we ordered, we had four roosters. 4 roosters were also too many.
We decided to try to rehome some of our flock. I remembered when we were expecting our chicks that my sister said she and her husband were considering getting chicks again. I knew that they hadn’t acquired any yet, so I decided to offer her some of ours. After some consideration they decided to take six hens and a rooster.
My husband, who was still concerned about having too many roosters. was in the farm store one day and mentioned our abundance of roosters to another customer. The man said he would be happy to take any extra roosters off our hands. Come to find out he lived just down the road from us so last Tuesday morning my husband packed up two of the roosters and delivered them to their new home.
Then on Sunday my sister and brother-in-law were ready for their new flock, so my husband selected six hens and a rooster and took them to their new home, where my sister told me that they were settling in nicely.
I am happy to report that peace has been restored to our coop. There is no more pecking and squawking when they are going into the coop and as the saying goes “Happy flock – happy farmer”. (Okay. I just made that up :))
Our blueberry harvest is well underway and an abundant harvest it is. My husband and I picked about 5 quarts last Thursday, then on Sunday my sister brought her grandkids out and they picked another 5 or so quarts. The berries are still ripening so I hope to have my grandkids over this weekend to pick some as well. Blueberries are Addies favorite.
We have also been picking and enjoying Swiss chard and green beans.
Too Much of a Good Thing
In the last several weeks we have had more than enough rain. The ground is saturated, and our brassica vegetables are suffering because of it. You might remember as we wrapped up June our gardens were looking great, especially the cabbage.
Cauliflower after too much rain.
They are no longer looking good.
Cabbage after too much rain.
Some of the other plants are showing signs of stress as well like yellowing leaves (squash), slow growth (beets) and split fruit (tomatoes).
On the Wrong Side of the Fence
This fawn was on the inside of our fence.
and was not sure how to get out.
While its mother was on the outside of our fence apparently wanting to get her baby out. I’m not certain how the young one got inside our fence. I don’t think it was born on our property because it looked to be at least several weeks old and I think we would have encountered it before now. I don’t think it jumped over the fence because it didn’t seem to know how to jump back over. In the evenings, when the dogs are not at the farm, we sometimes leave the gate open, so a likely case scenario would be that momma brought the baby in when the gate was open and we unknowingly locked the baby in.
That evening we again left the gate open hoping the little one would find its way out and back to momma. We haven’t seen it around since that day so we are assuming it found its way out.
Pollinator Paradise
The prayer garden is abuzz with bees. Honeybees and bumble bees among other pollinators are heavily foraging the lavender, thyme, oregano and tickseed.
But our back field also has lots to offer pollinators. Perhaps we should call it a”Field of Pollinator Dreams”.
The field is blanketed with white clover as is most of our farm. It is a favorite of the honeybees.
Clover is a very common flavor/ingredient in honey.
Over the years this birdsfoot trefoil has spread throughout the field. We have witnessed a lot of honeybees collecting nectar/pollen from its blossoms.
Canadian thistle also attracts bees and other pollinators for its nectar. As it goes to seed I expect we will see goldfinches in the field as thistle seed is a favorite food of theirs.
Milkweed is another plant that is prevalent in our back field this year.
Milkweed is sometimes known as the monarch butterfly plant because these butterflies lay their eggs only on milkweed plants and their hatchling caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed.
If you grow it, they will come.
We often see the monarchs fluttering above and around the patch of milkweed. There are many.
Monarchs are not the only ones with an appreciation for the milkweed as I also witnessed a honeybee on a milkweed flower and caught a quick glimpse of a hummingbird darting around the patch.
The most northern part of the field is filled with sweet clover this year. This biennial is another blossom that is loved by honeybees.
This monarch is not on a milkweed plant but perched on another plant near the milkweed patch.
I think of this field as ‘nature at its best’. It has had very little human intervention. It just grows wild. We keep some paths mowed around and through it during the summer for walking and riding the 4-wheeler and each fall after the vegetation dies we mow the field. This mowing helps to spread the seeds of plants like the trefoil, clover, thistle and milkweed so over the course of a few years what started out as just a couple of plants has become large patches of that plant.
Fun Pictures
Cattails swaying in the breeze.
Balloon flowers in bloom.
Daylilies and a hidden damselfly.
A closeup of the damselfly.
Believe it or not this is a bluebird house. Over the years we have seen different birds make their homes in the life preservers near our pond. A few days ago my husband mentioned seeing a bluebird fly out of this life preserver. Since then I too have witnessed the bluebird flying out of there. It doesn’t seem to have eggs inside so perhaps just using it for shelter or a playhouse. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great July!
Since heavy rain was in our forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, we decided Monday was our best opportunity to harvest the garlic. My husband set out Monday morning and in less than two hours had all 330 bulbs dug or pulled out.
That evening I went out and tied them in bundles of 10 and Tuesday morning he hung the 33 bundles upstairs in the barn to dry.
Our lavender is in full bloom.
It is the centerpiece of the prayer garden. It is surrounded by roses, tickseed, and lilies that are blooming as well. It smells heavenly (unless you ask my husband who is not a fan of the fragrance)
and it is being laboriously foraged by countless honeybees and bumble bees.
I let Ruby outside a Thursday afternoon and as I stood looking out the window waiting for her to return a small but colorful hummingbird made a quick stop just a few feet away from where I was standing. It’s pause in flight was just enough to say “Hello” before it hurried on its way. My thoughts immediately turned to my mom. It’s been 12 years (Friday, June 30th) since Mom passed away and there are still times when something will happen, and my first thought is “I should call Mom”.
For many years of my adult life mom and I would talk almost every day. She wanted to hear every little thing that was going on in my life and the lives of her grandkids. She would have loved hearing about that little encounter with a hummingbird.
Then on Friday evening when we turned to calendar to July it was as if Mom was speaking to me. More hummingbirds.
What I really meant to share in this post was some of the things that have been going on over the last couple weeks.
Berries
We have been picking both strawberries and cherries. Our strawberry crop is small this year and we have been eating some fresh so I only have about a quart in the freezer. Well I should say had because Monday I decided that if I am going to make strawberry jam I would have to buy berries. When I called the strawberry farm where I have bought my berries in the past I found out that it was their last day picking and I was able to snag the last two trays they had. I kept one tray (8 quarts) and got them in the freezer that day. My sister picked up the other tray so she can make jam as well.
Our cherry crop, on the other hand, was fabulous. I think I have 10 quarts in the freezer now and have made 4 pints of cherry juice. My husband finished picking all that we wanted then my sister came and picked about 4 more quarts. We left the ones we couldn’t reach for the robin family that is nesting in the maple tree nearby.
Organizing Freezers
I needed to organize my freezers because the 1/4 cow that we had ordered from our local farmer would be coming soon. I still had a large piece of suet in the freezer from last year so I cut it up and put it in the crock pot to melt. When it was mostly melted I strained it through a fine mesh strainer lined with two layers of paper towel. As it cooled it hardened back up and I now have several pounds of tallow to use in soap making. (This tallow could also be used as cooking oil or in candle making.)
I also had blueberries in the freezer from last year’s crop, so I made a double batch (6 pints) of blueberry jam and some very tasty blueberry popsicles.
Sewing Projects
My sister K.C. and her husband were in Michigan for a couple of weeks so on one of our days together K.C. and I made a trip to the fabric store. The main project I was shopping for was fabric for my dining room curtains. I knew I wanted, in some way, to match the kitchen curtains that I made last year but I didn’t want them to be exactly the same.
The picture above is the new dining room curtains I made. You may remember the kitchen curtains I made last year are full panels of the blue with the lemon pattern that I used as trim for this set. I am very happy with the way these turned out. They are very cheery and, in the afternoon, when the sun shines through the yellow, the room glows.
While at the fabric store I also found same really good deals on clearance fabrics. One fabric was a Christmas themed fleece for $2.98 a yard. It wasn’t anything I thought I would use for making garments, but I realized it would be perfect for making dog blankets to donate to our local humane society. For less than $15 I bought the last five yards and have cut it up into 7 pieces to make dog sized blankets. I have finished the edges on two of the blankets and when I finish the others will make a trip to the humane society to deliver them along with some scarves and chicken potholders that I am making for their “Pawzzar” fundraiser they will hold in December. Animal adoption is not the only way to support our local shelters.
Gardens
As summer arrived our weather pattern changed. The dry weather that we had from late May and early June has been replaced by pretty regular rain showers and storms.
We were able to stop watering the gardens and the plants have really taken off.
We will be picking green beans before long.
The blossoms on the tomato plants are turning into small tomatoes and my husband spotted our first cucumber yesterday.
I don’t know if we have ever grown healthier looking cabbage.
Chickens
When we arrive at the farm nowadays the welcoming committee looks something like this. The chicks have really grown up. The rooster on the far right in this picture, who we are now calling Rex, began crowing a couple of weeks ago. Out of the three roosters he seems to be the dominant one. A second rooster just began trying to crow this week.
Deer
The deer population on the farm has been greatly reduced since my husband put up the fence this spring. There are still a couple of does that regularly stop for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). We did have to put fencing around the strawberries after we discovered the tops nibbled down and my husband replanted and fenced the mammoth sunflower patch after the deer ate the tops off, but they haven’t done nearly as much damage as they have in previous years.
Among things that they have (so far) left alone are the Asiatic lilies that have been in my prayer garden for at least 6 years. Each year they come up but before they ever get a chance to blossom the deer eat the tops off. This is the first year I have ever seen them blossom. That fence has been a blessing in so many ways.
I’m going to wrap up this post that I started writing a week ago, even though I could keep adding things (like we started picking blueberries) because if I keep adding to it July will be over before I hit the publish button. 🙂
Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care 