Turkeys love bossoms!

My turkeys hatched the other day.

I have feed store turkey poults,

but these are the first from my incubator.

Apparently they imprint on a person.

Even now they stand and call me..

bee bee boo... bee bee boo... bee bee boo.

They will all rush to try to huddle under my palm

if I stick my hand in the brooder

and ho, the joy!!, if I pull them out

and give them the boob.

I wrap my arms around them and

lay my head on my arms and I have

7 little bodies just trying to snuggle closer.

Eyes close. Bodies droop. And little pink

legs go all akimbo.

And I softly say,' hi turkey'

which has the same three notes

that they call and they all say... bee bee booo

softly back and snuggle deeper.

I love my food.

HEY MA!

SHUT THE DAMN DOOR!!

oh and there are some Polish in there too.
I hatched those for other folks.
They do not compare to poults
who love their mommy.

ok. So I just had to go grab the

runt that wouldn't hush up.

So now I type with a turkey tucked into shirt.

At least it shut up.

And we had a mini tragedy today.

About 2 months ago we hatched a freaky little chick.

It never grew. Ever.

2 months old and exactly the size of an egg.

It never grew feathers. Just a teeny tiny chicken

that was a perpetual chick.

It was doing fine though and hanging with the bigger chicks.

Yes, I did put a little pile of food down on the ground for it as the feeder,

which is all of an inch high, was too high for it sometimes.

But today the teeny tiny chick's step didn't get put down

and the chick couldn' t hop up onto the brick and get

into the potting shed and out of the rain.

It got wet and chilled and that was too much for it.

RIP teeny tiny chicken.

We grieve for the little chick. It was so freaky and such a trooper.

Shame.

And we are having duck issues.

I have ten left.

The snake ate one and I sold 7

and have 4 more to sell off.

But they have a great new pen.

It's huge. It's fancy. It is filled with lush green-ness and a little swimming spot too.

Ducky paradise.

True, during the day.

But as the sun falls the ducks want back into the potting shed.

And every night they squeeze out of the electronet.. well, most of them do.

There is one that is just a bit too big to make it through.

And so, there it sits, stuck in an electric fence.

I am going to sell that one. It is going to end up fried in the head.

Stupid, cute ducks.

We are studying and figuring and thinking about how to deal with the escaping ducks.

It is an annoying problem.

Damn Thing Ate A Duck!

So, I was walking past the pen

outside of the potting shed yesterday.

In that pen are about 80 chicks, 3 turkeys

and my precious, precious ducklings.

Ducklings grow very very fast.

Along the edge of the back of the pen

something caught my eye.

I took several steps backwards

and looked again.

It was a snake.

I went to look closer and saw the huge

bulge that denoted a digesting meal.

I counted the turkeys.

I counted the ducks..

I came up short.

I looked in the potting shed

to see if I had missed one.

I counted the ducks again.

And again.

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn!

I killed it.

I killed it hard.

Then I gave it to Simon to play with.

What 6 yo boy doesn't LOVE a snake toy?

(and I may have snuck up on him with it first)

The lump you see is the duck.

The snake had gotten into

the pen and, upon eating the duck,

was too big around to exit again.

HA!

I am still amazed the snake could swallow it.

If I held it up to the top of

my head, the tail would kiss the floor.

I am 5'5. That is a good sized snake.

I usually bag and rehome the non venomous snakes.

But it ate my duck

and I lost my temper.

And I don't care.

My New Logo!!!

It is soooo cool, no?
I love it.
And the nice lady did
one for our produce too.

I love, love, love, love them!!

When she has updated her website

I will have links available if

you guys want to have new farm logos too!

Very, very reasonable or I wouldn't have

been able to get them done at all.

Let me know if you love them too!!!

Oh and we walked through the house that

goes with the wonderful gardens.

Wow!

Termites have eaten everything that is not brick,

even to the point that in the downstairs hallway

I had to cling to the wall like Spiderman

inching along a tiny ledge of flooring that

was more or less secure.

The rest of the floor slanted away

and down, down, down.

The place would have to be gutted completely and redone.

Bummer.

And he still wants more than we could afford

especially since we would have to rebuild it

completely on the inside.

Of course, it would be worth a fortune

when we were done.

Sigh.

But we are still looking into it

and I do have permission to

be in the gardens anytime that I want.

That is better than nothing!!!

Weekend Back Home..

I spent the weekend
back home in the mountains
of Western North Carolina.
And it was glorious.
The nights were cool and the days
were kissed with a cool breeze
though the sun was high
and the skies blue.
There were some showers
in the evenings and first thing
in the morning,
but that is the way
it should be.


Before the cloud..
Cloud is coming on...

In the cloud...

And the hanging mist

that gives the Smokey Mountains

their name..

While I was there I set a garden

for my relatives and harvested

some of the produce

that was ready to go.

Nothing, and I mean nothing,

beats rhubarb for sheer perfection.

I have a freezer full

and didn't make a dent in the

rhubarb patch.

And the blackberries are in full
and glorious bloom.
Come August that there will be some good eating.

Ducks, Turkeys and Chicks..Oh My.

I have achieved Duckdom!

I don't like ducks, as a rule

but I am loving these ducks.

OMG! So cute!

I can't stand it!

The way they walk.

The way they swim.

The way they shake and twitch off the water.

Here you can see the set up in the potting shed.

There is a plastic pan with bread pans in it.

I won't be making meatloaf tonight.

There are stepping stones for ease of egress.

They are bedded on PINE NEEDLES!!

I am telling you.. brooding on Pine needles

is where it's at.

The hanging brooder light quickly dries

the pine needles, leaving the ducks with a dry

place to be.

The ducks are sharing the potting shed with chicks

and turkey poults.

There is a low divider wall with

steps on each side.

So, the other birds come to

stare openly at the ducks.

They stand in amazement

as the ducks swim and dunk and splash.

And thogh the ducks are but 5 days old now,

they fiercely attack the interlopers.

Kind of funny really to see little ducks

with rounded bills beating down

a big ol turkey poult.

I really don't think they

can hurt them, but they sure do try!

As more time goes by the ducks are

mellowing out and the battles are less intense.

But damn funny.

And here is the general population
side of the potting shed..there are over 100 chicks
in there. Wow! But all should be sold in
a few days.. all except the ones that hatched out
of those lovely dark eggs.... mineminemine!

The Secret Garden..

Well.. before you even look
let it be known that it is too rich for our blood.
Heartbreaking really.
However, we may still meet with the late owner's son
and look inside and see what is what.

I did find out about the lady who built the gardens
and orchards. Her name was Vivianne
and it was her life's work.
I really wish I could be the caretaker
of such a magnificent place.



I found a secret paradise.
It is for sale.
We are thinking about it.
It must have been owned
by a master gardener...

The 'second' house

from the side.

It has three rooms.

I don't know what is was...

One of the many hidden garden rooms.

There are paths that lead to these...

One of the many outbuildings

Just one small corner of the pasture

The orchard.

It is fenced in with 10+ apples

cherries, peaches, grapes.

There are figs on the propery too.

The biggest pecan tree.

There are many of these on the place

and many trees I don't recognize too.

One of the paths..

this one with roses.

Another hidden garden...

And all of the buildings are full of stuff..

useful, useful stuff.

And the house appears to be furnished.

I will keep you posted.
though I seriously doubt this will happen.
I hope someone gets it that will love it.
It has been empty and alone for quite awhile.

Nothing in particular..

I'll start with what Sweet Husband
brought me in bed this morning.
Can we get an 'aaaaawwwwwwwwwww'!!
I mean really.. how cute is that?
and what a nice way to wake up.


It has been raining alot lately.
I have a boy child.
I do laundry.
I clean the tub.



I have a turkey!
And I have many more in the incubator too.
This one is a Spanish Black...I hope! I hope!
Everyone has the favorite critter, their dream critter..
a Spanish Black is it for me..
google it and be in awe!

Of course I also have 70 chicks in my laundry room,
more in the incubator and more on the way via
shipped eggs.. help.

And we have a peach tree!!

This was a twig sticking out of the ground when we bought

the place. We have mowed it down continously

every summer since then.

This year it got big enough that we could see what it was.

Woo Hoo.. a peach tree and it just happens

to be in the perfect spot too!! What a trooper.

Blooming coriander.
Also known as cilantro.
One of my favorite flowering plants in the garden.
It brings in beneficial insects by the droves.
Especially the wasp that lays eggs on
the tomato hornworm.
Last year I bet I found less than 20 all total
on my tomato plants.. go coriander.

Bumble on comfrey.

I have a story.

It does not cast me in a good light

and it is a painful tale.

Last year while weeding a garden..

son: ' Mom, you are sitting on a bee."

me: 'Son, if I was sitting on a bee I think I would know it."

son: 'Mom! You are sitting on a bee!"

So muttering about my crazy child I stand up to prove him wrong.

What do you know? I was sitting on a bee. A bumblebee.

That was promptly trapped deep between my ample cheeks.

It stung me most fiercely to show its displeasure.

I am here to tell you.. if you have never been stung

in your holiest of holies, your nether regions.. you just don't

know how spectacular pain can be.

son: 'I TOLD you you were sitting on a bee'

and walks away shaking his head in disgust

at my stubborness.

The jumping. The spreading of the cheeks.

The screaming. The cursing. Not pretty.

The ow-iness. The itching..oh, the itching...

Don't sit on bumble bees.

I have a deep respect for the humble bumble now.

And the strawberries are starting to blush!!