Deeper Spring ...

Well.. you might as well get comfy,
this is a long one.
Let's start with last night's excitement..
Above is Old Blue Sue from a year ago..aaawwwww
Well, last night she got hit by a car.
She is fine, considering she was hit by a car.
No broken bones, no limping.
She is resting comfortably in her crate this morning
after having gone out to pee and having some warm
broth for breakfast.
She is understandably sore and slow moving.
We are hoping this will slow her down a bit
and calm her down a bit.
She is a wild dog.


And do you remember the mystery tree
from last summer?
The one that I mowed over
and pruned down for 2 years?
Well, it is blooming!!!!
It is too early for peach trees to bloom, I think.
So that would make it a plum tree..maybe.
I will have to wait and see what comes of it all.
And the apple trees are getting nice leaf buds! Yeah!!


And we have yet more new chicks.
These were supposed to be Black Sex Link chicks.
Sex Links are chicks where males and females look different at hatch.
The males were supposed to have white spots on their heads and the females not.
We made them with our big roo and our Cuckoo Marans hens.
It would seem that the big red roo is not all that he seems to be.
We knew he had 5 toes and that he was a mix of something,
but the other genetics have come into play.
Some of our black chicks were buff!



And they have 5 little toes just like their daddy.
I took a closer look at 5 Toe, the rooster
and came to the realization that he is half Salmon Faverolle.
Nice birds, the Faverolles, and 5 toed.
But some of our chicks did turn out the right way...


And things are coming up all over the place!!!
This is the costmary.
Wonderful stuff.
It doesn't look like much, but the smell!
Oh my.
It smells of vanilla and balsam and mint.
I have never smelled anything like it.
I may have to do a give away after it
gets up and going good.
Everyone needs costmary in their garden.

And my hyssop is coming back.
I will transplant one of them
into the new garden plot,
along with my oregano, sage and lavender.
And the mint is making one
heck of a comback.
I am going to dig it all up and
move it closer to the new garden.
And the bee balm, catnip and lemon balm
are all up and spreading.
I don't mind spread,
spread is good!

And the comfrey patch is filling in too.
Love the comfrey.
And maybe, just maybe this year I can harvest it,
dry and save it for comfrey salve
without the drying leaves getting destroyed.
Last summer I left it out over night
and the stupid Sue got into it
and the year before, Sweet Husband got into
it and destroyed it.
This year will be the year!! I just know it!

And the high queen of the garden is growing!
Rhubarb!
All hail the rhubarb!
I am so glad to see it doing so well.
Rhubarb pie and rhubarb crumble
and hot stewed rhubarb over biscuits
and rhubarb goo baked onto chicken!
I love, love, love rhubarb!
There was some question as to whether
or not I could grow it here.
It is a bit hot for rhubarb,
it prefers the mountains and the cooler temps.
But I have this in the shade
and I am hoping that it will
do well enough that I can
harvest late next spring.
Until then, I will have to go
back to the mountain home and
harvest as much as I can carry.

Oh!! I almost forgot!
I have new bunnies.
Not meat rabbits,
but fluffy, adorable,
unbelievably cute
Jersey Wooley rabbits.
They are small and fluffy
and beyond cute!
Now, I am not much into cute things
and tend to look down my nose at the cuteness,
But these are too cute to sneer at.
I can brush them and groom them
and get fiber for spinning
and knitting etc...
Soft, soft, soft
long rabbit fur fibers...
I'll get pics some day soon to share!
You are gonna want some...

Finally...

Spring has come.
Man. What a long winter.
No real hard cold snaps,
but no warm spells either.
Just relentlessly cold with occasional
bouts of clouds and snow.
I didn't realize how much I needed
those warm snaps until I was
given a winter without them.
So, I hibernated.
I didn't go anywhere
and tried to not talk to anyone.
And then.. it got warm again.
And the blood began flow back
into me like sap into a tree.


And the old farm is starting to
come back around too.
I have spots of green in the yard
and the spring flowers are starting to show.
And it has been warm enough for me
to get some chores done.
Observe please..the garden spot.

Now, it might not look like much to you..
but believe me, this is freakin awesome!
Notice the wall on the left.
See how you can see it?
Until last week it was completely
hidden behind an
solid curtain of honeysuckle.
I took to it with scissors. Yep. Scissors.
I wore out one pair so they came apart
in my hand and I started with another pair and I won!
Then I dug each and every massive root ball
and all the little teeny root balls out.
Some of them were almost as thick as my wrist.
And the open area where the tilling
has begun is usually head high with wild asters,
honeysuckle, blackberry scrub,
goldenrod and morning glory.
Actually, I think it was higher than
my head in places and completely inpenetrable.
That wood pile in the middle was a pin oak,
now it is firewood
and we'll burn the brush tomorrow.
As you can see, the cleanup crew is hard
at work picking out seeds and little yummy
bits and turning the soil some more.
I am excited to turn this old
chicken house foundation
into a new garden. I have high hopes.
I can't wait to get it all cleared out
and ready to turn into beds
with nice little paths in between...aaahh...



And the little seedlings are raring to go too.
I have 5 varieties of tomatoes
and about that many types of peppers too.
A few eggplants and herbs are up in cups too.
I have leeks getting taller and
some basil cuttings rooting and lettuces,
chards and spinach coming up in the coldframe.

Do you have any idea how badly I want a fresh salad from the garden?

The comfrey is coming up
and the stinging nettles are starting to poke up.
It was a harsh winter for everyone and everything here this year.



And the first hatch of the year are growing well too.
Yeah! Chicks!
With more set to hatch this coming weekend.
Luckily, all of these and the coming
hatch are already spoken for.

This winter we have eaten well out of the freezer.
Turkeys and more chickens than I can count
and the lamb..oooh, the lamb!

We butchered him on New Year's Day.
Lamb stew, leg of lamb..all good.
I am hoping that we can find a way to afford
lambs this year as well as the turkeys.
We really need to find a way to make that investment.
It pays off in the end with meat sales and freezer stocking.
Now that it is warm and my brain and my soul
have thawed
I will be around more often.
I missed you.
Happy spring, ya'll!!!!

I am not dead..

It has been both crazy and boring around here.
I will return in the very near future.
You so you know..you haven't missed anything. Nothing new, nothing old and nothing really 'farmy' going on.
We are beginning homeschool officially in a few weeks and the preparation for that has taken up large chunks of time, as have the holidays. Knit, knit, knit, knit....
So, please be patient and don't give up on me. I shall return.
jen

Turkeys Are Done!

Isn't that just beautiful!?
Gorgeous!

This is Aaron Cookson from Red Dirt Ranch.

He is a dear friend who butchers

like an artist.

Many, many thanks to him for coming out

and making the day a breeze and

giving us a fantastic product.

See.. I couldn't have done this by hand

for love or money. Especially not with the great results the plucker gets.

A bird is done in mere seconds. Wow.

Getting cleaned up and ready for a wrap.

Ta Da!!!

Look at how nicely he did the legs.

You learn something new every day..if you are lucky.

All but 7 of the birds are done and those can wait until

Christmas.

The yard will seeem a bit lonely to me without my sweet boys.

I was very glad I could opt out of the deed itself.

It was a bit sad and usually I have no problem.

I really loved the turkeys.

I am very, very proud to be able to share them with others.

They will look wonderful as a centerpiece of a blessings laden table.

November Down Home..

Well..here they are..
the very last pics of the turkeys.

Monday the 16th is butcher day.

Not all are slated for freezer camp

and I will have some left for Christmas

but the majority will be gracing tables

on the 26th.

I am proud of them and count our first year

of heritage breed turkeys as a success.

There will be more turkeys..many more

as I have loved having them in the yard.
And I am a wee bit sad at the thought of

slaughter. They really are like large dogs

in their affection and loyalty.

Gosh! Aren't they beautiful.

I just love them,

but you all know that already.

And here are some bold new additions..

They are meat birds, broilers, that were allowed to mature.

I got them from a fellow farmer and will use them to breed

large, scrumptious meat birds of my very own.

I know they look like chickens, but believe when I tell you they are

something entirely different.

They are HUGE and heavy..oh my!

Once they are back up to prime form and good health
and start to lay I will toss in a few choice roosters

and see what we will get. I have great hopes.

Some of my younger birds are starting to lay.

Check out that huge egg on top.

That was her first effort.

Oh, the squalling from the laying box with that one!~

Poor girl. But no blood on the egg etc..

so it did no permanent damage.

What a way to begin...

Kepp an eye out for an entry about turkey butchering.

I am not doing, but a traveling butcher is coming

for the task. Good friend and great guy.

A Pic Of Dead Birds....

Now that the voting is over on Homesteadingtoday.com, I can announce that I was the one that took this pic!! Woot!!

I don't know if it will make the calendar as many folks don't want dead things hanging on their wall, but I love it and will hang it somewhere.

They were tasty too!

Some Things Are Yellow...

The butt of a bee
sleeping in a squash blossom is yellow.

Freshly laid eggs are yellow.

Freshly made butter is sorta yellow.

Eggs and cornbread are yellow.

It tasted much better than it looks.

Weeds are yellow.
Some things are blue..

like hyssop.

And the sky behind a ....turkey!

(that is the now required turkey pic..)

Stuff has been going on around here..

just nothing really photo worthy.

The Great Chicken Sell Off is going ok.

I need to do one more advertising blitz to

unload the last group.
And, closely connected to the Sell Off,

the barn scramble is still going on.

Who to put where and with whom...

I have too many birds.

No wait.. I have too many breeding groups, that's what the problem is.

Black Copper Marans

Cuckoo Marans

Black Langshans

Ameracaunas

Blue Laced Red Wyandottes

a seller's pen, a rooster pen..

(ok.. I have three rooster pens..

The breeding roosters, the growing roosters

and the darn near edible roosters..)

and the laying hen pen.

See the trouble?

I think I am selling off the

White Rocks and White Jersey Giants, but they are not in the seller's pen.

I have to see if I am selling the 'point of lay' Ameracaunas.

And if you are confused and overwhelmed,

then you can see why I am too.

Bottom line - I need to sell more hens.

And eat more roos.

The ducks have moved out to the smokehouse

and are no longer free ranging all day and sleeping

the night away in the potting shed.

I had, had, had to move them out

so I could put the chicks we are hatching out there.

They cannot live in the laundry room forever.

One group of young birds have moved up to

the barn and I have one more

group that needs to move up too.

Add this to the above mentioned

tangle in the barn.

The chickens now hate to see me coming

because more times than not I have the

catching net in my hand.

But soon the potting shed will house only chicks,

which is the point of the potting shed.

And I can't take all of the complainig

about the chicken shuffle.

Much of it falls on the shoulders of Sweet Husband

I am utterly, completely and cripplingly night blind.

Oh, and the turkeys..

sweet, noble turkeys.

They do seem to have an aversion to
going into their pen in the late afternoon.

It is not that they don't want to go in, persay,

it is that they are stymied by the process.

I am sure that by the time they figure it out

it will be time for Thanksgiving.

Next year they will move to the barn

pen and out of the potting shed while

they are still young and have the brain

capacity to learn something new.

I love them though.

The new woodstove had a test fire

last night and this morning out in the yard.

Yippee!! New paint and it looks great.

I have to start gathering a barn stall of kindling

and Sweet Husband needs to start chopping firewood.

It is getting a wee bit chilly at night now.

Seems a bit early to me. As does the early

turning and falling of the leaves.

The poplars are looking ragged.

I do not think it will be a pretty autumn.

A busy time

helped along by the nice cool weather

Oh.. I have an adendum..

I read a great book recently..

'Farm City - The Education of an Urban Farmer' by Novella Carpenter.

She rocks on a vacant lot in Oakland California..

turkeys, ducks, bees and two Duroc hogs..

great read!

Look to my favorite links to find her site...