Category: Farm

Nice Weather, More History

We have had a taste of summer this week until today. Warm nights, very warm days for walks, and if it rained, only late afternoon thunder storms. Today is cooler and we had rain.

Yesterday, we had 119 sixth graders at the museum, and we had 6 stations to rotate them through. Unfortunately, our 7th station, the blacksmith was absent due to illness she didn’t want to share with the kids or us. It went well, they were very engaged. That age group understands the history for the most part and can comprehend the seed or sheep to garment process in the period before mills and yard goods could be purchased. The weather was perfect for them.

Today, we had 23 second graders. It seemed like 230 of them. We thought we were going to get by with decent weather, but after they were there for about 40 minutes, it began to rain. The first thing after they got there, the adults with them gave them a snack, Capri sun drinks and Rice crispy treats, so they started off sugared up. Second graders are very curious and very tactile in their approach. They lack the history foundation, the concept of age (asking me if the people that once occupied the 1810 loom house were still alive), and can’t follow the fact that they couldn’t just go to the store and purchase their clothing and the food they ate. That the 10 by 10 foot building housed a family, that they cooked in the fireplace, that there was no electricity or bathroom. Next week’s group is also 2nd graders, so my presentation will be more tactile, letting them handle some of the equipment, passing around more items to feel, and just going with the flow of “what is that?” questions that punctuated every minute of the 15-20 minutes they are with me.

To add to our difficulties today was the fact that we only had three stations, the inside of the museum with a 12 minute historical video of the region, the old German barn with lots of equipment to see, and me in the loom house with the loom, spinning wheel, and my stuff. By the end of the third rotation with it still raining, they left without the outdoor games that would have appealed to them more than the rest. We only had to tell several of them, that “No, Abe Lincoln didn’t live in that log house.”

On one of our walks this week, on the paved Huckleberry trail, we saw a quartet of folks with two dogs stall as we were approaching and start tossing small sticks into the path, then dodge out into the grass around the edge of the path. Upon arriving at the spot, we saw a large black rat snake, lazily making it’s way across the warm asphalt.

This was the 3rd snake we have spotted this spring on these walks, the first two were small garter snakes.

The garden is generously providing the first produce of the season with lots of asparagus. I love them, hubby doesn’t. Today, I shared bags of them with the coordinator of the museum and with my physical trainer at my session after my museum stint.

We have cooler weather this weekend before a return to the warmer, milder weather. Soon it will be time to plant the remainder of the garden.

Last night when I went over to check on the 4 hens that somehow escaped the run and tunnel earlier yesterday, and to check on the chicks, who are now quite large, they had managed to pull down part of the barricade and half of them were perched beside the older hens. This afternoon, the barricade was pulled down entirely and they will share the coop. The young ones haven’t figured out to go out yet and when they do, there will probably be a few nights of catching them and showing them how to return to the coop. It will still be 12 or more weeks before they begin to lay.

For now, I am drying out my Colonial clothing from today’s rain, trying to figure out next Thursday’s second graders, and just generally unwinding from a busy week. Son 1 will come in late tomorrow night to spend Sunday with us, before being put back on the bus to the train very early Monday morning. It will be good to see him, and we will all go to daughter’s new house to grill out on Sunday.

And Then There Were Four

After last week’s Cooper Hawk attack killed my last Buff Orpington, we went to Rural King and came home with 6 chicks. Two of them were too weak to make it but Rural King has a replacement policy so on Monday we went back and they replaced them. The original 6 were 2 each Buff Orpingtons, Calico Princesses, and a tiny black chick (maybe Black sex link, as there were two breeds in the bin and the sub that came in to get them didn’t know which was which.) One Buff and one black were the ones that didn’t survive the night. The replacements were a Buff and another Calico Princess. They are surviving great.

Four of them stretching to see what was going on in the room. The Buff and the black are smaller than the others and are hiding under the heat table. I’m thinking they are all Calico’s, even the supposed replacement Buff. They are already growing back feathers, have long feathered wings, but will be late July or early August before they begin to lay.

After nearly of week of being penned up, I let the remaining 5 hens out today, it was a thick rainy day and I hoped they would be safe. Nope, the Hawk got one more, so now there are only 4 laying hens who unfortunately will have to remain penned up. With all the squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, moles, and voles, the Hawk can take, I can’t afford to let it continue to hunt my hens. The only solution I can think of to expanding the hen’s territory is to make a tunnel within my garden with chicken wire so then can wander the length of the garden eating bugs and weeds without digging up my veggies.

After the weekend, another garden box was cleared and one each row of peas and sugar snap peas planted in that bed. Sprouting potatoes were cut to seal over, and a sweet potato set in a jar of water to hopefully sprout shoots before they are needed for the garden. After Sunday night’s below freezing temperature, the potatoes will be planted between and outside of the two rows of peas and covered with straw. The replacement garden box that was ordered arrived late yesterday, but I need a warmer, drier day to assemble it and fill it with soil and compost. Since it will be planted with beans which are still 6 weeks away from planting, there is no hurry. The tomatoes have all sprouted and about half of the peppers have. As soon as the rest sprout, they will get deck time in filtered sun protected in a plastic crate so they grow strong not tall. They will be brought in at night and on days that are too cool, until it is time to plant them in the ground.

My plum tree is full of blossom buds and tomorrow night is supposed to drop into the upper 20’s. I’m seriously thinking about throwing a sheet over it to keep it from dropping the blooms. Last year, a freeze kept it and the two peach trees from producing any fruit. I am hoping for plums and peaches this year. And figs. Even if the one in the back garden doesn’t produce, I have ordered a small fig that than be potted in a big pot and brought in during the winter. Since I don’t have or need a true hoop house, I have to work with what I do have.

Olio-March 3, 2024

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things or thought.

Yesterday was not a great day. When we were out for breakfast and the Farmer’s Market, we stopped by Lowes to pick up hardwood floor cleaner and restorer. Once home, we put the German Shephard outdoors and I moved the dining room furniture, bench and antique sewing machine from the hall, swept, vacuumed, and set to work. The floors were thoroughly cleaned with hardwood cleaner and when dry, the restorer was applied. It takes an hour to dry, so a short break was taken. Once it was dry, the living room furniture was moved, the old worn out rug was rolled up, but too heavy for me to remove it to the porch for disposal. Help has been requested to get rid of it. That floor was then thoroughly cleaned and the restorer applied. The floors look so much better now.

Since the dog’s nails were well past time to be clipped and since she was still outdoors, I tried to tie her to the front porch rail to do her nails. She really hates the process and usually we either take her to the vet or work together to get it done. I failed to put the mesh muzzle on her and when she totally freaked out, she managed to bite through my fleece and tee shirt and break the skin on the back of my upper arm. I won’t post the picture of that. It was cleaned up, treated, and covered. I still haven’t forgiven her, but I didn’t harm her. From now on, she will be muzzled to do her nails or brush her, which she also hates.

As I was preparing the dough for our pizza, I noticed that none of the chickens were visible in the front or back of the house, nor could I see them under the coop when I looked out through the garage. That sent me out on a quest and as soon as I opened the side garage door, the Cooper Hawk flew out from under the Forsythia bushes and my last Buff Orpington had been killed under there. It was such a fresh kill that the only damage was the kill injury. I finally rounded up the remaining 5 hens from around the property and secured them in their run. Since the beginning of winter, 4 of my hens have died or been killed.

This afternoon, we went by Rural King and I purchased 2 Calico Princesses, 2 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Black chicks which are now in the wire dog cage in the garage with a heat table, food, water, and a perch.

The Calico’s already have wing feathers, so they may be a week older than the other 4. It wasn’t really my plan to raise chicks again, but I was losing hens too fast.

A few days ago, the tomato and pepper seed were started in small pots. They haven’t sprouted yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be another warm day followed my mild rainy days. The spinach, some onion sets, and strawberry plants are going to be interplanted in one of the boxes. Today the huge cardboard box from my recliner was cut open and placed in an area or the garden that had too many weeds and no desired plants and covered with some of the old hay. The garden is beginning. And the workbench in the garage cleaned up and organized yet again, and the garage and workbench swept down. A fair amount of work done for one day.