Cabin Crafted

Category: Farm Life

  • Wild life mini disasters

    One of the downsides of living on a rural farm is the wildlife seem to become less wild in the daily presence of humans.

    When our children were young and we lived in a coastal surburban area, we would travel to the mountains for a weekend vacation hoping to see deer and an occasional bear. Loved watching the chipmunks scurry under the stone stairs of the cabin. Seeing raccoons, sometimes with a brood in tow peeking over the stone retaining walls along the Parkway.

    Well, they all live here and are much less wary of humans than it seemed they were when we were actively trying to see them. The deer barely look up from eating when we drive down the gravel driveway. The chipmunks dig holes in the deck plants. Food scraps left in the compost pile disappears overnight. And the deer come right up on the patio to eat the sunflower volunteers under the bird feeder, knock over the flower pots on the deck steps looking for something on which to graze. The perenniel sunflowers and daylilies don’t stand a chance. They are planted right up against the house and I haven’t had daylily blooms in years. I don’t think to take before photos of the tipped over pots with potting soil spilled out on the steps. The one this morning is a huge pot up two steps that was sown with wildflower seed and was full of young plants a few inches tall. It has been righted, as much soil and seedlings as could be salvaged scraped up and as of this morning, those pots now have tomato cages with plastic mesh inside to discourage such behavior. The daylily bed has panels of old bent rusty fencing tunneled over the garage side bed to try to get a few blooms this year. It is discouraging to put in the work of planting and caring for beds and pots to have them destroyed within feet of where we live.

    The orchard is their feast, it is across the other side of the vegetable garden seen in the above photo. They are welcome to feasting in the orchard, there is too much fruit for us anyway. The vegetable garden has 4 foot fence with a solar charged electric wire around the top, so the deer stay out of it, but the rabbits flourish. Hopefully with the unused part mowed back, they will be less bold. To get in the garden, they have to go through the chicken tunnel except on the house side. That fence is in very poor shape, so perhaps that side should be refenced with rabbit fencing to block their ingress, however the gate still leaves bunny sized holes around it.

    We love seeing the wildlife that share our farm, but they have 30 acres of grass and woodlands in which to graze. Leave my flowers alone.

  • A slight respite

    Today dawned with a few clouds and a delightful 54 degrees f. The high today only aimed at 74. As I was up early, my garden jeans, an oversized worn out tee shirt, and garden boots were my early attire. The line trimmer fully charged and a pair of garden gloves were grabbed, and off to tackle the vegetable garden so it didn’t keep me in a funk. The paths were trimmed to bare earth where possible, the blueberry bed trimmed, some taller lambs quarters and amaranth pulled, the rest cut as close to the earth as the trimmer would cut. The burn barrel was going to be moved out of the way, but it has burned and rusted through the bottom, so the remaining ash in the bottom will have to be shovelled into big garbage bags and taken with the remains of the barrel to the dump. Maybe, once empty, it can be moved somewhere to continue using the vented sides on a bare spot until it totally gives up.

    After the work with the trimmer, a hoe and hand weeding got most of the beds back in order. And some of the peppers were in better shape than I thought yesterday. After cleaning up and putting the battery for the line trimmer back on the charger, we left to do our daily walk and some errands. The nursery did not have any Jalapenos, but did have Anaheims, so we purchased a small flat of 4 plants. The big box hardware store did have nice potted Jalapenos in 6 inch pots, so two of them were purchased and the bird netting to cover and protect the grapes from the deer. They got all the leaves and grapes last year, this year I want them and plan on winning this battle.

    Once back home, the garden clothes were put back on and the recharged line trimmer was used to beat down the stickweed about to overtake our mailbox and the grass around the culverts that we can’t get with the mower. A few other areas need trimming, but the battery only lasts about 30 minutes. Once it was back on the charger, the peppers we purchased were added to the garden. The two Jalapenos replaced two that were in the worst condition and the 4 Anaheims planted under the trellis that the peas are on. As the peas aren’t doing much, they will be pulled before the peppers need the vertical space. The rest of the hand weeding was done, and though the garden hasn’t proved very successful so far, it least I’m not still intimidated by the tasks that were needed and accomplished on this mild day.

    Tomorrow, we are forcast for another mild day, so maybe some fence work, hanging the netting over the grapes, and putting up a bunny barrier around the peppers can happen in the early part of the day.

    When the weather cooperates, it is a pleasure to get outdoors and work. Once it gets above 85, I don’t want to be outside, and have to force myself to get the daily walk in for my health.

  • Time to grow

    The tomatoes and peppers have moved out to the deck during the day, watered and brought back in to the floor in front of the south facing doors for the evenings. The herbs started in the Aerogarden, except for the basil were transplanted into a large pot on the back deck a few days ago with a cover ready if needed at night, but it hasn’t been necessary. The future weather forcast for here looks stable with a couple of rainy days, so this evening, the tomatoes were pruned of all of their lower leaves, only the top pair left and planted on their sides next to the A-frame trellis purchased last year. They are deep enough to create strong new roots along the buried stem and if necessary in the next few nights, small enough to cover with medium sized terra cotta pots or gallon jars. The 8 pepper plants, 4 hot, 4 not were planted in another bed and the sides of that bed are high enough that it can be covered with plastic if necessary. All of that was watered in well along with a soaking of the bed with peas, lettuce, and spinach. Tomorrow is to be a rainy day which will help.

    Also the end of last week, 3 large pots were sown with mixed flower seed. Tonight, I rescued my False Indigo from the mountain mint, planted it in a half barrel half buried in a ring in the back of the house that helps us locate the septic cleanout door. Around the half barrel, more mixed flower seed was planted, then all of the deck and back yard pots given a good soak.

    A few Christmases ago, a friend gave me a wax covered Amaryllis bulb that sprouted a gorgeous stalk of vivid red trumpet shaped flowers. When the flowers were spent, the wax was removed and the bulb planted in a pot and it grew leaves. Each summer it goes outdoors, each autumn it comes back in and when the leaves die back, it goes dormant. The following year, the blooms were about a month later, last year another month later, this year it waited until the very end of April to grace us with 4 lovely blooms and leaves already.

    On a recent walk, we found a native Flame Azalea. It wasn’t very large, but the golden blooms are so pretty tucked in the edge of the woods.

    Recently, the hummingbirds have been at the feeder regularly and an Eastern Phoebe keep landing on the back of the porch swing on the covered front porch, then flying off toward the protected breezeway and upon investigation, found this nest.

    Her chicks have hatched as she is now in and out constantly feeding the brood. It is too high for me to peek in and see how many. Once they fledge, the nest will be hosed down and the logs scrubbed off to prevent rot. At least one of the birdhouses in the vegetable garden is hosting Bluebirds. They were most unhappy with me working in the garden this evening, so work was done as quickly as possible to get away and leave them alone. I could peek there to see how many babies, but didn’t.

    The beans probably won’t go in the ground for another week or so and toward the end of May, the popcorn, gourds, and pumpkins, but that end of the garden needs some work first. The asparagus are amazing at how quickly they go from barely breaking the soil until almost too big to eat. I have to admit to having to compost a few as they didn’t get cut until the tops started opening. Fortunately, daughter’s family likes them as does a friend I see every week or two and they have definitely been my green vegetable of choice for a couple of weeks.

    The mountains are now green almost to the top and fully leafed at our elevation about halfway down. It is such a pretty time of the year here.

  • Still here

    The garden is cleaned up, the peas, lettuce, and spinach planted and awaiting more stable weather without fear of frost to plant beans, tomatoes, peppers, popcorn, and gourds. The asparagus are providing more than I can eat now, so some freshness from the garden. Both of my Asian pears are failing, both with large areas of dead branches. They produced nicely for a few years, then basically stopped production, and now seem to be dying. It is too early to tell it the freeze that happened a few days after the plum bloomed will prevent fruit. The peaches and apples waited to bloom until later, and the blueberries have lots of blooms.

    This week is summer type weather with three nights of near freezing later this weekend into early next week. One day it is shorts, tees, and sandals, then a few days later, jeans, long sleeve shirts, socks, and sweaters.

    It is only mid April and the lawn has had to be mowed twice already. Not my favorite job, but if it doesn’t get done, even the riding mower struggles to cut it down.

    The young chickens are now about 16 weeks old and a few weeks ago, I noted that one of the Buff Orpingtons was larger than the rest and already developing a vivid red comb. This morning, my suspicions that she was a he was confirmed with crowing. Now I have to decide if I want to keep a rooster with the remaining 9 pullets or find a new place for him to live.

    One of the all black Mystics is pure evil, not toward me, but very aggressive and dominant toward some of the other pullets. They will have to settle their own “pecking order,” without my intervention. We are about 6 or 7 weeks from starting to see eggs.

    One of my fellow re-enactors is a published author of historical novels, Carol Amorosi. She has a 3 book Celtic series, and a 5 book series that begins with the surveying of the Mason Dixon line and the most recent, I just finished reading, brings it up to the brink of the American Revolution. If you are a lover of historical fiction, her books can be found on Amazon in paperback or e-book formats.

    And it is school visit time at the museum, several Friday’s in a row with varying age groups and group sizes. This week are 6th graders, about 100 of them. They will be broken into 8 groups and rotated through 8 stations to visit and learn about life on the frontier about 250 years ago. This week, the slip, petticoat, short gown, long socks, and cap will be quite warm to wear with the 80+ degree heat.

    With these sessions, I generally spin on a Dealghan spindle or a wooden drop spindle as they would be more historically correct, and demonstrate the Lucet for making braided cords. These skills would be ones that young people would have been taught to help contribute to the family’s cord and yarn needs for tying bags, carrying tools, and for weaving the homespun that was a necessity away from the larger town ports after the Wool Act.

    We continue taking a daily walk, sometimes about 2 1/4 miles, other times we extend it to more than 3. As it gets hot, we often shift our walk time to late evening to avoid being in the hot sun during peak hours, and start making sure we have a bottle of water to stay hydrated.

    Stay well my friends.

  • Virginia Springtime

    We again have had a series of near early summer type weather, but hang on, it is Virginia in the springtime. Yesterday 78 and warm at night. Today 81 and 39 at night. Thursday 43 and 28 at night. Then we have several days of typical spring weather followed by a couple days of deep freeze with nights in the teens. If you don’t like the weather, stick around for 24 hours, it will flip flop.

    The Forsythia is beginning to bloom, if it freezes, we will lose the pretty yellow blooms but no harm done. The plum is in full white bloom and a freeze will mean no plums this early summer. I may take a sheet out to cover it Thursday and next week when it is again cold and hope to salvage some fruit.

    The pullets have finally figured out the outdoors and going back in by themselves at night. I only had one night of catching all ten and one night of catching one. Yesterday, the cover of the tunnel was refastened. The end needs some work, but it should only take me an hour or so to finish the work and another few minutes to secure some areas that don’t quite reach the soil line, then they will be given access to more space.

    On our daily walk, we saw two woodchucks, aka ground hogs, aka whistle pigs that have burrows on the edge of the trail. Both were out sunning, of course darting back into the burrow as we approached.

    It is the season where a few flowers from the yard can be brought in to adorn the table. Now there are daffodils and forsythia. The bearded iris and daylilies are showing and the autumn joy is showing green. It needs to warm up a bit more before the wildflower, zinnea, marigold, and bachelor button seed can be sown.

  • The Blog

    Blogs are developed for several reasons. Mine is basically a journal. I have tried paper journalling, however, writing is much slower than I think or type, so the blog evolved. If my thought are deeper than I wish to share, there is a private typed journal that occassionally I use.

    This week has been full of life. After our Anniversary dinner last weekend, we have had a busy but usual week. With the chick teenagers now in the coop, daily trips over to check on them and carrying a plastic cup with a handful of dried mealworms as a treat. The cup is shaken from the garage to the coop and as the door is opened and the treat poured into a small dish. The idea, to train them that the noise, the yellow cup, and me mean a treat so that when they begin to free range, they will come when called with the treat cup. It is about time to let them into the run, so most of a bale of hay has been spread in the run, areas of the fence that either had a broken wire or not tight to the ground were reinforced, and the battery operated pop door reset for times, but still wedged shut. We have two days of winter wet starting tonight with rain, turning to snow tomorrow into Monday night, so the door will remain closed for a couple more days. I don’t want to have to be out there in snow and cold to encourage any of them that don’t find their way back inside the coop as night falls. They are looking like small chickens now, less awkward.

    The two black ones are Mystic Onyx breed, one I had never seen before. They are a cross of Silkies and meat birds, medium sized, gentle nature, black legs, beaks, combs, and feathers. One of these has feathered feet and a head tuft more like a Silkie.

    We had several beautiful days this week where we could take our daily walk outdoors on the rails to trails trail. The mid section still hasn’t reopened from bridge repair, but is supposed to reopen in the next couple of weeks. Getting outdoors encourages a longer walk than when we walk indoors in the mall. We have managed a couple of 3 mile walks this week. When the weather warms a bit more and the spring flowers are showing more, we will extend the walk to the Hahn Garden on campus.

    With the nice day today, we made it back to our routine with breakfast followed by the local Saturday Farmer’s Market for the first time in several weeks. Being able to get some fresh greens, radishes, bread, and a small roast is wonderful.

    The new spindle has been the spindle of choice this week. It is Koa wood, hubby selected as a reminder of our trip last November to Kaua’i.

    I love the smaller spindles, this one is a bit larger than 3 of mine, but still small enough for travel and tucking in my daily bag, but large enough to hold more spun fiber.

    The hydroponic garden has 6 young herb plants sprouted. Soon they will be large enough to begin to enjoy some fresh herbs in cooking and salads. Our favorite garden center reopens next weekend and seeds needed for this year ‘s garden can be purchased. There are some left over seeds from last year, but not enough peas or beans, and after the raccoons got all of the sweet corn, I will go back to planting popcorn instead. The brightly colored popcorn can be used for fall decorating and popping and the raccoons don’t seem to like it as well. Last year I tried to cover the unplanted areas with pumpkins and failed. I don’t want to deal with the weed load this year, so a plan needs to be developed. Maybe gourds that can be used also for fall decorating and shared with daughter. If that fails, the line trimmer will have to be used more frequently as the garden fencing hasn’t been moved.

    Spring can’t come soon enough, we are tired of the cold and the ridiculously high energy bills.

  • Cha-cha-changes

    This past weekend we had the opportunity to drive 275+ miles north and east in the state to visit one of our son’s and his family. Never have I traveled across the state and seen snow/ice everywhere. Twice we again drove through snow falling and traffic throwing salty, muddy splatter up on the windshield and rear window making visibility difficult.

    Our son’s family’s apartment is across the street from the hotel where we stay and with temperatures in the teens and up to 60 mph wind gusts outdoor walking was brutal. Then on Saturday we went to a play in the city about 10 blocks from where we could get off the Metro and it was bitter and windy . Sunday was still only in the teens and windy but not quite as brutal. The snow showers we experienced on the way there had stopped and the sky cleared on Sunday. We got home to find another 4 inches had fallen here and there were some deep spots in the path that had been plowed out on Thursday night.

    The plowed driveway that finally allowed us to drive to the garage and get back out.

    The new snow didn’t hamper that fortunately, and yesterday we started a warm up, thaw, and clearing finally after about 3 weeks of ice, snow, and temperatures never reaching 32f. Today, we reached a high of 57 f and we were able to take our daily walk outdoors, though the rails to trails path was only plowed to about half it’s width. It was wonderful to get outside in only a light jacket and enjoy the sunshine and mild temperature.

    I am still sore from my fall on the ice a week ago, but am managing daily chores and our walk as long as I don’t lift anything too heavy.

    With the more temperate week ahead, the chicks purchased in early January and now fully feathered, too large for the 45 gallon stock tank they were occupying in the basement, were moved to the empty coop. A bale and a half of pine shavings were added to it as it had been cleaned out in November when the adults were gone. A 5 gallon waterer and a 15 pound feeder were placed in before we moved the teenager chicks. They haven’t had heat on them for several days other than basement heat.

    Here they were at about 1 1/2-2 weeks old before they outgrew the smaller crate and were moved to the stock tank. Having them in the basement for almost 6 weeks, they have created an amazing amount of dust. After we moved them and removed the stock tank, I did do a surface dusting, but will go down tomorrow and do a more thorough cleaning and try to get the floor clean. This batch of birds will be the last ones I raise for eggs. It is getting too difficult to move 50 pound sacks of feed and hauling a 5 gallon water container to keep them fed and hydrated.

    After they spend a week or two in the coop to learn that it is home, they will be allowed into the covered pen on hay for another week or two, then allowed into the covered run around the garden, hopefully to keep the bug and weed load down in the garden.

    A box of supplies for the hydroponic herb garden was finally delivered today. UPS has been trying to deliver it for 2 1/2 weeks, but unable to get down our icy road. It will be nice having fresh herbs again once they germinate and get some size on them. Once spring arrives and they can go out to the half barrel on the patio, more will be sown and before next winter, the hydroponic will be started again for fall and winter use. I was too late this year getting the baskets and sponges to start it in the fall.

    I know winter isn’t over, but hopefully the artic temperatures have passed and more seasonable winter temperatures will prevail. There will be more wintry precipitation I’m sure, but inches of snow topped with ice then more snow creating 30 acres of glacier hopefully is gone. For the first time in weeks, we can see some grass peeking through the snow in the back field and gravel on the driveway. This has certainly not been typical.

  • Winter, it is time to quit!

    As we had been able to plod to the car up the hill in ice cleats and get out, we had been staying well supplied. Monday evening, we decided to go to town and see a movie. Though the lot was full of cars, we were the only two in the theater for the film we selected. Walking down from the car when we got home, using a flashlight to guide us, I apparantly lost one of the slip on cleat units on one of my boots and didn’t realize it. We were about 2/3 the way down to the house when that foot hit ice, slid out from under me and down I went hard on my back. Fortunately, nothing broken, I got up, carefully moved to an area of a drift of deeper unfrozen snow and got back to the house.

    The next morning, using my remaining cleats and one of hubby’s, I walked back up to find my missing one near the car.

    As we had a very early appointment on Wednesday morning in the city about 75 minutes away, we packed a backpack with overnight gear and next day clothing, trudged up to the car and drove to a hotel in the city nearer the appointment. The appointment got delayed by a couple hours and after a minor complication, ended up spending the entire day there. On our way home as night fell, it began to snow again. Not wanting to risk another walk in the dark, I drove carefully down our icy driveway to the garage. The snow accumulated another 1-2 inches on top of the ice. It is supposed to get up to about 35f (1.7c) and sunny today, so maybe last night’s snow will melt off, again leaving us just the ice.

    The young man that mows, bales, and takes our hay is coming down this evening with his truck and snowplow to try to break up the ice on our driveway and clear us a path so we can again get out.

    The weather prognosticators are threatening another inch or so tomorrow afternoon and night and a cold Saturday, but then a warming trend with a couple of days actually reaching the 50’s next week, so maybe it will begin to melt off.

    The snow is beautiful, the ice is treacherous, especially for our 78 and 82 year old bodies. It is time for the winter to moderate back to cooler, dryer weather and let this mess clear off.

  • Did I go to sleep in Virginia

    And wake up in Maine? The storm for which all the preparations were made ended up about 4 inches of snow and 6 inches of sleet. We never got the freezing rain, thank goodness, and our power never went out. However, the highest temperature we have had in a couple of weeks is in the upper teens and most nights in low single digits. With those temperatures, the ice wasn’t melting. Late in the week, we got the AWD SUV to the top of the driveway and out for more supplies. To get to and from the car, 2/10 mile away, we have to don ice cleats on our shoes to prevent falling on the ice.

    To make life more interesting for our senior souls, on Friday, we had another storm and about 6″ of dry blowing snow dumped on the ice. This morning, we managed to trod up to the car through the drifts and get out once again. Though once at the car and the snow brushed off, the cleats removed in the vehicle, I foolishly got back out without thinking and slipped to a sitting position by the driver’s door. No injury, just embarrassment at being foolish. We have had animal care duty for the past few days and needed to go check on them, thaw water bowls, feed the indoor critters, and purchase feed for my chicks and bird feeders. We got a short mall walk in while we were out, and parked the car again at the top of the driveway, hauling 90 pounds of feed down to the house on a plastic tobaggan that we had stashed in the back. The high today is 20, last night it went down to 5 and is expected to do so again tonight. The wind is howling and blowing the dry snow into drifts. Because of the wind and the fear of losing power, the woodstove has been burning for most of a week now. It heats the basement up to about 75 degrees and some of that heat rises to the first floor bringing it up to about 70. The upstairs is the 68 that the thermostat is set on. We finally have a couple days in the near future where it is going to get above freezing, but also three days of snow or snow mixed with rain, expected in the next 6 days.

    This is not typical Virginia winter and if the groundhog came out today, he would definitely see his shadow and 6 more weeks of winter (like there won’t be anyway by the calendar.)

  • Preparations

    Preparations

    We are in one of the eastern states that is in the path of the winter storm marching across the south. Far enough north that we will get snow followed by freezing rain. This morning’s prediction is 8 to 12 inches of snow followed by .25+ inches of ice. This is enough to cause power outages in our rural area where most of the above ground transmission lines run through wooded areas. An ice storm a number of years ago, took our power for 6 days and without power, we are also without water and our stove is electric. At that time we had two dogs and couldn’t just leave them to go to a hotel once the roads were clear enough to get out. We live about a half mile from a paved road, all uphill. This snow and ice event is supposed to be followed by a series of days where we will see single digit to very low double digit temperatures and even some negative temperatures at night, so melt off anytime soon is remote at best.

    We have a small tractor with a blade, but it won’t handle a foot of snow for plowing the driveway. Beginning about three days ago, every time we drove by the grocery store, the large parking lot was packed and since I didn’t do any canning this past summer, there was little on the pantry shelves that could be quick cooked. We generally shop on Fridays because we get 4 times gas points and braved the mobs of hoarders. It is fascinating to see the “bread and milk” buyers. If the power goes out, the milk will spoil. We picked up some produce that doesn’t require refrigeration, a few cans of soup, a couple packs of quick rice, and a couple packets of chicken. Once home, prep was done here. With a fireplace in the living room and a wood stove in the basement, we can keep the house from freezing. I filled a couple food safe 5 gallon buckets with drinking water and the downstairs bathtub for toilet flushing and dish washing. There was a load of wood in the garage and another in the basement, but I hauled 5 wheelbarrows of wood to the covered front porch, right by the door. Cleared a spot for the camping stove in the garage, located my backpacking alcohol stove that will boil water or heat soup, and the camp pots, so if necessary, we can eat. The three solar lanterns were put in the sun to charge up and the power block is also being charged up.

    Since the freezer has sausages in it, we bought a couple long forks for cooking them on the fire, and a package of buns.

    The hope is, since we are prepared, we won’t lose power, but if we do and can’t get out in the car, we won’t dehydrate or starve to death. Hmm, think I better go grind some coffee beans too.

    Here’s hoping it was all unnecessary preparation, but rather be safe than sorry.