Cabin Crafted

Category: farm

  • We Have Winter

    Last year, there was a brutally cold week around Christmas, but otherwise a warm winter and no snow. We have had a few days of snow showers with only a dusting to show for it, that quickly melted away. The most recent nearly nationwide storm gave us snow. Not a lot, only a few inches, but so pretty.

    My social media memory from two years ago showed quite a bit more snow this week and a brief sledding adventure on one of our hills before fleeing back into the house to warm up. No sledding on this, it isn’t really deep enough, but more snow showers are due Friday, probably not enough to make a difference. At least some of this will still linger as we do have cold. Last night it went down to 6*f and not expected to go above 24 today. With a few more nights in the teens or single digits expected before it warms back up above freezing at night next week.

    The Nandina bushes across the front of the house are probably not happy, they all looked like they died last winter. Most of them tried to come back last summer, but look skimpy. This cold may be the end of them. Something low and more hardy may have to replace them this spring.

    The chickens haven’t left the coop in 3 days and probably won’t today either. The water freezes even in the coop. Once the weather warms enough to melt the snow, the coop will be thoroughly cleaned and the water removed to the run. I am thinking about using coarse sand in the coop now that can be scooped and added to as needed. And keeping the water out of the coop to keep it drier in there. The east side has a screened drop down wooden panel that needs to be replaced with a more air and water tight option. There are two small round bales of hay that were left to put in the run, but it is too cold to go out there to spread it. Providing water, food, and scratch is all I can manage in single digit temperatures.

    Egg production is picking up. There are tiny green, blue, and chocolate pullet eggs, and green, pink, and brown hen eggs appearing daily now. Usually around 4 eggs a day. Shadow, the GSD and I are able to enjoy an egg each day and still provide daughter and her family with eggs. The two young roosters seem to get along, but I don’t need two roosters with 8 hens. I need to find a new home for one of them and figure out how to catch him. With the days lengthening, the electric pop door hours will have to be adjusted soon, so no birds end up locked out at night. It might be time to replace the batteries as well.

    The two French doors on the back of the house are both showing light between them on the lower edge. New weather stripping needs to be applied, if I can find the right product for the job.

    Spring, summer, and autumn are beautiful on the mountain. Winter is depressing except when there is snow to change the bleak gray to bright white. This was the first accumulating snow in two years, I’m sure there will be more in our future, we have gotten snow as late as the end of March, but this one wasn’t deep enough to strand us in the hollow and VDOT actually plowed our gravel state maintained road yesterday.

    Not a lot of crafting or reading is getting done lately. The second cataract surgery also produced cornea swelling and so far it hasn’t totally resolved. The surgeon put me on a hypertonic saline drop last week to try to help it resolve. It seems to be helping.

    Stay warm and safe with the extreme storms that have hammered the world lately.

  • New Year’s Traditions

    New Year is here and we still haven’t celebrated Christmas with family, or even each other. In past years, decorations were taken down and packed up on January 1. They would have been up for about a month and the day after or soon following January 1, we would return to school and work. This year, the decorations will stay up for one more week so we can have a post Covid celebration with two of our kids and their families. Christmas dinner will occur then also.

    Another tradition adopted by our family from hubby’s youth, is having Huevos Rancheros for New Year’s Day breakfast. Though it was just the two of us, his traditional breakfast was prepared and enjoyed.

    My family’s tradition was black eyed peas and collards for dinner. I love both, though hubby is not a fan. The peas were simmered this afternoon, the collards came from a can to keep the quantity low. We purchased a rotisserie chicken when we went to town to walk this afternoon and a boiled potato and spinach salad prepared for his vegetables. Two substantial helpings of peas and collards were enjoyed by me. And at least one more meal of them were put away for another night.

    I should have made cornbread, but opted for biscuits instead. I hope the traditions bring us luck in the coming year.

    Happy New Year to all of you.

  • And the rooster crows

    It is a miserably rainy day, a good day to nap the Covid symptoms away. When I looked over to the coop area this morning, I saw that several birds had found their way into the open garden but couldn’t figure out how to get back out. Their appearance looked like perhaps they had spend the rainy night in there. Eventually they either went back out the open gate or climbed a pallet leaning against the fence and went over the top.

    With a Cooper hawk hanging out nearby, they aren’t free ranging much, but a few minute’s ago, most were in the front yard.

    The two hatchlings from last summer both ended up roosters and for the first time one crowed.

    I’m not sure which one is vocal, but at least it isn’t an unpleasant squawk.

  • Time passes in my absence

    My activity here has been sparse lately. This in part because of trying to get ready for the holidays between having cataract surgery first on my left eye in mid November and my right eye two days ago. The first one produced lots of swelling of my cornea, proving to be quite uncomfortable the day of surgery, like someone rubbing sandpaper on my eye every time I blinked. Thus, much of that day was spent reclined with my eyes closed and dozing. It then produced 5 days of very blurry vision in that eye. As soon as the vision cleared, I realized that my brain just would not/could not adapt to the disparity of vision between the eyes. At the two week re check, when I discussed it with the surgeon, she did a quick check on my right eye acuity and scheduled me for a more comprehensive exam and surgery on the the right eye. My vision had significantly deteriorated in the three months since the exam that generated the referral to her in the first place, or the initial exam from elsewhere was flawed. Now two days out from that surgery, there is only slight vision fuzz, no discomfort, and cheap reading glasses stashed all over the place as I can no longer see any text closer than several feet away. As she and my eldest said, I now have bionic eyes.

    In between the surgeries, Thanksgiving dinner was prepared and enjoyed here for 8 family members and Christmas gifts wrapped and sorted, one box mailed off. The stocking stuffers have mostly been gathered and sorted by recipient. We were set to go look for our Christmas tree sometime during the first week of December, only to find out that the two local cut your own farms both shut down, one on November 26, the other on December 3. I guess the drought from the summer affected their trees’ health. As a result, we ended up buying an artificial prelit tree on sale. Both of us were finding the cold hike through the farms taxing now, so we will just use this tree as long as it lasts.

    Also in the middle of the two surgeries, we celebrate several family birthdays. At my birthday dinner, local grandson approached me and ask for assistance on a project. Forty odd years ago, we purchased candy cane yarn rope garland for our tree. Ever since daughter was on her own with her own tree, she has coveted the garland. Her son has tried for several years to locate some and purchase it for her to no avail. His project was to see if his wool spinning grandmother could help him make some. Challenge accepted after my search for it was also futile. A huge ball of super bulky chenille white yarn and another of red were purchased. I attempted to make one length on my own but wasn’t happy with it. He was invited over so we could figure it out together and between his intelligent engineering oriented mind and my spinning knowledge and equipment, we succeeded in making 12 very long garlands.

    There is an awesome video that hubby took for the process of making one, but I can’t get it to load here.

    And a few days ago, we had our first snow of the winter, about the most we received in all of 2023 and it was only a couple of inches after a day of 3 inches of rain.

    Hopefully, the rain and the snow are omens of more wet to follow and hopefully break the 2023 drought.

    The littles are all grown, the two hatchlings both young roosters. They haven’t started crowing yet, but at 20-21 weeks old, it will happen any time now. The young pullets haven’t begun laying yet, but they should start soon. The old girls are all in stages of molt, so eggs had to be purchased at the Farmer’s Market last weekend.

    We continue our daily walks outdoors unless it is too cold or raining. Then we walk the mall or go to the gym 1/9th mile track and walk a numbing 36 laps.

    Right now it is quiet on the farm. We will have some of our family here for Christmas and Christmas dinner and look forward to that.

    Wishing you all happy holidays, depending on which you celebrate.

  • Olio – October 20, 2023

    Olio: A miscellaneous collection of things

    Fall is in the air. The daily walks are more vivid each day. A few days ago, we ventured farther into Heritage Park than we have ever walked before doing two more miles on the Huckleberry Trail. The park was a farm purchased by the town of Blackburg. One terminus of the Huckleberry is at one end of the farm and we have walked through the edge of the park many times but have never ventured into the fields. There are several of the old farm building and silos still there and several large fields that are mowed for hay still. Walking the perimeters of two of the large fields, we discovered a Play Park between the field and the old farm buildings.

    The pullets have fully integrated into the flock or visa versa. They all reside in the coop together and free range as a unit now. The Orphans being a smaller breed don’t look as large as the others yet, but the Hatchlings and Marans that was added in with them are as large as the hens, but still lack much in the way of combs. The old Olive egger that was surrogate Mama Hen is being the most consistent layer, but a few days ago, she produced a robin’s egg blue egg that was as gritty as sand on the surface, but normal green eggs on the adjacent days. That has never happened before.

    One of the Buff Orpingtons hasn’t laid an egg all summer. Her comb is small and pale. I think she may be removed from the flock. The older hens are all beginning to molt and the pullets are still weeks from starting to lay, so eggs are going to be scarce for a while.

    Last weekend was a living history day at the Museum. I love this photo that was taken of me as I sat and demonstrated spinning, probably between visitors as I stood and talked when they were present.

    The garden is still an overgrown mess. We may have our first frost Sunday night. I’m hoping so. I will then gather pumpkins and pull the vines, cut down tomato vines, cut back the asparagus, and prune the berries. Maybe then I can clear out a bed to plant next year’s garlic crop and move a wooden box over the asparagus bed to define their patch and add some soil and compost to the stalks before layering straw for the winter, and see if there are any potatoes and sweet potatoes in the hidden box.

    The garden wasn’t as prolific as years past, but no fall garden was planted and the pumpkins just took over. There are pickles, pickled peppers, tomatoes and sauce, a small batch of apple/Asian pear sauce, and a very few quart bags of beans and peas. It looks like a couple dozen small Seminole pumpkins are hiding out in the vines.

    Early mornings and evenings are being spent knitting on my sweater. Much more yarn than was needed was spun, so another project will have to be found for the remainder. The spindles get some time each day working on another batch of yarn.

    On Sunday afternoon and evening, I will again participate in the Museum Spirit Trail event, portraying Mary Draper Ingalls, then Tuesday and Thursday, demonstrate for 4th graders at the museum in the mornings.

    Wednesday, I have my consult for cataract surgery. I am a bit anxious about that even though I have been reassured by many people who have already had it done that it isn’t a big deal and I will be so happy once it is done.

  • The Farm in Autumn

    The garden is now one huge pumpkin patch. Planting Seminole pumpkins in there was an error on my part. Somewhere beneath the vines are potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peppers. They have nearly taken over the blueberry bed and are creeping through the fence and forming pumpkins outside the garden as well. The deer are loving that, eating the leaves and flowers, and gnawing the still green pumpkins outside of the fence. The tomatillos are finally flowering so there may be some of them after all. The tomatoes are brown stalks standing in the midst of the pumpkins vines and the peppers are engulfed.

    As the leaves fall from the apple trees, the fruit is more visible and a bucket was harvested yesterday and applesauce will be made today. The apple pears will be added to that sauce, it makes a delicious fruit sauce.

    There are two hens in with the littles now. No aggression is shown, but favoritism is definitely shown for the ones Mama Hen raised, so the orphans are still orphaned. They are all looking like little hens now. Mornings are foggy as they set out on their daily forage. Later in the day, the two hens will go off and the 5 littles will rejoin nearer the coop.

    The 4 hens in the Palace, still isolated are producing few eggs. I want to know which two are producing, so later this week, I will let one of the Marans out and to rejoin the coop and see if I get a dark colored egg in the coop. Mama Hen started laying again and has produced a green egg every day for a week. Little Red hen lays about 4 a week. If there are no dark eggs provided in the coop, that Marans will be returned to the Palace at night and the other one put in the coop as I know one of them is laying. Then the same process will occur with the Buff Orpingtons. It is the only way I can figure out who is laying and who is not.

    Yesterday as the lawn was being mowed, I noticed that Ranger’s Memorial tree is sporting autumnal colors. Leaves are changing and falling, but the color in the mountains isn’t very vivid this year.

    During our walk yesterday, I spotted this huge mushroom. It was on the other side of a chain link fence so now the best photo, but it must have been 15″ in diameter.

    Daily foggy morning, obscuring the south ridge behind our farm.

    Welcome to October.

  • It is working

    Yesterday, the Hatchlings and the Orphans were playing nicely together so I let the most gentle Marans out of “Time Out” to join them. She was very kind to them and last night she perched on one end of the perch, the Hatchings and Orphans on the other end after hubby and I had to catch the Orphans and send them up the ramp.

    Today has been extremely wet, but the hen and the pullets came out, mostly staying near or under the coop during most of the day. Late this afternoon, Mama Hen was let out of “Time Out” and she is no longer exhibiting the mama behaviors. She didn’t try to separate the hatchlings from the others, didn’t hover around clucking. Tonight, all 5 pullets cooped up and perched together on one end of the coop the two hens together on the other end of the coop.

    Tomorrow, another hen will be released, and if things still seem calm, the remaining hens will be released one at a time, hoping for peace in the yard. The orphans seem less intimidated each day.

    It looks like one of the hatchlings might be a little roo. Not a very pretty bird, but a rooster here as long as it is only one would be welcomed. They do help protect their hens from hawks and showing them treats.

    After some frustration with this experiment, it looks like we may have added 5 more birds to the 6 adult hens. I hope egg production picks up.

  • Life and Death on the Farm

    Twelve years ago, we began talking about adding a dog or two to the farm. Hubby wanted an English Mastiff. I had no idea what they were, but he found a litter due in December in Pennsylvania. When they were 8 weeks old, we drove up and picked up our 22 pound puppy. Two weeks later, driving up again to purchase a beautiful German Shepherd pup. They were best buddies, but unfortunately, the German Shepherd, who we later found out had come from a disreputable puppy mill, developed Canine Wobblers and at 16 weeks, due to her paralysis and a heart murmur, she had to be euthanized. Later that summer, we purchased another German Shepherd pup but they never truly bonded like the first one did.

    Today we had to say goodbye to the big guy, he far outlived the life expectancy of a giant breed and was the best gentle giant in the world.

    It is such a tough decision to have to make, but this was the last gift we could give him.

    Life on the farm continues with the saga of the hatchlings and the orphans. The orphans have been in a wire dog cage in the coop for a couple of weeks and in the cage in the yard during the day Yesterday, I left the hens penned in the run and let the orphans out into the yard. The hatchlings can still escape the run and the 5 of them played nicely all day, but if the orphans got near the run fence, a hen would lunge at them. Today I repeated the same procedure and decided that the best option for now is to put the hens in purgatory, AKA the chicken palace, AKA timeout. I left Mama Hen with them and she promptly separated her littles from the orphans, but didn’t attack the orphans. Tonight the 5 littles and Mama will have the coop and for a while, the run of the farm without interference. Eventually, I will release the hens one at a time to rejoin the littles in the coop. I hope it works. Egg production is minimal right now anyway.

  • Bee Keeper vs Bee Haver

    My intent has been to be a bee keeper, not just someone with a hive or two sitting down the hill in an electric fence enclosure. These bees came to me via local purchase in the spring and were diligently set up with the idea of being successful this year. Then bursitis in my left shoulder, followed by a ruptured bicep also the left (my dominant side), then the heat. The bees have basically had to fend for themselves, though I did do one hive inspection, finding old larvae and low population in one hive and no evidence of the marked queen, and new and old larvae and much higher population in the other hive, but again, unable to find the marked queen. I closed them up and hoped that the first hive had made a new queen before the marked one took off with her helpers.

    Yesterday, my bee keeping, spinning friend offered to come over today and help me do an inspection. Walking up to the hives, we weren’t hopeful with the first hive, but found eggs (which I can’t ever see), young and older larvae, capped brood, some honey, and some stored pollen, but not enough. The amount of brood is hopeful that the new queen is doing her duty to build up the population before it gets cold. The second hive is thriving. We pulled a lot of drone larvae off for the chickens, it is about time for the workers to kick the drones out anyway. We pulled the queen excluders, and decided that since there isn’t enough honey stored for winter, that I should begin feeding them 2:1 syrup that they can cap and store for winter. Next week, it is supposed to be cooler, so we are going to treat both hives with Formic acid pads to kill off any mites before it gets cold.

    Not a single photo was taken today, but the hives are set up with an empty box on top to hold two quart jars of syrup per hive. A need to purchase a 20 lb bag of sugar on the list as I used all that was in the house. Four quarts of syrup are cooling on the counter and I’m waiting the the thunderstorm that came up to pass so they can be taken down and put on the hives.

    After we were done, both hot and sweaty, we visited over a cold lunch of Quinoa salad that I had made this morning, then picked her a few gallons of apples to take home. Though it wasn’t as hot as the past week, it was still plenty warm in long sleeves, long pants, boots, hood, and gloves.

    My appreciation of her help can’t be explained enough. With the difficulty of lifting the heavy boxes and the inability to see the eggs in the cells, it is great to have her younger eyes and greater strength.

  • Olio – September 1, 2023

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    The garden is a mess, the two pumpkins vines have taken over and what isn’t under their leaves are weeds. The zucchini finally quit, the cucumbers are scarce, but there are many pickled in the refrigerator. The tomatoes have produced well but many were lost with a period of rain and then being away for 4 days. A bucket full is awaiting attention on the kitchen counter. It will be turned into sauce this afternoon and what isn’t used for dinner will be frozen in quart freezer bags as I still haven’t the drive to can this year. The Tomatillos are producing fruit but it is rotting on the vine or getting eaten so only 1 have been brought in. The peppers are still not doing much.

    I did get away last weekend for an annual fiber retreat in beautiful Black Mountain, NC. The group was on the smaller side due to some folks that had to drop out at the last minute, but I did meet some new people and look forward to seeing them again maybe at Hawk’s Nest in February or next year at Black Mountain.

    A morning walk while there an encounter with a very tolerant hen Turkey and her three poults.

    Once home, the Mama Hen has started making her 5ish week old chicks get up on the roost at night. The two orphans spend the night hiding behind the feeder and waterer and the day roaming the coop. They have only ventured out twice and both times have been attacked by the flock of hens. Today we purchased a wire dog cage and I put them in it where they will be seen, but protected. On nice days, I will pull it out and put it in a shady spot in the yard and hopefully eventually they will be accepted or will at least be big enough to defend themselves.

    Not much else happening.