For the Record

Paula gave to me, an old egg collection record book dated from 1921. An example of an entry is February 14, when 25 eggs were laid. She must have had a large number of chickens! By the end of the month, the total eggs laid were 28 dozen with a total revenue of $15.39. Besides being a record book it also advertised Wirthmore Feeds and doled out chicken raising advise, including such harsh words as "Don't feed the slackers and cull out the drones"

Whole Farm Planning for Beginning Women Farmers

Maurine and I were accepted into this program that will help us to plan our farm for success! It sounds interesting and intense. Several days of classroom work, homework, and farm visits. The program is funded via a grant from the USDA and the course itself is developed by Holistic Management International. http://holisticmanagement.org/

A Thanksgiving Egg Basket

Don discovered a turkey nest in the woods today....full of eggs! We had noticed the hens spending a lot of time in the woods these last several days.

Big Birds

I knew the turkeys were getting big....but not that big! After being totally dressed out they weighed in at 38 and 36 pounds. I wonder what they weighed before that???

Goodbye to our Splendid Toms

These two guys will be moved to the freezer tonight.

They were big, beautiful birds that we enjoyed having roam the yard. They leave behind the two hens, who will live on indefinitely.

A Turkey Egg!!!!

This afternoon, one of the hen turkeys wandered off by herself into the woods and was gone for quite some time. We speculated she was maybe brooding. So after she reappeared, I went scavenging in the woods where she had been and found this egg she had laid. I brought it in and nested it amongst the salvaged feathers of the tom turkey that was killed by a predator last week.

Shed Roof

A shed roof is being added to the back of the barn so that infrequently, and seasonal, equipment, can be stored out of the way and out of the weather.

The Girls are Really Laying Now!

We're In the Egg Business!!!

Tuesday, October 16th is the first day we got an egg from our hens. It's been five and a half months of raising the little girls from chicks and we'd been placing bets on when the first egg would be found in the next box. Emily Collins gets the prize for coming the closest. But since the prize was to get to eat the first egg, and she's way over in Maine, studying to become an OT, we decided to go ahead and eat it ourselves.

After much admiring and photographing, we cooked it up in a pan and shared it. Very very yummy!

Time for a Fence Around the Veggie Garden

Don set up his game cam on a post in the garden. Here's what triggered it at 4:17 AM.

Too bad for this guy hunting season is just around the corner. But, he's being fattened up nicely on the end of the bean crop so he should be tasty! Next year a fence needs to go up around that garden!

My Little Hen has Died

I think this is the little hen I spoon fed to keep alive when she was only a day old. I suspect she has died from Blackhead disease, a parasite that hurts their liver. Despite many efforts to find the needed medicine, I could not find a local vet who could get and none was to be had in farm stores. It's a very helpless feeling. There seem to be all kinds of help for horses, dogs and cats, but I haven't yet found a poultry vet. I'm imaging most farmers double up as farmer and vet when it comes to chickens and turkeys, and more than likely, most find it not economical to pay a vet for a rather cheap and expendable bird. Even so, I find it sad that she died like this and I feel badly I couldn't help. I know, I know.....she was going to be butchered in another couple of months, but at least she would be eaten and would fulfill her 'circle of life' fate, but now she must be buried very deep or burned so as not to infect wildlife. Keep your fingers crossed that the other turkeys also don't get it.

Winter Rye

While the garden is still supplying us with fresh veggies and flowers, we are planning for winter. Much of the fallow parts of the garden were seeded in winter rye in hopes of improving the nitrogen levels for next planting season. When the rest of the crops are brought in, we will do the same to that earth.

Alpha Turkey

Moroccan HENna

My hens all agreed, that Moroccan Henna was the only rational paint color choice for their coop. Hopefully move in day will be later this week. The finishing touches are going in now. It's mostly interior work that is left, such as perches and lighting fixtures.

Ruler of the Roost

As the little guys have grown into roosters, it's become clear which one is ruler, and here he is. So far, no fights. I think the 2nd rooster is so sure of his secondary position that he doesn't even give it a challenge.

Our Best 'Hired' Hand

Pat Reed models his new tee shirt. The work he has done with us is priceless....so we just have to keep him in syrup and honey.

Bit 'o Honey

The bees have been so busy this summer that we had to extract honey from a 'super' to give them more room for more honey.

Decisions decisions

Sugar House progress #2

Sugar House progress

This is the site, cleared and leveled, where the sugar house will go....just down from the barn.

Cock-a-doodle-do

Two of my ten little chicks turned out to be cocks. So far so good, but I've been warned the guys like to fight.

Clearing the way for a sugar house

The plan is to have a sugar house built before next sugaring season, so a space is being cleared and some land trenched to improve drainage. Lots of the trees being taken down are being chopped back up and thrown back into the woods, other is being used to mulch the garden paths. The sugar house will be on the west side of the barn, looking out to the west field.

New house for the turkeys

Their long necks pushed them out of the roof of their brooder so Don put together a turkey RV, which they seem to find very accommodating

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The Cherry Tree at the End of the Drive

Last summer this cherry table was a tree. We had to take the tree down to get our certificate of occupancy because it was blocking a safe view distance for getting out of the drive. We took the tree to Lathrop's in Bristal, to turn the tree into boards. Then we took the boards to Vermont Furniture in Salsbury to make it into a table. The table now sits in our entry way.

Water to the Garden

The garden is located over in the west field, hundreds of feet away from any water. But Don, the engineer, devised the beginning of an irrigation system, starting with laying tubing through the woods and across the field, and connecting it up with hoses and valves to the house outdoor faucet so that we now have running water at the garden. What a time saver and back saver. Soon we will have irrigation to all the rows, with valves to regulate each one. This is the best way to water efficiently and only where you need it.

Meet Tom, Tetrazzini, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Meatball, and Noodle Soup

Six little guys arrived today. I fear naming them since, #1 I may get attached, and #2 There's a good chance they won't all survive. They are having a hard time figuring out the eating/drinking part of staying alive and need lots of coaxing. I really think they need their mama. But, hopefully they will all make it till the holidays.

Here's the Dirt

Just in time for planting....Don gets

a spot tilled up for the garden. The soil looks perfect in structure....crumbly but moist. With a little lime added, it should be perfect.

Meet Melanie, Lucille, Harriet, Velma, Beverly, Bertie, Becky, Elsie, Audrey and Sally

Not sure who's who, but here they are, sure to make their namesake proud. Wanna bet the pecking order that will develop?

Pick Your Own

Want some fresh dandelion greens? We've got lots. They're organic, and they're delicious.

Please release me...

The tree experts call it 'releasing' when you try to reclaim old, overgrown apple trees. We have at least a dozen old, fruit bearing apple trees that we are starting to release. I've pruned out old wood, overlapping branches and other tree growth that is interferring with the apple tree getting adequate light. It will take several years to get them back, doing a little bit more each year. We don't want to shock them by doing it all at once!

We Got Our Tests Back

Seven different soil samples were sent in to the UVM soil lab to test for nutrients and pH, and to see what condition are soils is in. I had to take 10 samples from each 7 areas, composite them and measure out a cup to send in. Turns out almost all samples have a very low pH, so I think we'll be applying lots of lime. The test results will help us to decide what to plant where on the property, and how to amend the soil to make it fertile.

Migrant Workers

Our bees are being prepped to go over to Adams Apple Orchards to join the other migrant workers doing some seasonal pollination. Don and Scott opened the hives to check and see if they all had their green cards. They were all abuzz in the hive!

We're Expecting!

Baby chicks that is....

Flower Farm

The exact same day that Maurine picked out 2000 bulbs for her planned Flower CSA, she got a message from an old colleague asking if she's be interested in applying for a position in an advertising firm in NYC. Which she did, and which she got. So, now here I am, it's spring, some days, and those 2000 bulbs are starting to come up. And they are beautiful.

I may just have to take on a little flower business myself until Mo returns from the city to be a country girl again, and open her flower shop.

Vacuuming Sap

At one o'clock this afternoon, Don turned the switch on the new vacuum pump/tubing system for collecting sap. And it worked! and tonight he's already transferring over a hundred gallons out of the collection tank and onto the truck for delivery to the boiling house. I won't miss the back breaking work of trudging through heavy snow with buckets full of sap hanging from my arms. But we still do have 50 buckets hung on the west side of the house where the vacuum system couldn't reach, so there will still be some old fashioned work to be done.

Shed Progress

It was a late Sunday of work...but the shed got finished. Almost. It does still need a few finishing bits, like paint, roof shingles, and a hole on the street side for running the sap tube out to the collection tank on the truck or tractor.