We set a season record for eggs yesterday - 18. Which means only 4 of the chickie girls didn't lay yesterday. And since there were only 3 blue/green eggs and I know all 4 Ameraucanas are laying already this spring, that means there are probably only 3 girls not laying at all. But not all the girls lay every day. For instance, today I only got 12 eggs. So that means those other 3 might very well be laying, just not yesterday. Clear as mud?
I have 5 boxes of 18 full, plus a dozen carton started, so I guess tomorrow is an egg washing day.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Gardening and Other Stuff
We now have all the broccolis, Pak Chois and Napa cabbages in the ground, as well as all the onion plants that will be big onions and about 2/3 of the onion plants that will be pulled young as scallions. Some of the Napas were bolting already, so they weren't planted; they'll get canned. The Napa seeds we ordered online, a small variety called Minuet, are all growing very nicely with rosettes of basal leaves. However, we also bought some seeds for a normal sized Chinese cabbage at a local store and they're the ones that are rushing the season. Most of them are growing properly, but about a third want to grow a stem and start blooming already. Naughty!
We're trying straw mulch this year, chopping it with a lawn mower before putting it around the plants. And we got some of the scrap rolls of newsprint from the Sun to use under the straw in a couple of the raised beds. We'll use it under the big plants later in the season, too.
Those bikes we bought last month? Our butts haven't touched 'em yet. It's been either too rainy, too cold, or, if the day is sunny and warm, we have too much to do outside with the garden.
Our Bradford (Cleveland?) pear trees and the flowering plum are blooming, and the bees are loving them. The redbuds should be opening next week sometime. I still have to cut the butterfly bushes back and prune the rambling rose, Gertrude Jekyll. The Gertrude flowers smell WONderful. I like fragrant flowers - roses, lilacs, lilies, hyacinths, etc.
We're trying straw mulch this year, chopping it with a lawn mower before putting it around the plants. And we got some of the scrap rolls of newsprint from the Sun to use under the straw in a couple of the raised beds. We'll use it under the big plants later in the season, too.
Those bikes we bought last month? Our butts haven't touched 'em yet. It's been either too rainy, too cold, or, if the day is sunny and warm, we have too much to do outside with the garden.
Our Bradford (Cleveland?) pear trees and the flowering plum are blooming, and the bees are loving them. The redbuds should be opening next week sometime. I still have to cut the butterfly bushes back and prune the rambling rose, Gertrude Jekyll. The Gertrude flowers smell WONderful. I like fragrant flowers - roses, lilacs, lilies, hyacinths, etc.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Gardening
The first spring plants are in the ground. We got 18 Napa cabbages, 8 red Pak Chois, 7 green Pak Chois, and 17 broccolis planted today. The full moon's not until Thursday, but today the sun is in Leo, a death knell for the plants. I expect to see a bunch of plant carcasses out there soon. I also got some carrot seed in the ground. There are 75 cruciferous (that's whatcha call the cabbage family) plants left to plant, but I don't know if all the Napa will make it to the garden. Some of the seedlings are already starting to bolt and they're only 3 in. high. Don't know what's going on with them.
The onion bed needs another tilling before we can plant them, so they (the onion plants) are hanging out in the shop. I hope to plant them this coming Sunday or Monday (Scorpio), then beets and more carrots on the 20th/21st (Pisces). But since things rarely go the way I plan. . .
There's no way I can follow the moon and zodiac for planting tomatoes, etc., this year, so I'll do what I usually do and ignore them both. I've never had really BAD luck with growing, unless you count that year that I got a bunch of seeds from Fedco. Don't know what it was about them, but most varieties had low germination rates. We ended up having to buy plants locally to replace them. It kinda put a sour taste in my mouth about Fedco.
The onion bed needs another tilling before we can plant them, so they (the onion plants) are hanging out in the shop. I hope to plant them this coming Sunday or Monday (Scorpio), then beets and more carrots on the 20th/21st (Pisces). But since things rarely go the way I plan. . .
There's no way I can follow the moon and zodiac for planting tomatoes, etc., this year, so I'll do what I usually do and ignore them both. I've never had really BAD luck with growing, unless you count that year that I got a bunch of seeds from Fedco. Don't know what it was about them, but most varieties had low germination rates. We ended up having to buy plants locally to replace them. It kinda put a sour taste in my mouth about Fedco.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Catching Up on Howell Farm Stuff, etc.
I've been derelict in my duties. I said I'd talk about Howell Farm activities and it's been a while.
Tomorrow is the second of the Maple Sugaring days, last Saturday being the first. Back at the beginning of February was the "official" tree tapping day for the maple sugaring season, though I'm sure with as mild a winter as it's been, some of those trees got holes poked in 'em before that. So now begins the official cooking-down of the sap into syrup.
Of course, up in New England maple sugaring is an art form and some farms have elaborate set ups of tubing that feeds the sap right from the trees downhill into the storage tanks and self-stirring vats in the sugar house. But Howell Farm just has a metal pan about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and maybe 4 or 5 inches high that sets over an outdoor wood fire. The sap is stored in milk cans, which are emptied into a special can with a little plastic tube fit into the side at the bottom that feeds the sap into the pan as needed, and someone tends the fire and stirs and skims the sap. It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, even more for other maples and non-maples, like birches and some other trees. So this is not a quick process. When the sap reaches a certain temperature - 200-something; can't remember exactly - then it's taken out of the outdoor pan and brought into the house to finish on the stove. It's not practical to do the whole cooking-down process in the house because it causes too much steam. Most of the syrup is bottled, though some is also made into maple candy and other maple-y goodies. The children's activity last week was maple brittle and this week it will be maple cookies.
Coming up next week on March 10th is the program now named "Meet the Horse Doctor, Dentist, and Shoer." This used to be two separate programs, one for the vet and dentist and the other for the farrier (the guy who trims and shoes the horses). The horse doctor, or veterinarian, will listen to the horses' hearts and bellies. What? Their bellies!? Yup, it's good for a horse to have some gurgling in its gut. If it's too quiet, that could mean a problem. He may also give vaccinations or give worming medicine to the horses at that time.
The dentist is fun, if a little creepy, to watch. He feels the horse's teeth to see if there are any sharp points that might cut the inside of the horse's cheek and make it hard or painful for him to eat. Yes, he puts his hand into the horse's mouth to do this. And he says he doesn't get bit very often. But don't try this at home, folks. If he finds any sharp points, he gets a big, flat file like one a carpenter might use and files down the points.
The horse shoer will pull off any shoes the horses might already be wearing, then he trims their hooves (like fingernails), and also trims the sole and frog (the frog is the center of the sole that acts like a shock absorber), kinda like trimming the dead skin off of calluses. Then if the horse needs to wear shoes for his work, the shoer will get the right size shoe, hammer the shoe into the correct shape if necessary, then nail the shoe onto the hooves.
Did you know: Horses' front feet are round; their back feet are oval.
"Work Horse Rides and Blacksmithing" will be on March 17th. Some of the horses, the gentlest ones, will get a break from field work that day and will get to carry kids on their backs. They still have to wear their harnesses, but carrying a 50 lb. child around is a lot easier than hauling a plow through the ground. And the kids get to feel what it was like for a farm kid way back when, when a kid might have to ride one of the horses to fetch lunch or a drink of water or a certain tool for Dad while he worked in a field that was far from the house. But, no, they don't get to steer or anything like that. Someone, hopefully an adult (yes, of COURSE it will be an adult. Silly!) will lead each horse up and down one of the farm lanes so each kid gets a 5-minute-or-so ride. The blacksmith will be making various little doo-dads from iron, maybe some S-hooks to hang things on, or spoons or forks, or he might be punching kids' names into little pony shoes for souvenirs.
The corn maze this year will be a barn owl. Don't try this if you're claustrophobic.
Check out howellfarm.org for more info and photos. Unfortunately, I'm on the computer withOUT the pictures in it, or else I'd include some.
Also, while I'm talking farm, I need to mention Greenwoodhill Farm, up in Andover, NY. It's a privately owned park that also takes overnight guests. Like me and DH, Jim and Dana, the owners, are also former Howell Farm volunteers. They have chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and horses (in fact, they have Barney, a retired Howell Farm horse). And during the summer, they have boarded a neighbor's alpacas, so I expect they'll have them this year too. You can find them at greenwoodhillfarm.com.
Tomorrow is the second of the Maple Sugaring days, last Saturday being the first. Back at the beginning of February was the "official" tree tapping day for the maple sugaring season, though I'm sure with as mild a winter as it's been, some of those trees got holes poked in 'em before that. So now begins the official cooking-down of the sap into syrup.
Of course, up in New England maple sugaring is an art form and some farms have elaborate set ups of tubing that feeds the sap right from the trees downhill into the storage tanks and self-stirring vats in the sugar house. But Howell Farm just has a metal pan about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and maybe 4 or 5 inches high that sets over an outdoor wood fire. The sap is stored in milk cans, which are emptied into a special can with a little plastic tube fit into the side at the bottom that feeds the sap into the pan as needed, and someone tends the fire and stirs and skims the sap. It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, even more for other maples and non-maples, like birches and some other trees. So this is not a quick process. When the sap reaches a certain temperature - 200-something; can't remember exactly - then it's taken out of the outdoor pan and brought into the house to finish on the stove. It's not practical to do the whole cooking-down process in the house because it causes too much steam. Most of the syrup is bottled, though some is also made into maple candy and other maple-y goodies. The children's activity last week was maple brittle and this week it will be maple cookies.
Coming up next week on March 10th is the program now named "Meet the Horse Doctor, Dentist, and Shoer." This used to be two separate programs, one for the vet and dentist and the other for the farrier (the guy who trims and shoes the horses). The horse doctor, or veterinarian, will listen to the horses' hearts and bellies. What? Their bellies!? Yup, it's good for a horse to have some gurgling in its gut. If it's too quiet, that could mean a problem. He may also give vaccinations or give worming medicine to the horses at that time.
The dentist is fun, if a little creepy, to watch. He feels the horse's teeth to see if there are any sharp points that might cut the inside of the horse's cheek and make it hard or painful for him to eat. Yes, he puts his hand into the horse's mouth to do this. And he says he doesn't get bit very often. But don't try this at home, folks. If he finds any sharp points, he gets a big, flat file like one a carpenter might use and files down the points.
The horse shoer will pull off any shoes the horses might already be wearing, then he trims their hooves (like fingernails), and also trims the sole and frog (the frog is the center of the sole that acts like a shock absorber), kinda like trimming the dead skin off of calluses. Then if the horse needs to wear shoes for his work, the shoer will get the right size shoe, hammer the shoe into the correct shape if necessary, then nail the shoe onto the hooves.
Did you know: Horses' front feet are round; their back feet are oval.
"Work Horse Rides and Blacksmithing" will be on March 17th. Some of the horses, the gentlest ones, will get a break from field work that day and will get to carry kids on their backs. They still have to wear their harnesses, but carrying a 50 lb. child around is a lot easier than hauling a plow through the ground. And the kids get to feel what it was like for a farm kid way back when, when a kid might have to ride one of the horses to fetch lunch or a drink of water or a certain tool for Dad while he worked in a field that was far from the house. But, no, they don't get to steer or anything like that. Someone, hopefully an adult (yes, of COURSE it will be an adult. Silly!) will lead each horse up and down one of the farm lanes so each kid gets a 5-minute-or-so ride. The blacksmith will be making various little doo-dads from iron, maybe some S-hooks to hang things on, or spoons or forks, or he might be punching kids' names into little pony shoes for souvenirs.
The corn maze this year will be a barn owl. Don't try this if you're claustrophobic.
Check out howellfarm.org for more info and photos. Unfortunately, I'm on the computer withOUT the pictures in it, or else I'd include some.
Also, while I'm talking farm, I need to mention Greenwoodhill Farm, up in Andover, NY. It's a privately owned park that also takes overnight guests. Like me and DH, Jim and Dana, the owners, are also former Howell Farm volunteers. They have chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and horses (in fact, they have Barney, a retired Howell Farm horse). And during the summer, they have boarded a neighbor's alpacas, so I expect they'll have them this year too. You can find them at greenwoodhillfarm.com.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Flowers, Birds and Fog
Just a few things:
We've had at least one dandelion blooming in the yard each month ALL winter.
Our crocuses are croaking and the mini-irises are up and blooming. The daffodils are not far behind. I've noticed quite a few already blooming around the area.
There's been a pair of goldfinches at our feeders for the last week or so. I usually only catch a flash of yellow when they're in flight. The only other place I've seen one is on the chicory flowers at Howell Farm. Goldfinches are the New Jersey state bird and I've seen more here in Tenn. than I ever did in NJ.
There have also been a couple of nuthatches in the pear tree and on the pole that holds feeders, another rare sighting.
The killdeers are back after about a two week hiatus. Noisy buggers. And the robins were gone for about the same length of time. Now the place is crawling with male robins getting ready to stake out territory.
It rained off and on today and was in the high 50s. Then this evening when it started cooling off, fog started developing at the bottom of the yard near the chicken coop because it's cooler there than up near the house. I've noticed that cool-air-flowing-downhill phenomenon other times when I go down to close the chicken coop for the night. It's only about a 6 foot difference in elevation, over about 100 feet, but there is a definite change of temperature. It could be because the slope going up to the neighbor's property is about the same grade, but longer, at least 200-250 feet, so ending up with a 12-15 foot difference. In the other direction, the yard is flat for about 200 feet, then drops much more steeply, 15-20 feet in only 100-150 feet distance, which sucks the cold air down. So that cold I feel by the chicken coop is probably just passing through.
If it doesn't stop raining so much, there won't be any worms left in our soil. They keep crawling out onto the concrete carport and dying there.
I saw barn cat, Camille, take a leap at a cardinal today. She missed. But I know she gets them every so often because I've found red feathers on the ground near the feeders.
We've had at least one dandelion blooming in the yard each month ALL winter.
Our crocuses are croaking and the mini-irises are up and blooming. The daffodils are not far behind. I've noticed quite a few already blooming around the area.
There's been a pair of goldfinches at our feeders for the last week or so. I usually only catch a flash of yellow when they're in flight. The only other place I've seen one is on the chicory flowers at Howell Farm. Goldfinches are the New Jersey state bird and I've seen more here in Tenn. than I ever did in NJ.
There have also been a couple of nuthatches in the pear tree and on the pole that holds feeders, another rare sighting.
The killdeers are back after about a two week hiatus. Noisy buggers. And the robins were gone for about the same length of time. Now the place is crawling with male robins getting ready to stake out territory.
It rained off and on today and was in the high 50s. Then this evening when it started cooling off, fog started developing at the bottom of the yard near the chicken coop because it's cooler there than up near the house. I've noticed that cool-air-flowing-downhill phenomenon other times when I go down to close the chicken coop for the night. It's only about a 6 foot difference in elevation, over about 100 feet, but there is a definite change of temperature. It could be because the slope going up to the neighbor's property is about the same grade, but longer, at least 200-250 feet, so ending up with a 12-15 foot difference. In the other direction, the yard is flat for about 200 feet, then drops much more steeply, 15-20 feet in only 100-150 feet distance, which sucks the cold air down. So that cold I feel by the chicken coop is probably just passing through.
If it doesn't stop raining so much, there won't be any worms left in our soil. They keep crawling out onto the concrete carport and dying there.
I saw barn cat, Camille, take a leap at a cardinal today. She missed. But I know she gets them every so often because I've found red feathers on the ground near the feeders.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Cole crops, Warping
Well, DD is all moved back in. At least this time she's gotten a rent-to-own storage building to keep a lot of her s**t in.
DH and I spent some of the day yesterday transplanting the seedlings that are threatening to take over the little hothouse. The bigger ones and a lot of the multiples that were split up went into 4" pots. The smaller ones that were singles I just left in their cells, and some of the smaller of the multiples were put back into cells after they were separated. So even though we planted 25 of each (Chinese cabbage, green Pak Choi, red Pak Choi, and broccoli), and only about 16-17 cells of each came up, we still ended up with 24-25 of each kind. We're not doing lettuce this year, so as many as possible will go into the raised beds at the bottom of the yard in a week or two, where they'll be protected from wind somewhat and will get afternoon shade once the trees leaf out. If I knew they would grow so fast, I would have waited another week or two to plant. Oh wait, that's right. I WANTED to wait a week or two and DH insisted on planting when we did. Rush Rush Rush So then the plants have to wait for the soil to be dry enough to work, not easy when we get rain twice a week, and they get overgrown.
Right now we have to keep the plants in the hothouse - really only warm right now from the lights - especially at night. During nice weather, I put them outside, since the sunshine is better for them than fluorescent lights. I have heat mats but only use them for starting seeds, not for growing plants once they've sprouted and have a true leaf or two. I'll break them out again in a few weeks when I start the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
I spent a few hours at friend PG's house today, helping her get her new rigid heddle loom warped. When I left she was itching to play more and promised to have a 6 foot shawl (scarf?) all done by Saturday. She'll be coming to the Limestone Creek meeting on Saturday, so I'll show her something else she can do besides plain weave. I just measured out a warp for my rigid heddle last Friday. I think I'll get started warping, just to get it wound on. I'll wait till Saturday to thread the holes.
DH and I spent some of the day yesterday transplanting the seedlings that are threatening to take over the little hothouse. The bigger ones and a lot of the multiples that were split up went into 4" pots. The smaller ones that were singles I just left in their cells, and some of the smaller of the multiples were put back into cells after they were separated. So even though we planted 25 of each (Chinese cabbage, green Pak Choi, red Pak Choi, and broccoli), and only about 16-17 cells of each came up, we still ended up with 24-25 of each kind. We're not doing lettuce this year, so as many as possible will go into the raised beds at the bottom of the yard in a week or two, where they'll be protected from wind somewhat and will get afternoon shade once the trees leaf out. If I knew they would grow so fast, I would have waited another week or two to plant. Oh wait, that's right. I WANTED to wait a week or two and DH insisted on planting when we did. Rush Rush Rush So then the plants have to wait for the soil to be dry enough to work, not easy when we get rain twice a week, and they get overgrown.
Right now we have to keep the plants in the hothouse - really only warm right now from the lights - especially at night. During nice weather, I put them outside, since the sunshine is better for them than fluorescent lights. I have heat mats but only use them for starting seeds, not for growing plants once they've sprouted and have a true leaf or two. I'll break them out again in a few weeks when I start the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
I spent a few hours at friend PG's house today, helping her get her new rigid heddle loom warped. When I left she was itching to play more and promised to have a 6 foot shawl (scarf?) all done by Saturday. She'll be coming to the Limestone Creek meeting on Saturday, so I'll show her something else she can do besides plain weave. I just measured out a warp for my rigid heddle last Friday. I think I'll get started warping, just to get it wound on. I'll wait till Saturday to thread the holes.
Monday, February 6, 2012
One Day At A Time
Oh joy. (Do you sense the sarcasm there?) DD (the boomerang child) is returning next weekend. She's in the process of packing up all her stuff in the house where she lives with her now-ex-boyfriend (let's call him Ambrose). Ambrose announced the other day that he wants to break up. He's not kicking her out, but they are no longer a couple. What? So anyway, we have to rearrange the house (again!) to accomodate her. But now she has a new job, one that I hope she'll keep for at least three years, so she's getting a rent-to-own storage building, which will be paid off in (you guessed it) three years. It's only 9 x 12, but it should hold the majority of the big stuff, with boxes and such tucked in here and there between things. And I lose my "craft" room (again!), so the spinning wheels come back out into the living room, the small looms get relocated to wherever they fit in my bedroom, the various bags of wool and the cones of weaving yarns get put into storage tubs and put in the attic, the bureau with the tablecloths and junk towels (for cleaning up after dogs, etc.) moves back to my bedroom, the little table with my drum carder on it goes back to the office, and the plastic shelving unit goes back to my bedroom. Got some of this done yesterday and will do more tomorrow and on through the week.
BIL #3 was here this past weekend for the beginning of the drama. DD's ex and ex-MIL will be here this coming weekend for DGD's birthday, so they get to see the middle of the drama. Then sister and BIL #1 will be here the weekend after THAT. I hope to be through with all the moving of stuff by then, but there is no end to the drama. Once she's here, it just takes a different form.
I don't know why I bothered retiring.
BIL #3 was here this past weekend for the beginning of the drama. DD's ex and ex-MIL will be here this coming weekend for DGD's birthday, so they get to see the middle of the drama. Then sister and BIL #1 will be here the weekend after THAT. I hope to be through with all the moving of stuff by then, but there is no end to the drama. Once she's here, it just takes a different form.
I don't know why I bothered retiring.
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