Oh HI!
How the heck are you?
It’s been a few minutes… errrr… months 😉
You know, when I mentioned in my last post that I was allowing myself some space and time to rest during the Winter months, I truly didn’t intend to be gone from this space for so long but life has a way of happening when you’re busy making other plans, no?
So, aside from the little projects and day-to-day happenings around the farm, what’s been happening in our neck of the woods?
Chicken Math
After 14 years of keeping chickens and the gift of the sweetest Roo that ever was, we have been faced with an abundance of fluffy butts and are working to find our flock groove.
The five hens we hatched out last Spring in our incubator as an experiment in hybridizing Jersey Giant and Olive/Easter Eggers have proven to be excellent layers and the very best mamas. Three of the five have set and hatched successful clutches and we’re working to find our perfect ratio of new layers to Freezer Camp attendees.
In the interim, the incessant chirping makes for happy chores and it’s been a ton of fun watching the mamas find their own grooves.
Duck Loss
I won’t go into details because they’re pretty gory but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that we had a neighbor’s dog get onto the property last month and attack our small and beloved Muscoveys.
This dog is known to go after livestock and, despite our best efforts at protection, he scaled our back fence while our big guard dog was eating dinner. Our older guard dog couldn’t scale the same fence but alerted us with her frantic barking.
He killed four of our six females in quick succession, including our daughter’s favorite, ELF (Ember’s Little Friend) who you might remember was named so because she’s followed Ember around like a puppy since she hatched at the Big Farmhouse all those years ago.
Luckily, we were able to save the remaining two and our sole drake from shock and their mild injuries with lots of tub time and some solid TLC.
The whole experience was utterly heartbreaking.
We hoped the neighbor would do right, but the dog is still loose so we’re assessing our next steps after shoring up our fencing and adding more electric lines.
On the bright side, one of the layers has started to add her eggs into a chicken’s nest, so there’s a bit of sweet hope for the future.
Delayed Kidding Season
Like last year, we decided to delay breeding a few of our goats until December and January which will give us May and June kids.
Outside of the normal kidding season? Yes.
More convenient? In a way.
Worth it? I think so!
While we avoid the possibility of freezing temperatures during and shortly after kidding, we do face the challenge of flies on newborn belly buttons (though we may have found an answer to that…more soon). The delay will also allow us to hit the other side of the kid-selling wave! We had great luck finding new homes for the babes we didn’t keep last year as opposed to fighting the masses who try to sell off excess babes in the Spring. Fingers crossed for the same luck this year!
Making time to milk each morning during high season is the biggest challenge while being pulled by all the crops as they make their first big push alongside all.the.weeds.
Fingers crossed for easy kidding and lots of girls. Copious amounts of photos will be forth-coming.
Kitchen Garden & Crop Planning + Planting
Last Winter was wildly mild and has given way to an equally mild Spring. We’ve not been without our few freezes over the last month, but the prolonged warm temperatures (so many days hovering right around 70*) has inspired me to put a few seeds into the ground that I’d normally wait on in the Kitchen Garden.
The garden is only about 40% planted, but that’s a solid start given that I usually wait until mid-may. I figure if we get another freeze or two I’ll simply re-sow what’s lost but if it doesn’t freeze I’ve given myself an extra few weeks of growing time.
We’ve also put in a whole new patch of strawberries! 250 new plants to be exact 🙂 It was time to revive our little patch and I’m excited for the fresh start!
And… the blue corn is in the ground as well as a few rows of onions.
Next up are the potatoes our neighbor sold us over the fence last weekend. Just have to figure out where to put them!
And in the midst of all this the orchard is blossoming away with the tease of another abundant year. Again, time will tell if we make it through the next few weeks without a solid freeze, but it’s looking good right now.
In the meantime, the two raised beds we put in last Fall are bursting with greens and roots and the asparagus is pushing forth with a fervor. Our plates are full and our bellies are happy.
Construction
Our Landlord’s casita is finally going up!
After years of thinking about it, more than a solid year of planning, and a slow winter filled with land and site prep, the foundation was poured last week, the property is torn up length and width-wise for the laying of utilities, and the AerBlocks have been delivered so the walls can go up.
The timeline we were given last week for completion is this Fall, possibly this Winter, but we’re all excited to see it all actually happening and for what this means for the future! The property already looks and feels very different with a second home-site on it and I know our Landlords are anxious to be out here more, soaking up the peace and quiet and getting their hands dirty.
The farm will look and feel very different in 2024 and I’m psyched for it!
On the personal front:
Life is good…
And busy! So very busy!
We’re finishing up our homeschool for the Spring and are focused on the season ahead while doing our best to stay present in the moments we’re given. The last few years have been trying in so many ways for all of us and we’re so very grateful to be where we are and faced with so much abundance and opportunity.
We’re living through some wild times, aren’t we? Some days are harder than others to maintain hope and optimism through, but the shifting seasons on the farm and in nature provide comfort and hope when the news gets too tough, you know?
And what’s better for hope-filled days than purpose and seed sowing?
Maybe a little healthy disassociation with a dive into the past? 😉
(Not the smoothest transition, but a transition none-the-less)
I Started a New Biz – bold+queer: Genealogy, inspired
In the midst of all this, and yes during what was supposed to be some down time, I decided to start a whole new thing: boldandqueer.com
Yep, call me crazy, but I launched a new website, blog, and print-on-demand business featuring t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts for now in several different designs with more forthcoming.
It’s all focused on family history/genetic genealogy and has been inspired by my 2x great grandma Hannah who came from a farming family (as so many of us do if you look back far enough) and was an all-around badass.
Please pop on over and give it some love. I’m excited about this new chapter in my offerings to the world and would love your support if you’re into such things 🙂
That’s it! That’s the update! At least for now.
Life is never not shifting and changing and so I intend to be back in this space sharing more about our challenges and successes, hopes and ideas, in the weeks and months ahead. My break coupled with this spring have re-inspired me in a lot of different ways. I hope to share more with you here as it all unfolds. I’m so glad you’re along for the ride with us!
And so now it’s you’re turn! I’d love to hear how you’re doing and what’s been happening in you’re neck of the woods! Do tell, what are you enjoying and excited about as you roll through your days and weeks?
xoxo,
M
