turkey clutch

This was the clutch of eggs that the hen turkey defended to the end. One night in the wee hours of the morning, something attacked the nest, the eggs were destroyed and the hen was mortally wounded. We do not know what it may have been - possum, raccoon, fox? We are terribly sad about it. There is still a hen that is laying eggs; her freedom, unfortunately, is now limited.

hoop house

Have some mixed feelings on this, we'll see and report in a year or two  but regardless it is up, completed in the fall. It's generally about 20 degrees warmer in there when the sun is not shining, when the sun is out it's quite warm, warm enough to bend a candle and this was in the cold winter months. We had a very cold winter with temps below zero a number of times. It's past mid March now and winter seems to be reluctant to leave us. The ground is still quite frozen, in years past we have planted potatoes by this time and sugar snap peas too. We have our work cut out for us with the hoop house and still have lots to figure out but hopefully we'll be rewarded with some season extension and lots of great veggies

garlic!

German White

This fall, we planted four varieties of garlic- German White, German Red, Turkish and Zemo, all hard necked varieties. Zemo - a porcelain variety from the Republic of Georgia with a high content of allicin, Turkish a hot spicy variety, German white -moderately spicy and stores very well, German Red -full bodied garlic flavor. Garlic is, as surely you already know,  wonderfully good for you. It's a potent antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal agent but sadly most of those benefits are lost in the cooking. Researchers have found that diallyl sulfide found in garlic, was as effective as 100 times as much of the antibiotics erythromycin and ciprofloxacin and would often work in a fraction of the time! It has been found to be beneficial to protect from lung, brain, prostate and breast cancer, help alleviate high blood pressure and high cholesterol and the anti-inflammatory property in garlic can help the body fight against allergies. As the powerful benefits of garlic come mostly through its raw form, it's lucky we have a dish that makes it very easy to eat raw garlic ... pesto! We will be using the Turkish to make pesto this summer/fall and will be consuming lots of it.

Turkish Red

Bourbon Red

We got some  Bourbon Red turkeys this year and we're growing very fond of them. They're very friendly and so beautiful in a 'only a turkey mother could love' kinda way. We are really enjoying having them around. The breed originated in Pennsylvania and Kentucky in the late 19th century, they were designated as rare but now on the watch list, there are less than 5000 in the  the US, we hope we'll be lucky in breeding them.

Some fall harvest. These pears are great canning pears the trees never fail to produce although this year was not a very productive one. The trees are large and very old, not too sure of the variety, they don't ripen until most of the leaves have turned and fallen. We have made perry from these pears in past years. This year all we made was some blueberry wine. Hopefully next year will be a better one for pears and apples.

ducks

 

We have had ducks on the farm from time to time, not for food but for, I guess, the fun. Ducks for pets and once to clean up the snail problem we had in the pond after we had brought  home some water hyacinths from another pond; the ducks cleaned them completely out. We have some rather unusual duck stories from the years of ducks. This year we brought home 4 ducks that were supposed to be rouens, related to mallards but word has it that rouens are too heavy to fly so these must be mallards. They do fly and I have to say it’s pretty cool to be on a walk a mile away from home and see your ducks fly over your head and they recognize you and circle around a few times before beating you home.  One of the ducks is a female and she has recently hatched 5 of her eggs. The ducklings are only 4 days old and extremely cute. It appears we will be with ducks for a while.

 

dog days

We had above average rainfall for the first half of summer 2013, the black pearl soybeans grew lushly. We also had a seemingly above average number of insects, the pesky kind like Japanese beetles, web-worms and other leaf eating caterpillars. Particularly unpleasant was the number of leaf munching insects found on the berry bushes, we hope it is not sign of things to come as temps and CO2 climbs.

A pleasant surprise to find a swarm settling in the swarm trap! We used a pheromone lure and voila---success. I wonder how far away they can detect the pheromone. There is a possibility that it may have been from one of our own hives or that it may be from the bee yard of a fellow about a mile or so away. Regardless, it’s pretty cool and fascinating to see. Having been up close and personal to swarms it’s quite interesting to see how they work as one to protect the queen and how calm and focused they are to their task. However unnerving, you can get crazily close without danger. What truth might there be in this old English poem?
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July is hardly worth a fly.

Paw paw flower! End of May, will try to remember to note if we actually get pawpaws. We've had below freezing temps the past few days, I know the cherries have been lost again this year, We're holding on to hope for apples. In truth the paw paw flower nods its head and does not reveal  its unusual beauty. The color is deep and it's not particularly showy in the sense that other flowers are, but you can see it's quite amazing. Everything about the pawpaw is extraordinary, I'm happy about the anticancer compounds found within its twigs; there has been success in fighting some drug-resistant cancers and there is quite a bit of research out there about its anticancer potential. It's native to Pennsylvania although  have you ever seen one growing wild? If memory serves, this is a Pennsylvania Golden variety.

Kestrels have been nesting on the farm for 29 years or more. At first they used the fortunate portal in the cornice in front of the house. Some years they fledged two broods of 3 to 5. We are always excited when they announce their arrival in March and have grown accustomed to seeing them carrying snakes, rodents and what not to feed their young. When they were in the house we could lie on the attic floor and peek between the floorboards to see their fluffy white hatchlings. One year we found the male dead on the front porch and felt a great loss, we were quite astonished, delighted and relieved to see the female arrive with a new mate the following spring.

 In the last decade they have moved to a nesting box in front of the barn, this was not the deliberate choice of ours or of the kestrels. At one time we had kestrels and starlings using the same entrance at the same time for raising their young. There was a rafter that served as a divide in their condo and it was rather interesting that they tolerated each other. In addition to them we had starlings at each corner of the house, and as you might be able to infer, it was time for cornice repair, thus the move to the barn. If they had not been so obliging in adopting the nest box, we would have gone out of our way to undo the cornice repair.

 The kestrels don’t seem to mind our activity, and we’re fortunate to be hosts to their summer homes, it’s a rhythm of nature that we hope we are lucky enough to be a part of for many more years.

Christmas day 2012 we seem to be still here or at least parts of us.

We have had a light frost already. The maples are starting to turn, leaves falling, bees buzzing on the last of the fall asters and golden rod. Goldfinches are working hard on seed pods of coneflower and heavy hanging sunflower heads. It’s sweater weather again and the dastardly bane of existence those loathsome ticks are making their appearance, hungry for blood before the ground freezes.

Harvesting carrots, potatoes, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, squash, etc. Saving seeds from sunflowers, soybeans, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, radish and perhaps some things not coming to mind. Making sauce and juice and pickling tomatoes; freezing beans and corn. Pictures are of the rich colors, note the black knight carrot. We didn’t have a great harvest of that particular carrot type, sadly. Some carrots missed from last year are going to supply us some seed this year.

Seeds Unsown Needed For a Long Owl fraught Winter’s Eating, Rally the Songbirds

New kids on the (chopping) block - 31 broilers, Cornish Rock giants (and a new little pup to keep Fiona company). So far so good except for a curious skunk on several nights. We have never yet lost a chicken to predators, the dogs definitely can take the credit for that. We did lose 2 ducks though one time to the neighbor’s dog, that dog wasn’t long for this earth as he got hit on the road not long after his crime. The broilers are eating machines for sure and have heard that they can suffer from heart attacks from overeating, we have not experienced this..knock on wood.

Oops- kittens, well all we have to say is that they’re a lot of great fun, it’s an experience that is pert near all joy.