Happy New Year!

I can hardly believe that another year has gone by. 2008 flew by as if it were only a month long. It is true that the older you get, the faster time goes by. Life is still busy here, even in winter. The chickens are still laying eggs, though not as many. I am busy composting and putting leaves on my garden to protect my soil from the freezing temps. The chickens love to scratch it off just so I can put it back again! We have adopted a few more chickens and a duck as well. We also had our first clutch of ducks hatch and that was SO exciting. The babies are now larger than their mum. We have one chicken named Pumpkin who is very friendly. She will walk into the house if you hold the door open and she will fly up onto the couch or into your lap and sit with you. We have been adopted by a large rooster we call Captain Grey. My neighbor lost almost all of her chickens to a pack of wild dogs in the last two months, and I guess he was lonely so he has been coming down here each day. In the morning we went into the barn to let the chickens out of the coop and there he was, waiting for the girls! At first he would leave every night but now he sleeps in the barn, we leave a door open for him and he flies up there. He won't go into the coop, but all the better I say because we have three roosters in there already. I imagine that would be a bloody mess, as roosters love to fight! We have also added two dogs and two goats to the farm. I love the goats, they are very friendly and fun to have. I have also become a dog person. I just love dogs more each day. My favorite are still the chickens though. I can just stand outside for hours and watch them and listen to all the noises they make. When I go outside with the compost bucket I look behind me and find at least 15 chickens trailing behind me. Yes, country life suits me.
The seed catalogs have been coming in since before Christmas so I am often dreaming about growing a very large garden. It has been very warm lately but I find there is nothing that fills me with sunshine on dark and cold winter days then pictures of tomatoes, cukes and flowers. My favorite are always Seed Saver Exchange and Baker Creek. What are you planting this year?
It's never too early to start planning and composting so start today!
Don't forget to feed the birds and provide them with water this winter.

Fall on the Farm

The cool weather is finally setting in, and there are changes all around. The trees are bursting into beautiful colors, one last chorus before they all fall to the earth. This morning I went outside and stood in the garden and just listened to the sounds of the chipping sparrows, song sparrows, house sparrows, blue jays, nuthatches and many other birds. I could smell wood burning, I assume that is someone's attempt to ward off the chilly air. Soon there will be a frost so it is time to think about covering the roses and cutting the herbs one last time before putting them to bed for the winter. We have acquired two goats, and they have so graciously mowed down my garden of all weeds so I can think about planting some cool weather crops now. The harvest this year was good despite the lack of rain. Peppers were abundant, as were the McIntosh apples. There were so many apples that the branches had to bend almost to the ground under the weight of them! The tomatoes did well, and we had some lettuce as well. The potatoes did not produce as much as we had hoped because the potato beetle got them again, but we did enjoy eating them. This year we ordered all blue and red gold. The red gold are creamy and so yummy, and the blue are great for making fries, chips and mashed potatoes. The flowers and herbs did well, and I was so pleased.

Each day as I walk out and just take in the sights around me, like the six black fuzzy baby ducks that hatched, or the chickens who come up to me and talk to me, the sun coming over the mountian, or the moon lighting up the night I am just in awe and wonder of all the blessings that farm life has been. I can't imagine any other life now. There are times when I miss home and some of the things that city life has to offer, and I will always miss the ocean but this is where I belong. Here in the midst of roosters crowing, hens laying, birds singing, and food growing. Here I will live and grow and discover and learn and pass it all on to my children. This is the good life.

Planting Time

Over the weekend I planted out 75 strawberry plants. 5o of them are June bearing, and 25 are everlasting. I planted them carefully and then covered them with a thick blanket of straw because I knew that it would dip into the 30s for the next few nights. I also planted cabbage, peas, beans, radish, rutabega and lettuce in a seperate bed. I covered the beans with straw to protect them from the cold as well. I purchased some Johnny Jump ups and planted them and I also acquired a rosemary and lavendar plant. I still haven't decided how I will design my herb garden yet.

Planting was back breaking work but I felt quite satisfied when I was finished. I am still trying to decide where to till up a new garden, the site that I had wanted to plant is filled with gravel (quite suitable for lavendar) so now I must come up with a new plan. I also need to find a way to fence in the garden to keep the chickens out! They have already been scratching the straw off my strawberry beds and I don't want them to eat all of the seedlings. When the plants are strong and mature I will allow them in the garden on a limited basis to help with bug control.

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/strawberries/growing.html

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1998/3-13-1998/plantsb.html

Baby Chicks

We ordered our chicks from Ideal Poultry this year. The customer service over the phone has been excellent so far, and the chicks arrived healthy two days after shipping. We ordered 25 chicks, and we have lost one, and I haven't figured out why she died. I spend a lot of time fussing over them, making sure their water is clean and that they have plenty of food and I also talk to them a lot. Right now we have 8 chickens in the coop, and I love when they follow me around outside looking for treats. They make musical chirps, it is a beautiful sound! I keep them in a refigerator box with pine shavings, a 250 watt light bulb and the box is also next to a baseboard heater which is set on low. There is plenty of room for them to run around, but I would not place more than 25-30 in a box this size. I always make sure to spray our shoes with Lysol when we come in and I always wash my hands when I come in from caring for my chickens outside.
Here is some more information on raising baby chicks!

http://www.kountrylife.com/content/how15.htm

http://www.mypetchicken.com/ebook.aspx?Chapter=4

http://www.upc-online.org/caring_for_chicks.html

http://www.strombergschickens.com/stock/chick_care.php