Lots of updates!

I am back from my week in Texas. I was able to observe some desert farming in New Mexico. They grow pecans, chilis, and cotton. It was my first time seeing a cotton field. Honestly, I don't know how anyone has a back left after watching people bent over picking the cotton and chilis. The plants are so low to the ground! We drove through the largest US pecan orchard, Stahmanns. For three miles along route 28 the trees provide a canopy over the road and it is one of the most beautiful drives ever. We were grateful for the shade with 103 degree days and some fairly high humidity for that area. As strange as it sounds, I love to look at crops. I love driving through the green hills of PA looking at the corn growing, or field grass. One of my favorite parts of Italy were the olive groves and vineyards. There is something about a field of crops growing that strangely appeals to me. Maybe it is the uniformity, I don't know.

While I was down South, Bob and Melanie went to Denver (PA, that is) to look at camp horses. There are summer camp programs that need people to care for their horses in the off season. You get the horse and all the tack for free and are responsible for caring for the horse until next summer when they return to camp. the benefit is you can ride the horse all you like while you have it and if the horse doesn't work out you can send them back and get a different one. Melanie settled on a Thoroughbred/Quarterhorse mix named Sarge. He is an older horse and well trained. He is providing us with another riding horse and a pasture buddy for the other two horses. Although, we thought if we had three, it would solve the problem with the horse getting upset when they are separated. Melanie was riding Sarge yesteday afternoon and the other two horses were making a ruckus.

Star came home on Sunday. The family who has been working with her said she is a good jumper. The girls had her jumping 2 foot fences! She really needs an experienced rider with a dominant personality. So we now have to decide what we would like to do. We can keep her and hope Melanie gets the courage to ride her or we can sell her. I missed her terribly while she was gone, although I have the painful lump in my leg to remind me of her, LOL.

A co-worker was kind enough to bring me 4 barn cats last week. They are still kittens and come from good barn cat stock. They are keeping close to the barn right now and we hope they will take care of our mouse problem. I saw a field mouse in the chicken coop last night and could not believe how large they have gotten eating all our feed. Now I just have to work out the problem of the cats getting to the mice when the coop is locked at night. I have thought about putting a cat in there with the chickens, but I am not comfortable doing that until I am certain the cat will not attack the chickens. Normally, the chickens can take care of themselves, but at night they are relaxed or asleep and easy to approach. Oh, and we are naming them after famous assassins such as Carlos the Jackal, Nikita, Bourne, and Mai Ling (house of the flying daggers).

The farmer leasing the land adjacent to my property came and cut the corn down yesterday. I was so sad. It was like our barrier from the world. Melanie is delighted because she got permission to ride her horse in the fields now that the corn is down. He said she can go anywhere there are no crops. I figure she will have about 60-70 acres to ride in now and it will take her away from the main road and out of the pasture, which pleases me.

I am happy to report that all the rain we got last week has helped with the pasture. The grass is growing great right now and we hope it can keep the horses fed for another couple of months. We had 200 bales of hay delivered last week. I want to make it last as long as possible.

A picture is worth a thousand words....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I tried to put some of the best that we have taken in the past month. The first three photos are from a visit with my brother James' family back in July. My nephew, AJ, decided at the end of the day that he was going to take one of the chickens home with him and selected one of our white rocks that he liked to call "Whitey". We told him if he could catch it, he could keep it. As you can tell from these photos, he was unsuccessful.

The next set of photos are of the house. It was a great morning to take these photos, with the clear sky and bright sun. In the photo, you can see our house to the right, with the summer house in the center. The small building to the far left is the pump house/butcher house. Our well is housed in there and we use that building for a garden shed.
Ever since I was a little girl visiting the Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia, I have dreamed of living in a home with winding stairs. It takes a little practice to maneuver them, but once you get the hang of it you can fly up and down them with ease.

We are starting to harvest our bounty from the garden we like to call, "Weedville," and are grateful for anything that hasn't been eaten by the wildlife!

The best feature of our farmette is our 1800's Pennsylvania German Bank barn. It is the jewel in the crown and we love every part of it. The name William Kurt is carved into one of the support beams inside and we are curious to know if he was the builder. Every post and beam is doweled into place and roman numerals are carved into each piece to match for assembly. You can feel history as you stand inside the massive bays that may have housed carriages and farm equipment. Livestock was kept in the lower part to shield them from the wind and cold.

My other favorite place to be here on the farm is out in the barnyard and the chicken coop. I love to sit out with my chickens and watch them frolic in the grass, pecking around for small bugs to eat. They are really maturing, cackling and crowing all day long.

Click here to listen to the chickens cackling

Click here to listen to our rooster crow

These two Blue Andalusians were supposed to be hens....but surprise, one has grown into a fine rooster (above). I think the females (below) are beautiful with their big eyes and slim builds. They remind me of roadrunners rather than chickens. They are the only breed I purchased that will lay white eggs.

Our head rooster, "Chicken Nugget," keeps a watchful, close eye on his girls. In this case, it is Rosie, our Partridge Rock.

And last, but not least, our sorrel mare, Star. No foal, perhaps not really pregnant. Still lactating and ornery as ever. I was kicked twice last week and spent this week recuperating from some large bruises and a bad case of whiplash from being thrown to the ground and doing a backwards tumblesault. In the last photo, you can clearly make out the shape of a horseshoe on my leg.

Twofer

I heard the words I dreaded last night. "Mom, I think the horse is pregnant!" What! How can this be??? She is lactating like a freak right now. I actually thought she may be pregnant since we bought her based on her size and shape. It is impossible to know these things when you buy at auction. You have no idea where the animal was and who had access to her. It takes 11 months for a horse to gestate.

We called the vet last night and she left us a message explaining that horses will lactate if they have a diet too high in protein and too many phyto-estrogens from plants like sweet clover...which is most of what grows in our pasture. I am hoping that this is the case. I did google pregnant horse images, and well, it sure looks like our horse. She is very large in the girth department.

A two for one.

If she is pregnant, we will know in the very near future because her signs indicate an imminent birth.

I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!

On a brighter note, our new floors started getting installed today. Here is the first photo.

The other two bedrooms will be completed Thursday and Friday. I am so excited to have nice floors again. We have been living with rotten 100 year old floors full of sheet metal patches and staples. It will be nice to be able to unpack and set up our furniture once and for all.

The chickens are still growing and entertaining us. The head rooster is doing a great job at protecting the flock. So far, we haven't had any issues of the roosters fighting. The head rooster "Chicken Nugget" is so dominant, I think the pecking order has been established and there will be peace in the land. They are now 10 weeks old and have graduated to "finishing" feed for weeks 10-20. After that, they will go on layer rations.

Multiplicity

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Somehow our chickens have found a way to clone themselves. We now have 27 chickens and no idea how. We bought 4 chickens of 6 different breeds, 1 rooster of another breed, and received a free chicken with our order, yet another breed. Each night I do a head count as I close the coop. Last night, we had 27 chickens. The strangest thing is that the extra hen is one of our exotic breeds, the cuckoo maran. Melanie said that when she let the chickens out the other morning, she noticed a black head poking out of the barn stall. She opened the door and out came a cuckoo maran. She didn't think anything of it. We have accidentally locked them out on occasion. But where did this hen come from? She is the same size as our 2 month old chickens.

Tonight, we came home from dinner out and one of the chickens was up in a tree. I couldn't believe my eyes, but there she was! Way up in a tree branch.

Strange indeed!

The farrier was out this week to work on the horses hooves. Our sorrel mare, Star, had pulled off her front shoes and was way overdue for a trim. They both had their feet trimmed and are looking sharp. The farrier told us he believes Shadow is a Thoroughbred with perhaps a little Arabian in her. Maybe the mystery is solved.

Now that we have caught up with the outside work, we have been able to turn our attention to the inside. We have been busy painting the bedrooms this week in preparation for our new floors to go in next week. It is a lot of work with all the windows and trim. The rooms here have very wide chair rail and lots of windows. I can't wait to be finished and decorate. It is starting to feel more and more like home.

Well, back to painting!

A Plague on Both Your Houses

We have been invaded by Japan. Well, Japanese Beetles. Our cherry trees are being ravaged as I write by the coppery-green little critters. I read online to pick them off daily and drop them into soapy water. Well, I got about 5 into the bucket last night and the rest either swarmed me (which is frightening!) or flew away. It was not a successful endeavor. I will have to stop and buy some Sevin to spray into the trees. I also plan on ordering a large quantity of Milky Spore, which is a bacteria that you sprinkle on your lawn and that kills the grubs when they eat it. They say it lasts 10-20 years, and it better because it comes with a hefty price tag. Unfortunately, the Mennonites next door are using traps, which really only attract more beetles than you would have normally had. I may try to get them to buy some Milky Spore as well.

It has been a quiet, low-key week. This is me (above) taking a break from my work. We are trying to catch up on some rest and are trying to get into a maintenance mode. Bob installed the controller for the electric fence on Monday. The horse has been pusing hard on the wire and is stretching it out. She also yanked off one of her horse shoes this weekend pawing at the wire. To protect her and our property, we decided it would be best to charge the fence. We had some problems getting the juice to flow, so we need to take a look at the wires to make sure we have continuity.

above: The Sorrel mare (help! She needs a name)

below: Our Cuckoo Maran rooster who thinks he is a hen!

The chickens continue to grow and entertain us. I was in the coop late last night when they were roosting and I can't believe how gentle they are. I walked right up to several of them and gently stroked their feathers. They love to be petted once you catch them....but catching them is the trick.

We are also looking into renting a backhoe to clear out a wooded area behind the barn/pasture. We have only one small copse of trees (see photo below: behind my working children) and we hope to put in a small pond and patio area under the trees. There are mounds of dirt back there (probably manure that was mucked out of the barn by the previous owners) along with all sorts of car parts and glass. We will have to be really careful clearing that area. It is a manly-man job. Did I mention the whole thing is also overrun with poison oak? Yeah, Bob will be manning the sprayer to clear that. The last time I got poison, it was 3 months on steroids.


I tried to make some homemade wild blueberry jam this week. I read that is difficult to get it to set right....no kidding. So, now I have 10 jars of blueberry syrup. Pancakes anyone? I found a site that explains how to get the seeds and start wild bluebery bushes. If they grow freely in the wild, you wouldn't think it would be very difficult to start them yourself. They require special soil and acid levels and they only produce fruit every other year.

I can't believe how much knowledge I have acquired in the past two months. It seems like I learn something new every day....sometimes twice a day! I am hoping that, in addition to my Doctor of Google Medicine title, I can also become a Doctor of Google Agriculture and Animal Husbandry before the years end!


Melanie opening the saddle I got on Ebay last week for $208! It is a vintage Western barrel racing saddle.



Now, if only we could figure out how to put the darn thing on the horse!









I want to conduct an un-scientific poll. I am thinking of adding to the animal collection and want to get some opinions as to what you would like to see on our farm. Please leave a comment with your choice from the selection below:

1) Sheep
2) Pygmy goats
3) Pig

Why farmers have dirty houses

It has been another busy week at the farm. I have discovered the reason why farmers have dirty houses (this is solely my observation from the several farmhouses I have visited in my life). There is simply not enough time for the inside chores. I suppose it would be different if I were not working, but I doubt it. There are animals to be tended, grass to be mowed, gardens to clean up, fruit to pick and can, etc. I have found a new appreciation for my bed. I gratefully collapse into it each night and fall fast asleep.

The highlights of this week included our first equine vet visit and some behavior problems. The vet came out on Wednesday to look at the gray mare. She was still suffering from shipping fever and we knew that antibiotics were needed. In addition to the antibiotics, she also prescribed albuterol and some OTC cough medicine. We have to grind the antibiotics up into a powder and make a paste with water and molasses. We have a giant plastic syringe to inject this concoction into the horses mouth. Let me just say that taking the temperature was easier. She is feeling much better now. The runny nose has stopped and the cough is clearing up.

The horse on the mend was the good news of the week. By Friday, we noticed that our Sorrel mare, Star, was acting a bit bossy towards us. Nipping, pushing, stomping at the gate/fences. I called the man who sold us the horses and asked him what we could be doing wrong (the list might be long, lol). I mentioned that whenever we take the gray mare into the barn to give her medicine the Sorrel goes insane. She paws at the fence and whinnies and kicks the gate. When I would go into the pasture, she would show some really bad manners. He suggested that she has attached herself to the gray mare, kind of a mother figure for her. He said that we need to separate the two horses and "break" the Sorrel of her attachment. We immediately moved her to our second pasture, which is on the other side of the property and almost impossible for them to see one another. He told me that she would pace and whinny and that I should just let her do it and then I should "longe" (pronounced "lunge") her in the morning until she was exhausted. He said I needed to show her who was boss.

He was right on the first account. She paced and whinnied all night long. In fact, she wore the grass out along the pasture fence. I am sure the neighbors were appreciating the noise all night. I laid in bed expecting the sound of a shotgun being readied and fired. On Saturday morning, Melanie and I went to my new favorite place to spend my hard earned cash, the Tractor Supply Company. We bought a longe line and a whip. Stories Guide to Training Horses mentions that only a professional should attempt longing a horse. Well, seeing as there is an absence of professionals on my farm, I thought I would give it a try. My futile attempt lasted about 2 minutes. Mainly because the horse was not interested in moving away from me (a longe line is about 16 feet long and the horse should be at the other end of it while you chase it in a circle). She crowded me, whinnied, pushed me...and finally got her legs all tangled up in the line. I tried poking her with the butt of the whip a couple of times, but she was so agitated, there was no hope. I got out of the pasture and decided to wait to get a professional in the form of Melanie's friend from CATRA who has broken a few horses in her day.

Aside from the noise all day, we were able to get Shadow bathed. Washing a horse is kind of like washing your car with the exception of having to move out of the way every now and then to avoid being trampled or kicked. Once we finished with her, we attempted to bring Star to the pump house to bathe her as well. This little episode ended up with the horse back in the pasture charging at the fence. She had become a danger to herself. I decided that tough love was no longer an option, I moved her back to the other pasture and she has been as gentle as can be with me since then.

Mel's friend came over on Sunday afternoon for our first longing. It was not a disaster, but also not the greatest success either. It was clear to me that I was in over my head in this department. I couldn't believe how rough you have to be with these animals. I will need to get over my fear of being trampled before attempting this activity in the future.

Outside of training our crazy horse, we have mostly been working on the cherry tree and canning. Our Mennonite neighbors came to visit on Saturday and brought 2 quarts of black raspberries, from which I seeded and made some jam. It is possibly more delicious than the cherry jam. We reciprocated by picking another large bowl of cherries and sending them over to them. I saved some to make some cherry cobbler....now if only I could find the time.

Monday night I was able to teach mom how to use the lawn tractor. She was a little leary at first, but quickly picked it up and soon was mowing like a pro. We are trying to get the place ready for our big 4th of July bash tomorrow. I hope the rain holds off long enough to enjoy being outside, since that is where we concentrated our efforts! LOL

In chicken news, they are getting so big I can't believe they were just little peeps a month ago. It turns out we have 4 roosters as I heard one of my "hens" crowing the other day. Our straight run cuckoo marans are half hens and half roosters. I have noticed some fighting going on, so we may have to cull them. It is sad because I just love them all so much. I can't imagine having to get rid of any of them. There are some parts of farm life that are easier than others. I will be sure not to order roosters in the future. The chicks love being outside. They are quite adventurous now, oftentimes wandering through the gate to the other side of the barnyard. They stick close and the barnyard is sheltered by a large tree and the barn. It makes me feel somewhat safer from hawks during the day.

My final thought is from a news article I came across this morning. 5 mennonites died in a manure pit on their farm. It is tragic, but there was the one little part of me who thought, jeez, I never thought I would have to worry about meeting my maker in that manner! We do not have a large dairy farm with a manure pit and to ensure we never need one, my local friends are welcome to come help themselves to some free fertilizer! On that note, I will close my missive for this week. Look out for some new photos coming soon!

Trial by Fire

We had a GORGEOUS weekend here in Fredericksburg. It was in the mid-70s and no humidity. If only it could be like this all summer....

Melanie was so surprised on Friday when she came home from girls camp. She was actually speechless, which surprised me, since horses is all she can ever talk about. She told me that fireworks were going off inside....so I will have to take her word for it. The horses are so neat. I keep going out to look at them because it is surreal that they are here in our yard!

Our friends, Alan and Cami, came to visit this weekend from Utah. We had a really great time together and some real laughs. The highlight of the weekend was when I had to take the temperature of one of our horses, who has a case of "shipping fever" (I am learning new things every day!). The gal at Tractor Supply Company sold me a thermometer and gave me a brief lesson on how to, um, take it. Here is a photo of this priceless moment.

The horse has a little fever and needs to get an antibiotic. I read up on giving a horse an injection and decided, whatever it costs, I am having someone else come out and administer it!

Bob and I finally mowed the secondary pasture. It took two days and a lot of recutting because it was about 4 feet high. We are going to just mow it a few more times over the next week and let it settle before rotating the horses into it. The freshly cut grass emits toxins that can harm the horses. I really am learning!

We picked more cherries this weekend and made two more batches of jam. I hope to get a few more batches done before they die because the jam is so good. I still have 8 quarts "put up" of the fresh cherries, so I can do some pies as well.

Sunday has been a day of rest for the Mastracola's. There has been so much work to do here that we hardly have a minute to spare. I appreciate the Lord gives us a one-day reprieve to recharge our batteries. We have an exciting week ahead with quotes for new floors, friends moving out of the ward, seminary teacher meetings starting (already!), and work in and outside the farm. We hope you are enjoying our crazy experiences vicariously through our blog. We certainly enjoy sharing them!
P.S. Cami is a really good photographer and she gets all the credit for the beautiful photos in today's post.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course

We have two new additions to our farm today! Last night, Bob and I purchased two Quarterhorses. They were delivered this afternoon and are out in the pasture this evening getting adjusted to their new home. They were purchased from an auction in Ohio about 10 days ago. There is a Gray mare and a Sorrel mare (brown). Melanie is at girls camp this week, so she has no idea that we purchased them. I can't wait until she comes home Friday and sees them out there in the field! Here is a photo.

Here is the latest photo of the chickens, as well.

The Pit Crew (part two)

Mom and I picked about another 4 quarts of cherries on Saturday night. We made some cherry jam and pie filling. The cherry jam is so yummy that I plan on getting some more jars this week and making a couple more batches. It still doesn't look like we made a dent!

The chickens are now comfortable coming outside. Today after we returned from church I opened the door and as I walked back to the house, most of the chickens were outside. They stayed out most of the day scratching in the dirt or eating bugs. They are starting to look more and more like their pictures on the hatchery website. It looks like we might have 4 roosters. There are two black and white ones that look like seagulls and no other chickens look like them. I need to go look again at the cuckoo maran photos to see what the roosters look like. I don't remember any of the hen photos appearing this way.

I bought them a new 3 gallon waterer and an 11 pound feeder. It is nice to not have to refill the little ones all day long.

Kelly and Enzo seem to finally be settling into our new life here. Enzo a little more than Kelly, who has been plagued with some stomach problems for the past couple of weeks. She is going to the vet on Tuesday and I hope they can give her some medication to help her get through the hump. She seems to love being outside here. Whenever I take her out she just runs and runs around the yard. I can't wait until we have the time to put in our new electronic fence. It will be nice, once they are trained with it, to just let them have run of the yard. I didn't blog this when it happened, but the second day we were here, Kelly got out and ran away. We couldn't find her for more than two hours. She wasn't wearing a collar and since she is so afraid of people, you can't really catch her easily. Everyone was just so sad. Bob and the kids drove around for two hours looking for her. Someone had spotted her up at the high school, but Bob never spotted her. I was unloading my van and had the strongest impression that as when I was finished, I should get in the car and drive up the road and she would be there. I quickly finished what I was doing and grabbed the keys. I drove up the road, just past our property and there she was, standing on the side of the road as I had seen in my mind. I am so grateful for the gift of the Spirit at times like these. We did buy Kelly and Enzo tags with our new address the next morning and put new collars on them (and we bought the fence but haven't had the time to install it yet).

Life here has been demanding on us physically, but in a good way. It is the kind of exhausting that you fall into bed at night grateful for the rest. We haven't had a chance to hook up the tv in the bedroom yet, and I may just keep it that way. Honestly, I have only sat down once or twice since we have been here to watch something on tv. I also just realized that I haven't logged into instant messaging since I moved! I find that oddly fascinating.

We are still on the lookout for a nice horse and some goats. The pastures keep growing and growing and we need some animals to keep it in check. Also, the barn is so empty and lifeless. The barn swallow are our only inhabitants.

The garden is doing well. We have about 25 green bean plants that are fast growing. The other plants are surviving and I noticed 3 or four pumpkins starting to come up. The beets, onions, carrots, and lettuce should be poking through soon. We started miracle grow this weekend. Hopefully, it will give everything a little boost.

It is off to bed for me. Melanie leaves for girls camp in the morning and we all need the rest.

Some days...its the pits....

There are some tasks here at the farm that won't wait. It has a life of its own and it is not concerned that we still have unpacking and painting and electric that needs updated. We have two sour cherry trees that came into full cherry-ness this week. This afternoon, the kids and I spent a couple of hours picking cherries to "put up" or can. Our bounty was 8 quarts, but you can't even tell that we picked any the trees are so full. I think we will be picking cherries for the next couple of weeks. (local friends can feel free to swing by and help themselves to the cherries)

Cherry trees are fairly short, as trees go. However, we still needed a ladder and had to pull some branches down to get to the ripe ones. We picked everything that was ripe and it took about 1 1/2 hours. Then the real fun began. I went to the Kitchen Collections store and bought 4 cherry pitters last night. We used them for about 1 minute and gave up. They tore the cherries apart and didn't do such a great job at getting pits out. I found that if you gently squeeze and roll them in your fingers, the pit just pops out. Oh, and did I mention they are really messy? We and the porch were covered in cherry juice. It just gets all over you...if you ever have to pit a large quantity of cherries, make sure you wear old clothes or something red.

We hurried up to get them in the house and start canning them. The stem opening starts to turn brown really fast if you don't soak them in a water/ascorbic acid solution....I didn't have any on hand. I had to go dig out my pots and canning jars, but we were able to get 8 quarts done in short order. As the trees ripen, we will be picking some more to make some cherry jam and pie filling to can. On a side note, we discovered that Enzo loves cherries! He laid under the tree while we were picking and gobbled up everything that fell to the ground....pits and all. When we were pitting them, he begged next to us the whole time and was so happy whenever we shared one with him. He has some cherry juice stains on his fur. We hope that they come out in the wash!

In other farm news, I got to ride the tractor for the first time this week. Bob was reluctant to turn over the key as he gets really excited about mowing the grass. However, he was working on installing the new microwave outlet and since I can't do electric, I mowed. My only complaint is that the seat is set too far back and my butt hardly stayed in the seat. It was pretty funny watching me go round the corners! I mastered it pretty quick and did a nice job.

The chicks continue to grow and grow. Tomorrow they are one month old. I am going to let them out of the coop for a while tomorrow if the weather is nice.