Some days are better than others....

I wish I could say that this blog is one of those better days, but do the better days really make as good a story?

I was not eager to go into the office on Wednesday, but had the opportunity to meet an out-of-town co-worker visiting just for the day so I decided to go in. I mentioned to Melanie that morning that she needed to make sure her barn chores were completed before school because her memom would not be here to do them for her while she was at school. (Memom is out in Colorado this week)

So I am all dressed up in a nice pair of cream colored slacks and dress boots. I put on a dress coat and headed out to my car. I noticed that the chicken coop was closed and although it was foggy and moist outside, it wasn't really raining and it was supposed to be unseasonably warm, so I thought I should open the coop and let out the chickens. I walked over to the barn yard and was immediately greeted by a vast wasteland of sopping wet mud. It has been raining pretty much for a week here and we were completely flooded last Friday. I had told Melanie that she should not work with the horses out there because the ground was vey soft. She did not listen and jumped her horse in the barnyard to the point that there was basically no sod left at all. I carefully tried to find some places to step without getting my shoes and pants dirty. I made it over to the coop door without too much trouble and opened the door. I wish this was the end of my story.

As I was finding my way out of the barn area, I noticed that Sarge's stall door was partially open, so I peeked in to say hi. That was when I saw his water bucket was completely empty. Of course, the water spigot is....you guessed it....over at the entrance to the coop. So now I have to make my way back to the coop with the bucket and somehow get the bucket filled up and carried back to the barn without getting dirty. Did I mention the bucket is about 15 gallons?

I made my way back to coop and started to fill the bucket. I noticed that I had a few small mud splatters on the bottoms of my slacks and was a little angy. I filled the bucket about a third full and lugged it back to the barn. I brushed the dirt from my nice coat and decided I should check the other horses' water, too. I went to the second stall and when I opened the door, I grabbed for the bucket which was situated between a large dirty horse and the door. She was so anxious to get out that as I was trying to pull the bucket from the stall she pushed her way out the door.

So, now I have a dirty, thirsty horse who is not intersted in trying to go BACK into the stall. I made the executive decision to put the horses out in the pasture for the day. I guess in hindsight it may have been an easier task to shove her back into the stall. I took Shadow by the halter and started to walk her towards the pasture. As I approach the north side of the coop, I notice the ground is not only muddy, but that it still has puddles of water all over it. Now, I have to maneuver myself and a 1000 pound beast through this minefield without getting my shoes or pants dirty. I somehow managed to get to the gate only to discover that the top hinge was off and the gate was stuck in the deep mud. So, with horse in one hand and barely keeping my footing in the deep mud (remember, I have on cream colored pants and dress boots) I struggle to pull the broken gate through the mud. After pulling it open about 2 feet, the horse pushed her way into the pasture. I decided at this point that it might be a good idea to go change into my muck boots. I figured I was already late for work at this point, so what would it matter.

So I carefully step back through the mud and head back to the house. My boots were completely swamped with mud and I was completely angry to the point that I actually considered driving up to the school and pulling Melanie out of class to work her over a little bit! I pulled off the muddy boots and shoved on my muck boots jamming my pants down inside.

I walk back over to the barn to take the other two horses out to the pasture. Each time having to maneuver the broken gate through the mud while getting the horse in without having any escape or fall down. Once all were safely in, I had to find a way to keep the gate secured with the broken hinge. To fix it properly would be a two man job, and I was an island unto myself at this point. So I went in search of some chain that I could use. Back through the mud I stole one from another gate. The smaller piece of chain just barely fit around the post and with no extra links to spare I managed to get it latched together. Proud of my accomplishment I started to walk back to the house when I realized that the horses did not have water. So now I have to completely fill a 15 gallon bucket up with water and drag it though 10-inch deep mud, reopen the gate, and get it inside the pasture. Once again, I thought of going to the school...

After getting the water in the pasture, I noticed the horses were trying so hard to get whatever little green was left in the ground, I thought I should check the feed stall. Of course, to my astonishment, there was no hay in there. I figured that Melanie did not leave herself enough time to bring down hay for them, so she gave them some grain and left for school. Now, I have the task to go up into the barn and pull down a bale of hay to take out to the pasture. I walked up the barn and saw that there was some flakes of hay (a segment of hay is called a flake and we normally feed them two flakes). So I picked up a flake or two and carried the loose hay (in my black wool coat) down to the pasture. I repeated this process three times because we generally throw it in different areas so they don't fight over it. Out of breath, with sweat pouring down my face, hair dishelved I returned to the porch to get my muddy boots. I took them to the outside faucet and sprayed them down to get the clumps of mud off. Once cleaned, I returned to the porch and swapped out my boots. I went to the car and brushed off the hay from my coat and looked for my Tide pen to clean the mud off my pant cuffs which were wrinkled and dirty from the 30 minute ordeal. I could not find it, so back into the house for a wet papertowel as a lousy second choice. I cleaned off the best I could, tried to reorganize my hair and started on my way to work.

You would think this would be the end of this tragic tale of mud and woe, and yet you would be wrong. All the way to work I kept smelling cat urine. To my utter shame, the barn cats peed on the muck boots out on the porch and when I pulled them on, it transferred to my hands. It took about 10 handwashings, Purell, and lots of hand cream to get through the day.

The only bright spot in my day is that our main computer application and database crashed at lunchtime and I had to go home early. What a shame.....

( on a sad note, one of our chickens died last week. She was found in a nesting box and we have no idea how she died, but we are now back to 26 chicks in the sticks)

Consider the Lilies

I apologize for not having the time to create any updates for two months. It has been a busy time away from the farm and, for a period, it seemed as if nothing of note was happening here. As I sat in fast and testimony meeting yesterday, I contemplated getting up to speak, but didn't really know what I would say. The MoTab song, Consider the Lilies, came to my mind as I often think of it when I see the chickens wandering outside. As I thought of the meaning behind the words, I turned to the scripture that it references:

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:25-34

I am humbled by nature and its complexities and its delicacies that almost seem to contradict one another. Tonight is no exception. I went out to the chicken coop to close the lights for the night and I noticed an egg in one of the nesting boxes. It looked eerily translucent. I blinked, thinking that I was seeing things. I reached in and gently picked up the strange egg. It's shell was simply a thick membrane, nothing more. It is quite beautiful and delicate to the touch, yet peculiar to the extreme. If you hold it to the light, you can see the yolk inside. An egg is something that most do not think twice about, however, we have been enthralled with the various shapes, sizes, and properties of the eggs that our chickens have produced.

On a side note, earlier this year a bird made a nest in a wreath on our front door. We watched for two weeks as the baby birds hatched, grew, and flew away. Two weeks! I could not believe it.

I love to watch the chickens as they fill the measure of their creation. They dig in the flower beds, leaving behind tilled and fertilized soil. They nest and lay their eggs. They bustle around talking in a quiet chicken language. The roosters proudly defend and protect their flock from predators great and small. An example of this occurred a few weeks ago. I was in the kitchen and I heard the roosters making a racket outside. They were not crowing as one would expect, but almost shrieking. I went to the door to see what was going on and all of the hens were hiding under the large pine tree. The 5 roosters were in the yard running around and yelling. I looked up and saw two large hawks circling overhead. How amazing to see nature in action. That Heavenly Father created these beautiful creatures with all the instincts and knowledge they need to survive here. They are a source of pure joy in my life.

Equally as amazing to me, our horses have grown a winter coat. Not being much of a horse expert, this year has been full of experiences that are new for me. I had no idea that horses hair changed at all! But ours have grown into a thick, ruglike coat to keep them warm through the harsh winter months. I have been grateful for the warmer days this new year has brought. The horses have been able to stay outside in the pasture more often and I imagine it must be a thrill for them after being cooped up in the barn so much.

Everything else on the farm has gone into a state of hibernation. The lush greenery of the summer gave way to the decay of autumn and the stark nakedness of the winter. We are currently mourning the loss of a large tree that was toppled by an ice storm around Christmas. I look forward to the spring, when all will be renewed again.

Record Setting Egg

Ok, I know I wrote that we got the biggest egg ever the other day, but the one I got this morning is a record setter. Honestly, I don't know what to say about it. I feel bad for the chicken that had to pass it.

Here are two contrasting photos of the gigantic egg and another of an extra large egg.

Here is a photo of this egg trying to fit in a carton with the rest of the eggs from this week.

A time of change

Fall is here. It is my favorite time of the year. I love to feel the chill in the air and to see the leaves change. I love the smell of the autumn. The pungent smell of decaying earth and foliage. The chickens are doing a wonderful job of cleaning out all of the undergrowth of the gardens around the house. They aerate and fertilizer the ground beneath their feet.
This is our foster horse, Sarge. He has been living here for about 2.5 months. He was a little underweight and wasn't very attractive, which is why I haven't posted any photos of him. We have been fattening him up and he is starting to grow his winter coat. He is 20 years old and a former racehorse. These days, he is more likely to be seen meandering through the fields around the house. I retrieved the largest chicken egg I have ever seen. It is like a super, jumbo! You can't really tell from the photo here, but it is as large as the palm of my hand.

Our oddball rooster, Falcon. He mostly keeps to himself.


I believe this Red Star is the breed that laid the huge egg. They are known for their large and plentiful eggs.

My favorite chickens are the Partridge Rocks.
Most days, the chickens hold a meeting on the barnyard gate.

A rooster in action!
"Can you believe how wide Bertha's behind has gotten?"

Photo Update

The final fruits of our labor

The first egg

Sonny

Falcon

Getting ready for the night shift

Really, in the tree

Porch Kitty and The Assassin

...and a partridge in a pear tree

Ok, well, more like a Partridge Rock in a regular tree. Doesn't make any less strange. Some of the chickens love to fly up into the large tree in the barnyard. Last night, 5 of them stayed up there all night. They were so high even Bob could not get them out. I don't mind them being up there, but I don't want them to be harmed by a predator. I also think it will be hard to collect eggs that have been dropped from the top of the tree!

We have been steadily getting an egg a day. We think it is probably the mystery chicken that showed up in our barn one day. She is probably a little older than our other girls. The chickens will be 20 weeks old this Saturday and should all start laying soon. I made some fried rice last week and used about 3 of our eggs. I can't believe how yellow the yolks are! The eggs were yummy and I am looking forward to making a nice breakfast one of these days.

There is a small group of hens that like to hang out by the kitchen door. They are there every afternoon. One of the Red Rocks comes right up to the storm door and bangs her beak on the glass to get my attention. It is pretty funny when they show up, though we don't like the bird poo everywhere. Enzo likes to eat it, so we really need to keep him on a short leash....dogs, ugh.

The day are getting shorter and shorter. I noticed this morning that it is now still dark when we finish with seminary in the morning and it is always dark by 8. I dread the days where it is dark by 5 pm. We are starting to look at heating oil prices and snow throwers. (I thought that was why we had kids???) Gosh, I can't believe winter is almost closing in. We have a really large driveway to clear and there is no way we can do it with a shovel. New toys are fun, though!

Our garden is waning. We havested about a 5-gallon bucket of sweet potatoes, 10 pounds of carrots, another gallon bag full of green beans, baskets of tomatoes, and of course, our pumpkins that are still out there growing. We have been eating the fruits of our labor just about every night. It is really delicious! We learned a lot this summer about how we want to do the garden the next time. It will soon be time to till the ground and lay our manure out for the winter.

The short days, work schedules, and church callings are keeping me really busy these days. I have been trying to get at least 30 minutes of exercise in each day, but it isn't always possible. That doesn't leave much time for farm and house stuff (and blogging). I do have more pictures to get loaded, so look for a photo update soon!

A week of firsts

WE GOT OUR FIRST EGG TODAY!

I went out to open the coop this morning and to fill the feeder and check on the water. When I started chasing the chickens out of the nesting boxes, I happened to notice a small brown egg in one of the boxes. Most likely, it is a pullet egg. Young hens will sometimes lay a small, yolkless egg the first couple of times. I actually was a little surprised to see an egg so soon. The girls are 18 weeks old now, and it is just a little soon. They are supposed to start laying at 20 weeks. I guess we have fattened them up enough to start laying a little early.

Another first this week is Melanie rode Star! I have been threatening to sell her if she won't work with her. I came home from the store on Saturday and she came running out to proclaim her accomplishment. She said Star was good and didn't buck or try to stomp on her. I think we are making progress. I also think the addition of a large, male horse has upset the order of the pasture and put Star in her place. Honestly, I don't spend too much time alone with her since I got kicked. I find myself tensing up when she comes near and especially if she turns towards me. It is a reflex now and since horses can sense these things, I don't want to press my luck.

We will be harvesting our sweet potatoes this week as well. They are ready to be picked and stored. I have read that you need to dry them at 80 degrees for a couple of weeks and constantly turn them so they don't get moldy or rotten. I have no idea how we will accomplish that~ Hopefully, they will be ok with 75 degrees inside the house.

I apologize for not updating the blog lately, but honestly, there hasn't been much to write about. Things sort of settled down between August and September. I think the next few weeks will be more interesting as we have crops coming in for harvest and the egg laying should pick up. We have a nice pumpkin patch this year. I hope to expand the garden next year to increase the pumpkin patch as they have been my favorite thing to grow.

Start saving your egg cartons! I think by mid-October we will have more eggs than we know what to do with!

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.