Archive | Farm and Garden RSS feed for this section

summer to fall

Three days ago the calendar changed to fall.  However,  the weather never got the notice.   If I am honest, I have been living for fall and cooler weather all summer.  Sweating outside is not my thing which sounds so funny coming from someone who lived most of her life in Florida and will again in the future.  Fall is one of those things that I never knew I needed so much until I had it in my life.  Fall weather means the seed ticks will vacate our woods so that I can take more than an occasional walk.  I long for the color of leaves ablaze on the trees.  The feeling of cool crisp air that lets us bring out our handknits once again.

In the meantime, the boys have been busy putting the tomatoes, peppers and other lovelies in the garden to good use.  Homemade hot sauce made from our garden tomatoes and peppers (which I do not like even though I have heard that it is very delicious) has been at every meal lately.   They got to use Charlie’s squeezo and boy is it a good tool to have around.  The tomatoes go in and the juice comes out of one side with the seeds and peels on the other side.  Easy peasy and then of course the chickens and water fowl get all the peels and seeds.  They may even plant a few for us which we would find next spring.

Knitting has become a nightly activity again as well as dominoes and Settlers of Catan.  I came upon a beautiful vintage wood card table during my thrifting excursions in a small antique shop, which has become a permanent part of our livingroom now and though I had planned on recovering the top part, it has quite grown on me and I couldn’t imagine this sweet folding table with a different fabric on top.

Decorating for fall has also been in my brain at all times and I think some new door wreaths are in order.  I did notice that the girls dragged out all of our fall pennants and fabrics so they must be feeling this way too and a few changes always do our hearts good.  I long for soups every night (Poppa really dislikes soup during hot weather though I still sneak one in each week) but pumpkin soup, pho, stews, its all calling to me and I can’t wait.

So what are you doing to bring about fall?  I hope you are enjoying the weather wherever you happen to be and don’t forget to send some fallish thoughts our way… every little bit helps right?

 

Comments { 8 }

all the baby animals

We didn’t raise chicks early this spring and decided to wait until summer which now makes so much more sense.  Usually we get chicks while its still snowing outside and its a challenge to keep them warm even inside but in early summer it is warm everywhere and these chicks have been so happy.

We have added not only 38 chicks to our homestead but also 15 Welsh Harlequin Ducks and 5 Tolouse Geese.  The little peeps and quacks are such a pretty sound and I hear that the goslings are close to getting their little honks though I have not heard them myself.  Truth be told, chicks are my favorite part of homesteading.  Watching the chicks in the brooder is like watching my favorite show and these little peepers are getting more and more interesting as the days go by.  There is even one little chick that looks a bit like Liberace with poofy hair on its head and quite a flamboyant attitude.  It will be such a treat to see them all grow and develop their own personalities.

Then… just one day after we got the call to come and pick up our box of chicks at the post office, I got a message from a friend whose husband had rescued a wild baby raccoon whose mama had gotten killed by a car.  Her husband had come around a corner and saw a group of buzzards fly up off of the road and on second look, saw this little raccoon standing next to his mamas body.  My friends husband pulled over and this little raccoon walked right up to him as if to say “please help me”.  They brought him over and his first day he was more dead than alive but we nursed him back to health while we tried to figure out a good place to take him for help.  Ringo was decided upon by most of the kids.  Little Ringo raccoon got to be one of the Farmish bunch for a week before a friend with experience in raising raccoons came to adopt him.  So our career as raccoon parents was short lived but I have a feeling we will be talking about him for a lifetime.

Back on the chicken front, I have ordered portable electric fencing to keep our flock in this year.  I think Poppa will appreciate them a bit more when there aren’t hoard of chickens and ducks going to the flower beds near the front porch and roosting on rocking chairs.  We have been raising fowl since 2006 and he has been very patient for a non-farm boy.  It is the least I can do after he has welcomed flock after flock over the years.  I am excited to see how it all works and I hope to have good news to report back here.

 

 

Comments { 1 }