Saucing it up

I just realized its been nearly a month since my last post. Time really does go by fast.  The past two days the sky has looked like November, with the kind of dark clouds that threaten snow is on the way.

Its been a  "Ping-Pong" like guessing game for next winter's weather predictions. The weather channels are predicting a strong El Nino, bringing in a warmer winter. On the other side of the table, the Farmer's Almanac is predicting another cold and snowy winter. I'll come up with my own forecast by what the animals are telling me at the end of October.  Lot's of hair growth on the horses and goat is usually a pretty good indication I better have my firewood stacked.

The garden was not at all what I'd hoped for this season, but I did manage to get some tomatoes, popcorn, yellow squash, green beans, lettuces, a great crop of garlic, and some miscellaneous herbs.  The rest of it went to hell.  I've resigned myself to putting in the past and moving on to other things.

So be it. ~A

The Great Monsoon of 2015

Its not appearing very likely the first round of hay will ever be cut.  The rain is still coming, each day and every day.  Maybe Mother Nature drank too much dandelion wine and forgot to turn the sprinklers off.  It happens...

I'm behind horribly with the garden weeding.  A broken arm set things back quite a bit.  Though I did get some great help with the barn and now it is all back in place again.  I'll tackle the garden over my long Fourth of July weekend break from corporate life. 

I'm not sure what will be made of it though. It already looks like the radishes and cilantro have drowned, and the peppers are beyond suffering.  But the garlic, lettuce and corn look great! I was finally able to harvest some lettuce and make the first salad of the season.  That made tolerating all the rain a tad easier.  Fresh lettuce is so much nicer than store-bought.
 

I made some lovely cheesy, onion and bacon scalloped potatoes to go along...

New bunnies have made their appearance.  There two larger ones, and now two more that are only a few days old.  That's another thing I have to get a handle on.  It's well over due time for a grand slaughter of older chickens and bunnies.  And the pig will be ready soon too.  I'm down to a couple hams, a tongue, some blade steaks, and miscellaneous other cuts, but only a mere pound of the coveted bacon! 

Its great if you are a duck or a pig...

 

Speaking of pigs, my two are doing wonderful.  And loving this mud and rain! Wonderful storms thundered about last night throughout the evening and into the morning.  Though, I'm not really sure we need more water at this point.  Things are pretty much saturated and there is flooding everywhere. 

Yesterday the new rain barrel (crate?) was hooked up to the gutter downspout.  It was three quarters of the way full by seven o'clock this morning when I checked it.  It holds 275 gallons when filled to capacity.  That just shows how much water runs off a standard size roof in a few short hours.  Very mind blowing.  Even more mind blowing - the state of Colorado prohibits collecting rain runoff into rain barrels.

Saffy doesn't mind the rain either it appears...

Thanks to all this rain, the hay cutting is still on the back burner around here for the local farmers.  Hopefully, sometime in the next two weeks there will be enough of a break in the weather to get it done.  Though I personally dread that task - having to line up enough people to help get it put up.  Its not an easy job at all.  Unless you are a body builder and do not suffer from hay-related allergies.

I think I need to find an intern or two in the future to help out...

Farm Updates

It looks like the last of the last of the good weather will be leaving the farm this week.  Tomorrow will be in the 60's, and then it dips into the low 20's by next Tuesday.  The heat lamps are going to have to be put into place in the barn this evening to keep the water pump from freezing.  I'm already having flash-backs to last winter's polar vortex frozen hell.

It makes me cringe knowing bigger electric bills are on their way, especially since I neglected to order wood for the winter and call in a chimney sweep to make sure the fireplace was good to go for another season.  But whose fault is that?

Two of the breeding does are due to birth bunny babies sometime around November 24th.  I love baby bunnies.  But then who doesn't?  I love them even more when they reach about five pounds and make a lovely dinner.

Today I called Mahan Slaughterhouse and Trumbull Locker (the packaging company) to schedule a day to bring in the pig for his "big day."  The appointment they gave me is about a month later than I had hoped to have him processed, but due to the large amount of deer processing that Trumbull Locker handles, it was just too booked up for them to take him.  They claim they are the third largest deer processing place in Ohio.  Mahan company slaughters the animals, Trumbull Locker does the processing.  For some reason or another, Trumbull is unable to slaughter.  So Pig's big day is January 2, 2015. It should be a real treat trying to coax him into the trailer...

Sometime before November 16th, two racehorses will be returning from the racetrack back to the farm, for a little break from the racing life.  There are two horses on the farm already, along with the goat, and only three stalls available.  Another stall is going to have to go up fast.

Garlic still has not been planted.  I've been a terrible farmer this year... So I've decided to make sure I get it in the garden not later than October 15th next season (fingers crossed).  I've also discovered I need to plant at least two hundred cloves just for personal consumption, and two hundred more if I ever want to sell any!

On a good note, the turkey-sized, poultry shrink wrap bags arrived from Nadya's Poultry. Now I can  butcher the turkeys and freeze them as I get time.

I'm also considering getting some outdoor lighting installed to light up the round pen so that I can keep working with the horses in the dark of the winter on weeknights.  By the time I get home from work, its as dark as it gets!  I hate letting the horses (and myself) do nothing and get so out of shape over the winter months and this could be my solution to the problem.  I'll check into the cost sometime next week.   Forgive me for all the long farm updates. Happy Tuesday ~A

The winds are changing...

A little seasonal folklore...

"When deer are in grey coat in October, expect a hard winter"

"Much rain in October makes for much wind in December"

"A warm October means a cold February"

 

 Last fall,  all the wooly-bear caterpillars were pure black.  I haven't seen ANY this year so far. Maybe last year's polar vortex, winter-from-hell froze them all dead? 

Last fall, the first snowfall was October 24th.  We've had quite a bit of rain this October, but so far, no snow.  I'm glad.

I do hope this winter is nothing as miserable as last year's.  Although the animals did impress me with how well they coped and withstood it. 




The first frost of fall 2014

 

 

I wonder if the spider froze?

I wouldn't say its been a warm October.  And official winter is still two months away. But we did have our first frost about ten days ago.  Its dark in the early mornings now, and dark early in the evenings. It feels a bit like winter.  I still haven't gotten any wood in yet, but I do have a loft full of hay.  I hope you all are healthy, happily getting your wood stacked, and filling your pantries.  And may this winter be more kind to all of us. 

 

~A

A little Rain

Rain clouds were slowly moving in on the horizon this morning.  Rainy. Cloudy. Windy.  Today's forecast.  But I'm not complaining - the temperature is nearing 50 degrees!  The horses are not at all amused however.  They will be put back in the barn today, safe from the chilly rain that is on its way this afternoon.

Mon Abri Farm, March 2014

Have a beautiful day... ~A

Adios January

Its 36 degrees today as I sit here slurping a hot bowl of tomato-basil soup, and this weather feels absolutely amazing after so many days of arctic BS.  This is the last day of January and I am very glad to see it go! I am so hoping for a kinder February and looking forward to spring again.

Not much of anything is happening on the farm right now.  Its just cold and uneventful.  Mama-to-be goat still has not shown any sign of having any babies any time soon.  I really am beginning to wonder if she is in fact pregnant?  What a trick that would be.  She went out for a stroll and played in the snow with her BFF doggie "Louie" yesterday, and seemed as content as ever bouncing around the snow covered pasture.

I am almost decided that a pig will be added to the farm this year.  I'm a little leery about getting one, because I know nothing about pigs and I still have to set up a pen for it.  But the farmer called me the other day and said the two sows had just given birth and the piglets will be ready in mid March.  So I need to hurry up and make a decision, pig or no pig. Have any of you out there raised a pig before, and if so, can you give me the dirt on what I'm getting myself into if I get one?  Is it worth it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Well the weekend is finally here, and I'm looking forward to some better weather and the quiet time to experiment with some new recipes. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. 

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Preparing for a Deep Freeze on the Farm

One of the not-so-nice things about living on a farm (with animals) is dealing with cold winter weather.  The animals, but maybe not the horses so much, seem to hate it as much as I do.  The chickens want to roost and linger in the barn all day, rather than brave freezing wind and snow.  But, the chickens (and duck) were happy to get out and roam around a bit over the weekend, once the temperatures rose to about 37 degrees.  And the turkeys and bunnies were pretty active as well.

With the slight break in the weather, I jumped on the chance to get the heat lamps up and ready to get the animals through the next two nights of arctic wrath. I also took the opportunity to pin down the Billy Goat (with some help), to get his hooves trimmed and fit him with a halter.  What a chore! But the collar alone wasn't giving me enough control, and he was still able to swing his head around and puncture holes in my thighs with his horns.  Not fun.  Or safe. 

Speaking of goats, I've been struggling with castration confusion.  If my (hopefully) pregnant doe delivers a buck, is it best to castrate it by cutting or banding?  I can't decide.  If anyone out there has any advice I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this one.

We had a nice dinner to close the day.  The husband wanted steak.  We don't eat much cow, maybe a handful of times per year.  I think if we raised one of our own that could change.  But we love pork, chicken, duck, rabbit, and the occasional squirrel (don't judge).  I'd much rather have a pig or two than a cow.  Or ten goats, but that's another story...

Getting back to the dinner.  This was way too much meat for me to eat, and as expected, I only managed to get through about one quarter of it.  Really, who eats like this?  Other than my husband... But I guess this is why so many of us Americans are large, unlike the Europeans, who's plates would contain only a quarter of what mine did to begin with!  I need to make a mental note to start eating more like a European.   And of course after all that food I couldn't be bothered with taking down the Christmas Tree and putting away the decorations.  I could barely walk. 

Can Woolly Bear Caterpillars Predict Weather?

Word around the water trough lately is that we have a mighty hard winter ahead of us here in the Northeast.  Even the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a bitterly cold one

I was out in the barn collecting eggs yesterday evening and came across an all-black “Wooly Bear” caterpillar.  Fascinating! Legend has it that the woolly bear, a tiger moth caterpillar, can portend what weather winter will bring. How much truth is there in this old tale I wondered? Can woolly bears really predict the winter weather? And so I searched for some answers to this mystery. According to folk wisdom, when the rusty brown bands on fall woolly bears are narrow, it means a harsh winter is coming. The wider the brown band, the milder the winter will be. Did I mention the one I found was completely black.  All black!  Not one speck of rusty brown on that furry bug.   

What does a woolly bear turn into? It’s the larval form of the Isabella Tiger Moth. After its sixth and final molt, the caterpillar forms a cocoon and pupates. About two weeks later, an adult moth emerges. The tiger moth is orange-yellow with a few dark speckles on the wings and a 1.5 to 2 inch wingspan.

 

Are the woolly bear's bands really an accurate way to predict the winter weather? Dr. C.H. Curran, former curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, tested the woolly bears' accuracy in the 1950's. His surveys found an 80% accuracy rate for the woolly bears' weather predictions. 80%!  Now, I don’t know about you all, but that’s accurate enough to make me want to stock up extra wood for the season.