by Susan | Aug 7, 2013 | Garden, On the Farm
I have only been seriously gardening for the last few years. I work painstakingly to create the perfect garden environment for growing my vegetables. I read up on growing veggies. I test pH levels. I work in peat and compost and diligently weed the garden beds. I...
by Susan | Jul 28, 2013 | Garden
The morning sunshine quickly faded to a cool steady drizzle. Despite the weather, I had garden chores on my to do list. With so little free time, I didn’t let the rain stop me. I harvested garlic. The Banties moved in as soon as I cleared the bed, scratching and...
by Susan | Jul 24, 2013 | Garden
Something has invaded my kale bed. I went out last night to harvest some kale for dinner and found the entire bed nibbled within an inch of its life. Upon further inspection, I found these tiny green worms to be the culprit. I spent hours last night searching the...
by Susan | Jul 17, 2013 | Backyard Birds, On the Farm
I’ve had my eye on this nest of Eastern Phoebes in the lean-to outside my office. This morning, I noticed a flurry of activity out the window and saw a tiny little Phoebe perched on the edge of a folding chair. He’d made it the eight feet from down from...
by Susan | Jul 14, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
I’ve been concerned about occupancy in the Banty coop given the recent population explosion. We’ll only keep the hens, but as all the babies look alike we’ll have to wait until they grow up a bit before separating out the boys. So this weekend,...
by Susan | Jul 13, 2013 | On the Farm
Last night, I was working at my desk and Mr. Snape was in the window sill watching our Eastern Phoebe zip around catching bugs right out of the air. As she flew up to her nest, I heard some tiny cheeping sounds and went out to explore. Much to mama Phoebe’s...
by Susan | Jul 5, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
The other weekend, we sold ten of our two-year-old hens and they moved to a happy new home. It was sad to see them go, but we did this because our flock had grown too large for the size of our coop. And because of their age, egg production was beginning to decline. In...
by Susan | Jun 30, 2013 | On the Farm
A day without rain is a glorious day! I spent as much time outdoors as possible – weeding, trellising the tomato plants, snipping the scapes off my garlic, weed whacking, etcetera. I’m not the only one who was happy to be out and about today. Shadow took...
by Susan | Jun 29, 2013 | Garden
I enjoy watching the Mourning Doves out my kitchen window. They visit the garden feeder for breakfast and dinner. Here they are pictured with the fading lilacs. Lilacs that are all but gone after days of torrential rains!
by Susan | Jun 22, 2013 | Ducks, On the Farm
The ducklings spent the last few days in a play yard outdoors becoming familiar with the other farm critters. Today, we introduced Peep and Squeak to the rest of flock. I expected the big ducks to chase off the babies, but for the most part the babies were ignored....
by Susan | Jun 19, 2013 | Backyard Birds, On the Farm
This little Mourning Dove look so happy frolicking in the garden bird bath.
by Susan | Jun 15, 2013 | Garden, On the Farm
My lilacs are in full bloom making the garden smell wonderul. As I sit and write this, the breeze is carrying the scent of lilac in the window. Late this afternoon, when we were feeding critters and putting things away outdoors, I found these Hummingbird Clearwing...
by Susan | Jun 14, 2013 | Ducks, On the Farm
Peep and Squeak are finally getting out of the brooder and experiencing the great outdoors. We put the big ducks in their run early and let the babies explore alone. We had to coax them into the pond. It’s a lot bigger than the bathtub! Then they began to loosen...
by Susan | Jun 11, 2013 | Backyard Birds, On the Farm
The past few days this Hairy Woodpecker has been a regular morning visitor at my garden bird feeder. Isn’t he pretty?
by Susan | Jun 9, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
Occupancy in the Banty B&B has hit an all-time high. Over the past couple of days the Banty chicken population doubled. Shadow is proving to be an excellent chicky mama, sticking to her nest until five baby bantam chickens hatched. It seemed like every time I went...
by Susan | Jun 7, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
Exciting things are happening here today. Little Shadow, our Bantam hen is still on her nest. She’s my favorite chicken because she’s so sweet and even tempered – and a good mama. Hannah’s chores include feeding and watering the Bantys each...
by Susan | Jun 4, 2013 | On the Farm
The sun was shinning and my appointments for the day cancelled, so I took the afternoon off to putter at home. It was too beautiful a day to stay inside watching the clock. As I wandered around the woods by the pond I found lots of white wildflowers. Upon closer...
by Susan | Jun 3, 2013 | Backyard Birds, On My Mind
Sitting on the porch yesterday, I spied what may have been a bit of courtship going on between these two unidentified birds. There was a lot of posturing and hopping about going on. Cute!
by Susan | Jun 1, 2013 | On the Farm
We created the pond last year for the ducks. At the time, we didn’t appreciate that we’d be creating an ecosystem. I’ve always enjoyed the night sounds here, but this new ecosystem is NOISY! With the windows open last night, we had to crank the...
by Susan | Jun 1, 2013 | Chickens, Garden, On the Farm
I’d noticed that my Phlox was looking a little sparse. Just the other day it was in full bloom, and today, only a couple of the plants had flowers on them. I justified this by telling myself that the ones in bloom were planted later last year – therefore...
