by Susan | Mar 30, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
It was a beautiful day here in Downeast Maine. We enjoyed being outside doing chores from cleaning out chicken and duck coops to a little bit of spring yard cleanup. It was so nice that when we took our lunch break, Hannah made sandwiches and we ate out on the porch....
by Susan | Mar 28, 2013 | Ducks, On the Farm
Do you have your ducks in a row? I do. Until a few days ago they had never ventured into the drive, choosing to stick the the area right around the pond (still frozen in the background above). Tonight, I looked out the window and saw them hightailing it down the road....
by Susan | Mar 16, 2013 | On the Farm
Sometimes a girl just needs a little alone time in the tub. Take Dilly for instance. Dilly is our much loved, physically challenged duck. It’s been a hard winter for her without the pond. She finds it difficult to walk so she spends lots of time sitting around...
by Susan | Mar 10, 2013 | On My Mind, On the Farm
After almost a month of snowy weekends (or the threat of snow), I welcomed the opportunity to spend some time outdoors. Even it came in the form of physical labor. We have been systematically clearing out dead trees from the woods surrounding the house – like...
by Susan | Mar 3, 2013 | On the Farm
The days are getting warmer and the snow has that mushy spring texture to it. It’s time to tap the Maple trees! Chances are we could have started in February, but things have been a bit busy lately. Last year was our first experience making Maple syrup. The...
by Susan | Mar 2, 2013 | On the Farm
We live on a very quiet country road where there are only four year-round residents. Each neighbor has a story of a bear encounter. We have yet to see one. Our first winter here, we found bear tracks in the spring snow. Occasionally we’ll come across bear scat...
by Susan | Jan 29, 2013 | 2011 Garden Journal
Ice huts on the Pleasant River in Columbia Falls.
by Susan | Jan 26, 2013 | On the Farm
Hannah has been chomping at the bit to skate on the duck pond. After a week of highs in the single digits, Paul pronounced the pond officially frozen. So this morning she laced up her hand-me-down ice skates and inched her way out onto the ice. She’s not an...
by Susan | Jan 26, 2013 | On the Farm
Almost a week after I put up my Dinky Bird Feeders, I have Dinky Birds! The picture above was shot from my kitchen window. So far it’s only Chickadees at the feeders and they’ve been busy. Looking at this Chickadee lifting off almost makes me feel what it...
by Susan | Jan 24, 2013 | On the Farm
Sunrise as I followed fox tracks on a cold winter morning. Our last snow showed evidence of fox tracks all over the farm. Across the pond, around the chicken coop, over to the banty coop, and all around the duck house (above). The fox even popped up on top of the duck...
by Susan | Jan 19, 2013 | On the Farm
A light snow has been falling all day. Hannah and I rousted ourselves from the sofa to do a little snowshoeing. Today we headed to the west – a wooded area that in the winter we refer to as Narnia. It was peaceful as we wandered through areas that are...
by Susan | Jan 16, 2013 | On the Farm
The most remarkable thing happened today! It’s a snowy day here, so I left work early before the roads got too messy. I arrived home around 1 o’clock. As I stepped out of the car and shut the door the sounds of a scrape and then a swoosh caused me to turn....
by Susan | Dec 30, 2012 | On the Farm
I anticipated 3-6 inches more snow overnight. You can imagine how surprised I was when I woke up to this: The end of the day snow total is 28 inches, two storms back to back, this is more snow than we had all last winter. We spent the better part of five hours...
by Susan | Dec 29, 2012 | On the Farm
With the second storm in as many days bearing down us, Hannah and I broke out the snowshoes for a morning excursion on the Back 40. Our hike starts here in the woods at the edge of the house, Hannah wearing her saucer sled like a shield. We came across a shelter in...
by Susan | Dec 28, 2012 | On the Farm
Mother Nature dropped at least a foot of snow upon us yesterday. Everywhere you look, it’s a Winter Wonderland. Today it was time to dig out. Hannah soon discovered that snow shoes were the easiest mode of transportation. My Birch trees are sagging under the...
by Susan | Dec 15, 2012 | On the Farm
For the past few years, we’ve been cutting a tree from the farm for our Christmas tree. These fir trees have not been groomed for the purpose, so they’re “au natural” or as Paul calls them – free range, organic Christmas trees. Started...
by Susan | Dec 10, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Each night when we put The Girls in their run we do a head count. There should be 14 chickens: Gilfy and Miri (Miri is always the straggler and has to be coaxed in), The Colonel, six Rocks, five Buffs. I was on chicken duty last night and counted them – twice....
by Susan | Dec 1, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
A bitterly cold day found Paul and I outside running fence around the duck pond. Now that the pond is solidly frozen, the ducks don’t have much protection from predators. We tuck them away into their house at night, but they’re used to having the run of...
by Susan | Nov 24, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
I can’t imagine what the bantam chickens were thinking as they looked out their window yesterday afternoon. Miri and Gilfy have decided that they like to hang out in the doorway of the banty coop run. They’re too big to go inside the coop!
by Susan | Nov 20, 2012 | Ducks, On the Farm
Yesterday morning, Hannah set her alarm for o’dark-thirty. By 6:15 a.m. she was out at the pond chipping away at the ice to make a swimming hole for the ducks. She worked at this for 30 minutes before the school bus arrived. I wonder how much longer this display...
