The last view of 2008

31 December, 2008, originally uploaded by maggies farm.

Today is blustery. No, today is gusty. Wind gusts of 50 miles an hour, or so, are keeping the wind chimes clanging and the trees roaring. Every now and again something odd blows across the front yard and into the edge of the woods. Frequently something ominously bangs or creaks. Still, it's absolutely gorgeous outside.

Yesterday was so mild. I was hoping to paint outside today. I think I'll head out to the studio after lunch and work from a relatively draft-free environment.

The daily paintings are going well. I'm painting more naturally/realistically than I anticipated. And I'm thinking a lot about how I like to make my art. Once I have some sound theories, I'll write them down, or maybe not. Maybe I'm thinking too hard.

Thoughts of Spring

The weather here has been, to say the least, miserable. We've had a couple of nights in the single digits. On nights like that I worry about the chickens' combs. The Sussex and a few others have single combs that seem quite susceptible to frost bite. Last night Charlie had to shoo the ducks and geese out of the goat shed and into the chicken house. He said goats and waterfowl were all huddled together in a disturbing way. Everyone made it through the night o.k. and with temperatures climbing into the high 30s, we may even be able to get water running to them this afternoon. We've carried buckets down to them several times a day the last several days.

While Winter has been reminding us of its existence, the promise of gentler weather has arrived in the form of seed packets. The first of our giganormous seed orders have arrived. We will be not only gardening our rather generous garden, but another 40' by 80' plot donated by a neighbor this year to meet market and our own needs. So we have room to experiment and continue on with old favorites.

From Appalachian Seeds we received Black Prince and Akers West Virginia tomatoes. There is a six packet minimum in the seed order that Charlie somehow got around. I've been thoroughly happy with the seeds and plants I've gotten from them in the past. This was also the original source for Black Prince that I loved so much. I'm looking forward to it again and have plans to save seeds this time.

From Johnny's came:
Maxibel French Filet Beans
Jade Bush Green Beans
Alibi Hybrid Pickler Cucumber
Green Bibb Buttercrunch Lettuce
Graffiti Purple Cauliflower
Cheddar Orange Cauliflower
Purple Haze Carrot
Chioggia Beet
Full Moon Pumpkin

The Touchstone Gold Beet is expected to arrive at the end of February and Russian Red Garlic will arrive for planting in the fall.

For now the garden sleeps under mounds of goat and chicken bedding and rows of matted oats.
But soon, it will be time to play!

Another snow day and time to take pictures

female cardinal, originally uploaded by maggies farm.

I don't think the weather was as bad as forecasted, but we did have a snow day today. There is still snow on the ground, it's just not very fun to play in. We've had rain and sleet on and off for a large chunk of the day.

What do we do on snow days when the snow is there, but not "sleddable"? Well, let's see. Monkey has built a fort out of blankets, couch cushions and several chairs. Apparently she plans to sleep in it and never let boys enter.

Snow Days are also Pajama Days. Around noon, Charlie looked up from his laptop and said to me, "Hey! Take off your jeans. We only wear pajamas here!" Silly me. He even went to the barn in his pajamas this morning.

I've been outside and played with the goats, threw a frisbee for Gigi and took some photos. I should be working (like Charlie did all day), but it's a snow day! Oh, it's also a good day to watch birds at the birdfeeder. Enjoy Mrs. Cardinal. She doesn't attack my car like her mate does.

28 December, 2007

28 December, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Rain. Rain all day long. I'm happy. The ducks are happy. The chicken and goats are not so elated.

Home again

26 November, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Let's see. Being away from home for almost an entire week is just too long. Going home for the first time after the death of my mother was not easy. It was downright devastating. However, we survivied. We all managed to catch a stomach bug that had ravaged my brother's family earlier in the week. Lukily, or unluckily, as you see it, it hit me and Monkey overnight on our way home. Charlie held out until last night when we got home. We lost one guinea hen last night to a predator (she was out and we were to ravaged by illness to notice).

On the upside, we've had rain! The new dog was renamed Moon Pie at a Tennessee rest stop somewhere along Interstate 40. It's great to be home again.

Rain

We've had rain the last couple of days - most of it has been light and sporadic, but it's rain. There's a little over an inch in the rain gauge and perhaps more to come. The good news is that it seemed to rain heavier a little to the south of us - which could be good news for the Georgia lakes, which are so low.

If you haven't heard, Atlanta (a rather large city) has only 90 days of water left. There has finally been lots of discussion about water management processes. My only hope is that water management and city planners and citizens will take a good long look at long standing practices and change. My fear is that those planners and citizens will get over this crisis and go back to living like they always have. On a recent trip down to Georgia, I heard one person complain that they hadn't been able to go boating this summer. That was their biggest concern. How about drinking? Hmm.

But on to the topic I planned to start with - rain barrels. I love our rain barrel and we are adding more (the plan is one to every corner, for all the beds surrounding the house). We don't have a huge problem with water runoff waste out here in the middle of nowhere. Generally it all comes from the roof, but there is a lot off the roof that we could use on our plants. The best way to gather that water is with rain barrels. If I had the budget to retrofit our house right now, I'd add a large cistern under the porch to gather all the rain water off of our roof. For now the barrel is doing well. We bought ours through a local non-profit and paid a little less than retail. Looking at the barrel, it would be easy to make your own - I've seen many versions. Here's one with directions for a rain garden as well! Rain gardens are a whole other topic. I'll just say I love them and they are a great spot to grow incredible plants.

Our rain barrel will fill with about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rain - that's 65 gallons of water off of one small side of our roof. We've used ours to water the vegetable garden in the past, but this year I concentrated on using it to keep a bunch of young hydrangeas alive. And it worked. I placed a soaker hose on the spigot and let gravity force the water to slowly and conservatively water them. All are doing well. I don't think they would have survived without it. I put a pretty tight restriction on watering ornamentals over the summer, prefering to limit watering to the things we eat.

If you don't have a rain barrel or two, I encourage you to build or buy your own. Make it a project for the winter. You'll be able to use it in the spring to water all those seedlings.

A little rain

It has rained about a half an inch of rain since yesterday. That's good news for us. We seeded the pasture before the last rain and then there has been nothing for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, this should help.. It's been enough to fill the rain barrels and there is a little more water in the creek. And the ducks are happy, if no one else in the barnyard is. I've posted more photos on my flickr page.

One Local Summer - Week 9

Week nine of One Local Summer has been extremely hectic, what with the start of school, work deadlines and a two-day dog training clinic in the opressive heat of South Carolina. We did manage to squeeze in at least two meals that were almost local. In both instances it was the grains that threw us. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating to take pictures. This pleased Monkey, who thinks that taking photographs of one's food is terribly rude. eh hmm.

Monday night we had a shitake mushroom and wild rice soup. The mushrooms came from a fellow tailgate vendor who lives in Black Mountain - 10 miles. The beef broth came from our freezer. I do believe that the beef which originally contributed to said broth was local from our Virginia source. The wild rice was not local, but it was good... The soup was incredible. As an accompaniment we had kamut rolls made by our neighbor - source of production 1 mile (the grain came from Montana...).

The second meal was spaghetti and marinara sauce. We seem to be eating a lot of tomato-based sauces right now, but we might as well eat while the tomato picking is good! The spaghetti was not local (but was organic). The sauce was made completely from our garden - tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil and oregano.

Now that the food posting is done, I'm going to turn off the computer for a while. The sky is dark, the wind is picking up and I hear thunder. We supposibly are awaiting a huge storm, which around here means loss of power. At least I think that's what normally happens. It's been so long since we've had a thunderstorm or precipitation in any form, that I've forgotten what actually happens.

Goats do smile!

Agatha Grunker and everyone else seems to have weathered the storm much better than the greenhouse (we're checking with the manufacturer and insurance to see what we can do to replace it). A few branches are down in the pasture and one metal panel was peeled back from the chicken house roof like a banana, but no one seems worse for the weather.

I let the girls out of their shed after the winds died down yesterday evening and they had a nice frolic. They are getting daily brushings to remove their winter shags and have had a spring hoof trim. Vaccinations are next week (they love that...). I think I can hold off on worming, but will keep an eye out as the weather gets warmer.

We may add an additional goat this spring. Nubian or Alpine? Kid or doe? Too many options really. As long as Agatha remains boss, I don't think she'll mind.

Go ahead, rub some more salt in my wounds

Spring continues to be exceptionally cruel. Yesterday wind gusts of up to 6o miles an hour ripped the greenhouse off of its foundation. Miraculously, no baby plants were destroyed. The wind literally lifted the greenhouse up and over all the plants. And then to add insult to injury, it started to snow. I hauled all 140 tomato plants, 30 peppers and various other seedling and tender plants into the garage. Charlie and the Monkey had gone swimming so it was up to me to save the gardens future...

The winds continued through the night. We could hear limbs cracking and trees groaning all around. All furniture on the back porch was pushed up against the house. We lost power once for a minute or two and I was sure I would have to bring all the ducklings, goslings and chicks inside to keep warm. Luckily it stayed on. It's now getting light enough to see if there is any further damage, so I'm off to check things out before I go to school. Ugh.

Heartbreak

The freezing temperatures over Easter weekend wreaked havoc around here. I think our blueberry crop is a complete loss. All the blossoms turned brown overnight. Our apples may be a wash too. I stopped pitying myself when I realized that my livelihood didn't rely on the success or failure of our little crop. Growers throughout the region are facing total devastation of their apple, peach and strawberry crops. Crop insurance will not cover much; and I hate to think of all the workers who will be without work at harvest time.

It wasn't just the plants around here that were breaking my heart. The little guinea keet didn't make it. I'm not sure what went wrong. It just never really thrived. There are still eight eggs under a very broody Australorp hen in the coop, so maybe we will get lucky with a few eggs. Marie, who had been patiently sitting on ten eggs of her own, mysteriously left them when the cold snap hit. So, no turkeys this year either. We've had a bummer of a time here at Little Creek Farm.

One bright spot occured Easter morning. Charlie came back from the chicken house with a perfect, fluffy, little black chick. She's very cute and her story a little miracle. Her story deserves an entry all by itself. So tune in tomorrow. As a teaser I'll tell you that we've named her Lazarus.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!

Eggs,

Cupcakes,

Obligatory morning snow storm,

and Agatha Grunker enjoys her new pasture!

Waiting for weather

As the person "in charge" at school I worry when a parent who happens to a meteorologist (married to a meteorologist) stops by my office and cheerfully says, "See you Monday!". That was yesterday. Today I'm waiting for a big ol' winter storm to arrive. The school day has been cancelled because the threat of a storm exists.

I grew up in the Midwest. Winter was the time for snow and ice. Here, in the South, winter weather is a major news event and all things shut down before the first flake falls. All schools are closed in anticipation of a storm. I will admit that I've seen the radar and listened to reports and this storm is big. Flights were cancelled in anticipation yesterday. The forecast is several inches of snow, followed by ice. Road crews, power crews and kids with sleds are ready. I'll keep you posted.

Oh and the bad thing about being the principal - it may be a snow day, but I still have to get up at 5:00 to check weather, cancel school and make sure everyone knows about it. Being the boss is not such fun...