Bad Blogger

Sign of the times

The world took over for the last couple of weeks and while I had many thoughts and clever anectdotes to write about, by the time I had a moment to sit I was completely and utterly exhausted. I'm such a bad blogger.

And while my life as the "boss" (or is that "bossy"?) has consumed much of my time of late, life at Little Creek Farm continues on in much the same way as it always does. The goats are fat and happy. With all the work I've been doing, I thought it wise to postpone breeding them this year. We'll hold off on the added chore of milking for a while longer.

I'm in a battle to reclaim my spot as boss of the chicken house. In my continued absence, the uppity chickens have been laying their eggs all over their free-range heaven. Yesterday I locked the majority of them in the chicken run and told them no one gets to come out to play until they start laying eggs where they are supposed to and start sleeping in the chicken house at night like proper hens. They are not happy with me.

The turkeys are, well, the turkeys. Louis, Marie and Sacre Bleu rule the farm. Meatzilla and Leroy remain blissfully unaware of their impending doom and continue to literally eat like horses.

This weekend I did manage to grab a few hours and spend them in the garden. I planted garlic and dug up the rest of the potatoes. Next, I plan to pull out the tomato plants and cover all the rows in a lovely layer of compost and straw. Then I'll remulch all the rows and hopefully get a jump on spring!

Happy All Hallows Eve everyone!

It's downright nippy!

This morning as I let the dogs out I glanced at the thermometer on the back porch. It was below 40 degrees. Has fall arrived? I hope so. The leaves have changed in just this last week. The color change started at the tops of the mountains and is working its way down to the valleys. A couple of breezy days have filled my yard with leaves and the school yard with golden pine needles.

I didn't get as much fall planting completed in the garden as I had hoped to. It looks like soon I'll be turning it over to the goats and chickens. The turkeys (those whose lack of bulk allows them to fly) have been helping themselves all summer. By next spring the fencing will be in place and wings may be clipped. I hate to do that to the turkeys because they roost so high in the beech by the chicken coop, but I'd like to be able to harvest lots of tomatoes next year.

I can't wait for daylight savings time to begin. It's almost 7 a.m. and still pitch dark outside (although I do see a little hint of light over the mountains to the east. I'm getting tired of walking down to the coop and goat shed with a flashlight every morning. Maybe I should put "electricity" on Charlie's to-do list...

Just call me Dr. Doolittle

It was a very long weekend for us. We left Thursday night for Indianapolis to attend the wedding of one of Charlie's cousins. It was a very long weekend. But we made it home in time for work and school on Monday.

As I was preparing for today's all-school field trip I heard a rather loud "thunk" on my office door (which is a big glass door to the playground). I looked out and saw a young cedar waxwing flopping on the landing. The afternoon sun had made the glass look just like the outside and it had flown right in to it. I picked it up and it seemed stunned. It sat on my lap for close to 30 minutes before flying up into the dogwood outside my office. Here the little fellow is all happy and well again. Glad I could be of service little guy.