Jasmine's Rose Bush

Sarah (my daughter that is across the ocean) picked out this rose bush in memory of her cat Jasmine that passed away last year. It was covered with aphids a few weeks ago and they were eating all the leaves. My green-thumb friend told me to spray it with water and a little bit of dish soap. I've been doing that twice a day for about a week and I don't see any more creepy crawlies. Thanks Spleen! Sarah is gone all summer so now it's my Sarah rose bush. This picture was taken pre-soap treatment...it has a lot more roses now and the new leaves aren't full of holes.

Empty Nest

I've been walking around in a fog for the last week. Two of my daughters are on vacation (one is across the ocean) and the third one is either working or with her boyfriend. Paul is either working or in the fields cutting, raking or baling hay. It's a strange feeling to go from a household of five to a household of one. It's peaceful but lonely...

Anyway, I've been holding off on updating my blog until I found my camera so I could add a new picture or two...but I still haven't found my camera. So without any pictures...here's the low-down on what's going on around the farm. The strawberries are done. It wasn't the best strawberry season but the berries tasted great. There were a lot of small ones this year...the rain didn't come early enough so the berries didn't grow to their potential. I didn't freeze any whole berries this year, we still have several bags from last year, but I did make several batches of freezer jam. The raspberries (which are not for sale...sorry) are just starting to ripen. I picked about 2 quarts today. Not enough for jam so I might just have to make pie.

We had a bit of a catastrophe in the garden. Paul didn't know where I planted everything and was very ambitious with the weed whacker and rototiller. The dill, fennel and parsley were wiped out, and half of the nasturtiums. He feels terrible about it...but what's done is done.

The potatoes are going to town this year and we still have about 7 sweet potatoes that are thriving. The pumpkins are slowly turning into a pumpkin patch. The cucumbers, melons, and zucchini hills are all looking good. The tomatoes are getting big...some flowers but no sign of fruit yet. I think the radish are ready to be picked. There is a scattering of lettuce but it's too bitter. I planted a mesculun mix but only one type of lettuce grew and it's not good. The seeds were a couple of years old. The pole beans are just starting to climb the poles. No sign of the praying mantis. The package said you won't see them until they are big. I'm hoping the chickens didn't eat them all.

The August chickens are outside now...they moved out yesterday. The July chickens have two more weeks until they are ready. In the barn are the hen chicks. The turkeys and more meat chicks will be coming soon.

Happy Birthday to my dear, dear friend Shari. I miss you!!

A heat wave!

Has it been hot this week or what?! The cats and dogs have been like stuffed animals, feet in the air, bellies exposed, flopping from one position to the next trying to stay cool. The baby chicks in the barn have been outstretched and panting...their tiny little beaks hanging open to expel the hot air. The cows have been laying in the grass and in the barn...no energy to play. Us humans have been staying indoors in the air conditioning as much as possible because the moment you step outside you sweat. It went from a cool spring to a sweltering summer. The air this morning feels cooler and much less humid than it has been. We have a ton of work to do in the garden this weekend so we're hoping for a break in the heat. The hot, humid weather has been awesome for the garden and the fields. The weeds are thriving right along with the plants. We need to check the strawberry patch...there should be another round of berries waiting for us. The sweet corn is about mid-calf high. The pole beans are just about tall enough to start climbing on their poles. There are flowers on the cantaloupe plants and the new strawberry plants (which all have to be picked off so they don't waste energy producing berries until next year). Several of the watermelon seeds didn't germinate...but I think I planted an old package of seeds. I'm not sure if the basil and carrots seeds have germinated because the weeds are in the way. The pumpkins and cucumbers look good. We should be able to harvest some radishes this weekend. A lot of growing going on...summer is in full swing.

Who needs shampoo?

Barred Rock Chick

New chicks have arrived!

Future egg layers. Pictured here are the Isa Brown chicks. We also purchased more Barred Rocks. We have found these 2 breeds to be the most friendly and serious about laying eggs. We also have Buff Orpington's and Rhode Island Reds, but the Buff's are very broody and crabby. These chicks should start laying around December. The chicks now have a brooder area in the barn so we can clean out our garage. Now that the hot, humid weather is here, we'll be glad to have the chicks out from underneath our noses.

Chicken Tragedy

What a weekend! Friday evening we loaded the first batch of chickens into a friends' horse trailer (thank you Brandy!!)...in the rain. We drove them to Yoder's (an Amish farm in Charlotte) where we left them for the night so Yoder's could begin processing at 4am on Saturday. We got back home around 9:30pm Friday night and had to move the 100 chicks from the garage to the outdoor pens. We finished that just before the rain started pouring. Paul had to work on Saturday so I went to pick up the chickens...I was told to be there at 9am. I arrived at 8:50am with $45 worth of ice. The chickens weren't ready to go until 10:15am...as you can imagine, much of the ice melted during that time. But the loss of the ice was nothing compared to the loss of chickens. 42 of them died over night in the trailer. Chickens are known to pile on top of each other and because of the storms Friday night it appears they did just that. That was a huge loss for us. It was definitely a weekend that will go down in our farm history book...a story we'll have in our back pockets when swapping tragedies or mishaps with other farmers.