The End of Fall, The Beginning of Winter

Fall was quiet here on the farm. The colors seemed to fade
just a little too fast for me this year. I can hardly believe that 2009 is nearly over. It seems this year went by faster than any I can ever remember. I love the quiet of winter, how everything is so still and beautiful when it is resting. I love to walk through the garden and see the dead sunflower stalks that the birds have picked clean, and the rosemary that makes it through most of the winter. I also love to look for birds nests in the trees, and collect the ones that are blown to the ground by the fierce winds this time of year.
The hens took a few weeks off from laying as they do every year, and now things have started to pick up again. The ducks and geese are doing well and spending most of their time in the pond. Our most exciting event since the hatching of our chicks and ducklings happened last Wednesday though, the birth of our baby goat Star (see photo).
Jackie is a good mother, but is very very stubborn when I try to milk her. We are still working on it, so I hope that it gets better over time. It's actually very easy to milk her once we can get her to stay still. We haven't tried any yet but I hope to after we have it tested by a vet. I love to watch the baby jumping and running around, it is thoroughly entertaining to watch.
I plan to spend the winter reading through seed catalogs and making plans for the spring. I haven't decided if we are going to order more chicks in the spring, but I will replace a few of our lost ducks. I will also read through a lot of my gardening books this winter. Winter is a perfect time to make a list of goals for your farm in the next year, plan your garden and decide if you want to add or subtract from your livestock. So grab a cup of hot chocolate, a notebook and lots of seed catalogs, gardening books and hatchery catalogs. Spring will be here before you know it!

Late Summer

It's late summer here at the farm and everything is changing. The nights are cooler now, the pumpkins are turning from green to orange and the giant sunflower heads have begun to drop under the weight of their seeds. The tempo of the crickets have slowed, and the birds are more active than ever anticipating the coming cooler weather. It's time to think about planting a fall garden, harvesting apples and putting food up for the winter. Fall is my favorite time of year. To me there is nothing better than the smell of fallen leaves, the sound of football whistles and the taste of hot apple cider. I love the smell of pumpkins while they are being carved, seeing acorn candy on store shelves and eating pumpkin seeds. There is something nostalgic about all of it. It's during this time of year that I miss home the most. I long for the beautiful foliage of Massachusetts, the trips to my favorite orchard and walking along the beaches when they have been abandoned by the summer vacationers. I love making new memories here at the farm, ones that my children will one day look back on and long for after they have left to go and make their own way in the world.
Fall at our farm means picking apples, raking leaves, burning twigs, cleaning chicken coops, feeding the birds, collecting leaves from our maple trees and lots of baking.
What memories will you make with your family this fall?

June Chronicles

Summer has settled into the farm. The nights are warm, the fireflies are filling the sky with hundreds of mini blinking lights, and the bullfrogs sing us to sleep each night. Yesterday I came home and went to check on the garden. The peas are towering over my head now, and some of them fell over though I am not sure if it is from the weight of the peas or the thunderstorm that blew through. Note to self: next year plant peas along fence, and space them further apart. Also remember to sneak out in the middle of the night, pick, shell and freeze peas before the kids get into the garden, otherwise there will be no peas for winter. End of note to self.
Josh cut down the pea vines that had broken and put them in a large pile after he cut all the peas off. I headed up the hill to feed Gandalf (actually his name is Ralph, but he LOOKS like a Gandalf) the peas. I love the smell of goats, and I sat there and held the vines as he ate them. I love the munch munch munch sound he makes as he eats, and the fact that he burps after ever bite gives me a good chuckle! When I was done I went back into the garden. The garden is my sanctuary, and I spend time there every day. I find myself watching insects for long periods of time. I just can't get enough of insects. I love to photograph them, and study their behavior. Hoverflies are my favorite. They look like a bee, but have the eyes of a fly. They are very small and their wings have the colors of the rainbow in them if the sun hits them just right. They also happen to prey upon aphids and leaf hoppers, so they are one of the many bugs that you want to have in your garden.
Yesterday I walked in and looked at the hollyhocks that greet me by the garden gate and I found a large crab spider tucked inbetween the unopened blossoms. Note to self: you really need to get a good camera, that would have made a perfect picture! End of note to self.
After walking around, pulling weeds and yes, even I eat some peas, I walk around the orchard to look at the trees. The peach trees have so many peaches on them that some of the branches are bowing to the ground. If I learn how to can peaches this year, I will have peaches all winter long. The apples and pears are coming along nicely and the cherries are gone. The birds ate half, the children ate half but somehow I still managed to get a few.
The warm weather has also brought another sort of production this year in the form of broody farm animals. Right now we have a goose on 4 eggs, a duck on 15 or more eggs and three chickens on over 20 eggs! If all goes well, in a few weeks I will have to change the name of my farm to "The Great Peeping Farm" because babies walk around going "PEEP! PEEP! PEEP!" as loud as they can. Well I am off to try to find a book titled "How to Keep Geese From Sleeping on Your Patio". More Chronicles of Farmia to come.