Search Results for: fence

I had to go to Home Depot this morning, and while I was there they had some pretty nice flowers at the gardener center. Although technically it’s a little early to plant them, our winter/spring have been so mild I figured I’d take my chances; I can cover them with a sheet if there’s a frost threat.

Since I was going to be hanging out in the yard and it was a beautiful day, I decided to let everyone out for a little free-ranging to keep me company.

Last year Melina was the only threat to the window boxes as Kate was still too short and Grace and Kiki were just babies. The middle and far right box aren’t in too much jeopardy due to the slope in the ground, but I don’t know how I’m going to keep them out of that left one.

I ordered these great prayer flags on Etsy to protect my bees. Since I’ve lost my entire colony two times now, I’m hoping that this will help them. I’ve got two colonies ordered that should be here soon, so I’ve got to get this one cleaned up and ready for them as well as getting the outside finish complete on the top bar hive I made last year that has a built-in viewing window. I cannot wait to get that colony going and be able to watch them in action undisturbed.

Since I’ve shown you what the morning routine looks like on the farm, I thought everyone might also enjoy watching what the dinnertime routine is like.


The goats and chickens were out free-ranging when Maia and I called them for dinner tonight. I have a certain whistle that I do for the farm, and when they hear it they come running from all corners of the yard. As I walk into the fenced area you’ll note a whole other bunch of chickens jumping the fence from the back neighbor’s yard where they’d been foraging in the woods. The groaning and grumbling you can hear towards the end is Maia; I had the goat’s food bowls in my hands, and she was being attacked by the goats (in an I’m hungry way – not in a dangerous way), who finally succeeded in knocking the bowl of chicken scratch grains and vegetables out of her hands.

I’ve been doing it for years now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching them all run to me. It’s more dramatic when most of them are in the fenced area, because so many come running at once, but I always prefer to watch them running from all corners of the yard. If I have visitors over that haven’t seen it before it’s fun to watch their reaction — especially if they’re not animal lovers — always good for a laugh.

I looked out the window this morning a little a little after 9 and saw this.

The goats were out.

I must not have latched the gate properly this morning after I fed the farm. Look at Melina. What a grump. If she gets any fatter she can just roll around like a ball. I love her though.

They were so excited to be out that it made my heart ache for last summer when they roamed the yard free.

And remember my last Farm post where I said I’d hung up a sign at the end of the driveway and put a cooler out there for general egg sales? Well, I came home one day less than a week later and my sign was taken down and had been put by the lemonade stand with a note saying that “Signs of any kind are against association rules and are NOT allowed!” I was pretty miffed. I guess the neighborhood association has rules against that sort of thing. But, sales will continue without the sign, and I have to say that business has been pretty good and word seems to be getting around even without the sign, so poo on them.

I can feel summer coming in my bones. I also know that summer is on it’s way because I’ve started making pickles! For some reason when the weather starts to get warm I get an overwhelming desire to can things — perhaps to try and preserve the long lazy days of summer.

I’ve been playing with different pickle recipes for a couple of years now. This is the first time I’m trying “refrigerator” dills. Since they don’t go in a hot water bath for sterilization, they should retain their crispness. I also made dill pickle slices today and an indian-inspired cauliflower pickle.

My garden is really starting to grow now. The host, astilbe, anenome, and bleeding heart are really getting big. The flowering quince is getting green and leafy in preparation for it’s beautiful peach colored flowers, and Evan planted 8 more strawberry plants for me last week.

A beautiful male cardinal stopped by for some leftover scratch grains on the ground. They never stick around long though, do they?



So that’s what’s been happening on the farm lately!

I haven’t posted about the farm since before vacation mostly because there isn’t that much going on at the farm lately. Also because until yesterday my kids were still home on vacation and I always find having them home messes with my normal farm cadence. I love my family, but I have to admit that after 9 days of my entire family 24/7 rolling right into an additional 8 days of the 3 younger kids 24/7, I’ve frankly been teetering on the brink of sanity for the past few days. I am too much of a loner to spend that much time with anyone.


I’ve mentioned before that I normally sell my eggs through an email list I’ve put together. I call it “Free Range Friday at Crafty Farm Girls”, and I send the email out on Thursday nights, listing eggs and any other things I have available for sale. Early Friday mornings I put everything out at the lemonade stand I made a few years ago, and people come if they want anytime during the day.


I am now getting so many eggs that Free Range Friday’s just isn’t providing enough sales. The local gourmet cheese store has offered to sell them for me, but I’d really rather keep the sales in-house if I possibly can. I finally thought of a plan. I have this great rolling cooler that I’d bought at Home Goods last year that I often use to hold the eggs on Free Range Fridays. I took an old wooden box I had and cut a hole in the top for people to put the cash into, screwed on a latch with a padlock, and then screwed holed in it and bolted it on to the cooler. While I can’t be sure everyone will be honest and actually pay for their eggs, I can at least try to prevent them from taking the cash with them (unless they want to stick the whole damned rolling cooler into their car).


But in case you were worried about her, here’s Gracie, still smiling.


And since I don’t have much to say about the farm today, I’ll show you some other animal-related things.

I went riding this past Friday up in Kent, Connecticut. Although Kent is over an hour’s drive from where I live, I get up there as often as I can to train with Tammy Hoefer. She was the 2008 World Champion in the National Reining Horse Association’s Rookie Professional division. Finding a trainer in the western discipline in my neck of the woods is really difficult. I feel incredibly lucky to have found someone with such credentials and the drive is well worth it.

Evan and Maia came with me and Maia also took a lesson.


My saddle sat on the fence while Maia took her lesson.


Of course while we were up there we went real-estate hunting for the future farm. Litchfield County is one of the few areas of Connecticut where there are still some working farms. We saw lots of wild turkeys while driving around. Didn’t they know it’s chickens that are supposed to cross the road, not turkeys?


This handsome fellow was putting on a show for his ladies.


But then he realized his ladies weren’t paying the slightest bit of attention and instead were hi-tailing it out of there, so he started running to catch up to them.


There was some land for sale that had cows on it…do you think they come with the property?

In the continuing saga of strange eggs laid here on The Farm, the other day I got one that was striking in one unusual way.

Perhaps the girls were envious of belted galloway cattle.


Or perhaps they had a hankering to feel closer to the British Saddleback pig.


How they could be envious of these two animals having never laid their beady little eyes on one before is beyond me. Yet there it was, right in the nesting box.

It’s pretty common to have lighter markings on an egg, but this wide and distinct belt was a new one to me.

Having bid farewell to noisy Corn Flakes the rooster on Tuesday, I can now safely talk without offending him. The truth is he was a lousy rooster. King Strut was a good rooster. A rooster’s job is to protect his flock. They keep a vigilant eye on the surroundings and warn their flock of any dangers. They are the last one in the coop at night when they are sure that everyone is accounted for. They find tasty morsels of food and let the ladies have first crack at them. King Strut did all of these things. Corn Flakes was greedy and selfish. One of the first birds in the coop at night to claim the best roost. He leisurely made his way out of the coop in the morning and proceeded to jump on top of hen after hen, holding them down by their neck as he forcefully fornicated with them, and would push the girls out of the way to get to the best food. Really, he was no gentleman at all, and good riddance to him.


It is always fascinating to watch the hierarchal system of roosterness take place. Literally the day that Corn Flakes departed I noticed on several occasions the larger of the two Barred Rock roosters up in high places – on the compost bin, and up on the goat’s ramp. I had never seen this bird anywhere but on the ground before, yet there he was, appearing to be surveying his domain for predators and keeping his flock of ladies safe. I noticed at dinnertime that night he was up on the goat ramp again, surveying for danger while his ladies ate, forfeiting the most tender morsels of food. This morning Maia fed the farm so I could sleep in a bit, and she said he was the first one out of the coop and carefully watched as all the ladies came out for the day. How these tiny-brained birds instinctively know that the head honcho is gone and it’s time to take over fascinates me.

But then it happened. I was sitting at my computer this morning when out the window I saw him jump up onto the top of the fence.

He’s going to do some free-ranging I thought to myself.


Then all of a sudden he arched his back in that familiar rooster way and COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!


A little wing flapping to show everyone who’s the new boss…


And another COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!


Well, that didn’t take long.

I’m pleased to say that was the only crowing I heard all day. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time now though.

He got into a little test of wills with one of the girls a bit later though.

It’s not very creative, but since he’s a Barred Rock I think I’ll call him Rocky.