11. August 2010 by admin.

 The bees have been busy, beekeeper Steve keeps an eye on them. He has worked hard this spring and summer to keep our bees happy. Steve is passionate about beekeeping and community education about honeybees. We are eternally grateful, so of course, we feed his family heirloom tomatoes.  Are you an aspiring beekeeper? Take a class with Steve! Phil did. Steve also sells all the supplies, check it out at http://honeybeehabitat.com

The kids are getting geared up to check in on the bees and collect a little honey. We sure didn’t expect a speck of honey, so this is a real treat. We left plenty of full honeycomb in the hive to feed the bees through the winter.

Steve and one of the frameless combs. The bees made their comb without any foundation comb, isn’t it beautiful? That means we can eat the honey right in the comb, my absolute favorite taste sensation of all time.

Look at my brave kids! They are so interested and Steve is so patient.

Jonah gently brushes the bees off the comb we are collecting.

Here is Steve, enjoying some bee-gold in the comb with us, right in the garden. What an incredible treat. Thank you, Steve!

Posted in Family, Animals, On the Farm | 1 Comment »

25. May 2010 by admin.

May has been a whirlwind of farming adventures! Here are some “journal notes about goats”:

One of our goats, Hazelnut, arrived this week [early May] with her sister, who is just visiting, and I already have a dozen farm stories to share. OK, Hazelnut is a companion goat. A “companion” goat, you may ask, with a smirk? Yes, indeed. The milk goat arrives later in the week, and Hazelnut will be her little friend. And who’s the twin over there? That’s Hazelnut’s sister, Apricot. Another nice little goat, she is. She is just visiting until the milkgoat arrives. Oh dear, the companion to the companion goat.

Animals make the best story fodder. Noah and I took to reading a chapter book to the goats in the morning. I set up a blanket seat for us and we read James Herriot Dog Stories to the goats all this week.

They are a little playful at the beginning and want Noah to put out his hand for a hand-headbutt. They eat and enjoy our company. Then they settle in and lay down near us, listening to the stories. One morning, when I paused from reading, Hazelnut looked up at me with an expression like “Keep reading”. Eventually, they nap.

Noah and I laugh that we are like Fern in Charlotte’s Web, reading to the animals in the barn. We watch the cows come in to listen across the fence (wondering if we’re passing out some grain). The chickens stroll in to see if there are any chickens in the story, some of them crossing into the goat paddock to check out the grain bucket. Now a good laugh, because today, I was surprised when Tigger the cat peeked out from an opening under the shed wall next to me and joined the crew. There are cats in some of the stories, so no wonder.

Sitka is there too, laying patiently on the other side of the gate, wondering if he’ll ever be invited into the goat house. For now, he waits patiently, and listens for his favorite dog in the stories, Gyp the sheepdog. Sometimes he gets excited and barks at the goats, and I have to stop reading and tell him to lay down again.

Today [later in the week] was exciting. Our milk goat Avanell arrived and it was time for my first try at milking. She seemed to get along with the other two just fine, gently letting Hazelnut play headbutt with her. She followed to the goat milkstand and jumped right up to eat. She finished eating well before we finished milking and she patiently waited. Such a good goat! So patient with our beginner hands doing the pinch and squeeze over and over. Yes,”we”. Jonah needed to try, and Phil needed to help. And when we were finally done, she jumped down and just walked over to her gate. At first, my left hand wanted nothing to do with this party, and I was slow. But it only took about four days to coordinate and not long before it was easy. Welcome, Hazelnut and Avanell!

Posted in Family, Animals | 1 Comment »

27. April 2010 by admin.

Here they are, some chick pix.

Chicken feathers can be really beautiful, take a look.

This one is named “Around the World” and I must admit that I have grown fond of sitting with this chick. It relaxes and sleeps in my hands. Some of them chirp all upset until you put them back with their friends. Not “Around the World”, not in my hands. This chick actually holds back from jumping out of my hands back to the rest, like it wants to stay with me. I think I’ll make it a little sack to carry along with me on my chores. I think it will be my special chicken friend. UH OH…next thing you know, I’ll have a kitchen goat.

A diverse motley crew, they are.

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment »

16. May 2009 by ilene.

An exciting week on the farm. We are very inexperienced with livestock birthing. We are learning! Good thing that these cows like to birth on their own, and don’t want our help. You see she is missing from the herd, you go find her, and there she is, with a calf at her feet. The calf is up and walking within an hour. We should have known Dancey was ready to birth too. We had decided she had another week or two to go…(yes, we know the signs of imminent birth, but we ignored them, OK?). She was mooing at us and Katie, and we thought it was all about the fuss with Katie. Everyone was mooing! While we were busy admiring Katie’s calf, Dancey slipped away to the farthest field and gave birth to a sweet little girl named Kaide (rhymes with Sky-day). Note to self: close off the back fields during birthing time. I hope our friend Kate will be honored that a calf shares her name, and that of her daughter, Kaide. I am sure I chose a different spelling, but that’s where the name comes from. Its a Japanese name which means Maple Leaf. My kids have always liked Kaide’s name, so they chose it eagerly for the calf. Noah chose Kate for the first calf, because its Katie’s calf, so of course. Do not explain to him that these are the same names. Because they are not. Here are some photos.

Kate

The boys visit Kate and Katie.

Now both calves are out on the fields with their mamas. Here is Kaide and then one with her mama, Dancey.

Katie and Kate in the woods, keeping cool.

Here is Clover, Dancey’s calf from last year. A year old. A Heifer, Noah says. Clover is used to getting all the attention, so she spent some time licking the salt off our hands and arms.

Noah waters the Kids Snack Garden. Whenever I was busy in the greenhouse, he would select a few plants to transplant into bigger pots, and he collected them in a couple trays for his snack garden. He would watch over them, fuss with them, water them, add to them. Now it was time to plant the spot. Here is Noah watering his plants. Kids will enjoy snacking from the Kids Garden when they come for CSA veggie pickups.

Posted in Animals, On the Farm | 1 Comment »

10. May 2009 by ilene.

Birth on the farm just in time for Mother’s Day. This sweet little calf arrived yesterday (Saturday) afternoon during the Tomato Sale. Katie didn’t even tell me! She wasn’t with the herd at the end of the day, so Phil and the kids went to check on her and there they were. We saw the babe take its first wobbly step and fall over. It gets around fine now. Happy Mother’s Day, Katie! More photos of mom and babe to come. These are Dexter cows, a small heritage breed.

Posted in Animals, On the Farm | No Comments »