Quick post here as Dave just brought in an amazing bit of harvesting on December 27th no less! This, after a very cold span of very frigid days that included temps as cold as 2 degrees and hovering around 5 degrees for several days. I can kind of understand the root vegetables since they are below ground, but you are seeing two types of delicate lettuces as well as spinach here? and he brought in some Swiss Chard earlier that I put to use before the photo!

It takes quite a bit of commitment and fortitude to go out and cover and uncover the protective plastic sheeting each day and to gauge whether to do that or not due to the weather predictions.  Bravo, Dave, you are my hero! Now I have to get to the kitchen to start cooking with these gems!Speaking of gems, here is little Coulter, wearing the chicken sweater that I knitted which he received for Christmas from Nana. Adorable, if I must say so myself! 

Have you ever wondered about the phrase, ‘laid an egg’ which implies that one failed or screwed up somehow? Why is a goose egg considered to be a negative?  Where the heck did this come from? I’m trying not to be offended by this nomenclature since I’m so enamored with my egg laying chickens!

I do not want to seem defensive here since I still find each and every precious egg laid in our nest boxes (and elsewhere!) to be a small and personal gift from our hens, but I did want to find some answers to this question so of course I turned to the internet. I’ll spare you the links and just give you a quick quote I found that describes a couple of valid origins.

“Throughout my search, it seems that the majority of “goose egg” references is in the world of sports. Referencing a scoreboard and seeing the number zero that has a similar “look” as a round, elongated egg of a goose. Sample scoreboard references: “The home team got a big goose egg on the scoreboard,” or “At the end of the game there was nothing but goose eggs next to our name,” and even used as a verb sometimes “I played a tennis match and was goosegged, I lost 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.” Some believe that the term is an Americanization of the British term “duck’s egg” and that even that originated through sports – in 1870, in a game of cricket, a “duck’s egg” denoted a score of zero; and around the same time in baseball, the “goose egg” reference came alive. In tennis, a score of zero is known as “Love” in the USA, which “sounds” like the original French term for the score “l’ouef” which means… you guessed it – an egg!”

So, please disregard the negative aspect when I continue to describe our current egg status which I find to be pure success! We are thrilled that after 3 weeks of the initial hen laying we have recorded a total of 90 eggs with our highest single day of 9 eggs and our highest weight of 54 grams. Yeah, progress!

But I’ve been on the lookout for something called a ‘strange egg’ and we were on the receiving end of that for the first time this morning – perhaps a little Christmas present?

So I ventured out to the coop at first light and found what I can only describe as a strange egg! ‘Strange eggs’ are recognized as those that are laid by very young hens before their reproductive systems have been fully developed. Sometimes they are ‘bumpy’ looking due to a partial shell, but they can also be shell-less and encased in their membrane alone. This is what I found today sitting on the drop board of the coop. It looks pretty normal, right?

Well, it is a good thing I was not surprised when I picked it up and my citizen scientist persona got right to work on this!  A photo doesn’t tell the tale but hopefully a video does.

Given the research on this type of ‘egg’ I was curious to cut into it and see if there was a yolk inside. Here is the answer!

Yes, there was a yolk inside but the entire egg package was on the small side, also indicative of a hen that is newly laying.

We took great joy this Holiday Season in dropping off wee packages of eggs in small containers to our friends and neighbors. But this brings up another question: do we wash the eggs we are gifting to people? FYI, anyone who received eggs from the farm: Yes, we washed the eggs and they need to be refrigerated just like eggs you would buy from the grocery. But here is what some of the eggs look like before we washed…just a couple are less perfect looking. 

We are learning more and more about the egg industry and want our facts to be correct when it comes to egg freshness as well as egg safety.  Do you ever wonder why you see racks of eggs sitting on the kitchen countertops in foreign films? or the same in outdoor European farmers’ markets? There is a very interesting difference in how these commercial eggs are handled.  This  is a really good article that details much of the issue at hand.

So again, all eggs ‘gifted’ from the farm have been washed according to the USDA standards but I’m seriously interested in the issues presented by the author of this article and want to keep safety first and freshness next in all that we do here at the farm.

Our holiday celebration with little Coulter was very fun. He played the piano…

Greeted Gramps at the front door…And helped decorate the Wise Old Owl tree in memory of my dad (‘hoot’ owls were the centerpieces of his 90th birthday celebration)…He gladly helped with all the present unwrapping this morning but interpreted each and every bundle to be a TRUCK!

Hoping for Peace in the New Year!

I must be quite simple minded since the thrill of picking a warm egg out of the nest box has not dimmed in the least for me in the past two weeks since we gathered the first egg here at the farm. The hens are starting to be more productive since more of them are laying and I can see that they are a nearly constant presence in the nest boxes early in the day. The size of the eggs is also growing as the first ones are typically smaller.  I have faithfully recorded all the egg laying events since things got going in my Farm Preservation notebook as pictured below. This is a simple, lined composition book that I previously decorated with paper, ribbon and my labels to record all the farm canning and freezing.

Once egg production began, I decided to record the egg laying info using pages starting from the back of the book. I record each egg by identifying the date, which breed laid it (I can usually determine), which nest box it was laid in and the weight in grams since it is much more precise than ounces. Once the egg laying is rampant, I’m sure I will simplify this routine to sheer numbers but in the meantime, it has been fun to keep track of the comings and goings in the coop.

Of course the ‘fowl’ (ha!) weather caught up with me finally and I had to move the Chicken Fountain indoors where it has a better chance of not freezing. Our dear contractor, Mark, came over to help facilitate this move since it is really hard to put heat tape on a garden hose which was the extension of the water source between the indoor and outdoor coop. I can’t believe that after only a couple of days of using an interim water source, I had to retrain the hens to the fountain! Now relocated underneath their drop board and all is copacetic in the coop. 

So, you might ask, what are we doing with all the eggs? So far we have gathered 40 eggs and have begun to distribute some to friends and neighbors as Holiday gifts. I found these adorable containers on line and paid dearly to have them shipped from afar but they are too cute for words when I add my labels to them. I can’t vouch for what the recipients are doing with them, but daughter Kate has been inventive and so have we. Here is Coulter enjoying a nice lunch of scrambled eggs with blueberries from the farm. The Wards – as displaced Californians – made Huevos Rancheros one night recently and sent this photo to make us drool. Jason calls this a sinus clearing dinner!We went back to our college roots and revisited the Ponte Vecchio pizza that I learned to make while working as a pizza chef (chef is a real stretch here) in a small, local restaurant. It is quite possible that you have never experienced the wonders of eating fresh eggs in your pizza pie so let me just give you some details about how it can be done!

You don’t have to make your own dough as I always do but why wouldn’t you since it is simple pimple?  Dough is not the focus here so I will go on to the pie toppings and will promise to figure out how to better utilize WordPress and add a recipe section to the blog to showcase specific ingredients.

I also make my own sauce from our own tomatoes but please don’t let this stop you either. I put my jarred tomato sauce into a pot and reduce it to a nice thick paste but it spatters so I screen it off and stir often. Here it is, rather messy but worth the effort! Once the sauce is reduced to a deeply rich red, it is spread evenly on the dough that is patiently waiting. (Eggs are tauntingly watching the progress and waiting their turn!)Then the eggs are BEATEN, (ever so gently, I promise) and ladled evenly on top of the sauce.

In the meantime, the mushrooms are sauteing with some scallions from the field – a bit of a change from the original recipe which used a topping of raw mushrooms and no onions. Canadian bacon is the key though and it is chopped up and added next to the delight of all. Yumbo, yumbo! This pizza, reprised 35 or so years after cooking it at the Hide Out and Hungry U (neither restaurant in existence today) in Amherst, Massachusetts, is the new family favorite! Farm fresh eggs take center stage as one of the key ingredients to the pizza! Wouldn’t you know, Dave brought in many of the green tomatoes before the first frost and has been diligently ripening them using paper bags and apples to create a gas called Ethylene for ripening purposes. These taste pretty good on our daily sandwiches! Hard to argue with a farm tomato this time of year!

Never an idle moment here, I continue to endeavor to supply The Artery with gift items from the farm kitchen. The owner, Kim, tells me of people who buy my sweet pickles and open them in their cars in the parking lot and start eagerly munching away!

I have been keen on making a Christmas deadline for a Bohus designed sweater Stora Svanen or Large Swan that my brother commissioned for his wife, Ann. I sent it off today and dearly hope it fits and that she likes it and wears in good health! My brother was quite enchanted with the history of the Bohus tradition so when I mentioned to him that I was pursuing an out of print book on the subject, he managed to track one down and have it delivered to my door. I can’t stand my excitement for this! Even tho it is written in Swedish, I’m able to determine bits and pieces here and there as well as enjoy the rare photos. I’m now considering learning the Swedish in my spare time!  My brother is not the only one to send a surprise book my way. A knitting friend, Laura from NC, sent this book which I received today. It is full of fabulous recipes that will fit the bill here at the farm and I can’t wait to further explore the colorful pages! Thank you, Laura! 

Looking forward to the holiday joys with little Coulter who is not quite sure what is going on but glad to be a part of whatever it is! If I don’t have a chance to write again before the end of the year, Happy Holidays to all!

Joy, joy, joy! Our first Seven Oaks Farm egg appeared yesterday morning and it was unbelievably exciting for both of us.

The day started much like others where I made a visit to the coop at first light to open up, feed and do a little clean up. I noticed a bit of a different atmosphere in the coop yesterday morning. For one thing it seemed as if one hen, a Rhode Island Red with the largest comb and waddle, was really agitated and unusually vocal in a way that I had not heard before. She had a certain elongated squawk to her voice that I didn’t read as panic or fear but just something different. Dave was with me when I cautioned aloud that I had a feeling there was something providential about to happen. After clean up was over, I picked up this particular hen to comfort her and she buried her head in the crook of my arm (perhaps for warmth since it was quite chilly) and stayed there for some time before several others tried to take her place. In response, I broke one of my current ‘rules’ and put a corn cob out for an early treat whereas I usually prefer that they eat their regular food in the morning before getting treats.

Off we went with the Wards to the local Christmas tree lot to search for the perfect tree for all and to get a photo op with our dear little Coulter. It didn’t take long for him to decide he was ready to go home!After sorting out the trees to each location, we headed back to the farm and immediately went out to check on the chicks.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature egg and six or so white tailed darned deer???? (more later on the deer in coming posts!) There it was, a precious, little egg, (foreground) sitting pretty as can be in one of the nest boxes! The egg you see at the rear is the ceramic egg meant to encourage the hens to lay in the nest box. Such excitement…at nearly 23 weeks, an egg at last!  This one weighed 38 grams which is small but also typical of the first eggs a bird will lay.

How fun was this! Perhaps I had a little help on the way this week and must give credit to all my sources.

Last Tuesday on my morning walk I spotted two gorgeous, plump pumpkins on the Ward’s street that had been put on the curb for the trash men to take away. Bonus! Although I was tempted to put one under each arm and carry them home to feed the chicks, I texted Jason and asked if he would mind snagging them on his way to the farm that morning. He stopped, did a ‘grab and go’ and provided me with these two lovely specimens for the chicks. Chickens love pumpkins and will eat the flesh and seeds voraciously so what better than for me to serve them some discarded pumpkins! I cut one of these up post haste…And served them up to a delighted group of hens…thanks to Jason!So today I continued on the egg watch to see if there would be any additional egg laying. There was less of a panic atmosphere in the coop this morning but I could ‘spy’ on the chicks through a small gap in the wall between my workshop and the nest boxes. The same Rhode Island Red was nesting  or ‘using’ the nest box and low and behold…a second egg was laid this morning. Here are both eggs in the egg basket I have from the Luehrman farm. Upon visiting the coop this afternoon, the chicks seem to need some comfort and that same RI Red hen hopped up to get some cuddling and was also soon joined by a friend.We look forward to many more eggs in the future as well as fun from Coulter! 

Thanksgiving 2016 is in the rear view mirror at this point but we are still basking in the cozy feeling of spending extra time with our family during the holiday!

After the super warm fall weather, we finally got the more typical, predicted frosts and so we have been taking precautions when needed. Dave protected our cool season plants when necessary by using plastic sheeting on a small portion of the fields where we still have turnips, radishes, carrots, scallions, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, spinach and believe it or not, lettuces with good success. Brrr…too cold for me as you can see Dave has to wear plastic gloves due to the very wet AND cold he experiences as he removes and applies the covering both morning and night. Our new raised strawberry beds got a head start with the extra fall warmth and the bare root plants grew into 400+ established plants in just a few weeks time. With hard frost on the way, though, we gave them a snug blanket of straw for the winter. My next focus was on protecting the broccoli as I was planning a repeat of the Thanksgiving Broccoli Pie we took to last year’s Thanksgiving dinner. We harvested broccoli for this over several days from a small, fall patch of plants and were delighted to have this bunch at the ready, which I blanched and set out to dry for the pie. I substituted our fresh scallions (which are abundant this time of year!) for the leeks.After last year’s worries that I didn’t weight the crust sufficiently, I decided to invest in ceramic pie weights (instead of the dry rice or beans that I have used in the past) and put them to use this time around. I had help constructing the pie again this year as Peter proved to be interested in being my sous chef! Here he is applying the egg wash to the edges of the pie after we filled it with the cream sauce, broccoli and cheese. We then topped it with the upper crust and additional egg wash and cut vents for the steam to escape. Et violà! We enjoyed Broccoli Pie ala Yotam Ottolenghi for the second year in a row! I also had help with the dinner rolls that I have made for more years than I can remember. Once the subject of a local TV show called Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, Peter and Stefanie decided to learn the secret of twisting the dough into braids. Here they are with their pan of rolls ready to rise for a bit before cooking. Peter also showed great interest in the chickens and was rewarded with a bit of personal affection that they showed him!

We are not the only ones enjoying the late broccoli harvest. The giant leaves of the plants are impressive here but…The scale is a bit more evident when you see the full grown hens going mad over them…We are patiently waiting for the first eggs to be laid…nearly 22 weeks and counting! Maybe they need some musical stimulation in the form of entertainment? Thank you to Fran Vandermeer, (Kate’s wonderful college VB coach and now dear family friend) for sending this cute suggestion…an Egg-xylophone!

Coulter, now 19 months old – and more adorable than ever – would agree, I’m sure! He is too big to fit into his car and has to ‘drive’ it with one leg hanging out the window…But he still loves the thrill of the breeze from a high swing…Walking stride for stride with his dad at the local park…And hopefully, snuggles from his Nana…

This is not a political blog, so I will not make it into one now but it is nearly impossible to continue on with no mention of the events that caught America by surprise last week in the election of our next president.

Although I am slowly (ok, very slowly) uncurling from my fetal position, I am still struggling to come to terms with the potential loss of the rights that women of my age (I’m suddenly very proud to be 58 years old!) have fought for and advanced in the last 40 years or so. There are too many to list here but for me it started with  Title IX and I never looked back. The list of other potential setbacks on advances such as climate change goes on and on but this is not the place for them, in part because the list is TOO LONG!

So here is the thing. Despite the popular vote in favor of one candidate and the democratic process electing another, the American people had their chance to speak with their vote. So now we need to calmly and patiently listen and find out why this happened and figure out a common ground and work together.

So it was today when I was on my morning walk that I bumped into this little guy, Willie, who was on a walk in the Ward’s neighborhood. I smiled and laughed and enjoyed this little potbellied pig on a leash and I felt room in my heart for a whole other interpretation of When Pigs Fly…  The phrase used to have an implied threat of impossibility that no longer exists after last week’s turn of events. Now we need to understand what Willie is doing on a leash in Kirkwood, Missouri and not question why he isn’t a puppy.

We are enjoying a beautiful, warm and sunny fall here including several days of record heat for October and two bouts of rain in the past two weeks (2 inches each) that have kept us hustling at times to accomplish our goals. We have welcomed the warm weather which has kept the threat of a frost at bay so far and has allowed us to move forward on several fronts. Here is an indication of the fall broccoli that is just now ‘heading’ and will be ready for the Thanksgiving Broccoli Pie  that we so hoped to repeat for this year’s Turkey Day table. Yummy!Dave is continuing to bring in veggies from the fall planting – lettuce, spinach, turnips, radishes and Swiss chard – as well as those that have survived the long summer and are happily continuing to produce their fruits…such as eggplants! What a relief…the raised beds that we prepared for the strawberries have now been fully planted. The 400 Sure Crop variety of dry root plants FINALLY arrived from Stark just in the nick of time and we worked like crazy to get these planted before one of the recent bouts of rain.

Here is what a bundle of 25 dry root plants look like before we soak them in water for an hour in advance of planting. As I can attest, it only gets messier after this! The key is to place each dry root ‘plant’ at just the right level in the soil so that the roots are buried but the crown is midway at the soil level…half exposed and half under ground. If not positioned just right, the plants will either be too low to send shoots to the surface and die of smothering or if too high, they will heave up out of the soil with the winter freeze, exposing their roots and die of exposure. I only can hope that I adjusted this planting ‘just so’ and that these plants will thrive for the crop next year!There is not so much to admire at this point unless you are me…and you know that these minimally evident starts will quickly recover from their current status of dead looking roots, miraculously sprout green leaves within days and produce lively plants with large red berries next spring. Et, viola, the weather cooperated and we have sprouts galore!

So yes, we are very blessed to get this extended fall weather to help accommodate the strawberry beds. We are giving them a chance to get well rooted and then will add the necessary straw covering for winter protection.

We have also begun to build more raised beds in the former strawberry patch to accommodate future veggies such as garlic and perennials which include asparagus and rhubarb to name a few. The need to establish these this fall is key since I will be planting the garlic in a few weeks – after the first frost – but the rest of the perennial veggies will wait until next spring. Here is Dave ready to deliver two of the 4′ x 10′ frames he built to the field. A quick progress photo midway in our efforts to set, level and bring in more compost, topsoil and sand to fill the forms before tilling all together to create lovely raised beds. We recently picked up 3 bales of straw at the Valley Park grain mill and two have been designated for the strawberries (stored in the barn) but I added one bale in the chicken coop, much to their delight! They were cautious at first but have loved pecking thru the bale which I scatter with seeds and treats of all sorts for them to find! Ever eager to find more distractions for the chicks, I have also started sprouting grains for them. All summer long I provided them with greens that I cut from the surrounding overgrowth. They have loved the surplus of grapevines and honeysuckle but these sources are diminishing with the fall weather so I wanted to find a way to supplement their diet of greens during the winter. What could be richer in nutrients than sprouts??? I started with a recommended organic, hard red wheat grain which I was able to order on line in this package.  I bought a nested set of plastic containers to use as my sprouting trays and Dave kindly drilled small holes in the bottom of the top container so that I could keep the grain wet but well rinsed. I soaked the first package overnight in a bowl of water. Little would I know how much this small quantity would EXPAND!I then moved it all to the sprouting container where I would rinse it twice daily. What fun to see the beginning of little sprouts after the first day!I won’t bore you but each day the sprouts became more and more evident and grew quickly. Day 2 on the left…day 3 on the right…six days of sprouting in all!

My biggest surprise was around day 5 when I went to check on them and saw that although these were sprouting indoors (in the laundry room), they were graced by a lovely morning dew which was such a delight to observe!Are you bored yet? It was finally time to cut some of the sprouted material and send it off for the final inspection…would the chicks like it???Yowser! YES! They love it!

The chicks will turn 19 weeks on Monday and we are still eagerly waiting for egg laying to begin…tick, tock, tick tock!  They still don’t seem very interested in the nest boxes but are otherwise quite healthy and happy as farmer Coulter can attest on his daily inspections.

We have also worked to keep Coulter highly entertained this fall. Check this out…we put his little swimming pool into the mudroom and much to his delight, filled it with corn (so much less messy than sand!) to make a little play station for him and his construction vehicles. He finds this highly entertaining and I’m hoping that his mom and dad aren’t tired of finding corn in all his clothes at bath time!  Now 18 months and full of energy and lots of vocabulary, he spent a low key Halloween as ‘Farmer Cal’, alternately pushing and riding on his John Deere tractor…

Of course he made a quick visit with Nana to Kathy B’s for some early trick or treating. He was a bit skeptical but enjoyed the plush toy cow that Kathy always has on hand for him.  A bit more comfortable at the farm, he giggles and laughs, showing his relaxed side!

I’m following several interesting stories on chickens and bees and hope you enjoy as well. Thanks to JBS chemistry teacher, Eric Knispel (who adopted the roosters) for sending this one about chickens and mosquitoes…check it out!.

And thanks to Kate for sending this very important news on the future of chicken sexing which we will be watching with great interest as we hope that the practice of eliminating males chicks evolves in the near future.

I will hope to have a bee update after this weekend but I am thinking the boy and the girl hive will probably get married (combined) this weekend in order to ensure the survival of at least one hive for next spring. I would combine them based on the fact that one has resources but no brood reserves and the other has brood reserves but less resources. Together, they will make a better ‘whole hive’ and perhaps together, have the best chance at surviving the winter. Another interesting article about bees here. Most European countries have outlawed the use of these neonicotinoids in their environment. We need to wake up to this reality too!

There is so much to report on as fall activities have been in full swing here at the farm. First, as a final clean up from the barn project, our contractor came one day recently and removed all the gravel from the front temporary driveway and put it all in place for the new ramp in back next to the barn.

Front Temp Drive

New Ramp

Of course this meant that we had a huge repair on the front lawn that was ideal to rectify with a fall planting of grass. We decided to sod this area to get a jump on it for speedy results. Coulter was delighted to have one more project to watch in progress as the sod trucks arrived for his inspection.Our favorite arborist Jon Lanaghan, –  answer man to all our questions concerning the orchard and beyond – mustered a crew for this task and did a wonderful job getting all the sod laid in front and had some extra for an area in back as well. An instant carpet of green! Jon and Dave then moved on to the next project which involved removing the crab apple tree stump from one of the front beds, using the tractor for added man power. Jon will help us re-plant this area by procuring a Magnolia tree (to balance the one on the south side of the front bed) in the coming weeks as well as some more Knockout roses to be planted next spring. If all that action wasn’t enough, Dave and Jon continued on a mission to start the new strawberry beds for next year’s production. The back story is this: unlike our prolific blueberry plants that will produce berries for the next 40 years, strawberry plants are productive for only about 5 years at most with the best years in the middle of that span. It was just a little bit sad for me to plow under my strawberry bed recently but it was time to replant and go forward. Instead of replanting the bed in the same location (in the end that location was too shady and too wet) we decided to relocate and create raised beds inside the new blueberry enclosure. Jon Lanaghan to the rescue again! He helped us form the structure with 2×6 boards.Then Dave and Jon spent a day ferrying compost, topsoil and sand in their trucks to the site. and filling the forms…Before tilling it all in…In early October we ordered 400 dry root strawberry plants from Stark Brother’s Nursery to do a fall planting of these beds but we have been struggling to come to terms with the quantities available and have recently learned that this order was on back order! Ugh! In the meantime, they accommodated by selling us (at a very cut rate) 100 plus 4″ pots of a variety of June bearing plants – SureCrop, Jewel, Honeyone and AllStar – that fit the bill for these beds until the dryroot ones are delivered. Dave drove out to Louisiana, MO to pick theses up in his truck on Friday. So today we planted the center row (a total of 5 rows per bed) using what we had in hand and despite nearly 2″ of rain last week, will hope the sunny days expected (tomorrow’s prediction is 78 degrees) will help get these rooted! As you can see, I have laid boards across the raised beds in order to keep from stepping in them and compressing the soil.  On to other news: the chickens are doing well and will be 17 weeks old tomorrow. They are holding their own with the protein and pecking issues that I dealt with previously. No issues to report on that end but the excitement of egg laying is building! I opened their nest boxes so that they could explore that area of their coop hopefully begin to lay eggs but was a tiny bit deflated by their universal non interest in them. A collective ‘meh’ from the chicks! Haha! After diligently dusting and cleaning the previously blocked boxes, I added this very nice nest base in each box for them to use. I then added the ceramic eggs for them to get the hint that this is the spot for egg laying. From what I can tell so far, no one has investigated any more than a cursory glance. Perhaps they are put off by the fake eggs or just not ready to lay yet. I will soon switch their feed to include egg laying components such as oyster shells so I hope we get some action soon! We are already thinking of egg rich dishes to make, one of which is a pizza from our college days with egg as part of the base called a Ponte Vecchio. More to come on that!

The bees: I’m worried about them and yet hopeful that they will settle in this fall and manage to make it through the winter. The “Boy” hive is doing well as the new queen is laying eggs and the evidence of a healthy brood along with presence of reserves for the winter are a good indication that their well populated hive has a good chance of overwintering. The “Girl” hive, so productive initially, is a bit questionable since it was determined to re-queen itself and kept this initiative up for more weeks than I would have liked. Their determination may have just come to fruition as the last time I looked they had allowed a young queen to emerge and I can only hope she had enough time to get well mated. The eggs laid in October and November are the bees that will take the colony into next spring. I am feeding both hives weekly and every day that is sunny and warm is another day that they are able to fly about and further their purposes. I plan to make an inspection tomorrow and see what the status is in both hives. If there is no egg production from the new queen in the girl hive, I may combine the two to hedge my bets for next year.

Re bees: A quick thank you to cousin Michelle (Brotemarkle clan) for sending an interesting article on bees from their local Virginia newspaper. I’ve been trying to get the link to work here but so far no luck! Bee info always welcome…thanks, Michelle!!!

I have also been able to get some knitting done in the early evenings provided by the fall equinox. Here is my latest Bohus knitted sweater, the famous Blue Shimmer design, which I started during the summer Olympics and look forward to wearing this fall. Coulter, 18 months old today, is also on the receiving end of knitted goods as I made him a hat with a Polar Bear tassel as an homage to our weekly visits to the zoo where we admire the morning swim of Kali, the polar bear. Here he is modeling it while wearing a sweater I knitted several years ago for little Jack and has been passed along for Cal to wear!

Other fall adventures for him include tractor riding at the Kirkwood farmers’ market… And celebrating with his dad – Coach Jason – as his JBS team garnered runner up in the Volley Ball district finals last week. Whoo hoo! I made a lemon cake for the occasion with a volley ball net as a silly decoration! 

The chickens have been on my mind a lot lately for several reasons and I feel as if I’ve put a good deal of energy – both mentally and physically – into their status recently.

I was waiting for the weather to break a bit in order to add more sand to their run since we had put less in that section than I had originally intended. Their indoor space, aka the coop, had the original sand which was spread to about 3 inches deep on top of a concrete floor that has a sewer drain for periodic cleaning. Shortly after the chicks were given access to their outdoor run, we added a load of sand there on top of the dirt base but had always intended to add more. After experimenting with sand, I see it as the perfect foundation for both the run and the coop provided there are periodic additions of other things such as vines, grasses and sprouts.

In an effort to do a little fall housekeeping, we decided to take the sand from their coop and transfer it to the run and then add all new sand to the coop after a good clean up. So we hauled in another 800 pounds of fresh sand and after a mornings work we felt pretty satisfied. We also decided to put a new hose connection onto their drinking fountain since the original one was an old, recycled hose that had seen better days and was starting to leak on occasion due to the constant pressure.

It was not long after this that I discovered that Buttercup was the possible victim of some pecking. It was difficult to tell whether this hen had started to over-preen herself (often due to boredom) or was being pecked on by others, or both. Either way, I found her to have a small bare patch on the base of her back at her tail which is a typical spot for this type of pecking or over preening to occur. I put some Vetericyn on it and hoped for the best but the next morning I found it to be a larger area and later that day it was bloodied. This is a cause for immediate isolation. I plucked her (no pun) out of the flock, medicated the wound again and put her into a crate with food and water in my workshop.What to do next? No one else was showing signs of this. Was she lowest on the pecking order? Was this because she is now the only grey colored Easter Egger in the flock and a target? Easter Eggers are also the smallest of the hens we have and that wasn’t going in her favor either. In addition, she has always been a loner, keeping to herself and not one to participate in any of the ‘reindeer games‘.

I had been thinking of getting an additional medication called Blu-Kote that has been around for more than 40 years for use in animal husbandry. “Dr. Naylor’s brand Blu-Kote is a germ-killing, fungicidal wound dressing and healing aid that works to protect animals against common infections and pus-producing bacteria. It penetrates the skin and dries quickly, reducing pus formation and drying up secretions of pox-like lesions.” Yuck, I initially didn’t think I needed this as my answer but one of the reasons that Blu-Kote is successfully used for chickens is that it includes a dye that coats the surface area a deep indigo color (WARNING: it is semi permanent!) and disguises the wounded area by taking the irritated pink or redness flesh color away. Although I wanted to make sure this area of affliction didn’t become infected, I decided to use the spray mostly for the dye aspect of it.

So, after a day in isolation, I prepared to use the medication – by dressing in dark clothes that I didn’t care about getting dyed blue – and successfully sprayed Buttercup’s back with several spritzes of the liquid. After blowing on it a bit to dry, I let her back into the flock and she seemed to try to re-adjust. Of course the problem with taking any bird from the flock and isolating them for a time means that when re-introduced, they have been demoted in the pecking order which meant I had to keep a really sharp eye out for her safety. While taking time for keenly observing, I happened to notice that any loose feathers that the chicks came upon were being gobbled up by them. Good grief, what was this about? My role as ‘Citizen Scientist’ sent me back to the books for some research on feather eating.

Wouldn’t you know, feather eating can be a sign of protein deficiency in chickens. Aha! Feather eating can also be related to feather pecking since feathers are about 85% protein. Aha! Chicks go thru their first mini molt between the ages of 12 and 16 weeks. Aha! I knew that as the chicks age, their protein requirements change but it turns out I could do a few things to help in this area. Although the internet can be a good resource, I prefer to rely on two profoundly researched books, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens and The Chicken Health Handbook  both by the renown author and chicken expert, Gail Damerow.

Gail cautions about adding too much protein to a chicken’s diet and certainly not to add more than 2% at any juncture. She says, “Compared to the protein in grains, animal proteins are rich in the amino acids a chicken needs during a molt.” She lists a bunch of foods and their protein percentages that can be used to supplement their regular diet. Her books introduced me to the common agricultural method (albeit mind blowing in terms of math) of adjusting rations correctly called Pearson’s Square. Run that thru your search engines and see what comes up!  (Seriously, do that and see what I was facing!) Who knew this could get so complicated!!! Here is an example of an explanation for calculating Pearson’s Square for one’s own uses. Aha! Believe me, there is nothing terribly simple about this.

So, I decided that I needed to address the probable protein deficiency incrementally while also addressing the method of delivering the new food. I knew this since whenever I gave treats such as meal worm (50% protein) there was a piggy contest to gobble it up fast and furious so those who got the most were the more aggressive birds and thus, the feed or treats was not equally distributed. I needed a ‘slow release’ method that would allow more of the flock to have equal access to the amount given and I needed to ration it slowly so that the 2% goal was true for all.

What a great excuse to go to the Tractor Supply Store where I knew I could find some of the added protein suggestions from Gail’s list. One of them was black oil sunflower seeds which I found in bulk. Although it is only 14% protein, it could go into my Pearson’s Square equation as an additive to my Start ‘n Grow ration which is 16%.

I put a cup of this seed into a fairly standard cylindrical bird feeder with holes just big enough to contain the seeds and yet allow them to fall through when pecked at. Here they are giving it a go.

I also added a corn (6% protein) cob holder which I hung nearby for much of the same purpose and to allow for two stations of pecking to take place.

Here is the the combination of both attractions. Notice the sounds of the soft clucking which is music to the ears for all. 

After several days of wringing my hands over the status of the flock I was so pleased to see this copacetic group lounging in their run this afternoon. Buttercup is no longer hiding and has even joined in the fun and is enjoying the security that the group can provide when everything is in balance.

At least for now! As the chicks approach their 15 week milestone, I am now researching the method and timing of opening their nests boxes (which have been blocked so far) in order to introduce them to their next adventure…egg laying! This is an overwhelming time to be a Citizen Scientist! Ha!

I need to report on the bees but will hold off for that until next time as one hive is still working on a self re-queening effort. My inspection and feeding of both colonies yesterday is keeping me in suspense as to the race to be ready for winter. At this juncture, it may actually be the ‘boy’ hive that is more prepared! More soon.

In the meantime, Coulter keeps us all amused. At 17 months, he is nearly the perfect age as he is fun and funny. He understands so much of what we are saying and his vocabulary is growing exponentially. Here he is in his new Levi jeans…cutest bottom around!

And climbing up on his new, dump truck step stool to wash his hands before lunch!

It is hard to believe he still fits in his swing, but he still loves to climb in and catch the breeze when he can!  Dave had replanted much of the fall crops and is hard at work getting them to flourish now that the rains have lessened. Crossing fingers for a mild fall…updates to come.

The first couple of weeks of September were pretty darn wet in our neck of the woods. I think we recorded at least 6 inches of rain over a 9 day period so we are shaking our collective heads at the future of the fall planting. Dave wonders aloud whether the neighbors will be curious about all the new veggies they could see sprouting in their yards since he is assuming the recent heavy rains have sucked many of his dear seeds away and that they are now somewhere “down river”!

Once again, faced with weather circumstances beyond our control such as this, we are always thankful that unlike our distant relatives, we have a built-in resiliency to the adverse weather conditions. We do not starve nor suffer from a financial crisis when things don’t work out as we had hoped. The reality of having at least 3 groceries within a mile of us means that we don’t lack for other available food sources. That said, it is still discouraging to be thwarted by the weather but what can you do? We move on to the next pressing task.

What would Pollyanna do? (Younger readers may ask who is that? Here is a link to explain.) Despite the drowning of some plants or seeds, we try to keep in mind the plants that really love the water! For instance, the young orchard trees and blueberry plants are delighted with the extra water and our peppers are multiplying like crazy late in the season as today’s harvest suggests. These peppers joined the others from recent picking so this afternoon while Coulter was napping I took all out of the fridge, washed up the lot of them and started the easy freezing process. ‘Easy’ since peppers are one of the only veggies that do not require blanching! Here they are drying off after their bath. First, I froze 3 quarts full of the whole jalapenos in freezer bags which is super easy so I can grab them out of the freezer one or two at a time as needed and reseal. I cored and sliced up the rest and I used my Vac ‘n Seal to make individual, serving sized pouches. Eighteen nice sized pouches were then signed, sealed and delivered to the basement freezer! Good news for winter pizzas and the like!There is no stopping the herbs such as basil so we are making pesto right and left (yummy) as well as rooting whatever unused cuttings into into new plants.   If elephant ears are any indication, this plant is happy as can be with the extra rain and I can only hope the scale of the hose reel behind is an indication of size! I’m also doing the needed research on our Chicago Fig tree which has lived happily potted on the terrace all summer. It out grew the first pot so it graduated to a larger one and produced one glorious, tasty fruit. I’m greedy and I want more next year but I found out that this cultivar is only safe in planting zone 7. (Yes, there is a portion of Missouri that is clearly zoned as 7a and 7b so that must be why Stark Brothers felt safe to sell these in state.) Our region has moved in recent years from 6 to then 6A and on to 6B which is approaching 7 but until this tree gets better established, I think I will do my best to protect it this winter.  I will re-pot to a larger container and put it safely  in a more temperate area of the barn to over winter. Here is the link to instructions for this from Stark Brothers if anyone is interested.

In the meantime, the chickens are now 12.5 weeks old and approaching their adult size. Everyone who stops in to see them is amazed by their growth which is hard for me to see on a day to day basis other than by noting their food intake (gobble, gobble!) and other behaviors that indicate their maturation. They have not been overly enthusiastic about their chicken swing so I decided to encourage a little usage by setting one of the Buff Orpingtons on the swing to see what they thought. Frankly, not a huge endorsement so far.I must admit, they are quite spoiled as the goodies from a recent visit to the nearby Tractor Supply Store in High Ridge, MO will attest! Pictured below are treats which I will distribute sparingly in the popular Chicken Ball (yellow orb) to fight coop boredom. Fill it with treats and let them peck away as the goodies fall out!Here is the treat ball, filled with Harvest Delight in action.

A couple of days later I introduced the Hot Cake treat on a chain which they found to be quite entertaining. I could only let them peck at this for about 15 minutes at a time and then would raise it out of their reach until next time using the handy carabiners on the chain. 

Also new to the coop is a product called PDZ that was highly recommended by other chicken owners and is sprinkled in the sand to help absorb the ammonia from the coop poop. PDZ is sold by a company called Manna Pro and is described in the literature as such: “Sweet PDZ is safe and gentle to use. It is an inert mineral, with unique chemistry that actually adsorbs moisture and selective gases, such as ammonia. Sweet PDZ (aka zeolite) is a naturally-occurring mineral created from volcanic activity, which captures, neutralizes and eliminates harmful ammonia and odors while absorbing more than half its weight in moisture.” It is touted in many of the chicken forums I read but the on line price (as well as crazy shipping cost for a 25lbs bag) kept me from purchasing until I found it locally at the Tractor Supply store for nearly half the cost. I’m still evaluating but so far so good.

Okay, okay…I found some extra goodies at the Tractor Supply store…some construction vehicle boots for Coulter! Here he is evaluating them. And then trying them on for size.

He also spent some time with us at the local Kirkwood  Green Tree Festival last weekend. He wisely considered the consequences of getting too close at the petting zoo area which included goats, sheep, mini cows and even camels! He liked the baby pigs a bit better, cautiously feeding them…perhaps more his size? He may be most comfortable with his new rocking chair in his nursery at the farm. It has all his favorite planes and helicopters! My very favorite recent moment of excitement was receiving my personalized copy (the author wrote a lovely note to me) of the recently published knitting book by the fabulous designer and knitting author, Janine Bajus, aka Feralknitter. I was one of Janine’s knitting students whom she chose to include in her new book about Fair Isle knitting entitled, The Joy of Color.  The book is amazing and I’m so flattered to have been included in this publication. I could have sworn that I posted the sweater I designed, knitted and wrote the pattern for several years ago as part of my Master Handknitting certificate program, but I don’t see it in the archives. Here is just one of the pics she included in a two page spread in her book. What would Pollyanna say about this?