Thursday, November 19, 2009
My Birthday and finally some rain
Monday, November 9, 2009
A Few Photos
Monday, November 2, 2009
I need to get some sleep
Man am I tired. I've been going to bed at midnight or one and getting up at five thirty for about two weeks now and I've just about had it. I'm so tired and sleepy. Well that's enough whining for today.
I repaired the roofs on the chicken house and the old woodshed today. The wind had worked some of the nails up on the tin. I took the drill up and screwed it down today, so that should last from now on. I need to patch a few nail holes here and there to complete the job. I'll try to get it tomorrow evening before dark. I'm going to keep cutting wood until I cut everything along the two miles of country road that the wind had blown down. I'm saving the wood here on the farm for hard times. In the last year I've cut about thirty loads of wood along the road and there is another ten to fifteen loads to go. I'll have enough to last at least two and maybe even three winters by then. I love to cut wood and if I don't cut it, it'll set out there and rot and not do anyone any good.
I repaired the roofs on the chicken house and the old woodshed today. The wind had worked some of the nails up on the tin. I took the drill up and screwed it down today, so that should last from now on. I need to patch a few nail holes here and there to complete the job. I'll try to get it tomorrow evening before dark. I'm going to keep cutting wood until I cut everything along the two miles of country road that the wind had blown down. I'm saving the wood here on the farm for hard times. In the last year I've cut about thirty loads of wood along the road and there is another ten to fifteen loads to go. I'll have enough to last at least two and maybe even three winters by then. I love to cut wood and if I don't cut it, it'll set out there and rot and not do anyone any good.
Just a couple of random photos
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Trick or Treating and their first shave
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I'm still here
I know it's been a long time since my last post. I've had some problems with my internet service. Well to catch up on things; my chickens are now laying and they layed five eggs today. That is pretty good for six hens. I had been getting three until today. I have a rooster with an attitude problem and I feel a good pot of chicken noodle soup coming up. The crazy thing flogs everyone that goes into the chicken house, including trying to jump on my three year old son. I want my boys to be involved in the egg gathering but with that rooster in there it is impossible. I think we're going to eat him. I have a spare.
My dad killed a couple young deer the first couple of weeks of bow season. The were so tender and so good. I fryed up the tenderloin and ate it for breakfast with eggs and biscuits. We loved it, except for the boys. They just kept saying, Yuckie Deer meat!!! My neighbor and his friend killed a big black bear with a bow the first day and they shot and missed another. We have had a lot of trouble with them tearing up deer feeders and even bird feeders in this area. I saw a big boar last Saturday on my way to work. I drove within twenty feet of him before he ran. His back was as tall as the hood on my Jeep Cherokee.
Our guineas are growing and I'm taking them to the chicken pen this week to spend the winter with the chickens. I'll turn them out next spring to eat bugs and ticks and all the creepy crawly things. I wish we would have bought a pig this year. I miss fresh pork sausage and chops. I found a place to buy it fairly fresh, but nothing beats the farm raised, fresh ground, perfectly seasoned, lightly browned sausage patty on a hot homemade biscuit. Oh I'm so sorry my mouth is watering and I really need to wipe it. Okay I really love fresh farm sausage.
I'll be posting more after Friday after I get my new internet service. The one I have now is not really reliable. I hope everyone has a great day!
My dad killed a couple young deer the first couple of weeks of bow season. The were so tender and so good. I fryed up the tenderloin and ate it for breakfast with eggs and biscuits. We loved it, except for the boys. They just kept saying, Yuckie Deer meat!!! My neighbor and his friend killed a big black bear with a bow the first day and they shot and missed another. We have had a lot of trouble with them tearing up deer feeders and even bird feeders in this area. I saw a big boar last Saturday on my way to work. I drove within twenty feet of him before he ran. His back was as tall as the hood on my Jeep Cherokee.
Our guineas are growing and I'm taking them to the chicken pen this week to spend the winter with the chickens. I'll turn them out next spring to eat bugs and ticks and all the creepy crawly things. I wish we would have bought a pig this year. I miss fresh pork sausage and chops. I found a place to buy it fairly fresh, but nothing beats the farm raised, fresh ground, perfectly seasoned, lightly browned sausage patty on a hot homemade biscuit. Oh I'm so sorry my mouth is watering and I really need to wipe it. Okay I really love fresh farm sausage.
I'll be posting more after Friday after I get my new internet service. The one I have now is not really reliable. I hope everyone has a great day!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Fall is definitely here!
It's been really cold here lately. It's in the lower 60's of the day and lower 40's of the night. I've been clearing the garden and it's a mess where I left for so long. The ragweed and other weeds are thriving though. I wish I'd cleaned it up earlier. Oh well, coulda, shoulda, woulda. I just didn't do it and now I'm paying for it. I'm getting ready to dig my potatoes and if I didn't clean the garden off it would be a treasure hunt trying to find them. I now what vicinity they're in, but exactly where they are, no. I'm looking for a smaller crop this year. I dug about 12 and a half bushel last year; not counting what I dug earlier. I'm expecting about 8 bushel this year by what I've dug so far. It'll do us and then some, but I'll not sell any this year. I don't want to run out. I hate those store bought potatoes. They don't taste very good and they usually don't look very good when you peel them.
I'm still splitting wood and I'm going to cut some more. I want to have enough to burn me two to three winters. I'm getting close to that now, but I'll cut wood as long as the weather allows me to. I love the roar of my Stihl chainsaw and the smell of fresh cut wood. I love splitting it and loading the truck and stacking it. I guess I love just about every aspect of it. The thing I love the most is the security I feel by having all the wood to keep my family and I warm all winter long regardless of power outages or not. That is priceless.
My chickens are getting ready to start laying. I've been patiently waiting for about 5 months now. Our little guineas are just about ready to put in with the chickens for the winter. Next spring we will turn them out to eat all the ticks and other nuisance bugs. I'm thinking about getting a few meat rabbits here shortly. I need to get some pens built. When I sold our last rabbits I sold cages and all. Big mistake, I should have listened to my wife on that one. I probably should have listened to wife on a lot of things. But anyway I better get to work.
I'm still splitting wood and I'm going to cut some more. I want to have enough to burn me two to three winters. I'm getting close to that now, but I'll cut wood as long as the weather allows me to. I love the roar of my Stihl chainsaw and the smell of fresh cut wood. I love splitting it and loading the truck and stacking it. I guess I love just about every aspect of it. The thing I love the most is the security I feel by having all the wood to keep my family and I warm all winter long regardless of power outages or not. That is priceless.
My chickens are getting ready to start laying. I've been patiently waiting for about 5 months now. Our little guineas are just about ready to put in with the chickens for the winter. Next spring we will turn them out to eat all the ticks and other nuisance bugs. I'm thinking about getting a few meat rabbits here shortly. I need to get some pens built. When I sold our last rabbits I sold cages and all. Big mistake, I should have listened to my wife on that one. I probably should have listened to wife on a lot of things. But anyway I better get to work.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Still talkin' bout canning
I'm still canning up some banana peppers. They just keep on producing and producing. I've picked about 2 and 1/2 bushel so far this year off of forty some plants and I still have a bunch to pick. I'm making more kraut. I should have enough kraut to do me for a week or 50! I'm going to can me a few green tomatoes also. I don't like the texture as well as fresh but green tomatoes in January are kinda rare. I may be sick of them now but middle of winter I'll settle for a softer version of green tomatoes fried up with some hot peppers. My wife cut up another 2 quarts of bell peppers for freezing. We have 2 gallon bags full of smaller bags cut up and froze and the 2 quarts she just cut up. That should do until next summer. We take smaller bags and put enough in them for what we need and then we put them in a gallon bag so we can keep them all together and we still can get out a small portion for breakfast burritos or meatloaf or whatever we are making. We've also put up some apples. I don't know how long they'll last because Blake wants them everyday with hot biscuits and butter. Now we need to get a hog so we can have fresh sausage to go with all that. Well, I'm getting hungry so I better go.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The latest addition to the farm
I'm thinking about raising them and selling them. They are great sellers here. Everyone wants them or has them now. I used to have a bunch of guineas in one pen and right beside them I had a waterhole full of geese. I've never heard such a thing in my life. The geese would start and then the guineas would join in and you could hear it two ridges over. Most people would find it annoying but I loved it. All I need now is a gaggle of geese.
Monday, September 7, 2009
I'm going to miss my birds.
They live in the trees behind the house. I've never seen a nest yet, but it's so small it would be hard to see anyway. I guess I'm must find another relaxing hobby. Winter is right around the corner and I'm going to need something to keep me busy but in a relaxing way.
Friday, September 4, 2009
First Day of Kindergarten
It's now his third day and he still loves it. I think he's a little smitten with his lady bus driver. Every time we mention her he gets a silly grin on his face. We're just glad that he loves it, that's right loves it, not likes it. That's pretty rare. That reminds me of something he told my wife the evening of the first day; he said mommy did you enjoy all the piece and quiet while I was at school.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
When It rains it pours
I'm in the process of fixing my riding mower again. I just put new blades on it and ruined one on something that I have mowed over a thousand times. That's not the worst of it. When I hit the rock the blade stuck in the ground and burnt the belt up before I could get it shut down. So I called Sears to check on a new belt and blade. I bought the other blades at Tractor Supply for $15.99 a piece. I figured that Sears would have the belt because I bought the mower there. Tractor Supply didn't have one to fit. Sears said the belt would be $36 and the blade was $17.99. Well I was disappointed to say the least. My stepfather said to check with Clay Farm Bureau. I did and the same belt was $12.95 and the blade was $15.99. I bought them yesterday and put them on and realized the the deck where the other blade is was bent. I guess I'll go back out and pound it out straight and start mowing my 4 and 1/2 acre lawn. Well at least I trimmed most of it this morning. Well that's enough complaining for today.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Hot and Tired
It's getting hot around here again. It's in the 50's of the night and upper 80's of the day with a lot of humidity. I still have many things to accomplish before winter. I need to get most of the garden cleaned off. I'm still hauling in some wood in my spare time. We've been canning some kraut and green tomatoes. We picked some apples late yesterday evening and spent last night peeling and freezing. My wife made an apple pie and it was really good. The only thing missing was some vanilla ice cream.
I'm waiting until the weather cools down to clean out a really large area for a new chicken pen. It'll be about 20 feet wide by about 200 ft long. There is a spring in the middle that I'll cover and I'll put in an automatic watering system from the spring. I'll just winter the few Rhode Island Reds and next spring I'll get another 50-75 pullets. I'm thinking about getting some more geese next spring also. I love geese. They are my favorite farm pets of all. They have great personalities and are great weeders.
I'm waiting until the weather cools down to clean out a really large area for a new chicken pen. It'll be about 20 feet wide by about 200 ft long. There is a spring in the middle that I'll cover and I'll put in an automatic watering system from the spring. I'll just winter the few Rhode Island Reds and next spring I'll get another 50-75 pullets. I'm thinking about getting some more geese next spring also. I love geese. They are my favorite farm pets of all. They have great personalities and are great weeders.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A Lost Picture

Hauling in more firewood
We've been hauling in more firewood again here lately. We hauled some in back in May and then we became to busy with everything else to finish it. So we've been going out and getting a load busted up and hauled in every day or two. We now have 8 loads on my Dodge Dakota and about 5 loads on my dad's F 150. We still have wood in the pile that I cut last summer and fall. There were a lot of storms here last summer and it blew down an abundance of trees and I cut them up and hauled them in to an old log landing in the middle of my meadow. We busted about 4 F150 loads out last year and the 8 Dakota loads this year and there are still about 4 loads out there. I also have about 6 loads of wood that I pulled out of the log landing to be cut up and busted.
I have dead trees and fallen trees all over the farm that I need to cut up and get out of the way. I probably won't have to cut any next year. I can't wait to I get the log landing cleaned up and get my uncle out here with his tractor and bucket and clean it up completely. There will be some blood, sweat, tears and a lot of brush burning in doing it, but I can't wait until we get it cleaned up. I have a low place or two to put all the extra dirt. Well like Forrest Gump said "That's all I got to say about that." I hope everyone has a great day.
I have dead trees and fallen trees all over the farm that I need to cut up and get out of the way. I probably won't have to cut any next year. I can't wait to I get the log landing cleaned up and get my uncle out here with his tractor and bucket and clean it up completely. There will be some blood, sweat, tears and a lot of brush burning in doing it, but I can't wait until we get it cleaned up. I have a low place or two to put all the extra dirt. Well like Forrest Gump said "That's all I got to say about that." I hope everyone has a great day.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Blake's 5th Birthday
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A little more garden produce
Friday, August 7, 2009
From cabbage to kraut
Canning and preserving and kids
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Faith and Potatoes
I just finished watching Faith and Potatoes and it was great. I laughed and cried. Yeah I admit it I did. It really made me look at some things differently and sort of opened my eyes. I would recommend this movie to anyone. It is based on a true story and it is wonderfully told. It was a very touching movie. If anyone else has viewed this movie I would love to hear what you think of it.
Monday, July 6, 2009
First canning of the season
An abundance of squash and an acrobatic chipmunk
Saturday, July 4, 2009
A few random pictures
A couple of weeks ago a big doe crossed the road and this little fellow followed her and it couldn't have been but a day or two old. It ran in the middle of the road and just sprawled out. We thought it was hurt but when we went to check on it; up and away it went. My wife just touched it's back and back to life it came.
These are some of the many of cherries we picked. It was a slow and tedious job to pit them all but it was worth it. We now have a lot of cherries in the freezer for future use and use them we will.

The grape picture was taken about a month ago and they are much larger now and the vines are hanging loaded. We will not get many this year but next year I'm looking forward to all the grape juice, grape jelly and jam. If they make it that long. I love to just eat them right off of the vine. I just love to watch things like this grow from little tiny balls to grapes. It's amazing and so often over looked at how everyday little things can change and grow so fast.
The grape picture was taken about a month ago and they are much larger now and the vines are hanging loaded. We will not get many this year but next year I'm looking forward to all the grape juice, grape jelly and jam. If they make it that long. I love to just eat them right off of the vine. I just love to watch things like this grow from little tiny balls to grapes. It's amazing and so often over looked at how everyday little things can change and grow so fast.
Friday, June 26, 2009
It's been awhile
First of all my computer went down and I've been trying to get the part to fix it. I have been mowing and hoeing everyday. My garden is still full of weeds and don't get me started on my strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. My grapes are getting big and I'll post pictures soon. We picked a lot of cherries and just froze them because of time constraints. I think later we'll make some jam out of them. I now have peppers, squash, cucumbers and my tomatoes are starting to get big. We have been eating onions and radishes like crazy.
My uncle came out and cut our hay this past Monday and then baled it Wednesday. It wasn't that good but he still baled up 44 rolls. It needs lime and fertilizer, but it'll have to wait till spring. I'll post some pictures of the hay, cherries, garden and so on.
My uncle came out and cut our hay this past Monday and then baled it Wednesday. It wasn't that good but he still baled up 44 rolls. It needs lime and fertilizer, but it'll have to wait till spring. I'll post some pictures of the hay, cherries, garden and so on.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Picking cherries
I have been really busy trying to pick all the weeds out my garden. I've been doing it between the rain showers and that is not much of a window of opportunity. We all went out and picked some cherries yesterday. The tree is loaded but most of them are up high in the tree. It's one of those fifty footers and not to big around. The birds are getting the high ones and I'm hoping to get all the bottom ones. We froze the cherries we picked yesterday and I want to can some and make some more jam. We made some last year and it was great.
My grapes that I cleaned out earlier this spring have quite a few clusters growing on them. They are getting nice and big. I still haven't built an arbor but I have bought the material. It's now just trying to find the time to do it. My wife wants some grape jelly. I would like to make some jam and some juice.
We're thinking about getting another pig this year. We need something to feed all the garden scraps to. We want some more fresh sausage and ground pork. We use a lot of ground pork. I make chili with it and we make burgers, meatloaf, etc. I also like the ribs, chops and I want to can up a bunch of it this time. There's nothing like canned pork and fresh biscuits and eggs for breakfast. Well I better go and grab something to eat. lol
My grapes that I cleaned out earlier this spring have quite a few clusters growing on them. They are getting nice and big. I still haven't built an arbor but I have bought the material. It's now just trying to find the time to do it. My wife wants some grape jelly. I would like to make some jam and some juice.
We're thinking about getting another pig this year. We need something to feed all the garden scraps to. We want some more fresh sausage and ground pork. We use a lot of ground pork. I make chili with it and we make burgers, meatloaf, etc. I also like the ribs, chops and I want to can up a bunch of it this time. There's nothing like canned pork and fresh biscuits and eggs for breakfast. Well I better go and grab something to eat. lol
Friday, June 5, 2009
Dogs, chickens and peonies. Oh My!
Things have been going pretty slow around here with all the rain. My garden is growing good, but so are the weeds. I like the rain, but I hate to get behind. At least I'll have plenty to do.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Cleaning my riding mower and weedeating
Well, today I did some weed eating around the place and I wish that I had started two weeks ago. I hate weed eating my road banks, because some of them are really steep and hard to stand on. I had to use a blade on part of it with all the brush and the multi flora rose growing on there. I think I'm going to spray to kill all the brush and just leave the grass and that will make it a little more likable job.
I also mowed some grass and then took the deck off to clean it. It was a total mess. On the deck the grass was so old that it had night crawlers in it. That was kind of embarrassing to admit. My wife and I cleaned off the top; night crawlers and all. Then we cleaned out underneath around the blades and such. Then we greased the top pulleys and where the deck engage slides back and forth. It wasn't rusted or anything yet, but I think a regular cleaning schedule would work wonders. By the way I was going to sharpen my blades but they are too far gone and I need new ones. I will now have a newly cleaned and serviced deck to mow more grass. I can't wait!
I also mowed some grass and then took the deck off to clean it. It was a total mess. On the deck the grass was so old that it had night crawlers in it. That was kind of embarrassing to admit. My wife and I cleaned off the top; night crawlers and all. Then we cleaned out underneath around the blades and such. Then we greased the top pulleys and where the deck engage slides back and forth. It wasn't rusted or anything yet, but I think a regular cleaning schedule would work wonders. By the way I was going to sharpen my blades but they are too far gone and I need new ones. I will now have a newly cleaned and serviced deck to mow more grass. I can't wait!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
My Wife's Iris's and a bleeding heart
Busy, Busy, Busy!
I've been planting like a wild man and trying to keep up with this 4 and 1/2 acre lawn. It seems as soon as I finish mowing and trimming that it's time to start again. My baby chicks aren't babies anymore. They were around a month and a half old and all feathered out. The Rhode Island Reds look like babies compared to the extra large Cornish X Rocks. I'm moving them to the chicken house tomorrow to stay inside for awhile and then out in the lot they go. I'm feeding them all the vegetable scraps and some grass everyday on top of all the starter and grower they can eat. We've not had any rain here for about a week and a half and we finally received some this evening so no garden watering for me. It's usually up before work and watering and watering right before dark, but it's all worth it knowing that I have all this food that I've grown and that I know what is in it and on it. Plus it'll taste pretty good this winter when every one else will be eating old produce that was commercially grown and is a week or two getting here and god knows what is on it or in it. I'll sleep easier when I know I have all that food canned up and stored for the winter. Winter, well let's no go there.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Some pictures I promised and planting flowers
I helped my wife clean out some flower beds and we removed an old cherry tree stump to plant some flowers. She still has a lot of seeds to plant so I better get after it again.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Very Busy
I finally planted most of my garden. I have tomatoes, corn, green beans, sweet peppers, hot peppers, squash, spinach, radishes, cucumbers and of course all my early plantings. I've also been trying to get a start on my winter wood. I cut most of it last summer and now I'm splitting it and hauling it in. The lawn finally looks normal after it got to a jungle state for awhile. It took a couple of mowings to get it right, but it suits me now. So between my job and all the work on the farm I've been busy. I'll post some pictures later on today as soon a I get a chance.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Planting tomatoes
Well it rained again yesterday, but it held off until I could till most of the garden and plant around eighty tomato plants. I planted mortgage lifters, brandywine and beefsteaks. I still have about sixty five more brandywine to plant this evening. I'm going to make this post short and sweet so I can get something done.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Finally getting something done
I know it was Mothers Day and all, but I had to get things done. I cleaned out some concord grapes that my grandfather had shown me 15 years ago when I was a teenager. They were growing here when my grandfather originally bought the farm back in 1967 and they kept cutting them down every year. He didn't need them because he had a very large grape arbor in his yard and it was in the field next of where my father later moved to in 1980. It was neglected and cut down for years and I even cut it down ever since I got married and moved back here in December of 2003. So this year I checked it and it was still there, bigger than ever and vines running everywhere; through multi flora rose, wild cherry sprouts, brush and a lot of weeds and grass. It is actually in the edge of my current lawn. I cut everything out and pitch forked it in a pile. It looks really neat and clean. I'm going to build a nice arbor out of treated lumber and hopefully I'll have some good homegrown grapes this year or next. I see a lot of grape juice, jam and jelly in our future.
Friday, May 8, 2009
At least I got my grass mowed
Well, guess what happened today? It rained again, but I did finish mowing my lawn before it started. The chicks got a little too hot today so I had to raise the heat lamp so it would cool down. It is so hard to believe they are the same chicks that we bought a week ago. They have grown so much. I will have some pictures up soon. We bought 13 Rhode Island Red chicks for laying and 5 Cornish X Rocks for eating. In a few weeks I'll be eating fresh chicken for the first time in a long time. I'll be hand plucking and I've never done it. I think after the first few I'll get the hang of it. I'll be ordering some more of the Cornish X Rocks in a month so I need to practice up on butchering these five. I would like to have about six to eight months worth of fresh chicken in my freezer, but wouldn't we all. So long until next time.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
It can't rain forever, can it?
It has finally quit raining after about a week or so. I started mowing my lawn or jungle; which would be more appropriate. It was close to a foot high in places and it was extremely wet and sloppy. It seemed I was mowing as much water as grass. The forecast called for a hiatus until around noon Friday and then rain until Sunday. I had to get grass mowed so I can get the rest of the garden in and help my wife with flowers when it finally dries out early next week. When it started we needed the rain and I hope that it doesn't turn off dry like it has the last few years. Our 18 chicks are growing leaps and bounds and my recently planted rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus and strawberries are greening up and growing. They would probably do better if they could get some sun instead of constant rain. I'll look back in a couple of months in the middle of a dry spell and wish for some of this rain, but for now listen to me complain.
First post ever
Hi everyone, this is my first post ever. I will be telling you my journey into farming with 2 young boys and a wife that has never had any farm animals or raised a garden or anything like that. I farmed some when I was younger around 16 to 18, but I think I forgot many of the highs and lows of farming. So here is our journey of remodeling an old farm house and rebuilding outbuildings and fencing everything and clearing pasture fields and many other farm things while juggling a job, 2 young boys and just everyday life stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)