Dandelions and Disease

As some of you know, I hit a bump in the road. Acute myeloid leukemia. That will slow a person down, for sure, those lucky enough to survive anyway! Several friends have asked other friends questions about my treatment, so I hope this helps.

With most cancers, you have a tumor that can be hit with a drug to kill it, and then doctors remove the dead tumor. Think of hitting a dandelion or two in your yard with Weed-B-Gone. Let it die. Dig it up. No more dandelions.

With leukemia, picture a yard (your body) with dandelions everywhere, because your blood is throughout your body. My dandelions are raging, taking over the yard. Too many to hit with little sprays of Weed-B-Gone. So, instead, the doctors are wiping out all the vegetation (blood cells in my marrow): the dandelions and other plants as well. 

For treatment, I have continuous chemo. Then, after a period of a few days, we'll give my little yard a chance to reseed over several days. Then tests to see if it worked. Then we repeat the cycle to make sure all bad weeds are gone. Get the picture? With luck, I'll reseed with my own blood. If that won't work, then they'll look at other options like stem cells or bone marrow from donors.

That said, you will understand why I can't have visitors, why I can't go out for a walk, and why I can't come home. I'm in a 10 X 10 cubicle and being very carefully monitored for the next several weeks here at the James, OSU. Lucky for all of us, love and prayers extend beyond the walls of my little unit. Thanks, everyone, for your kind words, cards, happy thoughts, and prayers! I feel the love from family and friends, and it lifts me up.

As many of you know, I started working (writing, getting involved to raise awareness) and researching the horrible crime of human trafficking . My work had only just begun. I'm taking a rest, but I'll get back to it! Thank you all! <3 be="" div="" happy.="" i="" m="" need="" now.="" right="" think="" to="" where="">

Intro to Bee-Keeping--Dan Williams' Interview

The benefits of honey are numerous! Honey bees are few. I had been sourcing local raw honey for our farm market and not having much luck. Then, at the recommendation of my bee-keeping friend Desiree, I found Williams' Honey Bees. Dan Williams consented to do an interview for me but, before I share that interview on bee-keeping, I must tell you about his Tulip Poplar Honey. OH. MY. GOSH!!!

The color of the honey was perfect. Its tempting aroma prodded me to try it on a spoon first--creamy sweetness that filled my mouth with its delectable flavor! Then I put it on hot buttered toast and let it ooze for a minute into the bread's many crevices. Wow! The toast became a chewy confection. I'm hooked! Dan offers a variety of honeys and bee pollen.

So, with that introduction, here's my interview of Dan Williams of Williams Honey Bees, Frankfort, Ohio:

ME:  When did you first get the idea to get bees and process honey?

DAN:  I used to buy, sell, and trade goats with a guy up in Hocking County. His dad was a beekeeper with a few hives. One day while dealing goats the old man came out and started talking bees. Out of respect I stood there and listened, and an hour later I was amazed. 

A few years later...

One day me and a buddy of mine were out at the farm shooting our bows. He had just put a new sight on his bow and needed to tune it in. We needed to set up a few straw bales behind our target in case he missed. So up in the hay mound I went. I lifted up a bale of straw and was immediately attacked by yellow jackets. They chased me all the way down the ladder and out of the barn and stung my face up pretty bad, before I could get to the hose to spray them off. My buddy drove me 4 miles to my house where my wife was waiting at the front door with 2 benadryl that I immediately chewed. My face was swelling so bad so quick that we went to urgent care quickly. By the time we got there the swelling had stopped but since I was there and stung 15 to 20 times on the face I thought what the heck we're here I might as well let the doctor look at me and possible give me something to ease the reaction. The doctor took care of me and said, "wow, you did pretty good with that". Hum?? My face is swelled up and one eye is completely gone, pretty good? I don't know, but if you say so. My wife called her cousin who had kept bees for a few months to come get these "bees" out of the barn. At the time I didn't know what kind of stinging insect they were, except that they stung and it hurt! He came out to get the bees that turned out to be yellow jacket. He went ahead and killed the nest of yellow jackets for us and started talking beekeeping with me and how to get started. Wow! This is easy, I thought, and the doctor said I did "pretty good with that". The next spring I got my first bees! 

ME:  When did you actually start your business?

DAN:  A few months after getting my bees I realized that this was not something I would do for a hobby. I was obsessed and couldn't help myself. I tell people I used to fish and turkey hunt but now from Feb-October all my spare time goes to the bees. Usually my vacation time from work gets burnt up to get ready for spring, sell nucs, and harvest honey. 

ME:  What is the hardest part of beekeeping, and how many hives do you want to maintain?

DAN:  To me there is nothing hard about beekeeping. The hives are heavy, the sun is hot, and the hours can be long but I was once told do something you enjoy and you'll never work a day in your life. Put me in a bee suit on a 90 degree day and I'm a happy camper! HAHA

I'm looking to maintain as many hives as possible while still keeping my wife as my wife! HAHA I'm joking! I don't know how many hives I want. I used to have a goal of 100 but once I hit 100 I said 200. Time will tell! 

ME:  Do you ever retrieve wild bees from people's homes, trees, etc., and if so, do you still want to collect the wild bees?

DAN:  Taking bees out of a wall in someone's house is an all day job and, when it's all said and done, you have one hive and a hole in someone's house. What I do to increase my numbers is split the hives I already have and install a new queen in each split. I can do about 30 of these in a day vs the one out of someone's house. So I pass on the bees from someone's tree or house. Now if a swarm is found around Frankfort, I will still go get them. A swarm is the way bees naturally reproduce. The old hive will produce a new queen and the old queen will leave with about half the bees to find a new home. Once the old queen and her bees leave the colony, they will usually cluster up on a tree branch or other object close by. They then start sending scout bees out in all directions to find a new suitable permanent home. Once the scout bees locate the perfect new home, they come get the rest of the bees and all at once they take off! When this swarm is seen hanging in a large cluster like this, it is very easy for a beekeeper to come get those bees and put them in a hive. They can hang around looking for a new home for a few hours to a few days. There is an extensive list of beekeepers in South Central Ohio on www.sciotovalleybeekeepers.com that will come and remove these bees. 

ME:  You supply bees to other people. Exactly what do they get?

DAN:  When customers come and pick up bees, they bring with them an empty hive and I install 3 frames of brood (baby bees) in various stages of development, a frame of honey, an empty comb and a marked laying queen. (The queen is marked with a dot of paint on her thorax to make it easier to find her if needed.) I screen up the entrance and they take the bees to their new homes. Once they get there, the beekeeper will remove the screen and start to feed the bees a 1:1 mixture of sugar to water to help them get started.

I also sell queens for beekeepers to requeen their colonies or to make splits. I use artificially inseminated queens to raise queens off of. These queens are part of an extensive breeding program where various traits are selected for. Such as gentleness and honey production. When queens mate, they mate with up to 20 drones. The use of artificial insemination is used by the queen breeder to control the genetics that she is exposed to. These breeder queens are then used by me to raise queens off of. When a queen is mated and ready to be shipped, I cage her in a special cage, put her in a priority or express envelope and send her to other beekeepers around the country through the mail. 

ME:  Do you have a brief experience you'd like to tell people about and/or a final thought on the subject of bees or beekeeping or honey?

DAN:  If anyone is interested in keeping bees, check out the Scioto Valley Beekeepers. We meet once a month in Circleville, have a website www.sciotovalleybeekeepers.com and a facebook page. 

From Last Fall to the 2013 Old Homestead Farm Market

Chris is never one to sit still. The winter offers very little opportunity for excavation work or residential site development, so he has been a systems analyst, doing a variety of design, mechanical and engine repairs for area farmers. 

I took time off from working on the blog, the farm market, and everything else, to write a book. It's available through Amazon and has NOTHING to do with homesteading but is an action/adventure on something I feel passionate about! Click Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo to learn more about it. This was intriguing to research and write, based on some real-life events. I would rate it PG-13. It's an e-book, and can be downloaded to a Kindle or you can get a free Kindle app for your PC, Mac, or e-reader.

Chris spent his free time in the fall and winter renovating equipment such as this Oliver hay rake and his Oliver baler, both from the early 1960's, while he continued to rebuild his 1958 Allis Chalmers tractor. Then he started building a hay elevator from his own design, using a few salvaged pieces of metal, some new metal and parts, and a lot of ingenuity. He still needs a mower but he's been prepping the soil and sowing red clover and orchard grass because, frankly, if the hay isn't there, you wouldn't really need a mower! First things first. 

Last year his equipment was minimal and that meant a lot of manual labor. We had haystacks! Really! Then he baled the hay from the haystacks and one farmer bought all of his hay in one sale. This year, he'd like to be able to help more farmers so he plans to put up a lot more hay.

Recently, we had our business meeting to plan our 2013 Farm Market. In addition to hay, Chris is looking forward to adding some items to the farm side of our farm market. These will be useful additions and I'm excited about them but, in order to expand as much as we want, we need to get our building up. Until then we'll continue to use the Airstream camper.

Another change is that the Old Homestead Farm Market sign is coming down for a much-needed face lift so that it won't continue to blend in with the sky. I love what Chris has planned for it!

We'll have eggs each week, both chicken eggs and duck eggs, fresh from Pauley's Pampered Poultry!

As for produce, we won't do as much vegetable farming for the market. Our clients prefer the jams, jellies, breads, fruit pies, and fudge. That was a surprise to us! Although we have a few who look for carefully grown produce, most of our customers love the sweets. I will continue to offer special gluten-free and sugar-free items. We thought we would have more followers who would come just for the fruits and veggies but we had some veggies left over each week, except for green beans that consistently sold out! For this year, I  have requests for more green beans, beets, corn and, of course, we'll still offer a variety of tomatoes. 

People have asked if we're interested in becoming a CSA, where people buy memberships and pick up their farmer-chosen produce each week. NO!!! We like to be able to pick and choose what we eat, and we believe our friends who come to us enjoy that freedom as well. 

More changes:  No seedling plants. They didn't sell well and they are very time-consuming. And Mid-March is too daggone early! Brrr! We'll open in Mid-May! 

Looking forward to opening our Old Homestead Farm Market!

(In the meantime, I'm working on the second book, a sequel to the first with many of the same characters and more adventuresome challenges, expecting to publish by August.)

To know more about the book, click on this link:

Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo

Old Homestead Farm Market, one year down and counting

This year my husband Chris and I started on a wild new adventure, our own farm market. I enjoy a good laugh, and this brought several! Friends I never knew we had would come, shop our wares at our Airstream camper, and share stories. For this season, our farm market has come to an end but the memories and appreciation will long remain of the many people who came to shop and visit. 

What I learned:

• produce safety how-to
• cottage food laws
• We have more friends than I realized.
• Many people like knowing where the food comes from. Our customers got to tour the poultry area, the chicken condo, the hoop coop for the ducks, and our gardens. Little children seem to  be fascinated by it, as did many grown children. And any time we got some friends or relatives together, there was sure to be laughter!
• Advertising helps. People get busy. No matter how pretty the baked goods look, no matter how fresh and nicely produced the eggs are, no matter how tasty the tomatoes and other veggies are, things don't sell if no one is there. Word of mouth advertising is best. 
• There is so much need. We made a lot of people happy each week with donations we were able to give to local charities, fundraisers and emergency shelters.

What I suspect:

• Some people don't want to know that meat comes from animals. (That's a pity because farm children who learn that also often learn to have compassion for the animals. Sometimes, so much compassion that they become vegetarians! A balanced approach might be better, maybe just eat less meat.) Likewise, I suspect that a whole lot of people either don't want to know or truly aren't aware that much of the produce that goes to supermarket and restaurant chains is harvested by slaves, much of it on American soil, an epidemic that grew rapidly in the 1990's starting in the tomato production industry and is just recently being addressed by the Dept. of Labor, the FBI, NGOs and local law enforcement groups. It's hard to see because when slave workers are used, they are kept hidden from view with no way to communicate. Most agricultural workers are NOT kept as slaves but slave labor does exist in the (mostly southeastern) U.S., where people are owned and forced to work in horrible conditions, so please be aware.
• There is a group of people who, if they knew, would have more compassion for livestock animals than for human slaves who are involved in the production of food.

Would we do it again?

YES!!! This year would prove to be the start of something good for us and for the local community. In spite of drought, our gardens produced after depleting our well of its water twice. In spite of my flawed attempts at producing cottage foods, I had some loyal customers who appreciated not having to do the baking themselves to have dessert or homemade bread for their families. In spite of the depressed economy, we broke even I think. In terms of humanity, we came out ahead! Had we set out to make a lot of money, we would be disappointed. Instead, we brought something new to our local community in the form of fresh eggs from uncaged poultry, safely grown vegetables, and homebaked goodies that were made from the heart, often with fruit grown locally that we picked ourselves. Having a farm market was a lot more work than I expected when we started out, but this was a labor of love (no slaves involved!) for a community I very much love.

Look for our farm market next year when, again, I'll be offering Mrs. Pauley's pies!

Question:

If I limit my cooking to ten cottage food items next year, 

what should they be?

Smoking and Grilling Chicken

I love grilling all year round, lately working on developing different rubs to use with poultry, beef and pork using indirect heat and different hardwoods for smoking. Experimenting has been delightful and delicious!


I use indirect heat as often as possible when I grill out since carcinogens are linked with any grilling but it is particularly dangerous when direct heat results in charring. Also, any time a rub contains brown sugar, burning can be a problem but is less likely with a temperature-controlled indirect heat. The rub I used on the chicken in the photo is a sweet and spicy poultry rub, my unique mix, available at our farm market.The wood was from a downed apple tree. 

We all have to eat, so my approach is to make each meal a fun family time. Our family is planning a fun family grill-off before the end of summer, so I'm gearing up for it. I hope practice really does make perfect! With the grandchildren as judges and tough competition from my kids, the pressure is on!!! 

Finding a Fun Way to Serve the Community

We are now in the middle of our first year with our farm market and no two Saturdays are alike. It began in March with eggs and some home baked items, pies, breads and cottage foods such as jams, jellies and fudge. From there we have added some fresh local produce. 

Lately, I've been mixing and trying out rubs for slow smoked and grilled meats over indirect heat. That has been so much fun because I really, really like to eat and, of course, I have to sample the wares!

  No matter what we offer at our market, there will always be pies. And, since I listen to what my customers want, I'm also making fresh fruit turnovers and special items for the gluten-free. 

Our primary goal is to bring a fresh and delicious food experience to our friends in this out-of-the-way and under-served community, as a way of providing a convenient service to these wonderful people. And it's working! 

Lately, as word has spread, more visitors from surrounding counties have come to our market. One poor fellow got lost and said he was starting to hear the banjos and almost turned around before he got here!  HAHAHA! It's really not that bad, but it might seem like it! We are located in the scenic rural hills of southern Ohio, and it can be a long winding drive. We try hard to make it worth your effort. The man who could "almost hear the banjos" left with two pies, peanut butter fudge, and brochures to share with his friends. He loved it!

Our vintage Airstream camper is set up on the small family farm my husband grew up on, where most of our gardens are and all our poultry live. You can come out and walk around the gardens, see the chickens and ducks, and in general reminisce about life on a family farm as you see the antique farm equipment Chris has collected and restored.

To add to our market's uniqueness, we have a drawing at the end of market every Saturday. The lucky winner gets to pick any leftover item for free! Everyone, including the children, gets a chance to win! If you're within driving distance, give us a try.

A refrigerator magnet will remind you that we're open on Saturdays, 12 to 5, at 2589 Blain Highway, Waverly OH 45690.  Come and get yours!

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

Achieving the perfect barbecued baby back ribs is an accomplishment!  These were spicy, juicy and with just the right tenderness. Read on and find out my method.

I wanted a rub that would give me all the goodness of baby back ribs that I see in televised cook-offs. We had had a family cook-off, and I did OK, but now I wanted a rub that I could actually offer in my farm market, something yummy with just the right blend of seasonings. So I experimented and watched what others were using. I finally got the flavors I wanted but still lacked the cooking style.

What I've discovered in my trials and errors is that it's not just the rub, it's the technique. Using a sugar-based rub requires using indirect heat. The meat does not come into contact with flame. Thanks to my grandson Tyler who took the photographs for this baby back rib BBQ step-by-step.

Sprinkle your ribs liberally with the rub of your choice. Then allow to stand for 30 while you start up the grill and prepare your hardwood for smoking.
  Choose well-seasoned hickory, apple, or other suitable wood and give it a good soaking in water.

Then, when the temperature (220 to 250 degrees F) and the smoke are just right, add the ribs. Loosen the seal of the aluminum foil to allow plenty of smoke to permeate the meat. Check occasionally without disturbing the meat just to see that the smoker is doing its job and that it's not too hot. Allow to cook without intervention as much as possible over the course of 2 hours. 

After two hours, remove the meat and try twisting a bone to see if it has any movement (it should be able to twist a little), and then finish the ribs off in a pre-heated oven at about 250 degrees F for another two hours. Then take it out and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. The internal temperature should have reached 160 degrees F a long time before this, but the extra time allows the flow of good juices to tenderize the meat and give the rub and good feel to the teeth.

Cooking ribs this way is almost effortless once you get into the routine, and the result I think will please you!!!

And yes, I now have Rockin' Rib Rub to sell at our Old Homestead Farm Market.

(Photos for this post were largely the work of Tyler Oyer.)

Hay Rake Rescue

My husband Chris did a residential job recently that resulted in some old farm machinery that the owner wanted "junked". Chris struck a deal with him on a rusty old hay rake that he pulled out of tall weeds. The rake hadn't been used in many, many years but Chris saw that it still had potential if it could have some well-chosen replacement parts and a little TLC. What he had found was a 1958 Oliver 5-bar hay rake. He trailered it to our farm and "completely disassembled it. There wasn't a bolt left in it," he said.

Total dis-assembly was necessary because of neglect over the years. Layers of metal were encased in rust. Chris said that without intervening, "the equipment would continue to rot down". Once he had the hay rake apart, it was time to evaluate and inventory each piece and then order any necessary new parts. He cleaned up all the useable old parts by sandblasting, priming and painting. 

He replaced the worn-out bearings and seals and straightened the stripper bars, put in all new spring teeth and added a hydraulic lift. He replaced tires and tubes. He hurried to get it all renovated in time to try it out for the season's haymaking. After a few late, late nights of working, the restoration was complete.

When Chris took it out for a trial run, he said,

"It worked quite well, just like it was supposed to!" 

I listened to the old hay rake while Chris did a demo for me. He hooked it up to an older John Deere tractor. That vision and the gentle hum and whir of the rake brought back memories of a bygone era. I am filled with pride that Chris saw the potential and did this renovation. He recently raked with it to make nearly 400 bales of hay. 

Sorry to admit that, when he first brought it home, I couldn't picture what it should look like. What a mess! I regret that I didn't get the photo before he took it apart. 

Gathering the Swarming Honeybees

In the spring, honeybees swarm as a colony of bees splits to make more room for the ones that stay in the hive. Around here, those that venture out of their old home to find a new one are good news for my friend Desiree. It helps her build her apiary!

Friends and neighbors watch for swarming bees. A quick phone call to Desiree and she flies into action, making plans to go to the rescue, a mission that has to happen within a time frame of 1 to 24 hours. After that, the workers who are out scouting for a new home will have shown the others in the swarm the way, and they'll be gone.

Look closely at this photo of a tree. At first glance you might think you see a hornet or squirrel nest in the center of the photo. It's actually swarming honeybees.

"A swarm is a big ball of bees, piled on top of each other," Desiree says. "When it's in a tree, the bees are all huddled together. We catch them and put them in our hive box, our super. If you can get the queen in, the rest will follow."

Usually, when there's a swarm of bees splitting away, and not an entire colony, the honeybees take a queen cell with them, an egg the queen has laid. The diet that is given to this bee larva determines what the bee will grow into, so when the workers are grooming a bee to become the new queen bee, she gets a unique queenly diet, "royal jelly"! Pretty cool!
 
Desiree says, "They only sting you when they feel threatened. When one stings, the pheromone (smell) will attract the others and they'll come after you. So, if you get stung once, it's best to leave."

The next day or later the same day, after the bees are settled in the super, Desiree takes them home to her beekeeping operation, Klover Hill Apiary, where she plans to build her bee numbers and continue trying new bee products, expanding from honey and lip balm into candles and soaps.

 I asked  Desiree where a person is most likely to find swarming bees. She says they can be in homes, barns, trees and mostly, around here, they seem to like lilac bushes. Since we have three large old lilac bushes at the farm, I invited her to investigate for swarming bees. None. Then we went to the barn, another place they might gather. Again, none, but that was a cool, rainy day. 

Apparently, honeybees like hot days because Desiree says she usually gets pretty sweaty when she has to put on all her gear to go after them! The last time she went to gather bees, it started pouring the rain, so she plugged the box, strapped it, and then heaved it into the bed of her pickup, getting hot, sweaty, and soaking wet! Then, when her son ended up getting a bee sting, she wondered why she ever decided to keep bees.

Like anything worth doing, if it were easy, wouldn't everyone be doing it? From talking to Desiree and seeing her photos, I know she loves the adventure of finding and retrieving swarming bees and she is dedicated to helping the planet. She will do this for many years to come. Thank goodness! Maybe she can help to increase the declining numbers of honeybees! 

The photos in this post are courtesy of Desiree Blaha-Poyner. To see more of her photos, you can Facebook "friend" her.

Connecting Past to Present in a Pioneer Cemetery

Jessi, making rubbings that helped to establish identity and dates.

My cousin Stephanie, her husband Dave, and my daughter Jessi recently went trekking to a grown-over pioneer cemetery. No road access meant we had a 3/4 mile trek through a soybean field up a knoll to the 2-acre enclosed cemetery. Not only was it fenced in, but totally surrounded by briars and thorny honey locust trees, like something out of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

Stephanie and Dave, capturing this moment in time. Me, capturing them.

Dave, unearthing a forgotten headstone.

I had wanted to find this place ever since I heard about it several years ago. The cemetery had been shrouded in mystery but would hold clues from our past that would give us a keener understanding of our ancestors' lives, and it was situated on the very land where they lived!

Some headstones were small but ornate.

Some of the monuments toppled from their own weight and the ravages of time and weather.

Some had writing that was still  somewhat legible.

This crag of a tree speaks to the long-forgotten area.

Around thirty of our ancestors found their final resting places there, where now it appears to be an abandoned flower garden, overgrown with Solomon's Seal, Wild Columbine, Day Lilies, Violets, and Nettles. More flowers, but I've forgotten them. Our focus was on finding downed headstones and monuments, covered over with moss, lichens and dirt, and then connecting that person with our lives, our family tree. 

Solomon's Seal was prevalent and, I thought, fitting since this was on the original 400 acre land grant that my great great grandfather Solomon Salmon received after his Revolutionary War service. I know, there should be 6 or 7 greats before "grandfather" but our family tended to have children later in their lives!

Two Brooding Hens and Maybe a Chick!

the hens in their culvert nesting boxes in the brooder

Update from last Thursday: We have two brooding Speckled Sussex hens! The one started again after abandoning her first nest. With ease, Chris moved their culvert nesting boxes into the brooder, apparently just in time. Look closely at the black nest on the right. Do you see the egg shell? On closer inspection there is a tooth mark on the inner eggshell! We thought we could hear a cheep-cheep-cheep. We don't know since we didn't want to disturb the hen. It may have been a killdeer out in the field. (?!)

We're excited and will keep you informed as soon as we know. The Speckled Sussex is a heritage breed that is "recovering" from having been "threatened", according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

The brooder now needs a few basic pieces of furniture. First, a creep feeder for the chicks!

the brooder

A few hours later the very same day...

MAJOR UPDATE:  We have baby chicks!!!

Maybe more later. She and the other hen are still on their nests!

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Sourdough Breadmaking, from starter to delectable finish!

I decided recently, for the benefit of patrons of my farm market, to revive an old skill: the making of sourdough bread. 

A stone jar works best for the starter that takes several days to prepare.

On baking day, a dough hook can save you from a labor-intensive task.

One day recently I made 8 loaves of sourdough bread. Some for the market...

      and some for me and my family. The experience is  something near heaven when you sit down after long hours of work to enjoy the ageless salty and somewhat nutty taste of a chewy sourdough bread along with a good aged cheddar cheese and your favorite beverage.  In this case, it's a glass of my grape wine, ready to bottle.

The Broody Hen in her Culvert Nesting Box

This is our broody hen. We're edgy with anticipation. Others of our flock of 48 have tried but this one just might succeed. She has a certain stick-to-it-iveness. Her whole body says she's determined!

The year-old hen has made her nest in a culvert nesting box. She is not yet in her brooder, just across the hall from the others. When she moves, we're watching another broody hen that may join her soon.

Our hens have preferred these culvert nesting boxes over the yellow buckets that are on another wall. Moving her will be fairly easy, we think. Chris plans to slip a piece of plywood between the culvert and the camouflage wall to easily lift the culvert nest out of its slot, hen, eggs and all. We're hoping this won't upset the setting hen. Then, just a few steps away is the brooding room. He can then replace this nest with another piece of culvert and bedding. Again, Chris has put together a clever design. We're hoping it works. I would love to have hens raising their own Speckled Sussex chicks! When it happens, you'll know! She has been on her eggs for 13 days and somehow she has 10 eggs or so without any interference from us!

Several of you are already having chicks this spring from your own hens. 

I can hardly wait for your thoughts, experiences and words of advice!   

:D

Preparing Garden Spots for the Vegetable Starts

A brief moment of rest for Chris at our camper on the farm where we hold our farm market. He's been working night and day, growing the little seedlings that soon will go into the ground that he's getting ready. After all, if you're going to have a farm market, you kinda need to have some produce!!!

Chris is using a 1980 Gravely that can do ANYTHING!  We believe that was the last year the Gravely tractors were made in America. I have the utmost respect for his older machinery. The plow was made in the 30's. All his attachments were made from the early 30's to the mid-50's. It's really handy that Chris likes restoring things. These work well and help keep the cost down.

After all, Chris is the real force behind the farm market. He says it's me, but I know better. Sure, I love cooking and baking, but he has wanted to farm all his life, and what better way to serve the community than to raise fresh, safe, great-tasting produce?! 

During the day, the gardens are getting plowed and tilled while the little plants are getting much-needed sunlight on our deck at home. 


Then at night, all the little plants come back inside. After all, the babies need warmth to grow and, remember, we have no greenhouse yet so our home has to serve the plants' needs for now.

Some of these seedlings will be planted in our garden spots and eventually find their way to market.

Others will be sold as plants at our farm market to go into other people's gardens.