Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
As the deciduous trees’ foliage grows in, the landscape really changes around here. It morphs from the austerity of gnarled branches pointing, unadorned, at the dormant landscape, to a lush green canopy, densely leafy, rustling luxuriantly in the breeze. There’s no mistaking spring here…and the Tulip Poplar welcomes it with beautifully unusual flowers.
It’s hard to believe that the Pilgrim goslings are one week old already. They’re growing fast, experiencing new sights, sounds, and snacks (greens), and most of them are very good about keeping up with the group when we take short walks on the farm (there’s always one laggard…usually preoccupied with something and not paying attention). I figured I’d better get an update posted before the littles are all grown up!
Last fall, we found a very strange-looking object stuck to the trunk of a maple tree. It seriously looked like something man-made, it was so perfectly geometric. We later discovered that they were Wheel Bug egg cases!
Continue reading “Spring Hatch: A Different Kind Of Hatchling”
This is not what you want to see: a pig proned out, seemingly dead. Castor gave me a start the other day when I happened upon him like this. After the initial shock, I realized that he was really just taking a long siesta in the sun.
This reminds me of the first time I saw a chick sunbathing – she was all awkwardly sprawled out, and I thought she was dead (!). Was I ever relieved to see her finally wiggle around a bit into a more comfortable position!
The pigs are happy in their mud wallows, but when the sun’s out, sunbathing is apparently in order. The next time I see one of them stretched out, limp, on a sunny day, I won’t feel my heart clutch in my chest because I’ll know they’re just relaxing.
Thanks for the coronary! 🙄
This morning, we found a small nest hidden in the tall grass near the fenceline. It was meticulously woven into a cup shape, and four speckled eggs lay in it. At first, we puzzled over why the nest would have been built so close to the ground, where predators could easily have found it; then, we realized that the parent birds may have thought it well-concealed because we had allowed the pasture to grow long in that area.
Unfortunately, recent mowing may have frightened the parents away. As much as we try to work in harmony with Nature, cutting the grass was necessary – one reason is tick control: keeping grass short can help manage ticks. We left the nest, undisturbed, in the hope that the parents might return.
Update: mama bird has been seen back on the nest, which now has 5 eggs! We put a barrier of wire fencing around the nest (a few feet out) to try to provide protection from predators like cats.
Do you know what kind of bird this nest belongs to? I think it may be a sparrow’s nest.
The peonies are blooming – such color! Such fragrance! As with much of Nature’s beauty, it must be enjoyed now, as they won’t last long. Stop and smell the…peonies. 😊
