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.
We’ve known about a skunk living under the barn’s tack room for a while. It sprayed in the barn a couple of times, then stopped (thankfully). While we didn’t necessarily want a skunk living there, we decided to just try to co-exist with it.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Solitary Striped Skunk”
Each morning, I watch the birds at the feeders from the kitchen window. There are large birds (Blue Jays, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, cardinals) and small birds (titmice, nuthatches, finches, sparrows, chickadees, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers). Doves (mostly Mourning and the occasional Ringneck) mill around on the ground, looking for scattered seeds. And while I watch those birds going about their business, I’m not thinking about the pandemic, the climate crisis, ongoing destruction of the environment, or the many social issues we’re facing; instead, I am enthralled by bird life.
Continue reading “Musings: The Benefits Of Birdwatching”
A strong storm blew in yesterday – the kind that made me wish I’d shut the solid coop door (often open for airflow this time of year, with the chickens safe behind a wire-covered “screen” door). The rain pounded the earth in slanted sheets, and the trees’ limbs flailed in the whipping wind. Thunder rattled the glassware in the china cabinet and I steered clear of the windows, wary of the brilliant flashes of lightning.
Continue reading “Haiku: Mercurial Mammatus”
With Autumn upon us, flowers like Queen Anne’s Lace have mostly bloomed and gone to seed around here. While the goldenrod is still going strong, another “weed” is alive with insects seeking nectar. It’s so popular, in fact, that the bushes buzz with the sound of the industrious creatures.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Busy Bees And Working Wasps”
I must confess that I’ve taken the grasshoppers and crickets here for granted. Pastures teeming with the insects seem to imply that their populations are healthy…but, on a larger scale, they’re not. One day – soon, even – they may disappear.
Continue reading “Haiku: Ghost Grasshopper”
The Autumnal Equinox occurs today in the Northern Hemisphere. And it’s raining. It’s been raining for the past couple of days, and I’m not going to even pretend that it’s not a bit…dreary. The oppressive gray clouds, thick and unrelenting, filter the sunlight so that it’s unusually dark, even during the day. In spite of the inclement conditions though, beauty is just waiting to be found.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: First Day Of Fall”