WaldenWood

Mourning at the Wood

2009-07-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our dogs are the darnedest dogs. They basically ate through the chain link fence and got out. Unfortunately JD, our Jekyll/Hyde dog, killed three of our chicks. I have never seen Mark so mad. Two of the three were roosters so I tried to point out to him that we would have been killing them in another month or so anyway. We are sad to see them go but such is the circle of life. The rabbits have also figured out how to get out of their cage. We think the massive hole they have dug into the ground must come out somewhere although we can not find it anywhere. Anyway, I await for their imminent death also.

The Duck Parade

2009-07-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

One of the most fun things to watch at our house is the duck parade.

First, let me say ducks as babies are disgusting - they are stinky and messy. Ducks need lots of water - the more you give them, the more they want - so by the end of the day their cage is a pool of stinky, poop filled water.

So we were anxious to get them out of the garage and into the yard. We wanted to make sure they bonded to our place so we set them up in the yard during the day. Finally we moved them to an old rabbit house that we set up on the hillside. Raccoons supposedly like ducks so you must lock them up at night.

They adapted well to their new house. So at first we let them hang around the house but we eventually moved them to the garden area so they could eat the slugs there. Every night they stand by the garden gate waiting to come up to their house by our house.

They are hilarious. As soon as the garden gate is open they RUN up the hill. But ducks don't really run - they waddle really fast. They are so funny to watch. They come up the hill, go right into their house and then wait for Mark to catch up and put their food in their house where they gobble it down in 10 seconds and proceed to drink a whole lot of water.

In the morning the whole process is reversed. It is pretty funny.

In other poultry news, the baby chicks that are not so small anymore are now roosting on a pallet that is leaning against one of our work sheds. They are pretty cute all lined up. We have also had a wild turkey hanging around. Those things can really fly. It flew half up a 60 foot tree and it flew over our garden fence to have a little snack...

Summertime at the Wood

2009-07-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week for us here with all our extracurricular activities, i.e. everything we do outside of the Wood. We were able to get down last Sunday and harvest a generous crop of beets, onions and peas. The ducks for some reason have taken a real liking to pea shoots. I am not too upset because the peas were about done. We got some lovely yellow beets. I think I am going to make a soup out of them with some of our carrots. Should be a beautiful color!

I got some new irises that need to be put in the ground this weekend. I am considering starting a second flower garden further down the hill by the old snag. I want to transplant some of the hostas and the daisy millers which are taking over! I thought I would also move the lavender over there. I have not found a good place yet for the lavender so it keeps getting moved. So far it is hanging in there.

I am having a garden party next week so we need everything in top shape. Plan on going down this weekend to thin apples.

Things are moving quite slowly with the goats. We have always heard that goats are friendly and will bond with you like a dog. These goats are not doing this. Although Mark felt they got closer yesterday and even seemed to follow him. We were going to round them up this weekend but unfortunately the owner of the field where they are is haying and does not plan to bale the hay until next week. So we will have to put it off probably for two weeks as we will be going out of town soon.

Goat Sighting

2009-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

We found the goats. They are with a herd of dairy cows down the road. Now the fun begins. How do we catch them and get them back onto our property? We are enlisting the assistance of our more experienced neighbors. Check back to hear more of the goat saga.

Made a delicious soup last night with Italian sausage, tomatoes, white beans and beet greens. Served with a piece of hard bread. I am still not sure about the beets but I have to save I really like the greens. They are very hardy. Have had several visitors recently who have asked about eating the nastertiums. They supposedly taste peppery. Guess we have to try them on a salad.

Corn is really growing. We have had cool weather for the past few days with rain. Almost feels like fall. Hopefully our season is not ending early as everything looks really good but we need at least another month of hot weather to finsih everything off. Have been reading a good gardening book. She talks about the "three sisters" - beans, corn and squash. People would plant the corn in a circle then plant beans next to them. The beans would grow using the corn as a trellis. The squash would be planted on the outside of the circle. The center becomes a gardener's sanctuary. I think that might be fun to try next year!

The ducks destroyed our strawberry patch so poor season for them. I think I am going to transplant them somewhere in the garden. We will have to fence them off from the ducks. Which reminds me - the ducks had a great slug feast today. So that is good news. Maybe I am biased but I do think the slug damage has decreased considerably since we got them.

Mark picked blueberries yesterday so am going to try to make a pie today or tomorrow. Mother hen and her chicks have been going through there in the morning and pulling them off the bushes. I think we are going to corral them up this weekend, clip their wings and patch the holes in the chicken yard. They are big enough to live there now instead of wandering all over WaldenWood feasting on whatever they want. There appears to be three roosters so I am afraid in another month we will be dispatching them to chicken heaven. We will get to have true organic, free range chicken. We will have to see how Mark does with the killing part...

More updates later.

Taking Time Off

2009-07-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

We are in Central Washington taking some time off. We are staying at a lovely winery with an inn enjoying the warm weather and an amazing view of the Columbia Gorge. It is so nice to hang outside (with the computer obviously) in shorts and barefoot. Hubby says we live in paradise, which we do, but I need to get away because when I am home I can only think of all the things that need to be done like tending my organic dandelion greens farm.

Hopefully all the animals are fine. Would be nice if some goats showed up.

Anyway, all I can say is ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......

Rabbits on the Loose

2009-07-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

We were doing our usual routine tonight when I got a call that rabbits were on the loose. They have dug a very deep hole and we thought that they had broken through somewhere. One rabbit was in the garden area. It was easy to catch. We sat up a temporary fence and were able to get him rounded up easily. However while we were doing this, Mother chicken and her chicks decided it was time to go to bed in their house. In case you were wondering rabbits and chickens do not like each other. The chicken was attacking the rabbit; the rabbit was attacking the chicken. The baby chicks were chirping madly, trying to figure out how to get into the house without facing the rabbit.

The second rabbit was a little more difficult. It was in the chicken yard. We were able to finally get it into the garden area. We found out that the way they got out was their cage door was open. So we were able to round it up by herding it into the greenhouse and it went right back into the cage. We did have some help from the cat who was having a great time chasing a rabbit.

Everything is back in place finally. Except the goats which are still missing.

Goats Disappear

2009-07-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday hubby ventured into the yard to look for the kids that were last seen screaming down the hill. Gone. We think they jumped over the fence in the corner in which there is a little bit of a rise. Cloe has not been seen either. We were somewhat excited today when we saw that the water was gone but then figured out that the bucket was leaking. The goat lady says to give it more time but I am really not sure how the goats will know that this is their home. We have notified the neighbors, searched all local pastures and walked the woods. Not a clue.

At one point Dog #2 escaped from his yard and went charging down the hill to chase chickens. He ventured into the brush so I figure that if the goat had been nearby he would have found them. Guess we will give them about a week.

Our nieces spent the week with us and seemed to have a good time. The teenager actually took a liking to our poultry and was diligent about checking for eggs and leading the ducks home at night. We have a routine in the morning. Ducks come out of their house near our house, go down the hill to the garden area where they are supposed to be eating slugs but I don't think they are. They seem to spend most of the day floating in their pond and lying under trees. The chickens come out and squawk for food and Mother Superior and her chicks come charging/flying down the hill to get their share. Soon we will need to trap them and clip their wings. I think we have three roosters so in another month....

At night the whole process is reversed. Ducks return up the hill to their house, get their dinner. Chickens go to their house. It starts all over again in the morning.

Harvested peas and beets today. Replanted spinach and radishes. Carrot tops look great but the roots are not developing. Not sure what the problem is there. Corn looks good. Half of the potatoes look good. Got some tomatoes growing.

Goats Arrive

2009-07-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

The goats arrived and let's just say it did not go as planned. We bought three goats - an older nurse goat named Cloe who was to take care of two younger twins. The folks backed the pickup truck to the fence and Cloe was supposed to jump out of the cage and into her new home. Well, she jumped - right onto a metal post. I thought she was going to be impaled right there. But she rolled off and took off up the hill towards the dog yard where the dogs were waiting to greet her. Hubby went up to bring the dogs in and had to leash one and when got up there Cloe was squared up with the other each on their sides of the fence. She was butting the fence and the dog was attacking the fence on his side.

In the meantime, the kids were physically removed from the pickup truck, screaming their heads off and placed into the yard. They ran down the hill and have not been seen since.

Hay was put out by the new goat yard and by the dog yard in hopes of luring Cloe back and hubby is sitting by the new goat yard hoping to glimpse the kids.

Quite an event! Hope it goes better from here.

Working Hard

2009-07-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

We have been working hard getting ready for our new additions - three Spanish goats from Northern California. As usual the worker bee has been procrastinating, putting off to the very last week putting up a goat-proof fence. But it is complete and looks good. He literally got it done at the moment the goats were to arrive but fortunately for him they were delayed. So we are still waiting. In the meantime I have been roasting coffee and making homemade peach ice cream. Our previous coffee roaster broke and we decided to invest in a very expensive drum roaster this time. The first batch came out unevenly roasted. So I roasted a second batch - Kona beans - and they look good. The peach ice cream was even better.

I am enjoying sitting on the porch, browsing the internet. I have a book next to me but have yet to open it. This week was a hard one at work with lots of demands from all corners so my mind just wants to take a break. Anyway the weather is cooperating nicely. Time to take a nap I think...

2009-06-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

Summer is the busiest time for us with everything growing including the weeds! This morning has been no exception. We have weeded the raspberry bed, trimmed the photina which we had chopped to the ground but seems determined to come back, picked and shelled peas, mowed the yard and trimmed it up. Actually hubby has done most of this.

I was disappointed that we have not gotten any raspberries but my gardening buddy tells me that is because I trimmed my bushes last year. At least they are still alive!

It is in the 70s here which I know for our Texas relatives would be considered jacket weather but for us, it is quite warm. I sat under the porch shelling the peas, listening to the birds. Our mother hen walked by with her 9 chicks chirping away, pecking at unseen things. The dog sat at my feet thinking that peapods would be delicious to eat. He did enjoy chewing them like a chew toy but then realized that down deep inside he is not a vegetarian.

The flowers are beautiful. Yet we still have not reached the peak of their season. Another month and things will really be blossoming. I don't know if the sunflowers are going to make it. There are a few poking their heads up but mother and babies have scratched up the flower bed pretty well but we haven't had the heart to shoo her away. Chicks are pretty cute.

Funny story:

We have four ducks now as well as a mother hen with 9 chicks. Watching these groups of fowl is quite funny. We got the ducks to eat slugs which so far have been resistant to my best organic efforts. So today we moved the ducks from the front yard down to the garden. We have converted two rabbit hutches into poultry barns and have one in the garden in which the hen and her chicks have been staying and the other one is up near the house where the ducks have been staying. The chicks are getting bigger and they and their mom have been spending more time in the chicken yard so we thought the ducks could move into the house in the garden. Tonight we went down to lock them up (otherwise the raccoons will get them) and the four ducks are standing at the gate quacking away. So we go in and peek our head into the house and there is mother hen with her chicks around her including one sitting on her back! She was not going to give her house up to a bunch of ducks! So Mark picked up the feed tray and starting walking up the hill and here came the ducks waddling after him, quacking away. It was quite a sight to see. I wish I had a video.

Ah, life on the farm.