Vacation but still working hard

Finally our summer vacation arrived and so did summer. Nice coincidence. On our way home we got a call that the guineas were at the post office in Bangor. We made a quick u-turn and headed back to town to pick up our babies. They would have delivered them to Bradford Post Office the next day but we like to pick them up as early as possible. They have already been without feed and water for the 2-3 day delivery. The guineas are so small that 30 of them will fit comfortably and with room to spare in this box.

The day before I had washed the water containers so they would be ready and placed small rocks in the trench to prevent the guineas from drowning. Ted put shavings in the brooder and hung the heat lamp over the corner so they would be nice and toasty. One by one they get lifted out of the box and had their beaks dipped into water.

We always order Gro-gel when we get chicks. It has electrolytes and minerals to give the chicks a good start. The Gro-gel turns from powder to a jello like substance and is placed on top of their feed. All chicks, turkeys and now guineas seem to love it.

They have such sweet faces. We ordered the Assorted Guinea Package from Murray McMurray Hatchery. It is a mix of at least three different kinds of guineas.

Update on our little garden. With the sun and warm temps it has started growing actual vegetables. I'm so proud! The peas are getting big.

Onions are beautiful

We have summer squash. The ground was so poor last year even the squash wouldn't grow. We tilled, added compost, tilled a couple of more times to really break up the clay and it made wonderful changes.

We have tomatoes before the first frost. What a treat. They taste so good right off the vine.

The corn has tasseled and the ears are growing. Each year we learn something that helps us the next year. We will plant corn in shorter rows and about four rows wide. It seems they like having a tight grouping. This makes sense if you look at huge corn fields. Tight rows.

Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. We have been using diatomaceous earth for pest control. We still have a few bugs but this method seems to work well. No pesticides in the garden so far.

Coming from the South I never saw Brussels Sprouts growing. They are so cute.

I know that next year we want to add fennel to our garden. It is so tasty braised with onions. I think I have been watching Ina Garten from the Barefoot Contessa a bit too much.

We are having a great time this week. Alex's six year old granddaughter Mia is up from New Hampshire for the week visiting. She is learning about the garden and enjoying picking the vegetables.

It's not all work and no play. She and Jasmine are close friends and girly girls. Time out for nail painting under the Maple tree.

Mia toes.....

Jasmine toes....

A warm summer day under a huge shade tree. Summer at it's finest.

We tried to explain to the girls that the apples weren't ready to eat yet. Some things you just have to figure out for yourself. Ewwwww.......

Best wishes from everyone here on the farm. We hope that all is well and everyone is happy and healthy. Much love and prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Kelly

Working Toward Self Sufficiency

No one says it is easy. It is very difficult. We come from a different climate where everything grows without a second thought. It isn't even necessary to put forth a whole lot of effort to get vegetables to grow in Florida. The growing season is long, hot and humid. Just the environment that plants need to grow and prosper. We had a much bigger garden last year and the harvest was slim to none. The corn was eaten by the myriad of crows we have. The pumpkins never grew. As far as tomatoes go, they weren't ripe until the frost came an made mush out of them. We had a few squash come up last year, wormy brussel sprouts, lots of good peppers and onions. We are thankful for our harvest. This year we planted a smaller garden. Unfortunately we had a late frost that killed all of our tender plants we bought. A new rule that we have made to live by is, no planting until June 1st. The effort is just too much to loose plants. We will start our own plants inside. I see a small greenhouse in our future. We have scarecrows in place. Don't laugh at our giant flying bumblebee. The crows are not around. Those birds are destructive.

This is our small bounty for this afternoon. We weeded and weeded. The swiss chard is next. We are having collard greens for supper tonight before we head off to work. Jasmine has been enjoying herself this summer on the farm. I think all kids are happier and healthier when the can get out of an apartment and run and play all day. They pass out at night and sleep very well.

On the road to being independent we made a trip to Hammond Tractor in Fairfield, Maine. This is our new addition to the farm. We are looking for used hay equipment. We need a mower/ conditioner, a rake and a square baler. All in good time.

This is a good start, it is a John Deere 5055E with 3pt PTO. It will hay our 20+ acres with no complaints. We will use the bucket to install fence post next weekend when we make another pasture for the sheep, goats and llamas. Fence posts here are cedar and one end is pointed. We place the post in the appropriate spot and push down with the bucket. One installed fence post. Only 50 more to go. It will earn its keep here.

We are having a couple of nice days in a row so the haying has begun. The pasture was mowed/conditioned this morning, tedded in the afternoon, and raked late this afternoon. It will be re-tedded and raked tomorrow and we will bale it in the afternoon after we get up from a few hours sleep. Right now we are still depending on Kevin, our neighbor, to get the hay done. We split the hay 50/50 with him for his labor and we assist him with the baleing and moving it into the barn. He will also be able to store some of his hay in our barn over the winter. We all work together. That is the only way to survive here.

It is off to work we go. Have a safe and happy summer evening. Much love and prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Kelly

One Step Closer

It's best to look at things in steps so we don't get so overwhelmed. We are one step closer to having a garden. Last year the weeds and bugs got the best of our garden. They completely took over and won. This year we are fighting back. We have added a Huskee 8hp walk behind tiller to our arsenal. It is a bright pretty red. A little dusty right now from the tilling that Alex did on Monday. Today we had a nice slow rain that will sink in and get the ground ready for plants. All we need now is for Mother Nature to crank up the heat.
Here is another step. We have fencing. The pastures beckon. The goats need room to roam. We are in the market for any strong backs to help put this stuff up. Any takers?

And today we got one more step in this process. The rolls of fence have been distributed into the pasture to await our next 4 day stretch off to put it up. It comes in handy having a truck to move the rolls. They weigh a ton. Well, not quite a ton, but they sure are heavy.

We are back to work for the next 3 nights. Things will have to be in limbo for that time. Alex went shopping today and bought plants for the garden. They sit on the outside table awaiting planting. We have plans. We have to work to support our habit. Our homesteading habit that is.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Fall- Officially Here

Well there is no doubt about it, Fall has arrived. We had a hard frost last night and the garden is prettty much done for. Just the other day we put 4 quarts of brussels in the freezer and I hope we can go and get another batch in the next few days as these are not really affected by the cool weather. We have also learned that here in upper Maine a summer garden is really a fall garden. So much of it is just now coming fully ready and then the frost gets it. We have absolute bucket loads of green tomatoes out on the now frost killed plants. How fair is that? I did get a bucket in on thurs of ripe ones and another of Italian peppers. We will just have to put up what we can. I did manage a huge pot of apple butter over the weekend and sent some home with the kids. Even Teddy took some back to college with him. Kelly made 4 wonderful zuccini breads with pecans and we have already devoured one.
Kelly's big accomplishment was getting some of the Christmas Soaps made. She did a big double batch of Gingerbread with pumplin flakes and several Holiday scents with stuff like cranberry seeds in it. It smells so good upstairs where it is all drying. It takes 4 weeks to harden and for the lye to ?dissapate or ?react or whatever it does. To turn into good luscious soap. The website still is not up so you can't get it yet but hopefully soon.
The chickens were free range for 3 days but are now back in their coop. We made a lovely door to the yard and set the girls free. They were delighted. So were we. We just got such a kick out of them that we sprawled in the grass and watched them for hours. They ate grass and chased crickeets and carried on when they got a grasshopper. How funny they are 46 hens and 2 silly roosters trying to guard them. Then yesterday we spent hours in the flower garden getting the new peonys from Canada planted and weeds pulled and dirt moved it low areas. Today the hens came in while we were asleep and chewed up flowers left and right. They scratched big holes and generally tore things up. So they are banned until we can figure out how to keep them freely home on the range and out of the garden.
Our neighbor Chris came and cut down the pasture grass along the fence lines while we were asleep also. Now we can get the new posts in and the fences started.
We took Leah, Kelly's daughter and her sweet baby to the pediatrician yesterday so she could get a persistent ear/sinus infection treated. I hate it when the babies are sick, they just don't understand why they feel so crummy and she keeps pulling on her ear. Hopefully in a couple of days she will be better.
I have a new great niece Wren. Welcome to our world. I miss your mommy and my sister has sent me beautiful pictures of you. Know that you are loved. Well thats about all for tonight. We keep our friend peggy at Hidden Haven and her daughter Melody in our prayers and for all our servicemen and women. From the far north....Alex

Back at last

Well what do you know, the computer at work decided to let me on. You never can tell what its going to do. I know it has been quite a while but let me try to get all that we have done in some sort of order. In July we picked 19 quarts of strawberries and made our first preserves. Well we made some preserves and some syrup. Pectin , it seems is magic and we are novices at its control. We have about half the jars (about 25) that are just too soupy to be called preserves. But its good on ice ceram. And the freezer has a goodly amount in their natural state. Our chickens have matured nicely. We now get about 30 eggs a day and are selling them. We are talking to a caterer and that would be sweet if they want 12 dozen a week. We got 25 cornish cross roosters to raise as meat birds and I will not be sorry to see them go. All they do is eat and sleep. And they are not nice when you go in to feed, they peck at your legs constantly and spur you. So I say " to the freezer with you old buggers" and I will keep my affection for my sweet brown hens. Ted built us another set of nest condos as 9 was not enough. The girls were pushing and shoveing and laying eggs everywhere. Now they are much happier. The weather has been an issue for us all summer. It rained here in upper Maine for a month straight, every day. No one could get hay cut. Well some did but not us. The fellow who was supposed to cut our hay does not like to square bale but has both a square and round baler. He gets half the hay for the job. This year he thought he had a lease on a much bigger field a so kept putting ours off till the rain started. When it finally ended we had hay and weeds and his lease fell thru so he came and cut ours. Then his square baler wouldn't work so he round baled everything, except sheep want dry hay and we have no tractor to move round bales. So we have an empty barn and round bales sitting out in the rain. He on the other hand can use round balse and has the tractor. Go figure. So Kelly and I have decided to go to the USDA and jump thru their hoops in the hopes of getting a loan for a tractor mow bar, rake , and baler. With 20 acres of hay we can do our own. So additionally, due to weather, high grass, and general lack of funds we still don't have our fence posts in or fence wire purchased and up. We did , however make a trip down to Skowhegan and check out the Tractor Supply Company. What a candy store! They tell us one is coming to Bangor next year. I can't wait. We have a pellet stove paid for and are waiting and waiting for Lowes to get it in. We've been 5th on the list for a month. Pellets are also reserved thru our feed store. The sheep are coming in January so we have much to get ready. The second side of our old barn is now all cleared out and just a few repairs needed for the sheep to come. I have to build a bunch of doors before winter gets here. Now kelly has decided to get some dairy goats. I have to find out about mixing the goats with the icelandics and what the differences in care are. Her Soap making is going great with many different kinds of wonderful all natural goat milk soap. Selling well. If we can ever figure out how to get the web site up and running you can all see it. Now she is going to make bath bombs and maybe lotion. I have started making cheese. So far Mozzerella and ricotta and soft chees spreads. A neighbor has goats and lots of lovely milk and is going to teach me to make cherve though I still can't pronounce it. Lets see what else... Teddy, Kellys youngest is off to college this last weekend. Phones and says he loves it so that is good. The house sure is quiet. The bees are doing well according to Kelly. I still look from an allergic distance. The back of the house has the siding completed and all the kitchen cabinets are in. We built a huge island around the chimney and it has lots of custom stuff like tall sheet pan cabinets and cutting board slots and soda can bins and is all tiled. We took down the wall that was so cold in the kitchen last winter and found..surprise, no insulation at all. nothing, just the ouside boards from when that end of the house was a barn 160 yrs ago. So it is now insulated and sheetrocked but has yet to be painted. All the bedrooms upstairs are finished. Floors are done, walls painted and decorated. Thats 5 rooms. All that is left up there is the hall and the yet empty bathroom. Someday!We did end up with some tomatoes squash cabbages brussels, lots of Italian peppers and onions. The grape vines are ok as are the raspberries but the blackberry didn't make it. The blueberry bushes look fair. Our asparagus patch lots like it will be ok too. Some of the trees are already changing. The days grow perceptably shorter up here and I made a big double batch of homemade bake beans. Must be fall coming. I am headed to NH in Oct for my eldest sons wedding and have been clothes shopping, which I hate. but I finally have something to wear. Kell'y birthday was last week and mine is in 2 weeks and so time marches on, right over us. All her kids were up last weekend which was loads of fun. Good to see them and the grandbabies. well thats it for now. Glad to be back. Alex

New Week, New Exhaustion

Well, here we are at the beginning of another three nights on. But boy have we gotten a lot done in our time off. On Friday Kelly's daughters family left the farm for their own apartment. And their baby now has her own room. Saturday was a shopping day. Groceries, Wal-Mart, Feed store etc. With some laundry thrown in for good measure. Oh, and we got the new freezer. Sunday was sunny and warm. Actually Saturday was too for the first time in weeks. So we mowed and trimmed and tended gardens. Jasmine had a ball feeding new mown grass to the chickens. They had great fun eating it. Kelly got all the tools out of the kitchen now that construction has narrowed its scope to walls and ceiling. She spent most of the day cleaning house. Ugggh.We unpacked some more boxes that have been stored since last July. Like getting Christmas presents. Sunday late at night we stole into the coop and put the sleeping roosters into the carry boxes. No muss , no fuss and only the occasional squawk. Nothing like the dead of night by flashlight for unpleasant tasks. Early Monday morning we were off to the butcher.Jason's Butcher in Albion ME. Now I have never done this or seen this done but where we went was very clean and very humane. Also very quick. We handed them the chickens (actually Ted and I- Kelly stayed in the truck to avoid crying) and they put them in cones to kill and bleed them. Then to a big hot vat and off came their feathers. Now they no longer looked like our chickens , just food. Then they were thoroughly cleaned and packed in ice. But the chickens before and after ours were HUGH. Seems Layer/meat breeds mean layer and not much meat but meat breeds are big. So we have 40 smallish chickens in the freezer and we are going to order 25 big breed chicks right away to have ready by fall. Sunday night Kelly and Tiffany made two batches of soap. Tuesday Kelly and I drove Jasmine and her Mom back to their apt in NH after a nice summer vacation with us. We will all miss them and hope they can get up for awhile before school starts. Wednesday Kelly and Ted did business in town and I did piddly things around the farm like hoeing weeds and peel a couple of cedar logs for fence posts. The garden is still pitiful. Out of 6 long rows of corn I think we have 5 plants. No beans came up. We lost all the tomatoes,and most of the peppers but I'm replanting some of those. We have cabbage, Brussels, Spinach,onions and squash. We have one lone pumpkin plant. We have 2 baby grape vives, 2 blueberry bushes , 2 rasberry and 1 blackberry plants. About half the asparagus came up and it is so thin I almost missed it and weeded it out. Herb garden is doing well. And we unfortunately have a whole section of garden thick in thistle. We will dig all that out and burn it this weekend. We are all kind of tired. Kelly cut the new soap to harden in the evening. Today was very lazy. Hate to get too tired when we have to work all night. Ted however made a beautiful 9 unit condo for the hens when they get ready to lay. So now the farm is quiet with just 4 adults and only one rooster- Sampson. We'll have to see what we can do about that. I miss the noise. posted by Alex

Small Accomplisments

Well, here we are in June. The kitchen cabinets are finally done and we have just confirmed that,as suspected, the outside kitchen wall has NO insulation. Not a good thing in Maine. So our next project (as if we needed a new one) is to tear down the crappy hardboard over old wallboard (like30's or 40's judging by the wallpaper) and put in insulation bats. Understand these will not fit. Our studs vary from 32 to 46 inches apart and are made of trees. Then we can put up new wall board that will be custom fit because the floors are not square to the walls. Actually, nothing on this farm is square.
This afternoons accomplishments included setting up for the roosters to go to butchering in two weeks. A good thing because they are starting to crow and get all roostery, pushy and pecky. Time to go to the freezer! The heat followed by days of rain has seen all our tomato and pepper plants done in. The corn has not even come up. I may try some more tomatoes but it is getting late in the season to start and the whole garden thing is pretty discouraging. Maybe next year when we get a chance to do something with the soil in the garden it will be better. We are in Maine so we mostly raise rocks. Then we surround them with clay that is either dust or sticky muck and has no organic content . Hired someone to roto-till and find it goes only 3 inches down after 3 days of work. Add seeds and get what? More rocks in neater rows. I need to find manure and not the kind I get at work.
Ted spent the last two days trying to fix our neighbors lawn tractor which we borrow. But it still eats belts at $37 a pop. And the lawn is now 1/2 the height of the hay. Maybe we'll just hay the lawn.
Confirmed the 3 ewes for this winter. They will be AI bred before they arrive and Elaine at Frelsi Farm has promised to help us with the selection of ramAI stuff as we know from nothing. Less than nothing. Still in the "Oh how cute that lamb is "stage. How will we know if our lambs are good when we think all lambs are great.
Kelly's granddaughter Jasmine, 5 has taken to naming the bugs as they get in the back door. We have these huge iridescent beetles. She has called one Jimmy as in "Jimmy is in my bedroom and now I can't go in. Come help me" She told me a couple of nights ago that Jimmy's cousin Timmy Turner was trying to get in the kitchen window, pounding on the screen. Beetles have last names?
OK The new predator wasps are on the compost pile, the flowers are planted in the front yard with the new stone wall under slow construction, the lilacs are all just about done, tulips gone lilies not yet budded. We are still just at the beginning of summer here. But the days are long now this far north. Sun up well before 4 and still light at 830. Not that we always see it. Very few windows in the ICU and we work nights. This Post written by Alex.