Noel on the Farm

Now that everyone is of a "certain age", there doesn't seem to be a frenetic rush to compress every holiday must-do or must-have into the 24 hour period that we did when the kids were younger. We finally got smart and spread the calorie-dense, HUGE meals out over a few days.
Christmas Eve was spent at the in-laws who have a traditional oyster stew fest. We supplied venison chili and cornbread as a counterpoint. Yes, if you were wondering, the buck was farm harvested . Anyways, friends and neighbors stopped by before heading off to midnight services. The best part is most of these folks sing in their respective choirs so they all can carry a tune and the piano can set them off into Christmas carols at the tinkling of an ivory key.
Christmas sees Gillillands all over the world enjoy the same breakfast of Susie Eggs, which some child 100 years ago changed the name from Eggs a la Suisse. When I got married my grandmother-in-law Ginny handed me the recipe and shared the family story, and I've been preparing them for 30 years myself. Eggs, cream, gruyere cheese, bacon, breads and grapefruit - you can see why we are comatose once it's all been consumed. Our bodies are stunned by calories, and a nap is the required remedy.
Pacing ourselves, we finally get to the day-after-Christmas feast of the Massive Bounty of Free Range Turkey: forty pounds of whole turkey with all the trimmings. And there you have it! Now with that mission complete, we are into my favorite, leftovers mode. Yeah!
My mother, Pat, worries that the animals are having a rough time in the snow and cold. I assure her that the heat is tougher on them. The can all go in or out of shelter and they prefer to stand in the wind and snow. They all have access to plenty of hay and water that is kept ice free with de-icers. Ponies with a snow pack covering them means that there is a layer of insulation between them and the weather. If they didn't have it, they would be blanketed or kept in the barn.

first fire in the fireplace

Here it is October and I am finally ready to put a match to the fireplace to warm things up around here. Last year I went down to Cobleskill and it was snowing so I guess I should be thankful it is just cold.
Chauntel was supposed to keep this blog updated but I think she found out there are way too many other things to get done on farm before you can sit on your butt and type in a few words. She is very thankful to be back at St. Lawrence. She did find out that she will be heading off to the UK in January for semester abroad, good for her.
Quentin returned for his 18 hours of summer. He flew back from Ft. Knox boot camp to return to Norwich University just in time to start studying. However it seems like the VT. Nat. Guard has always got him doing something on the weekends. They just finished FEMA training and a good thing because we had about 5 inches of rain. So much for my babies.
I have increased my sheep flock. Just yesterday I picked up a "starter flock" of registered purebred Katahdins. It has taken me over a year to purchase such a thing. They are hard to come by. My "practice sheep" are the darling Shetlands and then I added on the French Girls otherwise known Ile de France again not so easy to find. They are nice and friendly and love to be petted. These Katahdins are about 4 times the size and they seem a bit jumpy (as they were up, up & away when we were picking them up at their previous farm) The thought "Danger Will Robinson" did cross my mind especially when we were picking out a ram. The other farmer had a hotshot hanging on the wall (now there is an electrical note to self) Ben Wever has us zen-trained when dealing with animals so that was an eye opener to Shaun & I. The Lady said that she had had an unpleasant incident (this is North Country code for multiple broken bones or some such 9-1-1 event) and wasn't about to let that happen again. Uh huh! You can bet I won't be taking me eyes off the ram and he is small. Maybe I should of stuck with those tiny Shetlands.
Anyone have a suggestion for the ram lamb' name? His Daddy was Southern Gentleman from Louisiana. Maybe Reber Rhett?

Harvest Time

Veggienauts and Cattlegenerians

Tonight for date night Big Daddy & I rushed over to Wadhams to go visit Juniper Hill Farm. Amy Ivy from Cornell Coooperative Extension asked Adam and Melody to host an IPM class and field tour of what was growing in their garden. It is a beautiful farm that has been in Adam's family for generations and he has done his ancestors' proud. There were about 15 of us gathered there to "spy" on what the young organic farmers were up. Several local farms were represented, such Fledging Crow, Harvest Hill, Huestis Farm, and quite a few others. So everyone was in good company. Since we primarily raise meat proteins and we are a "tiny" bit older than the "sprouts" who are fast and furiously running their CSA farms we came up with the nicknames in the title. I think they are amazing farmers with they have accomplished in such a few short years with their hard work and determination.
Funny thing is during the warm months we rarely see another farmer unless its an emergency. And on this past Saturday we saw most of these folks up at Lake Clear for Adirondack Council's Conservationist of the Year award luncheon and ceremony. Adirondack Harvest received the Loon Award as conservationist of the year, so all of us farmers went to cheer Laurie Davis & Tom Both on. Of course, we probably would not of been there if the weather had been prime for haying!
And that brings us to Sunday evening's fun (ring, ring, ring 911). Shaun comes back in from watering cattle & swine and announces that #37 was calving. So we should go over and check on her in about 20 minutes. When we get there , it was uh oh, oh no time. The calf was coming out back legs first. Backwards and not progressing. So we need to catch her up to help her out. Now moving a cow with her calf's legs sticking out of her in hot, humid weather, uneven terrain, & with Big Daddy's mental telepathy on the fritz (I WAS NOT RECEIVING his instructions by brain wave, can you believe it?) does not equal fun. Alas a cranky #37 did not get that memo either and did not appreciate the help. I even tried using Jasmin & Lily as decoy cows. Mama to be #37 was onto to us and the fight was on.
Our Village Chieftain came over to save the day & assist with pulling chains (and possibly from Shaun & I killing each other with nasty glares). And of course, the cow at this point walked quietly to the barnyard and into the squeeze chute like that was where she was headed the whole time. After all the drama, I felt for sure that calf would be stillborn. But the gods were smiling upon us and the bull calf was born, but not looking to good. Lee picked that baby up shook him upside down and his poor lungs that had been filled with fluid came rushing out. The bull blinked and looked around for his mama -I'm sure he was hoping it wasn't Lee after that rough treatment that saved his life. Mom #37 mooed & got right to work, cleaning up and drying off her baby boy.

Swarm of Bees is July , Isn't worth a Fly

Well it was happy morning for a young beekeeper in the Adirondacks. . .
After spending the week at Cornell University with over five hundred 4-H teens learning all kinds of new and exciting career opportunities. Yours Truly took the focus for Teens track of "Youth Grow" where we thought great thoughts about our Food System with Garden-based Learning. . . but that is another story. Lazarus, your boots are on their way to NYC as soon as our Postmistress returns from lunch.
Stay focused-back to the honeybees. My "mentee" (is that a word?) Caleb from Perennial Pursuits Farm called to report a problem with his bees. He said he was headed out to knock down a chunk of hay when he noticed a tornado like cloud of bees. Now he has been following my advice (the first person to do so) and his new hives are humming along as expected. But he insisted that this dark cloud of bees were hovering over his #1 hive. But the bees in his hive only seemed mildly agitated. Hmm.
By the time I got over Willsboro Mountain the bees had collected up about 10 ft off the ground in a maple sapling. The weather is gorgeous and everyone is excited to help even the Black Lab pup, Mavis. If we had written a text book chapter the capture of his new bees, this would of been it! Here is how we did it.
We laid out the white sheet (so we could find the Queen easily). I pulled the sapling over and Caleb knocked the bees onto the sheet. We put a super with frames over the bees. Then onto Queen Search, once the beautiful young queen was found she and her sisters marched happily in their new hive. Then the box was placed in its new location, a hive top feeder was filled and placed on top to welcome them and done. And Caleb's mom, Master Gardener Liz, captured it all on film. So I think the old adage may not be correct - if you are new at beekeeping it is a great experience.
Caleb & Liz laughed when I asked if they had reviewed the chapter on Swarms in Beekeeping for Dummies. I have several copies and each are tattered from use. And of all the beekeeping books I have, I use and loan them the most because it goes for the essence of a situation and you can get right down to business.

Rain is a good thing

We should have one in Willsboro

Kickin' it old school: local butchershops. Also, I like this super-simple recipe for grilled chicken. You've got the grill, we've got the chicken. And arugula, if I can find those seeds...

Oh, and the boys say hi.

Chauntel

Mysterious happenings

Well, I thought I would post at least once a week, and I see that I'm a bit behind. But who isn't? Our garden is especially on the late end, we've just started planting. As of now, it would appear that we only grow tomatoes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, onions, and tomatoes. Did I mention tomatoes? So many tomatoes. I love the smell of tomato plants, but it's a bit overwhelming.

Some strange things have been happening on the farm lately. This past week we had a few calves, all of which were born healthy and happy. All pretty normal, lovely little black Angus calves. Except...

Yep. Did I mention we breed BLACK Angus? Or that his mama is entirely BLACK? That last summer we used a top-notch BLACK Angus bull? That there is no way this little boy could be anything but BLACK? I digress. But we have our theories. Perhaps a lonely wayward dairy bull might have wandered over without us noticing. Or maybe this is just one of those crazy one-in-a-gazillion genetic flukes. I mean, he's not even black and white. He's red and white. That's just insulting.

Then there's the raccoons. There have been no less than four raccoon encounters this week, and we know there are more prowling around. Is it raccoon mating season or something? Because they've been out full force and grabbing our chickens like we're a fast food drive-through. We're missing four turkeys and one little piglet. I'm not sure if raccoons are the most likely culprit, but the disappearances have happened smackdab in the middle of the raccoon invasion. Raccoons have always creeped me out a little bit, anyways. They look at like they're reading your mind, like they know all your secrets. And their hands - so slender yet tactile, kind of the way I imagine Professor Snape's hands in Harry Potter. They give me the shivers.

Chill out. I just made an HP reference, the world isn't ending. Yes, I am fully aware that I am a nerd, and an immature one at that.

Okay, anyways - here's the weirdest thing to top it off. After a fitful night of raccoon chasing, I woke up at 4 am to the smell of woodsmoke, like from a campfire. Of course, my first thought was that the barn was on fire. So, naturally, my first action was to reach over, grab my phone, text my dad (who was downstairs) "hey dad, it smells like smoke up here", and then roll over and go back to sleep. I don't think I'm much of a candidate for firefighting.

I got up at again at five to go riding and it still smelled like smoke, and there was a thick, smoky haze covering the sunrise. And the horses were a little on the nervous side, snorting and looking around like something was going to pop out at them. When I got back to the house for breakfast I found out that all this haze is smoke, blown down from forest fires in Quebec. The horses must have thought it was headed straight towards us. And the other animals are ansty as well.
The cows are restless, and the bees are piling up and honey in defense mode. When we work with beehives, we actually use smoke to make them cluster in the hive for easier transport and handling, because they start "packing up" in case a forest fire were to reach the hive. So today is a perfect day to work bees - they're already settled! The downside is they might think the forest fire really is on its way, in which case they'll pack up and then move out. But the wind is blowing the smoke away, so hopefully we don't need to worry. I took the above photo of Mom in the beehives this morning. All that haze is smoke. Insane.

'Til next time, lovies.
Chauntel

P.S. We just slaughtered a batch of chickens this weekend. Pick 'em up at the farmstand - they go fast! ...and save one for me. I'm thinking some fresh fennel chicken...yummy.

College is a two-semester vacation

Hi, everyone. For those of you who don't know, I am the full-time farmhand for the summer. When this was initially dreamed up, my first thought was this is great - I can make my own hours.

Oh, silly, naive little me.

I'd totally make my own hours if I had any. They're all consumed by precariously pregnant cows, the bottomless appetites of piglets and meat chickens, and, of course, the cannibalistic batch of turkey chicks. And my garden! It's not even planted and I already weed like I'm committing mass herbicide. I get up at six (read: I attempt to arise at six, and fail miserably) and don't hit the sack until around eleven. I try to go to bed around 9:30, but my parents are full-on partiers and sucker me into watching The Closer. To top that off, my dog wakes me up around 4 or 5 times to go out, and the turkey chicks I managed to rescue are in my bathroom and peep rather loudly and consistently thorughout the night.

Fortunately enough, I love it, so I'll happily suffer. As for farm updates...it's calving season, but there seems to be a lull in the "they're popping left and right!" hysteria. There are a gazillion chicks in the nursery wing of the barn. Well, not a gazillion. But fairly close. I can't wait until they feather out and can go outside. There are piglets in the barn too, and they need to be out enjoying the fresh grass and sunshine. I just have to find them a shady spot because they're mostly pink skinned, and I, of all people, can thoroughly appreciate shelter from the sun.

I'll be putting out flyers fairly soon. Also, please come by the farmstand and pick up some eggs. I think I wash and pack a gazillion eggs a day. Well, not a gazillion. But fairly close.

Chauntel

Weeding strawberries requires donning a suitably intense facial expression, so that persistent non-strawberry species may be frightened away from your zealously guarded raised beds.

This time of year, everyone's a spring chicken

Pedro posing for the camera. In just a few weeks, the grass popped green with grass - it must have been that very last snowfall.

Some brand new Jumbo Cornish cross chicks. They grow very quickly, and will be ready to slaughter at about 6-10 weeks of age. Our chickens go fast, so stop by the farmstand and get 'em while you can!

Fast growing mallard ducklings - they fill the barnyard & ponds with what we like to call a "joyful noise"!

Newton, Veronica, Contessa, and their lambs Violette and Cecelia.

Ma mère magnifique and a very vivacious Violette!

Chauntel + Linda

A mini-album for everyone

These are pictures Quint and I took last summer of the back forty. They give some hope that summer will be here...eventually. It did, after all, snow two inches on Tuesday.






Oh, and one more thing - Mom sent this picture to my e-mail, it looks like one of the first calves of the year? I'm not sure. She can fill you in. All I can say is that it looks like either the fuzzy one is a hefty baby or Dad wasn't expecting his picture being taken.



Enjoy!
Chauntel

Agricurious, Starmers, and other trendy Farm terms February 2010

Thanks! Again Jackie in Wisconsin brought to my attention that December is the last time we posted. Lots going on here that is for sure. I turned 50 on Valentine's Day and it wasn't painful. Chauntel came home from St.Lawrence University and helped Big Daddy with all the preparations. Quentin was unable to attend the festivities here in the Adirondacks but he did manage celebrate Chinese New Year (Tiger) with his Chinese Club at Norwich University.
To get me out of the way, I attended a small animal clinic on poultry and rabbits with a group of 4-H members. When I came home I was suspicious because my farm work clothes were hung up and Big Daddy wanted to take me out for a "drink" when I was in the middle of my chores. Now if you know me, going out for a "drink" would not be on my top gazillion things to do especially when I was in the middle of a farm stomp.
Getting back to the poultry thing, I learned some pretty neat stuff at the clinic especially about Russian Ortloff bantams. I actually connected with someone who wanted to go in and buy Call Ducklings. Call Ducks are minature but quite vocal. I have heard that ducks hunters bred them to be small enough to be put in their pocket and noisy enough to call wild ducks to a pond. They are difficult to come by. These little birds go in the pet/show category as I officially become a "poultry fancier"
Lily and Jasmine the Jerseys are due to freshen in March. They will have Half Scottish Highland calves. Shaun talked me into this. I wanted to AI with a Jersey sire but Pico looked lonely in the Bull Run and so. . . anyway with us being Empty Nesters, 2 family milk cows are 1 too many. Jasmine will be "farmed" out to a farm family down the road to be spoiled. I will keep old Lil here and use my new EZ Milker on her. I think the EZ milkers are dreadfully expensive but I am willing to skip the hand milking and definitely don't want the maintenance of machine milking. I will keep you posted on my product review. I've heard folks either love them or hate them. I would like to use it on the sheep herd of 3 as well just in case.
The chickens and ducks are laying like crazy again. Ponies are fatter than they were 2 months ago except for Palma who always remain Throughbred Thin (runway models of the horse world). Spring is just around the corner.
I recently attempted a roundup of farm cats & dogs to bring to the vets for shots. I thought I was up for the challenge. But someone forgot to give the farm cats the memo and they had other ideas. Dogs enjoyed the whole idea of an outing except Rueben the Cattle Dog. I'm afraid he is an agoraphobic. He hates to leave the farm. But the cats did not enjoy the event so much. . . So if you can imagine the Great Kitty Cat Round Up of 2010. I can tell you herding cats is an exercise in futility. I still have 4 that have to be wrangled.
For the Agricurious, I dread every fall when summer people throw their pet cats out at the farm thinking the cats will love it before the people go back to the city. I can tell you pet cats last about 48 hours before being hit by a car or eaten or beaten up by the half feral cat colony. Its cruel. The cats that tend to survive are "wild" with skills. Hence the cat herding fun I recently enjoyed.