The Wet View Today

We haven't seen the sun in 5 days.   Lots of rain and dark cloudy skies.

Some of the hens were camped out on the porch yesterday, not wanting to venture out into the rain.

They kept themselves amused.

Marilyn, the blonde hen, insists on sitting in my chair and peeking into the kitchen windows to see if anyone is headed her way with some treats.

When the rain slowed down, the flock got closer to the porch edge.

They almost left, but decided to wait, and good thing they did because it started to pour again.

The hens that stayed inside the chicken coop missed all the fun.

These porch hens got a few lasagna noodles and some left over boiled cabbage and rice to sustain them while they waited for the monsoon to stop.

Whats the weather like in your neck of the woods ?
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Art is Where you Find it

Occasionally I visit one of my neighbors.

I bring him fresh eggs.

He bakes.

He shares his creations.

Its a short drive and there are beautiful flowering trees on the way to his place.

 And there are some really nice wildflowers on the way up to his driveway.

The winters are long in Vermont.
Typically we have 7 months of winter and 5 months of bad sledding.

And Mother Nature has no humor.

When I walked into my neighbors yard I noticed right away that one of his wood stacks had fallen over one of those nights when the wind was howling at our doors.

It actually looked like art, the way it fell.

A few of his other stacks of wood were barely hanging on.

But I really did like the way the first pile had fallen with all the end of the wood reaching for the sky.

click on the photo to see a larger version.

His 4th pile of wood was leaning as well.

He gets some monster winds coming down the mountain in the back and I am surprised his house hasn't been blown off the foundation.

There were two more wood stacks piled away from the wind tunnel areas and THIS is how a properly stacked pile looks. (before winter comes again...)

How do you stack your wood?  In a design ?  In a pile ?  Or like the stack above ?
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Spring Heifers

I noticed some new cows on the block this week.  An unused barn has new life again.

 

Its a mixed herd of heifers.

Some Holsteins and two Dutch Belted heifers too.

Its always nice to see an unusual breed of dairy cow still being used.

 They will be raised up and be in a dairy herd this time next year.

 There are lots of lush pastures around this barn that the girls will enjoy for many months.

 

All over the state there are farmers getting their equipment out of storage barns and getting them ready for the season of planting, haying and harvesting.

 

 

Hay equipment is being taken out and worked on.

Hay season came early this year because of all the rain and sunshine.  Usually haying is just a dream until July around here.

The way things look now, there will probably be 2 hay crops baled by July in some places.

Got any hay in yet?
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Creative RECYCLED Chicken Tractor

Vermonters really do believe in Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Re-purpose. Until you wear it out completely.

Here is a perfect example:

A manure spreader turned into a nifty chicken tractor.

It is moved around the large garden every day. After the garden is planted the chicken spreader will be moved to a field to fertilize it.

 

 This poop mobile has a floor made of wood and wire so the manure falls through directly onto the garden.

There is a 5 gallon water jug system for the birds.

 

And the nest box is on the backside.

Here are a few other recycled and reused vintage pieces of equipment.

If this vehicle pulls into my barnyard, my hens will jump right on the runningboards.

What kind of chicken tractor do you have ?

Got a favorite vintage vehicle ?
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The Duck Dilemma

 

Hormones are a horrible thing.

Since March my 2 beloved male Silver Appleyard ducks have been attacking and irritating all my hens.  Their male hormones have been raging OUT OF CONTROL, as nature intended this time of year.

My 6 hens have duck wounds on their shoulders and missing numerous feathers everywhere on their bodies.

The flock has spent most of their days hiding up on the back porch, away from the mate crazed ducks.

The porch got messy, the hens egg laying abilities deteriorated and the 2 ducks turned into little monsters.

I penned the boys up in a special duck area, but they continued to escape by climbing up on top of each other to boost themselves over the fences. These ducks are too smart.

I also had to trim their wings to prevent them from using the wind to aid them in their escapes over the fences.

When the ducks did escape, the hens screamed and ran with the ducks chasing them til they caught them and then I would be running after them with a broom to keep them off the hens and then trying to herd the testosteroned twosome back to the coop to lock them up.

They didn't get to free range and forage anymore as they were obsessive about raping the hens.

They were miserable.

 I was miserable .

The hens were miserable.

They needed female ducks.

My 4 female ducklings never arrived in April and there is a backlog of orders so I imagine my order will eventually get canceled.  With this in mind, I knew I had to find some adult female ducks for the boys.

I put an ad on craigslist and within an hour I had a reply from a woman who had 2 white pekin ducks that were suppose to be a male and female pair...but the male turned into a female.

She wanted two males.

So with a heavy heart I decided she could have my beloved boys.

She drove right over from New Hampshire and picked up Rudy and Agnew.

It was love at first sight.

 

Into the duck transport cage they went.

In less than an hour the boys would be married and settled.

A few days after they left, I got several photos of them at their new abode.

They were swimming in their pool with their new mates and looked very content.

All is calm here, finally.
The hens are off the porch.
Egg production has increased.
Their wounds are healing.
I no longer have to gallop across the lawn, screaming, with a broom.

I miss the boys, especially when I see snails invading my garden.

But I know they are much happier where they are. *sniff*
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Flock Fencing to Save the Potatoes

The flock has been enjoying scratching up the garden since it was rototilled.

They have unearthed lots of worms and tasty bugs.

I love seeing them hard at work, but I need to start planting.  We had 3 frosts 2 weeks ago and a snow storm 8 days ago, so I feel like the cold front has passed and its time to get seeds and seedlings into the ground.  But I need to put up some fencing to separate the hens from the seeds.
So far they have not bothered the rhubarb, garlic or scallions, but I know darn well that they will scratch up my lettuce seeds and everything else if given a chance.  Today is fencing day.

The two pullets have stayed pullets (so far) and are now out of the chicken tractor and learning how to be real chickens.  Ester is on the left. I named her after a beloved volunteer at our local church thrift store who died last month. Mystery is on the right and I have no idea what breed of bird she is. She was suppose to be a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, just like Ester.
Apparently she isn't.
Got any ideas of what she could be ?

They are a real odd couple.  Usually they hang around with the ducks. They seem to be a bit bonded to the boys.

They learned how to be still and sit in the sun today.

Ester's coloring is so pretty.

Today I got my poultry netting out and asked a dear friend to help me put it up.

She thought it would take an hour or more to fence in the garden.  Ha!

Mev came dressed to work!

When I rolled the fencing out of the box she was shocked.  She thought we would be using post hole diggers, cedar poles and a roll of wire.

No way, I said.   I know a better method and we won't get injured while putting it up either!

Mev got very excited that we would not get bloodied or bruised before lunch.

One roll of netting was 100 feet long with posts every 6 feet.

This was the area I wanted to fence. I had a feeling it would not go all around my squash patch, so we modified the plan a little.

In less than 8 minutes we had the fence up, the garden protected and we even made a little pen for the hormonal ducks!

I then went and dug a long trench to plant my 4 kinds of potatoes.

I laid out all the spuds and turned around to see the hens pecking at and flinging the seed potatoes out of the trench.

I chased them away (why did I put up the fence?) and hurried up and buried the row before they all came back.

 

I piled the soil and compost high.

I then left the garden and closed the fence gate so the flock would not come dig all my future Irish meals up.

Tomorrow I will continue with my cold crops...just incase we get another frost.

How is your garden doing ?

Book of the Week

The librarian handed me this book the other day.

I wonder why.....

Not a single photo in the entire book.

But I read it anyways.

I can summarize the book in one sentence:

Rotational grazing of wildlife (buffalo, zebra, antelope, elephants, etc) and livestock will restore the soil and make it much more productive.

Its true.   And most farmers already know this, but it is interesting to read how this method was discovered in Africa.

Anyone else read this book ?
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Saturday Scenes

Busy morning.

The hens decided to dig up the pansys that I had just planted.....

 

I headed to recycling with 5 bags of paper, cans, glass, and 50 plastic containers.

On my way I went to see the herd.

The cows were itching off their winter coats and the calves were enjoying the shade from inside the old pig shelters.

 

I wet and checked out the community gardens to see who was planting this morning.

 Earlier in the week the community garden plots were measured off and the deer fencing started to go up.
Its been a very intense project getting this garden ready for people to raise their own healthy food.

I will post a more detailed blog post about it next week.

The two pullets are now free ranging further around the property and have been exploring all the blackberry bushes and the asparagus patch. I am so happy that these two have not turned into roosters like the rest did.

All the inside plants were moved outside to enjoy the sunshine this morning.

I love this yellow hibiscus.

I hope the snow is really gone.  A week ago we had a small snow squall and a downpour.  Some places got 5-12 inches of snow. My garden and coop was covered with about 2 inches. What a sight it was!

 

 The hay across the road has been raked into windrows so it could be blown into huge trucks and transported to the local dairy farm.  They were trucking the green chop out until 9:30 last night and started again at 6 am today.

They have processed several hundred acres in the past 2 days.

 

 A local green thumb gardener donated 20 large perennials so that the local health clinic could beautify their little flower garden at their driveway entrance. I volunteered to go get the plants this mroning and organize a planting party for tonight at 7 pm when it is cooler to weed, plant and mulch.

I traded rhubarb for these plants.  All different kinds and all different colors.
In a month my garden club will come to this location for a full garden tour when everything is in full bloom.   

 

On my way home I saw the cows in a different field up on a hill, under the apple trees, chewing their cud and swatting at flies.

My favorite cow, Wanda, recognized my truck and gave me a nod of acknowledgment.

Time for lunch.

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and beet greens.  Beef from my farm friend, potatoes from my garden last fall and beet greens from another farm up the road.

What have you been doing today and what did you have for lunch??

Happy June!!
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