Signs of Fall

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Lina

It’s finally gotten colder here at Right Field Farm and the  walks to the bus stop in the morning are downright chilly. Finally!  Fall is my favorite season.  (In all honesty, whatever season it is at the point that I’m asked tends to be my favorite, but Fall is kind of a first among equals.)

Here’s a Squampkin we found growing in the compost.  One of those mysteries because we don’t remember having purchased a white pumpkin to make these seeds…

I made a sweet potato pie from sweet potatoes out of our garden!  This statement requires an exclamation point because the deer were eating the leaves of the poor sweet potatoes almost every day.  We were sure we wouldn’t get anything from the plant, but the first one David pulled was over 2 pounds.  I guess when stressed, the plant puts its energy into its roots.  Bonus for us!

And I’ve been knitting again.  I learned how to cable finally.  So easy and I really like the look.  I might just cable everything from now on.

And the family hat project continues but here’s a picture of two of the cuter ones so far.  Katie’s hat is on my needles now or she’d be there, being fully qualified as “cute”.

And yes, his shirt is on backwards and inside out but he put it on himself and who could ask for more?

Posted in Farm, Knitting | 5 Comments

Coveting

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Lina

So I used to covet Kate Spade purses.  Now I covet this goat.

I mean look at him!  So cute, reminds me of one of the Seven Dwarves.  I think its the short legs.

What would I do with a goat you say?  Especially a male goat?  Environmentally friendly vegetation control!

Okay, so its a little out there for now.  But its fun to go places and see a farm animal I like and say “gee, we should get one of those” and really be able to do it if we wanted.

And, in all honesty, I still kind of want the Kate Spade purses.  :)

Posted in Farm | 3 Comments

Making Them Work For Their Keep

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Lina

We had a lovely weekend, filled with opportunities for the kids to work:

Picking apples and then eating the subsequent apple sauce….

Wheeling the garden cart around the field…..

Digging a hole to China, or at least to sit in… and thanking their daddy for filling the hole up with water to get a proper mud puddle going.

Posted in Farm | 5 Comments

Milestones

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Lina

We’ve reached a lot of milestones lately…

Tommy traded in his pacifiers for a doll who he loves so much, he hasn’t even asked for a paci since.

Zoe started kindergarten and even rode the bus for the first day of school.  She was fine, I cried.

And Katie turned 1!  She’s also almost ready to walk and has pretty much weaned herself too.  Its like they decide to grow up all at once.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Snake in the Hen House

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Lina

I used to use phrases like “fox in the hen house” as a metaphor, but owning chickens means we get to use them for real.  The benefits just keep on coming…

David and Tommy were out collecting the eggs and fortunately, David saw the 4 foot black snake curled up in the nest before Tommy stuck his hand in to get the eggs.

Not that the snake was interested in anything except for digesting the 4 eggs he had swallowed so far.  Good thing we’re getting about 18 eggs a day now so being forced to share, wasn’t too big of a deal.  David, being far braver than me, picked the snake right up so we could all take a good look.

You can kind of see the bulge of one of the eggs about half way, near David’s elbow.  The original plan was to shuffle him off his mortal coil, but we thought better of it and decided we’d rather have black snakes out in the woods eating mice and such.  David took him about a 1/4 of a mile a way, down into the ravine and let him go.  If he comes back, we’ll just take him farther away next time.  Tommy is unfazed by it and the hens seem fine, so egg collection continues!

Posted in Chickens | 5 Comments