March 13, 2006

Published

The issue of Farm and Ranch Living with us is out. Turned out differently than I expected, but it's pretty cool to see us in print.

The triangle denotes is where Newark Valley really is. We are 10 miles from Owego and about 15 miles from the PA border. This area is known as the Southern Tier of NY, or the Twin Tier area of NY and PA. If you read the article, please note that Rock Day got its name from the distaff, or a part of a spinning wheel, which used to be called the Roc. There are no rocking chairs involved! Athough if you can manage rocking in a chair, driving your wheel and getting fiber out of it, you deserve a holiday!

I am sad that so many of Cindy's pictures were not used. She had some excellent excellent shots.


It's not too late to get a free issue - leave a comment if you are interested in receiving a copy directly from Reiman and I will submit your address to them.

Posted by roosterh at 8:36 PM | Comments (7)

February 10, 2006

Last Day for FRL Diary

I delivered all the eggs I had today at lunch time. On my way back I stopped by the vet school at Cornell and picked up some BoSe for the goats.
I had to work late again. When I got home, Gary had all of the chores done, all I had to do was my chickens. Hank always helps me with this task. I set him off down the hill with a call of "Chickens!" and he runs to the first coop. He waits by the door as I go in and close their doors, give everyone a quick look, and gather the eggs. I take the waterers with me as I leave. As I go from coop to coop, I set my collection of waterers on the ground. Hank has started picking these up and dropping them off at the basement door for me. I wish he was so helpful when he takes my gloves: those I rarely find again.
It's been a long week, and I am ready for the weekend. Gary has to work all weekend, and I will try to catch up on all the things left undone this past week when I worked so much. Tonight to unwind I will make a quick batch of soap.

Posted by roosterh at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

February 9, 2006

A Choring Day

I always talk about "doing chores," but I don't think I have ever elaborated what that means around here.
Today is Thursday and that means delivery day. I have about over 40 customers at work, and deliver their orders at lunch time, usually on Thursdays.
Today I had 12 dozen eggs to wash, box and label, potatoes to weigh and soap to pack. At about 5:15, it's time to go outside and feed everyone. Buckets of water are drawn inside now since it is so cold. We pull on our many layers of clothes before going inside, and Hank pulls and grabs the legs of our Carhartts as we try to get dressed. ALways helpful, Hank is.
The heifers get 6 buckets of water, the steers get 1, 3 buckets are for goats outside, 2 buckets are for the mama goats inside, and 3 more buckets go to the pigs. Everyone gets pets and scritches. All the goats get stocked up on hay, the steers get their hay, the heifers' round bale gets forked and fluffed, the pigs get several pounds of feed, and I drop waterers off in the chicken coops and open their doors. Then I place some more poultry feed in the barn for the turkeys and ducks. My last task before going in is putting food out for Hank.
Then we get ready for work and hit the road. Today I had to check on that kid goat, but she appeared to be over her trauma.
For the first time ever, I had to cancel deliveries today. Issues at work kept me tied to the desk. I notified my customers, kept the eggs in the fridge at work, and rescheduled for tomorrow.
Gary and I both arrived home late from work today around 5:30. We typically like to grain the goats early when it is cold but today we grained them anyway. They started calling for it from all sides as we got out of our trucks. I knew they wouldn't quiet down until they got their grain.
Besides grain for the goats, cows and pigs, afternoon chores consist of more water and more hay. More pets and scritches for all. I remove the chicken waterers from the coops, fill their feeders with food for tomorrow, collect eggs, and close the coop doors. Then we go inside, eat dinner and unwind a little before starting all over tomorrow.

Posted by roosterh at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

February 8, 2006

Baby, You Must Be Cold

Having worked late all this week, I decided to cut out a little early today. I thought I would surprise Gary by getting home before he did, and getting all the chores done before he got home. He still beat me home, but we did all the chores together. But there were other things to do.
After all of our warm spring-like weather, we are now into the single digits at night and around 20 degrees during the day. The goat kids are not entirely used to the temperature change, neither am I! But today a goat kid had a problem.
She stood in the corner, hacking, with bubbling forth coming out of her nose. She was going downhill fast. A quick check of her temperature showed she was way too cold. I got her inside the basement next to the woodstove and started calling people.
Forget the internet and books, when there is an emergency like this, nothing's better than a phone call or 2 to more experienced producers or a friendly vet. After talking with 2 other producers it was decided she either had pneumonia by ingesting something into her lungs, or was too cold to digest milk. Thankfully it turned out she was just too cold: after being inside for an hour, her temp came up, her spirit came up and the coughing went away. Out she went to mama, who was very glad to see her.
I went outside several times during the night to check on her. She slept in a communal pile of kids with mama close by. She was fine.

Posted by roosterh at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

February 7, 2006

Workin' Hard, Hardly Workin'

I have been working so much lately at my fulltime job I've hardly had time to tackle anything on the farm. Chores take longer now - the colder temps mean that water freezes and fresh water must be poured and distributed around. Gary has been taking care of all the afternoon chores himself.
I am even behind on my egg deliveries. I usually take lunchtime on Thursdays to do my deliveries at work, but with last week's training and other conflicts, I never had time to do this. I had an egg customer to catch up with this week, so I ran out at lunchtime to drop off her eggs. On my way back I stopped at Cornell Orchards to take advantage of their buy one get one free sale on half-bushels. I see lots of apples in our future, and what we don't eat can be given to any of the critters as a mid-winter treat.

Posted by roosterh at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 6, 2006

Planning for Spring

We are in the final stages of planning what we will grow and sell this year. On the list are potatoes, onions, garlic and shallots. The garlic is already in the ground.
I would like to try salad greens like a mesclun mix. I usually grow these in containers on the deck for a quick salad with whatever we are grilling that night. But I would love to grow them in bigger quantities. I am thinking of raised beds since I could protect those from weather and greedy poultry and clumsy dogs pretty easily. Gary gave me some blueprints for a sturdy greenhouse as a Christmas gift this year and this will be a good project to do in March, and start my seeds in it. Also on the list are meat chickens again. My husband would like to raise meat turkeys, the large white birds as opposed to heritage turkeys that received so much press last year. The turkeys I raise now are heritage meat birds (except for Murphy, the Royal Palm) and I think they have too much personality to raise for the table! They really are a treat to have around even though they jump on everything. And of course we will have pigs this year. Our bred sow has had a litter or 2 before so I am thinking she may have 10 piglets. Gary's not sure if we will get the other gilt bred. All of the pigs together are eating about 100 pounds of feed a day, and it will only increase! In the end, it is all up to our customers what we will raise for market. I like to make sure we have a market for what we raise in quantity before we actually do it.

Posted by roosterh at 8:46 PM | Comments (1)

February 5, 2006

It's All About the Hay

This morning after chores we worked on hay. Gary used the tractor to put some round bales under cover in the new barn, and I went to work raking up old hay before the snow came. The old hay I took up to the garden for the pigs.
The farm where we usually buy hay has been sold, and they have sold all of their hay. It's a bad tme of year, but now we need to call around for another source of hay. Last year was pretty much a bad year for hay around here. It started out nice enough but then we fell into a drought towards July and hardly anyone could get a second cutting.
After raking all the hay, I took the fourwheeler up into the fields for a quick lap. I usually take Hank with me, but he had spent the morning being a bad dog, chasing the turkeys.
We drove out to Gary's parents' house for an afternoon visit and returned a little late for afternoon chores. The goats let us know we were late. The chickens and turkeys had pretty much gone to bed, although one rooster who has been loose for the past couple of days ran from coop to coop, trying to get in. He must have known a storm was coming. I have been trying for days to get him back in his coop, and finally tonight, he followed me right to the coop's door and strolled right in.

Posted by roosterh at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)

February 4, 2006

Can't Stick to the Plan Today

We had a hard time sticking to our plans today. I wanted to make soap, Gary wanted to cut wood. It seemed like it was going to be a nice day in spite of the predicted rain, so I let all the chickens out.
We let Toby the donkey roam too. After chores, we came back inside for a breakfast of homegrown eggs and bacon with toast and orange juice. After eating all that, it was hard to get moving! But I decided to head off to the feed store before it rained. Ninety minutes and 2 phone calls later, I hit the road.
When I returned, we had company. Some goat producers in the next town stopped by to see our kids and the pigs. We had a nice visit.
After they left we started with chores again, graining all the goats and cows, and filling their hay mangers. The predicted rain started and we rushed to get my truck unloaded and the feed put away.

We never did get to the soap or the wood. Some days are like that.

Posted by roosterh at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

February 3, 2006

Mixing It Up

Trying to keep the big piggs entertained, Gary shovelled the composting hay into the pig pen in the garden. They immediately starting rooting around.
The big bred sow is warming up to us.
The black gilt takes a nap in their house.
Besides working in the pig pen, Gary opened up the kid pen in the barn today. It was a little hectic at first as all the mama does tried to locate their kids, but the kids went on playing, oblivious to their mothers' concerns.

Posted by roosterh at 4:26 PM | Comments (0)

February 1, 2006

Same Ol' Same Ol'

I'm still working late. Gary's doing most of the chores. Gray winter days have returned. The chickens feel it too; egg production is low although judging from the wet spots in the nesting boxes, one coop seems to have helped themselves to today's offering.

Posted by roosterh at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2006

Dusk til Dawn

It's dark when I leave for work and dark when I return. Gary has been doing most of the chores lately.
The overhead doors were installed on the barn yesterday. Our other barn was left open so the turkeys could wander, but I have no idea if they "helped" the installers at all. By the looks of the big 3-toed prints on my fourwheeler parked in there, they were definitely in the new barn at some point.
Weather today was back to normal, freezing rain and snow.
I talked to a couple other goat producers today. Everyone is having an easy kidding season. It's been so warm we don't have to worry as much about chilled kids and frozen ears and the like.
I am hoping to have a couple minutes soon to take some pictures of the new pigs and the barn doors. Weather and daylight permitting!

Posted by roosterh at 5:03 AM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2006

Just Another Day of Spring

Spring, yeah, in JANUARY. Temps approached 50 today with some rain. It was a great day to be a duck. Gary went to the feedstore today to load up on pig feed (500 pounds of the stuff!) and oldtimers are saying that we will pay for it next month. We need the snow but it sure makes doing chores easier when we don't have to deal with frozen waterers and cold animals. And I am getting more eggs than usual too.
Hank barks at the new pigs whenever he sees them. I am hoping that the newness wears off soon. The sow charges the fence when she sees Hank coming.
The little doeling I was worried about is hard to pick out from the others. We integrated the mama doe and her kids with the rest today and everyone was running and jumping, even the little one.

Posted by roosterh at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2006

Pigs and Coyotes

This morning we had what we call an old-fashioned Sunday morning. We try about once a month to have a morning where we make coffee on the stove instead of using the electric pot and no computer use. Some mornings we will only use the oil lamps but today we used the electric lamps. I finished knitting a sock while Gary caught up on reading.

After chores, we went back to the farm where we got the piglets and brought home a bred sow. We also got a younger gilt. They are now in the garden. Soon we will have our own piglets!

Afer we got them settled in, we went to town to see the results of an organized coyote hunt. I wanted to see how many were brought in and how big they were. We hear plenty of coyotes throughout the night and in the morning when we do chores, but never see them. The hunt brought in a number of dogs but they were mostly foxes. Our winter has been so easy the coyotes are resting with full bellies and are hard to call in. A friend of Gary's had won the prize for heaviest coyote the previous day. I think it was about 32 pounds.
The ducks have begun laying eggs. Good timing too, pigs love duck eggs. So does Hank - so I need to be quick finding them or he'll eat them first.
The little doeling has perked right up and is running around like all the others. It's such a relief when things work out.

Posted by roosterh at 5:46 PM | Comments (2)

January 28, 2006

T-Shirt in the Snow

It was almost warm enough today to wear a t-shirt in the snow. We re-arranged the barn yet again and cleaned some more. We also penned in the garden in preparation for a bred sow we are getting. The pig shed is frozen to the ground and unmovable, so we are using the horse trailer as the shelter.
One of the triplets who was just born has us worried. She cannot operate her hind legs and creeps around. She has a faint hematoma on the inside of one of her rear legs. I have been giving her Nutri-Drench each morning, and making sure she is standing up and using those legs. We have had goat kids before who have stiff legs but they seem to work the kinks out by Day #2. Already this little doeling seems to be perking up.
Even though there is now on the ground, I let the chickens out today. Gary cleaned out the woodstove and I took the ashes for the chickens' dust baths. They love doing that on a sunny day. As Gary and I worked near the coops, Hank followed us down and promptly put all the chickens away. I called him off and the chickens came back out to enjoy the sun.
Gary used the charcoal grill today and barbecued some homegrown pork ribs. I baked some homegrown potatoes and green beans.

Posted by roosterh at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)

January 27, 2006

Ode To a Chicken

Loretta wasn't a large chicken nor did she lay tons of eggs. But what she lacked in size and production, she more than made up for in spunk and personality. She was always the first hen I would give treats to, the one I would pick up and say hello to, and she knew her name and would come when I called her.
She also learned that when we carried things, it usually meant there was food for her involved. From shovels to rototillers, she knew if we were working in the ground she would get some bugs to eat. Even the barn crew commented when they came to drill the holes for the barn poles with the auger, a chicken came over and peered down their holes looking for bugs.
Loretta was a small hen and picked on by others, especially the roosters. After almost six years with us, she fought her last fight today. She is one chicken I will always remember.

Posted by roosterh at 6:38 PM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

5 in 10

5 kids.

10 hours.

10 more inches of snow.

Gary woke me at 4. "Lots to do," he said. "We got a lot of snow overnight." I got on the computer to do some quick things for work while he suited up to go outside. He wasn't gone long when he stuck his head inside to tell me Nala had kidded. I finished what I was doing as quickly as I could and rushed outside.
Nala is very forgiving of others before she has kids of her own. Sweet, nice, the perfect goat. But the second she has her babies, watch out! She becomes a she-devil, biting and butting anything and everything that gets near her brood. And I have the scars to prove it. To get by her to take care of her kids, we need to fake left and go right to avoid her wrath.

Did I mention she had triplets? Our first set! Two girls and a boy.

Somehow the pigs managed to sleep through all of this!
Bugsy's kids are up and about. Well one's up and the other is lying about.
Even Murphy is in full force this morning, showing off even as he roosts on a gate. Nala is in the background, on the left.

Posted by roosterh at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2006

Bugsy popped!

Gary and I both got home late from work (it was my first day back). Good thing I made soup in the crockpot this morning. Bugsy waited til right before we got home to have her kids. For the first time she had twins -- a pair of boys! Here is Bruiser, he weighs in at 11 pounds. He has almost the same color pattern as Bugsy, but a little darker.
And here is Cruiser weighing in at 8.9 pounds. When you think about it, that's a lot of baby to be carrying around. Next up, Nala!

Posted by roosterh at 6:46 PM | Comments (1)

January 24, 2006

More Snow

Now that all the snow has melted, it's time for another storm. We got about 4 inches today. I have one rooster who lives out with the cows. I have tried putting him in the barn, but one way or another, he makes his way back to the cows. He sleeps with them, shares their grain, and eats the corn they don't digest. This past weekend when we had no snow, he wandered from pasture to pasture, visiting the goats, the sheep, and walking around outside the fences. But now that the snow is back, he has returned to his cows.

Posted by roosterh at 5:54 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Temperatures: Rising and Falling

Today is the first day in about 5 days I have not had a temperature, so that meant a full day's work. I know I will sleep well tonight. Amazingly, the temperatures outside are still very warm for this time of year. Although we never reached yesterday's high of 52 degrees, today it was about 40 and sunny. I took advantage of the sun, and after chores, I scrubbed all the water buckets outside.

Then we went to look at some pigs. A farmer advertised on FreeCycle that he had some piglets he wanted to give away. I took some pictures of his farm while we were there.



He raised a number of Tamworths, Boer goats, Scottish Highlands(cattle), guinea hens and chickens. One pig, Hamlet, even had the run of the place, and he was a sizable pig! It was impressive that he stuck so close since pigs are known to wander. I can tell you some stories about escaped pigs!



Ulysses is his Duroc boar. Such a laid back pig! I have never felt so comfortable being so close to a full-grown boar.



Here is Rachel, the curious Scottish Highland.



We came home with 2 piglets, about 8 weeks old. Very curious.



Here's a better view. They are in the barn for now. We are going to try putting the pigs on the vegetable garden for a while to have them churn things up. First we have to put some fencing up and move their house over. So the barn is very crowded, the goats are confused by the squealing pigs, and the pigs root around in the hay.



After we got the pigs settled, it was back to work. We are in the process of clearing out another spot for pigs up the hill. After cutting down some pine trees, we burned some of the branches. I pulled some of the trees out with my fourwheeler and we will feed these to the goats. They love the green needles especially in the wintertime. It was the first time I had ridden the four wheeler in a while. I am almost through my first tank of gas, finally.


While we were putting branches on the fire, I happened to look down the driveway and saw one of the pigs! We had our own loose pig! We moved quickly and herded him back inside, discovered and fixed his escape route.


The photographer came out today to take advantage of sunny skies. We had been trying for a while to get together and finally the cards were dealt just right. We got a chance to look at some of the pictures she had taken before--they were excellent and I cannot wait to see them in print. She brought us a pizza, much appreciated! After we came in for the night, we had some and tried to catch the end of the football games.
Weather forecast is calling for up to 8 inches of snow by tomorrow evening. Luther the turkey is sleeping on the roof of the barn tonight so he is in for one big surprise.

Posted by roosterh at 6:24 PM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2006

Family Visit

Gary's parents and sister Judy came over today to see the goat kids and the new barn. The weather alternated from spitting rain to bright sun, just wait a minute and it would change. The neighbors stopped by at the same time, braving our muddy driveway to see our goings-on.
The goat kids whoopped it up for their company and proved just how cute goat babies can be. Murphy and Luther turkeys strutted and showed off their beautiful tails like twin satellite dishes, turning to face whoever would pay them attention. Hank was unusually subdued (for him) with all the strangers around.
I made lasagne in the crockpot for lunch, made a green salad, and baked some bread and a cake. Our company was gone by 2:00 which was good timing as we start chores about then.

Posted by roosterh at 6:54 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2006

On the Loose

The weather is still unseasonably warm. The snow has melted, leaving lots of mud.
I am still sick. Gary still needs to leave for work by 5:00a.m. so today I did all the goats instead of him. Animals don't care if you're sick, they want their food and their attention and they want it now. So there is not much sleeping in that can be done, or getting sick. Things still need to move along, although sometimes admittedly, they move along slower.
The chickens have learned to take advantage of my slowness and rush the coop doors to get outside like children at recess. I've been too slow to close the door in time, and they run around free all day. This is fine by me except Hank has learned he can get free meals from their nest boxes, so I like to be able to watch out for this. The chickens are happy to run around and eat what grass there is.

Posted by roosterh at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2006

All I wanted was a cup of tea and a blanket

It must be the wacky weather that has given me this terrible cold. I went to bed last night at 6pm to try to sleep it off, and got up at 3:30 and got online to do some work. I felt terrible and by 6am I realized that I was fooling myself and told folks at work I would be at home, working, but not spreading germs. All I really wanted was a cup of tea and a blanket, but I went out at 6 to finish up with the chores that Gary had started. Thankfully he did a lion's share of the work this morning so I thought my tea was just minutes away. Nope! Ma was obviously in labor. When it's time for a goat to have her kids, she becomes very affectionate and Ma was no different. I was scratching her back when all of a sudden, she strained and grunted, and her water broke. Five minutes later, baby #1 was in the hay and Ma was going to town cleaning him up. Five minutes hadn't passed when she strained and grunted again, and baby #2 slid right out. Another set of twins, another buck and another doe. And unlike last year, Ma took right to her babies.
Here's Sarah's buck, born a couple days ago. It's been so cold I haven't been able to use my camera.
And here is her doe, hiding in the hay. She is light-colored like her mama. and already loves to have her chin scritched just like Sarah.
So by 9am, I finally came inside for my tea and blanket. Gary thought Nala might kid today, and she is acting a little "off" so we may have more babies on this very windy and rainy day.

Posted by roosterh at 11:22 AM | Comments (2)

January 16, 2006

Brrrr

The thermometer read 2 degrees this morning. Gary went out very early to do chores, not just because he had to be at work at 6:00a.m. but because in the colder weather, chores take longer. He filled everyone's water. I began outside chores at 6:00 and by then, the waterers had frozen. This time of year is hard, but this year it seems especially hard since the weather seems more changeable. We are supposed to hit 50 degrees by the end of the week.
Sarah's kids have started to act like old pros at the nursing game. The lights make sure they are warm.
I got home very late from work and Gary did the chores in the evening.

Posted by roosterh at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2006

With the weather comes ...

The change in weather came with a big wind. Overnight it actually sounded like a train going through. Hank is not an inside dog, but he slept inside last night, only coming up the stairs a few times and only stealing one sock.
It was bitterly cold when we did chores. Chores were made harder with the cold. The waterers were all frozen solid, and stuck to the ground. Besides feeding and watering everyone, we had round bales to move around. The heifers needed one, and the ground was almost frozen enough for the tractor to move around and not tear up the mud too much. Gary noticed one of the metal roofing panels on the heifers' run-in shed was loose and banging in the wind. At the same time he entered the pasture with his screw-gun and extra screws, the wind finally blew the panel off. He returned the panel to its place and added some extra screws.
We didn't get inside for breakfast until about 10:00a.m. Gary made sausage gravy and homefries while I threw together some biscuits and whole wheat waffles. I like to make a big batch of waffles on Sunday to eat for breakfast throughout the week. We realized it was too late to make the hour trip to visit his parents like we usually do on Sundays, and had a quiet day at home.
We started chores again around 2:00p.m. After graining the pregnant does in the barn, I realized that Sarah was starting to go into labor. After the rough time she had last year, I was worried about her labor this go round, and hoped that she would pull it off without a hitch. I watched her for a couple minutes, then joined Gary inside the house. I returned a phone call from someone looking to buy goats, and went back out to the barn to find Sarah had delivered one baby and was working on number two. (congratulations, Shepherds Run Farm!) She had another set of twins, a buckling and a doeling, and had no problem.
It was still bitterly cold, and we set up heat lamps for them. I worked with Sarah to get the kids nursing. Her bag was so large it was hard for the little ones to get a grip! Once they were settled, we went back inside and had a light dinner of cheese and crackers. I finished a sock I had been knitting and we were asleep by 8:00p.m.

Posted by roosterh at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2006

Change in Weather

Today started with a call from work at midnight to tell me about a computer problem I needed to look into. Can you believe that at that time, the temperature outside was 52 degrees?
Early morning, after chores, we took advantage of the warm weather and attended to some goats' feet and forked old hay out of their pens before it froze.

By 7:00pm, the temp had fallen to 25 degrees. It snowed today and the wind came. I was out running errands when Gary dealt with the port-a-huts in one of the goat pastures blowing over in the wind. We have never lost them to wind before. The cow's run-in shed, which has toppled due to wind before, struggled and shook against the restraints we added, but stayed put.
One of the errands I ran today was actually more fun than errand. The spinning guild in Ithaca had their annual Rock Day. I started a website for New York fiber producers and fiber lovers called KnIthaca, and enjoy going to and writing about events like this. I have met several local producers online and finally got to meet them face to face.
Wind chills tomorrow morning are predicted to be below zero. I stick by my prediction that the full moon today and the weather shift mean chances are pretty good we will have more goat kids by the end of the weekend. You can bet the baby monitor will be on overnight.

Posted by roosterh at 3:47 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2006

Roosters slept in this morning

Yesterday morning it appeared that one of the does in the barn was losing her plug aka starting to kid. I worried about her all day at work and rushed home to check her. Last year she kidded on a very cold morning and abandoned her kid. She had an easy time kidding then, but I didn't want to go through fostering another kid if I could help it (last year I ended up bringing the kid to work for about a week before grafting her to another doe).
Despite my worries, the doe had not changed one bit. Still worried, I cracked open some books and did some web sleuthing to see if I was worrying for nothing. I decided that I was worrying about nothing, but continued to worry.


We broke a high temperature record yesterday. Binghamton recorded 49 degrees and it we read that on our thermometer here, too. The weather was nice enough for Gary to grill some pork chops on the charcoal grill, but I was too stressed to eat.
I went out to the barn a couple times before going to bed, and then flipped on the baby monitor. The roosters waited until 3am today to start their crowing. Alarm is set for 3:15 so they were pretty much on target for once.


Today was pretty uneventful. Somehow the gate to one of the goat pens in the barn got unlatched and three does were walking around the barn when Gary got home. No harm done. The lack of nanny berries and mess indicated they hadn't been out long.

I made pizza for dinner with some homemade sauce from last year's tomatoes and garlic. We were asleep before 8:00 p.m.!


Behind the scenes news - I heard back from the photographer about Round 1 of pictures and although the outside shots were taken on a gray dreary day (imagine a day without sunshine in upstate NY! How unusual!) we managed to get some good shots, especially of the goats. She did a test round with her cranky camera of Tuesday, and they turned out, so hopes are high that the shots we took on a sunny day will be great too.

Posted by roosterh at 5:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2006

Sound of silence

For the past week, we have had a baby monitor hooked up in the old barn so we can hear the pregnant does at night. Although the sound of the goats' snoring and grunting is comforting as we fall asleep ourselves, we have learned one thing:

My roosters crow every morning at 1 a.m. Without fail.


The country charm of a rooster crow at daybreak is one thing, but when it is broadcast into your bedroom in the cover of night while you are fast asleep is something else.

This grows old. Fast. We have been waking up at 1 and can't fall asleep until about 5 minutes before our real alarm goes off -- around 3:30. Last night I was so tired, I fell asleep right after dinner, and it was before 7:00p.m. Since Gary was done with chores, he made a tuna casserole and green beans while I went outside to finish up with the chickens. The days are getting just a little longer, and the chickens want to stay out as long as they can, especially now that there are patches of grass exposed. This makes my chore time a little later, but a happy chicken will give lots of eggs, so I can't complain (much).


Today it's back to work for Gary too. Last night we slept with the monitor turned off and it was delightful. No roosters crowing. I don't even remember hearing Hank bark at all, and with the full moon just a day or so away, this is surprising.

Posted by roosterh at 3:51 AM | Comments (2)

January 11, 2006

Bump in the night

After taking the day off from my job yesterday to deal with everything at home, it was back to work today! I got an early start and left in darkness, and didn't notice that I had passed our barn crew on my way. Gary didn't realize the crew had arrived so early as well, and startled them as he rounded the corner of the house in darkness as he did chores.
Even in the darkness of the morning, they got right to work. All that was left to do was put up the metal siding.
Gary called me at work at 10:00a.m. to report they were done and gone. He told me that he opened the barn so the turkeys could be outside as the crew packed up and loaded their trailer. As the crew sat warming up their truck, my youngest (and most annoying friendly) turkey flew to the roof of their job trailer and rode it all the way to the bottom of the driveway. She flew off when they reached the road. As Gary and I spoke on the phone, I could hear her coming up the drive, atlking the whole time about her trip. The crew must have gotten a kick out of that. They did end up leaving with a male muscovy and a rooster, but these were on purpose.
The site is a mudhole right now which makes the ducks pretty happy. Gary shovelled 2.5 tons of gravel into the biggest holes so we could start parking a tractor in there right away.
The door company will come in a week or so to mount the overhead doors. Gary can't wait since the doors will keep the turkeys out. The warm weather is making them act nuttier than usual. The chickens and ducks feel it too. I am collecting more and more eggs every day which is good since it's been a while since we have been able to keep up with customer demands. The ducks are almost acting like they will begin laying soon as well. But the pregnant goats in our old barn continue to hold on to their babies inside, and look ready to explode.

Posted by roosterh at 6:41 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2006

Barn Raising

After last week's installation of the posts, the walls and roof of the new barn went up today. It was framed by morning break. Unfortunately the crew got stuck coming up our long driveway, but Gary helped pull them out with the tractor. It was a nice sunny day, unusually warm for this time of the year. I had to keep the turkeys in the barn or they would be all over the men working and what they were working on.
The trusses were mounted by lunch. When the crew took their break, I brought out a big pot of coffee for them.
After lunch, I walked to the bottom of the driveway to check the mail. As it turned out my timing was perfect and our carrier was just sticking things in the mailbox, so I stood in the road and chatted with her a while. It's so warm out that there was a honeybee hitching a ride on the roof of her car. I said good-bye and started up the drive. I knew I heard my turkeys calling, but that was impossible since they were all locked up tight in the barn. They sure were loud though. Once I crested the hill and saw the trusses, sure enough - a couple hens were jumping around on the roof. Turns out the doors and windows were stored in our first barn and when one of the crew went in to retrieve them, he forgot to close the door. I rounded them up in short order and got them back in the barn. The crew had a good sense of humor and took it in stride.
Gary and I received a wonderful copper rooster weathervane for our first wedding anniversary from his mom. We've been holding on to it waiting for just the right spot to mount it. We decided that the new barn was as nice a spot as any, so Gary asked the foreman if it's possible to mount this weathervane on the roof. I can't wait until she sees it!
Hank was the perfect farmdog today and showed a little defensiveness towards strangers, but not too much. He's too friendly a dog to be mean. He showed off his chicken-herding skills and helped me put away all the birds at sundown. As far as the "Behind the scenes" look at our article, well I forgot to take Cindy's picture! I can't believe it. She did have some trouble with her camera though, so she may have to come back.

Posted by roosterh at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

Entries this month

Last October, the editors at Farm and Ranch Living Magazine contacted us after reading the article about our website that appeared in ATTRANews. See my post about ATTRA here.


They invited us to keep a diary for the magazine from January 10 -February 10 and the entries would basically be like what I do online, only these would reach their 400,000 subscribers. The article will appear in the April/May 2006 issue.

Because of this, I will probably be writing entries here every day. They may actually contain thought instead of simply recording daily events. I hope you enjoy the next 30 entries.


We will receive 50 copies, free, of the issue of Farm and Ranch Living that includes our diary. If you would like to be placed on the mailing list, comment to this entry with your e-mail address and I will contact you privately for your mailing address so you can be sure to receive a copy. Some copies are reserved for friends and family, but I will share all that I have!

The photographer comes out later today to take advantage of some predicted sunshine. She came out for the first time during the week between Christmas and New Year's. You can be sure that Murphy was fully aware of that camera and hammed it up like he always does. All the turkeys did. I made soap that day too, so she took pictures of that process.

Hopefully today I will remember to take pictures of her taking pictures of us and you will be privvy to a "Behind the Scenes" look at our FRL Diary.

Posted by roosterh at 5:21 AM | Comments (4)