Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Nobody Again?

Today, I am doing laundry and the dishwasher is running too. I hear this strange sound that I can't quite place. I stopped the washer to look inside. Everything appeared normal, and I thought it must be something in the dishwasher rubbing up against the top rack. I went to investigate, and realized that the sound really was coming from the washer not the dishwasher.

Of course, the worst thoughts pop in to mind. The sound must be coming from the machinery. The washer is broken, and we'll have to spend time and money, neither of which we have in abundance, on fixing the darn thing. I stopped the machine again to look inside. This time the cause of the noise was abundantly clear, and laying right on top of the wet laundry in the machine.


Now, how did those get in there? I'm sure nobody knows.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Future Bacon and Ham

It is farrowing time again here on the farm. Two of the five sows have farrowed. The first was Lydia's pig, Sassafire. She had her piglets in the woods a little over a week ago. Here they are today.


Ashes, Kellen's sow, had her piglets this morning in the pig house. 


Little piggies are awful cute, but baby goats are still the cutest. (Said for Kellen's benefit.)  Though I must admit that goats don't make as much or as delicious bacon and ham.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

To See What We Can See

Today Lydia, Nolan and I set off on an adventure to see what we could see. Actually, we were hoping to find black raspberries. We did find about enough for a pie, but in the process enjoyed scouting some other wild foods and coming across other interesting things.

We picked daylilies, elder flowers, and milkweed flowers. We will be making fritters with these soon.


We found the blackberry bushes are absolutely loaded this year. We found a few that were ripe, but it is still early. They usually are at their peak around the Fourth of July. Looks like there will be a ton this year.



The sumac is also flowering. These are slow to ripen though, and won't be ready until the end of summer when they turn a deep red color. I'm ready for some sumac pie now, but will have to be patient.


We also stopped at Big Knot for a little recreation. Big Knot is the kids' term for a spot between the barn and driveway. It really is just a rope swing hanging from a high tree, but to them it is a starting point for many adventures.


A walk around the place wouldn't be complete with out seeing a box turtle. Today we saw two.


We didn't see a lot of what we wanted to see on our morning walk today, but we appreciated the things we did see and the time spent together in fresh air and sunshine. It was a good morning.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Surprise!

Our resident broody hen has been at it again. I didn't even know she was sitting on a nest, yet she emerged yesterday with seven new chicks! Henrietta, you are amazing!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010