Filed under: June 2022 | Tags: Groundhog, meat chickens, pastured poultry, Small Farming, whistle pig, woodchuck
June 28, 2022
The night before last, as I watered the cows, our dog Sam treed a woodchuck! I had not ever seen that before. The digging rodents usually just run along the ground and dive into their burrows. Sam must have caught this guy in the open, away from his home entrance. I heard loud scratching sounds that made me look for the noise. I stood a while looking at the out of place woodchuck. He in turn stared at me. I don’t think he was comfortable, but there was no way he was coming down anytime soon!
We have been enjoying a few very nice summer days. The heat and humidity will return soon, but wow these last days are perfect. Highs in the 70’s, low’s in the 60’s with very low dew points. I has been very comfortable for man and beast. We missed a needed rain yesterday. It is getting pretty dry after that very wet spring. God knows what we need and He will send it soon.
We moved the first batch of meat chickens to the portable pen. I started leaving them in the pen on the concrete until they are fully feathered out. This lets me string a cord and add a heat lamp if needed. Soon they will be out on grass in the pen. This makes for tasty meat and they have a good life until they go to “freezer camp”.
Second cutting hay, the gardens and field corn are growing well. The rain will help them, but they all look good so far. The horses have enjoyed a few work free days, as I catch up with other stuff. The speltz is ripening fast and will soon get harvested. I am making a piece of a field into a play area for us all. We will use all sorts of equipment to train the young horses. It is an area of about 3/4 of an acre. I am thinking later this year I will plant it to Speltz, but right at this moment those plans, like the woodchuck, are up in the air.
Filed under: June 2022 | Tags: haying, round bales, Small Farming, Suffolk Horses
June 20, 2022
We are done with our first cutting hay for 2022. There is one small field that remains. We didn’t cut it yet due to an abundance of nesting birds. We will cut it in another couple of weeks. It is just one acre. It will be a small job so I consider our job completed for now.
Our son Jake and I split our teams up. We put each one of his younger horses with each one of mine. This made for two great teams of working partners. Belle and Abby are pulling the tedder, fluffing the hay to cure and dry.
After the tedding was done, Amee and Anna pulled the hay rake, making fluffy windrows to finish drying in the sun.
I followed up the next day with the tractor and baler. We are far from having all of our winter hay stored away yet, but we are off to an exceptional start.
We will haul these bales off the field in the next few days. The horses easily pull 5 at a time on the wagon like in the photo at the top. I look like it was more work for me than them and it is! Climbing up the hay rack with two steel knees, carrying an extra few pounds makes the age show on this teamster!
It was a great few days. The weather held. The temperature was actually cool with a stiff, hay drying wind. The flies were almost non-existent! We have more work to do, but wow, what a great few days this was. The horses all worked great and barely worked up a sweat in the cool air.
This evening we got a brief rain shower. The corn and recently cut hay were all grateful. I am satisfied and well pleased. God is good…all the time!
Filed under: June 2022 | Tags: chicken toys, hen boredom, high school graduation, life plans, stewardship, Success
June 17, 2022
I built this little amusement ride for our hens. This flock of young pullets sit on it and even take it for a spin now and then. Our old flock were afraid of the strange contraption made from a bicycle wheel. The new gals however see it as a challenge and something to do.
Once in a while, we all find ourselves on life’s treadmill, just grinding away each day as if stuck in a rut. This is when we need to stop, take a look around us and just be thankful. When we pause, if only for a few minutes, things become clearer. Our focus will shift away from ourselves and the mundane. We can reflect on others and their problems and accomplishments.
This is graduation open house season. We are offered a chance to congratulate a young person and offer suggestion and guidance. They are about to embark on their life’s journey. Some young folks will have a plan all worked out. Others will have no idea where they are headed, they just know they are headed away from the status quo. Away from mom and dad and childhood responsibilities, where life offers freedom. All of us fit into one of those categories.
I remember having big plans. I remember running towards freedom with those big plans, hopes and dreams. I remember too getting smacked in the face with bigger responsibilities and reality. I floundered for a bit. I dug myself out. I hurt a few people along the way. I finally discovered what I had probably always known, life for me, needs to be simple.
By simple, I mean without glitz and glamour. I don’t need, nor do I want, late nights in the big city, people pushing and shoving me literally or figuratively. I thrive on peace, contentment and perhaps the mundane. I enjoy this life of farming, being surrounded by nature and all of its wonder. There is beauty everywhere that I look. We need to remember that when we pause, God speaks to our hearts. Our hearts will let us know if we are doing the right things, hanging out with the right people or following the right dream.
The Bible tells us that “Man plans his way, but God directs his steps.” It took me a while to understand this and even longer to go with what my heart told me. I was stubborn and willful thinking that I was in charge of my destiny. I plunged into what I thought were great plans. I pushed myself hard, right up against the brick wall of life, but then thankfully, I paused. It all became crystal clear.
As I rest in the barn listening to the animals chew, or sit on the seat of the plow and listen to birds singing I realize that this is what I was born to do. I was made to steward the land, care for animals and share my experiences with others. I help them learn. I offer suggestion based upon my experiences. I nurture, I care and I am filled with peace.
As you talk with the young men and women over a piece of graduation cake, listen to them and share with them. Listen to the excitement in their voices and share what you know. Planting seeds of encouragement will go a long way. You never know just how far your kind words may take someone. Like a ripple on a pond, the little wave eventually reaches the other shore. Be the ripple in someone’s pond. Who knows, you may help them find the way off of life’s treadmill and on to the path of their true destiny.
Filed under: June 2022 | Tags: Draft horse training, Suffolk fillies, Suffolk Horses, Suffolk Punch horses, young horses
June 13, 2022
The photo above is of Bree of Riceland Meadows. She just turned 2 in April. She is filling out and growing well. Her training has started. We plan to be driving her single by the end of the week. She is a good girl with a great mind. She recently starred in a video of getting her harness fitted. The video will appear in an upcoming Rural Heritage show on RFD-TV.
This is a picture of out two fillies side by side. Riceland Meadows Amazing Grace is in the foreground. She just turned a year old in April. She is gaining on her older pasture mate quickly. In height they are very close, but Bree is a chunkier gal. The breeding lines are a bit different, but both fillies will make good workhorses and great broodmares.
The girls are growing and filling out nicely. They are fast friends who don’t stray far from each other. The green grass is sure doing them good. It is fun watching them grow. They were both born here on the farm. Grace’s full sister Miss Maggee, is still nursing on mom and will be for a couple more months. She to is growing like a weed too.
Haymaking is starting, weather permitting. Watch for Bree pulling the hay rake by late summer. We are blessed in this life we choose!
Filed under: June 2022 | Tags: corn planted, hay making, home gardening, late spring
June 6, 2022
After a very wet and cool spring, I managed to get the corn planted on June 1, 2022. I was not real happy with the seedbed preparation, but it wasn’t too bad for the way the rains came. I finished up just before we got another half of an inch.
This morning, I see little green shoots peeping through the dirt. The warm moist soil helped the seeds to sprout and grow. This field of about 2.5 acres should yield plenty for us this year…unless the wildlife hit us hard, growing next to the woods like we are.
Our gardens are doing well in spite of the wet weather. Somehow, I managed to get them off and growing a bit earlier than normal. The raised beds are doing well too. Connie worked on freezing strawberries yesterday, so that job is done for the year.
We got our hay equipment mostly ready to go. We even cut a couple rounds to make sure things are in order and will use that hay, put up loose, to feed the horses when they are in the barn. We bring them in to help dodge the flies during the day.
Training continues for our younger horses and they will be helping in the hayfields soon. The filly Maggee continues to be a delight to watch and be around. Its June already, half the year is gone but half is left to go. We plan to make the absolute best of it!
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