New Chickens!

Newest baby chick

We recently had five baby chicks hatch under the care of Harriet, a Buff Orpington hen determined to be broody so we set her on some fertile eggs. Here's a photograph of one of her babies, enjoy!

Broody mama hen sitting on all of the babies.  
Notice how fluffed up she is as she tries to appear formidable lest we dare take away one of the chicks.

Green Heron

Heron on left side of photo along the bank of the pond

We have a small green heron living on our pond. It is likely living a pleasant life feasting on the bounty of fish and frogs in and around the pond.  Occasionally, Sofie has chased away the Great Blue Heron with its loud call but she doesn't seem to perceive the green heron as a threat.

Closer view of the heron

It is hard to see sometimes when it is crouched along the bank as its neck is not usually outstretched as it is in the photo. It uses its long neck to snatch fish or frogs out of the water. Check out this link to learn more about green herons and their long necks!

Roasting Peppers

Roasting peppers

When blessed with a bounty of produce, one has to find a way to process everything that does not sell. Processing in an efficient and less time-consuming method is greatly appreciated when there is too much going on! We hunted down some recipes for roasting peppers in the oven, but many of them specified that when broiling peppers in the oven they should be split in half and the seeds removed. However, recipes specified that when roasting peppers on the grill the peppers can be left whole. So we decided to go with broiling the whole peppers, which worked out fine.

Blister forming on a pepper below the broiler

We placed the peppers stem down on a tray and put the tray below the broiler. After about 5-10 minutes we flipped the peppers over with tongs to roast on the other side for 5-10 minutes. The entertaining part that is perhaps missed when you split the peppers before roasting them is watching the skins blister and pop beneath the broiler.  Fun to hear and see! Some of the peppers were charred on all sides after this, so we placed them in a pan with a lid, then flipped the remaining peppers until all of the sides were charred. When the peppers were sufficiently charred we placed them all in the lidded pan for an hour or so until cooled, rubbed the skin off and removed the seeds. Having the hot, charred peppers in a lidded vessel seems pretty important because they retain a lot of moisture, and this helps with rubbing the skins off. Our modified method worked out really well and we made delicious pimento cheese with some of our freshly roasted peppers!  Some went in the freezer.  The plants are still producing so there will probably be more pimento cheese very soon.

Water, water everywhere

Thunderstorms this afternoon have brought a lot of rain in short periods of time--a total of 3 inches so far.  Here's what some of the farm looks like.

 Normally this is a small wetland area from which peepers sing in the Spring. 

This is the outflow through 2 culverts under the farm road.  It is roaring!

This side is the inflow for the culverts.  The water is running so quickly that it created a whirlpool.  See it swirl!

Here's the view up the hill of the path we take to reach hen-a-bago 2.  Wonder when I'll get those eggs gathered today?

Below the solar charger mounted on the fence post in the center of the photo is a green box containing the battery.  It's all underwater.  Hope the box is waterproof.  Fortunately the fence is not carrying a charge right now.

Broody Hens!

Broody hen in a nest box with a baby chick

We had been hoping for months on end for our hens to become broody so that we could hatch more chickens. In the last couple of months we have had success!

Baby chick among the eggs

We started finding chickens in the nest boxes that would not get up off of a clutch of eggs and rather than discouraging their broodiness we encouraged it and designated particular boxes for the broody hens. Once the chicks hatched we moved them into the brooder house.

Minerva Louise with baby chicks

Much to our delight Minerva Louise, one of our "yard chickens," went broody and not only hatched out 5 eggs but also adopted a number of other chicks from a different flock, kept them warm, and tended to them! It was always a delight to see the babies climbing all over Minerva Louise and peeking out from beneath her.

As Minerva Louise protected her brood she was not always so gentle with older chicks in the growing mixed flock in the brooder house. Once her babies were big enough we removed Minerva Louise and now she watches over the young chicks along the outside of the fenced run.

Minerva Louise longingly following the babies

Catching Up!

Tomatoes have taken over our house!

The summer has gotten away from us! We have only had time to post photos and a few highlights here and there on our Facebook page lately and are sincerely apologetic for not posting more on our blog! We have been inundated with tomatoes up until we had a lot of rain about a week ago. Now we are suffering some blight and losing some of our plants. Feast or famine!

Our booth at the Burlington Downtown Farmer's Market

We have been at the Burlington Downtown Farmer's Market since early May. It has been great to meet people interested in eating fresh produce and learning about other local farms in the area.

Josh continues to grow.  He is almost the same size as Sophie and still has more growing to go!

Concrete pad for the basement and foundation walls going up! 

One of the more time-consuming projects we have been endeavoring has been the construction of our future home. It will be very exciting to share the development of this project with you in the future!

It's tomato time!

The tomatoes are really beginning to come in now which is one benefit to the hot weather we've been having.  Seeing small okra on the plants is another.  I've already dehydrated some Principe Borghese tomatoes and now I have pot of mixed heirlooms cooking down to be processed through the food mill for juice or tomato puree.  A pot of tomatoes is a pretty sight!  We'll enjoy them all winter long!