Time for a break. . .

Nothing like a time of reflection, right?!?!?

The two times of the day that i really feel like i can step outside of myself, be quiet, and meditate are shower time (there is a lock on the door) and driving in the car.

This last couple of years have been so topsy turvy here on the pharm, but it wasn't till recently, and specifically this morning, that i was able to pin point the beginning of the chaos, and more importantly prescribe a cure. . .

So the time has come, and i am going away for a little while - a funny thought since i have been blogging so infrequently as of late. But, no, really, it is time for a break to try and get my head on straight, and more importantly my home in order again.

Keep warm this winter, i will be back again eventually. . .

Finally. . . Fryeburg

So for the past 10 years i have heard about this phenomenal fair in Fryeburg. Allegedly it is the biggest Ag fair in Maine. For the last nine years, work or some other impediment has prevented me from attending. Finally, after years of waiting i was able to make the journey to the fair with the fam. Sadly, i wasn't terribly impressed. Two realities may have factored into my disappointment: 1) it was CROWDED. There must have been four million people there. i felt like i needed to have the kids chained to me lest i lose them. 2) We only had four hours to tour the fair, and i fear that we missed a lot. To be fair to the fair, next year we will go during the week instead of on a Saturday. If i am not impressed then, we will just stick to our favorite - The Common Ground Faire! It is much more open, and more geared toward our interests (though in fairness Fryeburg has a much better 4H representation), and there is just a stronger sense of camaraderie with all of the participants - much less the touristy feel. Some of the highlights from Fryeburg: The critter barns, the critters, meeting a young Mainer (and boy was he!!) who was showing sheep (He was very informative.), fried bread, finding old fashioned sheers for our sheep, the crafts and Ag tents!! Overall the whole affair was very fun.

Announcing a new blogger

Hey gang,

I got an invite to what promises to be a pretty cool new blog. The author is vibrant, creative, and has his father's stunning good looks and charm!

Check out Amazing Adventures With James

Progress. . .

Today was great!!! (And by today i mean Saturday).

i worked at the comm center in the wee morning hours - i hate waking up early, but i like early starts. By the time i got home it was raining.
Mike graciously helped to haul all of the left over tree parts (we felled 10 spruce trees this year) over to the burn pile. We started at 0830 and burned until nearly 4:30. The cinder pile is nearly as tall as the original burn pile!!! So after a day of that our yard is back! It is so very weird to have an open front yard.
During the course of our burning we were also able to successfully replace the propane line (not near the fire obviously).
So today was a good day! Productive, cool, and here i find myself again at the comm center. One more night!!! When i get home. . . . it's dump day. . . .wooohooo!

Do you remember Cliff Huxtable????

That seems to be my lot in life these days. i am not complaining. It is really rather entertaining. Things around here keep managing to break a the most inopportune times and frankly repair people cost too darn much. So to mitigate problems i have undertaken these little opportunities to learn all about home repairs and improvements. . .

Most recently the timer on the dryer, but that was trumped by the igniter on the stove. Yup, silly thing went out, and we had to find the part and replace it. 75 bucks and several hours later the stove works. . . .yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then came the musical hissing sound. The copper pipe that connects our PROPANE stove to the PROPANE TANK had apparently been compromised before and is now, well. . . broken!! Yup, i can hold the last two feet of pipe in my hand while standing twenty feet away from the wall that it used to come out of.

It was an educational moment. Our pregnant friend, her hubby, the three kids, two cats a dog and i had to make that crucial decision! Do we evacuate and call the fire brigade or not?!? So we opted to evacuate and shut off the gas our selves. No sense in making a spectacle of the whole ordeal and draw attention to my "gentle nature" and "careful approach" to home repair.

Well, now that the house is aired out and the propane is shut off. . . i am off to bed. Gotta be up in the morning to work at the 911 center. . . Okay, so i might have thought about calling them for this whole hoo-haw, but that would be way too much like work.

It's raining. . . .

. . . again!

Tonight there is lightening and thunder.

The fields are getting to the point where we will be soon turning them in! Our pals from ol' Tejas are here and adapting quite well to the pandemonium that is our house. To go from a quiet house to a house full of kids must be a hard feat, but they seem to be surviving. Regardless, we are very glad they are here!

This weekend we were at the Common Ground Faire (hippy fest), up north. Now that we are much more agricultural than ever the faire took on a new meaning. Of the many things that seemed much more interesting than in years past, was the sheep dog demonstration. Now mind you, we are still really very new to the sheep ownership thing, but still fairly confident. At the end of the demo, the guys with the dogs challenged the audience (without dogs) to a herding contest. Amy volunteered us, and with another older couple we had to separate a herd of sheep and goats, and corral some running ducks.
While I am not one to blow my own horn (well, not all the time), we did pretty darn good. Our team of four was only four seconds. . . yes 4 seconds, slower than the two professionals with five, count them - 5, trained herding dogs. It was cool.
As soon as I can download the photos you can see the one stubborn goat that Amy decided to drag to where it belonged. . . .don't mess with mama!
Otherwise, we are looking forward to the coming (technically already here) season. Cool days, falling leaves, hot cider. . . yum, yum!

All the signs of autumn. . .

There was a wonderfully steady rain yesterday. It wasn't really supposed to come (depending on which weather person you listened to), but it lasted all day. Had the local fire department had any burning permits on hand, we would have happily burned all day. It will be nice to be rid of some of the tree debris that is floating around the pharm these days. Mr. Bruce (our neighbor) was more than happy to drop 6 or so big Blue Spruce trees and then cut them up. Now the business of reducing the limbs to ash falls on us. . . but the weather has been hot and dry.

The fur children have grown and found their niche here. For all of the losses this year (30 some odd chickens to those wily foxes, and most of our home crops to the ridiculous rains) they have been a happy spot. Amy has really taken to them, and they to her. They know her voice and respond very well. And so, they have become hers, and i won't get to eat any this year. . . .

We are draining the well today so that i can climb in it and adjust the fittings on the pipes. Aside from the air leak that has crept it's way into our water system, there is a sinister desire lurking in my mind to fall (or in this case climb) into a well.

All the signs of autumn are here - the leaves have begun to turn, the nights are getting cold, the turkeys are getting fat,and the deer are moving. At Pearson's Town we have thrown in a last round of root crops that we hope to harvest before the snow flies. We should also finish the first hoop house this week. . . or so i am hoping. Our week is cut into by my moonlighting at the coffee shop on campus (way too much fun) and a visit to Eliot Coleman's place on Thursday.

We are eager to welcome Laura and Mike to the abode. . . Amy is nesting again (she likes variety of people coming and going). They will join us for a bit while they look to grow roots in the area.

Stay tuned for autumn fun. . .

A minor miscommunication

With regards to the poem from this morning, and the reference to the tele. . . i was at work. Fear not loyal readers - there is no television in our house!!!! Gotta draw the line somewhere nowadays.

It's early

It's hard to be inspired by four walls

They neither talk nor sing

Their bland beige texture is both bland and beautiful

i can not fault them for their devotion to monotony

For it was not their doing.

 

The T.V. is on.

Images flickering every six seconds or so.

There is no volume which is just as well

i have had enough of people hawking their goods and wares

 

It's a sure sign that autumn is wandering in

i can taste the melancholy at the base of spine

The season is coming with it's chill and falling leaves

Poems and spiced cider.

 

The apples - they know something of life and eternity

Well beyond the leaves and dew.

The apples have no sheet rock beneath a textured wall paper

Insulated by meat, juice and olfactory stimulating flavor - they tempt the senses

Unlike the porcupine fiberglass that slumbers in the wall.

 

Even in death they do not die

Their pomace fills the late season air

And they melt to nitrogen to feed the soil

To feed the trees.

To feed the apples.

These four walls (seven if you include the alcove) do not inspire me.

i do not blame them for it was not their doing.

But the apples and the worms, the soils and the trees

The stinging wind burn of the autumns departure on my face

These do inspire.

--
Thephunnypharm.blogspot.com
pearsonstown.blogspot.com

The visitors. . .

It's September. . . did i miss summer???

Actually the last several weeks have been amazing. Pearson's Town is finally showing legitimate signs of viability, and that is great. The phunny pharm on the other hand. . . well, i have let the garden go to become an animal sanctuary (removed a ground hog today who made a burrow right into the bean patch). There are still beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers and egg plant. . . somewhere in there.

The chickens, turkeys and sheep are doing well. i will post some pics soon enough. In the meantime it is busy, busy time at Pearson's Town, and my time is a bit more consumed there. . .

Stay tuned for more.

i should be sleeping right now. . .

This is a blog about poop. For that very reason. . . i won't post any pictures.

Potty training is fun. It's fun in the same way setting your house on fire is fun. There is a lot of work in the clean up, but after the blaze, you get to start over.

And so it is in my life. The last of my children is on the potty training bandwagon. Of course, she waits till after nine pm to due her duty on the night that i have to be up at four in the morning the next day. Where is my wife?!?!?! At work of course. . . .

So here is a shout out to all of the potty training parents out there. . . and the one (that i know of) that gets to look forward to it! Just remember. . . someday, we get to forget, and they get to wipe our bums!

It's only a flesh wound. . .

Where to begin??

No photos today - i can't find the USB cable thingy for the camera. . . maybe i can tack on some "older" photos to fill the gap.

The farm at Pearson's Town is coming into it's own. We are harvesting, but in spite of continued environmental issues (now it is late blight), work is moving along splendidly.

The garden here is all but weeds. Still tonight James and i harvested shell peas, summer squash and a lonely purple beauty pepper. They went great with out stir fry over noodles tonight.

We spent an amazing overnight camping expedition at our house with our "new" friends the Paquettes (forgive the spelling). They came and our time together was way more than i could have ever hoped for. More on that later. . . .

The flesh wound. . . . in the spring we (our neighbor Bruce) dropped six or seven spruce trees in our yard to make way for something more friendly and possibly also more useful (sugar maple and blueberries anyone?). Today, i finally had time, weather, and motivation to start limbing and removing them. . . that is until the chain saw broke. . . . across my hand! Yup, four cuts in, the chain hopped off the bar and the chain took a little road trip across my right knuckles. First time that i had seen my own muscle tissue in a few years. After a healthy discussion with the wife (and believe it or not, i won!!) we opted to further my own war on health care and NOT go to the the E.R. After all. . . it's only a flesh wound.

So a few heavy cleaning agents, some steri-strips, butterfly bandages, and some other crazy patch type thing later. . . i am praying for no infection. But hey, i figure that with all the bar-chain oil and gasoline involved, everything in the way of germs should have been killed already anyway. . . .right?!?!?!?!?

The weather tells me that the season is drawing to a close. It is getting darker noticeably earlier and the nights feel like autumn. . . there couldn't possibly be global climate change. Still, i am hoping for a bit of an Indian summer so that we can stretch the harvest.

Okay. . . so there were pictures!


Grow well friends.

So where do i begin??

Okay. . . . i accept that i haven't spent any time updating anyone lately. i have been owned by my job (that i absolutely love), and just trying to keep up with the eternal pandemonium that is my house and home.

As for my dream of becoming a farmer. . . it is a flame burning bright. i am more motivated now than ever. To spend days (even cold, yucky, wet) outside in the dirt and the crops is so refreshing to my soul.

i admit that our "farm" here has fallen into a bit of neglect, but we are catching up. Good thing too, seeing as it is August now. Our chicken flock is on the mend after "removing" one aggressive fox from the planet. The sheep. . . they are tanks, and Amy has begun experimenting with their wool. The veggie patch more resembles the lawn at the moment, but the corn, beans, peas, peppers, tomatoes, and radishes are looking amazing. . . if you can find them. The turkeys are sitting and actually hatching some eggs, but so far no luck. The chicks have not been able to survive the weather.

The kids are doing phenomenally. In spite of the rain they continue to find new ways to have fun. Sissy is just about potty trained. Owen is on his two wheeler now. James. . . well, James has become our "world traveler". i don't think that i have seen him more than two weeks this summer.

We are talking about starting a small 8 person CSA next year out of the yard, to help me keep up with the garden. It is a pretty exciting prospect. But for now, we are just trying to stay ahead of the rain.

i will try to get some updated photos up in the next couple of days - next week is busy at work. . . again!

Grow happy!

Some fun on the pharm

Those of you who follow this may remember my ranting and raving earlier this spring about being unable to calibrate our incubator. Well, nature surprised me and our turkeys started getting broody. As it turned out our "first time" mom's hadn't the patience to sit out the full 28+/- days that are required. Maybe ADHD runs across species! The hens that were sitting would make it up to the last week and then would abandon the nest.
The last several weeks have been absolutely frenetic around here. With job changes and endless rain, three kids, invasion of the army of foxes, flooding basements and trying to make farming work, we really hadn't had a lot of time to think excessively about many of the critters.
The end result of the great fox invasion was that we put the surviving chickens in the turkey paddock to protect them. Maybe that was an error. . .

Yesterday when i went out to water the birds i found the delicate little remains of two baby turkeys in the paddock. It made me sad. . . and excited. Those wacky birds are brooding again, and this time, they are following through. Maybe it is less ADHD and more a matter of climate change. With the wet spring, maybe the hens knew something that we didn't, and they waited till the weather was improving before deciding to brood.

The end result was more my fault than theirs. Had i known that they were brooding (they do this UNDER the coop of all places) i would have either separated them somehow. my suspicion is that they wee littl' ones were trampled by the other big clumsy birds. Lesson learned, and now we are watching very intently the two birds that are burrowed underneath the coop!!!!

Creative pause

Things around the pharm (and the farm) have been absolutely frenetic! The world is spinning at twice the speed of normal and it has no intention of reversing to let us relive moments past.

Did you notice that the peepers have long past? What about the fireflies? They are out. The rain has stopped and the stars are in their full glory again.

When we were at Bellvale one of the most sound pieces of advise was, "Don't forget to take moments of creative pause."

Moments to be floored by nature, to watch the children play, listen to yourself breathe. It seems harder and harder these days. . .

Think about that for awhile. . .

Blogger ate my posts. . .

Okay, weird!! i have been searching and searching. . . i have posted twice since the photo bit. Oddly, there are no signs of the posts after that anywhere.

Well. . . we went to Bellvale and were absolutely recharged and inspired, possibly more than ever before. It was our first summer visit, and was everything more than we could have imagined! Beautiful and warm (yes, with sun too). One of the many highlights of our stay was our visit with our imaginary friends and their beautiful allegedly new infant. But due to their participation in the International Witness Protection Program, we can not actually confirm that they really exist. It might be that they are just voices in my head!!

Here on the farm everything seems to have survived but the house. Sadly, it hasn't burned down yet, but there is water in the basement, the plumbing wants to quit, the furnace is acting up (yup, it governs the hot water too), and the sheep have no interest in staying in their enclosure. But everything is alive and well. In fact my weedy excuse for a garden is flourishing, while we struggle with blight, stunting and flooding on Pearson's Town.

Pictures to follow. . . except for non-governmentally sanctioned photos of things like Aliens, Bigfoot, Elvis, and our imaginary friends!!!!

Maine. . . the way life should be.

Sights on the pharm

Summer is here, and its even sunny. . . aaaaaaaahhhh. . .

Everything i ever learned about compost was a lie!!

Okay, not entirely. But there are some household composting rules that have good history, but simply aren't true. How do i know this??
As of today i am a certified compost site operator. i went, i saw, i composted!!!!

i had the grand pleasure of spending a week with 25 other people from all over the world learning how to make some mighty fine soil amendments!! It was fabulous. There were of course people from the states, but also a fella from the Philippines, a fella from Chad (Africa) and bloke from the Galapagos. . . he was really from Germany, but works for the WWF on the islands. Lucky dog!

So what about some of these "myths" that should be reconsidered by every person in America:

1) Compost can't be made from human biosolids (poop).
Wrong! Actually some of the finest, and safest to use on your home garden, compost is made from human biosolids. If you see it in the store it is more than safe. This doesn't, of course, mean that you should (or even can legally) make it in your home composter. . . unless you have a composting toilet.

2) Compost stinks.
False. If managed correctly a compost pile won't smell at all!!

3) You can't compost meat.
Wrong again. In fact no too many years ago the Maine compost team composted a full sized pilot whale. Total time from whale to dirt with a few knuckle bones - 12 weeks.
In 8 weeks you can make chickens into dirt. In 12 a cow is nothing more than a skeleton, wait another year or so (or buy a grinder) and even the bones break down!!!

Pretty cool eh?!?! Why be afraid of the things your food eats. After all, it is what we will all become eventually anyway!!


Pictures to follow!!

i like feeding the critters!

Managed feed regimens leads to healthier coats and meat!

Like sand through the hour glass. . .

Hmmm. . . this blog, like so many other things in my "old" life seems so foreign.

The demands of the family, Pearson's town, and that other place i work have been overwhelming. Alas, things on the pharm are moving forward (at a dizzying pace). This is not that latest that i have ever tried to get a garden in, but we are creeping up on it.
Addy, Owie, and i spent yesterday planting gourds, melons and the like. before the weeks out the corn, tomatoes, and peppers will be in (along with, Lord willing, everything else).

In the tree department, we had an issue with a band of rabid Pygmy beavers. Our front yard is largely denuded. . . except that the trees are still there. Just. . . well. . . sideways.

Speaking of trees - back in the old days, at a place called Pico Blanco, we used to wander the forest in search of albino redwood trees, which yes, there are!!! Well, there is another magic tree that is close to my heart. The Monterey Cyprus only grow naturally on the Monterey peninsula in California. Well, in a moment of nostalgia, after having lived here for far too long, i found some seeds online. So of course i bought them, planted them, and they grew.

A couple of weeks ago, just after having moved my prized tree outside for the summer i noticed something amiss. One of the branches was oddly colored. At first i thought that it was dead, but then it grew, and grew some more. i have never known a dead branch to grow before.

The branch is not pure white like the albinos that i am familiar with, but rather a golden color. i don't know what to make of it. Like so many other things on the pharm. . . its weird!

When there is no time like the present

i have been meaning to blog for what seems an eternity, but never do find the time. Planting season is a busy one!!! As i am temporarily trapped inside (its raining pretty good out) i had best blog now, or it might get put off again for another month or so.

This May has been rewarding and brutal. i am loving my job so much that it has really become more of an extension of my life. This is a far cry from most of my previous job experiences i have had, and i am totally loving it. The sad part is that it is eating into my personal time. A triumphantly disastrous example played out this weekend. . .
At Pearson's Town we had a "community planting celebration". It was fabulous. We invited anyone and everyone to come and plant with us, talk with us, and see what we are up to over behind that mysterious ol' barn. Well . . . . in my frenetic rush around the house Saturday morning to make sure that everything was ready and rolling for work, i somehow (absentmindedness) failed to turn on the climate control system for my home green house. My starts, all five hundred plus of them, were the pride of my spring. Guess what. . . . all but 10 are now dead. Yes, Saturday was the first day in four that reached above 55 degrees outside, and was the first that we had seen the sun in as many days.

Well, 70 degrees outside might feel nice, but it equates to about 120 degrees in the greenhouse. The starts are in small plastic cells that are about 1 inch cubed. Needless to say, it doesn't take long for a 1 inch cube to dry out and cook. . .

On the other hand everything else on the Phunny Pharm is doing quiet well. . . .ooooh look, lightening. Maybe i will stay in a little longer. . . Sorry, ADHD moment.

Where was i?? Oh yes. . . We are expecting baby turkeys any day now. The sheep are getting fat and now respond to whistles and the calling of their names, the chickens are recovering from fox paranoia, and we are finally reclaiming the yard from last years brush and debris.

Um. . .wow. . . it's really raining now. This is so going to delay my digging expedition (yes, i am way behind and still building beds in my garden). In the meantime, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

The Pearson's Town Gang on Saturday morning before the Planting Celebration

Owen and Sissy joining in the work (No i am not violating labor laws. . . they have a union too).

Mom and Sissy supervising in the Kinder-Garden.

James reclaiming his hands after a "hard day" playing on the farm.

Rainbow Chard. . . Beautiful and yummy!!!!

Sheep - the other, other, other white meat. . . unless mom and the kids name them!

Begining the down hill slide

May is now officially over the hump. The busiest month of our year. Two major events down (birthdays) with two remaining (first camping weekend, and Community Planting Celebration at work). i am still not sure how the latter of all of these events is going to go. Am i nervous?? Not yet. . . there will be time to freak out later!

"Do you consider yourself an agriculturalist?"

That was the question that i was asked last week. . . The question was sincere, and necessary, but definitely the person asking new very little about me. For me to consider myself an agriculturalist, or even a farmer for that matter, would be an insult to those folks that make an honest living toiling in the soil. Do i learn a ridiculous amount every year and put a fraction of that into practice. . . yes.

As my excitement grows, the size of our garden makes huge leaps. As the size of our garden makes huge leaps, the practical application of important principles makes small strides.

******Intermission time****** Buster the Ram just ran through the portable fence because it was turned off and a chicken was tormenting him******

Where was i??? Oh yes!

So now that the garden is MUCH larger we have figured out that we should be orienting the rows east to west instead convenient to more convenient. We learned how very valuable that crop rotations can be for soil health. Lastly (well not lastly, but i don't want to go to jail for genocide. . . the boring to death of all of the 1/2 a reader that visits here) we learned that some pestilences like powder mildew (which affects your curcubits) can be forecast like the weather. It would seem that this last little charm is a gift to us from Florida in exchange for our sending all of our old people to their state.

Anyway. . . not to bore you any longer. . . the garden is finally tilled, the first trench is dug, the sheep is back in the "barn", and the children are in the breezeway playing "Lord of the Flies". Life is as it should be. . . .

It's a busy month. . .

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays.

This is the second weekend of birthday parties. Last weekend, a surprise party, this weekend a pirate party, next weekend. . . camping. It will be a good time and relaxing, but with everything happening between here and Pearson's Town, i could really just use a weekend off.

Here on the Pharm we are recovering from the second big poultry slaughter in two years. The turkeys are fine this year, but the foxes are back and they are exhibiting a rather unusual hunting method. It has always been my experience that they hunt alone, and usually take just one or at the most, two birds a night.

This Mother's Day, they were pack hunting, during the middle of the day, and took between 8 and 10 birds. We are still trying to get an exact count. This first set of chicken chicks has arrived, and are already taking over the house.

In the turkey coop, the hens have abandoned two clutches of eggs, but a third hen has been sitting fairly religiously on a new clutch for about two weeks. We might yet be surprised this year.

And, the sheep - they are getting acclimated. Today was our first attempt at herding them without any fencing. The "barn" and the portable fence are about 20 feet apart, which doesn't sound like a lot until you have to get three skittish critters from point A to point B.

We expected a busy season. . . we were right. With any luck we will slow down before summer is over!!!

The Pharm / Nature interface. . .

The week is finally over. We were able to keep Amy's party a surprise after all! You have no idea how difficult, or stressful that can be.

And so, my wife enters her thirties, and she is still willing to deal with me! Yea for me!

May is usually busy for us with three birthdays, and our normal trip to visit our good friends at Bellvale, but this year is just worse. . . . Now i have a slew of new projects for work that are going on this month too. It has been so overloaded that we had to postpone our trip to Bellvale till later in the summer. The consulation prize is that we managed to finagle our way back into a wicked good campsite that we used to visit every year. . . we lost our spot on year when Amy was pregnant and have had to wait four years to get it back.

On the Pharm. . . We have added three new friends to our little village. Buster, Dina, and (whatever the kids named the other one) have now taken up residence in what used to be the kids "play house". You know, the thing that dad always referred to as a "shed". Well. . .now we call it a barn. It's not really a barn. Unless of course you use your imagination.

They no less about what to think about us than we know about what to think about them. For the moment they are cute and fun, and should mow the lawn, so things are great. In the future we should be able to set 'em and forget 'em. Love them now, love them then (only with the addition of steak sauce).

On the flip side. We have developed a fox problem. Worse than any year past. At last count today, we lost 10 birds (or somewhere in that neighborhood). i have never heard of foxes working like that. It's just weird. Sadly i keep my pal Mr. Remington locked up (we do have kids in the house), so by the time he comes out of the closet (so to speak). The bandits are gone. Any suggestions out there as to how to deal with these irritating little beauties??

Let nature take it's course (this one could be long)

What a couple of weeks. I don't even know where to begin really. Since the tale has been told of the John Deere, I will add only that the search for sheep is on. We (and by we, i mean, me) has settled on Katahdin Sheep. They are a good breed of meet sheep, that were developed in Maine (developed. . . that makes them sound genetically engineered. . .eeeek). They are hair sheep not wool sheep (sorry Laura), but still cute as a button and very prolific. On top of mowing our lawn the potential exists to fill our freezer and maybe sell a lamb to offset feed costs.

And so spring has sprung and now it is officially official. i shared the excitement of our new incubator?! Well. . . i never did get the darned thing calibrated (though i have ordered some new parts for it). Alas, i thought to myself no baby turkeys this year - not that we need more than the 12 or so that are in the freezer anyway. Then one day a few weeks ago we lost a hen. She had escaped, or so i thought.

One afternoon while collecting eggs, i heard some really weird noises from under the turkey coop. It turns out that our "missing" hen has been brooding a clutch of eggs underneath the turkey coop this whole time. Yes, she is part groundhog i guess. She has been sitting there faithfully on who knows how many eggs. Two fell from the nest some time last night, so i candled them this morning and confirmed that they are indeed fertile. . . "Let nature take it's course."
The baby chickens have started arriving. Some will go to Pearson's Town for the summer. The rest will offset our supply as we are dividing the existing flock with the Hogans. We are adding some new varieties including broilers this year. Stay tuned for that circus. . .

And yes, i won the war. . . sort of. Amy let me "grow" the garden. It is now about three times the square footage of the house. So yes, i won the verbal war. . . but. . . the actual expansion itself - the sod is killing me!!! i don't ever remember having to hit a patch of yard this hard with the tiller. We have used both a hand tiller AND a tractor and still the soil isn't fully turned. It's evil grass i tell you, EVIL. Stupid European grasses!!!! The chickens are enjoying the slow progress, and i will appreciated it later. As i make passes they have been coming in and feeding on the grubs, worms, and various other pests that have been lurking in the sod. Green pest control at it's finest.

Now my hope is that i can get the beds prepped in time to get the starts in. Nothing worse than crops that grow tiny heads because the plant became root bound in their cells. . .

Sometimes i just can't keep up with life. . .

I woke up praying the other day, which is a pretty weird occurrence. Once my eyes opened i knew that i was being prepared to endure the storm of the month. I suspected that it was going to be at work. . .

Oddly work was phenomenal. Better than i could have hoped or dreams. Even with all of the hiccups that have come it is still the greatest job ever!!!

Nope. . . the storm would come from home. The end result is that for all of the immediate frustration is that we are blessedly being nudged toward a greener way of living.

So i had recently drained the engine in our four year old John Deere lawn tractor (yes, my man toy. . . that actually Amy uses more. . . Hmmmmm?!) so that i could change the fluids and tune it up. It turns out that some of the neighbor boys came to borrow it, because we are the only folks on the block with a trailer, to move some manure for compost. Had i slipped the spark plug wire off we would have been fine. That night i came home to a host of folks standing around my tractor starring grimly at it.
Sure enough twenty minutes into their chores the engine blew into about a thousand pieces. She is done. . . .
So here i am with a huge lawn and no mower, but we have been talking about sheep for some time. In rural Mexico, and other under developed countries they use goats to mow the lawns. Talk about green!!! Totally organic lawn mowers, and if they break, well, you eat them!

Well. . . instead of sitting here, i should be out constructing the sheep barn. . .

When the currents of joy meet the rip tides of frustration

Not a clear picture, i know, but not bad for pouring rain. Yup, the rains came this week, just when i thought we were going to have another arid April (last year April was horribly dry and it led to rain from middle June to August - nothing grew well).
And with the rain, the birds came up with a much improved design for a chicken tractor.
Today being Friday, i am finally getting back into the swing of having a five day work week with weekends off. The joy is a little weird. . . and really i don't have the weekends off, because i am always doing something farmy.
Tonight the boys and i went out for eggs and got the treat of the spring. Well, it's a treat if you are a National Geographic kinda person. While collecting eggs we got to witness our standard bronze turkeys mating. This is exciting because we can be certain that our turkey eggs are fertile, but frustrating because i can't get the humidity in the incubator regulated. . . stupid machines!! i have it half in me to let the birds do it the old fashion way, i just don't have the faith that they would.

A couple more days and i will give it a try. . .

The locavore's dilemna

It seems forever since i blogged, though i am sure it hasn't been all that long. Work has been so overwhelming lately - planning, reading, writing, planting. . . i almost forgot to enjoy the peepers. i am really glad for moments when that ol' inner voice says, "Stop!"

The rain today is a welcome change to a dry April. No snow this year, that doesn't bode well with my experiences of summers past. Dry April = wet July. We will see.

Amy and i talked very briefly the other night about trying a locavore diet for a year. Yes, that means only eating what is grown in a XX mile radius of where we live. We really didn't talk long enough to determine how far that might be, but Amy in her usual wisdom mentioned that we should definitely do our homework on this one!
She's right.
A whole year - no coffee, or sugar, chocolate, or rum (it's a great muscle relaxant after a hard day's work). To think about it is tough. Tonight James and i talked about the old children's rhyme, "Peas, porridge hot". i explained it's origins and tried to make him understand the severity of what we had discussed. He adamantly declared that a world without restaurants was just not worth living in. i guess we will have more conversations on the matter.
Either way, i am convinced that we can grow an adequate variety of crops that if we mind our cooking and study up a bit that we can make a years worth of yummy, nutritious goodness. Or maybe this is just another one of my idealistic crusades. . . we will let the future determine that for us.

Tomorrow is earth day!!!

When it rains technology it pours technology

Like an avalanche roaring downhill toward complete destruction. . .

So is technology reestablishing itself in our house (stay tune the ginormous flat screen t.v. thingy will be next). It all started with a silly computer, then a cellphone. . . now an incubator (Okay, that one was all me. . . bad, hippie, bad!!). Now this old beast of a computer that we use is aged and probably has hepagonacyphaherpeaids among other evil computer viruses! If it doesn't, it is developing a mind of its own and we are going to rename it Hal and grab our ankles, because it now does whatever the heck it wants with no regard for the user.

So last night we went on a trip to town to look for a new computer. My friend Stu and some techie-guy convinced me that it would be better to purchase the Enterprise-D (yes, that was a Trekkie reference) than something that would be outdated in just a few short years.

To Amy's dismay this means that once again the fancy-shmancy digital camera will have to wait because we are going to have to sell at least one of the children to buy the computer. . .

. . . whatever happened to the day when an ox or an ass were the "big family purchase"???

P.S. Its sad that the words "Trekkie" and "ginormous" are in the spell check!

Knowing when to be afraid and when not to

i guess you can tell a fire fighter's kid from other people's kids. i acknowledge that i am no longer a fire fighter, so perhaps that makes me a wannabe now (not the first time i have been a wannabe), but i was a fire fighter so in many ways this applies.

Tonight we supped on one of my favorite (when i get the recipe right) winter dishes. No, its not winter, but we did get exposed to the influenza B virus this week. Supposedly that is the good one?!?! Anywho, that led to turkey stew. Of course in our house you can't have turkey stew without having the famous Lamont pop-overs - one of many things (especially culinary) that Amy's family brings to the mix! Of course you don't know that the pop-overs are done until the smoke alarm goes off.

Now any good parent has trained their kids proper fire protocols: Where the exits are, where to meet, how to call 911. Does that happen in our house??? What do you think?

Three kids - three responses. Here is how proper fire escape happens in our house when you hear the smoke alarm:

Option one: Exit below the smoke layer

Option two: "What's going on guys?"

(No independent pictures for this. . . just watch the little head in the other three photos)

Option three: "Dad, would you stop burning dinner again already!?"

The end result. . . scrumptious, mouthwatering popovers!

Its quieter on the pharm today. . .

Okay, so i am celebrating my first full weekend off in a long time. . . .aaaaaaahh!!!!

The weather is fabulous. We have done some cleaning, some reading, been out with friends. . . what an amazing couple of days.

The one really noticeable difference is the volume in the backyard. With eight less gobbling turkeys in the paddock the yard is amazingly quieter. The two jakes that have stayed on to help us keep the flock growing still make quite a raucous, but nothing compared to what there was when all ten were singing in harmony (sort of harmony).

The snow is all but gone!! Woohoo!! The farm project is making progress, as is the home garden. We ordered seeds Friday, only two seed varieties were unavailable, and one was on back order till early May. Oddly, i received an envelope from the seed company yesterday. i thought it odd that it wasn't my seed order. . . instead it was the pack of seeds that was on back order until early May. Boy, i hope i didn't hear the guy wrong and that the rest of the seeds aren't coming until early May. . . .eeeek!!

The Maine Fruit and Vegetable School. . .

. . . offered by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension was held yesterday at Keeley's in Portland. What a grand time it was!
Many of the local farmers came together to learn about updates in technology, agriculture practices, and public policy. i saw some old friends there - folks who i rely on to supplement my summer veggies and almost all of my fresh autumn apples. Though there were only a VERY small handful of us who were not professional farmers, the practices being taught applied to most of our hobby farms and home gardens as well. It was a good time to connect with some of the smaller farms that i have had a hard time finding (it doesn't help when some of them change their names).
The ironic part of the whole day was that i, the only organic farmer in the group (that i know of), managed to sit next to the guy who is on the state board of pesticide/herbicide use. Its kinda like sitting next to the crazy guy on the bus.
We were civil, and actually had a very good time in spite of our ideological differences.
Overall, it was a great day. i would recommend the conference to anyone in the Ag business or thinking about going into the Ag business. You can find the link on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's website, or google the Maine Fruit and Tree School. Its good stuff!!

Oh, and the Pesticide guy. . . he made sure that i had a copy of the official Pesticide Applicators Log before i left.

Turkey, turkey, duck. . .

Well, i don't own any llamas (yes that was indeed a reference to the Llama Song - Google it). . .

Strange days have descended on the pharm. It is as though there is a tear in the time-space continuum. Or perhaps i am just dirty waffler when it comes to ideology. . .

Yes, the ugly little red thing is in fact a cellular telephone! The boss thinks it would be a good idea for me to have in case i am off site and he needs to get a hold of me. Truth be told, he is right. Still it is weird to have it. The kids and the wife are pretty excited about it - not because they can call me, but because it represents technology in the house.

But on to pharmier things. . . James and i did a bit of mud wrestling yesterday with eight big tom turkeys. Our flock is now down to eleven - one step closer to the six that we wanted from the beginning. Those poor eight should be hanging by their feet right now. Ready to pick up tomorrow. Yum-Yum.

This last week also surprised us with some excitement that we have been anticipating all winter!! Eggs, lots of eggs!!!!! Of course the chickens have been laying all winter (good chickens!), but last weeks the ducks and the turkeys joined the club!

And so in just a few days we should start the process of incubating our own eggs. With any good fortune and God's blessing the days of purchasing chicks will be long past!

Back home and back to work. . .

We have returned. . . . finally!

All told the trip was great. Here are some of the highlights (Some of them):

. . . And there ya have it!