A Pleasant Surprise

How could I forget. This June we learned that our memoir 'Little Farm in the Foothills' was selected as one of nine books to be featured on the Washington State Library's Summer Reading list.  That was a very pleasant surprise!

Here chickie chickie!

I'm a bit blue because it's late into September and the rain has dominated the month's weather pattern. In fact it is raining right now and that is why I'm inside writing on this blog. Back at the beginning of June I had my 62nd birthday and Sue engineered a surprise for me. She took me for a ride to the South part of Whatcom County, down Hwy 9. We turned off the highway and headed East into the countryside. Finally we stopped at a little farm where I observed some dogs, goats, pigs and oh yes - chickens! We met a young woman who raises chickens, both for meat and layers. Sue told me she had located this woman, Shona, via the WSU Extension office in Bellingham.

Shona, who goes by the handle  'Dirty Mama', in the 'Grow Northwest' magazine, showed us around and told us that the hens for sale were 'teens' at present. Shona called them the 'Girls', and said they would begin laying eggs around the 1st of July. The variety of bird she said was called 'Bronze Sexlink' and were supposed to be good layers. Sue and I decided to purchase six hens at $15 each. We asked if Shona could hold onto them until the first week in July because, ah, we still had to finish building our coop and chicken-run. Sue and I really liked the look of the birds and they seemed calm and friendly.

The month of June went by quickly but we made steady progress and finally the coop and run were ready for the hens. We figured to make adjustments as needed. A day or two after the 4th of July Sue and I returned to 'Dirty Mama's' farm and picked up our chickens. It took a little while as one of the birds ran off into the tall grass and hid for awhile. Shona eventually caught the hiding hen and Sue and I said our farewells. But not before getting lots of good advice and tips on the whole chicken & and egg opperation. The trip back home took about 45 minutes - the hens were in two good-sized cardboard boxes with air holes. Once home we released the 'girls' into their new home.

During rest of July, August and first half of September we have indeed made a number of changes to the Coop & Run. But the good news is that for most of the Summer the hens were regular egg layers. Also, the 'girls' are so very glad to see you when you come into their area. Sue and I did have lots of other chores to do like weeding, tying up tomato vines and spliting firewood for the Winter ahead (as of today we have a good supply of wood on hand). The hens egg production has declined as the days have gotten shorter. For a time they were laying one egg per day, per hen. 

In the garden the volves are our new Enemy #1 - any good ideas on how to wipe them out without chemicals - we do want a more or less organic based opperation. The root crops have done well - carrots, onions and so forth but the leafy greens did not do well this Summer. The tomatos are very slow in ripening - so little Sun to do the job!

Well, its 2:35 PM and time to give some feed to the Hens. We have joined a local chicken feed Co-Op to buy organic feed for the 'girls'. Sue and I were pleasantly surprize how many folks, not living on actual farms, raise chickens - many live in the city limits of Bellingham. I get my lumber in Everson and the guys at the building center tell me that this summer many of the purchases for wood have been for the constuction of chicken coops. After the recent egg scare in Iowa - the number of persons getting their own laying hens may climb higher.

Farewell - hope to write again soon. ~ John

When will the Sun come to stay?

The month of May is nearly over and it's been rather cool and rainy. I have built fires in the wood stove the past few days to take the chill off. Sue and I have not totally lost our spirits because we know that the rain keeps us green and helps, many months from now, to replenish the water-table. We're nearly done with a new Western fence enclosure to keep the deer out of the West Orchard and to help protect some chickens we hope to purchase soon. Yesterday I planted three varieties of sweet-potatoes in a newly prepared bed in the Southeast Orchard area. The caneberries are busy beginning to blossom and the strawberries are setting fruit, and, we're eating asparagus - what a treat!

Thank goodness for the Whatcom County Library System. It is so easy to use and they have a very good selection of homesteading books. Sue and I have ploughed our ways through Root Cellering and Gardening When It Counts. Plus I've looked though and taken notes regarding the raising of chickens, building farm structures and home water systems. Some of these books we'll be adding to our home library because they are rather in-depth manuals and we can't retain all the information we'll need and use in the future.

Gosh, the Sun is out - got to close and go play. I'll try to post some new photos shortly ~ John

Strange Spring

When Sue and I got up this morning it was gray and drizzly and 40 deg. F. We hadn't been up long before wind and hail, thunder and lightning came. After 20 minutes that stopped and the sky began to lighten, but that only lasted half and hour and the wind, hail, thunder and lightning returned. Now its 3:25 PM and its nice and sunny - but Sue says there are gray clouds on the horizon so she'll take the silver streak, her bad weather bike, out for her ride.

Today I have been adding photos to some of my old postings. It will take some time but I'll try to get all the old posts updated so you see the fun we've had and continue to have.

As you can see by the two photos above, one of the wonderful sights of spring are apple blossoms. The light pink one is from our Red Gravenstein tree and the red one is from our Williams Pride apple tree.

Thanks ~ John

New Adventures at our Little Farm

May has arrived and excitement came with it. Yesterday, May 1st at about 3:30 PM, I returned home from visiting my Mom and did a little work on the new chicken coop. As evening fell, about 7:30 PM, I heard some noise off to the west. I grabbed my walking stick and went to see what the source was. I arrived at the NW corner marker of our acerage but by then the noise had stopped. I decided to return back to the house by cutting through the woodsy center of the property. I discovered that we had some trillium growing in places. I also startled a Grouse which flew off towards the south. I moved a little south myself in case bird had been sitting on a nest, I didn't want my scent too near the nest. After walking twenty five or thirty yards more I stepped on and snapped a twig. In during so I startled another creature. I heard a rustle and saw a shape move off to my right, behind a birch clump. As it cleared the clump it turned and looked in my direction. It was cougar! For a few seconds we made direct eye contact, the cougar and me, about 15 yards or so apart.

As you can imagine my heart jumped in my chest and I spoke to it - the cougar that is, something like, 'oh, hi there!" I then started backing up keeping my face towards it. After several yards I turned and walked towards the cleared area just north of me. I turned frequently to see if the big cat was following. I reminded myself not to run but to walk with purpose. Once in the clearing I continued to walk, turning frequently to make sure I was not being followed. I made it back to the house and inside the tall fencing we have up to keep the deer out of our garden. I was thus reminded that we are in the foothills and are not to take our safety for granted.

This morning, May 2nd, I had a different sort of adventure. At about 10:30 AM Sue was standing at the south facing glass sliding doors and I heard her exclaim, "there's a rabbit in the south strawberry bed." I went to the door and sure enough a small bunny had some how managed to nose its way under the chicken wire fencing around the bed. But once inside it could not figure how to get back out. I grabbed a sweatshirt, put on my shoes and went out to remove the intruder. After several minutes of maneuvering and a missed toss of the shirt, I was able to get the bunny cornered and tossed the shirt over him. I gathered the shirt and bunny up and tossed both over the 24 inch high fence. The bunny worked its way out the sweatshirt and ran out the garden.

Later this morning Sue spotted a Red Tailed Hawk in a small Alder tree on the other side of the south fence. The hawk was much too big for the top of the tree and so after a few uncertain and wobbly minutes the hawk flew off to find a more secure perch.

Just another couple of days out here in the foothills ~ John

The New Year - 2010

Golly, its been too many months since I last wrote. I find it hard to keep up since I'd rather be reading a good book or actually be outside playing in the dirt. Anyway, here is just a bit of writing to catch readers up on what Sue and I have been doing.

The Winter of 2009-10 was pretty mild but there have been some cooler trends this Spring. In fact there was fresh snow up about the 1500 foot level just a day or two ago. As I write this the sun is peeking out between high clouds. The garden is doing well, we've already had our first picking of rhubarb and Sue made the first crisp of the season - rhubarb plus some frozen strawberries from last Summer. The asparagus is coming up, the onions, garlic and potatoes are all planted and we're getting ready to build a chicken coop. Oh, how could I forget - the early apples are in blossom, as are the plums and the cane berries are pushing flower buds.

Well, I'm going to stop for awhile and go play outside. I hope to be back later to write more. For those of you who know about our book, "Little Farm in the Foothills", it has been doing pretty well. We've sold over half the number printed (500) and Sue is working on getting library systems to purchase copies for readers to check out - feel free to ask your library to get one or more copies.

PS. The Hummingbirds made their first appearance on April 9th 2010 - the 4th anniversary of moving in to our home here in the Foothills. The photo above was last summer-2009. Thanks ~ John