Winter Has Arrived

Somewhere....out there, buried in a drift of snow is my Swiss Chard. Oh, how I miss it!!! I hope that the blanket of straw that I put on it will allow it to come back in the Spring. If it does it will be the first thing to come up in the garden. Mmmmm, I do have some dehydrated, but its not quite the same as when its fresh. Sauted in some onion and olive oil, devine!

Somewhere, out there....are you still there? Do you still stop by to see whats happening on the farm? It has been more than 3 months since I last wrote, but we have been so busy that there has been little time to get on and blog. Lousy excuse I know, but I will try and get this blog updated more often and tell you what has been going on! Lots of fun and some excitement too :D

Gardening Woes

2009 has been a dreadful year to garden here in Iowa. The weather has been unseasonably cool and quite damp. I didnt pull the peas until July. They didnt get pulled because they were done producing, but because I was tired of looking at them and needed to get the cukes in their spot. Now I wish that I would have left the peas where they were as the cukes like warmer weather and they are suffering in the cool weather that we have. The popcorn appears to be ok, which is fun. I got battered and blown over a couple of times in severe storms that we had but has pretty much straigtened right up. The swiss chard has flourished, yum. The pole beans were slow to start put have overtaken their trellis so I have hopes for them. I want lots to freeze and some to pickle. The okra, still on the fence about. I have picked one pod, maybe it is too cold for it this year. Bummer too, I love okra and so badly wanted to pickle some of that too. Will wait and see how it does. The seeds that were labeled Bush Delicata are sprawling so I dont think that they are a bush variety but thats ok since I have them in a seperate area and they are producing some lovely squash. It will be great if we have some tasty winter squash for the cold months. The tomatoes are lagging behind too. Some of the plants I think might have a virus so I am thinking about pulling them. The plants seem to be dying, so maybe they will just be made into green tomato relish. Next year planting spots are going to be rotated. The peppers and eggplant appear to be doing ok. Carters peppers in his 4H garden are doing super! His Giant Marconi and Golden Peppers are huge and very prolific! We really really like the Giant Marconi. They are a sweet pepper and are thick walled. I have used them in taco meat and enchilda casserole. They are supposed to be good grilled too, will have to give that a try, grilled then sliced and put on a grilled brat or pulled pork sandwich, delish! I am looking forward to next year, hopefully a warmer typical Iowa summer.

Tomato and Pepper plants, July 22, 2009.

Strawberry popcorn in front, eggplant (hidden by corn) peppers, tomatoes and then swiss chard, lettuce and herbs hidden by the tomatoes.

Carters flourishing 4H garden, must be from all of the rabbit manure that we put in there. He has marigolds, parsley, golden peppers, basil, giant marconi and tomatoes.

All of these pictures were taken July 22, 2009

What a Mess!!!!

Sunday we got up early to head to the farmers swap. We had a few rabbits and a couple of saddles that we wanted to sell. The weather was fairly nice, not as hot as we expected it to be and there was a very nice breeze. However we could see very dark clouds looming on the horizon to the west of us and headed our way. At about 11:30am we decided to head home as everyone else was leaving. Once we were home we got things unloaded, checked the animals and came inside. Matt & I were going to go pick up some groceries, Carter wanted to stay home. For some reason I decided to turn on the TV and just check the weather. Good thing I did as we had a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Boy, was it severe! The winds were straight line, not sure of the gusts, but the rain was coming down so hard we couldn't even see out the windows. We could hear things hitting the house so headed downstairs and that is when the power went out. The storm blew through and this is what we saw when we looked outside! What a mess!!!

We lost our apple tree :(


Huge mess in the pasture

Tree on a garage in Rowley

The Prespeterian Church in Rowley

Our driveway was blocked by the cedar tree that fell.

The goats enjoyed their snacks.

The kid enjoyed playing on the huge tree that fell.

Damage from Rolwey. The electric company is repairing lines down the street.

More damage from Rowley.

Woah!!!!

The sun was just barely up this morning. I was enjoying the early morning news, checking email and looking out the window. Now why is that goat out eating in the pasture by herself? Usually the goats are out eating and roaming in their herd. Squinting my eyes I yelled out the window to her, "Britches". She didnt lift her head? Maybe she found a good weed or some really tasty grass, so I yelled again "Britches". Still no look from her. Ok, so now I lifted the screen to get a better view. Well, maybe that isn't Britches. The binoculars are hanging on the door so I grab them to get an even better look. Woah, that isnt a goat but a coyote. What is that wiley coyote doing in our pasture???? They can and will take down a goat. I hustle down the stairs, slip on some shoes and get out to the pasture. Thankfully all of the goats are accounted for! I holler at the coyote to get out of here. It hurries to the corn and disappears. We are hoping that it will not be back but will be checking with the DNR on hunting/trapping rules of coyote. It would be awful to have a coyote coming onto our property for free pickings. The camera is pretty much on the fritz as I cant zoom in too much so I didnt bother with any pictures. Sorry. I did take some garden pictures, but will try and blog and post pictures tomorrow.

The Fair

Monday, July 13th was the opening day of the Buchanan County Fair. We really enjoy going to our county fair to see the animals, watch the 4H kids show & eat some great food from Iowa Beef, Pork & Dairy producers! YUM! Since this was Carter's first year in 4H he was involved in the fair this year. On July 7th the 4H garden judge came out to evaluate his home garden project. Carter was super excited to learn via mail that he had earned a blue ribbon for his project. Of course we had to walk through the fair buildings to find his name posted :)

Thursday, July 16th was the pie baking contest and at 6pm that evening the pies were auctioned off. All of the proceeds from the pie sale went to support 4H activities. After I got off of work we hurried out there to see the end of the auction and couldnt believe it when the pies were going for $400+, yes that is not a typo. Some of the kids also made "flower buckets"....5 gallon buckets that were decorated and filled with flowers & plants. Those great looking buckets were bringing in $150+ dollars, all for a great cause! It was getting kind of late so we decided to leave as I had to work friday morning. As we were heading out they were just starting the Lumberjack Show so we decided to stay and watch. Carter sure did get a kick out of it, especially the log run.

As you can see this 9 time world champion log runner landed on his, as Carter so tactfully put it, balls.

Friday was the cattle shows. They even had a youth fun show which Carter participated in. We dont have our own calf yet, but a very nice girl let Carter borrow her milking shorthorn calf named Mask. The calf was nicely trained, Carter had a lot of fun and got a blue ribbon for that class also. He is looking forward to next year so he can do his bottle/bucket calf.

For the price of parking $2, no gate charge and the delicious food you sure cant beat that for a day of family fun!

enjoy the short video of the Fun Show

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope that yours was safe and fun!

Our 4th was very very cool compared to what it could have been with a high of only 72 F.
This was just fine with us as Carter and I had volunteered to be in the 4th of July parade for my work. Due to rules we had to walk to be able to throw candy...no candy was to be thrown from parade floats/vehicles. We did get a sprinkle that came down but I would much rather be a little damp from some light rain then be soaked from sweat. Here are a few pictures that I took before the parade.




Lets get this thing going already

Yum, Tootsie Rolls.

The rest of the Holiday weekend was spent working in the yard & gardens. I will get some pictures taken and update the progress of our garden. Carter has his 4H garden judging tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed for him :)

Free ranging chickens & ducks

Our 5 Blue Slate turkeys enjoying the morning in their house.

Our duck sitting on her nest of 8 duck eggs and one chicken egg.

Our broody banty hen hatched out 6 chicks

White Muscovy ducklings that we got on June 21st

Parkersburg

Parkersburg, Iowa...population 1,889. In 2008 tragedy stuck when an F5 tornado devastated the town on May 25th. The tornado flattened the southern 2/3rds of the town,destroyed the high school including the football field and killed 8 residents. Current and former football players came together and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace their much loved field. Their come-back season ended with a record of
Today, June 24th 2009, an unbelievable tragedy has struck Parkersburg Iowa again. At 8:45am a former student entered the school, went to the weight room and in front of several students shot and killed the beloved coach of the football team Ed Thomas. He was an instrumental leader in the community, not only on the football field but he was also a social studies teacher.
Our family did not know coach/teacher Ed Thomas, but having a horrible thing like this happen in a small town like Parkersburg makes you feel for their community. If you would like to read more about what has happened, as details are changing and being updated please go to www.kcrg.com or www.kwwl.com

Feelin' Broody

One of our little banty hens has made herself a nest and has been sitting on a clutch of eggs for close to 3 weeks now. If you remember it only takes 21 days for chicks to hatch out of their shells. So, since we didnt write down on the calendar when she started sitting on them I grabbed up a couple today and held them to my ear. Much to my surprise I could her little peeps coming from the egg....that means soon she will be hatching out some babies. I did sneak a couple of duck eggs under her, those take 28 days so hopefully she will continue to sit on the eggs and hatch those out as well!
Our big brown female duck, who has the very original name of "Ducky" couldnt be found on Monday. She is usually the first one out of the barn in the morning when I go out to milk. I thought that something had happened to her, but also found her sitting on her own clutch of 8 eggs and one chicken egg. Maybe she got inspired by the little banty and decided she wanted her own babies? Ducky becomes quite angry if you come close to her nest! I tried to get under her to inspect and see how many eggs she had, she flug her long neck around and gave me a quick tap with her beak. Oh no you dont lady, she was probably thinking. I did manage to see that she did have the 8 white duck eggs and her brown chicken egg. Where that came from I'm not sure as the chickens have been in the coop for a while. I may have to see if I can get that one out from under her and candle the egg and see if its even viable. We certainly dont want a rotten egg explosion, especially since we are supposed to be in the 90's for a few days this week. Ick! I butchered 8 chickens today too so its off to clean up for me. Stay cool!!! Summer is here.

Gobble Gobble

After our quick vacation to Missouri, we are back here in Iowa. It was great to see family, but also nice to be back home.
Sunday we decided to go to the farmers swap & sale. There were quite a few people there with lots of things for sale....rabbits, goats, a lamb, chickens, ducks, turkeys, even a couple of llamas and a donkey, also some craft items. After walking around and checking everything out, debating on getting more rabbits, discussing getting a lamb (she was adorable) we decided to get some turkeys. Well, 5 of them. The turkeys are Blue Slate, a heritage breed. They are four weeks old and are pretty cute. They peep quite a bit and are a really pretty blue/grey color with beige heads. It will be fun to see how many boys and girls we have. We wont be able to tell for a while. The lady that we got them from said that she has 2 pairs and gets quite a few eggs and that she has a hen sitting on a nest right now. These might be a great 4H project for Carter, and maybe a little money maker too if we have some extra eggs to hatch come next spring.
Gobble Gobble