Nest of eggs

We recently went to Toronto for a family wedding.  We spent some hours in the Art Gallery of Ontario.  This exhibit amazed us... http://www.ago.net/evan-penny-re-figured

Toronto's "CN Tower" in the fall.  

We finally have enough eggs to fill a carton and give to family and friends. 

Thanks again Mom and Dad for the egg basket.  We use it every day.  We love all our colorful eggs.  Twice a day, we check the nesting boxes in the coop for eggs.  A simple pleasure. 

J took this picture and I love it!!!! Fall on the farm. 

Back in Toronto.  Too tired to edit :) This one is for Luke and Sarah:

"Lobstah Lobstah".  Inside joke.  We ate lunch in Chinatown. The best Egg Moo Shu.

At the wedding.  Farmer J and the Mrs.  

Rest in peace...

Sadly, we have lost our first hen.  Miss Magnolia, who had stolen our hearts from the first instance we saw her, is now in chicken heaven.  Five days ago, due to a change in routine in preparing for a mini-vacation, we left the coop door open-- as usual during the day-- but did not get home to shut the door until it was after dark. We know that darkness is a chicken's worst enemy, as with the darkened sky comes the predators. Our late night dinner with my parents turned into an unexpected feast for a curious raccoon.  The coon found his way in the coop and to one of our favorite birds.   I will not give details, as I'm still trying to get the images out of my own head.  Little to say, I knew Magnolia was gone and counted two more chickens were missing (Primrose and a Bantam.)

I feared the fate of the other birds but knew I had to deal with the problem at hand.  The raccoon was still in the coop.  You know how you always hear that animals are more afraid of us humans than vice versa.  Not true in this situation.  Picture me, still in my work clothes, screaming profanities at the raccoon while slamming a rake on the coop walls.  Picture the raccoon, sleeping in the coop with a full belly, not bothered in the least by my ranting and raving.  So... what does a farmwife do???  Call her mom!  She had good advice to put the hose on the raccoon but the hose was not long enough to reach.  I was worried the raccoon would attack another bird if I left to go fetch water.  After more colorful language and rake banging, I got the raccoon out of the coop.

Still in my work clothes and dying to go to the bathroom, I started searching for the missing girls.  Armed with my cell phone (phone call #2 to one of my best friends) and Farmer J's headlight, I did lap after lap around the farmhouse.  I looked in all the usual spots but found no "babies."  I feared the worst.

When Farmer J returned home later that night, he searched as well with no luck.

In the light of day, in the midst of early morning packing for our trip, J found both birds just outside our mud room door.  They were covered in frost but not hurt.  Answered prayer.  Yes, I did pray for the safe return of our missing chickens.  We took them to the coop to get warmed up and fed.  Thirteen birds is not as good as fourteen... but better than eleven.

I'm thankful the boys were not around for the above event.  I wish J would have been home but I'm realizing, if I want to try out rural living, this is par for the course.  Next time, of course hoping there won't be a next time, I will be armed with something a little more powerful than cuss words and a lawn implement.

 Magnolia on the first day she arrived on the farm. 

Magnolia loving the spring weather and the feel of grass under her feet.  

Rest in peace. 

The likely culprit... 

Fall on the farm...

The days of summer are over.  The cool, crisp air has replaced the warm, summer breeze that used to come up onto the front porch, just in the nick of time when the summer heat was getting to be too much.  No more sweet tea on the porch.  Soon, we will be sipping apple cider while rocking in our chairs (we have enough rocking chairs for each member of the family now- thanks to my parents).  The summer green leaves have been replaced by brilliant colors of orange, amber, yellow, red, magenta and brown.  The sound of the lawn mower has been replaced by the squeal of children as they jump into huge leaf piles.  Each day, the wind helps the children get those precious leaves down to the ground so they can add them into their ever growing mountain of foliage.  Interestingly, the chickens love the leaf piles as well.  It's not odd to see children and chickens alike, kicking the leaves here and there with their feet.

Speaking of chickens, our Araucana's (we think), now named "Merigold" and "Sunflower", have started to lay eggs in their hutch (lovingly created by Farmer J).  Lately, three in one day.  I'm not sure why J thinks they Araucana's are responsible for the eggs...I just go with it.  Anything we make with the eggs turns a brilliant saffron yellow color.  This morning, we used one large egg (with a double yolk) to make our waffles. The waffles had a slight orange tint to them!  When we find an egg, typically in the afternoon, we put it in the egg basket (given to us by my parents) that is hung up high by our mud room porch.  Then we all get to remark on our beautiful egg collection as we all come into the house from our busy days.  We don't wash the egg until right before we cook with it; surprisingly, they are very clean.  Below, you will see a picture of some of our eggs, held cautiously by our youngest!  They are a very pale blue/green.

The gardening season is starting to come to an end but Farmer J is trying to extend it as long as possible by putting up a temporary hoop house.  Just today, we harvested the last of the zucchini.  We have had lots of fun making various kinds of zucchini dishes.  Our children much prefer the chocolate chip zucchini muffins and chocolate zucchini bread over the zucchini pasta and zucchini enchiladas.  Today was also the last harvest of rhubarb.  J will make his famous rhubarb pie tonight-- a recipe passed down from his mom! The pie is a big hit in our house and likely will not last 24 hours!  Farmer J is also harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, various kinds of lettuce and broccoli.  On the flip side, he is planting winter garlic.  Here is one of the sunflowers that towered over the garden until mid September.

We are still loving this farm.  Just a few hours ago, someone pulled into the driveway and started taking pictures of the place, the log home enveloped by fall.  The stranger said, "I love this place" and we responded, "We do too."  We have now seen the farm over all four seasons.  I can't say I prefer one season to the other.

It is nice to have a break from the hot summer weather but we are bitterly reminded of the this new cool weather every morning and night.  The house tends to run on the cold side, especially in the original log home portion of the house.  Within the next few weeks, the old fuel oil furnace will be replaced by propane heat.  It will burn more clean and will be slightly cheaper to heat 'this old house'.  Until then, we are staying warm with various portable heaters, lots of baking in the oven and lots of down comforters.  I can't imagine how cold it was to live here back in the early 19th century.

Things are starting to settle down.  I love the beginning of autumn.  As a mother, I embrace the early dusk as my children are tricked into thinking it's way past their bedtime before the time has actually arrived.  It will be harder to get them to bed early once they can tell time :)

Time to get going.  Farmer J has a soup cooking on the stove and the youngins' are starting to search for food.  I hope to post more pictures of the farm during fall time in the next few weeks.

-The Wary Farm Wife

~ Our deepest sympathy and love to our friends who have recently experienced much loss.  Please call us when life settles down and we will feed you well!