Home is where the heart(h) is!

December is here.  For living in the Midwest, the weather has been unseasonably mild with more need for umbrellas than snow pants.  I'm not complaining but wouldn't mind a white Christmas either. Regardless, it's getting cooler and we are preparing for our first winter on the farm.  We have put the rocking chairs in the barn (protected by tarps to prevent them for being covered in bat poop when we go to retrieve  them this spring.)   We have also put away the patio furniture and have covered the garden with a thick layer of leaves.
We still have to winterize the mud room door, put away the grill and portable fire pit as well as figure out how to better insulate the chicken coop (still holding strong with 12 birds!)

Here are some pictures from a recent walk on the path that covers some of the farm.  Notice no snow, children still in jammies, the functional farm boot and the need for only fall coats.

Last January we visited the farm for the first time, a day after a major snowstorm, so we know what the land will look like with a coating of white, pristine snow.  This place is beautiful across all seasons and weather. Below are some pictures from our first trip here:

Here is our first picture of the coop.  Notice no red door and no outer pen. 

I can't wait for this tree to be covered with red berries. This is one of my favorite pictures of the farm. 

Burrrrrr.  

This was the first time we walked in the pasture and checked out the barn! 

The biggest change that November and December brought was the addition of a wood burning stove. (See post title).  Here it is below: 

This is a view from the top.  In person, the doors are more dark red versus fire engine red (thank goodness.) Farmer J has been busy filling the barn with purchased cords of wood.  Even the children help! I've been taught how to keep "the home fire burning" when J is away.  My fire starting skills are improving with every time I light up! 

This is what the fireplace used to look like.  The fireplace was quite inefficient and not at all good at actually warming the house.  Our upstairs has changed from being cold and frigid to as warm (but dry) as a summer night.  Often, we only need to sheet or light quilt to keep us warm.  

Speaking of warmth, here is one of our Buff hens sitting in a nesting box laying an egg.  I am now brave enough to reach under a hen (when she is in just this position) and check for eggs.  It's odd (but pretty cool) to have a warm egg in your hand.  The hens are very polite, they don't even peck or appear disturbed by my actions.  

Now that it is winter.  Farmer J has to put the chickens to sleep each night!  What that means is that he turns off the light (kept on until around 7-8 to trick their brains into thinking it is not dark so early so they keep laying eggs) so they will go to sleep.  He tells me that they go from clucking and noisy to completely silent within 2-3 minutes of the coop going dark.  I wonder if he sings them a lullabye? 

We are home this whole weekend and have no expected guests.  We have loads to do, including laundry, cleaning (the new wood fireplace does create some extra mess), putting up Christmas decorations and tending to the little ones (our oldest gave our youngest a nice shiner when they were pretending that sticks were "light sabers" while playing outside!) 

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer, our children have become more "scared" of the dark.  Some days ago, I came down from upstairs to check on the sleeping children one more time before going to sleep.  This is what I found.  I guess a hard wooden floor in a brightly lighted room can be more comfortable than a warm, cozy bed with only a night light! 

Only two more weeks until the days start getting longer versus shorter!  Hang in there guys! 

Primrose, rest in peace.

Another sad event has occurred at the farm.  Primrose is missing, Magnolia's sister in breed and our only remaining black polish hen.  Earlier this week, we came home at dusk and all the chickens were in the coop, with the exception of our beloved Prim. We looked and looked for her with no success. We were hoping to find her the next morning, huddled and cold near our mudroom door, but she was not there.  We don't know what has happened to her.  She was likely either hit by a car (we were often finding her in the road or heard vehicles honking at her to keep her in her yard) or taken by a predator.  Either way, I thought we would see some evidence of what happened to her but there is none. I'm sure she is in 'chicken heaven' but am hoping she just found her way into our neighbors field or farm.  Regardless, we miss seeing her and the boys miss giving her love.   What we have learned is the Black Polish hen looks fun and different but is not a hardy breed for a free range chicken farm.  

Our remaining "babies" (i.e., hens) are producing many lovely eggs for us.  Today, they laid eight eggs, a record high.  They vary in color and size.  We have one extremely large egg (likely a double yolk) and a few very small eggs (from our Bantam hens.)  The colors range from blue to green to brown to tan to an almost mauve/purple.  Some are speckled and some are not.  Just the other day, I went into the coop to check for eggs and a Buff Orpington was laying on a nest.  As the brave new farm wife I am, I reached right under her and pulled out five warm eggs.  She didn't seem pleased with me but, at the same time, didn't seem to bothered either.  For most of my life, I have associated eggs with being white and cold.  It's so refreshing to have a colorful group of warm eggs nestled in my protective hands.  We had not broken an egg until today.  Farmer J, forgetting he had fresh eggs in his jacket pocket, knelt down in the yard.  Seconds later, a bit of a mess.  One last note on the eggs but first some chicken anatomy.  The chicken pees, poops and lays her egg all out of the some hole.  So... when the eggs are found in the nest, they can be a tiny bit messy.  We wait to wash the eggs as the eggs can remain 'room temperature' until they have been cleaned.  As we are getting more and more eggs by the day, it's nice to not have dozens of eggs in our fridge.  When we do want to use an egg, we gently wash it in warm, soapy water.  The eggs clean easily and I love seeing the colors come alive under the warm running water.  When cracking the egg, they are more durable and the membrane is tougher than conventional eggs.  And of course, the yolks are much closer to orange than yellow!

On another food note, Farmer J is still harvesting food from the garden and we have started eating our frozen vegetables that he packaged and put away in the late summer.  Tonight, we had fresh broccoli (in a lovely Balsamic sauce), canned sweet corn and some of J's famous "Veggie Chili."  The garden is still producing beets, lettuce, broccoli, and carrots.  For a garden that looks way past it's glory days, I'm surprised with the fresh goodies J continues to bring into the house.  

The above pictures were actually from Early October but show off Farmer J's hard work in prolonging our growing season.  With the strong fall winds, the hoop house was difficult to keep up.  It is now down but we are still reaping the benefits of some extra warmth from earlier in the season.  

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!  

It's a new day, It's a new dawn, It's a new life...

... And I'm feeling good!  

Thank you Nina Simone for the lyrics that beautifully express my feelings on being able to sleep in past 4:45 AM without any rooster crow's waking me up.  We are all much more rested and, on average, less cranky. 

From 28 to 14 chickens.  The roosters are gone, or shall we say, frozen in time in our freezer.  Farmer J and the children have had fried chicken quite a bit in the past few weeks.  JJ said the chicken was the best he had ever had.  It doesn't seem to bother the children at all to be eating the "meat birds."  I guess because they knew the fate of the birds from before they even arrived.  They do, periodically, ask if we will eat the hens.  The answer: "No, honey.  We don't eat the pets we name."  But... if one of them would happen to die, of natural causes... who knows!  

Peace has been restored to the farm.  The violence of the roosters was getting to all of us and I'm so happy to be able to sit at my dining room table or do our dishes and not see the latest cock match happening outside the window.  And the overall volume of the coop and surrounding lawn area has dramatically decreased.  The hens really make very little noise.  I do miss, on rare occasion, the crow of the rooster but I'm pleased that the serenity of the farmstead is back.  With the roosters gone, the hens are much braver and travel much farther from the coop.  They also seem to understand that us humans feed them.  Just today, five hens came clucking up to the children looking for something to eat.  It's not rare to find them on our front porch or attempting to get into Farmer J's garden. 

Here are some pictures of the rooster harvest (before and after.)  Nothing gruesome.  

But before we get to the photos we must thank those that came to help:

Butchers Dennis and Jill

Photojournalist Luke

Farm helpers Sarah and Mary

 Goodbye Rooster White Giant! 

De-plucking the feathers.  Thank you Mary and Jill! 

The hens came to check out the scene.  

Roosters... your days are numbered!

4 days to be exact.  That's right.  The roosters (a.k.a, meat birds) will be "harvested" this Saturday.  We are keeping one rooster.  A bantam rooster.  He is much smaller, much quieter and much better behaved.  I must say, and I'm being very blunt here, I'm not sad at all that the meat birds will be leaving our farm.

Here are the top five things I dislike (a.k.a. hate) about roosters:

1. They wake up the WHOLE FAMILY at around 4:45 AM.  The sun comes up- they start crowing.  It was kinda cool at first... not anymore.  I'm becoming sleep deprived.

2. They are quiet violent.  If they were not fighting with each other, they were picking on my hens.  I won't go into details regarding the roosters mean ways as this is a G rated (ok maybe PG rated) blog but... let's just say chicken "relations" are not pretty.  And, roosters are not necessarily heterosexual.  Two weeks ago, we had to separate the hens from the roosters.  It's been better since the separation but now the big roosters are just picking on the little roosters (lucky for the well behaved Bantam rooster- we kept him with the hens.) One of my old farmer friends told me you should have a 1:20 rooster/hen ratio.  Our 1:1 rooster/hen ratio was not working out too well.  A lesson learned.

3. They are very fast and VERY difficult to round up at night.

4. They've become far from the warm and soft little chick we first came to know and love.  You can grab them to hold them and I fear they may pluck my eyeballs out.  I often scream and run when they flap their wings at me.

5. They eat A LOT! It's getting pricey to feed them so now it's time to eat them!

In a few days, some family and family friends will come to the farm to de-rooster the place. I will be taking the children on a little day trip as none of us are quite ready to see the realities of chicken farming.