Blink and You'll Miss It

...so there went that plan. It really does seem that farmsteading, and life these days in general, is all about taking a giant leap forward, and then getting knocked several steps back. It's frustrating, it's annoying, it's heartbreaking, and the few victories that you have (however brief) are so addicting you go back for more. In this day and age it would be easy enough to hide my head in the sand and not do ANY of this. No garden, no chickens, no rabbits, no house building... just do what 99% of our countrymen and women do - work, pay rent, watch TV, sleep, rinse, wash, repeat....

But I can't. I'd be miserable. I have been miserable without my garden DESPITE my being preoccupied with being pregnant, giving birth, and not sleeping taking care of my baby. I've been miserable not PRODUCING anything here off the property, so I have chickens, a rabbit and will put in the garden this year. All is peachy.

Except this morning, when I went to check on the rabbit and chickens in the pre-dawn gloom... no bunny. Wide gaping hole in the side of the pen, and a few tufts of fur. I'll save you the gory details, but it wasn't our dogs, although it was something comparable in size and potentially smarter. (Sorry guys)

Got back to down where our dogs are, and the wall of skunk smell hit me. Looks like Luke got skunked, although it's still fresh enough it could be either of them - you can't tell. And then I saw a small body in the driveway behind my car. Obviously my first thought was that it was the bunny and something and dragged her 1000ft down the driveway and left her behind my car. Upon closer inspection, it was a possum. I sat and tried to tell in the light of the flashlight on my iPhone whether it was dead or just playing dead.... it was dead. No idea by what. Dogs won't go near it, but Zora is walking very stiffly this morning which usually means she ran hard the previous day. her poor old arthritic bones can only take so much....

We will rebuild and try again. I feel terrible about the rabbit. It is so easy to get lulled into a false sense of safety... we've been so lucky so far. The only animal massacre we've had was in broad daylight when a fox (we think) got several of our chickens and our poor dogs were tied up and couldn't get to them... and our chickens have always been secure in their coop. But just because they have been safe doesn't mean they ARE safe. We will persevere. Lesson learned.

Update in Pictures

Again - I apologize my dear friends and Lone Reader (hi mom!) for my absence. I seem to be apologizing for that particular thing a LOT these days, but life has picked up its already ridiculously fast pace, and I have no idea where the time is going. I feel perpetually behind on all things, but am hell bent on enjoying today with the kiddleywinks. Yes.

So without further ado, please admire my beauteous captions and pretend to be updated in no particular order (because the blog is not cooperating):

Re-post this may be, but happy to be seeing these guys in our garden. They keep nibbling critters away and if they're around, big copper colored ones are not.

The Lone Reader bought us these Vincas while she was visiting so I would have something pretty to look at amongst the bare dirt, chicken poop, and the flotsam and jetsam. They are thriving.

New 'pants chickens'! We got four Silkie chicks, 2 black and 2 buff. The boys call them 'pants chickens' for obvious reasons.

Cindy is molting. And she looks like a porcupine.

This guy was stunningly beautiful despite his only having 7 legs.

Some of the 'baby' chickens checking out the new Silkie arrivals.

Cotton flowering

When I ran out of gas mowing the meadow, the Redneck came to my rescue on (in?) his trusty Yota steed.

The Vincas are re-seeding themselves already

Silly Silkies - can you find all 4?

WTF North Carolina people. These didn't move the whole 10 minutes it took me to get this picture.

While the mass o' freaky caterpillars wasn't moving, I picked 3 gallons of these.

A couple of hours later they had changed color, grown spikes and gotten both more hairy and more scary.

A Bit of Space

It seems that I may have needed a wee bit of space. Everything in the past (almost entire!) month has been a bit much, and I could not keep blogging up on top of everything else. And while this week doesn't seem particularly better, it is time for me to get going again.

I must say that having my mother here with us has been amazing. She did the lion's share* of the work, and now my garden is weedwacked, cleared of almost all of the shrubbery I wanted to get gone, my two new beds are filled in (and deer netted!), necessities have been purchased, surfaces have been cleaned, new routines have been established regarding the Acorn** and his bedtime... all good things.

And my sister came to visit for the first time. I always loved showing people around when they came to visit us in Japan. I think it can be so cool to see your mundane existence through other's eyes as they see it for the first time... and Stoneyhaw is definitely different! She was only here for about 2 days, but we did manage to pack a bunch in there and I was very glad to see her before the insanity of her home ownership and impending induction into motherhood swept her away for a bit.

I also managed to get my garden in (mostly) and while the strides seem hobbled and not nearly as big as I would like them to be, we ARE making them.

Or at least that's what my mom told me!

My mom and sissypants.

It's important to partake in southern food immediately upon deplaning.

The Battalion eye their first greens suspiciously.

This Wyandotte has completely changed in the 2 weeks since I took this picture.

The Battalion has also learned how to roost.

Feeding was getting a wee bit frenzied at the end of their confinement there. Glad that's over!

They took to free ranging like champs and go back to the coop fairly late. For chickens. We have stopped feeding them all but a few handfuls of scratch grain here and kitchen scraps there. They keep their crops bulging all on their own. So proud!

They got a bit confused the first downpour they were in - and some took to huddling under a scrawny bush. Please note they were 20 ft from their coop, 15 from the Brigade's and about 10 from 2 barns and a camper - all with ample shelter... and under the big barn and the camper is where they hang out often, so not so foreign...

Some of them have taken to being toted on the Acorn's head

So. Many. Berries. Can't. Wait.

And I found some!

My dad's least favorite vegetable. Fortunately for me, I LOVE chard!

Mr. Toad.

Daylilies from my Godmother. Hi Roxanne!

Have you ever seen a potato flower?

I love them!

How about an onion flower?

Leftover metal panels from the construction of the Chicken Palace will be guiding my beans this year.

Baby beans!

Garden visitor. We like these guys.

*please note that at this time 'lion's share' translates as 'all'.


**aka 'the Spawn'. Trying to change what I call him. But he's still kind of 'The Spawn'-y to me.

Terrapins, yo.

There was a brief little stint here on this humble blog that my Lone Reader (Hi Mom!) will remember as 'the age of the terrapin' (here here here. For starters). We have turtles GALORE. They are everywhere. There's a big log in our Big Pond that they all sunbathe on, and as you walk down the drive to go to the pond, you can hear the plop plop plop! as they all dive in when they here you coming.

And I just made our fist sighting of the year. Welcome back terrapins!

About 8 inches long.

Terror from the Sky

So... this past Wednesday when I was attempting to play a bit of catch up and get all my veggie starts re-started, we had a bit of a scare. By we, I mean me and the chickens.

I spent just about all day outside. I tossed the dirty dishes and dirty clothes aside (half figuratively and half literally), and spent the day luxuriating in the sun, dirt, and the feeling of (finally!) getting something done.

Albout halfway through my day, I had to go inside to sort through my seed box and find the seeds I needed to plant. My seed box is a crammed to bursting CD storage box, btw. It's slightly bigger than a shoe box. While I was inside I hear the chickens sound their alarm call. I *thought* I had heard it before. I had not. I jumped up, threw my shoes on, and ran outside.

This is the first thing I saw:

cue panic attack.

I heard Zora barking and turned, just in time to see something escape from her grasp and fly up into the trees. I only saw its back, but jeesh it was big. My best guess is a Red-shouldered hawk - I saw it clearly as it went up into a loblolly tree... and while Red-tailed hawks are bigger, and are actually known to munch on free-range chicken, the coloring on the Red-shouldered hawks fits better. It was such a ruddy brown color that at first I thought it had got a chicken. (But it hadn't.) Zora had gotten to it in time, and pounced on it. (It made it up into the tree).

At this point I still didn't know if one of my chickens had been hurt, so I frantically called them (cheep cheep CHEEP!! If you must know) to no avail. Not a single one of them would come out from under the barn, although Wanda in her infinite curiosity peeped her little face out and stared at me as if to say "Are you effing kidding me?". I got some dog food out and scattered that on the ground. Dog food is like crack for chickens. There is nothing they won't do for it. Cindy will jump up into the air to grab it out of your hand. As will Henrietta. And a few others. I crawled around trying to see all the way under the barn to count them. I finally gave up and hovered nervously around until they relaxed enough to come out.

It took like 2 hours. It felt like an eternity. And I *hovered* for the duration.

Finally - FINALLY! - they came out from under the barn. And I counted all 8 (Big Bunny is still in the brooder/infirmary by his lonesome and was fine. Although he full-throatedly participated in the alarm call). Whew.

Many many chickens get snatched by hawks. Many many. So far we have been extremely lucky. I think most of it is probably due to the fact that the chickens' territory is deeply wooded and they are pretty well hidden from view from the sky. Ah well. There went that plan.

On the lookout. (the barn isn't but a foot behind her)

Zora continues to be my hero. And she continues to be on the lookout.

Lizard eyes. Don't be fooled. She can be 50ft away before you realize it.

Guest Post: Feather Frost

My mother wrote this and sent me the pictures. As an email. (I know. I'm sneaky like that) She has, if I may say so myself, quite a way with words and can sum things up quickly. She lives in Vancouver, BC, right on the edge of the UBC Endowment Lands Ecological Reserve and Pacific Spirit Regional Park. She runs the trails there, and I used to walk Zora there everyday (sometimes twice) when I visited. It's quite the gorgeous spot and all rainforesty in a way that only the pacific Northwest can be.

This is cool!  I don't know if you have seen this before--I felt like I hadn't, and I really love when it happens.  It's called "feather frost" and it happens when the weather has been warm-ish and wet, and then turns clear and cold overnight.  The moisture in the dead and fallen logs along the trails in the park at the end of our street squeezes out in these wonderful feathery shapes.  I saw it this morning and gave up on my run to come home, get my camera and finally take some pictures (I always mean to do that and never get around to it!).  So here they are.  The first picture gives you a sense of how it looks on a log on the ground.  The second two are some close-ups.  Gorgeous, eh?

Holy Buckets of Wildlife Galore - The Turtle

So... I have mentioned the Eastern Box Turtle as well as the abundance of terrapins in general out here. And the 'plop plop plop' -ping one hears when you get close to the pond.

So I shouldn't have been surprised when I came across this in the driveway on my way home yesterday*:

He was basking. It was over 90 degrees out.

So obviously I stopped, the manfriend picked it up, and we went on our merry way.

When we got back up to the camper, Mike hosed him (could be a girl, I suppose. I'm not on my turtle sexing. Sorry) off, and then there was appropriate amounts of oohing and ahhing.

At first I thought he was hissing, but really he just seemed to be thirsty. My manfriend obliged.
Oh. Like the rocks?My mom did it. Thanks Lone Reader!

And then we bid him a fond farewell and sent him on his terrapinny way.

After a fond farewell, the damn thing sat there for like an hour.

I looked around online and tried to identify it - my best guess is a Yellowbelly Slider - mostly based on the striped (instead of circular) markings, rounded jaw, and domed shell. I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm OK with thinking it was a slider...

Harrroooo?

-----
*more accurately I was driving up the driveway chattering away about nothing (I'm pretty sure - that would be the norm, anyway) and trying to avoid the massive tree roots uprooted by the AT&T guy burying our phone line, when I hear "baby slow down! SLOW DOWN!! Turtle turtle turtle TURTLE TUUUURRRRTLE!!!!' coming from the direction of the manfriend. He just blended so well. ("Oh yeah. You blend" - name that movie!)