After the Blizzard

 It was a real "rip snorter". The forecast got it right for our region: 40 hours of snow with gusting winds of up to 55 MPH causing dangerous white outs and the accumulation of upwards of 2 feet of snow. Check. Check. Checkity-Check. Safe inside home and barn, we weathered the storm with nary a hitch. We were prepared for losing power, but surprisingly, that didn't happen. Not even a blip. The worst part for us (read that Sean) was braving the cold to bring food and water to the critters in the barn and coop. For our family, the Blizzard of '15 was a day spent laughing, relaxing, and eating homemade french onion soap.

The turkeys we worried over awoke confused about their new surroundings, but then in laid-back turkey-style accepted it and set about checking out their new digs. They will be housed in the barn for the remainder of the winter. It makes caring for them easier and for that reason alone, it makes sense. What they will lose in fresh air and yard to roam, they will make up for in dry, secure, warm shelter. Sean captured this image for us. It is a great shot showing the lovely iridescent feathers of Aquila, our Red Breasted Bronze tom next to the more muted tones of Priscilla, his hen. Lazarus is the big tom on the left. His hen, Martha, is facing away from the camera, looking around their new home.

"What did You do?" the bucklings seem to ask. 

It is easy to see that the bucklings were not pleased with the howling winds; tails tucked and eyes wide. Poor lads!

In extreme weather, such as that which we were having, we keep the barn doors closed tight and latched. We go in as little as possible because every time we open the door, heat escapes and a freezing blast of air and snow blow in. Despite the wind pummeling the building and against the metal roof, the goats, Jasmine, Ebony, barn guineas and chicks all rode it out well. I imagine they are going to be a little stir crazy by the time we get the doors to the pasture shoveled out and clear to open, but we'll bring them extra yummy treats to placate them in the meantime.

Sean took this image of Molly. I love her nose and head covered in snow. :) Silly puppy! 

Molly, in contrast, was just loving the new development of snow. That silly puppy whined at the door to go outside repeatedly. She was the image of pure joy, swimming through snow drifts and making a complete mess of herself. We let her play as long as we thought it prudent and then, called for her to come back inside, but she couldn't hear us over the wind- or more likely, ignored our calls in favor of running through another mound of snow. Wet, cold, and shivering Molly raced inside to plop down in front of the fire or onto the unsuspecting lap of whoever was sitting most conveniently accessible to her. With a mighty shake, snow was dislodged and strewn across the room followed by shrieks of "Molly!" An hour's rest and Molly was back at the door to be let outside again.

So how much snow was there really?

3 pm Sean shoveled off the steps to make checking barn less hazardous. 

3 pm Snow drifts up to my waist in spots. Sean shoveled a path to the barn.

4:30 am. Still snowing, but it was time for Sean and I to shovel out the van so
our working people could get to their jobs. An hour and a half later, we finished. 

Some perspective. 

We have a path to the outside water supply, but the front steps will have to
wait a bit longer. I am thinking, Spring thaw. ;)

When the wind died down, the morning snow was sort of pretty floating from the sky. 

The chicken yard was one huge snow drift, but the path shoveled to remained
semi-clear for the most part. 

By noon, the snow had stopped. We certainly have our work cut out in
shoveling off the front steps. 

Sean came home of lunch and we decided to open the door for the geese and ducks. Our coop and it's attached ell has plenty of room for the chickens to roost, but so many birds in close quarters makes for unhappy, grumpy birds. The chickens chose to stay near the door. The geese and ducks eagerly swam through the snow in a flurry of quacks and honks and played until the sun began to set.

With another smaller storm expected to hit on Friday into Saturday, it seems that winter is finally here. We really can't complain, we are at the end of January already. Realistically, it has been a fairly mild winter. Still, I am hoping for an early spring. :)

Thanks for checking in with us today, friends. I am glad you came.

~Sean and Sonja ♥

Gardening with Chickens

It dawned on me while writing a recent post how often I begin with the weather; what is has done, what it is doing, or what we are anticipating to happen. This makes absolute perfect sense when you take into account how much everything we do is affected by Mother Nature and her whims. We are always, ALWAYS preparing for the coming season and its unique needs.

In the winter time, between chipping out water buckets and keeping everyone as comfortable as possible, we spend time planning Spring gardens. Using the deep litter method, our various stalls decompose into a rich compost mix for those anticipated herb and veggie beds and serves double duty of increasing the floor heat in the barn and coop, too. Winter is the time to get ahead on our stores and stock up on making farm products like soaps, scents, and massage melts. Cozy in front of the wood stove or busy at my desk, I dream up and bring to life new eggshell jewelry designs for the summer markets.

March Baby, Jemimah.

June guinea keets and chicks hatching.

Spring thaw brings life. The animals who have hunkered down and endured the long winter months cooped up in the barn are ready to move to their seasonal homes- Ebony to her pig house and private yard and the turkeys to their roomy run. The goats leave off their accusing glares over the snow and cold keeping them inside and venture into their pastures once again. We are forgiven. In the woods, brush, scrub, and brambles bloom new shoots for the goats to enjoy and tame. The growth they strip leaves the ground below open and exposed for new grasses to take root. The young trees they assault with their hunger become kindling to heat our home through next winter's months. Goat's kid and milk begins to flow. Months spent without fresh cheese feed our appetite for fresh herb chevre, feta, and ricotta. Seeds are started in the greenhouse. The litter in the stalls is cleaned out and top dressed on our garden beds. As soon as the ground breaks, the hens begin working the garden beds for us- removing all the unwanted weeds that inevitably sprout and take root and mixing in the compost for us. When they are finished, our work of planting onions, beets, lettuces, peas and other early crops begin. CSA shares begin.

Harvest time!

Summer's warmth signals the time for nests to be made and set upon in earnest. Soon the peep-peep-peep of chicks, ducklings, goslings, and poults abound. Egg production increases and soon we are collecting nearly 14 dozen eggs each week. Seedlings get transplanted into the garden beds; tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, and direct seeding of corn, pumpkin, and beans begins. Our local farmer's markets are in full swing. Farm work increases, too. There is weeding to do, mucking stalls, checking fencing, adding fencing, repairing barns, building new coops or pens all to plan and execute. CSA shares are in full swing. We pick the veggies when they are ripe to distribute to the neighbors who have signed up for our shares. We preserve our supply as we go; canning or freezing as the need may be.

Sean manning our booth at Belfast Art Market

Leah and Rachel

And, then, just as suddenly as it came upon us, summer wanes and autumn takes over. The nights take on a pleasant bite. We keep a watchful eye for frost predictions. It becomes a game of calculated risk as to when to pull the last of the onions, carrots, pumpkins and beets from the garden. Wood cutting and stacking becomes a priority. Late babies need extra care. Places are prepared in the barn. It will soon be time to move Ebony and the turkeys back to the barn. We'll hold off as long as possible, but by early December, it will be necessary. Shops that carry our goods gear up for the busy shopping season. Keeping up with demand for our mosaic eggshell jewelry, bee's wax wraps, snapper towels, scent tarts, massage melts and soaps requires careful planning and diligent work. This is our busiest sale time, too, at local craft fairs and art market events.

And, this is where we were last week. We should have been working on getting the last of the wood cut and stacked in the shed. Instead, Mother Nature threw us a bit of a curve ball- a freak autumn storm with over a foot of snow and 40 mile an hour winds to take down trees and leave much of the state of Maine without power for several days- several thousand homes are still without as I write this. We fare better than many without power. We heat our home with the wood stove and that was unaffected. We cook on a propane stove and can still use the stove top. Our well overflows outside at the pump (one benefit of living in a swamp!) and we had access to fresh water to drink and cook with. We melted snow on the wood stove to heat to wash dishes and flush toilets. Internet was available on my cell phone, which could be charged with our van's battery.

The only real worry in our world, besides keeping the animals safe, was the danger of flooding in the basement in the aftermath. Our electric sump pump generally keeps the basement dry and with the addition three years ago of a supplemental battery backup to it, we have had no real issues with it- until now. No power and a foot of melting snow combined to create about a half inch of water slowly seeping its way across the basement floor. Not good. And, with power out, trees down, and roads unsafe, we were in a pickle. Sean tried to rig and use the new truck battery to run the pump, but that did not work. Then, he thought of the plastic hand pump attached to a barrel in the back yard. He removed the hand-pump section and cobbled together a system with a 5 gallon bucket to create a make-shift pump. Rudimentary, but effective while the power was out. Sean removed approximately 50 gallons of water using this method and saved any damage to the basement furniture. Once power was restored, Cait and the girls employed the shop vac and old work towels to suck up the rest of the mess and dry the floor. We will be adding a new backup system to the list of "must haves" before winter.

In anticipation for winter's arrival, we moved all the hens to the front garden area. Why use machinery or make time to care for this chore, when we have 60 hens willing and able to handle the job? Even the bucklings got into the action. Between them, our garden beds are looking bare and ready to be tucked in with some compost for its winter rest. This is how we garden with chickens:

Our Toms in the front: Aquila and Lazarus and the hens in the back looking on. 

Both Blue Slate and Red Breasted Bronze turkeys went for a bit of a "walk about" after the storm to explore and see what was new in the world. They wandered past an abandoned chick-brooder house and got as far as the pig pen yard. The snow proved to be an excellent distraction for them. They went no further and Sean returned them to their home upon his return.

Their necks and heads are bright and handsome, but those poor wet tail feathers!

I have been trying to buy out time to finish creating the video and upload images to go along with this post. With the shows, snow, and everything else we are pulled upon to care for, it has taken me a week. I hope you enjoy this update. I appreciate your company. Thanks for stopping by, friends.

Sean and Sonja ♥

Ice Storm 2013

I remember the Ice Storm of 1998 vividly. I was eight months pregnant with my third child, Kristen, and living in Belfast, Maine. We were without power for a couple days, but we managed just fine. With a heat source that we could also use to warm up food on, city water that never failed, an abundance of oil lamps for light and plenty of books to read, the only care we had came from keeping one five year old boy and one four year old girl occupied during the day. And finding a contractor to remove the large limb that crashed into the roof of our home from a tree that loomed over it. Compared to those that lost their power (and also their ability to heat their homes) for an entire week or longer, we were relatively comfortable.

Fifteen years later, my life has taken a widely different path. No longer a "townie" our family lives in a very rural setting. When this year's storm warning came, we expected to be among those that would be without electricity for the duration. We were not overly concerned about it. Our home is heated with a wood stove so we expected to be warm. Though our water is now from a private well, it overflows at the outside pump, so water would be available at a moderate pace. Our cooking oven is fueled by propane which allows us to cook even without a power supply. And, the cherry on top, my new "smart" phone had a 3G connection most of the time, so we could check facebook and email to keep in contact with friends and family. We even spent a little time watching Netflix on it. I don't know the exact numbers, but tens of thousands of our neighbors were without electricity for a week or more. Neighbors less than a mile away were without for 4 days. We lost electricity for 4 hours. I am afraid I have no riveting "surviving Ice Storm 2013" stories to tell you. Only images from around the homestead to share.

Our week in images:

Jasmine's hay manger was frozen to the ground and her pallet was covered with ice.
She did not seem to mind. 

Trees, heavy with ice bend with the
weight. It is going to take some time for
them to make a full recovery.

The doe's woodland pasturage is affected. The
smaller trees bend more than the larger
deciduous trees and pines. The does will have
no trouble eating the leaves
from the tops of these trees come Spring.

Tree limbs encased in ice and covered in snow. 

Mallard conference. 

Fresh hay or lightly soiled hay from the goat stalls are spread around the chicken yard for the chickens, ducks, geese, and guineas to pick through and rest their cold feet upon. We do not use hay that the goats have been using as litter, but goats are picky about their hay. If it touches the ground, ours will sleep in it, but eating it is out of the question. Our birds are only too happy to put it to good use. 

Pearl Guinea and Chocolate Guinea Fowl

In the barn, Keren Happuch and her mother, Rachel bask in the sun and enjoy their morning's hay. 

Ebony grunts warnings at the barn chickens availing themselves of her water. They ignore her and continue
 their onslaught. Sometimes, a few brave souls attempt to steal her grain. 

Simon and Charles have settled any differences and reside together in the barn.

The doe yard is untouched by goat hooves. Our goats are a little spoiled and prefer to be
snug in the barn to exploring barren pasturage. 

Ever my companions, Cassy and Delilah followed me into the pasture to keep me company while I snapped some images. 

Delilah did not want to stay in the
barn with the other goats.

She was hopeful that I came bearing treats. When
I had not, she followed me, good-naturedly, anyway.
I love these girls. ♥

Judah is a handsome and friendly buck. Won't he make lovely babies someday?

We did not lose electrical power for long, but there was a constant need to chisel out water buckets and check on our animals through the rain and cold. Though pretty to the eye, ice makes all the walking surfaces treacherous and they needed attention, sanding and salting regularly. When we were not attending to these needs, what did we do?

Board games in the evening. (Check out the chocolate guinea hanging out on the wooden goat behind Justin.)

French toast, bacon and fresh pineapples for brunch and board games in the morning.
And where was our recovering chocolate "house" guinea?

Chocolate Guinea was watching the happenings from a clothes dryer rack in the kitchen. Check out those lovely polka dots!

We also spent plenty of time snuggling Maggie's new puppies. Nearly 10 days old,
their eyes are unopened still, but they sure snuggle sweetly! ♥

All the cats take turns on the best
napping spot in the house, on top of
the piano. Talon spends the most
 time there.

Boogie enjoys keeping it warm for Talon
whenever he is away.

Our good-natured breeding stock of heritage turkeys seem confused about their move to the barn, but they enjoy our visits. See how curious our hens are of the camera. Both toms, Aquila and Lazarus, were all puffed out and showing off for me. Take a look....


As we reflect on how blessed we are to have come through the storm in good order, our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still dealing with the aftermath of this storm while preparing for a new bout of 10-14 inches of snow expected Sunday night into Monday morning. Winter is sure making a grand entrance this year. Stay tuned to see what happens next!

Thanks for visiting today. We're really glad you did.
Sonja ♥

A Day in Pictures

I'm still not feeling great. After doing the necessary chores and working in Bangor until mid-afternoon, a day of pictures is all I have the energy for. Sean is feeling much better. He is planning on spending the evening with his friends playing some strategic board games, the kind that make "RISK" seem akin to "Go Fish." Not this chick! My plan for the evening is cold medicine, hot cocoa, a warm blanket, and perhaps a movie rental to sleep through. But, marriage is a complicated thing. I know my husband well. He'll feel guilty leaving to me "fend for myself" and will be inclined to offer to stay home with me. I like his friends; they are a wonderful group of men and all I want is some quiet and rest. My remedy to help him alleviate those husbandly feelings? I'll ask him to clean the front room and sweep the kitchen floor for me before he goes. Win-Win. Sean will feel suitably useful and I won't feel obliged to clean all night long instead of resting.

So, with no more than that, I leave you with some pictures I took around the homestead today that made me smile. I hope they do the same for you. ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sonja ♥

Also shared with Farm Girl Friday Blog Hop & Tilly's Nest Down Home Blog Hop #19