All Sean Ever Does is Build, Mend or Move Fencing and Other Stories From the Past Month

Found in our field! So pretty!

This post is going to be a long one, friends. I have been capturing images as we are living life, but Winter's rest quickly becomes Spring's frenzy- and I have been at a loss for more time. Time to post. Time to write. Time to think, really. In the rare convergence of an empty house and a full camera, I plan to steal a few guilt-free minutes to edit images and video and share happenings with you all. And, since this website is one of the only places in my world where I reign supreme, the stories will come as they flow from my fingers and not in the order in which any of them happened. Feel the power!

This Spring brought some unexpected and wonderful new additions to the homestead. One group of additions came via a phone call from a friend of a friend. Her family is moving and they were looking for a home for their geese and a couple of hens. Despite what our checking account thinks, we are not a non-profit entity. Though we would love to save the world, it is not a realistic view that we can take on every creature needing a new home. We have to ask several questions to see if the animal is a good fit for us and our plans for the future. Questions like: (1) Do we have the room to care for the animal(s), (2) Can we afford to care for them? (3) How will they benefit our homestead goals? etc. If they pass these questions, we visit and see if the animal responds well to Sean and I. Finally, Sean and I talk it over and make our decision. It is hard not to get our hearts invested, but we have to before we make the decision to commit to a new animal.

Ferdinand and Frances settled in and made friends with Caitlin and Justin immediately.

With those thoughts in mind, we were very interested in meeting Mariel and Annabelle's birds. They called about our caring for their Sebastapol goose, Ferdinand and his mate, Frances and their companion hens, Georgia and Winona. I have long wanted to add Sebastapol geese to our homestead, but they are not a necessity and their relative expense made them an unlikely addition... until now. The new birds settled in easily. Almost immediately, Frances began building a nest and laying eggs. Our intention was to allow her to hatch her nest, but after 5 weeks of sitting on them, none hatched in that attempt. We candled the eggs to see if there was any development, but most of the eggs had not been fertilized. We are hopeful to have some success in the future, but it seems that more practice and maturity is wanted from young Ferdinand.

Our next planned livestock purchase will be our family cow; a highland bottle baby. We have done our research and this is the breed that best suits our situation. For one thing, they are generally known to be relatively docile. They are on the smaller size for cows- around 800 pounds instead of 1200+ pounds. They browse more than graze and are bred to live in harsh conditions- our weather will suit them just fine. Plus, they are tanks in terms of health- generally hardy. Since we will only use the milk for our family's needs- 1-3 gallons/per day will be more than sufficient to make cream into butter and milk into cheese. (Pay Attention: This is called foreshadowing...)

Ever the romantic, originally, I was saving my pennies for a new push lawn-mower for our upcoming anniversary gift. The one I currently use is neither self-propelled nor does it have a shoot to direct the cut grass. I end up looking like She-Hulk after mowing for a bit. While green toes are all the rage this season, it would be very nice to have a mower that I can attach a bag to, which will collect the cut grasses. These can be recycled into bedding for nest boxes or composted. Nothing goes to waste if it can be helped! The new mower slid down my wish list when we found 330' of field fencing for only $139 last week. SCORE!!!!!

Fence installation: Take One. 

Why fencing in lieu of a mower? Our guinea fowl and ducks have almost unanimously decided that our neighbor's yard across the road and stocked with THREE dogs is the perfect place to hang out. You know, the grass is always greener... Sean and I protested this decision citing the danger of the road and the dogs. But, our protests fell on deaf ears. After losing two guineas and a drake this spring, we decided that we had to completely fence off the road frontage across the horse pasture and on the opposite side of our driveway. Last weekend, Sean and I spent two days installing welded-wire field fencing. We had an old roll that had seen better days and a brand new roll. Attached end to end, these spanned to about half the distance we wanted to cover. I looked online and discovered a sale at Tractor Supply, so my mower money went to fencing instead. I expected to pay about $70 for a roll of 100 feet of 4' tall welded-wire fencing- the kind to match what we already had on hand. It wouldn't work long-term for goats, but would be just fine to persuade birds to remain on the right side of it. Instead, I found real field fencing. The good kind; 12 gauge wire, 130 more feet for the same price as 2 rolls of the inferior kind. Color me happy! Except now, if we use the new wire, that will mean we have 3 different wires protecting the front of our property. While it will work, technically, it will look terrible. But, Sean just spent 12 hours not even a week ago digging posts and setting wire. You see the dilemma. Do I ask him to redo all his hard work for aesthetics? Or, do we continue on with the new wire and cut it off?

New high-tensile wire installation

So, the new wire is living where it should be- all in one line, across the horse pasture and there was enough left to install it to match the other side of the driveway, too. The rusted fencing Sean removed will go far into the woods to expand the doe pasture. It will need to be replaced at some point in the future, but it has some life left to it and I am less concerned about aesthetics in the back 40. Not only does the new fencing look better, it is perfect to safely hold in the dairy cow we will get ourselves for next year's anniversary present. That, my friends, is a good man. He never complained once. And, the cherry on top: after telling this story to our friend, Shea of Gentle Meadow Goat Farm offered us one of her unused lawn mowers. We need to check it out, but I am calling this a win all the way around!

Grazing in the newly opened pasturage.

Since we were on a roll with fencing, Sean grabbed his chain saw and set to clearing a four foot swath so we could set posts and expand the goat doe pasture. It is now as close to the river as it is going to be. We can call that side officially finished. We will add more fencing to the back area to open the woods beyond our backyard this year. We thought to make waddle fencing from the fast-growing alders, but upon more reflection, that idea was nixed in favor of high-tensile field fencing. While I love the idea of using wood from our land to make the fencing and it worked great for our raised garden beds in the backyard, the alders would need to be repaired as they decay, so there is the concern of upkeep. We also need to consider the time involved in harvesting alders, cutting them to size, delimbing branches and weaving the fencing. Additionally, I am worried about the fencing standing up to our herd of goats testing it. We are still planning on using it to separate our property line from that of our neighbors. That will give us some idea of how it will stand up over time.

Spring also brings the planning and planting of the vegetable gardens. We already built raised beds in the front garden and it is as large as it is going to be. This year, we purchased one 12' x 20' x 8' metal arched frame and were gifted a second one. These will fit end to end through the center of the garden beds. We will build wooden side frames off of the main support. Once covered with greenhouse plastic, our entire front garden beds will be covered under a working greenhouse for the first time ever!

Last year, we planted perennial lemon balm, apple mint, orange mint, wintergreen, peppermint, chives, dill, oregano, and mullein in the herb garden. This year, we added bergamot, comfrey, thyme, stinging nettles, and anise. I love the variety of herbs we are growing to flavor foods and create extracts and infusions for our goat's milk soaps. Unfortunately, so do the goats and chickens. These have joined forces to wreak havoc on my precious plants. The chickens love dust bathing in the fresh-dug soil and care not whether they pull up young, tender plants in the process. The goats have no excuse, they just rip entire plants from the ground. Because they are goats and they can. Something had to be done to protect my plants. Chicken wire was an option and while it might thwart the birds, it would not stand up to the goats. Also, it is not very pretty to look at. In a perfect world, money would be no option. Since that is not reality, we came up with a plan B. You have to use your imagination, but once the pallets are all secured so they run the entire length of our home, gates are installed on both ends, and the fencing is painted white, I think it will look great. Along the front of the fencing, I will plant flowering annuals and draping vines, like ivy or morning glories in pretty pots. Behind the fencing, my herbs will grow unmolested by birds or four-legged infidels. Guests will walk though the sweetly fragrant herbs to reach our front door, instead of braving the turkey-laden mudroom porch steps. Can you picture it? I can. Vividly. All I need now is 20 pallets in great condition, 4 sturdy, black hinges, 2 locks, a couple gallons of white paint and some river stones for the path.

2 barred rock chicks hatched
by a duckling and Jordan, our turkey poult.

We've had a single turkey poult and 16 chicks hatch so far this season. A leghorn hen is sitting on a nest of another dozen eggs in the pig shelter. They should hatch any day. A Rhode Island Red hen is sitting on a nest of random eggs in the chicken coop. These should hatch in a couple weeks. We have not had success with ducklings this year so far. Out of 4 nests, we had only one duckling hatch- and his Momma squished him accidentally. One duck hen hatched 2 barred rock chicks, but her duck eggs never hatched. It is discouraging. There is still time, but I really thought we would have a few goslings and ducklings already.

Peter and Jareth. 2016 kids

Fresh Chevre with Chives

We had 15 healthy kids born on the homestead this season; 8 bucks and 7 does. Of those, we are planning to keep 3 does to add to our line. And, we are still expecting goat kids from Phoebe and maybe Cassie. Phoebe has begun to form her udder, but she is keeping secret as to when she thinks her kids will drop. Cassie is a wild card. She is HUGE, but no udder at all. I think she is pregnant. Sean is unconvinced. We'll see! In the meantime, goat's milk is flowing. Sean and I are milking 6 does each morning and I am making cheese nearly every day. Today was feta and yogurt. Yesterday I made chevre. With all its ups and downs, it feels like we are making progress towards making this homestead a real working entity. I have the callused hands to back that up and I wouldn't trade it for the world most days.

Thanks for checking in with us today, Friends. We're glad you are here.
~Sean and Sonja ♥

Hatching Guinea Keets, Missing Ducklings, Surprise Chicks and MORE!

In theory, there was a system. We went over it to make sure everyone understood it. And, yet we were constantly surprised by our hatching chicks and guinea fowl this year.

At the beginning of summer, our 14 year old, Meaghan, took over egg collecting duties in order to earn herself some additional spending money. We agreed that Meg would be responsible to collect the eggs from the various nests, wash off any unwanted debris on them, and sort them into egg cartons for our customers. Conscientiously, Meg looked for eggs a couple times each day in the main coop nest boxes, our breeding chicken coops, and in random nesting spots in and around the barn. She took pride in her work and did a terrific job for us.

This broody Australorp adopted several
chicks to love. ♥

Several of the hens became broody and the time came to set the eggs that we wanted to hatch into chicks under them. Our first attempt to hatch chicks this year was puzzling. We set a group of 10 duck eggs under a chicken. For a while, all was well. It was easy for Meg to distinguish between the duck eggs we wanted to hatch and extra chicken eggs laid in the same nest by determined hens. After two weeks, I trekked out to the nest box with the intention of candling the eggs to see how they were developing. Imagine my shock and horror when I discovered NO DUCK EGGS in the nest. My very first thought was that one of our egg customers had inadvertently been provided duck eggs... developing duck eggs! I talked with Meg to clarify which eggs she'd been taking. Meg was certain that she'd only collected chicken eggs. I talked with our customers and thankfully, no one received the eggs. So, what happened to the nest of duck eggs? No one knows. They just disappeared. I suspect a small rodent might have stolen them and had themselves a feast, but I have no evidence to support that.

It was sad that we did not hatch any new ducklings, but the time had come to set Guinea Fowl eggs and Cochin eggs. And, we did. One nest box was marked for the Cochin eggs and the other was marked for the Guineas. Like clockwork, 21-28 days after putting them in the nest boxes, chicks hatched... just not in the manner we anticipated. The Cochin nest hatched without incident. The Guineas were a little more interesting. Meaghan reported that there were "chirp chirps" coming from the nest. When we explored it, we discovered that the nest of 12 eggs I set had grown to include about a dozen chicken eggs, too; four of which had hatched into chicks! We candled the remaining eggs and discovered that most of the eggs were fertile and maturing, but at differing days of development. In the days that followed single chicks hatched randomly. I do not recommend this process! But, we learned that even marking the nest boxes and setting eggs that I would have thought to be easily identified, it is still necessary to mark the individual eggs in the nest. A little smiley face now adorns any egg we plan to try to hatch a chick from. Lesson learned. :)

We couldn't resist adding a couple new breeds of chickens to the farm this year. These will add some color to the flock and in the eggs in our cartons for our customers. We breed Cochins, Americaunas, and Aracaunas. But, we also are home to Australorps, Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns, Silver Lace Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, and Easter Eggers. We decided to add a couple Silkies and a couple Swedish Flower chicks this spring. They were born the week of June 21st and if they don't start laying this year, will be ready to begin laying eggs for us come spring. They are filling out nicely, but are still at the awkward tween stage. I really love the little poof on their sweet little heads!

We were told these chicks were both Swedish Flowers, but their feathers came in completely different to one another. The little red and brown chick on the left has feathered pale legs. The one on the right has variegated feathers and bright yellow legs without feathers. At some point, I will do some research to see what we have here, but it has not been high on the priority list.

In addition to new chicks and keets born on the farm this year, we have recently become home to a lovely and oh-so-vocal(!) Ring-Necked Dove. Sean found one in need of a home unexpectedly mid-August. Our intention was originally to find him a suitable, forever home, but over the past couple weeks, I have become attached to him. His coos and trills make music in my studio and I enjoy holding him and petting him. So, I think that we'll be searching for a female to keep him company instead.

We call him Love Dove because it is just too precious not to.

Other unexpected visitors to the homestead showed up in our garden beds. Though they look a little like the garden pest, Tomato Hornworm, we went online to do some research and discovered that our guests are Black Swallowtail Caterpillar which will, in time, morph into lovely butterflies. They have been enjoying our dill all summer long and I don't mind a bit.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly Image
from Butterfly Fun Facts Site

You can read all about their life cycle here: Butterfly Fun Facts Site.

The rest of our garden is doing wonderfully well this year. We have enjoyed bumper crops of string beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, cukes, and herbs this year. The rest of our veggies are producing, but are growing a little slower than we hoped. Still, we are very pleased with the amount and quality of the heritage vegetables provided to our CSA share customers. Our goal next year is to, once again, increase garden space so that we will be able to preserve more food for our family's needs.

 Thanks for visiting with us today, friends. Your company matters to us.

~Sonja ♥

Chicken Feeders & Trouble

We've raised chicken for several years. We started with some adult, 2 year old, Rhode Island Red hens procured from someone who didn't want to eat them when they began slowing their egg-laying and we got the chicken keeping "bug". We added 8 "battery hens" later. Having succeeded with these, we began raising chicks. Eventually, we bought ourselves a rooster and started hatching our own chicks. We have dealt with spraddle leg, chicken colds, and bullying. We learned to watch for signs of disease and how to care for sick or injured birds. More importantly, we learned how to prevent many problems before they could start in our flock. To date, we care for nearly 100 birds at our farm. And I would have sworn, we were not easy to shock at this point in the game.

And that is when it happens.

What happens??? The unexpected.

Thursday was an ordinary day. Sean went to work. I went to work. We checked the animals and did our afternoon chores when we got home. Everything seemed completely normal until we reached the new pullet tractor. We were missing one of the new white Leghorn chicks. A quick scan around the pen and the problem was easily spotted.


This is the tail end of a white leghorn chick.

We use basic, inexpensive, plastic chick feeders for our chick brooder pens. (They cost about $2,70 on Amazon.) You've seen them. You've probably used them, if you have ever kept chicks. The base looks like this. And, the top is a plastic quart bottle, which gravity feeds the grain to the chicks. We have used these since we began raising chicks and never had a problem.

Until now.

I couldn't believe my eyes. As best we can figure, the chicks (in all their raptor-smart intelligence) managed to work together to unscrew the top from the base of the feeder. Talk about team-work! This is quite an accomplishment for creatures 5 inches tall and possessing no fingers or hands! We still have not come up with a reason for their desire to accomplish this, except to see the look of wonder in our eyes. Not satisfied to be just one of the collective, one ambitious Leghorn pullet, wedged herself (head first) inside the plastic top and waited for our return. I am kidding, of course about the method of occurrence. More likely, the chicks knocked the plastic feeder sideways and by some freak accident, the base detached. The chick, seeing grain still inside, walked in and got herself "stuck". I apply that term loosely here. She was stuck in the sense that every time we attempted to remove her, she'd open her wings and effectively prevent our pulling her out. Had she not resisted, she would have slip right out of there in seconds. I am half-convinced that given enough time she might have decided to turn around and walk herself back out. However, we had other things to attend to and waiting for Miss chick's grand entrance was not on our "to do" list. And, the thought of leaving her in the bottle to fend for herself was clearly unacceptable. There was nothing else to do. Sean mounted a rescue attempt.



Peace restored and Leghorn pullet none-the-worse-for-wear, we got back to our scheduled plans for the evening.

Will we use those screw on feeders again? I don't know. Would you?

Sonja ♥

Spring Means Babies...

I feel like a broken record.

It is cold.

It snowed a foot.

I can't wait until Spring (Spring means inches of mud instead of snow, so make that-) Summer.

So much to do. Planting, building, growing, but we can't because it snowed a foot (again!).

The frustrated expectation of the months ahead is enough to drive one mad slowly waiting for it. And then, I hear these from the living room, chirping sweetly. I take a breath in and out. And watch them. They are not waiting for anything. They play. They scratch. They eat. They drink. They snooze in a warm and comfy pile. I can't help but smile.

And, these:

They are slowly growing into the promise of ducklings and goslings. I candled them last night to check for progress. As far as I can tell, 4 of the Black Swedish eggs have nothing forming. I will give them another week and if there are no signs of life, those eggs will be discarded. The other 8 Black Swedish eggs have the beginnings of life, tiny veins spidering out from the center. The Mallard eggs are faring slightly better. 10 of them are showing signs of development. It is difficult to see inside the strong, thick goose eggshell, but I was able to definitively see a developing "spider" in at least on egg. Such hopeful news! These should begin hatching sometime around April 11th.

And, if those two things were not enough to remind me to live what life is today, the joy of these little ones surely is.



I cannot truthfully say that I am not still awaiting the warm days of summer and eagerly anticipating the bounty of this year's harvest with hope. Nor, that I have given up worrying over the coming delivery of Leah and Rachel's kids. But, I think if my mind starts to run ahead too much, I will just nip down to the kid stall and watch some goat kids at play.

I had so much fun interacting with friends who guessed what breed of chicks we had in the brooder, I had another thought. Rachel is due between now and the end of April 2013. If you would care to guess the date she delivers, I will send the person who guesses the closest a semi-fabulous prize from our Etsy shop. No need to sign up for anything, just leave a comment with your guess. I can tell you that her udder is filling, but is not football sized yet, if that helps, at all with your guessing.

Thanks for visiting with us today.
Sean and Sonja ♥

Also shared at Coop Hop #4

Chick Photo Shoot

I love new chicks. I love the peep, peep, peep sounds they make. I love how they are awake one second and sound asleep the next. I love to cuddle their fluffy goodness. Smack in the middle of doing the work I was supposed to accomplish today, I had the unquenchable urge to take pictures of the little balls of fluff.

Since they bring me such joy, I want to share them with you, too. I dare you not to "awwwwww".

 

After a few minutes of posing, a rest was in order.



Thanks for visiting!
Sonja ♥

 

Longing for Spring

I don’t know about you, but I am done with winter. I am done with snow. I am soooo done with days on end of temperatures hovering around zero and the wind-chill dipping well below it. I am done with chipping out water buckets and frozen manure from stall floors in the hopes of keeping them anywhere near usable. And, I am not alone. Our animals are done with it, too. Though we open the doors to their stalls each morning to allow them free access to their fields to stretch their legs, none do. The poor goats spend their days chewing hay from their mangers looking wistfully at fields covered over. Their eyes cast suspicion at me that I, supplier of food, bringer of petting and comfort, have somehow bestowed these horrible conditions they suffer through. The Vietnamese pot-bellies reluctantly unearth themselves out of their mound of hay just long enough to gobble down their food and then, dig themselves back under. The chickens cluck-cluck-cluck in a tizzy when I check the nest boxes as if to say, “You still have not fixed this! We are lodging a complaint!” The geese follow me around like the coop-yard-police they are, honking for warm water to swim in. Only the ducks and Fenn-dog (our husky) seem not to notice; whether they are truly impervious to the cold or are merely too good natured to complain is debatable.

I was recently reminded that the days are growing longer (we have gained over an hour at last count!) and promised that spring will return to the frozen north in its due time. This should offer me some solace as I, once more, thaw my fingers by the wood stove, but it doesn’t. What did help was an accident. In the course of cleaning out the bazillion images clogging my computer, I found myself mentally transported to last spring and all the new babies born to us at Lally Broch. Their sweet, baby cuteness conjured memories of little peeps, chirps and meeeehs, soft, downy bodies and my lap full of sleepy, warm goat-kid goodness.  

It didn’t seem right to keep them all to myself. So, here are a few of my favorites. If this does nothing to thaw your hearts, you might need to get yourself checked! 

 

Abigail newly born April 2012

Ellie and Abigail

Asher and Abigail April 2012

 



Mallard and Black Swedish Duckings

Basket of Chicks 2012

Caitlin Gosling is always friendly.

I love this picture because it looks like Broody hen and chick are talking to each other.

Thanks for visiting with us tonight. We really appreciate your company!

Sean and Sonja ♥
 

This blog shared with The Home Acre Hop #6

Tasmanian & A Chick

The chick was relaxed enough to immediately fall asleep on Tasmanian's back. Tas looks less comfortable about the situation.

I would never trust them alone together, but we are constantly amazed how our cats- who are predators... who routinely earn their keep catching and killing moles, mice, and weasles... who are inclined to bring in kestrels, robins, and swallows... neither hunt our yard bunny nor show the slightest interest in our chicks of various sizes. It is as if they can distinquish what "belongs" on our farm and what does not.

Again, I would not have left them alone together. But, as long as I was right there, Tas was a good sport about this photo shoot.

I know I posted already once today, but I felt like I should balance my earlier post with this cute one.
Enjoy!

Sonja ♥

Chicks, Salsa, Pickles, Soap... Repeat

With autumn in the air, house repair and maintenance, routine and otherwise, are in full swing- in large part to the credit of Daddy Dale's weekly assistance. Sean's parents routinely visit Maine each year. Over the past 4 years that I have gotten to know them better, I completely realize how blessed I am to have the BEST in-laws. I love spending time with them; attempting to win at Spades and utterly losing playing Dominoes, spending time at the local dog park, visiting with a glass of wine on the porch, the list is endless, but this blog is about our farm and it would be remiss of us not to mention all the time they have generously spent helping us around here this summer. Thank you. ♥

One of this summer's goals is to have the barn completely sheathed before the end of October when the weather will start to really turn. So far, the three 10x10 stalls for our goats and horse have been framed, the interior walls sheathed, and almost completely roofed. The front three 10x10 stalls earmarked for our milk room, birthing/isolation stalls, and tack room have been framed. The milk room has been almost completely sheathed outside. The current hold up is that one corner of our would be barn rests in an 8 inch decline. We are at a standstill for sheathing until a foundation for that corner can be poured. It is not a huge job in terms of time or effort. In terms of money, it is more than we have to spend today. We are on our way and there will soon be a post titled Barn Building: part 3. Until then, you can see from these pictures, our progress from last week. We sheathed the exterior of the milk room, framed out the door way and installed the window where it is going to permanently live. Now, to mow the grass inside the building.

Another project which was tackled last weekend, was the taming of our front yard. I think I have posted about the yard in front of our house that is determined to be 3-6 inches of water most of the year instead of a nice lawn area. It can't be mowed down because of how wet and unnavigable it is, so we have allowed it to pretend to be a pond until a true farm pond could be dug in that spot. And, I have resigned myself to occasionally sigh or glare at it when I drive into the yard each day. This summer has given us a bit of a break because of its relatively dry state.

With the help of Sean and Daddy Dale- since I was disinclined to attempt it myself due to its infestation with garden spiders- the spot has been mowed flat. It still needs a good raking and another go over with our new rider, but there is a glimmer of hope that a pond will be dug this year. I can already envision happy ducks and geese playing in it!

Three more chicks hatched from the four eggs in the nesting box outside. Two of them came on Thursday morning. One of these was a full blooded Americauna and the other we are hopeful will be an "Easter egger" cross. (We know the father is Americauna, but the mother is either a Buff Orpington or Rhode Island Red. We won't know if it carries the "blue egg" gene until it begins to lay its eggs in 5 months. We hope it does!) They have already moved into the brooder in the house and are keeping our other 2 chicks fine company. We had another egg hatch on Friday while we were at work. We found the chick when we got home from work, but sadly, it had not survived. There is one egg left in the nest box, which will be candled this morning to check for signs of life. If it hatches and lives, our hatch rate for the broodies is 85%. If not, our hatch rate was 80%.

I finally finished carving all the soap into bar shape and created pretty packaging for them (I like them, anyway. You'll have to tell me if you agree). And, I made another 2 quarts and another pint of home made liquid goat's milk hand soap from the left over shavings. I purchased some white boxes to help protect the bar version of my soap during shipping. For those of you who have requested samples, they were put into the mail this morning. I would really appreciate it if, when you get your sample, you would comment to let me know that it arrived. Also, you may have noticed a survey on the bar to the left of our page. Please, take a minute to leave me some feedback about the sample you received. I am really excited to hear your thoughts! Thanks!! ♥

Last night, Sean and I harvested more tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. With the weather beginning to change, our tomatoes are all ripening up and looking delicious. We grabbed a basket full of goodness while we checked on all the pens before settling in for the night. After a family dinner at home (of fried chicken, fresh corn on the cob, loaded smashed potatoes, and crescent rolls with Kristen, Meaghan, and their Dad, Chris) and seeing the girls off for their weekly sleep-over, Sean and I worked together to can 3 more jars of garlic dill pickles, and 9 pints of salsa. I love working together on these projects. So far this year, we have canned 19 pints of salsa, 12 jars of dilly beans, and 4 quarts and 4 pints of garlic dill pickles. It is not a lot, but it is a great start, I think!

 

Look at this guy! We found two of these on the cherry tomato plants in our back yard. They are HUGE, about 4-5 inches long and as thick as one of my fingers! They had eaten nearly all the leaves off the plant before we found them. Sean removed them after snapping this picture and rehomed them to the field where they would do no harm.

 

Curious to what they could be, we looked on line and think they might be Luna Moth caterpillars based on ---> this picture we found online. Looks similar to me.

What do you think?

We are glad you visited today. Come again, soon!
Sean and Sonja


Thanks to Tammy from Our Neck of the Woods for identifying this pest as a Tomato Hornworm. Are we glad to have taken them off the tomato plants! These beasties are capable of destroying our harvest. You can read about them on her blog linked above.