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 ♥

FLASH SALE

In response to Nature's effort to redecorate our turkey coop and yard, we posted a FLASH SALE on our Lally Broch Farm Facebook Page this morning. This is what our coop and protective fencing looked like on February 15th. The turkeys hop over it to free range and visit the other farm animal areas. They like to challenge and run at Molly- who can't understand why they are not afraid of her. She tucks tail and hides behind me when the turkey babies are out. I would love to say they roost in their coop, but really they don't. They prefer to sleep on the roof of their coop (or the chicken coop) or on the fencing itself. They do eat inside their coop, so all the time and effort moving it from Swanville to here, was not for nothing. :)

Mother Nature's overnight remodel February 16, 2016. I like the lack of snow cover and I can definitely work with the warmer, sunny feeling. I feel the protective fencing is somewhat lacking, however and could use some work.

I hope you will take a couple minutes to hop over to our Lally Broch Farm Facebook page to see what we have offered for sale. If you have a $5 coupon from us from a past sale/auction, you can use it for deeper discounts. Or not, your choice. ♥

Our plan for the day involves driving to meet a bonded pair of geese in Rockport and their coop-mates, a pair of hens. Their family is moving across country soon and they may be joining us on the homestead. We'll meet them before we make any decisions to make sure that this is a good fit for all of us, but I have a good feeling after talking with their family that we will be able to provide them a good home.

The 7, year-old hens we just collected from a friend in Abott last week settled in fine and are doing well. We have room to add up to 20 additional hens to the farm this year now that we have moved our ducks and geese to their separate yard. We'll breed to keep an additional 8 turkey poults, too. I am excited about hatching new chicks, ducklings, goslings, keets, and poults come Spring. If you are interested in adding some to your family, do contact us about what we are expecting to have available in these lines this year. :)

Thanks for stopping in, friends. We love your company.
Sean & Sonja ♥ 

Baby Turkeys!

Molly is a great comfort to Sean's plague-ridden carcass.

Mary calling her young back. ♥

Our family has been sick with a virus that we're affectionately calling, "The Plague" for just under a week. Sean's fever broke yesterday; mine the day before. Now, Meg seems to have the first signs: sore throat and fever. Thus far, only Kristen seems to be unaffected. She has quarantined herself in her room with her notebook, some music, and her books resolved not to emerge until this passes. Smart girl.

Life on the homestead pauses for nothing. Sean's fever broke just in time to discover newly hatched turkey babies. Both nests hatched overnight. Mary is the proud Momma to five new babies. Priscilla hatched a single baby from her clutch of two eggs. Of course, we knew and tentatively planned that we would move the Mothers and their chicks to safer quarters once hatched, but what with being stricken for the past week, thinking about it was all we had done. We had not actually built any of the new fencing we knew we would need. And, as tired out as we both are, constructing fencing was not in the cards today. The easiest remedy we could conceive was to remove some of the garden fencing panels and add them to the already existing turkey fencing to create a safe and separate pen for the new chicks and their Moms. So, that is what happened.

Priscilla and her solo chick. ♥

Priscilla's chick is already walking all over mom. :) 

In the next few days, we'll have to do something more than pray that the dastardly trio of Abigail, Haddie, and Anna refrain from wandering into the garden and eating all our seeds for next year. Since the weather forecast is calling for three days of rain, it is a chance we decided to take. And, by "decided", I clearly mean, it is what it is. The fencing is down and moved. If we can muster the energy, we'll collect what we can for seeds today.

I am choosing not to focus on that. It is much more pleasant to think about new babies. I am so happy to introduce these new littles to you. :)

Thanks for stopping in to visit today. We're glad you're here.

~Sean & Sonja ♥

Stay-cation 2015

Stay-cation- a vacation spent at home or nearby; a vacation that is spent enjoying all that home and one's home environs offer; a vacation spent at home involving day trips to local attractions.

It is totally a thing.

With our homestead growing each year, both in terms of animals and gardens to care for and our participation in shops, markets, and fairs, a stay-cation creates the perfect balance for us. When our family visits afar, I feel too worried about what might be falling apart at home to enjoy my time away. Then, too, I carry an inappropriate amount of guilt over the cost of EVERYTHING-whether it be the time away or the money spent. The time we spend lounging at a beach competes with the stalls that need mucking out, the goat fencing to be extended, and the gardens that need attention. The $18.99 I would love to spend on a new skirt weighs against the cost of 2x4's for fencing, cement for posts for the horse pasture, a bag of grain or 6 bales of hay. A skirt is gone without and we make do with what's had already. I don't mind (most of the time), but there are minutes in life when these little things add up and something has to give- just to maintain sanity. Sean knows me well and understands this balance. As I worried about all that needs doing, to help ease my mind, Sean reminded me of a principle explored in a Season 2 episode of The Waltons "The Honeymoon", which we watched together recently:

[Narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] Growing up on Walton's Mountain during the Great Depression, we learned early to concentrate on the essentials of life. With many of the necessities so hard to come by, we had little money to squander on extravagances. But there came a time when my father decided another kind of survival was important and, to nourish the human spirit, it was necessary to indulge in extravagance.

Just as we empathize with episodes of The Little House on the Prairie where Ma and Pa fight against the elements to eek out a decent living for their family, watching The Walton's cash poor and family rich lives ring with echos of our own venture into building our modern day homestead with all its ups and downs. It may be summer- the time for traditional family adventures- but these homesteaders need to balance making family memories and caring for daily necessities.

When I remember where we started and compare where we are now, I am proud of the life we are building with good, honest sweat and hard work. Consider this, last year we cared for three CSA shares. This year, we support shares for six families. We doubled the size of our garden space this year and will increase it again before the year is out. Last year, we supplied four goat rentals. This year, we have increased that to eight goat rentals. We welcomed 11 healthy goat kids into our world this season. Last year, you could buy our soaps, massage melts and mosaic eggshell jewelry in Belfast, Searsport, and Brewer. As of last weekend, you can now find us in Camden, Maine at The Maine Gathering and in Bar Harbor at Eden Rising. There is so much still to do, but we have made a good start of it, a place from where we can grow.

As for making those family memories, homestead building projects took a back seat to spending time with our teenagers in spiritual activities and day trip adventures- on a budget that would make the Walton's proud of our thrift. Thursday night, Sean and I set up our booth at the Bucksport Bay Farmer's Market. It is fast becoming our favorite market. There may not be as many people wandering through the stalls, but those that are there, have come to support locally grown food and products. Return customers are becoming friends that we look forward to seeing.

Original pieces available at
The Maine Gathering

After milking in the morning on Friday, Sean and I headed to the Belfast Art Market. We were especially excited to be rolling out our latest product offering; mosaic eggshell Mother~Child Pendants, ready to be made on-site for those who were interested. We were so thankful at the positive reception from shoppers and happy to create FIVE custom pieces! And, we met Margaret Gallagher of The Maine Gathering, a shop in lovely, coastal Camden, Maine. By the end of our short visit, Margaret selected a nice assortment of jewelry pieces to stock in her shop. We ended Friday by driving to Augusta for some supplies and then, to Camden to meet up with friends from whom we were stealing their teenagers for the weekend for a visit. With four teenage girls in the house we anticipated much laughter, loud musical sing-a-longs, and lots of fun. We were not disappointed.

Our group woke early Saturday morning. Sean and I milked the goats while Meaghan and Sierra collected eggs from the coop and Kristen and Sammy fed Chloe her morning bottles of milk. After a home-made breakfast of French toast from our eggs, milk and farm-fresh bread smothered with their choice of blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries, we cleaned up and headed out to preach the word together for the morning. The plan was to spend a few hours in our ministry work followed by an afternoon day trip to the Bar Harbor area. The first stop was a picnic lunch at Bird's Acres in Ellsworth, followed by a hike to "Egg Rock" and "Queen's Chair". From there, we drove up the Loop Road to the summit of Mount Cadillac. Our next stop was to Eden Rising on Cottage St. in downtown Bar Harbor, Maine to deliver mosaic eggshell jewelry, goat's milk soaps, and 2 oz jars of massage melts. We finished the day sharing two $6.99 medium pizzas at Pizza Hut for dinner before coming home. Total cost for our trip= gas money and $18 dinner. Memories made= PRICELESS.

Mount Cadillac Cairns

I have visited with the rescued birds at Bird's Acres for many years. This poor guy is blind in one eye and cannot hunt for himself any longer. That makes me sad, but I am glad he has a safe place to live, warm from the elements, well care for. I have been inspired to create some new owl pieces recently, now I have a model for some new ones.

Views from the top of Mount Cadillac~ Bar Harbor, Maine

Fort Knox Labyrinth

On Sunday morning, Sean discovered that Priscilla's chicks were in the process of hatching. She did such a good job at brooding, that we left her to do her thing with hatching them- though we checked them from time to time. (More details about them further down. ♥) After morning chores, I baked our crew their choice of home-made muffins; blueberry, raspberry, coconut, and cinnamon before our meeting for worship. When we returned home, we had a light lunch together and then Sean left to mow his Daddy's lawn while I worked on making some new jewelry pieces and the girls visited together. After Sean got home, we drove over to Fort Knox to explore and play some hide-and-seek in the dark labyrinth of the fort until we all were ready to go home for some dinner. We stopped at Wilson's Corner Store for 1/2 kiddie cones on the way home. That's right. Half Kiddie Cons each. At Wilson's that means a generous 1 1/2 scoops of Hershey's ice cream- more than enough to savor. If you order the "Large", I strongly recommend bringing a large bowl with you. You'll need it! Total cost for our trip= $25. Tired Teenage Girls= PRICELESS.

Granite for Fort Knox was cut
from Mount Waldo's quarry.

We let the girls sleep in on Monday morning and I had hot home-made cinnamon buns waiting for them when they roused. Sean suggested we take Molly, a few of this year's goat kids, and all the girls to hike up Mount Waldo. It is a nice easy hike with fantastic views made even better with bouncing goat kids romping about the granite. Since this was to be the last day of our Stay~cation, Monday was a "Free Day" of activities with plans to end it with a double feature at the new Drive In in Bangor. Unfortunately that did not happen as we planned, due to some unforeseen issues. As a consolation, we rented Big Hero 6 and made another stop at Wilson's. Total cost for our adventures $12. Weekend Spent With Friends= PRICELESS.

I think John Walton would be proud. ;)

The hike begins. Chloe does not need a leash. She is quite happy to stay with her people.

Anna and Bo

Chloe was a natural at hiking with us. She enjoyed exploring and finding tidbits to nibble on. Anna and Bo were not convinced that this hiking business was fun... until they reached the granite blocks. Their feet knew what to do, even if their brains were stuck on crying for their herd. Within a few minutes, they settled down and began to explore. By the time we were ready to leave, the twins were enjoying themselves and able to walk with us without needing leashes.

If you think hiking with goats would be a fun experience for your family, drop us a message and we would be glad to tell you all about our program. :)

This week on the homestead brought us the birth of more babies. Priscilla did a bang up job of hatching her eggs in the rafters of the barn. All eight eggs hatched into fluffy balls of turkey chicks. Turkey chicks or poults are by far the most docile and friendliest of any of the birds on the farm. Guinea keets are sweet and can be handled easily.... for about the first week. Then, a switch flips in their bird brains and they become aware that they are prey animals. Attempts to hold and play with them become more of a game of capture the keet, which is no fun for anyone involved. It does not dissuade us from holding, petting and handling the keets to help "tame" them, but in our experience, it really is a mostly futile effort, producing guinea hens and cocks that tolerate humans when food is offered and running from them at all other times. Ducks are very similar in nature. Our ducklings happily follow us around for a couple months, but once they are introduced to the other ducks, it is all over for us. Their preference for their own kind becomes clear. Chickens and roosters are considerably better. Ours gladly come running to greet us, especially if treats are involved. They willingly hop up on shoulders or laps. But, turkey poults are by and far the most helpless and friendly of all the chicks. Of course, we don't eat our turkeys. Still, either they don't realize they are delicious prey or they just don't care that you know it, too. They sit calm and still when my hand reaches into the brooder, then trill in my hand softly until they fall asleep content with the knowledge that I have them and all is well in the world.

I love baby turkeys.

Thanks for visiting with us, friends. We're glad you're here.

Sean and Sonja ♥