Yes, we are still alive

I can't believe I haven't written anything since April!  When friends start asking what is going on on the farm because they haven't seen a post, I know it's been too long.

Let's begin with today...
We have a young Narragansett turkey that we are raising for Thanksgiving.  Last night was the 4th of July and we all know turkeys are stupid.  Evidently, she was freaking out from the fireworks, probably running in circles, and must have caught herself on chicken wire.  When I went out to feed this morning, she was missing an eye.  The gash is behind the eye and the skin is pulled forward.  She is still alive.  I loaded up the wound with Swat, a medicinal salve and insect repellent in one, and moved her into the garage.  It is so hot outside, even with the Swat, I fear the flies because as soon as maggots show up, she will be a dead turkey.  I plan to leave her in the garage for a few days until the wound starts to hopefully heal.
Lee Trotman was an old equestrian trainer of mine. I used to sometimes think she was so heartless when she would bitch about how somebody's always sick, or sore, or hurt.  She'd say, "I'm so tired of always having to deal with some kind of shit on this farm!"  I know how she feels.  It's always something or somebody.  I love living out here, but sometimes it takes its toll.  Like right now when the baby has diarreah, the turkey lost an eye, the pigs keep getting into the llama paddock, the baby chick got swept away in the sudden storm the other night, and it has been hotter than Hades for the last two weeks.  So hot that I have to hose everyone down and water all day long, my vegetable garden looks dreadful, and it's too hot for the girls to enjoys any outdoor activities. I'm glad my mom-in-law has been here to enjoy these moments with me!

What else has been going on? 
My hens don't like to sit on eggs so I bought a small incubator.  It fits 40 eggs at a time and I love it! 
Our friend Allen is renting the old farm house now.  It's nice to have someone living there and seeing a light on at the top of the driveway at night.  It is also nice because when James is at work during the day, I have a hand on the farm.  I wouldn't exactly call him a farm hand.  He is more of a city guy, but I think he is getting used to life out here!
The turkey mentioned above is not the first turkey we've tried to raise in the last few months.  I haven't figured out why I can't keep a damned turkey alive!  The first one was two days old when it drowned in a shallow water dish.  The second got pecked and killed by my chickens.  That is why this third one has been living alone.
Bought a boar.  I am waiting for a Swine Artificial Insemination class to start at Clemson, but they don't have an ETA yet.  So in the meantime, we bought this boar.  James hooked the horse trailer up and Allen and I went to the next county over to pick up this pig.  He is only 8 months old, not much bigger than Little Ham ( the male we are raising for meat), but it is the only purebred Tamworth I could find.  Hopefully, they will breed pretty soon.  He is just barely at breeding age, so we are just waiting to see some action out there.
The garden was doing great until this weather got so unbearable.  My okra is starting to come in because of the heat.  We've been getting plenty of zucchinis and green beans, watermelons are working hard and sweet potatoes will be in the ground until Fall.
There have been a lot of funny stories over the last few months that I should have blogged but didn't.  Sorry.  I will try to do a better job.

Spring

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.   I have been busy busy busy!  I feel like everyday there has been a funny farm story and I just haven't had a chance to jump on the computer.
I harvested the last few beets out of the Winter garden on Sunday.  The garden is tilled and ready to go for Spring.  Just planting the usual suspects this year, nothing fancy.  Stella is excited about planting her sunflowers!  I never seem to have luck with tomatoes.  This year, they are in pots up against the house so I can keep a close eye on them.  The garden is just too dry, windy, and sunny for them, I think.
All the piglets are gone except the last boar we are raising for our freezer.  They were some funny little critters!  I don't know how many times they got out of their yard and I had to chase the little buggers around.  Stella adored them.  Everyday, "Mommy, I wanna hold baby piggies."  and "Mommy, go see baby piggies."  If you ask her what we plan to do with the piggies, she says "Eat them!"  She gets it.
We plan to breed her in the next week or two to have July babies.  I have buyers ready to put down deposits on the next litter as soon as she is bred.  James was a little hesitant about this pig business, but he believes me now.  Tamworths are a tough breed to find.  We got calls from NC, SC, VA, and Ga.  When they all sold in 48 hours, James said, "Maybe we should buy a second sow!"  We will when we find the right one.
We are trying to get a couple hens to sit on eggs right now.  I'd like to hatch about 25 for the freezer this Summer.  They aren't all broody so we are having trouble keeping them on the eggs.  Maybe once it warms back up next week.
We are looking for a calf right now.  Another family wants to go in on one with us.  I think we will end up going to an auction for one, I just don't know enough about cows to feel confident at an auction. 
We finally finished fixing up the old farm house.  A friend of ours is renting it beginning on 1 May.  It will be nice having someone around during the day while James is at work. With the two girls, I often need a hand outside like chasing those damned piggies around!  I think the farm life will be good for him too!

Enjoy the pics!

Baby Piggies!

Thursday, Tonya slept all day long.  I threw a few bails of straw in the lean-to and in the hole she's been sleeping in lately.  I also stacked four bails around the lean-to as extra protection from the wind.
Friday morning rolled around and there were no babies.  We were expecting freezing temperatures Friday night, so I was getting worried.  From sunrise to sunset on Friday, Tonya nested.  Mouthful by mouthful, she carried the loose straw from the lean-to to her spot against the fence. After she leaned out the lean-to, she dragged the four additional bails, popped the strings and spread out even more straw!  At nightfall, she finally fell asleep.
Saturday morning rolled around and there were no babies.  We were expecting 19 degrees Saturday night, so I was even more worried than the night before.  Tonya slept all day on Saturday.  She never moved, never ate, never drank.
Sunday morning rolled around and there were no babies.  We were expecting 22 degrees Sunday night, so obviously, I was a wreck.  When I visited her Sunday morning, she was laying on her side.  I had a feeling theywere coming.  I went into work to get a few things done.  At 2pm, James and I took the girls to a birthday party, and my Mom went out to the local shopping center.  I asked Mom to check on T when she got home.  We were getting our coats on at the birthday party when Mom called.  She walked down the hill and found a bunch of piglets!
When we arrived home, Mom showed me that there was one that wandered off, so I jumped in the yard and carried it over to T.  You shouldn't go in for at least a few days because the Mama can get aggressive.  I trust Tonya and the baby was squealing and shivering.  When I got it over to Mama, she immediately started nursing.  At this point, we counted seven.
James and I walked down around sunset, and we heard a desperate, weak squeal coming from the far side of the lean-to.  Number 8, whom no one had seen earlier...  I jumped in again.  Her body was cold and beginning to stiffen, but still breathing shallowly.  I knew we were going to lose her, but I tried anyway.  I placed her in Tonyas neck, hoping she would warm up and have the strength to nurse.
This morning it was so cold outside.  I found her little lifeless body.  T had pushed her away a little and covered her with some hay.  The other 7 are healthy, but cold.  Mommy and babies have been sleeping in the sun all day today.  Tonight we are expecting some snow and sleet, first of the season.  I am about to go down and get some type of cover of them.  The first 72 hours are crucial for piglets because there internal thermometer isn't working yet, just like any other animal.  The difference is they can't get completely under Mama like a dog or cat because Mama is 500 lbs.

I feel pretty confident, but cross your fingers they all make it through tonight.

Preparing for Tonya's Birth

Tonya is due in 10 days.  We expect her to deliver 10-12 piglets, hopefully all healthy and alive.  Due to three weeks of on and off rain, her pen is a wreck.  She has also knocked down most of her lean-to and pulled down most of the chicken wire from scratching her ass on the fence.  The chicken wire runs along the lower half of the fence so the babies can't slip through the cattle fencing.
Today was like a Spring day, as every other day seems to be right now.  James and I mended all the chicken wire, straightened out the lean-to, and planned where we will build a run for everyone.  Next week I will buy 8 bails of straw to stack around the lean-to and spread out for some bedding.  This Winter has been so mild, I really worry that we are going to get an ice storm near the due date.  All I can do is insulate her house as much as possible and hope for the best.

About two weeks ago I told James I was worried that she may not be bred.  In the last few days, her size has doubled and her milk has come in.  Yes, she is definitely bred and ready to go!

What IS Growing on Black Opal Farm?

Let's start with veggies.  Right now I am harvesting fresh crunchy spinach.  Cauliflower, beets, and cabbage are steadily growing.  I just filled the open spaces in the garden with last years compost and lots of llama poop.  Our compost amount has diminished since most of the leftover food goes to the piggy now.  Come Spring, I will order some more worms from our local worm farmer/expert, Scott Harke.
Tonya the pig is super hungry.  She's eating for a dozen, you know.  She is on freshly milled corn from Campobello, SC, restaurant scraps by the bucketfull, our kitchen scraps including the leftover breatmilk and formula from Skylars bottles (there isn't much after my chunky monkey eats), and Stella helps me gather acorns for her.  She is so big, whatever she runs into normally knocks over.  As we get closer to her due date, 13 February, we will fix up her lean to.  She doesn't sleep in it much.  I think she prefers the stars.  I'm sure she will choose to use it for her little ones.  When tax season rolls around, we will extend the fencing in the pig area.  We plan to sell the piglets, but I have had inquiries about raising the pigs to slaughter size for some people who live in the city.  that means more fencing.
We still have a small handful of chickens to process.  We are only processing roosters.  The 11 hens have been moved to the Big House with Sid.  He is going to be the brooder rooster.  The meat on most heritage breeds is pretty tough, but tasty.  Sid is a Dominicker which is a dual purpose breed as well.  We plan to cross the Naked Necks with Dominicker to get a fatter, more tender bird.  The ladies are just starting to lay eggs.  We expect a dozen a day.
Why are the ladies in the Big House?  Because we lost everyone except Sid.  My ducks are gone and so are the few Silkie Bantams we had.  Not only do we need to watch for wild predators, but neighbor dogs were coming over and running off with them.  I think my dogs trusted them because they would come over and play and hang out in the yard.   We trusted them too...  You can't remove a labradors instincts I guess.
Needless to say, the front gate that we used to keep open, now stays closed at all times.  We will let the hens out to graze on Sundays when we are home all day so we can keep a watchful eye.
Overall, things are pretty good on the farm.

Chicken Processing

Well, we processed 7 chickens today.  Nikky was sick and couldn't make it, so I had to help James.  It is a very simple process and with practice we will get cleaner and faster.
I cried during the first bird... I'm sure all of you can imagine how it must feel the first time...

We set up about 50 yards down from the backyard on a little bit of a slope so the blood and water would run downhill.  On the back of the pickup, we placed a sheet of plywood covered with a plastic tablecloth for evisceration and along side the tablecloth was the tabletop chicken plucker.  We filled the crawfish boiler with water and set up pickle buckets for ice baths.
Unfortunately, the chickens weren't very close by, maybe 200 feet away.  One by one, James would pick a chicken and walk the green mile to the processing area.  I held the cone while he slit the jugular.  Each chicken bled for about 3 minutes, then it was on to the water, set at 145 degrees.  Each bird was dunked for 60 seconds to open the follicles before plucking.
The tabletop plucker is motorized.  Rather than dropping the chicken into a barrel, the tabletop plucker requires you to hold the chicken up to the spinning rubber fingers.  Since we had to hold the bird to the plucker, we had to pluck a few feathers by hand on the ends of the wings and the bottom of the legs.  I helped a little with the plucking.
James did all the evisceration.  He used to duck hunt in Louisiana, so he has had plenty of experience cleaning birds.  First he had to cut off the head and legs, cut the oil gland, sliced into the breast to pull out the windpipe, went up the bottom and pulled the guts and organs out.  That is evisceration in a nutshell.
They got washed off and dropped into an ice bath until they cooled off, bagged, then into the freezer.  James cooked the heads and feet for Tonya, the dogs got the organs for dinner.

It's gonna be a lot easier next time.

pigs, chickens, turkeys, oh my!

Yesterday my friend Jenny and I drove South to Newberry and picked up a new addition to our family, Tonya, a bred 400+lb. Tamworth pig.  We bought her from Butter Patch Farm and Dairy.  She is super sweet and due with her fourth litter on Valentine's Day.  She is expected to have 10-12 babies.  I found her this morning, sound asleep with a smile on her face, in her house on a bed full of straw.  She seems happy in her new home.

Both dogs got to take a ride in the car last weekend for their rabies shots, woot-woot!  They don't care where they go, they just love to ride in the car.  They may be dirty farm dogs, but they are always on their best behavior when we take them off the farm.

Tomorrow is D-Day for the chickens.  We have a makeshift processing facility set up outside.  Our friend Nikky is coming over to help James.  I want to be a part, but I'm not sure how much help I will be this first time.  I think I can dunk, pluck, and eviscerate, but I know I can't slit a chickens throat.  Maybe down the road.

Thanksgiving is becoming a tradition on the farm.  My Mom and Sisters party of five come from NC, James' Mom drives up from LA, and his brother and wife fly in from TX.  We all bunk in the house for a few days of eats, drinks, and games.  I can't wait!!  On Wednesday, James will smoke a ham from the freezer and I will make my Grandma's potato salad.  For Thursday, I plan to sage-brine a turkey and stuff it lightly with root vegetables accompanied by roasted acorn squash, garlic romano mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing with fresh chorizo, orange-ginger peas (Stella's favorite veggie), and fresh French bread.  For dessert, I am making a sweet potato cake with marshmallow meringue topped with drippy, gooey pralines---Yumm!  My sister is bringing some homemade quiches, Mom is making Saurkraut Balls!  We will have some great wines (TBD) and beers, maybe even Makers Mark and Eggnog.

Stay tuned, I will let you know how the processing goes...

Trouble on the Farm again

This story is now a week old, but I've been in the weeds.
James went out to feed one morning last week and something tried to get into the chicken house with the Naked Necks (meat chickens).  Seems that it dug under just enough to paw down a hen by the leg and took a huge bite out of her back.
So we brought her up to the house, washed the wound and covered it with Swat.  She could barely walk, and seemed to be in severe shock.  She has been sleeping in the bushes against the house.

Now, over a week later, Florence is doing great!  Yes, she has a name.  She will retire into the brooder house.  She probably won't lay an egg for at least a year, so she will just be another pet.  I plan to introduce her to the chickens and her new home tomorrow.

Finally it's looking like Fall

We never run out of things to do on the farm.  James' Mom was in town from Louisiana last week which gave me a chance to get outside without worrying about the girls.
The Naked Neck Chickens are getting bigger as we get close to processing time.  They should be ready by late September.  I pulled four hens and one rooster and set them up in the brooder house.  Next time I won't have to order chicks, we can produce them ourselves.  We can also get great eggs from these hens when we don't need baby chicks.  Since the fox got most of our hens from the Big House, we only get two little eggs each day.  It felt a little strange the day that I separated the five for the brooder house, "Which ones will I choose to not be eaten..."
We have also planted an orchard, a small one.  Up on the hill in front of the house we now have two dwarf sweet cherry, one dwarf black cherry, one regular sized tart cherry, one pear tree, one pomegranate tree, one fig tree, one thornless blackberry.  We have blueberry bushes in the front yard near the house.  Next year I will add to the orchard.  I found an old lady named Hazel who grows all types of fruit trees, herbs, peppers, evergreens.  Our two grapevines in the "vineyard" are doing well, we should get a ton of grapes next year!
The Big House (chickens, ducks) is looking pretty bad these days.  We need to get it fixed up before the Winter months arrive.  We also need to extend the pigs area while the weather is cool but before Winter. 
I was also able to get down there and mend some of the fencing in the pig pen while Sandy was here.  Thanks Sandy!!  The piglets should be ready to pick up in October.  We plan to get get females from Tapsalteerie Farm.  That's where we bought our last two pigs.  In addition, we plan to find a Boar to breed the females.
Speaking of the pigs,  I have been busy curing bacon and grinding sausage.  I've been playing around with all different flavors.  Bacon has been, brown sugar maple, black peppercorn mustard seed, and white pepper cumin!  Yumm!  As for the sausage, I have made chorizo, stuffed pepper mixture, French garlic, and garlic sage.  Remember all the garlic I grew last Winter?  It's all going to good use in the sausage recipes.
James tilled up the garden and we have started the Fall planting.  Cauliflower has sprouted, cabbage seeds are in, when it cools a bit more, I will plant spinach and beets.  I have 50 pots started with garlic chives, and 25 pots with Lemon Balm.  I hope to get these sprouted and in the ground before it gets too cold.

I think that's about it for now.  Well, besides being a busy Mother of two and starting back to work two weeks ago.  Come to think of it, I'm a little tired. :)  I will get some nice pics this week to post for you all.  Time to watch the Saint stomp on the Packers so I've got to head downstairs.

We Got 'Em

Last night James got the fox.  He shot him down near the pig pen.  Maybe this will teach the others to stay away from our chickens!

!!ACHTUNG!!! Yellow Jackets!!!

I was bush hogging the lower field yesterday and Beaudreaux's old paddock.  As I backed up into the first corner of the paddock I ran over a big stick.  I felt a stinging sensasion on my forearm and thought I got hit with a piece of the stick.  Then I saw and felt a yellow jacket between my eye and my sunglasses.  There was a swarm of bees all around me, I had run over the nest with a front tire of the tractor.  I shifted into 3rd gear to try to get out as fast as possible.  I left the gate open because I just needed to get out of there, knowing the main gate to the property was open and the llamas could wander out, but that was a chance I had to take as I am allergic to bees.  There I was driving laps around the property trying to get all the bees off of me.  Finally, I didn't see anymore near me, turned off the tractor and ran like hell back to the house.  Sandy, my mom-in-law, went out and shut the gate for me while I iced down the stings.
I had stings on my arms, neck, legs, back, hands, and boobs (which are already swollen with milk).  The one on the pad of my thumb was the worst.  Over the course of the next thirty minutes while I iced, showered, and changed clothes, I watched my left hand double in size.  I knew I needed to get to Urgent Care, so off I went.  By the time I got there, the swelling went from the fingertips to midway up my forearm, pain level was at a 9.  I got a shot and some meds and they sent me on my way.  I began feeling better around 5:30 this morning.
When I was a kid, I got stung once when we were visiting a family friend right over the border in Ohio.  I climbed up into the hay loft the watch Polly, the horse, below in her stall.  I was probably four years old.  I never got stung again until we moved here.  This is my third episode.  Common with bee allergies, with each attack, the body reacts worse and worse.
Curse those yellow jackets!!!

Hot as Smoked Peppers out There

I haven't been as worried about the big animals in this heat, they've seen it before.  We just make sure they always have water.  I have been worried about the little chickies.  They are only three weeks old, and at this age they can handle extreme heat and cold, but it's REALLY hot as you all know no matter where you live right now.  So I turned on Stella's Little Tikes beach ball sprinkler, I think they loved it!!

Below is a picture of some gorgeous smoked peppers.  A local organic grower down the street, Terry, grows all kinds of peppers, microgreens, potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, etc.  He sells to many of the local restaurants in downtown Greenville.  He smokes the peppers and makes his own salad dressings also, yumm!!

He gave us four different kinds of smoked peppers so we can use them in our sausage preparation!  Thanks Terry!!

Bumm-holes

Who knew that the stress of travel can cause chicks poop to paste to their bummhole and need assistance with cleaning?  Not me, folks.  I have never received mail order chicks until now, nor have I ever had to clean a 3 day old chicks bumm.  Dry feathers keep the chicks warm (they should stay in 90 degree heat for 7 days), so after I bathed their butts, I had to dry them with a hair dryer.  Some of the chicks loved the hair dryer, others, not so much.  I hope they are all still alive in the morning.  They seemed pretty dry when the sun went down.

Baby Chicks Arrived Today

I got a phone call from the post office this morning that my baby chicks had arrived.  27 Naked Neck chicks and 1 surprise freebie that you receive from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  They will stay in a box in the garage for the next day or two til their house is ready, again :)  The dogs haven't left the garage since they arrived.

And...Again...

It was a week ago yesterday that the storm hit and attempted to demolish everything on the farm.  We haven't had time to even begin cleaning up.  Last night, it came back for more.  I was at work, James had Stella in the tub when the storm rolled up the driveway.  No pictures this time because I am just to disgusted with the whole thing.  We lost another tree, this time in the llamas lower field, just inches from the fence.  I had been fixing up one of the chicken houses that got twisted up the week before.  That one flew over the truck and about 50 yards down the hill.  Inside our egg house, the hens lay in covered litter boxes and dog houses.  James said the boxes were in flight inside the house!!  Bench swing in the back yard flipped over, again.  Stella's swimming pool flew about 500 yards to the pig pen!  The reason the inexpensive blow up pool is so important to us is that we lost three pools last Summer in storms.  Literally, they were lost, only one was recovered on the neighbors property!
Now it's T-Minus 5 days till the baby chicks arrive.  We built a Super Duper Brawny Strong chicken house today, just one more wall and the roof and it will be complete.  Keep your fingers crossed!
The garden loves all the rain, but it's pretty battered from the wind and hail. 
The animals are just pissed. They are over this weather.  The dogs never leave the garage (Rowen is terrified of storms).  The llamas never leave their carport, and the chickens never leave their boxes.  The ducks may not care for the storms, but they love the aftermath...Big mud puddles everywhere!!!

Big Storm! Was it a twister?

Yesterday was Stella's birthday, the big 2.  She was sitting in the kitchen enjoying her birthday ice cream cone.  We never watch the local news, but we were trying to track the storms that were heading in from TN and Western NC.  I went out back to pick up a few of Stella's toys from the yard, James went upstairs to turn the computer off.  All we could see to the West was an ominous sky creeping closer and closer.  I went to the door leading to the garage to make sure the dogs were in there and lower the garage door.  When I looked out, I could see the gravel from our long, windy driveway flying towards the house.  Our house is covered in huge windows, so I pushed Stella's highchair inbetween the dishwasher and the pantry wall, the lights were flickering on and off, she was getting upset, no longer eating her icecream cone.  I see her watching the trees outside, they were sideways in the wind.  All we could hear is the wind and the hail pelting the house.  James could barely see out the windows of the sunroom.  "Holy Schnikies" shit started flying all over the place outside!!  My two newest chicken houses have been in the front yard, one has been housing a few baby chicks.  One house flew about 40 feet and crashed into a tree, the other flipped over, hit our house and crashed down on the satellite dish.  James ran out to catch the four chicks that were running in circles after their house flew off of their heads.  He got them all on the porch which is where they stayed until we carried them down to the egg house.

After 5 or 6 minutes of this, the wind died and the hail changed to rain.  All we saw outside were sheets of metal wrapped around trees, the roof to one of the chicken houses showed up in the back yard.  All the llamas made it to their carport.  Good thing since a tree speared through their other shelter.  That is the shelter that has the llama chute attached to shear wool.  A tree near the old farmhouse fell over the fence and flattened a storage shed that held gardening supplies, equestrian tack, and hay.  The rabbit habitat I've been building for Stella got destroyed.  Planters and potted pepper plants are gone...

 We have family coming into town for Stella's birthday this weekend, I am expecting 27 baby chicks to be delivered in 10 days, I am 8 months pregnant, it's 94 degrees everyday...

 But it will all get done.  We think we can salvage all the materials to use for something or another.  We are thankful that the house is fine, all animals are accounted for, and no heavy equipment or uninsured equipment was damaged.

Just another day on the farm, right?  Cheers

Farm Fresh Veggies!

I picked 15 zucchinis this morning.  I will head down this afternoon to check the garlic, it should be ready in the next few weeks.

What the???

As you saw in the last post, we lost a hand full of chickens to the fox.  A few nights ago we lost 5 more to an owl that broke through the roof of their house.  Yesterday, we lost another in broad daylight, which must have been a fox.  They know the dogs routine and they wait until Remus and Rowen lay down to nap, then they come through the fence.
Poor James is out there every night with a spotlight and a shotgun, but no luck.  He needs a gun with longer range and a scope.
Animals need to feed their babies, I understand, but not with my pets!!
On a lighter note, I ordered 25 Plymouth Rock chicks that should be here this week.  They are good for eggs and for meat.  The majority of these 25 will be meat chickens, but I will save a rooster and 3-4 hens for egg production and baby chick production for more meat chickens.
All the veggies and fruits are in the ground and sprouting.  The llamas and dogs have yet to be groomed...  The pig is in the freezer, now I'm shopping for a breeding pair of Tamworth pigs.  I'm having a tough time finding them.
I am looking out the window at the rain that has just started, we've had a couple of hot, dry weeks.  We have a chance of rain for the next few days.  it will nourish the farm and give us a few days to not do much :)

Not a good morning on the farm

Spring is here and the foxes are back in full force.  We lost three chickens last night...  Queenie was my oldest rooster, a docile silkie bantam dissappeared two nights ago.  I should have locked the door last night.  A Mary and Red Sonja are gone.  All of my hens that look alike are Marys.  I have mary Agnes, Mary Magdalene, Mary Katherine, and so on.  Red Sonja was my favorite chicken.  This Rhoade Island Red was the type of hen that would jump up in your lap to get some love.  She would stand there and let Stella walk up and pet her.
I let Sonja and the rest down.
My two Pyrenees are great watch dogs, but they are not fast.  This is why we need a small dog, Corgi or Terrier on the farm.

planting begins

Cherry tree in, check
Asparagus in, check
planter of peas, check

Today
Another planter of peas
Another grape vine

As soon as the garden dries out, I will plow one more time and plant everything else.  The garlic in the lower garden is looking great!!