Hurricane Farm

Here are some photos from Scotland Farm Day from last weekend.

Here is our set up.  To the left we had small pens with a calf, some lambs, and the pigs.  To the right we had a chicken coop and some goslings in another small pen.  I recently rebuilt the maple syrup display (just in front of the left front tent leg).  It is a four foot maple log that has two maple syrup buckets hanging off demonstrating how sap is collected.  Always a good conversation piece!  We were able to use our new pop-up tent for the first time as well.  The State of Connecticut subsidizes these for local farmers who participate in farm markets.  It has the recognizable "Connecticut Grown" logos all over the top of it. 

Just behind us in this photo you can sort of see the piglets starting to till up the ground in their little pen.  They turned over the entire plot in about 2 hours' time.

This next shots show how much tilling the piglets did over the course of the morning.  Nothing but dirt left!  They were looking for roots, grubs, and old walnuts from the walnut trees that dotted the field.

The next series of photos shows Liev admiring some of the larger machinery at Farm Day.

He really, really wants a buzz saw!  (So do I...)

These guys loved having Liev explain how it works to them!

He had a great time explaining to me how the engine/motor turns the pulley that spins the belt that turns the saw blade.  The kids also were able to shell and crack corn by hand with some old machinery.  Below shows a corn cracking machine run by an old hit-and-miss engine.

There was a steady flow of people throughout the day and lots of kids running around and learning about old-timey farming.

So it appears that the one-wire alternator on my Farmall Cub works.

This afternoon found me tinkering with the tractor for an hour or so.  Removing the tire chains so we can drive on the roads again, greasing up all the fittings, adding a much needed gauge to indicate the voltage, and also trying to hook up the abandoned alternator.

It seems to work.  I also tweaked the ignition switch so that it is now in the standard Up/On--Down/Off position that logical folks worldwide understand.  I think that the switch was always spinning around so no one was really sure if it was switched on or off at any given time.  I don't need the points burning out, so we've standardized that little issue.

We cruised up and down the road in 3rd gear.  Man, 13 miles per hour seems REALLY fast when you're in an open tractor.

Sweet!

We still have not uploaded the photos from the weekend, but here are some to hold us all over for a little while.

Here we have some hogs--snouts sullied--after a hard afternoon's rooting session.

They have cleared all of the land for our orchard and have also just about finished our bramble and briar patch.  We'll be moving them behind my log pile along the west end of the farm this coming weekend. 

Here is Erica hard at work planting what will hopefully one day be a wonderously prosperous apple tree.  All of the trees we set in have started to bud and are full of leaves.  The bees are starting to leave their hive and gather nectar and I saw several of them already buzzing by the apple trees.  We have set up the hive right amongst the apple trees for maximum pollenization.

Speaking of bees:  When they arrived, they were looking rather piqued.  So much so that they seemed to be--and were--mostly dead.  After a quick couple of calls and some photos sent via email, the supplier has agreed to send us a second shipment as a replacement.  Our queen, however, looked healthy and quickly worked her way onto the honey frame foundations to start her egg laying work, but the colony is off to a rocky start with so many dead bees during shipping.

We'll be adding the new bees as soon as they come.  Below is a shot of the bees that we received in the mail.  An acceptable amount of dead bees would be no more than 1/2 an inch on the bottom.  You can see how something must have happened during shipment to cause over two inches of dead bees.  All the bees amassed on the bottom are dead.  There are still several thousand living bees clinging together at the top end of the cage, but this may not be enough to establish a heatlhy colony.  Also of note is the can in the center of the shipping cage.  This is filled with sugar solution to feed the bees during their voyage through the mail.  Just to the right of the can, nearer the top, is a small cage which houses the queen and five of her royal servants.  Their job is to feed her.  She apparantly cannot be bothered with such menial tasks.  Anyhow, only one servant was left when the cage arrived, so that might explain why the queen was so eager to leave her little cage...She might have been a little hungry.

Stay tuned...More to come!

There was an "old-timey" Farm Day here in Scotland today and we decided a couple of weeks ago to participate in the fun.  So last night and this morning found us loading up the trucks with some fencing, some posts, our farm goods, and (of course) some 5 gallon buckets.

The festivities took place at the Waldo Farm in Scotland, CT, one of the earlier homesteads in town.  Many acres of fields and stone walls welcomed us as we pulled up with:

2 pigs
3 bunnies
1 calf
2 lambs
2 children
2 goslings
1 chicken coop
and a whole lot of eggs, maple syrup, and flavored vinegar.

We were lucky enough to be set up next to the stone wall (re)builder, who spent the whole day working on tightening and squaring up the old stone wall that bordered the front field.  He has been working on it every Farm Day for several years--about 12 feet a year--and his work is amazing!  Pictures to follow.

There were fiddlers, old tractors, hit-and-miss engines, and a buzz saw.  Liev and I determined that we will be acquiring a buzz saw to attach to my Farmall Cub later this summer.  The day also included some bee-keeping displays, a smelter, open-hearth cooking, and lots of Colonial hobbies to see and experience.  We had a great time and met tons of new folks.  Many of our friends and neighbors came out and it was fun to see everyone.

Our piglets were quite popular throughout the day.  They tilled up the area that we penned them up in and we could probably go into business as an "Eco-friendly Tilling Company" based on all the inquiries about their rooting!

We'll post some photos of all this soon.

Also, as if we were not busy enough getting ready for the Farm Day Fest, we received a call from the U.S. Government (Postal Division) this morning informing us that our bees were in.

"The sooner the better," was when the good folks at the post office wanted us to pick them up. 

We also have some great shots of us trying to put the bees from their shipping crate into their new hive.  It is a little like Keystone Cops, and I'm sure you'll love the photos...Check back soon to see them.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! 

From their protection to their nurturing to their unconditional love, it is our Mothers who help us to become who we are today.  Thanks to all of you!

Here are some shots of a wonderful mother doing her best with her little ones.

Whether your teaching us how to eat, keeping us warm and draft-free, or protecting us from predation, you Mothers are the best!

Erica and the kids found this flower in our wetlands last week.  This flower is for all the Mom's out there!  Happy Mother's Day!

The "little" pigs have finished tilling up our orchard area and we have planted four apple trees so far.  The trees are already starting to form buds!

So it was time to move the piglets to a new area in which they can put their concerted efforts into what they do best:  tilling up the ground.

The grass has been coming up fairly quickly and thickly with all the cold, wet days peppered with warm days over the past two weeks.  The pigs really enjoy being on this lush grass.  They not only can root around and look for grubs, worms, and other tasty morsels, but the love the grass itself along with the roots!

Yummy!

These photos were taken just after we released them into their new penned in area.  We will be turning this area, which is just to the side of our front garden, into a briar and bramble patch.  Blackberry.  Raspberry.  Black Raspberry.  And so on.

Hmm...Do I want to eat that Dandelion?  Maybe I'll just take a little bite and see how it tastes...
The way this little guy is staring it down, you'd think it was giving him a bad attitude or something.  I guess it did not taste as great as he had hoped.

Oh, OK...Maybe I'll try another bite of this one...

In no time at all the pigs will clear this patch and we will move them again.  I have a nice spot that is rife with poison ivy behind my log pile.  We'll get them clearing that out and exposing a nice stone wall that runs most of the way down one side of our property line.  Not only do they clear the land, but they fertilize it at the same time!  It's a win-win for all involved!