Pleasant Valley Farm

We have had the pleasure of raising bobwhite quail for over a year now.  They are tiny little birds with big voices and toy-sized eggs which hatch into bumblebee-sized chicks.  They are kept in one of our portable "tractors," a fully enclosed pen which is moveable to put them on fresh grass as needed.  At least, it was fully enclosed.  As I am walking toward the house after a day at work, I hear more noise than usual coming from the forsythia bush in our yard. I'm used to a sparrow or two, but instead I find about 20 quail (which would be all of them!) in the leaves around the base.  I go inside, greet my husband, and tell him about the birds in the bush.  "that's not good..." he replies.  Upon inspection, it seemed one of the doors to their pen had come loose, and they had all escaped.  For chickens, bunnies, or the occasional other small escapee, we have a good sized net on a long pole.  While this usually works pretty well, quail can fly. Really fly, not just a few feet like a chicken or tame duck.  While we enjoy the bobwhites, we had talked about getting Cortunix quail in the spring if we want to market dressed quail or quail eggs.  So we had already decided the bobwhites were pleasant, but not economically profitable to raise.  Although not very common around our house, they are also a native species for our area.  And at best we'd only be able to net a few before the rest realized the power in thier small wings and flew out of reach.  So the decision was to let them be free, but leave the door open to the pen for them to come back if they need food or shelter.  The kitties were becoming very interested in the new yard birds, so we deliberately startled them, trying to spook them into the cornfield where they would be relativley safe. Of course, some went in to the cornfield, some across the road and into the woods, and stragglers ended up on the roof of the produce stand, the chickens' run, and my kitchen windowsill!  Until dark, we could heaar them calling to each other, regrouping their small covey.  And no quail appeared on the porch as cat food, so we are hoping they have retained enough of their wild instincts to fear predators and stay safe.  Although when I see them in the yard or the field, I'll be throwing a scoop of feed their way.  Because once they tasted freedom and space to put thier wings to the test, they don't seem too likely to take me up on my offer of the open cage door.

 

Female quail on my kitchen windowsill- she's hiding from the cats!

Just like the stores seem to pull out the Christmas stuff earlier each year, the seed companies seem to be in a race to get the catalogs for the coming growing season out far earlier than necessary.  We haven’t even finished picking corn, and already I’ve received two! In case I misplace then during the holiday season, I’m sure duplicates will come my way in January or February.  While I love looking through them on a cold winter evening, with temperatures still rising to near 60 every day this week, I’m still outside, finishing up this year’s garden!  Dan put the rhubarb to bed for the year…our secret to a bountiful crop that produces clear into fall is blanketing it each winter with a thick layer of horse manure, which is never in short supply here.  It keeps the crowns of the plant safe from winter’s bitter cold, and as the manure breaks down gradually over the coming months, it not only provides a bit of warmth, but also valuable fertilizer. We’re also closer every day to having all of the corn in the corncrib.  Once that happens we’ll take some to a mill to have our own feed mixed, and some will be fed to the animals still on the cob.  And I’m picking the last of this year’s beans.  They are no longer green anywhere, but have produced hard dry beans inside the edible part.  These can be soaked and used in any bean dish, but can also be used to plant next year’s crop, as long as you have not planted a hybrid variety.  (While hybrid seeds will sprout, the fruit of the plants has no guarantees…it most likely won’t taste anything like what you enjoyed the year before.)

So although I haven’t even opened the catalogs, I’m busy planning my garden next year and saving seed.  I have my colored corn, giant sunflowers, squash, pumpkins, and several types of beans.  I also did some herbs earlier before the seeds dropped and supplied next year’s sprouts themselves!  You might wonder, if a bunch of mail-order catalogs featuring every plant under the sun are coming right to my door, why would I spend my time letting plants go to seed, picking the seeds and preparing them to keep through the winter?  Farmers are always short on time, but saving seed is worth the time in my opinion.  I’m helping to preserve the biodiversity of agriculture by not relying on the newest super-seed Monsanto or some other heartless corporation is pushing, and saving money to boot. Also, if you save the best seeds from the best plants in your garden for a few years, you will end up with a plant that is most ideally suited to the climate conditions of your particular farm.  You can also help save a piece of history.  Grandpa Admire’s lettuce, which we bought seeds from Seed Savers Exchange to plant this year, has been saved and replanted since the Civil War.  While it didn’t keep at all once picked, and therefore would never be an option at the supermarket, it was a beautiful combination of red and green leaves, had a fabulous taste, and never got bitter, even on those hot summer days.  It would be a shame to let this piece of American food heritage go by the wayside just because it doesn't appear in the big catalogs or on the racks of seed packets at Wal-Mart or Home Depot.

 

The biggest drawback to the heirloom vegetables which you can save seeds from is that they may not have the high disease resistance that hybrids are known for.  The only crop that we really had trouble with this year was tomatoes, the late blight hit hard and earlier than usual in our area this year.  Whole crops were lost whether you sprayed chemicals or not, and no matter what varieties were planted.  We were fortunate to get some tomatoes, and neither Dan nor I saw any real difference in the disease resistance of the various varieties, as none of the plants survived and all the tomatoes were spotted or rotten after a time.  I may have been overly optomistic, but the heritage Riesentraube cherry tomatoes seemed to have had more useable ones than any other plant.  It may have been the sheer number produced by these prolific plants though, as a small percent of each tomato variety were salvagable, but 20 cherries may have been comprable to 1 beefsteak.  I'm not sure they won if you looked at percentages.  While I was disappointed I really wasn’t able to save seeds from them this year, we both agreed that we’re not giving up on heirloom tomatoes.  So when the snow starts flying and I get into real garden planning mode, I’ll be ordering them again.  Hopefully, it is the last time I pay for tomato seeds, at least until I find another variety that sounds too good not to try!

I’m happy to say Finniat has arrived safely and is adjusting well to her new home.  She arrived safely Wednesday morning.  We had moved some things around so that the trailer could be backed right up to the barn door.  We weren’t sure how well she would lead, and no one ever wants to get into a tug of war in the muddy barnyard with an overexcited cow.  The phone rang, and Mark, who was driving the trailer down for us, let us know everything was going fine and he’d be there in half an hour.  He was able to find our farm without any problems and back the trailer into the space between the silo and the milk house.  I can’t back the lawn tractor with a small cart on it, so that is always impressive to me!  Because she’s not very tall, there was no sign that there was a little cow in the trailer until the doors were opened, and there was Finniat, looking very calm for all the excitement of getting on a trailer and moving to a new place without any of her herd mates.  Mark untied her and led her off the trailer and right into the barn with no more difficulty than taking a large dog for a walk.  It was great!  We had the chance to ask him any other questions about Dexters that had popped up since we’d been at their farm, mostly about rebreeding her in the summer.  I was totally amazed when he mentioned the possibility of loaning out a bull, as trailering our cow and her calf or expecting someone else to milk her just didn’t seem like the route we wanted to take. We had though about taking the cow to the bull, but working it the other way around hadn’t crossed our minds! So if anyone is interested in Dexter cattle and is looking for a reputable breeder, especially one who would take the time to answer any questions from those new to the breed, I would heartily recommend Mark & Edlyn Muir at Muirstead farm in Union City, Pa.  It has been a real treat dealing with them.

 

So Finniat is here, and we decided it would be best if she spent the first day or two in the barn.  That way she could get used to us and her new home before turning her loose in the field with the other animals. It really is better if your newly bought cow comes back after you open the barn door that first time! Our beef cows, Happy, Louie & Little Buzz, must have smelled her, as they came in to the lower part of the barn and were mooing back and forth to Finniat.  She greeted them as well.  So we hope to get her out this afternoon and take advantage of the beautiful, sunny, warmer-than-normal weather we’ve been having.  In the meantime, we’ve been down to the barn, checking on her, like new parents.  What is there to check on?  We make sure she isn’t tangled up in her tie rope, hasn’t spilled her water bucket, and hasn’t slipped her halter off and gotten loose and made a mess of the barn, but mostly just that she’s still bright-eyed and has a healthy appetite.  I think she loves seeing me come into the barn, as I’m a sucker and I feel bad she’s all alone inside, so I take time to pet her and talk to her a bit, and then give her another armful of hay and offer her an animal cookie.  She’s still not sure about the cookie thing yet, but I’m sure she’ll come around once she tastes one. The hay is definitely to her liking though, so I think we’re off to a good start!

As the year goes on, I'm finding more and more of our home-canned goodies are selling, but I've had a few comments that too much of it is hot for some tastes.  I like a good spicy sauce, but I realize not everyone appreciates it and some people have bigger a sweet tooth.  So I went back to my big book of canning recipes to see what inspired me.  I found a great recipe to use up carrots that hadn't sold over the weekend...a carrot cake jam!  Spreadable carrot cake was just too intriguing to past up, so I collected all the necessary ingredients and went to work.  I must confess, I was fearful of a flaming disaster when, after the 20 minutes of boiling was up, I still had a pot of fruits and veggies without much visible liquid.  I expected it to look more syrupy, and thought there was no way in the world that the large amount of sugar I had would ever dissolve without adding water or something my recipe didn't call for. But there was nothing to do but grab the big bowl full of sugar, dump it in and stir. To my surprise and delight, it stirred right in and the result makes a plain piece of toast into dessert!  

Since we're all but done with butchering, I feel like I have more time to create in the kitchen.  Even though I'm not home all day now, it gets dark out so early that canning a batch of something seems like a great way to pass a chilly evening.  Also, with the garden being done I feel like I have more freedom to choose what I'm doing.  Although I try my best to let no tomato, hot pepper, green bean, etc, go to waste, the only home grown veggies I have left to can are tomatoes I've already run through the food mill and frozen.  So there is no hurry to get to them before they go bad.  We try to be as self sufficient as possible, but sometimes it's ok to buy some of the ingredients, so I'm looking for tasty treats now instead of a way to use up all these hot peppers or whatever I was overrun with at the time during the growing season.  Next up, I have my eye on a Black Forest preserve...cocoa and cherries and sugar! Yum!  It should go well with the ice cream maker that arrived via FedEx today that we're excited to try out. Or maybe I'll do gingered pears, or a recipe for spiced pumpkin that sounds like a holiday treat.  I'm going to try to set aside time for canning tomorrow, as I have the day to spend at home, but Finniat is coming in the morning and I'm not sure how much of my day will be wrapped up in that!  

Farmers are generally patient people.  There is a lot of waiting from the time a seed is planted until you can eat the results, and depending on the animal, it can be a very long time waiting for the arrival of a baby!  But sometimes even patient farmers get excited about an upcoming event...that's why we can't wait until Wednesday, when our newest member of the farm family will arrive.  Her name is Finniat and she is a Dexter cow.  We purchaced her yesterday and we are beyond anxious for her arrival.  We would have brought her home with us, but we don't have a stock trailer and so had to make arrangements for delivery.  I am grateful I have Veteran's Day off from my day job, or I would be sorely tempted to stay home and use up vacation time!

So, what is a Dexter cow and why do we want one?  Although Dan grew up milking Jersey cows, we aren't really interested in becoming dairy farmers.  However, we are interested in having milk for personal use and to make our own cheese, butter, yogurt and other yummy dairy products. We did research on the wide variety of breeds available to find one that we felt would fit our needs best, and we fell in love with the idea of getting a Dexter cow.  They are the smallest non-miniature breed of cow and are celebrated as a tri-purpose animal, having qualities for beef, dairy and also as oxen for draft animal power.  A cow will be between 36-42" in height at the shoulder when she is full grown, making for a small, manageable animal.  They have the highest output of milk per pound of feed consumed, and are docile and easily trained.  They originated in Ireland as a family, backyard cow for milk with the ability to process unwanted offspring (usually males) as beef or to train them as oxen to work the field.  Dexters are becoming more popular in America as a homesteading cow, and luckily for us we found breeders of these amazing little cows within a reasonable driving distance of our farm.   We had a lovely time talking with the couple that owns the farm and really learned a lot.  They had several cows for sale and we got to meet the whole herd.  Dan was most interested in the practical concerns of buying a bred cow that would be producing milk in as short a time as possible.  All the cows were bred for the spring, so that didn't make the choice any easier.  I had an idea that I wanted a black one (the most common, but not only, color) and one that had horns, just because I like the look and think it lends an old-time appearance to the animals.  When I contacted these folks by email ,they stated that they had bred cows for sale, but that all but one was polled (naturally hornless) or dehorned, except one.  While standing in the middle of the paddock, discussing bloodlines and general information about the girls, one cow came up to me a couple of times, sniffing my outstretched hand as though she were curious and wanted to greet me, on her own terms. The other cows tolerated our presence, but didn't go out of their way to investigate us. This friendly little cow was among the ones for sale, and was the one that had horns!  So of course, there was no question in my mind she would be the one we should buy.  Although Dan looked over the other cows closely, the horned one was named Finniat and will be coming to live with us. She will be having her first baby this coming spring and will be our hand-milked family cow.  So now I feel like a small child that knows Christmas is coming really soon, but isn't quite here yet...it can be so hard to be patient sometimes!

While we knew it was time to send our first farm-raised beef cows for processing, Dan and I did a lot of thinking about how we were going to process them.  The butchering facility is more than happy to cut, wrap and freeze the meat for you, but of course they need to charge for their time and effort.  While we have gotten quite efficient at processing a pig or two or three ourselves in a day, a whole beef is a LOT bigger! So we debated both the economics and what we thought we would be able to handle, plus logistical matters like refrigeration.  In the end, we decided that we would have Hirsch's cut up the beef we would be selling to the public and do the other, which was going to our personal freezer and to Dan's parents, ourselves.  The first half, which was for Dan's parents, we had the help of Dan's father, Tom, who is a professional meat cutter as well as Dan's brother, who has been helping us out a lot these days.  With the help of a book devoted to processing meat at home and his years of experience, we got it done and Tom was able to take it home when he returned to Chambersburg.  We decided that we would do our own, just the two of us, and since we aren't picky, any mistakes could be wrapped up as-is or ground into burger.  

Half of a cow, even cut into 2 pieces, is a big thing to haul in a 4 door car like mine, but somehow we got it situated and home.  Thank goodness for old bedsheets to keep the seats clean!  While not all the steaks were picture perfect, we were really proud of how it all turned out.  Dan and I got everything cut and wrapped that first night, and cut the meat we wanted to grind for burger cut up and bagged into the fridge.  Beef needs to be run through the grinder twice, unlike sausage, so we let it sit in the fridge overnight to break the work up over two days.  80 pounds of meat takes some time to grind twice and package, and we were hungry for dinner after all the cutting and wrapping the first night.   What to cook?  Steak, of course!  I had heard that some consider pasture raised meat tough since the animals move around much more during the course of their lives, and there is a lower amount of fat marbled through the meat, which some think detracts from the flavor.  I cooked our first steak simply, in a pan on the stove with just a bit of cracked pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  It was by far the most tender and flavorful steak I have ever eaten, and was really something to feel proud about producing ourselves! Not only was it delicious, we could also feel good about the conditions the animals were raised under...I really believe you can taste that the animal was raised in a natural, low stress way, without chemicals and with respect for the animal's needs. After packaging the burger the second night, we were able to relax and reflect on a big job well done.  I would never believed myself capable of doing anything like this even a few short years ago, but it really is amazing what you can accomplish with an open mind and the ability to be ok with a less than perfect outcome if necessary.  A few mangled steaks will still taste great and gave us a wonderful amount of practice and the confidence to do it again ourselves.

The majority of butchering is done, we've gotten a good start on the field corn harvest, and most things are winding down for the winter.  While my mind has been turning to all sorts of things I consider winter projects, my time as a full time farmer has also come to a close as I was called back to my away-from-the-farm job beginning today.   I'm happy for the individuals that rely on our non-profit agency who are able to better themselves by reaching educational goals with our help, but I sure hated to hear the alarm clock and leave my beautiful farm on a sunny late fall morning.  My time here was a great beginning to what the farm can be for my husband and myself, and I'm sure I will be finding ways to make it a success and spend as much time as I can here.  How that will shape up for next summer, I don't really know yet, but if nothing else, my layoff time showed me the possibilities of being here! 

Although the season of delicious corn on the cob is long past here, field corn season is taking its turn as the main farm job.  We planted quite a few acres of field corn in the spring to feed the animals over the winter.  Unlike sweet corn, field corn isn't picked until the stalk is dead and the kernels are dry and have begun to dent inwards due to moisture loss.  That's why some varieties are called "dent" corn.  We spent last Sunday picking the smallest field, and we were able to complete harvesting it in a short time with the help of Dan's father and brother.  Everyone had a row or two to pick.  The ears were pulled from the stalk, the husk was pulled off, and the ears were thrown into the wagon being pulled by the horses.  The wagon had plywood boards to make the side away from the pickers higher, so that you could hit the board and the ear would bounce off and into the wagon.  It kept many ears from landing in the pasture or field!  Picking corn can be very enjoyable; with a number of people there is bragging about who is picking faster than whom, reminiscing of harvests gone by, helping out whoever has the densest row to pick and general good-natured conversation.  It's a real group effort that not only gets a very important job done, it isn't a bad way to pass a late fall afternoon.  The result is as precious to a farmer as gold for the winter.  Our little 3/4 acre field yielded a bit over 60 bushels, a very respectable total considering it was the field that Bandit, the Angus steer, love to escape to for a meal and parts of the field were damaged during the neighbor's runaway horse accident earlier in the summer. The wagon we used was built by my husband out of an old Toyota truck that was no longer roadworthy.  In its current state, it has a variety of uses around the farm, and was even our transportation from our wedding here at the farm to the reception hall a few miles away!

 The other corn that is still standing out in the field is called Earth Tones Dent and is an ornamental corn (aka "Indian corn").  I grew some last year and saved a few of the nicest ears until spring when we planted the seed from those ears.  Now it's time to harvest, and unlike the field corn, I want the husk left on for decorative purposes.   So each husk is carefully peeled back, one layer at a time, until the ear is revealed.  It's exciting every time to see what color it will be...shades of cranberry red, a rainbow of pastels from pink to orange to blue & purple, a pink & purple ear, one dotted with bright yellow kernels, or a mysterious shade of purplish black with deep green mixed in. The finished pile quickly looks like the garden's jewelry box.  I will sell some for decoration, decorate a bit myself, but what happens to the rest?  We grind our own cornmeal, so I want to see if I can produce a blue or red cornmeal just for fun.  The ears that grew large, straight, beautiful & disease-free will be the chosen few planted for next year's crop.  And the rest, just like the golden field corn, will provide nourishment for the animals over the coming winter months.

 

I had planned to try making a large batch of egg noodles today, but the farm was invaded yesterday.  Every fall (and spring too) we have a few days to a week of ladybug invasions.  When I went out to get the mail, a trip that takes all of 2 minutes, I had to brush 4 of them off of me before reentering the house.  The sides of the house were covered with thousands of them.  Hundreds also find their way into our house, as they squeeze through the cracks in the wooden siding.  It's next to impossible to seal up a 100+ year old house from something that small.  So any plans for food making that can be put on hold are for the next few days...no one wants to eat food that has had bugs crawling all over it!

Now I knew one of the best ways to rid yourself of the ladybugs was to suck them up in a vacuum, but they let off this stinky odor when you do.  So I googled "ladybug invasion"  to see if there were any other ideas.  I didn't find much help, but I did learn some interesting facts as to why it is such a problem.  Firstly, these aren't the ladybugs of my childhood, which never seemed to come indoors. They are Asian Lady Beetles, imported to this country and then released.  While our native PA ladybugs die before winter, leaving eggs to hatch in the spring, these Asian bugs winter over.  So the hundreds I have in my house right now will find a place in the walls, attic, or somewhere to overwinter out of the cold.  Then I will see the same bugs invade my home again in the spring when they wake up from their hiding places and want to go back outside.

Ladybugs are great organic helpers.  They love to eat aphids, which can cause serious damage to any plant, so they are very beneficial to have around. The reason that I am dealing with this menace right now is because the Asian Lady Beetle eats aphids more aggressively.  So companies who specialize in biologic controls want to sell you the "best" bug that will naturally take care of the problem.  Problem is, this bug is an alien species.  It has no predators to keep the numbers in check, and it isn't used to our climate, so it uses people homes to stay alive.  While annoying and smelly, these bugs really don't do much environmental damage.  I have to look into my glass before taking a drink and I'll have to clean the dead bugs out of my hanging light fixtures in a few weeks, but those are just minor inconveniences.  It's much scarier when it is a bug (or disease) that is uncontrollably killing parts of the native species in your local environment.  We worry about the Emerald Ash Borer killing the 200 year old tree in our front yard, but there is absolutely nothing we can do to protect it other than letting a local agency hang a purple box in it over the summer to check for the presence of these devastating beetles.  (so far, we've been Emerald-free)  It's just another reminder to me that if I want to introduce a beneficial bug, plant, or other organism onto my farm, I have a responsibility to do my homework and make sure that critter is going to do what I want it to without it also becoming a problem, either for me or for lots of my neighbors.  After all, the true spirit of the word "organic" is to utilize the natural resources to produce crops on your land.  This means without unnatural inputs, like chemical fertilizers.   I would argue that non-native species can drastically alter the local environment at the expense of local, native plants & animals, and that's not any more natural then the chemicals which do the same.

Since summer is fading and winter is on its way, lots of plant life is heading into its dormant state.  This includes the grasses in the pasture, so at this point in the year, the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.  Some of the critters are quick to realize this, and it creates a bunch of fencing problems.  I think to make an absolutely goat-proof fence, your farm would look like a prison...10 foot high chain link fence topped with razor wire just might do the trick!  The goats, even the ones weighing nearly 200 lbs, can squeak through a hole 8 inches square in the woven wire.  If they can't find a hole, they can create one if determined enough.  These days, the destination of choice is the topmost hay field.  We don't really care if they eat it at this point; we're not cutting any more hay, and there is quite a bit of quality feed there.  So they are eating for free and not doing any damage.  Unfortunately, this field borders the road running past our house.  There is no fence at the property line at the road's edge.  Now our road is not terribly busy.  It is a small secondary road which doesn't even have lines painted on it. My father-in-law still laments it's not dirt like it was when the Stevenson family purchased the farm. So it amazes me how many times a day someone will stop by the house to inform us that the goats are loose. It's almost always when we're in the middle of something that is hard to stop in the middle of, like grinding sausage. While good fences are said to make good neighbors, I guess bad ones mean meeting more of the neighbors!

The other problem is Dixie, one of our Belgian draft horses.  To give you an idea of how big she is, picture a horse whose back is over 5 feet off of the ground, is about 1750 lbs of muscle, and whose hoof prints are about the size of a dinner plate.  Her trick is to walk up to the fence when she spies a tasty patch on the other side, and use her large hooves to stomp down the woven wire and just walk across.  This works really well for her until it snaps back up with her front feet on one side and her back feet on the other, with the fence now running under her belly.  At this point she will realize she is stuck and calmly stay there until we find her in the course of morning chores.  (She almost always does this at night.) It is an easy fix; Dan will walk up to her, bend down the fence and help her pick up her feet high enough to back into the pasture.  The fence is inspected and tightened, the whole process takes only a minute or two.  The problem is when we don't find her!  One night, after a long day when bed was going to feel really good, a truck pulls in just as soon as we had retired for the night.  A young man came up to the porch to let us know that he was spotlighting for deer and had seen our "Clydesdale all wrapped up in barbed wire".  He probably thought that she was injured and in danger, so he seemed confused when we didn't get too excited about it.  We thanked him, Dan went out and freed Dixie, and I'm sure she was grateful she didn't spend the whole night in the fence.  Another time we had an archery hunter knock on the door before it was even all the way light out to let us know she was in the fence.  I told him we'd take care of it right away, but that she did this all the time and I was sure she wasn't hurt.  The hunter then let me know he had thought about cutting our fence to free her but then thought maybe he should see if anyone was home first.  I thanked him for that because I would have been furious if the fence had been cut; we probably wouldn't have known about it until the horses or cows went through the hole and we found them in the cornfield or wandering up the road.  Plus fence is expensive, not to mention time consuming, to replace! If you want to get on a farmer's bad side, cutting up fence without permission is a great way to start.  Farmers also don't want strangers trying to "rescue" the animals either.  We know our animals and they know and trust us and generally they will cooperate.  A stranger coming up to them when they are stuck in a fence can excite the animal, and no one wants to see the animal or the person hurt if the creature struggles. 

So, if you are driving by Pleasant Valley Farm and the goats are in the open field, don't worry, they are ok. You'll just get a better view of them as you pass.  We probably know where they are, so you don't need to stop to tell us unless they have migrated to somewhere dangerous, i.e. there are 15 goats wandering down the road looking for rosebushes or fall decorations to eat!  If you see a horse straddling the fence, by all means let us know, but don't think we don't care about our animals when we don't get too worked up.  It's just Dixie, she's fine and we'll have her back where she needs to be in no time.  And before too long, the snow will be covering everything, so nothing will look greener, even the grass on the other side of the fence!

We've had a few good frosts and freezes here, so I've accepted that the peppers and basil and such are done for the year.  However, I was not ready to wake up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground!  Even with the wet ground, as I write this at 5 PM I can still see snow around the bases of the outbuildings.

The change of weather, especially the cold and wet combo, is hard on the critters too.   We still have 3 cows out in the field, and the smallest is only about 5 months old.  He was looking hunched up, like he was cold, so we decided to bring these cows in out of the weather.  The 2 older cows, Happy & Louie, have been with us since early January, so they spend a good amount of time in the barn earlier this year.  Little Buzz, the baby, hasn't been in the barn before, but was a bottle baby when we bought him, so he had been used to being handled too. Once we got them to come through the gate from the main pasture into the barnyard, Happy took off at a run and went straight into the barn with the two boys right at her heels. We shut the door and then had to put collars on the three of them  Although none of them walked right up to us, we had them tied in their stalls without too much trouble.  In no time at all, they were happily munching hay and enjoying being out of the wind and rain.

Even with the weather turning nasty, there is still a never ending list of things to keep us busy here.  More animals inside always means more stalls to clean!  I spent a bit of time with Ponyboy, our Miniature stud colt, grooming the piles of burrs out of his tail. Dan and I have been painting & reflooring the pantry and are in the process of putting everything back where it should be.  Our house is over 100 years old, and anyone who has lived in such an old place knows the Old House Dwarves...Dusty, Drippy, Mousy, Drafty, Damp and some others I'm sure I have yet to meet!  So winterizing as best as we can afford is always an ongoing project as well.  Also, in my expanding quest to be as food self-sufficient as possible, I ordered a pasta making machine and had a chance to use it yesterday.  I was very pleased with the results and spent time today bagging up the noodles that didn't get used for last night's dinner.  I hope to spend more time with it and even have some for sale in the near future in the farm stand.  Being in the kitchen sure beats being cold and wet outside these days!

Despite the cold, I'll be in the stand as usual on Saturdays until November 28th.  Our pasture raised lamb was processed more quickly than anticipated, so if you are interested, stop by or give us a call as we have very limited quantities this year. 

We said goodbye to our two black Angus beef cows last night.  Because of government regulations, the only animal we can legally process start to finish and sell here are the chickens.  All other meat animals get picked up and transported to Hirsch's Meats, the local slaughter facility.  Mondays are the days when pickups occur, so we had a very busy day.  First, we had to get the cows into the barn.  Although they have been with us since July 2008, they have been out to pasture since about May with no real human contact except running up to the fence when we threw corn stalks over for them to eat.  Luckily for us, they remembered the sound of feed rattling around in a feed scoop and followed us into the barnyard and then the barn without too much trouble.  They even remembered where their stalls were and let us put collars on them so they could be tied up for the afternoon.  Next we had to catch the two lambs, so the easiest thing to do was lure all the sheep into the barn.  My older ewes came on the run at the sound of the feed scoop with the rest of the flock following right along.  Unfortunately about half of the goats snuck in too.  Just as we were shutting the barn door to sort out the male lambs, a black lamb jumped through Dan's arms and out into the barnyard,  Of course, that was one we needed!  Luckily he ran into the lower part of the barn and was caught.  Upon looking at the younger of the two ram lambs, he had done better than expected on a grass-only diet and was even bigger than the first, despite being a couple months younger.  So he was sorted out into the holding pen, and the rest of the sheep & goats were shooed out of the barn.  Lastly were some pigs out in the movable pig tractor.  It was too muddy & far to move it down to the barn, so we put a crate on the trailer behind the pickup and loaded the pigs onto the trailer, then backed the trailer into the barn.  Using portable gates to make a kind of runway, we simply opened the crate and the pigs backed out and followed the path we had to the pen.  So far, so good!

Later in the evening, well after dark, the trailer arrived.  We had spoken to the driver before he got here, so he knew where to back in.  I don't know how he gets that big stock trailer backed around, but I guess he's had plenty of years of practice.  The pigs were the first to be loaded.  To avoid a pig trying to squeak under the trailer to freedom, we wedged bales of hay in the opening.  It gave them a step to get up into the trailer, too.  We set up the gates again, opened the door of the pen, and all went according to plan.  I've watched enough pigs get loaded by now it doesn't bother me to see them go, especially when there is a new batch of cute little babies running about.  The lambs were next, and we kept all the females this year, so there are still 4 for me to try and tame down this winter.  They each weighed less than a big sack of feed, so Dan was able to just pick them up and carry them to the trailer and put them where they needed to be.  Last to load were the cows.  When we bought them they weighed about 200 lb each, so they could be pulled or pushed to load onto our little trailer without too much problem.  They gained 700-800 pounds with us, putting their weights around 900-1000 pounds, so that wasn't an option.  Dan tried to lead Bandit, the steer, who walked right along until it was time to step up into the trailer.  He then refused to budge, and no amount of pushing, pulling or tail-twisting could convince him otherwise.  Monica was missing her buddy and really trying to get loose, so we untied her and she ran right for the trailer.  She started to go in, but her hoof got caught in the twine holding the hay bale together and she pulled back.  By this time Bandit was loose too, and with a bit of yelling, arm waving, pleading and poking, they did load.  We've had these cows for over a year, and I'll really miss seeing them.  I was even getting a little sad when I walked into the barn to help load the trailer.  I was glad they were a bit uncooperative, because they really weren't that bad (no one, human or bovine, was hurt), but my mind was more focused on the task at hand than on where the  trailer was headed.  We do still have 3 more cows here, and the best part is that when we get the beef back, not only will we have some money to put into various projects around the farm, we'll be able to buy more cows!  Although it's so hard to watch an animal you've raised go to be killed, every animal on a farm has a purpose and not all of them are glamorous.  I wasn't going to name or pet or feed snacks to the cows when we bought them, knowing that they were going to have to die, but Dan reminded me that just because you aren't going to keep an animal for the whole of its natural lifespan, that doesn't mean it won't appreciate love and cookies.  So that's how I look at it too.  They had a good life while they were here, and now I get to fill the empty spot in the barn with adorable little cows who will get more love and cookies.

We all know animals can't talk, so part of being a responsible owner is to pay attention to your animal's behavior, whether it is a pet cat or a 2,000 lb cow.  A change in behavior usually means something, and is often the first best chance to catch an illness before it becomes too late.  Even given the wide variety of critters that call Pleasant Valley home, I know each one and most even have a name they will answer to.  

Yesterday was cold, wet and miserable when we began to butcher chickens.  The indoor/outdoor thermometer is having some issues...I was pretty chilled, but the display of -11 seemed a bit much.  It was drizzling and in the lower 40's though.  As I was helping prep before the actual butchering got started, I noticed our big male goat, LLP Warlord's Dream, wasn't with the other goats but was laying by the fence, in the corner behind my flowerbed and next to our smokehouse.  This rain and wet weather is hard on goat's feet, and they do get sore sometimes, so my first thought was to make sure his feet were examined and medicated if necessary.  Later, it had cleared up a bit and he was out grazing by the pond.  Towards the end of the afternoon, it was raining as I started evening chores.  I noticed he was again laying right up against the smokehouse, all by himself.  This wasn't making any sense, as the rest of the goats were all down in the run-in portion of the barn.  Goats hate to be wet and act like they're melting if it starts to rain- the entire herd will come to the barn at a run.  Then I realized what had been wrong the whole time...he was stuck out in the pasture away from the barn and his herd! Goats are masters of escape and will find a place to squeeze through most fences if there is something they want on the other side.  However, Warlord is really laid back and is frequently the only one on the correct side of the fence.  So he must have followed the herd through a hole from one pasture to the next, but couldn't find his way back (goats seem incapable of ever going back the same way they went through).  And to keep the cows were we want them, the gate to the barnyard was closed.  Therefore, the driest place for him to hide from the rain was the overhang of the smokehouse roof.  Unfortunately, the few inches of overhang was no where near big enough to keep a 350 lb goat anywhere near dry!  Now that the behavior made sense, it was a simple fix to make him happy.  I walked out into the pasture calling him.  I call him Buddy because his registered name is too long and silly to be calling across the pasture.  He looked at me for a bit and then walked over to see what the silly human was doing out in the rain. I kept calling for him and looking over my shoulder every few feet, and he started to follow, although he wasn't happy to be getting wet.  As I got near the gate to the barnyard, it was like a light bulb went off...you could see he realized what I was trying to get him to do.  By the time I had the gate unlatched, he was waiting right beside me.  As I opened it, he happily trotted off to join his herd in the dry warm barn.  I was happy too, as I didn't have a sick goat on my hands after all, just an unhappily wet one, which is much easier to fix!

We've worked hard to get an electric fence up around the smallest part of the barnyard so our little piglets can get some fresh air and sunshine.  Many of our customers who stopped by last Saturday enjoyed seeing them run around;  they're very playful at this age! Besides providing an outdoor space for the sows & piglets, we also had another reason to get them out in this particular space.  This part of the barnyard isn't grazed very heavily, so weeds have started to choke out the plants that the livestock find tastier and more nutritious.  A pasture without maintenance will become simply a place for the animals to exercise, but not much of a source of food if the plants that are best for that species are overgrazed or taken over by weeds.  So it's time to re-seed this patch of pasture.  We plan on using just a general hay mix- grasses, clover, legumes and other plants that appeal to pretty much all of our critters.  However, with the weeds thoroughly covering the ground, we have to prep the soil to give the seeds the best possible chance to grow and thrive.  While we do have a very high quality rototiller which we use in the garden every spring for that purpose,  that wasn't the route we wanted to take.  Round bales of hay were fed in this spot for years, and every spring I pull up yards and yards of orange baler twine.  It would quickly wrap around the tines of the tiller and cause major problems.  Besides, we try to use it as little as possible,  both to keep it in great shape for years to come and because we try not to use too much mechanized equipment.  This particular area is also too small and rocky to use the horses to plow it up.  Enter the pig-o-tillers!  Hogs have a natural instinct to root- they use their extremely strong snouts to dig into the dirt and then lift up.  This way they discover all sorts of piggie delicacies like grubs and roots. In the process, they expose the bare dirt and uproot whatever is growing on the surface. Two sows and 18 piglets can do a lot of work or damage, depending on your point of view. They can cause a huge mess if you don't want the ground completely uprooted, but  this is just what we're looking for to plant! So the pigs get exercise and some extra food at no cost to us, and they get to entertain themselves by doing what pigs naturally want to do.  And we get the pasture reseeded with just minimal time and work on our part.  It's what we like to think of as a win-win situation!

As I finished setting up the store this weekend, I really noticed how the look of it has changed from the beginning of the season.  Gone are the piles of zucchini  and summer squash. Taking their place are a colorful selection of winter squash and pumpkins.  Tomatoes are nowhere to be found, except in the homemade jars of salsa for sale.  Sweet corn has been replaced by corn shocks and ornamental corn.  Heads of lettuce have given way to heads of cabbage.  Even the sunflowers we placed on the table for decoration have ceased to bloom, and are now being sold, full of seed, as all-natural bird feeders.

Even though I grew up away from farming, I still lived in the country enough to have an awareness of seasonal eating.  Sweet corn from the store was never good, it was best bought from the back of a pickup, especially if that pickup happened to be at the ice cream stand just a block away!  As children, my brothers, sisters and I knew when to roam the woods looking for blackberries and blueberries.  It was, to us, just something everyone knew was true...those store bought blackberries in January were no match for the good stuff that left your hands stained after a day of picking in the summer sunshine!

 When you stop and think, it is an amazing thing that any fruit or vegetable you want can be found, year round, at any local grocery store.  Do you really need to have tomatoes available all year?  It seems many Americans would answer "yes!" without pausing to think about where the vegetables and fruit are coming from, how they are transported across the globe just so we have the option of having them any given week of the year.  It's a luxury we don't even think about.  The longer I am on the farm, the more my eating habits turn with the seasons...while summer is for chicken salad on a bed of fresh greens with tomatoes and cucumber, fall leans more toward a baked squash with sausage and onion stuffing.  While this has been a process, it's one I wasn't really aware I was making.  Sometimes it's kind of a jolt to realize that not everyone is so aware, and that happened a few times today.  An older gentleman asked me where my sweet corn was.  I explained that October is too late in the year for that vegetable to grow here, and the look on his face said that he couldn't understand what farm stand wouldn't offer corn on demand like any self-respecting grocery store.  Another woman commented that it must be fall since there wasn't much on the table.  Both walked out empty handed.  I though about her comment, then tried to see my table the same way...but the potatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage,squash, etc got in my way.  All I could see was a bountiful harvest.  To be sure, there were items that were missing from the grocery store's standards, but to me those vegetables taste all the sweeter when they are fresh and in season, even if that means missing them for months out of the year.  After all, there's always something else in season to make a delicious meal from! 

 

We've been anticipating a frost for a few days now, but so far we've been spared. Yesterday Dan & I decided to bring in any winter squash that seemed ripe enough to be pulled from the vine. While squash will handle a light frost just fine, a hard one will cause them to begin rotting. So as it was a dry and sunny (but chilly!) day, we drove the faithful farm truck out to be loaded up with garden goodness.  

We grew several varieties of pumpkin and have some biggies, but nothing big enough to turn into a house for Wilbur as we had joked about during planting season.  We have some nice looking pumpkins but also quite a few lopsided ones...not sure exactly why, but given the much less than ideal growing season we had here, sometimes you just have to be thankful for what grows, no matter the shape.  One of the more unusual winter squash we grew this year is the kabocha...while there are green varieties of this squash, ours turn a nearly scarlet orange when ripe.  I've had more than a few questions about our "little pumpkins".   While not really a pumpkin at all, they would make fabulous fall decorations, and the larger ones might even be carve-able!  However, they are great to eat too, sweet and rich flavored. Our kabocha plants did wonderfully, I even had to follow the vines deep into the planting of ornamental corn to collect all of the beautiful orange globes.  We also picked more than a few giant pink banana squash (my new favorite) and the smaller acorn, butternut and buttercups just in case.  The bed of the truck looked like a postcard from fall! 

Squash is something my family didn't really eat when I was growing up, so I've been looking for good recipes that I can use all winter long.   I've been saving my favorites and printing them out for you to pick up when you stop by the stand on Saturdays...a recipe of the week, if you will.  I love to try cooking new things, so I intend to keep it up next year as well.  If you don't live close enough to stop by, I also post them online on the farm's website -www.pleasantvalleyfarm.weebly.com.   Also for all the coupon clippers out there, I posted a coupon for a discount on delicious winter squash there as well!  It's already down to 49 degrees and the clouds are clearing off as the sun goes down, so I think we're finally in for a frost for sure.  So it's time to go cover the last of the pepper plants to try and save them just a bit longer, then a good night to enjoy the heat of the woodstove!