Random shots

Little Logan warming his bare feet in the mulch. 

Just finishing up on planting this plot.

Loaded and ready to roll. 

Another animal adventure...

Another adventurous week on the farm. Friday night our family attended a memorial service for the son of the woman who was my second mother. I had not seen her or her children and grandchildren for many years, and it was a bittersweet reunion. We get home from Kansas City at about 11:00, only to find a opossum lazily munching eggs in one of our nesting boxes. All the chickens were accounted for, all that is but Aggie, the chicken I adore, my mother hen. My husband was furious because he was sure this smelly pest has taken her from me. I was not so sure in my heart: there were no feathers on the floor, a tell tale sign of a varmint's chicken dinner. Aggie is pretty foxy, and I was hoping she was just roosting in a nearby tree until morning. Now, the story gets a little rough at this point, and I'm sorry for any trauma this story causes. Aaron decided that he was not going to use his pistol to kill the "killer" because he wasn't sure the bullet wouldn't penetrate the coop wall, so he sent the boys into the house, and decided a potato fork would be this opossum's fate. I won't give details, but needless to say, the pest will never eat another unhatched chick again. Now, back to my Aggie, that little cluck came traipsing out of the darkness after Aaron killed the opossum, and trotted right into the coop, and hopped right up onto her clutch. We had a great laugh at this point, kind of giddy from the relief that not only was she OK, but she patiently waited for us to clear the way for her. Now you have some idea as to why she is my favorite. Getting up early for the Columbia Farmer's Market was REALLY hard, but we all four did it, and as always, we met a lot of new people, gave a lot of advice (wanted or otherwise), and sold our plants. We are going to start going to the Friday market at Smiley and Providence, so I hope to see some of you there! And please, if you have any questions regarding my plants or produce, just ask!!!

Like father, like son

Another great week has passed at Humble Hill and we did a fair amount of business at the Columbia Farmers Market. The frostiness still has some skittish about putting plants in the ground so we haven't hit our peak yet. Yesterday Aaron and I were taking turns weeding in the greenhouse with a scuffle hoe, and Ethan was watching us, and it suddenly dawned on him that most of the "weeds" were actually volunteer tomato plants from last year. He called an immediate halt to the work, and proceeded to pull up all the healthier looking seedlings, and proclaimed that even though we didn't want them, HE did! So Aaron, bless his heart, tilled up a separate spot for Ethan to have his very own garden, fenced and all. Now as to whether or not Ethan will keep it cared for remains to be seen. Who knows, he may put us to shame with his spot! As for the hen house, we still don't have any chicks yet, but we now have two broody hens, or "clucks" as some call them, so we're excited for that to happen. Tonight is laundry and dishwasher soap making night, I'm out of both and I can't put it off any longer I guess.

 PS - Aaron learned the hard way that the Bible means it when it says to keep the Sabbath holy and not work: a nail in the foot and two times biting his tongue was pretty convincing.

A happy birthday

Spent my 40th birthday morning at the Columbia Farmers Market. We did even better than last weekend, even though it rained the whole time. I'm starting to get a complex, they are calling for rain next Saturday, too! We have added a couple of anchors to the big greenhouse this morning since they are calling for high winds. I do believe if the wind caught it just right, it would roll clear over our house, taking everything in it's path out with it. Ethan had a cooler with some crawfish in it in the greenhouse and a raccoon came in there and ate them. :( He was pretty sad. My favorite chicken, Aggie, is broody already, so we're going to let her hatch some chicks. We've lost 2 roosters and 2 hens to roaming dogs here lately so we have room for more. That's the pain of having open range chickens: they get to eat as much grass and bugs as they like, which produces very healthy and delicious eggs, but they're at the mercy of varmints. But the roosters sure do their best to protect their ladies! Well, I have to get off here and practice the accompaniment songs for church tonight. Drop a comment or come see me at the market, I love the encouragement!

Market, rain, and a patriotic chicken

I hope everyone has a satisfying Easter with their families. Our first day at the Columbia Farmer's Market was better than we expected. It rained for an hour and was very chilly so most shoppers were not in the mood to buy bedding plants, but there were those die hard few (people of my own heart) that bought our tomato plants to get a head start. On a side note: when we got home there was "evidence" of a chicken in our mudroom and the door was ajar. I called out and didn't hear anything, so I shut the door. Then I hear some rustling under a piece of cardboard....a chicken was nesting in a box of the boys' left over bottle rockets. I guess we'll call her Sparky.

Hoping for no frost!

We have spent a couple of hours putting insulated boxes over the tomato plants we have already put out. We have spent the week preparing our plants to sell at the farmer's market. Some of our 4" potted varieties already have small tomatoes on them! It's crazy how fast everything is happening right now. Aaron painted my sign today and we went and picked up the lettering today. I'll post a pic of our set up tomorrow. Have a quiet Good Friday tomorrow, my friends. Try to swing by the market if you're in Columbia Saturday morning - stop and say hi, I love the encouragement!