Category Archives: Farm
Bates Farm Bonanza
We would like to say thanks to all the people who came to celebrate with us this weekend in body and/or spirit. If you couldn’t make it, or don’t live anywhere near us and didn’t know about it, here’s the scoop. Continue reading
Saturday’s Hail Storm in the Midwest
Well, it’s a good thing I posted the “before” images of the garden last week, because things aren’t looking so good this week. Some pretty severe thunderstorms moved through the midwest on Saturday, some towns near us reported golf ball and even baseball sized hail. We were lucky to only see nickel to quarter-sized chunks of ice, but it came in three rounds, along with a great deal of rain and one episode of winds so strong I really thought it might be the approach of tornado. Continue reading
A Picture Tour of Perennials
Ah perennials, those lovely little plants that only require one season of labor and then provide for a lifetime. I really love perennials, don’t you? Here’s a quick photo tour of what’s growing on the farm.
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Farm Sitting and Cute Baby Goats
Last week we had the opportunity to farm sit for some wonderful friends so that they could take a little vacation. I know I’ve mentioned these friends before because we have swapped farms on several occasions. We’ve traded farms at Thanksgiving and Christmas for the past two years as well as watching over things for each other for a weekend here or there throughout the year. It has been such a blessing because as anyone who has ever managed or lived on a farm knows, it’s nearly impossible to get away. You can’t exactly ask just anyone to “please check the mail and, um, could you milk the cow while you’re at it?”
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Beekeeping- How to Make a Super
It’s been a while since I talked about our little apiary, probably because once a hive is established, it seems to require very little attention, so long as it remains healthy. You can read about how we got started with beekeeping in the Hobby: Beekeeping post. Today though, I’ll share a picture tutorial of how to build a Super.
A Super is one of the layers of a hive. It’s essentially a box with no top or bottom, and into the box you place frames. A hive usually starts with two Supers and as the bees fill the frames, new supers must be added or the hive will swarm. Continue reading
The Circle of Life
Well, our Angus cow finally had her calf. Sadly it did not survive. I’m not really sure what happened. My best guess is that the birthing process took too long and he did not get enough oxygen, or did not get it soon enough. The reason that I make this assumption is that he (it was a little bull calf) looked healthy, was fully developed, and it was cool enough that heat shouldn’t have been a problem. He was born during the night on Sunday night. On Monday morning my son and I noticed a black mound in the pasture. I glanced around and did not see any cows nearby, nor did the mound appear to be moving. My heart sank. Continue reading
The Sounds of Spring
I hear dogs barking at each other through the trees, guarding territory, or perhaps exchanging good squirrel chasing stories. The music of a hundred song birds surrounds me as they call to each other, and warn each other, or maybe they’re warning me. A flock of hens clucks softly, their calm conversations punctuated every now and then by the full-throated crow of a rooster reminding us that he’s in charge. Continue reading
A Beautiful Weekend
I was hoping to have some pictures of a new calf for you today since two of our cows should be giving birth any minute now, but we’re still waiting. Instead I have several pictures to share of our beautiful weekend at home. We seem to be experiencing a very early spring, which has actually been more like summer, and we are taking advantage of the lovely weather.
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Who’s Feeding Your Family?
On the surface this seems like a pretty simple question. Most of us would say without hesitating, “I do!” Perhaps you earn the money that buys the food, maybe you do the grocery shopping, or the cooking, or physically place the food on the kitchen table. All of this clearly qualifies as feeding your family, but when we really examine the source of the food that we eat the answer becomes so much more complicated.
Most of my posts have been written to entertain, to inform, hopefully to help. Today I am going to climb up on my soapbox. Today I am writing to motivate you. Continue reading
Time to Start Garden Planning!
For the last two years my target date for direct seeding has been April 15th. This is a little later than most people around here, but far earlier than my raised-in-Northern-Michigan mind thinks that spring should arrive, so, April 15th it is. That means that right now it is time to order seeds!
My favorite seeds come from Seed Savers Exchange. I prefer to browse the catalog, but they also have a website at www.seedsavers.org. Seed Savers Exchange offers organic and heirloom variety seeds for virtually every herb, flower, and vegetable that you could ever want to grow. Continue reading
