Buzz Buzz Cluck Cluck Slurp Slurp

It has been a busy few days around the farm this week. Summers probably will always be like that, but since this is our first full season here there seems like a lot more things on our 'to do' list. The place was a bit neglected before we bought it. It has been empty for a few months, which means general up keep was lacking. The people who had it before us had tried raising various animals over the years. We've seen evidence of rabbits, goats, and pigs, but they never stuck to anything. (Actually, we met the pigs a year before we got the house, but that, and buying this place, is a story for another day.) They also had a large hound-rescue kennel here, and that (and raising three kids) must have taken up all their time, because the house and yard had gone to hell in a hand basket. So we are trying to slowly bring things up to where we want them to be.

The first photo is of our field of potatoes and corn that we planted last week. The six rows of potatoes are on the left side and the seven of corn are on the right. The corn is just now peeping its leaves through the soil. Barry is quite excited and can stop worrying 'if the corn will make it'. It will.
I took this photo as dusk was coming on us. I love the way the sky looks over the barn.






SLURP SLURP!

Peaches! Here is our first batch of non-green peaches. If any one would like some totally organic, fresh from the tree peaches, just let me know. They are smaller than store peaches, but really tasty. We did a taste comparison last night: Publix peach v. Our Peach. Our Peach is sweet, juicy and slightly tart. Publix's was super sweet with no tartness. We decided we liked the little bit of tartness better as it really set off the sweet but wasn't cloying or over-sweet. I think I'm going to make peach jam from what we don't sell or eat.

Barry is planning to build me a little sales cart for the front of the driveway so folks can drop over and buy stuff. I've also looked into Locallygrown.net and Conyers has quite a few farmers and consumers. Basically farmers log into the website on Sunday and list what they have for sale; Monday and Tuesday the consumers log on and tell them what they'd like to buy. Friday afternoon the consumer picks up their products at a place in downtown and give a check to the market manager who then pays the farmers. Cool, huh? Once our egg production gets going I hope to get some new customers that way, and I can be a consumer for my neighbors, too.


CLUCK CLUCK!

Here are some pictures of the chickens growing up. When Barry fills up their feed dish they are like pirhana on legs. You sharp eyed folks will see Barry in the back left fighting with his tractor. He got out his lawnmower to move the chicken house and it failed to start, so he fired up the big tractor to try and charge the battery on the small one. The smoke from the old girl (Massey-Ferguson, 1959) was crazy! The chickens hate the mowers.



Go chickens! Run from the camera!














BUZZ BUZZ!

I got in to check on the bees yesterday. They seem to be doing fine. They are building comb on the upper story of the bee hive. Shot down into the frame from above...










The frame next to it is starting to get capped. All those white areas on the bottom of the photo are full of honey to store for winter. Mmm...honey...













And here they are on one of the original frames. They just can't stop working on this one. It is getting way too wide but they keep doing it. I love this single bee standing there looking at me.














My cucumbers and strawberries are coming along. The strawberries are taking a lot longer to get going than I hoped. They should have started producing fruit by now, but we've only gotten one tiny berry--delicious, but doesn't count as dessert.








A few more chicken pictures, because I just can't stop!















Remember that little 'gift with purchase' chicken we got with our Silver laced Wyandottes? Here it is. Bigger than the others, so either a large, heavy breed or a cockerel (future rooster). It's a mystery we'll have to wait to solve when it is older.
All for now. See you on the farm!