We had a lot of wind at the farm over the last couple of days, and it has been cool. I've had to go from my Tilley hat to my Mamaw knitted hats while working outside. The wind dries things out and we've not had any rain recently so I have had to water some trees in the orchard and Debby's new weeping willow. I am going to have to install posts in the mini orchard to brace some of the trees, one of the apple trees I planted this year did not fare well with all of the wind and was bent over.
Last night I created a simple watering system for the willow tree, but I need to create a watering system for the orchard which will be a bigger job.
This morning the thermometer said 33 degreees F, there was frost on the ground and I had to scrape the ice off my windshield. I like the cool weather but I hope this is the last frost. Recent cold snaps have killed several plants, the leaves on the grape vines all turned brown as did the leaves on all the black walnut saplings.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Dogwoods, spring
Spring is upon us here on the farm. The weather has been beautiful lately, the grass is growing, flowers are flowering, trees are budding with baby leaves, and in just the last day or two we have white flowers starting to appear on the dogwoods. I think that the bees must be very happy right now.
We are not using any heat or air conditioning in the house, just opening and closing windows as needed.
We have a bunch of flowering bushes around here that just smell wonderful, like perfume, one of these days we will have to find out what they are.
We are not using any heat or air conditioning in the house, just opening and closing windows as needed.
We have a bunch of flowering bushes around here that just smell wonderful, like perfume, one of these days we will have to find out what they are.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Eagle sighting, wildlife
Debby called me a couple days ago to tell me that she saw a beautiful bald eagle in a tree next to the Emory river a couple of miles from our farm. She said that some crows were attempting to harass the eagle but that the eagle ignored them. Last year I saw a bald eagle fly right over our house, it was quite impressive.
Debby also saw a flock of wild turkeys in the horse pasture and for some reason the horses did not enjoy their presence and chased them into the woods. The horses never chase the chickens so that is kind of interesting. Debby also saw a herd of deer, which the horses ignore. She said there were several young deer that were having fun and chasing each other around.
Debby also saw a flock of wild turkeys in the horse pasture and for some reason the horses did not enjoy their presence and chased them into the woods. The horses never chase the chickens so that is kind of interesting. Debby also saw a herd of deer, which the horses ignore. She said there were several young deer that were having fun and chasing each other around.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Renegade Mountain
I just read an article about a ski and golf resort in TN called Renegade Mountain which is now closed. The interesting part is that this property is located in Crab Orchard, TN, just 17 miles from our home. This is the first time I have heard about this place. It sounds a little bit like Bryce resort.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/Feb/19/the-rise-and-fall-of-renegade-resort/
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/Feb/19/the-rise-and-fall-of-renegade-resort/
Monday, February 13, 2012
Article about catholic church situation
Here is a link to an excellent article that I heard about today, regarding the Catholic church and their long march to a social justice agenda.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Catholic Church conundrum
The US catholic church appears unhappy with a provision of Obamacare that requires health insurance plans offered to employees of catholic institutions (churches, catholic hospitals, catholic schools, catholic charities, etc) to include abortions, abortion inducing drugs, and birth control.
The Obama administration initially responded by saying that the catholic church would be given a one year waiver to comply. The church decided that was not acceptable.
The Obama administration has now said that although they will still require all health insurance plans to include abortions, abortion inducing drugs, and birth control that the church won't have to directly pay for these provisions that they find objectionable, instead the insurance companies will be required to offer these provisions as "free" benefits to employees of catholic institutions.
Yeah right, "free" benefits is right up there with free lunches and the tooth fairy. Although I guess when one looks at the Obama deficit perhaps democrats have convinced enough people to believe in free stuff, and a right to free stuff like cell phones, free health insurance (that includes abortions), free flat screen TV's, free housing, free food, free internet, free unemployment benefits, free bailouts for unions, free mortgage bailouts, free retirement benefits, free education, etc. But I digress.
The catholic church has no one to blame but themselves on this issue, Obamacare would not have passed if not for the support of catholic hospitals, nuns, and other "progressive" catholics. I think it's quite fitting that the Obama administration will force the catholic church and it's institutions to pay for and to offer health plans that include abortions, abortion inducing drugs, and birth control.
I've watched what the the US bishops conference has done, and more importantly what they have not done, over the years as many core catholic beliefs have come under attack from the left and have decided that the US catholic church is headed by a bunch of liberal socialist wimps. How many Bishops and priests lost their jobs, houses, insurance, retirement, or vacations during the Obama recession? Well, at least the US catholic church is funded by voluntary contributions at this time and not by mandatory confiscation of wealth from taxpayers.
I feel that since the church is not part of the solution then they are part of the problem. The action I recommend is to stop contributing financially to the catholic church and instead redirect those funds to support conservative pro-life pro-family candidates and members of congress.
It's time for the Catholic church to figure out what it believes in and to stand up for what it believes in. A call for prayer, a public wringing of hands, and issuance of a strongly worded letter are not an adequate response to the continual assault on core catholic beliefs by the democrat party. A good start would be for the church to excommunicate all abortion rights supporting "catholic" members of congress, including the current vice president and house minority leader.
The Obama administration initially responded by saying that the catholic church would be given a one year waiver to comply. The church decided that was not acceptable.
The Obama administration has now said that although they will still require all health insurance plans to include abortions, abortion inducing drugs, and birth control that the church won't have to directly pay for these provisions that they find objectionable, instead the insurance companies will be required to offer these provisions as "free" benefits to employees of catholic institutions.
Yeah right, "free" benefits is right up there with free lunches and the tooth fairy. Although I guess when one looks at the Obama deficit perhaps democrats have convinced enough people to believe in free stuff, and a right to free stuff like cell phones, free health insurance (that includes abortions), free flat screen TV's, free housing, free food, free internet, free unemployment benefits, free bailouts for unions, free mortgage bailouts, free retirement benefits, free education, etc. But I digress.
The catholic church has no one to blame but themselves on this issue, Obamacare would not have passed if not for the support of catholic hospitals, nuns, and other "progressive" catholics. I think it's quite fitting that the Obama administration will force the catholic church and it's institutions to pay for and to offer health plans that include abortions, abortion inducing drugs, and birth control.
I've watched what the the US bishops conference has done, and more importantly what they have not done, over the years as many core catholic beliefs have come under attack from the left and have decided that the US catholic church is headed by a bunch of liberal socialist wimps. How many Bishops and priests lost their jobs, houses, insurance, retirement, or vacations during the Obama recession? Well, at least the US catholic church is funded by voluntary contributions at this time and not by mandatory confiscation of wealth from taxpayers.
I feel that since the church is not part of the solution then they are part of the problem. The action I recommend is to stop contributing financially to the catholic church and instead redirect those funds to support conservative pro-life pro-family candidates and members of congress.
It's time for the Catholic church to figure out what it believes in and to stand up for what it believes in. A call for prayer, a public wringing of hands, and issuance of a strongly worded letter are not an adequate response to the continual assault on core catholic beliefs by the democrat party. A good start would be for the church to excommunicate all abortion rights supporting "catholic" members of congress, including the current vice president and house minority leader.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bee update; overall pretty good
Yesterday morning it was 25 degrees here, but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and the temp hit 60 in the afternoon. I was outside near the barn when I saw a honeybee flying around which surprised me, I've not seen one out in a while. So I decided it would be a good afternoon to suit up and check on the bees. When I arrived at the hives with my equipment both hives were buzzing with activity, a good sign. I lit the smoker, and proceeded to open the hives. Each hive had two deep bodies and one honey super on top. The honey supers had comb drawn out but were otherwise empty, so I removed the honey supers. The deep bodies looked good, there were some dead bees at the bottom of the hive, on the screened bottom board. I did not see any problems so I reassembled the hives.
I installed entrance reducers on both hives and I brought a treat, some honey which I put in some shallow lids which I placed on the landing boards. I put some twigs in the lids to help the bees reach the honey however I checked again today and found that a few bees had gotten stuck in the honey.
The goal for this first year is for both hives to successfully make it through the winter, so far so good. Next step would be to add a couple more hives in a different location, empty, hopefully to catch any swarms, or I could transfer a few frames if my hives are really strong. We'll see.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Snow Day
It snowed overnight here on the farm, just an inch or two, but everything is covered and looks beautiful. Temperature was 17 degrees F this morning. Mary has already been out making snow angels and started to build a snow man. Schools are closed here today. The chickens are afraid of the snow and don't want to leave their house.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Hawked
The following may or may not be fiction, or a figment of the authors imagination.
So last night I'm doing my evening drinker chores for the pigeons, when I get to the brown loft I find a dead half eaten pigeon on the floor, a bunch of terrified pigeons, and a cooper hawk inside the loft. Cooper hawks are just crazy, a week ago I was outside and one shot out of the woods, flew right over my head, then continued towards the pigeon lofts. On that occasion I hooped and hollered and the hawk flew back into the woods.
In the past when there is a cooper hawk in the loft they usually go down on the floor and try to hide and will sometimes lay on their back with their feet/claws out for protection. This time however the cooper went up high, near my head, so I retreated from the loft and went to get a pair of gloves. I returned with a pair of leather gloves and a headlight as it was dark. The LED headlight has two operating modes, a single red LED or two bright white LED's, I went with the single low light red LED. With the leather gloves I was able to safely capture the hawk and grasp it by the legs. I placed the hawk into a portable pigeon crate and put the crate in the back seat of my car.
I know that some people kill hawks, and I was told by a TWRA officer who visited the farm that it was OK to kill a hawk if it was killing our chickens or pigeons, but I never do. I look at it this way, the hawk is just being a hawk, I've got a bunch of gorgeous pigeons flying about, so in a way I'm attracting the hawks. The only way I know to eliminate the hawk problem is to lock up my birds, which is not really fair to the birds as they love to fly and that's what they do. I hate to lose pigeons to hawks, I wish that the hawks would cull the flock for me, to take the slow birds, the weak birds, the ones that are not too smart, but that is not what happens. Hawks are just as likely, perhaps more likely, to take the best pigeons. I think the reason is that the best pigeons are the most healthy, like to fly more, spend more time outside, and are perhaps more confident.
I've seen some wild pigeons that are very smart, they approach the loft very high, then just sort of spiral descend almost straight down to the loft and go in. The homing pigeons on the other hand will approach low as a large group and fly many low altitude laps around the loft before finally settling on the loft and then going inside. I can't blame a hungry hawk who watches this from the woods for going after the homing pigeons.
There is one good thing though about the cooper hawks, when they get a pigeon they get "a" pigeon, as in just one. Some other predators such as weasels I've heard will get into a loft and kill every single bird.
So, the hawk is in the crate in the back seat of my car. I decided that I would take the hawk and release it in the morning on my way to work. The idea is to relocate the hawk so that this hawk will not come back and kill any more of my animals. I start driving to work and a funny thing happens. The hawk got out of the crate and was jumping around in the back of the car while I was driving. Apparently I had not securely latched the top door on the crate and the hawk bumped it just right and it opened and the hawk got out. Hawks look very mean, kind of scary, with a sharp beak and menacing eye. I was afraid that the hawk might come in the front seat, get up in my face or something. So I put my hat on, talked to the bird and kept one hand up for protection. The hawk stayed in the back seat and remained relatively calm. I drove a couple more miles to a good release spot and pulled the car over, opened the windows, and got out. About 30 seconds later the hawk flew out the window and headed straight for some woods and disappeared. The cooper hawk has amazing camoflage, when it gets near the woods it literally disappears.
I then got back in the car, closed the windows, and continued to work. Again, this may or may not have actually happened.
I have thought about ways to keep cooper hawks out of pigeon lofts. The coopers are not very big and I think they can fit through just about any pigeon sized opening. Pigeons however are capable of flying straight up. Perhaps it would be possible to make a tall structure where the pigeons entered at the bottom, flew straight up, and then entered the loft. I may try this someday.
So last night I'm doing my evening drinker chores for the pigeons, when I get to the brown loft I find a dead half eaten pigeon on the floor, a bunch of terrified pigeons, and a cooper hawk inside the loft. Cooper hawks are just crazy, a week ago I was outside and one shot out of the woods, flew right over my head, then continued towards the pigeon lofts. On that occasion I hooped and hollered and the hawk flew back into the woods.
In the past when there is a cooper hawk in the loft they usually go down on the floor and try to hide and will sometimes lay on their back with their feet/claws out for protection. This time however the cooper went up high, near my head, so I retreated from the loft and went to get a pair of gloves. I returned with a pair of leather gloves and a headlight as it was dark. The LED headlight has two operating modes, a single red LED or two bright white LED's, I went with the single low light red LED. With the leather gloves I was able to safely capture the hawk and grasp it by the legs. I placed the hawk into a portable pigeon crate and put the crate in the back seat of my car.
I know that some people kill hawks, and I was told by a TWRA officer who visited the farm that it was OK to kill a hawk if it was killing our chickens or pigeons, but I never do. I look at it this way, the hawk is just being a hawk, I've got a bunch of gorgeous pigeons flying about, so in a way I'm attracting the hawks. The only way I know to eliminate the hawk problem is to lock up my birds, which is not really fair to the birds as they love to fly and that's what they do. I hate to lose pigeons to hawks, I wish that the hawks would cull the flock for me, to take the slow birds, the weak birds, the ones that are not too smart, but that is not what happens. Hawks are just as likely, perhaps more likely, to take the best pigeons. I think the reason is that the best pigeons are the most healthy, like to fly more, spend more time outside, and are perhaps more confident.
I've seen some wild pigeons that are very smart, they approach the loft very high, then just sort of spiral descend almost straight down to the loft and go in. The homing pigeons on the other hand will approach low as a large group and fly many low altitude laps around the loft before finally settling on the loft and then going inside. I can't blame a hungry hawk who watches this from the woods for going after the homing pigeons.
There is one good thing though about the cooper hawks, when they get a pigeon they get "a" pigeon, as in just one. Some other predators such as weasels I've heard will get into a loft and kill every single bird.
So, the hawk is in the crate in the back seat of my car. I decided that I would take the hawk and release it in the morning on my way to work. The idea is to relocate the hawk so that this hawk will not come back and kill any more of my animals. I start driving to work and a funny thing happens. The hawk got out of the crate and was jumping around in the back of the car while I was driving. Apparently I had not securely latched the top door on the crate and the hawk bumped it just right and it opened and the hawk got out. Hawks look very mean, kind of scary, with a sharp beak and menacing eye. I was afraid that the hawk might come in the front seat, get up in my face or something. So I put my hat on, talked to the bird and kept one hand up for protection. The hawk stayed in the back seat and remained relatively calm. I drove a couple more miles to a good release spot and pulled the car over, opened the windows, and got out. About 30 seconds later the hawk flew out the window and headed straight for some woods and disappeared. The cooper hawk has amazing camoflage, when it gets near the woods it literally disappears.
I then got back in the car, closed the windows, and continued to work. Again, this may or may not have actually happened.
I have thought about ways to keep cooper hawks out of pigeon lofts. The coopers are not very big and I think they can fit through just about any pigeon sized opening. Pigeons however are capable of flying straight up. Perhaps it would be possible to make a tall structure where the pigeons entered at the bottom, flew straight up, and then entered the loft. I may try this someday.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Digging ditches, oh yeah
Just came in from doing some serious manual labor on the driveway. It's 60 degrees F and we've had a good bit of rain. Our driveway was in need of some drainage improvements (an ongoing task), during rains it sometimes becomes a creek and parts of it will wash away, not a good thing. When it's wet, and cool, it's easy to see where the water is flowing, where it should be flowing, and the ground is somewhat soft. I grabbed my Tilley hat, of course, a T shirt, a gore tex shell, a pair of gloves, and a mattock. A mattock is sort of a digging axe, it has a long handle, and on one side of the head it has an axe/splitting edge and on the other side it has a wide curved digging edge.
I have a tractor and a box blade but it's of no use really for this task, a backhoe or mini excavator would be good, but no need for that when you have a strong back, determined spirit, and a good mattock.
I worked my way from the top of the driveway to the bottom, fixing the drainage as I went. Hard work! When I was near the bottom I was worn out, sweating, soaking wet, covered in mud, so I sat down in the middle of the driveway. Pup-pup came over and kept me company as I recovered. I was not right at the bottom of the driveway but about 60 feet up and a few cars went by. The driver of one car spotted me and decided to turn around and check on me, I told her I was fine and thanked her for stopping. I then finished the ditch work at the bottom of the driveway and admired my work as I walked back up to the house.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Red Sky!
On Monday evening this week (October 24) Debby and Mary were returning home from a dance class when they noticed that the sky was red, this was after dark at about 9:30 pm. The next day Debby informed us that what they had seen northern lights, the result of a huge coronal mass ejection from the Sun which collided with the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field and created a visible light show at unusually low latitudes.
Monday, October 3, 2011
First frost of the season Oct 3, 2011
It was 35 degrees outside this morning according to the thermometer. We had frost on the grass, I had to find my ice scraper so I could clear the windshield of my car this morning.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
It's Raining!
It started to rain a few minutes ago, just before 6:00 pm on Sunday September 4. We have been in a bit of a drought, no rain at all for at least a month, lot's of hot sunny days. Some of the grass was becoming brown and crunchy, some leaves have changed color and already fallen from the trees. The forecast is that we will get several inches of much needed rain in the next few days.
See the US Drought map here.
Unfortunately our friends in Texas are still suffering from a serious drought situation and I hope that they will soon get some rain.
See the US Drought map here.
Unfortunately our friends in Texas are still suffering from a serious drought situation and I hope that they will soon get some rain.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
morning zoo
We've now got 50+ chickens. This is good because we are starting to know what we are doing and it's not really any more work to take care of 50 vs 20. Our flock includes four of our 2009 golden girls (golden comet hens), some of our 2010 rhode island red (RIR) hens, a RIR rooster named Opie, twenty some RIR's that we got a few months ago (including several roosters), and a new batch of 14 RIR hens and 6 barred rock (or plymouth rock) hens that arrived last weekend.
The batch of twenty some RIRs that we got a few months ago have grown out well and are looking very nice. The only problem is that there are several roosters in that group and they are now starting to act like roosters. In the morning when one rooster crows that starts the other roosters and they take turns crowing. At this point only Opie has a really good rooster crow, some of the others sound rather pitiful. At least one of the roosters sounds like an elephant when he tries to crow. So in the morning right now it sounds a little bit like a zoo. The rooster contingent will be reduced shortly.
The batch of twenty some RIRs that we got a few months ago have grown out well and are looking very nice. The only problem is that there are several roosters in that group and they are now starting to act like roosters. In the morning when one rooster crows that starts the other roosters and they take turns crowing. At this point only Opie has a really good rooster crow, some of the others sound rather pitiful. At least one of the roosters sounds like an elephant when he tries to crow. So in the morning right now it sounds a little bit like a zoo. The rooster contingent will be reduced shortly.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Bark vs. Bite
Pup-pup loves to chase deer. We see deer here at the farm every day. Recently though Pup-pup has changed his deer chasing method. He used to run, bark, and chase deer away into the woods. Now he is content to run, bark, and hold his ground about 100 feet or so from the house. The reason for the change?
Well, a few weeks ago Debby watched as Pup-pup ran out to chase away some deer. In the group of deer was a mom and a fawn. The mom initially started to run but then decided to turn and take on Pup-pup while the fawn got away. Pup-pup was not expecting a deer to stand up to him, this must have been the first time it happened. Since then Pup-pup has been keeping his distance and the deer don't seem very afraid of the Pup.
Well, a few weeks ago Debby watched as Pup-pup ran out to chase away some deer. In the group of deer was a mom and a fawn. The mom initially started to run but then decided to turn and take on Pup-pup while the fawn got away. Pup-pup was not expecting a deer to stand up to him, this must have been the first time it happened. Since then Pup-pup has been keeping his distance and the deer don't seem very afraid of the Pup.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The color purple and out of breath
My fingers and lips are purple and I'm out of breath. So naturally I need to blog about it.
I've just completed my workout which explains the out of breath part. My workout consists of going from the house to the mailbox and back. Sounds easy but the two are separated by about 1/3 mile in distance and 200 feet in elevation. Plus it's warm and humid. If I feel good I try to get in a couple of brief uphill sprints. My goal is to get to the point that I can run the entire distance uphill in one go.
OK, now for the purple part. There are a lot of wild blackberries along my workout route, and some berries are now perfectly ripe. So on the way down the driveway I pick and eat a few blackberries. When the blackberries are just right they are plump, juicy, and require just a slight tug to release them from their vine. Ripe blackberries will just about melt in your mouth and are delicious. The juice is what causes the purple lips and fingers.
Debby gets tired of how much I talk about the blackberries, but I really do enjoy them. I'm trying to figure out the best method to manage them, the wild ones put up canes in their first year and bear fruit in the second. And they have a bunch of thorns also. So, all the blackberry spots that were mowed last fall through this spring now have first year plants. If I don't mow these areas we will have a large blackberry crop next year. I'm thinking about how to rotate areas to get a good crop every year. I think a few blackberry trails would be a lot of fun, what do you think?
I've just completed my workout which explains the out of breath part. My workout consists of going from the house to the mailbox and back. Sounds easy but the two are separated by about 1/3 mile in distance and 200 feet in elevation. Plus it's warm and humid. If I feel good I try to get in a couple of brief uphill sprints. My goal is to get to the point that I can run the entire distance uphill in one go.
OK, now for the purple part. There are a lot of wild blackberries along my workout route, and some berries are now perfectly ripe. So on the way down the driveway I pick and eat a few blackberries. When the blackberries are just right they are plump, juicy, and require just a slight tug to release them from their vine. Ripe blackberries will just about melt in your mouth and are delicious. The juice is what causes the purple lips and fingers.
Debby gets tired of how much I talk about the blackberries, but I really do enjoy them. I'm trying to figure out the best method to manage them, the wild ones put up canes in their first year and bear fruit in the second. And they have a bunch of thorns also. So, all the blackberry spots that were mowed last fall through this spring now have first year plants. If I don't mow these areas we will have a large blackberry crop next year. I'm thinking about how to rotate areas to get a good crop every year. I think a few blackberry trails would be a lot of fun, what do you think?
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