The Death of King Percy June 15, 2009
Posted by Laura in Farm.6 comments
When we moved to our little glimpse of heaven 4 1/2 years ago, we were delighted to see it came stocked with a horse, a few ducks, and a small flock of chickens. Among those chickens was the undisputed king of the henhouse, a Jersey Giant cross we named Percy. Here is a picture of him taken a few years ago.
Percy has weathered a lot- he’s protected the womenfolk, he’s intimidated the young upstarts into submission, and he’s been a good-natured fella. The ladies swooned when he strutted by. He would often find a particularly good treat while foraging and call “his girls” over and offer it to them. While they enjoyed the tidbit, he would stand watch over them and keep the peace.
A week and a half ago, an odd thing began to happen. Percy was being pecked and chased by Guido, the smaller but annoying guinea who adopted us a few years ago. I saw the pursuit across the yard several times and would find Percy hiding in the bushes, cowering while Guido “sucker-pecked” him. I broke it up, but that didn’t last. Percy began limping.
A few days later, not only was Guido the Unwanted Guinea attacking him, 
but also little Nappie (short for Napolean). He is a Mille Fleur bantam, just a bit larger than a dove.
I would say they were “double-teaming” poor Percy, but the two weren’t actually on the same team. They were just both exploiting this new weakness simultaneously. For several days, the king spent most of his time lying down in the same spot in the yard, keeping an eye out for assassination attempts but getting up to eat very little. At the end of the week, I put him into a chicken tractor with a few benign Buff Orpingtons to recuperate and keep him safe.
The first 2 days, it seemed like he was improving. The third day, not so much. The fourth day, Joe and Benjamin went down to move the tractors and feed the chickens. Percy was mobile for the move, but breathed his last while eating some scratch grains and died peacefully. All in all, the most a rooster could hope for!
We don’t get overly attached to most of our chickens, but Percy was the oldest resident of the farm, a regal presence in the yard, and kind of an icon. Things don’t seem quite right without him. He will be missed.
Tree-Climbing Dolts May 22, 2009
Posted by Laura in Farm.3 comments
For all their annoying habits (like getting their heads stuck in the fence and eating the blueberry plants 
), goats (a.k.a. “dolts” according to Lydia) are entertaining. I glanced out the window yesterday to see this.
No, they didn’t do anything particularly amazing to get up there, but it was funny to see. Remember that tree that came down (well, partly anyway)? The goats are able to climb onto the ends of the limbs that haven’t quite separated from it and and go up from there. They are pretty proud of themselves.
Out of the mouth of babes May 11, 2009
Posted by Joe in Family, Farm.2 comments
Lydia’s vocabulary has grown considerably over the past few months and she seems very pleased about it. And so are we! She can communicate much better now, telling us what she wants rather than playing a frustrating form of toddler charades until we figure out what it is that she’s trying to say.
She frequently points at something and calls it by name as if to make sure we know that she knows what it is.
Her pronunciation, however, has lagged a bit behind her growing vocabulary. Sometimes when she says something, it’s not quite as clear as it could be. But that’ll come with time. In the meantime, it can be a source of great amusement.
For example it tickles us when she points at the goats and says quite confidently “Look, dolts. Dolts, Mommy, dolts”.
She probably more accurate than she realizes.
It’s a girl! April 26, 2009
Posted by Joe in Farm.1 comment so far
Time is a funny thing. One the one hand it seems like only yesterday we bought our first two heifers from a friend of ours, and yet on the other hand it seems like they’ve been a part of Blessed Acres Farm for quite some time.
But it hasn’t been too long, since this month, #6 and #7, affectionately known as Gloria and Lacy to the kids, turned two years old. And what a way to celebrate. #6 had her first calf today. It’s a little girl.
The new calf, yet unnamed, seemed to know what exactly what to do. Mama, despite the picture above, is not 100% sure she wants to be nursed. I think she’ll figure it out soon though. Her protective instinct has been spot on; she protects her calf from the others and watches over her pretty well.
Here’s a close up on the new little girl. I think she’ll one day grow into those ears.
We’re thankful to another friend who allowed us to borrow their registered bull last summer to make this day possible.
Chick Chain April 10, 2009
Posted by Laura in 4-H, Family, Farm.3 comments
We have really enjoyed 4-H since we joined last year as “Clover Buds.” Benjamin is in 4th grade this year, so he is now a full-fledged member and can participate in the various contests and projects. A couple of months ago, he competed at the county level in Speech. Recently, he decided to raise a batch of chicks to enter in the county fair in the fall. His 25 Black Star chicks, plus one mystery rare breed chick, arrived Monday and he has had sole responsibility for them since then. There was a close call with one that got steamrolled by some others while napping, but much to my surprise, it made a full recovery after a night in a box by the fire in the house. After Benjamin gave it more water, some TLC, and a pep talk, it was chirping away by morning and he returned the little guy to the brooder.
After raising them all summer, Benjamin will choose his 6 best to go to the fair, compete, and be auctioned off. He gets to keep the rest. It is a wonderful program. In the end, you get a flock of chickens for just the cost of the food and a great experience that helps develop responsibility and character.
Delightful Daffodils March 20, 2009
Posted by Laura in Family, Farm.2 comments
One of my favorite things about old homesteads is the unexpected places you come upon things. Often times driving in the country you will notice a chimney standing alone in the middle of a shady area or you stumble upon an old farm implement of unknown use. They are the only remaining hints of the lives of the previous residents. Often daffodils are that way too.
Various owners of our farm have planted flowers while they lived here. There are a few neat rows of bulbs that come up along the driveway, but the ones that interest me most are the ones seemingly in the middle of nowhere in particular. There are several clumps of jonquils in odd places in the yard, a few peonies, and even some Lily of the Valley that spring up. Even though they make mowing a bit tricky I always insist that they be left to grow, in part because they are pretty, but also in part because someone before us loved this place enough to plant them.
One of these places is a new find. Down in the woods, nowhere near any former structure I know of, there are several groupings of daffodils. The children always love to pick flowers for our table, so I pointed them out. Lydia, being the “big kid” that she is now is never left out. She has her own rubber boots and she wants to tromp along with us wherever we go.
Here are a few pictures from the flower picking a couple of weeks ago. They just seem to beg for captions.
“We came all the way down here for THIS?!”
“Those are mine.” (Spoken like a true 2 year old).
“These are mine too.”
“All this flower-picking has worn me out! I sure hope Mom appreciates my hard work.”
The Fallen Giant March 19, 2009
Posted by Laura in Family, Farm.1 comment so far
We are fortunate to have hundreds of beautiful trees on our property. We have enjoyed them so much for their form, shade, fruit, nuts, fall color, and wood. In particular, we are grateful for the many huge old pecan trees that were probably planted by the original owners over 100 years ago. They provide bountiful enough nuts for us, the squirrels, and the crows without too much squabbling among us.
Yesterday as I was going out to hang laundry, I heard a series of what sounded like rapid-fire shotgun blasts close to the house. I turned to see the back third of a 75 foot pecan tree peel away from the trunk and crash to the ground, taking one of our perimeter fences down with it. I was glad to see that the cows weren’t lounging underneath that (their favorite) tree at the moment. I quickly moved the cows to a new pasture and let Joe know what had happenend. Our weekend plans have now changed (top of the to-do list is to remove the tree and repair the fence).
A few minutes ago, while hanging more wash, I heard a series of creaks. I looked over in time to see another section break away and land on a black walnut tree that has also borne nuts generously. (I’m starting to think maybe I shouldn’t do anymore laundry!).
Here is a photo of the giant reclining in the pasture. That speck to the left of it is Joe.
The tree poses a threat to livestock, other trees, a storage shed, and additional fences so the rest must come down. We hate to see it go. But always trying to find the positive- we’re well set for good firewood next winter.
My Supervisor March 19, 2009
Posted by Laura in Family, Farm.3 comments
We’ve had some beautiful weather this week and I have put it to good use outside. While the “big kids” (yes, now Lydia is one of those, at least according to the grandmother who was so eager to have her come along 
) have been visiting their AL grandparents, Timothy has been supervising my work. Yesterday, we got 8 new blueberry bushes put in the perennial patch and today we got 3 fruit trees added to the orchard. Timothy tried out his exersaucer for the first time.
We were soon joined by the other members of “middle management” (aka Daisy the dog and Guido the Guinea).
Off camera was an assortment of chickens, another dog, and a cat or two.
We couldn’t get enough of the beautiful sunshine. Come on, spring!
New Old Technology March 18, 2009
Posted by Laura in Family, Farm.add a comment
As we get older, Joe and I are learning to appreciate the wisdom of bygone days more and more. We installed an antique pot-bellied wood-burning stove to heat one end of the house. We’ve been gardening and “putting food by” for use in the winter. We’ve started our own herd of goats and cattle for meat in the future. We raise heritage breeds of chickens (and hopefully turkeys again). In past years, these decisions have been based mostly on lifestyle preferences rather than strictly economics. But like most people, we’ve begun to look more critically at our finances and unnecessary spending this last year. We have been especially targeting our electricity bill. One of the things we’ve decided to try is the old-fashioned clothes line.
I had bought the lines and pins years ago, but we have never gotten around to putting them up. Joe put up the lines this last weekend and I have been using them whenever it isn’t raining. It does take longer to do laundry this way, but strangely I’ve found that I almost enjoy doing laundry now.
There is something satisfying and calming about a line of sweet little diapers and clothes dancing in the breeze.
Belts, a muffler, and the Bahamas January 23, 2009
Posted by Joe in Farm.add a comment
Almost a year ago, my mother bought me one of the most practical and needed birthday presents I’ve ever received. She bought me a new muffler and exhaust pipe for our tractor.
It was certainly needed. The exhaust pipe of our 1964 Ford 2000 gasoline tractor runs underneath the main body of the tractor, similar to the exhaust of a car. However since it’s exposed and driven over rough terrain, the pipe had rusted out a couple of years ago. As a result the engine exhaust was being release just in front of the driver’s seat. Not a good thing for the driver!
I’ve been busy and hadn’t gotten around to replacing the muffler and pipe. Actually to be completely candid about it, I was dreading it to some extent, fearing that it may turn in to a long and arduous task.
Finally, however, I was prompted to the repair with something more than just loosing IQ points with every breath I took while bush-hogging or breaking the garden. A couple of days ago, one of the two belts broke on the tractor. At that point it became more than just important, it became urgent as well since I must use the tractor to lift the 700 pound hay rolls to fee to the cows.
So, I went by the tractor dealership yesterday on the way to visit a client. Mike, a very knowledgeable guy in the service department, helped me to identify the various parts I’d need in my repair job. I picked up a couple of belts, another piece for the exhaust pipe, and some securing clamps. I noticed that as other customers came into the store, Mike greeted them by name, asked about their family, and told them about his recent trip to the Bahamas. What great customer service, I thought. Then I realized that all of these people must be repeat customers. Mike had a great repeat business. No wonder he could take a trip to the Bahamas!
This afternoon, Benjamin, Rachel, and I set out to do the necessary maintenance and repair on the old Ford. And I must say it was much more pleasant of an experience that I was expecting. We replaced both belts, installed the muffler, and ran the new exhaust pipes. When I cranked her up, she purred like a new kitten again. Nice!
But as I finished giving the cows their weekly feeding of hay, I noticed the tale-tell signs of a radiator leak – a luminous green fluid steadily dripping from the engine. It didn’t take long to discover what had happened. The power steering fluid pump belt was a bit too loose and rubbed a hole in the radiator hose. So I called Laura (she was running errands this afternoon) and had her swing by the parts place to pick up a new radiator hose for the tractor.
It seems that we’ve become repeat customers. I hope Mike remembers us the next time he’s on the beach in some tropical paradise.
