Some recent pictures

Cousins: Sena, Aiyana, Julia, Stella and Lucy

 Aiyana with Lucy

My mother, the girls and I went to Stonington a couple of weeks ago, for an Oceanography class that Sena and Aiyana were taking. It was a foggy day.

 My mom, Buca to the girls

 Buca, Sena and Aiyana

 Empty docks

 Aiyana and her doggie friend, Yo.

 Aiyana wearing a scarf

I just found out that these lovely flowers are called grape hyacinths. They come up wild on the edge of our field, and smell delightful.

 These are hyacinths I planted two winters ago and they too smell heavenly.

 What my hands look like at this time of the year.

 Midnight

Peace

The leaves are out!

Ed saw a fox this morning near the cow pasture.

Yesterday after the rain, I looked outside, and to my surprise, I could see that tiny leaves had appeared on many of the trees. It’s like that every year, one day the trees are bare, and then, seemingly quite suddenly, the leaves are there. It’s a lovely pale green color which surrounds the trees like a halo and makes everything seem more vibrant.

Yesterday the cows got out of the pasture. Their paddock was close to the road, so we’re guessing that something must’ve spooked them on the road, and they ran the other way. Fortunately they did not go too far, and were still in the enclosure of the electric fence, in a safe spot.

Today Sena and Aiyana and I are having our tea party. We have one every Sunday. We use the fancy china cups I have from my grandmother Mamaia, and we have herbal tea and biscuits. We knit and talk and just hang out. Sometimes we pretend to be fancy ladies and we act in a very dignified manner. Mostly we just have fun.

The peach and apple trees are in the ground. The blueberry bushes just arrived on Friday – we will get them planted this week. The kale is looking like it’s recovering after the frost damage last week. Everything else in the field is looking good.

I love this time of the year, but I’ve been feeling tired over the past two weeks. I think it has to do with seasonal change and the increased level of physical activity that came with it. I started taking a multivitamin again, the New Chapter Organics brand that helped me in the past. I hope it works this time. I certainly need all the energy I can get at this time of year, and can’t drag myself around feeling being tired.

peace

The kale and peas got hit by the frost we had last week. They were not killed, but set back with damage to the leaves. Hopefuly with the nice weather we're having now and some rain they'll come back nicely.

Tomatoes are looking good. They're in soil blocks right now, and will not go in the grouind until early May. We keep them in the green house during the day and bring them in the basement at night to protect them from the cold, since our greenhouse is only heated by the sun. This is quite an undertaking every day, bringing them back and forth, given that we have about 450 plants, but tomatoes are a very important crop for us so we must do everything we can to take good care of them.

Everything else that we planted so far is mostly coming along nicely. We're starting to see the usual culprits as far as insect pests for this time of the year: imported cabbage butterfly, flea beetles, and a little cutworm. The fleabeetles have damaged a bed of arugula already and i plan to stop planting that crop until the flea beetle cycle is done (a few weeks?). Cutworm damage has not been bad at all yet, have only lost a few beets, but we'll have to see how things continue to go. It's really interesting to notice these patterns over the years, the insect pests and their cycles. Since we do not use pesticides, one practice that is part of our tools is to time our crops based on pest cycles in such a way as to avoid peak damage times. For instance cutworms are very active in spring and they slow down considerably later in the season. Another important tool is to attract beneficial insects and encourage them to stay on our farm. We call them beneficial because they kill pest insects. We attract them by planting flowers and herbs that they like, and by not spraying pesticides, which kill target as well as non-target insects. I already saw a few beneficials like wasps and bumble bees.

Opal is "bagging up", which means that her udder is getting visibly larger, as she approaches birth. Today we're having a large animal vet come and meet the cows, and us. Hopefuly won't need him but we want to establish a relationship anyway.

We've been giving Opal and Jasmine treats from the greenhouse every day. They love claytonia best and second best, lettuces. For me, the treat is simply spending time with them. They are beautiful animals. I love their presence, their unhurried ways, the way they smell, the way they stretch their necks to be scratched. They brought a whole new dimension to our farm, and it feels more whole now. I also feel more whole, and I am grateful to them for that.

Peace

(Tuesday 4/15)

I always forget how busy this time of year is. As soon as the weather warms up, as it did over the past week, there’s an explosion in plant growth, and everything wants to go in the ground. Onions, kale, broccoli, cabbages, chard and other plants, which we started as seedlings in soil blocks as far back as February, and which were barely growing until a couple of weeks ago, have since been picking up and growing visibly overnight, and now must be transplanted in the ground. We have also been working on transplanting apple trees, and are expecting a shipment of blueberry bushes and peach trees at the end of this week, all of which need to go in the ground ASAP. This urgency combined with the fact that the soil is wet and unworkable for days at a time make this time of year pretty stressful. Today and overnight we are expecting 2 to 4 inches of rain, so I’ll just have to postpone any planting until the soil dries up in a few days.

(Wednesday 4/16)

After writing the above, we ended up getting snow overnight, and the ground was covered when I got up in the morning. I inspected the plants and everything seems to have held up fine. But tonight we're expecting a low of 25F, and I am worried. We covered everything, but some of the plants may still get damaged.This is April...

This week has been much warmer and as a result we’ve seen a spurt in plant growth. The spring peepers are out every night, and in the morning, many birds call. The cows have been shedding their winter coat and replacing it with a soft, fuzzy, new one.

I’ve been busy with the usual: cooking, homeschooling, planting, taking care of seedlings, harvesting and selling at the farm. I’m also training myself and Opal for milking. Her calf is due in early May and I have to be ready to milk her then. I’ve been training her to come out from the pasture and into the stall where I’ll milk her. She comes for greens. I put a bucket of claytonia or mizuna or other some other fresh greens in front of her stanchion and she comes right in. Then, while she eats, I sit by her side and touch her belly and udder, similar to what I’ll be doing when milking. So far, she hasn’t tried to kick me yet, because she’s such a good cow. But I am not expecting things to go too smoothly at first. I’ve been warned by enough people that at some point I’ll be in tears. For now, I’m doing what I can to get both of us used to the milking routine.

I love being with the cows. The nicest thing I did for myself lately, (other than lying in bed with Sena and Aiyana telling stories at night), is to sit in the pasture with the cows and be part of the natural world. It’s peaceful and grounding.

It’s a beautiful day today. I hope you enjoy it!

Peace

I put pictures of snowdrops up every spring. They're very special.

Jasmine and Opal on the move. In the background is their movable shelter and stanchion where we're going to milk them.

Opal. She's so cute and very pregnant.Today her baby was moving a lot, I could see ripples going through her belly, and I felt it kicking too. She's due to calve in early May.

Peace

no hat

this morning when i went out to bring water and hay to the cows, i had to stop and take off my gloves, hat and extra sweater. i was too hot! quite a change, from the way it has been lately. the ground is still frozen, but it really looks like spring is on its way at last.

i've been carrying a stick with me lately. we have a rooster that is quite rude. he attacked both me and ed several times. he's very macho and just keeps coming at us whenever he feels like it. last time he came at me, i had to hit him with a board. i never feel good hitting anyone or anything, but there really is no other way with him, unless you want to get spurred. he's fast too, and he keeps coming at you until you hit him hard enough. he is very useful at protecting his ladies, otherwise i'm afraid he'd be soup. someone said that if chickens were larger than they are, we'd all be dead. they can certainly be mean.

aiyana has been reading to the cats lately. amazingly, they sit in her lap and listen. i think they just want to be by the fire, where she usually sits. i can't imagine them being interested in the books she reads to them. the last one was pretty trashy - it was called "magic kitten".
 
peace

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox just passed a couple of days ago. This is the time of equal day and night, a time of balance, and the first day of spring.
It has been warm, then cold, and warm again. Tonight we're expecting a low of 12F. We'll be covering the lettuces and salad greens in the greenhouse extra good to protect them from frost.
Still, despite the challenging weather, new shoots are coming out of the ground every day. Birds are returning, and I have already seen three butterflies flitting about. There is hope in knowing that no matter how hard the winter, no matter that ice is still on the ground, young shoots are bravely coming through, instinct brings animals out of hibernation, and life begins again. I keep this image with me to carry me through difficult times, when things can seem heavy, or dark, when i feel stuck.
I like to remember that no matter how hard my own personal "winter" may be, instinct and the life force I have within me will pull me through. Life renews itself, heals itself, and continues.

The nights have been cold over the past week, in the low 20’s, but during the day, the sun came out and this made all the difference. The snow is gone off most of our fields. Outside, the soil is still too hard to work but inside our two green houses it’s a different story. There are lettuces, spinach, spicy salad greens, radishes, peas, carrots and beets growing, as well as the soil blocks I started which will be transplanted outside in a few weeks.  Sena and Aiyana like to go to one greenhouse after schooling, take off their shoes and jackets and play. It gets pretty warm in there, 70’s or 80’s, depending on how much we vent, and it smells good too, like earth and fresh greens.

The snowdrops came out a few days ago. I’m always so happy to see them! They have a suddle, sweet smell and I like that you have to get down low, almost lying flat on the ground in order to smell them. It feels like a bow, which is quite fitting.

The cows are on pasture now, and loving it. We’re doing rotational grazing, which means that they get a new piece of pasture every day, and even though there isn’t much grazing now, it’s nice to have them out there getting used to the system. They spend all day out in the sun, and when I run my hand along their backs, they feel nice an warm.

The chickens like to go over to the cows. I love the sight of them together, the cows chewing their cud and slowly moving around, the chickens scratching in the dirt, pecking around, and taking dust baths. They’re happy together.

I gave the cows some fresh greens today - Tatsoi from the greenhouse, which is going to seed. Wow, did they like that! The next time I came over with a bucket, they expected a treat again, even though this time I was just bringing water. They ran over to me, a little too excitedly, I thought, for a 500-600lbs animal. Fortunately they put the brakes on in time.

I had a very good day today, because as soon as I woke up, I remembered that my attitude sets the tone of the day much more than what happens to me, what needs to get done, and so on. I also remembered throughout the day to focus on whatever I was doing at the time and avoid thinking about all the other things that need to get done. I hope I remember this more often.

Peace

Some recent activities

Ed, splitting wood. He did it for four hours every day, over the course of about one week. I honestly hink that I can do maybe 10 swings if I really push myself, before I'd be totally exhausted and useless for the rest of the day.

Sena's been working with Jasmine every day, and she loves doing it. Here she is getting Jasmine used to the halter and to being led.

 Aiyana got to walk Yo, our friend's doggie. She always asks about having a dog, but we're not going to do that any time soon, so in the meantime Yo is coming over for a weekly walk. They are both very happy.

I've been making more cheese. This is my first Cheddar. It's drying right now, and then I'm going to put it in the root cellar for aging. Not at all sure what it's going to be like.

Other than that, Spring is here! (I think). Today it's been just glorious, warm and sunny. Sena said that the wind felt different, much milder than before. She and Aiyana said that they felt glad inside, and a "Wake Up!" kind of feeling. They wanted to go out barefoot and I let them.
The fields are still mostly covered in snow, but it is melting fast. Hopefully a couple more weeks and we'll be able to get some seeds in the ground.

Peace

Still winter for now

It's been too cold to do very much outside. Still, thanks to our high tunnels, I was able to start some seedlings, about 8000 onion plants. Brassicas like kale, cabbage and broccoli, will be started later this week. There are also crops in the ground, like spinach and salad greens, growing well despite the cold. I have them in the high tunnel, covered with double row cover. They are growing strong now with the increasing daylight. We had some for sale last week, and we will sell again this week. Unfortunately we cannot sell right here at the farm because it's too icy, and we have no parking space with all the snow. Walking around the farm is just not a good idea right now, unless you have spikes on your boots, or you're us. We sold our greens to Willimantic and Fiddleheads food Co-ops. We've heard from people who were very happy to have fresh greens. They are a treat at this time of the year. I am grateful that we have them.

The cows are doing very well. They've come such a long way since they arrived here. They are very comfortable with us now, and we've all settled in a routine. Jasmine was very afraid and nervous when she arrived, but now she comes up to us and follows us around. Both she and Opal love to lick us, especially our hands. It's nice, but it can get a little much, especially since their tongues are kind of rough. They've licked my face as well. I really love them. I hug them sometimes, because I love their bigness. They're amazing animals.
Soon I have to start working on training Opal for milking. She's getting big, so maybe she'll have her calf early. Could be anytime between April and June. I have to get her used to being in the stanchion where she'll be milked, having her udder washed and generally being handled for the time it takes to milk, which I think will be anywhere from half an hour to an hour, probably more at first given my inexperience. At least Opal is experienced, thank goodness.

I've been reading quite a bit about dairy cows lately, trying to find out about different aspects of keeping them, such as feed, health, pasture management, calving, etc. My favorite reading so far has been Joan Grohmann's "Keeping a Family Cow". It is well written and informative, but more than that, I just like the author a lot. She's in her 80's, and still keeps a cow and other animals, plus her garden. She has a blog I like to read, called Heifer Diary. When I'm 80, I also hope to have my garden and my cow, just like she does.