Farm Girl Returns

The farm girl returns after a nine-month hiatus. It was a busy year and I wasn't at the farm a whole lot. School took up much of my time and it became too much effort to even think about writing. That said, there have been many changes here at the farm and still more to come.

After much deliberation and thought, we decided to sell the farm and move northward. In part, the move was influenced by our neighbors and also by the climate of the Rogue Valley, which is desert-like in the summer. At this point, we have buyers for the property and have put an offer on a place near Corvallis. The place needs work on the house and barn. However, Corvallis gets significantly more rain and there is a creek running on the edge of the property. I visited there last weekend and saw a deer in the field.

I arrived at the farm on Saturday. Lisa, my dad, and I had a weeding extravaganza the next day. Yesterday, I picked and dried some sage and marjoram. I've already picked cherries and made cherry jam today.

This summer will be chaotic with moving. We've stopped planting our garden and are now maintaining the spring plantings. We will be going back between the properties, getting the new one ready and moving all the animals as well as the furniture.

Labor Day Party '08

Every Sunday of Labor Day weekend for seven years now, we've had our big labor day party. We have a huge tomato tasting and potluck. This year it ran from 2pm to 8 pm. We had our first out of town guest arrive the Wednesday before. We smoked three chickens, barbecued lamballs (lamb meatballs), and barbecued corn. I organized a "Name the Goats" contest for the new little kid and the buckling. There were so many people that came that I probably only spoke with a third of them.

We had many large tomato varieties at the tasting this year:
Legend. Rose de Berne. Brandywine. Super Fantastic. Stupice. Talladega. Peron. Plum Lemon. Tobolsk. Paul Robeson. Purple Cherokee. Black from Tula. Ananas Noire. Marz Round Green. Lillian's Yellow Heirloom.

(A Palestinian Tomato. The one we picked that day was over 2 pounds.)

And many cherries:
Gabrielle. Peacevine Cherry. Sungold. Sunsugar. Tiny Dancer. Dr. Carolyn's Pink. Matt's Wild Cherry. Green Grape.

A few people brought their own varieties:
Red Brandywine. Momotaro. Odoriko. Kellog's Breakfast. Gardeners Delight (Cherry). Black Cherry.

The winners of the contest were as follows:
Best Flavor:
Winner: Rose de Berne
Runnerup: Sungold
Prettiest:
Winners: Ananas Noire, Black from Tula
Honorable Mention: Lillian's Yellow, Peron, Rose de Berne
Best Red:
Winners: Rose De Berne, Stupice
Runnerup: Peron
Best Purple/Black:
Winner: Purple Cherokee
Runnerups: Black Cherry, Black from Tula
Best Orange:
Winner: Tobolsk
Runnerups: Kellog's Breakfast, Tangerine , Lillian's Yellow, Sungold
Honorable Mention: Plum Lemon, Ananas Noire
Best Cherry
Winner: Sungold
Runnerups: Gardener's Delight, Tiny Dancer , Peacevine
Honorable Mention: Sunsugar, Gabrielle
Best of the Best
First: Sungold
Second: Rose de Berne
Third: Purple Cherokee

My dad, Lisa, and I judged the "Name the Goats" contest. We decided that the best names for the doeling and the buckling were Acacia (AH-KAY-SHA) and Caprihorn, respectively.

After all the guests left that evening, the out of town guests and us descended on the third smoked chicken like vultures. We didn't bother with forks or plates; we just ate with our fingers. It was without a doubt the best chicken I've ever had. The next day, I left with some of the house guests for the city.



(It was the coolest, cloudiest Labor Day Party yet, reflective of the summer as a whole.)

Canning Season

Canning season has begun at the farm this summer.

Last Tuesday, I made 3 1/2 pints of peach jam. Alas, the peaches were not our own. One of our neighbors went peach picking at a local orchard and had excess.
Last Monday, Lisa and I made green bean relish. We finally found another way to use up green beans!

Earlier in the summer, Lisa made 5 1/2 pints of plum jam and 3 1/2 pints of currant jelly.

Cobbing: A Year Later

On July 19, my dad, Lisa, Rachelle (a friend), and I finished cobbing the other two sides of the root cellar. Last summer we only finished the Left and Back sides. Over the winter, there was a lot of air leakage. The rain washed some of the clay from the coat of cobb and cracking occurred.

The two unfinished sides before cobbing.
We dug up some of our own clay and then sifted the large clumps out with a piece of chicken wire.
We added sand that we bought to the mixture.
The straw helped bind the sand, clay, and water together.
The corner of the cellar was the hardest section to cobb because the hay was looser there.
The bales are visible underneath the cobb.
The right side was especially dangerous for stooped cobbers. Lisa bumped her head twice.
The unfinished inside is visible from the front.
The root cellar after several hours worth of work.

Before and After

Amanda's chicks are now a month old and asserting more independence. They wander farther away from their mother now.

This chick has little cheek puffs, suggesting that it could be an Araucana. She is the friendlier of the two.

This chick is part Brown Leghorn and has a large comb. I'm fairly sure that it is a rooster.

Chronicle of a Birth Foretold

Today, around 5:30 PM, Lily kidded. I noticed earlier in the afternoon that Lily was acting strange and her udders were larger. This gave us time to prepare a jug (small stall) for the kidding. I cleaned out the old straw, put fresh straw on the floor, filled up the hay rack, and provided Lily with water.


I went back to barn later to check on her with my dad and there was a small, wet goat standing on four wobbly legs. She has markings like an Oberhasli. Lily was happy to receive a bucketful of vinegar-molasses water after the birth.

Early August Update

Recently, there has been much activity going on around the farm.

The smoke has become a lot worse in the past few days. It was pretty sporadic before that. There are three fires southwest of Happy Camp that are causing the smoke. (Normally, there you would see hills in the background of that picture)


The three sheep have been named Larry, Curly, and Mo. We call the ewe Curlette instead of Curly. We have discovered a few problems with the new sheep. Curlette developed a case of foot rot. As a result, we had to treat all of our sheep's feet. We mixed zinc sulfate, dish soap, and water in a large tub. Then, we put a cattle panel along one end of the tub, forming a three sided enclosure with the fence. Shaun was the easiest to catch. Macy and Little Beau were very difficult because of their size and skittishness. We held each sheep in the solution for 5 minutes. Curlette got an extra 10 minutes. While doing this, we noticed that Shaun had a lump on his face. Lisa worried that he had C.L. (Caeous Lymphadenitis), a sheep and goat disease. We separated both Shaun and Curlette from the rest of the herd. A few days ago, we had a blood test done on Shaun and the result was negative.


The peaches and yellow plums are coming in right now. Lisa made plum jam today and I froze some of the peaches. I also blanched 6 quarts of green beans, baked bread, and made bran muffins.

The second set of baby chicks are going through their awkward stage, growing in their adult feathers. They are a little less tame than before. I haven't been able to spend as much time with them.

New Buckling

On Tuesday, we bought a 3 month old buckling. He is a second generation Mini Oberhasli. He is a bit skittish, but will sniff your hand to see if it is food. The first few days, he announced his loneliness with loud baas. We put him in a separate pen from Arrow, our adult buck. So far, we haven't come up with a name. All of our past bucks (Racer and Arrow) were already named when we bought them.

We hope to breed him with the three yearling does, Zinnia, Angelica, and Violet. For the time being, we will keep Arrow to breed with the older ladies, Calla and Lily.

Green Bean Time!

It is that time of year again. Last year, I was amazed by the sheer quantity of green beans I harvested and chopped. Green bean season officially started July 20 when I picked the first significant number of beans (7.2 ounces). Since then, the amount has increased by magnitudes. I picked a whopping 4 pounds of green beans today alone! That brings this summer's total up to 13 pounds, 12.5 ounces.

D-Day (Destruction Day)

Wednesday was Destruction Day for our kiva fireplace. We have only lit a few fires in it since we built our house in 2002. However, it was enough to know that it didn't really heat the house. It is a centerpiece for our house since it is literally in the center of it and located in the great room.

For years, we've tossed ideas around about replacing it with a wood stove, but never put anything into action. With the downturn of the economy and the rising oil prices, we wanted to get the stove before it became more expensive and before demand grew.

The kiva was beautiful, though not functional. Also, it was a risk, since we really didn't know how a wood stove would look in its place.

The kiva after a few whacks of a sledge hammer.

We finally see what is under the kiva.

After demolition, you can still see the outline of the kiva. The brown object in the center is our model wood stove.