Missing Willow Farm

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If the sheep and goats are out grazing when we arrive for morning chores, we race them to the barn.   Being inside the barn with them out is the only way to put hay out in their feeders without being molested.  They kind of gang up on you trying to eat a bale while you’re still hefting it to the feeders (and they weigh about 50 pounds each).  The animals do, however, know what’s going on inside and anxiously and noisily wait for the barn doors to open.

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Tractor Supply is a dangerous place in baby chick season!  We’ve got them situated in our brooder box out in the barn.  These little beauties are going to grow up into hens who lay colored eggs.  They’re americaunas like Cranberry.  I can’t wait to see what color eggs everyone lays!  We should find out in August.

After giving us lots of enjoyment on our deck out by the jacuzzi, I think we’ll feed it to the goats this month.  We’ve certainly gotten our money’s worth, considering it has amused us since November!

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Jenna has gone from ‘help me’ annoyance with Bindi coming into her kennel to tolerance to something that looks a little like happiness for the snuggly visitor.   They do nap together but always wake up when they hear me sneaking up on them with my camera.

Friends came over for lunch and a farm tour (who can resist lambs and kids??) the other day.  Since my husband works from our living room, I entertained in the greenhouse.  I made roast beef and boursin cheese sandwiches with buttercrunch lettuce right from our greenhouse bed, lemon pasta salad and avocado with blood orange vinegarette.  My friend Kathleen brought a bottle of her homemade wine.  My friend Lora brought chunky brownies with a ganache frosting that should be it’s own food group.  She provided this photo.  Don’t we know how to party in the middle of the week?

This season has been crazy.  We had ten degree weather early December and it was in the 70’s last week.  After two solid weeks of unseasonably warm weather, our daffodils have decided it’s time to show themselves.  I’m not complaining, I’m just kind of wanting to dye eggs for some reason.

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I spent a few hours yesterday potting up tomato seedings.  We live in gardening zone 7 and the greenhouse allows us to get a jump on seed starting for our area.  We grow only heirlooms for a few reasons; they taste so much better than hybrids, my customers at the farmer’s market want them, and you can save their seeds to plant next year.

If more than one plant comes up in a single tray compartment, I take my tiny sewing scissors and cut two of the three.  If you try to pull the other two out, you run the risk of damaging the roots of the plant you want to keep.

When your plants have three sets of leaves, it’s time to transplant them.  It took five weeks from the day I planted the seeds for the plants to get to transplant height.

We’re still two months from our last frost date so these plants are going into one cup sized peat pots.  I write right on the pots with a sharpie.  These are brandywine tomatoes (BW).  I’m also experimenting this year with wooden swizzle stick plant markers.  I’m writing on those and sealing my writing with clear nail polish.  We’ll see how it goes.

Before you try to remove them from their compartment cells, water thoroughly.  This will hold the roots in the potting medium and make the plant easy to remove.  I use a fork to remove the plant from the cell and place it into the peat pot.  Never touch the stem of a plant, just the dirt and leaves if you must.  For tomatoes, it’s important to plant them as deep as possible.  The stems will grow more roots and improve the stability of your plants.  I fill the pot with a 50/50 mixture of seed starting mix and potting soil with a few Soil Moist crystals thrown in to help maintain moisture.  They’re hard to find and expensive but we use them.  I’ve found them both online and in a very upscale garden center (not near here!).

It’s very satisfying to grow your own food.  Go ahead and give this a try, you know you want to!

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Hermione’s little boy is getting bigger.  He’s much softer than the wooly lambs, like a puppy.  Jenna finds him fascinating.  She ignores the adult goats but keeps close watch on the kids for some reason.

Sometimes we need to move a single sheep from our large pasture to the small one across our driveway.  For instance, to keep an eye on an injury or to separate our ram from the ewes.  Even with our border collie Jenna’s help, it’s near impossible to separate just one from the flock so we usually just have her move them all to the small pasture where it’s easier to control their movement.  From there we just let them out one by one until the only one left is the targeted sheep.  It’s a potentially dangerous move because the flock is left to run amok until we’ve finished sorting.  Luckily, they see the pasture gate and head straight for it.  This shot is from the outside of the large pasture.  Good sheep!

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Our upstairs has two bedrooms and a full bath.  It’s our girls’ floor for when they visit.  My husband and I heard something clacking around on the hardwood floor in our entryway and discovered Bindi had procured a new cat toy.  Evidently a really fun one!  I was wondering why I hadn’t heard her knock over the toothbrush holder or bat it down the stairs.  She apparently selected the lovely green one from the holder with her teeth (it was still standing) and carried it downstairs.  Girls, if you’re reading this, someone needs a new toothbrush.