Missing Willow Farm

Four footprints and a giant dragging tail… beaver!  These tracks come up from the creek all the way to our pond and there’s no evidence of a return trip.  Rassa frassa….

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The kids all made it home for Christmas and we were blessed with about 5 inches of snow.  Tracy, our oldest, is the only one who isn’t  feeling under the weather.  She was born and raised in New York and now lives in Florida so misses snow terribly.  When she woke up and saw all the snow she immediately wanted to go sledding.  Our best hill is in the pasture, so that’s where we went.  As soon as she showed up, the goats had to investigate.  Jenna got a ride or two.  Doesn’t she look terrified?  So undistinguished for a border collie to go sledding in front of sheep (but we think she secretly enjoyed the ride).  CoCo even had a turn in Tracy’s lap.  She can’t wait for the snow to melt!

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From our (messy) home to yours!

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If you’ve read my ‘about’ page, you know how our farm got its name.  Beavers took out hundreds of trees on our property, including the large expensive weeping willow tree I’ve always wanted within a week of planting it.  They had burrowed into the bank directly across the pond from our dock.  The last one was ‘removed’ April of 2008.  I called our game warden and asked him to send someone to trap and relocate them.  He said there’s no one around here who traps them, even for their pelts.  He told me they’re nuisance animals (no kidding) and suggested we shoot them.  I said I would if I had a gun!  So I went to Wal Mart.  Did you know when you buy a rifle at Wal Mart, the manager walks you to your car?  I found that interesting.  Anyway, as it turns out I’m a pretty good shot.  So’s my husband.  When we were house hunting in this area we knew we wanted water of some sort.  Either a pond or a stream large enough you couldn’t jump over it.  We got both.  One of our property boundaries feeds the Mayo river and beavers have taken up residence in the bend.  They have already taken out dozens of small trees and have started on a few large ones.  If they get it dammed, it will take out our neighbor’s creekside cabin which is just upstream.  So… we’re on the hunt again.  Since they’re nocturnal, it means going out at night in the freezing cold with a big flashlight.  Dam beavers!

Honey waits by the barn door every morning to greet me.  She starts clucking when she hears me feeding Zeus and Xena because she knows I’ll be visiting the chickens soon after.  My visit means the door to their little outdoor chicken yard will be open and their frozen waterer will be replaced with a liquid one.  The best part is I trade her last night’s dinner veggie scraps for a fresh, warm egg.  Amazing in this weather and quite a lovely trade!

Taking a breather from the flurry of activity when a new bale of hay is put out, Beatrice takes a moment to say hello.

A few months ago we transplanted some resilient potato plants that came up after our potato bed was plowed under.  They went into the new raised bed inside our greenhouse.  Since we shut down the greenhouse heater a few weeks ago, the frigid weather finally did the plants in.  Luckily, there were potatoes under the frozen plants.  We plan to dig the remaining beets and rutabagas for our holiday meal.

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Our Christmas tree kind of encroached on Jenna’s indoor space, aka her kennel.  She’s practically living under the tree right now.  She’s not allowed to run around the house because my husband is allergic to dogs so she relaxes in there when it’s too hot or cold to be outside.  I’m sure she’ll enjoy the festivities on Christmas morning, she has a front row seat!

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Our pond is spring fed so it takes a long spell of frigid weather for it to freeze.  We’ve had that spell, plus an inch of sleet.  What’s weird is there is a round spot near the center that didn’t freeze.   It’s not the deepest part of the pond right there off the dock.  Did some ducks spend the night there paddling around, keeping that spot from freezing or did an alien spacecraft beam up some of our catfish in the middle of the night?  It’s a mystery.