Missing Willow Farm

Nope, it’s an otter.  Three to be exact.  How do I know when they look exactly like beavers when they are swimming?  Because beavers are nocturnal and otters swim openly in daylight, usually in groups.  Beavers are considered nuisance animals, Otters are protected in our state.  Beavers eat vegetation, they are particularly fond of willow 😦  Otters eat the fish in our pond.  I am like an encyclopedia of rhodents vs. weasels after a few years of beaver wars.  sigh.

Here are our farm goals for 2011.

1. Grow ghost peppers.  They are the hottest peppers on the planet.  We started way late last year with two seeds (!) and have a plant with a few blossoms that we’re babying in the dining room.  Need to make this happen in 2011.

2. Continue to improve our soil.  This will probably mean a huge expensive compost delivery this Spring, but will pay off in the long run with better yields.

3. More raised beds.  Both inside the greenhouse and out.  My husband gave me permission to add this one cuz he’s the builder in the family.

4. Grow a pumpkin.  Just one.  I’m not greedy.  I try and fail every year.  The conventional farmers that bring monster pumpkins to the farmers market use a very nasty bug spray.  I am thinking about getting a license to use it (far far away from our ‘organic’ garden) just to have the satisfaction of growing one myself.

5. Eat an apple from our trees.  We had two apples in our “orchard” last year.  The deer got one and the other one fell on the ground.  I made a pomander out of it.  No need to waste.

6. Pave the driveway.  We’ve been ‘on the list’ for months now.  Maybe we’ll make it to the top this year?

7. More sheep less goats.  I’ll never be able to sell my cheese so we only need enough milkers to keep ourselves in chevre.  Unless we want to get another oberhasli goat.  I’m just sayin…

8. Kitty.  This may happen sooner than later.  I miss having a cat around.

9. A new deck?  It’s gonna happen, the only question is when.  We have all kinds of fancy general ideas about what we want and will build it ourselves.  We just need to finalize our plans and to find the time to do it.

Happy new year!

 

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We enjoyed having our kids visit for the holidays. Last year, we met them in Las Vegas the day after Christmas.  This year, it was Christmas on the farm.  Tracy was the only one who felt well enough to go exploring.  She made sure to pet every single animal and was attacked by our goats – aka feeding time.   We’re already looking forward to their next visit!

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!