Down on the Crooked Road

Sunrise at the beach

There's no excuse for not blogging.  I know I should write something more often but, well, things happen.  I'll explain later.  I'm sure it'll sound like a lot of excuses.  I prefer to call them valid reasons.  :)

Vacation

First of all, we all enjoyed a well-deserved week away from farm chores at Virginia Beach.  The house was beautiful, the weather spectacular, and the water just perfect.  Then, we experienced the road trip from hell trying to get back home on June 30th - the day after the storm of the century tore through the eastern US, pretty much following the path between home and Virginia.  Most of West Virginia was without power, and the rare gas stations with power were inundated with hundreds of cars lined up at the pumps.  Brady did a valiant job of navigating the family truckster through it all and we arrived home that night safe and sound. 

Drought

As if the storm wasn't enough, this remarkable summer has taken its toll on us with a double whammy - record-breaking drought and heat. We lost 15 chickens while we were away, and a handful more since then.  Brady & Cody worked on more ventilation in the barn which provided a bit more relief for our poor girls.

Garden

We've learned a lot from this year's garden.  First of all, the spring fertilization helped tremendously.  Our tomatoes and cucumbers thrived (well, as best as plants can thrive in a drought).  This fall we'll apply a good old fashioned manure treatment.  Second, the plants seem to do better when planted in square plots instead of rows.  While the tomatoes did great, the beans and corn looked anemic.  Third, weeds took over - a preemergent weed treatment is in order for next spring.  I've put up about 3 gallons of tomato sauce in the freezer and could probably put up a few more batches before the season's over.


Fair

Although the girls were still in recovery from the miserable month of July, they still managed to take home not one, not two, not three, but FOUR ribbons at the Greene County Fair!  We swept the brown, white and green egg categories and took home the Best in Show ribbon for the SECOND year in a row!  :)  Now we have our eye on the next level - next year's Ohio State Fair!



Brady's honey got the blue ribbon!



And my white quilt got one too

The knitting took home 2nd place.  Still haven't figured out this blue ribbon knitting thing in Greene County.  Seems to be biased toward itchy acrylic yarn.  Oh well.  Lots of knit talk to catch up on but I'll save that for another post.

SCF Poultry & Eggs

While relaxing on the sands of the Atlantic Ocean, Brady and I had time and frame of mind to discuss where we want to take the farm business.  The egg side of things seems to be going well (despite the miserable summer - see above) and we have a good operation in place for breeding and raising flocks.  So, we decided to invest in heritage breeds for hatching eggs and baby chicks. 

We roll at one speed and one speed only - maximum overdrive.  Once we made the decision we plunged right in.  Within a few days after vacation we had brooders full of Buckeye and Black Copper Maran chicks.  And Brady is putting the finishing touches on our nursery coop.



There's a long story about how this coop came to be, which shall be documented in a future post.  I promise.

We also became NPIP certified, which means our chickens are clean and healthy.  I'll add the logo to our site, along with lots of other stuff on my to-do list. I promise. 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  Lots and lots going on around here, and the blog gets behind as a result.  In the coming days I'll give this spot more attention so it will really reflect what our little farm business is all about.  I promise.  Really, I do.

Coming Up
Finish new coop, clean up basement, website updates, honey harvest (oh yeah, that's happening soon!)

What's Blooming
Weeds!  Seems to be the only thing that grows in this misery of a summer, lol.