True Life Blues

Brady & Katy have
Steelers Blues this season

It's been a long time.  I know.  I'm sorry.  But things took priority over blogging and, well, there's a lot to catch up on since April (yowza, April - seven long months ago!).

I'm also blaming technology for the delay.  I love to post pictures along with the post but the only reliable camera I have is on my phone and I want a quick & easy way to transfer pics from the phone to the blog.  So, I get this great idea in my head and try to research it but I keep getting interrupted before I get a good solution worked out.  Long story short - I'm still doing it the old slow way.  For now.

Since my intent is to get caught up quickly on blogging, I'll just give you the highlights of the past seven (gulp) months:

1.  We had a flood.  Everyone survived but the fence was damaged.
2.  We had a long long winter that wouldn't go away.  We woke up to frost on Mother's Day and had to wait until Memorial Day weekend to plant the garden.
3.  The garden was bountiful this year, especially the cucumbers.
4.  We vacayed at Gulf Shores this year with a side trip to New Orleans.
5.  We won a boatload of ribbons at the Greene County and Montgomery County fairs this year.  Our eggs took Best in Show for the 3rd year in a row!  My knitting won a blue ribbon at Greene County.  And our honey ... well, our honey won all kinds of ribbons!
6.  Brady's a pickle-making machine.  (Thank goodness the cucumbers did so well)  His dill pickles (made from an old family Lithuanian recipe) won ribbons in both fairs.
7.  We're planning to enter the state fair next year.  :)
8.  The local paper did a story on our fair ribbons, our farm, and our self-sustaining lifestyle.  Although I joke with Brady that people probably think we're doomsday preppers.
9.  We managed to make more trips to our place in West Virginia this year.  We definitely need to do more next year.
10.  Winter has come early with the first snowfall this week.  I miss summer already.

The baby goats are growing by leaps & bounds.  Tattooing is done and once they get their final shots they're ready for sale.  Keep watching for more info.

So, that's the condensed version of our summer.  Once I get the pics-to-blog thing figured out I'll post some with more detailed stories of the summer highlights.

Socks about Town

Sitting under an apple tree while Brady treasure hunts near a 150 year old homestead.

Been a long summer with no blog entries. Planning to catch up on that this week. 

Struttin' to Ferrum

As I'm working on this blog entry, the news came across the 'net that George Jones passed away this morning in Nashville.  Brady took me to my first George concert last month in Muncie.  So sad to think that we were one of the last people to see him perform, but so happy to have those memories.

Brady & George back in the day...

George Jones, Muncie IN, 3/16/2013

Brady at the Possum's bus, Muncie, IN 3/16/2013

Back to the blog...

Hunter & Tom

This is the winter that will not end.

For just about the entire month of April we've endured freezing cold days followed by one or two warm days of hope, only to plunge back to the freezing arms of winter.  I'm thinking we need some time apart, lol.

On those rare "spring"-ish days we let the baby goats out to stretch their legs and explore.  Hunter has a keen fascination with the turkeys, Tom & Turk (although neither answer to their names - turkeys are snobs).  At first he was terrified of these strange large chickens with the funny tails but  eventually he found that if he took a running start at them they would run away, gobbling and fluttering in some form of turkey expletives.  :)

Speaking of turkeys, it's that time of year again.  I doubt that Tom & Turk know just how good their lives are.

We're supposed to have more seasonable temperatures starting this weekend.  At least that's the hope.  Looks like we totally missed out on a "spring" this year.  Last year the seasons all seemed about a month early but this year - well, this year will be delayed a while until winter finally lets go.  Which means the list of projects to do "when it warms up" keeps getting longer and longer.  Take mowing, for example.  Our lawn suddenly popped up despite the frost yet I just can't bring myself to mow the yard while bundled up in a winter coat and gloves.  There's something just not right about it.  So, if winter keeps me from wrangling the yard back in shape with the riding mower, I'll turn Brady loose with the tractor and bushhog.  :)  One way or the other it'll get done.  Eventually.  When it warms up.

The Bees

Speaking of our winter that won't end, we've yet to inspect our hives after their (on-going) winter rest.  Across the state winter loss numbers are running at around 50-60%.  On the warm days we see our bees hovering over the (millions of) dandelions in the back yard so we know at least some of them have survived into "spring".

The Goats

The girls still need a name!  I'm thinking about some cutesy twin names (Sugar & Spice?) but nothing sounds good.  So for now they're just "the girls".  We need to turn in their registration paperwork soon so we need to settle on something!

Sugar Maple Festival

It was too cold for a parade, but we did it anyway.

Brady & Cody are in there

My reward?  Yummy alpaca yarn from down the road at Stewart Heritage Farms.

Can't wait until the next parade!  ;)

Coming Up

Get started on that to-do list, name the baby girl goats, registration paperwork, hive inspection

What's Blooming

Dandelions and tree pollen (achoo!)

Don't This Road Look Rough & Rocky

It's been a rough few weeks on the farm.

For the second time in as many weeks someone has ended up in our front yard instead of the pavement.  One driver slid off the icy road and into our utility pole (the driver wasn't injured, thank goodness).  Besides the ruts in our yard and various pieces of his bumper scattered about, our only "damages" were an hour without power while the utility crews repaired the blown transformer.

However, our eggs for sale sign suffered damages last night by a careless driver.  Around 11pm we heard tires squealing and rushed outside to make sure there wasn't another mishap with our utility pole.  Thankfully there wasn't, but our egg sign was damaged and there were ruts through our yard and the neighbor's yard.  Looks like someone was a bit reckless (and speeding) and lost control.  This time the weather wasn't to blame.

One of the major disadvantages of living along a major highway (besides the out-of-control drivers - hey, OSP, can't you do something about that?) is the occasional passerby who absolutely positively cannot hold onto their trash one moment longer and MUST get it out of the car THIS VERY MINUTE.  The soda cans, beer bottles, fast food bags - all end up in our yard.  Sometimes I really don't understand people who have no problems tossing a bag of trash out along the highway.  Oh, and to the person whose underwear ended up in my yard - stay classy, girl.

Baby Chicks

We still have Delaware chicks available.  Contact us for pricing and availability.  Now that the weather has (finally) warmed up we'll move them to the larger outdoor coop.

Baby Goats

The babies are growing like weeds.  And they love climbing on anything and everything, especially on Momma's back!  :)  They're due for their first checkup & shots in the next couple weeks. More pictures coming soon...

Coming Up
More website updates, general cleanup around the farm, vet visits, beehive spring checkup

Socks About Town

King Cake socks and trap shooting at the Greene Co Fish & Game Club

Snow Covered Mound

Winter's not ready to let go.  We had a late season snow last night - around 6".  The babies are doing fine, staying inside where it's warm & dry and mommies can take care of them.

Here's a few pics from the farm...

And it's supposed to be in the 50's by the weekend.  Hopefully this will be the last of the white stuff for a long while.  C'mon spring!  :)

Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby

Baby Girl (twin) #1

Baby Girl (twin) #2

Guess what we've been up to.

Lots and lots going on around here despite the cold remnants of winter.  Our baby goats arrived on March 1!  Moms & babies doing well.

And of all things, the baby chicks decided to make their debut on the same day!  We have Delaware chicks for sale while supplies last.

More info soon!

Delaware chicks!

Baby Boy (Hunter)

Dream of a Miner's Child

Time flies... then suddenly it's February and all those resolutions are so last month.  Like my commitment to regular blog posts.  :)

In the past month we've endured ice & snow and frozen waterers and restless pigs and cabin fever and technology fails.  Both our laptops decided to lay down & die last month, just when we needed web access on something more substantial than an iPhone to update classes & blogs & farm market info.  So, my dear sweet adoring lovable gracious husband Brady (too many adjectives?) took care of the situation - now we're back in business.

Which means, I still need to update the website with all the new info about hatching eggs and chicks etc.  I'll work on that this week.  I promise.  No, really, I promise it'll happen.

Coming Up
Website updates!!!  Nothing else, just website updates.

Brand New Shoes

Yes, it's been a long time. But that was last year.

It's a brand new year with brand new hopes, brand new opportunities, and brand new places to go.  There are so many things we want to do ... as soon as it warms up!

In the meanwhile, here's a quick recap of the past four months:

IBMA
We attended the last-ever (for now) IBMA Nashville conference.    The high point of the week was being there when our friends Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers received the award for Emerging Artists of the Year!!!  The low point was knowing that this would be our last IBMA WoB for the time being.  Raleigh just ain't Nashville.

Music
Massie Creek has reemerged with a couple of appearances at BellHop Cafe in Bellbrook.  We should have a new banjo player and new set list ready to debut this spring - check back for more information (and get ready for the inevitable social media blitz!).

Honey
We're almost all sold out of this year's honey harvest.  Get yours before it's all gone!

Winter's Arrival
We had a mild winter last year so we didn't rush into any preparations for this year's weather.  Mistake!  The December 26, 2012 Blizzard hit us hard - temps are in the 10's - 20's and will stay there for several more days.  Oh how I long for spring!  Fortunately, we were able to winterized the coops and goat shed so everyone should be comfy despite the rugged temps.

There's probably more and more I could write about but the point of this post is to get back on a regular posting schedule.  More soon!

Happy New Year from Smith Creek Farm!

  

Wild Mountain Honey

Our first honey harvest!

We finally finished our first honey harvest - almost 100lbs!  Our first go at the extractor was interesting - we have a "starter" kit with a 3-frame extractor, and with four full boxes of honey (40 frames total) that makes for a lot of spins and one tiring afternoon.   

It's a perfect amber color - definitely a keeper for next year's fair.  :)  Check our Market page for prices and availability.



Wilbur & the gang of 3

Wilbur is doing great.  He's putting more pressure on his hind leg and his boo-boos have healed nicely.  But, now that he has a name it makes it that much harder to accept his ultimate fate in the circle of life on the farm.  So, we now have three piglets:

The other two don't have names.  One will be sold and one will be, well, you know (bacon).

Coop d'Ville

The blue coop is 90% completed!!  :)  All that's left is to build out the roosts, nesting boxes, and outside pens.  Brady finished the gutters and water tank yesterday, and the baby chicks have settled into their lush new accommodations. 

Fall on the Farm Party

Brady and I are planning a little fall bluegrass party on the farm next month.  Keep watch here for more information!

Coming Up
Website updates, party planning

What's Blooming
Purple sage (bees are loving it!), butterfly bushes (last of the season), and a rose bush is blooming in the back yard.  Oh, and the hummingbirds are back!

The Lucky One

Poor little thing thought he could fly.

He jumped out of a truck headed to market yesterday and landed on a busy highway.  When Brady saw that the little pig survived his leap to freedom he brought him to the farm.  Oh, and we named him Wilbur (first in flight!).  Little Wilbur suffered a bloody nose, scrapes and bruises and an injured hind leg.  We're not sure if he'll survive but we'll make him as comfortable as possible. 

Think I'll go to ravelry.com and look for a pig sweater pattern ...

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.

Socks About Town

Pink socks - my 1st knit sale. :) New blog post coming soon (promise!). Lots of activity to write about - vacation, storms, drought, chickens and more.

Pretty Polly

Bees!

Summer has hit us full force. Typical of the season, life on the farm runs ahead at top speed while we try to carve more fun time out of the daily chore schedule.  We manage to strike a balance between the two although we secretly wish for those childhood summers long ago when days were lazy and free time was plentiful.

In that spirit of sweet summer freedom, we packed the truck for a long weekend stay in our West Virginia home.  There it always feels like summer camp - the cool wooded trails, endless nights around the fire playing music and telling stories, and neverending stillness.  Things went according to plan until Brady noticed a few bees showing particular interest in the corner of the house.  Further investigation revealed the beginning of a swarm taking up residence and building comb beneath the floor.  Yikes!  After a few hours and a quick trip to find a hive box (thanks to Indian Run Apiary!) Brady secured another addition to our apiary.  Yes, we traveled back home with thousands of angry bees who probably didn't want to leave West Virginia in the first place.  :)

The garden is coming along despite the daily battle with weeds and watering.  So our minds start to wander to the fun things we thought about those long winter months.  This weekend we started our first batch of homebrewed red ale (tentatively titled Smith's Red Beagle Ale). Brady & Cody began building more hive frames using his cool new tool - a stapler attachment to the air compressor.

Cody the builder

I finished Wingspan using Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dye sock yarn. 

Unblocked Wingspan

For years (and years and years) I've dreamed of having an art/craft/music studio space, a comfy creative place for "want to do" versus "have to do".  I think I'll set up something in Amanda's room since Brady's claimed the basement.  Hopefully I can start putting it all together within the next few days.

In West Virginia we saw more hummingbirds than flies.  But here in Ohio they are few and far between. 

Coming Up

Finish goat website, finish sock pattern (another last call), update band website, order band business cards, interview banjo players

Socks About Town

Brady's teaching a gun class, Amanda's reading, Cody's fishing and I'm knitting by the lake at Greene Co Fish & Game Club on a glorious afternoon.

Blackberry Blossom

West Virginia in bloom

Brady had a successful turkey hunting season at our West Virginia mountain home and on this cold and drizzly Mother's Day I slow-cooked the breast meat and made a (ginormous) pot of turkey & amish noodles.  Perfect comfort food for a dreary day!

The garden is half planted - we put out the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers before running out of steam.  Brady spent the better part of the day tilling, retilling and clearing grass clods. The kids did a quick soil test and found our garden area wasn't just bad, it was pitiful!  No wonder last year's garden failed miserably.  So, two bags of fertilizer and a quick till-under later, we finally started planting until our backs and allergies got the better of us.  By the end of the weekend we'll have everything finished.

Brady leaving flooded WV

May showers bring - a blackberry bounty!!!  We should be able to gather enough between the farm and WV for cakes and canning and freezing.  :P

Yes, Brady spotted Canadian goslings on the farm last week.  :)

Spotted on the farm

There is a Time

The babies

We're still here.  Just sidelined for a few weeks.

I know I've said this many times before, but things have been super busy on the farm lately.  That's how it usually goes at springtime.  Here's a recap of everything that's taken up our time and attention since our last post (gulp) 7 weeks ago! Oh dear, has it really been that long?

DIY Chickens

The Delawares hatched out the first week of April and have taken up residency in the "starter coop" next to the GC Rangers.  By mid-May they'll be ready to move to a larger coop.  Where that coop is located is still a mystery.  :)

After the Delaware hatching came to a close Brady loaded it with Black Copper Maran hatching eggs and a few of our own eggs. They started hatching last week but only two Marans hatched. <sigh>  Back to the drawing board.

On the positive side ... all the coop construction is completed!  Well, everything except the Delawares' next home.

The Goats

The goats are enjoying the steamy sprummer (spring/summer, which I've learned is a season that exists only in Ohio).  As for the website - I have the content, I have the pictures, and I have the site.  Unfortunately they don't all exist in the same spot at the same time.  Time to get busy on that project.

The Bees

We opened the hives sometime in late March/early April and found only three that didn't survive the winter.  We forgot a major step in the winterizing process - venting the hive top - which created a damp, moldy mess.  Fortunately we have several super-strong hives full of honey left!  Brady has been busy busy busy with animal control calls for bee swarms so our little apiary is starting to grow again.  Maybe this fall we will have our first honey harvest.  :)

The Band

Massie Creek had a performance in Bellbrook last week which went well despite the stormy weather.  We have a few more appearances coming up in the next few months.  Sadly, our banjo player Ron has left the band to move back to Canada and we're on the hunt for a replacement.  If you or someone you know is interested in joining Massie Creek, drop Brady a note at brady712@yahoo.com. Serious inquiries only. 

Knitting

Yep, still waiting for the sock picture for my pattern.  "Coming soon".  With everything going on the knitting projects are down to basic mindless socks - something I can set aside and pick up later without losing my place. 

So, what's been taking up all of our time you ask?  Chickens, band practice, doing taxes, chickens again, more band practice, turkey season (special heart-felt shout out to Christie for bravely volunteering to be a farm hand while Brady & I were away in our West Virginia mountain home), more chickens, and more animal jobs than you can imagine. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures lately.  It's on my list of things to work on.  That and getting on a regular blog posting schedule.  Just need the time to sit down and make it happen, lol.

Coming Up

Finish goat website, finish sock pattern (last call), update band website, order band business cards, interview banjo players, plant garden, put out hummingbird feeders (what a list!)

What's Blooming

Goldenrod (achoo!), Dame's rocket, Roses, Black Locust, Peonies (budding)

Winter's Come & Gone

We keep holding our breath, waiting for this faux spring to go away and plunge us back into the late Ohio winter we all know & dread.  But as the month of March progresses, it looks like we lucked out this year.  Actually, this feels more like the Kentucky winters I'm accustomed to.  Now the kids know why we didn't do much sledding nor ice skating. 

Most of the building is completed on the farm.  We should have the pen fences up soon and the barnyard cleared of all the scrap wood - I think a spring bonfire is in order.  :) 

Last weekend the goats had their glamor shots taken for the website. They're munching on grass in most of the pictures.  The new grass in the pasture was just to tempting to ignore! 

Brady's planning to open the beehives for their first check of the season very soon.  They're probably low on food supplies so I made up a batch of bee syrup for their feeders.  In unrelated news, area retailers report a spike in the sales of 5 lb bags of sugar.

I was just thinking the other day that I need to put out the hummingbird feeders for the season.  And get a better bird feeder - the lid pops off the old one whenever a strong wind comes along.  Or, rather, when any kind of breeze comes along.  I think it's manufactured by a bird seed company.

However - I'm planning to do very little this weekend.  It's March Madness!  I can't believe I live with a bunch of yankees who don't get into college basketball.  That sort of thing would never happen in Kentucky - they would be driven across the river and out of the state ... to Ohio.  :) 

Next weekend (March 24th to be exact) marks the first anniversary of this blog.  Wow!  A lot has changed on the farm in the past year.  Maybe I'll take some pictures to show all the changes. 

Coming Up

Finish coop fence, work on goat website, finish sock pattern, taxes (ugh)

What's Blooming

Daffodils!

Up This Hill And Down

Ellie Mae & Tootsie

Just a quick entry while there's a peaceful moment on the farm.  We added a second doe to the flock - Ellie Mae.  She and Tootsie are having a difficult time learning to share their feed but we've seen a lot of progress over the past few days.

So much going on with chickens the past couple weeks!  The basement chicks have taken up residence in the smaller coop which means we can turn the basement back into a family area again (after a thorough cleaning - dust everyhwere!) We have hatching eggs for Delaware chicks in the incubator (a heritage breed, also a key ingredient in the making of Golden Comets apparently).  And we are providing our Cuckoo Maran rooster for stud service the next week or so.  :)  Everyone's busy on the farm!

The geese are back!  We've noticed several already paired up and looking for a nesting spot.  Hopefully they'll have better luck than our pair last year. 

The goats' website is under contruction, just awaiting beauty shots (scheduled for this weekend).

Brady's Steelers Hat didn't pass the cuff test, so back to the drawing board.  Oh and I should be able to finish the sock pattern this weekend and get that published next week.


Sleeping Katy & Sock

Coming Up

Finish coop fence, photo shoot, work on goat website, finish sock pattern