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.

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.

Best In Show

The girls won BEST IN SHOW at the Greene County Fair!!!!  And their white eggs won second place!  Tonight they celebrated with an extra scoop of corn.  :)  We're so proud of our girls!

My knitting won 2nd place (not bad for a lost and UFO project).  Brady's amazing sky picture was definitely the best of the bunch on display - which was by far the most populated competition - and we learned a lot about showing our honey products (creamed honey is the way to go).  Next year we'll definitely overwhelm the rest of the competition!

Hot Chicks

It's just plain hot.

Today's high temp hovered around 100º with a heat index of 115º.  Let me repeat that ... a heat index of 115º. Outdoor chores have been limited to essential tasks until the weather becomes a bit more bearable.

The GC Rangers have started paying for their keep.  Egg sales at Smith's Creek Farm now pay for their feed and we chip in for the corn and bedding.  We have a few regular customers but sales have dropped off this week (probably due to the heat).

Sadly, we've lost some of our GC Ranger flock to predators on the farm.  Brady thinks raccoons and/or skunks are the culprits - a raccoon met his fate on the road in front of the house, and last week a skunk met his under the wheels of Brady's Silverado.  The heat has also been a negative factor in egg production. They could be in the beginning stages of a heat/stress-induced molt.  We'll track their condition the next few days.

Meanwhile, we've acquired a stray bantam rooster from the neighbor:
 

The stray

He doesn't contribute to egg production and the GC rooster doesn't seem to like him, but he is awfully cute.  :)

It's Fair Time!

We're finishing work on our entries for the Greene County Fair.  Brady will enter a couple of his stunning sky pictures and our first batch of Smith's Creek Farm honey.  I finished a UFO silk lace scarf last week and hopefully will have it blocked in time (thanks to Christie for the blocking wires!).  And finally, the girls will enter 2 dozen eggs - wouldn't it be cool to say we have award-winning farm fresh eggs?

UFO scarf (unblocked)

Garden Disaster

Despite our best efforts, the garden failed this year.  Our neighbor's garden also became a nest of sunburned weeds.  The county extension office said our spring floods washed all the nutrients from the topsoil.  Next year we will add a ton of fertilizer before planting.  But this year's bounty will never be - unless we try potatoes or some other fall-weather crop. 

What's Blooming

Weeds (lol)

Coming Up

Finish fair entries, hive inspection, business cards