Free Pattern

My first knit design - Quick Knit Coasters - is now available as a free PDF download! Enjoy and let me know what you think (and send pics!)

You can download the PDF from my Ravelry store or on our Market page.

Big Spike Hammer

Cody & Brady & the fence

The fence is done.

(let me repeat that ...)

The fence is done.

(the more I say it, the sweeter it sounds)

Yes, it's true.  Brady & Cody finished the last 1/3 of the fence, putting us thismuchcloser to owning a horse or some form of livestock larger than bees or chickens.

Amanda zipping by on the tractor

We're almost finished preparing the farm for winter - all that remains is to wind-shield the hives.  Then we wish them good luck and leave them to fend for themselves in the coming harsh winter days. A cruel reality of farm life.  By comparison the chickens are high-maintenance divas - they have a heater base for their waterers.  You truly can't appreciate the value of this contraption until you've spent a winter thawing out chicken waterers in the bathtub.

DIY Chickens

Speaking of the chickens, egg production is starting to pick up again, which is odd considering that they're supposed to slow down in the winter.  However, we're using this surge in surplus to begin our next grand experiment I've named "DIY Chickens".  Soon after the holidays we'll try our hand at hatching our own batch of Golden Comet chicks.  After some research we've decided that the automatic egg turner is definitely a must-have considering how our schedules get a bit haywire at times.  If all goes well our basement will become a temporary brooder in February shortly after the Super Bowl.

Pattern Testing

The sock pattern is in test mode as we speak, but I have another quick knit pattern to publish within the next few days - stay tuned!

Coming Up

Finish band website, finish sock pattern, winterize hives.

Merry Christmas from
Brady, Selena, Amanda, Cody, Katy & Buddy! 

Cabin Home on the Hill

Brady's gone deer hunting.  Selena's gone knitting.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) jokes about the size of her yarn stash and her insight into stash management (basically, hide it in every nook & cranny of the house and pray to the yarn gods that you don't wind up on one of those hoarding shows on TV).  My stash is miniscule in comparison, but large enough for those times when I feel the urge to "knit something".  Which is most of the time.  At least that's what Brady says.

So, while Brady's gone for deer season and the farm is relatively quiet in late-November, I'm working on various Christmas gifting projects and thinking about all the things I should be doing instead of knitting (which fortunately doesn't bother me so much).

The kids and I will meet up with Brady at the cabin for a few days.  I'm thinking this will be a good time to get serious about that sock pattern I keep threatening promising to post on the blog.  Which means I really need to get serious about taking better pics.  The Droid for all its splendor simply sucks as a camera.  And while "practicing" with the good camera in Nashville I somehow messed up the settings so all the pictures look washed out and fuzzy.  And my little digital cam seems to have an issue with the battery connection.  I'm cursed when it comes to technology.

So, I should soon have a pattern with halfway-decent photos coming soon to the blog.  And the new Massie Creek website will be up and running within the next week or so (don't worry, someone else took the band pics).

Coming Up

Finish band website, work on sock pattern, winterize hives.

The Fields Have Turned Brown

I know what you're thinking.  You're imagining a horrific bee massacre at the hands of one of our nocturnal farm creatures.  No, it's just the aftermath of "consolidation day" in the beeyard.  We combined the weaker colonies and ended up with a total of nine hives with (hopefully) plenty of honey to survive the coming winter.  The bees weren't too receptive to our relocation plan - we had to hide indoors the rest of the day. 

The chickens have nearly stopped laying altogether.  Our neighbor has the same issue with her chickens.  We assume that we have a predator that keeps the hens stressed out.  Brady set out traps but no captives yet. I think they're in the middle of a molt - most of them have bald spots and feathers are scattered everywhere.  If they don't finish their molt within the next couple weeks I'll have to knit up some hen-sweaters!

You probably noticed a new page on the blog.  I'm planning an online farm store in the very near future.  Plus I wanted to see how the blog template would handle it.  Still experimenting with what to offer, how to offer it, etc.  Things like knitting patterns will obviously be downloadables, but tangible wares are a whole different matter.  That's when we gotta start thinking about storefronts, shopping carts, online payments and inventory.  Maybe it will be a short learning curve.   So, in the very near future we'll have a little practice go-round with a pattern download.  It'll be free, of course.  :)

Massie Creek Bluegass Band is now taking bookings for 2012! Please contact us at smithscreekfarm@gmail.com for more information.  Website coming soon!

Don't forget to sign up for The Buzz!  Get email notifications when we post a new blog entry.  Of course we don't sell your email address to anyone.  Unless you want us to.  Just let us know.

Coming Up

Clean coops, band practice, band website & photo shoot, finish Christmas projects

Mobile

So this is our first entry by phone.  I guess you could say we're phoning it in

We had a late season hail storm this afternoon.  Seasonal growls. Katy hid under her blanket until it passed.

Not sure if the pictures uploaded correctly.  And I'm also not too keen on making a long entry tapping on this tiny keyboard.  Longer review coming soon.

Down the Road

The Cleverly Trio

The Smiths are a traveling bunch!

After a couple weeks of packing, traveling, unpacking, laundry, packing, traveling (you get the idea) we're finally back home to relax, regroup, and resume fall chores at the farm.  But boy did we have fun!  :)

Nashville - IBMA

Who wouldn't love a whole week of bluegrass and honky tonks?  The weather was beautiful (note to self - it's not too late in the season for shorts at IBMA) and the music was delicious!  Thanks to Brandi Hart and the Dixie Bee-Liners for letting us stalk them all over town.  And we enjoyed the awards show on Thursday night although our friends Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers didn't bring home the Emerging Artist trophy (robbed!).  The post-awards show at the Hard Rock Cafe was incredible with a triple scoop of Monroeville, The Boxcars, and The Cleverlys. And Fan Fest was better than ever!  Thanks to The Cleverlys for bringing us backstage.  I know who I'm voting for Entertainer of the Year!  :)

Pittsburgh - Steelers vs. Titans

We dragged ourselves home from NashVegas and after a brief layover at the farm we headed out to Pittsburgh to take the kids to their first Steelers game.  :)  The weather was absolutely perfect and the Steelers came through with a routing of the visiting Titans!

Brady & Cody meet Emmanual Sanders #88

 

Odds & Ends

Back to the farm...

Now that the temps are hanging around the 70º mark we're making plans for winding down the farm for its winter nap.  The field needs to be mowed one last time, the coops prepped for cold weather, and the beehives need a wind break.  Interesting note - the bees have no problem with cold temperatures but can't survive the wind.  So, we need to construct a break from the northern winds - hay bales, cardboard hive wrap, etc.  And their fall feeding is coming to an end quickly.  The winter survival rate for honeybees in Ohio is around 40% - a depressing number when you look out over the beeyard and try to imagine starting the new year with fewer hives.

High Tech Rednecks

Brady has a new iPhone and I inherited his Droid, which means I can now do mobile blogging!  :)  Well, I could if I didn't have a chihuahua in my lap every time I sit down.  Anyway, I've downloaded the Blogger app and within the next few days I'll send out my first attempt at a blog-on-the-run. 

Coming Up

Clean coops, consolidate bee hives, fencing, band practice

Summer's Gone

Katy & Brady

Welcome to fall.

Life has been busy on the farm the past couple months, which explains the gap between posts.  Here's a recap of all the activity on the farm since then.

Fence Project

Thanks to cooler weather and a lot of help from our buddy Timbo the fence project has resumed.  Brady is happy to report that all the posts are in the ground.  Only the fence wire and barbed wire remain to be done before winter arrives.

Bees
Brady did a quick "hive tipping" check and found several light ones in the bee-yard.  Those colonies probably won't have enough honey to survive the winter.  Within the next few weeks we'll consolidate colonies and start winterizing the remaining hives.

Since this is our first year beekeeping together we don't have any surplus honey for sale, although we probably will have enough for a few Christmas presents.  :)

It's the last of the goldenrod flow and while the bees are having the best time of their tiny bee lives we're suffering daily with the pains of allergy sinus pressure.  

Chickens

The girls have recovered after their big win at the county fair. We only have eight good layers left after the raccoon attack.  Brady trapped two (well-fed) intruders beside the barn and since then no more poachers.  But egg production dropped dramatically in the wake of the attacks and the onset of cooler weather.  We sell out as soon as we put out the for sale sign.  If anyone has any young Golden Comet hens for sale please contact us at smithscreekfarm@gmail.com.

Business Cards

We now have cards and frig magnets!  Next up - egg carton stickers!

Knitting

Now taking orders for Christmas presents and other specialty items.  Get your order in early to ensure delivery before the holidays!

The Band

Massie Creek Bluegrass Band will soon be coming to an area near you.  More information (and website) coming soon.

What's Blooming

Goldenrod and some late season roses in the back yard

Coming Up

Clean coops, consolidate bee hives, fencing, band practice