Homestead Hill Farm: Sunday Walkabout 1-29

herdin' sheep
-TLWomack photo

Just another week here on the hill…

January

There’s nothing like late January to challenge one’s creativity. For without some serious thought and creativity, I can assure you that the sentence alone would be the entire post for this week. Really.

No, it hasn’t been real exciting around here this week. Which, quite honestly, is a good thing.

Excitement generally brings with it the potential for disaster and I could certainly do without any further disasters. And, while it doesn’t make good copy, it does count as progress and/or success. So, that’s good.

Blake came over to meet the lambs

and Karl checked out the tractor

sea of mud

The week started off in the soggiest of ways. Monday was nothing short of a deluge. All. Day. Long. It really felt like we should think about building an ark. The barnyard became a soupy, gloppy, smelly mess. The lambs barely ventured outdoors at all. When they did, one actually got stuck in the mud and had to be rescued. Actually pull her up out of the muck. Don’t worry...she’s fine. But, I can honestly say THAT never happened before!

poor muddy baby

The mud presented another challenge in the hen yard. It has been the Boss’ intention to move the hens to a different location for quite some time. However, between weather, other obligations and illness, the house was still sitting where it had been for...well, far too long.

doing electrical work for the big hen move

time to move the hens

In order to move the henhouse, it is preferable to have all the hens inside the house. That means waiting for night to fall. Working in the dark creates a set of challenges that you never encounter in the light of day and makes everything just a little more complicated. Headlamps and headlights are great, but there’s nothing like daylight when it comes to actually seeing what you’re doing.

dogs and cats on standby

He figured he would use the farm truck to pull the horse-trailer-turned-henhouse out of the muck and into the upper garden. It was just a matter of hooking it up (in the dark) and moving it about 75 feet. Not a big deal, right?

lining up

We lined it up, hooked it up and he began to pull...

hookin' up

Wheels spun. Mud flew. The henhouse barely budged.

He tried again. Same thing.

Oh, bother.

not a happy expression

The farm truck sits fairly high and the backend of the trailer was tipped down into the mud and he was plowing into the muck, with every pull the pile got higher. We were going nowhere fast.

bogged down

Time for a change up.

Unhook the dodge, change up the implements on the tractor (a little shoveling on my part) and try again.

tractor to the rescue

Get it hooked up, do a little maneuvering, give a good pull…and…

SUCCESS!

in place, finally
(man, it's dark!)

Now, there are those who have laughed at our “cute, little tractor” and made disparaging remarks but, it does get the job done. Gotta love John Deere.

early morning hens

Now that the hens are moved, we hope that egg production will be on the increase. Because, it certainly couldn’t get much worse than it has been this winter. Every couple of years we go through a period of awful egg production and we have yet to figure out the exact cause. We’ve tried everything---short of ranting in a threatening manner while wielding a hatchet. (if past experiences are any indicator that has little to no effect) But, with the days getting longer and fresh “green” matter to forage, the hens have no further excuses.

You're on notice, hens!

And, speaking of greens...

There were actually greens to pick for Winter Sales this week! I was surprised just how much there was to harvest.

picking spinach in the hoophouse in January

I must admit, the hoophouses aren’t looking as amazing as they have in years past. My lack of enthusiasm is partly to blame. Winter production is great, in theory, but quite honestly, it’s not always as appealing as say...hibernation. After working and harvesting all summer, I’m not real sure I want to think about working and harvesting all winter.

spinach

mixed kale

arugula flowers

And, Winter production has a whole different set of weather-related issues. Each year is something different. This year’s warm-ish temperatures have been an issue. Growth has been somewhat sporadic and the constantly shifting temperatures have caused a lot of stress-related loss. Except for the chickweed. Oh, the chickweed...If I could just figure out how to market it, we have a never-ending supply. We have tried just about everything to eradicate it. And, nothing seems to work long-term. So, maybe I should research the nutritive values and begin to promote it as a “superfood”. Chickweed smoothies, anyone?

chickweed is pretty,
but, what a pain!

Chickweed aside, our customers are awesome and the sales total was pretty impressive. To get everything delivered in a short period of time is always a challenge. And, while we did make one mistake (So very sorry, Carolyn!) it was a successful morning. And, successes keep us going…contributing to our psychological well-being as well as the bank balance.

We ended the week with a birthday supper celebration with all the kids at Blondie and Tbone’s new house. It was great! My daughters treated me to homemade cake and caramel icecream AND presents.