Farm Planning

It's a bright sunny day today after another few days of heavy rain. Last week was a hard week. My cat, Baloo, who I've had for over 17 years, died on April 25th. Her tribute page is here: http://www.equinartcreations.com/Baloo.html She was a very special part of our family and we miss her greatly. But life goes on; we're already searching for a puppy and kitten to add to the farm!

Today, John and I walked the fields. We have so many weeds growing there that we can't identify, but since they're in fields that will remain grass, and will not contain livestock, we are simply pulling them up. All of the orchard trees have leafed out and look healthy. One leafed out from the root stem, as did the red maple we planted in the back yard. All of my roses in the perennial garden with the exception of the cutting have leaf buds or are fully leafed out; the cutting remains green, but no leaves yet.

We figure out where we want to put the vegetable garden and talked through a plan. We'll fence it out, turn the soil over, and add manure, topsoil and compost until next spring. This summer we'll simply keep vegetables in pots along the patio, like we did in New York. That will give us lots of time to get the soil ready. The area John showed me for the garden is huge! I'm so excited. I can grow corn, beans, squash and sweet potatoes. My dreams of making this farm self sufficient are coming to reality.

We know where we want to put the hen house, and the newspaper has laying hens listed for sale, so they are available around here; and we can always try raising the chickens from chicks purchased through the catalog.

This is so exciting...some days I look around our beautiful farm, and I feel as if I'm in a dream. It's been a dream of my heart for so many years to have this farm, and every day brings new and wonderful surprises.

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers...or so we hope. It rains more in Virginia than it did on Long Island. We've had a month of several days of strong rains, followed by warm sunshine. The plants thrive in this weather and I'm glad we aren't tapping the wellwater to irrigate them.

Last Thursday after some business in Farmville, John and I went to B&M nursery and garden center. Eagerly I combed through their plant selection, feeling right at home and flashing back to my days working at Martin Viette Nurseries. I found an excellent selection of houseplants and statuary and we already have our eye on several purchases. We then found roses at Rose's discount store in town, and I planted my rose garden this weekend. Two 'Sonia' grandifloras and one 'Bonica' shrub rose were added to the two 'Blaze' red climbers, the twig from the rose bush in Huntington, and the rosa rugosas. The Blaze bareroot roses don't look good; I am losing hope that they will survive. Sonia, Bonica, and the rugosas look fine though and the rugosas have a bit of leaf peeking out.

The dogwood cuttings we planted last fall finally bloomed today! John found the first red flower. Three of the four appear to be leafing out. I had such a strong urge to say, "I told you so!" Just last Saturday he wanted to dig them up; he was convinced they were dead. My intuition told me they just needed more time than the already estabished trees, and I was right. Maybe there's hope left for some of the other trees.

All of the orchard trees leafed out with the exception of one cherry. Some look more vigorous than others, but most appear to be setting down roots in the field.

Herbs plants purchased last week as well as herbs started from seed will go into the kitchen garden starting this weekend. I really want to build a raised bed under the kitchen windows, but not sure how it will look. We'll see.

In the meantime, work flourishes alongside the plants. My articles for Love to Know (www.lovetoknow.com) were accepted, and I am now a contributing writer. As I approach my landmark birthday this week, I feel a warm glow of satisfaction; I am a professional freelance writer once again. My goal list includes making a living freelance writing, editing and marketing, and I am doing just that; EquinArt (www.equinartcreations.com), my retail business, continues to flourish; and my garden grows well.

Life is good!

La girosole...sunflowers. One of my favorite flowers. Unfortunately as I understand it, it's also a favorite of deer. Deer we have...herds of them...big ones, small ones, mamas, young bucks. One was even sleeping on my lawn one evening as I drove home from a meeting at church. She didn't run away even when my car came within several yards of her. Our strategy includes planting the sunflowers against the house, near the dryer vent, in the hopes that the belching vent will scare away deer stupid enough to wander that close to the house. Photos to follow over the summer if the sunflowers live.

We secured over a dozen mountain laurels from a neighbor who said the power company simply mows them down every year to improve access to his power lines. He didn't want the beautiful mountain laurels to be hacked to pieces again this year, so John and his dad drove to the lane last night and hauled away over a dozen. They're now planted in the perennial garden against the woods, and I'm hoping they will form a gorgeous backdrop in late spring.

John's dad planted marigolds this morning in the perennial garden. I moved one flat of Lavender hidcote blue and one flat of Lavender Munstead outside, as well as a flat of Bachelor Buttons and Violas I started from seed. Hopefully this week's mild temperatures will help them harden off and I can move them to the garden on Saturday.

Bluebirds

This morning a bluebird - a real, live, living, breathing, warbling bluebird - landed on the ridge just outside of my office window. John spotted him first and called me over to see this beautiful bird. We saw some yesterday when out for our evening walk. But I had never seen one up close and personal!

Many years ago, I bought a tiny glass bluebird statue in a gift shop. I can't remember where, but the bluebird always represented me in our family...the bluebird of happiness. The symbolism for me was one of optimism and cheer.

And there was my very own Seven Oaks bluebird, outside my office window.

I cannot help but take this as a good omen of things to come!

Today, however, I am tired. It was anti-procrastination day in the household, so John changed and washed the HVAC screens while I cleaned the bathrooms, my most hated chore. It is cold and threatening outside, so today we focus on inside work, I on my consulting business and the household chores, John on the myriad indoor farm chores. The workbench, utility room and kitchen sink are awash in detergents, machine parts, and paint brushes.

And yes, we had the hamburgers on Saturday night...thank you for asking...fresh, grass fed beef is delicious. It did taste slightly different from the ground beef I normally purchase. I added oil to the cooking pan because the meat was so lean, no fat dripped off of it. I think our purchase was worth it.

Back to work...now go outside and look for bluebirds....

North American Bluebird Society: http://http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/

Where's the Beef?

Today we had a real adventure...another first for us. The man who built our home, Phil Hertzler, is also a farmer. He raises beef cattle on his farm just about four miles from our home. He emailed us a few weeks ago asking if we wanted to purchase fresh beef....and so we signed up for a quarter of a beef steer.

Now you may think that beef isn't healthy, and I may get comments scolding this health writer for gleefully purchasing beef. But a news flash for you: beef is delicious and VERY healthy. Farm raised, grass fed beef, who spend their days in the sunshine eating pasture grass as God intended them to do, are very healthy. And what could be better than eating locally produced meat?

What in the world was I going to do with 131 pounds of fresh meat? As a descendent from a long line of German butchers, including my Grandpa Rudmann, I had faith that the ancestral meat knowledge would kick in somehow....

Off we went today, MapQuest directions in hand, to find Schrock's slaughterhouse in Gladys, Virginia.

Did I mention yet that MapQuest STINKS?

Schrock's closes at noon. Around 11:30, after driving back and forth on Redhouse Road and staring blindly at the MapQuest map which listed Pigeon Run Road as coming directly into Redhouse, we finally cried uncle, pulled the car over, and dialed OnStar. OnStar guided us onto Three Forks Road and voila - Pigeon Hill IS Three Forks Road. The name changes a quarter of a mile from the road we were on. MapQuest strikes again....

Finally, after another misadventure and having three nasty corgis snapping at the wheels of our Buick, we pulled up at Schrock's. Nice, clean white buildings, white clapboard farm house, chickens, beef cattle, and a professional looking office and meat packing facility. I was impressed. We were in the middle of nowhere....green pastures and farm houses....and a nice outfit like this to dress meat. Now if we decide to raise our organic goats, chickens and sheep, we have a local butcher.

Ever the businesswoman, as soon as I got home I was making spreadsheets to track the various cuts of meat now safely stored in the freezer. Three adults, a quarter of a cow, let's see how long this will last.....

I'll let you know how the burgers taste tonight!

Spring is in the air!

Spring is so evident now throughout the farm! The fields are turning green, and some of the trees have started to bud. Throughout the area we are seeing daffodils blooming near old silos, and young calves frisking about. We laughed ourselves silly over the cattle across the street as a tiny new baby decided he was going to entice the other cattle to play...he chased them, head-butted the youngsters, and generally made a complete nuissance of himself with the herd. We've never seen cattle at play before, but like all children, they DO play!

Called a few people who advertised free puppies, but all the pups seem to be smaller breed mixes or too far away...we keep holding out for the perfect Retriever/Shepherd/big dog mix that will fill the gap Mr. Fox hound left when he died. That's a big gap to fill, because there never was such a good dog...sniff...when the right puppy comes along, we'll know.

Work has picked up considerably for both my companies, and so my time in the garden is relegated to a half hour to an hour before dinner. I finished outlining the perennial beds with rocks picked up on the farm, and I used the larger stones as Belgian blocks along the driveway.

I started writing again. I picked up the old fantasy novel that I have written about a million times before. The first chapter is going well. I am taking 'baby steps' towards all my goals lately, and this one especially. Since my dad died, I've had so much trouble writing any kind of fiction. It took a long, long time before I felt ready to write again. I figure if I write a little bit each day I will eventually have that first draft ready to go.

This weekend, my aunts, Sister Janice and Sister Jean, will be staying with us. I am really looking forward to their visit. Let the marathon cleaning session begin! Today starts the cleaning. John has to fninish fixing the spare bed for my aunt...and the library is a mess, since he's not finished the shelves....and the kitchen needs a good scrubbing...let the spring cleaning commence....! We are also going to a concert at our church with Phil and Annette Hertzler. I'm really excited to share St. Theresa's with them, and with John too. I love this "little church in the heart of Virginia" and want to share it with them, although I'm not sure how our non Catholic friends will react to the Catholic church. We are going to a choral concert, so it's not a full Mass or anything, but it may inspire some questions. I hope my Catholicism knowledge is up to date enough to answer their questions!!!

Off to get dressed, then to my writing for the day. Lots to do including office work, more work in the perennial gardens, photos of new horse models to take and market on line, and several advertising emails to get out for our various customers and business concerns.

Enjoy spring!

March Musings

It's a rainy, cold March day after a period of beautiful sunshine and bright 60 degree weather. I'm really enjoying Virginia's spring - it's a long, soft spring, unlike the "on/off" of New York weather. In New York, it can go from cold and wet 40 degree weather to 80 and sunny in a matter of just two weeks, and feel like there is no spring. Here, the spring feels soft, long and gentle, like the autumn was. I will like this weather if this is the usual!



I've been working like crazy on the perennial garden. It is a huge tract of land between the edge of the woods and the driveway that we left bare. Originally we thought we would plant wildflowers there. I don't know how it morphed into a perennial garden, but now it has become a formal garden, with paths and walkways and edging. I've been collecting rocks from all over the property and using them to edge the driveway and the garden. Over the winter I ordered a ton of plants - peony garden, shade gardens, a hummingbird garden collection, and about two dozens various perennials, including poppies, climbing roses, and many more. I am feeling the pressure as the emails start to come in announcing that the plants are on their way. We picked up two truckloads of horse manure from Arabians Destiny, a wonderful Arabian horse farm here in Virgina, and now I am working that into the soil too, hoping against hope that some of it will break down into this sandy clay soil before the plants arrive. We have to purchase two arbors, one for each entrance into the garden, and a nice bench. I also want to get a solar fountain and more. But all of this is going to have to be one day at a time. I think that my garden is going to be my lifelong project!



I have so many ideas and wishes for this farm....we put in the orchard, and John has started planning the chicken coop. I would love to have this farm producing vegetables, fruit, and chickens for meat and eggs, and perhaps some sheep or goats for meat and fiber. My sister Ann has said that if I raise sheep she will take the wool, as she has always wanted to spin and weave on her own, and knowing her she will use it! I wish I could be outside working on the farm every day. Even as a little girl, I wanted to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air as much as possible. I just love rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty in the garden. My body feels like a truck ran over it from lifting rocks all week, but I've got to imagine that this is a better "full body workout" than if I did my videos in front of the TV in the basement. And from my office, the view that is shaping up from the perennial garden is spectacular!



But now back to work....to pay for the solar powered fountain I want to buy too...