Box Turtle Sightings

Found any box turtles lately? Whether they're young, old, alive -- or even, forbid...dead -- report them to the Virginia Herpetological Society! The VHS is a group based on conservation, education, and research of Virginia's indigenous reptiles and amphibians. Box turtles are a very important part of Virginia's ecosystem, and we can all be a part of the research! Any time you happen across a box turtle either in the road or in your back yard, visit www.VirginiaHerpetologicalSociety.com and report your sighting by scrolling down and clicking on the icon seen in this post. Please confirm that the turtle in question is indeed a box turtle and not another common species. Box turtles look very different at each stage of growth, so use a field guide or the VHS website to help you properly identify the turtle. Then, fill out the online report form with as much information as possible, and submit! Just like that you can be a part of the research, tracking, and study of this important species.

For a direct link to the report form, click here.

For our non-Virginia resident blog followers, look into your own area's wildlife programs and see if there are any similar studies being conducted in your neck of the woods. If so, we'd love to hear about it!

A View Into the Life of A Chic

Here's a short clip of the second batch of birds after being moved down into the barn. It's fun to get down on their level and really get a close look at them!



Here is a clip of our turkeys when they were freshly hatched.
They sound like raptors from Jurassic Park, don't they?

I'll be posting some videos of our goslings and other animals around the farm in the near future, so even if you're unable to visit you can see a glimpse of what our animals are like!

Goslings Goslings!

Baby Geese have arrived and been added to our flock! I'm just going to put it out there that goslings and ducklings are probably the cutest of baby birds. No naming these guys. They're meant to be meat birds. Keep us in mind around the holidays and we'll have the bird you need! Now hopefully Lou will like these little guys enough to have them as play mates!

We've Changed Our Look!

We've changed our look for summer! Thanks for following our blog through the spring and we look forward to continue sharing our farm with you! Fall will be here before we know it, so strap in for a great season! And remember, you're always welcome to visit!

Yet Another Visitor

Look what Martha found curled up in one of our hens' laying box! Martha caught the snake while it was in the middle of trying to eat an egg. Talk about a suprise! This is an Eastern Ratsnake. Scientific name Pantherophis alleghaniensis, this snake was formerly known as a Black Ratsnake. The only snake in Virginia capable of growing over 6' in length, this non-venomous reptile primarily feeds on rodents, birds, and bird's eggs. They have also been known to eat frogs. It kills it's prey by constriction, while eggs are swallowed whole and later broken in the snake's throat. Their propensity to being found in barns and agricultural areas earned this snake the vernacular name of a "chicken snake." Capable of climbing trees, the Eastern Ratsnake is found state wide in Virginia, and thrives throughout the Allegheny and commonly travels into the Appalachian Mountains.

For more information on Virginia's wildlife, feel free to visit the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fishery website @ www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information.

Lou Update!

Yes! We have settled on a name for our lone gosling. It's LOU! Call him Louie, Louise, Louis, anything! Just remember Lou only really replies to "weep-weep." He's been moved outside into the cottage garden and now lives there permanently as watch goose/gardening helper. We've since re-named the garden Lou's Garden. He's much happier outside and loves to follow Martha around while she tends the plants. Come play with Lou! Lou will love you forever.




Maddie teaching Lou what a marsupial feels like!

Out With the Old!

With Summer in full swing, that means there is a LOT of grass in need of mowing! Our old riding mower did a great job on flat smooth areas, however, there aren't many on a mountain. So we sold the rider (pictured, left) and bought a bigger, badder, more powerful machine. Now we can mow the edges of the fields with ease, and even clear overgrown brush. The new mower is perfect for maintaining our new nature trail, and it's zero-turn radius allows us to mow our orchards without running over plants we want to keep!

After a good break-in mowing of the fields!

Upper Garage Construction: Part 1

Construction is under way!! This project was started last year before all the craziness with Whitt's health, Mia & I moving up to the farm; even before winter really got in to the swing of things. Needless to say, this project has been put on hold for quite some time. Now that the dust is settling, and Mia and I are acclimating to farm life, it's time to get-a-move-on and finish this project up! It's hard to fit it in during the busiest seasons of spring and summer up here, but we're doing our best.

For those of you who may not know about the project (or even what the "upper garage" is for that matter), I'll start at the beginning. Before Whitt and Martha moved to the farm, there was only one house, one garage, and the barn on the property. When Whitt & Martha arrived, they built a house a bit farther down the mountain complete with another garage. In 1987 the original house burned down, leaving the garage for the original house as the only structure left standing above the barn on the property. In order to differentiate between garages on the property, the garage higher up the mountain has always been called the "upper" whereas the now main house has been called the "lower" garage.

Now that we're on the same page, the upper garage has essentially just been sitting untouched as a storage area since 1987. It housed our water tank as well as a lot of old antiques, keepsakes, building material; things of that nature. We've now cleaned it out and began renovations!

First (as mentioned above) the old water tank had to be removed and replaced. Being that it's a big concrete tank weighing in at 12,000lbs -- EMPTY -- it was a fairly huge task. Our neighbor, a bit farther up the mountain, Brian was kind enough to lend us a hand. With the use of his massive four wheel drive box truck, we were able to pull the tank out of the garage. You can see below that the pictures were taken during last fall/winter.

Biggest. Truck. Ever.

Brian hooking up the cables.

Hm..let's try it the other way.

Voila!

An Unexpected Visitor

We had an unexpected visitor stop by the farm! Bears are a great part of wildlife in the blue ridge, but tend to get labeled a nuisance due to there incredible trash rooting skills and uncanny bird feeder destruction abilities. Just a few weeks ago we lost a couple of our bird feeders to a bear, including the one on our deck in front of the house! Although majestic creatures, we do not welcome them on to our property despite our appreciation of there innate skills mentioned above. It's too risky with our livestock being tasty treats and all. Fortunately, we have a bear police force at our disposal.

For whatever reason, bears are terrified of dogs. I guess it's the same reason why vampires are afraid of werewolves, but I can't seem to figure that out either. Usually the dogs smell the bear(s) before we get a chance to see them, but since this big one was down wind in the lower field far from the house, we got a chance to spot it before the dogs.

Shot taken from 400yds away. He was huge!

Release the hounds!!

Oskar running the bear off...

..and Annie not knowing what's going on...

Happy Summer!

Summer is here! Martha is finished with school and on summer break, the days are the longest of the year, the heat is the highest of the year, and we couldn't be happier. Happy Summer Solstice!

The Pool is Officially Open!

The finished product is amazing! The work really paid off! Now the water is a crystalline blue, and no more roughed up feet from the bottom of the pool. Anyone for a swim?

Mia, Alex, and Liz enjoying the water!

Pool Time

Memorial Day is not only commemorated by paying our respects to those who have fought for our country, but also by opening pools! Our pool needed some work before the swimming season, so Whitt and I tackled it over the course of a week. The bottom of the pool needed to be acid washed, patched, primed, and painted. Boy did that make a huge difference! Now the pool can be enjoyed by all.

The shallow end before...

...and the deep end.

Whitt ready with patching material in hand!

The pool patched...

...and primed!


The painting and filling is next!

Baby Goose

A baby goose has been born! Yes, "A" gosling. Unfortunately none of the other eggs we incubated made it. It's far too early to be able to tell without thoroughly violating the poor bird whether it's a boy or girl, so the naming process is a bit tricky. So far we've come up with Ryan (as in: Ryan the Gosling...haha?), or Maverick (the Goose). Both are riddled with wit and highly enjoyable, however we havent ruled out other names.

Have an idea for a good gosling name? Let us know in the comment box!