Cair Paravel Enterprises

Barn Awning

2012-03-02T05:30:00.000-05:00

We're always looking for more ways to make our animals more comfortable. All of the renovations we've been working on recently have had that end goal in mind. One great feature about our barn is that the entire south facing side is completely open to the outside. This is ideal in the summer and really allows the air to flow freely through the barn helping keep down mold and mildew, as well as keep our animals cool. However, in inclement weather the open face of the barn can prove more of a problem. We set out to devise a plan to help keep water, snow, and cold out of the barn during rainy and/or wintery weather.

Here's what we came up with!

Healthy goats and sheep can handle the cold very well, however it's the wind that can cause the most harm to an animal trying to stay nestled for warmth. The tarpaulin is the perfect (and inexpensive) solution. Not only does it keep the wind from whipping through and chilling the livestock to the bone, but it keeps horizontal rain and snow drifts out as well. It was important to make sure the outside wall design was modular so we didn't lose the best aspect of the barn in the warmer months, but durable enough to withstand the mountain winters. A simple pulley system allows the tarps to be rolled up, essentially turning them into huge blinds. We're pleased with the design and the barn stays much warmer now even on the coldest of nights. The water containers are frozen less frequently than before. Feel free to click on the above pictures for a more detailed look at the tarp and pulleys!

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!

2012-02-29T14:01:00.002-05:00

Happy leap day from CPE!! We can't wait to see the changes from now until February 29, 2016!! Thanks for following our progress, and remember your input is always welcomed and valued!

Cheers to four more years!

Coop Swap!!

2012-02-29T05:15:00.000-05:00

We've recently swapped coops! Here is what our old chicken coop looked like, we used five gallon buckets as the laying nests for convenience and ease of cleaning. The chickens seemed to like them too!

You can see the wall on the back of the coop was painted by Martha, trying to use up some old house paints. I think that the chickens enjoyed the murals, maybe we can do it again in the new space this spring!

However, our flock has grown and we are anticipating it continuing to grow during this summer. So, we've re-worked our horse stalls as part of the overall barn remodel to become the new coop for our laying hens, turkeys, and guinea hen. You can see the direct access that the birds have outside through the small doors in the barn wall. We close these up every night to keep them safe from outside predators.

You can see some different nesting boxes on the walls in this picture. We still used the five gallon buckets for other nesting boxes and those are located along the opposite wall to these boxes.

The new coop is four times the size of the old one which really gives the birds some more room to move around. We tried to make the transition between coops as low stress as possible, but unfortunately right after the initial swap, our egg production dropped down to a mere few eggs a day. We were worried about this drop and started trying to figure out how to increase the egg production in other ways. Luckily all that the chickens seemed to need was time. After having two or three weeks to become accustomed to the new space, the eggs are booming! We get about two and a half to three dozen fresh eggs a day!

Here are the chickens enjoying their new space!

Barn Remodel

2012-02-27T05:41:00.000-05:00

We've been busy in 2012! It's only February and there has already been SO MANY things added to our to-do list, gotten underway, already completed, or soon to become project numero uno. One top priority was the barn. It was in desperate need of a good organizing and ultimately a remodel to best suit our and the animal's needs. Unfortunately, I did not have the forethought to take some "before" pictures prior to picking up the hammer and having at it, so enjoy only the "after" shots.

Moving in the direction of having goats and sheep as our primary herd animals, it was necessary to build pens for them. We also don't want to only accommodate the animals we have currently, but allow for expansion and have a place to put little ones, interim goats b/w the time they are born and the time they find a new home, and any other animals we may need a place for. Accommodating the animal's needs is one thing, but we also need the barn to suit our needs for storage, influx of livestock, ease of feeding and watering, and ultimately easier upkeep and ability to keep the barn clean. We decided to go with a lane design for the barn. Essentially this just means that an aisle is set right down the middle of the barn with animal pens on each side. This way when it's time to clean, we can muck everything into the center lane and then scrape it all out at once as opposed to having to hand shovel and wheel barrow every last bit of manure and used bedding. Our barn was already set up perfectly for this design since it has two big bay doors that open on the west facing side.


Here you can see the lane that goes straight back to the sliding bay doors. Each pen has two doors into the lane. Each door can be opened into the lane and secured to create one large pen from the front to the back of the barn allowing for even more flexibility in the use of the barn!


Eglantine and Rosie happy in their own pens!

Here is the milking pen, which also doubles as our birthing pen
since it has better lighting mounted directly over head.

Two additional pens on the backside of the barn.

Here are the two bays used for tractor implement storage.

Here are two bays being used for hay storage.

A look down the lane from the opposite side of the barn.

We've added gravel to the backside of the barn. Soon this whole area will have a roof
over it for the dual purpose of covering our processing area, and allowing for storing
our tractor out of the elements. For the time being we store the tractor in the
barn by the hay storage.

The Boys Are Back In Town

2012-01-30T05:58:00.000-05:00

Our three boys have been busy! Last fall we let The Damon out with Eglantine and Rosie to see if he couldn't do his duty as the herd sire. Turns out, he accomplished the task!

We're proud to announce that Eglantine and Rosie are both pregnant with TWINS!!

We didn't have The Damon breed with Kikki or Eva. Kikki was still weening Eva at the time, and Eva is much too young to have kids. Even though she is physically able to have kids, there are a lot of complications associated with a tiny goat getting pregnant. So to be on the safe side, we kept Kikki and Eva inside on the big day.

The Damon: proud soon-to-be daddy goat!

Sammy: excited to have more (hopefully) does around.

The jury is still out on whether or not Star has been living up to his potential. The only things we've seen him mount are the Gator (a six wheeled farm utility vehicle), and the walk behind mower. We're hoping he's just very secretive about the deed and isn't really into mechanical objects only. Time will tell! Soon we will give a call to the vet to have some ultrasounds taken.

Starlight

2012-01-27T06:20:00.000-05:00

For the passed several months, we have been graced with the presence of Starlight! Star (for short) is a beautiful championship pedigreed Lincoln Longwool English Ram decsending from 5 generations of champions. He was about 8 months old when he arrived to our farm all the way from Ithaca, NY. Our friend Malou Stark purchased Starlight at the Maryland Fiber Festival in May and they immediately bonded. After purchase, Malou drove to NY to pick him up farther upstate along the Canadian border in a small town called Brennan where he was brown. We've brought Star to our flock to breed with our ewes! If all goes well, we will be expecting lambs in the spring!

Starlight's only visiting our farm for a short time, so if you haven't had a chance to meet him yet, come on up for a visit! I know you'll find him to be the most pleasant ram you've ever met.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Part I

2012-01-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

Christmas at Cair Paravel is celebrated with the gathering of family, incredible food, and huge trees. Every year for the passed who-knows-how-many Christmases the Ledford family Christmas tree has gotten bigger and bigger. This year was no exception. We decided to support a local business, so Whitt, Martha, Maddie, Mia, our good friend and farm-helper-extraordinaire Max, and I headed to Spruce Rock Farm Inc. in Madison, Va just north of Stanardsville. There we had a great selection of trees ranging all sizes. Tim, the owner of the farm, was more than helpful and gave us the grand tour of the tree selection, and pricing.

Mia ready to tree hunt!

Max enjoying some hot cider as he waits for the search to begin!

After looking through the selection (and a lot of convincing) Maddie chose the biggest tree available for the Ledford family tree: a nineteen foot monster of a douglas fir. Mia and I were excited to choose our second tree together as a married couple, and our first tree living up on the farm. We don't have quite as much space for a tree as Whitt and Martha do in the main house, so we settled on a measly little eleven foot tall tree.

Whitt standing in front of the chosen tree!

Mia and my choice!

Out with the chainsaws and our selected trees came tumbling down. Usually yelling "timber" is a bit unnecessary when it comes to Christmas trees, but these two were the exception. The video below is Mia and my tree being cut down.

With the trees felled all we had to do was load them up and off we were for home! Fortunately Tim let Whitt drive the truck to the tree as opposed to having to carry the tree all the way back up to the parking area. With the help of the farm owner, we were able to carry the smaller tree over to be loaded onto our car.

The tree all loaded up.

Maddie, Max, and Mia showing off the great feat!

Mia and I before the journey home.

Next Christmas keep Spruce Rock Farm in mind! Their prices cannot be beat!

Tim & Doris Williams

Spruce Rock Farm Inc.

P.O. Box 789

Madison, Va 22727

Happy New Year!

2012-01-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year from Cair Paravel! We're looking forward to 2012 and all it has to offer! Just in the passed week and a half our planning for the year has shown this year to be a busy one. With the new year come some fun changes to our blog to help it and us become more interactive with you the reader. A new "tab" feature has been added to the top of the blog to act as a handbook for the farm. It's our hope that these tabs will help to make our blog a hub for all things Cair Paravel so that our day-to-day activities, BnB availability and reservations, food we make, animals we tend, even the current weather conditions and forecasts for the farm are all a click away from our blog home page.

At the top of the screen just below our title picture and e-mail subscription bar, you'll see tabs across your screen. Click on any of these tabs and it will take you there! More and more tabs will be added in the next few weeks so feel free to explore! What better way to keep up with the farm then adding our blog as your home screen? These tabs will help our blog be a more useful tool.

Thank you for all the support in making 2011 a great year!

Thanksgiving: In Review!

2011-12-14T06:30:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving this year was a fun-packed weekend-long undertaking filled with incredible food, awesome friends and family, warm fires, and merriment. Whitt and Martha had the usual suspects up for Thanksgiving dinner aside from Grethcen and Austin. Unfortunately they were unable to make it up from Asheville, NC.
The meal consisted of three (yes, three!) of our turkeys prepared in different ways. Two birds had been brined by Mia and Martha prior to cooking: one in a water and salt mixture, the other in a mixture of water, milk, salt, and various spices. The third was relatively untouched prior to cooking. The idea behind brining is that the salt and liquid mixture will coat the skin and form a protective coating that holds in the moisture of the bird while being cooked with minimum basting required. The two brined birds were grilled while the third was cooked as normal in the oven. Howard and Whitt spear-headed the grilling of the turkeys.

Howard sprinkling on some magic.

A couple swipes of goodness...

And viola!

Whitt and Howard talking about the boring view.

In goes the bird!

Annie doing one last nose check before the lid is closed to make sure it smells good.

According to all present, every bird was unbelievable, but the grilled birds where exceptionally good. Of course the birds were merely the center piece to the meal. All of the sides and desserts were also, as normal, incredible.

This Is Ground Control to Major Tom

2011-12-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

Hello blog followers!

As many of you may have expected, the holidays on top of our regular work schedule have been swallowing us whole. Thanksgiving is always a blast at the farm because not only do we celebrate on Thursday, but we also have Thanksgiving Pt. II! The barn was in dire need of a re-vamping with the influx of animals in need of storage. I'm glad to say we have finished most of that project up. We've been able to get Christmas trees, decorate for the season, throw a holiday party, host lot's of visitors, AND rent a ram to breed our ewes. Needless to say, the blog will not be neglected for the next few weeks.

There's so much to tell you about! Stay tuned!

-Brendan and the whole Cair Paravel Family!

Hunting

2011-12-09T06:17:00.000-05:00

As most of you may know, it is hunting season here in Virginia. For you hunters, it's the season for waking up early, stocking the truck with bullets and beer, and sitting in a tree for hours and hours on end. For us non-hunters in the middle of the action, the season consists of our loveable dogs bringing back all the pieces the hunters didn't want one disgusting piece at a time, and constantly being worried someone is going to shoot them. So, we have come up with an attempt at a practical, yet fashionable, way to help prevent buck shot from finding our dogs.

Here we have Tsuki modeling a dog safety vest complete with a handy pocket for treats or anything else she wants to put in there. Actual dog vests run a surprising amount of money, so I just ended up making these with 97¢ human vests and a 47¢ spool of thread. Hurray for safety!

Get Your Turkey!

2011-11-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is on Thursday! If you don't know where your turkey is coming from, we have the solution!

We still have a limited quantity of birds left that have not been reserved for the big day. All of our birds are heritage breed, grass fed, organic Bourbon, Narragansett, and Palm turkeys. Turkeys were processed on Sunday (11/20) and are sold un-frozen. It's as fresh as they come!

$5.50/lb --- weights vary.

If you're in need of a last minute turkey, e-mail Cair Paravel at

CPARAVEL@GMAIL.COM with "TURKEY" in the subject line.

Remember to buy local and support small businesses this holiday season!

Broken Bones

2011-11-18T06:48:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Maddie broke her ankle. She has since had surgery to repair the break and is on a quick path to recovery. Keep her in your thoughts and wish her well! I'm sure she's thrilled I posted this picture of her pre-surgery (and hyped up on pain meds) on the internet.

Pumpkin Carving!

2011-11-16T05:49:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: Yes. This post is late. Very late.

Halloween fell on a Monday this year. That meant children across America were bummed having to trick-or-treat on a school night. For us up on the farm it meant hurray! More candy for us! Actually, seeing as we don't get trick-or-treaters, there was no need for us to get candy at all... but we did carve pumpkins!

I'm horrible at carving pumpkins. I have really great ideas, however, executing them is very difficult for me. Yes, it would be rad to carve Moby Dick exploding out of the sea with a ship between his jaws, but I can't draw it on paper let alone carve it out of a pumpkin. So after beginning the most epic pumpkin carving on the planet, my pumpkin ended up looking like this:

Whitt's pumpkin didn't turn out nearly as primitive as mine. Nor did he spend two hours of cursing only to cut a huge hole out of the center of the pumpkin.

Maddie went for the abstract. I'm not sure if there was a face, or if I just took a picture of the wrong side of the pumpkin. Either way, I still really like the design!

Now Mia: she is a professional. She took pumpkin carving to the next level -- a huge long-neck squash! Ever seen those big dragons used in parades and festivals? You know, the ones with forty people wearing the same dragon costume and dancing down the street? Well, that is what Mia turned her squash into. Check it out!

Mia hard at work!

The finished product!!

Follow Us!

2011-11-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

Cair Paravel now has a twitter! Follow us @CairParavelFarm!

Consider it the addendum to the blog, the more day-to-day, the fun filled fact machine of the farm, the picture gateway, the...well, you get the idea. We'll also post news, available products and prices, as well as requests for help with certain projects. Become a bigger part of our farm with Twitter!

@CairParavelFarm

Herding the Flock

2011-11-08T12:33:00.009-05:00

Down at the barn Mikey hears me call, "Sheeeep, here sheeep." He is always the first to come thinking he is going to get a treat!

Flora, resting in the shrubs this warm day decides to join... but maybe not...but sees Noelle ambling up with Mikey.

Noelle and Mikey realize they are going to the green pasture. The area around the barn has been nibbled to nubs so they are going out to the stockpiled fescue, red clover, and landino clover pasture. There is also browse for them along the meadow edges.

Mikey, of course was the first to get into the knee deep grasses however....

.....the rest did not lag behind! Herding this trio is not difficult. Just show them food and they will follow.

See how the great grazing has help the sheep produce fantastic fleece!

This is Mikey's long-stapled white locks...

....and Noelle's creamy brown that deepens into dark chocolate.! I am looking forward to working with the wool this winter.

Chicken Processing

2011-11-08T10:08:00.002-05:00

Coming up this Sunday, November 13, 2011 the last 2011 chicken processing (plus a few roosters and some geese. If you want to help/learn come and join us. Set up will start at 9:00 AM.

Fall Garden

2011-11-04T10:17:00.001-04:00

The fall garden is producing big round heads of cabbage. Looking forward to stuffed cabbage rolls!
We have had roller coaster weather. Last week we were treated to 4" of heavy sloppy snow and now are basking in unseasonably warm weather. The artichokes survived under floating row covers....
....and the curly leafed kale as well. You can't really see from this shot but I planted parsnips between the kale and the picket fence. Hopefully we will enjoy them in February.

It was an adventure putting up the poly tunnels in advance of the snow. We used pvc pipe jammed into the raised beds. The force of the hoop against the board sides of the beds provides enough support to keep the hoops in place. Then it was draping the sheets of plastic over the hoops and securing it with rocks. Fortunately we have an abundance of rocks.

The parsley is loving the additional warmth.....

...as well as the Swiss Chard and arugula. Lettuce, beets, carrots, fava beans and some hearty peppers are still producing as well has numerous herbs leading to experiments with herbed ricotta and ravioli. I even have one tunnel with a late tomato trying to hang on!

Garry the Chicken

2011-10-28T06:34:00.000-04:00

We've acquired quite a few more birds here at the farm. A rather mixed batch actually; rhode island reds, marans, cochins, more barred rocks, orpingtons. Although new to our farm, nothing out of the ordinary as far as chickens go. Except Garry.

We have no idea what kind of chicken he is. We actually thought he was a hen for a few months until we witnessed him crow in person. Not only is he tiny compared to our other birds, but he is the epitome of the "little man complex." He antagonizes our biggest, baddest rooster and actually wins! I honestly think it's because our top rooster is so surprised/bewildered it doesn't have time to come up with any other reaction than running away in shock. Please, if anyone has an idea of his breed, let us know!

And now for Garry's name-sake. He is only the second chicken that we have named. The first was "Big Dude," who is in fact a big...dude. Really the only reason why we named Garry at all is because of his incredible likeness to our good friend Mara's dog Garry. The similarities in Garry the chicken's behavior to Garry the dog's were so uncanny that Mia and I came to the same conclusion while watching him one day. We literally looked at each other at the same time and said, "IT'S EXACTLY LIKE GARRY!!!!"

Here is a shot of Garry (the dog)in all his glory. We hope one day they will meet

and become best friends.

Goat For Sale, Trade, or Barter

2011-10-21T06:18:00.000-04:00

CPE needs a new home for Samuel! Samuel is a very happy and healthy purebred Nubian buck born July 6th, 2011. He has been de-horned and will soon be ready for breeding.

What we are looking for:
      -outright sale of Samuel for a price TBD
      -trade for other livestock (i.e.-goats, sheep, turkeys, et cetera)
      -a mutually beneficial trade of breeding services
      -establish a network between ourselves and another goat farm

We would love to talk and work out some sort of deal that can benefit us and the buyer. We're more interested in starting a relationship with other goateries than a plain cut and dry exchange of money.

    If you would like more information, please contact us through e-mail at cparavel@gmail.com.

Eva Update!

2011-10-19T06:15:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to inform little Eva's leg has healed beautifully! For those that may not remember, she broke her leg a few weeks after she was born and had to hobble around with a cast. Now the cast is off and her leg isn't giving her any issues at all!

Tomætoes, Tomátoes

2011-10-10T10:05:00.001-04:00

Martha has picked the last of the tomatoes before the gardens are switched to fall/winter mode. With the nights getting colder, and ultimately the day's temperatures catching up, that means it's time to break out the green house structures for the raised beds and move as much as we can into the affixed greenhouse off of the lower apartment. I've been working on tilling all of this years plants into the soil to decompose and nourish the ground. As a good way to end the time of year that the bulk of our veggie production slows down by sharing some pictures of the different tomato varieties we grew this year.

Our tomatoes were good to us this year!

Egglentine and Damon, Sittin' In A Tree...

2011-10-07T06:30:00.001-04:00

The Damon has become sexually mature! This is great for us because it means we are now able to increase our herd. Kikki is too fresh from her previous pregnancy to be bred, but Egglentine and Rosie aren't.

The bad part about male goats is 100% related to their sexual maturity. As a means of attracting females, bucks urinate on their own face and hump everything in their path. Apparently the stinkier the goat, the more appealing he is to the ladies. The stink aspect is also true with female goats. It's rather unmistakable when a doe is in heat.

All gross-ness aside, Egglentine has been showing signs of being ready to mate, so we've put her and The Damon together. Boy...it is hilarious.

Here is what we humans see of the interaction:

However, I feel if we were to see this through the eyes of a goat,
the struggle for Eggie's heart would look much more like this.

So, hopefully if everything goes according to plan, we will be welcoming a few more goats to our herd come springtime! I will keep you posted!!

Sauerkraut Has Finished!

2011-10-05T13:42:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. The sauerkraut we had started back in July has finally been jarred, and we were able to taste the incredible-ness that is fresh sauerkraut.

Now, to put my amazement into perspective, I thought sauerkraut from a can you buy at the store was incredible. I would have to refrain from buying it because I'd end up putting it on everything -- i.e. hot dogs, bratwursts, sandwiches, corn flakes, et cetera. However, now I don't think I'll ever want to buy canned sauerkraut from the store again. It would only make me cry that it wasn't home-made with every bite. I can't exactly put my finger on why the fresh kraut is so much better, it just is.

The canning process.

Mmmmmmmm...

Martha at work!

For all you sauerkraut lovers out there, try and make it up for some reubens, or brats, or some corn flakes smothered in kraut with us!

Autumn Has Arrived

2011-09-28T07:57:00.001-04:00

Last Friday was the official first day of fall. Ah, the double edge sword of autumn. Personally, fall is my favorite season. The leaves start changing, the days become crisp and refreshing, pumpkins are ready for harvest, and the pace of the farm slows down quite considerably. We're very excited to be able to focus much more time to our construction projects. As most of you know we have a second yurt, upper garage, and turn-of-the-century log house to build. Keep looking for updates here on our blog as well as a call for volunteers for anyone who is wanting to get their hands dirty and pitch in to the farm.

Autumn is gorgeous on the mountain and I plan to include you all in the splendor!

HAPPY FALL TO COME!

Sauerkraut

2011-09-26T05:23:00.000-04:00

We've made our own sauerkraut! Martha seasoned up a huge amount of cabbage with the appropriate ingredients used to make sauerkraut and I got the pleasure of mixing it all together in a large clay pot.

After the cabbage mixture has all been blended together, it goes into the basement to ferment and become incredible! We made this mixture back in July and it has been marinating ever since. We are getting ready to can the kraut very soon! Stay tuned for a post about the finished product!

Bear Vs. Gator

2011-09-23T05:28:00.000-04:00

A new tradition has begun. As Oskar grows older, we needed to figure out another way of warding off bears aside from making poor Oskar run at full speed all over the farm.

Solution found:

Step 1: Grab large pot.

Step 2: Grab large spoon

Step 3: Put on bathing suit (optional)

Step 4: Get in John Deere Gator

Step 5: Drive Gator as fast as possible shouting ridiculousness while
passenger bangs on pot with spoon (passenger also shouting)

Works every time.

Turkeys Are Not Chickens, Right?

2011-09-21T05:49:00.000-04:00

We have a hilariously confused turkey hen on our hands. She's taken to roosting with our Americana chickens! The birds on both sides of specie don't seem to mind. The turkey hen takes care of sitting on the eggs (yes, ALL of the eggs chicken and turkey alike) and the chicken even cuddle up underneath the turkey for warmth. It's great to see them snuggling in the tractor during the day. What a great example of a symbiotic relationship! Good work birds! Keep working together!

If you look closely, you can see the chicken's backside sticking out from
underneath the turkey's right wing.

Market Baking

2011-09-19T05:59:00.001-04:00

The Greene Co. Farmer's Market was a blast this year! I'm sure you all saw Martha's updates on Facebook about what was being sold. The farmer's market season has ended in Greene with the school's opening up, so in order to get a hold of our delicious baked goods, you'll have to contact us directly for the time being. Remember, as always these items are available when you stay at our bnb! We do have some prospects for having local markets sell limited quantities of our breads and baked goods, but at this time it is very tentative. I will keep you up to date as more info is available. In the meantime, anybody want a muffin?

Goose Update!

2011-09-16T06:01:00.000-04:00

The geese are growing up strong! It's fun to see the difference between the little gray fuzz balls and the plumage they end up having. Turns out a lot of our chics are the same type of goose as Mary! (Mary is one of our original geese that is a lot less obnoxious than the others.) We've moved them back into the barnyard so they are now able to socialize with the other animals.

Remember to think of Cair Paravel for you Christmas Goose this holiday season!

Bobcats

2011-09-14T09:56:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately we've lost some of our turkeys to the wild. The bird's propensity to refuse being contained within the safety of the electro-net barrier finally caught up to them. Every night during lock up I would find six to eight turkeys running in circles around the turkey enclosure incredibly confused as to how exactly they managed to escape, while simultaneously being desperate to get back in with the other turkeys. I would chase all of the birds back into the surround only to find the same birds loose the next morning.

We came up with a solution to this mess, however the day Whitt and I went down to correct the issue the middle pasture was covered in turkey feathers and turkey parts. It was horrible. I found one complete turkey, one turkey without a head, one head (only), and one right wing. Due to the manner in which the birds were killed and the fact that most of the victims were dragged off of the property seems to point towards bobcats, but of course we are unsure.

Unfortunately it's hard to say I didn't see this coming. We've taken a huge blow to our turkey supply, however it's a great learning process about how to raise free range birds for meat rather than easy prey for predators.

For Rent!

2011-09-05T09:27:00.001-04:00

The greenhouse apartment is FOR RENT!
Want to come live at the farm? Need to live somewhere with an incredible view? Want to be excited to come home after work? Then come see the apartment! Please direct any inquiries to cparavel@gmail.com.

Click on the link in the tool bar to the right of your screen to take a picture tour! Also, see our ad on Craigslist here!

Chicken Processing

2011-08-29T05:55:00.002-04:00

We processed our first batch of birds this season! 16 chickens, and one turkey. It was my first experience with killing any sort of animal bigger than a mosquito, so needless to say I was a bit squeamish during the first few birds. By the end of the day the whole process became rather interesting. I'll spare you the more gruesome pictures, so no need to be nervous while scrolling down. There will be some blood and chicken parts in regards to the "before & after" aspect, but nothing you haven't seen in the meat section of your grocer.

We set up the processing station at the back side of the barn. In the future we will have a legit setup with a concrete slab and a roof over everything to keep the rain and sun out, but for now (since it's our first at-home processing) we needed a place with electricity and water; a.k.a. the barn. Taking a bird from the field to the table is comprised of three steps:

1) The Kill

There are different schools of thought about how to dispatch a bird. Anything from a simple chop to the neck, to electrically shocking the birds to stun them. We practice the simplest and most humane way with the use of "kill-cones" to allow the bird to bleed out as quickly and painlessly as possible. With the use of this technique, the bird is asleep in six seconds. For our setup, we used traffic cones and widened the opening at the top to accommodate the size of the bird being processed. (i.e.-different cones for chickens vs. turkeys vs. geese, et cetera.) Here is our setup pictured to the left. It's important to catch the runoff so that Aslan doesn't acquire a taste for chickens, but mostly because it is very rich in nutrients and can be put into our gardens to help fertilize.

2) Feather Plucking

Plucking the feathers by hand is a difficult, time consuming, irritating process. Luckily with a bit of ingenuity, we were able to put together a "Whiz-Bang Chicken Plucker™." The plucker comes in a kit consisting of an electric motor, reduction gear, and all the rubber fingers necessary. The rest is up to the builder to decide the design best fit for the operation. It was rather fun building the machine with Whitt and I must say it turned out beautifully. I'll be posting an entry all about how we built the plucker for those who are interested, but for now you get to see it in action! Here is a picture of the plucker.

The actual plucking process is comprised of two steps. First, we dunk the bird into hot soapy water (146˚F). The soap helps the water penetrate the feathers and reach the skin ultimately loosening the feathers. After the dunk, it's into the plucker they go! The plucker can handle up to four birds, depending on their size. The sides of the machine are stationary while the base spins, causing the plucking action to occur. The feathers all come off and head down a shoot where they are collected for compost. Check out the videos below to see the whole process in real-time!

3) Evisceration

Now, here's where things get interesting. After plucking, the heads and feet are removed. This was my job. We saved the feet to make chicken stock, the heads we composted. From there the birds go into a cool water bath to bring the temperature down. Out of the cool water bath the necks are removed as well as the internals. Mia and Martha took care of this process. We saved the necks to be added to the chicken stock, and Mia and Martha delicately located and removed the chicken livers to make paté hors d'oevures. After the bird has been completely eviscorated, into an ice bath they go for 24 hours. The ice bath cools the birds and gets them ready for packaging and freezing.

Mia and Martha at work!

Mia removing the entrails.

Martha doing the final inspection before placing the
birds in the white cooler full of ice behind her.

And there you have it! For more pictures (including the more graphic pictures) of this or any other happenings on the farm, feel free to visit our blog photo album here!

The Miracle of Powerwashing

2011-08-15T10:00:00.001-04:00

Here are some great examples of how much a good power-washing makes dirty things come back to life!

The machine.

The difference.

The before.

And the after.

Eva Update!

2011-08-12T09:55:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago we came down to the barn in the evening to find little Eva with a broken leg. She was all over the barn yard that day romping around and playing with Samuel, so it was heartbreaking to see her having a hard time walking. Keeping with the Ledford tradition of animal emergencies only happening during holiday events or parties, we were celebrating Lillian's birthday. Since it was Saturday, the vet was closed. Fortunately Lillian's boyfriend Howard is an avid outdoors-man and is skilled in field dressing breaks and wounds. He was able to set Eva's leg and wrap it up with splints and athletic tape. On Monday we brought her to Dr. Hagan's office to make sure the make-shift cast will hold. With a thumbs-up from the vet we brought Eva home. Even though her leg is broken, she still keeps up with her brother!

Thanks to Howard for helping get Eva all bandaged up! She's due back at the vet in a few weeks for a new cast since she will soon outgrow the current one. We'll keep you up-to-date on her progress.

Snake Vs. Aslan

2011-08-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

Aslan has proven to be magical in his ability to seek out anything that doesn't belong in the barnyard. At times this can be a bit annoying when the item he finds are things someone has forgotten down at the barn.

For example: I accidentally left an umbrella in the barn
after the evening lock-up and found
it the next morning in five different
pieces strewn about the field...........

Although a nuisance at times, this trait of Aslan's has proven to be invaluable when it comes to his duty as barn guardian. His most important find so far was discovered yesterday!

It's a copperhead!

This is not a "catch and release" type of situation up on the farm.
Copperheads are venomous pit vipers and pose a huge threat
to both us and our livestock. Imagine if poor little Eva accidentally
stepped on this gal. These snakes are notorious for biting first,
asking questions never whereas rattle snakes will warn you of there
presence long before it takes action.

Even long after the head is removed, the mouth still opens and closes.
The fangs and venom sacs still contain venom, so we have to dispose of
the snakes very carefully.

The best way to prevent any of our dogs finding the snake and
contracting it's venom is to bag it up and freeze it until the next
dump run.

Aslan is 100% o.k. He fought this mighty serpent valiantly for his herd and stands to ensure their safety for another day. Needless to say, he's received a lot of treats.

Meet Our Sheep!

2011-08-08T05:56:00.001-04:00

Say hello to the new addition to our herd! (Right to left) Mikey, Noel, and Flora have come to us via a local farm.

Funny story: These sheep are proof that the world is in fact a small one. Whitt and Martha had a fairly substantial mob many years ago, however when raising four girls became the main priority the flock was considerably downsized. Now, years later, it turns out that these three sheep are descendants of the original flock that was parceled out! Their parents and grandparents used to live here! How wild is that?

We'll be using these sheep for their wool. Martha spins the wool and has a couple different sized looms for weaving rugs, blankets, things of that nature. We will also use the lambs for meat.

Stay tuned for updates on these guys! They have had a very warm welcoming so far!

Aslan seems pleased after the first "meet'n greet."

Serenity

2011-07-25T20:23:00.016-04:00

Time for boating! Whitt, Maddie, & I took a Sunday trip down to Kinsale, Va to get Whitt's sail boat up and running for the season. We've been so busy the sail boat has been put on the back burner.

Serenity is a 26' sail boat. We were able to get a brand new motor and needed to test it! So we motored out to an island close to the harbor, threw out the anchor, and cleaned the boat just off shore.

Anchored!

The happy captain!

Scrubbing the decks!

Weird shrine to American freedom on the island.

After scrubbing down the decks and cabin we headed out to the bay for a little joy ride. It was a gorgeous day and the ospreys were out in full force fishing. The only thing that would have made the day better is if there was enough wind to set the sails. But at least we now know the new motor works!

A view from the bow.

Land-ho!

Nat Geo shot.

If you look closely you can see the baby in the nest to the right!

Named and Walking

2011-07-22T06:54:00.003-04:00

Since Samuel and Eva are so cute (YES! We've settled on a name for each!), here's some videos of their first steps. They were up on there feet trying to walk within an hour after being born. So, these videos were taken that same day. It's amazing to see them exploring each other and the rest of their pen while Kikki is still working on cleaning them up. Now the kids are running all over the place, climbing onto the milking stands and leaping off, headbutting and wrestling with Aslan, exploring the pond in the barn yard, and chasing grasshoppers in the fields. They're growing so fast!

Millions of Peaches

2011-07-20T08:47:00.003-04:00

Well, not quite millions...yet! Our old faithful peach tree in the lower orchard has yielded tons of gorgeous and delicious peaches. Let's hear it for cobbler!

Wonderful Time for Gardening

2011-07-18T11:59:00.001-04:00

Summer is a great season for gardening. The plants are well underway, and many of them don't mature or blossom until mid to late summer. Here are some pictures below with descriptions by the garden planner herself, Martha.

This is the second year for the delphiniums.
The blossom spikes have reached at least six feet!

It is amazing how varied the colors and petals are-

Strawberry foxglove made an early show- I let it go to seed so I can
propagate more and fill in the borders of the Cottage Garden.

Many of the hollyhocks planted last year have deep purple- nearly black blossoms,
tho we do have some white and pin. Unfortunately with the wet spring they
have been stricken with hollyhock rust and have been cut back to nubbins. You can
see the rust forming on the leaves to the right. It looks like large scale. Looking in
Wymans I found out that this can be combated with laying down
ground cornmeal prior to emergence- otherwise it is best to destroy the plants.

We got four unique perennial onion sets from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in
the fall. Unfortunately my labels disappeared during the winter!

The early lettuce has gone to seed. Not the most attractive but
the seed has to come from somewhere.

Hollyhocks prior to the rust explosion-

Bib and redleaf going to seed-

The Cottage Garden was created last spring (2010). The asparagus was
moved from the raised beds it occupied to the inner and outer aspects of
the garden border setting it back a yer. I expect that in the following years it
will be lush. I read in Field and Forest that I can put oyster mushroom
spawn under the asparagus in the straw mulch and plan to
try that next year...or maybe this fall.

This magnificent mass is an Autumn Joy Clematis combined with a Jackmanii.
It has totally covered the birdhouse we constructed during the snows of 2009-2010.
In the hidden garden of the foliage a hummingbird has nested. It is fun to see the
tiny bird zip in and out the huge jungle.

Bronze fennel obscures one of the bird baths in the raised beds
making a protected spot for some of the shy birds.

Red leaf lettuce- yumm salads

Salvia and lavender share the bed with climbing roses. The wet spring was
hard on the roses. Continual dampness allowed black spot to flourish-

We have had a bumper crop of cilantro-

Another view of the bronze fennel with baby's breath in the foreground.

Kikki & Her Kids: Part II

2011-07-15T15:31:00.011-04:00

As the contractions came closer together, Kikki started to work a lot harder to cope with the pain. She would lie down and contort her body raising her head up high and moaning, then drop her head and close her eyes and try to power through it. The number one thing to remember when assisting a goat giving birth is that even animals need to be comforted!

After a heavy wave of contractions, Kikki walked over to me
as if she were trying to ask, "What the heck is going on!?"

"Really!! What's happening!?"

A little scratch to let her know we were there for her.

Despite Kikki's best efforts to fool us into thinking she's never given birth before, we know better than that. This is her third time giving birth, and both times before she had triplets! Triplets is less common, but a great thing! After a couple minutes of down time from the contractions, the last wave comes and lands Kikki on here side. At this time Whitt has taken over the comforting and our first signs of the first born can be seen.

This is the goat version of lamaze.

Here's a great clip of Kikki moments before the first kid is born!
Keep an eye on her hind quarters. You can see a "bubble" at one point.
The "bubble" is actually the amniotic sac which, of course, contains the amniotic fluid.
That is the go ahead sign that the kid is ready and well on it's way out!

With the first kid moments away, I handed the camera over and got ready to catch! Kikki is ready for these kids to be out and into the world.

The first kid is born! Whitt and I assist in pulling the baby up to
Kikki's head so she can start cleaning him of right away.

A quick step back to help remind Kikki of her duty and let the new bond take effect.
It's incredible how Kikki knows just what to do.

Now it's time to tie off the umbilical chord and dip the chord into iodine
to help sanitize as well as aid in the shrinking and drying out of the chord.

The first kid is a little buck! There's just enough time to take a quick family
photo before the second kid is born.

Goats are typically born in pairs. The sex of the kids is never definite, but ideally two does are what goat farmers look for. The tricky part about a buck is that he is limited to which goat he is able to breed with within the herd. (i.e.- Cannot breed with his mother, or sister.) Typically only one unrelated male goat is necessary to act as herd sire. That is why typically male goats are rented by large scale goateries for the time needed to breed with all of the does. With a doe, their milk is very useful and pretty much trumps any other use the buck may have. It's a sign of a healthy goat to give birth to twins, and helps build up the herd a lot faster. A doe who only bears one kid more than once are generally undesirable for most goat farmers. Kikki has proven to be a great doe! We were able to get the second kid on video! Be warned: it's a bit graphic, so if you're susceptible to becoming squeamish -- maybe this video below isn't for you.

You can see in the video that I had a hard time cleaning the kids mouth and nostrils.
It's head became trapped inside the amniotic sac when I popped it and the kid was having
a hard time taking it's first breaths. Convinced the kid was extremely fragile I was terrified
first of hurting it, and second not being able to clean the kid off well enough causing it
to asphyxiate.The amniotic sac is extremely slippery! Thank goodness Ashley was there. She's
a nurse and was able to clean off the kid and allow it to get its first breaths easily.

Here's Kikki meeting her little doe for the first time!

The two beautiful kids resting with Momma after
a long day for all three of them!

Now...

...................for a name........Hm...

Kikki & Her Kids: Part I

2011-07-13T06:09:00.002-04:00

Kikki has done it! She's given birth to two incredible kids! One little buck and one doe! The twins are a great new addition to our herd. Given that the birthing process is such an ordeal, I'll be splitting the whole event into a few different blog posts so you can really get a good idea of what it was like to be there. There's just no way to put it all in one entry!

Kikki was in labor for nine hours and fifteen minutes before the kids arrived. That meant a LOT of waiting around. As mentioned in a prior post, her due date was on the 4th. So beginning the 3rd we put her in our birthing pen and began a regular routine of checking up on Kikki every two to three hours looking for signs of labor. This went on for three days and eight hours. Needless to say, we were all quite relieved when Martha reported the morning of the sixth that Kikki had begun having contractions. Whitt and I were out running errands when we got the call, so we finished up as quickly as possible and raced home to the barn...

...and ended up waiting.......

..and waiting...

...........................................................and waiting.

This being my first experience with goat birthing (or any birthing, for that matter) I did a lot of research. I learned:

- What to look for when a kid is about to be born
- What orientation the kid should be in when exiting the womb
- How to recognize when to assist the birthing
- How to assist if necessary
- What to look out for when the kid is born regarding defects or health problems
- How to tie off the umbilical chord
- How to use iodine to help eliminate the chance for infection while aiding in the shrinking and drying out of the chord, and so on.

I even watched videos of births, the longest of which was 5 min 33sec long. I was prepared for everything BUT the "anxiously waiting" part. I could tell that Whitt and Martha were just as anxious as I was. We all ended up doing barn chores and taking turns with who watched Kikki. After all, if we were going to spend that much time down there, we may as well clean up!

Whitt and Martha tag-teamed trimming the hoofs on our goats of the NON-pregnant variety.

Whitt taking care of Egglentine's hoofs.

The Damon looking on wondering, "I hope I'm not next."

Martha telling The Damon, "Yes, you are next!"

Kikki looking on.

Then I decided it was time to hang out with the goslings and baby chics.

Cute how they follow each other everywhere.

These little guys are coming along well!

..and Kikki still isn't quite ready.

At this point I noticed one of the barn swallows being particularly bothered by our presence. It kept swooping passed chirping loudly in an attempt to protect it's nest. There were previously four fledglings inhabiting the nest, but have since been gone flying around our fields forging on berries and insects. It was getting closer to there bed time, so I'm sure it wasn't ideal for us to be around Kikki in labor directly under their nest.

We're happy to see swallows in our barn. They help with
insect control and are a great sign of a healthy barn.

In the middle of my photo-op, The Damon catches
my attention by showing a lot more interest in Kikki.

And Kikki is really feeling it now! The contractions are really coming closer
together as she pulls her head back in pain. The kids are at last tangibly closer!

To Be Continued...

Celebrations!

2011-07-04T14:15:00.005-04:00

Happy 4th of July!

We've had a wonderful holiday weekend up on the farm. Despite a brief three day lapse in our internet service not only have we been celebrating our nation's independence, but Martha's birthday was on Friday! We celebrated last night by having a potluck. Tonight we're planning on sitting on the porch and watching all the fireworks down in the valley while grilling up some hot dogs and hamburgers.

We've been on high alert for the past 72 hours because our goat Kikki is pregnant and her due date is TODAY. So keep her in your thoughts and we will be updating you on her condition and progress of the birth! Stay tuned!!!

New Chicken Tractors

2011-07-01T06:26:00.001-04:00

Our pastures have been pretty heavily over grazed by our two horses. Last fall we were able to find a new home for Lucy and Princess at a farm with three young girls wanting to ride. Since then, we've let our pastures rest and recover a bit on their own. Now it's time to turn up the juice and revitalize them! The best way to do so is to fertilize. Being that we have plenty of birds ready and willing to provide all the manure we could ever need, it's a piece of cake. In order to have the fertilizer exactly where we need it without having to shovel it by hand we've built portable tractors for the birds to live in. This way we can have the birds lay the manure wherever it is needed while still giving them the protection and fresh pasture they need. It's a win-win-win! Win for the birds -- win for us -- win for the pasture! Martha took some pictures of Whitt and I setting the new tractors in place!

Talk about a roll cage!

Bringing one of the tractors to the middle pasture.

It takes two to stand the tractor up so we can move the gator...

..and two to lower it down.

We also made some light weight tractors just for chickens.

Now, to move the birds!

Last, we set up the electro-net to set the boundary.

Now every morning after feeding, we move the tractors and birds all at once!

Box Turtle Sightings

2011-06-30T06:14:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-29T06:14:00.003-04:00

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!

2011-06-28T07:14:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-06-27T12:01:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-26T06:45:00.010-04:00

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!

2011-06-25T06:21:00.005-04:00

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!

2011-06-24T06:39:00.002-04:00

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

2011-06-23T06:45:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-22T07:42:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-12T13:05:00.005-04:00

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

2011-06-10T14:25:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-08T14:25:00.001-04:00

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!

For Rent!

2011-05-17T06:30:00.003-04:00

Looking for a place to live? Hoping to find an amazing apartment with an even more amazing view?

The upper apartment is officially FOR RENT!

Click here to see the ad on CraigsList as well as more pictures of the apartment.

The Damon

2011-05-16T14:24:00.006-04:00

Say, "Hello!" to our new little billy goat. His name is The Damon. He comes from a breeder in Louisa County to function as our herd sire for a little while. Damon being a Nubian Goat means now we'll be able to have pure bred Nubians and Nubian-Alpine cross kids. So far he is adjusting well to his new home! He's already latched onto Kikki as a surrogate mother and she seems to be warming up to the idea of having him around. I've posted a few pictures of the first meet'n greet below!

Yurt Explosion

2011-04-11T06:15:00.006-04:00

Do not worry. Nothing in the Yurt has exploded, nor the Yurt itself. However, the popularity of the Yurt as a rental has been exploding. Since the first day we offered the Yurt as a B'nB it has been occupied every weekend except Valentine's weekend (odd considering most of our clientele stay for a romantic weekend...). Even better news is that weekends are booked through the middle of May!

For reservation information, or just to "take a gander" visit AirBnB.com! You can see pictures as well as what dates are still available if you'd like to come stay!

Remember: Never Let Your Toddler Bathe Themselves in Hydraulic Fluid.

2011-04-10T09:57:00.005-04:00

I apologize for this tangent, however:

Does anyone else wonder how we got to the point that warning labels like this one are necessary? Why would this bucket be stored near where a baby would be anyway? Talk amongst yourselves.

The Seeds are sprouting!

2011-04-09T12:15:00.003-04:00

Martha has been hard at work getting her garden started! Every winter starting in February, Martha gets her seeds in order to get a jump start on the season. After all, the plants don't grow themselves! (At least not the plants we want to eat.) Here are some pictures of her first sprouters for 2011!

Berries Galore!

2011-04-08T06:30:00.007-04:00

Many years ago, this was the site of the vegetable garden. It made sense for it to be here for Grandpa Cecil and Grandma Jeanne when their house was the only house on the property and just up the hill. Since then the vegetable garden has been relocated closer to the (now) main house and this area had been forgotten and overgrown. I was given the task to use the bush-hog and clean it up again!

Now, I wish I had taken "before" pictures, because then it would be more evident the amount of sheer destruction that was necessary to get this area looking the way it does now. The berry patches to the right were planted before I got here, so the goal was to rescue them and lose all the rest. MAN! Wild blueberry and blackberry bushes had moved in and taken over! Wild berry plants aren't the best because they're incredibly invasive, hard to control, HUGE, have more thorns than just about anything, and yield a tiny amount of fruit given the amount of landscape they take over. The wild plants were choking out the berries we had planted and want to keep. The thick thorny stalks of the wild berry bushes were taller then the tractor! I kept losing my hat and catching my clothes on all the thorns and getting smacked in the face by the branches caught on the tractor...it was a lively experience. I'm glad to report that I've survived the ordeal. Haha! Now the remaining berry plants we wanted to keep have been replanted and are enjoying their un-compromised sunlight!

Turkey Pen!

2011-04-07T08:30:00.003-04:00

Back in February, we constructed a turkey pen in the barn to keep the turkeys contained during breeding season. It's not uncommon for wild turkeys to entice our birds to join them. A few of our hens went missing in this manner last year, so this is an attempt to prevent that from happening again. We love our flock and want to keep them! So, ta-da!! Here's the pen pictured on the right! So far having them in the pen wasn't very exciting for the birds. They'd rather spend time on top of it rather than in it, but it's for their own good. As mentioned in a previous post, soon we'll be collecting the eggs laid and incubating them! We'll keep you abreast of all the happenings!

Just Incredible Pictures!

2011-04-06T08:00:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures taken at sunrise during this passed winter. They haven't been photoshopped or enhanced at all. It's a true testament to how beautiful it is up here on the farm. I found them on the family computer and was definitely impressed. Now, I just need to find out who took these shots so I can give them the proper credit they deserve! The morning light is amazing on the ice covered branches!

Down for the Hatch

2011-04-05T09:44:00.020-04:00

We're very excited this year to be able to hatch our own birds! Now that we have an established group of laying hens, we can collect the eggs laid and encourage those eggs to develop into chics by incubating them. Here's how it's done:

Chicken eggs have an incubation period of 21 days. It's very important to make sure the eggs get rotated during incubation. 180 degrees every 24hrs is sufficient. Not only is temperature important, the humidity is a very important factor as well.

A few days before the expected date-of-arrival for the little chics, the eggs are taken out of the containment rack and placed on metal mesh at the bottom of the incubator. This insures enough room for the baby chics to squirm around and the metal mesh allows the waste to fall through so the birds aren't lying in it. Also at this time the humidity is increased and the temperature slightly adjusted.

PREPARE FOR THE HATCH!!

Fresh out of the egg!

All tuckered out after fighting the shell, it's not unusual for the chics to nap right away.

The duration of the hatch depends on how many eggs are incubated. It's a good idea to leave the hatched chics in the incubator for a period of 24hrs in order to let them dry off and learn how to move around on there own before putting them in a separate container. As the chics hatch, it's a good idea to remove the shells and other debris inside the incubator.
When it comes time to move the chics, the most important step is introducing them to the water and food. Simply dip their beaks into the water, and then in to the food dish. They can figure it out from there. Also, a lamp to provide warmth is VERY important! At first the lamp should be as close as possible to the chics to keep them warm, and as they grow older move the lamp away until it is no longer needed.

Here's their temporary home! Soon they'll be headed down to our new bird containment area in the barn!

Cute little guys.

Next we'll be incubating Goose and Turkey eggs. Stay tuned! It will be a busy Spring!

Surgeries & Recoveries

2011-04-03T20:46:00.002-04:00

As most of you may know, Whitt had surgery back in January.

We are INCREDIBLY PLEASED to announce that his surgery was 100% successful!!!!

Whitt's health is back to where it should be and we couldn't be more proud of him. Thank you so much to everyone for your love and support from the beginning. We are all so relieved to have that chapter of our lives behind us. A toast to the future!

Cheers for good health!

Duck, Duck, Geese!

2011-03-31T20:52:00.007-04:00

Complete with a deck for sunbathing, this pond receives five stars from our birds.

Spring Has Sprung!!!

2011-03-28T21:07:00.004-04:00

We've re-vamped our blog in anticipation of Spring! There's so much happening it's hard to keep it all organized! With that being said, expect more blogging out of me and get ready for some new voices. Martha has a lot to say about the garden!

You can now follow our blog via e-mail without being a blogspot member! Simply type in your e-mail address in the bar at the top of our blog and hit the return key on your keyboard! Heck, even feel free to add your friend's or anyone else's e-mail you think might be interested in our farm.

Thanks so much for getting ready for spring with us!

Kiki & Hale!

2011-03-16T13:26:00.007-04:00

The new goats have arrived!

Kiki (short for Waikiki; fitting considering Whitt having grown up in HI) and Hale (pronounced "Holly") have arrived at their new home! They are 7yr old Nubian breed twin sisters, but nowhere near identical. Both were born and raised to date at Sweet Valley Farm here in Virginia. They've been de-horned at birth which is a common practice among goat farmers to reduce the threat the horns pose to other goats in the heard if a dominance struggle were to take place. This makes it tricky with our two goats already hear not having been dehorned by there original owners. Nonetheless, we're excited to see how they settle in!

This is Hale! Hale is the only milk producing goat of the two at the moment. She's very timid and seems to be attracted to people more-so than other animals.

Kiki has white ears and a larger beard than Holly. She shares Holly's comfort around humans. She's also pregnant! Her kid(s) is/are due in July!

As mentioned in a prior post, the nerve-racking meet and greet b/w these gals, Rosie, and Eggie has yet to determine the overall acceptance of Kiki and Hale into the barnyard family. We'll keep you posted as to whether it's war or peace in the days to come.

Small Gator, Big Boat!

2011-03-15T11:50:00.002-04:00

We had to move the Hobie Cat earlier today because it was in the way of the mulch pile we needed to spread around the new nature trail. The Gator is a piece of equipment we have a hard time remembering how we did without. It can haul 1,000lbs in it's bed, and tow a log-splitter, mulcher, trailer, or boat anywhere on our property while doing less damage than a big truck!

This you had to see to believe!

From the lower garage...

...to the upper!

Getting Ready for Goats!

2011-03-15T11:14:00.003-04:00

We're very excited! We've been getting ready for the arrival of two new goats!

The two new goats have been de-horned. Like with any farm animal they need to be introduced to the rest of the bunch. Aslan will love and protect anything we allow into the barn yard with us, the geese don't care about anyone or anything and will probably just drive the new goats crazy, but the big deal is having the new goats meet our goats Egglentine and Rosie.

Goats are herd animals, but don't automatically warm up to other goats and accept them into the "herd." Our biggest concern is the fact that Eggie and Rosie were never de-horned whereas the new goats have been. We've been hard at work dividing up the barn and pasture in order to have some sort of control over the meet and greet. The north side of the pasture has been divided from the southern side via an electro-net running down to the barn (pictured below). Ideally the goats all get along and the division can be removed rather quickly, but we'll have to play it by ear!

Hope the new goats can't jump very high!

Let the Show Begin:

2011-03-08T09:40:00.002-05:00

Our toms (male turkeys) have started their displays!

Our bronze tom has been with us for more than a year, so his displays started a lot earlier than our younger heritage bourbon red, but he is finally catching up.

WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

Which tom do you think is more likely to win the attention of the hens? The bourbon red(left) or the bronze (right)?

Just vote by leaving a comment in the comment box below!

We've Got Another Layer!

2011-03-07T11:05:00.001-05:00

Another one of our goose hens has begun to lay eggs! Of course, not quite where we'd hoped her to be laying them. The picture below and to the right are of her nesting in Rosie and Egglentine's pen. It was actually quite comical to see her nesting there trying to blend in to her surroundings with the goats and Aslan sunbathing and wrestling right next to her. IT was only when I got a bit to close that she would begin to protest with the usual hissing.

The birds beginning to lay eggs is a promising sign of spring! New life is just around the corner!

Moving South!

2011-03-07T11:04:00.001-05:00

Gretchen and Austin have moved to Asheville, NC! Wish them luck and safe travels!

Box Scraper: A Must Have!

2011-03-02T11:51:00.002-05:00

We've been making a lot of new roads recently with all of the new construction going on up here. Essentially, each new structure needs to have as designated a road as possible to prevent everybody from getting in each others way, ESPECIALLY when it comes to the weekend BN'B guests.

There are a few steps to building a road:

1st: Plan out the route of the road keeping in mind the incline, what the bulldozer will be demolishing, and how direct you'd like the road to be. Ideally you shouldn't need a 4x4 to make it up or down the road if it's rained recently, you don't want to plow through existing power lines or septic lines, and you also want to have as little impact to the actual forest around the road.

2nd: Find a friend with a bulldozer to clear the area and make a rough path.

3rd: Spread the road surface of your choosing. In our case we use gravel. Start with larger rocks to form a foundation, and then add gradually smaller gravel to really stabilize the road. Finally, spread a top layer of mostly pulverized rock to form almost a tarmac surface that won't get washed away.

Thanks to the ever trusty Dave VanDerveer!

The rough road completed.

Now, the bulldozer tearing down the forest may seem like the hard part, but as long as the dozer driver knows what he or she is doing, it's relatively straight forward: get stuff out of the way. The hard part has been spreading the gravel evenly over the road surface! We've been using a rake attachment on our tractor to spread the gravel, but it never did the best job. Essentially we would just push the gravel around and hope it was even.

WELL! Have we made it SO MUCH EASIER?! Oh yes!

Whitt and I ran to Tractor Supply yesterday to pick up some more feed and waterers for our birds. Dave VanDerveer had been telling us about a box scraper we could get for our tractor to help make spreading and maintaining road surfaces a lot easier. We priced out a box scraper for our tractor while we were there and the price was better than we expected! So we loaded it up and brought it home.

This is the same style rake we were previously using. Ours is a lot more beat up.

The new tool gathers all the extra material in the "box" and spreads it evenly with a smooth edge.

Previously it took me 4 hours to use the tractor rake to push all the gravel around to some semblance of a path (let alone a road). With the new box scraper? 20 minutes! 2 passes! DONE! Now, forgive me for being so excited about this new tool, but ANYTHING that can cut my time down by 90% AND do a better job than what I was able to do previously is something I get REALLY excited about! Not only am I able to do more in a day, but we're using WAY less diesel fuel and putting less wear on our tractor! Yay efficiency!

Here's a video of a similar box scraper set up taking a pile of crusher run and spreading it smoothly and evenly down a driveway. This isn't our tractor or road, but ours works exactly the same way!

The best part about the box scraper is that not only does it make spreading new roads 100% more efficient, but we're able to use it to re-surface existing roads that are a bit worse for wear. It has "ripper shanks" which can be adjusted to dig into the existing road, churn up all of the gravel that's been packed in and re-lay it evenly. Gravel is not cheap when you're buying it by the truck load, so the more we can get out of the existing gravel the better!

One pass down the worst driveway restored it to almost new. (All that gravel was under the dirt!)

Many thanks to Dave VanDerveer for clueing us in to the box scraper, and also for owning bulldozers, dump trucks, backhoes, and everything else needed to move the earth for a living. If you need any heavy duty excavation or landscaping done, he's the man to call!

Happy 60th!!!

2011-03-02T09:40:00.001-05:00

Whitt has just turned 60 (believe it or not)!

In honor of the day we had a hoe-down up on the mountain. That's right: a hoe down complete with line dancing, overalls, a full Reba Mcentire cover band, and a cattle auction at the end of the night.

..Actually no. Just kidding! Our version of a "hoe-down" is a pot-luck with great food and all of our friends! The theme of the party was music, so we had everyone bring Whitt a mix CD along with a dish. Thanks so much to the Artz, Fahy, Finn, VanDerveer, DeSilva, Spencer, Cox, families as well as Chris, Kelly, Mary and everyone else that made it up!

It's harder to find a picture of Whitt NOT working than you'd think...

Speaking of Hawks...

2011-02-28T09:40:00.002-05:00

That's right. Hawks eat chickens. They love chickens. They're easy prey. If you're one to keep your eyes to the sky and bird watch (legitimately), then you know about Hawks being out and on the move!

How do we prevent chicken theft via birds of prey?

CHICKEN WIRE!

Martha, Mia and I have been busy trying to contain chickens, separate chickens, feed chickens, entertain chickens, catch chickens, protect chickens and just about every other activity known to man involving chickens. It's always a process of being one step ahead, so hopefully our latest efforts (pictured below) will suffice!

Here's our chicken pen with the new safety measure installed.

When One Yurt Isn't Enough...

2011-02-27T20:58:00.009-05:00

Get another one!

We're getting another yurt from our friends at Blue Ridge Yurts! The new yurt will be a 16' yurt, so a little more than half the size of the current yurt we are running as a Bn'B. We're planning on using the smaller yurt as a rental geared more toward a camping atmosphere then anything else. As of right now we're imagining hikers from the Appalachian Trail, or families in need of a camp site being able to find running water, compostable toilets, and shelter inside the new yurt with fire close by. However, we are also aware that the ideal simplicity of the new yurt may very well be turned in to a full on cabin type endeavor much like the larger yurt. The best part about yurts are how endless the possibilities are!

Check out the yurt! We'll be picking it up toward the end of March/early April. We already have a spot cleared. Stay tuned for all the new things happening!

Prepare for Hyperlight Jump

2011-02-22T18:18:00.005-05:00

I have news. Potentially the best news regarding our ability to communicate ever. Cair Paravel has now officially joined the 21st century. We have high speed internet! We've waited a long time for this! Due to our location, we haven't had access to any reasonably high speed internet so we have been having to do without. But not anymore!

Mother Nature's Diagnosis: Schizophrenia

2011-02-22T11:25:00.003-05:00

It's not uncommon this time of year for the mid-atlantic region to experience odd weather patterns. For instance: January 2004 had two consecutive days in the 90s - MLK weekend 2008 and 2010 had two consecutive days in the mid 70s - et cetera.

BUT NOT WEEKS OF 76 DEGREES AND SUNNY IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY THIS:

In all honesty, I know it sounds like I'm complaining about the current fluctuation of the weather conditions outside, however my observations are not meant to come us across as such. I'm merely impressed with how rapidly things can change. I'm also glad I didn't go through the trouble of finding all of my shorts that have been packed away for quite a while. I probably won't need them until next week.

New Chickens!

2011-02-21T18:24:00.005-05:00

Hello to everyone!

We have new chickens! Thanks to the Sillimans and Sweet Dog Farm for selling them to us! We now have 6 hens and 1 rooster of the "Americana" type. We're excited to have the new breed and are especially excited to get our first batch of eggs from these little chicks. Americana Chickens lay eggs of different colors; blue, brown, yellow, and orange-ish (I believe). We'll soon find out for sure. The new birds are going on 5 mos old, so we need to keep them separate from our more mature birds or else they will get the crap kicked out of them. The smaller the bird, the lower in the pecking order. That's just how it goes. So for the safety of our new feathered friends we have created an outside area and indoor shelter just for them. The new separate area will be great come hatching season so the new additions to our laying/meat providing family can grow to be adults w/o being bullied.

She almost looks like a hawk!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY from Cair Paravel!!!!

Spring Is Closing In!

2011-02-07T20:53:00.006-05:00

Our goose Mary has laid the first eggs of 2011!

Lillian and I noticed earlier today that Mary (one of our hens) was missing. The search began! Lillian ended up finding her in the goat house in the barn nestled into the straw bedding. Goes to show no matter how many areas we give them to nest, they end up picking their own! One egg was sitting in the nest untouched and I uncovered two more nearby. Geese are tricky and cover their eggs when they leave the nest, so it's hard to tell if any eggs are actually there. I'll be doing a complete egg sweep in the morning to see if any of the other hens have been laying at all. It's fitting that today be the day the first eggs are laid as Martha has been fervently getting all of this years seeds started for the garden so we're ready come spring. You snooze, you loose! So come on Spring! Let's get warm already!

Yurt For Rent!

2011-02-01T13:54:00.020-05:00

Hello all!

It's gorgeous up on Pocosan Mtn today. We haven't seen clear skies in what feels like months. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and we can see blue skies for miles! With today's spring-anticipation-inducing weather it's the perfect opportunity to spread the news about the Yurt we've built! As of the first of this year our Yurt has been fully functioning as a bed and breakfast. Stay the weekend, stay a week, or even stay a month or two if you need it! Check out the pictures below to see the before and afters of the project!

We raised the Yurt in one day with a lot of help from our friends and family back in April of 2010. The structure is 30' in diameter, and 18' high at the center with approx. 1,200sq. ft. of living space. The inner walls are comprised of wooden lattice stretched between two doors (the front door and back door) with steel cable woven through the top of the lattice for support.

Mia, Whitt, and Mary showing off the new walls!

The roof is then attached to the steel cable by way of slots in the end of the ceiling beams. A torsion ring in the center of the ceiling connects to the beams providing the downward force that keeps the Yurt all together.

Tristan and Sam using some elbow grease to keep it steady!

Sliding the cable into the slot on the beam.

The outer shell is three layers: inner cloth lining, high efficiency insulation, and a strong coated fabric outer shell which provides protection from the elements for 30years.

The first layer getting fitted.

After the outer structure is complete, the inside is a completely blank slate. Whitt and Martha could do whatever they wanted as far as design, commodities, rooms, etc. They quickly worked wonders and came up with the design scheme which can be seen in the finished product. With tools in hand Whitt headed the build (essentially doing all of the work himself with our help when two hands weren't enough). Construction of the Yurt was officially complete in November of 2010. See the pictures below for a tour!

Plenty of parking next to the fire pit! And yes! The Yurt is handicap accessible!

Just inside the front door to the right: living room. The bedroom can be closed off from the living area if chosen.

Just inside the front door to the left: kitchen and dining area as well as the stairs up to the loft.

A look straight up and out the sky light!

A closer view of the bedroom.

A closer view of the FULL kitchen (dishwasher included!).

A view down the hall and out the back door.

Down the hall to the right: second entrance to the bedroom.

Down the hall to the left (across from bedroom door): Full bathroom!

The loft.

The view from the loft!

Propane powered for safety and warmth!

Tsuki & Oskar enjoying there first and ONLY chance to relax in the Yurt! No dogs allowed, but since they helped so much with the build, we gave them a freebie.

For more information on renting the Yurt, check out AirBnB! All of the reservations can be taken care of via the website. Select Virginia: Charlottesville Area and it should pop up, OR search for Blue Ridge Mountain Yurt in the search bar. And remember you can always contact myself, Whitt, Martha, Mia or any of us to reserve your stay as well!

-Brendan

Aslan: Protector of Our Mountain

2011-01-26T23:11:00.001-05:00

Aslan looks more like a polar bear than dog in all the snow! It's funny though, all this snow and he's still able to find a mud patch to romp in. I guess he figures we wouldn't be able to find him if he kept clean!

Sure enough: SNOW!

2011-01-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

Whatd'ya know! The forecast was correct! By three o'clock this is what we were dealing with. We had previously experienced rain, ice, one thunder crash and strike of lightening just before the sleet started, and finally snow falling fast! Since the iutside projects had to be put on hold Howard made great strides cleaning the wood shop while Lillian tackled the freezers (yes plural). I stayed busy rearranging the upper garage and getting it ready to be more of a work site than a storage facility. Gretchen, Austin, and Mia were able to make it to the farm today despite the snow (Mia literally had to walk up the mountain). Nothing like everybody home on a snow day!

Jump Start to the Day!

2011-01-26T13:55:00.000-05:00

The forecast for the next few days includes a lot of every winter condition
possible: ice, sleet, freezing rain, and yes...SNOW! The news is calling for 6-8"s of snow to be exact. This means an early (more-so than usual) start to the day in order to get a jump on the impending weather. After the morning animal feeding routine, first on the list was to get the snow chains on the tractor in case we'll need to dig our way down off the mountain. My first attempt to start the tractor came with a discovery: the key had been left in the on position despite the engine being off. Yes. It was I. I always forget that even though the engine is turned off, the key still needs to be turned to the off position. There is always something to make a simple task a little more complicated up here on the farm. After bringing my trusty eighty-eight Nova down to the barn, a quick jump start brought me back to step one. With the tractor chained and ready to go we're currently getting a lot of sleet mixed with rain, and a thick coating of ice. Despite the winter weather, Aslan and the other animals are still having a blast! Wish us luck and stay tuned for more updates about the weather on our end and more happenings around the farm.

Hello 2011!

2011-01-25T13:18:00.002-05:00

Hello 2011!

Brendan here. We have news! I have moved up to the farm and am working four days out of the week amongst all the animals and construction that's been going on. I will be updating the blog more frequently while up at the farm, so stay tuned and don't forget to add your input! The Yurt is up and running and has been a huge hit with weekend rentals, Aslan is growing in to his protective instincts, construction continues as tue farm grows, and we even sold a goose!

It's about time we used this blog and that's what we intend to do.

2010-06-19T17:26:00.003-04:00

A special sign for a special friend

After processing our first batch of meat chickens at Sweet dog farm we created this sign for Tom and Kelly. Thanks for all you help and support. We would be very happy to make similar type of signs for anyone who might need one

georgie

2010-06-19T17:06:00.003-04:00

Georgie the wonder goat was born on April 27 while Martha and Whitt were down in Norfolk picking up the "Tundra" and Gretchen and Myra oversaw the birthing. We castrated and dehorned him which was not much fun but necessary. We kept him for 8 weeks and then found a wonderful new home for him in Gordonsville.

I do not know how to work this thing

2010-04-06T10:17:00.002-04:00

Sorry I have no idea what to do to upload the photos. I hope you enjoy the lack of photos. Just close your eyes and imagine. :)

Photos of the Farm

2010-04-06T09:43:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I had the ability to come up to the farm. We planted potatoes and I pretended to help papa with the prep for the Yurt. Unfortunately, my attention span it not made for tedious tasks so I went for a walk. Anyways, I hope to see you all soon for the Yurt raising!!! Should be a blast!

Poultry-a-Plenty!

2010-03-01T10:13:00.005-05:00

The new chicks from McMurry's arrived today! I always imagine how entertaining it must be to be a postal worker in a rural enough area that in the spring peeping (chicks) or buzzing (bees) boxes are coming in daily.Brendan, Mia's fiance, has been staying up at the farm to help out over the last few weeks, and has resolved to convince the chicks to imprint on him. This should be GOOD.

Wow, weather.

2010-02-26T13:39:00.018-05:00

Unfortunately, many of the weather photos from the farm have been deleted, but this has been quite the winter!

Remember when we were excited about 4-6 inches of snow? You know, in November and early December?

Then came the week before Christmas and a HUGE dump of snow, like the ones you remember from childhood. There were almost 2 feet of snow...fluffy, deep snow.

There was more snow, a few small storms of you know, 4-6 inches...but the next remarkable weather was a sudden deluge of rain on January 25th. The rate of rainfall was a remarkable 2 inches per hour, which resulted in rivers flooding into roadways, the mountain road got completely washed-out, and water collected in unexpected locations. (Photos courtesy of Dad's cellphone)

Then, just when we thought it was all over, there was a measly 8" snowfall...followed by nearly another 2 feet and blizzarding conditions on February 5-7th! The drifts on the road were taller than Dad, and swamped the tractor.

The snow is starting to melt now...which means that the road is a morass of mud and well-intentioned gravel. The snowdrops are blooming and spring birds are starting to show up...

But I won't believe that Spring is on its way until I hear the peepers.

Solar Panels Installed!!!

2010-02-26T11:04:00.004-05:00

Well, it's installed! Our solar panel project started with significant thinning of the trees around the house this autumn. This has increased airflow around the house (which will be great for the garden this summer, but has been pretty interesting with the winter weather!), and has opened up our southern exposure to a lot of sunlight. This will not only be good for the garden, but has allowed us to explore solar power.

We got an estimate from Altenergy in time for the end of the fiscal year (Huzzah tax incentives), and over the last few weeks, the guys have been installing the panels. The final adjustments have been made, all we're waiting on now is inspection and trial!

Based on the estimate and projections from last year, we should cover around 70% of our electricity use. If we generate more than we use, we even get to sell back to Allegheny Power!