Frozen Turkey

Who would have guessed that we would have a day off from school before Thanksgiving? But here we are, enjoying the beauty of an ice storm outside.

Our turkeys are less than a week from becoming a delicious meal, but enjoying their best life eating the icicles off of their cage.

Everything looks so pretty encased in a lovely sheet of clear, glassy ice.

The last time we raised turkeys, we had a snow storm right before the holidays. Read about it here.

The chicken coop also looks festive with icicles. I had to buy eggs for the first time today, so I’m already looking forward to the return of warm weather for renewed laying potential. Although I am not complaining about wearing lots of warm hand knits these days!

Hope everyone is surviving the weather in your part of the world. Stay warm and cozy!

Updates Available

My phone recently reminded me that I needed to update it. It seems like a good idea all around my life. This Fall has gotten a little out of hand. (It begs the question of which Fall HASN'T gotten out of hand in recent years, but I digress...) Here are a few moments from around the farm:



China Cat Sunflower has a new favorite perch on the back of the couch. Not seen: drooling over my shoulder into my cereal bowl. Just kidding! But he does like to investigate any cuisine that might be consumed over one's shoulder. Wishful thinking, cat!



Thanks and Giving are cheerfully eating us out of house and home. They look rather large, but I hope they will continue to get bigger as the days to Thanksgiving grow closer.

Below, we have alpacas chewing lots of lush, freshly rained upon grass this October. I love Moonstar's funny face in this picture!







While the sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and green beans have all died back and been ripped out, (empty bed above yearning for some carrot seeds and winter greens) the peppers think that October is a great time to ripen. I suspect that our alpaca poo fertilizer was a bit rich. They like to make too much foliage and no fruit when fed too well. Glad they are coming to their senses!



A few snapdragons are enjoying the late summer heat. It was mostly too hot along this wall this year. The flowers were truly underwhelming.



A friend came by to visit. The alpacas and Tenny were so happy to have a new person they could pester for food and petting.



That's a snapshot of events around here. Behind the scenes of this blog, there might be a lot of music prep, test grading, concertizing, etc. Till next time, may the weather cool down enough for you to start enjoying your woolly clothes!

Peepers 2.0

We got a new chicken house from a neighbor a few weeks ago (crazy story of getting it to the house), and felt compelled to get some new birds.



Introducing Thanks and Giving, the new turkey chicks.



They are adorable, with the softest, highest pitch peeps you can imagine. So cute!



Yesterday was the first day they were allowed to be outside. They sat in one place for nearly two hours before they started to move around. I think they enjoyed themselves once they got over their skittishness. Here's looking forward to a summer of fun bird watching!

Circle of Life

The great turkey raising of 2015 did come to a close Thanksgiving week.

The birds produced 7 and 4.5 pounds of meat, and were thus roasted together with a topping of thyme from the garden.

Our dinner guests enjoyed the feast. I leave you with a picture of my friend's pardoned bird sitting in her stairway:

There are 6 new Astrolorp chicks (AKA Peepers) growing up in the garage. 

I'm lobbying to keep them around for their egg laying and nurturing skills, but with our luck, their feistiness may be foreshadowing a flock of roosters.

It's Christmas soon, which will finally give me a chance to show you some secret knitting projects that are the works. Can't wait! 

Snow Bird

These are some cold turkeys today: first snow!

This turkey needs some straw...

Looking to get to Florida...

OK, probably not. Thursday is Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble!

Greedy Gobblers

Watching turkeys grow up: can you think of anything more interesting? I'm having a great time watching them change and grow up. Maybe for the rest of you it's like watching paint dry?!

They are eating us out of house and home. We refill their food containers twice daily on occasion.

They're still adorable though. And still peeping instead of gobbling.

New Adventures

I know I am currently overly obsessed with the turkeys and should probably rename the blog something akin to "The Fairest Foul." The turkeys are definitely sucking the media space on the blog right now, kind of like Trump is always on TV these days. Trump Turkeys.

The turkeys are now released into their outdoor enclosure. They are enjoying their time out on pasture. Big adventures are keeping them very busy. 

The only problem is bedtime when they insist on laying right next to edge of the cage where a raccoon could easily reach in and strangle them. So we are putting them back into their little cage that is not near the edge of the enclosure.

Today we visited some farmers nearby who have Southdown babydoll sheep. They are quite possibly the cutest sheep I have ever seen.

After we get our dead Ash trees removed, we may decide to get a few. This little brown one was particularly adorable.

Nothing like a tiny, friendly sheep to make your day perfect. I'm up for that adventure! 

And maybe now that I have blogged about sheep, I can put together a post about a finished project. A project that was finished three months ago. Stay tuned...

Ya Look Like A Turkey

Need I say more?

They are definitely starting to look like the adult animals they will become.

Yesterday was the first day we let the turkeys on the lawn.

There was a lot of peering around for a while before they got used to the new environment.

Lots of fun was had chasing around a leaf, pecking at grass and bugs (but not quite getting them into their beaks), and bullying. The little one is still much more aggressive.

Most of their feathers are in. Soon they will be outside permanently and enjoying the fresh pasture and fall air for good. We are looking forward to cleaning the garage...

Peep, Peep, Gobble, Gobble!

The Farmer has a new project: TURKEYS! The chicks are so adorable and they are constantly making cute peeping noises. One of them is a bully and pecks the other in the beak whenever possible. I guess you have to establish pecking order immediately.

There is plenty of beauty in the yard right now. The side of the house has exploded with snapdragons. I have been pretty aggressive about cutting them after blooming and for bouquets in the hopes that they will continue to multiply the side shoots.

The last of the broccoli harvest came in today. Now I must decide what to plant in that bed next...

Last summer the chickens got to eat a lot of spoiling tomatoes that have reseeded themselves. Kind of a fun mess. It will be interesting to see what the yields are.

In the two days that have not featured rain as the main weather attraction, the tomatoes I planted on purpose are starting to get red! The sunny skies have produced a sigh of relief from many a garden bed. We'll probably be complaining about the lack of rain in a month again...

The gooseberries were picked before the chipmunks found them and immediately made into jam instead of getting frozen. I think I will give these cute jars away for the holidays this year.

Finally, the product of my rampant weed cultivation is finally dry and stored as a winter's worth of dried chamomile tea. But not to worry, new plants are sprouting, preparing us all for the fresh chamomile tea experience, as well as continued weeding.

Enjoy your summer days!