Springtime at Henny Penny

The hens favorite place to nap is
 in the "fallout" beneath goats hay feeder.

 Although the temperature is still quite cool, it is springtime at the Henny Penny Farm in CT.
The hens have been spending these sunny days scratching in the garden and loosening up the soil for me, while eating all the bad bugs they can find.

The Black Lace Wyandottes are new additions to the flock and began laying only last month.
Other newbies include Easter Eggers, Astrolorpes, and Buff Orpingtons.

Chillin' in the afternoon sun.

This happens whenever the door is left ajar.

Peas reaching for the sunlight.

Meanwhile, Penny and Charlotte spend most of the afternoons just laying around soaking up the sunshine.  Around 4 p.m. every day they get into they "play time" mood and can be seen running in circles, playing tag, and wrestling with each other.

When the sun begins to set just below the tree tops they begin their song:  maaa, maaa.  This is their call to me that it is just about time to go inside.  The longer it takes for me to respond to their call, the louder they get.  Once that gate is opened it is a race to see which of them will get inside to their stall first. Of course, the first thing they go to is their feed dishes for their afternoon treat before settling in for the night.

If the kitchen door is left ajar it beckons the chickens to come in and look for hand-outs.
On this day they ran inside as soon as I turned my back to photograph the goats.






The peas are just about ready to be transplanted into the garden, too bad the garden isn't ready for them.  But they won't have to wait long, they will be going into the garden in a couple of days.

The Nasturtiums are also ready for the garden, and the onion will be ready in a couple of weeks when they have grown stronger.

This is the first time I plant onions from seed and was surprised at how fast they germinated and have grown in just two weeks.

Chives are just about ready for picking.

 The herb garden was the first to awaken this spring.  And the chives have been thriving with these cold night-time temperatures and lots of rain.

The sage, thyme and oregano are still sleeping.

The rosemary is still indoors and has grown several inches over the winter.  This is the first time I didn't lose my rosemary plants after bringing them indoors.

Rosemary

The ducks are brooding!  They have been saving their eggs for about a week and get very loud and protective when anyone comes in their direction.

They keep the eggs hidden under the hay in their little home.  If they are successful with their parenting attempt, these will be the first newborns on the farm.

Now if the chickens would just do the same.

But, there was a surprise in the hen house today.
The first dark brown egg was laid by one of the new Maran hens.  I wasn't too hopeful about getting a dark brown egg since the hen isn't a Copper Maran, but this egg is much darker and more brown than the RIRed's eggs.

Once we move to the new farm I plan to increase the flock and add more breed variety.  The plan, at this time, is to raise heritage breeds and sell the fertilized eggs and chicks.  While I wait for that time to arrive I am studying and reading m

Spring at the New Farm: Bush-Hogging and Digging Post Holes, Getting Power and Permits

the last of the daffodils

We welcomed the first day of spring at the new farm by trying to stay warm during unusual freezing
temperatures, strong wind and rain for a couple of days.  Thank goodness the motor-home was able to keep us warm and cozy while waiting for the weather to get back to a springtime norm.

We met a farmer as he was working an adjoining pasture when he came to see who the new owners of the old farm were.  As we learned, he knew the previous resident of the farm who had passed away about ten years ago.  He had been a share-cropper and both he and his wife and spent most of their lives on the farm.

 During the past ten years since the sharecropper's death the farm had been sold two or three times, but no one kept the site long before reselling.  The original owner of the farm had been one of the two primary farmers in the area, the Thames had constructed the house originally in 1915, and restored it in 1950. That restoration was the last information recorded at the county seat about the property.

Can you say "need a new well"?

The last owner, several years ago, began another restoration and gutted the home, replaced windows, add new siding, and began rebuilding the bath and kitchen..... without permits as we learned last week. Now we are learning the rules we must follow in order to build or rebuild our farm home.

We don't need anyone to tell us we need a new well and septic system.
This well was dug by hand more than 100 years ago and is at least thirty feet deep.

Bush Hogging the neglected pastures.

Meanwhile, there is plenty to do outside.  The pastures had been left to fallow for several years and we need to prepare homes for the livestock.

The farm neighbor came to the rescue with his tractor and bush hog to clear the land of the 18 acres of overgrown grass.

Now that the grass is cleared, he will be back to plow the area that will become my new garden, which won't be planted until next spring.

Location of Next Year's Garden and Orchard

These, newly cut, few acres will become garden and orchard next year.  Eventually we hope to build a barn to the right and behind those two trees at the right of the photograph.

Nick's first time on a tractor.

After the farmer left at the end of the day Nick climbed onto the tractor for his first day as a farmer.  Do you remember "Green Acres"?

Never in his life had he ever thought about operating a farm tractor, now he is spending time shopping for one of his own!

Power Company Planning Engineer 

At some time we will need to get electricity to the house.  So the design engineer from Old Dominion came out to get the information he needed to get it from the pole to the house.  To their credit, we were impressed to learn that for all new installations Old Dominion Power is putting the power lines underground at no additional charge!  Now we just need to get all the county officials to agree that we can restore the home.

Digging Post Holes for the Goat Yard

The biggest project of the week was getting started on building the goat yard.
Although the goats will be spending much of their days in pasture, they need a secure pen near their housing and to safe from night-time predators.  

I have seen footprints of bear and big cats, along with the deer prints.  We also saw two coyotes on one morning, and another the next morning, close to our livestock's future home.


We hope the new goat yard with it's sturdy fencing and additional electrical fence surrounding the yard will keep them safe.  For the chickens,  we have decided to build chicken tractors and set them in the pasture until we have time to build a new coop.  More electric fencing will help protect our hens and meat birds. 

There will also be additional security for the livestock and for the home.  We spent one day driving to a farm in the western mountains where we acquired Sophie, a six week old Great Pyranees pup.  It is hard to believe this little bundle of fluff will grow to become a 125 pound powerhouse.

We chose this breed because of it's natural trait of livestock protector and good nature.  She will have plenty to keep her busy once our Nubians begin kidding.  Time is running out if we are going to get babies this year.  Still looking for a service buck for my girls.

Meanwhile, at the Henny Penny, the ducks have begun brooding!  They have made a nest of hay inside their little house and have been amassing and hiding their eggs.   I wish my chickens would lay eggs daily, and brood like the ducks.  None of the hens seem to care about hatching any of their eggs.

Currently the long driveway is merely a well worn tire track.  When I look at this photo I can see the future:  a beautiful, long curving, well kept gravel drive lined along both side by flowering trees and a lovely landscaped front yard.  The front porch has been restored to it's original, open design and there are four rocking chairs perfect for visitors to sit and chat, and enjoy a cold, sweet tea.

The front porch had been enclosed by one of the previous owners.
Revealing the original front porch is top priority.
Of the four trees to the right, only one still thrives.  The others will be removed and replaced.
Eventually we envision a long, gravel drive-way, landscaping and a flower garden in the front yard.

Next trip will be the middle of April and we will complete the goat yard, and by that time Sophie will be old enough to come home with us.  Also planned for that period are meetings with the appropriate inspectors in order to get building permits and schedule the first meeting with the building inspector who will determine whether we can continue with the restoration or must change our plan to one that includes building a new home altogether.

First Weekend at the New Farm: The Work Begins

After much anticipation we finally had our first weekend when we could begin working at establishing the new farm.  Happily the weather co-operated and we had three absolutely beautiful, warm spring days for beginning our project.... building a farm.

little barn "before"

The first project of the first day was to uncover the small barn which was overgrown with vines, brush, weeds and bushes.  Aged, weathered and rotted boards which ones sided the barn were strewn around and the grass had already grown up several inches tall around them.

We sorted and stacked the wood, bits into a pile to burn, larger unusable pieces also in the burn pile.  Long, lost and rusted mechanical parts tossed on a pile to send to the metal recycle area, the a pile for boards that could be re-used.

Next the over-growth needed to be dealt with.  Prickly vines wove their way through fence wire, forced their way under siding and through walls.  And large bushes grew against the south and west walls of the small structure.

Once the exterior was cleared we were able to finally have peek inside the building and assess it's condition and possibilities.  What a surprise!  The interior framing was mostly as good as new and there was plenty of space to create stalls for the goats, including two birthing stalls, and also an area roomy enough for all the chickens and their laying boxes!

Looking down at the floor, which had at one time been made of wood, was now covered in a 12 inches of composted manure.  Until last year horses were kept at the farm and now their dropping had turned into black gold for the garden!  What a treasure to find in the old post and beam building.

Except for only two or three of the smaller posts, all the posts are in good condition.  The only work will be to replace those thinner posts with new, pressure treated 4"x 4"s and the lower siding boards which for one reason or another were missing or in need of replacement.

The plan for our next trip will be to replace that wood, enlarge and re-frame the main door into a double barn door, re-do the floor, add two smaller doors on the west wall (one for the goats and one for the chickens) so the animals will be able to leave and enter their home at will.   Around two sides of the little barn we will construct a new goat pen, and a large chicken yard .  Although we intend to have the animals out in the field and rotated the areas in which they forage, they will need a secure area near their shelter for other times.

Rear Ell .. the front porch is barely seen at
the far left of the house.

Day two is for sweeping out the house interior, assessing and creating a to-do list for it's restoration, and stripping out the enclosed front porch (which we will open up for it's original intended use, a front porch).

The ell, at the rear of the house, will be eventually be enclosed to the full length of the roof.

This turns out to be more work than I expected.  We swept and shoveled and swept and shoveled again and again and that was just 3 rooms.   There are three more rooms to clean out and also tear off those ugly walls which were constructed to enclose the front porch.

How the house front will look when restored.

Outdoor work consisted of cutting down prickly vines which were hugging the house's siding and chimney, getting rid of wild bushes, weeds and brush which surrounded the house and trimming back the grass which is already 6 inches high and deep green.

I took time to decide on a suitable location for the kitchen garden and measured and marked with flagged sticks a 50' x 50' area which will have full sun all day long.  I wish I could begin the garden now, but other things must come first for now.

The plan for the garden will be to have a few 50' x 50' gardens: one for tomatoes, peppers and cucumber; another for perennials such as asparagus; another for fruit: strawberries, blackberries, etc.
There will also be an orchard for apples, apricot, peaches, pear, and perhaps fig trees.

All of this will take time, and lots of work.  But this is what we look forward to as we look to the future and our retirement.  The thought of sitting out our December years in a small, home with not much to do but watch one day pass into the next, with not much to do except watch  t.v. and sunsets and talk with other retirees about the old days, is depressing and not the way we want to live.

We are at the opening page of a new chapter of our lives through which we hope to add many, many more pages and stories.

For today, however, it is time to bake bread, plan dinner, and decide which seeds will be planted in trays to get an early start for the garden.