Autumn

As the sun comes up this morning there is a chill in the air, it seems autumn is upon us. I am not quite sure I am ready for the change of seasons, but then again she waits for no one. It has not froze yet but it has been at least 39 a few mornings. The hot crops like cucumbers are starting to suffer the cool mornings. I am not sure how much longer they will make it, I might try and cover them but a lot of times it is not quite worth the effort. Aah better to yield at times to mother nature as she changes the season.

I am being entertained this morning as I watch from up my window upstairs. Sonny, the goose is brawling this morning with pearl the goat. I watch as Sonny chases Pearl around the pen biting and snapping with his wings spread out in the largest, fiercest way he can manage. It's very entertaining being Pearl is usually the bully and has control of the farm as she pushes her way through everyone. Not this morning though, Sonny has managed to disrupt everyone in the barnyard with his squawks and honks as he continues to bite, hiss, and chase Pearl through the yard.

I just love mornings, the peace and rhythm of daily life on a farm intertwined with outside influences that sometimes interfere with that. I think it is the rhythm I like the most the daily milking at 7 am and 7 pm, morning breakfast, aah morning coffee brewing as the day cycles through . I had the chance to travel to a monastery this year and spend the weekend. Yet now, at this time, it seems I am so far from that peaceful time of tranquility . I enjoyed so much the daily early morning bell for prayer and the closing of evening with compline.

It seems somehow as life crept in I lost my rhythm. Each day as the outside influences came in I lost my balance to the world. So as autumn closes in I am focusing on my own monastery and I am closing out the world's voice and working towards my own rhythm and cycle.

We have so much to do before winter closes in but we have to prioritize and get the things done as we can. The things I have on the list of chores are to finish out the new goat area with shelters for them and finish up the wood burning oven outside. I wanted to get in some new raised beds but I am not sure if I am going to get to that before winter comes in. So I guess I will have to add them into next years farm goals. I already have things on that agenda and one of the areas I need to do is get my new milking room finished. It seems things just never get finished and it is an on going labor of love.

Summer got away from me!

Wow, it has been months since my last post and I had not even realized it. Life on a farm takes its own time. It demands much of your time and things always need to be done. I looked up and realized it was getting close to fall the leaves are changing and the nights are getting cooler. Harvest is in full swing and the canning process is humming along with green beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, salsa and hopefully much more.

So far this summer we have moved our fencing several times and the electric fence idea never really worked for our pigs. We are getting ready to level and set fencing out for out dairy goats. I decided to move them from the area they are by the chicken coop out into there own pasture area and build a shelter and hopefully a milking room.

The goat milking is going full swing and I am milking twice daily. We are soon getting ready to breed our other two Saanens for spring kids. Hopefully I will be able to continue milking until early spring then maybe take a few weeks off in February and pick right back up in March. It's demanding of your time but I so love having fresh milk. I have learned to be very picky about what they eat can really control the taste of the milk. Our milk comes out smooth and creamy and you don't even notice that it is not cows milk.

Cheese making is going great and I am doing a lot of soft cheese and yogurt. I am getting ready to do a couple of hard cheeses this week. It has been a great season and as it continues on I am very happy about our outcome. We have made a lot of advances to our sustainable lifestyle and have progressed nicely to be able to provide quite a lot of our own food. It has been a journey and I have been dragging Paul along kicking and screaming.

Brianna has started homeschooling again for the year and is doing fantastic! She pretty much has taken all the responsibility on herself and is completely becoming a beautiful young adult.

We started new chicks this past week so that they can get a good start before winter and be ready to lay first of spring. I am hoping to get these through the winter without losing the whole lot as I did in early spring last year. I decided to go with a September start instead of November like last year. They should be pretty large when the early predators come out in spring and hopefully they will not mess with them. We have more rooster then we anticipated so we need to cull some of them before winter.

Well off to the kitchen so I can continue to can, make cheese, and render fat into lard.

Electric Fencing

I started to put up the electric fence this week and this is an all new experience for me. I have no clue what I am doing and only hoping I don't electrocute myself. It seems fairly easy and not too labor intensive a couple of post and some insulator poles. I have almost got it fairly even and just need to set the post where my gate will be. This is where the pigs are going to go as I have an area I want them to really dig up. I am hoping they eat not only the brush in there but the weeds to. Then I can call them porkarators like Joe Salan does. Paul says's I need to stop reading books because I come up with all these hair brained ideas from all these books I read. I told him I was saving us money and not having to rent a big tractor to till up and clear the area. We not only get an area cleared but we get organic, clean and healthy meat too. Doesn't seem to be a down side to me.

The pigs are doing great and they are actually right now the easiest animals on the property to care for. They happily go about there business all day long of digging and eating and digging and eating. They stay in the pen we have them in until the fencing is ready without a problem. The goat on the other hand keeps landing on the back porch eating my plants. It's Pearl and she is the baby and totally a bad bad bad girl. Her mother Sage is happily out in the far field munching away. Don't get me wrong if she is anywhere close to the grain bins where we keep the chicken scratch, her grain and the pigs food she will knock them over. I will look out and there she is with her head in the bucket.

Markets started this week and went great. The weather was fantastic and the sales although a little lower were still good. I am not sure yet if this economy is going to effect the market this year and I am have hope that it isn't going to be too bad. This year the farm is all the income we have coming in due to Paul's layoff. So I am hoping to be able to eek out a living with it. This year will be a hard and true test. It's all in God's hands and I trust that with whatever comes I have my faith in him to endure.

Blessings
Teresa

Market Days!

Well the markets have started and we are off and running. Market Day in Durango went great the weather was sunny and the temperature was absolutely wonderful. Getting there was a great accomplishment due to anything and everything went wrong the day before. The county had a water line break just as I was pulling vegetables to rinse. We had to wait all day for the repair to be done so that put me way behind with the vegetable pulling. When the line broke I had bread rising also and bread to make no hand washing no bread making. When the water finally did come on the kitchen aid broke. So then it was no kneading but by hand and there is no way I am kneading 30 loafs of bread by hand. :)

So off to the store in the middle of it all to buy a new kitchen aid. Now I had not planned for this purchase and it was more money than I wanted to spend but bread is a big part of the farm. So I did not not want to not spend the money. Finally bread maker in tow I get home only to see the bad goat with the pigs feed bin turned over and her head in it.

Now Pearl the baby is getting fat and what is it from? It's from her knocking over the bins or crawling through the smallest hole ever into the chicken coop to get at the grain. Pearl is very bad and basically has the run of the farm. She is just so darn cute!

The turkey's have now made there home in the goat's stall so they no longer want to go in the chicken coop at night. It's the goat's pen for them. So now in the one pen are Sage the momma goat, Pearl the baby, 2 little goslings, and 8 turkey's. Poor Sage I am sure she has no idea of what is going on.

The little piglets are as happy as ever in there knew little condo and veranda that Paul built for them. We have purchase the electric fencing so as soon as we get that in the condo will move. I really need for them to clear out some of that North side of the property. So off they go the little grubbers to cultivate, clear, eat, get fat and be happy.

It's Sunday morning and it's so quiet no one is up yet. I love mornings on the farm with the sun just coming up and the dew on the grass. It's a little chilly but I like that. There is no time like morning with it's crisp, fresh, and new day beginning. As I go to sit on the patio and have a cup a coffee, I give thanks for my week. I am thankful I can wake up every morning in this beautiful Southwest country. I am thankful for my family, friends, and neighbors. I am thankful that my lord has blessed me with this life.

Blessings

Teresa

May is here!!!

May is here and everything is in full swing. All the drips in the greenhouse are in and functioning on a timer. This makes watering much easier and much more effective. Most of the drips are done outside and I only have 2 more areas to finish. That's two more weeks of planting early crops like beets, carrots, and onions and such.

Paul and I prepped a new deep dug raised bed yesterday and I think I am going to try trellis cucumbers in it. It's up by the greenhouse. I have several more raised beds going up there they are a lot of work being I use a deep dig method but I hope they pay off. I really amend the soil using compost and spent deep bed hay the goats and chickens have been on. It's all about sustainability everything gets used.

It's raining today and I have been working in between rain storms outside. My rain collection barrel from the house is working great. I have one barrel full and another almost full and I am going to see how many I can get today. I will use them to water the upper flower and herb beds next to the house. I am also going to set the herb beds up on a drip system so when I am out of rain water I can use the water system more effectively. This is my first rain water collection system so I am not sure how much I can collect or maintain.

Our season is so short here in Colorado it seems sometimes you can't wait to get started. We have to be careful though not to plant out too early. Especially the hot crops like tomatoes and eggplant which are doing great right now in the greenhouse. We installed a swamp cooler in the greenhouse which I got from my friend Linda free. It's doing great at cutting down that mid afternoon heat which is extremely hot. It reached 130 in there last summer so I am hoping to reduce that down this year with the swamp cooler. Paul says's I take better care of the vegetables and animals then him. He said we don't have a swamp cooler in the house but the plants have a swamp cooler.

My first market is next week and I should have Pak choy, gourmet lettuce mix, radish, mustard, chard, tarragon, sage, chives and oregano. Early season here is lots of greens and herbs. I have not planted a mesclan mix yet I need to get that in because I have a cusabi dressing that is great on them.

Time to get back to work,

Blessings Teresa

Great Weather

Finally we had some great weather yesterday and got to lay out some more drip lines and plant onion sets and carrots. Today our schedule is to get the upper layer of drips done and plant out some potato's. My goal is to have two harvest of potato's one early and one towards fall.

The Pok choy in the greenhouse I growing like crazy I am going to have to see if it will last for market. Not sure yet so we may be eating a lot of pok choy. The spinach should and is looking terrific. I have notices grasshoppers in the greenhouse so I am going to have to pick up some Nolo bait. (all organic) I also have to pick up the swamp cooler for the greenhouse that will make it easier to maintain a cooler temperature. It can get really hot in there last year it was around 130 some days. Not too conducive to growing much. Tomatoes and Peppers usually like it around 80-95.

I am almost ready for visitors I only have a few days left until May which is our scheduled open for daily guest. I am hoping they gave me a chance to get set up and ready. The will really experience a working farm otherwise.

Blessings

Teresa

Wind Wind Wind

Well it's been ok for the temperature but the wind has been killing me. I am ahead of schedule as far as my planting goes so I am still doing great but this wind has been putting a damper on my planting. Last week I got onions, beets, carrots and spinach planted. This week I will work on more onions, spinach, carrots, beets, peas, greens, kohlrabi, broccoli and others. Today so far is looking great and it's nice and sunny.

The little chickens are growing like crazy and so are the geese. Little wing man who has lost his wing to the cat and also had an episode with a skunk is still hanging in there. We say he has nine lives and has used 7 so far. He seems a little skittish but that is definitely understandable. The Turkeys are growing bigger every day and they are mean as heck. Well not sure if mean is the word but don't put your hand or eyeballs anywhere close to them.

Today is bread day on the farm and so far I have Oatmeal, Poppy seed Bagels, Plain Bagels, Banana Muffins, Stone Hearth Breads and I am working on my Braided Wheat. I get up pretty early to get these done and start the bagels the night before. All to be delivered to the Farm Restaurant on Mondays. I have been getting quite a few customers for breads which is good but keeps me pretty busy.

Well back to the grind daylight is burning and there is much planting to be done.

Teresa

Lil piggy lil piggy won't you come home

Well we have now delved in to the pig business. We have decided to purchase a few pigs not only to eat and sell but too help root up some land. Instead of the tractor rental this year we opted for the pig clearing method. Talk about biodynamic! The pig roots up your field as she placed in an area you would like cleared. She roots her little nose just like pigs do cleaning and clearing everything while dropping the most wonderful of fertilizers. Then you not only get the land cleared, you get fertilizer and then you also have some wonderful bacon and sausage. We have decided to allow the pigs in a piece we would like cleared they will be preceded by the goats who will move to the next paddock while the pigs do their work. The last but not least will be the chickens and the turkey's. At least this is our plan. We picked up the little cuties on Monday. That was also double duty I got to visit my grand kids and pick up the piggy's. Poor things I thought they would freeze to death going through Flagstaff but nope they came home just fine.

We hauled them back in the sheep pen not telling them they did not have their own little pen. Right now we have them in a holding pen getting them acclimated to us so they don't run when they see us. It has been so windy lately it has been hard to do anything else but feed them and work in the greenhouse. Today the wind is not suppose to be bad this morning so I am going to try and get some drip hose laid out and some lettuce in for May's market. The greenhouse is doing great I just have two beds to pull. I will usually wait until the bad days to work in there on changing beds etc. Spring is so busy and the weather so changing I try to get in what time I have to do all the outside work.

The animals are up early today usually they are sleepy heads not arising until after 7-730 but I can see the little piggy's poking their heads out from the straw. Sage and Pearl our saanan goats are playing around in the yard. I know it' s warming up now because Sage will not usually step out from the barn until it is well warming up. She is such the I am not going out in that weather gal.

Spring is here!

Wow! It's been a busy week not surprising it's spring. I am at a push to try and get carrots and peas in the ground. I have been working on the front bed all week prepping and preparing the bed. I have installed the new drip system partially and it's up and running. Although this is a pain and tedious it saves time and money in the long run.

Last year all year long I was moving hoses and it was not at all efficient, but this year without the tea room going I have more time. I have been working between storms though which makes it kind of hard. Life of a farmer I guess.

Dad and I finished the fence for the pigs this week. It is only temporary until we can get the one up in the pasture area. I have so much I would like for the to clear in the brush area of the farm so they are going to be serving two purposes this year. Land renewal and food and you can't beat that. I am planning for them to be my little work horses for this years farming plans.

The weather has been so bad lately one day snow, one day wind it makes it hard to lay down weed barrier which I so need. Last year I did not lay down any barrier and the weeds were horendous. So again this year saving time and money not having to hire someone to weed and laying down that barrier should help.

Our farm is on a piece of property we bought that really was never worked. So our first beds we have had to work the soil to be up to par and try and erradicate years worth of weeds. It's an ongoing process that is complicated by this Canadian Thistle and Bind weed that we have such a hard time with. I tell everyone I am surprised the bind weed has not tried to take over the house. I am in hope that with the pigs, chickens, goats, and turkey's I will be able to sustainably and naturally keep the weeds at bay. We are going to try and rotate the pigs in several different paddocks this year so they don't tear anything up too bad. We will be using the goats and next in the cycle will be the pigs and then finish up with the chickens and turkey's. Hopefully this should create some nice planting areas for next year.

I am getting everything for my CSA and classes I am teaching this year ready. I will be posting everything on the community boards throughout town. Hopefully I can get several for the earlier classes on herbs to start this season. I have also been working to get the stuff ready for the agrotourism board. I would love to generate some extra income from farm tours or people visiting and buying. Not having to leave home and still earning money is my ideal life. :)

Sun's coming up and I have lots to do so off to the farm!

Colorado Farming Introduction

Colorado farming aah it is such the adventure! Well it's about 40 degrees outside not bad considering I thought it was looking more like 25-30. I might even get those carrots in the ground.


We had great weather the last few weeks and I spent most of the time prepping new beds for planting so now it's cold and I don't want to be planting outside. It is suppose to be cold all week long it's March after all. We only had a little light snow fall this week but it is all gone melted away by the warm afternoon sunshine.


I really do love it out here in the Southwest it has been such a blessing to be able to live in the country. City life is not for me. Oh don't get me wrong I was the ultimate city girl living in Los Angeles and enjoying everything the bright lights had to offer. My life has since turned around the past 5 years.

I came out to Colorado with my newly aquired husband and we purchased our own little piece of the southwest. Bringing along the then 10 year old and the only one we have left in the house now. Paul and I both came out to work for a global engineering group with no idea of farming much less having wonderful little farm animals. We worked for about 3 years with the engineering firm and than decided to branch out on our own.

Thus the seed was planted for the farm and what a seed that was. My husband is still complaining he is not a farmer and does not want to be a farmer. He mostly isn't and I accept this choice. It is mostly a woman ran and owned adventure and I have the bruises, bumps and callous to prove it. My daughter Brianna who is now 15 is my helper and partner in this little adventure. It's she and I who when if full season are both working to keep everything going and the livestock all in control.

This is my first post and I will post sporadically on what is going on with the farm, my daily life in the country, receipes, and on going adventures of chickens and turkeys. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to the whole adventure.

Teresa Halsey-Hollar
Dragonfly Farm