Perigee Moon

There's been so much going on this past five months, it's hard to know where to start.  I suppose the best place to begin is with the present and then continue to revisit the past until I've covered it all.  At least what I can remember.

This past Saturday was this year's Perigee Full Moon (aka. the Super Moon).  Did anyone get to see it?  The perigee moon is it's point in orbit where it is closest to the earth on it's elliptical travels.  This actually happens once a month, but doesn't always coincide with the full moon (which only happens once a year). Because it is closest to the earth, it appears much larger and brighter.  I have always had a fascination with the moon.  I stare at in amazed that there is this huge orb floating out in space, circling the earth, affecting the tides and perhaps all other life on earth.  After all, we are 70-ish percent water.  So I had my photographer husband outside taking pictures for me.  He doesn't yet have a telephoto lens, but I'd say his pictures still came out pretty good.

We finally got some rain today.  It's been hitting just about every place but on top of our little hill lately.  And we've desperately needed it.  I took a friend for a hike to Hell's Hollow on Saturday and can't think of a time that I've ever seen the creek so low.  This concerns me as this is supposed to be the rainiest time of year, and already the water table is low.  Those of us who rely on well water have to think about these things.  Even now it is thundering outside.  I'm very thankful for this.  Rain plus thunder, who could asks for more.  

We got our garden fenced this past Sunday.  Clearly you can see that it's not ready for planting.  But now that it's staked out we can begin preparing the mini plots inside, and keep the chickens out.  They were quite helpful in scattering the rabbit droppings, though.  Handy little birds, those chickens are.  Hopefully this rain will open up the soil a bit.  It was so dry.  And we've accumulated a great compost pile to mix in since last summer.  Here's a few other recent shots from the farm:

There's a few Jersey cows on the farm now!  

Found some Lemon Balm growing in a pot my mom gave me last summer!
Yay for Lemon Balm!!  What a nice surprise!

My new love...hanging my batik fabric out to dry on the line.
It looks so pretty blowing in the wind.  

And I'll end with the story of this little bird.  Yesterday I found her wandering around in the "seed row" where we scatter seed in the morning for the chickens.  I picked her up hoping that her mama and papa were somewhere close by, but no one came squawking.  I put her next to the garage in a grassy spot hoping she'd find a safe spot for the night, but fearing that she'd be.....er.....food for someone else.  This evening I went out to collect eggs with my husband, and who did I find in the seed pit?  This little girl.  I knelt down and she hopped up into my had chirping.  She then hopped right up my arm to my shoulder and started pecking my nose!  I think she thought maybe it was my "beak".  She stayed on my shoulder for a bit and then flew away.  She's not quite a competent flier yet, but I figured she flew well enough that I would just leave her be.  

Well as dark grew closer I went out to close up the chickens for the night.  I got them all in and accounted for (we just integrated our new spring chicks), closed the door and heard a peep at my feet.  Lo and behold, there she was looking up at me.  It was like she was saying, "what about me?"  She then began scurrying around the coop trying to find a way inside.  Finally I just scooped her up and took her in the coop.  I had a broody hen that I thought would keep her for the night.  She snuggled right into the hen's feathers, and the hen certainly didn't mind.  Those chickens would mother an alligator when they are broody.  I thought I would check on her once more before coming back in the house.  The hen was on a roost and the little sparrow had fallen off.  She was asleep in a corner, but I wanted a safer place for her.  So I put her in one of the least used nest boxes and surrounded her with a bit of hay.  She immediately fell back asleep.  I don't know what will become of her.  And I typically try to let Mother Nature take care of her own.  But there's something special about this little sparrow.  If she thinks she's a chicken, so be it.  That's all for now I suppose.  So I will bid you all a good night and head off to enjoy the thunder and rain.  

It's Just Part of the Journey

Morning farm chores were pretty miserable this morning.  The mild and sunny weather that graced us for the Christmas weekend has now allowed a large rain system to move into northwestern Pennsylvania.  They are calling for it's change into snow by evening, but for now it's just a lot of wet.  All this rain we've had recently has really turned this farm into a mucky mess!  Needless to say, the chickens have been 'cooped' up since Saturday, so they didn't much care what was going on outside, they just wanted out.  I can't blame them.  I propped  open the rabbits just a bit to let some air flow in, but that's the best that I could do.  I've always been told that "a wet angora, is a dead angora."  Sounds kind of harsh, but it's true.  All that fiber is great for keeping them warm in the winter, but it would be like trying to sled ride in a soaking wet snow suit.

It's supposed to rain all week...

While my farm chores only took all of 20 minutes, I feel worse for my husband, who is out working at the alpaca farm the next three days.  At least he'll get to spend most of his time in the barns.  All I could think as I was sloshing a fresh bucket of water down to the coop (half of which some how ended up in my boot) was how nice it would be to just have a barn to work in today.  One of these days.

On a 'sunnier' note, we were blessed by a friend who at the last minute offered to stop out and take care of the animals for a couple of days so we could go home for Christmas.  I was extremely thankful for her help.  We may only be three hours from home, but it's still too far to just swing back to the farm to close up the animals after that filling Christmas dinner.  I think sometimes it upsets my mom that I can't come home as much.  It upsets me too.  But becoming a "farmer" is a choice that I am serious about.   It's not just a ephemeral hobby.  I am a determined woman.  I know she understands that, and even looks forward to a day when she can participate in the whole process.

Christmas brought pretty much our whole family together; even those a half a country away.  We had 36 people at my grandparent's house on Sunday!  We chatted, played some music, and ate lots of food.  It was I good time.  But we are home now (as of yesterday evening).  It's sad to see the holiday's end.  If we were home, we'd spend most of the next week's days with family.  Sharing meals.  Chatting about old memories.  I do so look forward to the day when we will be homeward bound.  But for now, I will make the best of my life here.  After all, this is where many of my dreams have begun to come true.  I will never forget that.  Life is a journey.  We glean from our travels.  For me, this is a big part of it.  I have learned skills that I will have for a lifetime.

For now, I will take these (literally) soggy bottoms, soak in a nice hot bath, and reflect on the journey.

In the Silence of the Day

I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder rolling across the hills.  It was a slow drone that seemed to fill the air you breathed.  My husband had just gotten up and was preparing to meet a friend to work on a new butcher block for the kitchen, while me and the dog still laid in bed in that twilight somewhere between sleep and awake.  It was a still morning; still is.  One of the kind that make you feel like if you move too fast, you might accidentally stir something up, and awake the farm in a flurry of commotion.  A morning where you seem to walk gently and purposefully as you do your morning chores.

I checked the weather channel on my iPhone before I got out of bed to see what kind of weather I could be expecting (we still appreciate some of this fancy technology here on the farm) and was excited to see that we had a severe thunderstorm warning listed.  I love thunderstorms!  But when I turned to look at the map, I found that it looked like nothing more than a tiny red, orange, and green burp in the sky.  Oh well.  Another day perhaps.  I got up anyway.  Might as well at least enjoy the morning chores as the burp passed.

An hour later and that thunder can still be heard passing over hills and through fields, but the sun has broken through the clouds now and chickens are fancying their nest boxes and fussing when one of their fellow hens seems to be taking too long.  I appreciate these exaggerated mornings.  They give us time to reflect.  The storms long gone now, and though the Weather Channel says there's a 40% chance of rain all day, the movement of the radar seems to indicate otherwise.  Then again, I'm no meteorologist.  So we'll just have to wait and see.

Fair Weather

True, we've had a lot of rain, but the past week we have also had a bit of fair weather.  Enough for most of the farmers to get their fields plowed and planted.  It make be later than what was hoped for, but many field are on their way to sprouting vegetation.  It sure is nice to glimpse that blue sky.

Things to do during a thunderstorm...

Go for a hike!  While I don't really recommend this, it is exactly what we did today.  It wasn't planned, that's for certain.  But we haven't had many sunny days this spring, and this was a particularly stormy one.  Rain came down so hard that we had a river running down the driveway, into the cow pasture and down over the hill.  There was so much water that the cows were standing there drinking it as it flowed by.  Too funny.

As I said, we didn't actually plan on going for a 'hike' per se, but instead traveling out to see how much water was passing over the spill way at McConnell's Mills, a local state park in our area.  We certainly weren't disappointed as the water was over two feet higher than the spillway.  It sure was a raging river.  I caught a bunch of video which I'm planning on putting together into one, but here's a small clip:

The rain would switch between light, moderate, and heavy.  During one of those heavier moments, we ducked into the the old mill, which has been preserved as a museum.  How awesome it would have been to see the mill in it's glory days, grinding away at the various grains that passed through it's machinery.  The mill itself has four floors.  We only had access to three of the four.   

The old wood in the mill was incredible.  So perfectly preserved.

This old grinding stone stood about 4 feet tall.

A look out the second floor window.

At the bottom of the 'basement' steps.  I loved the color and textures on this stone.  The stories that these old walls could tell. 

Portions of the old machinery.

A Good Hat

A girl needs a good hat!  Especially when the rain never seems to end.  I ran across this 'outback hat' (as was termed on the receipt) on sale when I went in to Tractor Supply recently.  Now all I need is the duster to go with it, and I'll be set!