2008-10-24 - 10:20 a.m.
I can not believe how long it has been since I made an entry on the website. I had every intention of keeping up with news from the farm all spring and summer long. A true testament as to how busy we have been this year!
I usually try to update the website on the rainy days when I can not teach and we don't ride. Since we have been in a drought for the last two years I have not had that luxury! This has been the first rain we have had in over 30 days so I get a day to bake bread, cookies, and a pie and I am most thankful for it. The pastures are starting to suffer for the lack of rain and we have had to resort to watering the fall garden.
We are on a well so we don't like to use water that way, but if we want to put food in the freezer we have to. We have been using the left over water from the horse's stalls every day (we are BIG into recycling!), but even that has not been enough for the size garden we have. This has been the first year we have begun year-round gardening. We are having a great time with it. About late August and early September we get very 'done' with the harvest. We are tired of bugs, weeding, trimming and canning. There is always a brief spell when the okra is finishing up and everything else is done and gone. Then a little cool evening comes along, the humidity breaks and we get the itch to get our hands back in the dirt. So we planted 27 broccoli plants and a ton of spinach. We also discovered the tomatoes and cucumbers were blooming again! Until first frost we will enjoy home grown tomatoes and cucumber salad.
The barn is full and happy. The show season is over for us and we are just enjoying lots of trail rides now. It is a good break for the horses. Tim has been riding his new colt, Tigger. What a joy that horse has been and beautiful to look at! I had a lot of fun showing him in halter classes this year and may compete him again in the spring if I can get him away from Tim long enough. This fall and winter we just want to get him out on the trails. I have been having a blast with my new mare, Elle, on loan from my dear college friend. She is a HUGE Hanoverian. I feel like a flea on her! She has lots to teach me and my advanced students about large movers. I am very humble when I ride her. She makes me work for everything! But when you dial into her the ride is glorious! Its nice to have her 'on staff' here at Pedal Bone Farm.
I finally finished my turkey pens just a few weeks ago. I was in desparate need of them as my flocks of Bourbon Reds and Heritage Bronzes were out growing their brooder pens. But everyone is in nice large pens that we won't soon outgrow. I think that puts us up to 19 pens and they are all full! The last addition was a small flock of Dominiques. We hope to grow that group significantly. The peafowl are doing great, but I still can not tell what distribution of males and females I have. Every day I stare at them trying to get a clue in their coloring. I probably won't have a definite answer until sometime next year as they are a very slow developing bird. Out of the five I am pretty sure I have one male, but the other two larger ones could just be slower in showing color. It will be our luck to have all males!
Its been two years in creating these flocks. This next spring we should be up and running full steam with 17 different species. We will have a lot to offer with hatching eggs, eating eggs, chicks and quality full size birds. If I can keep the 'coons and 'possums and coyotes out of the area we will do well. I set my trap most nights just in case a scoundrel comes along.
I need to go check my rising bread and fix Tim and I some lunch. This would be a good day for tomato soup and grilled cheese!
