Now Turkeys

On Thursday ten adorable day-old turkeys arrived. Yep, now we are raising turkeys. Cadence, the family poultry farmer, decided 10 turkey poults - that's the proper name for a turkey chick - might be easier than 100 more chickens (She has 200 now, and she is frustrated by the damage they have done to her corn and lettuce!) These are Bronze turkeys--hard to envision that they will look like this by Thanksgiving! They make the cutest trilling, peeping sound--also hard to imagine it will sound like a gobble by Thanksgiving.

How to Stay Cool

Last week was tropical-- so hot and humid it drained the oomph right out of you. We all found ways to stay cool. Nutmeg draped herself upon a comfortable pallet of bricks in the shade.
The chickens hung out under the bushes and daylilies.
The geese had it best of all, taking frequent dips in the kiddie pool.
Rog and I did not do nearly enough of this. This photo is for Mara.)

Afternoon in the Tomato Patch

I spent the entire day with the tomatoes today. There are 97 tomato plants that survived the Greenhouse disaster and got planted in this bed--but since they had been dumped in a chaotic pile we won't know which tomoatoes are which until they set fruit. I staked and pruned the tomatoes and laid a soaker hose between the rows for future watering.
Some tomato plants are blooming!

A Few Great Guests and the Great Cow Escape

Last week we hosted our first Couch Surfer. Couch Surfing is a way to meet new people by either staying at their home or offering your home as a place to stay. Sara had signed us up online and we had our first request from Andrew, a UW-Madison student coming to Rochester to take the MCAT exam. Despite the fact that each couch-surfer's profile, photo and references are posted on the website, I was a bit worried that we could be inviting some crazy person into our home. However, Sara asked Andrew if he was a serial killer, and he said "no" so of course my mind was put at ease.

Andrew turned out to be the ideal considerate, charming guest. Plus, he had lived on a farm before and dived right in, helping Cadence fabricate a set of killing cones for her chickens and helping Sara install a movable electric fence for her pigs. He would have even helped Cadence harvest her chickens (so much for the serial killer denial!) but she determined they were still too small.
I didn't get a photo of Andrew installing the fence, but the new fenced area is behind Cadence in this photo of her feeding the pigs. Those pigs are very happy exploring that large wooded area and they learned to mind the fence after just a single touch of moist snout to hot wire.
On Sunday, Rog's brother Chris and family arrived for a brief visit from Danville, CA. Our sister-in-law, Vicki, fell in love with the cows and asked us to let her adopt them if we ever planned to eat them.
Our 12-year-old nephew Zack and his buddy Nick had never been to a farm before, but by the end of the afternoon they were catching chickens and driving the garden tractor around the yard.
Shortly after Chris and family left, another car drove into our yard and a man got out and asked if we had cows. "Yes." "They are out on the road!" "OH NO!!" But then we realized that our cows were safe in their pasture. we looked out the kitchen window and saw that our dairy farming neighbor's cows were out and traffic was stopped along the highway.
The man drove across the gravel road to the dairy farm but returned immediately when he couldn't find anyone home. Cadence and I followed him to the loose cows. We discovered that 15 cows had busted out and were romping in the neighboring cornfield. Compared to our little Dexters, Holsteins are HUGE and kind of scary! We didn't know what to do, other than signal the cars to slow way down and try to prevent the cows from running onto the road.
Fortunately, a few moments later Nancy, the farmer's wife, happened to drive by and pulled over to see what was up. "Your cows are loose!" She sped away and within minutes the entire family was there, some on foot and some on 4-wheelers, herding the cows back through the broken fence. One rebellious cow charged out toward the road and fell several feet into the ditch. We held our breath, sure that she must have broken a leg, but amazingly she was ok.
By the time the cows were heading back to their barn, our adrenalin surge was beginning to calm. Cadence and I looked at each other, relieved that no cows or cars or people were injured and slightly comforted by knowing that our cows are not the only ones that occasionally escape.

Seesters Invasion

My Seesters, three dear friends since high school (Rog was also an honorary Seester), have just departed for home after spending the weekend at Squash Blossom Farm. They descended Saturday afternoon, promising to help with our farm projects, and, true to their word, they worked pretty darn hard. But any time the Seesters are together is filled with hilarity and fun. Here are Patty, Debbie, Gayle and I having coffee on the patio about to dive into one of Sara's amazing rhubarb pies.
The Seesters helped install a large picture window in Cadence's granary. Patty and Rog, the seesters with the strongest muscles, are on the outside holding the window up.
We built a bonfire and burned a significant portion of the brush from the huge felled silver maple. Gayle inspired us to make hobo dinners in the fire, girl-scout style, and Rog serenaded us with his guitar late into the night.
Yesterday we went shopping - at thrift stores, antique stores, artisan shops, bookstores, and shoe stores - and had lunch on the Peace Plaza. We did our part to stimulate the economy, each purchasing a pair of stylish new sandals--which we are modeling here.

A Brush With Our House's History

Last winter, a Christmas card to our neighbors was accidently delivered to us. When I popped it into the neighbor's mailbox I noticed that the name on the return address matched the name of a previous owner of our farm. I copied down the return address and sent a holiday card to her, inviting her to visit someday and share stories of how the farm used to be.

On Sunday, Lois and her youngest son, John, came to visit. Lois and her husband Ray owned our farm from 1967 until 1998, raising 5 children here. When they moved here, the house had no running water, no insulation and was heated by coal. They renovated the entire house bottom to top over the next couple decades.

Lois told us many anecdotes and brought a book of old photos --it's pretty dramatic how the landscape and house have changed. The little seedlings they planted on the windswept hill have grown into large trees. With the mentorship of kind neighbors, Lois, a city girl, learned how to garden, raise chickens and preserve food. The kids sold strawberries from their huge berry patch. Lois planted the wonderful lilac hedge, the spectacular crabapple trees and most of the flowering shrubs on the property. John and his father planted many trees - once he rescued a burr oak seedling from the ditch when the road was being widened and planted it in the yard--it is now the handsome tree we call Burr Oak Obama.

What a sweet opportunity to meet Lois and John and hear first-hand how the farm grew. They have left their mark on this place and we recognize and appreciate the thought and love they put into it. I am sure it was rather bittersweet for them to relive so many memories and see how things have changed in the decade since they lived here, but I hope they feel pleased about how much we love it here.

Saturday Market

Early Saturday morning as we loaded for Farmers Market it was misty and magical. The fog soon burned off into a perfect, sunny market day.
I helped Rog and Cadence set up the market stand and then rushed home to clean the house for impending company.
Rog found a nice table-top display case for sale at an antique store and we replaced the glass with plex. It is sort of a pain to transport but is working well to showcase the breads and Sara's pies.
This week we had wood-fired sourdough (white, wholewheat and rye), braided cardamom bread, German walnut beer bread, Cadence's luscious lemon lion sandwich cookies, Sara's rhubarb and rhubarb-rasberry lattice pies, and three varieties of cupcakes (orange-almond, carrot-walnut, and red velvet with berries.) We sold out before the morning ended--we need another oven!