The end of February or so I had announced that we were forming a cooperative with a neighboring farm. Things just didn't pan out as well as expected so we are working independently. However, this has not affected our CSA members in any way shape or form. We are still rocking and rolling away.

We have peas, onions, cabbage, cut and come again salad blend, beets, swiss chard, radishes, collards, bunching onions, lettuce all coming up nicely and should be ready to start our season. We have had several delays and might see one more. We want to make sure we can fill our baskets to the brim.

DH has made the decision to work with me full time on the farm. Especially since we have acquired access to an additional 5 acres 35 minutes from the house. It has been such a joy to work day in and day out with my husband. I can't describe it. It has made things tight financially but we are being very frugal and making what we have work. We have used 99% recycled materials in building our raised beds, greenhouse and chicken coops.

We have a beautiful laying flock now and are getting tons of fresh eggs daily. We have built chicken tractors so that we can move them around the yard and keep them out of the garden. DH has made an irrigation system in the backyard. We are hoping it will work on a larger scale out at the other property.

Upon checking the gardens yesterday we did notice that melons, squash, cucumbers have started to sprout. It is so exciting and satisfying to see what you can do with your hands and see it come together. The whole family feel such a strong connection to the earth, it is as if we can feel it's energy flow through us when are working it.

Well, it's off to work I go. I will post more when I come in this afternoon to finish up some loss mitigation phone calls. We are also working as loss mitigation consultants, we try to help people save their homes from foreclosure.

Love, hugs, positive energy to everyone!!

~~Blessed Be!~~

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Oh my we have been busy. We have started a small cooperative with a neighboring farm (Paisley Gap). Sold all CSA shares via the co-op. Plants started in the greenhouse, rebuilding our chicken flock. Cleaning up the yard from winter muck and mud. Bought a small truck and had a very good friend of ours (who does beauitful wood working, email if you are interested in some of his work) put the sides on the back of the truck.

We are still waiting for our lady rabbits to take a breeding and actually give us some nice healthy litters. With the weather warming up this should go well from here on out. If the ladies choose not to breed well then they will have to be replaced.

We will also be suppling a local restaurant with fresh produce during the growing season and if the rabbits ever get going we will also be supplying rabbits to them as well. It is all very exciting.

We are going to also start a small landscape/lawn service this year. And we have almost completed training to become loss mitigation consultants (we will be able to try and help people stay out of foreclosure and keep their homes).

As for how we are gardening, since spring crept up faster than expected and we had some weather delays we have decided to go with lasagna gardening to get our first crops in and then work on building more raised beds as the season progresses. With warm sunny days the urge to be out playing in the dirt has become unbearable. So after a nice late breakfast we will be venturing outside to complete the first bed and have it ready for planting by tomorrow at the latest. We have enough "stuff" to protect from frosts so we should be in pretty good shape.

Oh..I guess I should explain lasagna gardening. You layer cardboard, newspaper, hay/straw/mulch whichever is on hand, then compost and then you plant. As time goes by during the season and subsequent years the soil becomes very healthy and well amended.

Ok..off to make a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, toast and eggs. I will try to post more often!!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, for most people that would mean the end of the week. But there are always something going on around here. I need to take pictures of the extra cages added to Rabbit Alley. We are awaiting the go ahead on a bunny swap. We are trading our two Holland lops for a Californian Buck, named Surfer Dude and a beautiful Harlequin named Shelby. I know their current mommy very well. Dude has dated our Miss Alice before so we are hoping to hook them up again. We have decided that our Rex crew is still a bit on the immature side. I have also somehow managed to get involved with a group of meat rabbit producers who want to actually promote the industry. I know I need another project like I need another hole in my head. But I can justify the time, it will help with selling fresh fryers. J Once our production is up we will be visiting the local processing center (USDA inspected) having our fryers butchered, packaged and frozen. They will include the farm logo (when I get around to designing one),name and contact info on the packaging…we can store them in the freezer we are planning on getting.

We are also seeing a small increase in our CSA share purchase and that is probably due to the new pricing structure. I decided not to do the local farmer’s markets this year. I am however, adding a drop point in Winston Salem it looks like. Actually most of my customers are coming out of that area. Mt. Airy still has quite a few backyard gardeners though that is slowly changing as a new wave of transplants comes in. Many are from regional and northern metro areas. There is also an increase in the Hispanic population who enjoys and is used to buying their produce in open markets. It’s sad but many of the sellers at the local farmer’s market do not enjoy mixing with other cultures, not an atmosphere I want to be a part of. So other than a drop once a week in Winston I will be selling out of the front yard.

This brings me to the fairly finalized plan for what produce we will be offering. I am not done with the herb list yet but this is what I know we can get out this year for sure. J

·        Beans (several varieties)

·        Tomatoes

·        Cucumbers

·        Squash (including pumpkins)

·        Gourds

·        Greens (Spinach, Kale, Collards, etc)

·        Cabbage

·        Broccoli

·        Cauliflower

·        Peppers (hot and sweet)

·        Onions

·        Leeks

·        Potatoes (white and sweet)

·        Brussels Sprouts

·        Radishes

·        Carrots

·        Beets

·        Swiss Chard

·        Oriental Vegetables

·        Mushrooms

·        Peas (several varieties)

·        Salad Greens

·        Strawberries

·        Mulberries

·        Black Raspberries

·        Oregano

·        Thyme

·        Marjoram

·        Basil

·        Chamomile

·        Feverfew

·        Horehound

·        Savory

·        Garlic

·        Shallots

·        Mints

·        Catnip

·        Coriander/Cilantro

·        Chives

·        Dill

·        Borage

·        Parsley

·        Rosemary

·        Lavender

·        Anise

·        Sage

·        Watercress

·        Chervil

·        Lemon Balm

This weekend’s plans include cleaning the basement and getting it ready for finishing, marking out the spots for the raised beds, for terracing in the back, finalizing plans for the greenhouse, hoop greenhouses, and figuring out what to do with that back ¼ acre once we clear it. I have gathered all info and will be purchasing beneficial nematodes for pest control, ducks to help with weeding and for eggs, chickens for eggs, guineas for larger bug control (I also just happen to be weird enough to enjoy the boogers) and while we happen to have a fairly good population of red wrigglers (earthworms) I am going to purchase some anyway so that we have a decent population of them for sale for bait and to keep our compost piles in good working order.

Well, it’s time to get dinner on, still not sure what I am having, I am so lost without having planned a menu, I really need to re-do my control journal, I am going crazy without it!!!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Merry Mote,

Good Gracious it has been so hectic here. Jay is still working in Louisiana. He will be remaining there and visiting home when he can. Looks like he will be starting training for electrician's helper in February through the IBEW training center in Baton Rouge.

The kids are both doing well. Morgan has begun potty training. Claire is excelling in school. They have adjusted well to having just mommy around though they both want their daddy. It has been an interesting time for me. We have done brief periods of seperation due to work before but this is going to be the longest stint yet.

I was swamped with orders for holiday baskets, baked goods and fudge. I have managed to get almost all my orders out. I have one more dress order to finish up and get out. And one more quilt to finish repairing for a customer.

I have almost completely re-organized the house. There are still a few things to tend to but they are getting done. The outside is really starting to come together. I am hoping to get some of my CSA customers to agree to come out and help with outside work in lieu of some of their cash payment. I will be getting free wood pallets from our local newspaper so that I can put in grow beds in the front and back. We have 1/4 acre or so in the back that needs clearing. I am hoping to use some of the pallets to make nice wooden board fencing around the property. If all goes well I may even have some goats this spring. We definitely are working on getting more chickens. I will not be doing farmer's market this year as it is hard to find day care for weird hours during the week and someone to watch on Saturdays. So we will be setting up the front yard and porch to have our own farm stand.

I am now officially part of the marketing board for the Food For Everyone Foundation. It is a volunteer position. I will be updating my farm website and my partner website High Tech Homestead to reflect this and the products offered for the foundation. All monies earned by the foundation go to fund mission projects to teach people how to grow their own food using a specific method, the Mittlieder Method.

I am making up my list now of produce and herbs that I want to grow next year. We just finished letting the last of the tomatoes ripen in a basket in the house. They have been dehydrated and put up. We had a surprise we though we lost the onions and leeks we had planted but now they too have been dehydrated and put up. There are still some lettuce volunteers popping and giving us some fresh lettuce for salads.

We will be breeding our rabbits in the early spring. We had such horribly hot weather that no one is taking at the moment. We will hopefully be able to replenish our herd of rex's and nz rex crosses this year. Right now however, they are providing our compost pile with a rich supply of manure.

Our compost pile right now consists of veggies scraps from the kitchen, rabbit bedding, rabbit manure, leaves, newsprint, coffee grounds, egg shells, tea bags. It is getting a very ripe odor to it. I didn't anything fancy, it is a pile off to the side of the yard. I turn it every couple of days. One of the other uses I will have for those wooden pallets will be to build up worm beds so I can just throw my compost stuff on top of them and let them to all the work.

My daughter has begun her own little crafty enterprise. I had obtained some used baby food jars. Well a ton of them actually. She is painting them with acrylic paints and sealing them. She has sold quite a few of them lately. I am using them for dried herbs. They make beautiful votive and tea light candle holders as well.

I learned a couple of lessons in the past week. One is very important. Do not put your dog's run out where you hang laundry, especially if you have a fairly steep slope to your back yard. Let's just EEEWWW gross. The other was more fun and will be very useful in the future. A new friend of mine gave me a drop spindle to use and gave me my first spinning lesson. Actually Claire came home from school just in time for this impromptu get together and learned as well. My friend Jody, who I met through the local freecycle yahoo group, had dropped by and we were sharing quilting work, sewing tips, general girl time chat and she brought out the spindle and some wool to work with.

Well, the house is quiet now, the children are fast asleep in their beds. The cats are coming in through the bedroom window and settling in for now. The dog has taken his spot up on my bed and is snoring softly with the occassional dispersal of a green cloud of fumes. He loves liver but it has awful side effects for the rest of us.

I am going to make up my to do list for tomorrow and a generalized list for the rest of week. Double check to make sure all clothes are laid out. Bookbag is packed and ready, snack for Claire is ready to go. Then I am going to soak in a hot tub of epsom salt, relax and take myself to bed.

Blessed be from the menagerie.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, Jay is off and safely in Louisiana for work. He is missed greatly by us all. However, we are moving forward. eBay sales are picking up and we are gearing up for our holiday season here on the homestead. We are currently taking orders through the farm store for holiday baked good trays and baskets. Offering a wide variety of items including diabetic baking.

We are going full speed ahead with holiday decorations for both the home and for sale, many of which will be loaded up this weekend on to eBay. We are set and reayd and waiting for new bunnies to be born, with the weather getting so cold at night there is concern for their well being but we have good mamas so they should be ok.

We have survived Claire's illness, Morgan's teething, Claire's sprained foot and now Jay being off in Louisiana. We are not relocating or making any final decisions just yet, Claire still has about 6 and a half months of school left, so that will give us time to see how things are going.

It had been a while since I had popped in so I wanted to just give everyone an update. I will be updating our farm and eBay newsletters this week as well.

Have a great day everyone!!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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This week we are relaxing and concentrating on our home. This weekend at the Thistle Meadows Wine Tasting Festival we were a smashing success. I had stressed and worried about not having enough inventory, but it all worked out rather well.

Tomorrow we are taking 3 breeding pairs of rabbits to their new owner in Lexington, NC. Jay spread more bunny mulch on the garden yesterday. We finally bred Miss Alice to one of the bucks who is leaving tomorrow. She is a different bun today. Which is a sign that she has taken. The breeding pair of Rex's that we are keeping have been bred as well. They are due to kindle on November 3rd so on Halloween we will be putting nest boxes in.

We are making plans to get hay for the winter and to get the basement arranged for crafting and children's play area. We are hoping to get shelving up and put some kind of remanent carpet down in the play area...and maybe some dollar store tile down in the crafting area. I don't if I have posted any of this before or not. I am thinking I have. My mind is mush at the moment.

We might pick up some chickens tomorrow at the stockyard, not sure yet just need to see how things go.  :) I really miss having fresh eggs and I keep getting requests for them..so if there are some at a good price already laying, I just might go for it.  :)

Well, since I can't seem to think straight any more, I am going to call it a night. I will finish catching everyone up tomorrow night.

Don't forget to check out the updates to the farm website. www.menagerie-farm.com

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well it was a long tiring day but a good one none the less. We sold out of all baked goods except a few loaves. We have a lot of interest for next year's CSA. Several quilt orders. Demonstrating quilting was a blast. The kids both had fun and I think even Jay had fun as well.

I will post pictures of everything and everyone as soon as I can get my camera working again. It is having memory issues.

Morgan did not take a nap but we have had no melt downs either. This is a major accomplishment for the 22 month old. The gentlemen next to us Larry Cox, a local high school science teacher in Alleghany County, raises honey bees and was there with a hive for show, a lot of sourwood honey and even some tulip poplar honey. Morgan became fasicnated watching the bee's buzz around in their glass hive.

Claire got to watch someone make baskests by hand, she was learning how to make bobbin lace and spent quite a bit of time learning about guitars and banjos and listening to JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians).

Jay kept watched over the children who ran in every direction, took care of bring food and drinks back to the table and was supportive of the whole venture. If he hadn't been there to help with the kids, it would have been a miserable failure. He has moved into the role of Mr. Mom for now, as the fall/winter projects of the farm center more in my domain of cooking and sewing. We can say that the farm is almost completely supporting us at the moment. We won't ever be rich, we don't want to be. But I honestly think that even our little 3/4 acre of heaven will be perfect for us for now and support us quite nicely the way a homestead should support it's family.

Well, off to relax and recover from today's event. We still have the wine tasting festival next Sunday in Laurel Springs, NC to gear up for. So there will be no time off until after that. There is also the volunteering at the school, doctor's appointment and a bunny run to make this week. So as usual I will post when I can. I wish I could post daily but such is life. :)

Blessings to all.

PS Don't forget tonight is the fall equinox!! ;)

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well we are down to the 11th hour and the push is on to finish up for the festival in Sparta. I also need to fix the farm website again. Today and tomorrow will be sewing, part of the day on Wednesday. After that it will be nothing but baking and printing.

I will post more this evening on how everything is going.

Have a great day!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well the yard is mowed, the garden is cleaned up and looks so sad with just three huge cherry roma tomato plants left, but they are still in such good shape I couldn't pull them and they are still getting tons of flowers and new fruit so they got to stay. We are going to spread the organic fertilizer/lime combination we have made, then throw down bunny mulch/compost, grass clippings and then cardboard on top. Let it all rot and just before we turn it all under again we are going to add sand. This should provide us with a wonderful rich soil that is almost like loam. Once that is done the green houses will go up.

I will post pictures later on tonight for the fall farm tour.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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It is a beautiful sunny morning here at the Menagerie. Today we are going to definitely get the outside done. I think the fresh air and cooler weather will do us a lot of good. After yard and garden clean up is started we will begin fixing rabbit row up. Get all the cages cleaned up and fresh. Once we are done getting the last of the rabbits out of the basement we are going to clean it up. All the shavings and poo will be placed in the front garden bed. We aren't going to worry about tilling to prep the beds we are going to laydown cardboard and put all the mulch and compost on top and let it rot. We have decided to delay the greenhouse building (besides the need for materials) to let the soil become healthier. We are going to concentrate on building up the soil before we plant again. Carolina clay has got to be one of the hardest things in the world to work with.

I think we will also do everyting in raised beds using a lot of the scrap wood we have laying around. It should be an interesting project and will probably fill up quite a bit of time.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Ok..one more thought popped into my head as I was getting ready to sign out. I have added a few more categories to this blog. I am thinking of posting all aspects of everything under it's appropriate title. It will make a wonderful journal of our daily events. This will become the last thing I do before going to bed. I will start posting this way tomorrow.

Off to bed!!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, as I said last time fall garden is pretty much a bust. I can't blame the rain entirely, though that had a major impact. Part of was work schedule and running Daddy to all is doctor's appointments. Luckily he is now doing very well and is supposedly coming down to see us tonight.

Today's plan is to get the garden and the yard cleaned up. We will be mowing the grass and then we are going to clean out the basement and fix up the rabbit cages and do some bunny moving.

Things are progressing nicely in a our prepartion for the Sparta Festival a week from today. We have already laid out plans for fall and winter projects. Fall is definitely in the air. We haven't turned the a/c on in four days. It has been wonderful. Rabbits should be ready to start breeding here again shortly. Our third generation set of Rex's (we are working towards pedigree and eventually registration with them) still have another month or so before they will be ready to breed.

I am printing up a ton of pamphlets and handouts for the festival. Also, new fliers and business cards for the farm. The new website is up and running, there are still some issues with the froms but that should be cleared up soon. I am not going to do anyting with the website at this point until festival is over.

Well need to go finish breakfast dishes and get my rear in gear and join everyone else outside.

I will finish updating later this evening.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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It is not the Mittlieder method that is a bust, it has been all the rains and the fact that the garden got washed out. It is at the bottom of the backyard which is sloped. So the plan is make raised beds this fall and winter and re-do the back garden this spring. We are moving forward with the hoop green houses in the front which should keep us fairly well supplied through out the winter and early spring.

We are readying for the Sparta Mountain Heritage Festival on September 23rd. I will be demonstrating hand sewing techniques and some hand piecing and quilting techinques as well as having a small vendor's booth. It promises to be a wonderful day for the whole family. We are hoping that Daddy will be up to going with us, it is his birthday after all. He has had a slight relapse, but is ok, he should be discharged from the hospital tomorrow or Monday.

We are going to start getting the rabbits ready for cooler weather, which includes re-doing some of the cages so they are on their own legs and free standing. We have now what we refer to as rabbit row. They are outside once again but under our bedroom window. Nice large cages and everyone is very happy. We are going to concentrate on our Rex breeds and re-start our white new zealand venture as well. Of the 2 lop girls, Claire has chosen Pretty to remain and Georgette is now for sale. We are also going to concentrate on having 2 breeding pairs of rex's for now so we have 3 breeding pairs set and ready to go to new homes.

As for the promised website it should still be up by the end of the holiday weekend. We have all had a touch of some kind of kid germ virus and my computer had issues which have been resolved. Just need to re-load dreamweaver and front page and we will be set and ready to go. The new Menagerie Farm website is www.menagerie-farm.com. I will let everyone know when it is actually got something to look at.

I cannot remember if I announced it or not but we are officially members of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and proud sponsors of Local Harvest. We will be opening a store with Local Harvest in the near future as well as maintaining our home farm stand and possibly a new eBay store.

Well that is all the news for now. I will hopefully have more to post tonight. But it is lunch time here and need to get moving on that.  :)

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Less than $100 and we will have a greenhouse. If it is truly as easy to put together as the directions seem there will definitely be more than one. I can't wait until we get it put together and I can replant some of the things that were lost in the heavy down pours.

Draw back to having young seedlings and getting heavy rains, they get drowned very easily. We needed the rain but several times over the last few days we have had periods of very intense rain that has left the gardens flooded. No worries I have plenty of seeds and will get more if I need them.

We have also spoken with our neighbor and we have decided to combine both properties. Flowers and herbs are on her side..and goats. Yes we are going to have goats again!! I am so excited. I miss having goats. Now to decide what breed we want. I am thinking a pair of Nubian girls. I just love that breed those ears are something else. I might just have to go to the local stockyard sale in September and see what I can find there.

Jay's new job is working out well and the regularity to the daily schedule helps tremendously. I am getting more done. Morgan is learning to be a little more independant and entertain himself. He is also becoming a real chatter box. Claire got a note home from school today telling us what a great day she had and that her teacher is so happy to have her in class.

Well it's time to get rabbits fed and watered for the evening, get baths done and for the grown ups to have their dinner. I think there are children under all the dirt. Hopefully I will find them.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, tomorrow will be a busy day, the local newspaper is giving away free pallets. We are going to use them to put in the floor of the new hen house, so I can then replace laying hens knowing they have a secure place to be at night. We might need two more sheets of plywood but those should be easy enough to pick up from lowe's hardware.

The farm is now a member of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and a sponsor of Local Harvest. We are also listed with New Farm now. We are working towards becoming Certified Naturally Grown, hopefully will have that process completed late winter.

We will be going this evening I believe to pick up the parts we need to build our first green house. It is a pvc hoop greenhouse which will be put up over the garden in the front yard. This will definitely extend our growing season. Hopefully within the next month or two we will build a second green house in the back. Then we will be set and ready to go for year round production. I will be ordering seeds from Victory Seeds so that we can move to totally heirloom varieties.

We will begin our farmyard sale in two weeks. The plan is to have them every two weeks and hopefully we will be able to encourage other local small farmers and gardeners to join us with their wares. I would like to rename it to the Community Farm Sale eventually. One of the ways for the small farms to survive is for us to all work together. It doesn't hurt to help bring the local community together as well. It was a wonderful thing when I was growing up and I would like for my children to be able to experience the same thing.

As for our gardens right now, they are bothing doing fairly well. I will have to say our Mittlieder garden is exceeding expectations and actually doing better. I will proabably continue to have a traditional garden/greenhouse in the front and a Mittlieder garden/greenhouse in the back.

We will also be spending time this fall finishing demolition of the old shed. Everytime we go to re-build another huge tree limb falls on it so it just needs to come down. And we have been given the go ahead by the land lord to clear off the last little bit in the back. Not sure yet what we will put there, it will depend on what we find when all the brush and bramble are gone. I do know we will probably keep any saplings that are cut down for fence posts or for bonfires.

Well, need to finish Sunday chores and get dinner going. That's all the news from the farm for now.  :)

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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We finally have gotten all the pre-sprouted seeds into the garden. Hot and sweaty work but it's done. Now it's time to watch for weeds and sprouts popping up through the ground. The Mittlieder garden was admittedly easier to plant and a lot more fun. The hardest part of our traditional organic garden in the front is the fact we had to plant around our tomatoes, cucumbers and Claire's mini gardens.

Her sunflowers opened up this morning and look gorgeous topping off the 8 foot plants with bright yellow blooms. She should have corn ready to pick and eat sometime next week. She can't wait to harvest and cook her corn for us for dinner.

We have been enjoying the refridgerator pickles she has made from her cucumbers. And since reviving our tomato plants we have tomatoes coming out our ears. We are looking forward to a bountiful fall harvest. As things stand right now, we will be staying on our little half acre homestead for a while longer. However, we are making plans to have a lot of fun and expand what we can.  :)

Well, time to finish getting school clothes ready for Claire and dress orders and quilts to do. I will post more later.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, tomorrow will be the final till on both the traditional and Mittlieder gardens. We will be planting by tomorrow evening hopefully. We are pushing the time limits a bit but I think we will be just fine. We will be using row covers and such as the first frost draws nearer.

We will be planting:

• Beans
• Peas
• Squash
• Okra
• Melons
• Pumpkins
• Loose Leaf lettuce
• green onions
• garlic
• shallots
• cabbage
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• kohl rabi
• spinach
• tomato cuttings
• beets

We are keeping our surviving tomato plants going by taking healthy cuttings and transplanting them into the ground in the traditional garden only. We experiemented earlier in the season with this and it worked well. We should have tomatoes going well into fall. We haven't tried this with other plants but that is a project for next year.

We are gearing up for our return to the farmer's market. We will have tomatoes, cucumbers, dresses, breads, cookies, brownies. Because of time constraints and the cost of producing large quantities of diabetic goods we won't be taking any except a sampling of diabetic cinamon rolls with us. Pass out the samples and take orders. We will have fliers for our rabbits. We did replace our losses with 8 new rabbits. 3 will remain 1 buck and 2 does, these are our beloved Brownie's offspring. Beautifully colored bunnies. The cost of the replacement will be offset by the sale of two.

Our fall schedule will also include Master Gardener training, school, putting our business plan together for our planned expansion. We will also be taking training classes on small business management through the Small Business Development Center at the local community college. That doesn't include our daily routines around here.

Claire is still touting off to anyone she meets about her picture being on the front page of the Mt. Airy News. It was an article about our little suburban homestead. Daddy stopped by tonight and we were able to hand deliver his copy of the paper. What a proud pa-pa and daddy moment. I loved the smile he got on his face as he read it.

Claire's corn is actually producing ears and she is still harvesting cucumbers from her mini garden. She will have squash very soon as well. She is absolutely elated with the results. And has already begun planning her garden for next year.

The end result of the wonderful article is our phone hasn't stopped ringing with questions and orders, and the farm email address has never been busier with the same. It is all coming together so nicely. We will have a new farm website up and running by the end of next week. Leaving behind the free tripod site. The new look and feel of the website is just awesome. I can't wait until it's up and running.

One of my other projects has been volunteering on the marketing board with a non profit organization called Food For Everyone Foundation. A wonderful project run by Jim Kenard. The benefits of his knowledge and what he does around the world is just miraculous. I have also joined is Yahoo Group on the Mittlieder Method. I haven't had much time to particpate as of yet. But will hopefully in the future. Things should slow down a bit during late fall and through early winter.

I have been reading a ton of articles by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. What an enlightened and intelligent man. He is the forerunner in the small farm enterprises including CSA and organic methods. I would highly recommend him and his techniques and ideology.

Well it's time for a quick family business meeting. I will post more as I can.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, for starters we did have a few losses on the farm due to animal attacks. Last Wednesday, we are suspecting early morning, we had what could only be a dog attack. We lost 5 rabbits and 2 laying hens. We had two of our does injured but they are doing fine now. Our hen Henny Penny was due to hatch out her clutch today, ok yesterday, and apparently she and her eggs made a delicious meal for a family of raccoons. The only surving rabbits are Alice, Pretty, George, Lisa and Lizzy. Alice is our white New Zealand lady, so we are again in search of a buck for her. Pretty and George our dwarf lops and Lizzy and Lisa are 2 of the 3 remainging Rex girls. Lizzy has lost one toe on her rear foot and Lisa has lost a toe on the front of her foot. We are treating with vet strength iodine.

We can replace our Rex buck Brownie with one of his sons. We will be looking in our local trading news for new laying hens. 2 are just not going to cut it. The rabbits are now safely ensconced in our basement. We do take them outside under careful watch to let them get fresh air, sunlight and exercise. We have put up lights over the cages so that they do have light while down there. It is also helping them deal with this awful heat wave we are having.

As for the good news that has come along. We were interviewed by the local paper Friday and the story will be a feature article in today's edition. The paper went so far as to post Claire's picture with a blurb "Small farm reaches big market. Story tomorrow." She went around the neighborhood and showed everyone. She is standing next to one of her sunflower plants that is twice as tall as she is. We were also interviewed today by homestead.org. It will be posted to their site in about 4-6 weeks, when they do their next update.

Some other good news is that the fall gardens are just about ready for planting. We are hoping, despite the heat, to have them in by the end of the weekend. Our baking orders and clothing orders are starting roll in. I will be moving the website from free hosting to a real domain within the next week or so.

Saturday found Claire going on a date with her "Pa-Pa". They went to the early matinee and saw Pirates of the Caribean, went out to eat Chinese food for lunch and then he did one of his favorite things, clothes shopping. She got a new pair of sneakers and two outfits for school. I am making most of her wardrobe. Luckily this year the school supply list was very short, we have already purchased everything and Claire has set out her clothes for the first day of school and packed her bag. She is set and ready to go. We were going to homeschool but with all of our on going projects and Claire's reluctance we decided not to. We will see how things pan out this year with her going to the local public school instead of our driving her to and from a school in a neighboring district.

It also looks like our dream of having a real homestead is coming true. With my brother in law moving out here later this year and things really turning around for us we are looking to put a 57.5 acre farm under contract. We will continue with our naturally grown gardening, major expansion on our CSA program, we will have a wide variety of animals. The house was built in 1920 and the gentleman that currently owns grew up in the house. He and his wife will be our neighbors but they can no longer care for the land as it should be. We are planning on running a farm store directly off the farm, having educational farm tours, all with the flavor of Mayberry added in. We are hoping to receive grants from both the Golden Leaf Foundation and SARE, to help cover renovation costs. If everything goes as planned we should be able to move by January. There are plenty of old barns and out buildings, fencing and corrals and pastures. We will need to build a proper barn to house the animals. We have been researching the breeds of animals that were raised during the 1920's, so we can help with the preservation of heritage breeds of livestock. We are also collecting heirloom seeds.

Well, that is all for tonight, this morning. Best Wishes to everyone.

Blessed Be!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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Well, where to begin. I believe the last blog I posted was regarding our dearly departed Brownie. Lots of things have changed since then.

Our chickens have finally come home to roost. They are free-ranging our yard and loving it. Our Dominique Hen is setting on a large clutch of eggs (we believe that the little trollop went visiting the game roosters next door as we have no rooster of our own and these eggs are definitely furtile). They are due to hatch around the 1st of August. We are getting fresh eggs daily now from our 5 other hens. We have also added guinea's to our flock. Pinky and the Brain, beautiful little white 12 week old keets.

We brought our bunnies home. Alice, our white NZ lady,  had 6 beautiful babies we still have two. A replacement buck and doe. She did loose her second litter during the horrendous heat wave we had. We have bought quite a few more rabbits and sold quite a few as well. We are currently awaiting three new litters of Rex rabbits. We hope to build up our rabbitry for both meat and show. There are those that do make it the othe pet arena as well.

As for farm hands, my husband is doing well, he is working for the local candle factory. Though this last week they have been on slow down. They plan on picking up this coming week to prepare for the christmas season. Claire has decided not to homeschool for the moment and knowing our daughter we have decided not to force her. She will be attending second grade at Tharrington Elementary school here in Mount Airy. Our Bekkah has decided that she would rather remain in the care of her mother and has moved back to Illinois. Then there is Morgan. 20 month's old now, 101% boy. He is at the explosive learning stage. We can understand a lot of what he says now, though once he can talk really really well I am afraid to know what he is saying sometimes.

We spent 2 weeks away from home, had someone watching our animals, but our garden became overgrown with weeds. Today finally I was able to get in and get a lot of the weeding done. We weeded around the tomatoes and cukes, spread old hay around to help control weed growth and hold in all the compost tea every one got a healthy drink of. Used the tiller over the barren spots to get ready for fall garden planting. Hopefully we will be able to finish up tomorrow with all the recovery and get back to the business of growing.

Well, that's most of the latest. Will post more tomorrow regarding some of the other happenings. I have some writing to get done for work.

Blessed Be!!

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

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