by Susan | Jun 1, 2013 | On the Farm
We created the pond last year for the ducks. At the time, we didn’t appreciate that we’d be creating an ecosystem. I’ve always enjoyed the night sounds here, but this new ecosystem is NOISY! With the windows open last night, we had to crank the...
by Susan | Dec 7, 2012 | On My Mind
Last year when our chickens started laying, we quickly realized that a dozen hens lay enough eggs in one day to last us almost a week. We started selling extra eggs to friends and neighbors who appreciated farm fresh eggs. One week, overrun with eggs, Paul called the...
by Susan | Dec 1, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
A bitterly cold day found Paul and I outside running fence around the duck pond. Now that the pond is solidly frozen, the ducks don’t have much protection from predators. We tuck them away into their house at night, but they’re used to having the run of...
by Susan | Oct 27, 2012 | On the Farm
Today felt like a gift. The last week of October and the temps on this sunny day hit 65 degrees. We took advantage of the glorious day and spent it outdoors doing “get ready for winter” chores and just enjoying what may be the last summer-like day of the...
by Susan | Oct 4, 2012 | On the Farm
We uncovered a piece of farm history. While identifying trees that need to be removed from the woods around the house we found this evidence, that long before our time, someone else was farming the land. A fir tree, 13 inches in diameter, has barbed wire running...
by Susan | Apr 25, 2012 | On My Mind
The night is loud outside my window tonight. What do you suppose is making all this noise?...
by Susan | Mar 24, 2012 | On the Farm
I sit outside on a beautiful Spring day writing this post about The Return of the Fox. Our resident fox has visited three times this morning raising havoc with the chickens and ducks. So here I sit on the porch giving the ducks some supervised play time. The commotion...
by Susan | Jan 22, 2012 | On the Farm
Mid-morning, as I was making brunch, the Banties on the porch started making a ruckus, wildly bock-bock-bocking all together. We laughed at their antics wondering what had gotten them so stirred up. Suddenly, Paul called out, “There’s a fox!”...
by Susan | Jan 3, 2012 | Critter Care and Housing, On the Farm
At Downeast Thunder Farm, my engineer husband designs and fabricates our structures, farm implements, and equipment as we need them. He’s a handy guy to have around! In planning for another chicken coop this coming Spring, Paul drew up this nesting box design...
by Susan | Oct 22, 2011 | Chickens, On the Farm
The sun is just rising. It’s not exactly Revile. It sounds a little rusty. Pepper, our little bantam rooster, is acquiring his cockadoodledoo. Rooster Wake Up Call What do you suppose those ducks are saying to him?
by Susan | Sep 28, 2011 | On My Mind
Back in July, I explained how chicken math works. We went to town for chicken wire and came home with four baby bantam chickens from the end of season chick sale. These cuties cost us all of $4. Or so we thought. The trouble started when we attempted to introduce the...
by Susan | Sep 11, 2011 | On the Farm
Beautiful weather gave us the opportunity to work on all kinds of outdoor projects. Paul focused on getting wood cut and stacked for the winter while I worked on garden and turkey projects! And you wonder why we don’t let the ducks and chickens run lose. As soon...
by Susan | Aug 13, 2011 | On My Mind
Last night was cloudless, a full moon lighting the yard with an eerie glow. As I was falling asleep I heard the “who-who, who-who” of a great horned owl. As I listened to the owl’s lonely call, thoughts started turning in my mind. Earlier in the day, Ginger the dog...
by Susan | Mar 20, 2011 | On the Farm
It was a beautiful first day of Spring today. A prelude to the predicted 4-8 inches of snow coming tomorrow. I took a stroll up to where the logging company is stacking the logs they are harvesting off of our property. The stack on the right represents about 10 truck...
by Susan | Feb 19, 2011 | On the Farm
Work by the lumber company recommenced today. We could hear the rumble of the tree cutting machine running in the background for the better part of the morning. When things quieted down we went for a stroll to see what they had been up to. We found a path leading from...
by Susan | Feb 12, 2011 | On the Farm
We’ve contracted with a local logging company to harvest wood off the back portion of our property. They started preliminary work this week. To do this they have punched a winter woods road through the woods. Just beyond the telephone pole on the left is where...
by Susan | Feb 5, 2011 | On the Farm
We heat our home with an outdoor wood boiler. This is a very economical way for us to heat our home given that we live on 49 wooded acres. The only catch is that at some point you have to cut the wood. We believe that the area where our house sits used to be pasture....
by Susan | Jun 26, 2010 | On the Farm
I finally got a good night sleep last night. That combined with decent weather and I was ready to tackle a few outdoor projects today. I spent some time pulling logs out of a gully near the house with the tractor. The gully runs along the space where we want to move a...
by Susan | Jun 18, 2010 | On My Mind
Recently I was talking with a friend about our crazy adventure of selling our home in Massachusetts, buying land in Maine and building our own home. I promised to share pictures with her, so here’s a look at the journey we’ve had building our home. We...
by Susan | Jun 17, 2010 | On the Farm
Here’s a little video of the tree eating monster in action.