Pond Music

Pond Music

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...
Giving All Year Long

Giving All Year Long

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...
Fences and Feathered Friends

Fences and Feathered Friends

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...
Glorious Autumn Day

Glorious Autumn Day

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...
A Bit of Farm History

A Bit of Farm History

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...
Night Sounds

Night Sounds

The night is loud outside my window tonight. What do you suppose is making all this noise?...
The Return of the Fox

The Return of the Fox

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...
A Fox on the Farm

A Fox 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!”...
Free Nesting Box Plans

Free Nesting Box Plans

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...
Morning Farm Sounds

Morning Farm Sounds

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?
The Cost of Chicken Math

The Cost of Chicken Math

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...
September Sunday Snapshots

September Sunday Snapshots

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...
Who’s There?

Who’s There?

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...
A Muddy Logging Operation

A Muddy Logging Operation

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...
Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the River and Through the Woods

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...
Logging Company Moves In

Logging Company Moves In

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...
A Day Cutting Wood

A Day Cutting Wood

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....
Like Father, Like Daughter

Like Father, Like Daughter

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...
A Look Back in Time: Building the Maine House

A Look Back in Time: Building the Maine House

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...