by Susan | Oct 9, 2016 | Photography
Hannah and I are in Pennsylvania for a quick college exploration visit and Hannah’s first college interview. This afternoon, I took Hannah to Waggoner’s Gap where dad took me a few of years ago. The sun was in the wrong spot for good photos, but for a...
by Susan | Sep 17, 2016 | Out and About in Maine
I’ve shared pictures of this field before. Here’s it is in June with the Lupine in bloom. The same field yesterday as the sun began to set. BikeMaine, a week-long cycling event chose our town for their last night along the Bold Coast of Maine. The myriad...
by Susan | Aug 31, 2014 | Garden, On the Farm
This last weekend in August found me in the garden wishing I could restart the month. I’m not ready for the growing season to wind down, especially when I’m having such great success with my hugelkulturs. I’d love another month of warm weather to...
by Susan | Mar 24, 2014 | On the Farm
It was a sad weekend here. We lost two roosters over two nights to what we believe is a single predator. What makes it even harder is that we knew that one of the coop doors needed repair and our delay in fixing it properly cost us. In the banty coop, a predator got...
by Susan | Jan 9, 2014 | Backyard Birds
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site allaboutbirds.org is my go to place when trying to figure out who is visiting my yard. Just yesterday, they released Merlin, a bird identification app for smart phones. Since I receive an iPhone for Christmas (my phones have all...
by Susan | Dec 31, 2013 | Backyard Birds, On the Farm
After having a week off and then working yesterday, I opted to play hookey today. It was extremely cold, the roads were icy, and frankly, I just wasn’t ready to get back into the swing of things just yet. On this last day of 2013 I puttered both inside and...
by Susan | Aug 31, 2013 | Chickens, On the Farm
Shadow’s latest batch of baby bantam chickens have flown the coop. Shadow has given up her mama duties and the youngsters, now 11 weeks old, are on their own. The Banty B&B is a bit overcrowded with this latest hatch. Who knew Shadow would be such a good...
by Susan | Aug 6, 2013 | Family, On My Mind
Why does fourteen seem so much older than thirteen? Today we celebrated Hannah’s fourteenth birthday. I’m troubled by the passing of this day – more so than any birthday before. Maybe it’s because she’s entering high school next month, no longer a little girl in...
by Susan | Jul 29, 2013 | On My Mind
At 4:00 a.m. the only thing awake with me is a lone bullfrog boinging like a banjo, the sound echoing in the stillness. Moments later, the Colonel starts crowing, echoed by Clover. The ducks rouse and talk amongst themselves with low raspy quacks. Before long the...
by Susan | Apr 30, 2013 | On My Mind
The past few days have been a delight – beautiful weather and an amazing assembly of birds on the farm. Never have I seen such a variety of birds here at one time. The regulars: Dark-eyed Junco Blue Jay Black-capped Chickadee Crow Mourning Dove Red-breasted...
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 | Nov 13, 2012 | On My Mind
We purchased our first generator eight-and-a-half years ago when building our home. It provided necessary power to begin our building project until Bangor Hydro connected us to the grid. I wrote about the demise of the generator in The Seven Year Slump back in...
by Susan | Oct 8, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Shadow, a sweet little bantam hen, is broody again. She’s feathered her nest and is sitting on a clutch of ten eggs. She hatched her first babies back in May. My best guess is that she’s been on the nest for about ten days now. She’s such a gentle...
by Susan | Sep 8, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Meet Clover and Klee, our father and son roosters. Hatched on May 1, Klee has grown into the spitting image of his daddy. This morning I heard Klee try his first crow. Kids, they grow up so fast!
by Susan | May 12, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Today was moving day for the Freedom Rangers. They’ve been with us for four weeks now and things in the brooder were getting a bit crowded. Now that they have feathers they can move outside to their new digs. Hannah moved the 50 chickens into the dog kennel in...
by Susan | Apr 26, 2012 | On My Mind
A curious sight caught my attention this evening. Our resident squirrel is building her nest and she’s accessorized with this scrap of fabric from a long-forgotten scarecrow. Just a few weeks ago we saw her trying to pull this scrap from where it was entangled...
by Susan | Apr 9, 2012 | On My Mind
This cute little guy caught our attention on Easter Sunday. We found him just outside the living room window tugging on a piece of fabric that was stuck in a bush – a remnant of a long forgotten scarecrow. He tried and tried, but couldn’t work it free....
by Susan | Mar 30, 2012 | Hannah's Cutting Board, In the Kitchen
The other week when we cooked down our sap into Maple syrup, Hannah took advantage of the wood fire and made S’mores. All day long. The other day, we were down to the last graham crackers and marshmallows with no chocolate left in the house. (A truly sad thing,...
by Susan | Feb 4, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Pepper, the Banty Rooster, is close to loosing his happy home. He’s one of two roosters in the Banty B&B. I think Pepper has a Napoleon complex – little in stature and big on aggressiveness. He cock-a-doodle-doos at o’dark-thirty – before the sun is up...
by Susan | Nov 6, 2011 | Chickens, On the Farm
Our roosters have been going through puberty. Dr. Pepper’s crow has been improving since we first introduced it. Suddenly, the other day, The Colonel is finally heard from – although it’s more a croak than crow. Dr. Pepper crows in the morning to...
