Gorgeous, Glorious, Garlic!
Garlic is a staple in our kitchen - even Hannah likes it. That's why I increased our crop planting to 100 cloves last fall - up from 60 the year before. I spent an enjoyable afternoon sitting in the dooryard cleaning garlic. For the past few weeks...
All’s Well that Ends Well on the End of Summer Beach Trip
I played hookey today and took Hannah and her friend "M" to the beach for the day. We went to Roque Bluffs and we were the only folks on the beach. I parked myself in my chair, listened to the surf and read while the girls played. Swimming was...
A Reluctant Chicken Farmer
I didn't set out to be a chicken farmer. My husband sneakily lured me into the world of chickens with visions of farm fresh eggs and happy hens clucking about in the yard. When he attended the Chicken 101 class at Darthia Farm and learned how to...
Chris and Thanks at Three Weeks
They're still too cute to think about serving up at Thanksgiving!
Tropical Storm Irene Brings Ducky Weather
With Hurricane Irene we planned for the worst and ended up with the best. We were on the far eastern edge of the storm and had a short spell of steady rain followed by a very windy night. The power went on and off repeatedly (maybe 25 times?) for...
Chicken Hurricane Preparedness
With the news of hurricane Irene racing up the coast and headed for New England, Paul and I did some storm preparation today. By the time hurricanes get to Downeast Maine they've typically lost a lot of strength with the cold waters up here. Still,...
Annual Mother Daughter Pigeon Hill Hike!
Today was beautiful - almost autumn like - cool temperatures with big puffy clouds. Hannah and I made our annual hike to the top of Pigeon Hill. The exercise drove home the point how little exercise I've had lately and how out of shape I am! We...
Salad on a String
I had a little fun with The Girls today. I took a few cauliflower plants that were not flourishing and I strung them up in the chicken run. Just a little out of their direct reach. The chickens studied it for a while, giving it a peck here and a...
Weekend Snapshots
It was a pretty low key weekend here. I spent the bulk of the weekend working on a deadline with little breaks puttering outside. Here are a few weekend highlights.
Wicked Good Black Raspberries!
Hannah discovered that the chickens LOVE the black raspberries that grow wild around the house. Today I visited with The Girls and fed them some myself. Here are the results.... http://youtu.be/vOSovTnPPH0
Free Downeast Thunder Farm Chicken Coop Plans
A rainy day gave Paul the chance to finish "fine-tuning" his plans for the chicken coop. We're happy to offer these plans to you for free. Click here to view and download the free chicken coop plans. You can also right-click on the link and choose...
Sunday Snapshots
Downeast Thunder Farm’s Rockin’ Pizza
I experiment with pizza dough like some women experiment with nail polish colors. We have homemade pizza once a week, usually on the weekend. We make our own, not because we don't have choices, but because we like ours better. After years of...
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...
Saturday Snapshots
Hannah decorating her fort with leaves.
Dilly – Our Physically Challenged Duck
Dilly, affectionately known as “Silly Dilly,” arrived as a new hatchling five weeks ago. It wasn’t until I took her out of the brooder and let her run around outside in the garden for the first time that I noticed her legs have not developed...
Gobble, Gobble!
Thanksgiving dinner is here! These three-day-old baby turkeys arrived at the local feed and seed today. When I brought them home, Hannah insisted on naming them. A family "no-no" for things that will grace the dinner table. She's calling...
The Journey of a Roaster Chicken
Last night we enjoyed our first roasted chicken from a Cornish Rock chicken we raised ourselves! Roasted with thyme, rosemary and lemon it was very tasty, tender and moist. This was a little chicken harvested...
The Ducks Have New Digs!
The ducks have finally moved out of the garage brooder and into their permanent digs. One month old and they've left home. This little structure was the house and run for our first batch of meat chickens. We came to the realization that the meat...
Twelve
Twelve years ago today, darling Hannah entered into our lives. She took her own sweet time arriving on the scene two weeks late. Not much has changed on that front. My due date of July 23 came and went. When the doctor said that they were going to...
Chickens on a Roost
I gave the girls an outdoor roost to break the monotony of life in their chicken run. A couple of cinder blocks with a branch draped across did the trick. They like to hop up here when they see me heading down to the coop area. I think it gives...
Oscar Got His Quack
Oscar got his quack! Quackers is close and the other two have a little catching up to do. Exciting stuff. I harvested the rest of my garlic today so I was able to expand their temporary play area in my garden. This gave us room to set up a bigger...
Chicken Math at Work
We went to town today for a roll of 6' x 50' chicken wire and came home with four bantam chicks and no chicken wire. How did that happen? It had to be Chicken Math. These little cuties were $1 each - end of the season left-over chick sale. Who can...
I Love My Prius
We made a trip to town yesterday and turned the Prius into a pickup truck again. As we were cruising along, the AC blasting to keep the child in the back seat happy, I looked down at the mileage display and snapped this pic (Paul was driving). 418...
The Beauty of Bar Harbor
After a meeting in Bar Harbor today I paused for a moment to snap a couple of pictures. This is the Margaret Todd, a four-masted windjammer heading out of the harbor for a sail. How fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful area!
