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Sneaky Nesting Duck

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CayugaDuck

Around August 1st, I noticed that this Black Cayuga duck was not joining the other ducks in the duck house at night. This means that she is getting “broody” and hiding a nest of eggs somewhere. The fact that I have her was an accident- an order filling mistake by the mail-order poultry company. But, she lays eggs as well as the other breeds, so I’ve kept her. She is different from the other breeds I have (Magpie, Runner and Swedish)- she is more “wiley” I think. She can fly about six feet high for several yards, which none of the other ducks can do- they are all too heavy-bodied or oddly shaped to fly. She is also noisy, which I don’t prefer.

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Potatoes on the Homestead- Then and Now

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Potatoes

I planted some seed potatoes this spring, partly on a whim, after I spotted them for sale at the local farm store. I’ve never grown them before. I was fairly neglectful of this patch, and the soil seemed so sandy as to be useless. But they thrived. Kirk dug up this batch on Saturday, and there are still more in the ground. The varieties here are Yukon Gold and Russet Burbank. I’m pleased- I’ll definitely plant more next year!

Potatoes were a major row crop on this farm in the early 1900’s. I found the below history excerpt in the archives at the Snohomish Historical Society. This history was compiled by Eric Hoem, a descendent of the original homesteaders of this farm, who now lives in Oregon. Here I believe he is quoting his father, Edward Alexander Hoem, who was a third generation farmer here. Edward Alexander was born in 1914, and lived on the farm for 35 years. Continue reading “Potatoes on the Homestead- Then and Now” →

Ocean Visit

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GeneAndMaggie

We went to the ocean last week, for a five-day vacation. We visited Long Beach in Washington, and Cannon Beach in Oregon. The weather forecast was for rain all week- after months and months of pure sun! But, we lucked out, it mostly rained at night, and we got plenty of chances to play on the beach in warm, sunny weather. We stayed in our travel trailer at two different campgrounds.

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First Chicken Eggs

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FirstEgg

One of our chickens has started to lay, this was the first of two eggs we’ve found. They are usually tiny like this when the bird first starts to lay (the scale of the picture is hard to see, but I have small hands, this egg is about half normal size). We have Rhode Island Red chickens, which lay brown eggs. But this first egg looked funny- the brown pigment wasn’t consistent, so it looked like it had been airbrushed on.

I bought the chickens as day-olds around April 10th. So, this is a bit early for the beginning of laying- I would expect it more around 5-6 months of age. Hopefully that means they are going to be prolific layers!

Grandmas’ Takes on The Great Depression

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GrandmaK Recently my family was over for a little get-together, and I sat at the dinner table with my two grandmas, both are in their nineties. The conversation turned to the current economy, and the possibility that we’re entering (or already in) something akin to the Great Depression. I asked them both what their memories were of that time. They were in their teens when it started, and getting married and starting families when times finally were improved. Continue reading “Grandmas’ Takes on The Great Depression” →

Greener Pastures

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GreenPasture

I got laid off from my job this week. This is the second layoff our company has had since last winter, times are tough out there, everybody knows it, and our company is suffering like many others. Lots of great people got let go last time and this, so I’m in good company. Of course I’m legally constrained about what I can say about that situation that could be construed as negative, so that doesn’t leave anything I can mention. Just suffice to say I’m super excited to be moving on to better opportunities, and thrilled to be getting a severance package to sweeten the deal. Our expenses are low, we have good savings accounts, and I expect to find a new, significantly more rewarding job in a reasonable amount of time. So, the severance package spells a down payment on a new barn for us-yeah!

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Mud Hen

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MudHen This is what Maggie looks like after she swims in the muddiest of our agricultural drainage ditches. Like she’s been dipped in chocolate. Here she is locked outside, waiting for a hose-down before she can come into the house.

Anonymous Sign Lady is Back

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AnonymousSignLadysLatest Well, we figured she had gone away, we hadn’t “heard” from her in a few months. But today we found another little note package from her. She spent some time and effort crafting this collage of messages again (and I say “she” because it looks like a woman’s handwriting)- a cardboard printed sign, a green spiral notepad sheet with more writing (and again, she ran out of room to fit all of her thoughts, so had to switch to a smaller “font” and write up the side of the sheet), another torn scrap of paper with a separate list, and a cut-out newspaper blurb. All of this was carefully bound in a sealed cellophane wrapper, presumably to protect it from rain (which I wish we had).

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