Sugar Creek Farm

What a difference a few weeks of warm weather makes! The big snow from the beginning of March is already gone.

Not that it’s fit enough to do anything with yet. But that doesn’t stop Rafe from digging. “I’m digging for worms! And I’m going to sell dirt!”

But the cabbages have sprouted in the basement. We should be seeing tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings any day now as well. Broccoli, plus flowers and herbs for Madeline’s “edible landscaping” 4-H project will be started this coming weekend.

sewing pretty pink ballerina ribbons onto toe shoes…

for this farmgirl (with her handsome father).

Today she went from pigpen, to softball practice, to school, to pigpen, to dance class, to bed. And she’s on the honor roll.

What? A mom can brag, can’t she?

your gilt farrowing, then having no mothering instinct whatsoever and the whole litter dies. And you think she ate the last one.

Now what…give her another chance, or send 10 months of time & money invested down the road?

We didn’t take our own advice about not buying fancy breeding stock when it came to the hogs. Won’t be making that mistake again.

Cross you fingers things go better with the other 2 gilts.

This is heartbreaking, too.

But…happiness is sleeping with the windows open for the first time this spring, and the smell of the earth waking up.

It’s been a rather exciting bird day at Sugar Creek today. Too bad I suck at nature photography. So all of these photos are linked to other websites.

( Telephoto lens and Birding binoculars – hint, hint dear 🙂

Our kitchen window overlooks the creek and pasture. This morning ny muscovy ducks were all out on the creek. I noticed a couple of ducks downstream, apart from the rest. And then realized that they weren’t my ducks. I grabbed the binoculars and enjoyed a show of creek diving by male and female Common Mergansers.

(from the Birds of India website)

Standing alongside the creek was what I believe to be a Sandhill Crane. His back was to me so I couldn’t see the telltale red patch on top of his head, but otherwise this is what he looked like.

(from the Montana Outdoors website)

Then as Rafe and I were driving out the driveway, a bird that had apparently been in the tree at the end of the driveway took flight right over my truck. At first I thought it was a hawk, but then realized it was much bigger. It’s white tail and head gave away its identity as an adult Bald Eagle. They seem to always show up this time of year.

(from the Bird Guide website)

Quite a lot of excitement before 8:30 a.m.!

Canada geese on the creek

Chickens out and about

MUD! My least favorite.

But soon there will be my most favorite signs – babies! Piglets, calves, and chicks to come.

Here’s the garden, barracaded at the east end by a huge pile of snow.

This picture was taken last week, and quite a bit of snow has melted since then. The pile has probably shrunk by about half.

Today, however, we were back down to high’s in the mid-30’s so not much melting action going on. It will be quite a while yet before I can plant anything. Anything outdoors, anyway. But I plan to get the seed starting rack into action this weekend.

A while back – quite a while back – Genie over at The Inadvertant Gardener tagged me to list 5 weird things about myself.

“This will be easy,” I thought. “I’m very weird.”

And then, nothing.

So I enlisted my family for help.

Madeline: How about your obsession with the computer?

Matt: Huh, maybe you’re not as weird as I thought.

They were not much help, either.

So other than my wardrobe and my neurotic worries, here’s what I came up with:

1. I’m always looking for patterns in things. It’s not even a concious thing at first, more like an “oh, I’m doing it again” thing. The repeat in wallpaper, the drum or bass line in a song, the order of the colors of stripes in a throw rug.

Well duh, I’m a computer programmer.

2. Maybe this goes along with #1, but if you buy eggs from me you might notice that I always put the eggs in the carton in a certain order. Large in front, small in back, blue eggs placed in a zig-zag pattern amongst the brown eggs.

3. When I was 10 or 12 years old the subject of having children came up and I told my mother, “I’m having test tube babies.” Once she stopped laughing she informed me that they don’t grow in the test tube the whole time. Bummer. For a while my nickname was “Beaker”.

4. I’m ridiculously shy. It sounds downright stupid to be a shy 36-year-old. And then I worry that people won’t realize I’m shy, that they will simply think I’m stuck up or something. So I’m a shy, neurotic worrier.

5. Other people’s feet creep me out. (People over the age of 5, anyway.) But it’s okay if you want to rub mine.

So there you have it. 5 or 7 weird and rather boring things.

If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged! Leave a link back to your own post in the comments.

Fatman & Robin are saying, “Na-na na-na boo boo”

…and yet so far. We feed the cats in this old washtub on the front porch. Just out of Ava’s reach.

Losing animals is part and parcel of farming, usually noted but not dwelled upon. But last week our Miss Silkie died. Those of you who were reading this blog this time last year know her as our Hollywood chicken.

I had noticed for a couple of days that she looked dumpy, not her usual fluffy and happy self. Then one day when I went out for chicken chores, I found her dead in the coop. I’ll miss her.

Rafe said, “Awwww, our poor little Superstar.”

Matt said, “It’s the Sugar Creek Farm version of Anna Nicole Smith!”

Madeline said, “We should give those people in Hollywood a call. Maybe they’ll bring us back out there. Because we’re grieving.”