January 10 2010

Some stories you just can’t make up…

Living on a farm, we get a lot of field mice that make their homes in the stable, hay barn, chicken coop and garage, living off the various animal feeds and stored seed. We never did mind it when the mice would only take a bit here and there, because we don’t mind sharing a bit, but when the mice began to take everything they could, leaving us nothing, we changed our minds.

Kath and I set off to the animal shelter and adopted two cats that the people there said were unadoptable cause they bit and clawed people, making them perfect specimens to roam the barn and put some meaningful balance into the ‘mice give and take’ problem.

We set the cats up in the tack room as their new home, and let them roam as they saw fit, which was mostly at night. They did their job, and did it very well through the summer and into the fall. By that time, we had a new balance of more cats than mice.

But then it began getting close to winter and Kath got to worrying that the cats would get too cold in the barn. So, she brought them in the house. One wouldn’t come in the house on her own so I was dispatched with a burlap bag to catch it with and bring it in! And so I did. I do what my wife tells me. It saves trips to the hospital.

At first, Kath was only going to bring them in for a few hours to warm up. The next day it was for only going to be for the night. That turned into every night. Then nights turned into days, and days turned into… well they are house cats now, and I have to catch them with a burlap bag to get them outside.

Fast forward a year and it is summer. (Actually it is last summer.) In the garage the pasture and buckwheat seed I store there have become an eternal Thanksgiving Day for the 43 living generations of field mice who are casually multiplying there.

So Kath gets a bright idea. She waits for a few mice to crawl over the lip of one of the seed bags, reaches in and catches two, then places them in a small glass aquarium. Then she brings them in the house. Why? “So the cats can watch them!” and then “Later I will let them go a few miles up the road”.

“Later” did not come soon enough, as one mouse escaped from the aquarium Alcatraz and made a dash for freedom and safety under the recliner. Of course, the cats didn’t miss the sprint, but being fat and out of shape, they collapsed winded at the side of the recliner, realizing that their only chance at closing on this opportunity was to wait and paw at the chair. And meow. All day long. And I mean all day long…

It was then that the realization hit me like Victor trap!

We’ve come full circle! Two years ago, we were bringing barn cats to the mice, and now we are bringing the barn mice to the cats…..

Like I said, you can’t make this stuff up.

Last week we were relieved of another grey rain for the excitement of a nor’easter snowstorm! The storm began low in the Gulf States and slid east to the Atlantic where it developed off the coast of the Carolinas and moved north, dumping snow from Virginia to Maine in a matter of days.

We were spared from the worst here, receiving about eight inches of snow. Some parts west and north of us got up to twenty or more inches.

The horses loved it! Throughout the storm, they stayed in their paddock area kicking and romping and rolling in the snow. At times they got to playing “horse tag” – one would sneak up to the backside of the other and nip and run away, kicking up snow in flight. It was just like watching kids playing!

Snoop liked it too…following me through the drifts to the barn, hopping here and there, and pushing her nose into the snow as if to see what was “in there”. Once in the barn she was content to sort through the hay bales, picking out what ever it was that tasted good to her.

The chickens did not like the snow at all! Chickens tend to sink down in the snow, and their flailing wings do not lift them out, but work them deeper into the snow much like how quicksand did in the dinosaurs. A chicken stuck in the snow and in total contrast to the white background, is a billboard advertisement for a hungry hawk…so instinctively, the chickens roost. So that is what they did, and are continuing to do while the snow is still here. To accommodate them we’ve been putting their feed in a pan and placing it in the coop….they are a bunch (I mean flock) of spoiled chickens!

The bees are “balled up” in their hives now. The only evidence of them are a few dead ones that have been pushed out side the hive by workers who are still roaming unattached to keep the hive clean. Before the storm, I bundled hay bales on the sides, backs, and tops of the hives to insulate them. Now it’s up to them and God. Well, really, it always was and will be up to them and God…

The tv news anchors – those are the people who tell us to stock up on bread and eggs, and who work so hard to instill exaggerated fears into all of us for each coming wonder of nature – are already clamoring about the next snow storm that they predict will be here a week from now. I think that it is kind of funny how they try to hook us, but then again I think it’s sad. I just turn the tv off.

I like how the snow slows things down and quiets the world under an insulating blanket. Often I have wondered if the snow is meant to give us time to roost, or huddle up inside with our families. I think that our instincts have become separated from nature so much that we no longer know how to walk with her. No longer do we enjoy and live alongside her seasonal rhythms. Instead, we have replaced them with economic rhythms, which is not rhythmical at all. It is a forward burst that ceases to quiet down…it runs us over and then drags us along in an unending quest to catch up. Unfortunately, when nature slows down so that we can catch our breath, we’ve become so unconnected we don’t know it. We don’t enjoy those times or even appreciate that she is only trying to help us out….

December 20, 2009

…When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donner and Zippy!”

Zippy? Did he really say Zippy…????

Merry Christmas to All!

December 9, 2009

Lately, the only thing that seems to be on my mind is the rain…there is a lot of it. Our area, and our farm, has received over sixty inches (that’s more than five feet!) of rain so far this year. We are close to twenty inches above the historical norm.

I have to admit that all the grey skies, water laden fields, and deep mud are getting to me. Nothing has time to dry out from one rain storm to the next. Not even my fleece jacket, or the coats and feathers of any of the animals. There is always dampness everywhere these days.

The horse paddocks have been churned from grassy waves to swales of draining water and deepening mud that seemingly sucks at my feet, and holds me in place. The horses, who do not mind the rain, mind the mud, as they have trouble lifting their feet through it, taking away their instinctive ability to take flight if necessary. So instead, they huddle in the stable, staring to the outside, no different than bored children at the window on a rainy day.

And so it is the same with Snoopie, who curls up in her house and stares out. And so it is with the chickens, which perch on their roost next to the shed door and blankly cock their eyes toward the clouded sky.

I keep reminding myself to not complain about rain. I know that some year coming there will not be enough and had I asked, I will then wish I had never asked it to go away. So I don’t.

I think God has His reasons for all this rain, and they are much more important and purposeful than I can sometimes comprehend or appreciate….

November 30, 2009

The CSA season has wound down, and now I am picking by request for members who want gleanings. There is more left than I had thought that there would be – mostly lettuces, bok choi, and chard. I’ve let Snoopy clean up what remains of the summer gardens, There is not much left, but some greens, spent pepper plants, and a few dried, crooked, corn stalks for her to root through. She’s happy!

A week ago I planted garlic, and covered it with a hoop system to moderate the soil temps for the winter. The hoop system is simple- it is done by placing wire hoops every ten or so feet and hanging a light fabric cover over them. The row looks like a foot high tunnel. I also covered a portion of the lettuce so that I can extend the season a bit longer into the winter.

The chickens are laying enough eggs that we have begun selling to people we know, while still sending a dozen or more to the food bank each week. Most days they have been free ranging, searching the farm for bugs and plant seeds. The hawk migration through the Cape May area is over, so it is somewhat safe again to let the girls out. A few weeks ago we were visited by red tails and sharp shins that patiently waited in the surrounding woodlots to pounce on an easy prey. So far this year, we’ve been spared their hunger.

Thanksgiving morning I placed straw bales on the sides and back of the three bee hives to protect them from the winds and to help insulate them from the cold. The bees are still feeding from the sugar water feeders in the warmer hours of afternoon, and I have observed some bees coming back to the hive with yellow pollen – could be from the sporadic dandelion blooms, left over mums, or whatever – somehow the bees find these things. It amazes me how they do all the things they do.

I’ve opened up another “field” for next year. I initially tilled it in September, and Kath and I have been spreading horse manure and compost over it since. It will be ready for planting for early summer next year.

The horses are really doing well. With the CSA growing season slowed, we have been able to spend a bit more time working with them on weekends. Kath is working with Patrick, training him mounting and riding cues. Zipps is recovered from the popped splint and I have been working with him to get him into better shape and to build up our trust for each other. Louie…well Louie doesn’t need much work. I just saddle him up and we go for walks. Louie is sorta like an older car that has no bells and whistles, but always starts up and gets you where you are going and back home again. He might just plod along, but he never stops plodding along! Mr. Dependable.

As the weeks take us into winter, I will be doing more for winter at the farm. There is always so much to do. Animals and plants and soil are year round….I am glad that it never really stops.

November 22, 2009

Lately I’ve been asked how my bees are doing…I’m not really sure…

The swarm I caught and successfully hived last spring has been decimated by the varroa mite. The varroa mite feeds on pupae; disfiguring and weakening the ones that survive to become bees, to an extent that these affected bees cannot forage, and do not live too long. Over time mites weaken the colony through population loss and subsequently lack of food. As the colony continues to weaken, it cannot defend itself from other insect pests or from robbing by stronger colonies of honey bees. The mites attach themselves to robbing bees, and are then spread through the apiary. My other hives have evidence of mites, yet so far these colonies show evidence that they are strong enough to keep the mite populations from reaching damage causing thresholds.

I had few choices with the mite infested colony – treat it with pesticides or close it up and let it die off. Not easy choices for me. I want to stay pesticide free here at the farm. I do not want my colonies to become dependent on pesticides. And even if I broke my principle and treated, there still would not have been enough bees to overwinter successfully. On the other hand, it is not easy to kill off a colony. It is no different than euthanizing a favorite pet, as these colonies are a part of the farm and our family as is every other living being here. But unfortunately, it is what I had to do.

I removed three frames of honey, said a short prayer, and closed the hive, sealing up the entrance and securing the covers, ensuring that the weakened colony would not be robbed and mites carried to my other three colonies.

After a week – which is the period that mites without host bees will die – I will give the three honey frames to the “log” colony (October 15 post) for winter reserves to improve their chances of survival. In this way, the colony will not have existed for nothing.

Next year, I will change some things around to aggressively manage mites. There are a few things I can do that do not involve pesticides, such as using screened bottom boards, foundationless frames, feeding them with essential oils, and dusting them with powdered sugar….but more on all this later.

The “log” colony is doing well. The queen is laying eggs, there is brood, and the workers are making comb and capping some honey. It is still a small colony and I cannot even begin to speculate on its chances of surviving. With the three frames of honey from the lost colony, along with a frame of honey donated by a fellow “no-pesticide” bee keeper, there are four full frames of honey reserves, making chances of survival a whole lot better than they were a month ago.

The other two colonies are very strong, with lots of bees, and reserves. The newest of these colonies, which I got last spring, has less reserves than I’d like, but it is what it is and I think that it will make it. All the bees from these colonies are still foraging in this warm fall, finding pollen and nectar, and taking sugar water. I’ve been treating them to mint candy, which contains natural menthol oil, and supposedly suppresses the mites.

In the end, nature will determine everything, and I respect that. Next spring will tell if there were enough reserves and not enough mites…

November 15, 2009

The summer growing season is coming to an end. I’ve been slowly cleaning up the summer fields. A few days ago we had our first hard frost, which finished off the summer stragglers – the jalapeños, green peppers, and lima beans that had been holding on, even if just barely. The last of the fall red raspberries took a pretty good hit too, and the buckwheat I had planted as a fall cover crop and source of nectar for the bees was killed off. The lettuces, cabbages, carrots and swiss chard grow well in the cold though, and are still growing strong. All this reminds me - “for everything, there is a season”….

Yet each season has its rebel… Right now our farm’s seasonal rebel is one of our dwarf “Liberty” apple trees. In late summer one spur produced a spectacular bloom – about five months later than what is normal. Somehow, the bloom was pollinated. Apple trees cannot pollinate themselves – they need another apple or crab tree in bloom at the same time…which means that another rebel spur hung on a tree somewhere. The spur now has five very red, half sized apples that look pretty good. Being formed late, there have been no fungi or insects to attack them, so they have no imperfections. The apples that had formed in the spring never made it to the ripening stage due to attacks from the ever increasing fungi populations that exploded with the summer rains. Rebels are pretty cool…I like rebels. They teach me that I don’t always have to follow form. Sometimes rules are best to go….