Author: Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm

November – Let the Sun Shine

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized

We have an old stone farmhouse. It was built in 1853 with thick stone walls, deep window sills and small windows. We love the charm, but we don’t necessarily love how the stone walls stay cold in the winter, the lack of sunshine that comes in the small windows or how stuffy the house can be in the summer. Just because they didn’t have solar energy panels in 1853 doesn’t mean we can’t have them now.

We embarked on this process back in the spring – hoping for “free” electricity to keep the air conditioning cranked low all summer. That didn’t happen. The application process took a long time and PECO took issue with the plans. Eventually we got a modified plan approved and it was installed a few weeks ago.

The solar panels are on the roof of our the garage. It faces south, has no trees obstructing it and it’s not affecting the historic look of the house. It’s now connected to “the grid” and whatever electric we are not currently using gets sold back to PECO. I can’t wait to see that meter rolling backwards! And – the handy little app that came with the system says we’ve already saved the equivalent of 8 trees from our own power production.

Now we just need sunny days to keep us powered up – and on days that it’s not so sunny, we’ll just fire up the wood stove. Buckle up – here comes winter.

 

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Getting the rails up
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Then the solar panels
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Almost finished
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Now we just need a sunny day!

November – Move over Jimmy Carter

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Garden, Uncategorized

There’s a new peanut grower in town. Yep – we grew our own peanuts this year. I bought a small packet of peanut seeds – well – not exactly seeds, just raw peanuts in the shell. We planted them and they grew! Peanuts aren’t really nuts; they don’t grow on nut trees. They grow in the ground – like potatoes. Makes you wonder why no one has potato allergies – they grow the same way.

Our peanuts didn’t produce a whole lot – maybe slightly more than the amount we planted, but this is No Rhyme or Reason Farm. We do things for no rhyme or reason around here. Actually, the reason was to prove we could do it, and to show Arianna where peanut butter comes from (besides the jar)!

Will I grow them again next year? Probably not. But it has given me a new appreciation for where my food comes from too. It takes a lot of peanuts and a lot of space to grow enough peanuts for even one peanut butter sandwich!

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One of our peanut plants growing.
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Drying the peanut plants.
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Picking off REAL PEANUTS!

November – A Chicken Play Pen

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, chickens, Farm, Homestead, Uncategorized

We’ve had mesh netting around the chicken coop for a year or so now. It gives “the girls” a safe place to roam during the day when they aren’t on their supervised excursions into the yard-at-large. We always have to be vigilant because the fox and hawks like our chickens as much as we do! Chris decided it is time to build something more substantial so that if we are away for part of the day, we don’t have to be concerned that something can get to them.

It’s been a big project – digging holes to sink the 4”x4” fence posts, building a supporting framework at the top, building a door – and last but not least – getting the fencing around the side and over the top.

But that wasn’t enough – we decided they need to have fresh grass. But anyone who has a pen full of chickens knows you can’t have fresh grass unless you move them every day before they peck, scratch and claw their way to the dirt. Not to be outsmarted by a bunch of chickens, Chris built a raised bed for grass, covered by hardware cloth that they can’t peck through. This way, the grass will grow up and out the top, the girls can keep their lawn “mowed” by chomping away each day, and the underlying grass plants are safe from their voracious appetites.

Now they have a nice, big, safe space – which should soon have green grass.  They should be quite content in their new playpen.

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The mesh fencing worked well for a while, but the girls needed something more permanent.
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And they needed fresh grass – all the time.
Finished Chicken Coop
So they got this beautiful, big chicken pen with a grass patio.
Chicken Coop with Chicken Grass Box
And everyone seems happy with their new chicken yard.

November – What IS this thing?

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Farm, Homestead, Uncategorized

A cucumber? An out of control zucchini? Actually – it’s a sponge. A loofah sponge; and it’s growing in my garden!

It’s taken a bit of persistence. Loofah’s need a long growing season. I tried growing these last year and I got the tiniest little sponge that I harvested right before our first frost. This year, I started my loofah seeds in February, in the basement, under a grow light. They were soooo slow to germinate, and even slower to grow. I planted them outside in late May and they sat there for months, barely rising above the weeds around the edge of the garden fence. Slowly they started to climb the fence and I kept training their tendrils higher and higher. All of a sudden – they took off climbing over the six foot fence and FINALLY made some tiny loofahs. For as along as it took for the plants to grow, the loofahs seemed to double in size over night.

Our growing season is still barely long enough and frost was approaching; not all of them were ready to harvest. A few had turned yellow, they felt squishy and noticeably lighter than the dark green ones. I chopped them down, peeled one open and there it was – a perfect – sponge! Hopefully the others will dry a bit more so I can harvest a bathtub full of sponges.

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It’s bigger than some of the zucchinis that grow in the garden!
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Slowly it turns yellow and gets squishy-soft.
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I peeled it open – and look! It’s a sponge!

November – Things that Make Me Smile

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized

It’s been six months. Some people know that, some people don’t – but it seems to be the way I keep time in my life now.

It was six months ago that I buried my son on his 38th birthday. He passed away from an opioid overdose. I won’t deny that it’s been a tough summer. I’ve spent a lot of hours in my garden working hard – really hard – kicking at the dirt and yelling at the sky, trying to work out my grief and make some sense of this.

I’m finding a new balance in my life and learning to more fully appreciate the positive things.   It’s a work in progress – and there are days that I fail at it. As we approach Thanksgiving – I’m thankful for what I do have in my life. I’m thankful for the support from my family – my husband, my daughter and my sister. I’m thankful for my friends who check in on me, give me a shoulder to cry on, or just give me space. I’m thankful for the sweet memories of a little boy who loved to go fishing, play with his dog and grew into a young man who fiercely loved his nieces and called himself their “funcle” (fun uncle).  And I’m thankful for the things here on our farm that keep me grounded and make me smile.

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Hannah playing with Peter the goat
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Arianna and Hannah
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A tiny hummingbird nest made of hair from Pono’s mane (our miniature horse)

Taylor

1981 – 2019

Happy Halloween

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Farm, Halloween, Homestead, Uncategorized

I always enjoy this time of the year. The leaves are beautiful, the air is crisp and it’s fun to decorate with all the gourds I grew all summer long. This year, all the decorations were in place – but one extra one showed up – Yikes!  Guess which one isn’t one of my normal fall decorations?!?

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My spooky houses
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The fireplace with pumpkins, gourds and bittersweet.
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Two of the cutest pumpkins around!
Scary Spider
It must be a ghost spider – the picture keeps disappearing off the blog!

September – Tomato Soup

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Canning and Freezing, Chester County, Farm, Homestead, Uncategorized

It’s been an okay year for my tomatoes – not great – but okay. We’ve had plenty of fresh Big Beef tomatoes for bacon/tomato sandwiches and enough Amish Paste tomatoes to can enough sauce to get us through the winter. But, with only a few tomatoes each day or so, it makes it hard to get enough at one time for a big batch of canning. The other day I stopped at the local farm for some fresh corn.  Sitting there, right in front of the corn, calling my name – was a 30 pound box of tomatoes – for $3.50. I mean – you just can’t pass that up! I was so excited, I forgot to get the corn.

I hurried home, ran the tomatoes through my strainer contraption and simmered the juice for hours and hours. We ended up with 12 pints of tomato soup and ate one jar that night with grilled cheese sandwiches — because I couldn’t wait to try it. The others got canned for a cold winter’s night. I’m dreading winter – but I’m looking forward to more of that tomato soup.

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A stock pot full of tomato soup!
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Just waiting for the first snow storm.

September – An Unwelcome Home

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Farm, Homestead, Uncategorized

We took a week of vacation and although we missed the farm and our furry and feathered friends and my gardens – sometimes you just need to get away. It was nice to come home – until we found we had squatters living in our house. Yes, they broke in while we were gone and took up residence. Yellow jackets had taken over our bedroom. Not just one or two – but a lot of dead ones on the window sills where they died in frustration trying to get out the windows, and several more flying frantically around looking for a way out. We do sometimes get the errant wasp that seems to come down from the attic, but I couldn’t figure out how this many yellow jackets were getting into the house. The next day there were more, and the day after – still more.  We checked the windows – the screens all seemed tight. We checked the attic for a lot of buzzing – but it was quiet. I sat quietly and watched the fan vent in the bathroom waiting for a yellow jacket to make it’s entrance – but nothing happened. And then we went to bed. Just as I was dozing off – I got stung, THREE times – on my leg – under the covers. And it HURT!

It was WAR!

In the light of the day I started ripping apart the bedroom – and then I noticed – saw dust, and dead yellow jackets on the roof of the porch – just to the left of  the window on my side of the bed. They definitely had a nest – but we have a stone house. Doesn’t one trump the other? You would think!

These nasty yellow jackets had burrowed into the wooden window sill, through two feet of wood and stone, and made an entrance into the bedroom behind my night stand. I put my ear against the window sill – and it was a-buzzin’!! After several doses of bug spray applied with one of those tiny wands into the entrance holes both in the bedroom and outside the window, all is quiet. Chris shoved some steel wool into the holes so there will be no more yellow jacket traffic in and out of our bedroom.

As for the pictures – when we were in the throes of trying to get rid of these things – I forgot to take pictures. I could show you a picture of my leg with a huge, red welt – but that’s not a good picture either.

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The roof of the porch littered with sawdust, dead bees and a chunk of wood the yellow jackets somehow pulled out of the window ledge.
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The little hole under the window sill where they were making their entrance into the house after eating their way through two feet of wooden window ledge and stone wall. It’s plugged with steel wool. We need to spray a big dose of Great Stuff in there to seal everything up and then patch the hole with some stucco and fresh paint. At least I sleep better now!

 

September – A Sweet Surprise

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Beekeeping, Chester County, Homestead, Uncategorized

We’ve had bees for three years now. The first year – we got nothing, the second year – we got next to nothing (6 pounds of honey), the third year – we thought we got nothing. The beekeepers association said that if you don’t have honey by the end of July – you aren’t getting any, so pack up your hopes and dreams and wait another year. But… our bees are just late bloomers. They waited until mid August and in the span of about two weeks brought home nearly 70 pounds of dark, sweet honey.

We had used the extracting equipment last year – hardly worth the effort, but I guess it was a good “dry run” to process the amazing 6 pounds of honey. This year, we at least had a process in place and set to work early in the morning. Several hours later – we have CASES of the stuff. In fact, I need to go buy more honey jars! I guess that’s a good problem to have.

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We had three shallow supers of frames to extract.
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And they were packed to the corners with honey.
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I got stung by a yellow jacket earlier in the week so I was taking NO chances. I don’t mind helping but those few bees that came in with the frames of honey weren’t going to get to me!
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Straining the honey from the extractor to a bucket. We ended up with a full five gallon bucket plus a little more!
Honey Jars
The “fruits” of Chris’s persistence. He took classes, kept doing everything he was supposed to do – and here we are – with nearly six CASES of honey.

September – Our Labor Day Picnic

Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Farm, Goat, Homestead, Horses, Uncategorized

It’s hard to believe that summer is winding down already. It’s been hot and/or rainy all summer which meant every time I thought we’d eat outside on the patio, it was too hot, too wet or both. But the weather has changed already. Days are shorter, there’s a cool breeze and this weekend was one of the rare opportunities to eat dinner outside. Not just for us – but for “the herd” too.  Happy Labor Day!

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A pet picnic – they do need better table manners though.
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Our picnic – the weather is finally cooperating.