March – Warmer – Inside and Out

March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Fireplace, Uncategorized

Maybe we’ve finally turned the corner and spring will “March” in this April. The grass is greening, the daffodils have buds and the days are ever so slightly warmer.

But it’s what inside that is keeping us warm! We finally found a solution to our living room fireplace. From the beginning, it has been a struggle. It is on a north-facing wall against a steep outside slope, so getting a proper draft going always meant using a hair-dryer to blow hot air up the chimney, followed by bouts of smoke filling the room, opening multiple doors and “fanning” them to circulate the air, dissipate the smoke, and coax the fire to draft properly. The fireplace has a shallow fire box, and a very tight throat. I didn’t know fireplaces have throats, but apparently, ours is a problem. And if all of that wasn’t enough of a problem, we couldn’t close the damper at night until the fire was completely out – so any heat we did have, went straight up the tight throat of the chimney. We looked into getting a fireplace insert about a year ago, but nothing would fit in our tiny space.

Finally – we found a very cute (and very small) Vermont Castings wood stove that fits just right – it is the Goldilocks of wood stoves. Even better – it was last years model, end of season and on sale! After two days of four guys trying to figure out how to install this – we could start fires to “season” the stove. We could only burn a small fire and let it go completely out – repeat three times – before really firing it up. We are now in the firing it up stage, and the temperature in the family room has sky-rocketed from 66 to 76! I might have to give up my flannel pajamas and fuzzy blanket.

I can hardly wait for next fall so we can stay warm all winter long! And guess what Chris is doing today? Chopping wood!

dscn7421 — A fire in the fireplace — it looks pretty, but it wasn’t very warm.

It’s a tiny thing, but fits perfectly – not sure how Santa will get down this chimney though.

011f27deff9baa4d2be1026721ca47a4d1f522574d — What a nice fire! And finally, a really warm family room!

February – Throwing off the Blanket

February 25, 2019 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, Farm, Garden, Homestead, Uncategorized

We are finally starting to show some signs of warmth around here. The snow is melting, temperatures are flirting with the 40’s some days, and it’s almost time to start my garden!

The blanket of snow on the greenhouse roof was headed south, so I started seeds. It’s too cold in the greenhouse to give them a good start, so this year we are starting them on a germinating mat under a grow light in the basement. Things are starting to pop already. By the time they are ready to transplant to larger pots and harden off under some real sunlight – the greenhouse will have warmed up – I hope!

Another sure sign of spring are the blue hoses attached to two of our maple trees. They aren’t sugar maples, but they are maples – so that’s close enough. Last year we started too late and got about one cup of maple syrup by the time we boiled down all the sap. This year I may have jumped the gun, but so far I have three gallons of sap – and the whole month of March ahead of me. Maybe this year we’ll get two cups!

Greenhouse with snow — The blanket of snow is on the move – spring must be on the way.

If you look REALLY close, you can see some sprouts – spring MUST be almost here.

DSCN8407 — How much maple syrup will we get this year?

January 2019 – Feeding the Birds

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Birds, Uncategorized

We are blessed with an abundance of birds around here. This time of year the cardinals congregate on the bird feeder, the wrens and snow birds flit around and we still see an occasional woodpecker. It’s not the time of year for the bluebirds or the goldfinches – they add their color to the flock in the summer.

The ones that stick around all year long have become accustomed to being well fed. Chris keeps the bird feeders full for the birds, and the dried corn gadget is full for the squirrels. But this time of year, with cold weather looming, they need an extra treat.

Our neighbors recently butchered their cows and gave us a considerable amount of the fat – the suet. We ground it up, cooked it down to get the impurities out, mixed it with birdseed and some corn meal – and now our birds are eating Gourmet suet blocks. They say Thank You with their chirping and flitting (and even fighting – while they try to get to the last crumbs – until the next block of suet arrives).

Added some cornmeal and bird seed and let it harden in some sheet pans.

And cut it into blocks the perfect size to fit in those suet feeders – Happy Birds!

December – What Santa brought!

December 26, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized

And what to our wondering eyes did appear – but a new barn! It’s a pole barn with a gravel floor; perfect for storing all those extra “implements” we seem to have collected since we’ve been here on the farm. There is plenty of room for the big tractor, the lawn tractor, the grader, the tiller and a myriad of other things like spare bee equipment.

But the barn isn’t all about farm implements – it also has a loft… with a ship’s ladder to make it easy to climb up there. And once you’re up there, the little window gives a bird’s eye view over the tree tops. It’s the perfect place to hang out with Arianna – and Hannah too when she gets a bit older.

The barn came festooned with Christmas wreaths – the perfect touch for the holiday season. And now I’m looking forward to spring when we can pull all those farm implements out of the barn and get busy in the garden!

And then some rough sawn boards and battens.

And it looks like it fits right in on the farm.

When she’s not busy driving Opa’s tractor.

And the doors look perfect all decked out with Christmas wreaths.

December – What is Santa bringing?

December 7, 2018December 7, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized Chester County Farmhouse, Farm, Santa

We were away for a week or so visiting family over Thanksgiving, but apparently Santa was busy at the farm. He left sleigh tracks back and forth on the front yard. I think his reindeer were practicing their take-offs and landings. But the curious thing is that Santa seems to have delivered a load of pine boards. I wonder what he’s building us for Christmas?!?

Santa’s sleigh must have been really busy brining our Christmas present.

I hope Santa is building us something nice.

But that isn’t the only strange happening here on the farm. This was my view out the window this morning. I guess Pono (the horse) was standing on Peter’s back (the goat), who was standing on the picnic table – all to get a better view of what Santa is building!

October – The Lattice Magic Trick

October 20, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized

They are building a house next to us. We knew it would happen eventually, but I had pictured it being further from our property line and higher up on the hill. As it turns out — its right next to us. Actually, it’s right next to our compost pile – which might not be so nice for our new neighbors.

We’ve grown accustomed to the privacy we have on our back patio, so Chris embarked on yet another project on the farm… a lattice privacy screen on the edge of the patio. He planned it all out, built it flat on the patio – and then announced that “all we have to do” is lift it in to place so he could cement the posts into the ground.

I admit it. I was very skeptical. The lattice screen is 8′ wide by 12′ tall when you count the long legs on the thing. And it’s heavy. Lifting it upright and into position meant hoisting it up with the bulk of it over my head, wiggling the legs down into the holes and holding it still (and level) until the cement sets — on a windy day. Yep. That was the plan.

And it worked! Like magic! The legs slid down into the post holes. Chris quickly attached some pre-drilled braces to temporarily hold it straight and level, and poured in the concrete. Now we have a lovely privacy lattice. I think it needs some wisteria.

That pick-up truck came in handy again – lattice, 4x4x12 posts and cement.

All built flat on the ground – and three holes to put it into – not sure how this is going to work.

The lattice in place on the back patio with the temporary braces holding it steady until the cement set up.

Voilà – we made the new house disappear.

October – Apple Cider

October 10, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized apple cider, apple cider vinegar, Apples

It’s apple harvest time here on the farm. The problem is, we got one – yes one – apple. I’ve nurtured that apple all summer. I put it in a sandwich bag while it hung on the tree to protect it from birds, bugs or bacterial rot. We’ve watched it grow and then… we picked it!

Our apple trees – with one tiny sandwich bag hanging there to protect our ONE apple.

It grew into a respectable sized apple, considering there was only ONE.

When we picked it, it seemed worthy of putting it on a silver pedestal, given the fact that we only got ONE apple.

So off we went to Kauffman’s Apple Farm. I can’t let apple season pass us by and one apple just wasn’t going to be enough. A bushel of apples later – we were busy coring, grinding and just generally making a big happy mess!

We pushed a bushel of apples through the food grinder.

And enlisted Arianna to help us squeeze the juice out of the apples.

We watched fresh apple cider flow into our big jug with a spout on the front. Nothing like having fresh cider on tap!

And all the left-over peels and pressed apple junk? We’re making apple cider vinegar, of course.

September – An overabundance of blackberries

September 25, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized blackberries, Farm, Homestead, No Rhyme or Reason Farm, wine making

All summer long, one of the first things we did first thing in the morning was grab the colanders and hike the pasture fence line collecting wild blackberries and red wineberries. We weighed them – out of curiosity, and calculated the haul for the day. Most days, it was over a pound of berries. We ate some out of hand, mixed some in the morning yogurt, ate more than our share of pies and cobblers and froze gallon bags full. And then I decided to try to make wine.

I bought a wine making kit with everything I would need – except it came with a five gallon jug, so after a trip to find a one-gallon jug and adjusting the “recipe” I gave it a try. I’m definitely more into immediate gratification; now I have to wait for at least six month (or even a year) to try something that my sister says is going to taste like Boone’s Farm anyway. Cheers!

Wild Blackberry juice – along with a fruit straining bag full of the blackberries to keep the seeds and pulp out of the juice.

Testing the juice/wine with a hygrometer.

One gallon of blackberry wine with a little extra for topping off as I rack it over the next couple of months. And a plate full of “must” the seeds and pulp that have given their all to make the blackberry wine. I wanted to feed it to the birds, but we were afraid they might get drunk!

September – A new herb garden

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Uncategorized Chester County, herb garden, Homestead

I can never have enough garden space. And, we had a problem hillside that I just couldn’t tame. A new garden seemed like the perfect solution; but nothing is ever easy. We planned a retaining wall made of landscape ties, some landscape fabric to suppress the weeds and a load of top soil to create a herb garden right outside the back door. After three trips to Home Depot for extra supplies, and a full weekend of work, it finally came together. It looks pretty good – don’t you think?!

DSCN8494 - Copy - Copy — A truck load of landscape timbers – yes, the truck does come in handy.

DSCN8496 - Copy — A mess of a hillside and it’s always full of weeds.

DSCN8519 — It took some careful planning.

DSCN8546 — Covered in landscape fabric and filled with some decent dirt.

DSCN8716 — And its starting to look pretty good — better than what we started with!

It filled in nicely and gave us lots of fresh herbs this summer. Now I wonder which ones will winter over.

August – Does size matter?

August 29, 2018 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm Chester County, chickens, Farm, Garden, Homestead, Uncategorized

Things are a little topsy-turvy on the farm lately. My zinnias are THIS BIG.

And my eggs are THIS SMALL.

We’ve had so much rain this year that my plants just won’t stop growing! It must be helping the granddaughters grow too – because they won’t stop growing either!

And the eggs? We have six peeps that we got in the spring. We’ve nurtured them through their teenage years and now — they are turning into real hens. Their first attempts at laying eggs have been a bit meager, but I guess they will improve with maturity. An egg that is only 1.5 inches doesn’t quite compare to what we are used to. I’m not even sure how to use that in baking. Do two baby eggs equal one normal egg? Hopefully they will get their act together soon and start laying real eggs.

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