Happy Birthday to Sarah's Farm Report

Happy Birthday to my blog. Today represents the one year anniversary of my first blog post. Wow. It sure seems like a lot longer than that --- but it was 9/2/07 when I first created Sarah's Farm Report and started this blogging adventure. As someone who has never kept a diary or journal, I am surprised at how much I have thoroughly enjoyed documenting progress around the farm and (perhaps more importantly) having a reason to notice and photograph the changing flora and fauna throughout the year. I am totally hooked at this point and will likely be blogging for many years to come. :-)

Relay

Relay

There was a black cat running around the farm a few weeks back, darting in and out of the woods and then vanishing completely. She looked very thin and sounded (meow meow meow) hungry, so I left out some dog kibble, and she continued to show up periodically for over a week. She acted very feral (i.e., wild), but she would wait until I got within about 4 feet or so before bolting. Not wanting a litter of kittens in my woods, I did trap her and take her to the Richmond SPCA for spaying. Her ear, it turned out, had already been tipped (see above) --- which is the universal sign that a feral cat has been spayed or neutered. We knocked her out to confirm she was spayed (she was) and to give her all of her shots and flea/tick prevention. I brought her home the same day --- and decided to see if a week or two in the well house (small empty building) with twice daily delivered meals might win her over --- and to see if she might be persuaded to use a litter box. Happy to report that she was and I was able to (very cautiously) pet her after about 4 days of hanging out. Two weeks later, she actually seems quite social, if not exactly confident. She hides whenever the door opens, the door shuts, the light comes ON, the lights goes OFF, anything drops or moves, etc --- but seems to be "recovering" more quickly each time. And she will now let me stroke her and pick her up without protest. I have been calling her "Relay" because the day I trapped her was the day of the now famous Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak come-from-out-of-nowhere swim relay in Beijing. Somehow the name seemed appropriate.

Cooler Weather

Thor --- 9 lbs lighter and full of energy

Pilot and Daisy (who looks a bit crazy here)


Daisy

Daisy and Flake

Crosby

Flake

Gadget in her Donut

Gadget

Cooler weather is coming to Virginia --- and all of us on the farm (canine and human) are sure ready. The dogs have LOVED running in the fields every day recently --- and especially after a heavy rain, when they could get really really wet and soggy. I'm partial to the dryer days, but I love seeing them so happy. Little Ms. Gadget spends a good portion of her "field trips" intent on escaping --- as she is convinced that all manner of small critters live just outside the field and need to be chased. Unfortunately, the bunnies and other critters do find or make holes in the mesh fencing around the field with some regularity, so I was spending the better part of my time each day chaperoning Gadget and trying to find the holes before she did. Donna Anderson (http://www.petitepetinn.com/ and Richmond SPCA instructor) came up with a brilliant idea, which has worked very well so far. Gadget now wears an inflatable donut around her neck when she is in the field, and can no longer fit through the small holes or under the low deck, try as she might. These donuts are sold as an alternative to Elizabethan collars for dogs post-surgery --- but work great for this alternate purpose too. She looks silly, but at least she is still around. :-)

Moving Forward

Metal building with apartment/deck on the left

(picture taken from yard of the front house)

Yard of the front house with new deck on right

Daisy loves the new yard!

The new deck

Crosby approves of the deck

New fencing for dogs --- and the view across Osborne Turnpike

Now that the fences are installed, the house on the front of the property is ready for me and my menagerie. I am hopeful that we will be officially moved out of the garage apartment and into the front house during the first week or two of September. Have already enjoyed entertaining on the new deck several times --- and of course enjoy the yard daily with all of my dogs. There is a whole lot of moving and packing ahead still, but I am very much looking forward to getting it done. Wish me luck.

Bugs

Black Widow

Yellow Moth

Female Wolf Spider --- with lots of Wolf Spiderlings

There is no shortage of bugs in the country --- although mosquitoes have been thankfully scarce the past two years. When I first bought this property, the mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE and I became quite the expert on mosquito-repelling products. Letting grass grow back in all the spots where there was previously "standing water" is probably the reason for the drastic improvement. Hooray. This week I encountered one HUGE yellow moth inside my apartment. He was gorgeous, probably at least 5" in wingspan, and happy to be escorted outside to a Pokeberry bush where I was sure he would be happier. Also encountered my first black widow spider, who was stationed outside the garage in an unused clay pot. Sad to report that this fella did not get similarly escorted to safety. Eek and yikes.

Follow up to original post--- just saw this scary female Wolf spider on Friday morning. Ick ick ick. All of those bumps on her back are baby spiders (spiderlings) who she will carry around for at least two weeks, making her a great mother I suppose, but also probably the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Wolf spider bites are apparently rare and non-lethal --- and this spider was located a great distance from my apartment. Good thing. She thankfully scrambled away after two pictures, but before the dogs noticed or I had to to anything with her and her kids. May they scurry far away and never be seen again.

Summer Harvest

Pears

Blackberries

Green Apples

Myers Lemons

Patio Tomatoes

"Big Boy" Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

"Champion VFNT" Tomatoes

"Mr. Stripey" Tomatoes

Eggplants

Red Peppers

Cucumbers

Despite all the rain and heat (or perhaps because if it) there are plenty of things growing at the farm these days. Just discovered the HUGE cucumbers today (very exciting) and have been eating lots of tomatoes in recent days. Blackberries continue to be plentiful and now it appears that I will have red peppers, eggplants, apples and pears ready for picking soon. The tiny lemon tree arrived via an internet company in April and it hasn't done too much. The tiny lemons were already in place when it got here and they haven't grown much in three months, so I don't expect they will. New leaves started popping out in the past three weeks though, so maybe there is reason for hope. Fingers crossed. All of this "harvesting" is of course done on a very small scale, but is fun (and tasty) nonetheless. Apples are the one exception (they are definitely not my thing), so anyone local who would like to come pick apples should definitely plan a visit. :-)

Blackberries (with new pictures)

The blackberries are here. The blackberries are here. Very exciting indeed --- and there seem to be LOTS of them growing on two sides of my agility field and down toward the pond. The vines seem to be producing even more (delicious) fruit than they did last year, although I see several spots where the honeysuckle and Virginia Creeper have taken over and blackberries are no longer visible at all. I may have to start pulling down the non-berry vines before next summer if I want to keep picking blackberries --- and I certainly do.

Player Piano

This is only indirectly related to the farm itself, but exciting nonetheless. I have always loved player pianos and the old QRS player piano music roll system. Was surfing craigslist.com recently and found an Aeolian Sting II Player Piano in need of a new home, and promptly "adopted" it. It arrived at the farm yesterday and appears to works perfectly. Michael the piano tuner will come on Friday, so it may sound even better after that. Thank you Dan for making this transaction so easy and straughtforward. I promise to take good care of your mother's piano and enjoy it for many years to come.

Click > below to hear a little Scott Joplin. :-)

Down By the River

I often forget how cool it is to live close to water --- and probably don't fully appreciate the James River, which is practically in my backyard. The shot above was one of those pull-over-the-car-because-the-sun-is-fading-NOW shots. I really wish I had pulled over a few minutes earlier, as all of the buildings were bright orange. As the crow flies, my farm is probably about 1/2 mile from the river, but I get to drive next to this spot both coming and going. My resolution will be to find time to do more stuff on or near the water this summer --- be it photography or maybe even a boat ride. I will certainly keep you posted.

Sunflowers

What may be the first of many sunflowers appeared today along the fenceline where the bird feeders live. Hmmm. Lots of sunflower seeds for the cardinals may translate into lots of sunflowers too. What a fun and colorful surprise.

Coming Attractions

One of my favorite parts of farm life is picking wild blackberries along the fencelines through most of July. Just noticed that the tiny blackberries are starting to appear. Very exciting.

Small green tomatoes are starting to appear as well. There are at least five varieties planted this year (Big Boy, Champion VNFT, Patio, Cherry, and Mr. Stripey), so there will be no shortage of tomatoes this summer. I can hardly wait. Will start looking for my Tomato Pie recipe soon.