StarLight Farm Blog 2014 (the Fourth year)

Every time I open this blog to include some new entries, I am amazed at all that gets accomplished. Its such a treat to have a blank canvass whenever we decide to start something new, something we have always wanted to try. For example, just before the year started, December 2013, we planted over 500 Daffodil bulbs, so that we would have early flowers for the farm house and our restaurant. How fun was that? So many projects start that way: conceptualized over a cup of coffee or glass of wine, than actualized by putting on some warm clothes and spending a sunny winter afternoon dropping them into a trench, all the while imagining them blooming in Spring.

Besides Farming, our life is very rich with infrastructure changes, grand children, and new animals arriving. Its a positive experience with the only occasional negatives of feeling guilty for not doing more or taking time off for recreation. We work on that though and try to remind ourselves how lucky we are.

Mid December 2013, we planted over 500 Daffodil Bulbs. Abigail, our daughter, grandkids Kingsley and Leonie helping.

One of those winter evenings when the sky is Steely and the sun golden.

This is a little hard to make out,, but it is a murmuration of Starlings. A phenomenon of winter that can be spectacular as they fly in unison by the tens of thousands and often change direction on a dime.

Dressed for a chilly day. The older I get, the more Belgian I look. Just need the black rubber boots.

This calf was listed in Craiglist. Her name is Poppy, she's half Jersey and half Dexter. Very friendly, she may turn out to be our "milker"

Snow during Christmas Season: What a treat!

Leonie, grandchild #3 dressed for the North Pole. What can I say? Too much!

My youngest brother, Jeff, came with his wife, Kathy and stayed with us for the winter. It was great having him around, and he built this nice shed overlooking the garden.

Here I am enjoying the shade on a hot day.

This was a unusually cold winter for us. More than one storm, and it lingered on the ground a couple times.

January is fruit tree pruning time, and a sizable one at that. Ernie, grandkid #2 is displaying his fascination with sticks. (Boys with their primitive instincts?)

The trailer arrives from South Carolina. Exciting!

One of the biggest events of the Winter was the increasing of our cow herd. We had three up to this point. An older Mother with her bull calf and the purchase of Poppy, a half Jersey and half Dexter. We decided we liked the cows and they were relatively low maintenance and we have alot of pasture..... so we purchased 3 registered Dexter female calfs. Our intent is to use these three as our foundation for our herd.

Susan and Kingsley introduce themselves.

good looking Dexter

Kingsley goes to work

Our youngest farmhand grabs a brush and a stick and is ready to go to work. She seems to display a good attitude.

This is the local geru of bee culture, Jerry Flannagan, and also a source of knowledge of smoking and curing hams. We intend to build a smoke house one day.

In preparation for Spring busy season, new equipment arrives. This sprayer allows us to spray all the fruit trees with organics.

This tractor is specifically designed for cultivating. Since we are organic, we don't use herbicides and old style weed control is a must.

SPRING 2014
Spring comes early in NC. Peas, strawberries and potatoes go in for example. It really is the best time of the year for
gardening, no insects, moist soil and moderate temperatures.

Spraying of fruit trees

New chicks arrive.

One of the biggest events in the Spring is the blooming of our several large Pear Trees and the question of good pollination.

Our bees increase the chances of good pollination.

One of many baby fruit trees coming alive.

Our daffodils that we planted in the fall start to bloom

The very first asparagus shoots to stick their head up.

If you go for a walk in the woods, one can always find something of interest. Here Kingsley finds a hide from a dead animal, a prize find.

With the help of our bees, these pear blossoms get some good pollination

These calves need some food

Alot of blooming around here in the Spring

We had to purchase a new Queen bee for one of the hives. They come in a tiny little box with a few attendants.

What would spring in the South be without Wisteria?

or Honeysuckle

Our baby plants are getting ready to be transplanted outside. But wait, what are those mushrooms doing growing with them? I must be overwatering...

The strawberries we planted in fall are coming alive.

We also own some woods that the naturalists of the family like to explore. We made a primitive road with the tractor for going on walks.

We were raising our new batch of chicks in a cow water trough. Here we are moving them to new quarters.

5- 100 ft rows of Strawberries. We keep rye growing in the paths between the rows.

The first strawberry

I wanna pick strawberries, but I don't know what to do.

We grew an experimental crop of Fava Beans. They did very well and we will plant again the Spring of 2015.

First time growing onions in the South. Did very well and will become a regular on the farm.

Our new Delaware chickens start getting used to our older Dominiques. The new chickens turned out to be one of our "fails" on the farm. The hatchery sent us 25 pullets which turned out to be disasterously 25 roosters. After many apologies from the hatchery, we were left with no other choice but to slaughter them all and fill our freezer. This really wrecked our egg program.

SUMMER
Spring is the season of hope on the farm. New seeds planted, new chickens, blossoms that we hope will be pollinated successfully and will bear  fruit, all these things are unknowns as we look to SUMMER.
Summer brings reality, hot steamy days, enough rainfall? how will the insect population be? How will our animals manage the heat.

Summer also brings a time for playing. Barbecues, kids climbing trees, and sometimes just sitting in the shade under a tree with a beer.

...wildflowers for the bees. Our pond in the background,

Roses for the humans...

When you turn the steering wheel this way the tractor goes that way....

washing strawberries

It doesn't get much greener around here.

Spraying fish emulsion

The garden doing well.

Baby watermelon plant poking through the paper.

We started using paper in the rows for weed control. It seems to work well. In the foreground: a cover crop of vetch blooming.

Potatoes starting to bloom.

Tomatoes being watered with soaker hose.

Our fava beans were a success.

Our cover crop of vetch and rye in our pasture was 6 feet high!

I have to say our farm is a land of abundance. Wild blackberries.

Grandson, Ernie likes to pick.

Digging Potatoes....

Baby watermelon

Comrades

Rainbows and.......

abundant sunsets. Water, clean air....what more could you want.

It's not all work out here though..... a glass of wine and..........

Sheep come to the Farm. A great addition and a whole new area of learning!

In June we started what turned out to be an enormous project: the renovation of our farmhouse. (It took seven months!) First we had to have a place to live while the construction went on so we purchased a camper to live in.

We wanted to preserve as much as possible from the 100 year old house but as we dug deeper and deeper into it, we realized that restoration was going to become very expensive.

Starting to come back together......

Their is alot of lawn to mow at the farm, but this machine makes short work of it.

As summer starts to finish, the Pears ripen. Pear cider and pear vinegar making.

Our honey bees like the pear pulp

Here is an image of a sunrise with the temperature already in the 90's. Summer in August can be a difficult time here. The heat and humidity is oppressive. But my oldest son, Tobias, who has adopted the South whole heartedly  opened my eyes to it and framed it eloquently. "Dad, I love those steamy summer nights, the softness of the air, the rich fragrance of the soil and vegetation, with the sound of crickets and cicadas."  

Its Fall, and my brother and his wife, who are "snow birds" fly south from upstate NY and land each year at our farm on their way to Florida and Mexico.

Fall means the starting of Collards.

After the first couple of frosts, the pecans start dropping. 2014 was a bumper year. To process, they get boiled.

Then sorted. 

Our stockings are hung in our new dining room.

........sitting on the porch of the garden shed, in the morning with a cup of coffee

The breed we chose are called Gulf Coast Natives: a breed brought over with the early Spanish and roamed wild over the deep south adapting themselves to the high humidity, high temperatures, and wet soil. They are a hardy breed and do well at our latitude with few health problems, and the ability to forage well.

Small campers don't have laundry facilities so we bought the ready built shed to set up a laundromat.

In the mean time, Susan decides she want to dye her own wool. So she started a dye-plant garden. 

The house project moves slowly towards completion

Before the pears can be crushed in the press, they have to be chopped into pulp. 

Before the pears are finished the grapes are waiting in line for crushing.

The glorious sunsets never cease.

AUTUMN

Cutting and splitting firewood his continuing contribution to the farm.

One thing the sheep hate is to having to listen to a lecture from me.

then run through the cracker.....

2014 is coming to its end. Our house is finally done.

...and our christmas tree is up in our new living room. We have alot to be thankful for......