Henrietta’s eyes were tired. Numerous wrinkles crazed across her lower lids and there was a little gray around the edges of her face. But her eyes were also intense and she indicated to me that she wanted little ones. Wanted them desperately. She had been with us for 4 years. She was one of our
It was almost completely dark out and bedtime for the chickens. As usual, I went into their covered run with a tiny rake and herded each group towards their own coop. There are 4 coops, plus a maternity ward (used almost exclusively by MummyBird to raise her 3 broods). Each coop had a rooster who
It’s mid-January and there’s a noise at the deck doors. It’s Connie, our Grey Guinea hen who’s part of our original flock. She’s calling to me through the glass doors – beckoning me to come out and give her grapes on the deck. She’s 3.5 years old now and in the past few weeks, I’ve
We started farming in earnest in 2013. I was an Aggie by education from my years as a graduate student at UConn’s College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences. It took me until middle age to come back around to my love and to have my own first farm. I and my husband had always wanted
Tommy follows me around the run as is his habit every day. In the morning I open the door to his cottage first. It is a fairly tall cottage that my husband and I went to a distant farm to purchase 2 years ago. We thought it might house an extra small flock. But, it
He was just there one day. At first I thought the cat was throwing up. I was in a hurry – rushing around on my day off trying to get my mom’s things ready. Connie was going to be 90 in November and she lived with us. I ran into the breezeway to look
After we got home, my husband immediately went out and dug 9 salad-bowl shaped holes in the spots we had chosen, adding a couple of handfuls of gypsum to each hole and a little wood ash, too. And there was the start of our orchard. Planting an orchard gives one such a sense of hope.
We had not succeeded in snagging a carriage to carry our tree treasures in – they were in high demand – so we found a staff person to write up a tally of our purchases and then headed to a cash register. One friendly staff person rang me up while another wrapped the roots of
After loading the trees into the truck we headed back inside to the strawberry room. Near the inside door were sprouted gingers, sweet potato slips, catnip and rows of boxes with varieties of strawberries in white bags. We chose Earliglow, an earlier bearing variety, and Jewel a mid-season. Each bag of 50 plants cost $19.