Rest In Peace Goldie

This morning when I stepped into the chicken house to feed and water the flock I found my sweet little chicken friend Goldie had died in the night.  Goldie was the matriarch of the flock and would have been eight years old this spring. She was the last of her hatching.

I call her my special friend chicken because she followed me around the yard like a dog and would stop and squat for me to pick her up and carry her when she became tired.

Goldie was the adventurous one who spent most of her days scratching through the yard and flower beds, rather than the open pasture, where she could find quick cover from hawks and coyotes under the shrubs or the back porch.  The ISA Brown hens took to her right away.  She was theit leader in foraging and they followed her willingly around the property while the rest of the flock has always preferred to stay near the chicken house.

Goldie, a Buff Orpington,  greeted me always with enthusiasm, spreading her wings and running across the yard to say hello and ask for a hand out.  This fall I noticed she had a hard time getting around and had quit spending any time with the ISA Brown group.  I knew she wasn't long for this world.  I buried her this morning where the yard meets the woods on the east side of the house and marked the grave with some flat creek rocks. Rest in peace little friend.

Too Much Land

My house has been for sale for a year as of November 1.  In that time it has had only three showings.  Yes, the price is well above average in this market, but so, at least to my way of thinking, is the house. It is afterall, a fairly good reproduction of the Locust Grove history house in Lousiville, Ky sitting on 8.3 acres surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in southwest Ohio, includes two barns and pastures and a chicken house.

Last week we had a broker openhouse to introduce the house to a variety of realtors and review some of its important features.  We also wanted to get an idea of what realtors in general thought of the house.  The general consensus was that the house included too much land!  This was amazing to me, because I thought its secluded location at the end of a quarter mile lane with barns and pastures for animals of all kinds was a real plus. I envisioned the house being purchased by a 50 something couple with young grandchildren who would love to come to their grandparents"farm" and see the chickens or maybe even ride a horse. I guess I was wrong.  Animals do tie you down if you don't have good back up care givers.  The result is I'm looking at stripping away half the acreage and selling it as building lots. I think I'm the only one left who values it as Locust Grove Farm, much the pity.

Late Summer Asparagus

One of the first things we did the first spring we lived at Locust Grove Farm was to plant an asparagus bed. We planted 50 crowns in two rows about two feet deep.  Our high PH southern Ohio soil is perfect for asparagus and by the third spring we were picking asparagus every day for a month. We ate it fresh of course, but also froze enough to have the other eleven months of the year.

Asparagus fern from August cutting with bindweed growing everywhere.

A few years ago around the first of August, I accidentally mowed over a few of the ferns. Within a day or two fresh green asparagus spears appeared in their place. I'd read that you could cut the ferns down in early August and get a second crop and here was proof. We harvest so much asparagus in the spring that I decided a second crop was not really necessary and have always just let the ferns grow, When the ferns dry and turn golden brown in the fall, mow them down and add them to a compost pile.

Single plant, then weeds, then the rest of the row.

But this spring with the cold and the rain, the asparagus crop was late in coming and skimpy as well. Weed were a bigger problem then usual which was a concern. I ate fresh asparagus sparingly and froze as much as I could. I decided then and there to mow the ferns in August and see what would happen.  The result was a small but very tasty second crop which I enjoyed fresh and shared with family. The ferns grew back very quickly and have stayed green with no signs of fall color here in October.