Planting Next Years Garden in November

We've had a lovely November with lots of mild sunny days. Its been the perfect time to plant perennial seeds that will provide pollinator friendly flowers and grasses next spring, summer and fall.  I had really good results this past year growing plants such as Anise Hyssop, Cardinal Flower, Rose Milkweed, St. John's Wort, Bee Balm, Germander and Hairy Golden Aster.  I grew all of them from seed, I planted  outdoors in November 2020. They all needed from 30 to 90 days of cold weather to germinate in the spring.        

Anise Hyssop with Hairy Golden Aster behind

Rose Milkweed

       

These plants are some of the best for bees and butterflies.  The Anise Hyssop bloomed from late June through October.  The Rose Milkweed flowered a little later than the Common Milkweed, making a nice succession of blooms for the Monarch's that then laid their eggs on the leaves.

Majestic Red Fox

 We rarely see a red fox, or any fox for that matter, on our farm these days.  One of my best childhood memories is of walking the farm with my Dad when I was about five and having him stop and crouch down whispering to me to look at the red fox sunning itself on the opposite hillside.   

We were totally surprised to see this fox come out of the woods and along the pond in our backyard, turn and come toward the house and then stop and pose on  top of the septic tank!

For a minute we thought he might be headed for our cat door, but he veered off at the last minute and headed into the woods on the other side of the house.  This morning I thought it best to keep the chickens locked in their house and run!

Seeds Started, Now What?

Large Dahlia plants ready to go outside.

Back in January I had the bright idea to raise dahlias from seed to sell as cut flowers at our local farmers market.  Dahlias make big, showy flowers that last forever in a vase.  Most people buy them as tubers and you plant them as you would potatoes. But dahlias can also be grown from seed, will bloom the same year if you start them indoors and will produce tubers you can save for next year.

I wanted to have about 750 stems of dahlia flowers to sell so a couple of $5.00 packages of seed seemed like a better way to go then shelling out a couple of hundred dollars for tubers.

The seed catalog said start the seed indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost date to get flowers by July. I set up my grow lights and planted 150 dahlia seeds on March 1.  I planted tall dahlias (2 to 3 feet) and short dahlias (10 to 12 inches).  Now its March 31 and I have some very big seedlings and some small seedlings and am wondering if the market will be open in May.  Whatever happens with Covid 19, I'm going to have lots of dahlias.

Short dahlia plants coming along slowly

On the trail of Ohio's Butterflies

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Ohio is home to more than two dozen beautiful butterflies.  One of the easiest to spot is the swallowtail.

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly

There are more than 500 types of swallowtail butterflies world wide.  Ohioans can observe three different types. Perhaps the most common is the Tiger Swallowtail.You can easily attract them by growing some common annual flowers such as zinnias and lantana and  perennials such as bee balm and purple coneflowers. Be sure to also provide some water such as a bird bath with a nice landing pad like a flat rock or even a small ceramic dish positioned upside down.  The Spicebush Swallowtail prefers to lay its eggs on spicebush and paw paws but will also choose other common ohio trees growing in wooded areas, along streams and the edge of open fields. Zebra swallowtails prefer swampy wooded areas.

Like the Monarch the adult swallowtails like to feed on wild flowers, particularly the common milkweed.  While monarchs also lay their eggs on the milkweed providing their caterpillars with their only source of food, the swallowtails are much less picky.  The females will lay eggs on the leaves of a variety of trees.  Their caterpillars will also feed on dill, parsely, fennel and other members of the carrot family. Most of this information was found at: https://www.bgohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Butterfly-Tree-Hosts-12-27-12.pdf

Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly

Retired to the Farm

Daffodils are everywhere!

After 12 years as Executive Director of the Warren County Historical Society in Lebanon, Ohio, I've decided to retire.  With three historic properties to run as well as numerous programs and events, not to mention hosting wedding receptions and numerous other parties and events,  I've had less and less time to spend on the farm.  Fortunately, I've had some good help from good friends so all the animals have got along pretty well with minimal attention from me, but I have so missed really managing the cattle herd, the alpacas, Belle the donkey and at present 13 laying hens.  I've also missed my garden. Fortunately, I can always count on the daffodils to put on a good. show. 

Glendower Mansion opens for the season, time travelers welcome

Glendower Mansion & Garden

Glendower Opens for Summer Tours.  Our beautiful Greek revival house museum, Glendower Mansion & Gardens, opened for the 2019 summer season on June 1. Glendower is located at 105 Cincinnati Ave. in Lebanon, Ohio. Built in 1845, Glendower was the home of Ohio State Representative John Milton Williams from 1845 to 1868,  Civil War hero General Durbin Ward 1868 to 1904 and Lebanon's grand dame, Ladora Scoville Owens 1904 to 1940.  The house was purchased by the Warren County Historical Society in 1944 and opened as a memorial to the pioneers of Warren County, Ohio in 1945.  

1850's border print muslin dress property of
 the Warren County Historical Society 

Glendower is open for tours Friday, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m. June 1 through September 1.  Admission is $10.00 .Group tours of 15 or more by appointment Tuesday through Thursday, admission $8 per person.

Built by attorney John Milton Williams and his wife Mary Rigdon Williams using a local builder and plan book of the time, Glendower is nationally recognized for its beautiful Greek revival architecture. It was the first of five houses built between 1845 and 1852 on a hill just south of downtown Lebanon in an exclusive residential neighborhood known as Floraville. The house is furnished circa 1845 to 1865 with a fine collection of paintings, furniture and decorative arts.  

The garden consists of four acres of historic old trees and gardens maintained by the Warren County Master Gardeners.  The gardens include a allee providing a grassy walk way from the street to the impressive front entrance, a terrace garden and a medicinal herb garden.

Alpaca Lawn Mowers

The herd grazing the barnyard grass. 

We've had such warm weather this month and the grass in the yards around here has grown enough that I noticed some people mowed again this third week of December.  Last year we were covered in snow all month!

Since the alpacas seem to be only interested in eating grass I've been letting them out in the yard to "mow" the lawn, much like folks used to do with sheep long ago.  The alpacas nibble the grass down very short.

This morning though I notice Hollywick munching some ajuga, also known as bugle weed.  I love this semi evergreen ground cover. It is very hardy, covers the ground quickly, blocks most weeds and has beautiful blue spikes of flowers in the spring that go so well with daffodils.  

Belle and the ISA Brown hens hang out near by.

I had not however, counted on the alpacas finding it tasty.  A quick check of a couple of plant sources told me that all was well - ajuga is not poisonous to animals.                                                              

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.

The calves are enjoying this little bit of pasture in front of the house. They are all weaned now, their mothers have forgotten all about them and they are happy on good pasture containing a good mix of grass and clover.

This shot was taken in early evening, hence the demon like glowing eye. That's Boxster by the way, the one with the eye.  He is an Angus crossbred bull, nice enough, but is destined for a short, happy life on the way to my freezer. At the moment the girls and boys are all together,  By the end of this month I'll bring the girls over to winter with the Alpacas and Belle the donkey.  Laredo, the herd bull, will join the little boys.

Learning About Alpacas

Here is a kind of scary Halloween sort of picture of Hollywick and Ginger, two of my alpaca girls. Ginger is older, seven or eight years, and is displaying the long bottom tooth these animals grow. I don't have any idea why, but the tooth sort of comes and goes as she is able to break it off sometimes. It could also be trimmed off by a human, but this human hasn't the nerve to try that--yet.

Keeping alpacas (I have no male and so I am not raising alpacas) is very different from raising cattle or chickens.  They are sweet, gentle little animals with no real natural defences except a little kicking and a lot of spitting.  And after living with Ginger and company this last year and a half, I'm come to realize the spitting is really a communication device. Also, the spitting's noxious quality seems to depend on age.  Ginger spits fluid from her stomach which smell like vomit.  The others, who are only about two years old, seem to just spit a saliva like substance. The spitting indicates mostly anger and impatience, though when the girls first arrived they seem to spit at me as a defensive move.  Now, the only time I get spit thrown my way is if I'm in the firing line of one alpaca spitting at another.

Tabitha, the gold colored alpaca with one of the ISA Brown hens. Background grey is Pixel, then Hollywick.

Apple Roses

Someone of my Facebook friends shared a video post showing how to make these apple roses for dessert. Last night it was my turn to bring dessert to our family's Monday night get together, and since I have Monday off, I decided to make the apples roses.

The video is really well done, but I am not a visual learner.  I like to have instructions carefully spelled out in writing. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I finally made 8 apple roses using dark red Jonathan apples from Irons Orchard next door.  I wanted a really red apple that would also bake well.

My apples roses were a hit! They were not nearly as pretty as the pictured rose, but every body said they really liked them.  I served them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of apple crisp which I had made for my two year old niece.
I've shared the post and here also is the link: http://cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.com/2015/03/apple-roses.html.

Cooking with Manuela: Apple Roses

Cooking with Manuela: Apple Roses: Impress your guests with this beautiful rose-shaped dessert made with lots of soft and delicious apple slices, wrapped in sweet and crisp...

Summer Sunsets

In between all the rain we had some gorgeous sunsets.  This is the view from my back porch.

Don't Save Those Hybrid Seeds

The fruit of hybrid pumpkin seeds

The garden books always warn you that the seeds of a hybrid vegetable won't produce true to the hybrid parent.  That was proved to me this year with the "pumpkins" pictured here.

Last fall a neighbor tossed a load of round orange pumpkins over the fence for the cattle to eat.  The cows loved them and this spring the pasture had a nice patch of pumpkin vines.

The cattle didn't eat of even trample the vines and when we went to mow the field this month we found they had produced these strange oblong, soft skinned fruits that look nothing like the traditional Halloween style pumpkins from last fall.  I've been chopping them into piece with a shovel and feeding them to the chickens. They are soft like a big zucchini and have a center cavity with large pumpkin like seeds. The chickens think they are great!

Belle Has Hypothyrodism

I noticed Taco Belle, my little donkey, wasn't acting as perky as usual last spring.  She seemed downright lethargic.  A visit from the vet who drew a blood sample confirmed she was anemic. Further test pointed to hypothyroidism.  I purchased a jar of medicine from my vet - it is called Thyro-L and is a thyroid medicine for horses and other equines. It is a gray powder you sprinkle on grain or other food.

Taco Belle last spring. I call her the dog in a donkey suit. She wants to be petted all the time.

Belle is a small donkey. I don't imagine she weighs much more than 250 lbs.  I figured the most I should give her was about 1/4 of a teaspoon a day. Yesterday the vet came to visit for a follow up and Belle is still showing low thyroid levels. We've upped her dose to 1/2 a teaspoon which I blend with three peppermint pillows that I crush with a meat mallet each evening.  Belle loves peppermint candy and licks the bowl clean. Hopefully this larger dose will do the trick.

ISA Brown Hens Lay Eggs

Brown eggs are not any better than white eggs but for some reason I just like them best.  Often the shells have different intensities of brown.  I like the darkest ones the best.

ISA Brown eggs. 

I've been very pleased with the ISA Brown hens so far.  They are prolific egg layers and seem to be very smart little chickens. Their eggs are not as big as the Aracanas, the New Hampshires or the Black Jersey Giant hen's eggs but they are big enough to qualify as large eggs.

Goldie the Buff Orpington with some of the ISA Brown hens.

Heifer Calf Bought at the Fair

Heifer calf Sally Jo with her 4H member Shelby.

I hadn't been to the county fair's junior livestock sale for several years, but this year I decided I'd attend to see how the sale might go - given the high cattle prices in the market right now.

The Warren County Fair Junior Livestock Show is like any other county fair show - the kids work hard to bring a good animal to the fair and also work hard to drum up support for their animal the day of the sale.

I was expecting big prices since the "truck" was paying $2.33 a pound on the hoof.  the "truck" means the sale barn where cattle are sold at auction to the highest bidder and truck loads of these calves are collected to send to feed lots out west. Businesses who buy cattle at the sale for advertising purposes, rarely keep the animal but send it on the "truck" to be resold at a sale barn.

Most of the calves sold pretty well - above $3.00 a pound and some even in the $4.00 range. Anyone buying and putting the animal on the "truck" would only really have to pay the difference between $2.33 and their final bid - which is a deal.

This was Shelby's first time showing cattle.  She was not well known so didn't have a lot of potential buyers.  I purchased Sally Jo for $2.75 a pound or $1171.62 - a real bargain for this nice heifer calf. Shelby is delivering her tomorrow.

Cattle Prices Skyrocket

Calving season is always fraught with worry.  Each calf born is the product of years of selective breeding and represents the farms profits for the following year.  If you've checked out the cost of beef in the supermarket or elsewhere you know that the value of this little guy is twice what it was just three years ago!

As I write this in mid- May all but one heifer has calved for the spring season. Unhappily we had one calf that did not survive - Samantha, a two year old heifer calved unassisted in March. I came home from work to find her crying over a dead heifer calf, with no reason for the fatality that was easily discernible.  Samantha is a very sweet cow, one of the Buttercup daughters and I was so looking forward to her first calf.  The loss is doubly sad because the value of that heifer calf was about $2500!.