Tag Archives: snow

One Snowy Morning

February 25, 2012   Maine Outdoors

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I went for a stroll around the homestead before sunrise.

The hen house was a cabin on Rt 1 long before it was the hen house.

There’s a story to the hen house. The cabin was given to us with the condition that we move it ourselves. Steve and Dad cut tamarack trees, made a skid and wedged it under the cabin on a Saturday. Steve dragged the cabin home early Sunday morning before most of the people in the one mile trip were out of bed. One very hung over neighbor had to step out of the house to be sure he really did see a cabin being towed up the hill.

Each high tunnel is 1,000 square feet.

 

This snowy crab apple is in dire need of pruning.

The smallest high tunnel is on the right. The pond is between the picnic table and tree line. It’s 15′ deep on the shallow end, 22′ on the deep end. I’ll restock it with rainbow trout this year.

A little bit of sunrise color this morning.

Disgruntled runner ducks.

It’s time for a new fence. The tractor had a disagreement with the fence. The fence lost. Oops on me. The ducks seldom leave the pen even though they can fly over easily.

Waiting for summer.

Snowy fireplace.

I need to make repairs to the stone fireplace this year.

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Today’s Weather

April 1, 2008   Winter Farming

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No joke. 4″ of snow last night; fog and rain today.

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Natural Springs

March 16, 2008   Maine Outdoors

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We went snowshoeing yesterday. There are several trails across our property.  They interconnect and lead out to the heath at the back of our property.  More pics later – I need to get the plant stand out of the rabbitry and into the house before the seedlings get leggy.

Hearing stupid statements like “plant your peas on St. Patrick’s day in zone 5″ annoy the hell out of me. I took this picture yesterday.  Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s day.  Please, someone, make the snow go away so I can plant the peas tomorrow.  There’s only 2′ of snow on the garden so it’s not quite so bad as in the woods.  I’m going to plant peas tomorrow – stay tuned.  Oh, and no, it won’t be in the greenhouse.

When we had livestock I depended on natural springs for some of their drinking water.  There are a lot of springs in the woods and many stay open during the winter.

We have a seasonal stream in the woods too.  I snowshoed in it yesterday.  It’s empty.  If the snow ever starts melting it will fill and run for several months.  If we get adequate rain it will run all summer.

We’re ice fishing with Melissa and Jon today.  I’ll take the camera and my snowshoes.  It’s sunny and will be warm.

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Turkey Visit

February 26, 2008   Agriculture, Daily Farm Life, Homestead, Poultry

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Jake & Company went to the barn this morning, chased the ducks out of their food and water, had breakfast, then came to raid the wild bird seed. Damned birds. I fed and watered them when I let them out.

I don’t give the turkeys corn very often. When they do get it it’s because they’re following me and are going to rob it from the ducks if I don’t give them some.

Dude! The wild birds get CORN!

They aren’t supposed to be up here. They get into trouble when they’re near the house. They have two wide open acres to roam around out back. They’re supposed to stay behind the house.

Look! There’s something over there!

HEY! Let’s drive the human nuts and
GO FOR A WALK UP THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!

And this is where the picture taking ends. I went back into the house hoping they’d cut under the hydrangea, around the front steps and head over toward the seedling house, then take a sharp right and go to where they belong. They of course did not. I’d been on the porch in a sleeveless shirt, jeans and wool socks. I had to pull on a fleece, cram my feet into boots, get Scooter without letting the other dogs out, make Scooter stop barking (annoying collie trait), look both ways and pray there weren’t vehicles coming, tell Scooter it was ok to come out into the road with me, and then get down to the business of herding six turkeys up over a 4′ snow bank, across the side yard and back where they belong. For good measure Scooter made a second trip behind them to bark a few more times and keep them going in the right direction. God I love that dog. I wouldn’t have been in a very good mood if I’d been the one climbing the snowbank and crunching through deep snow. He took them across the top and broke through just a few times.

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Maine Nature News

January 16, 2008   Maine Outdoors

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This week’s edition of Maine Nature News is online. I published it yesterday morning and forgot to say so! It’s incredible. The reporters outdid themselves this week.

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Pretty while it lasted

October 30, 2007   Agriculture, Homestead

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The snow was gone by 10 a.m.

The last of the pumpkins.

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First Snow 2007

October 30, 2007   Homestead

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 Overnight flurries.  The top of the ground was frozen yesterday morning.

It won’t be long before the snow that falls doesn’t melt.

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