December Blizzard

We woke up Monday morning to 15" of snow that had drifted in front of both our front and back doors.  Scout attempted to go out his doggie door but soon found himself up to his neck in snow.  He quickly retreated back into the house.
This is what our front looked like prior to snowblowing...

...and this is what it looked like while being snowblowed.

Needless to say, the snowmobile was then taken out and ridden across town to visit friends trying to plow out their driveway.
Ah, the bliss of winter snow.

The Great Deer Hunter



We are expecting the first real snowstorm of the season today.  All chores are done, we are buttoned up and ready to enjoy the day. 
The Great Deer Hunter is in his chair enjoying his favorite Christmas gifts...a camoflauge Snuggie and the book titled Deer Hunting 101.  I actually think he's napping, and instead of sugar plums he's got big bucks dancing in his head!

Holiday Hustle

We spent all day Saturday setting up the woodstove in the barn so we can at least be warm whilst working.  It was set up without incident, only once did Michael feel like he was falling off the ladder...I think it was the two lengths of triple wall lifted up and over his head that almost put him over.

Sunday we decided to butcher the meat chickens.  Fourteen birds plucked by hand...yes, by hand.  If there were one more bird to do I think I would have cried.  We had our first chicken dinner and it was fabulous.  We are now in the market for a plucking machine...anyone have one for sale??

Tonight was a breadmaking night.  I use a recipe for oatmeal sourdough bread that is terrific.  I've got Christmas baskets to make and everyone loves fresh bread.  It is rising in the kitchen right now, will be ready for baking in the morning.  The neat thing about sourdough bread is that it has no yeast in it.  It takes a bit longer to rise, but is well worth the wait.

As busy as we are, we're looking forward to the holiday and now I'm off to wrap gifts.

First Snow!

We woke up this morning to the first few inches of light, fluffy snow.  With all the wind last night the blowing snow gathered outside the kitchen door...I was shocked to step outside to feed Gambino this morning and find myself knee deep in snow!  Winter has arrived.  I'm not happy, but Michael is looking forward to ripping around on the snowmobile. 
Check out the yard this afternoon...footsteps to the horse and all!

Pheasant Friend

I looked out the kitchen door this afternoon and found a wayward pheasant at our door.  He made his way out back and after doing chores we found him in Gambino's paddock.

Beautiful colors, lots of blue, too small to even consider for a meal!  Michael went out to sprinkle scratch feed for him and unless a greedy neighbor decides to shoot him, he may well end up another yard ornament around here. 

It's been a while...

It's been a while since the last post...it isn't as though nothing has happened, more like lack of time to blog...

The weather the last month has been unbelievably windy.  We had several trees topple in Gambino's pasture and the llamas had a tree land on their house!  After the chainsaws stopped roaring, the bonfires began.  All is well now, though, the girls have a new house and Gambino has more room to race around when he wants.

Our freezeless hydrant was no longer freezeless because the gaskets were shot.  Thank goodness my husband is so smart because he got the whole thing taken apart and put back together...no extra parts...and it works.  Winter water is the worst to deal with, and we cannot do without running water outside.

The meat chickens are almost ready.  It is unreal how quickly they grew.  We are in the market for a plucking machine and I'm seriously hoping one shows up soon.  I cannot imagine plucking by hand!

The pigs, Patty and Link, are growing up too.  We found them running around the backyard on Thanksgiving and they got quite jiggy when they saw us.  The managed to figure their way OUT of their pen, but couldn't get back in.  They happily followed me back to their house and, once the gate was opened, they trotted right back in!  They don't put on weight as quickly in the cold, but they are doing well.  They absolutely love the frozen pumpkins we break up for them.  It is quite funny to watch them toss them around before devouring them.

We are looking forward to the holidays.  I'm hoping to get our tree up this weekend...we'll see how it goes.

Jiggy Piggy

Our piglets arrived and are making themselves comfortable in their new home.  They are both girls, and so far, they have no names.  We are up for suggestions!  Take a peek at them enjoying the morning air.  The pink one does the pig jig which is a riot to watch!

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning!

This is the sight that greeted me as I headed out this morning to feed Gambino

Enough said.

The Chimney Sweep

"Wood is the fuel that warms  you twice", goes an old New England expression: "once when chopping and once when burning".

We heat our farmhouse with two woodstoves and wood we harvest from the property.  Last year, we upgraded our woodsplitter and saved many hours this past spring getting ourselves ready for the winter cold.  People are amazed at the amount of wood we put up each year, but we never want to find ourselves short.  The photo above is but one of many stacked piles of wood...it will be gone, no doubt, by Christmas.  Our house is rarely below 72 degrees on any given day, something I sure like.  Let it snow!  Let the power go out!  I can still cook and stay warm during the worst storms Mother Nature can dish out.  Ever had pancakes cooked on an iron griddle heated by the woodstove?  Or enjoyed slow cooked venison stew done solely on the woodstove?   You'll never be cold or hungry in this house!

On the downside, our resident chimney sweep has to crawl out our second floor window, straddle the peaks of the house (which include very sharp lightning rods!) in order to clear out any and all creosote residue.  This chore was checked off the "honey-do" list the other day. 

No, Virginia, this is not Santa Claus.

Sometimes I wonder why we simply can't hire someone to clean out the chimneys...from the looks of it, I think our stubborn chimney sweep sometimes wonders the same thing.  But as the saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself.  This job is done.  Right?

Our chimneys are all set for the winter ahead thanks to our beloved sweep.  Believe it or not, we've experienced 41 degree mornings already.  Ah, the joys of living in "Coldbrook"! 

The Honeybees

THE HONEYBEES

We lost our bees this past spring due to a visit from the neighborhood bear.  It was a small bear, but nonetheless, it knocked over our hives and we had to restock.

As you can see the bees are very active once the sun warms the morning air.  You can really see them in the shadows of the trees around the hives.

We decided to take a peek to see what was happening inside the hives.  The smell of honey was so strong we figured we better check it out before another bear visitor decides to have his way with our honey.  I enlisted our friend Danny to assist and run the smoker.  We didn't get stung, but the photographer got a little too close and ended up with a couple of mad bees on his back! 

If you've never seen the inside of a hive it is pretty interesting.  The amount of bees crammed into those supers is amazing.  Even Gambino hangs around to watch.

Here are our photos of the hive check.  Enjoy!

The Jolly Horse

Poor Gambino has found himself on a diet.  Apparently I've been feeding him too much.  Waaaay too much.  To keep him occupied whilst he's Jenny Craig-ing we tried a horse toy.  We've tried this toy before, it's called the Jolly Ball , but Scout commandeered the first one.
From the look of it, Gambino is happy with his new ball.  Hopefully it will keep him busy and not thinking about food while he regains his svelte Hanoverian physique!
For those of you who don't know about fly masks....(I was one of you not long ago)....yes, they CAN see through the mask.  Gambino loves his mask as it keeps the flies out of his eyes.  While sporting it he's referred to as the Mastodon.
You can watch him play with his jolly ball...not too exciting, but you can consider it a "family" video.

The Fisherman's Moby Dick!

Fishing today was a huge success! Nice trout will adorn our table tonight...well, all but one.  This fish is destined for the wall!

Cap'n Ahab

Cap'n and his First Mate

The whole catch of the day!

FOR SALE: ~Soaps~ ~Jams & Jellies~ ~Farm Fresh Eggs~ ~Gift Baskets~

Creating all natural handmade soaps was a hobby years ago...now it is back!  I've created a soap that fits everyone.

For sale, we've got soaps for sensitive skin, dry skin, normal and oily skin.  We've got soaps that relax, soaps that invigorate, soaps that help keep bugs at bay, working soaps, and soaps that simply just smell good.  We even have a special pet soap that helps keep the flying creatures that bother Scout and Gambino.

There are descriptions for each of the soaps on our website...we try to update as new soaps are made.
Jams & jellies are also available for sale.  We can't promise to have the kind you'd like on hand, but we try!

Gift baskets are available upon request. 

An order form is available here.

Video: Scout

Scout of Storybook Farm

If you've never met a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon you've missed a great breed of dog.

Scout, our WPG, is my most favorite dog of all dogs.  I'm not saying I didn't absolutely LOVE my other dogs, Scout just happens to be the ONLY dog that ever actually listens to me when I call.

Scout joined our household with only one indoor nineteen-year-old cat who taught him fine manners around feline friends.  A year later he helped that cat teach three kittens how to behave.  He learned how to get along with the llamas, not to chase chickens, and to stay out of the horse's way.  He is brilliant.  Yes, brilliant.

Scout loves chores.  Every morning he assists with Gambino's breakfast and waits patiently while I clean up the paddock.  He marches by my side to do a chicken check and says good morning to the llamas.  But, best of all, he brings us our morning paper.  Check him out and you will have to agree...Scout is BRILLIANT!

Day Trips

Over the past couple of weeks we've been spending a day here and there visiting places we've never been...those within our two hour travel window.  Living on the farm has many wonderful features, but the ability to just get up and go isn't one of them!

A couple of deep sea fishing expeditions allowed us a freezer full of Striper.  Yummy.  We smoked a couple of Bluefish, which turned out fabulous, but they've been eaten...er, uh, devoured.  Smoking in our Weber grill has turned out to be an easy way to smoke foods.  We are very lucky to have friends with plenty of Hickory on their property.

We visited the Baseball Hall of Fame one day.  It was a beautiful ride, drizzly and cool so Scout got to come with us.  After circling Cooperstown a couple of times we landed a perfect parking spot right up front under a tree.  Scout snoozed whilst we wandered through the museum.  Let's just say I'm not a fan of sports, but it was pretty neat to see the collection of baseball memorabilia.  A few new Yankee shirts and a baseball cap ended our visit and we headed for home.  Lunch in town would have been crazy, so we opted to pick up a couple of grinders and a six-pack for the ride home.  Overall, a great day.

Another day we took the bike to the Berkshires and visited the Botanical Garden in Stockbridge.  We got some super ideas for our own landscape here at home.  Looks like Gambino's riding ring is going to have a center garden!  I'm planning a medicinal/herb garden which I can utilize in my soaps.

Saratoga Racetrack was a place we've never been, so we recruited our buddy to join us.  We took the tram tour which takes you back near the stables and training areas.  We hadn't had breakfast so we were hungry, but I didn't want to miss the tour.  Our tour guide, Zeta, rattled off the rules one of which was no eating.  Well, at one point we were standing right in front of a food stand where the two sneaks purchased two breakfast sandwiches.  They thought by hiding behind a trailer they'd avoid being snagged by Zeta.  No such luck.  It was very funny.

The racetrack itself is beautiful and we had a fun day.  The ongoing joke was how fat my Gambino is, expecially compared with the racehorses.  I just know that given the opportunity to take one of those skinny horses home I could have them fattened up in no time!  The number of people there was astounding.  Imagine a fairgrounds on a busy day...that was the Saratoga Racetrack.  Unbelievable. 

It is a safe bet that we won nothing.  Enough said.

Freshwater fishing in the area was pretty good this week.  Smoked trout was on the menu earlier this week, and, if luck is with us, we'll have it again tonight!

Living the Dream: The Storybook Farm

It's been a busy summer.  New chicks hatched...we've got 21 little ones running around.  It seems like every time we turn around one gets out and is madly peeping to be let back in with the others.  Eggs are plentiful...the girls are doing their job. 

We had two chicks that hatched out of sequence...meaning they didn't have brothers and sisters to grow up with which was unfortunate.  As a result of my maternal chick instincts they both imprinted on me.  One has turned out to be a rooster, who we've named "Little Jerry" (any Seinfeld fans out there??), the other we believe to be a pullet...no name as of today.  These two follow me all over the yard and will fly up to perch on my shoulder whenever I let them.  They will be a unique pair!

Our piglets are due to arrive next weekend.  Everyone loves a piglet!  Names will soon follow their arrival.

The llamas are being bred this summer.  We are long overdue in having a baby or two or three!  All things going well, we should have babies next summer.

Gambino is learning to work again.  He's been "parked" for several months and as a result became very spoiled.  He's getting back in shape and perhaps his Auntie Shannon will be eventing him soon!

As for the garden, well, we're up to our elbows in squash, cucumbers, potatoes, beans, and soon our tomatoes will be turning...all at the same time.  The usual summer canning will be taking place just in time for school...oh, joy.  Several different kinds of jams and jellies are all done and ready for sale.

Last, but not least, handmade soaps have entered the farm picture!  Let's just say we've got quite the selection....something for everyone, from gardeners to pets!  Check out the website for what is available.  We are even doing gift baskets for those interested in giving a unique gift.

Looking forward to the new school year.  It is always fun meeting my new students every year.  In the spirit of my new/old found horseback riding, I've decided to no longer refer to myself as a teacher.  I'm calling myself a "trainer".  A sixth grade trainer of math and science.  Yes, that just feels right.