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So we're coming to the end of our summer squash crop but at the same time our little turnip seedlings are doing quite well. As usual while sowing the seeds with Mae her and Beth planted too many too close together so today they will work at thinning the seedlings out so that we have a successful harvest. Beth is home with Mae today and preserving acorn squash for the winter. The acorn squash doesn't keep long after harvest like butternut squash does so they will be baking and mashing them to freeze. None of the squash goes to waste...

We toss hay off the field, we toss hay in the barn, we toss hay to the goats, and when the goats waste half of it we toss it away! With forage animals our lives revolve quite a bit around tossin' hay. We are an extremely small farm compared to most farms but proud to do it. Our tossin' hay candle is an ode to the farmer big and small! If you're like us the smell of fresh cut hay is reflective and enjoyable. We thought about this candle this morning in the pouring rain while getting our animals set...

3 eggs in the coop this morning when Beth let the chickens out for the day. A note about free ranging: we don't. We used to be pretty lax about letting them out but we paid dearly for it when we lost 3 chicken ladies to what we assume was a fox. Our chickens have plenty of room, space for dust bathing, perching and fresh picked grass and veggies on top of layer pellets. Just a personal choice but not only do we rely on the eggs as a food source but also every animal lost here is the loss...

Up at 7 this morning but Mae was pretty fussy all night, woke up talking about it being winter time and snow on the ground. Beth went to get the animals taken care of and milk Marilyn. While Beth was milking Marilyn she was thinking about the Stafford Farmers Market coming up next Saturday. Will it be busy? Will people like the  Spiced Apple Cider and Pumpkin Crunch Cake or Smores candles? Her thoughts were interrupted by Lila our wild child of a goat barreling into the garage. She has separation anxiety when Marilyn is away from her, and she...

Up early with Mae this morning. Paying for the 7:20 wake up yesterday. As usual Ozzie the silkie rooster starts a chorus of cockadoodledoos between him and the other two Roosters. With a chilly night, Walter, our needy cat was glued to Beth under the covers all night.  Walter is quite literally obsessed with Beth. When we adopted him as a 4 week old kitten he was less than half a pound, with pneumonia and such a high parasite count that he had a pretty severe heart murmur. Beth sat up with him many nights certain each breath would be...