Fair Happenings

The County Fair was wonderful fun, we entered a variety of classes and enjoyed spending some time there watching the judging and looking over the rabbits, chickens, sheep, goats, minis and donkeys that were entered. It's always a good time.

The children entered the open photography division and did a great job winning a number of classes, Em was so thrilled when her action photo was chosen as Best of Show in the color category. She had her picture taken with her winning entry and ribbon, and will be in the fair book next year. Last year J. Keeler won the Best of Show, so they are already excited about next year and will be taking lots of photos throughout the year. Rosie entered the "Still Life" and "Story" categories and won them both. The biggest entertainment is watching the people watching the judging. Judges have a tough row to hoe and I give them full credit for not throwing their hands up in frustration with some of the amusing antics of some of the exhibitors there.

Fresh from the... garden!

We're happy to report that there is a lot more going on today in the garden: the peas are ready for picking! We set up the kitchen for processing, which included blanching the peas for 1 and 1/2 minutes then plunging them into cold water to stop the cooking process. They were then placed into freezer bags and popped into the freezer for good eating this winter. The peas were "Green Arrow" and the plants produced very well, including lots of doubles. Most of the pods contained at least 10 good sized peas per pod. We also planted "Tom Thumb", which is a smaller heirloom variety that produces quickly, but the peas are definitely of the dwarf variety.

The raspberries have been simply amazing this year-- our freezer is overflowing and we've been eating them fresh with dinner every couple of days. Delicious eating and delightful summer fun!

July update from the farm

Summer is in full swing here at the farm. The bees are very busy and seem to be mainly interested in the trefoil in the pastures. I was hoping they'd spend a bit more time in the garden, but that's not been the case so far. The garden is doing well nonetheless...with the 50 tomato plants and over 250 peas, 350 beans, 500 onions that we planted, we hope to have lots of tasty eating. We received a welcome two and a half inches of rain yesterday and they only bad part was that a lightning strike took out our fence charger.

This has been the year of the ground squirrel, litter after litter has been born and raised and they are digging up way too many holes and tasting too many squash. We put up new bluebird houses this spring and though the first tenants were tree swallows, the bluebirds finally moved in and made their nests. We're very happy to have them setting up housekeeping. My hope is to have at least ten additional houses by next spring. We've located them on fenceposts next to our pastures and it appear that it's the perfect place for them.

Our county fair is fast approaching and the children love this time of the year and enjoy entering their projects in the fair. Last year J. Keeler won the Best of Show in photography, so he's hoping to do so again this year. But the competition will be stiff as his two sisters are entering their photos as well.

I'll update with the full fair report after next weekend. Meanwhile, there's lots to do, so I'd better get to it.

New Arrivals on the Farm!

We've already announced the arrival of our first foal of the season, but we thought we would take a moment to share the news of the other new arrivals around the farm this spring...

Two weeks is a short time, but it's an important period of time if you're a baby rabbit and are growing like crazy. Take a look at our litter of baby Rex rabbits... first photo is at 3 days old; the second photo shows the babies at 2 weeks old...

Now, at nearly four weeks, they are bouncing and jumping everywhere, when they're not eating hay, that is!

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If you look closely at the next photo, you'll see another of the new arrivals... a tiny baby fawn! She and her mother are frequently seen grazing in the fields or napping in the meadow. She's positively tiny and simply adorable.

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And then, of course, the birds are busily nesting. There is a nest of Chipping Sparrows in one of the bushes in the garden (there are three baby sparrows in the nest, but it's so deeply hidden that we cannot snap a photo), and we have a female Robin who spent several days constructing an *enormous* nest in the lilac bush by the front porch. She's now spending her days perched happily on her nest, so we expect to see and hear some new babies there soon.

Some of the birds are happy to utilize a more permanent structure for their nests, such as the Tree Swallow shown here!

The First "Miracle" of 2008!

We were very happy to greet the first Miracle of 2008 on Monday, June 2nd. Severn Ribbons 'N Lace (Severn West Wind LOM x Alliance Designer Bow LOM by *Synod Dicky Bow) delivered a simply wonderful buckskin Sec A Welsh Mountain Pony colt, sired by Mt. Ridge Yellow Jacket (*Vardra Secret [Bengad Rustling Grass] x *Lippens Queen Bee by Fronbach Canny Lad [a Synod Hello son]). This new little guy is unnamed as of yet, but he is extremely fancy with all four full stockings and a blaze. He has a beautiful face with gorgeous eyes, and is quite a cute mover already. :-) We're very thankful for this very special new arrival and are eagerly awaiting our second foal, also by Jack and out of Miracle Maid to Order.

Sugaring Season at Fox Hill Farm

Looking out the window today it's hard to imagine that last weekend was so nice.... today it is snowing and blowing as though it's late fall instead of early spring. Last Sunday we were still making some syrup with the last of the sap and it was a bright and sunny day with mild temperatures. The sap started running late this year due to the fact that winter kept hanging on and on and on. When the sap finally started running, it flowed pretty well over a two week period.

When we were boiling sap down, we did have a few breaks in the weather with beautiful blue skies and friendlier temperatures, and that made it much nicer. We've decided we need to have a building for the syrup-making next year, and a nice evaporator and bottler, too. The process this year was a lot of work, but enjoyable. With a little of the syrup we made some candies; and even though the first batch of candy turned out more like sugar and the second turned out more like taffy, it was still tasty.

Through Dan's photos he gives you a "taste" of making maple syrup here at the farm, from tapping the trees, to boiling the sap to some of the finished products. Enjoy your virtual maple sugaring tour!
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Announcing... new books!

We're very pleased to announce that Dan's newest books have been recently released. They are two poster books published by Voyageur Press. The first one is "The World's Greatest Colts and Fillies Poster Book" and it features 43 photos of foals of various breeds, including Rocky Mountain Horses, Gypsy Vanners, Dales Ponies, Welsh, Norwegian Fjords, etc... The cover photo is the Welsh Mountain Pony colt, Miracle Smoke Signal, at about 3 weeks of age.

The other book is "The World's Greatest Baby Farm Animal Poster Book" and it features piglets, calves, lambs, kids, puppies, bunnies, kittens, etc...it's a really adorable book. Both of these titles are great for young children.

Check out your local bookstore for these fun new titles, or shop online; both books are available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, etc...