Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Country Fairs and Rodeos

Yesterday we went to the Rockford Fair. It’s a scaled down version of other fall fairs and it’s free!

When we arrived, fire fighters were setting up for a competition in a field. A barrel was hung from a steel cable about 12 feet off the ground and two four-man crews were holding their fire hoses. On the signal, the battle began – each team trying to push the suspended barrel to the other side of the field with the water from their hoses. Pretty good fun.

Of course we loved seeing the animals, especially the goats and sheep. In the chicken section, there was a huge rooster. A little hand-written sign said, “My name is Biggie. I fought a raccoon who killed two of my hens.” In cages next to him were hens with more hand-written signs like, “Saved by Biggie. I had a broken beak and broken wing.” “Saved by Biggie. It took two months for me to heal.”

Actually, we now know of the viciousness of raccoons as our own (100 pound) dog, Bear, was in a fight to the death with one big raccoon who was trying to raid our bee hives. After fighting on the lawn, the raccoon lured Bear down into the creek where he tried to drown Bear by pulling his head under. Ray watched the whole thing and tried to help Bear. It took Bear half an hour to finally kill that thing and he ended up with a big gouge on his nose. So I have great respect for a rooster that takes on a raccoon!

We also went to the Colfax Fair a few weeks ago and that included a rodeo. Young people on horses showed us to our parking spot, and there were little kids everywhere with cowboy hats and boots handling big horses and cows. There was something about these kids that was very attractive and wholesome. They look confident, responsible, friendly and happy and they willingly engage in conversation about their animals or their sport. So we watched calf roping, steer wrestling, trick riding and barrel racing. The pretty young Princesses from the various small towns raced by on their horses that they had decked out with sparkles and ribbons. We enjoyed all this action surrounded by the gorgeous rolling Palouse hills and wheat fields.

Of course the fairs also included the usual musicians, magicians, vendors, rides, kitchen demonstrations, cotton candy, as well as prize vegetables, freak vegetables, canned goods, flowers, photographs by age categories, paintings, quilts, crafts, etc., every single one with a blue ribbon next to it. I guess everyone is a winner at a country fair and that’s why we like to go.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Hunting


Our dog, Bear, and I have both become hunters and it’s hard to say which one is more humane. He hunts to eat his prey and I hunt to keep our food from being eaten.

Does anyone know what voles are? They are like mice but fatter, with almost no tail, and they dig complex tunnels underground like moles.

I was prepared to live and let live, even though the lawn was constantly erupting with little hills of dirt. I started getting upset when they discovered my cash crop of beautiful purple, red and white potatoes. I became very concerned when the tunnels appeared around my expensive linden tree, planted especially for the bees. The last straw was seeing bite marks on my beets, carrots and cucumbers.

I asked my neighbours what to do. They were not much help. Research on the internet showed that voles breed about 8 times a year and the babies are on their own at 12 days old. With all the food my garden was providing, there was probably a great population explosion going on underground!

Ray brought some rat traps home. We baited them with apple pieces and put them under buckets so Bear wouldn’t get his nose accidentally sliced off. The next morning, I went out to check the traps. The first one had been sprung. I saw a little vole scurrying off. Then I noticed some tiny ears and a little tail on the trap. The vole I had seen had just cannibalized his unfortunate brother! Okay – that was very disturbing and made me hate voles even more.

The next day Ray brought home some poison pellets. I took a butter knife, a pair of gloves and the pellets. By studying the pattern in which the dirt is flung, I’ve become pretty good at finding the hidden entrances to the tunnels. Once the hole is exposed, I toss a few pellets in and cover it up again. After a few days, dead voles and mice have started turning up, and there are no new fresh hills of dirt. So it’s working. I’m pretty gleeful about it, but it’s a bit cowardly, I admit. I don’t actually have to catch anything or watch it die.

Bear is a different kind of hunter. Today I was on a walk with our two occasional foster kids. It was a beautiful day, not too hot. Bear loves going for a swim in the river. As he was coming back to the trail, we heard an animal shrieking and screaming pathetically. Bear came up from the river with a raccoon in his mouth. I tried to make him drop it but it was his catch, and our normally gentle, obedient dog had his mind made up. It took him quite a while to bite that poor raccoon to death. I told the kids not to watch but we were all a bit traumatized. Then we had to follow Bear home with the raccoon in his mouth.

So which is better, being poisoned with perhaps a slow painful death, or the terror and agony of being hunted, caught and killed in quick succession. It’s pretty great being at the top of the food chain but we all die anyway. Sorry to be so gloomy. Life and death are in your face when you live in the country.

Monday, August 16, 2010

As Easy As Taking Honey From a Bee

If, as I read recently, it takes one million visits to a flower to produce each pound of honey, you would think bees would put up more of a fight when you come to steal this golden treasure. But the actual removal of the frame of honey from the hive is the simple part, compared to the preparation, extraction and clean-up, which takes up most of the day.

We have just taken our third (smaller) harvest this year and I thought you might be interested in the process. This has been a strange year. The spring was terrible and the weather was so cold during blossom time that the bees couldn’t take the nectar. Apparently it needs to be at least 60 F (15 C) for the flowers to produce nectar. It was way colder than that, so our poor bees were starving. I actually had to go out and buy honey and mix it with powdered sugar and put it in on a plate on top of the frames inside the hive.

Then it rained a lot more than normal. This produced an explosion of wild flowers. The hills around here were covered with beautiful blue, purple and white flowers. There were also a lot of wild roses. So the bees multiplied amazingly and kept swarming to relieve the crowded conditions in their hives. We caught three swarms and lost another three. So now we have six hives (which is too many and we hope to sell three).

So our first harvest was on July 18th (when my sons and grandson were here so they could help). We only took 15 pounds that day. Two weeks later, the hives were loaded and we harvested 65 pounds. Then we took another 15 pounds on August 13th. Now they can keep the rest for their own use this winter. They’ve worked hard for it.

We have an old hand-made extractor probably made from an antique metal washing machine and car parts. There is a wire cage inside that holds four frames. Then there is a gear-pulley system with a handle that turns the basket. The honey flies out in little sparkling specks and slides down the walls to collect on the bottom. There is a bung hole near the bottom for the honey to come out.

To start we have to clean the extractor and make sure it’s working. We collect tools - a special knife for cutting off the wax caps on the filled honeycombs, a fork to scrape wax, a bowl for wax scraps, a hose with running water to constantly wash sticky hands, a bucket to collect honey, a sieve to fit on the bucket for straining out bits of wax, dead bees, etc, a hive tool for taking frames out of the hive, a special brush for brushing bees off the frames, a laundry basket for holding frames, a bee suit to protect the robber.

The thing about working with bees is that you have to be in a certain frame of mind – calm, slow and purposeful. Once I lose my concentration, I figure it’s time to leave the bees alone because they’ll get upset with me. So when I’m ready, I open the hive. I pry apart a frame and lift it out. If it has too many larvae or eggs, I put it back. I take the frames that are at least half full of capped honeycombs. Then I brush off about three hundred bees with the bee brush and let them fall back into the hive. Once they are (mostly) all off, I put the frames into my laundry basket and carry it to the extraction area (picnic table). There we cut and scrape off the wax caps and put the frames into the wire basket in the extractor. When we have four, we start turning. It takes a lot of strength and patience to empty out first one side and then turning them around to empty the second side. Meanwhile, of course, you have bees flying around wanting to get at the honey. However, they are really not aggressive and I believe I have only gotten stung an average of once for each harvest.

When all the frames are done, you open up the hole and let the honey pour out into the bucket. There is a lot of scraping and scooping from the inside, too, to try and get it done quickly so as not to have too many bees drowning in the honey. They smell the honey and dive in and get their legs stuck and can’t get free. That’s one reason for the sieve and it works well. Then the bucket goes inside and the extractor gets washed out. This involves arms sticky up to the shoulder, hair sticky, fingers licked as much as possible, bees and wasps trying to help and water everywhere.

Inside, I have to find as many jars as I can and wash them and scrape the labels off. I boil the lids and set a clean towel on the table. Then I start pouring beautiful honey into the jars. This involves more licking and washing and finally I have a whole table covered with different sized jars all shining and golden. Then the only thing left to do is melt down the wax scrapings and make little cakes of beeswax.

And that is the story of how to get honey from the bees. Don’t feel sorry for the bees because if I didn’t take the honey, they would run out of room in their hive and swarm off to a new home. That means they would have to set up in a hollow tree or something and probably wouldn’t survive the winter. So it’s a win-win situation. We get honey and they get a nice comfortable home to weather out the brutal winter. We also make sure they don’t starve when the food supplies are low. Everyone’s happy.

That’s our news. I hope you learned something useful (!). Bye for now.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

July 25, 2010 Two Roosters and a Grandson

Dear Family and Friends;

My 7-year-old grandson came to visit us on the farm last week. He learned a lot about courage and death thanks to our roosters.

We have two roosters, a beautiful red one, and a comical white one with feathers on his feet. Big Red is a true king. He protects and cares for his girls. He is the first one out of the chicken house in the morning; he approaches and confronts any creature who comes into the enclosure; he checks out any weeds or compost I throw in and lets the hens know if it is edible; he rounds up all the hens in the evening and is the last one in the house. He talks to the hens all day and doesn’t bully them. He is a great example of a leader.

Featherfoot is different. He is timid. He is always second-last out of the hen house. He is not bright and had a hard time at first figuring out how to go up the ramp into the hen house. He wandered around perplexed, even though the others kept going up and down the ramp clucking to show him the way. When he started crowing in the morning, a most ridiculous squawking sound came out but he soon got the hang of it and then kept it up non-stop all day. He also figured out how to do another roosterly thing quite well.

Ray decided it was time to separate the two roosters. He put Featherfoot in with the goats. The goats got quite a shock! They came bolting out of the goat shed and then stood staring at this strange creature. Whenever he started crowing, they started their bleating and we had a pretty noisy yard. When their astonishment died down, they seemed to get along fine, one funny looking rooster and three bouncy young wethers (neutered males).

Alas, Featherfoot is no more. When my sons came to pick up my grandson, we decided that everyone should learn where chicken meat comes from. The seven year old did not want to watch while his dad picked up the hatchet and whacked away at poor Featherfoot’s neck. Just as well, as the silly rooster would not keep his head still. We had forgotten to tell my son that someone needs to stretch out the neck to make the gruesome task easier. Anyway, the boy did watch me take off the feathers and clean out the insides. He found the different parts very interesting. He also ate the delicious meal we had at the end of the day.

The next day I asked my grandson to go and gather eggs as we had done the day before. I had forgotten that he is a lot smaller than me and Big Red is such a good protector of his girls. Big Red jumped on the boy and scared him badly and he ran screaming around with Big Red chasing him and jumping on him repeatedly. We finally rescued the frightened boy and he said he was never going back in there. My son, being a good dad, decided it was a good opportunity to instill courage into his son. He offered to buy the boy a hockey jersey of his favorite player if he would go back in. The boy said that he didn’t like hockey any more. Nothing he offered could entice him to go back and face down that rooster.

So they made a trident out of wood and painted it bright blue. We found a lid from a large pot to use as a shield. I told him never to turn his back on Big Red. Father and son went in together. Son walked up to Big Red and tried to start a confrontation. Big Red is not stupid. He could see the big man behind the small boy and he kept his distance. But we all decided that the boy had demonstrated enough courage for that day and I believe he earned the hockey jersey, which I’m sure he will get.

The only other lesson from that weekend is not to forget your son’s passport. Then you won’t have to call your mother from Seattle and pull her away from her garden to drive to a half-way point for the handover. You will get home at 8:00 pm instead of 2:00 am and your mother will have a relaxing evening rather than dodging deer on country roads and coming home exhausted at 10:30.

Well, it makes a good story and it was great to see my grandson and sons. I think my grandson will be a good farmer. He likes hanging out with goats and he got a big thrill out of digging red and purple potatoes from the ground. I sure loved having that time with him.

Love, Fern and Ray

June 20, 2010 Learning to Think Like a Bee

Dear friends and family;

Last week it was a lovely Sunday morning, no jacket required, so I went for a walk with Bear along the river to see what the bees are eating. I already know they prefer the humble dandelion to the lovely lilac, which they don’t touch. So I was curious.

I passed a very fragrant purple phlox – no bees. Pretty little yellow rock flowers – nope. Lush purple lupine – no, but huge gorgeous bumble bees were all over it, pushing their big heads inside for a drink. Tall weeds with large crowns of little white flowers – only ants on that one. I saw butterflies on some, tiny wasps on others, dragonflies zipping around so fast, I couldn’t tell what they like. My bees went only for the lovely blue cornflowers, which fortunately are in abundance right now. So they have food and that makes me very happy. We will have honey after all.

I have had to feed my bees so much this wet, cold spring to prevent them from starving. I’d like to know what they eat so I can plant for them, too.

All week, I’ve been observing and trying to figure the bees out. They don’t like poppies, irises, pansies, peonies, daisies or any other showy flowers. However, they love chive flowers and kale flowers and of course raspberries, apples, etc. Then it hit me. Bees like their fruits and veggies! And guess what that means for us? They pollinate what we humans need for survival. If that isn’t marvelous, I don’t know what is. I am totally in awe of bees. What an amazing partnership we have with them.

Well, I hope you are all well. Sending you lots of love from the farm.

Love, Fern and Ray.

June 6, 2010 The Good and the Bad

I’m looking out my window at three sweet little goats (wethers – neutered males). We are boarding them and fattening them for our friends Je and Jo. Two of them are the sons of our beloved Dolly, who went to Je and Jo in exchange for butchering our kids last year.

They were here today when I told them about our chickens and how we didn’t want to kill them. Joel said, “I’ll be over with all the equipment and show you how to do it.”

Back tracking a bit. Yesterday, some of our bees died bravely defending their hive from a marauding lawnmower. Yes, Ray was mowing behind the hives and somehow lost control and banged into two hives, tipping one right over. He says he doesn’t remember getting to the house but when he was at the door, he thought, “I better not bring these bees into the house.” So he ran to the other door getting some more stings and yelling for help. I took at least twelve stingers out but there were more in his beard and his shirt, etc. Somewhere in running for his life, he lost his glasses and asked me to go find them. I put on my bee-suit and went looking. They were on the grass next to a very agitated bee hive.

We hoped he wouldn’t suffer too much but he has had a miserable day. His ears are swollen, the three stings to his neck must have hit a gland because it hurts a lot, the thin skin on his scalp is on fire, he feels sick and dizzy and I can’t keep up with ice packs for him. He’s not allergic but that’s a lot of poison for anyone to handle.

So Ray was not up to killing chickens today. Jo and Je came over at 4:00, and by 5:00 I had a chicken in the roaster and in the oven. First, Je and I went to catch a rooster while Jo sharpened his axe and set up the propane water heater. She used a fish net and cornered him and then held him by the wings and feet and took him to the killing block. Jo grabbed the neck and whacked him while I held him by the feet. I kept hold of his feet while he thrashed around a bit. It really wasn’t as disgusting as I had expected. We did two more and then dumped them in hot water and plucked them. He showed me how to clean the insides and I did one from start to finish. Bear patiently waited until I put some liver, heart and gizzard in his dish. He was a happy dog!

So I want to explain the sharing economy we are enjoying here. Je and Jo are one example. She has also given me 60 strawberry plants, some tomato and pepper plants and I give her some of my extras. I will sell some of her stuff at the farmer’s market so she doesn’t have to go. And we are looking after their goats.

Then there is A. I gave her some extra seed potatoes. She gives me goat milk, duck eggs and I have enjoyed her delicious goat cheese. So when she shows up at the door having had a flat tire on the highway, of course she can come in and use our phone and of course I can drive her home. Then she gives me more goat milk.

Y and R ordered too many chickens. That's why they gave us 14 chickens. Then they mentioned they have a little orchard and would like to host one of our hives during blossoming season. So I drove back and forth 25 miles several times looking after the hive and then brought it home. They will get a jar of honey.

This sharing extends to the farmer’s market. Yesterday was a beautiful day and we had high hopes of getting a good crowd buying our stuff. However, having had rain all week, probably everyone was enjoying the sunshine or working in their own gardens and it was not a great success. But we bought from each other. I made $22 (minus the table fee) and I spent $67! This is no way to get rich. But I meet wonderful people and have good conversation.

So that’s our interesting weekend. We still love this life, though Ray will not feel normal for a while. He has not lost his sense of humour and I admire him so much for the way he is gracious and cheerful even when he is suffering.

Bye for now. Keep in touch.

Love from Fern and Ray.

May 26, 2010 How To Catch a Bee Swarm

Dear Family and friends;

Today our confidence as beekeepers took a big step forward. We actually saved a swarm of bees and shook it into a new hive and now they have a new home.

We had just come home from work when our friend K called. We sold them one of our hives last fall and we have all been learning about bees together. Last Saturday we all went to the bee supply store and bought hives and equipment and a nice book for beginning beekeepers. I helped them divide their hive because we saw two new queen cells developing. That usually means they are getting ready to swarm and we wanted to prevent that. Last year our own bees swarmed on a nice hot day. They formed a big cluster of bees around a tree branch and then took off after a couple of days. We had no clue what to do. Since then we have read and heard some ideas. We were not eager to try them out.

Ray got a saw and a branch pruner, I put an extra hive box in the back of the truck, took my outfit and the smoker and off we went. Sure enough, in a pine tree there was a black cloud of bees tightly packed together, buzzing happily. K had put a wheel barrow under the branch and had a ladder ready. She bravely held onto the branch while Ray climbed up to cut it off. I was in my suit with the smoker going, ready for I don’t know what, but they had no protection at all. We had heard that bees load up with honey before they swarm and are not in a fighting mood. Luckily that proved true.

Ray cut off the branch and the bees just hung on for dear life. I grabbed it and shook the bees off into an open hive box. They dropped in and then we closed the lid and watched what would happen. Quite a few bees were trying to get back into their tree and others were flying around looking very disoriented. Their big adventure had been called off. Instead of becoming wild and free, it seemed they were being coaxed back into a comfortable box, protected from the elements, but back to working for the humans.

We left and asked for K and husband M to call us with an update. A few minutes ago we heard that every bee had left the tree and the ground and the branch and had crawled into their new home. What an amazing experience!

Actually, I really needed the boost in confidence as I accidentally let one of our three hives starve to death this spring. It was completely my fault and it was very sad. The winter was so mild and it seemed like an early spring so the silly bees went into baby production mode. Then it got cold, there were no flowers, Fern didn’t feel like going out in the wind and rain to put sugar paste in the hives, the opening to the hive got jammed with dead bees so none of them could go in or out, they used up all their supplies, and a bitterly cold freezing night finished them off. So preventable. No wonder they think they might be better off leaving home and looking after themselves!

We are trying new things this year. Some friends have a little orchard about 26 miles from here and wanted to borrow our bees for a month. I went back and forth 4 times checking on them and spraying them for parasites, etc. and brought them home last weekend. Hopefully they did a good job pollinating the fruit trees and we get a good supply of lovely honey too. I divided that hive and then took the new one to another farmer friend. I think a lot of people are getting interested in beekeeping from our experience, though it’s sure a lot more complicated and time-consuming than we thought. In about a month we should get rewarded for all our work.

So there is the latest update from Latah. Love to all.

Fern and Ray.

February 15, 2010 A Bee's Winter

Hello family and friends;

I can imagine you stirring the last spoonful of Fern's honey into a lovely hot cup of tea and thinking, "I wonder how the bees are doing?  Did they survive the winter?"

Well, I had the same question, so today being a sunny, mild day, Ray and I took our new bee smoker ($35) and went to check on them.  I had heard that cold doesn't kill the bees as much as moisture (and starvation).  Wearing my bee jacket ($60) and using the hive tool ($12), I opened the first hive and removed the insulating baby blankets and cushions, etc.  There seemed to be plenty of bees but the frames were almost empty of honey.  So, as recommended by the honey supplies people, I put sugar (lovely dark brown  sugar) on the top and also some pollen candy for the new babies and closed it up again.

The second hive was the same as the first, but when I opened the third one, there it was.  Ugly, killing mold.  So we got a new hive ($50) made by our Russian mentor and transferred as many bees as possible into it.  I think I lost half of the bees, who didn't want to move into the clean hive, but we probably saved the rest from certain death.

When we finished, Ray remarked that I still had a lot of bees on my bee suit.  However, they weren't trying to attack me, they were using me as a toilet.  It's amazing how much poop a bee has in its little body!  My lovely white suit was covered with brown spots.

So now you can stop worrying.  The bees survived the winter and there will be plenty of honey for all of you who come to visit us.  Hopefully I will also be able to sell some to make up for all those expenses listed above. 

Good night then.  Keep in touch.

Love from Fern and Ray.

January 22, 2010 Our Dog Named Bear

Dear family;

Below is a picture of our dog, Bear. I am taking him back to the vet today to check on his stitches.
Poor Bear, poor us.

I was walking with a friend, while Bear was running ahead. When it came time to turn around, I called to Bear. I didn't see what happened but next thing was that he was running and yelping and yelping. I thought maybe he stepped on a sharp thorn or glass or something, but there was no blood. Well, he hobbled slowly home and then could hardly use that leg.

It was New Year's Eve, so no vets were open. Then we were back at work so we waited until the next Thursday to go to our mobile vet clinic. She felt him and said it was the ACL ligament in his knee. It was torn and would not heal itself properly if left alone. The operation costs $1200. Well, that wasn't going to happen. I never dreamed we would spend that much on a dog. However, Bear is a good dog and we didn't want him to suffer. Also, he patrols our property at night and probably deters deer, coyotes and burglars. What to do?

Ray and I prayed for wisdom and to do the right thing. The very next day, Ray got a call from his supervisor at work and he was offered a big increase in hours and pay for the next 6months. Pretty good timing for Bear! So he got the operation after all. He is not that happy, though, because he has to stay inside (the back porch) for several weeks except to go potty. It's very boring for him. It's kind of sad too, because our neighbour's cows and horses have breached our fence and they wander over on our field all the time. Bear would get such a kick out of chasing them back where they belong.


Bye for now.

Love, Fern.

December 2009 Christmas Letter

Dear family and friends;

Hello again. We hope you are all well and living life to the full. I know everyone has had a busy and interesting year. We have, too.

Last winter was record snowfall for this area, as those who live in Spokane will remember. We had over 100 inches of snow, most of it falling in two weeks. Many roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow, especially after it started to rain on top of it. Out here on the Palouse, we had amazing snowdrifts wherever the wind felt like dropping the snow. We had no tractor or snow-blower to push it out of the way. Our kind neighbor came and plowed out our driveway three times (God bless him). Otherwise, we would have shoveled ourselves into exhaustion. The snow piled up against the fences and the dogs figured out they could walk right over the fence on top of the packed snow! The goats huddled in their shed for three months, coming out occasionally to enjoy the sunshine. We had to give them unfrozen water three times a day, as well as hay and grain. Every time I walked under the snow lip hanging out from the metal roof, I worried it would smash down on me. One poor lady in Spokane was killed in exactly that way.

Then we had an unusual warm-up in January. The creek suddenly rose and flung huge foot-thick ice blocks all over the place. There were ice jams under bridges that had to be blown up with dynamite. Next thing we knew, the river broke over the banks and came rushing toward the house. I was carrying stuff up the stairs and packing for evacuation and wondering what to do with the goats. The water came up to the driveway and stopped. Lots of little voles and mice came scurrying out of their winter holes and ran around looking for high ground. Our dogs had great fun chasing them! We realized we were in a wonderful little community when our neighbors told us they were watching the water levels and were prepared to come and help us if we needed it. We had never even met most of these people.

When the long, hard winter was finally over, it was time to plant our huge garden. I planted 12 kinds of potatoes as well as every other kind of vegetable, hoping I would make big money at the farmer’s market. We built a greenhouse; we put up fences and gates; we fixed the goat house; we built a bee house; we bought a tractor and moved piles of wood and concrete. It was hard work! As far as making money, I think I broke even. However we realize that this farm is going to be an expensive hobby rather than a money-maker for a long time.

The great success was our bees. We went from one hive to four and sold one to a neighbour. We harvested 80 pounds of honey and sold, gave away and enjoyed it. Next year should be even better, as long as our neighbours don’t put pesticides on their fields. I made sure they all got a jar of honey so they would remember our bees.

We haven’t done much foster care this year. In the summer we had a 4-year-old tornado called N. He stayed for a month and really wore us out. After he went to live with his grandparents, they sent him back for a couple of weekends so they could have a break!

In the spare time that he could find, Ray had fun working on a music CD, which was dedicated to his cousin who died in a plane crash. He is also playing the bass guitar at our little church here in Latah.

The first week of September was the Adam family reunion, which was a great time of camping on our big lawn, eating, playing games, great conversation, swimming at Lake Coeur d’Alene, etc. Again I regret that we live so far away from everyone and that it takes a major effort to come and see us. Now that it’s winter, it’s pretty lonely out here on the farm! We don’t even have goats to keep us company, as they are chilling in the freezer. But we do have a friendly community. Last weekend was the Latah Christmas potluck. There were over 100 people there, out of a population of 192. That’s a good turn-out. We have met a lot of people in just one year, and we hope we stay long enough to take our turn on the town council or something! I’m tired of moving and starting from scratch every four years or so. We are happy here.

So that is most of the news. We also were in a car accident (icy road) and totaled our car but no-one was hurt.

We are mourning the death of Ray’s beautiful niece, K, who was struck by a car here in Spokane. This is such a big loss – she was in her prime, with a great job as a respiratory therapist, two growing kids, a bright future and now she is gone. It’s so tragic. What a hard reminder that life is so fragile and so sweet.

We love and appreciate all of you and hope next year will bring good things.

November 11, 2009 An Accident

Hi family;

I really don't even want to tell you because you will worry, but we were in an accident on Monday morning.  The road was fine until I came to the s-curve on Highway 27 just before the turn off to Waverley.  Suddenly there was black ice on the road.  I felt the car slide a little under me and then it started fishtailing worse and worse.  Ray grabbed the steering wheel to try to bring it back under control, but we were all over the road.  I felt very clearly that I had to drive it into the ditch to get it off the road and prevent a collision.  I aimed for a spot between posts and sailed off thinking, "This is interesting.  I wonder if we'll die or be seriously injured."

The car had already slowed down a lot but when the front hit the ditch, the back came around and we flipped up on the side facing the wrong direction.  I was hanging in my seat belt and looking down at Ray.  I said, "Are you okay?"  He was and I was.  Then we had to get out of the car.  When I undid my belt, I half-fell on Ray and that was the only time he got mad at me.  He has been really sweet and encouraging and told me I did well and it couldn't have been avoided.

A school bus stopped on the road and called for help as our cell phone had no service.  She waited until the volunteer fire chief came.  (I thought afterwards that if we had left the house a minute later, that same school bus would have killed us.)  Anyway, I knew I was in shock so I sat in the fire chief's car to stay warm and talk about what had happened.  Ray got a ride home where he called the insurance agent and our work.  I waited for the police.  He was really sweet.  He said that he had crashed his bicycle on his early morning ride, so he understood the icy conditions.  Actually there were a lot of accidents, and two fatalities that morning.

When Ray came back in the truck he said that they couldn't get a substitute for me so I decided to go to work, as I wasn't hurt.  We were only an hour late.  My students were pretty happy to see me, as they knew what happened.

On the way to work, I was nervous because the truck did not have winter tires on and is a back wheel drive and very squirrelly on ice.  These words came clearly into my mind, "Your lives are in God's hands."  I realized that we could have died but were spared and that winter tires or not, God would decide when to take us.  I relaxed and have been pretty relaxed since then.

So now we do not have our reliable little car.  I'm almost certain it will be totalled, which is too bad because we just put a new clutch, a new windshield and new tires on it last week.  Now we have a $500 deductible and towing charges and $41 a day storage fees and they probably will give us only a little for our 1999 Toyota with over 150,000 miles.

All this to say that we might not make it to Vancouver for our long-looked forward to visit.  No cuddles with grandkids, no long chats or walks or meals together, no shopping at Famous Foods, no Scrabble with Grace.  Quite sad.

So, don't worry about us.  Our lives are in God's hands, like everyone else's, and things will work out for the best.

Bye and love from Fern and Ray.

October 25, 2010 Killing the Goats

Hello everyone;

We are now officially the cruelest two people on the planet.  Today our goats died and it was a heart-breaking good-bye.

First of all, on Friday we took their mother to another farm to get bred.  We had decided to spare Dolly's life, as she is a great mother, with a calm, good-natured personality.   We agreed to give Dolly to Jeannie and Joel in exchange for them killing and butchering the two kids.  Then we made a deal with the breeders to give them some goat meat in exchange for the use of their buck.  We love this local barter economy!

Well, the two kids had never been away from their mother.  They bawled and called for her until the little female actually lost her voice.  That was heart-breaking enough.  However, after a day or two, it became annoying and we began to want the whole thing over with.

Today, I went out for a final cuddle with the two cutest, friendliest, most lovable goats in the world.  I've been apologizing to them for the past month.  Ray and I have gone over and over it.  Do we want pets or are we going to be farmers?  People all over the world go through what we've just gone through.  And I've been thinking that it's good to be sad about eating meat.  Most people never think about it.  Besides, we had just bought a new freezer for $500, so it was too late to back out.  (So much for free meat!)

Joel and Jeannie came over around 1:00 and loaded them into their truck.  They said to wait ten minutes and then come over and help with the skinning and hanging.  What a sickening feeling.  We got there and there they were with their throats cut, lying on the ground.  After an initial pang, we got at the job.  Joel cut off their back feet with a SawsAll and we started the job of skinning. Once we started, it got easier, especially as we began to see the lovely dark meat.

Joel did an excellent job of taking out the insides.  By that point it was fascinating to look at the lungs, intestines, liver, etc.  We learned a lot.  Once the skinning was done, Joel sawed them in half, down the entire backbone and then we wrapped each half in a cheese cloth bag.  They will hang for a few days and on Friday we will go and cut and wrap them up into chops, roasts, tenderloin and scraps for sausages.

So we passed the farmer's test.  It was awful but I think we can do it again.  Next year we will have sheep.  They don't jump fences and they produce wool as well as meat.  We will try not to get too attached to them.

So if you are in the neighbourhood, come by for a meal of lovely goat meat.  

Bye for now.  Love from Ray and Fern.


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

July 23, 2009 A Bee Update

Hello family and friends;

Just a little update on farm life.  It's blistering hot outside so I am sitting here watching my cute brown teenage goats on their uprooted tree, butting heads and acting silly.  Our own little head-butting foster boy is peacefully sleeping on the sofa and my thoughts won't be interrupted.

Our bees have performed magnificently this summer.  From one hive we now have three with two harvests of honey so far.  25 pounds of light, flowery Spring honey the first time and close to 40 pounds of rich, darker summer honey a week ago.  My bee mentor has come by almost weekly to check on them and give me lessons.  It was a good thing he was here this week.

It turns out my queens were either getting lost, getting sick or dying.  The first hive had lots of honey but no eggs or larva.  Not good, as bees only live three weeks in the summer and wouldn't be replaced.  The second hive had lots of eggs and larva as well as developing queen cocoon things.  There was also a young queen that hadn't been killed off yet (the usual fate of an excess queen).  We put that young queen into hive three (with a protective cage around her until the worker bees accepted her) and the developing queen cocoons into hive one.  the next day the young queen had disappeared and the old queen stopped laying and had to be destroyed.  My mentor brought some more queen cocoons from his hives and we hope they will all be okay.  He put the cocoon up to his ear and said the queen would come out in one day.  Sure enough, when I put it to my ear, I could hear the chewing noises of the baby queen eating her way out.  You can hear
those things
when there's no traffic.

Last night Ray reported in alarm that there were hundreds of bees outside one hive covering the walls and going under the hive.  We thought they were getting ready to swarm.   I called my bee teacher.  Turns out, even bees like to sit outside and enjoy the cool evening breezes when the temperature hits 96 F (36 C).

So, come on by for some tea with honey, toast with honey, honey on a spoon or just for the peace and quiet.

Love to all, Fern and Ray.

July 4, 2009 The Farmer's Market

Dear friends and family;

Here is an update from the farm.

I am tired and all scratched up but we really felt like farmers today, driving the truck over the fields with our big white dog running alongside and bucking 65 pound hay bales.  We picked up and stacked 60 bales, with another 12 still out there. 

This wasn't supposed to happen.  We made a deal with our neighbour to swath and bale the hay in exchange for keeping two-thirds of it (normal procedure).  Then suddenly he informed us that he didn't want the hay.  Apparently a rancher with 300 cows has gotten rid of them all and now there will be a glut of hay in this area.  Last year there was a big shortage and hay was going for almost $5.00 a bale by the end of our very long winter.  Now we have to try and sell this hay (maybe for $3.50) so we can pay the kid who did the work, in lieu of the 2/3 hay.  Also we have been selling our goats and may not keep any this winter and won't need any hay for ourselves.  That's life.

We did have a wonderful surprise, though, when we harvested honey from our bees.  We got 25 pounds (11 kg) of honey from one hive!  And we should get at least one more harvest.  That's such a blessing and it tastes fabulous!

I went to sell at my first farmer's market today.  I had no clue how it would go.

I got there at 8:30 and set up my table and umbrella with our sign 'Serenity Farm'.  I didn't have that much produce but I had the honey from our bees, which I knew would be a hit.  I had onions, garlic, new potatoes, turnips, snow peas, dill, oregano and mint and rhubarb. 

It turned out I was the only one with local produce.  The rest was just vegetables brought in from other places.  ( Also flea market stuff).  It's a small town and they are trying to get a market going.  The first half hour was great.  I sold out of onions, garlic and potatoes - I think I was way under-priced.  Then I sat around for a couple of hours without much action.  Eventually I sold or gave away every thing.  After I paid the table fee of $10, I made $12 on the honey and $10 on veggies.  Actually, I was encouraged.  Next time I will charge more and have more to sell. 

We have a very challenging little foster boy right now.  He is almost five and if anyone wants to offer up a prayer for him, he really needs it.  It's hard to get any work done with him because he needs constant supervision.  Also, I have to drive in to Spokane a lot for visits with parents, doctor's appointments, etc.  We're not sure how long we can keep him.  He likes being on the farm, though, and he had great fun riding in the back of the truck over the bumpy field, waving his hat and heehawing like a cowboy.  He likes the goats and the dog.

So that's our news.  I have to turn off the water on the garden now (it's already dark) and wash off all this hay dust.  Little boy fell asleep watching a video and I will carry him upstairs and then relax at last.

Bye for now.

Love to all.  Fern and Ray.

April 5, 2009 The Gory Side of Farm Life

Hello family and friends;

Here is another chapter in our farming education experience. If you are not interested in being exposed to all these gory details about farm life, tell me to take you off my list.

First, Ray was finally able to buy a tractor, a very old tractor (1948), but a good working one and he is happy. Yesterday, he tried to pull some willow saplings out of our soggy pasture. His tractor got stuck in the mud. This morning in church, one of our wonderful neighbours diplomatically asked what the tractor was doing in that spot. He offered to come over and pull it out for us. Everyone seems to know our business, and that is a good thing so far.

About our little goat kids. We now have five - two black, two golden brown and one pure white. The first four had started growing little horn buds so we asked the other goat family in Latah if we could bring them over to get de-horned. We waited until the mothers were all in the pasture eating grass, having left their babies napping in the shed. We bundled the little babies into a big dog crate and onto the back of the truck. Once there, we put one at a time into a little box with an opening for the head, closed and locked the box, held the baby's mouth closed and the head still while our friend Terry jammed a red hot circular iron around the horn bud and held it for 20 seconds while the hair sizzled and the horn burned and the baby wailed. Apply purple antibiotic stuff and reach into the crate for the next terrified baby and do it again. Excruciating!

Then we rushed home to get back before the mothers realized their kids were missing. Too late. The mothers had escaped the pasture and were running around the garden and house calling for their babies. How happy we all were to have them reunited. Next week we will get the boys castrated. Terry sent us home with a tool for that. Ray's job.

We are having a blast and starting to feel like real farmers, now that we have a tractor and all. We will probably get some chickens soon. Milking goats hasn't worked out yet. Easy to say but hard to do it right.

So that's it. Hoping to see some of you over the summer.

Love, Fern and Ray.

March 26, 2009 Baby Goats

Hello family and friends;

Exciting news! Last night, two cute little kids were born. The photo is about 30 minutes old. They look way cuter now at one day old.

Many of you got the letter a month ago about us trying to get our goat pregnant. What did we know. The reason the bucks weren't interested was that she was already 4 months along. The last two weeks, she has really gotten fat and developed a very, very big udder!

I asked my fellow goat keepers to call me when their goats were kidding so I could see it happen and learn what to do. A few days ago I got the call that their enormous La Mancha was in labour. She needed help, so Terry put on his latex glove and went in up to his elbow to pull the babies out. I stood at the mother's head and patted and talked to her to keep her calm. There were four babies! It was pretty amazing.

Last night I went out to check on our girls and Sarah was bellowing in the shed. I could see one kid emerging so I rushed back to get towels and call Ray. The baby plopped out and Sarah started licking it all over - very sticky stuff. Pretty soon another one started to come out. I guided that one, too, and there they were. Within 30 minutes they were up on their feet and learning to walk. We hoped they would feed by themselves.

This morning, however, the babies were bleating so desperately and had not eaten at all. Sarah's udder was too full and they couldn't latch on. I tried to milk her but I don't really know how and we had to leave for work. So I called our new best friends and asked them to come over and help the situation while we were gone. This is a small town after all, and people really do mean it when they say, 'Call if you need anything.' So a young woman came over twice to milk Sarah and bottle feed the babies. Consequently, everyone looked happy when we returned from work. By tonight, the kids have figured out where to go and what to do and I think they will be fine. The little doe has been named Aurora by a neighbour girl and I think we will just call the male 'Food' because that's what he will be. Terry knows how to de-horn and vaccinate and castrate, so we better figure out a way to trade or barter or make ourselves useful so this doesn't turn into a one-sided friendship!

As it turns out, we think our other goats are also pregnant! In the last two weeks, Dolly and Nova have also gotten fatter and developed milk bags. We may have a big herd on our hands soon. I think we are in over our heads. Do you know anyone who wants a baby goat?

Anyway, those of you who live nearby, please stop in and visit us, especially if you have kids(!) of your own with Spring Break almost here, and all. We love visitors.

Bye for now.

Love, Fern and Ray

February 17th, 2009 The Little Town

Hello family;

Yesterday was so interesting that we wanted to share with you.  It sure is a different world here in little Latah.

Our three goats were supposedly bred back in October, but Ray and I both started to question that when four months have now passed and they don't look very fat.  The young buck that we had borrowed was coughing and sneezing and may have been too sick to do his job properly.

So I talked to a woman from the church here who also has goats.  They have two young bucks.  She suggested the buck rag trick to see if our girls were in the mood for a little action.  Ray and I drove out to their farm to rub a rag over the bucks and bring it back for our girls to sniff.  In theory, if they can't get enough of that rag, they are probably ready.  Well, Dolly wanted nothing to do with the rag, but Sarah and Nova lovingly rubbed their faces on it and their tails went up and they practically drooled with desire.

So Ray and I drove back to the farm to bring back a buck.  We dragged, lifted and pushed a protesting teenage goat into a little cage and took him home.  When we put him in the goat pasture with our girls, he got terrified and pushed his way right over our fence, electric wire and all.  We caught him and lifted and pushed him back into the cage and took him home.

Our new friends suggested that we bring the girls over to their place to see what would happen.  So back we went for our fourth trip and brought Sarah back.  She was obviously very happy to see the two guys and threw herself at them, but they weren't interested in her.  Apparently the time of year affects male goat behaviour, and these guys must be having a rest after their exertions in the fall.  We decided to leave her overnight, but nothing apparently happened and we brought her home today.  So five trips for nothing.

No, not for nothing.  These people are very interesting.  They have 30 to 40 emus and they gave us two emu eggs today.  Emu eggs are amazing - a dark, rich green with little speckles.  They are the equivalent of 12 eggs each, so this will be a pretty big omelet!

Their farm is about the prettiest location imaginable - at the end of a road amid lovely hills, with a natural spring-fed pond.  The first child in Eastern Washington was born in that house, which they have completely re-modeled.  They have ground heat pumped in (from pipes six feet deep) and this air is a constant 55 F.  They adopted two boys from Marshall Islands, whom she home schools.

The woman cracks me up.  She is very petite and demure, with a head scarf and long, modest dresses.  Guess what her hobby is?  Karate and martial arts!  We had a great conversation while we were watching to see what the goats were doing.

I tell you.  We have met really interesting people out here in the country and I gather they know all about us already.  There isn't much new going on, so new people attract attention.  Everyone knows we were almost flooded out a month ago.  They are so friendly that I'm sure we would have had the whole community here sandbagging if the river had come any closer.

Anyway, just a little glimpse of our life.  Actually, the honeymoon has worn off and I'm not sure why we have all these animals if they're not even going to get pregnant!

Okay.  Bye for now.  Love Fern and Ray.