It's HOT! Working on the garden, a new pet/project, hatching out babies, and we had a visitor!

Wow! This week has been a scorcher so far and today is no different.  Right now at 4 p.m. it is 97 degrees.  Too hot to be outside working much in the sun.  All the critters are out of their pens and trying to stay cool in the shade of the woods. During the hottest part of the day we provide extra water, fans, a misting hose and frozen gallon jugs of water for all the outside critters. 

My farmer man and I worked outside until about 3 p.m. and decided to come in and cool off with some fresh strawberries and a bunch of water. It's almost too hot to eat...almost. We will be heading back outside in about an hour or so to finish working on the garden.

The garden is doing well!  We have had our first pickings of green beans, wax beans, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash and even our first tomatoes.

Our picking on Wednesday

Our picking on Thursday!

I'll be preparing to start the canning season this weekend.  Need to be sure we have plenty of canning salt and lids.  My Farmer is looking forward to canning some pickles, beans and spaghetti sauce among other things this year. We are having a gas cook top installed Monday so we can can INSIDE this year.  I love my flat cook top, but it won't allow the canner to heat up enough so we are going to replace it.  It will be good to have a gas cook top the next time we have an ice storm too!

The plants are doing well considering we haven't had much rain. We water everyday, but they just seem to do so much better when we get old fashioned rain.

"Roma" tomatoes starting to ripen! We will be canning a bunch of spaghetti sauce!

The "Unknown" pepper. We started all our own plants from seed this year and this was supposed to be a California Wonder Green Pepper....It is either a Banana, Cubanelle, or Corno di Toro. We will see!

That little bloom is growing into a nice Black Beauty Eggplant

The vines are going crazy! This one has cucumbers, winter squash, and cantaloupe.

The trellis hold pumpkins, winter squash, and cantaloupe.

One of the Turban Winter Squash....Burgess Buttercup Variety

Spaghetti Squash....they will soon need support from some pantyhose!

Our first Hale's Best Cantelope

This is from a mixed pumpkin seed package... it looks like Cinderella Pumpkin!

One of our little blueberry plants. Only going to have a few blueberries this year, but they have been really sweet!

We are working on putting landscape fabric and cypress mulch down all around and between the raised beds. Here's the progress from last weekend to this weekend:

Just getting started!

We managed to finish half of the mulching last weekend

We are planning on finishing up the rest this weekend!

Just this last little bit to finish up once it cools off a bit.

My Farmer Man has a new pet/project.  He found a Tobacco Hornworm on one of the tomato plants in the greenhouse.  He has always wanted to raise on through the various stages until it becomes the Sphinx Moth so...we have a tabacco worm in our greenhouse munching away at a sacrificial Roma tomato plant.

I learned the difference between a Tomato Hornworm and Tobacco Hornworm.....Both will eat tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and tobacco.  The Tomato Hornworm has 8 V-shaped marks on it's side and the tell tale horn on it's back end....the Tobacco Hornworm has 7 diagonal lines on it's side and has a curved horn on it's back end.

We need to find a name for our newest resident!

 We have had a bunch of babies hatching out this past two weeks as well.  We hatched 17 Golden Laced Wyandottes and 28 Guineas.  They are all so cute and doing well. 

Golden Laced Wyandottes...cute little chicks.

Our Little Keets in the brooder!

We were surprised with 7 Buff keets in this hatch!  Buff color is a rare color...we hope we will have more!

This little keet is a Royal Purple color

This little keet is the Pearl color...this is the color most people are familiar with.

Our clean up crew

We have one more incubator full of Guinea eggs that are due to hatch June 28th. We are hoping for another good hatch and maybe even some more Buffs!

The Old Five Notch Farm had a visitor this week.  The neighborhood peacock, known as "Sam" came for a visit. Everyone was out of their pens and Sam seemed to enjoy hanging out with the guineas.  I was glad he had found some feathered friends and as long as he stayed out of our garden he would be welcome. Well, that didn't last long!  Sam decided HE was going to be the top bird!  He went after the guineas first and I chased him off and then he went after "Tommy"!!! No way!  I had to run him across the field and into the woods. I sure wish he would behave himself so they could all be together. Maybe he'll come to his senses, but for now he is just roaming the neighborhood.  We'll see how his next visit goes.

"Sam" checking out the turkeys pen

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the update on the farm. It is now a "cooler" 96 degrees so I guess we better think about going back out to finish up. There is a pick up truck full of mulch that needs to be unloaded and spread around the garden. If there is enough I'd like to spruce up around the Poultry Palace with some mulch too!  A Farmer's Work is never done!

Loss, Celebrations, Growing, Harvesting, New Digs, Vistors and More!

Sadly, last Friday we received word that our friend Sambo had lost his father, Sam.  We were blessed to attend the visitation Monday evening where the family had prepared a beautiful powerpoint with many lovely photos. We attended the funeral ceremony Tuesday afternoon and had the pleasure to hear their dear friend Rev. Sam speak about Sambo's father, his friend.  He told several stories of Sam and Sambo, of hunting trips, and fishing too.  The Rev. Sam was a wonderful, spirited speaker and you could tell he knew Sam well and loved him and his family.  We will continue to keep Sambo and his family in thoughts and prayers as they continue on without their loved one.

Tuesday was full of emotion!  After the funeral service, we made a B-line for Saluda High School to be present for the Senior Night.  Our oldest nephew, Gideon, is a graduating Senior this year.  He was awarded his completion certificate for Building Construction and a medallion as well as Life Scholarship!  We are so proud of him and we are looking forward to the new adventure he will start in the Fall as a college student at Piedmont Technical College as he pursues a career in welding. We attended his graduation ceremony Friday evening. We love you and are so very proud of you G! <3

Gideon Gregory Kirkland - Class of 2014

Amid all of the happenings off the farm, we still have to tend to all the critters and the gardens as well.

Everyone is well and everything is growing like crazy!  We have been fertilizing once a month and watering just about everyday with the high temperatures we have been having. We were blessed today with a nice rain shower of .63 of an inch!  That will make all the difference.  Everything will just pop now!

 We have just harvested the first fruits from the cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and lettuce and we continue to harvest strawberries as they come in.

I LOVE my basket my bestest friend Becky gave me <3

"Sparky" Marigolds starting to bloom......companion plant to most vegetables. They sterilize root nematodes and repel Mexican Bean Beetles .

"Cheeroke" Wax Beans Flowering like crazy and starting to set beans!  We are going to be up to our elbows in beans!

Park Seed "Dwarf Pastel Zinna Mix"...also a companion plant for cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes. They repel cucumber beetles and tomato worms.  They attract beneficial insects and pollinators too.

"Waltham" Butternut squash...this thing is visibly growing day by day!

"Burgess Buttercup" squash

Beautiful "Black Beauty" eggplant blossom....I keep looking for a fairy to appear in this picture!

"California Wonder" Peppers....and the lower leaves of the BB Eggplant.  The flea beetles had their way with them, but the plants were very strong and have done very well. I don't use any insecticides!

We were busy this middle of this week working on making a house and pen for "Tater". She is now almost 2 months old and has outgrown the Rubbermaid container she was in.  She needed more room, but also needed something all one level, easy to clean and safe.  My wonderful Farmer Man went to work designing the "Tater House"!  She is used to being on towels, so it will take sometime to get her used to pine shavings....if we get her used to pine shavings!  If not, I'll just be washing "Tater towels" for the rest of her life :0) Here's the house and pen he and I built for her.  I plant to add a little "Tater" plaque to it.

"Tater" will be safe and secure in her new home. "Tater's New Digs" ;0)

And, yes, she has her own personal fan in addition to the ceiling fan. She is in her house under the feathers in the picture.

"Tater"!  She like to stay close or under her "Foster Momma" aka three feather dusters.  She also has mirror she will sit in front of....she's so funny!

She is used to being in a clear Rubbermaid container so she spends much of her time in the house, but I have found her on a few occasions out in the run as well as "evidence" that she has been out in the run. So far on the the hottest days, she has done very well.  When it gets warm you will find her sitting out in the run area right in front of "her" fan. This little chicken has it made <3


"Tater" will soon have company on the screened porch!  We have just removed the egg turners from incubator #2 and will have Golden Laced Wyandottes hatching out in just a few day. A week later we will have the guineas in incubator #1 hatching out too. Our Hatch-A-Thon will start soon!


Today has been a couch kind of day for me. I made the mistake of working in the wood shop without a mask. Wood dust + my allergies = Sinus infection and this time laryngitis too. Antibiotics on board, decongestant,hot honey lemonade and I'll be right as rain in a just a day or two.

My sweet farmer man has been outside all day.  He is working on cleaning up his wood shop and all around the barn.  Just a bit ago he came in and said look what I found.....

Yep, that is a small black rat snake he walked into the house with!  He found it while picking up the feed bags I had stacked up.  Scott mentioned he hadn't seen nearly as much mouse crap around the barn as he had been seeing!  Guess this guy was doing his job, but he had to be relocated because he would also eat day old baby chicks. We try not to kill any animals here on the farm.  They are just doing what they need to survive like all the rest.  We just relocate them to an area where they are free to do so....away from our livestock. Live and let Live!

We are looking forward the next few weeks of new babies and meeting new people as they come to pick up their chicks and keets.  We hope to have enough chicks that we can keep some and add some more hens to our flock....if not "Woobie" is broody again and we may just have to let her have her way and set a few eggs under her. She is an excellent Mom!  Between the egg sales and loading the incubators we have a hard time keeping enough eggs...that's a good problem to have!

Our Garden, We have Fruit!, An accidental Death, Farm Family Returns, Growing Baby Guineas! and more on the way...

We have had much needed rain here on the farm this past week.  You can water with the hose, but it sure doesn't have the same effect as good old rain.

The garden is doing beautifully!  We have had our first good sized picking of strawberries and blackberries.  They are both very sweet and delicious, but best of all WE grew them and they were grown without any pesticides!

 The raised bed gardens are doing very well. I do have to admit though it has taken some relearning on my part to go from a huge 40 x 70 row crop type garden to square foot gardens.  It has been amazing how much less work it is...once you get the beds installed! Here's the view of our gardens and our hives.

This bed has 16 "Sparky" Marigolds, 16 Swiss Chard...just replanted and not up yet, 36 "Cherokee" Wax Beans,  72 "Blue Lake" Bush Beans, 4  "Black Beauty" Eggplant,  4 "California Wonder" Green Peppers, and 4 "Roma" tomatoes....all in a 4 x 8 bed!

"Sunburst" Patty Pan type Squash...almost ready

One of MANY "Black Beauty" Zucchini growing

Beautiful "Roma" Tomatoes...going to be making our own spaghetti sauce soon!

Winter Squash...either a "Spaghetti" or a "Waltham's Butternut"...with a few visiting insects

We are very pleased with the progress of the gardens so far.  Even the potted citrus trees are producing.

We will have Navel Oranges this year!

I love having some flowers around the gardens too for several reasons.  One they are pretty and add color to the garden and two, many of them are great companion plants and three, they bring in pollinators!

Dwarf Petunias

We supply a watering hole for our visitors and our resident bees too.

A wagon full of petunias....and they listened...they are really growing!

A "Sweet" Seat....Strawberries :0)

A gift from my sweet farmer man <3

This past weekend we planted 4 blueberry bushes and two butterfly bushes.  We have been clearing the area around the greenhouse to make room to install a grape arbor as well as some thornless blackberries. My poor farmer man was in the process of cutting down an old pine stump while I was working in the greenhouse. He was using the chainsaw when all of a sudden I hear, "Oh No! Oh No!...not something you wish to hear when the man you love it using a chainsaw!  I bolted out of the greenhouse thinking, he has hurt himself, he cut into the stump and their were wasp or hornets in the stump, among other terrible things, to find him gently holding a Scarlet King snake. Just a little fellow, maybe 8 inches long.  My Farmer was heartbroken!  He didn't see the little guy until the chainsaw has cut through the bark where he was hiding. He tried to stop the saw, but was unable to.  He is quite the herpetologist and has spent much of his life searching out different hard to find snakes, amphibians and reptiles. Bless his heart, he had never found a live Scarlet King snake.  We quietly look at the beautiful fellow and said we were sorry.  What a beautiful snake who lives it's life tucked in between the bark of old, dead pine trees eating termites and other small insects.  I hope that my farmer man will find a live one....it would make his day.

We are so excited that one pair of the Canadian Geese that we had staying at our pond have returned.  This pair is a "Wild" pair, but it is very apparent that they are used to people and being fed.  We call him/her "Hissy Goose" and His girl. 

"Hissy Goose" in the back and his girl in the front

We are hoping that maybe the four others that were released here at The Old Five Notch Farm are off with new babies and doing well.  We have seen pairs of geese in the area with little ones at various ponds and lakes.  I would LOVE for them to return and even bring the rest of the family home.

The warmer weather has us preparing to keep the flock as cool as we can.  We already have two box fans and a misting system to help keep everyone cool. I have just purchased the items needed to make a swamp cooler for our sweet "Tommy".  We have added more shade cloth and a "new" used umbrella to install a dusting area and additional shade. We'll be posting as we add new ways to keep everyone comfortable. Frozen treats and frozen water bottles are always welcomed by the flock!

Treat time brings everyone running!

The Guineas that "Broodie" hatched are doing well and growing fast.  It has been interesting to see the little buff guinea,  "Buffy" go figure, grow and change.  We can't wait to see what color he/she turns out to be.

Our "Buffy" growing up fast!

Our little "Buffy" <3

"Broodie"and her keets. She is one SERIOUS Foster Mom.....you don't mess with her babies or be prepared to be bitten and kicked...repeatedly! She is FINALLY getting some of her feathers back in.

"Momma Broodie" showing the keets that the green stuff IS good to eat.

"Momma" found a treat

 We have been so very blessed with good hatches with the guineas and the chickens too.  We didn't think we would set any more eggs, but due to phone calls and requests we now have a WAITING LIST for guinea keets and for Golden Laced Wyandotte chicks.  We currently have 37 good guinea eggs in the incubator due to hatch June 17-19, 34 good Golden Laced Wyandotte eggs in another incubator due to hatch June 10-12 AND we have just purchased another incubator to set 41 more guinea eggs for one gentleman!  We are thrilled to have such a good response to our little ones and look forward to sharing pictures of the new babies as they arrive.

Here's the line up...Keets in the first incubator, Chicks in the middle and we will be loading the last incubator today with guinea eggs.  Stay tuned for our Hatch-A-Mania!