Update

What a very strange winter. I can't believe it is already Christmas. For all the looking forward to sitting by by the fire this winter and spending some time reading and planning all my ventures for next year, next to none of this has happened yet. Most of this has been because the weather has been so warm, I have had too much opportunity to work outside. So while the outside work is getting done, the inside work is so very far behind.
Yes, I know it is still not even half way through winter but next month I start plant trays at a slow pace to go on to a faster pace planting in February to an all out mad dash in March. February is also tree and berry planting time. One hundred locusts are going in the ground this year as living fence posts. And hopefully I will get some various market berries planted in February as well. February is also when I will be raising 50 chicks.
For those that don't know. I am expanding Blaithin Blair to include specialty produce. (Specialty producing meaning early and late vegetables and unique ethnic vegetables.) While cut flowers will still be the focus, I needed a complementary venture to slide in on the sides that didn't require the same intense labor as flowers. Enters early and late season produce. Unfortuntely, the planning for this is proving to be almost as intense as planning for flowers....most likely because of my lack of experience with vegetable farming.
Ah, well even if I have been so very busy this fall and winter it is still a slower pace then the spring and summer sprint. For that I am grateful. And hopefully soon winter will set in more fully so my tulips bulbs will have a good chilling season for a good bloom show in May(and so I will have a planning season).

What? More Snow! We have a Winner....uh, I mean a Winter...Finally.

http://www.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&article=2

We had another light-duty snow this week..about 4 inches or so. Unfortunately, I was fighting a cold so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. But I did haul some mulch on the tractor...I'm sure that didn't help my cold any.
It was a whopping nine degrees out this morning. And because of this cold (actually, both "colds", temperature cold and sickly cold), I missed going to the market today. (Even now at 1PM it is only 29 degrees...would've been a cold day to stand out on concrete). I am glad to see the cold though....maybe it is a good sign for the rest of the winter. It has been so long since we have had a nice southwest Virginia winter....been way to warm and muddy. Thinking about having a icy cold winter brings back memories of heavy but too short coveralls, frosted horse whiskers, dog paw ice wads, and cow snow coats. Not too mention water trough ice chipping, doing 360's in the car, warming up kittens in your coat, and pulling groceries on a wagon because the truck can't get up the hill.
Anyways, I had made some Christmas wreaths to take to the market, so now here they hang. The pictures do not do them justice.

I took these pictures last spring of
my favorite guitarist. I am finally getting around to posting them now.

We had our first dusting of snow yesterday....right about on time too ....in normal years SW Virginia gets it's first flurries around Halloween. We also had our first frost about dead on average ...a few weeks ago. So far so good for a "normal" winter. (This follows a more "normal" summer with the temperature only getting to the 90 degree mark one time.) Jeff and I are digging up some cross country skiis in preparation. I love (real) southwest Virginia weather. If you don't like it, wait 'til tomorrow..it'll be different. ;)
This was a good day for making use of all the apples and pears Nik and I have been picking off the neighbor's trees. I made apple bread, apple butter, pear butter, and started drying some apples by the wood stove. I also gathered rose hips and helped Jeff move the wood pile closer to the house. Good blustery day work.

Fall Market

Mt. Rogers thistle

I had to get one picture in. :)

Poultry and Dead grass

For once I am going to write what I am in to these days instead of pictures. But I'll keep it short...so.....I am thinking of raising broilers, egg layers, meat ducks, egg ducks, pheasants, and turkeys. They all somewhat go together although most of these I won't be able to start until next March. Meanwhile I have pens to build...which means :) , I have lumber all over my yard. OK, OK I won't try all these at once...but I think they are all good ideas. Come to find out....nearby restaurants want to buy locally grown and raised food but can't find it in enough quantity. Here I come to fill the gap....OK dreaming on my four acres. I also I am considering buying a second milk cow....but I do need to start building the barn to milk them in. Which reminds me of all the projects in our old house here....floors to sand, walls to paint, furniture to build, doors to make, insulation to put in....oh, goodness, we need to start cutting firewood! And......I have started to cover the only flat section of our yard in newspaper, compost, and mulch to try to kill grass by springtime...so, I can grow greens galore for our greens lacking farmers market (plus I know a restaurant that wants spinach). I plant to build a 14' X 20' high tunnel that I can move to two or three different places..this will probably be a 3 year project to get established. Plus I have been planting greens in mom's garden (little does she know when she is on vacation) because I want winter greens for myself. And I don't have anywhere else to plant them. Plus she just plain ol' has a nice garden. So while I have been scheming how to get 50 dozen eggs a week, I thought...boy oh boy mom and dad have a nice place. They need chicken pens too!!! And, (ha, once again, little do they know) a couple of high tunnels where they are putting in new gardens for the GREAT great Depression. So I have been scheming about this and that and really not accomplishing it. Except for a yard full of lumber and a pile of newspaper. I did try to keep it short. Whew, I am glad we are headed to the beach for a week.

P.S. I almost forgot the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and other assorted sun loving fruit and berries that I want to plant on our south facing slope. And the hundred of black locusts to plant as living fence posts. And the more scientific compost pile in the making. And the Mount Rogers nature guidebook to write. Ok I'm done...for now.

First Frost

We had our first frost of the year this morning. If you don't care that is fine. I couldn't think of a better place to record it than my blog. This way I can keep track and always know where I wrote it down. Or maybe I'll still forget, but when I do remember at least I can find it.

Picks from A Nature Hike

The Three of Mine

News,news, depressing news

You would think that the economy failing would not bother me. I hate money and have always hated money. I love bartering at the market or anywhere else. I love eating what we grow and raise. I love making do. But hearing about economies failing in countries all over the world has me upset. I suppose it is partly because this is the first year Jeff and I have felt productive members of the community and I worry ...will we have clients and customers next year? But more than that I fear God has had enough...enough of the foolishness of this country and those all over the world. How far will this go? Will famine come? Will my friends lose their houses? But while I wait for the rainbow in the sky, I remind myself that He is in control and the majority of my friends are of His people as well as I.

A Day Off

Jeff and I took the dogs to Grayson Highlands today for an old dog hike. It was a wonderfully cool day with clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds. So nice for a Sunday change instead of being at home surrounding by work. The leaf colors were just on the verge of changing...red maples with a hint of red and a little scatterings of yellow. We rode by Whitetop which reminded me of the Maple Syrup Festival there...maybe we will get a chance to go next March. We really need to head over that way more...it is like a vacation one hour away.

Need to do......

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Nothing

Fall is here! The long sleeves are staying on past the early morning hours, the walnut leaves are falling, and I'm thinking of warm things to eat. Ok so maybe it is still getting in the 70's but that is close enough to get me excited.

Green grass and brown dirt

Meadow is home and is happy to have grass. The drought was so bad in TN there was next to no grass. It looked like a desert....and we thought we had it bad. Guess we just got the heat! But anyways, I am now the owner of a Jersey cow. She is a sweet cow (like any good Jersey should be) and hungry for good grass. I have been leaving her in the yard while I am out there doing things.

The weather has been more agreeable this year than last. We have had more normal daytime temps and cool nights with off and on rain. I am still trying to decide if the flowers like our more normal weather patterns or not. Some things seem to have done better last year which I guess is why so many commercial flowers are grown in South America. Hopefully this pattern keeps up into the winter though.....the soil could use a good snow cover with slow melt-offs.

These are nine of the eleven dried flower wreaths I have made in the last week. Two of them sold last Saturday. I may squeeze one more in tonight. But doubtful.

Since I Do Have German Blood....

I started a crock of sauerkraut on Wenesday......first tasting will be tomorrow evening. (The water jug is just a weight on the cabbage) This week I also made some kefir and buttermilk...just getting into practice for 6 gallons of milk a day :) And yes, I still have weeds 4 feet tall and flowers coming out of my ears...but I can't work all the time....I must play too. Which reminds me of some work....another picture I will go take and post.

Harvest Time

A week's load of tomatoes(and squash). To be made into sauce tomorrow (hopefully) after market.

Homemade Sourcream

Salt

"Most discussions of salt ignore the issue of salt processing. Few people realize that our salt - like our sugar, flour, and vegetable oils - is highly refined; it is the product of a chemical and high-temperature process that removes all the valuable magnesium salts as well as trace minerals occurring in the sea. To keep salt dry, salt refiners adulterate this "pure" product with several harmful additives, including aluminum compounds. To replace the natural iodine salts that are removed during a processing, potassium iodide is added in amounts that can be toxic. To stabilize the volatile iodide compund,processors add dextrose which turns the iodized salt a purplish color. A bleaching agent is then necessary to restore whiteness to the salt." - taken from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

Does anyone ever feel like they have way too much they need to do AND way too much they want to do so that they don't feel like doing anything at all? Thats how I feel today.

Meadow the Jersey

I bought a Jersey cow yesterday!! A heifer to be precise, but she is just about old enough to breed. Next step is trying to find a way to breed her to a Dexter bull. Dexters are a small dual purpose breed that I have had an interest in for years. (Dad is considering buying a few Dexters also. So we may be in the business yet.) I am going to breed my Jersey heifer to one so her first calf will be a small one.... to make it easy on her. Can't take any chances! It will likely be a few weeks before we go to Knoxville to pick her up so I'll post a picture when that time comes. I know Rachel will be looking forward to it :)

I finally got some computer time while Jeff is fixing dinner. Between his working alot and my two farmers markets a week (which means 3 entire days completely spent on markets) plus 3 foot high weeds, I havent seen much of the computer. And since I am actively seeking a dairy cow most any time I do get on the computer is spent on this search. (I have found one in Knoxville that I am looking into....http://knoxville.craigslist.org/grd/757775769.html) But anyways, here I am! And here is a recent photo of the field.

The guineas have ventured to the pasture.

The market sales are picking up now but we sure are having to get creative. The town has decided not to let us drive up to our spot now so we are having to haul everything in. This also means things are crowded since we have to have everything in our 10' X 10' area(including what would normally be IN the truck). I don't know what we are going to do in another month when we are loaded down with flowers. We are talking about setting up a tent behind our spot where our truck would normally be parked but we know this is going to cause "issues" with the town. Ah, the farmers market drama.

I was going to do another comparison of the field now and a year ago but I keep forgetting to get last years picture off of Mom and Dad's computer. So here is a picture of the field as of right now. If I ever get around to it, I'll post a picture of the field last year at this time so you can see how I have improved. But the learning never ends......

I sit with a swollen finger. Hammers hurt!

The people in charge of the town of Abingdon are a bunch of morons. 'nough said.

I finished building my screen door!! I also pressured washed the porch and front of the house last week so now the porch is a pleasant spot to eat lunch.

Just a quick entry to let everyone know I am still alive. I have been busy busy trying to keep the weeds at less then 2 feet high in the field. Thankfully Jeff has had some time lately to help me out a few times a week. Speaking of Jeff.....you gotta see him go with his new "weedeater" (i.e. a scythe). Not to mention he put most of my drip irrigation system in (while I was running back and forth trying to figure out which weeds to pull). I do believe I will make a farmer out of him yet. This is all while he keeps us afloat with his editing until the flowers start to bring in some cash.

Some of the things I am working on: Just about got my screen door finished (made from scratch, thank you). Half the front porch is pressured washed (I ran out of steam this evening). The bedroom will be half painted next week (and I say again...it WILL). Looking for a milk cow. Studying up on my pasture management(it has been a few years since I knew anything about this). Thinking about making a house for my guineas. Soon to come....cheese making ( I loooove cheese!) and roof painting(OK probably not till fall).

Jeff's projects: Practicing up with his scythe to get ready to harvest his wheat. Studying up on switching our water supply from county water to spring water so we don't have to drink the yucky water anymore. Soon to come...roof repairs and ditch digging.

Guineas

OK so this was 2 weeks ago when this picture was taken....but here they are....the guinea keets. Now they are four times this size.

Farmer Boy

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

This was a tough week for me. The stress and overwork of farming weighed me down. It wasn't until this morning as I worked in the field that this came to me, "Rome wasn't built in a day". It is funny because I wasn't really even thinking about all the work I yet had to do. But I had been...all week. This little saying just came to me and made me just kinda laugh at how ridicilous it is to think I can get as much done as I plan for myself. Much against what seems to make sense, as long as I remind myself every morning that this is a fleeting moment and soon I will not be on this earth, work is not such a chore. It is actually enjoyable to work because I am commmanded to by God and not because I have to make money and support us. Provisions come from God....not from my or Jeff's work. We really just do this as an occupation for God's glory. But if I could only remember this day to day......

Meditation in a Toolshed

I was standing today in a dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no tool shed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny in the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, ninety-odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences. - C.S.Lewis

The top picture is of the field now. And below is a picture of the field at this time last year. Although you may not be able to tell a lot of difference from the picture, we have twice as much in beds and planted as we did last year at this time. The entire other side of the field (which you cannot see in last year's picture) wasn't even made into beds yet, which it is this year. And that is even with Jeff only helping me 1 or 2 times a week in the morning. We found a more efficient way to make beds which has helped a bunch. And I am a lot less precise about my planting as seeds are relatively cheap as compared to time. For the most part, planting is done...just a few plantings here and throughout the summer to keep a steady supply. Now weeding begins!!

Save the farm from developers

Looking at this article, makes you wonder if rising gas prices may be the beginning of saving farmscapes from development into suburbia. Rural Living in a World with Expensive Fuel

Here you go mom. I did a day in the life of...just for you.

6:00 Make coffee, check email and weather
6:30 Devotions
7:00 Get dressed and eat breakfast
7:15 Gather up tools
7:30 Leave for field
7:45 Take care of Flint and Bandit
8:00 Use tractor to move mulch to field until
10:15 Coffee break, blog entry
11:00 Load truck with mulch to take home, weed larkspur, take a walk-through of field
1:00 Drop tools off at Mom and Dads, head home
1:15 Lunch break with Jeff
2:15 Unload mulch, straighten house
3:30 Read
4:00 Talk with Jeff
4:30 Head to field
4:45 Take bush-hog off of tractor, load truck with mulch, plant zinnias, bachelor buttons, and dill in field, overwhelm myself with how much I still need to do
6:00 Take care of Flint and Bandit, move cows
6:15 Head home
6:30 Unload mulch, talk with Jeff
7:00 Shower
7:15 Check email
7:30 Clean up kitchen, start pervil for later day
8:15 Help Jeff with dinner
8:45 Dinner and Netflix
10:30 Bed...ahhhhhh

6:00-

Just kidding :) I won't put you through it again.

Now it's your turn ;)

Southwest Virginia is saddened

Southwest Virginia has changed so much. What used to be a rural area is, it seems, moving to some sort of suburbia. I am saddened and frustrated by this change. An area that used to be full of beautiful farmland is now full of houses, stores, and partially filled developments. (What is called "Exit 7" was once a beautiful farm and is now Lowes, WalMart, and Sam's Club and doesn't even resemble what it once was.) Developers and out-of-towners are the only ones able to afford the land and now we have house farms and bloated property values. Out-of-towners want the conviences of city life but the "idea" of living in the country so now we are ending up with some kind of sprawling suburbia....minus the city.
But why has this area become this way? I can't blame people for wanting to move here...it is one of the most beautiful areas in the country(IMO). I cannot tell you where people are finding the work and especially how they are finding the work to support the standard of living they are living.
The only reason for this sad change is people are moving here from areas in which they were able to make their fortune, buying or building houses, and raising the price of living for the everyone. The last 5 years or so the price of real estate has become, well, unreal. (Jeff and I hard a terrible time finding something we could afford but were lucky enough to find a fairly priced home from church members.)
Now , I dare say, locals cannot even afford housing here. The most one can do is buy a half acre and put a trailer on it. (The fall in housing prices has not seemed to reach this area yet.) This reminds me of Isaiah 5:8 which says,

"Woe to those who join house to house;
They add field to field,
Till there is no place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!.

Commentators tell us this stems from the greed of the wealthy buying up the land so that the poor no longer had a place to live. This was a warning of the judgement on such excesses. How many homes here can you go and see no other homes or "dwell alone"?
But to make matters worse, zoning is pretty non-existent here. One can build a half million dollar home next to a trailer and bring the property tax up so that the trailer owner can no longer afford to live there.
I am so saddened by what this area has become...even to the point of shedding some tears over it. Land prices are so inflated it can only be sold to outsiders. Outsiders build 100,000 to 800,000 houses that look like they belong in northern Virginia. The locals could never afford to buy such a house if it was to come up for sale so then more outsiders move in looking for that city in the country.
What saddens me the most is the intrinsic value of land seems to be no longer. Land is most always seen as potential money. Farms are not kept in agriculture because farmers see how much they can make selling it to a developer. A developer sees farmland as dollar signs in his eyes. Outsiders see "cheap" homes and flock here. I know change is inevitable...but it doesnt make it any easier for me that I the place I call home is becoming a place I would have never chosen to live. Southwest Virginia land is no longer a true agriculture area. Farmland is lost. I am sad.

Just felt like there was too much seriousness on my blog....so here is a picture of my nephew, Taylor.

Why I Cannot Afford to Shop at Wal Mart

Sometimes people will ask me why I do not shop at Wal-mart. While I tend not to even think about it anymore as I hardly even consider the store as an option, here is what started it all.

First, there is the practical reason that Wal-Mart is 30 minutes away!! Why would I drive 30 minutes to get groceries or anything for that matter that I can just as easily get 15 minutes away?

Then, here is the common reason that people avoid the place. Wal Mart tends to cause disorder and confusion of a town as well as wipe out most small business'. I can think of a few local shops that have at least had to stop selling items because there is no way they can compete. I have seen many towns in which the main street is abandoned as other shops try to move closer to the Wal-Mart.

But even though these are perfectly logical reasons for avoiding Wal-Mart my main objection is more idealistic. Wal-Mart encourages the collection of worthless items....in other words, consumerism. The store is seen as a money saver for the poor. But really! All it does is encourage those with little money to spend more. In reality it robs from the poor and gives to the rich. (By the way, I have nothing against the rich getting richer when it is just). There was a time when I would buy clothes from Wal-Mart. What I soon found out was I was paying multiple times over for clothes what I would have been had I bought them from a quality store. Take for instant a shirt. A shirt may cost me $10 from Wal-mart while I could buy a better made shirt from a real store for $30. At a glance you would think this a great deal until you find out that the $10 shirt would last one season while the $30 shirt would last indefinitely, likely 5-10 years. (An argument could be made that children don't need these clothes as they grow out out them so quick. This I would readily agree although I would argue that clothing makes for great charity.) Often times my Wal-Mart clothes wouldn't even last through one season. This can be applied to most anything from Wal-Mart that isn't to be consumed immediately. I have even found that when you think that you are getting a good deal on something from Wal-Mart because it is name brand something, when you get it home you find out it has somehow a cheaper model specifically for Wal-Mart to sell (kinda like what you would find at a dollar store).

What it all comes down to is..I CANNOT AFFORD TO SHOP AT WAL-MART. Let's face it...most things we need can wait to be purchased. We do not need them now..we can wait to save and buy them later. I would much rather save my $10 now and save another $20 over time to buy a shirt that will last me 5 to 10 times as long.

Of course, if you are in the city, their are endless opportunities to save(and spend too, which is why I am glad I do not live in a city). Cities have Trader Joes (rated the same food prices as Wal-Mart) according to Consumer Reports. Cities have Goodwill stores where you can buy well made clothing for a fraction of the price. Housing is another story altogether which Wal-Mart, as far as I know, isn't in the market of anyways. Housing is ridiculously expensive for anyone but this will be addressed later. I have my opinion on why this is...at least for Southwest Virginia.

One other quick consideration is the cost in time. Wal-MArt takes much of a persons time. Swimming through that mess of stuff is hard and tiring. The store purposely draws your attention to other items which meana your are side tracked from your original purpose. There is lost time. I just don't have this in my back pocket. Time means alot more to me than money ever will. Even for someone that had more time than money wouldnt time be better spent working productively than spending greedily.

Farmers markets are a hopeful sign. People tend to shop at the market because they know they can get better quality produce than at a supermarket...often times even willing to pay a higher price for this quality. I just hope this is a sign of people moving toward an interest in quality rather than quantity.

So while I would never consider Jeff and I poor....often wondering how we do as well as we do, we are below median income for this area and still do not shop at Wal-Mart. It is possible! In fact, it is the only way....I can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart.

(by the way, I have linked the title to an interesting article to read more about how Wal-MArt destroys).

Springtime is definitely NOT the time for cleaning.

One of my recent arrangements

EEEEEEK I'M 29!!!!! Thats almost 30!

Ceili and Rico Playing...who says dogs and cats are enemies?

I estimate that I have planted 1 mile in linear feet of flowers so far this spring. And planting season officially only started less than a week ago (May 15). But I did cheat, risk a late frost, and started planting a bit early. And I wonder why I am so exhausted.

Why I Farm

"A farmer who was interviewing a candidate for a field job asked her why she wanted to work with flowers. She responded that she found working with flowers so peaceful and therapeutic. 'This isn't therapy,' the farmer told her. 'This is commercial floriculture.'
To an outsider, growing flowers for a living may seem idyllic. To the experienced grower, though, flower farming is like any other kind of farming - it entails hard work, long hours, physical discomfort, a frequently a high level of stress. Of course like any farming, it also offers personal freedom, the opportunity to work outdoors, a direct relationship between hard work and income, and the feeling of fulfillment that comes from producing something tangible. "
From The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski


I wanted to share this excerpt because it explains quite perfectly what I go through daily, especially lately.

Peaceful, farming is not. Therapeutic, farming is not.

Hard, farming is. Physically tiring, farming is. Stressful, farming is.

So why do I farm? Because I love being free to pursue what I like, I love being outdoors, I love knowing at the end of the week that I worked hard to pay for what I have, and I love producing something. Producing something that is aesthetically pleasing is just an added benefit (that I often do not get to enjoy).

One of my many friends

Bo, the red breasted grosbeak.

Ah, Red Wine

Good grief, it's been two weeks since I wrote anything. I'm so tired though I don't know what else to do but sit here on my bum and pretend to write something while waiting on a delivery from Jeff's diner.

Mid-Appalachia's Climate Change Saga Continues

Now we may be getting tornado sirens because of one tornado ....... http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-05-08-0045.html

Early Meadow Rue

The unidentified plant that I dug up along the trail is an Early Meadow Rue. Since I found that these have separate male and female plants I will have to make sure I have both. You can see a picture of them at this site , http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/thalictrumdioi.html

Spring Larkspur

Jeff and I went out along the trail and dug up some of these along with white sweet violets and another plant that I haven't identified yet. I planted them in the yard in hopes I can get them to spread.

Our house

Elevation- 2400'
I'm having fun studying maps of our little neck o' the woods.