A new puppy!

Last week was an exciting week for us. We drove down to Virginia to pick up our new puppy from the breeder. He is totally adorable (as you can see in the picture above that his breeder sent us before we picked him up). He is a Slovak Cuvac named Bo, and he is just 2 months old. This little guy is an unusual dog. You can read about his breed here. What attracted us to him was that he shares our Slovak background (Charlie and I both have Slovak mothers). His breed originated right in the area where my grandmother was born. Slovak Cuvacs are known for protecting livestock, particularly birds and cattle. Because he is a guard dog (but not an attack dog bred for vicious behavior), his kind was nearly wiped out during WWII, because invading armies in Slovakia killed the guard dogs as part of the invasion. Slovak Cuvacs are known to be very brave; they are one of few dogs that will stand up to bears and wolves. Since there are very few wolves anymore, no one really needs that kind of firepower in a dog anymore. Also they like to guard groups of children so this is really the perfect dog for us.

So we have our work cut our for us. We have to figure out how to train this little guy to do several things. The first priority is to teach him to do his business outside. Thank god we have no carpets. Actually he makes it outside about 85% of the time, but he has maybe one or two accidents per day. Next we have to teach him to respond to our commands so we can get him off leash at home. Right now the only command he responds to properly is sit. When I can teach him to come to me when I call, then I can start letting him off leash. Lastly, I need to teach him to guard the animals, and this is going to be the hard part. Right now he is afraid of Josie, the cow, and he wants to chase the birds. And since he is teething and chewing on everything in sight, I don't dare let him near the birds. He also fights with the cats. Since Bo and the cats are presently indoors I figure that will come to an end shortly when they simply get used to each other. The cats are afraid of him and they freak our when he drinks their water (which he is fond of doing even though he has his own.) Eventually Bo will spend more and more time outside and that will lessen the conflict with the cats as well.

We realized yesterday that wild blackberries and wild raspberries are in season and we started the picking and canning yesterday. I canned four small jars of raspberry jam. I have about 3 or 4 lbs of wild blackberries in the fridge that we picked last night and I'm going to can today. I visited my sister who lives up in God's Country, PA (it really is God's country because she lives in a town called Corry near a fairly large Old Order Amish settlement.) While I was there we did a lot of shopping the in Amish general stores and I finally got myself a food mill. I was able to remove, not all, but most, of the seeds from my raspberry jam with that tool yesterday.

Unfortunately, when Charlie woke up this morning, he was all swollen with some sort of allergic reaction. He looks like Rocky in the 13th round against Apollo Creed. He walked around all morning saying "Cut me Mick! Cut me!" We have no idea if he was bitten by something while we were out in the field yesterday or what. This situation retooled our plans for the day, because grass cutting was out of the question.

The weeds are threatening to totally overwhelm us. We are fighting the good fight. We spent a good portion of Saturday weeding and in addition to back ache and sore hands, I got a ferocious sunburn on a the sliver of my back where my shirt did not properly reach my jeans. Lovely eh? Well it hurts like hell. I'm sure any real farmer would be laughing his or her ass off at what a ridiculous thing it is that we let the weeds get so out of control in the first place and then to add insult to injury we did all of the weeding in one day and it was a hot one at that. Live and learn, that is what we're on this farm for anyway, right?

Visitors!

Photo: Marianne, Joseph, Mike, Claire, Ally, Christopher, Ryan, and Matt

This morning was just about as close to perfect as possible. I woke up early, put all the animals out, and gave everyone fresh water, made coffee and then sat outside with Josie. I read my book and drank my coffee; she chewed her cud. It was amazingly relaxing, just me and my cow.

We have had Josie for almost a week now, and she is settling down pretty well, but I still get frightened when she runs and bucks (which she is doing less, but still doing). The Guinea hens still startle her when they do their yakking, and their spastic movements don't sit well with her either. She seems to enjoy the company of the ducks and chickens however, and she really enjoys when the people come outside with her and just hang out. For a while she was mooing discontentedly every time anyone of the human variety walked away from her. It is clear she doesn't like being alone. Being a herd animal, it is logical that she would feel very insecure by herself. Before you even complete the thought, the kids have already suggested getting another cow for her to herd with. I'm convinced it is a good idea, but we had enough trouble finding Josie, I have no idea where I'd find another one like her.

I had some difficulty finding a vet that would care for Josie, but through a series of phone calls we finally found a vet that specializes in cows and he told me on the phone he likes Jerseys best of all--so from the sounds of it, we found the perfect vet. He is coming out next week to meet Josie and we will talk to him at that time about having her horns removed. Needless to say I want her anesthetized for this procedure. In case you are wondering, we have been told, and the vet agrees, that with small children around, we are better off dehorning her. Although dairy cows rarely get aggressive (in contrast to dairy bulls) we don't want to take any chances.

Josie is already not an organic cow. On the first day that we got her, the flies were biting her legs so much the poor thing was bleeding. She looked so totally uncomfortable; I ran directly to Agway to get her some relief. That relief comes in the form of noxious chemicals unfortunately. I will talk to the vet and also do some research on what we can do for her that might be less toxic, but there is no way we can choose not to address the issue of the flies; they are a constant annoyance to her, and their bites can be a health hazard to her as well if any of the bites should become infected. Of course I can't stand for one second to see the poor thing suffer, but I don't want a situation where the cure is worse than the problem. Some research is clearly in order.

We had a big treat today when my brother, his wife, and their three children came to visit. The first thing they all the kids said upon exiting the car was "we want to see that cow!" Josie seemed to like having all the people around, and the kids had a great time together. When it was time to leave the kids were not happy about having to break up fun play time with cousins. As my brother and his family were pulling out of the driveway to go home Claire said to me, "Mommy they are such a nice family. I'm going to go live with them."

Today's livestock count:

• 1 7-month old Jersey heifer
• 6 old chickens
• 5 adolescent chickens
• 6 baby chickens
• 9 Guinea Hens
• 6 ducks

Coming soon:

• 1 Slovak Cuvac puppy
• 15 turkey chicks

Very busy week on the farm!

We started this past week by going out to a fruit orchard that still had sour cherries to pick. For anyone who may not be aware of it, all cherry pies are made with sour cherries. You can make pie with regular cherries but it won't be any good. Take my word on this one, we've done it and it was a colossal waste of ingredients. We are on the tail end of the sour cherry season, so this was our last chance to get some and I really wanted them because in my opinion the canned sour cherries in the store are all syrup and not nearly enough cherries. This way I can control the cherry to syrup ratio in my pies. All the kids helped (and it was a great way to wean them off of the wii and the tv). We got 55 lbs of sour cherries. The whole process took about 4 hours. By about hour 3 the kids were sick of climbing trees one by one they drifted over to the strawberry field and started picking there. Even though strawberry season is officially over, there were still a few good ones to be had and we ended up with about 6 lbs of strawberries.

We tried canning for the first time and oh what a task. The first thing we did was make jam out of the strawberries and I now have 12 6oz. jars of strawberry jam. This first part went off without a hitch and we thought, "wow that was easy." Next, we tried to pack the cherries is water (which the canning book claims you can do) none of them sealed properly and we have no idea why, so in to the fridge they went for immediate use. On the next batch we actually cooked the cherries before packing them, this worked much better and we now have 6 1qt jars of canned cherries. Today we are pitting and stemming the last 20 lbs of cherries and we are making jam out of them.

The other excitement of this week is that we finally found a Jersey cow. She is a baby, but she is just what we wanted. Following long-standing Danda tradition (the Dandas are Grandmom Jean's family) we named the cow Josephine, and we call her Josie. (Technically if we had followed Danda tradition to the letter, she would have been called Tina, but needless to say that was out of the question. The tradition is to name the first cow after the wife. That was not happening, so we named her after the Danda family cow. Yes, my husband's grandmother was named Josephine.) She was delivered to us last night, and we put her in the stall and attempted to calm her down and it didn't work out so well, she was anxious and scared and she was freaked out by the chickens. This morning she was still pretty mad at us for disrupting her life, but when we took her out in the field for the first time she settled right down and started eating and playing. She is a baby so she still likes to run and play, which can be frightening when the "baby" weighs 300 lbs. We were told that she needs to gradually incorporate the fresh grass into her diet, so the idea is that we don't want her gorging her self on fresh grass when she is used to a diet of dried hay. She can develop bloat if she eats too much green grass to soon. So we limited her to a short time outside earlier today and in a short while we'll take her out again and let her eat some more greens and play some more. Next time she is outside we'll clean up her stall for her too. It won't be long before she is out all day and that will make life with her so much easier.

So there are the doings at Cipolla Farm for this week. We are intending to buy a dog in two weeks. Once we actually have him I will tell you all about him and his incredibly interesting story. So there, dear reader, is something for you to look forward to in about two weeks. Other than that, no other major items are actually on the agenda.

Livestock headcount today:

• 6 mean old hens (although they seem to have calmed down a bit)


• 9 guinea hens who have moved themselves outside permanently, they now roost in the tree at night instead of coming inside which is a big developmental leap for them.


• 4 hens approaching puberty


• 1 rooster who is quite the handsome ladies man, but he still has some growing to do if want to boss around the old ladies--they are still not taking any of his shit


• 6 rapidly growing baby chicks. We are certain that there is at least one rooster in this batch, which is perfect, because that way the we can have the Ameracauna chicks breed us new chicks. These are the ones that lay pale green eggs and I like the yolks on these eggs better as well.


• 6 ducks who are messy and loud, but this includes our one handicapped duck who is doing amazingly well for what he has to deal with. He has one leg that did not develop properly and he has great difficulty walking but he somehow manages. Instead of being mean to him, the other ducks rallied around the little guy, they never scared him off the food, and when it was cold they let him get in the middle of the duck pile to keep warm.


• 1 7 month old Jersey heifer

Indoor animals:

We still have our beloved Pounce and Echo. In a shocking turn of events, Echo has managed to not get into any death defying situations in quite some time. When I first walked in to this house I was sure he wouldn't last a week. I sometimes think that cat lays around thinking up ways he can hurt himself. But as I said, shockingly, he is alive and well and still keeping Pounce company, and keeping Joseph's feet warm.

Animals we still want:

• The number one item on the agenda is the dog because we found one we want. We are picking him up not this week, but next I hope.


• We would like a cow that is "in milk." That might have to wait a bit though. We had wanted a Dexter cow and we found out from the woman that sold us Josie that Dexter calves go for $3,000. We are priced out of that market for now.


• We'd love a heritage breed hog, a tamworth or a large black maybe. We want one that will still forage. This may also have to wait a bit though.

Overalls and All That They Imply

The kids want overalls.

My oh my, what is a city girl to do?

Well I suppose this is all my own fault, what with up and moving my kids from an urban environment to a farm and all, and yet, for some reason I just can't seem to make myself buy the things.

Is this ridiculous?

The decision to wear overalls is a loaded one. A bigger deal in my opinion than the choice between Levi's or Wranglers. In this debate I know exactly where I stand. I'm a Levi's. I'm not a Wrangler. I'll never be a Wrangler. I wouldn't even try on a pair of Wranglers. Ever. Actually I'd even take this debate a step further into Z. Cavaricci and FUBU territory, because it is all about wearing clothes that can identify where you belong in the social structure, but I digress, back to the overalls.

We do live on a farm. Even though we don't earn our living on the farm, we do lots of yucky farm jobs like shoveling animal poo, mowing paddocks, digging in dirt, handling animals, cleaning things, etc... If we have our way, soon we'll be mucking out the cow stalls and the pig sty. We have a demonstrated need for overalls and for that matter Muck Boots!

Overalls are not exactly easy to come by. You have to know where to look. Sure, anything can be had online, but then you can't see the fabric or try them on. They are also, pretty expensive once you are out of the Oshkosh B'Gosh sizes.

Let be honest though. For me, the biggest issue associated with buying overalls is the stigma attached to them. I did some research on where this stigma comes from and I found this interesting piece that appeared on NPR a few years ago. I grew up in and have lived for the majority of my life in urban areas. Overalls are not part of the urban/suburban wardrobe. In the same way that Wranglers are not part of the New England wardrobe, and Levi's are not part of the Wyoming wardrobe. Overalls are supposed to be inexpensive work wear for people who work outside and have to carry tools, but they are so much more than that. When John Mellencamp donned coveralls for the Sept. 11 benefit concert, it was a political statement. What statement will I make if I clad myself and my family in overalls?

Eventually I will have to come to terms with the overalls because the kids really want them and can make a good logical case for them. I will feel as out of place in overalls as a New England college kid in a pair of Wranglers, or a rodeo roper in pair of Levi's. It will never feel right. There is just something so very out of kilter about a girl who grew up in Philly shopping online at Farm and Fleet.

I will keep you posted on whether I can overcome my tribal associations and actually bring myself to procure a pair of overalls for everyone because we actually do need them.

Livestock Headcount:

6 Ducks

6 Baby Chickens

4 Adolescent Hens

1 Teenage Rooster

6 Mean Old Hens

9 Loud Guinea Hens

We are still in the market for:

1 or 2 Dexter or Jersey Cows (in milk)

A breeding pair of Tamworth hogs

A Slovak Cuvac puppy (to guard the flock)

This week we rescued:

2 baby bunny rabbits who came very close to getting mowed with the new ride on mower.

Goings on 'round the Farm

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands”

~Thomas Jefferson

Things are moving along at the farm. Today's big accomplishment for me was that I got 24 pumpkin seedlings in the ground that I planted in little seedling boxes a few weeks ago. Charlie's big accomplishment was mowing the lawn. I am hoping for a good crop of pumpkins because I'm going to need them for pies come fall. I have a few pumpkin pie lovers in this house that will not abide a Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. The cool thing about our seeds for this is that they came from two pumpkins I grew last year in our garden. Those two pumpkins grew from seeds from the prior year's pumpkins which I purchased at Walmart. So that one purchase three years ago at Walmart has provided us with pumpkins in perpetuity. We planted some back in Phoenix as well so whoever might come to live in our house will be rewarded with fresh pumpkins come October if they care for the garden at all.



Our tomatoes are finally looking good and hearty. The few days of sun are doing them a world of good. I did finally get three lima bean seedlings, but I think we just planted them too deeply in the soil because we planted four rows and only three seedlings came up. So now I planted 6 in seedling boxes, if they come up, I'll put those out and see how they do. I have cucumber seedlings and lettuce seedlings which I'm working on now as well. I just have the tiniest sprouts but, as soon as they are a bit bigger, I'll harden them off and put them in the soil.

The peas and green beans (picture above) look good, and the corn is coming up nicely. I'm concerned that we planted it so late we may not get any actual corn until October!

Our weed control efforts continue to overwhelm us. You will notice in the picture above that we have straw mulch between the plants. Under that mulch is a layer of newspaper. I got this idea from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. When Barbara Kingsolver went away for vacation, she laid newspaper down and covered the paper with straw to keep the weeds down. We are not on vacation, but we're doing it anyway. I don't know what kind of straw she used, but we are using used animal bedding so it is covered in chicken poo and pee, all of which will eventually break down into the soil. So the carbon is being provided by the newspaper and the nitrogen is being provided by the poo and pee on the bedding. I figure this is a complete meal for our plants.

Speaking of our flock, we are now getting 2-3 eggs a day from the big girls. As soon as the young chicks start laying those old bittys are going right on the dinner table!



Today's livestock headcount:

• 6 2-year old hens that are laying and cranky
• 4 4-month old hens that are not laying yet
• 1 6-month old rooster who is just old enough to get sweet with the ladies
• 6 baby chickens who are just big enough to now look like chickens
• 6 ducks of indeterminate gender
• 9 guinea hens of mixed gender and wow are they LOUD.

Livestock Wish list:

• A breeding pair of Mangalitsa or Tamworth hogs or another heritage breed of hog (my preference is the Tamworth)
• A bred Dexter or Jersey heifer (my preference is for the Dexter) or the same breeds but in milk
• A working farm dog that we can train to scare rabbits out of the garden and scare predators away from the bird flock.
• I would also like to get a Black Angus steer which we can fatten for slaughter.