We have been at Winged Elm Farm since 1999. This ongoing series of journal entries is meant to give you a sense of the tasks, people, and goings-on that fill our lives. Follow the two links to read the blog posts on the events referenced.
2011
Spot: a favorite ewe, just lambed big twins. 16# each at one week.
January 13: Six inches of snow on the ground. The mercury has not been above 32 degrees in four days. The truck and the car are both stuck at the bottom of the drive.
January 14: Projected high of 41. Heat wave.
January 19: Six hogs taken to H&R for slaughter.
February 6: Unrest in Middle East and farm diesel is now over $3. I really need to set up a diesel tank on the farm.
February 12: Planted lettuce, spinach, turnips, beets, onions in hoop house gardens.
March 7: Snowflake began farrowing overnight.
March 11: Put Snowflake down with the 30-30. What a disaster. Hauled her carcass up to the back forty.
April 24: Till garden/plant tomatoes/make lye soap. Judy Fiene to visit us.
July 17: A little quiet time before sunrise on the front porch. Temps in the low 60s. What shall I do today? Hmm, I bet it will start with a list (Long list followed).
August 24: Muscadine harvest begins. Fixed savory crepes with parsley and chives and grilled shrimp.
October 1: Stopped in Ellijay, Georgia, at Johnson’s Nursery for additional fruit trees.
November 11: The challenge in any relationship is to stay engaged, refusing to see one’s partner as either a comfortable blanket or irritating hair shirt. Either assigns a role that is unchanging.
November 12: Two steers to Morgan’s for slaughter.
November 20: 53 degrees at 7 a.m. Completed annual tractor maintenance on Kubota M4900. Left it a little late this year. Customers coming out later for beef.
Christmas Day: Ouch, what a headache. Neighbor Adrienne paid her usual Christmas Eve visit last night. She looked smashing in her green sweater. We drank the usual bottle of her gluhwein … and drank some more, ate some good food, and had a nice conversation before she toddled home and I toddled off to bed.
Spoke with Cindy earlier. She is off to the airport in Florida. Looking forward to having her back home tonight.
Fed the bees this warm morning. One girl was royally pissed at being disturbed and followed me into the house. Managed to catch her and put her back outside.
Time to make some family calls, then cut some cedar posts and feed the cattle. But otherwise, the plan is to take it easy until our Christmas dinner tonight (capon, roasted Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, and creamed kale).
December 31: Worked on the farm plan for 2012 until mid-morning. Completed enclosing the upper 11-acre field in the back forty this afternoon with field fence. Over our afternoon coffee, we joked that we will walk to the top of the hill and see the new year in tonight. But we both know that I, anyway, will be asleep by 10:30.
