Working for the farm today

There was suspicion in the barn yard this morning, they knew something was up and sent Awan out to check it out. It was shearing day and they quickly figured it out. It's old hat for them as we figured out that this is our 12th year of shearing!

Our shearers, Jeremiah (left) and Rick (right) arrived promptly at 8:00 am and went right to work. The usual screaming, spitting, kicking went on while some just took their shearing with grace like Pru and Maddie.

They have their summer do's, paid the shearers and went right to work...

on this! While they took all our fleeces for this year and last for processing, they brought the past two years of Teddy! I got right to work!

I made kits and got some of the fiber right on the spinning wheel to be plyed with a darker alpaca. Stay tuned for some new wool and 

fiber blending combinations for some new yarns!

Our little farm hands...what could happen?

Our little farm hands, Scarlett and Noah were here for a day of fun on the farm. Here they are so excited to go in and collect eggs from the chickens. What could happen when a 4 and 3 year old collect eggs you ask? Well...

Scarlett gives Grandpa her eggs as he waits at the bottom of the hill. "Here you go Grandpa" was heard. She was so proud of her eggs as she handed them off. She has been working very hard on her fear of the chickens.

Here Noah gives "Uncle" his proudly collected eggs. He was confident and sure of his skill as an egg collector! Not a word muttered as he handed over his days collection.

Soooooooo, when you get cracked eggs, you make scrambled eggs, right?!!!!! We will need to work on our finesse on how we gently place the eggs in the basket. They had fun and their pride in their daily choir was so cute.

Celebrating World Bee Day!

Happy World Bee Day! A day put aside for the world to recognize the importance of our pollinator, the bee! To honor the day I decided to do I quick inspection and check how all were doing. This was quite interesting as I inspected Hive #5, I noticed they re building comb tilted upwards slightly. It's actually sideways but still interesting to see them building comb in a slightly elevated direction.

My goal today was to mark the queens and I grabbed this new queen marking cage I bought last year. It is a wonderful tool in theory but failed to keep the queen in a stationary position to mark. It was like marking a moving target. It was easier to get her in to but did not give you the ability to keep her in position to mark.

So needless to say, she was marked on her back and her wings! I am not happy and may not attempt to mark them any longer. So, Happy World Bee Day everyone! Remember to treat our pollinators well, our food system relies on them!

Repurposing for a cause

As I added another hive to our apiary, the equipment I had on hand sufficed, except one component. I really love these top feeders which were put out by Brushy Mountain Bee Company that has gone out of business. I put a post up on some local beekeeping sites that I was looking for a couple of these and got responses. Some as far as South Carolina, but I was looking for more local. A man responded that he had two he didn't want so Tim drove me down to meet him. They were exactly what I was looking for. They are a little weathered but with a little TLC, they would look great in no time. 

A couple coats of paint and they look good as new!

Placed on top of this hive and we are ready to go! This hive is empty, as we often do in the event we get a swarm call or one of our hives decides they are going to swarm. 

Movin' on up!

Well it was time, time for the babies to move up to one of the chicken coops. They were quickly running out of room in the brooder.  Autumn was quite concerned and supervised every moment of the move. Nothing goes awry under her watch!

Here is Autumn as if to say," blah more animals to watch over!"

It appears out of the Black Copper Marans we have one rooster. Out of 4 that's good! I was worried we would have 4 roosters due to straight run. At first I thought it was 2 and 2 so I am pleased with the stats! These are beautiful chickens and our first feathered legged ones!

They are set up for comfort, food, water and their chick plate to keep warm at night. They will have more than ample room to grow and will spend the next month at least in this space before they can go into a small run area. Last years chicks have been kicked out of this one and moved to the larger coop, they were not too happy, but by day two they know where to roost and lay their eggs now. I am finding random eggs in weird places but that too will pass.

In they went, they were a little afraid for the time being of their new surroundings but once I closed the door and opened the window I saw them peaking out. They are fascinated with the older chickens. The legbars are in front here, they are sure turning out beautiful. The others are hiding behind the Marans, but in no time they are adjusting. Tim is happy to get his work bench back too!

Taking a trip to my dream place!

Today I put on my mask and ventured out to complete a life goal. I am always too busy, something comes up, we have to go somewhere, farm chores are building up or help someone and I decided to use this time to do things I wouldn't be able to do. Also driving anywhere is very stressful for me. I have dreamed to go to Gilbertie's Herb Farm in Westport, CT. I was watching something lately and the person said, during this time of quarantine, get to things you wouldn't normally be able to get to, so I decided to go somewhere I wouldn't normally be able to go to.  So off I went!

I arrived and was so excited to see this sign!

The greenhouses were amazing! Filled with every herb you can imagine! I never knew there were so many varieties of Basil, Oregano, Thyme and Rosemary just to name a few! It's not like I am new to herbs, I was once in a study group for many years and would frequent a local herb farm when it was open in my town. I love herbs, they are purposeful and have so many uses. 

Never have I ever seen a Basil like this! Lettuce Leaf Basil, who knew?!!!

I fell in love with this sign! I may have to make something like this one!

Who knew there were so many varieties of Rosemary!!!

Another Greenhouse to explore!

A whole section of Fairy Garden accessories! Such cute things!

They had a store with the most incredible and unique things in it! 

OMG! This raccoon statuary was so adorable!

To sum up my trip to Gilbertie's, I saw every herb from A...

to Y since there is no herb that starts with Z! I was so thrilled to finally visit this place. It was truly a dream and I will be back! Of course there are some things that I wish I had gotten so you never know! 

A Finished Vanilla Product!

Our Vanilla is a finished product! I love these old fashioned brown labels I found, they just give them the look they needed. We have the following flavors:

 Vanilla Vanilla (Vodka) 

Honey Bourbon

 Brown Sugar Bourbon

  Walnut Toffee Bourbon

They come in 8, 4 and 2 ounce sizes.

 Each has their own unique smell and taste. Making them was so much fun and my kitchen still smells amazing! 

These will be available upon request, just drop us an email @ CoonHollowFarm@aol.com

Homemade Vanilla with a Twist

Trying to keep busy and not be sad about the current state of affairs is how I am handling things lately. Yesterday would have been the CT Sheep and Wool Festival which I worked half a year to get ready for. Not only the loss of income to run things around here, but missing the excitement of the Festival. 

So I turn my attention on to other things. Recently I went on a fact finding mission and visited a couple of establishments to check out their flavored infused bourbons. To my surprise there was quite a few of them, an overwhelming selection that had my knickers in a twist as to what ones I would choose to make some homemade vanilla. I choose the three above, Brown Sugar Bourbon, Walnut Toffee Bourbon and Honey Bourbon. 

I gathered everything I needed to get started. It's really easy and the real thing you need the most of is tincture of time. Your liquor of choice (Vodka or Bourbon is best), some vanilla beans (Grade B is fine), a container and go!

I really prefer these Ball Jars with the bale top. This is a 16 ounce one so I add about 7 vanilla beans, choice of bourbon and some time. You want to shake it or swirl it daily and give it a good couple of months to extract that pure vanilla flavor combined with your bourbon of choice. 

In the back is one I made a year ago from Vodka. Look at the brown intense color that has been extracted from the beans! When we get back to shows again we will have these available. I stopped selling Vanilla because of a spike in the price of the vanilla beans a couple of years ago which are back in the normal range again. I am so excited to have these available. So for now, something to look forward to as we all ride out these trying times! Get making some Vanilla and Get Back to Basics! You can view our Coon Hollow Farm YouTube Channel to see how it's done!

Happy 50th Earth Day and Natural Pest Control!

Happy 50th Earth Day! It's been 50 years that the world has been celebrating the Earth! In honor of the Earth I would love to introduce my new obsession, predatory plants! I have decided that this year I will combat the flies in the greenhouse naturally by using these predatory plant! This arrived from the supplier last week. It was a cold day and I quickly rushed it into the house to warm it up gradually. These plants take special care but should thrive and do well in our greenhouse. You can also let them stay outside in the summer. They need distilled water and warm conditions. Shortly after arriving, it opened a trap and asked to eat. It was fed and now will digest. 

It has a terrarium over it, keeping it warm and humid for now until the weather stays warm. These plants are so fascinating! I know it will eat well this summer! There are other plants that you can purchase such as pitcher plants (which are native to my home state of Connecticut) as well as others. I am so looking forward to the warmer weather and getting this little one working in the greenhouse to provide natural pest control!

Welcome little ones!

Welcome our new sweet little ones. We added a few new breeds to our farm. They will join the flock when they are big enough. I'm excited about these breeds and the color of eggs they will produce.

We added these beautiful Cream Legbars who lay a blue to blue green colored egg... 

and the Blue Andulusian which have this blue like color even as a one day old chick! This chick lays a white eggs.

Blue Laced Red Wyandottes are stunning chickens, red on top and blue on bottom. Their eggs are a light brown color.

For now we have the chicks separated from our other chicks which have about a two week head start on them. They will spend the next 6 weeks in our brooder and will be put into a separate coop away from our older chickens. Until then we will enjoy their adorable peeps.

The story of Henry and Helen

(Helen, left-Henry, right)

This is the story of Henry and Helen, two elderly birds here at Coon Hollow Farm. Henry is a 7 year old rooster with the sweetest personality. Even when he was younger he didn't have a mean bone in his little feathered body. He was quite the stud with the ladies and has lived his life with such peace and grace.

This is Helen, an elderly blind Speckled Sussex chicken who is as equally gentle and sweet. She gets around just fine but extra feed and space for her is granted for her special needs.

Each morning half of the flock runs into the run to get their morning breakfast but not these two, they eat on the veranda. This way they get ample feed and do not have to fight for it, because if these two did they would starve. 

Their bond is like nothing I have ever seen. He is so devoted to her and stays by her side all day long. If she makes her way down to the water, he is with her. She does go for short strolls during the day. These days the flock is contained to the coops, run and extended run. We just have too many predators to watch them every second. In all my years I have never seen a bond like these two, it is sweet and warms my heart just at a time when we need it the most.

My dream chicken!

For the longest time I have always wanted Black Copper Marans.  The price of them plus the shipping on some of the chicken sites are just out of my budget! Recently I saw someone post on a chicken site that they had chicks for a very reasonable price and they lived in the town next to me! I reached out to her and we arranged a pick up point as not to violate social distancing. 

They are straight run but by looking at their feathers at just 2 days old, it  looks like I have one rooster and 3 hens. They are so cute! They are also very calm unlike some breeds who can be very squirrely!

What makes them so appealing to me is the color of their eggs! The deep almost red and brown color is so beautiful. We will soon have every color in our eggs shown above. We will be adding a few new breeds to our flock, so stay tuned!

Until then, the chicks are huddled under our chick plate, a safe and warm way for them to stay huddled together until their friends join them.