Coyotes

There was an announcement that coyotes have been seen is New Haven. That means that you will see them in your neighborhood soon. Usually around dusk or early morning before the sun is up fully in the sky. Why is this important to know? Because you should not tie up your small pet (anything under 180 lbs) without supervision. And even then if your pet is small and the coyote snags it there will be little you can do to rescue it. Some areas they will travel in packs of 4 to 8. The coyotes cross our farm usually closer to the end of September and in October. They can take down a calf and will usually leave half for us. Please tell your neighbors that may have small pets (cats and dogs) that they should be out with them and take them in late at night/early in the am.


Chris

Repair Time

Ed Jr. and I spent yesterday helping out our cousin Roy with his JD 350B Bulldozer. The steering clutches on the right track slipped under a load, so we had him bring it over and put in the shop. After 7 hours of dismantling.













Gene

Tobacco Harvest

We started harvesting the tobacco on Monday. It will takes us a couple of weeks to get it all in. Today is too cloudy, but the rest of the week looks good.











Gene

Last Month of "Summer"?

The Farmer’s Almanac (almanac.com) says “You may notice in the middle of the month of August a subtle change – cooler nights, a shift in quality of light, the scritch of crickets instead of the trill of songbirds”. I got news for the FA because Connecticut has had these things for the past 2 – 3 months now! When is the last 80 degree night? And quality of light????? It has been so cloudy many days you didn’t know if it was night or day. I don’t worry about hearing the crickets because I think they have all drowned. Not only is the farm wet in many areas; our yard at home squiches when you walk over to check the bird feeder or bird bath. I am beginning to know what Noah must have thought about during his time on the ark……….will this wet weather ever go away (just for a week or two so I could stop feeling like a mushroom). Ohhhhhh! I just read an article in the Pollution Prevention View newsletter that is for Summer 2009 (Comes out from the CT DEP Office of Pollution Prevention) that gives ways to save water usage and compares top loading washer to front loading washers…….well, the last item was Dishwashing by hand (20 gallons used) and Automatic dishwashing (full load) 10 gallons…..I am so glad that all these years I have been a staunch supporter of saving water! You can read the articles online at www.ct.gov/dep/p2

Chris

Corn Tomato Onion Pepper Salad

The Farmer’s Almanac tells us to observe on which day in August the first heavy fog occurs and then to expect a hard frost on the same day in October.


Corn Tomato Onion Pepper Salad

8 ears of corn, cut off the cob after cooking
1 large red onion, sliced thin
1 cup green, red, yellow or a combination of all, chopped fine
3 medium tomatoes, cubed
Basil leaves, sliced thin

Slowly sauté the corn, onion, and pepper until just soft. Add the cubed tomatoes and basil leaves. Add 2 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar; blend together. Salt & Pepper to taste. Will serve 12 -15



Chris

Sweet Corn

Seems the racoons have found the sweet corn. Just might have to put Diesel to work. Pics came out too dark....will try to get more pics this evening if it's not pourin out.

Gene

Bees!

This morning Ed Jr., John Howe and Chris checked on the hives. We have one that is struggling along and one that is already producing honey. We are nursing the weak one and will continue to feed them with sugar syrup. The other one (with honey) will get an added super and hope for more honey. The honey right now is just sugar syrup honey because the weather has been so wet and many flowers and weeds (goldenrod) have not had a chance to really bloom. The honey we have will be needed to keep the bees over winter. With a little luck the strong hive will bring our wildflower honey if the weather just cooperates. The other hive may go through summer and fall still being fed. As a last resort we may have to find a new queen. That will be tricky! The girls are out when possible and gathering pollen where they can find it!

By pulling out the frames we can check for eggs, pollen and honey. We also look for disease! So far everything looks good. We use the smoker filled with pine needles to calm the bees so that we can take out each of the frames to check them.

It is always amazing to see God’s creations and how beautiful they are with the sun shinning on them.













Chris