My Favorite Email Ever!

We received this drawing today of our Blue Heeler, "Blue" from Ellie, a 9yr old CSA member who (along with the rest of her family) helped out at Farm Crawl this weekend. It is the best email I have EVER received. Thanks for sharing your talents and your love for Blue, Ellie, we're so glad you are a part of the Blue Gate Farm Family!

Breaking and Entering

This morning when we woke up, the screen was pushed out of the storm door. No we weren't burgled, though our house was entered without our consent. Last night after I went to bed, Sean stayed up in the living room to watch TV. He heard the dogs tussling out on the front steps but they quieted down after a bit and he didn't think much about it.

Sometime later, ready to go to bed himself,  he got up and turned off the TV, but when he walked into the kitchen, there sat Blue and Luci in the middle of the kitchen floor, looking guilty. Huh.

For those of you who aren't familiar with our house (and our dogs) we do not have house dogs. Blue and Luci are outdoor, working dogs. They do not come in the house unless there is seriously severe weather, and then they only get to come into the back porch...not the kitchen.

So apparently, while wrestling they managed to push the screen on the front door partially in and then, naturally, decided to avail themselves of the dog-sized opening. The best part is that the front door is in the living room, where Sean was sitting at the time, so they had to pass within 10 feet of him. Clearly they knew they weren't supposed to be in there, since they snuck past him into the kitchen.

I can only imagine what mischief they could have gotten into had we both already been in bed. Yikes!
Oh and just moments ago Sean hollered, "Blue, NO! Bad dog!"  He heard her this time, as she pushed her head against the screen and was part way through the door. Little sneak! Suddenly our brave farm dog has decided that house life looks pretty cushy! Grrrrr...

A Day at the Farm

This post was supposed to be about Blue and Luci, but I came upon some pics from a couple of weeks ago and I just couldn't pass them up. My favorite red-heads were visiting the farm, which always makes for a good time and great photo opportunities. This day, bubbles were the theme...

N provides the bait

Z goes in for the bite

and as the boy does, so does the dog!

Luci was somewhat baffled by the bubbles and preferred to keep her distance.

In other news, Blue and Luci continue to be the best of dog buddies, though Blue takes very seriously her responsibility of teaching Luci the rules. If Luci jumps up on something and we scold her, Blue will grab Luci by the leg and pull her down, which is pretty entertaining and generally leads to some serious wrestling on their part.

However last week Blue demonstrated some rather impressive corrective behavior. The farm crew was in the garlic patch, weeding. The dogs had been keeping a supervisory eye on our activities while playing around the perimeter of the garden. Luci has been struggling a little with the idea that the white electrical tape the surrounds the garden is a "barrier" that she must not cross, after all it is several inches over her head and the gate opening is just that...wide open. So as we were working, Luci walked through that gate opening and was standing several feet inside the garden (strictly forbidden here), when I looked up and noticed her. I pointed outside the garden and said firmly, "Luci, OUT!" As is common when receiving a command, Luci froze and stood there staring at me. Blue however had no hesitation, she ran through the gate into the garden, grabbed Luci by the neck and dragged her outside of the garden. When they had cleared the fenceline, she dropped the puppy and laid down as though nothing had happened. Upon being released, Luci hopped up, tackled Blue and a full-out wrestling match ensued.

The farm crew saw the whole thing and just stood there staring at the dogs. One of our crew members said, in an incredulous voice, "Did I just see what I saw?" That was a pretty good summation of the scene.

A Dog's Day

Its been two weeks since Luci joined us on the farm, and what fun it has been! We were a little concerned about how Blue would react, as she takes her job of alpha dog pretty seriously, but they have become fast friends...literally. They tear around the farm together like a couple mad animals. There is much growling and posturing, but they are clearly having fun. The favorite game is the rope toy tango.

First Blue teases Luci mercilessly with the rope toy.

Then eventually Luci gets a hold of it and they play tug of war. Keep in mind here, that Blue weighs about 50 lbs and Luci weighs in at about 4 lbs.


So given that Luci is a true Terrier at heart (stubborn) and Blue is all Blue Heeler (ornery) this is what usually happens. Blue pulls so hard that Luci tips over, but Luci refuses to let go of the rope. So Blue just drags her around the yard on her side. Never fear, no dogs were harmed in the playing of this game. Its clear from watching them that this is pure canine fun.

Now if we could just explain to Luci the difference between a toy and a chicken...sigh. She's cute and smart, but alas, she isn't perfect. Back to the training regimen.

Bloggin' Blue

Since I know that our farm has a certain number number of followers who are mostly just interested in Blue, I'd thought I'd give her a day on the Blog. For those of you who've never met our Blue, she's the 2 yr old Blue Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix who runs the farm. Her parents lived on a neighboring farm and she came to live with us as a 10 week-old puppy in January of  2007.

      January 10, 2007  She was one cute puppy!       

To keep from losing your favorite ball,just tie it to another one.

Early on there was some questions as to exactly what Blue's job was...this wasn't it.

A sign that your dog's bowl is too big

Blue's current favorite toy and general companion, she drags it all over the farm.

 In its previous life it was a bathrobe.

After a long day of herding vegetables, Blue like's to kick back and relax a bit

After an afternoon of cutting wood, we like to have a little fun...

really, the hill is better than it looks!

But no matter the season, Blue is always hard at work, watching over the farm.

Full Cold Moon

I have long had a fixation with the traditional names of the various full moons. I don't remember when I first discovered that there was a special name for each, but their individuality and descriptive quality has long appealed to the storyteller in me.

Tonight is the Full Cold Moon, also called the Long Nights Moon, as it is the full moon closest to the Winter Solstice, when the nights are truly at their longest.

Last night as the nearly full moon rose up over our snowy landscape, I think you could nearly have taken a photograph without a flash, it was so bright and clear outside. The moon shadows were crisp against the snow and the bare tree branches looked like black lace against the glowing sky. It was truly one of those magical nights.

I get to see a lot of late night scenes at this time of year. Over the winter we use a wood-fired boiler as supplemental heat for our house. The boiler stands sentry in the back corner of the packing shed (about 70 yards from the house) and the water lines run underground up to the sunroom. It is a pretty great system, no risk of house fire (makes the insurance guys happy), or dragging wood through the house. But it does require a late night (9 or 10pm) stoking to keep things warm. So every night, just as I am starting to get sleepy and thinking about going to bed, I have to get up, put on my coveralls (sometimes over my pajamas), boots, hat and gloves and trudge down the hill in the dark to feed the fire. I never think fondly of this chore from within the house, but once I am outside, the complaints are usually silenced.
Unless there is a storm blowing, it is often a beautiful time to be out. The winds are still, the skies are clear and the stars are bright. Sean thinks I'm crazy to go out without a flashlight, but I never use one and I don't turn on the outside lights. There is so much to see beyond those tiny circles of light. Blue loves this nightly ritual. She leaps and frolics in the snow like a kid, all the while watching for rabbits or deer to chase, after which she always returns to my side, well pleased with herself for protecting me from the wild beasts.
And when we finish our nighttime chores, we return to the warm glow of the house. I get a hot cup of tea, Blue gets a "cookie" and we all settle in for another cozy winter's night on the farm.

Hmmm, starting a blog

Well, here we go...

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now and have finally decided to take the plunge. I'm not much of a linear-thinker, so it will probably be more stream of consciousness that an orderly description of our lives here at Blue Gate Farm, but what the heck.

A little introduction is probably in order, just in case someone other than our mothers stumble in.

Welcome to Blue Gate Farm

In April 2005 Sean and I left our professional theatre jobs in the bustling metropolis of Houston, TX and started our own little homestead on family land in rural south-central Iowa. We had lists that were pages long of all the things that we were going to do, build, create and grow. Here is where we are near the end of our 4th season: We have about 40 acres of land under our care (rented under very favorable terms from the family), about 3 acres are in rotation for our Certified Naturally Grown vegetables and herbs. With these gardens, plus our high tunnels (more about them later) we supply our small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and our market customers at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market. We also have about 20 acres in alfalfa and the balance in pasture. Our plans include adding livestock, but so far we only have 20-some hives of bees, 50-some laying hens and our trusty farm dog, Blue (a Blue Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix.

Blue, ever watchful, surveys the pond

One of the big questions people always ask us is "Can you make a living on a little farm like that?" And our answer so far is "We think so." We are both on the farm full-time, but we do have a bit of supplemental income to help things along. Sean does a little contract website design and business consulting and I free-lance as a storyteller and American Sign Language interpreter. These activities mostly take place during the winter when life is a little more quiet here on the farm.

And as the season winds down, we are really looking forward to that time! For me it will be a winter of dyeing and spinning fiber, knitting, crocheting, baking, and woodcutting...much woodcutting! We are not totally dependant on wood for our heat, we have a supplemental wood-fired boiler (DIY) that provides heat to our sunroom (when its not sunny) and adds a little heat to our rather chilly house. Its a lot of work, and the last boiler feeding of the day (usually around 10pm) is never fun, as the boiler is in our packing shed about 100 yards from the house. But it allows us to have a toasty warm place to overwinter our tender perennials (rosemary, thyme, lemongrass and a very spoiled Meyer lemon tree) and a perfect place to start all our garden transplants for the spring and also lets us keep our house thermostat set at about 55°, not to mention providing me with good exercise all winter long. I must admit that I do wait as long as possible before starting the boiler up for the season, but as soon as the sunroom gets down into the low 40's at night, the process begins.

So that's us. Thanks for stopping in for a visit. Hopefully the next time you stop by I will have something new to share about our lives here at Blue Gate Farm.

Now off to try and get the garlic ready for planting...