Mental Updates

No, we are not updating our public on our mental statuses, which are questionable at best! But, much to your undoubted amazement, we have been updating the blog, mentally. Huh. Funny how that doesn't seem to have translated to ACTUAL blog updates. Must work on that skill in the future!

So hang on to your hats and get ready for some serious updating!
First we will start with the backlog of CSA newsletters...sorry, these wont include the actual vegetables, but maybe they will help us all to remember the bounty that was, and that will be!

There is so much to write about, like alpacas, CSA, farmers market, weather, events and, did I mention alpacas?

Well, let's get caught up!

A Long Winter's Nap

Ok, so its been nearly three months since I updated the blog. I'm sure folks were thinking that we were hibernating for the winter. Well, very nearly. It has actually been 3 months of working on the barn, traveling to conferences, woodcutting and spinning. 
All that aside, this morning I woke up early and was sitting at the computer when the sun rose.

The view from the office window

The sun rising over the hayfield

Sun rising through the hedgerow

 What a beautiful start to the day...it seemed like a good re-entry point for the blog as well.

Morning Peace

This morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over slightly misty hills. I made my morning coffee and sat down in the office, while the computer slowly woke I looked out the window to see how the world looked today and I noticed a strange shape a ways out by the pasture fence. It was a deer, but something looked strange about it. I grabbed the binoculars and looked again...it was a doe and it looked strange because she was bent around, bathing her nursing fawn. It was quite a sight, this little peek at nature. Then as I watched, a large bird flew into my little binocular-aided circles of vision. It was a large Bard owl, and it settled on a fencepost a distance away, but still within my still-life view of doe and fawn. What a picture!

I wish I could have shared it, the actual picture, but we don't have anything nearly that powerful in the way of cameras, so you will simply have to take my word for it and use your imagination.

The grasses are a golden green this morning, headed now with blooms and immature seed heads. The light is soft as the morning mist hasn't yet burned away and the sky is a clear blue, finally empty of the recently persistent rainclouds. The Red-winged blackbirds, Chipping sparrows and Meadowlarks are singing loudly, making their morning declarations of territory and above it all the roosters crow, announcing their intentions to start the day. Here on the farm, this is our morning peace.

New Neighbor

Today as the harvest crew was finishing up lunch and heading back outside, we noticed a Cedar Waxwing flying close to the door and calling repeatedly. I was tickled to see one, as they are one of my favorite birds, but since they are normally rather shy birds, the behavior was notable. Then I heard an answering call very close by. Looking down into the small garden beside the back door we spotted this little fellow perched among the heuchera.

Cedar Waxwing fledgling

I'm quite sure that I was much more excited to see him than he was to see me. So I tried to be quick about getting a picture and leaving him alone with his chaperone, who continued to call from the overhead Ash tree. When we checked again later in the afternoon, both birds were gone, but I could still hear the occasional call from the hedgerow, so I hope the fledging was a success. I'd love to have them as long-term residents of Blue Gate 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...