The Riley Factor #82

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
September 19, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Planting and Plowing -- Monday and Tuesday were spent repairing a tractor, the hay tedder, the hay mower, the combine and the rototiller.  Ahhh, then disking the recently plowed turf in field no. 1, in anticipation of planting the winter red and white semolina wheat before month's end.  Also, the trellis for the grapes in the vineyard began its ascent this week.  Most of the vines are still too small to need a vertical assist, but their time is coming.

Riley -- On Tuesday, Riley spent a couple of hours in the back barn with Ephraim Blank and me and the tools.  Riley is beginning to settle down a bit, now that he has celebrated his first birthday (September 3).  He is still the terror of the turkeys (and keets).

The Herd of Five -- The bovine boys are beginning to look a little nervous ... I think they heard the rumor that one or more may be heading for the butcher this fall.  :-/

Fowl Weather -- The flock of 23 Narragansett turkeys, about 10 weeks old now, follow Susan everywhere, en masse.  When she goes into the house, it is common to see the 23 all standing around, loitering on the patio waiting for her to come back out and play.  (Editor's note: you do not want 23 turkeys standing around any one place anywhere for too long a time).

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Susan and her friend, Annie Kanagy, canned 26 liters of apple sauce on Monday -- made from three-quarters of a bushel of Gala apples.

Quotes of the Week --
          "Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out."
                --Benjamin Franklin
          "God will give me justice."
                --Alexandre Dumas, pere, from the principal character in The Count of Monto Cristo

Fact of the Week (surely to be repeated from time to time) -- The top 1% of U.S. taxpayers pay 40% of all federal taxes paid.
                              

                                                               The top 5% of U,S, taxpayers pay 61% of all federal taxes paid.
                                                                                             50% of American families/taxpayers pay no federal income taxes at all.

The Riley Factor #81

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
September 12, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

A Football Aside (a mere brief diversion) -- Are you ready for some football> -- Hey, the NFL started this week.  Several of the football pundits at FOX, CBS and ESPN picked those Green bay Packers to win this season's Superbowl -- very wise, very wise.  Alphabetical others notably picked to win it all by some of the less perceptive football geniuses were the Colts, Patriots, Ravens and Saints.  And everyone predicted great seasons to be had by quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.  I guess it's time to play the games.

Planting and Plowing -- Ahhh ... nothing better than the aroma of aged manure spread on the fields before plowing to give one the true sense of farming.  Well, really, I can think of several things better.  We spent Labor Day spreading aged manure over field no. 1, in preparation of planting the winter wheat.  Then we plowed the fields under, to be followed in the next week or so by disking and planting.

Riley -- Craving his runs around the place these days.  Riley gets-in two or three runs daily, a mile-and-a-half each or so.  He is taking the lead more often and rarely wanders off course.

The Herd of Five -- We may decide to butcher one or more of the steer this fall.  No final decision yet.  Leading candidates and weights are Gabe @ 900-1000 lbs., Eli @ 700-800 lbs., and each of the two Dexters at 600-700 lbs. apiece.  Only Zeke the bull has immunity for now, owing to his skinny 300 lb. frame.  This too shall change.

Fowl Weather -- We're building a new outdoor coop for the turkeys, outside of their indoor coop.  It will be 12'x36' in size and six feet high -- we will have to clip the 23 pair of wings to prevent escape by flight.  Construction schedule still up in the air.  Those same 23 turkeys all escaped en masse on Saturday into the workshop over the garage.  After several house in the Tool House, they each waddled to the upstairs doorway and one-by-one jumped like skydivers flying (sort of) to about half way to the road before hard-landing on the side lawn next to the barn.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- While moving the second field, which takes about eight hours to complete, large black hawks, smaller red-tailed hawks and some other bird of prey, probably vultures, were constantly overhead, circling for small prey to be scared into the open by the tractor/mower/me.  Very interesting to watch -- several times, they did get to within 10 feet of the tractor seat, but don't appear threatening at all.  Usually, they cruise 20 to 50 feet overhead.

Separately, Susan encountered a buzzing mound of honey bees on one of the main trails Wednesday afternoon -- a pile a foot or foot-and-a-half in diameter and 4-5 inches high -- consisting of nothing but thousands of bees piled on top of one another.  No idea as to the reason or purpose for this.  We do have a large honey bee nest out back, in the edge of the woods. about 200 feet from this bee pile and about 100 feet from the upper pond, which has been there all summer, without any events to report.  We saw the bee-mound again on Saturday -- a bit unsettling to say the least.

Quotes of the Week --

I do not like this Uncle Sam,

I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks,

or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker, Nan , 

I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'

I do not like this spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like your smug replies,

when I complain about your lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!

                              

                                                                                                      Anonymous

The Riley Factor #80

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
September 6, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Labor Day Visitors -- Roger, Carol and Cindy Slate spent a couple of days of Labor Day Weekend at the NY Compound.  With great success, the accompanying kids, Sebrina and Brittany, spent two days coaxing the senior chickens to lay more eggs.  Although their specific methods went unobserved, the results could not be ignored with the 17 egg-laying hens producing over three dozen eggs in a 24-hour period.  When not singing to and cuddling the red hens, the girls were swimming in the lower pond and playing with the 23 young turkeys and, of course, the five bovines.
Planting and Plowing -- The second cutting of hay was completed last Wednesday and is in the barn, with 120 bales stacked and salted.  Mowing, some plowing, some disking and the fall farm work begins.  Susan harvested about three-quarters of the tobacco and hung it in the greenhouse for drying.  Still have potatoes, tomatoes and peppers to harvest.  And winter wheat to plant.

Riley -- Riley has become the model citizen in car rides.  Sitting quietly looking out the windows, with his favorite position being riding shotgun next to the driver.  Looks a bit ridiculous as he rides around town sitting patiently and surveying the surroundings.

The Herd of Five -- The Fearsome Fivesome loves the newly cut hay.  After getting a few bales of it, they were returned to reality and eating through the remaining 600 bales of last year's remaining forage.  On Labor Day, when Susan filled the outside feeder with the old stuff, the herd turned the feeder upside-down in protest.  "Free the Fort Plain Five", they mooed in protest as they left the feeder area in ruins.

Fowl Weather -- Adding a formal outside pen for the turkeys and chickens is the first fall project to begin the journey to fruition.  Designed to be about 12' by 36' and six feet high, should be completed in a week or two.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Oops.  While mowing around the upper pond, I wasn't paying enough attention and hit a 25-foot tall white pine tree, about 8 inches in diameter, with the corned of the bucket loader and flattened the tree -- snapped it off right at ground level.  On the bright side -- slightly improved view and firewood anyone?

Quotes of the Week -- "Liberal environmentalists don't care anything about people.  They are all about 'Save the Whales' and 'Abort the Fetuses'." -- Laura Ingraham, Fox News, 9/2/10.

                              

     "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." -- Proverbs 22:6