The Riley Factor #60

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

FORT PLAIN NY, May 12 -- Sunday was spent working around the yard and in the workshop, and otherwise trying to look busy to keep CEO Susan off the backs of the laborers.  Late afternoon, in the kitchen, Riley decided to spar with Stryder ... MISTAKE.  The big (redundant) Maine Coon Cat did and does not back-down or back-up a single stride when taking-on the eight-month-old Golden Retriever.  In fact, when Riley unadvisedly gets within a pace or two of the feline, Stryder moves forward and swings that right front claw with a vengeance, claws extended, in case Riley has decided to get his long nose or big teeth too close to the senior member of the indoor menagerie.  No blood spilled, but forewarned is forearmed.

Monday morning brought a trip to Sprakers to Tri-Valley Crop Center in search of seed for hay for the six acres just plowed in the bottom of field number 3, and also for the three acres of the Deer Field.  Neither had been plowed or planted before by us, so the experiment continues.  Probably a mix of timothy, rye, clover and perhaps some alfalfa will be seeded later this week, aimed at producing harvestable hay in 2011.  Monday overnight brought (hopefully) the last hard freeze of the year, with temps down to 27.  All the outdoor plantings of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and corn had to be covered with plastic oe mulch by Susan and Nancy.

Tuesday, Susan and Nancy went to the Big City in search of quilting materials.  Journeys down Wolf Road and Central Avenue brought bright lights and civilization to the pair from Middle-of-Nowhere.  In Albany, they have the electricity, just like we do, but they also have lines painted in the middle of the roads and red and green lights stopping and starting the traffic.  And not an orange triangle in sight.

John Fischer is having difficulties repairing the hay tedder (large rake-like machine that tosses mowed hay around for drying and leaves it in neat little rows), so it remains to be seen whether or not that machine will ever function at Rock Creek Farm.

This week brought great celebration at Rock Creek Farm, one that will be long-remembered through the annals of time (well, at least we probably won't forget about it for a few days).  Following upon the grand tradition of that long-storied march in Selma, Alabama, extending beyond judging a man not by the color of his skin but on the content of his character, building on the aftermath of the Germans' bombing of Pearl Harbor (apologies to Bluto, Belushi and all the brothers of Animal House, but don't interrupt me I'm on a roll), the Rock Creek Farm hen house has become integrated. Two dozen black Jersey Giant chicks arrived via USPS Wednesday morning and are doing their workouts in their (segregated for now) incubator in the main barn.  About two weeks from now, these new arrivals, which currently look like miniature penguins marching around a tiny prison yard with high steel walls under a giant red sun, will parade out the door, around the corner, and into into chicken coop history.  Free at Last, Free at Last, Praise the Lord Almighty, We Are Free at Last.