The Riley Factor #79

The Riley Factor August 30 , 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, August 30  --

Goodbye, Farewell, It's time to Say Adieu ... to Pauline and The Donald Michaud.  Thursday night, family members and friends gathered at Pheasant Hill in Agawam to wish success and happiness to Pauline and Don, who have decided to pick-up and move to Tuscon.  Bags are packed, vehicles are loaded, and the train pulls out of the New England station for all points west on Sunday morning, August 29.  All the best go out to the happy couple about to embark on life's next big journey.

Planting and Plowing -- A bit of mowing, some plowing, some disking and the fall farm work has begun.  Not long before it will be over for another year.  Still have potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and tobacco to harvest.  And winter wheat to plant.  And the final hay cutting of the year to make.

Riley -- If you really want a taste of the experience of Life with Riley, see the movie Marley & Me (2008, Twentieth Century Fox, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Anniston, currently running on HBO).  Although Marley is a Yellow Lab and Riley is a Golden, the two breeds are very similar, and Marley and Riley have the same, let's say, zest for life.  This Hollywood blockbuster (well, perhaps straight to video B- flick) film captures the entire essence of Life with Riley.  Chewed stuff not meant to be chewed, diving into pools of water where no one should swim, jumping up on people who don't fully appreciate the excitement of a 90-pound dog meeting a new acquaintance head-on at 20 mph, "I didn't notice that he chewed through the leash" episodes one after another, etc.  A good time is had by all; well, at least is had by Marley and Riley.

The Herd of Five -- Cutest photo op of the week was Zeke, our 300-pound bull calf, napping under the overhang near the barn, with two of the red chickens standing on top of him -- all three at peace.

Fowl Weather -- The French Guinea Fowls declining numbers continue, with nine of the squawking prowlers remaining.  Eventually, one hopes that they get the idea that in the game of Car Versus Bird, car wins.  On the positive front, Queen Susan has trained 23 two-month old turkeys to come when called.  They follow her around like Red Sox fans follow Big Papi.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Ponds are still overfull and streams are still flowing heavily from last Sunday's torrential rains.  But the basement is now empty of its six-inches of water and the town's fire alarm has stopped going-off every hour.

Quote of the Week -- "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." -- Winston Churchill

The Riley Factor #78

The Riley Factor August 25 , 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, August 25  --

The Rains -- This past Sunday, we got six inches of rain here in beautiful Fort Plain.  And six inches of water in our basement.  Our drainage culvert, which runs parallel to the house and carries the water run-off from the fields down to the street culvert, breached its boundaries, and we had a 15-foot wide stream of sorts running across our front yard and driveway.  All is fine here now, owing to a couple of pumps running all night in the basement and emptying the swimming-pool-to-be.  We saw some wicked flooding in and around town.  One house, its breezeway and garage had a stream turned river flowing right through it, across the front yard and across Route 163 in a 100-foot-wide swath.  When we drove past, the owners were standing in front of the house in six inches of flowing water in the middle of the street on the double yellow line.  Rock Creek, our little creek after which our farm is named, is dry most of the year or at least runs very, very little.  Our pasture fence is built right over the creek, about 20 yards from Route 163, under which the creek flows through a 4-5 foot in diameter pipe.  After a typical torrential rain storm, the creek might widen to 15-20 feet and perhaps a foot deep for a few hours due to storm run-off.  We have experienced this many times.  Last evening, the creek had swelled to 75 feet wide and was so deep it flowed through and right over the top of the pasture fence.

Planting and Plowing -- Harvesting is done for the year, except for the remaining tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco.  Soon fields will again be plowed and disked, and the hard red and soft white winter wheat will be planted.

Riley -- Allegedly a hunting hound of sorts, Riley spends part of each daily run/walk pursuing rabbits and other little furry creatures.  To date, Riley is being shut out.  A good thing.

The Herd of Five -- Grazing in the pasture, mooing, nibbling on hay bales, slurping some water, pooping ... the life of cattle is not a diverse one.

Fowl Weather -- We sold 20 of the black Jersey Giant chickens, which were about three months old, so now the chicken flock is back to a manageable level at 49 ... 31 remaining Jersey Giants and 18 of the Cornish Rock Hen/RI Red crossbreeds.  On the turkey front, for some reason, the 23 young turkeys, which are about two months old and just learning what their wings are for, decided to fly up into the top rafters in the barn one evening last week.  No explanation offered.  They refused Queen Susan's pleas to return to the planet surface, resulting in their spending a night up over the hay in the rafters above the top floor of the barn.  Fortunately, one night was enough for this adventure.
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- The most civilized of the logging roads has finally been cleared and pruned to allow even the least hardy sole to traverse via ATV or Ute a half mile into and out of the darkest parts of the woods without feeling like their face is being constantly whacked by brush.  Sorry, but your butt will still feel like you've been in the saddle driving cattle for a week, but, hey, you can't have everything.

Quote of the Week -- "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Riley Factor #77

The Riley Factor August 21, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, August  21 --
Planting and Plowing -- An acre each of barley and oats were combined this week and stored in the barn, to be used as cattle feed.  The oldest member of Rock Creek Farm, the huge Oliver grain combine, continues to chug along without too much repair being called for.  And the second oldest member of the farm family, the New Holland baler, put-up more bales of straw into the barn from the remnants of the semolina wheat harvested a couple of weeks ago.

Riley -- Moving up to three runs per day through the trails and fields to have energized the golden one

The Herd of Five -- A round-em-up rodeo has become virtually a nightly feature in the pasture, as the Holsteins and Dexters enjoy being chased by Susan on an ATV round and round before settling in on a track into the barn.  They each take a turn or two first confronting the ATV head on, and then running away before turning around to fight another time.  Thus far, no head-on charges have resulted in collision.  But Gabe at 900 lbs. and Eli at 730 lbs. each outweigh the ATV and rider, so cowgirl beware.

Fowl Weather -- The Keets flock continues its self-appointed route toward the endangered species list.  Two more were lost to traffic this week, leaving their numbers at 10, down from their starting point of 16.  And one of those 10 has a broken leg, presumabnly from surviving a bump with some 55mph vehicle.  They need all to consider some behavior modification.  And fast.
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Susan and her Amish sisters harvested a few quarts of blackberries from the berry patches in the woods, and Susan has untertaken to turn them into blackberry wine.  Stay tuned.  And good thing the haqrvesting was done in daylight, as we heard a large pack of coyotes in the trails and we chased them back into the woods early Saturday evening.  No idea what we would have done had we actually caught them, but leave that matter for another day.

Tales from Hank Burton (and of your government at work) -- Hank Burton is a wonderful man, now in his 70s, and has been riding the seat of a bulldozer for over 50 years.  He did all the excavation that we needed for construction of the barns and drainage of the fields.  He stops in every few weeks to talk.  Although he considers himself 'retired', he still owns and operates an excavation company that does work all around the area, including most of the building of Dream Parks, the national baseball camp in Cooperstown.  He stopped-in last Monday for a chat.  Well, the other day, he pulled his pick-up into his driveway, and was followed in by a white pick-up driven by a woman from the IRS, who had followed him from seeing him somewhere out on the roads.  She handed him a copy of an Internal Revenue Code Section that authorized her to check the fuel in any/all of his trucks, cars, equipment, storage tanks, etc.  After selecting two pick-ups to test (not including the one that Hank had been driving), she announced that one of the pick-ups had the wrong fuel in its tank (cheaper farm diesel; as opposed to road diesel that is sold at a price including all the familiar federal and state road taxes).  Hank explained that that truck was an old one used almost exclusively off road, and had just returned from an 8-day project building a 5-acre pond for a client.  Just that morning, they had run the truck's tank down to almost empty and filled it with road diesel at a gas station in Milford.  No matter, it still contained some farm diesel in it, and it did carry NY license plates on it, so that violation would cost Hank a $1,000.00 fine.  So that is your grand federal government at work -- fining/taxing a 70+ year old small business $1,000 under some arcane law that would not allow even a gallon of farm diesel fuel mixed in a 30-gallon tank containing road diesel.  This while Obama wastes millions of tax dollars going on a half dozen vacations around the world each year and while his minions (guys like Timothy Geitner, Charles Grassley, Barney Frank and others) can't seem to pay their taxes and are excused from bothering to obey other federal laws.

Quote of the Week -- To live is Christ, to die is gain. -- the Bible, Book of Corinthians
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Heartfelt condolences to Hank Burton and Family, on the tragic death of their son, Jimmy, who was killed last Tuesday in a logging accident.

The Riley Factor #76

The Riley Factor August 15, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, August 15 --

VACATION EXTRA >>>>> Susan just returned from a one week vacation trip to Big Valley, Pennsylvania, with some Amish friends.  She spent the days visiting over two dozen Amish families and was the talk of the barn raisings.  She said the valley is enormous and strikingly beautiful.

Following that up, CJ and Chris just completed a western road trip, covering over 5,200 miles in 12 days.  First stop was a day at the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay (actually 85 degrees and sunny on August 1).  Then on to the Devil's Tower, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Deadwood, Cody, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Cheyenne, Dodge City, Kansas City and Gettysburg.  Along the route, we passed through Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Sioux Falls, Denver, Columbus, Scranton and what seemed like millions of square miles of endless corn, wheat, soy and sunflower fields.  One lady told us that if we actually drove past Johnston, Wyoming, we would fall off of the edge of earth -- which was believable.  A great time was had, and CJ drove all 5,212 miles in his Jeep Wrangler.
Planting and Plowing -- the 3/4th acre of semolina (soft white pastry wheat) was combined on this past Wednesday.  CJ got his first taste of the farming life, helping Chris and Susan, without significant incident.  About 900 pounds were produced by the combine, bagged and moved into the upper barn for storage.  Next up, combining the wheat, oats and buckwheat (about an acre of each).  And a second cutting of the upper hay field is also in the offing, perhaps along with haying the deerfield.

Riley -- The golden one has finally started to calm down a bit.  He goes for a two mile run with us (in a vehicle of some sort) twice daily, and includes at least one pond swim in the middle of each outing.  He did make an unauthorized visit once, and was retrieved from Lloyd Vanalstine's front steps late Thursday evening.

The Herd of Five -- The steer spent their second unauthorized night outside on Saturday night, refusing to come into the barn for the evening feeding.  No incidents to report.  Just after dawn, they were all found outside under the barn overhang sleeping in the hay.  We weighed the three Holstein's this week -- Gabe was the winner at 900 pounds, with Eli coming in at 730, and Zeke trailing at a frail 300 (although he was only born this past February 13, while the other two were each born last September).  We estimate the Dexters each at about 600-700 pounds.

Fowl Weather -- The Keets are not chickens -- but they should consider some behavior modification.  Apparently, French Guinea Fowl are not as smart or quick as their barnyard fowl friends, the Jersey Giants and Rhode Island Red/Cornish Rock Hen crossbred chickens.  Four of the Keets have been hit by traffic in the past month, reducing the Keet flock to a mere dozen.  None of our chickens have ever been a traffic fatality, and we have had as many as 100 of them on site here at the NY Compound.  In a related story, the young Narragansett turkeys are now allowed outside, free to roam during daylight hours.  The flock of 23 young turkeys stick closely together as a group and venture as far as 100 yards from the barn.  Susan is their Queen, and the turkeys follow her every move, refusing to leave her side until she escapes.
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Many deer have been seen recently prowling the fields and trails.  Including a just-born fawn that stood no more than two feet high at the head.  Also, the great blue heron has returned to the lower pond, with occasional trips to the watering hole in the pasture.  Regardless of how long you stare at a heron, it does not appear flight-worthy, despite its five foot wingspan and long stick-like legs.  But somehow, when the urge is there, it manages to take flight after some considerable effort.

Quote of the Week -- "Honesty may not be the best policy, but it is worth trying at least once in a while." -- Richard M. Nixon -- Particularly appropriate and relevant in today's world for all parties currently serving in the U.S. Congress, and especially for President Obama and his band of minions in the Executive Branch.

The Riley Factor #75

The Riley Factor July 21, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, July 21 --

EXTRA, EXTRA >>>>> Stevie's & Scott's big wedding bash went off as planned on, Saturday, July 17.  Israel and Annie Kanagy watched Rock Creek Farm while were in Eastern Massachusetts -- big thanks to them.  Stevie did a remarkable job in planning the wedding (one man's unbiased opinion).  And what a great bridal party, everyone was so helpful with all the details, not to mention the impromptu singing and dancing during and after the ceremony.  We had a great time, and Stevie and Scott landed on Maui on Sunday evening for their honeymoon in Hawaii.
Planting and Plowing -- The wheat is closing-in on time for the harvest.  Golden waves throughout, still not quite dry enough for combining.  Should be good to go soon, weather permitting.  Ephraim Blank is giving the combine a once over to be sure it is ready for the 2010 season.  And, after a couple of weeks under the care and feeding of Lloyd Vanalstine, the recently acquired hay baler us up and running.

Riley -- Apparently, Riley has just discovered that he has a tail.  Question: What kind of dog waits 10 months and then begins chasing his tail, making this fruitless task a daily preoccupation?  Answer: The Riley.

The Herd of Five -- Susan had to round up the Herd of Five the other evening by chasing them on an ATV from up on the highlands.  She was laughing so hard that she caused a mini stampede while Lloyd and I looked on.  The two Dexters entered the barn at about 20 miles per hour.  Good thing those 500-pound steer have brakes.  The three Holsteins wandered in when they were good and ready.

Fowl Weather -- The Keets have gone on strike a couple of evenings, refusing to get back into their 'luxurious' quarters in the barn.  The inmates think that they are running the asylum ... now, where did I put my 12-gauge?
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- One evening this week, Susan and Chris chased a flying brown bat around the kitchen for 5-10 minutes, before a well-placed swing of the broom knocked it out the door and onto the patio.  Even with the passing of a  few decades, that old high Agawam High School baseball talent still prevails.  Mighty Casey has not struck out.

Casey at the Bat By Ernest Lawrence Thayer Taken From the San Francisco Examiner - June 3, 1888

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast; They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that — We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat." But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake, And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake; So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat; For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat. But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all, And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball; And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred, There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third. Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell; It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell; It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat, For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat. There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place; There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face. And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat, No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat. Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt. Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt. Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip. And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped — "That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said. From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar, Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore; "Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand; And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand. With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone; He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on; He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew; But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said "Strike two!" "Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!" But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again. The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the teeth are clenched in hate; He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate. And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go, And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow. Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Quote of the Week -- "We are all architects of our own destiny." -- Gigi Gaston
                              

  "Being right is not the same as doing good.: -- Anonymous

The Riley Factor #74

The Riley Factor July 11, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, July 11 --
Planting and Plowing -- The wheat fields are all golden brown -- waiting for the heads to drop and then it will be combining time.  And then time for baling some straw for bedding.  The barley, buckwheat, oats and rye are in mid-season form.

Riley -- Riley's new high-fashion electronic training collar is making a marked improvement in his behavior.

The Herd of Five -- All is well in cattle-land.  Herd is happy now that the heat wave has passed.

Fowl Weather -- Jersey Giants at nearly two months of age are the same size as our mature egg-laying Rhode Island Red/Cornish Rock Hen crossbreeds at a year or two old.  The Keets (French Guinea Hens) are a traveling band of 16, each never more than a foot or two from their nearest brethren.
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Mid-summer mowings are all complete.  Trails are dry.  Ongoing project to re-open some of the logging roads in the woods continues when time permits.  On July fourth, Scott, CJ and Chris spent a few hours in the woods, for the first ti\me marking and posting the north property line.  Felt like we were wandering through the jungles of Southeast Asia, without any bullets flying by.  We are seeing deer on most evening trail rides.

And it doesn't seem possible, but 27 years ago, on a cold and sunny January afternoon, little Stevie was born into our lives in St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, and next Saturday, she marries Scott.  Where has all that time gone?

Quote of the Week -- “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” (Goethe).

The Riley Factor #73

The Riley Factor July 4, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, July 4 --
Planting and Plowing -- All quiet these days -- growing season.

Riley -- ... is in the dog house.  Literally.  Last Sunday, he dug my money clip out of my brief case and chewed-up a few hundred dollars.  After an hour of puzzling, I had it all taped back together.  We'll have to see if the bank agrees ...  Does spelling really count? ... 'In Gd We Trst' ... here in the 'Unted States of merica'!

The Herd of Five -- The steer are becoming a bit rambunctious these days, especially Gabe and Eli, the oldest Holsteins.  We hope that an early trip to the butcher is not in order for one or both of them.

Fowl Weather -- Several of the little Jersey Giant Chickens have escaped and now wander around like they own the place.  They are far too quick to catch, so it is up to each of them as to whether or not they get back into the barn at dusk.
Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Sign me into the seen small deer club -- on Monday, I came across a doe with a fawn that was less than two feet high at the head, probably 25 pounds in all, and no larger than a small dog with too-long legs.  Both were fairly calm, and trotted off after a minute or so.

July 4 Weekend -- All the 'kids', Stevie, CJ, Scott and Jess, visited us in NY this weekend.  Great Fort Plain July 4th on the 3rd Festival.  Great fireworks and a grand time was had by all.  The countdown to Stevie's and Scott's wedding is in full launch mode ... T minus 13 days and counting.
Quote of the Week -- "Hope is not a strategy." - Anonymous
                                "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by.  And that has made all the difference." --
                              

            Robert Frost, The Road not Taken

The Riley Factor #72

The Riley Factor June 26, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 26 --
Planting and Plowing -- The hay baler has been transported to Lloyd Vanalstine's for a complete refurbishment.  We'll see how easy it is to find parts for a 50-year old machine.

Riley -- Pick-up 520 -- New game invented by Riley Saturday morning, after he chewed-on a deck of cards.  Dogs-or-Better to open.

The Herd of Five -- First attempt at worming them with Novomectin resulted in Chris being wormed and the cattle laughing to see such sport.  First aid indication on the box says, "If spilled on skin, immediately wash-off thoroughly.  Later, if you feel the urge to moo or eat hay, get to a vet right away."

Fowl Weather -- On Thursday morning, 24 Narragansett Heritage turkey chicks arrived all in good health in a box full of holes, courtesy of the USPS.  Susan says, "They are adorable".  One of the new chicks climbs on a small hay pile in the incubator and sits on it like the emperor on her throne.  The three senior turkeys have taken-up guarding the door to the new chicks' coop.  Beware all those who attempt to pass through this portal.  It turns out that one of the senior three may be a male, having hidden its gender during the period when we had two tom turkeys running the asylum.

The Narragansett Turkey is a heritage breed that was developed by crossing the Eastern Wild Turkey with domestic breeds brought to America by the colonists from England and other parts of Europe.  These are excellent turkeys to raise in free range environments because of their excellent foraging abilities and resourcefulness of eating crickets, grasshoppers and other insects.  It is also enjoyed because of its calm disposition and excellent mothering capabilities.  The good egg production and excellent meat qualities among its other utility traits make it an excellent choice to raise in large or small quantities.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- On Wednesday, Susan saw the world's smallest deer -- about the same size as our late departed Yorkshire Terrier, Jack -- less than two feet tall from hoof to head.  Ephraim arrived Wednesday evening with a ten-ton forklift and loaded the outdoor furnace used by the previous owners onto a flatbed trailer for transport to its new location at Ephraim's house on Tanners Road.  Stevie & Scotty and CJ & Jess will be visiting the NY Compound for Fourth of July weekend.

Quote of the Week -- "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."  -  Benjamin Franklin

                              

  "You're gonna need a bigger boat." -- Amity Police Chief Brody to Quint, in the wheel-house of the Orca, in Jaws, 1975

The Riley Factor #71

The Riley Factor June 22, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 22 --
Planting and Plowing -- The hay is in the barn.  After four days of cutting, tedding, raking and baling,under a very cooperative sunny and dry sky,  252 bales of a blend of timothy, alfalfa, rye and clover were stacked in the barn, and field no. 4 no longer looks like the lawn belonging to your neighbor-who-mows-his-yard-

every-third-Wednesday.

Riley -- Becoming a bit more civilized, the now nearly 10-month-old loves sleeping on the cold stone tile of the kitchen floor.  That and torturing the three cats occupy most of his day.  Along with his daily swims in each pond.

The Herd of Five -- There is yet another addition to the NY compound menagerie -- when we were stacking the hay, Ephraim Blank and Chris saw a large rat scurry across the barn upstairs floor, abandoning one comfortable rat's den for another to be determined.  He looked happy and healthy, with a perfect light gray fur coat.  But he is, after all, a rat.  Where is the Riley when you need him?  No doubt, lounging in the kitchen.

Fowl Weather -- The Keets are hilarious.  They are now weighing-in at about two pounds each, and now bravely venture a bit outside of their coop.  But, they never separate from one another, always seen as a close knit traveling pack of 16, never straying more than an inch or two from their nearest fellow French Guinea hen.  It looks as if they are claw-cuffed to each other by tiny sets of handcuffs, all moving in unison.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Deer are being seen with increasing frequency on most evening drives through the trails, and the wild turkeys have returned, now that the month-of-May turkey hunting season has passed.  The other day, Chris raced one large gobbler from the middle of a hay field to the safety of the woods.  The turkey had to cheat in order to win, moving his point of escape further and further until he could get there before the Ute.  Little bastard -- but don't worry, the month of May will come around again.

Quote of the Week -- "When you think 'Obama', think weak and ineffective".  C Fuchs, April 2009
                                "When you think 'Obama', think incompetent and dishonest.",  C Fuchs, June 2010
                                "People who were duped by the liberal media into voting for Obama because the media was so intent on inflicting Socialism on the American people are now seeing what a bumbling incompetent president that Obama is.", Sean Hannity, June 18, 2010-

The Riley Factor #70

The Riley Factor June 17, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 17 -- All is quiet on the Western Front, in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Much sun, a little rain, beautiful days.
Planting and Plowing -- Spring mowings of fields & trails done.  The hay experiment continues, with a first cutting scheduled for this afternoon.  (Making hay requires several steps and 3-4 consecutive days of zero rain.  First the cutting, then fluffing, called tedding, perhaps more tedding, then raking, and finally baling.  If the hay is baled when wet, mold occurs.  If baled before drying-out internally, the hay may spontaneously combust after sitting in the barn for a while.)

Riley -- Went missing for 15 minutes on Tuesday.  Found across Cherry Valley Road, near Lloyd Vanalstine's place -- bad idea to venture across NY Highway 163.  The golden boy will need some more discipline.

The Herd of Five -- Happy, healthy and wandering around the pasture.  Each still receiving good night kisses daily from Susan.

Fowl Weather -- The three senior turkeys are becoming more and more needy.  They love to be with their Queen, Her Majesty Susan, for daily discussions and petting.  The 75 new black Jersey Giant chicks are developing nicely.  The 16 French Guinea Hens (Keets) are barely a month old and are the size of pheasants.  Although their door has been left open daily recently, they have not yet ventured outside of the barn.  Twenty turkey chicks to be shipped next week.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Ephraim Blank will be in the house next week, helping with the haying and cutting some firewood, along with doing a bit of welding.

Quote of the Week -- "Without imperfection, neither you or I would exist." -- Stephen Hawking

The Riley Factor #69

The Riley Factor June 13, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 13 --
Planting and Plowing -- Approaching the end of planting -- Australian Butter squash, rosa blanca eggplants, butternut squash, some herbs and another 50 tobacco plants went into the ground over the weekend.  The potatoes planted last week are all bursting up onto the scene, along with the navy beans.

Riley -- The Golden Boy's newest favorite activity of the day is playing with the steers.  The Herd of Five is frequently now a herd of six as Riley endeavors to get into the head-butting game.  So far, his quickness makes up for his giving-up 100 to 500 pounds to his combatants.  Although, he may be one hind leg kick away from becoming an astronaut.

The Herd of Five -- Zeke (the youngest, born February 13, about 150-200 pounds now) suffered some sort of war wound on Saturday, bleeding from his right rump from a piercing of sorts.  A bit of colloidal silver from Dr. Susan and an order of stall-rest and the patient was cured.

Fowl Weather -- One of the senior turkeys (the one that spent a night missing last week) has adopted the role of perimeter warden.  Dawn to dusk, alone, she patrols the street front, yard and barn yard, and assumes her post in the front of the barn, right at the door, squawking an alarm whenever some large being or chicken is present.  Susan corals her to move her occasionally, but when she stubbornly refuses to move she will sit down and stay fixed (the turkey, not Susan).  A bit of a mystery.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Deer Sighting Season erupted with energy and quantities.  We saw five deer Saturday afternoon and evening, all does, one at a time each at five different points here and there.

Tales from Freysbush Garage -- What could be a better story than spending 18 years building an airplane in the second story of a building with no external doors, stairs or ramps leading to that floor?  How about building a submarine and sailing (?) it down the Erie Canal from Fort Plain to Buffalo?  Credit (again) Leon Douglas with this amazing feat. Of course, no photos exist of the underwater voyage.  We won't even bother regaling you with the tale of his installing a V-8 engine in a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle -- pales by comparison.

Quote of the Week -- One of our favorites ... a classic ... "All man's troubles come from being unable to sit in a room alone and do nothing." ... Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher.

The Riley Factor #68

The Riley Factor June 10, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 10 --
Planting and Plowing --We are preparing for our first attempt at making hay.  No, really, that's what it is called when you spend the requisite three days mowing, drying, raking and baling the coveted livestock food.  Update to follow.

Riley's Antics -- High speed racing around and through large mud puddles is the favorite Golden activity of the week.

The Herd of Five -- Moo.  Much chest bumping and head banging -- their idea of fun.  Size doesn't appear to matter, as Zeke (150 pounds) gets into it with Gabe (600 pounds) and anyone (Michael, Raphael, Ari, each 450-500 pounds) in between.  Susan and her band of Amish sisters cleaned-out the entire barn Wednesday morning.  "Now it's so clean", commented Susan, "that the chickens and turkeys don't want to hang out in there any more.  They head for outside as soon as the doors are opened in the morning".

Fowl Weather -- The Keets are now flying, and running at high speed around their stall, and the barn when one escapes, which happens on a daily basis.  Only a little while before the next phase of this experiment arrives -- releasing them to roam freely around the place and wherever else they are inclined.  Separately, it turns out that the reason one of the three senior turkeys roams so widely is to lay her eggs out of the reach of the chickens, who peck them into scramblers, if given the opportunity.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Recently, we had our closest encounter with a deer.  Chris took a shortcut on a little used trail while racing Susan and after making the turn back on to a main trail was 20 feet from a large doe, just standing there looking at her new favorite human.  After a few seconds of study, she trotted back into the brush.

Tales from Freysbush Garage -- Leon Douglas has run Freysbush Garage ever since he dropped out of the sixth grade over 50 years ago.  Cash only, and be ready to go to the auto parts store to buy whatever parts Leon needs to fix whatever you brought him to fix.  Recently, I have made the trip to Fisher's Auto Parts in Fort Plain to get brakes all-around and a horn for the Jeep, and a water pump and serpentine belt for the Xterra.  I could recognize about half of those items if they were laying on a table in front of me.  Leon is the local mechanic and a great guy, very talkative whenever we are there for something or other.  Freysbush Garage is halfway between our place and Downtown Fort Plain (remember, don't blink), about three miles away, on the corner of Cherry Valley Road and Nestle Road.  The business is located in a green and black two-story building, formerly a house, covered in asphalt shingles that were applied back just after asphalt was invented.  Leon lives about 200 yards down Nestle Road and walks to and from work twice each day, including the trip home for lunch with his wife. The Garage has no employees, other than Leon, although there is a helper there some days, who provides conversation for Leon -- unclear what else the helper actually does.  Leon stories abound.  The tale of Leon's installation of his car lift 18 years ago is a good one -- which involved a couple of neighbors, three tractors, and several days of digging and cursing.  One of my favorite Leon stories is about the airplane he once built.on the second story of the building.  A full-size two-seater with plush deep button leather seats, polished wooden dash and beautiful crimson paint job.  He spent 18 years on the project.  When it was done, it sat fully assembled on the second floor of a building with no external doors, ramps or stairs.  Once the plane was on the ground at some landing strip (still a mystery or two there) he flew it once and sold is for $36,000.  Next time's story >>> the submarine.

Quote of the Week -- "Am I the only  guy in this country who's fed up with  what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage  with this so called president? We should be  screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax  cheating, clueless leftists trying to steer our  ship of state right over a cliff, we've got  corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we  can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers  program without losing $26 billion of the  taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car.  But instead of getting mad, everyone sits  around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Trust me the economy is  getting better." -- Lee Iococca, in his new book, Where have All the Leaders Gone?

The Riley Factor #67

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

FORT PLAIN NY, June 6 -- Planting and Plowing -- The planting and plowing is done for this spring.  In the fields are an acre each of barley, oats, buckwheat and rye, each destined mostly for animnal feed, but some for baking flour.  Also from last fall are four acres of hard red winter wheat and an acre of semolina (soft white wheat).  There are also 20 rows of corn and 13 rows of soybeans in field no. 1.  And  around the greenhouse in the garden are 100 tomatoes, 200 hills of potatoes (Yukon Gold, Red Cloud, Swedish Peanut Fingerlings and Russian Banana), 75 peppers (various types), 75 cucumbers, various herbs.  In the raised beds are lettuce, sweet potatoes, green beans, navy beans, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and some other stuff.  Still growing in the greenhouse are the two lemon trees, two lime trees, two olive trees, lufa gourds, some watermelons, a few cucumber and some other long forgotten and unlabeled stuff.

Riley's Antics -- Riley sustained a minor abrasion Thursday, while riding in the back of the Ute -- trail brush whacked him in that long Golden Retriever snout.  He took it like a man/dog, with no whimpering as the golden blood dripped from his noggin.  On Sunday, he found some sort of egg somewhere -- looked like it might be a turkey egg -- and he carried it round for an hour or two before succumbing to dog hunger and eating it raw.   Yum.  (Or yuk).  At 100 pounds more or less, the nine-month old still thinks he is a lap dog.  Can you say "ouch"?

The Herd of Five -- The Fearsome Fivesome have become less cooperative lately at dinnertime, requiring a rodeo round-up of sorts (which they seem to thoroughly enjoy) to get them back into the barn.  Susan normally mounts an ATV, as the herd runs for the other side of Rock Creek, and chases them around the pasture a bit before they eventually make it to and through the barn door.

Fowl Weather -- The newest shipment of 20 Jersey Giant Chicken chicks (which should have been Narragansett Turkey chicks) are becoming accustomed to their new surroundings, although it's tough to tell a complaining 'peep' from a 'we love this, you people rock' peep.  Although one newbie was overheard saying, "This Fort Plain place is much better than our last flea bag of a chicken coop -- now we're living the turkey life, in style.  Hope that the humans don't find out that we're chickens, not turkeys."  Brownie, the newly-coined name for the senior turkey that spent an unauthorized night away from the farm last week, has taken to wide wandering during the days.  Her two sisters spend the days calling and searching for her, but it usually takes a Susan Search to locate the happy wanderer.  Saturday, two cars beep-beeped her out of the middle of Cherry Valley Road, after which we had to go get her and turn her around from what looked like the beginning of a stroll to the Village of Ames.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods-- Friday morning, we cut down 25 poplar trees in the woods next to the north trail by the fourth field.  Left to lie in the summer sun, they'll be good fire wood by this fall.  We have started seeing deer most days while out riding the trails.  So far, all doe, with perhaps a fawn or two.  And with the May 31 end to turkey hunting season, we have started seeing more wild turkeys running around the fields. And finally, there is no truth to the rumor, well maybe a little truth, well might be sort of indicative of what might have happened, if it ever did happen, of which there is no proof, well no remaining proof, and no witnesses, and no driver admission, that Chris crashed one of the tractors through the fence again.  A 'not guilty' plea was entered for the defendant.

The Riley Factor #66

The Riley Factor June 3, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 3 --

Planting and Plowing -- Mowing continued throughout the week in the trails and fields.  With 13 straight days of sun, 80-90 degree temps and no rain, everything was dry as dust before Tuesday's rain.  Wednesday was perfect for planting and Susan and the Amish trio (Annie, Barb and Lizzie) transplanted about 100 tomato plants and 100 peppers from the greenhouse into the garden, along with some herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, etc,) and other veggies.

Riley's Antics -- Riley has taken to following Chris around when they are both outside during the day, around the yard and barns.  Riley always manages to get close enough to the pond for a splash and swim -- those webbed feet still work like canoe paddles for him.  He frequently stops and sits in two-feet-deep water with only eyes and top of head showing -- must be his alligator impression.  Not very menacing.

The Herd of Five -- Definitely insiders when the temps are above 75, venturing into the pasture only in late afternoon and evening.  No more nighttime escapes to report.  When we are in the pasture, we now have to take vehicle keys with us, as Gabe and Eli have taken to removing the keys from the ignitions and leaving them dropped hide-and-seek fashion in the grass (so far, nearby).

Fowl Weatherr -- On Monday, the tall white pole pine in the pasture contributed 14 more fallen limbs, and roosts were made for the Keets and the Jersey Giant chicks.  All are now happily roosting in their respective stalls in the barn, their coops, and able to sit at their chosen height in order to regulate their body temperature.  Prior to the installation of their new furniture, the new chicks had been running and jumping around like little maniacs, trying to get closer to the sky.  Now, they are at peace.  However, all the Keets and Jersey chicks have created one method or another of escaping their coops.  We routinely find a few strolling the main aisle in the barn.  The Keets are a tightly wound bunch, keeping within a half inch of each other whenever humans are in the vicinity.  The Jerseys run for their lives whenever we get within 10 feet of them -- 50 tiny black dots scrambling in all directions while peeping their heads off.  Actually, they look like very tiny penguins, being played at 78 when they are really a 33 LP.  (At least half of The Riley Factor readership has no idea to what that refers).  Wednesday night, one of the turkeys went out on an unauthorized overnight stroll -- went missing about 7PM and our evening search was fruitless.  But from the world of happy endings, as we left the barn at about 8AM Thursday, the missing link was running happily toward us across the back yard, soaking wet and completely mud covered -- no longer a bright white Domestic American Turkey, but looking more like she was camouflaged returning from a week-long sniper mission in the jungles of Southeast Asia.  And lastly, a peeping box with air holes in it arrived from the Post Office on Thursday morning, filled with 20 Narragansett Turkey chicks -- another 20 birds all to behave well but act very nervously around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Mowings and Musings -- Susan spent Tuesday afternoon re-landscaping the side of the main barn -- bucket loader and tractor under saddle.  Looks great -- no one would ever suspect the septic tank exploded a month ago.  But, Wednesday morning, two chickens were seen teaching two turkeys how to dig nests in the just seeded earth -- what's the deal with that?  New sighting -- while rolling around the place on Tuesday evening's ATV run, we came across a 10-12 inch snapping turtle in the road above the fourth field.  He looked happy enough, but we stayed outside of snapping distance.  10 and 10 each, OK, moving on.

The Riley Factor #65

The Riley Factor May 31, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, May 31 -- Memorial Day Weekend -- the holiday weekend at Rock Creek Farm was wild & wacky, primarily owing to bizzaro guests Pauline, Barbara Lacroix Semanie, Ames and Debbie.  Friday night's barbecue featured prime steaks and half gallon bottles (jugs) of Western Mass local beer, all courtesy of Ames.  Saturday was spent at the Annual Amish landscaping and crafts auction.  Mohawk Valley Auction Center was abuzz (non-electric buzz, of course) with auctioneer yodeling and cries of "Sold, a bargain".  Such prized items were acquired as a child picnic table (Barbara), quilt (Barbara), giant beer stein (Pauline), personalized key chain (Pauline), lucky horse shoe (Pauline), stuff (Susan) and tiny 3-drawer cabinet full of bullets (Chris).  What a pile.  Uhhh, of treasures.  Ames won the award for Most Amish Food Consumed, by a Non-Amish Entity.  Ames and Pauline also met several of our Amish friends.  By day's end, both were asking, "Where can I get me one of those straw hats?"

On the Fowl Front -- The 50+ Jersey Giant chicks and 16 French Jumbo Guinea Hen chicks are out of their incubators and now each flock has its own coop (stall).  One chick found a way out and was found strolling the midway at 7AM when Susan and Barbara entered the asylum (barn) for Sunday morning's feedings.  The male Jersey Giant chicks (the roosters) have started separating themselves -- you know, chest bumping, smoking Lucky Strikes, driving too fast, chasing the little chiquitas.  The Herd of Five enjoyed all the extra attention over the weekend, and spent much time bumping their noses into the new and exciting visiting rear ends.

Trail Side Wanderings and Wonderings -- Barbara was maniacal, zooming around the trails on an ATV (her first time) while Susan led the way and Pauline and Chris played Rangers in the Ute (well, actually Chris drove in the role of Ranger and Pauline sipped wine in the female role reprise of Dudley Moore's Arthur).  We did see a deer a couple of times trotting along the back Deerfield Trail.  Barbara and Susan saw a pair of turkeys walking off the oats field.  During the course of an hour's ride, Barbara morphed from, "Which lever makes the ATV go and which makes it stop?" to "Can't we get some ATVs that go faster than 50 or 60 MPH on these trails?  Where can I leave my helmet -- the added weight is slowing me down."
 
Riley -- Riley's newest favorite pastime is finding huge, deep and messy mud puddles and rolling in them.  Which, of course, requires follow-up with a swim in the pond before being allowed back into the house.  Over the weekend, he was seen eating (or at least chewing on) two birds, a frog, a mole and chicken poop.  And he did carry around the yard at least one squawking chicken like a cat carrying her kitten.  No harm, no fowl foul.

The Riley Factor #64

The Riley Factor May 28, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, May 28 -- The extra 24 Jersey Giant Black Chicks that arrived unexpectedly (and unordered) last week are settling in to life on the farm.  Along with the 16 Jumbo French Guinea Hen chicks, and their incubators, they were were moved into their own stall in the barn to get into life with the Herd of Five, three senior turkeys and the chicks' older brethren, the egg-laying chickens.  The Keets now are each the size of an adult pidgeon, and they now occupy their own stall in the barn -- incubator life over.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent planting -- an acre each of barley, oats, buckwheat and rye are now in the ground.  And nine new acres of hay has been seeded, including The Deerfield -- timothy grass, alfalfa, clover and rye grass.  (A bit of rain would be nice -- weather has been 80 and sunny 10 consecutive days).  Riley has been out for runs and pond swimming daily.  Mowing the trails, fence lines and fields is up next on the daily routine (human not dog routine; dog routine is more lying around and doing nothing; with the occasional chasing of chickens and turkeys, only when Riley can isolate one from the pack).

Animal count -- Susan counted the animals ... 5 steer, 3 turkeys, 20 egg-laying chickens, 16 Jumbo French Guinea Hen chicks, 52 Black Jersey Giant chicks and 20 American Heritage turkey chicks expected to arrive within a month.  Add in Riley and the three cats (Stryder, Arwen and AJ) and the total is 100 on site and 20 in transit.  No red fox has been seen since the Battle of May 15.

Tales from Auctionville -- This Saturday, May 29 is the annual Amish landscaping and crafts auction, at Mohawk Valley Produce Center in Fordsbush, Fort Plain, about five miles from the house.  And for those of you who want to arrive early for the weekend and catch some early bidding action, Friday evening, May 28, 5PM, is the monthly antiques and estate auction at Premier Auction Gallery in beautiful downtown Fort Plain.  And that one comes with complimentary drinks and dinner, courtesy of the auctioneer.  Reservations are booked for Ames & Debbie, Pauline and her friend Barbara Lacroix -- trail riding, barbecues and bonfires are on the agenda.  Weather is 80s & sunny for today and the three-day weekend.

The Riley Factor #63

The Riley Factor May 22, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, May 22 -- Oh, oh.  Call Snerdley in Shipping.  Houston, we have a problem.  On Thursday, another box with holes in it, with the requisite peeping emanating, arrived at the main barn, courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service.  Box not ordered.  24 squawking chicks inside not ordered.  Appears to be a double shipment of the order we received a week ago.  Anyone want a couple dozen chicken dinners?  No need to keep refrigerated.  Ready to serve in three to six months.

Friday and Saturday were spent planting -- 20 rows of corn, 13 rows of soybeans, an acre of oats and an acre of rye.

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon ... you know the rest.  Well, Saturday night we went out to dinner after feeding the animals and locking them in the barn.  We left one stall door top open for fresh air in the cattle stall that holds the Herd of Five (stall doors to the outside are dutch doors).  When we returned from the Triangle Tavern in Cherry Valley, we were surprised to see Eli out in the pasture.  Expecting to find a broken stall door or latch, we found nothing amiss.  The stall door was still locked and latched from the outside.  The only possible explanation ... 500 pound Eli jujmped over the four foot high stall door bottom in a vain attempt to gain his freedom, ort least to gain a few more hours grazing the pasture grasses.  We hope Eli doesn't realize the pasture fence is only three and a half feet tall.

Tales from Auctionville -- Saturday, May 29 is the annual Amish landscaping and crafts auction, at Mohawk Valley Produce Center in Fordsbush, Fort Plain.  And for those of you who want to arrive early for the weekend and catch some early bidding action, Friday evening, May 28, 5PM, is the monthly antiques and estate auction at Premier Auction Gallery in beautiful downtown Fort Plain.  And that one comes with complimentary drinks and dinner, courtesy of the auctioneer.

And finally, farewell to Nancy -- goodbye, we hardly knew ye.  Nancy has left Rock Creek Farm after 15 months of living in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Next stop, initially, is living in West Springfield with Missy, Bob and kids, Alexis, Paul and Brady.  Also farewell to Gabby, the Belgian Tervuren Shepard, and Professor Mittens II, house cat, barn cat and all-around, very affectionate good guy cat.

The Riley Factor #62

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

FORT PLAIN NY, May 19 -- Life on the farm has been busy of late.  An acre in field no. 3 was planted in organic barley on Tuesday.  Of course, the planting process is multi-stage and generally requires two people and two or three tractors, or switching-around several pieces of equipment.  First comes the plowing (big tractor drags several-hundred-pound blades through planet surface creating rows of 12-to-18-inch-high furroughs), followed by a few days of resting the ground.  Then roto-tilling (or disking) the earth to chop it into fine particles and smooth it out, then large rock removal (with a rock-picking bucket on the large tractor, or alternatively, and evilly, by hand) then planting the seed (via grain drill or large funnel planter/spreader), and finally culti-packing the area a couple of times (rolling the seeded area with thousand-pound ridged rollers to drive the seed underground).  --  This year, all our culti-packing will be done with our 'new' (50+ year old) McCormick-Deering Ground Pulverizer -- what a great name for a farm implement of destruction.  --  Then nature takes its course.  We'll report back and follow this barley crop this year, through harvest and use or sale -- current plan is to use it in combination with wheat and oats for animal feed (cattle, turkeys and chickens all love to eat grains).

Over the next week or two, planting is scheduled for an acre each of oats, buckwheat, alfalfa and corn.  Potatoes and other vegetables are also in the mix.  Four acres of hard red winter wheat was planted last September, planned for harvest this summer.  It is growing well in field no.1, along with a half acre of semolina wheat.

Riley and Gabby continue with their daily runs chasing Nancy-on-the-Quad for a couple of miles once once or twice a day until they drop into one or both ponds for needed breaks and swims.  The ponds have held a pair of geese and a pair of Mallard ducks of late, and the three dozen recently added orange, white and silver pond carp are doing well in the lower pond.

The Keets (French Jumbo Guinea Fowl) have doubled in size since their early May hatchings.  The Jersey Giants (black chickens) also love life in the incubator and have doubled as well.  All the chicks are still cute, according to Susan and Nancy.

And shout-out to Lizzie Miller, who joined the Rock Creek Farm staff on Tuesday.  An Amish teacher during most of the year, running a school house with 27 students in grades one through eight, Lizzie will be spending a day per week this summer working in the fields and gardens with us.

The Riley Factor #61

The Riley Factor May 15, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, May 15 --  Today's lead is from the weekend sports page ... CELTICS 94, CAVALIERS 85 ... FLYERS 4, BRUINS 3 ... SUSAN "DEAD EYE" SLATE FUCHS 1, RED FOX 0 ... Yes, that's right, Susan met-up with for the brash red devil that had killed nine of our egg-producing chickens over the past two weeks, and had taunted us every day or two by prancing across the pasture, or a trail, or the back yard, or one day even sitting in the middle of Cherry Valley Road staring back at us,  Well, Saturday morning at about 8AM, while we were feeding the Herd of Five, turkeys and remaining chickens, the fox waltzed right into the barn as we stood there.  The fowl sounded the alarm, Susan chased the fox away and said, "I'm getting the gun".  She returned from the house with the LSI .357 magnum lever action rifle and a box of cartridges.  She stood in the center aisle and awaited the return of the fox.  It did not take long.  Ten minutes later, she saw him in the steer stall and waived him off.  He ran around the other side if the barn and entered the turkey stall where he was first seen earlier in the day.  A shot rang out and the fox dropped ... an adult, about 20 pounds, and looking well fed, although appeared to be not in the best of health, with a very mangy fur coat (and big teeth), even before his encounter with the 130 grain, full metal jacketed, .38 special missive.  Susan added, "I prayed for steady nerves and a steady hand, and the Lord gave me both."  Case closed.

Now on to the less exciting news from the simple life.

On Wednesday morning and into the afternoon, we decided to clean out the flu from the wood-burning boiler -- BIG MISTAKE.  While the big black box needed its annual cleansing, and taking the flu apart was a breeze, putting it back together was more of a hurricane.  We seem to be missing pieces, while at the same time we had more pieces than we need and also had pieces of a different shape than those we need or those we started with.  We are now waiting for Kore-to-be-in-the-House to perform his Amish plumber magic and put the molecules of the stove back together, so much like the transporter on the Star Ship Enterprise.  Beam that furnace up, Scottie.  And beam it back in one working piece.  Kirk out.

Thursday was a beautiful warm sunny day, spent relaxing and traveling locally.  Friday was similar, with some greenhouse planting and other minor around-the-yard-work shuffled in.  On Saturday morning, Susan and Nancy were all set to climb into the horseless carriage and travel toward Eastern Mass for a couple of days for Stevie's long awaited bridal shower, hosted by Stevie's many bridesmaids and two maids of honor, Liz Charette and Crystal Raymond, at Jim and Lisa Charette's house on in Hopkinton.  No doubt to be a beautiful and wonderful affair, albeit likely overdosed in estrogen.  Unfortunately, an injury to Chris' arm delayed the girly trip a day.  :-(  But at the same time provided the opportunity for this week's installment of Red Fox Safari.

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.