Kitchen Frogs and Other Oddities...

Life on the farm is kind of laid back...at least according to John Denver. Life on our farm has been kind of odd lately, but that's the way we like it. Okay, life on our farm is always kind of odd with all the dogs, cats and other critters we live with...some odder than others.

For instance, the other night I was cooking supper and had to get something out of the freezer, which is in the laundry room. When I walked back into the kitchen a tiny little toad was sitting on the kitchen counter next to the sink. I was taken aback for a moment, but realized he must have been in the potted plant I'd brought in earlier in the day (it was still sitting on the counter). I scooped Little Toad into a jar so I could show Don before setting him free. 

A few minutes later I stepped into the hallway to get something from the pantry. When I returned to the kitchen there sat a teeny toad on the kitchen counter looking quite content. I immediately wondered how such a small creature could have gotten out of a tall jar! Imagine my surprise when I realized that the first froggy was still in the jar. 

The rest of the evening I kept my eyes peeled looking for more baby toads, but these two were my only visitors. After showing them to Don they were put back where they came from - outside the garage under the floodlight where all the night time bugs gather. I'm sure they are both fat frogs now, even though I didn't invite them to have supper with us.

Early the other morning we were awakened by the most distressing cries coming from the fenced in front yard. I got up to see what was going on and was quite surprised to see a white-tailed fawn in the yard! I don't know how the little thing got over the fence, but it was panicked and couldn't figure out how to get out. Our dog Teagan was barking at it, but the other two dogs, Angus and Caoilainn weren't paying it much attention. In fact, Angus was asleep! 

Don threw on some clothes and hurried out to see if he could catch the fawn. I was able to call the dogs into the house and then went to slip on some shoes so I could help Don. However, in the few minutes I was gone the fawn managed to squeeze its way THROUGH the fence and ran off towards the big pond. 

I assured Don that the doe was probably standing in the trees at the pond keeping an eye on her baby. He was worried because the fawn was still young enough to have spots and it had banged itself up a bit trying to get through the fence. We are both still amazed that our dogs didn't touch it. Don said Teagan appeared to be trying to herd the fawn, not hurt it. We haven't seen it again so I'm sure baby and mom were reunited.

Last, but not least (that would be the baby frogs) was our critter adventure last night. I went out to the garage and as soon as I stepped out I noticed my cat Norah was trying to get something from behind the cooler where the dog food is stored. Cautiously (as in I stood in the house and leaned way out) I used the flashlight to see what she had. Poor frightened little field rat! It was huddled up and trying to be invisible, but Norah kept circling and trying to figure out how to get Mr. Mousie. I quickly closed the door and let nature take its course.

When we were getting ready to go to bed Don put some of the dogs in the garage for the night. I asked him if the little rat was still there and he wasn't sure so I got the flashlight and we checked again. Amazingly, it was!  I convinced Don that the poor thing was terrified and the dogs would make quite a ruckus if they found it. My soft hearted husband put on his work gloves and carefully caught the little rodent who squeaked in terror more than once.

We took the rat outside and set it free in the grass. As we stood there watching it make a cautious getaway I told Don that we were probably the only two people on Earth who would go into their garage at 4 a.m. to rescue a rat!

I guess we're just two soft hearted  oddities ourselves, but I don't think being odd is a bad thing. It certainly keeps things interesting around here!

On the right path...

When Don and I first bought Hickahala Ranch it was nothing but open fields and a few acres of wooded bottom land. We loved the way it looked and discussed leaving it like that...natural. Of course, we soon discovered that open grassy fields are NOT natural here and, if left unmowed, our fields would quickly become woods!

As the years have passed by it seems like Don kept mowing more and more "lawn" until he was spending all of his two days off on the lawn mower. This year, he's finally come to the "green side". I've urged him time and again to bush hog instead of mow, to let the horses into the fenced in front yard from time to time and to let me put the goats in the back yard. I seriously doubt that it was my nagging that changed his mind. I reckon he finally just got tired of mowing because this summer he's decided to just mow paths!

He's keeping the front yard mowed around the fence and about ten feet out from the house. He mows me a path to the garden and one to the pond. Pictured above is his path to the woods behind the house. Everything else is left to grow. I think it's great! No more wasting gas (I hate petroleum products and America's dependency on them), no more wasting time on the lawnmowers and no more wasting money constantly fixing the blasted things! Nope, Don is now on the right path...the "green" path that I've been trying to steer him onto for a very long time.

The benefits are amazing. We have more birds around the house...cardinals, hummingbirds, yellow finches and little Indigo buntings, to name a few. The barn swallows raised their family on the back porch and have decided to stay for a while. Some evenings I step outside and there are dragonflies by the hundreds hovering over the lawn. They attract bats, which I dearly love to watch swooping low to catch mosquitoes and other insects. The taller grass also attracts grasshoppers, which in turn help to feed the garden spiders that are beginning to build their webs around the house.

Don has told me to sell the riding mowers in my mom's annual yard sell in October. What mowing needs to be done will be done with the push mower or bush hogged with the tractor next year. It's just one tiny step on the path to a more environmentally friendly farm and I couldn't be happier!

Killer ducks!

That's right...two of the ducks pictured above are cold blooded killers! The big white one with his head under the water (Puddles) and the dark brown one next to him (Mr. Bean...alias Mr. Mean) committed murder by drowning last night. Don found poor Rowan drowned in the duck pool this morning. Since we keep the drakes in a separate pen, there is no one else to blame for this heinous crime.

Last night's incident leads us to believe that it was Puddles and Mr. Bean (Mean) who jumped Strayhorn and brutalized the poor rooster so badly he wasn't able to recover. Rowan didn't have a chance last night and now we are left with our least favorite foul fowls!

Rowan is now buried at the garden next to Strayhorn and I told Don I didn't want any more male birds. Don, however, wants another rooster. He misses the crowing...says it makes the place feel more like a farm with a rooster crowing. I just hope we find another nice rooster, but I never want any more drakes!

Rest in peace handsome Rowan. You were never a nuisance and that's a quality I admire in a duck...or a neighbor...or...

Life's path...

As I was walking to the house this evening from the chicken pen and garden I noticed that I was walking on a path...a path that I've slowly made from daily trips back and forth. Even in the area Don hasn't mowed yet any one would be able to see my little path. The dogs use it as much as I do and every day we walk in a line out to do the evening chores.

Many times Don and I have chuckled at the horses as they walk their worn path from the barn to the pond after they've been fed. I can even see it on the Google map of our farm! Don's walking path down the hill and into the woods is also visible on the map. Before long the paths our dogs are making in the front and back yards will also be visible. Strange to think that a path made just from walking the same direction every day could become so permanent as to be seen from a satellite spinning in space!

I guess we all make paths in our lives in more ways than one...paths made from doing, feeling, reacting, in the same way day in and day out. Some might say I'm "in a rut" doing the same things every day, walking the same direction, eating the same foods, having a schedule, etc. Some might say that sameness makes me a very dull person. I don't find my life dull at all. I find the sameness...the paths I've made...to be comforting and no day is ever the same!

Today as I walked back from the chicken pen and garden on my same little path I noticed the sunset through the Black Gum tree and wished I could see the solar eclipse, but I still enjoyed the lovely sunset. I rejoiced in the three perfect eggs the chickens gave me and the tiny bean sprouts that had just popped up in the garden today. I walked as I savored the handful of ripe raspberries...the first this year...that I'd picked at the garden. I was tickled to hear the tanager singing his heart out in the Elm tree...he always heralds in summer for me.

I am grateful that life's path has led me to this farm and all the treasures nature has in store for me every day. There is a peaceful contentment to routine and I welcome it every day, just as I welcome all the new and exciting experiences I find here on the farm each day I step outside.

More unexpected visitors...

The other day I was sitting here at the computer when I heard a sound that made my heart sink. From the sound I assumed that a water line had broken and water was spraying out into the back yard. Imagine my delight in discovering, when I peered out the back door, that it was an enormous amount of migrating birds!

I'll take birds over broken water lines any day, even if they are grackles, which these appeared to be. Obviously my neck of the woods is a very popular migration area for the noisy birds (just check out the map - http://www.birdsource.org/GIS/cgrackle.html). Next time I won't be surprised when I hear them out back!

They were a marvel to watch as they flew in unison from one group of trees to the other. I had to grab my phone and run outside to get a picture as they flew over the house. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to get a good photo of flying birds, so the picture doesn't even begin to convey the large amount of birds that flew over my head. I'm just glad none of them dropped a "gift" on my head as I was standing there gawking up at them!

Several years ago, during the winter, I caught a glimpse out the window of something large and white. I ran to the porch and marveled as a large flock of snow geese swooped around the barn and then landed in the horse pasture. There were so many that it looked like the pasture was covered in snow. Like the grackles, the snow geese didn't stay long, but I am so glad they graced me with their presence for a short time.

I have to admit, grackles don't even compare to snow geese, but the massive number of them was quite awesome and the sound was unbelievable. There isn't a week that goes by on the farm that something doesn't catch my eye and send me on a search to learn more about it. I am very grateful to live here where nature surrounds and entertains me. It makes my life full and exciting.

Now I need to go see what the dogs are so excited about outside. Must be another unexpected visitor...like a possum, an owl or a deer! Or, it could just be the neighbor driving down his driveway!

What came before...

In the photo above is an old fence row on our property. Before we bought our farm it was a 120 acre cow pasture. We've found remnants of an old silo and barn. In fact, we discovered some time after building our barn that we'd built it on the site of the old barn!

There is some evidence of what came before us and even before the cow pasture. I've found a broken piece from a butter churn lid and down in the woods one Spring I discovered a big patch of daffodils. Knowing this was an indication of a house site, we explored a bit and found some old handmade bricks. They now form a "patio" that my garden shed steps sit upon.

There are traces of what came before that old house site. Long before white men moved into this area it was populated by the Chickasaw Indians. The name of our farm, Hickahala Ranch, comes from the name of the creek that forms our north boundary line. I contacted the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and found out the name is actually two words..."hicka" means "stop" and "hala" means "arrive".

That's exactly how we feel about our home. When the realtor stopped in what became our driveway we knew we'd finally arrived at our home. Later that evening we drove out here alone and walked the half mile to the back of the property (where the house is now). While standing there soaking in the beauty around us a flock of Canada Geese flew overhead. In that moment we knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were meant to live here.

I enjoy finding the traces of what came before...barbed wire fence lines turned into a row of trees...unexpected patches of daffodils in the woods...crumbling bricks made decades ago. I can only hope that when Don and I are gone someone will enjoy what we will leave behind...fruit trees...wetlands converted from fields to forest...and this house we hope future family will love as much as we do.

Spiders of a different sort...

Last week when I was down at the pond I checked to see if Huck's spider lilies had sprouted. There was no sign of them so I figured the dry summer was to blame and there would be no spider lily blooms this year. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I discovered they had not only sprouted, but would soon be blooming again!

I like spider lilies as they are late bloomers, quite unusual and easy to grow. My mom gave me these bulbs and I just used a trowel to lift up the dirt, shoved the bulb in and patted the dirt back in place. They've been coming up like clockwork near the end of September ever since.

Of course, I had to do a little research on these lovely flowers and discovered they are an Asian native. They were first introduced to North Carolina and now grow all over the South. I don't know if my mom planted her row of spider lilies along her front porch, or if they were there when my parents bought their farm 45 years ago.  I'll definitely have to ask her when I visit next!

For now, I don't think I will plant any more on my place. I'm content to enjoy Huck's spider lilies. My only regret is that he is not here to enjoy them with me...or maybe he is, in spirit.

Remembering Huck...

When Don and I moved here the farm was just a cow pasture. There were no buildings, drive, power, etc. on the place...just ponds, grass and trees. One afternoon in mid December we headed out to meet a man about building our half mile driveway. As we turned onto our road I saw a black speck running down the middle of the road. When we got closer I saw it was a small puppy. In that instant I knew it was our dog Huck. Don tells me that I blurted out, "There's Huck!".

When we got out Don asked the driveway man if it was his dog and he said no, the pup had come from the bridge. I had to wade into the swampy side of the road to grab the little shivering wet puppy, but grab him I did! We stopped for dog food and supplies on the way home and, once there, I spent an hour sitting on the bathroom floor pulling cockle burrs out of Huck's fur. Poor guy even had them embedded in his arm pits (um, guess that would be leg pits).

We took Huck to the vet the next morning and were told he was a Border Collie mix about six weeks old. His intelligence and looks won us over and we have been huge Border Collie fans ever since. He learned things so quickly! Potty training was a breeze. If he went out and did his business I would give him a treat. One day I realized he was going out every few minutes, coming in and running to the counter where I kept his treats. Next time he went out I watched. Smart fellow squeezed out a few drops then dashed in and went straight to the treats. HA...I was onto his game!

On Don's off days we would take Huck out to the farm with us (we were renting a small house in town while our house was built). He would get so excited and run circles around the truck. It got so bad that we had to start spelling certain words...R..I..D..E and F..A..R..M were two of several words Huck soon learned the meaning of and would go bouncing off the walls with excitement again.

The first summer we lived here on the farm Huck was bit by a water moccasin and almost died. He spent a week at the vet's (vet even took Huck home with him over the weekend). The bite on his front leg caused Huck's chest to swell so severely it was compressing his heart and lungs. We were so grateful that he recovered and came home!

Unfortunately our wonderful Huck became ill again the next summer. He was losing weight and couldn't seem to keep his food down. I was in Alabama a lot because my Daddy was losing his battle with colon cancer. It was an extremely difficult time. Six weeks after we lost Daddy in August we lost Huck to stomach cancer. He was just shy of his third birthday. Every year the first of August and the middle of September my heart breaks again.

A couple week's before we lost Huck (I was in Alabama) Don said Huck went out to the edge of the back yard and sat staring into the sunset. When Don called him, Huck just turned to look at him and then gazed into the sunset again. The afternoon we buried him under the persimmon tree there was a gorgeous sunset. We like to think that every beautiful sunset is Huck letting us know he is still here with us on his beloved farm.