There’s been so much going on here on the farm, I don’t even know where to start! I guess first with a remembrance of our sweet angel Luke. I bought these lovely chimes to put in our memorial garden for him. I wanted to do something a little different than what I have for his angel sisters and was happy when I found these. We still miss him so much; his spirit is with us everywhere here on the farm and around the house.
Copper Sue and Max help to ease that pain. They are growing like weeds! Copper is now 8 months old, and 55 lbs; Max is 6 months old and 50 lbs. They are still wild and crazy puppies but have more quiet moments where they are just so sweet! Max especially loves to give lots of kisses, Copper is a bit more stingy with hers. But she always wants to be with us, except for the time she spends outside playing with her brother. They get along so great!
We did a DNA test on Copper. She came to us as a “hound mix” which is exactly what we thought she looked like. I was sure she had either Bloodhound or Coonhound as the majority of her DNA. I could not have been more wrong:
It’s fun to know the breeds that make up her unique personality (that’s the reason we did it, for fun, and to satisfy our curiosity!), but it’s not the important thing. She is 100% sweet and that’s all that matters! We did wonder why she didn’t have a hound dog bark though, so now we know! Neither her nor Max are particularly vocal anyway, they only bark when they are playing. It’s been an adjustment for us to not know whenever anyone has come into our yard – Luke never missed a thing, and he lived up to his job as Chief Barking Dog at Barking Dog Organic Farm! These two need a bit of work. 😊
I won a bandana on Twitter for the dogs (check out @CharliePawsUp if you’re on there), so bought a second so they could both have one. These nice handmade ones are reversible so they each wore a different side for what was one of their first modeling gigs! They are not the pros their brother Luke was, but Luke had lots of practice, since he grew up as a “blog dog”! Getting these two crazies to sit still together was challenging, they just wanted the treats already! We did get some keepers though!
The newest hens are now laying like champs, and we finally have plenty of eggs in stock – before we had a waiting list of people wanting them!
The youngest birds are guinea fowl we hatched ourselves back in late August. It was our best hatch ever, and we sold some, but we ended up with 7 of them to keep and they just had their first venture outside:
The barn cats are doing wonderfully but don’t seem to understand that they are supposed to be semi-feral. All three are loving and affectionate, always vying for attention, and seem to think they need to come in the house! Copper gets a little too excited about that, but Max is mostly disinterested. We are currently working on getting the mousers set up to stay warm in the garage for the winter. My sister donated several things her cat doesn’t use so we think they are going to have nice warm beds and a pretty good set-up.
It has surprised us that they seem to be just like the chickens when it comes to bedtime. I thought they’d stay on the summer schedule, where they started, but they now show up on the porch looking for supper at dusk (as opposed to after 8 pm in the summer), just before the birds put themselves to bed! This happens to now fall at the time I get home from work, so it’s fun to have them greeting me when I get home too.
Our garden was successful this year; up until our first recent frost we were overwhelmed with tomatoes and zucchini mostly. We got lots frozen to use in soups and sauces throughout the winter, and were able to sell some of the excess here at the farm and at my shop. The pumpkins did well, and made for a nice porch display at my shop:
Soon we’ll be putting the garden to bed for the winter, after planting garlic and harvesting the last of the potatoes, carrots, and kale. The kale loves the cooler weather we’ve had this fall, it’s flourishing so we’ll be freezing some of that as well; I add that to the dogs’ food quite often. The dogs love most all the vegetables, especially cherry tomatoes and cucumbers! Luke was never a big fan of those, his favorite was the beans, but that crop didn’t do quite so well this year, which seems oddly appropriate.
The quickly shortening daylight tells us that winter is well on its way. We had an unusually cool September, with no Indian Summer like we usually get, other than a couple warmer days just recently. However, as soon as that sun goes down, earlier and earlier, the temperature cools right back off. With rising fuel prices, we decided to add a pellet stove at the opposite end of the house from the wood stove. We’ve been trying it out already and I’m definitely glad we did it!
As much as I dread winter, I do look forward to seeing how Copper Sue and Max like their first snow! The holiday season will be busy at my shop, and then we’ll enjoy some quiet time and start planning for next spring in the garden and in the coop! I wonder what we’ll add for animals next year?
• ★ Merry ★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★ Christmas ★。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚｜ 田田 ｜門｜ ˚
* Joy to all! ♫•*¨* Peace on Earth ♪♫•*¨*
Seeing the pups make me smile. But we miss Luke too.
Copper Sue looks so much more like a beagle to me! Be happy they don’t bark a lot. Shelties are NOTORIOUS barkers!! Levi has a deep, menacing bark, (Dakota’s bark was always more like a shriek lol). When people hear Levi bark they think a Great Dane is in here but it’s really just a 34 lb Sheltie! Love the bandanas, I am sooooo happy to be past the puppy stage! While they are cute at that age I’m too darned old for those shenanigans anymore! No more puppies for me! Levi was enough! lol
I get that! I sometimes wonder about our sanity in getting two puppies at the same time! They are a handful but at least they are starting to show some signs of maturing….!
Wow Jan, just too much awesome farm stuff here, sure I won’t be able to comment on it all! But so just Love all the pics, I think Copper Sue and Max did a nice shot there, yes! Love Love Love them, and the kitties, they are Too sweet. Not to mention how much I love the birds!! Your gardens and the shop-Love-thank you for the pumpkins purchased from your shop, yeah! And any goodies I got from your gardens that I may have forgotten about! Last thoughts, for our Luke-those chimes are So beautiful, I love them! And as always, I am So grateful that I got Luke’s love too-and gave it back I hope as well. My visits with him included were so special. He was a happy boy thanks to you and your hubby! And what is up next year, can’t wait!
Wow, fall sure has come to the farm. The colors are so pretty. And Copper Sue and Max are getting so big! I love seeing the barn cats and happy that they are doing well. Your shop is adorable. I’ll say it again, I wish I lived closer because I would definitely shop there! ~the mom
That’s great Copper and Max are having such a good time together. Cats are weird. Hopefully yours will stay outside all winter. Cat bro Bert is rarely outside now. He wants to be in where it is warm. Enjoy some downtime in the winter, that is one of mom’s favorite parts of winter is everything slowing down.
big hugs to your fantabulous Luke… we never never ever furget this boy…. and we love the breeds what are inside of your pups… they are our super pups no matter what and they are the best breed no matter what breed they are ;O)))
Oh! My! doG! Copper Sue and Max are just too precious!! It’s wonderful that they took to each other so well! And I know how much you miss Luke; just as I miss his “girlfriend” Ducky. But now we get to start fresh with new pups who didn’t know their older siblings. And that alone will keep us busy! The barn cats are sooo cute! You HAVE been busy! Do you sometimes feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? I know I do! I can hardly wait for all the dust to settle around here!
Wow, you sure are VERY busy on your farm and in your store.
Your pups are adorable, and its fun to see you new kitties, too. I wonder if at some point they were housecats, since they are so friendly and want to come inside.
Do your guinea fowl lay eggs, too, that one could eat??
Yes, the guinea fowl lay eggs that we can eat. They are a bit smaller than chicken eggs, but the yolks are the same size! I actually like the guinea eggs better than the chicken for eating. However, they don’t lay year round. They start laying in the late spring and stop late summer to mid-autumn. Plus they like to hide their nests so sometimes we can’t find the eggs! 🙂
Nice to see a post from you. The memorial garden and Luke’s chimes are beautiful. The kitties are adorable. The pups are too. XO
Such wonderful photos and such a nice way to honor Luke, he’ll always be with you. The pups look adorable in their bandanas and the kitties sure look happy!
Just waiting for the winter
Autumn in New England…just exquisite! Your two fur-babies are growing into adorable companions. Love their facial expressions. They look so cute in their bandanas and I’m sure they’ll get the whole posing thing by the time Santa visits. We had a light frost this morning and a freeze warning for tonight so nature is reminding me all good things with the season will come to an end (though I’m hoping for a few more Indian Summer days before our first snowfall). Stay warm, don’t work too hard and give the pupsters an extra ear scritch from me.
So good to see a post from you. You know how much I loved sweet Luke. Your two new babies are adorable. I know they bring you joy.
Love all the birds and the kitties.
I linked this post to Awww Mondays.
Have a fabulous day and week, my friend. Scritches to the pups. ♥