Farm Happenings

Weather: Unbelievably warm and pleasant.

What We Did: Mostly, we focused on the Thanksgiving holiday, a huge crunch time on the farm between roots and herbs. We washed a whole lot carrots and put a whole lot of herbs in clamshells.

Bird Watching: I’ve been paying more attention to the birds on the farm these last couple of months, which has provided an unending supply of appreciation as I’ve learned to identify several by ear and sight that I didn’t know before. Chickadees, especially, have become a favorite of mine, as bouncing flocks of them move through the oaks and the dried prairie flower seed heads as I walk back from putting the kids on the bus in the morning. On Sunday, pheasants burst out of the asparagus field, and a pileated woodpecker dogged me from the oak savanna to the spruce tree line behind the house. Just this morning, I heard and saw a nuthatch and a cardinal as I walked up to the road. A red tailed hawk guarded the field edges, and an immature bald eagle hovered over Sarah at the packing shed.