Fraker Farm

I am a little down today, so this post probably won't be a real upbeat one. We lost our garden last night. Our beans, corn, okra, and my little sweet potatoes are all gone. The temperature dipped down below freezing just long enough, and despite our best efforts, they all got frostbit. I'm not one to throw a pity party for myself, but I do feel really bad for Hubby, since all his hard work is gone in one night. We had such high hopes this year, especially after the deer and the drought ruined it last year.

While surveying the damage, I noticed a little bluebird was watching me, and that always makes me feel a little better....



We will buy new seeds and start all over again, since that's all we can do now anyway.
Sometimes I wish I was more like Daisy and Edie.... never wondering why things happen the way they do, but always just trusting in the Shepherd's care.Which brings me to my new Six Word Memoir- I was tagged this time by my good friend Mel from Nickers and Neighs. …

Good old farm trucks.


Good old farm trucks with a load of mulch in the bed.


My new sweet potato bed.
My new walkway.

Hubby using MY tractor for a change.

Dirty feet. It takes a lot of work to get feet looking like this. (But even more work to get them clean before church on Sunday morning.)

On days when I have indoor chores (blech), I sometimes take a little break and go for a walk around the farm. I'll meander up to the barn to see if Daisy and Edie are behaving (and the answer is usually no), check on Hamburger and the girls, then wander off to the field, turning a few minute break into an hour and a half. Every once in a while I'll come across something out of the ordinary. This is my find for the week:

I found this little nest laying on the ground next to a cedar tree. I'm pretty sure no eggs were ever hatched in it because it looks unfinished. It was probably a work in progress, but the terrible wind and storms we had two weeks ago may have blown it out of the tree. I had to bring it back to the house and look at it for a while. I'm always fascinated by the different materials birds use for their nests, and how they can build such delicate but strong structures using only their beaks.


Now for something funny- I have exclusive video of the little terror…

My friend Jaderocks from Country Love has tagged me to come up with a six word memoir about myself, so here goes:

"I'm not perfect, just forgiven. Forever."

When I think about all the mistakes I've made down through my life and things I've done that I'm so ashamed of, I'm glad I have a Savior who looked beyond my faults and saw my need.
Thanks for asking, Jaderocks!

I had a very special visitor at my house yesterday.....

This is the first one I've seen this year. It came buzzing around the barn yesterday afternoon, so I ran to the house and mixed up some nectar, grabbed my camera, and waited. Sure enough, it wasn't long before it found the feeder. I'm glad the camera was ready- they sure are fast!

You may remember the road to the barn project we finished a few weeks ago.... since then we've been working on a place for Daisy and Edie to spend their summer. The grass around the barn has been picked down and tromped on this winter, so we fenced in a small section of the pasture field for them, complete with a little sun shelter. Hubby finished tying in the fence last night, and this morning, the girls are checking out their new digs.


This is the view from the other side.....
(our house is in the background- see D & E's matching log cabin in the corner of the lot? LOL)




Hostage Crisis, Day 4: the little terrorist is sitting tight in Solitary Confinement. 17 more days to go until hatching.
(Hopefully.)

Which brings us to a dilemma- the Solitary Confinement coop was supposed to be Belle, Beau, and Cecil's new outdoor home.... because they need a new place SOON. My living room is starting to smell like poop. Hubby? I love you.... Ready for a new project?

Well, our little terrorist is at it again.... she's decided to give motherhood another try. This time she is sitting on one of her own eggs, but she has also taken two LARGE green eggs hostage as well. I told Hubby that if she wants to be broody, then broody she will be. We waited until dark last night, then moved her (and her hostages) to her own private little brood coop away from everybody else. This way she will have her own space, and won't be scaring Sarge and the rest of the girls away from the nest. And let me tell you, Sarge and the girls are very happy about it, although it's hard to tell from this picture....




I'm also very anxious to see how these chicks turn out. After all, this is the father......


Hamburger, you should really be ashamed of yourself. I mean, SHE'S HALF YOUR SIZE FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. But I know you're not the least bit ashamed, so don't even try to hide.

Belle, Beau, and Cecil are waking up to a rainy Saturday.... I think I'll stay indoors with them today, make some homemade hot tamales, bake a pound cake, and sew. Happy weekend, everybody!

"Hope" is one of my favorite words in the English language. Hope is a word that can bring a ray of light to the darkest of situations, and can give you the courage to keep on going when you don't think you can. I'm amazed at how differently I use the word hope now than when I was younger. There was a time in my life when I hoped for things like a raise, the perfect house, a newer car, and so on. Now, I find myself hoping for a bountiful garden this year, that my friend Cottage Rose finds her lost pet, and for my little apple tree (in the picture above) to bear fruit this year. To some that may be simple-minded, but this is how my world is now, and these are the things that REALLY matter to me. And I'm so thankful it's that way.
What do you hope for?

This past Saturday was the annual spring "Plow on the Mountain" for the local antique tractors and horse and mule teams. The location this time was at a beautiful farm halfway between Crossville and Pikeville. (TN) This is Hubby's day to shine- I'm just the photographer. (That's him in the picture above.) He lives for this stuff... unfortunately, we don't have very many events like this around where we live- the land is much too hilly in most parts. I don't know exactly how many tractors and teams turned out this time, but we had some pretty bad weather in this area the day before, so I know the number was down some from the fall plow. I just thought I'd share some of the pictures with you today.


This was one of several beautiful teams of mules. There were also a couple of teams of Belgium horses, but I didn't get any pictures of them. (Dernit.)
Red vs. Green- Red wins every time in my book!


This was a very impatient fellow- he kept pawing and brayin…

Good grief, I need a vacation. This week has been really busy, so I'll just be able to hit a few of this week's highlights right now...

Do you notice something missing from my indoor greenhouse? (Hint- look at the right side.)






My Brandywine tomatoes have graduated to the great outdoors! (And bigger pots.) My little maters are growing up...*Snifff* I'm so proud.....


My blogging buddy Pam from Bear Creek gave me a wonderful award this week...


Thank you so much sweetie, and you know I feel the same about you, too!
And if that's not big enough news for you, there's this......

*Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the making of this photo.







Well, the animal to whom this wool belonged to may have a different opinion on that. Poor little Edie.

I thought this would be a good way to start off the week. That's Edie doing the happy dance with Daisy in the foreground trying to ignore her. This photo was taken about 4 or 5 weeks ago.
This will be a busy week for me...I have some major yardwork to do, plus I want to do some spring cleaning since it's supposed to be in the 70's this week. In addition to that, we are having a revival at our church this week.
By the way, we did not have "shearing day" on Saturday... it was raining and 45 degrees, so we decided to wait until a warmer day to remove their wool sweaters. (Joy.)
Happy Monday, everybody!

I may have mentioned this before, but in my previous career, (before I became Farm Chick) I was an orthodontic assistant in a very busy practice. At one time, I was working with a staff of 12 other women plus the doctor, not to mention a daily merry-go-round of patients and their parents. I'm not really what you would call an introvert, but I do go a little crazy having to be around lots of people all the time. I LOVE ME SOME PERSONAL SPACE is what I'm saying. However, going from the hustle and bustle of a job like that to a daily existence with no human interaction (except Hubby, of course) has been quite a change, to say the least. Don't get me wrong- I love my life now, but I do find myself talking to our animals an awful lot these days. I talk to Smokey the dog, do lots of "baby talk" to the sheep, and I also discuss the finer points of egg production to the chickens. (They act like they hate it, but I know better.) But the other day, while I was in the barn …

This coming Saturday has been designated "Shearing Day" for our two lovable but VERY spoiled sheep, Daisy and Edie. (God help us.) While they love attention, shearing is a whole different ballgame. Daisy, who was bottle-fed by me for the first six weeks of her life, loves it when I brush her face and legs, but is terrified of the sound of the clippers. And when Edie (the one on the left) is put into the head gate, she just assumes that her time has come and that this is the end, and starts bawling like a baby. Needless to say, NO ONE is looking forward to Saturday. Since they are the first sheep we've ever had, we're new at this shearing business, and still learning as we go. They both turned one year old in February, so this will make the third shearing for them. There's an interesting and sweet story about how we acquired these two girls, but I'll fill you in on that some other time. (Ahh, suspense.)
I'm a little slow at announcing- but you can now visi…