Glen Hill Farm: July 2015

Our very first zucchini growing!
It was tiny the day I first spotted it.
The next day it was the size of a baseball bat.
How does that happen?!

The garden at Glen Hill Farm this summer is doing great!

This was our garden the first week of June when we first planted it.

This is our garden one month later,
the first week of July.

What a difference a month makes! Everything is huge now. The tomato plants are too big! Growing into each other. They were so tiny when we planted them. We were sure we spaced them out enough this year. Guess not.

We are lazy farmers over here. We plant it, fence it, water it... and leave it to fend for itself. (We're terrible at weeding.) It's the survival of the fittest among the weeds here at Glen Hill Farm!

But so far it's working for us.

"Lettuce" enjoy the garden lettuce!

That's corn growing behind the lettuce.
What's that corn saying? "Knee high by fourth of July"?
Ours is definitely taller than knee high.
(But we are short people.)

Ben had the honor of gathering our very first success
from this year's garden a few weeks ago.

The pumpkin patch!

The first round of zucchinis (and 2 scallions).
We went from zero zucchinis to being overloaded with them
in the blink of an eye!

And what to do with all that zucchini? Our chickens happen to love zucchinis, so I share a lot with them. But luckily, I love zucchini, too. I have a great recipe for a zucchini dill soup that my family loves. Super easy to make and so delicious, hot or cold. This recipe will make enough for dinner for a family of four, with plenty of leftovers to enjoy for lunch. You'll need an immersion blender, which is a great appliance to have and I've seen them for as low as $29 at Target. Let me know if you make it!

Maureen’s Zucchini Dill Soup

2 TBSP Butter

1 TBSP Olive Oil

2 Large Shallots, diced

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

6 Medium Zucchini, diced

4 Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled & diced

2 Large 48 oz. cans College Inn Chicken Broth
(which is 12 cups total, if you're using your own homemade chicken stock...show-off)

½ Cup Sour Cream

2 TBSP Lemon Juice

½ Cup Fresh Dill, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, sauté shallots and garlic in butter/oil mixture on high until fragrant. Add zucchini and cook on high until zucchini is cooked and starting to brown, stirring occasionally. Add chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Add the potato. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked. When vegetables are tender, turn off heat and add dill, sour cream and lemon juice. Using an immersion blender, process soup until you like the consistency. (Sometimes I like to puree it until it’s smooth, and sometimes I like to leave it a bit chunkier.)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 8-10.

Welcome to summer at Glen Hill Farm!

Wow, time is flying. June was a busy month, sorry I didn't get to post an update in so long!
But, no news is good news.... All is good on the farm!

The chickens are all doing well, all behaving and living as one big group in the coop.

These days all the chickens get to free range, even the teenagers. The younger ones tend not to roam quite as far as the older hens. They have found a favorite wooded spot close to the coop and hang out there.

The teenagers' favorite hangout.
Matilda & Ruby.

That is until Jessie disturbs them. Jessie is OBSESSED with the teenagers, especially poor Ruby, our Silver Grey Dorking. She follows her around constantly. Just herding her from here to there for no reason. Jessie is a labradoodle which is a labrador retriever and poodle mix. Both those breeds have a history in bird hunting, so it makes sense that she is drawn to them. Even when Jessie's not herding them, she's usually lying down very close to them, or sometimes she's actually pointing at them (maybe they snuck some pointer in her bloodlines, too?) It's cool to see these deeply ingrained instincts reveal themselves.

Good pointing, Jess.
Yes, thank you. I see the chickens, too.

Jessie's constant herding of the chickens.
Cooper's all like "whatevs"

Jessie's main goal in life these days is to get all the chickens back into the run.
Even when they are supposed to be free ranging.

Ruby is just so pretty.
Her coloring reminds me of a robin.

Aside from feeling bad for the poor teenagers with the constant attention from Jessie, I am actually impressed with Jessie's herding instincts. I would love to sign her up for herding lessons, but I can't seem to find any within an hour from here. (Let me know if any of you know of some.) I'm sure she'll be the only labradoodle among all those beautiful border collies (which happen to be my dream dog breed), but I really do think that Jessie may be able to hold her own among them.

When I need to round up my hens back into their run, I just shake the mealworm container and my 6 older hens come running. Immediately. It's so awesome. And so adorable. They are very well trained. Sadly my 4 teenagers aren't quite as well trained. The problem is that it's hard to train the younger ones with the older hens around. I shake my mealworm container, and even if the younger ones come running, the older ones won't let the younger ones near the mealworms right away. Pecking order issues. So the younger ones don't get the treat to reward the good behavior right away which is key when training. But we're working on it.

Because of this, I usually get my older hens in the run right away, and then have to go out and round up the four teenagers. You've heard the term "it's like herding cats"? Well, now I can add "it's like herding chickens." Not the easiest thing to do! Jessie loves this job, but unfortunately, she doesn't always understand that she needs to approach the birds from the opposite direction of where you want them to go, so that you send them towards the coop. It's a pretty advanced way of thinking for an animal, but in the past few days, Jessie has shown me that she just might be getting the hang of it! She has successfully herded these chickens into their run many times this week. And because Jessie is a rule follower, she never follows them into the run. She knows that their run is off limits for dogs. Sometimes I think that the hens will go into their run during free range time just to get away from Jessie's constant following! I can't blame them.

Good job, Jess!

Now Cooper on the other hand: He's a different story altogether. Let's pretend we know what Cooper's bloodlines are... Let's just guess that he's half boxer and half American pitbull terrier. The pitbulls were originally bred as all around farm dogs, usually to guard and work with cattle or pigs. Boxers were bred to be hunting dogs, usually for deer or wild boar. This makes sense because while Cooper likes the chickens, he certainly doesn't give the birds the same kind of attention that Jessie does. However, larger mammals turn his working instincts on. Cooper was very involved with the horses last summer, thinking it was his job to get them from the barn into the paddock. It'll be interesting to see how he does if we ever get goats. That may be more his cup of tea. Goat-tea. (I apologize. That was just awful.)

However, if you happen to be a medium sized or small mammal, I highly recommend you steer clear of my man, Cooper. Let's just say that Cooper has a strict no groundhog/raccoon/rabbit/squirrel policy on Glen Hill Farm. Oh, also no snakes. Cooper is definitely a hunter by nature when he sees those animals. He loves people, dogs, birds, etc. But small wild mammals definitely kick his hunting instincts into gear. In fact, this morning he brought us a dead groundhog. He always has such a strange energy about him when he delivers his prey. He seems proud and guilty all at once. I think he really feels both ways. Proud that he was a successful hunter, and then guilty when he realizes that we don't really want him hunting. Chasing--fine. Killing--not necessary. But it's hard to change true instincts. I think we just might need to help train our groundhogs to run faster.

Cooper! No!
Cooper marked our laundry basket. :(
Hadn't happened in a long time, but there it is again.
Anything tall is especially vulnerable to his instinct to mark.
(Of course the stinker never does it when we're with him,
so it's hard to correct him.)
At least it was the shape of a heart?
He just loves us so much he just wants to cover our whole house in his pee.
So flattering?
Luckily it's washable. Sigh.

Tired pup.
Good thing he's so darn cute and lovable.

Cooper, you are not a chicken. Get out of the run.
Classic example of my "rule follower" dog and my "whatevs" dog

Cooper! Get out of the chicken coop!
Let that poor hen lay her egg in peace!

Cooper goes in the chicken coop.
Ruby goes in the dog house.
The animals are all mixed up over here.

Rule follower

I love our cute little wild birds, too.

Minerva Louise scratching for bugs

the teenagers

Cooper's got it tough here.
His other instinct is stealing my bed.

Happy hens.
Soaking in the sun. And the dirt.

Head over heels.
Actually, heels over head

Tree hugger

Shadows of a farm girl and her hen.

Gertrude

Peonies.
So beautiful. Wish they lasted longer.

The favorite nesting box.
Six to choose from and they all chose this one.

Getting the coop chores done

One big happy family at bedtime

My very favorite pastime.
I could listen to these two all day.

"Chicken TV"
Another fun pastime

Jessie likes her chicken TV, too.

Got my ducks, er, hens in a row.

Jonathan smoking some butts

The fam

Battled another round of poison ivy last month.
Sigh.

Fluffy Buttercup

Best spot in the house.
In the sun on the window seat with the dogs.

Summertime treat for the chickens!
When the temperatures get hot I do this for my hens.
I fill their waterer half way with water and store it in the freezer overnight so it freezes.
The next morning, I fill the other half with water and leave it in their run.
That way their water stays ice cold much longer!