We had a tremendous downpour in the late afternoon a couple of days ago. The pond rose by more than a foot, and the regular outtake and spillway couldn’t keep up. It flooded over the main dike and I was worried it would cause major damage. So I was out there chucking log sections into the waterfall. I think I managed to spread the flow out a little and prevent it digging out a deeper channel. But it took away all the soil and the gravel and rock foundation of the dyke were exposed. We were lucky … the same storm killed five people in southern Virginia.

You can see that the dock and island were almost submerged. After it was over, there was a beautiful big double rainbow.

So, Anne bounced me out of bed at the crack of dawn this morning to show me the first egg produced by her buckeyes! Now we’re real farmers!

The snow is beautiful, especially from the warm indoors!

After the warmest December on record, winter finally came in early 2016. On January 23, we got more than 2 feet of snow in 24 hours. You can’t see it, but under all that snow Anne has some extension chords going out to  a heating coil to keep the chicken’s water from freezing. She had to shovel a lot of snow out of the run just so the chickens could come out for food and drink. Whew!

The junkos are enjoying the chickens’ leftovers, which Anne has scatted on the snow just beyond the coop.

This gal (or guy?) spent an hour or so paddling around the pond a couple of days after Christmas. She probably cleaned out all our fish and moved on. Cute though!

It seems to be harder to get nice photos of North American birds than tropical birds. It’s more difficult to get close to them, especially when there’s no foliage, and they seem more shy. Also, the light is always changing. But I managed to get a few nice shots here.

Bluebird

Bluejay (different from the Liberian kind)

Great Blue Heron

Anne hanging out with her brood. She’s settled down on the chair because we don’t have a cover for the wider run yet and we’re afraid of the hawks. The local newspapers are warning that there are an unusual number of hawk attacks on cats, dogs and other urban pets this year. Taste just like chicken!

Compare these photos with our September 2 and 18 posts. They sure grow fast on the healthy diet Anne has carefully researched for them. We should know within a couple of weeks if any roosters snuck into the flock. The hens should start laying around January (brrrrr ….).

Not sure we can compete with New England, which has been putting on quite a show this year. But it’s still pretty amazing!

We built three new raised 4’x8′ beds this past week. The blueberries and cranberries are very persniketty about their soil: they want low pH, wet, but well drained. So they got a special mix: about 1/3 each peat moss, vermiculite, and various types of compost. No plain old local dirt for these spoiled plants. They’d better be happy! If they are, then we just have to figure out how to keep the wild critters off the berries. One step at a time.

And don’t their autumn red and burgundy leaves look nice!