Happiness (on the Farm) is ...

Watching a baby chicken emerge from its shell and peeping for the first time.

Listening to the frogs croak and the crickets chirp after a rain shower.

Seeing a rainbow after a torrential thunderstorm.

Having freshly laid eggs for breakfast and seeing the chickens who laid them.

When the tractor starts on the first try.

The smell of freshly mowed grass.

The beauty of the cows grazing in the pasture.

Having a turkey jump in your lap to take a nap.

Petting a baby dairy calf and it leaning into you for more.

Watching the chickens, ducks and turkeys eat a side of watermelon.

Having a piglet follow you around the barnyard.

Laying your head down on a soft pillow at night after a long day of farming.


What's makes you happy on the farm?

Let's Talk About Ringworm ...

Ringworm is an occupational hazard when living on the farm. It is a skin fungus that is highly contagious and must be taken care of in its early stages.

The fungus is in the soil and can be transmitted from livestock and poultry to humans as well.  Practice safe animal handling by washing your hands after touching your animals and wearing gloves when working with soil or mud.

Since I have been working in the garden quite a bit lately and digging ditches for drainage over the past couple of weeks on our property, I am not at all surprised that I contracted it.   There were days I was covered in dirt, grime and mud, thus it was almost certain I would get something from the soil.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a small patch of a rash on the back of my right hand.  I had no idea what it was and it was so terribly itchy, I just used some hydrocortisone on it and forgot about it.  The itching stopped, but then I noticed another itchy patch and a similar rash on my wrist.  I suspected it was ringworm and it had spread, yikes!

I did a little research and found that the same over the counter topical cream (clotrimazole and/or micanazole) for athlete's foot is supposed to work for ringworm. So, I bought some of that and have used it for the past two weeks (of a 4-week regimen).  I am happy to report that the patches on my hand and wrist are gone.

BUT, and you all knew there was BUT coming on this ... It appears to have spread to my inner elbow on my right arm, CRAP-O-LA!  Now I am slathering the cream there as well for the next few weeks.

Wish me luck! :-)

Here's a good link to educate yourself on ringworm:

http://www.medicinenet.com/ringworm/article.htm

Farm Girl Freak's Red Potato Salad

Ingredients:

6 - 8 medium red potatoes
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 boiled eggs (shells removed and chopped)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup yellow mustard



Directions:

1. Wash 6 - 8 medium red potatoes.
2. Cut potatoes into cubes with skin on.
3. Place cubes in a large pot of hot water that is 2/3 of the way full.
4. Place the eggs in the same pot.
5. Boil for 15 minutes or until potato is tender when poked with a fork.
6. Drain cooked potatoes and eggs in a colander and let sit to remove all water. Let cool for 15 minutes.
7. Shell the boiled eggs and chop into small pieces.
8. Chop celery and onion into small pieces.
9. Combine potatoes, onion, celery and eggs into a large bowl and toss to mix ingredients.
10. Add celery salt, apple cider vinegar and table salt, toss mixture again.
11. Fold in mayonnaise and mustard until evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
12. Let chill in refrigerator for one hour, serve chilled.

Farm Girl Freak's Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

 

Ingredients:

Cake

3        cups all-purpose flour
2/3     cups granulated sugar
1/3     cup light brown sugar
1 1/2  cups mashed ripe bananas (2 - 3 medium)
2/3     cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3     cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
1/2     cup milk
1/3     cup heavy whipping cream
4        teaspoons baking powder
1        tablespoon cinnamon
3/4     teaspoon salt
3        eggs



Frosting

1/2             cup peanut butter
2 - 3           cups powdered sugar
1 1/2          teaspoons vanilla
1/4  to 1/3  cup milk or whipping cream


Cake Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. 
2. Grease bottom and sides of one 13 x 9-inch pan or two 9-inch round cake pans with oil spray (OR use shortening and lightly flour). 
3. In large bowl combine the cake ingredients. 
4. Beat with electric mixer on low for about 1 minute, scraping sides to incorporate all ingredients.
5. Beat on medium for another 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. 
6. Pour batter into pan(s).
7. Bake 13x9-inch pan 45 to 50 minutes, round cake pans 35 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 
8. Cool completely for about 1 hour before frosting.

 Frosting Directions:

1. In medium bowl, beat peanut butter and powdered sugar with spoon or electric mixer on low speed until blended. 
2. Add vanilla and milk.
3. Beat until smooth and spreadable. 
4. Spread mixture one 13x9-inch cake or two round cake layers.

Summing Up This Summer ...

I asked for Strength and I was given difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom and I was given problems to solve.

I asked for Prosperity and I was given a brain and brawn to work.

I asked for Courage and I was given obstacles to overcome.

I asked for Love and I was given troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors and I was given opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted …

But I received everything I needed.

~ Author Unknown

We all have times in our lives when things just do not go the way we plan or want.  The past month or two has been that time for me.  

My main focus has been on my family, my relationships and my hobby farm with little time for writing or for social media. To say I have been busy would be an understatement.  I have also been spending a lot of time outside this summer working on the much needed renovations and repairs to my home and property.  

There is poor drainage on the acreage and pipes needed to be laid.  "Have tractor, will dig" has been the mantra for the past several weeks.  The job has taken more time than it should as the daily summer rains in Florida can impede even the best of progress, as can accidentally digging up a phone cable or a power line. (I can neither confirm nor deny that either one of these issues occurred. FYI - Call 811 before your dig).

While not working on the drainage issues, installing new exterior doors to the farmhouse became the second most important project on the list.  Having never installed doors before, it took the hubs and I over a week to get three doors installed. When the openings for the doors are not entirely "square" due to the brick fascia settling, it can take much longer than anticipated to get doors to fit correctly. The doors now look beautiful, so it was well worth the time and effort.

All three doors previously looked like this one:

The new kitchen side door, which faces east and gets full sun for most of the day, is now solid and blocks out the incredible heat from the hot Florida sun.

The door going to the back patio from the kitchen is now half window and half door.  I like the look of this so much better that the 15-panel glass French door we had before.

 

The door going to the patio from the living room is the same as the kitchen door, except the door handle is on the opposite side.

 

If these projects weren't enough, hatching and raising over thirty-five Royal Palm turkeys from an incubator was the proverbial icing on the cake. Yes, that is a lot of turkeys - especially at feeding time when they all want their dinner at the same moment! Thankfully we have re-homed many of them as pets to other would-be breeders and turkey aficionados.

Oh, and let me not forget about the massive garden that we planted a few months ago.  In many ways it was a resounding success this year and in many ways a complete failure.  

The watermelons rotted on the vine from an apparent lack of calcium  (oops) and the garden bugs were uncontrollable (without using pesticides), eating leaves and fruit on most every plant we had in the ground. The corn grew beautifully, but was only suitable for cow feed and the cows didn't like it either. Although there was much produced, it was not a bumper crop. However, it was the best garden we have had in all of the years we have lived on the farm. 

Feed corn for the cows ...

 

An over-abundance of tomatoes this season!

A nice harvest of green bell peppers ...

Now that much of the spring and summer work has come to a lull, I am preparing the raised beds for a fall/winter garden of kale, broccoli, cauliflower and swiss chard.

I am also getting back to working on my next book, which is the next collection of personal essays in the "I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak" series.  I hope to have it released by January 2016.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the summer!

Bonus Contest for July 2015

Enter for your chance to win a surprise gift and $10 in your pocket.

To enter, see the details on the I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak page on Facebook HERE.

Also, whether you enter the contest or not, please download the FREE e-book, "I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak: Leaving High Tech for Greener Pastures" today through Sunday, August 2nd.

Description:

Have you ever wanted to ditch the nine-to-five job and move as far away as possible from the rat race?

Have you ever just wanted peace and quiet in a rural setting away from the sprawl of suburbia?

Have you found yourself daydreaming about pasture lands and farm animals on a daily basis?

That's exactly what the author found herself contemplating - more often then not - while working at a high tech job in Seattle.

With her husband 3,000 miles away in Florida and the passing of her father, she knew it was time to make some serious changes in her life. She was ready for an adventure, but little did she know what lay in store for her at the 'fixer upper' farmhouse she and her husband would soon become the owners of.

S.A. Molteni has spent over thirty years in the Information Technology field working for various Fortune 500 companies. During those years, she and her husband had always dreamed of living on a farm once they became retired from the rat race.

This collection of essays follows the author in her sometimes humorous transition from "I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak" and depicts the lessons that are learned along the way once farm animals become a large part of her life.

Raising Turkeys as Pets

 

A few weeks ago, I posted about incubating and caring for newly hatched turkey poults with the intent to write another post shortly afterwards about socializing the poults to become pets.  Sorry for the long wait and thanks for your patience.

Today I finally had some time to get my thoughts together and below is what Mr. Freak and I have done with our Royal Palm turkeys from the point of hatching up to them reaching young adulthood.


Feeding:

From hatching until 8 weeks of age a turkey poult should be fed a game bird/turkey feed that is 28 - 30 % protein.  Do not skimp on this as the young turkeys need this much protein to grow during the first weeks of life.

After 8 weeks of age, move to a game-bird/turkey pellet that is 20% protein. Supplement the feed with berries, cracked corn, fruits and vegetables.


De-worming:

Keep in mind that turkeys can get parasites from the ground and also if they are raised with other types of poultry (chickens, ducks, etc.) At 8 weeks of age, they should be de-wormed.  We used Panacure brand de-wormer that was recommended by our vet and it works well to keep the parasites/worms away.  Follow the directions on the package.  After the initial de-worming, the turkeys should be de-wormed again every 3 to 4 months.


Socializing/Bonding:

To form a bond with your poults, start handling or holding them periodically during the first week of their life so that they get accustomed to you.  They will imprint on you as their "mother" and look to you for food and security.

At 2 weeks of age, get some small crickets from your local feed store or you can order them in bulk at flukerfarms.com (very inexpensive if bought in bulk). Hold each poult in your lap and offer them a single cricket.  They will usually take it from you and try to swallow it whole.  You may have to kill the cricket in order for the poult to eat it.  Then the next time you offer the poult a cricket, set him on the ground and snap your fingers, while holding a cricket in the other closed hand.

The poult will soon associate snapping fingers with a treat, even when no treat is in your hand later on.  Do this "training" for a couple of weeks and they should be fully trained to come to you when you snap your fingers (at around 3 - 4 weeks of age).

From 2 weeks on, spend time with the poults - letting them sit in your lap or near you while you pet them.  The only way for them to get used to you is to be near them and be calm and quiet while around them.  They will come running to you when they see you after this initial bonding period.

We started taking walks around our property with the turkeys at 1 month of age.  They will follow you as their "guide" if they have bonded to you from the "cricket training"


Housing/Shelter:

At about 4 week of age, place the poults in an enclosed pen, cage or barn area where you plan to have the turkeys spending the night as they grow older.  You need to get them familiar with their "safe place".  Turkeys need to know that there is a place that they can run to if they are scared or want to take a nap.

We have set up an old barn for this purpose for them.  They like to roost in the rafters of the barn and sleep there at night.  But, an enclosed 10 foot by 10 foot dog kennel will work just as well, as long as there is a roof on it to keep predators out.


Ongoing Care:

As the turkeys get older, take them for walks, spend time with them, feed them treats and let them sit in your lap to nap if they want to. If you spend the time to do all of these things, the turkeys will make wonderful, smart and enjoyable pets.