I'm having a hard time believing that we're actually in September today! And the golden tinges that Claudia Diller captures in her painting above definitely match the golden tinges we're seeing in the leaves of the trees...and the brilliant yellow of the golden rod that's blooming a bit of everywhere! Yellow Black-eyed Susans are still in full swing from Summer's long days, but there's a crispness in the air, a chill at nights, and the sunlight on the hills is looking more mellow lately. Fall with its golden harvest days is upon us!

My computer contracted some sort of weird virus...again....that our friend, Steve, has now remedied for us so I hope to get you caught up on some of our goings on over the past week or so. The children had their second horseback riding lesson last Friday on our land that they're all enjoying immensely. I'm getting some great coaching from Heather on Reno, too...practicing some collection with him and learning how to move his hindquarters on turns...as opposed to just the bending that I'm accustomed to doing. I love how these horses can move...and how we can help them move from the saddle...it's fascinating!

We're also gearing up for the Common Ground Fair that will be taking place around the 25th of this month. My husband will be demonstrating the Power Hearth unit open to the public for the first time here in Maine and will be set up in the Farm and Homestead section of the fairgrounds. There's so much to learn with all of this alternative energy stuff...and so much potential with this particular technology for families, small farms, and homesteads! We're excited...and we'd love for you to come out and see us if you're in the area!

We also cooked up our first 'home grown' broiler chicken this week...and used the leftovers to make the most awesome chicken broth for tortilla soup we've ever had. Seriously! It was a beautiful golden color and the flavor...of both meat and broth...was fantastic! The turkeys are now free-ranging and loving all the starchy wooden stemmed grasses...as well as the bugs!

With all the rain we had this summer, gardens haven't fared so well...including ours. But we do have some lovely squash and zucchini coming in now...straight out of our compost pile....that are really scrumptious! We're also supplementing more of our groceries from the neighboring farms and local venues...rather than from Wal-Mart. So lately, with homemade bread, late summer veggies, and our chickens...all the bounty on our table has come from our raising.  It's a great feeling! We may just make it as farmers yet! : D

Yesterday Heather gave mine and my friend, Jen Yarbrough's kiddos their first 'official' riding lesson. Leah and our little Heather were first...and oh my!...were they EVER excited! And I was excited about that mowed and hayed field of ours! Check it out!! : D

Getting tacked up....


And then ready to ride! Leah chose to ride Reno (below left) with the blaze on his face, and Heather was very pleased to get to ride Babe (the Bay) for her first lesson...

We put out 3 buckets and an orange cone to mark the 4 corners of their 'arena'...and here they are walking and learning some reining...

And to their delight, they got to practice some trotting and posting, too! Leah actually put Reno into a canter...much to her surprise!...but she stayed in the saddle beautifully!!

And Heather found Babe's easy jig trot there!

Later I got on Reno and, with some coaching from Heather, I was able to put him into the most wonderful collected trot...and very briefly...a canter as well. It was like floating on air! Magnificent! Now I know what I've been missing all my life!!

Girls and their horses...what could be more fun! : D

It's almost 7:00 yesterday morning...and we've just made the official decision to let our turkeys venture out to try some of this ROAMantic life as well....

We've put the chicken tractor that's been housing the 5 turkeys and 20  meat birds into Babycake's pasture. These young turkeys took their own sweet time daintily stepping out of the cage...but now here they are....checking out the new surroundings...

These turkeys have actually proven to be more elegant birds than I ever imagined! Really! And believe me!...I would never have believed that I would be thinking...much less saying...anything remotely this complimentary concerning the turkey fowl! They really are quite docile and herd easily back into the chicken tractor. As of today, they have meandered beyond the confines of the pasture but are mostly content to hang out in the pasture near the cage. I must admit however, that my favorite thing about the turkeys are the sweetest coo-ing noises they make....

Mmmm...can't exactly say that kinda thing about these guys...or gals! Our broiler birds will be ready for the freezer in another week or two. They could actually go now at 6 weeks...they're averaging about 5 lbs. according to the one we butchered by hand this week...not 'we'...more explicitly hubby took on that chore! But the Jenkins have insisted upon giving us one of their extra freezers  from when Bill had gotten a moose, so we're waiting till we get that in place first...minor details! (Thanks again, Ann!)

Oh! Look who's awake! It's leetle one!

Never one to be left out of the action!

And just like us...and the hens...
they seem to be lovin' this ROAMantic life! : D

Our ROAMantic chickens have been roaming freely over our little acreage the past couple of weeks...and seem to have now fallen into a bit of a roaming routine...

So where do the ROAMantic chickens roam these days???

Well, their first stop is generally over by the bunny cage to say their hello's to Freckles, Gracie, and Truffles...

Both Caitlyn's two, Pom Pom (hen) and Freckles (bunny), bidding each other a friendly good morning!

Then they do the requisite scratching and pecking on their favorite dirt patch...

Next they're off to the spruce tree to find what may be lurking in the tall grass...

And let's not forget the pine trees either...

Another favorite spot...and mine, too...would be near the blooming wild flowers. These are ROAMantic chickens, ya know!

And, of course, there's always home sweet home!

However, I do believe this just might be Maple's favorite spot!
Or not...
but she definitely has a favorite fan! : D

Hello August! And I wanted to share this lovely Maine Summer scene from my Claudia Diller calendar. We're just now beginning to feel like we have a summer this year! We did manage a short excursion to our favorite beach this past week on our way back from Portland. That was a treat! And I'm trying...not always so valiantly....to ignore the trees that are ALREADY turning shades of red, orange, and yellow on their leaves. Yes! ALREADY!!

Needless to say, my blog posting is slowing down while we cram full-tilt summertime activities into what weeks we have left to us. Of course we're praying for an 'Indian Summer' with some long stretches of warm sunshine into the Fall. However, we went up to visit our neighbors at Dilly Dally Organic Farm yesterday and Carol mentioned that an abnormally cold September is being rumored around the countryside. ugh. She graciously loaned me Eliot Coleman's book, Four Season Harvest, as well as the Root Cellaring book that I've been longing to get my hands on. Can't wait to delve into all that wonderful info! : D

I just got a call from Heather that Babycakes got out last night and managed to get the plastic top off and eat up the bucket full of grain that was over there...fortunately it was a small bucket! Then she went back into the pen where Heather found her this morning. The other 2 horses didn't go out. Thank goodness! We know it was most likely Babycakes because Heather said that her horses just weren't smart enough to do something like that...and they wouldn't have gone right back into the pen again! We know it's totally something Babycakes would do! Better fencing is in order for a naughty pony!

One of our broiler chickens mysteriously died last night, so now we're trying to decide if it can actually be butchered or not. And if so...how we go about doing it...since we've never done this sort of thing before! We also need to get the turkeys into a larger pen as well.

My husband's up to his ears in watch repair work right now, too...and trying to fit that all in. He also just signed the contract to become THE rep for all of New England for the residential and small commercial-sized Power Hearth units that are now being manufactured here in Maine. He'll be demonstrating one of the units at the Common Ground Fair coming up this Fall...so there's lots to learn and get ready for with that. This is very exciting for us and I'll be filling you in on a few of those details very soon!

So it's never a dull moment around here...as I'm sure it is for all of you out there enjoying the summer as well! And we LOVE it! Bye for now! : D

Last week our friend, Harlow, from the Post Farm brought a horse trailer down to us so that we could start the tricky business of helping Babycakes learn how to get on that tiny, dark, closed-in, very claustrophobic trailer...all the things that horses don't like at all....to take her to her new horse friends...and lots of nice grass...all things that horses DO like....over on our land.

The last time she was on a trailer was when she was originally delivered to us...in the rain and hail storm...but only 1 mile down the road...that began a rearing problem. She hasn't reared with us in over a year or more. However, she hasn't been forced into a tiny, dark, claustrophobic trailer either. So, yeah, I was very nervous...to say the least. My friend Heather's great advice was to just park the trailer in her pasture and put some grain or clover in there that she loves to munch on...and just see if she'd load into it to get  to that yummy food! So that's we did....

After the trailer had been in her pasture for a day, we decided to give her a go. For the initial round, we put the clover up in the front...she has her halter on with a long lead line so that if she wants to back up she can easily. Right now I'm just talking to her and sort of coaxing her inside to have a look around...

Good girl!! She's really far in with her front legs...but still doesn't want to climb all the way in...but this is great! She just stepped right in...

Now she's just backing up. This is really great, too! She didn't freak out or panic inside once she wanted to get out. She just slowly eased her way back out again....

Of course we're talking to her the whole time...telling her how wonderful she is and giving her lots of pats and love....

We let her sniff the trailer for a few more minutes then brought her around for the other side....

We put some grain up at the front now to see if she'll go ahead and put her back feet in as well...

And she did it!! Thank you, Lord! No bucking, balking, or rearing up...she's just standing there munching away....and getting LOTS of praise!! She's such a brave little girl!

She stayed in the trailer for several minutes...and I let her just sniff or move around where she wanted to move...

She decided to exit head first this time...the trailer rocked some...and she suddenly went flying out of there...

I quickly dropped the rope and just let her run. She collected herself...and then came back over to check things out again...

We gave her a break for 20 minutes or so...and I took her halter and lead rope off. When I noticed her curiosity up again, I went back out to try another round...

She still had some grain up in the front of the trailer...that I knew she would want to get to eventually...and sure enough...she did! Here comes one foot...

And here comes the second foot...

And yes! She's all in again! What a great girl you are, Babycakes!! I told you she'll do anything for food! This time around we also stabilized the back of the trailer better so that it didn't rock back so much and felt much firmer to her as she stepped in and around. We put a couple of tires with a wide flat board across the top of the tires underneath the back end of the trailer...this did the trick...and she was much more confident. She put her front hoof on the tire first to feel it...then she stepped on up into the trailer...

You're awesome, Babycakes!! She's happily munching away. We just continued going through this process for the next 2 or 3 days...and she was getting into the trailer on her own with no coaxing at all...even when we weren't around. I'd look out the window at different times...and she'd be in the trailer...munching on whatever clover she had left! Then she'd turn around and climb out again.

On Sat. we loaded her up for good...to make her 20 mile trek in the trailer. Heather came over to help me get through the final stages of actually closing her into the trailer, tying her up, and locking the doors behind her. She was totally unphased about being shut in there. We didn't tie her at first and she turned all the way around and stuck her head out over the doors. My heart was in my throat...but she was like..."What's the big deal?? Where's that nice yummy grain again??"

She thumped around a bit as the trailer was leaving. They stopped at the Posts to pick up the van and she nickered a couple of times. But she was still fairly calm...and settled right down when they petted her.  Harlow also had to stop in Newport to get gas, but she was fine there, too.  Heather gave her a little more grain and although she was nervous, she was still standing calmly.  Harlow climbed in with her to adjust her rope and was amazed at how well she was doing for having essentially never been hauled. When we finally got over to our land, she didn't bolt out of the trailer. She turned around and came out nice and slow...and was ALL excited to see those two new horses, Babe and Reno!

We went for a trail ride again earlier this week and plan to start bringing Babycakes along very soon. She's doing really well! We're very proud of our little pony!! : D

The first order of business was for Kathleen and the girls to get Magic all decked out to pull the cart. These boots (the horse's that is) are a really great way to allow your horse to go barefoot...

They just slip on the hoof then that metal tab in front flips up and clips into place...and Magic has his boots on!

He also got the royal treatment with ribbons in his mane....

and also tied onto his tail...

Hitched up and ready to roll!

And off they go!

Back again and ready for the next crew...and it is quite a crew!

You betcha they can't wait to do it all over again! : D

The photo below is looking out across the back...you can see all the clover and the tall wheat looking grass is the Timothy...

And this is the temporary fencing we have set up for the horses. They're doing a great job of getting it tromped and eaten down. A solar charger keeps the fence 'live' and is really working out great. We've expanded this pen area to reach the far side of the log 'home'...that's not our home yet...but will be soon...we hope!

I also put in this white fenced area on Monday next to the trees. It's a little closer to the road and higher up so there's a bit more breeze coming through...as well as some shade for the horses. It's this front area that I'm longing to get mowed down and looking more spiffed up again...

The small birches make a great place to hang the lead ropes and fly spray. I scythed...or attempted to scythe anyway...a path over to the gate there. Scything is definitely easier said than done...or maybe I just don't get the knack of it! I end up doing way more grass 'pushing' than grass 'cutting' whatever the case!

Harlow Post brought over their horse trailer yesterday. So now I'm going to work on Babycakes getting into said horse trailer. We'll see how that all goes. If it has food on one end of it, then hopefully it will be a non-issue for her. She has no problem walking up onto our porch...and has acted like she'll walk right into our house on occasion...so the trailer shouldn't pose too much of a problem for her....as we keep telling ourselves anyway. Nevermind the fact that it took her previous owner a couple of hours to load her up to bring her over here the first time...but she was only 2 years old...and it was pouring down rain...and hail...and she'd never been loaded into a trailer before. Minor details.

So the idea is that Babycakes will be joining Babe and Reno some time this week...if all goes well! Which it will....I just know it will! I'm very good at convincing myself...now if I can just convince a pony! : D

So, of course, more riding was in order before we trekked over to our land. Our little Heather was up first on Babe...

Then it was Caitlyn's turn...

Now Asheley...who also happens to be living in her new cowgirl boots we picked up at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. They even go with her PJs at bedtime!

And Andrew's turn at trotting...My friend Heather's getting more of a workout than she bargained for! All of the kiddos want to trot now...and keep on trotting!

And now it's finally my turn on Babe. Heather's giving me some pointers here...and I'll take as many as I can get...believe me!

But Babe is an easy ride...she's got a nice easy canter...and a lovely jig trot that I could literally do all day long! And she's very sweet besides...wants to please!

Now Heather's brought Reno out and is getting him warmed up. She's done incredible things with these horses since she's gotten them. All of her hard work is definitely paying off now! And I just get to enjoy it all! Yippee!

Ready to head out. We went for a short trail ride down Sawyer Rd. then headed over to our land where the horses have been happily munching on lots and lots of grass.  Now we just need to get our Babycakes over as well!

On Friday we had another little adventure when our neighbors, the Grant's, cow got out at 3:00 in the morning....so they were out in the dark with flashlights  searching the fields in the fog...and she was still missing the next day. Their daughter, Eliza, saddled up her horse....Heather and I saddled up Babe and Reno...and with all the other kiddos on bicycles and scooters....we took off across the fields to look for Abigail...the very naughty cow!

We saw her footprints going west toward the hay fields and woods...by the way, there are no fences and acres and acres of woods...so that cow could've been anywhere in the surrounding county. Turns out she was just a couple of fields over...munching in the hay field and staying close to the shade of the trees...which of course she darted into the minute she caught sight of us!

After quite the theatrical cow chase...that should've been video-taped....they finally got the lead rope hooked to her halter and she decided she had to FINALLY  behave herself and come along home. So it was 3 horses, the gaggle of bicycles and scooters, a 4-wheeler, and several on foot with a big blue bucket of feed leading a very, very naughty Abigail back down the road to home sweet home. Then it was time for a big splash in the Grant's pool! All's well that ends well. Did I ever mention that I LOVE this country life?? : D

Despite all the wet weather, Ann's garden is looking lovely...don't you agree? She and her daughter also just finished organizing her under-the-stairs food storage to make room for this summer's produce...once it starts producing. She's much closer to having her annual stock of food supply figured out than I am. They have 7 in their family and the amount she's laid up over the past couple of years is still keeping them in good stead this year...even if the gardens don't do as well as we all hoped for this year. And that's a very comforting feeling! And a noble goal I'm striving for as well! As they say, "One step at a time"....

It's nice to be surrounded with inspiring friends to encourage us on in this homestead quest...I must say! Speaking of inspiring, I also met her friend, Kathy, who was an absolute delight...and taking on the homestead life with gusto! She told me that she was part of a little yahoo group of Christian homestead women dotted across the U.S. that encourage and coach each other in all the various homestead fronts. Very cool idea...and what great support!

These youngsters were also enjoying a stroll near the garden....

And if that weren't enough,
I'll show you Magic pulling their flag-flying horse cart...
coming up next! : D