Fall Foliage Forecast

The predictions are in and the Farmers Almanac predicts that Arkansas will see its fall color from October 19th thru November 5. Experience tells me that the October 19th date will be for the higher elevations with our best color coming perhaps as early as October 26th. It seems we are about a week behind the higher elevations. However, please remember that Mt. Magazine is the highest elevation in the state so the color up there will be a week or more ahead of what we have down here on the farm. We had a great show of colors on Short Mountain for our guests to enjoy while relaxing on our front porch that faces the mountain. It is also an easy drive up the 'Pig Trail' scenic highway into the Ozark mountains so you should be able to find some good color anytime during late October and early November.

Also, this year we are changing our inn policy a bit. We are offering full breakfast only on weekends. For our weekday guests, we have a nice continental breakfast with coffee bar, juices, fresh fruit, cereal, and breakfast breads. In response to our many guests who are staying with us while visiting local family, guests may also request a room rate without any breakfast. Let us know your needs and we will gladly try to accommodate them.

Changing

August has been one for the records! In July, we had two weeks of over 100 degree temperatures only to be followed by nearly two weeks of highs in the 70s and low 80s in August. All of the old timers were making the same comments, "We will pay for it this winter." I think that is based on an old saying that for every fog in August, there will be a snow. Well we are in deep trouble because there have been few, if any, mornings without serious fog!

Something that I have noticed of late is how ratty the birds are looking! They are in full molt and the remaining old feathers are so few that I wonder how they fly. The new ones are unseen as of yet but the process makes me aware that seasons are changing and the crisp days of Fall are not far away. I wonder how this odd weather with plentiful moisture will effect the color change and degree of richness this season.

We just had two rain filled days thanks to the remnants of hurricane Gustav. Having lived in Florida for 10 years, I am accustomed to the squalls and wind driven rain of outer bands around these storms. It almost made me homesick for the Sunshine State but a look out the front windows at the beautiful mountain and pastures reminded me of why I am here. The love of gorgeous countryside, streams and lakes, and varying topography, particularly mountains, inspires me and nourishes my soul. It is part of why I decided to open my old farm as an inn where people can sit on the porch, relax, and enjoy the view. Let the stress of work, business, family and live in general wash away while listening to the birds or watching the horses graze. I consistently call my farm the Garden of Eden. I hope my guests find the peace and relaxation here to be a bit of Eden as well.

Changes

The summer is just flying along and people are already starting to make reservations for Fall travel. If you are interested in visiting our area for Fall color, it generally is the last two weeks of October and the first week or two of November. Of course, there are many facts that go into creating the 'peak week' that are impossible to predict, especially this far in advance.

Also, a bit of explanation about the scrolling banner above. I had a guest make reservations for early November back in late March. On April 9th, we had a horrible storm here and it resulted in some of my computer equipment being destroyed. I lost all of the contact information and exact dates for that reservation and am working from memory. I am hoping the party will revisit my website and contact me after reading the scroll.

There will be some changes for The Farmstead beginning in September. We will be going to offering the full breakfast only on weekends and having a continental breakfast during the week (Monday - Friday mornings). I will be working in my capacity as a licensed professional counselor beginning in September. Initially, I had considered only accepting guests on weekends but I wanted to remain open for my business guests.

Also, with many stores having Christmas in July specials, it reminds us that it is time to think about the Holiday season that is coming up. Remember you can book the entire house for your family. Contact us for details.

On the farm, the goat kids are really growing and so very playful and rambunctious. They love to play a gave of 'king of the hill' where one jumps up on a large rock or stump and then keeps the others from joining her. When they run, they can't just run but instead have to bounce and twist as they go! The calf is really growing and starting to find that she can't always go where the goats are able to go. The goats have a few holes in the fence that they use to go from field to field. The calf was able to follow until recently but she still seems to be able to manage by going the long route around. Nan, the mother goat who adopted the calf, calls to her whenever April is out of sight. April is not twice as tall as Nan so it is a sight to see when she is nursing.

Life if good on the farm and I am truly blessed.

Time Flys.....

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. Everything is in such full swing here on the farm. Here are some updates:
The Angus calf, April, that came to live with me when she was 2 days old is growing and full of herself. I taught her to nurse one of my dairy goats and everyone immediately adopted the routine of me bringing the feed bucket, the goat jumping up on the milk stand, and the calf snuggling up to the "dairy bar" so to speak. Once the calf was six weeks old (around June 1) I started only facilitating this process once a day. I needed to share the goat milk with the lambs that I was bottle raising, born early May. Well, April seemed to adapt, was happily grazing with the goat herd, and continued to do well. The lambs were happy to get the fresh milk over their milk replacer and everyone was happy. Well, two weeks ago I had some major dental surgery so shifted things a bit to no locking up the goats at night. Usually I would walk out in the evenings and open their hut for them to go in but the weather was warm and they were just fine sleeping against the side of the shed rather than inside. Interestingly though, when I went out in the AM to let the lambs nurse, the goat was "empty" which was very odd. I found my answer to this riddle later when I spied Miss April helping herself and the goat not only standing for her to nurse but also fussing over the calf as if she were a goat kid. Now you have to understand that this calf is literally twice the size of the goat - an odd couple. The lambs came out on the short end of the stick but are grazing well and also just about two months old so I knew they would be okay until one of the two goats that are due to deliver kids any day freshened. These dairy goats are like Holstein cows in that their milk production far exceeds the needs of their offspring.
Sure enough, a goat freshened last Saturday but that is a really long story and will be the next blog.

Spring is Bursting forth

Spring is evident everywhere! The two Shetland Sheep ewes lambed in the last two weeks producing four little girls. I hit the jackpot!!! The lambs are half Shetland and half Rambouillet, a type of sheep known for its luxurious fleece that is so soft that you can make underwear from it. They are large sheep so the cross with the much smaller Shetlands will help with size and I hope to retain the wool quality. The girls are just darling and I am bottle raising them. Their moms, as are all Shetland Sheep, are genetically quite feral and I don't want to perpetuate that wild, flighty nature. By bottle raising them, I will make them the tame sheep I need around my farm.

We have had such frequent rains that my garden is still unturned for this year. I have replanted the raised beds that I had started last fall with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and such but there is so much yet to plant. The forecast calls for a good chance of showers every few days for the next ten days so it will be a really late garden this year. In response I am going to plant some things in pots to be transplanted to the garden. This works for cucumbers, squash, and such but won't get my corn started. Gee, I long for a delicious ear of fresh corn!

April, my angus calf that I adopted after her mother rejected her, is growing like a weed. She takes a bottle from me and then nurses two of my goats so she is very well fed. She has come to follow the goats out to the pasture for the day and enjoys life in the outside world beyond the barnyard. The two goats are on the end of their milk production and one is actually due to kid at the end of May or early June. She is a dairy goat bred to a Cashmere-producing buck so I hope to have both good milk and fiber production. Because it will have a use beyond dairy, buck kids are okay in this cross as long as they produce fiber. They will be neutered and join the weed eating bunch.

Then there are the hens! They are really going at it with the egg production. It was so sparce all winter but now it is nearly 100%. They are such good eggs and I love to use then in everything. However, they are so much fresher than the store-bought ones that I can not make anything that requires boiled eggs. They simply are so fresh that they won't peel. About half of the white remains stuck to the peel. I have searched online and tried all of the suggestions to no avail. I have even put aside a dozen and let the "age" for two weeks and they still were too fresh to peel. Sure makes me wonder how old the eggs are that we get at the store.

Spring is truly wonderful on the farm but all the growth is working me to death. There is always something to mow, cut, weed-eat, or trim. Speaking of which, got to run and get the lawn mowed since they are calling for showers yet again tomorrow.

Computer woes

My last post talked about the storm and loss of my computer modem. It was in the shop far longer than I expected given my rushing it down there the very next morning after the storms. My intent was to get it there before the "rush" came in. In my haste I didn't take time to back up my Outlook files but didn't anticipate a problem since it was only for a modem card: remove the case, pull the bad card and snap in the new one. Should have done it myself but I also asked them to install Internet Explorer 7 since I only have dial up at the farm and download times are prohibitive. As I was checking it in, they asked if there was anything critical on the computer. I told them that My Documents was very important and all of the Outlook files were critical since it contained my address book and calendars including my reservation data. I don't know why they asked me what was important and perhaps that should have been a clue to me.

In spite of my efforts to get it there ahead of the crowd, it still wasn't ready until last Friday (over a week). In the meantime, I had had numerous requests for reservations for summer and my reservations are all on the calendar in Outlook so I hooked it up straight away to attend to those. Surprise - it sure didn't look like my computer. Short answer - they reformatted my entire hard drive. I called them and they have zero explanation other than it was a mistake. They had backed up My Documents and reinstalled it after the reformat but they had ignored the Outlook files completely. They offered to attempt to recover the files so I took it back to them. I got it back yesterday but they were unable to recover any of my Outlook files including email, address books, and calendars. I lost all of my reservations and contact information for all of my Bed & Breakfast reservations and inquiries. I lost all of the farm data such as livestock breeding and birthing dates, and I lost my calendar that I have been keeping to record weather, migration, and such that I called Nature. This is a catastrophe and I have no excuse other than I should have backed it up. The shop had no reason to do anything with the hard drive other than install a program. My files should have been safe.

SO, if you have contacted me and not received a response, please call or email again. If you have reservations for June - December, 2008 please contact me ASAP so that I can get your dates recorded. I have a reasonably good memory and have recreated the reservations from memory but have no names and contact information for you. I generally remember which rooms for which weekends but would feel much better if you could contact me to confirm that I am not mistaken.

I apologize sincerely for this problem. I erred in not backing up the data. I have never had a professional make such a mistake so didn't anticipate the problem especially after giving them the information about critical files. I am so sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Wild ride

First, my apologies for it being some time since my last post. The storm of a week ago got my computer modem and it has taken a bit of time to get that resolved.

As this blog's title infers, we have had a wild ride. All the weather forecasts were for extreme storms last Wednesday and we were not disappointed. The severe weather moved in around 7PM just in time to preempt a special I had so very much wanted to watch on ABC, "The Last Lecture." Fortunately, I had strongly encouraged a friend in Memphis to watch it and, because she had plans for the evening, she recorded it so I will get to see it eventually. With Channel 5 and weatherman Garrett Lewis, I settled in to watch the storms. The super cells were marching out of Oklahoma and over Ft. Smith dropping tennis ball size hail, shattering windows on cars and buildings, and obliterating siding on homes. These are the nights you don't go to bed here. Instead, you doze on the couch with one eye on the TV to see where the storms are. Shortly after midnight, it was our turn for the supercell. I watched as it moved steadily straight toward us and when Garret said, "People in Paris should be moving to the interior rooms now" I headed to my chosen spot to ride it out.

Living in a century old home creates a safety issue when it comes to storms. Yes, the house is solid as a rock being made of much larger timber than today's lumber. However, the floorplans of that time didn't include interior rooms. All rooms have windows and an exterior wall. There is hall upstairs but you are told to take cover on ground floors since the roof may depart. The downstairs choices include the space under the stairs and the half bath beside the back door. I opted for the half bath although it does have a 3' exterior wall. With old homes, storage space is even more rare than interior rooms so the space under the stairs is carefully packed full for optimization of all available space. Yes, I could have moved it all out but I also have a little voice in my head that really wanted to go to the bathroom for protection. Somewhere in my heart, I could see the stairs falling on me and, if there were a horrendous tornado to take out the house, I felt I wanted to be closer to the edge so the entire house would not fall on me.

My two little house mates, Prissy and Ruffles, and I gathered up the pillows, blankets, flash light, and cell phone. We were nestled in just in time when the wind started rattling the windows. Within a few minutes, I heard the hail hit but it only lasted a few minutes and it didn't sound like it was very large. I sat there imagining what the horses and other livestock were doing through the storm. I had terrible fears for the horses in the barn in case the storm was severe enough to destroy the barn. I had thought that, if it held up, they were the fortunate ones but was mindful that it could go either way. I was confident that the hens were on their roosts so there was little concern for them. I envisioned the sheep being under the large trees where the customarily spend the nights and, with the massive fleece coats, were the most cushioned from any pounding hail. The goats were in their house and I had locked the new calf up in the big red barn. Everyone was pretty well sheltered other than the horses in the fields and they could go to the woods. I even took time to ponder what it was doing to all the beautiful spring flowers. The daffodils were mostly spent but the tulips were just approaching full bloom along with so many other wonderful plants.

The lightening was almost constant such that the kitchen seemed to have a light on throughout the storm. It also was the best indicator as to when the storm passed. The rains continued most of the night but the relentless lightening was only associated with the heart of the storm. Once it subsided, I ventured from my security nest. Of course I lost my DirecTV signal throughout the storm and it didn't return for quite a while after the severe weather passed. Heavy rain will block the signal which is what we had so I went to bed with a prayer of thanks.

Morning light allowed me to look for damage but there was none to be found. All seemed right with the world other than the enormous waterways racing across the pastures. My farm had become lake front property over night which also told me that I was living on an island once again. I call it an island because, when we have severe rain like we have had twice this spring thus far, the streams that cross Short Mountain Road on each end become flooded and the road is covered with up to several feet of water. My rule of thumb is if I can see water on the Corp land behind me, there is water crossing the road on the east end of Short Mountain Road. If the whole Corp field looks like a lake, there is about 3-4 ft of water. As for the west end of the road, any major rain of several inches over a few hours will produce some flooding but people drive through it. With this rain on such already saturated ground, it too became too deep.

Friends called to check on my and to report that Carbon City Road was closed because of a culvert under the road completely washing away leaving an impassable canyon. Fortunately, it was repaired by Saturday because that is the route I recommend to guest to come to the farm. Now all that remains is to get the county to grade my driveway/road. It technically belongs to the county as an old county road that used to go through but it was all abandoned other than the portion that comes to my front yard. The runoff from Short Mountain Road decided that it needed to meander my driveway and render several large ruts. I will be the squeaky wheel to get that fixed.

At long last we have a weather forecast that is free of storms. With the strong winds of the past few days, the ground is drying and I have high hopes to finally get to order the concrete for the barn. I could not proceed with the building of the tack room and such for the past two months because of the multiple rains per week we have had. I also hope to finally get the new fencing started. Moreover, I also dream of having the ground dry enough to get the garden plowed and planted. It looks like it will be a very busy week.