Enough Already!

November 8, 2012. Need I say more.

Big Bad Sandy

Unless you live under a rock you were aware of the hurricane that hit the east coast this past weekend. Actually Sandy made landfall at the "jersey shore" near Atlantic City. It was most violent storm I've ever been through including Midwestern tornadoes, which don't last nearly as long. The wind howled for 12 hours straight. I've never heard anything like it. We've been without power for 3 1/2 days now and it is said that it may take a week to 10 days to get everyone back online. YIKES!

Here are some pics of our downed trees. There must be at least 20 down, too many to count! We were lucky compared to many.

Log splitting!

Me and my stack, hard work!

With a borrowed log splitter we split some wood from all the downed trees on the farm. This is just a small look at what we have!

Richard getting dirty

Hunterdon County 4-H Fair

Seems like going back in time to go to a 4-H fair but they're still around especially here in rural Hunterdon Co. NJ. There's the usual cows and goats to look at in addition to pig racing, yup you read that correctly, pig races! Four little piglets race a round a track in about 1 minute, absolutely adorable!

The highlight I have to say is the yummy, unhealthy food such as funnel cakes, potato chips on a stick, BBQ, and ice cream floats.

Dairy Cow Judging

pig races!

Twin lambs.

My farmer husband "Rich"

Our First Open Burn!

The beauty of being classified as a farm in NJ is that you can get a permit to burn all sorts of stuff on your property! OK not really, but you can get a permit to burn brush, tree limbs, and the like. We have/had 3 "piles" that have been getting bigger by the day with mostly sticks, sticker bushes (multi-flora rose), and Russian olive. The last 2 being categorized as invasive species. So after the rain on Friday we decided we were safe from burning the whole place down, although that's not a bad idea on certain days, and lit one of our piles.

The next day! Unbelievable!

Our First Crop of Hay!

So it has been a hot and dry summer so far but the hay has been growing and the fields were not too wet for our first cutting of hay here at Lucky Dog Farm. 37 Bales!

Thanks to Double Brook Farm! What a team!

What a selection of farm machinery!

Tree Swing Challenge

Not sure how you would do this in the "olden days" but we, Richard, Will, and I, attached the swing, a graduation gift from Richard to me, to the beautiful oak tree down in the meadow. The ladder in the bucket is a bit of a challenge and we had images of broken limbs etc! However after moving the tractor and ladder every which way we got it up without any injuries!

The first "swing"! Thanks to Will for a big push!

Future Farmers of America!

Here are Caroline and Aileen Moseley out for their first tractor ride, against all Kubota safety recommendations, at Lucky Dog Farm. At the wheel is Farmer Rich!

Of course thumbs-up means higher and faster!

Donut's New Napping Spot!

This is just unbelievable, it must be quite cool. I found Donut here inside the fireplace this afternoon snoozing. 100 degrees outside!

Our New Tractor!

Finally, this has been a long time coming. We've been working with hand tools and a borrowed brush mower....really hilarious when you think of it. I've never been so friggin happy to see something come down the driveway! Thanks to Ted Whitehouse for hooking us with Kubota at Mid-Sate Equipment.
Great deal at 0 down and 0% financing!

The Ax Man

So after getting a quote to take down some storm damaged trees Richard decided to buy a chain saw with all the trimmings! Here he is all "geared-up".

The house.

Part 1700's, part 1800's part 1980's!

Our new old home in the Sourland Mountains is an old farm of 39 acres. Fallow fields and overgrown with Russian olive, multiflora rose, and LOTS of ticks await us daily but the views are amazing! We'll talk about the house later, I said "old" right?

Our money pit!