Giant Black Snake Terrorizes Mount Nebo!

Paul holding up the Monster of Mt Nebo

Nah… not really but it did scare the snot out of two huge farm boys. Yesterday was another lesson in just how different my life has become in the last year. For those that missed my Facebook post yesterday I will share again.

My uncle sold $200 worth of hay to a nearby farm and the farm hands came over to pick up the hay. While they were loading it they discovered a black snake that was over 5ft long. Can you imagine lifting a bale of hay and seeing something like that coming at you? Well they knocked on my door and said it was embarrassing but they were very afraid of snakes and could I help them. I said sure, let me grab the .22. He asked if I was afraid and I replied… not really. But I for sure would have been startled at the least seeing something that big coming at me!

I walked down there and shot the snake. I admit it took three shots before it finally died. Before you make fun of me, I hit it all three times. I’m a fair hand with a gun thanks to Paul. The men were very grateful and surprised that I was such a good shot and so calm. Looking back on it I guess I surprised myself a bit too.

I never would have thought a year ago that while sitting at my desk in my skirt and high heals booking travel that I would be doing anything like this. But I was determined to stop working for other people and start working for my clients and myself.

It’s been an amazing journey so far. I’ve learned a lot about farming and myself. I hope to continue to learn about both for the next 70 years!

Last night I found myself researching how to humanely kill chickens. I have a chicken that just isn’t like the others. She is ill and I can’t seem to help her and the only way I can see to put her out of what I see as misery is to cull her out of the flock. She was literally gasping for breath last night while I was holding her. I guess I still have a tender spot and I never want to see an animal of any sort suffer even if it was meant for food. I think I can do it but I have to admit I want Paul by my side the first time for support.

I have been trying to spend equal amounts of time on my small business ventures. This week I have started looking into pricing in the yellow pages for my travel business. I love working with people to plan vacation & honeymoon trips. But, I have to admit the corporate business that I do is very rewarding as well. I’m so blessed to work with a large company who has some great employees. I have to admit sometimes I still find it odd that people call me at 10pm to book travel but now that I don’t work in an office from 9 to 5 it is important for me to help them at any time. I would love to work with just one more large account like that. If anyone knows of a company that would like a travel goddess at their beck and call … let me know!

The other thing I worked on this week was my egg & poultry business. I contacted the WV Department of Agriculture and I was amazed at how helpful they were to me. I talked to a gentleman in the meat processing division who not only gave me great tips on how to keep my start up costs low but offered to come out for a “dry run” inspection before the actual inspection takes place. I wish all government agencies would be so helpful to small start up businesses!

Anyway, I learned that as a small producer I don’t have to jump through all the hoops as the big factory farms do. I can sell up to 1500 dozen eggs per week and 1000 birds per year to commercial businesses. While I have no intention of getting that big it is a relief to know that it seems they are behind the small farmer in my state.

Well, at least when it comes to poultry & eggs. Dairy is another matter all together and I was shocked to learn that in the state of WV it is illegal to buy shares in dairy cows and it is also illegal to sell raw milk. This is sad as I remember as a kid getting milk in large mason jars from a lovely older couple who lived close to us. I can honestly say that it didn’t kill me and I learned a lot.

That is when I first became curious as to where food came from as the milk in that jar looked nothing like the stuff we got at the grocery store! It got me so curious I decided to learn how to make buttermilk and even my first ever batch of home made butter. I realized that if I could do that then I should try other things and I made my own home made wine with supervision from my mom and I started learning to cook. I’ll never forget the first time I made coq au vin.

I guess when I moved to the city I forgot all about those things and concentrated on starting my career. I can’t begin to share how bone deep happy I am at rediscovering this other passion in my life. It is rewarding to eat something you helped to produce.

This week was also the start of the garden. I have 1 full row of potatoes, 1 row of 2 types of onion, garlic, 2 types of carrots, radish, 2 rows of candy corn two rows of tomatoes & peppers. I still need to get in there and plant another row of late potatoes and my beans & peas. It has been so muddy the past two days I haven’t been able to get back in it. I hope that one day we will see a whole week without rain.

Paul suggested we start a rain collection system for watering in the heat of the summer and I agree. Why not put all the incessant rain we’ve had to good use. It was such a great idea I started collecting all the rain that leaks through my living room ceiling!

I'm a late bloomer... are you?

Future home of the Keeley All You Can Eat Veggie Buffet

My dilemmas: I am finally going to start planting my garden today. We have our first break in the rain in probably 10+ days. I’m probably being over ambitious for my first garden but nothing ventured, no back ache and sunburn gained! Normally, I am a know it all about everything (or so I pretend) but this is my first ever “big girl” garden. I really want it to go well. Since I don’t actually know it all I would love some guidance. I have actually had a volunteer who swore “he would make a farmer out of me yet”. I do look forward to his advice but I know he will be busy getting his garden started too.

It’s late for everyone here to get in their gardens because of all the rain we’ve had. I complained last spring of the rain and just to show me that it could rain even more I’m sure the Rain Fairy decided to smite me! Basically, everyone I know is getting a late start on their garden.

OK. My first dilemma is that I was told that I need to have a tiller to run between my rows to mow down all the new weeds that are determined to smite me even more than the Rain Fairy. The only problem is that I was going to borrow a friend’s monster tiller until it met an untimely death caused by a 900lb tire that rolled over it. Are you starting to see a trend or is it just me that seems that everything is in fact “out to get me”?

Well my answer to this, my theory let’s say, is why not just put down something that will help to retard the growth of future weeds. I know for a fact there will be a LOT of unwanted things popping up out of the dirt as the plot of land in question has been mowed for hay for many years.

I’ve been saving all my feed bags for months with the thought of cutting them down the sides and laying them flat between the rows. Then I got to thinking why not also try news paper? Paper is a brown matter that will break down over time and enrich the soil so it’s got two good points. I do worry that the polypropylene feed bags will break down and birds and other small animals will get the shreds of it caught in their digestive tract. That is why I haven’t thrown any of those bags in the trash. I pretty much think they are evil but that is a different soap box for a different 4am on a different day.

So what do you think? Do you think my idea of miscellaneous feed bags between the rows will help save me?

My second dilemma is my chickens. I “think” I have something in place that will prevent them from digging up all the seeds behind me as I plant them. The same said trick I hope will prevent them from wreaking further havoc on any tender new shoots as they pop up out of the ground: A chicken tractor. Paul & I built one last weekend with some simple plans I found online for a pvc / chicken wire structure. However the “door” was just made of plastic sheeting with a weighted bottom. The designer clearly did not have my chickens in mind with that flimsy door!

How I plan to entice the chickens to give up their freedom by entering the chicken tractor hasn’t come to me quite yet. I suppose I could put some of their favorite drug inside and they will run in and voila! Or… they will have suspicions that it is a prison and they will refuse to enter even though their fix is waiting inside for them. By the by… I don’t actually give them pharmaceuticals but their drug of choice is cracked corn or scratch grains. Even the Mallards I raised are addicted. Every morning they are waiting for me jonesing for their fix. When I mentioned rehab to the Mallards they just looked at me and sang: No, No, No! I promise to look into a rehab program in the future but I really must stay on track with the garden!

Dilemma three is the groundhogs and bunnies. They will mow down every green thing in their path. Now, for the most part if they are playing fair and only eating at the Keeley All You Can Eat Veggie Buffet during the day I have the trusty .22 to help control the situation. However if they are as devious as I suspect they are they will be watching from the shadows and run into the garden as I go inside to book flights and vacation packages. It is a long held belief of mine that groundhogs are in league with the devil… but I digress.

Dilemma four is my personal favorite. I must confess I am at war with myself on this one. There is a part of me that wishes that the millions of deer that live on the farm will come to the Veggie Buffet so I can fill my freezer. However, the part of me that understands how devious these smart animals are is frit scared they will come.

They are no ordinary foe. Oh no. The animals I mentioned earlier are benign as they come in comparison to Odocoileus virginianus. They are by far the most dangerous predator to the Keeley Veggie Buffet. I am going to my local DNR this week to get my permit so that I can “go postal” on them if they enter the confines of the garden. I must admit that the thought of filling my freezer with yummy venison is thrilling!

All of this said, I have about 20 metal posts that I can run around the perimeter of the garden but they are only 6ft posts. Ok… granted the first 15 were given to me free of charge but nobody told me that they aren’t 6ft once in place. Seriously, how was I to know this? I thought I was being so clever. I was going to put a 6ft fence around the garden and while it may not keep them all out, (I have heard they can jump 50ft in the air!) I was planning on it keeping out the large herds that I’m sure are waiting to come to dinner.  Now it seems my fence will only be a mere 4-5ft. What is the point of calling it a 6ft post? Why not call it what it is when it is being used for its specific purpose? 

Anyway… should I try the “deer netting” that seems cheap or should I run an electric wire about 3 inches off the ground and at middle & top? So I will at least get a feeling of satisfaction that I gave them a “stimulus on their package”?

Should I get a motion sensor light for that side of the house linked to the alarm on my iPhone so it wakes me?

Do they make an app for that?

"Hen Spa" menu now offers basil exfoliation and 375 degree sauna...

Yesterday I discovered my red devils love basil. They ate my two plants down to nubs. I was so angry I could have sent them to the 375 degree sauna but I no longer had fresh basil to rub on their freshly exfoliated skin.

It’s a lovely day on the farm and I had to stroll down to the coop and take some pics of the teenage chickens. Some of them are looking very grown up indeed! So much so that Rocky is “trying it on” with the White Leghorns and
Silver Laced Wyandots and he even thinks the Ancona’s are cute but they are still too young. 

Some of them are very curious and come running when they see me out side. So I had to just slip off my flip flops, sit in the grass and take a few photos of them.


Poor basil plant!

 Most of them are designated as egg layers but most of Jonesey’s offspring will wind up as dinner. Ditty is safe however. We became attached to him when he had a hard time hatching and I had to help him hatch. He unfolded in my hands and was so teeney weeney. He/she is growing up nice and strong and has now joined the other juvies down at the coop.


Young Anona (white egg layer)


It’s funny to watch the young chicks figure out their pecking order. They will mock charge each other. This completely cracks us up! They will be at opposite ends of the brooder and suddenly run towards each other and chest bump!

My pretty weather turned cool and rainy again. I know in theory that all of this rain makes it lush and green in West Virginia but I have to admit it’s getting old. It really seems we can’t go more than 3 days without rain.

Black Australorp x RIR young roo

I’ve planted flowers at the front of the house and I’ve thrown down grass seed. I can’t seem to keep the chickens out of the grass seed. What did I really expect? They are chickens. They eat seeds. I need to get over it.

Fergus did manage to "get busy" with two of the Red Devils as I had two large brown eggs hatch red chicks with feathers down their legs. They are lovely chicks and I can’t wait to see what they look like when they grow up. I’m guessing they will look like Fergus but be full size like the Red Devils.

This week I also took a few photos of the gang in their natural setting. Rocky up on the roof of the barn and the teenagers hanging about foraging. The grass is starting to get pretty high with all the rain we have had and it will be time to mow for hay soon, nearly time for the first cut. Sometimes I will be walking around the farm and I see a little head pop up out of the tall grass and it makes me smile. I love the fact that they eat all the nasty buggies up!

Juvy White Leghorn

Summer will officially be here for me when I see the first lightening bug light up over the front field. I can’t wait!



Paul's young
Speckled Sussex rooster