Category: Farm Life

To get you in the mood for this post, here is a link to our walking soundtrack featuring Patsy Cline Let it play in the background as you read on.

When was the last time you experienced an unexpected perfect moment?

Last Saturday night after a light dinner of turkey soup with fresh buttermilk biscuits, our belly’s were full, the moon was bright, calling us outside for an evening stroll.

Arm in arm with my good friends, singing Walkin’ After Midnight, out in the moonlight, it was perfection! (although it wasn’t after midnight)

Moments like these wake us up, they are not part of the plan for the day, (or evening) they are the simple pleasures that make up a full life.

I wanted to share my lazy way to save tomato seeds with you.

When ever you have a tomato that is exceptionally beautiful and delicious simply save some of the seeds to grow out next year. It works best for non-hybrid varieties, like your favorite heirlooms or cherry tomatoes. Try it now before all your garden tomatoes are gone! It is a simple process, I have been doing this for years.

Let me know how it works for you.

When you visit Quillisascut Farm you will see an interesting breed of chicken called a Naked Neck or a Turken and as the name suggests they have very few feathers on their necks. Often times people will ask, “Is that a turkey?”, or  “What is wrong with that chickens neck?”, “there is a chicken out there with a problem.” To which we reply no problem it is the breed.

I know others think they are not very attractive but we like them, they are hard workers, scratching up bugs, they seem less stressed out and friendly with interesting personalities. (Okay, I know that sounds odd, but all the chicken fanciers out there will know what I mean) We did read that they require less protein in their diets then other breeds of chicken and that appeals to our thrifty farm way of thinking.

They lay lots of eggs, they still have some instinct to sit on a nest of eggs and will be good mothers to the chicks that hatch. We have one old hen that we named Silly. She doesn’t hang out with the other chickens, sort of a loner at heart, she likes to sit in front of the door- competing for position with the dogs.

Oh and Billy Bob, the rooster, he is a red-neck!

Here is a fun introduction to the characters around the farm.

Rick Misterly, farmer, goat herder, gardener and more. Rick maintains he retired to farming at the early age of 22. Raised in Los Angeles California you will hear him drop names of places like Malibu, Hollyweird and Topanga. He claims that twice during his teens he was given a ride, while hitchhiking, by Burt Lancaster. He dreams of someday being picked up by a UFO.

Rick is a complex character schooled by the world of hard-knocks; he is a fool for people who speak with a foreign accent (dangerous when telemarketers ring from far off call centers) He has been around the world twice. He once had to make a speedy decent while trekking on the Northern slope of the Himalayas when his breath extinguished the eternal flame of Muktinath and he feared what the natives would do. He didn’t stick around to see if the flame was reignited. In his old age he hopes to write a book of his travels titled Youth in Asia.

It is unclear whether his goats love him more then he loves them. He has helped most of them into this world, nurtured them through-out their lives and ushered some of them to a speedy beyond. If you find him in the barnyard with the herd you will see them all gathered round him appearing to ask for a touch, his blessing, strokes under their chins, as if he were the Pope of Goats.

A friend once described him as “one of those guys where you can actually see the years of hard work on his face and hands. And, while a nice guy, is the type where you feel you have to earn his respect. He isn’t just going to give it up without seeing what you are about first.”

He cleans up well and if he is wearing sunglasses, has been mistaken for Actor Bruce Dern.

Run when you hear him say “It’s totally safe.”

Rick didn’t know any better then to get into farming.