Vintage Home and Farm

We've been gradually inspecting and replacing this old house's electrical outlets and light switches where needed. Below is an example of a kitchen outlet that needed to be replaced. We knew there was a problem because the lower plug sometimes didn't work. After turning off the power, removing the plate, and pulling it forward, we could see it was a fire hazard. It literally fell apart while Paul was removing it. The switch was actually broken in half, which was why the lower part didn't work right. Below are all the pieces after the outlet crumbled onto the counter. It still had the original price tag from a local plumbing and electrical store, Thurman Supply, where the former owners or their electrician purchased it for 49 cents. Since Thurman's opened in the 1970s, we are guessing this outlet was probably replaced in the mid-1970s or early 1980s. After dealing with this outlet, we're both a little worried and have since made it a goal to inspect the house...

We have a white Leghorn hen who flies out of the coop every morning, walks to the front of the house, climbs up into the flowerbed by our front door, and lays her egg. Below, she has arrived from the backyard coop. Next, she jumps up into the flowerbed to the place she has chosen. She then crawls partway under the leaves of the irises to her slightly hidden spot. She fluffs the small pile of hay that I put there for her after we had discovered that this is where she is laying her eggs. I figured if she is going to lay eggs there, she might as well have a decent nest. She nestles down into a comfortable position. A while later, she leaves, and there is her egg in the nest. She returns to the coop and flies back in. We would have never known this was going on, except that there were not very many eggs in the coop, and I suspected that eggs were being laid elsewhere. I had been on the lookout for eggs for some time. Then, the other day, Paul spotted three eggs in this flowerbed nest. Aha!...

About a month ago, our little family farm applied to become a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We're so pleased to announce that the farm has been accepted, and we've since received a sign to hang outside.  By doing this, we are committing to following guidelines for improving the habitat on our farm and helping nature thrive. We started in that direction simply because we love nature and are excited to see so many pollinators, birds, and wild animals on and around the farm.  A recent purchase to help with this effort was a birdbath for the front yard. It took a few days for the birds to start using it. The most unusual birds to use it so far were crows. I wish I had my phone at the time so I could take pictures of them, as it was funny to see those giant birds splashing around and drinking from it. We've also had success this year feeding the hummingbirds. There are so many hummers around here right now. They are enjoying a...

We've never seen garter snakes get as large as they do here. You may recall a prior year when we had a mama snake living in the flowerbed up by the house ( see the story here ). She would come out of her hiding spot and sun herself near the front door, and we'd be startled to see her there. She grew to at least 5 feet long and was a good four inches in diameter, if not more. Over the weekend, we spotted a new giant garter snake hiding in our garage. This one is maybe three inches in diameter at its thickest point, and about two-and-a-half to three feet long. But it's early in the growing season yet, so I'm sure she'll get much larger. Here she is slithering out from the garage. We also managed to get her on video. Paul happened to be washing the car at the time. When the snake was still inside the garage, he saw her in the corner near the car-washing supplies. I had to go in there to get his supplies (he's squeamish about snakes), and let me tell you, even thoug...

For about five years now, I have been harvesting our garlic scapes and making garlic scape pesto ( see our article with the recipe ). This is the first year I've harvested leek scapes, although I've been growing leeks for several years and have noticed they develop a flower on top, similar to garlic and onions. Last year, I observed that our local natural foods grocery store, Country Aire, had bundles of leek scapes for sale in their produce section. At the time, I hadn't known that the flower and stem of a leek are called a scape, similar to garlic, so when I saw the sign on the basket of leek scapes in the store, I was super excited and decided that I would harvest my leek scapes the following year (which is now) and make something with them. Above is my harvest. The tall, long scapes at the front are from leeks. Behind the leeks are the curly garlic scapes. Only hardneck garlic varieties produce a scape. You should always harvest garlic scapes when they are still curled,...

It's getting to be that time of year when we don't plan to spend much on produce at the grocery store. We also don't need to buy eggs. Today, I filled the fridge with lettuce, spinach, artichokes, cilantro, and green onions from our garden. I also hard-boiled some eggs from our farm.  We restock the fridge with produce from our garden every few days, and also have enough to share with family and friends.  Keeping a garden really helps lower the food budget, as a pack of seeds costs only about $2-4, and from that we can grow $20-$100 worth of food. Saving some seeds from the harvest makes it even more valuable, especially if you're growing heirloom varieties, since the next generation of plants will remain similar to the parent. If you plant perennials, it's possible you'll then have food from those plants year after year - perhaps never having to plant those items again! It does require work to establish a garden and keep up with the weeds. The soil also needs t...

Howdy, all! It's been a while, so we figured it was time for another farm update. Over the past few months, we've made progress here on our little family farm. One of the biggest accomplishments was assembling the greenhouse.  We bought our greenhouse kit from Costco over the winter. Paul then assembled the walls in the Corral, which you may recall is the bonus family room in our house. It's a room in the house that we can close off and use for special things like that. Anyway, we needed to clean out that room for a guest who will be coming in a few weeks, which motivated us to finally assemble the greenhouse outside. It meant leveling the ground, which was a project in and of itself. The project is finally done, though, and of course, I've already filled the inside with plants and seeds in pots. We still need to cover the floor with gravel and install a few wooden benches, but placing the pots on the ground works for now. I'm so proud of Paul's accomplishment. ...

 I just noticed that the swifts (a type of bird) have returned, and they are at least a month early. It's been significantly warmer this winter and we've had no snow, which is an usual pattern here. In past years, we've had at least two lengthy episodes of snow, usually one in December and another in February, with 12 to 18 inches of accumulation. We've had zero snow this year. Also, the temperatures are normally much lower, with overnight lows in the 20s and 30s, and a few dips into the 10s. This year, the overnight lows have only reached 28 degrees a couple of times, and have mostly been in the 30s and 40s. We're up to the 50s during the daytime now. So, obviously, the birds decided to migrate here earlier than usual due to warmer temperatures in the region. The reason I noticed they were present is because they often fly swiftly down the exterior of the house right outside the kitchen window, which during the daytime causes a noticable shift in the sunlight. They...

This has been a difficult year. First, our sweet doggy Mojo passed away, and now we have to say goodbye to Tipper. She had lymphoma in her tummy. Poor little girl. We will miss her so much. Tipper's mom, Lily, was a stray cat that we took in years ago when we lived in our other house. She was found by one of my co-workers, Sandy, who asked if anyone was willing to take in a stray. After we adopted Lily, we realized she was pregnant. She had a large litter of kittens, and we kept two and gave away the rest. Tipper was one of the kittens we kept; Gray Guy is the other. We named her Tipper because she had a white tip at the end of her black tail. Before we named her Tipper, I used to call her cow kitty. Her markings were similar to those of a black and white spotted cow, and I can recall times when, after feeding, she had a really chubby belly and milk on her chin. She reminded me of a happy little cow. Tipper had a long and happy life, sleeping on the bed (usually under the covers), ...

Our garden is still producing cool season crops. Today, I went out to see what I could find, and discovered many lovely vegetables ready for harvesting and enjoying. Come with me as I poke around in the garden at the end of December in Garden Zone 8b. Don't mind the mess...the garden is overgrown right now, mainly because it's hard for me to keep up with it in the late summer when everything is growing like crazy. At that time, it's too hot outside for me to weed and trim it all. Plus, the ground gets rather hard during the summer, so digging up weeds is a lot more work than if I were to simply wait until the rainy season starts again. I do my weeding when the ground is soft. I've been working on weeding small sections at a time, now that the soil is much softer from all the rain we've had. As I work, I put down some type of mulch to protect the soil. This also helps me see where I've already weeded versus what still needs to be done. Above, notice the garlic th...