PhilRoberson.com-Heald Street Farm Blog

2005 Farm Blog

This blog is designed to keep anyone who cares abreast of the happenings and goings on at Heald Street Farm—Phil Roberson and Amy Gage's horse farm in Pepperell, MA. Most of the small photos link to larger images.

December 25, 2005:

Merry Christmas! We had a beautiful sunrise to welcome in Christmas this morning. Amy flew to Florida late morning to join her family for the week. This coming Wednesday there will be a memorial service for Amy's father who passed away last June. It is very difficult for both of us to get away—especially in the winter. So Phil will be taking care of the farm and animals.

Yesterday—Christmas Eve—we both went for a horse ride. Mr. D wore sleigh bells for the occasion, and we delivered a gift on horseback to some friends in the neighborhood. Ho, ho, ho!

On Friday, we finally took down the trunk of one of the huge maples lining the driveway. I hate to lose these trees, but it had to be. Last year about a third of its crown came off in a snow storm, and the remaining weight was all leaning towards the house. Plus, the base was hollowed out with rot. So last winter we had somebody come in with a bucket truck and took it down except for about thirty feet of the trunk. The tree measures about three feet in diameter at the base, so it should provide a lot of fire wood for next year. Which is good, as we have been burning a lot this year.

December 12, 2005:
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. On Friday we got 15-inches of snow, so we are likely to have snow cover throughout the season. It took a while to snowblow everything, but it is really pretty here now.

Today we went to the Annual Christmas concert put on by the Groton Community Christmas Chorus. We have gone for the past several seasons, and it is incredibly inspiring. The chorus is comprised of young and old singers from all of the surrounding towns, and the concert is held in a small church in downtown Groton. This year I was asked to take photos for the local paper, so I went twice. Once on Sunday for the photo shoot, and tonight (Monday) to just sit and enjoy the sounds of the season. Christmas time is here!

November 25, 2005:

First Snow, Thanksgiving Day. We finally had our first real snowfall. Got 3-4 inches of fluffy snow, whch coated the whole farm in time for Thanksgiving. My nephew Michael, niece Emily and her dog "Trap Jack" came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Emily and Trap Jack are hurricane Katrina refugees, and Trap Jack and Zipper look kind of similar and got along fine.

I let the chickens out this morning, and they really didn't know what to think of the snow. After one of them tried to fly away from the stuff, they all decided they would all rather stay in the hen house till it all just goes away. Nine eggs so far today.

October 20, 2005:
The chickens are laying around the clock. We are averaging 8-10 eggs a day, so the nests are crowded. Plus, with twelve hens, the hen house was getting full, so it was time for a remodel. We moved the nests to the outside of the house, added a third nest on top, and increased the floor space in the hen house in the process.

We're finally putting the garden to sleep for the winter. We harvested the last of the peppers, and tilled the fall leaves into the soil. We never seem to get to the fall garden chores, so it is good to have that done this year. Now it is on to the last of the leaf raking, and bringing out the snowblower and heated water buckets.

October 5, 2005:

It is getting dark earlier and earlier, and the new lights in the riding ring are starting to pay off.

September 29, 2005:
We finally finished splitting and stacking our supply of wood for the year. Although we only supplement our heat with wood, with this year's prices of oil, it is oing to be good to have a lot of wood on hand. The new (1963) tractor did the last of the splitting, and we removed the brush hog from the big tractor for the year. Although it is a warm Septmeber, you can just feel the change of seasons coming. The leaves are just starting to turn, and it gets dark earlier and earlier.

We finished installing lights on the riding ring, so now Amy can use the ring for lessons after dark. Good thing we got it done when we did, because I just sprained my ankle pretty bad last Satorday, which is limiting my movement. Since I can't skydive for a while, I am getting a lot of fall farm chores done.

September 19, 2005:

It is a summer of road trips. Amy just returned from a trip to Knoxville and Ashveille. She helped escort the horse Vinca to Knoxville with Judi. While there they visited with Sue Winslade, Amy's trainer, and Amy got a chance to ride one of the horses on the farm. It looks like beautiful land, with a much longer riding season than New England. After the visit to Pennrose farm, Amy got a chance to see her mother, sister, nephew and aunt in North Carolina before flying back to New Hampshire.

September 10, 2005:
We got our first egg from the new chickens. Last spring we replaced our flock of chickens, and today we got our first egg.

We have twelve hens—four New Hampshire reds, four Plymouth barred rocks, and four black Australorps. If they all start laying before winter sets in, we should be rolling in eggs. A good, healthy young hen can lay an egg every 25 hours or so. The hens now have free range on our farm from noon on.

September 1, 2005:
I just returned from a long ride out to Michigan to pick up a tractor we bought on E-bay. It was a long way to go, but the tractor was a great deal, and should do a lot of work on the farm. For those into tractors, it is a 1962 Ford 671. It has power steering, and a select-o-speed transmission with a live PTO.

The drive was full of reflection and thoughts of Hurricane Katrina. I drove across New York State and Ontario right before the remains of Katrina passed through, and drove back across after the last rains had passed to the North. All the while I had my ear to the news of the devastation wrought by Katrina on the Gulf Coast. My Grandmother died in Pass Christian, MS during Hurricane Camille back in 1969 (until now, the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S.), and my Neice Emily evacuated to Texas with her room mates and her dog last Sunday. It sounds real bad down there, and I am thinking that maybe I should have loaded the truck with supplies, chainsaws and whatever, and head there to help rather than driving to Michigan. It will take a long time for that area to recover.

Anyway, long drives are good for deep thoughts, and it was therapeutic to be doing this trip rather than going through my routines at the farm and the drop zone. I had to stop at Niagara Falls On Wednesday evening to see the sights. Got there right before nightfall and soaked up the view for a while.

August 29, 2005:
Amy just got back from Maine where she went with Taro, our friend Molly Jones and her horse. They went to Mount Desert Island where they rode their horses for several days on the carriage trails along the coast. This is the biggest trip for the new truck so far, and Amy's biggest ride of the season.

Maenwhile, the garden is going great guns. this is probably our best garden year so far. this mornings harvest included eggplants, cherry tomatoes, a few remaining cucumbers, and lots and lots of peppers.

August 21, 2005:
We had a painting party (Tom Sawyer party) on Friday the 19th to paint the fence around the riding ring, and got a lot of help from many of Amy's students and their parents. We did this the first few years after we built the fence, but hadn't done it in a while—and it showed.

Today was Karin's last day at the farm (at least for now). After going to Boston with her yesterday, today there was time for one last horse ride, and then off to the airport. We really enjoyed having her stay with us, and we hope to see her again soon.

August 14, 2005:

Whenever we start something new, we usually get into it in a big way. This past spring, Amy planted a lot of cumcumbers with the plan of pickling. They are producing great, and we pick several pounds every morning. We started pickling on July 25th, and so far we have pickled the following:

18 quarts of dill spears.
14 pints of bread and butter pickles.
12 pints of pickled beets (no refined sugar).
9 pints of sweet dill slices.
8 pints of dilly beans.
7 pints of salt-free dills spears.

In years past, we have wasted a lot of fresh vegetables because they came in in greater quantities than we could deal with. The beans are just starting to come in in massive quantities. So are the weeds.

August 7, 2005:
The garden has been in full swing since before the last frost. We harvested parsnips and leeks that wintered over, our lettuce even wintered over for the first time. Now we are harvesting beets, cucumbers, and beans. The pepper plants, corn and eggplant all look good too, and we have tomatoes both in the garden and in containers near the garage. Our goal is to try to preserve a lot of the harvest through pickling and freezing.

Karin has been a big help around the barn, and she and Amy have started working scraping the riding ring fence in preparation for a fresh coat of paint.

August 1, 2005:
Well, this is my first entry into the Farm Blog. We'll see how it goes. The farm is in full swing and it has been a busy summer. The big news around here is the arrival of Karin, our farm stay student from Germany. She is a great girl, and a real pretty horse rider. Karin arrived on July 24th, and will be here for four weeks. She will be helping out with the horse chores, and riding whenever possible. She has a lot of experience with horses and horse care back in Germany.

The weather has been great this summer, so Amy is riding a lot, Phil is skydiving a lot, and the garden is producing more than we can eat—despite our neglect.