Introductions

I would love to introduce the animals of the Tanner Ranch -

We have two wonderful dogs, two elderly cats, one brown cow, 3 full grown chickens, 6 young chickens, and 2 roosters (one who is a year old and the other hatched here at the ranch).

Our two dogs are Sucia and Abby.

Abby is our adopted 6 year old chocolate lab. She is our protector. We adopted her from a family in Mill Creek. She was just a little too much for the family and needed more space. When we met her, my soon to be, husband looked at me and said "what do you think?" I said "lets do it." And we never looked back. She came to us when she was 1 and half years and had very little training... Sitting was not a mastered skill for her, so Justas got to work and trained her to be one very good dog. Abby loves to eat! She eats so fast - I am pretty sure she doesn't even chew her food. She is a tad bit overweight and is on a diet to lose some good ol' pounds.

Sucia is our sweet little golden retriever. We got her when she was 6 weeks old and have watched her grow to be a fabulous dog. When she was about 6 months old we found out that she had hip dysplasia. We made the tough decision to have her go in to surgery. At 9 months she had her surgery. Her recovery was long and it took a lot of work for her. Now 2 years later we can't even tell she had the surgery! She loves to roll in icky stuff - the stinker the better!!!

Our two cats are about 11 years old. We have Sabrina and Mickey. Sabrina is a beautiful calico and Mickey is grey and white. Both are from the same litter and they each have their own personality. Mickey is very shy and is a mama's boy. Sabrina is very independent and intuitive. I am positive she new I was pregnant before we even knew...

We have a few new additions to the Ranch - Miss Lady our brown cow, 6 new chicks (now adolescents...) and one crazy looking rooster. Miss Lady is the sweetest cow I think we have ever raised. She goes for walks with us and I am pretty sure she thinks she is a dog... Maybe sometime I will try to figure out how to upload a video of her playing with Abby and Sucia - we will see ;0).

My chickens are my little project I started last year. I started out with 2 rhode island reds, 2 buffed orpingtons, and 2 barred rocks. They started laying eggs in Sept of 2009 and very soon I was getting about 6 eggs a day - OH MY!! My chickens have a huge coop (use to be an old dairy cow barn). My husband built the coop for me (and the chickens...) - he is the best husband in the world!!! They have about 1 acre that they can explore, eat yummy bugs and dig around in the compost. By the end of summer of 2009 we adopted a rhode island red rooster who got beat up by my chickens for a few months until he figured out he was a rooster and not a chicken.

Unfortunately I lost a few of my chickens this last winter and spring, first rhode island red to something we still can't figure out, the second rhode island red was lost to a bird of prey, the last one my barred rock was taken by our mother coyote in the back (who has thank goodness moved on!). So we made some changes to make it so they were not able to get out of their area and now they are doing so much better and happier now they are finally out of their coop.

After loosing my chickens I decided to get some more chicks - 6 was the end count... Had some trouble with the chicks this year, but now they are happy as ever in their own coop - yep my fabulous husband made a second area for my ladies to spread their wings while they wait to be introduced to my current flock. The big introduction for the 3 larger birds will be on July 19th.

In the end, I ended up with 2 Black Jersey Giants, 2 Golden Wyandottes and 2 Rhode Island Red (one of those Rhode Island Reds is Cook - my nephew's chicken). And a rooster, who was hatched here at the Ranch. He is very interesting and has a few problems, but he is kicking it with the chickens and happy as ever.

Introductions complete (more photos to come)... All the animals on the ranch are so much fun! They are a lot of work, but worth every minute!

It's official...

It is official... My pumpkins have the squash bug infesting them! Here is the little bugger! I happened to get a photo of him when I went out to take photos of the leaves...

After getting the photos I headed down to PWF&G to check with the pro - Margaret. She pulled out a great book on diseases and bugs and sure enough it was the good ol' squash bug!

Now how to fix my ailing pumpkins... Now I try very hard to be an organic gardener, but there are times when extreme measures need to be taken, especially when my poor pumpkin plants are fight for their lives. So I picked up some insecticide powder from PWF&G...

But I got home and looked online and thought about the possibilities of want might happen if I laid this powder down on the ground and sprinkled it all over the leaves of my pumpkin plant.

First, I thought of our little man who is 7 months - not yet crawling and most likely wouldn't get into it, but still I didn't want to take any risks. Second, I thought of our two wonderful dogs - Abby our chocolate lab and Sucia our golden retriever... Abby has a tendency to eat the fertilizer I sprinkle, so this might be a very dangerous yummy treat for her. Third, I thought of our free range chickens - they eat everything.

Oh wait the chickens!! They might eat these fun little bugs destroying my pumpkins... huh? Well lets see... I opened the fence and let my three chickens and one rooster free to do what they please - yeah might not have been a very good idea...

They ate the leaves of my poor pumpkins and pulled up about 25 % of them!! OH MY! So we pushed them away from my pumpkins and closed the fence back up. I babied the pumpkins to see if I could save the remaining pumpkins and determined what the damage was. Much damage, but I would have to see...

I waited a few days and watered like crazy and checked them two times a day. Obsessed much??? Yep, just ask my husband - pumpkins are my second pride and joy (first being my little man).

So far I think they have recovered. I see growth, but it could be my imagination and/or hopefulness... ;0)

I will update in a few days.

Pumpkins

There are a few plants I just absolutely love to watch grow... Dahlias, and squash are one of my most favorite plants to watch grow.

Especially pumpkins.

I love watching the first two leaves emerge from the rich soil. When the first vine shoots out is probably one of the top three things I love about watching a pumpkin grow. The second part I love is when the pumpkin turns color - from green to orange.

My most favorite part of growing pumpkins is when a pumpkin grows - from pollination to the final green formation.

For some reason I feel a sense of calm seep through me when I watch a pumpkin grow. Simplicity.

Each pumpkin is different, like a snow flake. My sister (Auntie Ellen) loves the pumpkins with personality. She has come home from pumpkin patches with the best shapes. She is tells me something like - "I pick the pumpkin no one else wants."

My fabulous husband made me a pumpkin patch a few months ago.

I planted three different types of pumpkin seeds, but then I realized I REALLY needed to see leaves... So I got one Cinderella pumpkin start from good ol' Portal Way Farm and Garden (PWF&G) in Ferndale, WA. In the end I have LOTS of pumpkin plants (plus some mixed gourds - more to that later ;0)...).

I am definitely no pro at growing pumpkins, but I sure do love it! Every year I learn something new. The first year I had beginner's luck... The second year another year of beginner's luck with a mix of trying new things like cutting the vine after the first pumpkin, so all the energy goes to one... The third year - no pumpkins - lots of vines and NO pumpkins... I came to the realization that it was the way we watered it - more to come on that one...

Now I need to learn something new. Unfortunately, I have no more beginner's luck, might actually need to learn how to grow pumpkins. Most of my pumpkin leaves have brown spots on them and have wither, so tomorrow I am going to take a picture (or two) and ask someone at PWF&G or Bakerview Nursery in Bellingham, WA.

Maybe I have burnt them with fertilizer and/or rich compost? Maybe it is some disease or infestation? I have read about the squash bug or something like that...

I will figure it out and keep everyone updated!

Ta Ta!

The Ranch

Here we go... So I have decided to start a blog...

A blog about living on a farm. Living on a farm has only been apart of my life for a few years and I have learned lots of grand new things from raising cows to how to prune fruit trees.

Our farm, we actually call The Ranch, is on about 10 acres of land. About 5 acres is wooded area, 3 acres is pasture and the rest is living area, which consists of 25 fruit trees, a VERY large garden, chicken coop, and our home.

I hope to blog about life and document new adventures on The Ranch.