Spring is here!

 I can't believe I have not written on this blog in exactly one month.
Spring has made its debut, but the weather is still a little nippy. Valentino and Xanthipe are still the only calves that have been born this year. And the plants in the greenhouse are doing excellently. I never knew how much you could miss the sight of baby swiss chard!  Not that the baby kale or lettuce is ugly, it's just not as colourful. I like pretty, colourful things. But as John Ruskin once said, "Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for example."  But alas, I can not entirely agree. Are trees not beautiful? They are very useful.
But lilies...not so much. And can you eat peacocks?  That is why farming is so nice, we usually have an abundance of useful things - beautiful or not. Like cows, they give us meat and fertilizer, and keep our pastures trimmed. And hey! They aren't that ugly.





This is Xanthipe. This was taken when she was still very young.










And this is baby swiss chard. The stalks are already starting colour.

New additions to our family

We have two new Calves on our farm. Their names are Valentino and Xanthipe.  Valentino is a male, and Xanthipe is a female.  Valentino looks a bit like his father Joseph (our bull).  Xanthipe is all brown.  They are both very cute, and Valentino is very friendly.
Profile of Joseph the bull:
Joseph is a brown and white large bull. He has sired many calves in his life. And is quite friendly, but he will head butt, and can be very dangerous when he does this. And he is very protective over his herd.

We are also getting ready to start plants in our greenhouse. Soon we will be extremely busy with onset of spring weather. But for right now, the ground is still snow covered.

February, not much gardening

Hi! I'm Francesca

I live on a farm. The farm I live on is called Oakmanor Farm. This year we are starting a CSA (community supported agriculture) we and I have spent a lot of time making posters and stuff. Wow, I can't believe I'm staring a blog!!  So back to the farming stuff, here, in Nova Scotia, there is a lot of snow right now. The poor animals (cows,horses,cats,dog,chickens) have to wade through two feet of snow! And (cringe) we are supposed to get more snow tonight. If you live in the city won't understand why I don't want a lot of snow (but maybe you will). The reason is because I have to shovel and remove snow. Not fun!! It's OK the first few storms of the year, but now it's getting kinda boring. I would much rather be listening to music, learning Latin, or reading Anne Rice novels.   I know I'm jumping around all over the place.  So am I boring you yet?  Wouldn't surprise me.  So...I'll tell you a little about me: I love horses; I love listening to the radio; yes, my name is Italian; and my fave  colour is lime green; oh, and right now I'm listening to Enrique Iglesias.   Well time to go start chores.    Francesca :)  

P.S. does any one know how to post pics on a blog? I can't figure out how to this.