Harris Hawk in the chicken coop...

We have never experienced a problem (that we are aware of) with our free-range chickens being pestered by hawks, but here a few weeks back we were there and heard an awful commotion near the chicken pen and went to see what was going on. When we got out there, there was a Harris Hawk inside the chicken pen (a fully enclosed aviary) and the chickens were long gone. One left with less feathers than he started with. We really didn't have any idea how we could get the hawk out of the cage, but since I had flown all the way to Ireland to fly a Harris Hawk, I just couldn't bring myself to shoot him (or her). So I went in the cage with some work gloves on and tried to get close and he went nuts. Then I went outside and tried to shew him out, but he again went a bit crazy and started flying into the cage. So I finally went in an eased up to him as he stared me down. As I got close, I started kind of a blowing noise at him. He fell to the ground and started to lean back as I eased closer. As I got up to him and continued to blow, he fell over backwards and I reached down gently and clutched his claws and lifted him up and out of the cage. As I got outside with him I held him so Amber could get a photo of him. I then just kind of gave him a head start of a glide and he literally glided over the roof of the firewood shed and stopped and turned around and stared at me like he couldn't believe he was free. I felt pretty good about seeing him fly off. I asked him very nicely not to come back and ruffle the feathers of Mik's laying hens. I feel like we have a good understanding:-) Right.

Galen holding the Harris Hawk.

Go Think! has our Christmas Party at Go Away

When I think about a place to have a Christmas party with a bunch of kids, I just can't come up with a better place than Go Away Farm. The kids seem to be consumed with the farm things and the adults with relaxing. It doesn't get much better than a day at Go Away! Go Think held our party there this year and we had a wonderful time.


Emily, Anna's son, and Jack all took to the 14 year old tree house as if it were built yesterday. After a short cleaning it was ready for a crowd. 

Bryan Saintes gives Annie Mullins and Brody a ride around the round pen. Horse back riding seemed to be a big hit for kids and adults alike. 

Yessie and Brody get close to Wimpe.
Trudy Wilson and her Grandson, along with Katie Mullins and a trailer load of Go Think kids out for a hay ride.

Liz and Trudy take a look at the Christmas spread. It was wonderful. Mikki, in her fabulous fashion, outdid herself. Absolutely wonderful! 

A sweet sunset

We were at the farm this past week and the weather was very nice. The afternoon sunset on Wednesday was gorgeous. The cloud colors went from white to that interesting salmon color. Wonderful to just stand and admire God's handiwork. 

Earlier in the afternoon Mikki came walking up saying  "look at our lemons"... I'd forgotten about the little lemon tree. It had been planted by the front gate, frost bitten last year, and then uprooted and moved down the way in the flower bed. Unfortunately, we planted the bush a bit close to the fence and the horses must like the taste of the leaves because they've nearly stripped it of foliage. But for some reason the little Meyer lemon tree wouldn't give up and produced five surprise lemons. I had never even checked on it and obviously it really didn't need our husbandry to produce. In spite of the abuse the tree has taken, it has given us a wonderful surprise this winter. We'll pay a little more attention next year.

Compost Tea comes to Go Away Farm in 2009

This is our new Growing Solutions Compost Tea System. We will begin applying compost tea to our pasture grasses, orchard, vines and garden in early January. We are also going to use the spray system to spray our oak tree foliage and inject the root systems with Akomite+Compost Tea to hopefully deter some of the oak decline and oak wilt we've experienced. This year alone, we've lost about 5 large old oaks that have simply died within a week or two. Very sad to watch. So, I've determined that we'll go to work and fight the problem with one of the only natural ways I've found.



After doing a lot of Internet research and reading about organic / natural ways to fertilize and stimulate our soils, and replenish the soil of the nutrients that the commercial fertilizers have taken away, I've decided to invest in Growing Solutions Compost Tea System. They are a company out of Eugene Oregon who has been in the business of selling commercial grade compost tea "cookers" (which don't cook, rather agitate), as well as selling a "catalyst" that is mixed with our organic compost and agitated with micro-air bubbles for 24 hours. After the 100 gallons of tea has cooked for 24 hours, we'll mix it with 200 gallons of water and have about a full day to apply it to the soil.




This is the compost tea application trailer I purchased from PBM Sprayers in California, with the assistance of Michael Alms, CEO of Growing Solutions. Michael was very helpful in the specifications of the nozzles, pump and spray configuration as well as involved in the actual ordering and shipping coordination. The sprayer arrived mid December. We plan to apply our first compost tea in about two weeks. The spray rig has a 16 hp Honda Industrial gasoline engine and a diaphragm pump designed to handle pumping liquid with particles.