Wild Turkey

We have a little family of wild turkeys. Mind you, these are not 'ours', but true WILD birds that hang around our farm.

At first, there were just three or four, but after hatching babies, there are now 16.

They 'help me weed' the field.

And work under the oak tree. You can see our fenced orchard in the background. They even find their way in there. I am sure they do some cleaning up.

We have a bush in the backyard. We were going to take it out; it has thorns on the branches and is not a very pleasant site. And then we saw this:

These turkeys jump into the bush and eat the berries. Pretty funny. The younger ones can balance on the small branches. The older ones wait on the ground for berries to drop. Yes, we will be keeping the 'turkey bush'.

These turkeys have a routine they follow. You can count on them to be in the field at least once a day, under the oak tree and turkey bush twice a day... and in the tree in the morning.

Tree? What tree? We were feeding the chickens early one morning and saw this! It's like we were living in a Dr. Seuss book.

Sixteen turkeys fly up into a HUGE cypress tree. They just hang out, hopping from one limb to another. They aren't looking for food. Not hiding from predators. We have now seen them do this every morning, so it's part of their routine. Why a tree? Are they playing? Who knows what goes on in the mind of a turkey!

And then, they fly down, just like it was nothing... and are on their way again. 

 

The Day We Made Oil

Turkeys left some feathers

Saturday was an exciting day. The Lovey and I had a big lavender day! We've been investigating this path for over a year (since June of last year to be exact) and so this day, this activity, this - was a huge deal.

First we had to harvest the lavender. As we have learned, harvesting lavender at the peak of their oil production must be done with two things in mind. First, at least half of flowers on the lavender spikes must be opened. Second, harvesting must be done prior to 11:00 am, when the heat of the day begins to peak and the flower begins to pull back it's water and oils.

So we harvested all that we could and wrapped them in bunches. Really this only needs to be done if you are selling in a market, but we did it anyway.

Then we put the harvested lavender in 12 gallon containers and put them in the shade. 

Later that day we were off to Carmel Lavender to get our lavender distilled into essential oil and hydrosol. What is hydrosol, you ask? Hydrosols, also known as floral waters, are products from steam distilling plant materials. Hydrosols are like essential oils but in far less of a concentration. When a distiller brews plant material with water in a large cooker the steam fills the pot and, as it rises, it causes the glands of the plants to burst and release the oils and essence of the plant into the steam. The oil rises through a condenser and collects in a separate vessel. This is what we know as essential oil, but what about all that fragrant water that was steamed with the original plant material? That is our hydrosol, or floral water.

With one distillation, we get two products. Both can be used in the making of soaps and lotions, or they can be used alone. In time, we will determine what works best for us, but for right now, let's just talk about the distillation process! 

I had some dried lavender flowers from a harvest earlier this year that we added into the pot.

First we filled the distilling pot. This one can hold up to 35 gallons (think of the size of a metal garbage can) and is made of stainless steel. 

Next, John attached the pot to a hydraulic lift, weighed our harvest, and then moved it to the boiling pot.

Before distilling, John added a copper coil into the pot. There is a chemical reaction that happens with the interaction of lavender with copper, so this is a necessary step. Here is a good shot of how much we harvested. We could have fit another 2/3 product in there!

The lid goes on and gets tightened. You can see a hose at the top of the lid. That is where the steam goes out, and along with the oil, is taken to a separator.

Here is where the magic happens. Inside this triangle shaped cube (I am sure there is a proper geometric name, but you get the idea!) - is a condenser. Water (at 79 degrees) cools the steam and it is here that the steam returns to water and the oil separates from the water and rises to the top. See the glass at the top? That's where the oil rises.

If you look REALLY closely, you can see the dividing line of oil and water. It was exciting to watch bubbles of oil rise to the top.

We processed the lavender for 90 minutes. The oil separated quickly at first and then slowed down to a steady drip. Literally, a drip. Sometime there was a burst of bubbles, but mainly it was just a slow, slow process.

At the end of the process, the very hot pot was lifted from the steam kettle and the spent flowers were dumped on the floor. This eventually goes off to the compost pile.

At the end of a less than two hours, we had made a new friend, learned a lot about lavender, varieties, oil, marketing in addition to leaving with a small amount of essential oil and hydrosol. Next year, we will do this again, with a larger harvest.

Fowl Play

We love our chickens here at the farm. They provide hours of entertainment. Each has their own personality and that varies from 'Leave me alone!' to 'Hey, how are you? Why don't you pick me up and scratch me under my wing?'.

Our chickens stay in their chicken yard until mid-day and then we let them out so they can free range in the great out-of-doors... they walk, run, climb hills and scratch at the dirt and dig up bugs. Their yard is big, but they do love to roam about the property.

That was, until yesterday afternoon.

I was at a vet appointment and I got a text from our neighbor: "911- a coyote got one of your chickens". When I got home, I immediately went to check our girls. I called them (yes  - they come when called) and I counted. 13 hens. At the beginning of this year we had 17 but had lost three to what I thought was either coyotes or hawks. Of those three losses, one was because a bird refused to come into the coop at night. I don't need to tell you that a helpless chicken out in the wild at night is -  well.... a sitting duck, so to speak.

Anyhoo, back to the story. We had 14 hens as of yesterday morning and 13 when I got home. Yup, sure enough, one was gone. And it was Candy. You remember Candy - she's the one that lays the goofy, misshapen eggs.

And as I went back into the house to change into my chicken coop shoes, I heard a chicken ruckus. As I ran outside, I saw the backside of a coyote with a beautiful tail, and a hen in his mouth. Dammit. I counted again. Twelve. 12 hens.

I got all the chickens into their yard and shut them in. They happily pecked away at the scratch I had thrown around their yard. Yet I knew they weren't quite safe. Our chicken yard fence had large gaps oat the bottom of the T-posts that comprised the structure on which the fencing rests. So I stayed outside last night until dusk,when the chickens return to the coop and I could lock them in safely for the evening.

This morning, bright and early, The Lovey went to the hardware store and got clips to attach to the fencing and the wood frame to secure the fence much more. The chickens are now safe (fingers crossed) but will have to stay inside their enclosed area from now on. The coyotes know they are here. I don't want them to continue to return for dinner.

What Are You Doing Memorial Day Weekend?

What are we doing? Well, another craft show! May Fest is being held at the Custom House Plaza, across from Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey this Saturday through Monday, May 23 - 25 from 11:00am - 7pm.

Here is a link to the event: http://www.mayfestmonterey.com/

It's being marketed as an international food and beer festival, but I'm thinking of it as a craft show - because we'll be there selling our luxury soap, stained glass, and mom's cards and book. 

This is the first time May Fest is being held, so why don't you be a part of making it a big success? It's free! And there is food. And beer. And us! I can't tell you exactly where we will be because we won't find out until we get there. But you can search for our booth. It will look like this:

So, we'll see you on Saturday. Or Sunday. Or Monday, right?

2015, First Quarter

We're doing a little personal reflection today at Seven Cats Farm. 2015 has been, um, interesting thus far, to say the least.

Sally Sage

In January, we were in full healing mode with the Lovey's new knee. Lots of physical therapy appointments, doctor appointments, and weaning off heavy meds. I also pulled my back out at the end of this month and The Lovey took care of me for 10 days! Waited on me hand and foot and wouldn't let me leave the bed. I hate being so immobile, but he knew it was for the best. He was right.  During all this we had to put Sally, our 16 year old cat, to sleep. That was a hard one. She has been with me since 2000 and was a good teacher on how to be brave and to trust.

The Lovey and I at the February Wedding

February brought continued healing and therapy appointments for both The Lovey and I, a membership to the 'Y', a farm work day and I officiated a wedding.

The March Wedding

March was, yes - MORE therapy appointments for the Lovey and I, the beginning of egg delivery to customers, and a lot of hustle and bustle and frustration on a little side project that I am not ready to fully disclose yet. And I officiated yet another wedding!

Solomon (the black cat with stunning green eyes) and Zenny

April, to date, has included a very sick Zenny and Solomon (we think we have caught things in time for Zenny, Solomon has cancer, so it's just a matter of time for him),  the Good Old Days which was extremely successful - including really awesome times with both the older and younger parts of my family, The Lovey returned to work, and this:

Oops

Yesterday I had a little run in with a sliding glass door and spent some time in the ER. 11 stitches later and a bit of glue and tape and I am almost as good as new. 

It has been a hard four months. It's been a L-O-N-G four months. It's easy to focus on all things bad or hard. A lot of what The Lovey and I have been through has been literally life changing. Change of perspective, change of attitude, seeing each other at not even close to our best. 

But there has also been really good things. Being part of a wedding is really special. Acknowledging someone's love and commitment to each other is - well - just awesome. And the hard stuff that The Lovey and I have been through has really brought us closer. For those of you that know us, I didn't think that was possible. But we have grown closer; we respect and trust each other each other even more. It is truly wonderful.

But..... let's hope that the rest of the year gives us a bit of a break. We really have paid it forward enough. 

Rumor Has It.....

..... that we will be located close to the beer tent at Good Old Days this weekend.

If things are going well (and if the beer is decent), you might want to buy us a beer in celebration!

Of course, if things are a bit slow, you might want to help us drown our sorrows.

Either way, stop by! Remember, We're Number One!