Our favorite cow was named "Wooley Monster. She was a Scottish Highlander with huge horns. She lived much longer than most cows. We think all the visitors taking pictures of her kept her going but she finally died of old age Jan. 13, 2012. We really miss her!
In 2011 we planted a lot of giant sunflowers in the rows with the pumpkins. Their seeds will be shared with our 2012 visiting children and our chickens.
The cows want to know why our little great grand daughter is getting more attention than they are!
Ettamarie is the "Queen Bee" on the farm.
Jessie and Kasey Peterson planted our New England Pie
pumpkins around the first of June in 2011.
Picking out pumpkins is great fun!
Our grand daughter Kasey Peterson carved this lovely scene on one of our pumpkins and won top prizes at
the 2011
Harvest Fair .
Winning the Best of Show Apiary with this wax
mold of a queen bee was a lot of work but worth it!
Our grand daughter Jessie Peterson did one this year
and won first prize, too!
Kasey Peterson, our grand daughter, took this lovely
sunflower photo at our farm. She also planted the
sunflowers!
This is how the cappings are cut from the honey comb before extracting in the extractor.
A very nice couple donated the pair of Peking ducks to our poultry collection. They even have their own house!
Our Great Grand Daughter Izzy is admiring our Cinderella pumpkins.
These are our new calves for Oct. 2011. I couldn't get them
to stand in the right order! :>) They are Holstein dairy calves from the Moretti's Organic Dairy in Tomales.
One day in October a few years ago a small swarm came out and landed on a leaf. Can you see the queen in the center? This is an unusual happening.
When looking for the queen, it helps to look for this pattern. The bees around her are called her "court". They are her daughters and care for her, feeding and grooming her carefully.
When a pumpkin seed is planted, this is the first sign that it is growing.
Soon the little plant gets more leaves.
After more days of being watered and carefully weeded, it puts out long vines and little buds start to show. If it is a female bud, it has a tiny pumpkin behind it. Can you see it?
The bees carry pollen from one pumpkin blossom to another to make the pumpkins start to grow.
This year many of the pumpkins were planted by Jessie and Kasey Peterson, our two youngest grand daughters. They did a great job!
We scratched our name lightly on this pumpkin when it was young so this scar would be made.
