Matilda

Meet Matilda.

She is our new farm cat. 

Walter was a very sad boy after Henry passed, so we decided to get him companion. Lets see how their introduction went...

Matilda is released from her travel kennel and begins exploring.

I call for Walter.

He comes running because I am his favorite. Even over Daddy.

He spots an intruder.

He cautiously approaches the trespasser.

She is clearly unimpressed,

Walter doesn't care. He just wanted to play.

One thing we have learned about our Matilda is that she can often be found in some strange places. 

Exhibit A

Now, I may not have owned many cats, but Im pretty sure they shouldnt be on the counters.

Exhibit B

Its cool, Matilda. I wasnt trying to watch a show or anything.

Exhibit C

Pardon the messy linen closet.. Wait.. What IS that?!

Exhibit D

Naughty Cat.

Exhibit E

NAUGHTIER CAT! 

Yes, folks. That would be hamburger that she is eating. You will be interested to know that following the taking of this photo, we found an empty hamburger wrapper.  Hmm.. I sense some cat/dog cooperation.

Exhibit F

She is fearless!

Exhibit G

Is it a cat thing to want to get into the dryer? Henry used to do that too.

Silly cats.

Hidden Cat.

 Did you hear the news?

Henry knows

Big party behind the entertainment center.

Only problem is that you have to come in from the top.

Silly cats.

Where does your cat hide?

Thanks for reading!

A cat bed: Halpern Homestead style.

Henry is a crazy cat. Exhibit #1

He sleeps in the bathtub too!

This is becoming a regular thing for him. 

It's hard being a cat at The Halpern Homestead. Wake up. Play outside. Take a nap. Catch a couple mice. Take a nap. Chase the chickens. Take a nap. Eat dinner. Go to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

An empty nest, cat hugs, and a delicious dinner

 Today was an interesting day in Spokane.Temps in the 40's, then snow. Must have been interesting enough to get Pierre off of 'his/her' nest

I eagerly await the times when Pierre leaves the nest so that I can candle the eggs to check for fertility. He/she only leaves the nest for a few minutes so you have to act quickly. If Pierre sees you go into the coop he/she will run back to protect the nest.

I ran to the coop flashlight in hand. 

I found a young pullet standing over the nest. I'm not sure if the warm nest attracted the guard, or may Pierre recruited some nest protection. Either way, the nest was barely noticeable. Pierre has been shedding down on top of the nest and also layered straw with the down to keep the warmth in I presume. I was able to candle two eggs before Pierre came back and both appeared fertile. In another 14 days we should have some goslings and a couple ducklings. Did I mention that? Pierre has both geese and duck eggs under him/her.

This cat named Henry loves his mama! He always gives mama hugs! I don't like it when he does it to me because he scratches my neck. So, it's a momma and Henry thing. A special moment for them to share. 

 

Tonight we had soup salad and bread for dinner. A simple meal with a variety of flavors!

Black bean soup with jalapeno

Fresh salad with blue cheese, and Dave's Killer Bread (The Peace Bomb)

We have also started a Facebook Business Page for our small but growing little farm. We don't have very much available for sale to the general public, but we did sell around 50dozen eggs last month! We also plan to grow a lot more vegetable starts this year to sell. Last spring we sold enough plants to equal the cost of building the greenhouse, so hopefully we will be as successful this year. If you want to check it out just click on the underlined 'Facebook' above and click the 'like' button. We thank you for your support, even if your not local.

As always,

Thanks for reading

Mousing, Halpern Homestead record, and winter madness.

Since the addition of a silly cat named Henry awhile back, the mice have been on high alert. He is a master hunter! We often find mousicles in the yard or see him throwing them around. He brings them to the house to show off, then him and Julies throw the mouse around for awhile. 

How about a play by play.......

He waits in the bushes before slowly creeping out.

Looks around for prey.

Licks his lips in anticipation.

He then enlists the help of his hired 'Muscle'

He marks the spot.

 She digs.

No luck here

 Hi dad.

Winter gave Spokane a huge blast this past week or so. It is so cold, the birds are reluctant to come out if the coop. Usually just the webbed footed ones are brave enough to test the cold. It was -8 degrees last week. Brrrr.

 The birds know how to keep warm though. They make big bird piles at night and huddle up together.

 They also set a Halpern Homestead record yesterday. A 20egg day! That's a lot. We have been getting over a dozen a day for more then a week, and the productivity keeps increasing. Each day another egg more than the last.

It's also Chanukah right now so we have lots of family dinners to attend. We hosted the family at our house last night. We served free range turkey and a vegetarian spaghetti. Everything was so good!

 We tried to take a family photo, but Henry wasn't having any of that.

 That's better.

 Grandpa and Grandma Halpern.

 Some photos of the snow mess.

 We bought this 300gallon stock tank on CL for $125. We plan to us it as a bigger pond for the webbies this spring. Just need to flatten some ground for it. We will also use it for livestock when we move to our forever home.

That's it! Thanks for reading

Free food!

Kelsi and I came across a sweet deal on apples and grapes yesterday. They were free! A friend of my parents is moving out of state this month and they had grape vines and apple trees that were loaded, and the fruit was going to stay that way all winter. So we went and picked some! I picked 80 pounds of apples and 50 pounds of grapes. My mom and dad picked 112 pounds of grapes and 193 pounds of apples. If anyone out there has any suggestions for us on how to us all of this, let us know!

The unfortunate thing about grapes, is that they are on a vine. We diligently separated the grapes from their stems for a couple hours. We had some help from our animal friends to. 

It was hard work!

This is the end result. The grapes are in a 7.5 gallon pot. 

 Yumm! This is what 114cups of grapes looks like! But, we couldn't have done it without all of the help we received from our four legged friends

 Khma

 Khma

 Henry

Julies!

Thanks for reading!