Who We Are



The past few years, the area where I live, Crawford County, Ohio, has seen a wonderful explosion of younger families who are embracing the joys and challenges of living off the land. Because of them, amazing things are happening which have been embraced by our community. Farmer’s markets have been created and on-farm stores have opened. Families dedicated to growing organic produce and naturally raised meats are meeting the public’s needs for locally raised foods. And at the heart of this movement are the women.



Ohio Country Journal is my attempt to share the essence of farm life, focusing on, but not limited to, women. My goal is to bring you into our circle of friendship by inviting you to share your stories and experiences with us. You don’t have to be a full time country woman to benefit from joining us; you just have to be you.





The full-time country women featured in Ohio Country Journal are an inspiration to anyone who dares to follow her dreams, whether it is to live in the country or to bring the country life-style to their urban neighborhoods.





Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Grumpy Bird

First off: ignore any links that show up in this post. I did not put them in, and every time I open this post there are different links. I *think* this may be from Blogger/Google (paid ads).

Soon I will be working on moving OCJ and my other blog, The World According to Marcheta, to WordPress. Thanks.

Now for our regular scheduled post:



Everyone seems to be tired of this cold weather, including the birds that share our property with us.
During extreme weather, I like to keep our birds well fed. This year, to insure that our avian amigos are never without food even if they are "clean platers" before Jim or I can re-fill the feeder, I put out extra suet feeders. Usually I only hang two of the cage-type of feeders, one with a regular mix and another with a peanut mix. This year I have three of each kind.

Even with giving extra rations in the feeder and having six suet cages, some birds are not amused.  I think that this tufted titmouse should change its name to tufted ticked-off mouse. What do you think?

I have several more pictures of Grumpy Bird to share. Sure, he's no rival for Grumpy Cat, but hey...misery attracts misery as they say, so move over Grumpy Cat, this bird's horning in on your territory (of grumpiness) "weather" you like it or not! :)

If anyone has a caption for Grumpy Bird, share it in the comment section and I'll post it under his picture :)

Marcheta *bird is the word

Monday, February 2, 2015

'Sno Fun :(

Every few years *this* happens:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yes, we manage to get our plow truck stuck here at home, usually in the lane where we get nasty drifts by the barn. This year's Fun Event took place in the new driveway, graded and graveled last fall for the garage we had built on the south side of the house.
 
Here's how it happened:
 
Instead of the Big Snow that was predicted for overnight, we got rain. And that rain froze. And then it snowed on top of the ice. Jim's truck simply slid off the gravel and onto icy, mucky, land.
 
But we've had it worse.
 
Much worse:
 
One year when Jim got his plow truck stuck by the barn, we also had TWO "rescue" trucks stuck in the deep snow behind our truck. The trucks were lined up like sitting ducks and didn't go anywhere fast. I took pictures but have no idea where they are (good old film days and shoe boxes filled with miscellaneous pictures!)
 
 
Eventually, all of those trucks were pulled out.
 
 
 
 
Today was lucky for us, no extra aid was needed. After some digging around the truck with the Kubota tractor and salting the area,  under this brilliant blue sky we were able to drive the truck out of its quagmire.  And at only 15 degrees F, un-stucking this truck was truly  'sno fun :)
 
 
All is well...but it sure left a mess!
 
Marcheta *you get the drift...