Dolan Creek Farm

Who could resist buying eggs at Dolan Creek? No wonder customers fight over their incredible fresh eggs. (Chicken house and chickens grazing in the background.)

Hello, this is Kristi Knifong, a long-time friend of the Wellings. I have spent half my life visiting this beautiful farm. Some of my favorite memories have taken place at this homestead from a by-gone time. It is my hope to inspire others through this blog not only to visit Dolan Creek, but to give the old fashioned ways a try...you just might fall in love with them! I'm referring to chopping your own firewood, canning your own food, making jam, collecting your own eggs and hanging your laundry out to dry. There is something very fulfilling in slowing down, simplifying and working hard hand in hand with the Creator. We have our own little farm, but we always love to visit the Wellings because they are the best of mentors. If we have a chicken crisis, a question about pressure canning or which seeds to save, Chris is the woman to ask. I have the delightful job of keeping you up to date on the goings on around Dolan Creek! Stay tuned to this blog for my trips (with my 5 children in tow) to see what's new.

Yesterday we came over so I could take some pictures of the garden at the end of the summer. We marveled at the 16 foot tall "Bloody Butcher" corn and the gigantic Pineapple tomatoes. The tomatoes are still going strong as well as the corn. It's almost time to harvest the squashes and pumpkins. The canning has been going on non-stop and the pantry shelves are filling quickly! So beautiful to behold!

22 Bourbon Red turkeys (a Heritage breed) are fattening up for Thanksgiving and 2 steers were butchered last week. Raising turkeys has turned out to be a daunting task but they've managed to keep them alive and healthy.

Kirk is finishing up adding a loafing shed to the back of the barn to keep it dry and safe from errosion. The cows will love it this winter.

In the beginning of September the Wellings celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a garden party on the back lawn. The staff from their favorite restaurant, The Rendezvous Grill (in Welches), created an amazing menu with fresh produce all from the Welling's garden. It was a dream come true and a very memorable evening for all.

Kirk & Chris with their 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren.

It sounds like the CSA customers have been very happy with the bounty they've received each week, sometimes too heavy to carry! It has been a very good experience for Chris and she sounds enthusiastic about doing the CSA again next year. (YEAH!)

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Until next time!  ~Kristi

The peas are starting to come up. The onions, garlic and leaks are in the ground. Lots of little plants are coming up in the green house and cold frame. The Bourbon Red turkeys are starting to lay eggs and the Tom turkey is starting to expermenting with his new manhood.

We have 25 new broilers in the brooder and 25 more coming in a few weeks.

We can't wait for the weather to warm up a little more so that the ground can warm up and dry out enough to work and plant. It allways a very busy time of the year but lots of fun to see what comes up.

  As anyone living in the Northwest knows, this has been a long and hard winter. For the farm it meant a lot of extra work and getting snowed in over Christmas. We ended up having about two feet of snow. It was so cold that we had to move ALL the animals into the barn and work hard keeping everyone fed, water flowing and keeping the pipes from freezing. It was also the first time in the forty years we've been farming here that we've had to get up on the barn roofs and shovel off the snow for fear of them collapsing. As things did start to melt we had a few fences collapse under falling snow. Needless to say it's been a very busy winter.

In early January we had a suprise new addition to our farm. A friend called saying he had a rescue momma goat with her week old kid. Of course we welcomed them with open arms and a warm stall. The momma goat (Sunshine) is slowly putting on weight and gaining some shine to her coat. The kid (Snowflake) is adorable and bouncy. Sometimes I think the name Rocket would be more fitting. She loves it when the sun shines and she can run all over outside. On these colder, wet days she just wants to stay in the barn and climb all over her Mom. Such a cute personality and loves to be scratched.

It's exciting to be (hopefully) on the other side of things this Valentine's Day. I say that hesitantly as we had snow falling earlier today but it seems to be all done. The last couple of days have been busy moving the chickens out of the turkey portion of the barn and into there new home. The movable coop has had some upgrades made to the laying boxes. Also made some improvements to how we feed the chickens and reinforced the wheels to make rolling the pin around easier when we rotate pasture sites. The chickens have also just started producing there first little eggs. Has been a very exciting time for the visiting grandkids.

It is hard to believe, while working in the falling snow, I have started seed in the cold frame: peppers, celery and eggplants. I sure hope spring is right around the corner.