This site is about my life as a farmgirl, wife, mother and grandmother. We have a beautiful granddaughter and the cutest grandson. We own two farms in Craig County Virginia, leasing one and raising beef cattle on the other.
Addition To The Farm
You would think that I have enough to do on the farm but alas NO!! I have a friend that had a big flock of ducks and she had been giving me her duck eggs because they don’t eat them. They butchered most of their flock and asked me if I wanted the what was left over.
I got seven full-grown ducks from Nikki & Eddie Garey and I appreciate them so much.
I got two drakes and five hens and what a beautiful addition to our farm animals. It only took one day for them to get use to their new owners and home. They’re very easy to tend to, all I do is put out feed which is usually whole corn and maybe some leftover biscuits crumbled up for them. They get water from the pond and in the winter I will keep a trough of warm water out for them to drink. They don’t like being cooped up, so they’re free to range the farm as they wish!
I’m very lucky to have them because I love to bake with duck eggs and they are awesome when making French toast, cakes and pies.
I’ll be making lots of beautiful and mouth-watering pound cakes for hubby.Last night I made two egg custard pies, my favorite! The duck eggs helped to fill the deep dish pie crust up to the rim!! I am getting two eggs a day now and will be using the next ones for making my loaf bread and rolls.From left to right, duck egg, white chicken egg and brown chicken eggs. Most all of my chicken eggs would be considered large if bought in a grocery store.This is the last carton of beautiful duck eggs given to me and I stuck a brown chicken egg in the carton to show the difference in size.These are American Pekin Ducks and the Pekin duck is a domesticated duck used primarily for egg and meat production. We will have them for their egg production and beauty on our pond.They love the pond and love grazing the lawn around the pond and through the garden searching for night crawlers (WORMS). It’s very entertaining watching them playing in the water and noodling around the pond edge searching for food.They’re resting now after a good swim and cleaning. I think they’re one of the best birds at cleaning and oiling themselves, especially after a run through the garden. They come out with their breasts brown and yucky and just a few minutes in the pond and they’re snow-white!
I am a wife, mother, and grandmother that lives on a farm in Craig County, Virginia and I am retired. I love to cook, read, quilt, craft, garden, hunt and take long walks in the woods. I have one gorgeous teen granddaughter, a wonderful little grandson and two beautiful and caring children, boy & girl.
I've been married to my farmer husband for 46 years and he's the "love of my life"!!
I love doing things the "old" way such as canning, making maple syrup & cider, handcrafts and baking. I've taught myself to crochet, embroider, and quilt with help from my paternal grandmother. I could read until the cows come home.
We live off the products we raise and hunt for the most part. We run 75 head of cattle on our farm, 30 chickens, three rabbits and one dog. I help my husband with the cattle, feeding the livestock, hauling in firewood, fence repair, and general maintenance on the farm.
I was a stay-at-home mom to my children and then went to work when they finished high school. I was a cook at a School for At-Risk Teens and part-time substitute teacher. Then I started work at our local Farm Bureau and stayed there for 17 years. I worked at Virginia Tech for almost five years and decided to take early retirement in July of 2015. NOW, I'm a full-time farmwife and loving every minute of it!
I love to read fiction and the Bible. I'm currently hooked on quilting novels and Annie's Attic mysteries.
I started this blog in 2011 and have met so many interesting bloggers and have kept up with my friends through my blog.
I love to hunt with my bow and rifle and with a camera. We hunt to fill the freezer and cellar but would never kill anything for the fun of it.
I have friends and family all over the United States. Some of my ancestry last names are Bradley, Dickson, Hylton, and Rose.
I've lost both of my parents to brain cancer and miss them very much. I have one sister and four living brothers. I was raised in Paint Bank VA and moved to New Castle VA when I married. I went to school in Waiteville, WV, Gap Mills, WV and New Castle Va with a short semester of college at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke VA.
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14 thoughts on “Addition To The Farm”
I have never cooked with a duck egg .. 🙂 Wonderful that they could come and live with you .. easy to see that they have settled in so quickly
I did not like duck eggs so much because I though that they seemed richer. It certainly would not stop me from eating them though. We take what we can get.
Eddie caught one with a snare and he shot one that was a female and nursing. Between the foxes, coyotes and owls we’ll be on the lookout. His coon hound warns of predators and these ducks are old enough to escape to the pond from predators. We will remain diligent about watching for sign of them.
This is the blog for our little farm in Skagit county. Here we have Shetland sheep and Nigerian Dwarf goats. In addition we have donkeys, cattle, pigs, chickens, geese, and peafowl. The blog describes the weekly activities here.
countrygirl-lifeonthefarm 
I have never cooked with a duck egg .. 🙂 Wonderful that they could come and live with you .. easy to see that they have settled in so quickly
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Is there a difference in taste or are they like chicken eggs just bigger?
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Just bigger with a stronger/thicker shell. They sure do make moist cakes and cookies.
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I did not like duck eggs so much because I though that they seemed richer. It certainly would not stop me from eating them though. We take what we can get.
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I really don’t see a big difference in the taste but they’re much bigger and make very moist cakes and cookies.
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That somehow reminds me of the quail eggs that go over some types of sushi. They are so tiny that it seems wasteful to take them.
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Shared the pictures with Declan ❤
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Wouldn’t he have a ball trying to catch them??
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So pretty!!
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I got three nice eggs from them today!
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Wonderful. Just one thing: Watch out for foxes!!!! 🦊😊
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Eddie caught one with a snare and he shot one that was a female and nursing. Between the foxes, coyotes and owls we’ll be on the lookout. His coon hound warns of predators and these ducks are old enough to escape to the pond from predators. We will remain diligent about watching for sign of them.
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You and Eddie are obviously bring much more experience to having ducks than we did when we were farming years ago. Mind you, these weren’t actually our ducks; they were just visiting from our neighbor’s!
https://robbyrobinsjourney.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/the-fable-of-the-fox-and-the-ducks-from-our-farming-days/
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We’ve been farming all of our 46years together. We do still love it and are still learning!!
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