The greenhouse project, despite Mike's logical board placing (uh huh), IS going well. I planted chaste trees, transplanted more voluntary oregano cuttings to their own pots. I have about a hundred things planted in pots, now. Of course, there's no room to move. But since the sides are now filled in from Mike's work this weekend, it's a LOT warmer and I expect a lot of germination to happen this week. A short list of plantings and what's in the greenhouse:
tabasco peppers, bell peppers, dill, thyme, flowers (about eight different kinds, some that work well in shade), basil, artichokes, squash (two or three kinds), poblano peppers, oak trees (from the acorns we seem to have an abundance of), gourds (dipper and snake), oregano, echinacea (purple cone flower), peppermint, penny royal, french tarragon (trans-plants), bay trees (two), an almond tree, castor bean plant, meyers lemon tree, wormwood... lots more, but that's all I can think of right now...
Anyway, this weekend, I made jalapeno cheese bread, made some raisins (the juicier, better-tasting the grapes, the longer it takes) and pulled down the french tarragon that I had harvested to let dry and put that into a container. Mike roasted a chicken, but it wasn't as good as usual because he didn't brine it. Funny how we spoil ourselves by creating something delicious from a common item, but then when we don't prepare it the same way, it just isn't right.
Watched Rain Man and then several silly Pink Panther movies. It rained a lot this weekend, but there were some gorgeous moments.
We have a Mexican Eagle -- a Caracara that I think is nesting on the property. Mike swears he saw a painted bunting -- two or three times this weekend.
Our little barred rock chicks are getting bigger. Much bigger.
Signing off,
Kristi
Monday, February 07, 2005
Sunday, February 06, 2005
On eggs and greenhouses and injuries
Five eggs. It makes no sense. This fall and winter we have been losing chickens to raccoons. We have 2 laying hens left. The best we can hope for is 2 eggs about 4 days a week. We don't know what kind of chickens these are because we usually get Barred Rocks but these came with the farm. However, we aren't ones to look a gift chicken in the mouth. But today we had 5 eggs. Can it be that 3 of our pullets came of age all on the same day and laid in the same spot? Yesterday afternoon I found that there were 2 eggs on the ground in the goats' shed. One was broken, so I left that for the chickens to eat. They are greedy cannibals. I took the good egg for us. The current preferred spot to lay is in the goat's hay feeder. This is a lean-to inside their shed that will hold about a half square bale. There are two sides to the feeder, but the chickens would never lay in the far feeder. Only in the one nearest the door. We'll check to see if any of these eggs have double yolks. Sometimes new layers will have multi-yolk eggs. We'll have to keep an eye on this.
The greenhouse project is coming along slowly. We are converting an old livestock shed into a greenhouse. It's in a half-acre field that we will use for our vegetable garden in the spring. I took off all the tin panels and replaced them with clear plastic ones. The shed had a cattle gate in front, but I took that off and framed a wall and a wide door. Then I attached more plastic panels to each side of the door. I'm in the process of tightening up the structure now. Can't have any precious heat escaping! Yesterday I was nailing short lengths of 2x4's into the corners to seal them. I cut all the pieces at once and just set them in where they were going to go. Once they were all cut I began nailing them in. After whacking on one for a while I was clobbered by a piece of 2x4 that fell from the top of the greenhouse. It hit me in the face next to my eye. A bad spot. (see photo above) There's no permanent injury but it sure was painful I got a little more work done on the greenhouse yesterday afternoon. It rained last night and I had left my cordless Makita drill out in the rain. Luckily, it still works at this point. Hopefully it will survive as I use that tool all the time.
The greenhouse project is coming along slowly. We are converting an old livestock shed into a greenhouse. It's in a half-acre field that we will use for our vegetable garden in the spring. I took off all the tin panels and replaced them with clear plastic ones. The shed had a cattle gate in front, but I took that off and framed a wall and a wide door. Then I attached more plastic panels to each side of the door. I'm in the process of tightening up the structure now. Can't have any precious heat escaping! Yesterday I was nailing short lengths of 2x4's into the corners to seal them. I cut all the pieces at once and just set them in where they were going to go. Once they were all cut I began nailing them in. After whacking on one for a while I was clobbered by a piece of 2x4 that fell from the top of the greenhouse. It hit me in the face next to my eye. A bad spot. (see photo above) There's no permanent injury but it sure was painful I got a little more work done on the greenhouse yesterday afternoon. It rained last night and I had left my cordless Makita drill out in the rain. Luckily, it still works at this point. Hopefully it will survive as I use that tool all the time.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Unintended consequences and livestock
Goats are wonderful creatures. They have a reputation of being smart-as livestock go. While they may be able to circumvent any attempt to confine them, they certainly have their bad days. Today was a bad day for our billy goat. I slept in this morning thus getting a late start feeding the animals. I warmed up the bottle for the orphan - a minute and a half on high - and put my shoes on. When I got to the barn the Main mama goat was up and about, billy was up as always it seems. The other mama goat was in a stall with our orphan and her other little ones weren't in there. Strange. I had to feed the orphan as she was screaming for food. I had slept through my 2 o'clock alarm as I had set the alarm clock to pm. Oh well. He sucked down a quick cup and I went looking for the other little ones. In the meantime the mama of the missing little ones was getting upset. The little ones were finlly found in a stall that had been converted into a chicken coop. Mama goat couldn't get into this stall because it has a cattle gate across it. The little ones were piled on top of each other between a cinder block and the tin sidewall of the
tack room sound asleep. Mama was bellowing for them but like many children they don't mind too well. Orphan was between my legs wanting more milk. I held the bottle for him while I opened the gate so mama could get to her babies. Mama went in, didn't see her babies but did find a chicken feeder. This feeder is metal about sixteen inches tall with an open ended conical top to hold a weeks feed and a round pan shaped bottom so a little feed trickles out at a time.
I hadn't fed the goats yet and when they discovered the chicken feeder they swarmed around it trying to eat all they could. Billy stuck his head in the top of the feeder and got his horns stuck. He paniced and thrashed around smashing the feeder against the steel rails of the stall next to him. Chicken crumbles when flying everywhere. The bottom flew off the feeder so now he has a conical cylinder stuck to his head. He began bellowing and running around at top speed. He hit the barn door and went outside. I followed him out and he came around the outside chicken coop and hit me a glancing blow, it nearly knocked me down. He then went back into the barn and into the first stall. There were two babies in with him. I went in and showed him my hand to help calm him. I grabbed the bucket and his horns to try to get him unstuck. I almost had it off and he surged forward. Since I still had my grip I stopped him in a corner and was able to pop the feeder off his head. The feeder is going to need some repairs.
Last night Kristi began building a little play area for the baby goats. It was a small pile of cast off cement blocks. They took to it right away climbing and jumping on it. We added a pallet and a couple of boards for ramps. They are having a great time and burning off some of that energy.
Time to go do some work on the greenhouse.
tack room sound asleep. Mama was bellowing for them but like many children they don't mind too well. Orphan was between my legs wanting more milk. I held the bottle for him while I opened the gate so mama could get to her babies. Mama went in, didn't see her babies but did find a chicken feeder. This feeder is metal about sixteen inches tall with an open ended conical top to hold a weeks feed and a round pan shaped bottom so a little feed trickles out at a time.
I hadn't fed the goats yet and when they discovered the chicken feeder they swarmed around it trying to eat all they could. Billy stuck his head in the top of the feeder and got his horns stuck. He paniced and thrashed around smashing the feeder against the steel rails of the stall next to him. Chicken crumbles when flying everywhere. The bottom flew off the feeder so now he has a conical cylinder stuck to his head. He began bellowing and running around at top speed. He hit the barn door and went outside. I followed him out and he came around the outside chicken coop and hit me a glancing blow, it nearly knocked me down. He then went back into the barn and into the first stall. There were two babies in with him. I went in and showed him my hand to help calm him. I grabbed the bucket and his horns to try to get him unstuck. I almost had it off and he surged forward. Since I still had my grip I stopped him in a corner and was able to pop the feeder off his head. The feeder is going to need some repairs.
Last night Kristi began building a little play area for the baby goats. It was a small pile of cast off cement blocks. They took to it right away climbing and jumping on it. We added a pallet and a couple of boards for ramps. They are having a great time and burning off some of that energy.
Time to go do some work on the greenhouse.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
The Portable Goat
I fed the animals as usual at 5 am. The orphan goat - maybe I shouldn't refer to him as an orphan anymore since he thinks I'm his mother_ takes about 25 minutes to feed. It takes a while to get the milk out of the tiny hole in the bottle. He also has to take breaks. It's tough work sucking down formula. He took a whole 24 oz bottle of formula today a new record. I also had to follow him around my office proportionally more thanks to the outcome. I went to see my allergist today for my weekly shots. While I was there the nurse noticed my eczema was especially bad and she called the doctor in. He wanted me to go straight to the dermatologist but I had to defer. After all, I had a baby goat in the cab of the truck. Another assistant came out who has 15 goats. She was helpful reformulating the kid's formula to help prevent Scour (diarrhea).
You know how a dog can be rambunctious in the cab of a truck? A cat likewise? A goat isn't the greatest traveling companion either. When I got out of the allergists it was sound asleep under the pedals on the drivers side. I woke it up and put him in the box that I carry him in. He needed to be fed of course so I stopped and fed him. On Highway 71 he began trying to get out of his box. He wanted to go back under the pedals. I kept -gently- pushing him back in his box. He'd climb right out. I could just see trying to explain how the accident happened to the officer. "Well my goat got loose and..." This went on at least 30 times.
When I got home the goat went into the barnyard and began playing with the senior mama goats kids. They are 5 days older but the orphan is getting close in size. He's bigger than his two siblings. Mama knocked him down for daring to include himself but I found them all sleeping in the same stall later so she couldn't have been too upset.
You know how a dog can be rambunctious in the cab of a truck? A cat likewise? A goat isn't the greatest traveling companion either. When I got out of the allergists it was sound asleep under the pedals on the drivers side. I woke it up and put him in the box that I carry him in. He needed to be fed of course so I stopped and fed him. On Highway 71 he began trying to get out of his box. He wanted to go back under the pedals. I kept -gently- pushing him back in his box. He'd climb right out. I could just see trying to explain how the accident happened to the officer. "Well my goat got loose and..." This went on at least 30 times.
When I got home the goat went into the barnyard and began playing with the senior mama goats kids. They are 5 days older but the orphan is getting close in size. He's bigger than his two siblings. Mama knocked him down for daring to include himself but I found them all sleeping in the same stall later so she couldn't have been too upset.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Feeding frenzy
The animals get fed around 5:30 this time of year. We feed them before it gets dark. Animals get paranoid after dark. We spoil our chickens by warming up some frozen corn and hand feeding them. One result of this spoilage is that all the chickens come running whenever we go to the barnyard. This helps us take inventory and aids in their capture should such a thing be needed. The adult goats get goat feed, about a pound each. I also put out about a half bale of coastal hay as theirs was nearly gone.
Kristi fed the little orphan goat. We won't name it because that makes it more difficult around butchering time. It is taking about 12oz at a time now. It takes about 20 minutes to get 12 oz into him. We have to do this for at least another week and a half.
Barbecue followed us into the barn. Since the birthing, Barbecue has been in ill-favor with the mama goats. If Barbecue comes into the barn the main mama goat will chase her down and butt her hard. Barbecue is a smart dog and takes the hint. She stays outside until we emerge.
The main mama goat is a good mother. She keeps her little babies spotlessly clean and guards them ferociously. Luckily I had spent a lot of time gaining the goats trust since we moved in and they will let me handle the babies. Our auxillary back up goat is a somewhat lesser mother. The little kids have very messy, poopy rear ends. It's mom's job to keep them clean. I'll concede here that if my primary cleaning tool were my tongue, I might also slack.
We bought 10 Plymouth Barred Rock chicks last weekend. They are growing like crazy. We feed them 20 percent protein chick starter crumbles. They get about 3/4 lb per day. No matter what we do with their water they get pine bark in it. I have the brooder inside a chicken coop that the regular chickens won't use. They all roost up in the barn's rafters. Since there's no danger I opened the lid of the brooder and set up another heat lamp outside the box. Now they can get out into the main chicken coop if they want to. So far I haven't seen one get out.
Kristi fed the little orphan goat. We won't name it because that makes it more difficult around butchering time. It is taking about 12oz at a time now. It takes about 20 minutes to get 12 oz into him. We have to do this for at least another week and a half.
Barbecue followed us into the barn. Since the birthing, Barbecue has been in ill-favor with the mama goats. If Barbecue comes into the barn the main mama goat will chase her down and butt her hard. Barbecue is a smart dog and takes the hint. She stays outside until we emerge.
The main mama goat is a good mother. She keeps her little babies spotlessly clean and guards them ferociously. Luckily I had spent a lot of time gaining the goats trust since we moved in and they will let me handle the babies. Our auxillary back up goat is a somewhat lesser mother. The little kids have very messy, poopy rear ends. It's mom's job to keep them clean. I'll concede here that if my primary cleaning tool were my tongue, I might also slack.
We bought 10 Plymouth Barred Rock chicks last weekend. They are growing like crazy. We feed them 20 percent protein chick starter crumbles. They get about 3/4 lb per day. No matter what we do with their water they get pine bark in it. I have the brooder inside a chicken coop that the regular chickens won't use. They all roost up in the barn's rafters. Since there's no danger I opened the lid of the brooder and set up another heat lamp outside the box. Now they can get out into the main chicken coop if they want to. So far I haven't seen one get out.
First post
This has been a busy week for the farm. Tuesday 1/25/05 our main goat had triplets. One was still born, the other two are very healthy. They have grown a lot in the last week. On Saturday 1/31/05 our emergency backup goat had triplets. All three have survived, however the mother has rejected one. That goat is being bottle fed. That means that I am having to take it to work with me so it can be fed every two hours. Little goat is not potty trained (can you potty train a goat?) So I follow it around picking up various messes. Today it has dicoveredthe heater and has scarecly moved from that spot.
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