Nice and cool this morning, but it's turned into a bugger of a day - muggy, hot. Texas.
We finished putting the fingers into the chicken plucker and had quite a few fingers left over. Mike's finishing the rest of it today (or getting really close to finishing). The 'rest of it' involves pulleys and a motor to drive it, etc...
This morning, we fenced off the main garden so that the goats would have another area to eat today. We are managing the pastures and have about six different areas that can be gated or locked, so it works out great. This is the first year we've really gotten into moving the goats around, but it's working out well and we've got some fat goats.
Mid-day -
Just finished hoeing up an area to plant the perennial vegetables in - the onions and the artichokes. Will probably move the ten or so asparagus plants in the fall to this new area, but not during the spring.
Also mulched the potatoes again - they are growing like crazy.
And checked the gourds in the backyard which are filled with both good and bad bugs - shield bugs bad, wheel bugs good. leafhoppers bad, ladybugs good. So we're going to leave them alone. I might spray them with molasses water and bt later to keep the worms and the ants away, but I've already got a ton of egg gourds on them thanks to the bees. The bees are so heavy with the orange pollen they get from the plants that when they go back to the hive at night, they can barely make the landing platform.
Just watered the grapevines and the one surviving blackberry plant.. correction, make that two, but the other one is still in the backyard area which means it's survived us - and several years of neglect. The fig tree seems stressed (either too much water or not enough will do that), yet there are four figs on it! We also harvested our first peach from the peach tree in the front yard (one of several, as well), but we're not going to get very many this year... just not a good year for them. Maybe next year. Because we've got bees, now, the trees will have more fruit. Just not this year, although for the first time, the trees are absolutely gorgeous. We've had to spray them several times with bt to keep the web worms off of them, but it seems to have worked.
The pear tree, although it had fire blight last year (which is purported to be the death of a tree) has wonderful new growth this year. I sprayed the tree with a combination of orange oil and bt last year, because I think that fireblight is caused by creatures, not a disease. All I know is that it seems to have worked.
We had a happy hour with some of my friends last week and when we got home, we discovered that the goats managed to get into the front yard and backyard and destroyed many branches of redbuds and the oaks, and tore up my herb garden as well as some prized bushes. Luckily, we had nets around the fruit trees in the front so we didn't lose any branches. Goats love to browse, which means eathing grass and bushes and trees, oh my.
Later in the evening:
I made crackers - great recipe that's very forgiving. And it's very simple. Water, oil, salt and flour - then some kind of seasoning. Easy to do and you can make all sorts of flavors. One batch fills up one baking sheet.
Shoveled dirt into the cart to put down on the raised bed (onions, artichokes, etc..), but will need to turn it again because the weeds have taken control of it, as always happens when you turn your head for ten seconds.
Sat out and watched the goats in the evening. Their bellies are so full that they can barely move and all the females look very pregnant again, but they're not.
Planning on planting the basil, the beets (it may be too late for them in texas), the Salvias I've grown from seed and a few more things from the greenhouse before it gets too hot.
And then there's the goats that need to be tagged and given their worming medicine and their hooves need to be trimmed and we need to go grocery shopping.
Gah.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Mother and child
Last night, both Mike and I were completely exhausted after work, ready to do the DVD movie thing. We had delivered pizza for dinner - a treat when you are on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
Mike was idly looking out the window at the goats and saw our most pregnant goat, 71 (as we affectionately call her) lying on her side away from the others in the barnyard.
This wasn't right. Her udder had grown disproportionately to her body - she-goats walk kind of funny when they're all 'bagged up' back there with milk.
We arrived to discover that she was oozing... the stream of goo coming from her backside isn't a very pleasant thing to see, but it did tell us that she was ready to give birth. So we dragged her (it took both of us) into a stall, spoiled her with alfalfa, apple treats, grain and other stuff.
However, we'd been keeping her in the same stall because we already knew it would be any day that she'd give us a kid or two. But today, Mike fed her really well and then let her out for a bit to get some sunshine and nibble on the green grass. She didn't eat much of what we gave her. This we should have noticed. She's not one to pass any food by if it's within butting distance.
So when we dragged her back into the same stall because of the goo sticking out of her hind side, we knew it would be a matter of no more than an hour when she would grace this world with another kid. Her last one died late in the year last year. We're hoping this one doesn't. We've had a great kidding season with few losses, so we're crossing fingers and toes.
Mike loves to take pictures of the goats' most intimate moments, such as, you know, giving birth. So we have a whole series of her grunts, pushes, standing up and then lying down again (repeatedly), and then finally the bubble of amniotic fluid that comes out with the kid's hooves and nose - they come out with head and hooves positioned as if for a long dive, with hands above one's head and put together, then head down for the jump.
The kid enters this world pretty slimy and screaming for food. Mom is busy cleaning it all the while and within ten minutes, it's up on its feet and ready to chow down on Mom's teats. This time, it's another male.
The kid was born at 7:45 last night and is probably the last kid of the kidding season. Last year, 71 kidded on Mike's birthday in July. She's the odd one out, as the rest of the moms usually kid in late December or in January and February.
It was molasses water (for energy), more feed and privacy for 71 and her newborn. For us, it was an early night and no movie. Perhaps tomorrow. You just never know what's going to happen from one day to the next when you live on a farm.
This morning, the rain hit just as we were leaving for work. It's likely to rain most of the morning and the goats stay in the barn during the storms and eat hay and grain. At least 71 won't be alone. She'll have 41 others to keep her company.
Mike was idly looking out the window at the goats and saw our most pregnant goat, 71 (as we affectionately call her) lying on her side away from the others in the barnyard.
This wasn't right. Her udder had grown disproportionately to her body - she-goats walk kind of funny when they're all 'bagged up' back there with milk.
We arrived to discover that she was oozing... the stream of goo coming from her backside isn't a very pleasant thing to see, but it did tell us that she was ready to give birth. So we dragged her (it took both of us) into a stall, spoiled her with alfalfa, apple treats, grain and other stuff.
However, we'd been keeping her in the same stall because we already knew it would be any day that she'd give us a kid or two. But today, Mike fed her really well and then let her out for a bit to get some sunshine and nibble on the green grass. She didn't eat much of what we gave her. This we should have noticed. She's not one to pass any food by if it's within butting distance.
So when we dragged her back into the same stall because of the goo sticking out of her hind side, we knew it would be a matter of no more than an hour when she would grace this world with another kid. Her last one died late in the year last year. We're hoping this one doesn't. We've had a great kidding season with few losses, so we're crossing fingers and toes.
Mike loves to take pictures of the goats' most intimate moments, such as, you know, giving birth. So we have a whole series of her grunts, pushes, standing up and then lying down again (repeatedly), and then finally the bubble of amniotic fluid that comes out with the kid's hooves and nose - they come out with head and hooves positioned as if for a long dive, with hands above one's head and put together, then head down for the jump.
The kid enters this world pretty slimy and screaming for food. Mom is busy cleaning it all the while and within ten minutes, it's up on its feet and ready to chow down on Mom's teats. This time, it's another male.
The kid was born at 7:45 last night and is probably the last kid of the kidding season. Last year, 71 kidded on Mike's birthday in July. She's the odd one out, as the rest of the moms usually kid in late December or in January and February.
It was molasses water (for energy), more feed and privacy for 71 and her newborn. For us, it was an early night and no movie. Perhaps tomorrow. You just never know what's going to happen from one day to the next when you live on a farm.
This morning, the rain hit just as we were leaving for work. It's likely to rain most of the morning and the goats stay in the barn during the storms and eat hay and grain. At least 71 won't be alone. She'll have 41 others to keep her company.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Advantages of an organic world without the organic hype.
Let’s face it… sometimes a household consists of two different political perspectives, two opposites that can’t agree on politics, but can still sit down to a fine meal, take walks within the confines of one’s property or simply sit out and enjoy the earth. Living without chemicals –organically, if you will, doesn’t require a political stance. It requires common sense and a love of nature. You don’t have to belong to any group or be a fanatic to make the switch and enjoy the benefits of living WITH nature and not working against her. The alternative of ugly chemicals is not practical and it's expensive, not to mention deadly to the creatures that can help you out. Life is about balance. Getting that balance for your property may take time, but it's certainly worth it.
When my gourd and vegetable plants spring from the ground, it is tempting to bring in the heavy artillery (RoundUp) to take away the weeds that pop up with them – weeds that grow faster than my plants do, no matter how much I fertilize with compost or mulch them to protect the soil from drying out with the Texas heat. But with weeds come one truism that I’ve heard from the die hard organic culture: The weeds are a good diversion for the leafhoppers, grasshoppers, cutworms, and other little buggers that tend to ruin a perfectly good harvest.
Granted, I spray my vegetable plants with Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT. Green Light puts it out in what looks like white and green oil bottles (oh, the irony). BT is found at most big box stores or nurseries and isn’t anything that requires a degree to use. It isn’t a part of any ‘system’ calling itself organic. It is simply an off-the-shelf product that could save your tomatoes and eggplants from the little creatures that like green leafy things as much as you do. I let the weeds take the hit from the bugs in the garden, not my vegetables.
I’ve also discovered something amazing after nearly four years of keeping the harsh chemicals from the farm and garden – the good bugs are taking over. Those good bugs – ladybug larvae, ladybugs, army beetles, dung beetles, frogs, lizards, etc. have returned en masse – When I see a plant with aphids, there are at least three ladybugs on that plant eating them.
Sitting out and watching the birds or the goats is one of our favorite pastimes. Because our place doesn’t stink of chemicals or perhaps because the bugs are so prevalent, we’ve seen a three-fold increase in the number of birds around – from nighthawks, caracaras, owls and woodpeckers to blue jays, bluebirds, scissor tails, mockingbirds, cardinals, Bewick’s wrens, chickadees and tufted titmice. This kind of noise pollution I can handle.
Fire ants are, of course, problematic in Texas, but we've managed to keep them out of the garden by acquiring a backpack-style sprayer and using molasses and water. It doesn’t kill them, but does keep them from building temples on my property. A couple of tablespoons of molasses to three gallons of water covers my entire garden. I did one massive spraying in February and that's lasted even to now, mid-May. Molasses is also purported to enrich the soil, as well and I need all the help I can get.
Taking walks where you can stop and smell the roses (if we had any) without the attack of fire ants makes this extra effort worthwhile.
So whoever’s in office doesn’t matter when dinner’s on the table and the food tastes like food, or when we’re taking a walk and stumble upon a bird’s nest that’s well guarded by the squawking jay or cardinal. We can stand silently, listen to the birds frantically chirping for us to leave, and not feel the nasty sting of fire ants on our feet. At least... not near the garden. And life is good. Today.
-----
ope
watching the clouded day
grace tormented ground
we hope
for the ever-elusive: hard rain.
the pulling wind sucks old air up toward
the menacing clouds
and rumbles walk behind the streaking glare
of lightning’s first approach
and as the isolated sprinkle
touches hats of straw
the wind twists and turns around
chasing our disparaging souls
inside.
When my gourd and vegetable plants spring from the ground, it is tempting to bring in the heavy artillery (RoundUp) to take away the weeds that pop up with them – weeds that grow faster than my plants do, no matter how much I fertilize with compost or mulch them to protect the soil from drying out with the Texas heat. But with weeds come one truism that I’ve heard from the die hard organic culture: The weeds are a good diversion for the leafhoppers, grasshoppers, cutworms, and other little buggers that tend to ruin a perfectly good harvest.
Granted, I spray my vegetable plants with Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT. Green Light puts it out in what looks like white and green oil bottles (oh, the irony). BT is found at most big box stores or nurseries and isn’t anything that requires a degree to use. It isn’t a part of any ‘system’ calling itself organic. It is simply an off-the-shelf product that could save your tomatoes and eggplants from the little creatures that like green leafy things as much as you do. I let the weeds take the hit from the bugs in the garden, not my vegetables.
I’ve also discovered something amazing after nearly four years of keeping the harsh chemicals from the farm and garden – the good bugs are taking over. Those good bugs – ladybug larvae, ladybugs, army beetles, dung beetles, frogs, lizards, etc. have returned en masse – When I see a plant with aphids, there are at least three ladybugs on that plant eating them.
Sitting out and watching the birds or the goats is one of our favorite pastimes. Because our place doesn’t stink of chemicals or perhaps because the bugs are so prevalent, we’ve seen a three-fold increase in the number of birds around – from nighthawks, caracaras, owls and woodpeckers to blue jays, bluebirds, scissor tails, mockingbirds, cardinals, Bewick’s wrens, chickadees and tufted titmice. This kind of noise pollution I can handle.
Fire ants are, of course, problematic in Texas, but we've managed to keep them out of the garden by acquiring a backpack-style sprayer and using molasses and water. It doesn’t kill them, but does keep them from building temples on my property. A couple of tablespoons of molasses to three gallons of water covers my entire garden. I did one massive spraying in February and that's lasted even to now, mid-May. Molasses is also purported to enrich the soil, as well and I need all the help I can get.
Taking walks where you can stop and smell the roses (if we had any) without the attack of fire ants makes this extra effort worthwhile.
So whoever’s in office doesn’t matter when dinner’s on the table and the food tastes like food, or when we’re taking a walk and stumble upon a bird’s nest that’s well guarded by the squawking jay or cardinal. We can stand silently, listen to the birds frantically chirping for us to leave, and not feel the nasty sting of fire ants on our feet. At least... not near the garden. And life is good. Today.
-----
ope
watching the clouded day
grace tormented ground
we hope
for the ever-elusive: hard rain.
the pulling wind sucks old air up toward
the menacing clouds
and rumbles walk behind the streaking glare
of lightning’s first approach
and as the isolated sprinkle
touches hats of straw
the wind twists and turns around
chasing our disparaging souls
inside.
Monday, April 28, 2008
On April 5th we took a pleasant day off from the farm (after feeding all the animals) and went to pick up our shiny new dairy goat, Geraldine. She is a now two month old Nubian doeling. A very happy, spunky girl. She sat on Kristi's lap for the 2 hour trip home nibbling on a handful of grasses that we plucked from the side of the road. To economize on fuel we combined the trip with stopping in Navasota to pick up our first package of bees. We are now budding beekeepers!
Geraldine behaved herself in the potty department for the entire trip. That is, until we got home and I had stopped the truck, went around to open the door for Kristi and Geraldine and at that moment she began peeing on the seat. Sigh. You can take the goat out of the barnyard, but you can't take the barnyard out of the goat. You can quote me on that. In the few weeks we have had her she has had to go though many changes. Introduced to a different farm, different fields, different goats, barn et al. She has held up remarkably well. While we have done our best to protect her, the nature of goats to a new member of the herd is to show her who's boss. That means she gets butted around some. As far as I know she's been knocked down twice. We've stopped a bunch of hits and fortunately the butts have settled down. after 3 weeks she is pretty much a member of the herd and is with them as they move from field to field.
She was a bottle baby and we didn't want to add to her stress by abruptly changing her diet at the same time as moving her, so she stayed on the bottle. Each morning and afternoon she would get a nice warm bottle of our baby goat formula. That includes 1/2 whole milk, 1/4 buttermilk and 1/4 milk replacer. This mixture helps to prevent scours and they like it. The downside is it's expensive and we had 3 bottle babies going at the same time. It seems like we were running to the store every other day for milk. Slowly we began to wean off all 3 babies. 1 went quickly. He's a wether and while he was the biggest of the 3, he was mostly weaned to pasture anyway. Since he was sharing a bottle with the other wether, the bottle was pretty much empty by the time he got his turn. Geraldine was easy. To help ease her into the herd and help her become familiar with the herd and surroundings, I attached her bottle holder to the milking stand. She would stand up there with her bottle and was able to watch and hear the feeding frenzy in the barn. One day I left the bottle in the tack room and gave her a cup of grain. There was a little confusion on her part but all by herself she began eating grain. She is so prim and proper that she would take one tiny little piece at a time, chew it thoroughly and swallow before taking the next piece. The other goats take huge mouthfuls and I don't see much chewing going on. Of course, they have competition (40 goats are getting only a half bucket of grain) but goats take great pleasure in bashing each other during feeding time. Eating seems secondary. So all the babies are weaned now. Only the smallest wether has had trouble adjusting. He still comes around and tries to suck on fingers, clothing, shoes, the barn, stall bars and anything else get can get his lips on.
A week before we went to collect the goat and bees Kristi hurt her back. It was my fault. At the end of a long hard day of work I wanted to get one last thing done. I wanted to remove some field fencing that had been wired to the electric fencing between the house and garden. This would improve the appearance and view which nice, but my main goal was weedwacking. The weeds grow quickly here and I use a string trimmer to keep them down. The string however seems magnetically attracted to the wire of the field fencing. So I can't get very close to it. and since most of the weeds grew right at the fenceline a lot would go untrimmed and the fence looked unsightly.
I had detached the field fencing and laid it down on the ground. The fencing was longer than the width of the field (it had gone around a corner at one end) and I needed to pull it out straight before I could roll it up. It was about 80 feet long and with the early spring weeds it was too much for me alone to move it. So I was pulling the whole thing while Kristi was jockying it around a corner so it wouldn't get hung up. At some point during this exercise, she pulled a muscle in a bad way. From that point on she was in pain for about 6 weeks!
Kristi was hardly able to move when we left to go pick up the goat and bees. I'd have done it myself, but she would have none of that. She had to be right in the middle of it. While the drive out and back went well, there was a minor problem. We now had a package of bees. A package of bees is a small portable screened room with food and separate quarters for the queen. The package contains 11,000 bees. Kristi was the one who was going to be the beekeeper. I was interested, but she was going to do the handling. With her back the way it was she couldn't run away if anything went wrong ( like if she dropped the whole package). So I got to do the handling. We had all the stuff. Bee veil - the metal mesh hood that prevents bees from crawling into your nose and ears. We had a suit. Gloves. A smoker to *calm* the bees (yeah, right). Our hive was set up and ready. So I put the veil on and installed the bees. The way you install bees follows.
First you remove a wooden or in our case cardboard cover from the package this exposes a soup can that contains sugar syrup. Fast food for bees. It takes a lot of food to keep 11,000 bees fed. I removed the can and that exposed the queens cage and also it made a large opening that bees could get out through. I removed the queens cage with my bare fingers. I put the cardboard cover back over the hole to keep the bees from escaping before I was ready for them. Kristi was snapping pictures from a safe distance. The queens cage was completely covered with bees. There must have been a hundred bees on it. You couldn't see into the cage because of all the bees. Carefully I got out my pocket knife and removed the tiny cork that prevents the queen from getting out. I then placed the queens cage into the hive and fastened it into place. She can now come out when ever she wants to.
The next step was fun. I read the instructions for this step several times to be SURE I had it right. Once again I removed the cover from the package. the bees were buzzing loudly. I then whacked the package of 11,000 bees on the ground to dislodge them from the top of the cage, turned it upside down and proceeded to shake the bees out of the package into the hive. This is where I had to stifle the "run away now" reflex. When I had most of them out, or when I couldn't stand it anymore - that whole part is a fog- I carefully inserted some frames into the hive, they had been removed earlier to create enough room for all the bees. Then I slowly, to avoid crushing them-that can make them mad- put the cover back on top of the hive. I left the package in front of the hive with the opening of the package facing the opening of the hive. I then stepped slowly away and removed the veil. Whew. We sat there for hours watching as the bees from the package slowly made their way out and over to the hive.
How many times did I get stung?
Not once.
Geraldine behaved herself in the potty department for the entire trip. That is, until we got home and I had stopped the truck, went around to open the door for Kristi and Geraldine and at that moment she began peeing on the seat. Sigh. You can take the goat out of the barnyard, but you can't take the barnyard out of the goat. You can quote me on that. In the few weeks we have had her she has had to go though many changes. Introduced to a different farm, different fields, different goats, barn et al. She has held up remarkably well. While we have done our best to protect her, the nature of goats to a new member of the herd is to show her who's boss. That means she gets butted around some. As far as I know she's been knocked down twice. We've stopped a bunch of hits and fortunately the butts have settled down. after 3 weeks she is pretty much a member of the herd and is with them as they move from field to field.
She was a bottle baby and we didn't want to add to her stress by abruptly changing her diet at the same time as moving her, so she stayed on the bottle. Each morning and afternoon she would get a nice warm bottle of our baby goat formula. That includes 1/2 whole milk, 1/4 buttermilk and 1/4 milk replacer. This mixture helps to prevent scours and they like it. The downside is it's expensive and we had 3 bottle babies going at the same time. It seems like we were running to the store every other day for milk. Slowly we began to wean off all 3 babies. 1 went quickly. He's a wether and while he was the biggest of the 3, he was mostly weaned to pasture anyway. Since he was sharing a bottle with the other wether, the bottle was pretty much empty by the time he got his turn. Geraldine was easy. To help ease her into the herd and help her become familiar with the herd and surroundings, I attached her bottle holder to the milking stand. She would stand up there with her bottle and was able to watch and hear the feeding frenzy in the barn. One day I left the bottle in the tack room and gave her a cup of grain. There was a little confusion on her part but all by herself she began eating grain. She is so prim and proper that she would take one tiny little piece at a time, chew it thoroughly and swallow before taking the next piece. The other goats take huge mouthfuls and I don't see much chewing going on. Of course, they have competition (40 goats are getting only a half bucket of grain) but goats take great pleasure in bashing each other during feeding time. Eating seems secondary. So all the babies are weaned now. Only the smallest wether has had trouble adjusting. He still comes around and tries to suck on fingers, clothing, shoes, the barn, stall bars and anything else get can get his lips on.
A week before we went to collect the goat and bees Kristi hurt her back. It was my fault. At the end of a long hard day of work I wanted to get one last thing done. I wanted to remove some field fencing that had been wired to the electric fencing between the house and garden. This would improve the appearance and view which nice, but my main goal was weedwacking. The weeds grow quickly here and I use a string trimmer to keep them down. The string however seems magnetically attracted to the wire of the field fencing. So I can't get very close to it. and since most of the weeds grew right at the fenceline a lot would go untrimmed and the fence looked unsightly.
I had detached the field fencing and laid it down on the ground. The fencing was longer than the width of the field (it had gone around a corner at one end) and I needed to pull it out straight before I could roll it up. It was about 80 feet long and with the early spring weeds it was too much for me alone to move it. So I was pulling the whole thing while Kristi was jockying it around a corner so it wouldn't get hung up. At some point during this exercise, she pulled a muscle in a bad way. From that point on she was in pain for about 6 weeks!
Kristi was hardly able to move when we left to go pick up the goat and bees. I'd have done it myself, but she would have none of that. She had to be right in the middle of it. While the drive out and back went well, there was a minor problem. We now had a package of bees. A package of bees is a small portable screened room with food and separate quarters for the queen. The package contains 11,000 bees. Kristi was the one who was going to be the beekeeper. I was interested, but she was going to do the handling. With her back the way it was she couldn't run away if anything went wrong ( like if she dropped the whole package). So I got to do the handling. We had all the stuff. Bee veil - the metal mesh hood that prevents bees from crawling into your nose and ears. We had a suit. Gloves. A smoker to *calm* the bees (yeah, right). Our hive was set up and ready. So I put the veil on and installed the bees. The way you install bees follows.
First you remove a wooden or in our case cardboard cover from the package this exposes a soup can that contains sugar syrup. Fast food for bees. It takes a lot of food to keep 11,000 bees fed. I removed the can and that exposed the queens cage and also it made a large opening that bees could get out through. I removed the queens cage with my bare fingers. I put the cardboard cover back over the hole to keep the bees from escaping before I was ready for them. Kristi was snapping pictures from a safe distance. The queens cage was completely covered with bees. There must have been a hundred bees on it. You couldn't see into the cage because of all the bees. Carefully I got out my pocket knife and removed the tiny cork that prevents the queen from getting out. I then placed the queens cage into the hive and fastened it into place. She can now come out when ever she wants to.
The next step was fun. I read the instructions for this step several times to be SURE I had it right. Once again I removed the cover from the package. the bees were buzzing loudly. I then whacked the package of 11,000 bees on the ground to dislodge them from the top of the cage, turned it upside down and proceeded to shake the bees out of the package into the hive. This is where I had to stifle the "run away now" reflex. When I had most of them out, or when I couldn't stand it anymore - that whole part is a fog- I carefully inserted some frames into the hive, they had been removed earlier to create enough room for all the bees. Then I slowly, to avoid crushing them-that can make them mad- put the cover back on top of the hive. I left the package in front of the hive with the opening of the package facing the opening of the hive. I then stepped slowly away and removed the veil. Whew. We sat there for hours watching as the bees from the package slowly made their way out and over to the hive.
How many times did I get stung?
Not once.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Kidding season 2008
Kids kids kids. Lots of kids. Since January 25th we have had 11 baby goats born. It's been busy. Of course the goats did most of the work. But there are times when they need help.
First was 201 who gave us a nice big buckling. It was born with about 4 feet of umbilical wrapped around it. We didn't think anything of it and when it dropped off 3 days later all was well. But day 4 the kid just layed around sleeping. Not much activity. Day 5 it started shaking and shivering. I took it to the vet on day 6. So our $20.00 goat cost us $120.00 in vet fees. The baby had an infection due to the umbilical (and what it was dragged around through). We administered antibiotics, milk and fluids. We made sure it was comfortabe, even having it in the house (a VERY rare treat for any of our creatures) We even began milking the goats, which we hadn't done before to get it colostrum. The milk-benefical bacteria mixture that is present in the milk of a new mom. After all our efforts on day 8 the baby died.
Next up was 5. 5 is a smallish Spanish (mixed breed) goat. Very hardy, doesn't require much effort to maintain. Usually. Kristi was home from work sick on Monday the 28th of January. 5 went into labor in the morning and it was quickly apparent that something was wrong. The normal way a goat is born is that a water sac appears, then a front hoof or two and then the nose. In this case 5 had been pushing for a half hour and the kid's head was out but the feet weren't Kristi was able to get her fingers inside of 5, find the legs and get them to come out and then she gently pulled the kid out. She saved the kid and likely the mom too. Kid and mom are both fine. Another buckling.
6 was next also on the 28th. Even though they usually don't follow any numerical order. A perfectly normal birth and a big perfectly normal buckling.
12 had a small buckling on the 29th. She's a good mom. Had the baby all cleaned up and ready to show the herd in an hour.
9 had twins very quickly on January 31st. I say quickly because I was watching the goats and thought she was being awfully chatty for her. We went to watch a British comedy on DVD. So 40 minutes later we go back to check and she has had twins! One male and one female.
On February 1st 215 kidded. Our first twins of the year. One was slightly larger than the other and the smaller one had both rear legs bent backwards at the joints. It looke painful and the kid was just basically dragging them around. 215 didn't like the look of that so she was rejecting it. So we would supplement the kids feed with our "new kid" formula. Watching the new kid is is getting to feed from 215 but is isn't her favored kid. We think she'll condescend to take care of it.
Now it's 213's turn on the 2nd. She took about a half hour. She strained mightily to get the first one out. She was up instantly taking care of it and the second kid just plopped out on the ground unnoticed. She is taking care of both. Two males I think. I'll have to double check that. One oddity about 213's kids is that Delores, one of our rare named goats has taken a fancy to it. She follows it around sniffing. She lets it try to nurse even though she's dry. She's pregnant but not due for a month or so.
Today it was Blank's turn. When I went to feed the animals at 4:40 this morning she was laying down outside the barn in the same spot she was last night. That's a little unusual but not too weird. I fed everybody and she stayed out there instead of coming in to eat. Now THAT'S weird! I took her a scoop of food and looked at her butt. She had the amber goo coming out. So she's ready to kid! Kristi had come out to the barn by that time, no doubt wondering what was taking me so long. She was able to help me wrestle blank into a stall. Blank got a huge bowl of food and treats for her trouble. When we got home from work she had popped out twins! Both are big kids. She even cleaned up the afterbirth for me.
Next up I think will be 8. I put her in a stall this evening.
First was 201 who gave us a nice big buckling. It was born with about 4 feet of umbilical wrapped around it. We didn't think anything of it and when it dropped off 3 days later all was well. But day 4 the kid just layed around sleeping. Not much activity. Day 5 it started shaking and shivering. I took it to the vet on day 6. So our $20.00 goat cost us $120.00 in vet fees. The baby had an infection due to the umbilical (and what it was dragged around through). We administered antibiotics, milk and fluids. We made sure it was comfortabe, even having it in the house (a VERY rare treat for any of our creatures) We even began milking the goats, which we hadn't done before to get it colostrum. The milk-benefical bacteria mixture that is present in the milk of a new mom. After all our efforts on day 8 the baby died.
Next up was 5. 5 is a smallish Spanish (mixed breed) goat. Very hardy, doesn't require much effort to maintain. Usually. Kristi was home from work sick on Monday the 28th of January. 5 went into labor in the morning and it was quickly apparent that something was wrong. The normal way a goat is born is that a water sac appears, then a front hoof or two and then the nose. In this case 5 had been pushing for a half hour and the kid's head was out but the feet weren't Kristi was able to get her fingers inside of 5, find the legs and get them to come out and then she gently pulled the kid out. She saved the kid and likely the mom too. Kid and mom are both fine. Another buckling.
6 was next also on the 28th. Even though they usually don't follow any numerical order. A perfectly normal birth and a big perfectly normal buckling.
12 had a small buckling on the 29th. She's a good mom. Had the baby all cleaned up and ready to show the herd in an hour.
9 had twins very quickly on January 31st. I say quickly because I was watching the goats and thought she was being awfully chatty for her. We went to watch a British comedy on DVD. So 40 minutes later we go back to check and she has had twins! One male and one female.
On February 1st 215 kidded. Our first twins of the year. One was slightly larger than the other and the smaller one had both rear legs bent backwards at the joints. It looke painful and the kid was just basically dragging them around. 215 didn't like the look of that so she was rejecting it. So we would supplement the kids feed with our "new kid" formula. Watching the new kid is is getting to feed from 215 but is isn't her favored kid. We think she'll condescend to take care of it.
Now it's 213's turn on the 2nd. She took about a half hour. She strained mightily to get the first one out. She was up instantly taking care of it and the second kid just plopped out on the ground unnoticed. She is taking care of both. Two males I think. I'll have to double check that. One oddity about 213's kids is that Delores, one of our rare named goats has taken a fancy to it. She follows it around sniffing. She lets it try to nurse even though she's dry. She's pregnant but not due for a month or so.
Today it was Blank's turn. When I went to feed the animals at 4:40 this morning she was laying down outside the barn in the same spot she was last night. That's a little unusual but not too weird. I fed everybody and she stayed out there instead of coming in to eat. Now THAT'S weird! I took her a scoop of food and looked at her butt. She had the amber goo coming out. So she's ready to kid! Kristi had come out to the barn by that time, no doubt wondering what was taking me so long. She was able to help me wrestle blank into a stall. Blank got a huge bowl of food and treats for her trouble. When we got home from work she had popped out twins! Both are big kids. She even cleaned up the afterbirth for me.
Next up I think will be 8. I put her in a stall this evening.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Canned alive
8 pints pasta sauce. Three more trays of sun-dried going into the hopper. My advice to those who would can fresh tomatoes or processed ones.. when squeezing the seeds out of them after parboiling and peeling them, SMELL the tomatoes. If they smell 'off' or not like a tomato is supposed to smell, then throw it to the chickens.. or, uh, put it in the compost bin. They're not going to make your sauces taste as good as they could. We've had a lot of rain and picking tomatoes when they're just turning orangish or reddish is best, as they will ripen just perfectly off the vine and taste just as good, despite the fallacy of the marketing hype that tells us all that only vine-ripened tomatoes are worth eating. Bah!
Planted twelve pepper plants that were in small containers and not doing so well. Mike had prepped a 4 x 4 area and I added finished compost to the top of it and then stuck the plants in that. It's been raining so water will come from the top and let the water take the nutrients from the compost down into the soil where the roots stretch.
Also added compost to the watermelon and the gourd plants just outside the garden. I saw one of the apple gourd plants today that I planted in the specialty gourd area and it had a tiny little apple gourd on it! Woo hoo!!!!
For harvesting gourds, you have to wait until they dry or the stem turns brown before you pick it, otherwise the gourd will pucker and the whole thing will rot. Once the stem is dead, the gourd itself has also begun to dry and won't rot after you remove it from the vine. I could also just leave them in the field and let them dry, but I don't. I use the greenhouse during the late summer just to dry gourds. The greenhouse, at that point, is too hot for anything else.
While I was doing the inside work on the tomatoes today, I thought of this beautiful woman who is about to embark on the journey of her life. She is going to homestead in Virginia. I was thinking back to a time when we were doing all the stuff to prepare ourselves for farm life. We bought a cream separator (and used it, but ironically, not on the farm, yet). We had chickens in a fancy neighborhood until the roosters started to crow and we had to off them. We grew a small (18 foot by 14 foot) garden and learned to can stuff. We learned how to test the soil and how to make compost and compost tea... and a lot more. We were preparing, but nothing can prepare you for farm life, really, unless you were born on a farm. Luckily, this woman will have had some experience as a child on a farm and be better prepared than we were. My bones ache just thinking about what she's up against.
Tired.
Planted twelve pepper plants that were in small containers and not doing so well. Mike had prepped a 4 x 4 area and I added finished compost to the top of it and then stuck the plants in that. It's been raining so water will come from the top and let the water take the nutrients from the compost down into the soil where the roots stretch.
Also added compost to the watermelon and the gourd plants just outside the garden. I saw one of the apple gourd plants today that I planted in the specialty gourd area and it had a tiny little apple gourd on it! Woo hoo!!!!
For harvesting gourds, you have to wait until they dry or the stem turns brown before you pick it, otherwise the gourd will pucker and the whole thing will rot. Once the stem is dead, the gourd itself has also begun to dry and won't rot after you remove it from the vine. I could also just leave them in the field and let them dry, but I don't. I use the greenhouse during the late summer just to dry gourds. The greenhouse, at that point, is too hot for anything else.
While I was doing the inside work on the tomatoes today, I thought of this beautiful woman who is about to embark on the journey of her life. She is going to homestead in Virginia. I was thinking back to a time when we were doing all the stuff to prepare ourselves for farm life. We bought a cream separator (and used it, but ironically, not on the farm, yet). We had chickens in a fancy neighborhood until the roosters started to crow and we had to off them. We grew a small (18 foot by 14 foot) garden and learned to can stuff. We learned how to test the soil and how to make compost and compost tea... and a lot more. We were preparing, but nothing can prepare you for farm life, really, unless you were born on a farm. Luckily, this woman will have had some experience as a child on a farm and be better prepared than we were. My bones ache just thinking about what she's up against.
Tired.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
gourdacious grounds and then there's more.
Saturday: 5 pints tomato/spaghetti sauce. 10 jars (1/4 pints mostly) sun-dried tomatoes. Two more batches in the hopper.
Sunday: 6 pints salsa - combining the stuff I made a few days ago but didn't can, with the hot mix I did today. EXcellent flavor combined. Salsa fresca and cooked salsa together.
On Saturday, I put compost on a bunch more gourd plants. The gourd society here is pretty picky about their gourds and if I don't get them thick enough, I'll be run out on a rail. Which is what happens at their meetings, and which is why I don't go to them any more.
Most of the plants are doing okay, but the ones in good soil by the house and in the garden (where they shouldn't be) are so healthy that I know the gourds need this extra boost of compost. I also took a smelly, maggot-infested container of natural fertilizer that had been soaked with rain and will add a bunch more water to it, then sprinkle the fields with it.
Mike cleaned out the barn on Saturday and fixed a few things like the front-yard-gourd-area-to-the-street-fencing. Then we were able to move the orange portable fence out further and watched the goats go nuts over the new area to browse and eat.
On the ground, underneath where the broody hen was nesting (she had only one egg this morning, but about ten the day before - which means we need to set our trap again and catch the possum or raccoon that's been getting them), Mike found a snakeskin, probably from a rat snake or corn snake. We have a few snakes around these parts.
Today, Sunday, I've made a cooked salsa by throwing things in that I know go with it. I also look online for recipes, but never use them, only cooking times, ideas about what goes in them and general prep instructions from many sources. This is how I think the Internet is most useful. A ton of ideas from which to create your own unique flavors. Also making lemon bars and since baking is much more a science sometimes than an art, I use a real recipe and just one.
Mike is making tomato bread (what else!) and smoked some tomatoes on the grill, then let me have them to dry. They smell wonderful and fill the house with the smell of oak wood.
One of our little goats, Thirty, which is Ten's kid, is having problems with worms, so Mike and I wormed it. Mama goat, who we thought we gave a good dose of worming stuff to before, seems to have worms again. Poopy butt, swollen jowls, lethargy. All signs of an unhealthy goat.
In the afternoon, we got another fifty feet of fencing installed, pulling down the old field fence and attempting to put up newer stuff. This ridiculous neighbor ( a mile down the road a bit) stopped by -- mind you, many people stop by to give us reports like "I've been here 27 years and never seen nuthin' lahk it.." or, "this flood was really unusual". All reports amount to the same thing -- that the flash flood we had wasn't typical. But THIS lady... "this fence goes down every single year..." Uh. Huh. Mind you, we've been here three years and only once has this happened and everyone else says it hasn't happened for a long time. The lady had expensive hair, a nice car and one of those really fake smiles that say, "I don't belong in the country".
We are both exhausted, but managed to go to Home Depot, to the grocery store and to Tractor Supply to pick up some goat feed. Mike is making chicken wings for dinner and I just don't know how he has the energy to do it.
On the way home, heading down the driveway to the house, we watched the goats. They have access to the area we set up that goes beyond where they were able to eat but have not gone out there all day. This is probably because they don't have to go far to eat grass. But they were, at the end of the day, in this newly created area. We think that because they weren't allowed to go into it until yesterday late in the day, they just didn't go there in the morning. Creatures of habit, they are.
Sunday: 6 pints salsa - combining the stuff I made a few days ago but didn't can, with the hot mix I did today. EXcellent flavor combined. Salsa fresca and cooked salsa together.
On Saturday, I put compost on a bunch more gourd plants. The gourd society here is pretty picky about their gourds and if I don't get them thick enough, I'll be run out on a rail. Which is what happens at their meetings, and which is why I don't go to them any more.
Most of the plants are doing okay, but the ones in good soil by the house and in the garden (where they shouldn't be) are so healthy that I know the gourds need this extra boost of compost. I also took a smelly, maggot-infested container of natural fertilizer that had been soaked with rain and will add a bunch more water to it, then sprinkle the fields with it.
Mike cleaned out the barn on Saturday and fixed a few things like the front-yard-gourd-area-to-the-street-fencing. Then we were able to move the orange portable fence out further and watched the goats go nuts over the new area to browse and eat.
On the ground, underneath where the broody hen was nesting (she had only one egg this morning, but about ten the day before - which means we need to set our trap again and catch the possum or raccoon that's been getting them), Mike found a snakeskin, probably from a rat snake or corn snake. We have a few snakes around these parts.
Today, Sunday, I've made a cooked salsa by throwing things in that I know go with it. I also look online for recipes, but never use them, only cooking times, ideas about what goes in them and general prep instructions from many sources. This is how I think the Internet is most useful. A ton of ideas from which to create your own unique flavors. Also making lemon bars and since baking is much more a science sometimes than an art, I use a real recipe and just one.
Mike is making tomato bread (what else!) and smoked some tomatoes on the grill, then let me have them to dry. They smell wonderful and fill the house with the smell of oak wood.
One of our little goats, Thirty, which is Ten's kid, is having problems with worms, so Mike and I wormed it. Mama goat, who we thought we gave a good dose of worming stuff to before, seems to have worms again. Poopy butt, swollen jowls, lethargy. All signs of an unhealthy goat.
In the afternoon, we got another fifty feet of fencing installed, pulling down the old field fence and attempting to put up newer stuff. This ridiculous neighbor ( a mile down the road a bit) stopped by -- mind you, many people stop by to give us reports like "I've been here 27 years and never seen nuthin' lahk it.." or, "this flood was really unusual". All reports amount to the same thing -- that the flash flood we had wasn't typical. But THIS lady... "this fence goes down every single year..." Uh. Huh. Mind you, we've been here three years and only once has this happened and everyone else says it hasn't happened for a long time. The lady had expensive hair, a nice car and one of those really fake smiles that say, "I don't belong in the country".
We are both exhausted, but managed to go to Home Depot, to the grocery store and to Tractor Supply to pick up some goat feed. Mike is making chicken wings for dinner and I just don't know how he has the energy to do it.
On the way home, heading down the driveway to the house, we watched the goats. They have access to the area we set up that goes beyond where they were able to eat but have not gone out there all day. This is probably because they don't have to go far to eat grass. But they were, at the end of the day, in this newly created area. We think that because they weren't allowed to go into it until yesterday late in the day, they just didn't go there in the morning. Creatures of habit, they are.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
7 pints salsa
5 half-pints sun-dried tomatoes and one more sheet drying. The dehydrator we're using will not be able to keep up. Luckily, I inherited one a few years ago and will be using that one, as well soon, if our tomato crops keep producing like they are now.
Last year, I was busy doing stuff for the sesquicentennial at the school where I work. Of course, that meant that the farm suffered immeasurably since I was not around and not processing what we had grown and not tending to the growth in the field. There were times when I had to throw out many of the tomatoes because they were rotting on the counter. But not this year.
Mike asked me to count the tomato plants we have this year and I laughed. This year, I cut all the bottom leaves off so the plants would grow tall. By the time they did, we had not yet put the cages on them (which would have been a bust, I think, considering how big the plants are and how much fruit is on them. The small cages that I used for a few of them are just bent over with the weight of the fruit this year). So the sprawling plants, ladened with goodness, take over the garden, produce so much that I'm running to keep up with it. I think he wants to quantify what others know as a tomato plant, but it's hard to do when the tomato plants are producing probably twice or three times what someone else's plants would do.
I will probably do a few more batches of salsa then switch to spaghetti sauce. These are things we use a ton of during the year, although we haven't had spaghetti in a long time. I think it's too common a food for Mike. :) Or maybe he had too much of it as a kid. I know I did. But the same sauce we can use for his homemade pizzas and that's worth it. He's such a good cook and what I offer up to the whole cooking business is my uncanny ability to can ably. Say that ten times fast.
I also provide many of the herbs we use, both dried and fresh. And, of course, I planted the garden with plants I grew from seed while Mike did the peripheral stuff, like build huge compost piles for me and do the tractor work to prep the fields. It all works and we work very well together.
Now, if we could only get some raw milk for cheesemaking.
5 half-pints sun-dried tomatoes and one more sheet drying. The dehydrator we're using will not be able to keep up. Luckily, I inherited one a few years ago and will be using that one, as well soon, if our tomato crops keep producing like they are now.
Last year, I was busy doing stuff for the sesquicentennial at the school where I work. Of course, that meant that the farm suffered immeasurably since I was not around and not processing what we had grown and not tending to the growth in the field. There were times when I had to throw out many of the tomatoes because they were rotting on the counter. But not this year.
Mike asked me to count the tomato plants we have this year and I laughed. This year, I cut all the bottom leaves off so the plants would grow tall. By the time they did, we had not yet put the cages on them (which would have been a bust, I think, considering how big the plants are and how much fruit is on them. The small cages that I used for a few of them are just bent over with the weight of the fruit this year). So the sprawling plants, ladened with goodness, take over the garden, produce so much that I'm running to keep up with it. I think he wants to quantify what others know as a tomato plant, but it's hard to do when the tomato plants are producing probably twice or three times what someone else's plants would do.
I will probably do a few more batches of salsa then switch to spaghetti sauce. These are things we use a ton of during the year, although we haven't had spaghetti in a long time. I think it's too common a food for Mike. :) Or maybe he had too much of it as a kid. I know I did. But the same sauce we can use for his homemade pizzas and that's worth it. He's such a good cook and what I offer up to the whole cooking business is my uncanny ability to can ably. Say that ten times fast.
I also provide many of the herbs we use, both dried and fresh. And, of course, I planted the garden with plants I grew from seed while Mike did the peripheral stuff, like build huge compost piles for me and do the tractor work to prep the fields. It all works and we work very well together.
Now, if we could only get some raw milk for cheesemaking.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
6 half-pints sun-dried tomatoes.
Gathered about 15 lbs of tomatoes this time. Processed about seven pounds, which includes parboiling and then squeezing the juice and the seeds out of them.
Cut and put into the dehydrator another two trays of tomato halves, with salt and home-dried herbs. The six half-pints came from four trays processed yesterday.
Mike prepped the salsa that will be canned this evening (against his will).
I came home yesterday to find that one of the goats -- Eight's kid, wasn't around. Her other, older kid was lying with her, but the whether with the whiter head born late last year wasn't. I looked around, circling the barn about three times. Only the other goats of the same age and body size are females and tagged -- 26 and 32, specifically, were there. I fed the goats and fowl, then headed for the back backwoods (versus the woods directly behind the house) always scanning the landscape for a white and brown goat body, this one being about 50 pounds worth. They're easy to spot if they want to be spotted. Otherwise, they disappear. After traveling through many spider webs and discovering that the whole place is overgrown again and the wood Mike cut last year is still on the ground in the far back, I headed back to the house, noting that the trash from March's flood was still on the ground, as well. Picking it up is on my growing list of things to do.
The kid wasn't anywhere to be found and I was about to scan the front area where the goats are not currently allowed when it just showed up. Don't know where it was, but it was confounding that it just appeared, to say the least. It's too hot to bury another goat right now and I just don't have the energy.
Watched more LOTR and washed several loads of dishes after processing and canning tomatoes. Another 30 lbs of tomatoes sits on our counter, ripening.
Gathered about 15 lbs of tomatoes this time. Processed about seven pounds, which includes parboiling and then squeezing the juice and the seeds out of them.
Cut and put into the dehydrator another two trays of tomato halves, with salt and home-dried herbs. The six half-pints came from four trays processed yesterday.
Mike prepped the salsa that will be canned this evening (against his will).
I came home yesterday to find that one of the goats -- Eight's kid, wasn't around. Her other, older kid was lying with her, but the whether with the whiter head born late last year wasn't. I looked around, circling the barn about three times. Only the other goats of the same age and body size are females and tagged -- 26 and 32, specifically, were there. I fed the goats and fowl, then headed for the back backwoods (versus the woods directly behind the house) always scanning the landscape for a white and brown goat body, this one being about 50 pounds worth. They're easy to spot if they want to be spotted. Otherwise, they disappear. After traveling through many spider webs and discovering that the whole place is overgrown again and the wood Mike cut last year is still on the ground in the far back, I headed back to the house, noting that the trash from March's flood was still on the ground, as well. Picking it up is on my growing list of things to do.
The kid wasn't anywhere to be found and I was about to scan the front area where the goats are not currently allowed when it just showed up. Don't know where it was, but it was confounding that it just appeared, to say the least. It's too hot to bury another goat right now and I just don't have the energy.
Watched more LOTR and washed several loads of dishes after processing and canning tomatoes. Another 30 lbs of tomatoes sits on our counter, ripening.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
black sweat pants, stickerbur dance.
Farm life is beginning to be easier, but only after three years of being here. Every evening, Mike and I sit and ponder this fact, ponder life or the universe or other stuff, but of course, that involves sitting outside with the goats, or with the dog and various chickens scratching around and sometimes a peacock checking us out. Today, all the creatures want to be around us - especially since we have chips and my homemade salsa, but most particularly, the corn chips. Corn is a universal food, loved by all and eaten by nearly evrything on the planet in one form or another. It's very popular with our breeds. I just wish I could grow it successfully.
But that's another story.
Farm life is good because of the fields of gourds and literally tons of vegetables which happen to be mostly tomatoes and peppers at the moment (with errant gourds growing in and around them, as well) . It's a good life, too, because the animals are all pretty healthy.
We have the growing of tomatoes down.. that we have. It's the weed populations and it's why the black plastic didn't work and it's what we need to do next year that's eating us -- and all the bugaboos that we have to work out next year. All these improvements from last year creates a mysterious mix of success that we have and continue to have, but yet, never really have totally. For example, had the weeds not taken over, had the gourds ALL germinated properly, had we had the sprinklers set right.. you know the drill... something can always be done a bit better.
But it's always an adventure.
In the Texas heat - mild for this time of year, it's eighty degrees outside but feels 100 with the humiidty-rampant air that sucks the last breath out of you and leaves you wringing out your shirt in the yard to dispense with the water/sweat accumulations.
Today, I planted about a fourth of the first part of the 'acre' of gourds again today while Mike repaired fences. The germination wasn't what it should have been and the blank spaces in the field need to be filled in. I know that in Texas, you don't plant anything past the first of July and expect it not to fry in the summer heat, so I'm running out of gourd-growing time.
I also added compost to many of the existing gourd plants that seem to be a bit puny. Hopefully, they'll come around before it's too hot and begin their long, long vines that will stretch, eventually, across the full acre. We have great compost, piles of it, in fact, but it does no good if it's not sitting on top of some plant or the other.
I have been feeling the effects of the steroids that are used to combat poison ivy (Dexamethazone) and frankly, have lost a large part of the last two weeks because I've been so out of it. The drugs make me crazy, make me pant and panic a lot, tend to make me feel 'drunk' and make me act like someone I'm not.
The nurse I called on Friday felt like I needed to go to the hospital emergency room in Bastrop because I simply ca told her how the drugs were screwing me up. She had already told Mike that I shouldn't drive and should not do anything else, for that matter, except drink lots of fluids. I called the doctor's office simply because I could, for the first time, do this without wanting to bite their heads off for what they did to me.
I drove home the back way on Friday -- and barely, really, made it without killing someone or myself. Or maiming someone since I know I'd go to jail if I did anything more.
But alas, the effects of this fiasco are almost over. I will never, ever call the doctor on a weekend. Somehow I think they were punishing me because I interrupted their dinnertime and thus gave me these potent steroids for retribution. You don't want to mess with their dating time.
Anyway, back to the farm. We seem to have a bead on the goats' health and that's important. And it's Father's day, so Mike's on the phone with his dad, no doubt regaling him of all the things of the farm, since Mike's dad lived on a farm in his youth.. and soon it will be time to make dinner. And then relax for the rest of the evening. Or finish the second DVD of the Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring long version. Both my parents passed away in the last ten years, so there's no need to call anyone. Game over, obligation over. I miss them both, especially my father. Take care of yours. It's an important lesson to learn, but you don't have to learn much. Honor those who brought you to this world and love them for who they are, not for what you think they should have been.
But that's another story.
Farm life is good because of the fields of gourds and literally tons of vegetables which happen to be mostly tomatoes and peppers at the moment (with errant gourds growing in and around them, as well) . It's a good life, too, because the animals are all pretty healthy.
We have the growing of tomatoes down.. that we have. It's the weed populations and it's why the black plastic didn't work and it's what we need to do next year that's eating us -- and all the bugaboos that we have to work out next year. All these improvements from last year creates a mysterious mix of success that we have and continue to have, but yet, never really have totally. For example, had the weeds not taken over, had the gourds ALL germinated properly, had we had the sprinklers set right.. you know the drill... something can always be done a bit better.
But it's always an adventure.
In the Texas heat - mild for this time of year, it's eighty degrees outside but feels 100 with the humiidty-rampant air that sucks the last breath out of you and leaves you wringing out your shirt in the yard to dispense with the water/sweat accumulations.
Today, I planted about a fourth of the first part of the 'acre' of gourds again today while Mike repaired fences. The germination wasn't what it should have been and the blank spaces in the field need to be filled in. I know that in Texas, you don't plant anything past the first of July and expect it not to fry in the summer heat, so I'm running out of gourd-growing time.
I also added compost to many of the existing gourd plants that seem to be a bit puny. Hopefully, they'll come around before it's too hot and begin their long, long vines that will stretch, eventually, across the full acre. We have great compost, piles of it, in fact, but it does no good if it's not sitting on top of some plant or the other.
I have been feeling the effects of the steroids that are used to combat poison ivy (Dexamethazone) and frankly, have lost a large part of the last two weeks because I've been so out of it. The drugs make me crazy, make me pant and panic a lot, tend to make me feel 'drunk' and make me act like someone I'm not.
The nurse I called on Friday felt like I needed to go to the hospital emergency room in Bastrop because I simply ca told her how the drugs were screwing me up. She had already told Mike that I shouldn't drive and should not do anything else, for that matter, except drink lots of fluids. I called the doctor's office simply because I could, for the first time, do this without wanting to bite their heads off for what they did to me.
I drove home the back way on Friday -- and barely, really, made it without killing someone or myself. Or maiming someone since I know I'd go to jail if I did anything more.
But alas, the effects of this fiasco are almost over. I will never, ever call the doctor on a weekend. Somehow I think they were punishing me because I interrupted their dinnertime and thus gave me these potent steroids for retribution. You don't want to mess with their dating time.
Anyway, back to the farm. We seem to have a bead on the goats' health and that's important. And it's Father's day, so Mike's on the phone with his dad, no doubt regaling him of all the things of the farm, since Mike's dad lived on a farm in his youth.. and soon it will be time to make dinner. And then relax for the rest of the evening. Or finish the second DVD of the Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring long version. Both my parents passed away in the last ten years, so there's no need to call anyone. Game over, obligation over. I miss them both, especially my father. Take care of yours. It's an important lesson to learn, but you don't have to learn much. Honor those who brought you to this world and love them for who they are, not for what you think they should have been.
5/29/2007 14 pints of bread and butter pickles
6/17/2007 5 pints of salsa
6/17/2007 1 pint sundried tomatoes
6/17/2007 2 half pints sundried tomatoes.
Twice a day we're walking the tomato patch collecting a hundred tomatoes. Going to be a banner year for us. We can all our own tomato products including sundried tomatos, whole, stewed, barbecue sauce, paste, sauce, salsa, tomato chutney, spagetti sauce oh and tomato soup too. We're getting far more tomatoes out of far fewer plants this year. We are scurrying around looking for recipes to can too.
This weekend has been rainy, unusual for central Texas in June. So we have only done a few hours of outdoor work. I did some tractor work to level out the ground where the fence repairs are still going on from the March flood. I also collected some gravel and put it down on the driveway where water pools up. I cemented in a new gate post for the section of fence along the gourd field that collapsed during the same flood. Kristi collected many pounds of tomatoes, watered everything in the greenhouse, collected all the rotting tomatoes and pelted the goats with them. 216 in particular had tomato seeds all over her. Kristi also put down a cart load (1200 lbs) of compost on the first section of the gourd field. These are the plants she started in the greenhouse. I loaded the cart for her with the tractor being careful not to over do it. The first time I used the tractor to load the cart I flattened both tires because the compost was too heavy.
Once the ground dries out a bit I'll go try to hammer in 3 fiberglass poles for the gourd fence and reattach the HT wire to the gate post. That will be one minor repair done after the flood.
6/17/2007 5 pints of salsa
6/17/2007 1 pint sundried tomatoes
6/17/2007 2 half pints sundried tomatoes.
Twice a day we're walking the tomato patch collecting a hundred tomatoes. Going to be a banner year for us. We can all our own tomato products including sundried tomatos, whole, stewed, barbecue sauce, paste, sauce, salsa, tomato chutney, spagetti sauce oh and tomato soup too. We're getting far more tomatoes out of far fewer plants this year. We are scurrying around looking for recipes to can too.
This weekend has been rainy, unusual for central Texas in June. So we have only done a few hours of outdoor work. I did some tractor work to level out the ground where the fence repairs are still going on from the March flood. I also collected some gravel and put it down on the driveway where water pools up. I cemented in a new gate post for the section of fence along the gourd field that collapsed during the same flood. Kristi collected many pounds of tomatoes, watered everything in the greenhouse, collected all the rotting tomatoes and pelted the goats with them. 216 in particular had tomato seeds all over her. Kristi also put down a cart load (1200 lbs) of compost on the first section of the gourd field. These are the plants she started in the greenhouse. I loaded the cart for her with the tractor being careful not to over do it. The first time I used the tractor to load the cart I flattened both tires because the compost was too heavy.
Once the ground dries out a bit I'll go try to hammer in 3 fiberglass poles for the gourd fence and reattach the HT wire to the gate post. That will be one minor repair done after the flood.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
thunder and it's moving this way. Kristi is fussing over her garden. We've
changed the position of the portable electric fence and the goats are
greedily eating. At the same time I can take credit for mowing even though
I am letting the goats do it. I am sitting on a chair in the driveway
entering this blog post via my Palm Treo, sipping wine and swatting at gnats.
The wind is starting to pick up feeding the upcoming storm. Soon I'll have
to bring the goats in and go inside for the night. Temperature is dropping
quickly now.
We've been watching our roadrunner pair building their nest. The are so
used to us we can walk by them and they hardly move. They've been buidling
their nest and practicing mating rituals for a couple of weeks now. I'm
thinking we have a bird-friendly place what with chickens, turkeys, pea
fowl and guineas. I'll keep the fence where it is for a few days, until
the goats have mown it down to the ground. Filling their bellies and
robbing me of the 'pleasure' of mowing. And sweating. And sneezing. Then we'll
move the fence to another overgrown location. At present, with 11 inches of
rain over normal so far this year and more expected in a few minutes, I'm
not lacking in locations for grazing.
___
Monday, June 11, 2007
Sunday we "harvested" the rest of our chickens for the year. We came out with a total of 28 birds. One had been killed by a raccoon and one was dead in the barn stall when we went to collect them in the morning. We are going to leave up our festive chicken harvesting area till next weekend when we intend to harvest our first goat. We have a couple that are a little older and we need to stop them from getting any older. No doubt that the older ones will be a little tougher but we can always stew them or braise them. I love cabrito, Kristi not so much. I need to make something that is especially delicious. Then it will be something to look forward to. I have some research to do before we do the deed. I have no idea how to butcher the kid to get good cuts. No doubt I'll make a mess of it the first time or two. To celebrate, we're getting our freezer repaired tomorrow. Gotta have a place to put the lil baby until we can stomach eating him.
Saturday Kristi cleaned out the backyard goldfish pond. She also pruned the overgrown trees that obscured the view of the pond. Now we can see it from the house. It looks great. I mowed the back yard and as I was finishing I saw a chicken running around with a snake! By the time I saw it the snake was dead. It was about 12 inches long, probably a grasssss ssssnake but I didn't get a close look. The hen was pretty protective of her booty. It's amazing just how much a chicken can eat. Kristi reminded me of one of our first chickens that ate a HUGE beetle larva that we found in the compost. It was about 3 inches long and as big around as your thumb. She swallowed it whole.
We've been having fun moving our portable electric fence around and letting the goats mow the grass and weeds. They do a nice job. What's great about it is that we are doing slightly less work I (it does take some effort to move the fence and get power to it) and the goats are going to bed with full bellies. Yesterday we herded them into the driveway since the grass was getting long due to the recent wonderful rains.
I repaired my creek water pump once again. The male adapter that goes into the pump and connects the piping system has broken twice. Saturday I bought a rubber coupler hoping that the rubber would absorb some of the vibration that is fracturing the plastic. It didn't work though. The pressure was enough to blow the rubber coupler apart. So I bought a broken horse stall mat from TSC for $10.00, cut a chunk off of it and put it under the pump. I ran a full tank of gas through the pump and it didn't break. So far so good.
We're a little disappointed with the new gourd field. We only seem to have about 20 percent of the plants that we expected. So we will likely have to put some more seed down while we have the creek water available. We also have to put compost down for all these hundreds of plants. That will help the shells to grow thick.
Saturday Kristi cleaned out the backyard goldfish pond. She also pruned the overgrown trees that obscured the view of the pond. Now we can see it from the house. It looks great. I mowed the back yard and as I was finishing I saw a chicken running around with a snake! By the time I saw it the snake was dead. It was about 12 inches long, probably a grasssss ssssnake but I didn't get a close look. The hen was pretty protective of her booty. It's amazing just how much a chicken can eat. Kristi reminded me of one of our first chickens that ate a HUGE beetle larva that we found in the compost. It was about 3 inches long and as big around as your thumb. She swallowed it whole.
We've been having fun moving our portable electric fence around and letting the goats mow the grass and weeds. They do a nice job. What's great about it is that we are doing slightly less work I (it does take some effort to move the fence and get power to it) and the goats are going to bed with full bellies. Yesterday we herded them into the driveway since the grass was getting long due to the recent wonderful rains.
I repaired my creek water pump once again. The male adapter that goes into the pump and connects the piping system has broken twice. Saturday I bought a rubber coupler hoping that the rubber would absorb some of the vibration that is fracturing the plastic. It didn't work though. The pressure was enough to blow the rubber coupler apart. So I bought a broken horse stall mat from TSC for $10.00, cut a chunk off of it and put it under the pump. I ran a full tank of gas through the pump and it didn't break. So far so good.
We're a little disappointed with the new gourd field. We only seem to have about 20 percent of the plants that we expected. So we will likely have to put some more seed down while we have the creek water available. We also have to put compost down for all these hundreds of plants. That will help the shells to grow thick.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
chicken killing time
Last weekend, we exhausted ourselves by killing and processing 20 chickens on Saturday. What this entails --
We bought 30 more cornish crosses after the flood (we'd actually lost quite a few before the flood due to putting them into the regular chicken coop and not realizing that the regular chickens just wanted to kill them by pecking them apart).
These chickens we bought nine weeks ago and have been feeding them all along. These chickens, when nekkid, look just like the store-bought chickens that come in nice little packages for you.
We bought 30 more cornish crosses after the flood (we'd actually lost quite a few before the flood due to putting them into the regular chicken coop and not realizing that the regular chickens just wanted to kill them by pecking them apart).
These chickens we bought nine weeks ago and have been feeding them all along. These chickens, when nekkid, look just like the store-bought chickens that come in nice little packages for you.
farm along spring roads
The pear tree in the front, along a line of fruit trees (several plums, two peaches) bore great fruit this year, unlike the other fruit trees. No plums to speak of and one peach that rotted in the fridge. The other seven or so were probably eaten by squirrels.
I looked through old posts and found none that have shown the disastrous grace of the flood we had on March 12th, the first day of spring break in these parts and as I work for a school, that was the first morning that I had off... and I worked most of it at the farm, probably about 10 times harder than if I'd gone to work!
Here's what happened (email sent):
We've been inundated. Woke at 3:30 because a goat was screaming - a goat we normally don't hear at night. It was raining, but Mike went out to check on it - in his underwear, an umbrella and shoes thrown on. Since he was going, I knew it was safe to go back to sleep. Five minutes later, Mike is on the back deck and sticking his head in the door. "Help. We're underwater!" Up, up up we go until that night. Exhausted both of us.
The barn was under 3 feet of water, which means goats that are not more than a foot and a half high were trying to stay afloat. We got them on top of some hay bales, but barely and Mike had to yank one or two of them when they'd fallen off the edges of them. Remember that their moms are wanting in the stall with the hay in it as well and we let them all in there. The hay was wasted and useless after the flood and so whatever they ate of it now would not be a bad thing.
Mike went to get a rope from the greenhouse, about 40 yards from the house. Not sure if he was thinking clearly, but we were going to try to haul each goat across the flooded, rushing divide between the flooded barn and the side yard to the house which was, thankfully, on higher ground.
When he came back to the barn, I'd already gotten rope from the garage, attached it from a huge tree next to the house, then to one of the heavy wooden fence posts and then tied it off to a beam in the barn. We used this lifeline from the barn to the house to carry, under one arm while we hung on because the entire neighborhoods flooding was going straight through the property on the way to the creek in back.
The water was rushing so fast from uphill that if we'd been caught in it, we most likely would have wound up in the electric fence or drowned. Much like a torrential river. But the lifeline allowed us to carry the smaller goats to the yard, which is above flood level. I pulled one of the nannies, after one escaped and headed to another high point where a stack of rocks had been piled, away from the barn, but not where we needed her. I got the second goat with Mike's help
through the water so that the little ones would have one adult goat (the
rest were in the water in the barn) to control the group. This seemed to
work and now we had the mom controlling the young ones underneath the shed roof where it was drier. Most of the goats either followed or stayed on the hay bales in the barn.
We lost our five turkeys that we were raising for later in the year,
along with 30 cornish cross chickens that died in the flood. The chickens
were roosting and I think all of them survived. It was still dark outside, so
we had to wait until it's light to assess the damage.
Because it wasn't light, we just decided, since goats and people were settled, that we'd sit calmly and read the paper. It was going to be a long day. We had to salvage the stuff in the tack room (most of the feed was spoiled because we'd stacked it on the floor) and the hay we got out of the stall, after giving much of it to the goats. They couldn't go to their stomping grounds and eat because they couldn't get there! The entire front area was flooded and the side was also, leaving us pinned in, essentially.
The sick goat had to be buried as well as the cornish crosses and Mike found the dead turkeys in the stall where they were flooded. We had to go in search of things like feed buckets, stools, anything that floated out of the barn. The whole back wooded area was so misshapen and looked like something out of the Star Wars swamp scene when Luke first meets Yoda.
I cleaned out the tack room a few days later. It was filled with mold and bad feed and stunk to high heaven. It costs us a great deal to replenish the feed and the hay, but eventually, we got through it and now we're more prepared for it. The lifeline from the house to the barn is attached to the midpost, we carry a better flashlight and have hooks for buckets along the barn stall walls. I put in cinderblocks in the tack room so the feed remains above flood level. THe hay in the hay stall is now also up higher and the boards underneath it will support stranded young goats if need be.
We were pretty lucky not to have lost all the young ones. One of the stand-offish goats I took care to sop off after the flood and the rest of the goats were actually a lot tamer, if not very upset over what happened and a bit in shell shock. They were actually good for a little while, not digging into my thighs with their horns to move goats out of the way during feeding time, etc... But now they're the same goats they always were.
--
Later -- one goat that had fallen ill with bad worm problems drowned, but we think she had already died before she drowned. Our casualties were, in fact, numerous enough to have to find a dry place to bury them -- the old pet cemetery was across another point of water that fed into another part of the creek on the other side of the property. The rain went downhill into the 'j' of jiffy lube's symbol, curved around and then headed back to the creek. Luckily, the house was spared. Many neighbors would later tell us that the water hadn't gotten that bad since 26 years before. We just moved in three years ago.
While we were struggling, with a flashlight and whatever house lights we could use to see into the barn area so we could find more animals, we noticed police flashing lights at the top of the property, sending people back the other way. The creek was flooded and anyone heading into it along where it joins with the road and our property would have simply been swept away.
The damage to our fences was almost catastrophic. The entire dogleg fencing went down in a big way, took out long-standing posts in cement and basically has killed that field for the goats since it went down this day. It's now June. We still haven't fixed the fence, but we're well on the way to doing so. Just a few more small events need to happen and we bought the correct fencing this afternoon. SOON!
I looked through old posts and found none that have shown the disastrous grace of the flood we had on March 12th, the first day of spring break in these parts and as I work for a school, that was the first morning that I had off... and I worked most of it at the farm, probably about 10 times harder than if I'd gone to work!
Here's what happened (email sent):
We've been inundated. Woke at 3:30 because a goat was screaming - a goat we normally don't hear at night. It was raining, but Mike went out to check on it - in his underwear, an umbrella and shoes thrown on. Since he was going, I knew it was safe to go back to sleep. Five minutes later, Mike is on the back deck and sticking his head in the door. "Help. We're underwater!" Up, up up we go until that night. Exhausted both of us.
The barn was under 3 feet of water, which means goats that are not more than a foot and a half high were trying to stay afloat. We got them on top of some hay bales, but barely and Mike had to yank one or two of them when they'd fallen off the edges of them. Remember that their moms are wanting in the stall with the hay in it as well and we let them all in there. The hay was wasted and useless after the flood and so whatever they ate of it now would not be a bad thing.
Mike went to get a rope from the greenhouse, about 40 yards from the house. Not sure if he was thinking clearly, but we were going to try to haul each goat across the flooded, rushing divide between the flooded barn and the side yard to the house which was, thankfully, on higher ground.
When he came back to the barn, I'd already gotten rope from the garage, attached it from a huge tree next to the house, then to one of the heavy wooden fence posts and then tied it off to a beam in the barn. We used this lifeline from the barn to the house to carry, under one arm while we hung on because the entire neighborhoods flooding was going straight through the property on the way to the creek in back.
The water was rushing so fast from uphill that if we'd been caught in it, we most likely would have wound up in the electric fence or drowned. Much like a torrential river. But the lifeline allowed us to carry the smaller goats to the yard, which is above flood level. I pulled one of the nannies, after one escaped and headed to another high point where a stack of rocks had been piled, away from the barn, but not where we needed her. I got the second goat with Mike's help
through the water so that the little ones would have one adult goat (the
rest were in the water in the barn) to control the group. This seemed to
work and now we had the mom controlling the young ones underneath the shed roof where it was drier. Most of the goats either followed or stayed on the hay bales in the barn.
We lost our five turkeys that we were raising for later in the year,
along with 30 cornish cross chickens that died in the flood. The chickens
were roosting and I think all of them survived. It was still dark outside, so
we had to wait until it's light to assess the damage.
Because it wasn't light, we just decided, since goats and people were settled, that we'd sit calmly and read the paper. It was going to be a long day. We had to salvage the stuff in the tack room (most of the feed was spoiled because we'd stacked it on the floor) and the hay we got out of the stall, after giving much of it to the goats. They couldn't go to their stomping grounds and eat because they couldn't get there! The entire front area was flooded and the side was also, leaving us pinned in, essentially.
The sick goat had to be buried as well as the cornish crosses and Mike found the dead turkeys in the stall where they were flooded. We had to go in search of things like feed buckets, stools, anything that floated out of the barn. The whole back wooded area was so misshapen and looked like something out of the Star Wars swamp scene when Luke first meets Yoda.
I cleaned out the tack room a few days later. It was filled with mold and bad feed and stunk to high heaven. It costs us a great deal to replenish the feed and the hay, but eventually, we got through it and now we're more prepared for it. The lifeline from the house to the barn is attached to the midpost, we carry a better flashlight and have hooks for buckets along the barn stall walls. I put in cinderblocks in the tack room so the feed remains above flood level. THe hay in the hay stall is now also up higher and the boards underneath it will support stranded young goats if need be.
We were pretty lucky not to have lost all the young ones. One of the stand-offish goats I took care to sop off after the flood and the rest of the goats were actually a lot tamer, if not very upset over what happened and a bit in shell shock. They were actually good for a little while, not digging into my thighs with their horns to move goats out of the way during feeding time, etc... But now they're the same goats they always were.
--
Later -- one goat that had fallen ill with bad worm problems drowned, but we think she had already died before she drowned. Our casualties were, in fact, numerous enough to have to find a dry place to bury them -- the old pet cemetery was across another point of water that fed into another part of the creek on the other side of the property. The rain went downhill into the 'j' of jiffy lube's symbol, curved around and then headed back to the creek. Luckily, the house was spared. Many neighbors would later tell us that the water hadn't gotten that bad since 26 years before. We just moved in three years ago.
While we were struggling, with a flashlight and whatever house lights we could use to see into the barn area so we could find more animals, we noticed police flashing lights at the top of the property, sending people back the other way. The creek was flooded and anyone heading into it along where it joins with the road and our property would have simply been swept away.
The damage to our fences was almost catastrophic. The entire dogleg fencing went down in a big way, took out long-standing posts in cement and basically has killed that field for the goats since it went down this day. It's now June. We still haven't fixed the fence, but we're well on the way to doing so. Just a few more small events need to happen and we bought the correct fencing this afternoon. SOON!
Friday, June 01, 2007
Last time I talked about hacking back the plants that were fouling the electric fence. Well, Kristi has come down with an increasingly bad case of Poison Ivy. Ouch. She's smearing goop of several different types, anti-itch stuff Calamine lotion. None of it helps yet you have to do something. Two weeks and it should run its course. As of today, one week is done.
The new electric fence works great. To solve the problem of getting power to it I used a long roll of insulated wire and ran it from a section of fence that was working. Of course that fence was on the far side of the gate that the goats need to go through to get to the temporary area. So I would coil the wire up and leave it out of the goats path. Entice all the goats by shaking my feed bucket (this drives them wild) when they were all right up next to the fence, swarming and jumping like sharks in chum, I flung the gate open and ran for the area I wanted them in. All 35 goats stampeded right after me. Once they were in there they quieted down and started eating. I will admit that I sat in there with them for a couple of hours watching them eat, but I had an ulterior motive. This portable fence looks different than any other fence that contains the goats. That means that they are going to test it. Our vegetable garden is only 20 feet away from where they were so there would be some temptation to go eat all those pretty plants. Sure enough, one by one goats would brush up against the fence and get a strong jolt. I snickered at each one. With all the trouble the goats are to maintain, and all the problems they have caused us I get a cruel pleasure watching them get shocked. Billy goat backed into the fence, got zapped and he immediately bolted into the center of the field and was looking around, craning his neck trying to find what creature hurt him. While I was watching at least 10 goats came into contact with the fence with various reactions. Alas I had to cut my fun short as I had to bake a cake.
We are continually coming up with new areas that we can move this fence and have the goats do our mowing for us.
It looks like our chickens are about ready. So this weekend will be the unpleasant and necessary chore of "processing" them. We are slow at getting this done so it will likely take both days to do 30 birds. Then we can clean out the barn stall where these chickens are and that will help reduce the flys.
I had another run in with a corn snake on Wednesday. I had blown my buttercream frosting having overcooked the syrup beyond the softball stage, I was using an old candy thermometer that came from somebody elses house and it didn't read properly. That meant that when I added the hot syrup to the egg yokes the syrup immediately solidified into hard lumps and the eggs were ruined. You'd think we would have a virtually limitless quantitiy of eggs with all our chickens wouldn't you? Well it's extreemely rare that we run out but sometimes they aren't in the house. I went out to get some from the coop and as I reached for the door, I saw a corn snake slithering toward the door. Without thinking i reached out and grabbed it. By this time it had gotten about half way into the coop. Now it's dark outside and I couldn't see the largest part of the snake which was already in the coop. I had grabbed the last third of the creature. The first two thirds was entwined in a wire rack that was originally a hay feeder for the goats and is now used by the roosting chickens to sleep on. I couldn't pull the snake out through the wire and it was struggling to get away. I couldn't turn the light on without letting go and then it would be loose in with the chickens. What to do? I reached down and grabbed my phone, turned it on and speed dialed Kristi in the house. So she came out, turned the light on and I was able to extricate the snake from the wire rack. Kristi pointed out that this snake was smaller than the 2 that we had seen mating the other day. Great so how many do we have here? No wonder Eatz (cat) is always freaked out. This snake was more aggressive than the others have been which basically would patiently wait for me to let them go. This one struck and tried to bite me. I adjusted my grip to right behind it's head and went to release it. I'm sure it's back stealing eggs already.
Next post - chicken processing fun.
The new electric fence works great. To solve the problem of getting power to it I used a long roll of insulated wire and ran it from a section of fence that was working. Of course that fence was on the far side of the gate that the goats need to go through to get to the temporary area. So I would coil the wire up and leave it out of the goats path. Entice all the goats by shaking my feed bucket (this drives them wild) when they were all right up next to the fence, swarming and jumping like sharks in chum, I flung the gate open and ran for the area I wanted them in. All 35 goats stampeded right after me. Once they were in there they quieted down and started eating. I will admit that I sat in there with them for a couple of hours watching them eat, but I had an ulterior motive. This portable fence looks different than any other fence that contains the goats. That means that they are going to test it. Our vegetable garden is only 20 feet away from where they were so there would be some temptation to go eat all those pretty plants. Sure enough, one by one goats would brush up against the fence and get a strong jolt. I snickered at each one. With all the trouble the goats are to maintain, and all the problems they have caused us I get a cruel pleasure watching them get shocked. Billy goat backed into the fence, got zapped and he immediately bolted into the center of the field and was looking around, craning his neck trying to find what creature hurt him. While I was watching at least 10 goats came into contact with the fence with various reactions. Alas I had to cut my fun short as I had to bake a cake.
We are continually coming up with new areas that we can move this fence and have the goats do our mowing for us.
It looks like our chickens are about ready. So this weekend will be the unpleasant and necessary chore of "processing" them. We are slow at getting this done so it will likely take both days to do 30 birds. Then we can clean out the barn stall where these chickens are and that will help reduce the flys.
I had another run in with a corn snake on Wednesday. I had blown my buttercream frosting having overcooked the syrup beyond the softball stage, I was using an old candy thermometer that came from somebody elses house and it didn't read properly. That meant that when I added the hot syrup to the egg yokes the syrup immediately solidified into hard lumps and the eggs were ruined. You'd think we would have a virtually limitless quantitiy of eggs with all our chickens wouldn't you? Well it's extreemely rare that we run out but sometimes they aren't in the house. I went out to get some from the coop and as I reached for the door, I saw a corn snake slithering toward the door. Without thinking i reached out and grabbed it. By this time it had gotten about half way into the coop. Now it's dark outside and I couldn't see the largest part of the snake which was already in the coop. I had grabbed the last third of the creature. The first two thirds was entwined in a wire rack that was originally a hay feeder for the goats and is now used by the roosting chickens to sleep on. I couldn't pull the snake out through the wire and it was struggling to get away. I couldn't turn the light on without letting go and then it would be loose in with the chickens. What to do? I reached down and grabbed my phone, turned it on and speed dialed Kristi in the house. So she came out, turned the light on and I was able to extricate the snake from the wire rack. Kristi pointed out that this snake was smaller than the 2 that we had seen mating the other day. Great so how many do we have here? No wonder Eatz (cat) is always freaked out. This snake was more aggressive than the others have been which basically would patiently wait for me to let them go. This one struck and tried to bite me. I adjusted my grip to right behind it's head and went to release it. I'm sure it's back stealing eggs already.
Next post - chicken processing fun.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Friday we went to TSC for feed. Our Cornish cross meat chickens are getting
very big now. We have 29 left of the original 30 having lost one to a
raccoon. They are ravenous eaters and currently go through a bucket and a
half of feed daily. It's very likely that they will be "done" next weekend
with a finished weight of about 6 lbs. While we were pushing around the
cart loaded with 8-50 lb sacks of chicken and goat feeds I spotted
something we had discussed getting. It is a portable electric fence. It
comes with poles that you stick in the ground and 165 feet of 6 inch square
plastic mesh. The mesh has tiny wire embedded in it which carries the
current. We have many potential uses for a portable fence. One use is we
have many areas that get overgrown with weeds and yet are difficult to mow.
For instance, there is a fence that separates the front yard from the
garden/gourd field. Alond that fence has been left the remains of past
projects, tomato baskets, soaker hoses, T-posts, wire, plastic pipe and
planting pots. If I were to try to mow this area it would foul and possibly
damage my mower. Also if I mowed the area all that vegetation would just be
wasted. With the portable electric fence, we can create an impassable
barrier for the goats which will allow them to graze on the grass and weeds
and prevent them from destroying the gardens. So we buy the fence get it
home and we are anxious to set it up and fill the tummys of the goats. We
unroll the fencing, push the posts into the ground and unroll the netting.
Everyting goes up smoothly. I fastened a long wire from our permanent
electric fence across the driveway to electrify the portable fence. I check
the fence with our fence tester to be sure it's charged. Here is where we
run into one of those little challenges that adds seasoning to rural living.
The fence is dead. Huh, I said. I check the connection. I check to be sure
the new fence isn't grounding out anywhere. Then Kristi checks the
permanent fence along the driveway that we are taking the power from. Dead.
Shoot. That just made this a bigger project. Now we go hunting around the
fenceline for what might be sapping the charge. We trim trees, shrubs and
vines from around half the property. No luck. We found a wire that was
diconnected. We felt joy that the problem was found. Of course it wasn't.
we cleared more brush along the street and finally ran out of energy just
as it was getting dark. We quit for the day vowing to finish it up first
thing in the morning.
It rained the next two days....
___
very big now. We have 29 left of the original 30 having lost one to a
raccoon. They are ravenous eaters and currently go through a bucket and a
half of feed daily. It's very likely that they will be "done" next weekend
with a finished weight of about 6 lbs. While we were pushing around the
cart loaded with 8-50 lb sacks of chicken and goat feeds I spotted
something we had discussed getting. It is a portable electric fence. It
comes with poles that you stick in the ground and 165 feet of 6 inch square
plastic mesh. The mesh has tiny wire embedded in it which carries the
current. We have many potential uses for a portable fence. One use is we
have many areas that get overgrown with weeds and yet are difficult to mow.
For instance, there is a fence that separates the front yard from the
garden/gourd field. Alond that fence has been left the remains of past
projects, tomato baskets, soaker hoses, T-posts, wire, plastic pipe and
planting pots. If I were to try to mow this area it would foul and possibly
damage my mower. Also if I mowed the area all that vegetation would just be
wasted. With the portable electric fence, we can create an impassable
barrier for the goats which will allow them to graze on the grass and weeds
and prevent them from destroying the gardens. So we buy the fence get it
home and we are anxious to set it up and fill the tummys of the goats. We
unroll the fencing, push the posts into the ground and unroll the netting.
Everyting goes up smoothly. I fastened a long wire from our permanent
electric fence across the driveway to electrify the portable fence. I check
the fence with our fence tester to be sure it's charged. Here is where we
run into one of those little challenges that adds seasoning to rural living.
The fence is dead. Huh, I said. I check the connection. I check to be sure
the new fence isn't grounding out anywhere. Then Kristi checks the
permanent fence along the driveway that we are taking the power from. Dead.
Shoot. That just made this a bigger project. Now we go hunting around the
fenceline for what might be sapping the charge. We trim trees, shrubs and
vines from around half the property. No luck. We found a wire that was
diconnected. We felt joy that the problem was found. Of course it wasn't.
we cleared more brush along the street and finally ran out of energy just
as it was getting dark. We quit for the day vowing to finish it up first
thing in the morning.
It rained the next two days....
___
Monday, May 14, 2007
Friday afternoon the new stove was delivered. We were ready. We had already removed the old stove. I had trimmed the trees down the length of the driveway knowing the truck would have trouble with them. It did. However I should have kept going. The large pecan that the roadrunners nested in last year interfered with the truck and the dead or dying pecan in the barnyard scratched it up too. I helped the driver's helper (making me a driver's helper's helper) and we had everything unloaded lickity split. The helpers was looking around and wanted to know what kind of creature could make SUCH a NOISE. I hadn't heard it but I screen out about 95 percent of the noises there. Just ask Kristi. I'm going to pay for that last if she ever reads this. What he had heard was our peacock. He was in good form at the top of the barn. His call is clearly audible over a mile away which causes me to wonder what our neighbor's think when they don't know what kind of creatures we have. Anyway the stove and associated parts and attachments were all unloaded before the driver even made it out of the truck.
I knew when we got the stove that there was the possibility of a problem with the wiring. Now we replaced the stove with the exact same one. Well exact except for all the differences. So I'm using the word exact incorrectly but that's just the kind of guy I am. Always pushing things. Even the language. Sometimes I push THAT to the breaking point. I am on the record for wanting to replace the old stove with a restaurant style stove with high BTU burners. Six of them. The kind of burners that bring a 10 gallon pot of water to a boil quickly while you stand there in an impatient mood watching. However as usual circumstances butted in and pushed my desires aside. They're always doing that. I wanted the restaurant range which would have required installing a propane tank since we don't have gas. That would have meant digging a trench for the pipe, pouring a pad for the tank a bunch of plumbing and no doubt some pretty extensive modifications to the center island in the kitchen. The circumstances as I've mentioned in a previous bog entry was we were down to one burner that was working unreliably. We needed something quick and something that wouldn't require reworking the whole kitchen to get it to fit. So we got the same thing over again. BUT. There's always a but. Our old stove was 47 inches. The newer version of the old stove is 45 inches. Ha ha ha. That means that there is a 2 inch gap at one end. From a convenience standpoint you can now grab a spatula easier by sticking your hand directly from the top of the island into the drawer without having to open it. I'm guessing this will become another project. I have so little to do and I need things to occupy me. Back to the wiring. We did indeed have a problem. In between when the first stove was made and the second stove was made the code must have changed. We have 3 wires coming from the electrical box and the stove has 4 wires. What to do? I turned as I always do, to the Internet. After about 20 minutes of searching I found an expert site that explained a fix even an electricity impaired person could follow and we had a working stove! Better yet neither of us was electrocuted! We didn't even need the fire extinguisher that I had prepared Kristi with!
Saturday morning we went to a rare treat, breakfast out. So we celebrated the installation of our new stove by not using it. Sigh.
A quick trip to Tractor supply and we loaded down the truck with goat feed, chicken feed (3 kinds) some parts for the tractor and couple of sprinklers. We paid nothing for it this trip because we also returned a "universal tractor seat" fits Ford tractors among others! Of course it didn't fit MY Ford tractor. Not even close. We also stopped at Home Depot. Got some clips to attach the 6x6 goat fencing to our T posts, some BT for worm control and I bought a seat cover for a garden tractor. The seat cover worked better than the new seat and it took only minutes to install. Plus it was cheap!
Sunday was the day that made me achy. We dealt with poultry in the morning. Something had attacked a chicken. The chicken may have been blinded. It's hard to tell, it's head is scarred. It sits upright but we're having to encourage it to drink and we've been unsuccessful getting it to eat anything. Apparently in the same attack a turkey's ear was injured. Likewise the turkey is being a bad patient with no other visible injuries. Sometimes animals are so traumatized in an attack that the just don't recover. We're hoping for the best.
Sunday I set fire to our large burn pile which had branches old wood tree limbs from getting the driveway ready for the stove delivery and cactus. I have found a good technique for ridding ourselves of some of the cactus. Using the tractor's loader I can scrape the cactus out of the ground and then using a pitchfork, toss it into the loader bucket to be dumped onto the burn pile. Now if I can find a couple of months full time, we can be rid of it! I also prepared an extension of the gourd field, scarifying and de-weeding the earth. It's ready for the next wave of gourds! While this was going on I was smoking a brisket. So I'd stop every once in a while and go check the fire, which was always either out or too hot, as usual. But the brisket came out great anyway. It's what I shoot for in cooking. Every time anyone walks past it on the counter, you have to take a taste. If I can achieve that I've done well.
Coming up Monday - Extending the watering system for the new gourd field!
I knew when we got the stove that there was the possibility of a problem with the wiring. Now we replaced the stove with the exact same one. Well exact except for all the differences. So I'm using the word exact incorrectly but that's just the kind of guy I am. Always pushing things. Even the language. Sometimes I push THAT to the breaking point. I am on the record for wanting to replace the old stove with a restaurant style stove with high BTU burners. Six of them. The kind of burners that bring a 10 gallon pot of water to a boil quickly while you stand there in an impatient mood watching. However as usual circumstances butted in and pushed my desires aside. They're always doing that. I wanted the restaurant range which would have required installing a propane tank since we don't have gas. That would have meant digging a trench for the pipe, pouring a pad for the tank a bunch of plumbing and no doubt some pretty extensive modifications to the center island in the kitchen. The circumstances as I've mentioned in a previous bog entry was we were down to one burner that was working unreliably. We needed something quick and something that wouldn't require reworking the whole kitchen to get it to fit. So we got the same thing over again. BUT. There's always a but. Our old stove was 47 inches. The newer version of the old stove is 45 inches. Ha ha ha. That means that there is a 2 inch gap at one end. From a convenience standpoint you can now grab a spatula easier by sticking your hand directly from the top of the island into the drawer without having to open it. I'm guessing this will become another project. I have so little to do and I need things to occupy me. Back to the wiring. We did indeed have a problem. In between when the first stove was made and the second stove was made the code must have changed. We have 3 wires coming from the electrical box and the stove has 4 wires. What to do? I turned as I always do, to the Internet. After about 20 minutes of searching I found an expert site that explained a fix even an electricity impaired person could follow and we had a working stove! Better yet neither of us was electrocuted! We didn't even need the fire extinguisher that I had prepared Kristi with!
Saturday morning we went to a rare treat, breakfast out. So we celebrated the installation of our new stove by not using it. Sigh.
A quick trip to Tractor supply and we loaded down the truck with goat feed, chicken feed (3 kinds) some parts for the tractor and couple of sprinklers. We paid nothing for it this trip because we also returned a "universal tractor seat" fits Ford tractors among others! Of course it didn't fit MY Ford tractor. Not even close. We also stopped at Home Depot. Got some clips to attach the 6x6 goat fencing to our T posts, some BT for worm control and I bought a seat cover for a garden tractor. The seat cover worked better than the new seat and it took only minutes to install. Plus it was cheap!
Sunday was the day that made me achy. We dealt with poultry in the morning. Something had attacked a chicken. The chicken may have been blinded. It's hard to tell, it's head is scarred. It sits upright but we're having to encourage it to drink and we've been unsuccessful getting it to eat anything. Apparently in the same attack a turkey's ear was injured. Likewise the turkey is being a bad patient with no other visible injuries. Sometimes animals are so traumatized in an attack that the just don't recover. We're hoping for the best.
Sunday I set fire to our large burn pile which had branches old wood tree limbs from getting the driveway ready for the stove delivery and cactus. I have found a good technique for ridding ourselves of some of the cactus. Using the tractor's loader I can scrape the cactus out of the ground and then using a pitchfork, toss it into the loader bucket to be dumped onto the burn pile. Now if I can find a couple of months full time, we can be rid of it! I also prepared an extension of the gourd field, scarifying and de-weeding the earth. It's ready for the next wave of gourds! While this was going on I was smoking a brisket. So I'd stop every once in a while and go check the fire, which was always either out or too hot, as usual. But the brisket came out great anyway. It's what I shoot for in cooking. Every time anyone walks past it on the counter, you have to take a taste. If I can achieve that I've done well.
Coming up Monday - Extending the watering system for the new gourd field!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
This weekend was busy as always.
We took our sick little kid to the vet. This is the first time we've taken a goat to the vet. In order to "make" (not lose too much) money on the goats we have to do our own veterinary care. We have had successes and failures in that area. We took the kid in because we were second guessing what we were doing. Turns out we were doing okay. The problem was that the kids wormload had gotten too high. We had wormed him twice in the previous eight days, but he was not getting better. When we took the kid in, we could see his poops (please excuse my language. It's the milder form of what I *could* have said) had worms in them. We thought the wormer hadn't worked. The vet did a fecal exam and found there were no worm eggs so the worming had worked after all. The kids system was just pushing out the dying worms that remained. The vet injected the kiddo with anti-biotics and cortisone. He also gave us 3 syringes with more of the same for the next 3 days. We were to keep him isolated with lots of food and water. During the days we'd let the kid out in one of our "goat free zones" the front yard. There are plenty of weeds for him (Alas!) to eat and he wouldn't be knocked down by the other goats. He would crawl around on his front knees with his back legs fully extended. Looked kind of like a caprine wheelbarrow, and eat until he'd fall down. We'd go reset him and he would eat until he fell down. Lather, rinse repeat.
We got our replacement pump working for the sprinklers and watered the gourd field with creek water. There was much rejoicing.
Saturday another portion of the gourd field was readied for planting. Meaning that the topmost surface was scarified to loosen it up and the weeds were scraped off.
We lost a lot of time because of our stove in the morning. We have a 6 burner Jenn-Air stove that has been declining in ability for some time. We were down to one working burner and THAT burner would only work properly on high. After much research we decided that we'd replace it instead of getting it repaired. There were many things wrong with it and if we spent hundreds on it to repair it we'd still have an old stove of dubious value. So we spent some time doing research and it is decided that we'll replace the old stove with a modern version of the same thing. Unfortunately the new stove is 45 inches wide and the old one is 47. So I'll have to get creative with a solution. The new stove should be delivered Friday.
Late Saturday afternoon Kristi came banging excitedly on the locked door from the back yard. I yanked it open and she was squealing about a snake. Well it was two snakes! They were mating under the shed roof. They are corn snakes, both at least 5 feet long. They cared not a bit that we were standing there watching them. After about 15 minutes they left and we didn't see them again. Or so I thought. Sunday night I went out to close the chicken coop, this gets done every night to protect the chickens from predators. As I approached the turkey, guinea pen there was one of our snakes stretched out on the ground before me. It must have been heading for the chicken coop to hunt for eggs. I picked it up and took it back to the house, knocked on the window for Kristi to see it, then I released it on the other side of the house. The fun we have. Corn snakes are beneficial, they can eat rats and mice. Of course they also like eggs but we're willing to sacrifice the few eggs we lose for the rodent control. They also keep the cats stirred up and they can use some agitation from time to time.
We also got some work done on the downed fences. We now have roughly 2/3 of the road frontage fence back up. There are probably about 10 more T-posts to set and then we can figure out how much more 6 x 6 fencing we'll have to buy. Then we can work on the creek side!
We took our sick little kid to the vet. This is the first time we've taken a goat to the vet. In order to "make" (not lose too much) money on the goats we have to do our own veterinary care. We have had successes and failures in that area. We took the kid in because we were second guessing what we were doing. Turns out we were doing okay. The problem was that the kids wormload had gotten too high. We had wormed him twice in the previous eight days, but he was not getting better. When we took the kid in, we could see his poops (please excuse my language. It's the milder form of what I *could* have said) had worms in them. We thought the wormer hadn't worked. The vet did a fecal exam and found there were no worm eggs so the worming had worked after all. The kids system was just pushing out the dying worms that remained. The vet injected the kiddo with anti-biotics and cortisone. He also gave us 3 syringes with more of the same for the next 3 days. We were to keep him isolated with lots of food and water. During the days we'd let the kid out in one of our "goat free zones" the front yard. There are plenty of weeds for him (Alas!) to eat and he wouldn't be knocked down by the other goats. He would crawl around on his front knees with his back legs fully extended. Looked kind of like a caprine wheelbarrow, and eat until he'd fall down. We'd go reset him and he would eat until he fell down. Lather, rinse repeat.
We got our replacement pump working for the sprinklers and watered the gourd field with creek water. There was much rejoicing.
Saturday another portion of the gourd field was readied for planting. Meaning that the topmost surface was scarified to loosen it up and the weeds were scraped off.
We lost a lot of time because of our stove in the morning. We have a 6 burner Jenn-Air stove that has been declining in ability for some time. We were down to one working burner and THAT burner would only work properly on high. After much research we decided that we'd replace it instead of getting it repaired. There were many things wrong with it and if we spent hundreds on it to repair it we'd still have an old stove of dubious value. So we spent some time doing research and it is decided that we'll replace the old stove with a modern version of the same thing. Unfortunately the new stove is 45 inches wide and the old one is 47. So I'll have to get creative with a solution. The new stove should be delivered Friday.
Late Saturday afternoon Kristi came banging excitedly on the locked door from the back yard. I yanked it open and she was squealing about a snake. Well it was two snakes! They were mating under the shed roof. They are corn snakes, both at least 5 feet long. They cared not a bit that we were standing there watching them. After about 15 minutes they left and we didn't see them again. Or so I thought. Sunday night I went out to close the chicken coop, this gets done every night to protect the chickens from predators. As I approached the turkey, guinea pen there was one of our snakes stretched out on the ground before me. It must have been heading for the chicken coop to hunt for eggs. I picked it up and took it back to the house, knocked on the window for Kristi to see it, then I released it on the other side of the house. The fun we have. Corn snakes are beneficial, they can eat rats and mice. Of course they also like eggs but we're willing to sacrifice the few eggs we lose for the rodent control. They also keep the cats stirred up and they can use some agitation from time to time.
We also got some work done on the downed fences. We now have roughly 2/3 of the road frontage fence back up. There are probably about 10 more T-posts to set and then we can figure out how much more 6 x 6 fencing we'll have to buy. Then we can work on the creek side!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
