Strawberry Takes a Walk

So we've had an interesting day today so far. On such a nice gentle rain (honest slow easy rain) we decided to sleep in after I go the kids moving and most of the animals fed. I learned feeding the rabbits and goats work better after the sun rises they eat better. Upon waking as I get ready to make Silver some instant coffee (we ran out of ground), I hear our oldest dog Midnight doing his playful/you shouldn't be out bark. He is so helpful when one of the other animals gets lose he has a special bark for it. I head out to see what/who got lose, so I head back as all three goats are in their pen.

As I get close to the chicken yard (btw it's still raining at this point), and see Blu our heeler/lab mix standing in the rabbitry looking miserable. Of course she had tore the side (tarp) of the rabbitry down. Blu does love chasing chickens and had tried to get to them. I get to here and discover how she was lose. She had snapped her choke chain. I did a cursory look over the rabbitry to make sure nothing else was broken on it as Strawberry has her bedroom on one side of it. It looked ok, so I put Blu back and went and made breakfast.

So about an hour or two later I hear Midnight again. I go out and this time it was Strawberry out, we chased her back into her yard (took 15 mins) and we thought we found the problem. We thought she used the heavy tire we placed on her last escape to climb out.

So we go back in the house and ten to fifteen minutes later Midnight starts again, Strawberry made it out of her yard again. I was alone this time and after setting her door as a “chute” I slowly and quietly walked up to her grabbed her tail and an ear. Did you know while pigs like their ears scratched they don't like them grabbed? So I let go of her ear and kept a hold of her tail and she ignored that. Yeah I'm thinking so I make sure I can't lose my grip and I start trying to get her back to her pen. If she went a way I didn't want I held her still saying no. That worked, and after I stood around trying to figure out how she got out. No idea, how she got out though and I went back inside.

Ten minutes later she does it again, I repeat the process to get her back and then as I am standing next to her pen trying to figure out how she got out. She strolls into her bedroom and I hear a weird noise. So I walk in and see her pushing at the bottom of the wall to get out. Yeah I told her no and held it in place trying to figure out what to do next when Silver made it out asking me if I found the spot yet. Looks like Blu's fun this morning damaged more wall than I had thought. We got that fixed so she can't get out (she tried and failed) and now I can breathe easy until next time.

She's a good girl, but damn she's almost too smart for her own good I swear. Enjoy your day!

BE Well BE Safe and Blessed Be...

Pond News

Well this morning on my way to feed the chickens I got myself a nice surprise(yes I know "got is baaaad grammar but in this case it suits my needs).
   As you can see we seem to have a tad bit more water in our pond.  As yesterday when we went out to work it was about 1/8 of the way full seeing it at about 1/2 was a big surprise.  A good surprise  but still a surprise.
 Yesterday the pond was not was smooth as it is now in this picture, and as you can see it is only half the pond.  That... unfortunately is due tot he fact that after I fed the chickens I ran back into the house for the camera and got a beautiful picture of the full pond.  Then I slid on the ice and it fell into the water.
 I fished it back out, but as I don'rt know if I'll get the image off of the camera I went and got our old smart phone and used it's camera as I know it has a nice camera on it.  I guess if this keeps up I need to get use to using the phone camera, we should know in a few hours to a couple days if the camera survives the trip into the pond.
 As for the pond itself we are suppose to get more rain today then it changes to snow tonight for the next to days.  So it is very possible we will have a full pond by week's end.  Now we just have to hope it stays full.  If it doesn't we will try Silver's method of "sealing" the pond bottom with clay cat litter.  He says if you get straight clay cat litter and make a slurry of it and coat the bottom of the pond it will seal the "leaks" in it.  Hey, if it works that's good.

 Here is the other picture of the pond.
  The only spot it hasn't done much yet is on the shallow end, which is where my cat tails are going to be growing when the pond is full and it gets warmer.  Though I imagine the blackberry canes that grow on that side of the pond will now wind up HUGE with all the extra water they will have there.
 Pity Paris died over the summer she'd have a blast this summer with a pond in our yard, the two pups do not even seem interested in investigating the pond as it is now.  Neither does Midnight their daddy.  Can't wait to see the cats when it's full of water and try to walk across that log over the middle.
 As for the rest of the water that is in our yard...
 All of our trenches have water in them, also the new septic for the house has a layer of water in it as well.  Funny thing is as I was leaving to feed the chickens and was walking next to the electric trench and noticed the water I thought to myself.  I'd live to see that much water in the pond.  Guess that falls under the "ask and ye shall receive" heading huh?
 We still need to get the piles of mud down a bit, which I am figuring they will work good to "deter" some of the plant growth I don't want in some areas.  We also have to restore the trench that went from the section of woods that line the road to our pond as it was the natural draining area.  I'm going to have to hand dig it.  At least it will ensure steady influx of fresh water though.
 I also did notice that when I watched the water in the pond yesterday that it was still bubbling from the ground up, so it's possible it may stay liquid at the deepest parts in the winter which would be great for raising fish.
 Well that's it before breakfast, which is going to be beef hash (leftover from last night's roast) with eggs on top and maybe some of my fresh sourdough.  While my oven is on the fritz I can only make my "no knead" sourdough bread as it cooks at 500 degrees.
 ..and don't forget today's moral... don't stand on ice above a pond to take pictures with your camera!
 Have a good day all!

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Chilly, but a nice morning

Such a nice morning out there even though it's still a tad chilly outside.  We have one more day before the house guest/farmhand moves on to their new home.  They just didn't work out here, I do hope their new place does work out well for them.
 Any who.. I finally got the pictures from the first snowfall from this year onto the computer.  These are a couple weeks old so please remember this.
  Doesn't it look soooooooo.... pretty?  I always like watching snow fall and these were the big fluffy ones.  The funniest thing through was the two pups, neither of them wanted to go out into it.  Like they were afraid to touch the strange "white stuff" on the ground. We have not had anything measurable since this  snowfall, though Arkansas did get some a day or so ago.  I wish we had gotten it, we could really use the precip.  Though we are ahead on the precip for this new year ... so far, things can change and I do know it.
   Now for a really cute snowfall picture:
  That is Merlin enjoying his first snowfall, mind you when we saw him there he was jumping each step trying to not get his paws wet.  His sister handled the snowfall much better than him... or at least she didn't do anything silly in front of us.  
 Well so far I can tell you that putting the chickens onto wild bird food does have a downturn in egg production.  It seems by at least half what we were getting before.  Live and learn is my opinion on it, and while I was hoping they would do good on it; I need the eggs.  I think we're going to have to really 'fiddle' with the feed portions when I start making my own.
 Wood stove update:
 It is still working very well, the only thing that I have seen as a problem so far has been one... we needed to do some better sealing around the chimney with the cement.  We are also having an issue with the handle for the door not wanting to move, but I think that's just a simple mechanical issue with the nuts.  It is still putting out a very good amount of heat, and we can simmer food on the surface, which next time I make my stew I may try putting it on the wood burner after the initial cooking.  The beef stew, my lentil stew already simmers on it.
 I have also discovered a side benefit for me anyway.  We have all those cinder blocks around the outside of the burner.  It makes a lovely spot to proof and rise bread dough.  Since having it here my breads have risen beautifully.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Earthday in the garden

Well it was such a pretty morning this morning when we got up we sat outside to enjoy the morning sunshine, before the kids went off to church. We also went out to see what our screening trees were doing, and right now the ones doing the best seems to be the poplar's and I was concerned about those ones. I had thought those weren't going to grow well, but they are “leafing out” the best right now. My willows are getting leaves, but very slowly.

I went out and finished “weeding” the garden bed that the green cabbage, lettuce, chard, onions, corn salad, and chrysanthemums are in, and then planted my bush bean seeds. I did pole beans last year, but they did not produce as well as the bush beans I have used for years. I do want to make a very good effort to grow Tiger's eyes next year, provided I can find a place that will sell me about a pound of them at a reasonable price.

While I was planting the beans I noticed that the soil is looking wonderful there, and the chicken manure is composting down well in the soil. The funny thing is, the area the most of our volunteers are coming up in that bed is on the end that had the worst soil last year. Seems I got the soil right in that section now. I did fin another volunteer today a bit farther down than the others. I have almost ½ a pound of my blue lake bush beans planted. I will be planting more once the other plants there are done growing and have been fully harvested. I did discover that right now I didn't need a full pound, but next year I will have a “bed” big enough for it.

I also went and set out the sprouted potatoes we have discovered in our potato bin. While out there I did discover that my seed potatoes are growing, and I had to do a quick check and make sure I did not step on any of them. Also I had to recover a couple I saw that were uncovered, as well as move a little of the straw away from one that was struggling a little.

The puppies my girls have been taking care of are supposedly leaving this week, we'll see if they do or not. I am hoping that we can do some training on the pups Paris had and maybe raise their value a little, maybe we can get a little money for them. Though Tink.. I'll save one if the little guy can have it yet.

That's it for now,

Be Well Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

A New Batch of Babies on the Homestead

Well... our dog Paris who was suppose to be spayed... seems to not be.  A couple of days ago when we were out planting the black current I mentioned to Silver that it looked like her nipples were getting big.  Then this morning when I went out to feed her and Midnight I was surprised to find 4 chocolate lab pups squalling.  So we brought momma inside and her babies:

I'd love to have a few words with the vet that told us she was "fixed"... were had planned on getting her done before we moved here but the vet told us she was already.   Uh huh... my 5-6yr old dog just had puppies... yep... she's "fixed".  Oh well, can't do much besides taking care of it now.

Hey Tink... I was wrong this morning... we now have 6:

This picture is a little deceiving... there are 5 chocolate and one black, they all seem to be doing fine.. and Paris doesn't seem to be having any more.

So in about 4-5 months.. anyone want a puppy.. they are hunting line...

Happy Friday!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

Here is the Tomato Trellis

Yep it's just pretty much a (I think it's called) a cow panel.. could be one of the hog ones though. Any who it was one we had around the humanure pit and because our dogs are tied up a good distance away from it we are figuring that it would be safe to pull it down and repurpose(SP?) it.

All we used on it was 2, 2X2's on either end and we nailed those to the box then we stapled the panel to the 2X2's. So far the tomatoes are doing Ok on it.

Every tomato plant but my 2 "puny" types have flowers on them as of now. I hope the other ones will get them soon as well. My Tiger's Eye beans now have flowers and I think some of my squashes will flower soon. Also I think one of the plants I put in the flower bed by the dogs is getting ready to flower. I think it's a melon.

Well the plan for this morning is to get back to digging the root cellar, right after my bread is done baking. Did you know I love baking bread first thing in the morning? It's such a nice smell first thing in the morning.

This is generally how my day starts off:

I get up start Silver's coffee. I go out get the dog food bowls and feed the dogs, then feed the chickens (and get them water). Then I water my garden plants, which are in 3 different spots. I also fill the dog's water then and use the hose to get rid of their .. errrmmm.. poo. Why don't I just pick it up and dispose of it? Well it does just as much good if I "hose it" down and the "water" goes into the ground, it's what nature would do eventually anyway. So why use a plastic "doggie bag" to clean up their mess? Especially when I can dispose of it in a better way? When I am done with all that I generally get my bread making done, and after this batch is done we are going out to do some root cellar digging. All this before breakfast!

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Those ain't no small potatoes..

Got pics of my "potato experiment", experiment to me as this really is my first time ever growing them. Now I started with just a lay of composted goat manure and planted them right into the manure, a couple are "Sprouters" from my potato bin the rest are seed taters.

This is the view now:

Now I admit... I need to do a tad bit of weeding, and my youngest promised me she would do it... well.. she did kind of. She weeded around all the big potato plants, when I spread that straw this morning I stepped on one because I couldn't see it under the weeds! So later after we have our bath I'm going to go out and clear weeds... I hate weeding... Also there are about 2 that are on their second layer of straw already.. and those are 2 of my sprouters.

This is one that's on it's first layer:

Lovely isn't it? and soooo lush looking! Pity you can't eat the leaves as they look so bright green!

This morning we finished (kind of) a project for the dogs, a stack wood dog house. We were stacking logs on and off for one and the youngest dog kept knocking them over, and with what appears to be a typical week in Ozarks Spring.. (stormy) I suggested we finish it the best we could today. So we finished up the walls and used some of the paneling we are going to build the chicken coop walls with for it's "temporary" roof. I am hoping to get something better for the roof later.

Here it is:

It looks huge, but it's not really; the logs give it the impression of being big. Now we just have to hope the little guy uses it. the two females are using one huge dog house together, and probably consider themselves lucky as it has an old mattress inside it. It only has that as Paris prefers soft things.. I can't blame her really who wants to lay on the ground? They all spent the winter sleeping on our beds so now they are going to get tons of fresh air. Whether they want it or not.

Seedling Update:

4/20/2011 2 Scotch Bonnet (hot pepper)

4/20/2011 1 Golden Marconi Pepper (sweet frying pepper)

I do hope the other peppers I planted start coming up, we also have Dill coming up, Chives, and some random herbs as silly me; I forgot to mark the pots...*sighs* I'll figure it out when they get their first true leaves I guess.

I do hope everyone stays safe in this nasty weather that's been floating around.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Dog Troubles

OK, so we had to take the dogs to the vet today due to my chocolate lab's skin problem; at least we now know why the previous owner got her cheap from a breeder. Seems she has a genetic skin problem, and if bred will have pups with the same. Here is what the Dr put on the letter that I will be giving the officer on Friday about her:

“Paris is a 4 year old black (she's chocolate) lab with chronic skin problems. She has demodetic mange which is a non contagious genetic mange as well as allergy problems and a fungal infection. She was treated appropriately and is not contagious. She will be a constant skin problem dog.”

Now I have told everyone who sees her and asks about her skin that it's just her skin... well dang it! I now have it in writing from the DR! I should have got the allergy part in writing when I found out about that in New York, oh well I can't think of everything.

The vet did say how ever that both girls do need a increase in their food as they are a little thin; but she did not seem concerned. So now I have a medicated shampoo for her bad spots and some fish oil for her coat and we should have a fully haired dog in a couple of months. The Dr said when it happens again just get a fungal shampoo and more fish oil and she should be fine.

So I hope this satisfies the police.. somewho I doubt it will satisfy whoever called them.. though I do have an idea as to who it was, but of course they cannot tell us who called them. I will update this Friday after our police “visit”.

A fun day

Yes these are eggs, and what is fun about them? Well... i'd say how we got them is the fun part. A few days before the New Year me Silver and the kids were out paying bills and doing laundry (normal pay day stuff) and we saw a sign for eggs for sale. Around here that isn't all that interesting how ever these people were selling them at $.60 a dozen. Now going price around here is about $1.00 a dozen so today when we went out for the last few bills and some minor shopping we noticed that the sign was still up. On the way home we stopped there.

Now I am not sure if these people are Mennonite or Amish, but I do know they are one of the two; so i knew that the chickens the eggs came from would be well cared for. When we stopped and asked if they still had any eggs for sale the young man said "Oh yes we have plenty of eggs for sale". So i decided to ask if he had enough for 3 dozen and he replied "is that all you need?" I would have bought more, but we only bought 3 dozen as we did not know how many eggs they would have on their farm.

We stood there for a bit with Silver chatting with the young man and we found out that they supply some of the eggs that Cackle Hatchery uses for their sales. We were also told by the young man that if we would like some adult chickens who already lay we could buy their hens off them in July for $3 per hen. It seems for the benefit of making sure the eggs laid are the best they only take them from the first year of laying.

So seeing as how it would take about that long or longer for chicks in the spring to grow to laying size this should work out well for us, and the year after we can get some chicks to add to the flock. We are also thinking of returning in a day or so to buy more eggs :D I like fresh eggs!

On another note... Silver was looking online and found something interesting sees there is a Christian group out there that thinks the "Rapture" will occur on May 21st of this year, and the man's reasoning is that the bible does not have a zero year and because God considers one day to be 1000 years and that god told Noah that the world would have 7 days till He would end the world in fire.

This made me think a minute... what about the Mayan calendar? Does it have a zero year? If not does that mean everyone is wrong about when the calendar ends? Is it this year? Has anyone asked this question before? It really is an interesting point, our calendar is based on there being a zero year; but not all civilization has the same calendar. JUst a curiosisty I thought I'd point out.

A couple of days ago two of our dogs got into I think a skunk... Silver and I had let them out before we were to go to bed just like every night and three of them would not come back in. So because we were not going to stay up forever we went to bed and waited for the youngest to bark for us to let them in. Well when I got up... half asleep mind you... and let them in I got hit with this smell as the pack of 3 dogs came running in. About 5 minutes later while I was in the bathroom my mind made the connection... skunk! So back out they went, today we have gotten the two smelly ones cleaned up; we had to get some peroxide. It does work, and it works fast. I am hoping the two dogs appreciate the "inside" time now as they spent 3-4 days outside in the cold.

Well thats it for now

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Picture time! again

This is our tree for this year, it's having issues but it is still pretty. A living Norfolk Pine that we will be planting in the yard this coming spring. We also picked up this tiny pitiful cypress tree that Lowes was selling for $1 due to the fact it was dropping a tad... it's not now and we are going to plant it next spring as well.

Well though we are putting in insulation my little girl had a three dog night the other day.. as of course the dogs did not want to sleep on the cold floor. Oh, does anyone have any suggestions for Paris' skin problem? The vet said it's a flea allergy.. but it takes a full winter for her coat to grow back, anyone know of a way to have it grow back faster?

This of course is our resident momma cat Paige, she was hanging off the upper bunk bed the other day and I though she looked so cute like that (and of course she knows she's cute) and also had a "wow your legs are long" moment too.

On another note, we had a visitor back on Friday, seems the school called the state about our 'substandard' living conditions and sent someone out to check on us. The man who came out was very nice and he was impressed with our set up actually and thought the sawdust toilet was a interesting idea, and was surprised it didn't smell. I do have to wonder though if we were homeschooling would have had this problem?

Be Well and Blessed Be...