Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

Check out his eyes, OFG. Is that how the MIL looks at you?

ha! with a smile? never... with death in her eyes.. sure.

wow what a day yesterday. the rain held off (thank heaven) so we ran right out and whacked the last 2 remaining meats. you'll note its TWO not three. the 3rd one flopped over dead the other nite. and i mean flopped.

the dog and i heard a terrible flapping in the hen house so we ran right over there thinking that marauding wombats or what not got in there... nope.. that 3rd meat went down. hard. it was horrible. me and the dog stood there clutching each other and screaming. then it was over and that huge meat lay there in a heap, belly up.

course at this point i normally would go and get TBM and tell him to 'get the gloves'... but i have evening chores alone these days. i could have sent the dog in but i'm pretty sure he'd just help himself to the dead meat. so i had to do it. i'm not even kidding - i could barely lift the thing.

we're still taking bets on whether or not the garbage guys actually TAKE the garbage - that meat practically filled one huge garbage can itself.

what a waste!

so anyway. then there were two.

we got so much fat from the biggest of the two you cant even believe it. i was slack jawed and buggy eyed - actually i was in chicken fat heaven. i'll probably get several CUPS of rendered fat - from just those two meats!

and the biggest one is as large as a small dressed turkey - its just amazing. and the livers! the livers were as big as my palm!

last nite i make a liver, rosemary, tomato pasta sauce and the one liver from the smallest of the two was too much for me to eat in one sitting.

so thats the word on that. a little bird told me that meats are on sale at one of the hatcheries for $0.80... might just get some more. but then...we'd need a 3rd chest freezer but we've been thinking about that anyway.

then.

wow. does everyone read coldantlerfarm? did you see where Jenna got run over by her sheep? i was a little smirky last nite thinking "Dog#1 would never let stupid sheep run me down - let alone let me lay there in a heap"... but then i laid there all nite worrying about the whole thing. that poor gal lives alone and is pretty remote. thank heaven she wasnt hurt badly - just bruised. but wow.

a good reminder that animals are unpredictable and if you're short like me.. they are only gonna take you so seriously.

so last nite i started working with Kai to "watch the gate." Dog#1 already does this, he stands at the open gate - doesnt come in, doesnt walk away, doesnt let anyone out... and comes in if commanded, usually b/c a rooster is chasing me.

i kinda laughed the other day when Debbie when to 'charge' me and i threw a bucket of water on her. she's not that big - but Sunny was huge and at least as big as me. she's gone back to her home herd but if she got saucy and wanted to give me a head knockin.. sheesh. i might have been the one laying there in the dirt.

so anyway my point is... Kai is gonna step up her training so that when we get bigger animals she and Dog#1 can work as a team if i ever get in a pickle.

some folks say that a dog will get run off by livestock - but i taught Dog#1 to stand and fight a while ago - Kai wouldnt need that much encouragement at all and working with Dog#1.. heck.. i could have cape buffalo and be as safe as kittens.

speaking of.....

here's little Scruff - and yes she's that small. full grown she's only about 7 pounds:


pretty much she's only as big as one of Nicholas's haunches! she's getting the hang of being around other cats. she's meeting the others under the bedroom door and has been cute-ing it up for us. we love her long tail and tiny face. and extra nipples.

happy thursday everyone!

Scruff is beautiful!

a little bird told me that meats are on sale at one of the hatcheries for $0.80...

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but you have buy at least 50 of them! 50!

so you're sayin you want 25 of the 50?

ha!

uhhhh. you know that's tempting. Is that before or after you grow them out and process them?

I don't have a freezer available anyway.

wow. does everyone read coldantlerfarm? did you see where Jenna got run over by her sheep? i was a little smirky last nite thinking "Dog#1 would never let stupid sheep run me down - let alone let me lay there in a heap"... but then i laid there all nite worrying about the whole thing. that poor gal lives alone and is pretty remote. thank heaven she wasnt hurt badly - just bruised. but wow.

a good reminder that animals are unpredictable and if you're short like me.. they are only gonna take you so seriously.

That reminds me of what Cesar Milan says, that FIRST animals are animals, we as humans give them human attributes. Just think of how "sweet" most people think little piggies are?

Scruff is adorable......

And gosh, I'd hate to be the one standing at the gate when you tell Kai and Ti to "watch the gate".....gulp. I've found that when the "moment" arrives that you need your dog to defend you, mine have been right there, at my back, ready and willing. I'm not sayin' don't train them, but they have an intuition that I don't ignore and they seem to know when you need help.

*SD is remembering when Bandit the KBD came to her rescue during a crisis this year with a snapping doberman mix whose foot was caught in a trap, biting anything in sight. Bandit KNEW she was in trouble, escaped from her crate and burst on the scene, giving such a large bark the dobie got startled and SD was able to free him.
Ya can't train that. Sometimes they either "have it" or they don't.

Pigs are sweet....yeah, right....I went in the pig pasture for the first time this year to retrieve some pumpkins that the farmer tossed over the fence....I wanted a few small sugar pumpkins for soup. DH came with me, and I had to keep reminding him to come stand between me and the pigs. He feeds them daily and goes in to fix the electric fence and such and they instinctively respect his bulk and authority....but I am the source of intriguing goodies like hunks of fat and moldy cheese and whey and such, so they came crowding right over to me.

I wish DH could choose good produce...or I wouldn't have gone in at all!

Roasted pumpkins on the stove waiting to be pureed for soups! Hey, does that make me like the prodigal son, desiring the pigs' food?

Cute kitty, OFG. We did order 50 creepies, yikes! I'm gonna can a lot of them since they will be ready around when the pigs go to freezer camp. It is gonna be meat, meat, and more meat, and I can't wait to feel wealthy with all that meat in the cellar!

ohiofarmgirl said:

wow. does everyone read coldantlerfarm? did you see where Jenna got run over by her sheep? i was a little smirky last nite thinking "Dog#1 would never let stupid sheep run me down - let alone let me lay there in a heap"... but then i laid there all nite worrying about the whole thing. that poor gal lives alone and is pretty remote. thank heaven she wasnt hurt badly - just bruised. but wow.

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I thought 2 things:

1. Why didn't she jump out of the way? Or was she trying to stop panicking sheep being chased by a dog?
2. That's why I don't keep horned animals.

ohiofarmgirl said:

a good reminder that animals are unpredictable and if you're short like me.. they are only gonna take you so seriously.

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I feel that way about humans. They are just animals and only predictable insomuch as animals do what they do.

here's little Scruff - and yes she's that small. full grown she's only about 7 pounds:
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/uploads/1173_scruffet.jpg

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Awwww... Amira is 7 pounds