Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

I had a stomach bug Monday evening so I slept in a little bit Tuesday morning and decided to stay home from work. Amazingly, by noon-ish I felt pretty good so I got outside and accomplished a couple things. I had most of a bag of rye grass seeds that I hadn't spread yet. So, even though I'm late getting it out I broadcast it anyway. I have the gate closed between my neighbor's pasture and mine, so I tossed it out on his side and I'll keep the critters off of it for a awhile and see if it takes off. We're supposed to get a little rain this weekend so I hope that'll help it get a good start.

I'm also trying to get prepared for winter (just in case we have one this year) by improving some of the shelters in some of the chicken pens. Most of my chickens are free range and sleep in one of the barns, but I often separate a breed to get some pure eggs to hatch. Since I'm always moving fences and re-arranging pens I don't have permanent shelters in every nook and cranny and felt like I should prepare something for those areas. I only need something small for a half-dozen chickens or so. My bright idea was to take a pallet and bend some pvc pipe over it, attach some welded wire to the pvc, and cover it all with a tarp. The welded wire keeps the tarp from sagging under any rain. Then I was able to put some dog crates under the cover for a pretty nifty little chicken shack. It'll at least keep things dry and the wind blocked. The best thing about it is that it's light weight and can be picked up intact and moved very easily. The worst thing about it is that it's light weight and could be picked up (by the wind) and moved very easily, lol. I think I'll find a way to anchor it to a t-post or something!

I even found time to put some more veggie seeds in the ground. I've got some rutabagas, more carrots, more radishes and more onions planted. My cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts are looking pretty good. Nothing ready to harvest yet, of course, but they plants look good. Still have a few monster squash hanging on the vine too. Really hope they get a little more ripe before I have to pull 'em. I'm leaving that big one that fell off the vine sitting outside in the sun for a few days hoping it'll get a little riper.

At the end of summer I covered the main garden with a huge tarp (used to be a pool cover and it's BIG). I'm going to pull that back and pile some shavings and hay under it to rot all winter, and then pull the tarp back over it until spring. Fingers crossed that it'll improve that soil and maybe even smother some weeds. I hate weeds. And bugs.

The two big bucks got out AGAIN on Sunday. This time they broke the latch on the gate....UGH! I'm selling them both as soon as I've got everything bred to them - or spring - whichever comes first! I'm going back to cute LITTLE goats - no more of those big 'uns that are bigger than me. Nope - not gonna do it anymore. I like 'em, but they're tooooo much trouble!

Happy Wednesday, ya'll!

 

[Denim Deb]

I was going to cover my garden w/a tarp, but since I want to bring some chickens home and let them loose in the garden, I don't think it would work. I guess I could always cover it when I don't have the chickens in there.

 

[Britesea]

I covered my garden one year, after putting a bunch of pig poop on it to ripen over the winter. Had a bit of a shock when I pulled the tarp off in the spring-- musta been 7 or 8 snakes had crawled in to stay warm on the compost. They were active buggers too because they were so warm!

 

[Denim Deb]

That's when you let the pigs back in!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@Britesea - thanks for the heads-up! Yep, pigs would be good at rootin' 'em out, for sure! But, my chickens and my one lone guinea are pretty good at snake patrol too. And, Gracie grabbed a copperhead a few weeks ago! First and only venomous snake I've seen in a few years. We have lots of rat snakes and king snakes, but they tend to keep the others away. This was in an area that I usually don't see other snakes though - so it makes sense I guess. I'm just glad that she's as quick as she is and she literally picked it up and tossed it into the air. DH saw her and at first thought she was after a rat - so when he noticed it was a snake he called her off and killed it.

Come spring I'll be looking to get some more guineas. The female I have is lonely and deserves to have a buddy. I wish they were easier to sex so I could just get ONE more - but that's not likely. When the time comes, I'll just grab a few and hope for the best.

On another note I decided to cash in all of our AMEX points for gift cards. I had let the points build up for a bit over a year and was able to cash in our points for ... $1225.00 worth of cards! WOW! Some of them will be passed out as Christmas gifts, and the other will cushion DH and I so we don't have to dip into our savings as much while he's not working.

Happy Thursday ya'll!

 

[Britesea]

Conga Rats on the AMEX points! It's a great way to make money if you pay off the credit card so you don't have to pay interest.

 

[Denim Deb]

Ditto to that!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks ya'll - it's a nice little bonus. And, I'm supposed to be selling two more goats today. I'm letting two does go - IF the guy shows up, lol. He's bought lots of goats from me in the past, but he's not very reliable as far as actually showing up. However, I won't be too disappointed if he doesn't show today. We're getting absolutely pummeled with rain and storms right now. We've got wind gusts in the 35-40+ mph range and I have no desire to go outside in this mess. I'm going to sit here and enjoy another cup of coffee. Hoping it'll run it's course and clear up this afternoon.

DH and I spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday just piddlin'. We didn't do anything major, but got several small jobs taken care of. One of the best things was to make use of some scraps of hardi-plank siding that were left over from another job. We took a bunch of those scraps and put in the low spots around most of the gates. I really hope that makes a big difference. I'm tired of losing my boots every time I try to walk through a gate.

We had an extra water trough that was being stored upside down beside the barn. I discovered that RATS were digging under it and using it as a shelter - GRRRRR. So, now it's right side up and sitting under the eaves of the barn serving as a rain catchment. Talk about timing, lol. I figure it will be filled up today. If I leave it there next summer I'll put some goldfish in it to eat the mosquito larvae.

We were able to spend a little time in the garden and peeled back the tarp that was covering it. I spread a big cart full of poop and cruddy hay in that area. The chickens were gladly mixing it all up. If/when the rain and wind stops I'll try to get that tarp put back in place today and let all that goodness percolate until spring.

Last but not least, I arranged the barn into what I call the winter formation. I section off an area that the mini's can't get into because they like to play kings of the hay supply and hog it all. It's arranged now to where the mini's have an area they can access where they can feed out of a communal hay feeder but they can't get to all of it. There are also some hay racks on the back wall of the barn that are totally for the goats.

HOLY COW - the wind just changed direction and we had the mother of all wind gusts! I literally felt it hit the house. Gee whiz, I hope the chicken shelters we put together the other day hold up! Lost satellite connection too....but that's not unusual at all. That happens every time we have a thick cloud, lol.

Guess I'll try to do something constructive inside the house in case we lose power.

Happy Sunday ya'll!

 

[Denim Deb]

We've had gusts of wind so hard it's blown the back door opened! But at least that hasn't happened in a long time, and every time it did, we were home.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Woke up to another storm this morning - but thankfully it was short lived and moved too fast to drop a whole lot of rain. It basically just reinforced the wetness we already are overrun with. Geeze, did that even make sense, lol?

It's my first day of winter break and I don't go back to work until next year! Yippie - I'm as happy as a pig in mud!! Unfortunately with all the wetness it'll be hard to get everything accomplished that I'd like to do. However, I managed to knock out a couple things today already.

I have some young chickens housed in an 8x8 building that has a wooden floor covered by heavy rubber stall mats. I had about 4 -6 inches of shavings on top of all that. Unfortunately, the huge waterer I have in there got tilted and spilled out everywhere. It doesn't take too many gallons of water to flood a small space like that when it has nowhere to drain to. As a result, it was starting to have a very strong ammonia smell from the wet chicken poopy bedding. So, I shoveled it out this morning and spread it on the garden. I'm glad I hadn't pulled the tarp back over the garden yet.

I still have some goats with pale eyelids so I wormed a few of them again today. I used moxidectin this time and hope that it'll do the trick. Some of them still have rough coats, but it does seem like they're coming around. They're doing well with their round bale. I put it out Nov. 24th and they haven't even used half of it yet. Of course, that might be because I'm filling up the racks inside the barn with square bales so they have hay everywhere! The round bale is under a lean-to on the west side of the barn so it's only a few steps for them and it is under cover so it's staying nicer much longer than when I sat them outside.

I noticed broccoli heads forming when I was checking the raised beds today. I'm so excited! There is nothing better than broccoli that is fresh cut, lightly steamed and sprinkled with a smattering of freshly grated parmesan... oh my... that made me hungry! I'm thawing out some chicken breasts from some meat birds we butchered earlier this year. Don't know what I'm going to do with 'em yet...maybe a simple stir fry.

Oh my goodness - Gracie is really earning her keep these days. I love my Great Pyrenees, Maddie, and she does a wonderful job. But, Gracie, the English Shepherd, is quickly becoming indispensable. When I was worming goats this morning I had them all in the barn. This barn is basically just a big ol run in shed. I've sectioned part of it off for the horses and I don't have a real door to keep the goats in unless I put a panel up. There's just an opening about 6 foot wide. I wondered why all the goats weren't running out when I was catching 'em and worming. Then I turned around and noticed Gracie eyeball to eyeball with 'em - holding them in the barn for me. One of the older and wiser goats hadn't even come in the barn - knowing what was in store for her. So, Gracie changed her mind for her. In about three steps she had that goat turned around and brought her right into the barn for me. Then she walked back outside and guarded the door again. She amazes me... it's like she knows what I need even before I know what I need, lol!

Ok, break time over and time to start the afternoon chores.

Happy Wednesday, ya'll!