Hey, it’s Thursday and I’m posting some pictures and news from Tuesday… getting caught up finally! I’m sorry, but life has been a little squirrely the last 10 days or so. I’m very happy to report that things are looking better… Maggie is doing a WHOLE lot better this week, than last week! It’s going to be a long 8 weeks for sure, but I think things are improving considerably!
In the meanwhile, life goes on… Early Tuesday morning, Jessy helped me round up all our meat chickens and pack them off to Freezer Camp. Otherwise known as Pete’s Pastured Poultry! Pete does a great job for us and I really think it’s the way to get it all done. Sure, I know we could do it ourselves, and if we had to, I know I could, but Pete is a great local guy and he has all the equipment and knowledge to do a quick and humane end to our birds and prepare them for us easily. It’s $3.00 to $3.50 a bird for killing, processing and packaging. And he’s quick. They were done in about 2 hours max… 70 pounds of quartered homegrown chicken was waiting and in our freezer. I feel much better about it all. No more taking care of them and a nice fat freezer chest of great tasting home grown chicken for the next few months! It was 17 chickens worth…
And while I was waiting, I drove back to the homestead a slightly different way and was rewarded by an Amish family selling fresh strawberries!!!! Yahoo! My twenty dollar bill bought 10 huge quarts of berries… already sorted and picked, ready for me to take home for various products! I am pretty much the only person in the house that likes strawberries… yeah, weird I know… so this will pretty much take care of me for a good long time. Maggie helped me to prepare them… I flash froze 4 gallon bags of berries, and then have another huge mixing bowl left that is going to be a few jars of jam for me!!! Yeah me!!! I’m going to try a light sugar recipe and probably just make freezer jam in small jars. That way I can have some all through the year without the chance of ODing on the lovely stuff! The flash frozen berries are great because you can take out a few at a time and they thaw in minutes. Perfect for a pancake topping or perhaps a few muffins or I just love them in a salad! They will last a good long time.
I can’t believe how big the lambs have gotten!!! They are two months old now and their mommas are pretty much weaning them on their own. I’ve noticed that the ewe’s udders are getting very less pronounced… and they pretty much kick the lambs away. Every so often one will sneak in and get a few sips but then Mom moves away and pretty much tells them to get lost. They are ready to be sold!
Two are already sold and gone with their momma. Beulah will be coming home soon enough… Harrison and Saro Jane are going to their new home this weekend. And Merle and Luther are newly up on Craig’s List. I’m pretty sure they will sell. If not, there is always the livestock auction, but I hope that I can find them good homes without the stress of that. Still, I just can’t keep all the boys. Harley is the chosen one. And Travis gets to stay by default. Just because he’s a late lamb. He might stay in the herd as a wether, a fixed male, but he might also go to a new home. Just going to wait and see on that. Emma and Beulah are our keeper ewes.
Merle likes chin rubbies. Buttercup and Daisy are waiting for their turn.
The chicken bleachers installed. They are actually goat and lamb bleachers as well.
Momma Mary hen is doing pretty well with her chicks. She has nine left. One, unfortunately, just died. No foul play, just didn’t make it. That is the way it goes.
We are trying an experiment and so far, so good. We moved Pascale and Sophie bunny out to the lil’ coop and the goat stall. Taking care of all of our bunnies takes time and the cages they have are pretty small really. Most people do not raise Angoras on shavings or straw because it gets in their coats and such. But these two boys, I hate to say, are extras… half breed French/English crosses that are not as desirable on the market, so we have found. And mostly their bottom fiber is not used in any wool anyway… so if it did get a little funny, it’s no big deal.
Mostly what we like is that they don’t require constant cage changing out in the runs and also they get a lot of freedom and room to move around. Sophie adores it! He moved right into the lil’ coop and found himself a nice little corner that the birds can’t bother him. And he goes outside and lays in the sunshine and digs in the dirt and just hops around all over the place. Pascale is in the big barn, in the little goat’s stall. Since they are outside most the day, he has the place to himself. And then in the evening, they sleep and leave him alone. He dug a nice big pit to play in and lay in and seems to really be enjoying himself as well!
Rana and Rafeka are looking more and more beautiful!!! Their locks are sooo soft…
Feeding time for the chickens.
Yeah, funny… not too many chickens, eh? I called the few free range birds and every single hoofed animal came running RIGHT after I threw out some scratch! Darn it. I guess it’s time to move them to fresh pasture.
This is a rare occasion…. My roos rarely do much fighting or postering. But the red roo is Copper and the other is Dammartin and this part of the yard is Dammartin’s zone. Copper came over to check out the free feed throw. And then they had to do a little dancing and such. Copper retreated, as he should, since he was clearly in the wrong. And everything settled down.
My garden is finally done! Well, at least for now. Jessy helped me and we got the last raised beds finished and planted. It’s already doing very nicely… we’ve gotten a lot of fresh greens and herbs from it as well as a lot of radish. A lot of the greens and such go to the rabbits but I’ve been skimming off some for me! The baby spinach is doing great and I think a strawberry and spinach salad would be amazing for lunch tomorrow!
My mint is going nuts! I’m going to pick the tops soon and dry the leaves for tea and extract!
I found out that the goats love mint and it makes their cud chewing belches smell delightfully better than before… haha… it would smell like a aged lawnmower bag without the mint.
The Swiss chard is the most beautiful colors!!!! I’m not so great at knowing what to do with it because I’ve never grown it before but I just love the look of it and the rabbits and goats ADORE it… I think I need to give it a try!!
Kale is going nuts… going to try those oven roasted sea salt kale chips real soon!
Indian pretty corn is growing! I planted half a big bed as well with sugar queen sweet corn. I don’t use a lot of our garden for sweet corn because all around us, people will sell the stuff for 20 ears for a buck or two. But still, there is nothing better than going out, picking your own and popping it into a fresh pot of boiling water in just a few minutes. It’s heaven, let me tell you!
Cabbages are going to town! The ones in the left part of the picture are early variety, the others are a mid season head. Looks like we will have plenty of cabbages!
Just everything is looking awesome! Its not quite the garden of my dreams but it’s getting closer!!! I think I need about oh 10 or 12 more beds but that might just have to happen through the rest of the season! Besides, I’m getting low on compost!!!!
The plastic experiment is working. At least the weeds are finding it hard to grow. And the squash and pumpkins are trying to make do. I think it will help a great deal to get this area ready for a huge dump of compost in the fall…
We planted some medium sized sunflowers in the middle of each bed! I love sunflowers, my second best flower after lilacs… oh, okay third… I love zinnias too! haha… still, I just love to see sunflowers all big and tall in the sun… just wonderful.
Harley is a friendly boy, but not too friendly. Just like I hope will be good for him to stay here. We are working to build the ram pasture out in the old weed pasture for him and Otis. It’s a sad thing because we really want to baby and love on the lambs, but you just can’t do it for rams. They need to be a little less, well, pets, to keep everyone safe. And no touching on the top of the head. They can get chin rubs and ear rubs, pats on the side but not on the head. And if they even try to push on us or do anything with their horns, they get them grabbed and a stern NO in their face and held for a bit. They absolutely hate that and will quickly sulk off and think about their actions. So far, everyone is being good. We want them to be comfortable around us, but not tooooo comfortable!
What a fine little crop of lambs!!!
My three brown ram boys! Merle, Harrison and Harley!!!
This would have been a cute picture of the goatie girls… but they didn’t keep up with me and the camera! haha… Still, just imagine Buttercup has the rest of her head. They are such good little goat buddies. I love how bonded they are with each other. Best friends forever!!!
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