Just another Day on the Farm

Just a few photos, more to come..

The little pigs are loving the fresh yard greens daily now..

The area where we had the single huge squash bed last year has been rebidded and two more rows added, but they are a lot smaller..

New litter of eight buns just opened their eye and are starting to come out, new litter of four by a first breed doe, will try her one more time..

The very Bare bones of what will become a new small permaculture area, watch and see it transform..we put in a apple tree, a highbush blueberry, gooseberry, backberrry, raspberry and rhubarb, lots more to do yet..

third year compost, so pretty all mixed up and ready for use..

last years is in great need of turning and more work but done enough to add to the new rhubarb patch, we added in new rhubarb plants, twelve more to the main garden, ten to the front gardens, for a total of 34 plants, which in full production will give use 200 to 250 pounds plus yearly

Happy Mothers Day to my mom!

Me and my old hound Bella

Ottawa Comic Con was part of my mothers day, loved meeting Karl Urban..

And of course there was horse time..

Hubby with Brandy who is finely shedding out and starting to look summer like

Hubby on Caleb, my men are looking mighty fine indeed

me hanging out on the grass in the middle of the ride while the horses graze

Where do I even start..  I know..

Dear Readers,

How are you? How was your weekend? Are you feeling well? We had a wonderful weekend, we started Saturday off a bit early but it had to be done, we rushed though chores and then headed to town to clean the van before we went to the big city, we were meeting up with friends, we only get to see them in person as a couple once in a blue moon, normally we are in touch by email or facebook, its a delight to get to see folks in person at times. We had booked in a lunch at a very cool old mill.. We had a great spot overlooking one of the old Ottawa lock system.. See the sunroom, that was where we were..

Then we headed home and stopped at Canadian tire as we had gotten a gift card for there as a easter present, buying on sale, we got a Northern Spy Apple Tree, a new gooseberry bush and a new highbush blueberry.. we did good..

Then when we got home, I was to connect with a friend and go riding, but as I checked in, I was informed that the family had said.. lets go fishing instead.. so we headed out, not that we did any fishing but we did hang, visit, hubby went fossil hunting in the rocks, it was a grand time indeed.. The bank down was very very steep and filled with rocks.. so I was careful and we tied off a rope for safety… the kids of course didn’t use it, but I was happy to have it..

So after a super relaxing hang out by the river, we drove home and did chores fast and hard and grabbed a bite to eat and then crashed.. snore, snore..

Sunday morning arrived grey, cool and with moments of sunshine but more moments of rain.. We did all the regular stuff but the big push was many many loads of composting bedding/manure down to the garden bed..  the main garden was to wet to work in today so we did one of the front garden area’s and I am thrilled to say that we finished prepping it, we have 700 feet worth of bed ready to go..  It will be planted out in two rows of Russian sunflowers, with a mix of bush and climbing cucumbers, some for fresh eating, most for canning in different ways, with a intermix on the edges of flowers an herbs for eating, drying, or salve, medical uses etc. the Sunflowers will be started first by a bit and will provide the climbing vines a place to go up, and the bush will provide the ground cover, the flowers/herbs will work in a number of ways, as a bug draw, as bug protection and as pollinator draws.

Now,  I have a unused stripe of land that I want to put into production this year.. its four to five feet wide, by 120 feet long, full sun, higher on the top, wetter in the middle, dries out but water down in two to three feet on the back end, there is a water ditch on the left side and then farmers field, with fruit bush line on the right side.. Right now in wild, I don’t want to break soil, I don’t want to till, no root veggies please.. I can create hills to plant in, I can make narrow beds for planting in.. I am leary about putting into squash or pumpkins (plus they already have 800 feet for their growing area) as I don’t want them growing out into the field.. ok.. I look forward to your thoughts and idea’s..

The new ducks are settling in very well.. so pretty.. I did split the duck flock, the meat ducks are now one flock, the other two mated sets are in their own flock, and I pulled George and Henny from the main chicken flock and moved them into their own pen, we peeked into nest box and the wee baby buns are opening their eyes now..  the gift female rabbit has been breed three times now, with different bucks an still no babies..  I don’t know if I should even try a third or give on it.. such a sweet rabbit.

Found this cute mostly shed sheeps wool birds nest in one of the tree’s today, is really quite small, just looks big in the photo, in a very unprotected spot but its cute..

But they are beautiful in their own right.. its all in the eye.. Normally, I walk around the farm, with my eye on showing off my lovely critters, and all the good things on the farm..

Today, I decided to walk around the farm with my eye on.. well, not unpretty things per say more like.. These need work things or show that my farm is coming on a hundred years old and things are always in need of fixing..

The always growing, and always being used brush piles, this pile will be done in different uses, the bigger pieces will be cutup and used in the fire pit, the med and smaller will be used in the bottom of a hugelculture bed..

This is “no man’s land” a area that we are building up, its a combo of land rising and composting area, either way its a slow steady process of all extra’s go here to be rotted down and to create mass that will at some point raise this land spot up to a level we want, and then it will be seeded out and become part of the pasture.. We have been working on fillin in no man’s land for nine years now, and its come along way indeed.

This is a nice fresh pile.. now I am thrilled to have my horse’s but I will be honest, no so thrilled that their piles need to be picked up and move, for eight years, the sheep and goats, just poo’d and all was well… then came the cow and we needed to do pickups, one large critter is one thing but we are currently now doing three horse’s and the calf.. if the pastures ever dry out, it will help greatly in spring cleanup but the bottom line is, that the gardens must and do get the push at this time of year..

Love to see my birds on the roof, but that roof needs work this year, will be hiring someone to come and do a repair and a tightening of the whole roof down..

Miss Piggy is very up and down, grunt, fuss with her bedding, up and down, fuss fuss.. and I am quite certain that I saw her have contractions, but no piglets yet..

Kermit has been given a new job and he is on it in a big way.. dig up the pen so we can clean it out, he will do all the lifting, fluffing and turning of poo/bedding for us, allowing for much easier pen cleaning in the front half of the big barn..

Caleb followed me around, watching me move from place to place.. hmmm what is she doing now?

Man the horse’s with their heavy weights and the wet, wet spring have done a number on our gateways.. they are just deep mucky mud.. something to read and try and figure out what to do, for years we would just lay down big boards and we would walk them and that was that but the sheep just didn’t do this kind of damage there.. so we will need to consider, adding sand, (don’t like the idea of adding gravel at all) but we might have to consider cement walk though on the two main gate area’s..  Its a skill I have not worked in a number of years but one that I have no doubt that all the info is still in the back of my head and can be pulled out…. I do love my huge big old shade tree in that pasture.

Ok, so first off, I am going to be nice about this.. but I will address it.. if you don’t like the spelling mistakes or my grammer, you have a choice.. don’t read the blog.. or know that its going to happen..

I know I suck at spelling, I know that I use things incorrectly, I know that I often miss words (I see them when I write it out) and I have gone back and corrected things once or twice and sometimes more when I read it afterwards..

Its how I write, and if you have ever meet me in person or talked to me on the phone, you know that this is indeed a weakness that does not show much in person 🙂

So there you go! I admit it, you are correct..

Now Moving on..

Found the camera cord.. yes! Turns out DH took it to work with him, thinking it was his work phone charger cord.. so there will be photo’s coming back to the blog soon.

Its a lovely day today, I have gotten the dried cloths off the line from yesterday and got the  washing all done before 7 this morning and its flapping away out there..

Here are the new duck hens..

They are all from last year’s hatch, so are one year old females, all are unrelated, very nice looking bunch instead but the drake is very shy, I finally had to get Hubby to catch the other two drakes with their matched hens and move them to a different pen, as they were claiming all the females..  so now we have two duck groups.

We are piglet watch, Miss Piggy is bagged up and its just a matter of time now.. We have moved the boar to his own area, in the barn front, Miss Piggy has a huge area in the back of the barn.. and now we watch, wait and check..

Now I wish I could put up photo but sometime in the last 48 hours, my camera cord went walking, and I can’t find it, its not in its place, but its not on the table either.. otherwise, I would show you wet soggy photo’s of the new girls..

Got three lovely unrelated one year old hens, one is a black ripple with white splash, one is a black and white and one is a chocolate and white.. the male I got at the bird sale is a black and white, chocolate carrier..

And with that, I am back up to the pre-sickness numbers on most things, and so I am done an ready for the breeding season..

My goose is into her second week of sitting on her nest, which is a good thing because I need her pen back..  another two weeks and she will hatch and when they are put away for the night, they will go to a nice small jug pen, instead of taking up my huge horse or piglet birthing/raising pen.

I have a lovely year old hen that has gone broody and is sitting on a big old nest of eggs, she is a week in, and so should have the first of my chicks hatching in May.

Got to see my new ram lamb and my new ewe lamb, both are stunning, the ewe just scream, I am a female, pure white fleeze on her, lovely wool and huge long body, she will carry her lambs with ease, she is a huge and of course she is be my new milking ewe as well, so we will start her training young and early.. she needs to be halter broke, lead broke, stand broke etc.. I have named her Daisy..

The ram lamb is huge! massive, and is white and black spotted, and he is lovely, rapid growth, massive back legs on him, great depth of chest, wonderful thick bone and while he has tiny spurs, he carries polled and as all the females are polled, no horns.. very nice fleese on him as well, both of them will get jackets to help keep the wool in the best shape possible as I have plans for it.

They will be weaned in a month and then come home to join the flock.. this is very good timing indeed..  Speaking of lambs, the lamb with the broken leg is healing well, he uses the broken leg for touching the ground as a steady point but does not use it otherwise, at this time, but it does very well as the three legged lamb, it and its mother are allowed limited outside time, with careful rest time in the barn for the rest, I have to laugh a little because the mother is happy to go out but also happy to bring the baby back to the safety of the pen, she puts him to bed.

The grass is coming up now, as is the weeds.. and it just won’t stop raining, the garden needs to dry out some before we will be able to plant the next round, its wet enough now, that we have to be careful everywhere we step as we are compacting the soil below our feet..

Well, lots and lots need doing today.. so had better get back to it.

I know that I have talked about this before, but I am major planner, a major list maker.. Ever morning I sit down with a cuppa and I take pen to paper and I write out all the things I know that I need to do today, Many things are basic’s, like dishes, pull meat, cook food for dogs, feed the purrpots, groom a hound, work with a horse.

Then the list gets the extra’s, things that are semi regular.. trim the hounds nails, clean the rabbit hutch’s and redo bedding, wash the water pans (sorry, they get rinced out each day but they get fully scrubbed every so many days)

then comes projects.. can one pressure canner of ground beef..  this one needs to be broke down.. pull 18 pounds of meat to thaw.. bring up 18 pints jar’s , bring up two box’s of lids, clean the pot, and then plan to do the project one day after, so that everything.. see while writing out do a full pressure canner of beef, sounds like one thing, point in fact, its at a min, a three day event from start to finish..

Now, that means that I have a number of things that roll over from the lists, which are not the same thing as the daily things..

As things are done, they are checked or crossed off, then the next day, things are moved from the didn’t get it done yesterday to today’s list.. its always the first thing added on the page, this way unfinished things, move up the list.. on the first day, it could be half way down the page or even a doodle, but the next day, its at the top of the page.. if that happens for a few days.. its either a multi day project or ? I am for some reason putting off doing it..

Within a day or two, of being at the top, I will stop and star it.. then I will give it a think.. why is it not getting done.. do I need project materials, do I need a second pair of hands, do I need good outdoor weather, do I need more time to get it done then most of my regular smaller items..

Once I can figure out those questions, then I can plan and book it to make it happen.. So something could be on the top of my list for days to even a week or more.. while I am waiting for the parts to line up correctly

Now one of two things happen when those end up on the top of the list.. either I will drop more basic things and create the space, time, and get the bigger one done..

or

It in fact helps get the little things done faster, now that may seem like a strange thing to have happen, but you see your mind says.. well if I can get six more little things off the list for two or three or five days, then all those things are no longer on the list, which means that you have more “breath” room for that bigger longer project..

Yup, there is one of my little tricks to help get things done..

I am so far behind on the blog after being so sick for three weeks, I have in fact started a work the blog list 🙂  so hopefully, I will be able to get a few things done soon on it..

Sunday was one full week on the meds and it has been both a fast recovery in the sence of I can breath and I am up and dressed, and its been a very slow recovery in the sence that I am weak and tire so very easily.

I did get to town for the first time in two weeks, it was short, I needed to meet and pick up my newest rooster Roger, he is a nice bigger boy of two dual meat brown egg layers, I was told he crows all the time and he does, but I didn’t expect him to be quite as much of a fighter as he is.. Him and wash went one round and Wash is still top rooster but Snickers and him, are really having a hard time sorting out who is second, I have pulled them apart, blocked them, given them huge amount of space and sure enough they are back at it, when they get the chance..

They only have a certain amount of time and I am just going to split the flock and move one of them with a couple girls to the barn but ideally I don’t want to do that, things were settling much better on day two so hopefully they will chill soon.. I have enough hens per roo, that is not the issue.

Picked up a new more very very cheap seeds in town, but sometimes, it pays to do so.. I will pay top dollar for open seeds of heritage plants for a lot of things, but sometimes, its just nice to get old fashioned flowers seeds at a fraction of the cost..  They had old fashioned wild flower seed packages on for 50 cent each and so I snagged a number of them.

We did get the wire up on the posts for the pea’s to climb, Hubby turned over one more bed, it was wet most of the weekend, but that bed is one of my raised free form beds that is on the highest point of the garden so it was ok, its being planted out into radishes and kale, one of those double plantings, I am doing kale down the middle and radish’s on the sides, but the time the middle gets big the sides will have been used and it won’t matter at that time

.

Because I am still dealing with this darn dizzy’s at times, Dh got up and rode Caleb (Bruno) for me on sunday, it was great, it was a nice mixup of different things, the game plan, while he will be my trail horse, we are going to learn the skills required to do the beginner version of extreme cowboy..

That’s about it.. it rained all day Saturday pretty much, and sunday was slow moving as well, its going to be a good while before I am back up to full strength that’s for sure.

I am finally on the mend, the second round of getting sick meant it moved into my lungs and I needed to get a different medication in order for it to work on that infection, it took a couple days of being really ill before the meds started to sort me out, and its been a week of slow recovery, not how I planned to spend my long weekend but so be it.

I don’t have a lot to report on, I got one more maple sap boil done, and now its on to birch sap collecting for the next bit.. much more sap required to make the same amount of syrup but I will need do so a few small jars for my planned xmas gifts as I don’t have near enough maple for it this year.

I sorted seeds, and did counts, and got this years hard covered garden book, and I spent hours transferring info from the seed packages, and my head onto the pages, it was about as much as I was up to between rests/sleeps, and I am still tiring or lose my breath far to easily at the moment.

I had to cancel my trip for this weekend, and it was going to be such a hoot to show and talk about on the blog.. a truck full of laides heading for a six plus hour drive with birds, goat kids to a huge one day tailgate auction.. I figured it was a once in a life time trip but it was a crazy time with little to no sleep and I just can’t do it.. sigh.. at least the ladies are going to be kind enough to see if they can find me a good deal on the birds I am hoping to add to the flock.

The flock by the way has had a full recovery, no issue at all once the first treatment was done, so glad that I didn’t choose to start over again.. the only interesting bird news is that I have a new rooster coming soon. I really liked Cuddles and was so sad that he “went fox bait” and so this is a cuddles brother that is joining the flock, I know that he wont’ be the same but I hope that some of the traits are there..

The goose is firmly sitting at this point, she is a full week into her cycle, so we should have gooslings in may with is perfect timing for them to be pretty much free range raised on the pasture with just a touch of my freshly ground grains to bring the momma and papa into the safety of the barn for lockup each night.

We are working to turn over one twelve foot by four foot bed in the garden daily from now on, with bigger work done on the weekends, at this time, only hubby is doing the turning, but I will join soon, I hope, I did get out bundled up yesterday and pull a few weeds..

My riding has been nil, when you are so sick you are in bed, you don’t get to ride your horse’s, I didn’t even get out to say hello for a number of day, and in that time, we had a power change..  sometime during that Bruno (Caleb) became higher in the herd then my Brandy but he is under Samwell, but Brandy is still over Samwell at this time..

That’s about it..