Just another Day on the Farm

Rockland/ottawa Local lamb for sale 2013 – Ready 3rd weekend of Nov

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Hi Folks..

We first and formost raise our lambs for ourselves, but when our ewes have a few to many lambs in a year we sometimes find ourselves with a few extra that we are willing to do farm gate sales on.

We have ewe’s outdid themselves this past year, we will sell half or whole lambs, this lamb was raised by their mothers till they naturally wean around the age of six to eight months, on pasture, they never had any vaccines, antibodics, they were not grain finished. If you want them lightly grain finished, please contact me ASAP, so that I pick a lamb for you and do so!

They will go to a small family run local provincal approved butcher, and they are cut in a tradional cut, one pds packages or four to six lamb chops, roasts, legs of lamb, lamb ground meat etc

Despite the increased costs in hay, hauling and processing costs, I have not raised my price on them per pd, its the same as last year. I charge a Flat rate of eight dollars per pound on the cut/wrapped lamb, there is a limited amount of extra ground yearling ewe lamb available to the buyers of half or whole lambs at five dollars a pound.

As a thank you to those that have bought from me before, I will offer a ten percent discount on the half or whole lamb.

Write me in the comments and I will get back to you and answer any questions.. I would be happy to help you find ways to use the different cuts of meat, please check out the recipe area of the blog for many ways to prepare your lamb.

Support a small local farmer.. Enjoy fresh local ontario lamb..

Well, that gives me a good wide choice..

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Here are the comments on idea’s of things to do, and boy they covered a good area..

Hey Farm Gal, would love to see something of a textile nature… weaving, quilting, sewing… I keep wanting to learn how to make sheeting for beds – I realize that it should be obvious but I am also sure that there are some tricks to making them fit better… Thanks… Lake Lili Lili

Well Lake Lili Lili, I have to admit that making something in regards to the above would be more like a month long project, not a daily LOL, so I will find one textile related project for the month of Nov and share it, it might end up being quite simple but it will be useful 🙂

As if you don’t have enough challenges running a farm and your daily blog stories (which I love by the way)…but if you need more, I am always looking to try new canning recipes and would vote for a recipe per day for a least a full 2 weeks. My challenge will be to try each one.
Denise

Hi Dense, ok, so you want canning recipes.. this is something that can be certainly looked at, I am unsure that I can plan to can a recipe every single day for two weeks, but I can figure out how to can a certain amount of days per week and in doing so, share canning recipes.. So yes, canning recipes coming soon.

How ’bout “Any or All of the Above”? They all sound like great ideas to me!
So, I guess Farmgal, should you choose to accept it; your challenge would be to teach us “Something New Every Day”; )

Something new every day, that gives me freedom and flexablity and I think Deb, that I will call it a Make something new Every day Nov Challenge.. Thanks for giving me the name and the overview 🙂 for the project.

lol…how in the world do you even have time to turn around??? You are one of the busiest people I have ever met and still would like a challenge?!@#…lol…I would love to learn old skills…you would think if you had a moments rest you would take it…take care & be good to you! lgsbrooks

Hi Lgsbrooks, awe, thanks girl, I honestly have spare time, and I do take rests when needed, I was in bed by eight last night and watched a movie before going down for the night, see, just wasted time, but it was relaxing that was for sure..

Old skills, hmmm, have to think about that one, I have some idea’s on how to do a few things that would fit this as well..

Well, thanks ladies, you have given me a right helping hand for figuring out a plan for the blog for the month of Nov 🙂

Posted in Goals | Tagged Goals | 2 Comments

Why would we want to walk over the flapping tarp thing??

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

As is Dh’s work from home day, I could go riding, so tacked up Samwell and we did a half off and half on the farm ride, he is a little herd bound with his girlfriend Brandy LOL. who gave herself a very very good workout racing around the pastures while we were riding off the farm, and then we settled down and I put Brandy on the cross ties and we used the horse equipment in the big pasture.

Sam is truly unsure why we would want to do this.. why go over and through the pile of poles, when we could just go around, why would we want to do figure eights, what do you mean, you want me to turn with softness ?

But the big one was, why o why would we want to walk over a scary white tarp in the field, we got to the do the side pass, the walk up an stop, the side step, the, hey farmgal, look we could ride over here?,

no, well how about over here?

well, then how about I just back up then?

No, really are you sure you want to do this?

don’t you understand, dark black mud is not scary to me, its just mud, water, no problem, I can do water but its white and flappy!

Did you hear me, rider on my back.. WHITE AND FLAPPY!

O for heaven sakes if I do it once, just once, will you stop this.. Please!

wow, i’m lucky to be alive, it didn’t eat me after all..

Posted in Critters, draft horse | 4 Comments

Introducing the new layer ladies..

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

So, I have been looking at the layer flock and sighing just a touch, you see once I butchered out the meat hens, it left me with five two coming three year olds, one four coming five year old hen and one five coming six year old hen, a two year old rooster and a nice young this years rooster.

Now my one hen hatched out four lovely little hens! so that was great news but I normally like to have eight to ten hens for the farm, which meant that I was short hens, I had been on a waiting list for chicks not once but twice over the summer, I was taking mixed run chicks so I knew that I might only get x amount of hens, but the first hatch didn`t happen and when the second did, it was limited and they decided that they were going to hold them back for breeding stock, and by then, if I got wee chicks, I would be growing them out for the winter, not ideal in my mind, wee chicks should be born at the time of year where they can free range, hunt bugs and get that first heavy push of growth when they have access to everything that spring, summer and fall can bring them.

So I started looking but its seemed that I had two things that I was unhappy with, folks were wanting to sell breeding pairs, and I didn`t want the roosters or they wanted a crazy price for the hens, twenty to twenty five dollars a hen is not! going to happen.

But I was peeking on kijji now and again and finally my luck changed, and a quick email back and forth and bam, thank you so much, I had a appointment to go pick out my new girls. I could not have been more happy with them.. they range between four to five months in age, give or take a month or so. They are a lovely mix of bard rock, white sussex, and red Rohde Island, with a little easter egg dad thrown in on the reds, I should have nice big dark eggs from the bard, big light tan from the sussex and green or pink eggs from the red girls!

They had been born on the property from a broody hen!, they were true farm hens, put away for the night but day free ranging, but sweet and trusting with folks, interested and smart..

They are all getting S names and because their colors are different then my current birds, I will be able to easily track their ages over the next couple years! and I got them for ten each, which is a fair price indeed.

Here is hoping that they will be with me for a couple years and that some of them will make broody hen rating and stay till they are four or five. They have been checked over and appear both themselves to be in excellent health an as they were kind enough to give me a poo sample on the trip home in their crate, everything looks ship, shape and they settled right down in their new digs and started eating and drinking and checking it all out!

Posted in Critters | Tagged Broody raised chicks, new chickens, New young layers to add to the flock | 7 Comments

I need a challange..

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Something to fire me up about? Short term, a week, longer term, the month of nov?

Want a new recipe a day? Want a full week of making soap each day challenge? Want a share a old skill each day challenge, want a fermenting challenge? Want a canning recipe per day? Want a butcher week?

Talk to me folks? I will listen, and who knows what will come on the blog 🙂

Posted in Life moves on daily | 4 Comments

Scales and Balance..

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I had been quite pleased that I was able to slowly and steady losing the pounds over this summer, I was down in weight, but even more important to me, I felt good and I was down a full size in cloths but the real test was that I could swing on up on the horse and go!

Loved it, those weeks of steady riding saw the pounds melting off and then came my trip, and I gained 15 pounds over those three weeks, YIKES!~!

ouch, that just hurts, and so when I say the scale I knew that I would need to get right back on my farm program and get it together, but I also know that I wanted to journey daily and that is just way to much for the farm blog, I don’t have a issues with a one a week post on it for overviews etc, but daily meal blogging is not what my farm blog is about, but I did like the idea of having that response back, I often find that If I am to do something for the blog, that I get it done, not just because I want to and plan to but it happens better, faster and with more thought, the more I plan to write about it.

So here is the link to the Farmgals weight loss dreams and goals blog

http://farmgalsweightlossdreamsandgoals.wordpress.com/

So pop over and check it out if the subject interests you, and I will just do a week overview on the main farm blog..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Leave a comment

The ride.. LOL..

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Now sit right back while I tell this tale, after a second restful sleepin, I woke feeling not bad and I looked outside and saw, no rain, no wind and blue/cloud sky.. perfect.. the time had come, I have been waiting for it.. o yes that perfect melding.. that moment..

No bad fall weather combined with the freedom to ride! yup, it was time to eat breakfast, tack up and go for my birthday ride..

this is the first ride for samwell, with his new tack and the plan is me on Brandy, Dh on Samwell and we are meeting two others locally for the ride.

Well, I swing up and brandy lets me know that she is not happy about me being on her today, she moans and groans and says, no way ma, I don’t want your weight today, and she lets me know with a buck, which thankfully, I don’t come off and I dismount, work her a touch, and put her on a line and get Dh up to see if something is not right, or if she just does not want me, she is perfect for him and now we are burning daylight and late for our meet, so up on sam I go, and we head off the farm, down the road to the big pasture and we are doing fine, we struggle a bit meeting the new horses but all in all sam is a total gentleman, and I am very pleased as this was the first meet and greet between him and two new horses, and out we head but sam has the biggest ground covering walk you have ever seen and when Brandy try’s to trot to catch up, and Dh says, no.. she decides to buck him!, and not just one, I didn’t get to see but I was told one start, three good ones, and one finish, wow Nellie..

Dh stays in the saddle and gets her to stop and under control, way to go DH!!! you rock, and we switch riders for the third time in the day, Farmer T takes Brandy aka Snot Face and Dh takes Ruby and we are off again,..

We rode the big field and then into the bush we went, First Sam was awesome, he picks his footing well, he picks up and though brush like a dream, he goes in mud and muck and just powers though the other side, he rides fair and does not try and run his rider into bush, and we did some pretty good down the hills and one good up the hill and he just was yes, I think I can, I think I can..

The other two horses left us half work horses in the dust as they trotted and moved on down the trail, but Brandy, o miss Brandy gave Farmer T a heck of a work out, first it was, i’m not going in the bush, then it was, I will step over that tree but not that one, and then the hill.

Ok, so Miss Molly and Dh and their horses do the hill, no worries, Brandy is next and she starts it and then stops, and she paws the hill, like she was going to china, then she tries backing up the hill, funny how that didn’t quite work so well.. So she is backed off and I power on up it just fine with sam

, figure, she will want to do the hill just so she does not get left behind.. both right and wrong, she starts to follow but she jumps straight up half way and then does the rest.. knot head..

Down the lane, up the road to a different lane and to a different area to ride and things are settling down, next time Miss Molly takes a run, Farmer T and Brandy join them and I get to see her Canter, not bad, not bad at all.. now we are wearing her out and she is settled down and mainly behaving, other then the odd kiss your butt thrown in.

Sam has done so well, right until we come down the running road and he thinks he is heading home, we let the two fast horses take off at speed and he really, really wants to join them, and I really don’t, I’m tired by then, well heck.. fighting to keep him from a trot or faster was all I could do upper body by then, finally we clear the running road and we are back on the main road home, and he settles down, and we are home, we untack Sam and Brandy and turn them out and the girls go for one more good runand then we all head in for hot chocolate..

After that I head home, can barely keep my eyes open for ten min and head for a nap, Dh wakes me after seven with hot soap (from yesterday, when I made a huge pot of beef, and barley soup with lots of veggies) and I am up for a little bit. It was worth it!

As you will see in the photo’s I am a bit more bundled then the rest, I am in three layers on top, plus a wind proof, hat, scarf, gloves, double layered wool socks etc.. I did not want a chill.. it was a lovely day- honest as you can see from the lack of wear on the other folks..

Posted in draft horse | Tagged 41's birthday ride | 3 Comments

new soap molds, snowmen, santa’s heads and little trees

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Look at the cute little soap molds I found at the dollar store, have not measured them yet but will be either 1.5 or 2 oz soaps, perfect the make a mixed kinds for stocking stuffers or as soap embeds for the bigger bars.. so cute..

also considering this one..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 1 Comment

Bright Eyes is no longer with us.. no worries she is fine :)

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Well those that have been reading for a good while will remember Bright eyes, the wee just hatched baby turtle that Dh rescued along with hundreds of tadpoles last spring in the heat of the drought, we set up horse troughs into water ponds and helped hundreds of baby toads grow and leave, and then there was bright eyes, fall came on and we didn’t know what to do, try and move her to the closest pond or bring her in.. we ended up bringing her in, and I had a crash course on turtle care, a tank was got, a floating turtle shelf, heating lamps, sun lamp and so on and so forth, we got live food and fish for her to hunt if she wanted to as well as baby turtle food etc, and she grew and grew..

This spring, she was moved to a big outdoor tank, and she had a log, and mud, and one corner that was a slew like area, and while we did feed her a bit, as much as possible, we let her live a turtle life, she hunted bugs, and worms and fish and eat different bits of greens and sun bathed on her rock or log..

Fall came again and this time, we felt that she was bigger and ready to go to the pond, she went out and ungrateful little thing, never looked back! Go little Bright eyes go.. we gave you the best start in life possible, the books say that most don’t make the first year, you are past that now, may you live to be a old turtle and ideally, we will catch sightings of you in the future.

We did the right thing rescuing you in the drought and now I feel we have done the right thing, made sure you could do well on your own and when you proved you could, we have set you back into the wilds in our neck of the woods..

I kinda miss her to a point and the rest, not, she was really a wild little thing all spring/summer and fall, and that is just how it should be, so I am in a way proud that she was a healthy well grown small turtle that should do well..

Posted in Critters | 4 Comments

Burning Daylight, nope burning hay!

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

As I still catching my breath, the next sink full of dish’s done, a load of laundry going, and Lily’s barley for her supper tonight simmering on the stove, just got back in from doing morning hay and getting the mail, my birthday CD is in! (Love how fast Amazon is!)

You see while the pasture has reached its very end, (in truth once again being overgrazed on the main pasture, there are major plans on this that are coming, but that’s a different update. needless to say, we have been feeding hay all summer long, just to make sure that everyone had just what they needed, along with the summer graze, it was not that much hay and it just makes me feel better knowing that it takes pressure off the pasture to a point and makes sure that even the most lowly of the herd can have enough to fill their tummies.

But now that the pasture is really done (we have had our first hard frosts), and without me bringing the bigger horse or cow out to graze in the front food forest area’s that I allow them to naturally keep into meadow, they went though a 800 plus pound bale of hay every two to two and half days, and that folks is a yikes, not that my hay supplier can’t give me enough hay but that is over a hundred a week in hay.. and that is just Yikes!

Needless to say, I was wringing hands just a touch out west at this crazy fast blow though the hay but if they need it, they need it-Right!?

Then I came home and watched my horses for a day, start to shake my head, start doing some math and then a frown was sure to cross my face.. time after time, watched one or the other horse dig deep in the bale in the bale feeder and then with a toss of their big head out comes ten, twenty or even thirty pounds of hay flying out of the feeder to the ground, shortly there after, a big or little foot trods on that good quality hay and then comes a pee and poo and look at that.. its become waste bedding..

Whoa!!! hold on there critters, amazing I am getting a full day and possible a two from the bale that I am hand feeding out, which is not to say they are not getting their needed feed and it is more work for me, but at this point well worth heading out every two hours to check and rake it back, you see, instead of putting it out for them in a huge amounts, I am putting out less and I am doing long lines for the sheep, and for the big critters, I have redone the fence a bit at the feeding area, and created a over the fence feeding, now when the horses toss the hay, I can just come back with the rake and flip clean hay back into the feeder, after the horse’s get the second crack at it, I rake it up and dump into what goes out to the sheep and look at that.. content horses, cows and cud chewing sheep, and a lot more bang for my buck on the hay..

More work for me for sure, but I will take it, till the lambs head out for freezer camp, the weekend is booked already, but we will see if there is any chance at all, that we can sneak in banging together a few more outside the horse feeders, ideally, this would slow down the amount of times, I would need to go and rake it back, but its really not that hard to do as long as I am home for the day 🙂

Think it might be time to also talk to my grain supplier about getting a load of whole barley to start the winter fodder growing, both for the milk cow and for the pigs, the expecting momma sheep and a limited amount for the horses.

This will help a great deal in slowing them down on the hay as well..