A duck named Jack or now called Jackie?

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Got a very nice email from a stranger who is friends with a friend of mine, who was looking to place a single month old duckling, breed and sex unknown..hopefully I have the story right,  this little duck was hatched out a nursey an was the weak duckling of the ones that hatched, and so this lovely lady took “jack” home to see if she could raise up, and was now looking for a new home.

Dh picked it up the next day and informed me that given the straight tail feathers that the odds are very good that Jack, is in fact a little hen, so we moved her over to Jackie..

After the Shock of being put into lockdown in a big old rabbit hutch for 24 hours to make sure she was in good health (she was not really in shock, she eat and drank in a matter of minutes and figured out the bedding right fast etc) she got moved into the bigger ducking flock and they think she is bigger and therefor a momma and are following her around doing their qaucking best to win her over, on the other hand, she thinks that she is a human and a house duck and is still adjusting to becoming a outside with a house duck with other ducks.

I look forward to getting a photo or two this little duck and figuring out its breed and I am hopeful that Dh is right that its a hen, I can always use a good hen in the flock..

 

Posted in farm | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

My Taste buds are in revolt but the feet are finally better!

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

I have gotten used to the way the water tastes and I am adjusting to the taste or in some cases the lack of taste in my fruits/veggies and some things are even good, like the locally grown mushrooms (excellent) the wonderful locally grown (just ten min away) hot-house tomato’s are full of flavour and have been allowed to ripen on the vine..they are excellent..

However the rest I am struggling with, last night was a great example,  we had liver and onions as mom is to be eating lots of things with iron in it and it was beef liver, well one bite and the smell and taste was ah, mom has a nose that puts mine to shame and she said it was fine (so 99.9 percent sure she is right) but having only been eating my pasture raised lamb, rabbit and fowl livers for the past years and if you have seen some of my different liver recipes, you know I love it.. but I could not make myself eat this..

There have been a number of things that are like that(including almost all milk products), so far the best I have found is to make myself big green salads with lots of veggies and a bit of cooked cold meats with fair bit of nuts in it.

Broke down and spend 4 dollars on an herbal tea drink, it makes 28 cups, so overall that is not a bad price and I read for a good while before finding it, as I wanted something that had things I knew what they were and that they were safe for me, and finally got this one that had nettle, burdock and others that I use from the farm and so started using it yesterday and will continue for the next five days an see if it can get me a bit more myself..

The good news is that I have been looking after my feet and got new good heavy sandals for in the house and good walking shoes for outside and while I could see improvements each day since I wrote and asked for help (THANK-YOU! all again for sending me so many wonderful ideas) today was the first day I got out of bed, stepped down and felt no pain anywhere from both my feet! YES!~

To make things even better this morning, they sent different pain meds for mom yesterday afternoon and she had a much better night and morning then she has had for a few days, we even got her out onto her deck and into the fresh air and sunshine for her 15 min sit up time with a fresh coffee and the local newspaper..

Tonight I get a few hours off, my SIL T is coming over to give a hand with mom, while I get to spend some aunty time with my teen newfew, I could have picked a movie in town to see but I’m smarter then that, I picked one in Red Deer, an so we will have the drive in and the drive out to have visiting time and then we are off to see Snow White and the Huntsman.

Well, had better wrap this up, as I have a deck to clean and vaccoom, a house that needs things done, dusting (I hate dusting!) the never ending laundry, and little dog that needs a bath, and some yard work to get done between attending mom and doing meals..

But before I leave you.. here is a photo of the newest baby ducklings that were hatching yesterday and last night on the farm!

Posted in Critters, Family | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mom update on knee.. well its been a week today since surgery and here is the overview on how its looking!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I don’t get to see the below photo but once a day when I change the dressings but the leg swelling and bruising I get to see all the time, in a way its amazing how well she can put weight on it already and yet we seem to be having issues getting the pain managed to a degree I am comfortable with, I don’t want her pain free but I would like it be less so that she can rest and heal..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Garden Power to the Peaple :)

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in gardens | 6 Comments

Dh now has a little camera of his own on the farm.. I am so looking forward to seeing how things go..

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Wild Blackberries in bloom in between and the edge of the second layer of the food forest area in the front yard.

 Hmmmm, glad to see that my brussel sprouts are coming a long but clearly that ground around it needs to be bedded down for the season.. Last I got ducks bathing in ruts LOL

Now, what I would like photo of is my ducklings, my bunnies, my garden, the things you have planted out, and maybe a photo or two of some of my barn critters, sheep, pigs or moo cows.. hint, hint lovey..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

Wheat Belly -Night reading..

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

So Deb had recommended that I read Wheat Belly, and I did so, I am very fast reader but for a good book, I will also read it over and over again, something amuses DH to know end, like one of my favorite books Rapter Red, I read it about two or four times a year for the past 15 plus years..

Anyway, I have to say that I just can’t be suprised to find out that they have breed the heck out of our current wheat to the point that our bodies can’t keep up with the changes in it..

I have to admit to being a little sad at reading it but not that surprised.. I think it would be very interesting to give it a try for a month and see what happens, in regards to removing wheat from my diet..

The catch or the problem I have is two fold..veggies and some of the other grains.

a) I would not be willing to remove things I can grow on the farm, potato’s, squash, corn etc from my diet, I would be willing to let go of wheat (Which I know bothers me) but I am not sure I would give up all barley ( which does not bother me and I use it alot in soups/stews). I normally don’t have any issues with oats either..

I would want to see if I could keep limited amount of rice in, I don’t have a problem with his recommended “lower” amounts as that is about perfect for soups/stews etc

I think, I am going to give this a try and see what happens, if I get postive effects, I will work harder at it, will let you know how it all goes..

 

 

 

Posted in farm | 14 Comments

Hail! Wow did I just get Hail.. Good thing I picked ma’s strawberrie this morning :)

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in Life moves on daily | 3 Comments

Request for help-Please and Thanks

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

Wow, do I miss my book collection, and I just do not have time to sit and try and look on the net to figure out what I should be doing.. so I am going to just ask for a bit of help from friends..

Can any of you hit your books and see what I need to be adding in regards to either a) food or b) herbs to help with burning feet..

I have started to add in a banana a day , and I will be going right after I post this to get some salts to soak my feet in, Overall health good, no headache, no swell in legs, normal active, good sleep, but both feet feel like they burn when I put stand on them, by the end of the day for two days in row, limping by the end of it..

Any and all postive thoughts or comments are welcome.. if at all possable, please keep it to things I can do myself and or herbal etc.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 28 Comments

Follow up on the missing sheep flock-

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/08/missing-sheep-saga-draws-to-a-close-as-inspectors-find-begin-to-destroy-quarantined-flock/

The strange yarn of the fugitive flock – heritage sheep said to be related to the first sheep that came from England to Canada – is coming to a messy end after food inspection officials finally found at least some of the quarantined sheep stolen in a high-profile bid to save them from the slaughterhouse.

Canada Food Inspection Agency officials found 28 sheep and has started to kill them, said their owner, Montana Jones.

The sheep were apparently found on a farm near Chesley, Ont., not far from the Lake Huron shore but a five hour drive from her farm in eastern Ontario where they went missing.

Ontario Provincial Police and CFIA both independently confirmed that some of the missing sheep, which were subject to a government quarantine order in a scrapie scare, were found but refused to provide any details or confirm a cull has begun.

More on the link itself, but I copied that part that I felt was the update, the rest is overview..

My other post on this subject.. Warning, its a bit of a rant..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Green composting in place

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Just another day on the farm

I was able to watch some of Back To Eden yesterday and I will certainly plan to watch the rest, I was about 40 min into it and I very much liked the idea of how he creates soil but once again I was stumped and surprised when they showed huge trucks bringing the materal to the site and a full sized backhoe being used to put things into a massive chipper/mulch making machine..

Come on, not everyone can live close enough to get many loads of wood chips dumped on their land, and even few of us can afford to use or rent backhoes etc.. I could not agree more with the goals of what I saw but I could not agree with how it was being done..

Most of us are going to have to use what is naturally provided on our own land or within our own area, and is able to be made with our own sweat and hands.

Which brings me right back to having my own compost piles, green cut and drop crops, mulch from what grows on the farm and making and using my own green or aged compost tea’s..

Our garden truly looks like a overgrown jungle to the naked eye, Huge patches of Stinging nettle, Burdock plants here and there, about the only thing that does look somewhat typical is that we do have walkways, at the end of most rows we have flowering plants, herb plants or medical plants, for every four or five rows, we have a row of flowering/herbs/medical plants, there are tree’s and bushes in the middle of the garden itself that it is planted around, create mini-shade spots..

Typically if its not planted its got green cover growing on it, or its got sheet metal on it or its covered in wood shavings/critter poo/feathers/hair from the pens.

One of the hardest things to learn to do in my garden is to learn to pull and drop, in many ways I find it hard because my folks always had us pulling the weeds and then removing them from the garden, so that they would not go to “seed” so I fight my inner voice when I just take a knife and cut down a swath of green and drop it in place, leaving the roots in place to rot in the soil, and the green to go on top.. However its very effective, you cut or pull and drop the green cover in place, make your planting hole, I tend to then mix in a bit of the aged compost below into the hole itself and then plant, then mulch around the plants on top of the green dropped cover crop..

 

Posted in farm, gardening, gardens | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments