…of the same. Sort of. I just don’t really know what to talk about. The winds are still visiting us. They are taking their toll on the animals, on some of the infrastructure, the house, and the humans. The winds have been steady since Sunday now; gusting up into the high 40’s. Ripped the wind screen right off of the doves’ enclosure, we replaced it this morning. The gutters are coming off of the deck – but we don’t dare get any one up on a ladder right now to reinforce it. We’re hoping that the morning will provide us with at least enough time to get a ladder up and fix it. Continue reading →

It’s been a long week with a whole lot of  stuff going on… but not so much on the farm. Just lots going on for us in the outside world. We’re just really glad it’s Friday! Thought I’d give you a quick update on a couple of things that we touched on this week and talk a bit about the weekend. As usual, the weekend plans are up in the air – always depends on the weather – but we have hope that we’ll be able to move the RCW to a new spot again; it’s time. Continue reading →

I’m back and we’re on to our regularly scheduled programming for the foreseeable future. Right after I got back, Sue began work on another little chicken tractor for the meat chicks. So she’s honing her construction skills, yet again. The meat birds are growing like gang busters and will be ready for the outside by sometime next week, most likely.  Sue’s making another tractor so we can put them out to pasture. This is a pic of the frame all done. She’s making this one quite a bit smaller so it’s easier to haul around the field. These birds don’t do too much wandering around, they mostly sit and mack out on the feed, so they don’t need a ton of space, simply protection and the ability to stretch their legs should they choose. Since our friend, Ron (he is ever so helpful, that Ron guy), fixed the solar charger, we’ll be able to hook the smaller electric fence up to help protect these guys out in the field. They will be the happiest meat birds on the block! Continue reading →

I know that Friday was a rather brief post and you are all lining up for more – like chickens waiting for their afternoon scratch. They beg just like dogs – as you can see here, they hang their heads out between the fence, just watching for Sue to emerge with the white bucket of scratch. To our chickens, all food comes out of a bucket. If you walk into their run with a bucket, they will follow you everywhere. Continue reading →

They are here, yes indeed. I think this will be a pictorial post with all the new chick (and duckling) cuteness we could come up with.  So incredibly sweet.  The chicks all arrived safe and sound. they were really crammed into their box, but seemed none the worse for wear when Sue brought them home and opened up the box. It was then a matter of getting them under the warming light, dipping their beaks in the water for their first drink, and letting them eat and sleep. Grow, grow, grow little guys. Today was the first day I saw the little duckling out of the nest. He was peep-peeping for his mama today and she really didn’t want me getting very close to him at all, but we were able to snap a few photos of the little one. Let’s just share what we have below.

Ok, that’s it for our Friday. We’ll have more information for you on Monday, plus the egg and weather reports! Hope you all have an amazing weekend. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

It’s the first of May, so happy May day;  here are some roses for you to celebrate! This is one of the climbing rose bushes that mom gave Sue, which we planted this Spring. They are settling in just grand and are set to bloom and bloom and bloom. Glad they like their spot. We’ll continue to add more to the front fencing area. Continue reading →

Monday finds us back to normal; as normal as we’ll ever be, I guess. The cow poses an interesting question. What is our normal? I suppose I’d say the part of our life that is normal are the “chore” periods. We normally do chores three times a day: feed, water, gather in the morning, feed, water, gather in the afternoon, put everyone to bed in the evening. That happens every day. without fail. Everything else is a toss up. Weather affects everything we do, obviously. Weather may be predictable, but the forecasters are rarely 100% accurate. So that throws “normal” out the window. We just play everyday by ear – plan as much as we can and make up the rest as we go along. Continue reading →

So, we know that Wednesdays are always short blog post days; I think that today might be even shorter. Sue has been entertaining my folks during the day, until I get home from work in the afternoon. Today they did the round robin of feed store, grocery store, and Walmart. Dad drove, so that was the big outing for today. Mom did the watering for today, it being Water Wednesday, after all. Sue turned on the orchard for an hour; it’s doing quite well. I’ll do the gabion garden right quick in a few minutes. There’s just not a whole lot going on that’s new and interesting to report. I can say that Thumper’s foot is doing a great deal better today. Swelling has gone down a lot and he’s hobbling around on all four feet. I think in a couple of days – if he’s smart about things, he’ll be right as rain. One of the most exciting things that happened this week was Dad’s gifting of “extra” tools that he wanted to get rid of – he sent a list to Sue and she said, “Bring ’em all!” So he did. A scroll saw, little saws-all, drill, two circular saws.  Not bad! Thanks, Dad! Continue reading →