Waitin’ on a Woman…
Monday, December 22nd, 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Another catchy song about a typical life experience by Brad Paisley. This song is about a man who reminisces about all the times he finds himself waiting for his wife…getting ready for a date….planning a wedding…going shopping…and finally at the gates of heaven. He makes a point that he doesn’t mind waiting and in the end it’s worth it for his woman.
So as I was out in the barn yesterday checking my pregnant does for 5th or 6th time in the bitter cold and -30 windchills this song came on. I thought it was quite appropriate.
I have two does that are due to kid in the next week. They’ve been teasing me with signs that they’re in labor for the last two weeks, keeping me on the edge of my seat all day and night. I’ve caught them stretching and yawning, turning around to look at their behind, “talking” to their kids, squatting to pee and not peeing, pawing the ground, isolating themselves and avoiding the feeder. Before bed every night and again when I wake up at 5:30 I head to the barn to watch them, looking for a sign that it might be real this time.
Fantasia- Due 1/2/2009. Notice the bagged-up udder and droopy tail (never mind the mid-poop camera shot)
Lena- due 12/29/2008- Deep and wide...triplets?
So why all this anxious waiting? Well, I really want to be there when these girls kid or at least shortly there-after. It’s not that I don’t think they can handle it themselves but with it being so darned cold I want to make sure those kids get dried off good and fast and get a belly full of warm colostrum before they lie down and freeze. It’s one of the joys of having babies in the winter.
And it is a joy, baby goats are a joy any time of the year. Despite the cold, I love being in the barn just watching the girls. I would have gone crazy being cooped up in the house all weekend as that Alberta Clipper rolled on through. These girls give me an excuse to get all bundled up to venture out to the barn a few times a day.
Keep teasing me with those fake labor signs. Keep me on the edge of my nerves. Having hearty, healthy goat kids to brighten up the long, cold winter will be worth the wait. Honey, take your time, cause I don’t mind waitin’ on a woman… (er, I mean doe)
Brrrr…cold.
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 | Farm Chores, Uncategorized, Winter | No Comments
Oak Creek Ranch in the Winter
What exactly does it mean to be 17 degrees below zero? If you’ve never experienced it, it’s hard to explain but I’ll do my best to try.
When it gets this cold it hurts to breathe. That’s the first thing most people notice. You step outside and the cold literally takes your breath away. just the pain of each breath makes you want to do whatever needs to be done and get back inside.
The next thing you might notice is that the snow squeaks when you walk. Not squeaky like walking down a freshly varnished floor with wet shoes squeak. It’s a quieter, crunchy sort of squeak. Those who experience this regularly begin to associate the sound with extreme cold. Just hearing the sound makes you think of how cold it is.
If there’s any type of wind blowing and you’re unfortunate enough to have to spend an extended amount of time in this type of frigid cold you will notice that any exposed body parts begin to sting as if they’ve been burned with a direct blast of hot steam. That’s a sign that permanent damage is about to set in because your skin is actually starting to freeze.
If you don’t take this hint that it’s time to go somewhere warmer you’ll notice that you begin to feel cold right to your core. This doesn’t happen very often because usually the painful sting of cold wind on bare skin eventually sends one hustling for shelter. Occasionally though there are things that need to get done outside despite the cold…feeding and bedding animals, fixing automatic waterers, chipping sileage from the inside of the silo…Even though it’s painfully cold for us, we feel for our critters who have to spend the whole day and night in the bitter cold and we do whatever we can to make it bearable for them.
Yeah, there’s nothing pleasant about Minnesota winters…well, sometimes the frost on the trees is pretty. We have about three months that can be down-right miserable at times. We adapt though. When it starts to cool down in the Fall it’s hard to imagine that we’ll be able to tolerate the cold deep-freeze of December-Fabruary. We do though. I’ve heard that our bodies undergo physiological changes that help up cope. I suppose this is why you don’t see as many skinny people in Minnesota as you do in California!
I’m Back and I’m Brining a Turkey!
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 | Fall clean up, cooking | 4 Comments
I admit, I’ve been away from the blogosphere for some time now and I apologize for this. I have no good reason for my absence except that I couldn’t get a good thought together. It was certainly not for lack of opinions or material. The final weeks of the election provided plenty of fodder there. I was nearly comatose by fear and uncertainty the week that Obama was elected. I have since come to accept that all leaders, good or bad, are placed in their position of authority by God for a reason. I don’t know the reason for this placement but I also know that God loves His people and will not let them suffer. I am placing my trust in God and I will continue to pray that he will have mercy on America. This country was founded by people who feared God. Let us never forget this.
From Romans 13:
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Okay, now that I have that out of my system I can continue. Fall is quickly coming to a close. It’s my favorite season and this year I feel we were cut short. Frost came right on time, toward the end of September putting an end to the garden season. In past years we’ve been spoiled with frost-free days right into October.
The first frost is always bittersweet. It sadly marks the end of the growing season but it also signals the beginning of the restful, slower-paced time of winter. In the summer there is always something to do…planting, digging, weeding, fixing…In winter these things all stop, well, except for the fixing part but the things that can be fixed are limited in the winter.
We’re just settling into the slow-down season. Combining was completed this week, late compared to other years. The calves have been weaned and sold. The garden is cleaned up and prepared for the spring. The goats have moved to their winter home in the barn.
This week is Thanksgiving and I’ve been asked by my husband, once again, to prepare a brined turkey for the meal at his parents’ house. It’s a touchy subject, asking my mother-in-law if I can bring a turkey to the dinner…as if hers isn’t good enough. That’s not the case as it may seem. My husband abhors turkey and most any kind of poultry for that matter. He claims my special preparation makes it edible.
Our lucky bird of the year is one that I raised and butchered last year, a Bourbon Red. The bird I was raising for Thanksgiving this year got a temporary pardon when I realized I still one left. I am often asked how I brine my turkeys so I will share the concoction here:
Prepare the brine in a large (10 quart) stock pot:
8 quarts water
3 cups Kosher salt
¾ cup brown sugar
1 T fresh grated (dried) ginger root
1 T whole cloves
3 medium onions, quartered
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 T rubbed sage (fresh is better if it’s still available)
1 t dried thyme (ditto)
Thoroughly wash the turkey, an 8-10 pound bird is about right for this recipe. If it gets much bigger you’ll need to use more brine and a bigger pot- a canning kettle or 5 gallon bucket works.
Sink Tommy down into the pot of brine until he’s completely covered. You may need to set a plate on the surface to hold the bird under water. Keep the pot in a cool place (where the dogs and cats can’t get it), ideally in the fridge but usually the garage will work too, for up to 24 hours. When you wish to cook the big boy take him out of the pot and rinse off the brine and other tidbits of flavoring that will try to stick to him. Don’t worry about washing the flavor away, it’s already soaked into the meat. Cook him the same way you usually would- at 325* until the internal temp is 180*. As with any large roast, remove the bird from the oven and cover with aluminum foil to rest for 10 minutes. This allows the juices to disperse throughout the meat making the finished product more moist.
Keeping goats alive
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 | Goats, Livestock housing | 1 Comment
A friend of mine has been emailing be about her struggles with her goats getting sick and dying. It can be very frustrating sometimes. I baby my animals. They provide physical and emotional therapy. Although I haven’t had them for long, I can’t imagine not having them around. So you can imagine that when one is sick it’s like having a sick child. I want to do anything I can to make them better.
However, sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what to do. When treating goats, some people see them as little cows, others think they’re just like sheep. Neither is true. Goats are nothing like cows or sheep and should not be treated like them. So much of what I’ve learned about keeping goats healthy came from experience and talking to others who raise goats.
Here’s my response to my friend- discussing some basic how-tos for keeping goats alive. Please note, I am not a Veterinarian, I am only sharing my experiences about what has worked -or not worked- for me.
number one- vaccinate! Bar-vac C/DT is cheap. It’s the easiest thing you can do to prevent illness.
Second- get on a good worming program. I haven’t heard anything good about the herbal wormers. I even tried them myself and wouldn’t waste my money again. Use one of the standard cattle wormers (none are labeled for goats but you can find the dosages by asking a vet or talking to other goat people). I just wormed mine with 1% Ivomec injectable for cattle and swine. I gave it orally- 1cc per 50 lbs as recommended by Susan Gasparotto (Onion Creek Ranch- Check this out if you have not already- http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/articlesMain.html ). Do not rely on Safeguard (the one that IS labeled for goats) as it is only effective on tapeworms.
Wormers generally don’t have an affect on external parasites (the ones that cause itching) The shiny coat is likely from adding grain and mineral to their diet. If they weren’t getting any before, that would make a big difference in the coat.
If the feed ration hasn’t recently changed and the goats are properly wormed, I usually attribute persistent diarrhea to coccidiosis- especially if it’s a kid as adults generally build an immunity to it. The only way of knowing for sure is by doing a fecal (this is where I fail…just no time to follow a goat around with a baggie!). I’m hoping to learn to do fecals myself though. Treatment of cocci is simple- five days of Corid or Sulmet once a day or if treating a whole group- put it in the water and make sure they drink it all.
Okay, so that’s the run-down of everything I’ve learned in my short time raising goats. The bottom line is, don’t let those buggers die without learning something about how it happened. It’s difficult for me justify calling a vet and spending the money on a visit for an animal whose value is 1/10th that of a cow but if I can learn what went wrong and how to prevent it, I figure I’m that much ahead.
And on that note I must add- find a vet who has experience with goats or at least with small ruminants or one who is willing to learn. I’ve contacted vets for medication dosages who just say to use the cattle dosage. If your vet does this, let this be a warning to you- s/he does not know much about goats. In general, a goat’s metabolism is higher than cattle and they require a HIGHER dose. Don’t take my word for it though, find a vet who knows or can find out the proper dose for your goats.
Another note on organic practices- People who raise goats as organic or natural have restrictions as to what can be used for supplements, wormers and vaccinations. However this is not the only change producers must make if they choose to raise goats this way.
For example, (I believe) traditional wormers are not allowed to be used in organic herds. This does not mean that one can simply replace the wormer with an accepable herbal (organic) wormer and expect the same results. From what I’ve learned, the organic or herbal wormers do not work as well as the conventional and are meant to be used along with intensive parasite management strategies.
The decision to go organic is more than just switching to the approved feeds and supplements. It must include changes in management as well. Organically raised animals will not do well in confinement lots because of the increased exposure to pathogens carried by other animals. They must also be protected from wild animals that may potentially carry disease. Raising livestock organically requires a huge committment to the safety and security of the animals in addition to simple feed alterations.
What to do with an unused calf hutch
Thursday, September 11th, 2008 | Chickens, Fall clean up, Gardening, Inventive Ideas, Livestock housing | 3 Comments
One type of calf hutch
Okay, farm wives, if your retired dairy farmer husband is anything like mine, you have a bunch of these things sitting around, growing lichens, deteriorating in the sunlight, maybe even tumbling around on windy days. If you don’t recognize this, it is a calf hutch. These are the things that PETA has tried pass off as an evil practice of modern dairy farming. They are designed as individual housing for newborn dairy calves. If you’re wondering why, here’s a little background info- In order to get milk from a cow, she needs to have a baby. That calf is taken away from the cow after it gets its colostrum (the first milk) so that the cow can produce her milk to be sold. The calf is then fed milk replacer (a powdered milk concoction similar to baby formula) until it is eventually weaned. In that time from birth to weaning, the calf is housed in a hutch, yes confined in that little house all by itself. There are many reasons for this practice that seems to be inhumane to some. The biggest reason is for the health of the calf. In the hutch it doesn’t have to compete with other calves for milk. It is also isolated from other calves and diseases they may carry until its natural immunity is built up. In the winter time, the hutch is well bedded and stays quite toasty. In the summer the hutches are moved to a shady location in the breeze and are well-ventilated. So what may seem at first to be harsh and mean is really the safest way to raise a newborn calf and still be able to get milk from the mother.
Okay, I digress. As more small-herd dairy farmers leave the industry for a lifestyle that isn’t quite so tied to the 5:00 AM and 5:00 PM milking schedule, there seems to be many of these hutches sitting around unused. For nearly five years I tried to convince my husband to sell the 20 or so hutches we had stashed here and there, knowing that they were still worth something to the people who raise calves. He was always reluctant, thinking that maybe we would again raise bottle babies or perhaps at some time his sister or his mother would want to continue this undertaking. I guess it’s just something abou these things, once you have them you don’t want to part with them. So the weeds grew up in them and through them. the wind wedged them in between tree branches and just when I began to think these things had lost any value they once held, it hit me…I can use these things!
The first plan I had for a hutch was as a garden shed. I had Bill move one to the garden. I can move them myself but it is much easier to hook the thing with a skidloader and drop it where it’s needed. So my first hutch sits in my garden. Initially it was the perfect place harden off seedlings that I started under lights in the basement. In the hutch they’re protected from the wind and the opaque white plastic diffuses the sunlight enough that they don’t get burned by the bright sun. Eventually I used the hutch to store flats of bedding plants and veggies that I picked up at the nursery until I had a chance to plant them. The key here is to remember to water them! Unfortunately a few were forgotten out there and turned to crispy critters before I got a chance to plant them. As the plants moved out of my mini greenhouse, the garden tools moved in. It was so handy to toss garden tools in there instead of cleaning them up and putting them away in the garage. As a bonus they’re right there in the garden when you need them again.
garden hutch overgrown with weeds
The next time I use a calf hutch as a garden shed I’m going to be sure to put some sort of fabric or mulch under it to prevent the weeds from taking over the inside of the hutch. It’s amazing how quickly they grow in there. Eventually I gave up on getting anything out of the hutch until I took care of the weeds. Actually I didn’t take care of the weeds, my ducks and geese did. The entire north side of my garden became a weed patch that could easily swallow up my children. I fenced the area off and turned the ducks and geese loose. Within days they had everything they could reach cleaned up. Here’s the hutch after they did their clean-up.
Brooding chicks in the garden hutch
Now that the garden is nearing its finale I’m preparing the hutch to brood baby chicks that will be raised in the garden on leftover greens and veggies as part of my fall clean-up. I bedded it well with loose straw, put in a couple heat lamps, feeders and a waterer. It will be an excellent brooder until the chicks are big enough to get out and forage in the garden.
The brooder hutch in the garden doesn’t need wire to keep the birds in since my garden is completely fenced in but I’ve also used calf hutches to isolate young birdsof different species and age. These hutches have a very simple wire door attached to the front of them using the metal poles that were originally used to hold the manger on the front of the hutch. This was my solution to brooding turkeys away from my chicks. I love turkeys but those little guys are born with one goal, that is to die. I don’t know how many poults I hatched this year and tried to raise along with my chicks only to find them chilled or drowned or just dead for no apparent
Isolation hutch for game birds
reason. My isolation hutches solved this problem. I now have one for raising game birds and one to keep baby chicks until they’re big enough to go in with the hens. This was a simple solution for a small, versatile, portable pen. I’ll probably do the same in the spring when I divide my birds into breeding pens. Each hutch is the perfect size for a trio of birds. If I do this I’ll add a nest box that can be accessed from the outside and a roost for the birds to perch on. I’ll also be able to keep them on grass and move them daily for some quality foraging.
These are just a few of the way’s I’ve been using calf hutches around the farm. I also keep them in my goat pasture for the babies to nap in while the mama’s are grazing. They’re set in our cow lot during calving season so the babies can escape the wind and rain. And believe it or not, we even used one to raise a bottle calf this year when one of our heifers calved twins. I’m always looking for creative uses for these and other pieces of equipment. If you’ve got any great ideas for farm equipment, send a picture and tell me about it. If I get enough I’ll start a new page of inventive DIY farm ideas.
Bring on the chickies!
Thursday, September 11th, 2008 | Chickens, Meat Chickens | No Comments
Ducks and geese enjoying the rain
I had the hutch brooder bedded with straw, heat lamps ready to go but realized that my automatic waterers weren’t working so well. So I had to get out the trusty galvenized waterer. Since baby chicks aren’t the smartest critters my first task was to teach them to drink. I picked up each one of the 104 chicks and dipped its beak in water to make sure it tipped its head back to drink. After sipping some water the chicks were already off to look for food. They seemed pretty excited to explore their brooder. A few picked at the feed I put out for them then they quickly huddled up for a nap.
Raining outside but toasty-warm inside!
These chicks will be confined to the hutch brooder for a couple weeks before I’ll let them out to range in the garden. I’ve already planted a patch of winter greens that will ready for them to munch on at that time. In addition they’ll be my little helpers in getting the weeds and extra veggies picked out of the garden after our first frost. I already have an “appointment” for these guys, eight weeks from now at the local processor. By then they should be plump little birds- well fed on grower ration and forage. MMMMMM, nothing beats a home-grown chicken!
How to make a PVC pipe chicken feeder
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | Chickens, Inventive Ideas, Projects | 5 Comments
I used to joke that the most useful class I took in college was woodworking. Living on the farm, it’s really turning out to be true. Thanks to the requirements of my Liberal Arts College education, I had to take an art class as part of my BA in Biology. The art class I chose was woodworking and I loved it! Although I don’t apply all of the things I learned about woodworking design, the basic concepts have helped me build most of what I need on the farm. They don’t always turn out really pretty but, the critters don’t seem to mind!
An example of a mineral feeder (this one isn't mine but it looks the same)
I began looking at PVC pipe in a new way when I stumbled upon plans to build all kinds of structures out of PVC. My first PVC project was a goat mineral feeder. It was so easy to make and works so well I couldn’t stop there. My next project was a PVC hoop house for my chickens. That one didn’t go so well. I’m still putzing with it, I’m sure I’ll make it into something useful. So on to the next PVC endeavor- a hopper feeder for chickens.
Background for non-chicken folks-
- Most store-bought chicken feeders work relatively well but I have found that chicken owners are always looking to improve what’s available and do it for less money.
- Chickens, like goats, have a tendency to waste feed. They toss it out of the feeder while they’re eating. Waste can be reduced by using feeders that have edges that curve inward and by raising the feeder to the height of the chickens’ backs.
- Feeders should be able to hold enough feed for the chickens for one day (or if you’re lazy about feeding them, longer).
- Chickens will roost on anything they can and poop on it, feeders need to be able to prevent roosting or cover the feed to protect it from the poo.
Okay so now you should have an idea what I was hoping to accomplish with my feeder. Here’s how I built it-
Materials-
- approximately 4′ of 3″ PVC pipe
- one 3″ 90* PVC elbow
- two 3″ PVC caps
- one container PVC cement
- skill saw (band saw would be safer if you’re lucky enough to have one)
- Cordless drill with 3/8″ spade bit
- jigsaw
Here's the 4' pipe after I cut it
To begin with, determine how high you want the top of the feed hopper to be. It should be as high as possible to allow the maximum storage capacity but low enough that it’s easy to pour a bucket, bag or scoop of feed into. Then figure how much excess height you have on the tube and cut it off. This piece will become the feeder portion. There is no proper length for either of these pieces. Just figure out what will work with the PVC pipe you have. Fleet Farm sells PVC in 4′ lengths so I cut a little more than a foot off to use as the feeder and the remaining almost 3 feet became the hopper.
holes drilled for access with the jigsaw
The next task is to cut an opening in the shorter tube so the chooks can get their beaks in to get food but not throw it out. The best way I could think of doing this was by cutting a long narrow opening in it with a jigsaw. In order to get the jigsaw blade in I had to use a spade bit to make holes first. **Since both ends will ultimately be covered, you could probably just cut in from one end with the jigsaw to make the opening. I wanted to leave the ends intact to maintain the strength of the feeder tube.
Hole cut with a jigsaw in the top of the feeder portion of the pipe
Once the holes are drilled you need to cut the actual access hole. I just free-handed this knowing that even if I drew a pretty line on the tube I would never be able to follow it with the jigsaw. The hole I made is just a big oval and it sure ain’t pretty but I think it will work. I’ll take a little sandpaper to it later to smooth out the rough edges.With all the parts ready, the last job is to assemble them, it’s like playing with giant tinker-toys. Just slather some of the PVC cement on to the insides of the elbow openings and insert a pipe into each side. Then slather up the inside of one of the caps and put it on the end of the feeder tube (the one with the fancy hole cut in it). Do not put glue on the other end cap as you will need to be able to remove this one to put feed in the hopper. Actually, I didn’t buy an extra end cap. I figured at $2.99 a piece I could use an old sour cream container for a cover…cheepcheepcheep!Pieces glued together with PVC cement
Pieces glued together with PVC cement
You can attach this baby to a wall using twine, bolts, gorilla glue or nails. I prefer to use large hose clamps since they hold securely and are easily removed when it’s time to clean.
I should be getting this put up within the next couple of days. I’ll keep you posted as to how it’s working and what I will change for version 1.2
Fall Downsizing and Winter Projects
Monday, September 8th, 2008 | Fall clean up, Farm Chores, Livestock housing, Projects | No Comments
After an absolutely BRUTAL Labor Day weekend with temps near 90 degrees and wind gusts to 40 MPH, the start of the school year brought about the much-welcomed fall temperatures. It made it so nice to settle in to the new routine, as if God was setting the stage for the new season to begin. There’s something about the change of seasons that seems to trigger a need to clear out the clutter from my house and life. Some people do spring cleaning, I do the fall downsize.
The onset of cooler temps to us means more time in the house. During the summer we’re so busy with things outside that we’re barely in the house long enough to throw supper together and get in bed. Housecleaning is not a priority in the summer since we’re not around long enough to do anything about the piles of junk forming here and there. I call them my “hotspots,” you know, the places you dump things until you can put them away later. Well, later is here and the piles are shrinking. Do to this massive downsize, both of my sisters-in-law have received large bags of outgrown kids’ clothing- enjoy ladies! I even went so far this year as to part with that pile of clothes in the bottom of my closet. I’m finally ready to admit that they’re never going to fit like they used to.
The downsizing is also happening outside as I look ahead to winter. The flocks and herds have grown over the summer and they certainly need to be scaled back before moving back to the winter pens and coops. We’ve decided not to keep pygmy goats any longer since they require separate pens that I don’t have the time to maintain. Thunder and Sweet Pea went to a new home this weekend. Parting with Tabitha will be more difficult since she was our first goat. I just remind myself that if she goes I’ll have more room for my beloved Boers. My chicken flock is being reduced to just my Orpingtons and a few other rare breed hens I have around. The Orps are my favorite of all the chickens, I think I’ll always have a few of them around. I’m also cutting back the waterfowl to the few pairs and trios I want to keep for breeding next year.
Last weekend Lily and I braved the awful heat and wind to work on a new barn for the waterfowl.
The old hog barn as a windbreak
Actually it’s an old barn. We have this old confinement hog barn on our place. It has concrete slats over a pit. We used to house Holstein calves in there but since we got our larger skidloader about six years ago we can’t use it because the skidloader is too heavy and breaks the slats when we clean it out! I’ve been trying to convince Bill to tear the thing down since it’s an eyesore and rather dangerous to be use with the gaping spaces between the broken slats. He’s been reluctant since it makes a good shelter for small equipment and a good windbreak for our cattle lots. Enter-ducks and geese. I was able to put a fence across part of the barn that didn’t have missing slats, we brought in the kiddie pool and voila! A self-cleaning waterfowl barn. All the mess they make with their water goes right to the pit below. I can keep another corner bedded so they have a dry place to sleep and eat. Okay, so it’s not pretty but it works like a charm and sure beats housing the ducks and geese with the goats for the winter. Lily and I are quite proud of this one!
This time of year I’m usually pretty tired of my veggie garden and tend to pull a few plants out here and there, cleaning up as I harvest the last of the fruits. This year was so slow however that I haven’t harvested enough to feel a strong urge to pull out the tomato vines just yet. I’m still waiting for my peppers to turn red and get to enough tomatoes for a batch of salsa! I’m closely watching three little muskmelons waiting for them to ripen enough to harvest. I’m afraid that the few pumpkins I have will never turn orange before frost kills their vines. Our average first frost is around the middle of September. Last year it was about a week early, the year before I think we made it to October before the frost came. For now, I’m crossing my fingers for a few more weeks.
As the downsizing wraps up I’ll begin to turn my attention to winter projects. Winter is such a painful time for me. I feel trapped by the cold and darkness as I spend the days dreaming up projects I want to complete. My list has already begun and some of the projects will need to get underway quite soon. Number one is to fix up my goat pen in the barn. This is a tough one because I need Bill’s help to get it started. With him working afternoons we’re rarely home together to work on this sort of thing.
I also have plans to make some new chicken feeders to replace my store-bought ones that are deteriorating with age. I plan to make one with a 5-gallon bucket- holes drilled near the bottom and a plant saucer attached to the bottom to catch the feed that falls out. I know other chicken-folk have made these but I can’t get a picture that does it justice. I’m hoping to come up with something that doesn’t spill feed out as easliy as my tube-style feeders. Maybe making the birds work a little harder to get the food out will discourage them from throwing it all over the floor. I’m hoping to use one of these for the broiler chicks I’m getting this week and possibly for feeding whole grains to my waterfowl in their new barn.
PVC Mineral feeder
The other feeder I want to make is a PVC feeder much like these mineral feeders I’ve made for my goats.
Speckled Hen's chicken feeder
The chicken feeders are similar but have a larger area to eat out of at the bottom. Here is a nice one by SpeckledHen on the Backyard Chickens message board. It’s nice beacause it can fit against a wall and save some floor space. Plus it doesn’t swing around like a hanging feeder. I think this one will be ideal for my laying hen coop.
I’ll be posting on the progress of these and other winter projects so stay tuned. Also, coming soon- Multiple uses for unused calf hutches. Farm wives- hold off on trying to get DH to sell those precious Polydomes. You’ll love this one!
Little Guy, Big Bus
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 | Kids | 1 Comment
Today I experienced one of the days most feared by mothers all over the country. I sent my first baby off to school. If you’ve never done this before, it’s okay to think “How pathetic!” I know I once did. I remember when Jack was a baby, thinking during the late night feedings and changings, how great it will be when he can go to school. Although I certainly don’t miss those sleep-deprived days, sending him to school was bittersweet.
Jack was quite excited to go to school and I know he’s more than ready. He’s a big boy, dwarfing most first and second graders. Still, the anxiety of sending him on the bus by himself took me by surprise. We had prepared for the day in every way possible, visiting the school, meeting his teacher, taking a mini-busride together. We talked about where to go once the bus dropped him off and what to do if he forgot where to go. He was thrilled when I told him he would be eating lunch at school and that his teacher would help him punch in his lunch code. I even remembered to put money in the lunch account. Last week I talked to his busdriver, a very nice lady named Kay who seemed to understand quite well that I was a little nervous about sending my baby with her. She assured me that she keeps a close watch over the kindergardeners and makes sure they feel comfortable. Just in case, I made a shipping lable for the little guy. Actually it’s a luggage tag on his backpack with his name, where he’s going and which busses he should ride.
I still can’t help but think of all the things that could go wrong…what if he gets off at the wrong school, what if he gets scared or lonely. Jack is a very gentlehearted boy, it doesn’t take much to set him off. I’d hate to hear he was crying on the first day of school. As the bus stopped and Jack ran to get on, he looked back at me as if to say, I’ll be okay Mom!
To the bus
And with camera ready, I got one more of him looking like an old pro, then off he went. I haven’t heard from the school yet so I assume he made it there okay…Now if he can just get back home!
All ready to go
Politics explained by a farmer
Thursday, August 21st, 2008 | Jokes, email circulation | 1 Comment
This is an email that has been circulated before, this version has a few additions to what I’ve seen previously. It sums things up pretty accurately!
DEMOCRATIC
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful. Barbara Streisand sings for you.
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So?
SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have down sized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine. Life is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an
ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer,
give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don’t know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch. Life is good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan , which are two.
You don’t milk them because you cannot touch any creature’s private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows. They go into hiding. They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow. The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he’s French, other times he’s Flemish.
The Flemish cow won’t share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow’s milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies happy.
CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows. They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English. Most are illegals.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for
the black one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither.
Some people can’t figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of guys from
out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.
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