Week-End Work

What an incredible pair of week-ends it has been!  I've had two 3-day week-ends in a row, very rare!  Also a great opportunity to get some things accomplished.  Last Saturday was a major poultry swap that I attended.  I learned long ago that the real key to making money at those things was diversification.  So I took with me Silkie chicks (hatched by me) and RIR chicks (free from SS with the purchase of a bag of feed), the unwanted "Seb" gander, my toys & soaps, and also dug-up/potted Mulberry, Maple, and Lemon Balm plants.  I came away from the swap having sold all the poultry I took, several toys, and at least half the Mulberry trees.  I also picked up a started pair of Welsummer chicks to go with my older hen, and 2 pair of pigeons, a pair of Frillbacks and a pair of Show Rollers.  There were a ton more pigeons and a huge variety of other birds and livestock there, it was a great swap.

That was Saturday, on Sunday I turned the primary garden and prepped it into rows.  I was going to build the new big-bird fence to keep them contained, but realized I had a bigger problem that involved predators.  Something had grabbed one of the turkey hens and spooked her off the nest.  She was limping around.  Also the big gander, Godfrey was drooping his wings and looking generally pathetic as if he'd also been attacked by something.  Top it off by the increased alertness of the tom turkey (the flock guardian) and I knew I had to do something to protect them better if I was going to pen them away from the house.  See I had forgotten the reason I put them right up to the house last year was because of predator problems.  A dog broke through the fencing last year and grabbed Grace (Seb goose) by the neck.

So this past week-end (yes, Mother's day too), I cleared the inside of the fences of vegetation, or as much as I could, shored up the base of the side fence with 1x8 boards and laid brand-new 2-in poultry wire across the inside of the fence and around the garden.  I also cleared the vegetation of the back fence (the one that was taken out by a tree 2 years ago) and removed the 2 broken fence posts from the fence wire.  It's good solid wire back there, 6ft welded and very heavy.  Almost no rust on any of the wire, but I never actually finished that back fence in 1 corner.  I always meant to stretch it before securing it, but that would just have to be sacrificed for now.  On Saturday, David & I went and bought the materials for the foundation frame for my shed and he & Jessi spent that day building and leveling it.  Yes, he actually put it where I asked... for the most part. 

Sunday morning saw me up bright and early.  Before breakfast I managed to wash a load of laundry and mow the front yard.  Then I puttered around for a bit before traveling to buy the rest of the fencing supplies I needed.  Sunday Jessi helped my install 3 7ft heavy T-posts along the back fence, replacing the broken wooden ones.  yes I used a post driver. LOL and LOVED it!!  I don't know how I ever installed posts before getting this driver.  It's heavy, but cuts the time to install them significantly.  Then we pulled the wire across the last 2 posts and nailed it down solidly, if not exactly tightly.  I also nailed it to the old gate, which can no longer be used anyway due to excessive vegetation growth.

After that I cleared the rear yard of branches I had cut off the pecan trees and other debris.  Then I raked the secondary garden and had just barely managed to get the soil turned and ready for planting when the rains began and dark crept over everything.  In case you're wondering, I did not get anything planted, I still have to complete the other half of the fencing to restrict the big birds from eating all of the young garden plants!  Still, I feel very accomplished.  There's a smaller swap this Saturday and b-day party for Bubba Sunday, but in between I really want to get things finished up out there so I can start on creating a nice place for people in the back.