The first day of summer was yesterday. I almost missed it! The gardens are coming along, beans and potatoes are up. In fact, most of the seeds I planted early have germinated. I hadn't really paid close enough attention to the most recent planted seeds.
The one baby pigeon I'd had born didn't make it, but a second from a different set of parents is doing very well. Had a new litter of baby rabbits born from a much desired pairing of mother to son. Out of 6 offspring, 4 are red (not desirable) and 2 are agouti. Lost one to idiocy, he fell out of the nest and tried to crawl through the cage bars. There he got stuck and was lost. So 5 babies remaining, 2 potential candidates with the correct color base.
I moved the Splash Marans into a private run, and picked up a Wheaton Maran hen to go with them. Not exactly a compatible color, but I'm very much concerned about the splash Marans hen's leg conformation. She's very badly cow-hocked and since I don't know whether that will be genetic, I wanted a backup hen. Splash aren't exactly common around here just now, so the second-best option was to go with the wheaton color. I'll still need to come up with a coop idea for the Aracauna's and the Welsummers, when they are all a little bigger.
Anyway, it's late, I'm tired... Have you ever noticed how when your hands are busy and your mind free to wander, you can come up with some of the oddest ideas, but they are often lost before getting the chance to jot them down. I had some real interesting thoughts earlier, but can't seem to recall a single idea now. Ah well.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Sorting Fleece & Box Fun!
I spent this evening finally sorting through the fleeces I'd managed to accumulate in the past few months. There are 4 Llama blankets, plus 2 large bags of the 'coarse' wool for stuffing. Those were simple, just had to identify the blankets and mark the bags as such. A couple bags I think have blanket wool mixed in with coarse wool. Eventually, I'll have to rectify that, but not tonight. I also pulled out the Suffolk wool I was given 2 months ago for sorting. It was a freebie, and as has been said; "never look a free fleece in the lock!" No skirting had been on those, so I flipped out an old sheet and dumped each bag at a time over it on the front lawn. Each fleece took at least 20 minutes to sort through, unfolding as gently as possible the various chunks of wool, discarding the tagged wool (poop tags), the felted bum wool, the uber dirty wool. Then selecting the cleanest and longest sections to roll up cut-side in and stuff into pillowcases. What was left then was the not-quite-as-dirty wool, which was stuffed back into the original bag for use as stuffing and for felting projects. Altogether I ended up with 3 pillowcases of wool, maybe 3 lbs in each. Threw away another 4 or 5 lbs and stuffed probably 6 or 7 lbs of grease wool in the bag for stuffing use.
While I was performing this daunting, but necessary task, my pair of Littles: Aydi & Bubba were out on the lawn nearby. They had discovered the leftover box from the plastic cabinet David had built for me in my new shed. Suddenly it had become a 'fort' complete with doors and, according to Aydi, a kitchen. Bubba initially came tearing out the front door in a semi-long fleece shirt and no drawers or diaper. Two forced trips back to the house and he finally brought out a diaper and britches. The poor neighbors!! Then the pair of them proceeded to beat their new 'house' with some long twigs, pulled open the 'back doors' and jumped on it until it collapsed. By then twilight had settled in and it became more fun to chase down the fireflies.
Aydi would capture one and declare it to be a girl or boy, though how she determined their gender is beyond me! Then give them names. She even tucked 2 of them into a paper cup, covered with a small paper plate (they had brought their 'snacks' out with them) and proclaimed the insects to be her pets and that she desired to have them sleep with her in her room. Fortunately it took very little convincing to encourage her to release the bugs back onto the lawn.
Gotta love early summer!
While I was performing this daunting, but necessary task, my pair of Littles: Aydi & Bubba were out on the lawn nearby. They had discovered the leftover box from the plastic cabinet David had built for me in my new shed. Suddenly it had become a 'fort' complete with doors and, according to Aydi, a kitchen. Bubba initially came tearing out the front door in a semi-long fleece shirt and no drawers or diaper. Two forced trips back to the house and he finally brought out a diaper and britches. The poor neighbors!! Then the pair of them proceeded to beat their new 'house' with some long twigs, pulled open the 'back doors' and jumped on it until it collapsed. By then twilight had settled in and it became more fun to chase down the fireflies.
Aydi would capture one and declare it to be a girl or boy, though how she determined their gender is beyond me! Then give them names. She even tucked 2 of them into a paper cup, covered with a small paper plate (they had brought their 'snacks' out with them) and proclaimed the insects to be her pets and that she desired to have them sleep with her in her room. Fortunately it took very little convincing to encourage her to release the bugs back onto the lawn.
Gotta love early summer!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
"I have a Robust Post-Apocalyptic Skill Set"
It used to be I never watched television. Thanks to Netflix, I've actually been turned on to a few shows, at least the older seasons of them. Most of these are apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic shows, which I find interesting not in themselves, but because I spend half the time criticizing them! For instance, there was one show where supposedly nuclear holocaust destroyed the world as we know it. You, as the audience, follow the events as they would supposedly occur from a small town in the middle of Nowhere, Colorado. It was supposed to be close enough to see Denver go up in flames, but far enough away (and apparently in just the right position) to avoid any and all fallout.
What bothered me the most out of everything that occurred on the show was the one thing that most folk are likely to overlook. The fact that this "small" town just so nonchalantly and freely burned their only source of post-twilight light... candles. It's not as though they would have been able to run over to Denver to fetch a new shipment, and everyone was burning them as though they would last forever, they'd burn 5 or more at a time, sometimes all night! The candles they showed them burning were commercially made, so no one was there replenishing their supplies. And even if they did have a candle-maker, what kind of candles were they making and where did they get the raw materials?!
In the 'old days' before electricity, they burned candles, but they had a better understanding of how to hold off the dark than we do today. These days people panic if the lightbulb pops and they're in the dark for 2 minutes! They really go nuts if it's off for several hours. Imagine if it never came back on again. So really, how many of us still have oil-burning lamps in the house?! How many of us have the knowledge and ability to create light where there is only dark? This isn't a TV show, and no grips are going to run over and light 15 candles so they can see faces well enough for filming.
What bothered me the most out of everything that occurred on the show was the one thing that most folk are likely to overlook. The fact that this "small" town just so nonchalantly and freely burned their only source of post-twilight light... candles. It's not as though they would have been able to run over to Denver to fetch a new shipment, and everyone was burning them as though they would last forever, they'd burn 5 or more at a time, sometimes all night! The candles they showed them burning were commercially made, so no one was there replenishing their supplies. And even if they did have a candle-maker, what kind of candles were they making and where did they get the raw materials?!
In the 'old days' before electricity, they burned candles, but they had a better understanding of how to hold off the dark than we do today. These days people panic if the lightbulb pops and they're in the dark for 2 minutes! They really go nuts if it's off for several hours. Imagine if it never came back on again. So really, how many of us still have oil-burning lamps in the house?! How many of us have the knowledge and ability to create light where there is only dark? This isn't a TV show, and no grips are going to run over and light 15 candles so they can see faces well enough for filming.
Monday, June 4, 2012
More done, but not all of it
Today I finished Aydi's flower garden. It's a small bed, only about 6 feet long by maybe 2-3 feet deep. Her flowers are lovely in it, a little mulch around them for moisture retention. It was tough to do because apparently someone thought it was a good idea to bury large chunks of concrete at that exact spot. I dug up what I could and removed them. We also added a couple small bags of potting soil to enrich the soil a bit. There was an awful lot of clay right there. I laid down a 4x4 wooden post border around it for protection and boundary. After that I started on the garden again. I managed to re-turn the secondary garden, put up the tomato trellises (I did only manage to get 5 out of the roll of wire), plant the Roma tomatoes, plant the sweet potatoes, the Kennebec potatoes, and the yellow squash and cucumbers. That still leaves about a third of the primary garden empty, and 2/3 of the secondary one.
I still need to plant the watermelon, zucchini, and cantaloupe. The peppers and beans and whatever other seeds I can find around here. I still have a 6-pack of Better Boy tomatoes to find a place to put. I'll have to use the cages on those. I did get the cavy cages cleaned, but not the rabbitry. I didn't get to repair the rabbit cages or setup the Marans coop either. Still, of the page of listed items to accomplish this week-end, I'm very proud to say that 2/3 of them now have a check mark next to them. Now if you'll excuse me, there's some laundry to which I need to attend.
I still need to plant the watermelon, zucchini, and cantaloupe. The peppers and beans and whatever other seeds I can find around here. I still have a 6-pack of Better Boy tomatoes to find a place to put. I'll have to use the cages on those. I did get the cavy cages cleaned, but not the rabbitry. I didn't get to repair the rabbit cages or setup the Marans coop either. Still, of the page of listed items to accomplish this week-end, I'm very proud to say that 2/3 of them now have a check mark next to them. Now if you'll excuse me, there's some laundry to which I need to attend.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Today's Accomplishments
I did well. The turkey pen is now built, the turkeys happily ensconced within it's wire and wooden walls. The pen is roughly 10ft by 10ft by 4 ft high, completely enclosed. I admit to a slight epiphany when it came to figuring out a door for the pen. I cannibalized another part of one of the dog crates and nailed the gate/door of that to the pen. It actually worked out quite perfectly!
Sadly the pen was built too late. Tommie (the turkey tom) had been bullying Godfrey (the gander) and apparently trapped him in the barn and slammed him into the door to the chicken coop. Godfrey didn't make it. I really enjoyed Godfrey, he was a sweet guy. And while I did know that Tommie had been occasionally going after Godfrey, I had no idea it had escalated so far! I would have never suspected that the "predator" I was trying to protect them all from was living within the confines of the bird pen. Tommie is not a bad boy, so don't misunderstand. He was being a male, ruled by his hormones and probably trying to keep Godfrey in his place. Tommie is the flock protector, and he is a very powerful one. With him and his girls penned up, the geese should be a little more comfortable. Though now I'll have to try to locate another gander (or 2, Grace is still without a mate too)
I also re-turned the primary garden and cut 2 trellis wire sections for the tomatoes. I rolled out another length of wire to straighten overnight and will cut 2 or 3 more tomorrow. I had been hoping for more, but looks like I will have 5 trellises this year with which to work, the remaining tomato plants will have to use regular stakes. Next year I will get another wire roll for more trellis sections. Tomorrow I'll plant the primary garden and hopefully the secondary garden. I also want to clear a spot behind the house for Aydi's flower bed. Her little brother, Bubba, laid hands on 2 of her 'special' flowers, one was a truly beautiful plant, and he ruined them. She was utterly devastated by it. I'll try to replace those for her tomorrow, just before we put them in the ground.
David tried to put up my shed... only to discover the building he got for me was actually 12x15, rather than 10x12 as he'd originally thought. That meant one of 2 things, either cut the building down to fit the foundation, or extend the foundation another 2 feet. He extended the foundation. Jessi helped a little at first, then she took it in her head to clean off the front porch, even though the she is not built yet, which was where I'd planned to put a lot of the things that had been on the porch! However, I have to admit, the porch looked pretty nice all cleaned off.
Sadly the pen was built too late. Tommie (the turkey tom) had been bullying Godfrey (the gander) and apparently trapped him in the barn and slammed him into the door to the chicken coop. Godfrey didn't make it. I really enjoyed Godfrey, he was a sweet guy. And while I did know that Tommie had been occasionally going after Godfrey, I had no idea it had escalated so far! I would have never suspected that the "predator" I was trying to protect them all from was living within the confines of the bird pen. Tommie is not a bad boy, so don't misunderstand. He was being a male, ruled by his hormones and probably trying to keep Godfrey in his place. Tommie is the flock protector, and he is a very powerful one. With him and his girls penned up, the geese should be a little more comfortable. Though now I'll have to try to locate another gander (or 2, Grace is still without a mate too)
I also re-turned the primary garden and cut 2 trellis wire sections for the tomatoes. I rolled out another length of wire to straighten overnight and will cut 2 or 3 more tomorrow. I had been hoping for more, but looks like I will have 5 trellises this year with which to work, the remaining tomato plants will have to use regular stakes. Next year I will get another wire roll for more trellis sections. Tomorrow I'll plant the primary garden and hopefully the secondary garden. I also want to clear a spot behind the house for Aydi's flower bed. Her little brother, Bubba, laid hands on 2 of her 'special' flowers, one was a truly beautiful plant, and he ruined them. She was utterly devastated by it. I'll try to replace those for her tomorrow, just before we put them in the ground.
David tried to put up my shed... only to discover the building he got for me was actually 12x15, rather than 10x12 as he'd originally thought. That meant one of 2 things, either cut the building down to fit the foundation, or extend the foundation another 2 feet. He extended the foundation. Jessi helped a little at first, then she took it in her head to clean off the front porch, even though the she is not built yet, which was where I'd planned to put a lot of the things that had been on the porch! However, I have to admit, the porch looked pretty nice all cleaned off.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Can't Sleep
Insomnia. It is NOT fun. I remember reading (or hearing, it's been so long I can't remember) that a good way to fight insomnia is actually to keep a journal by the bed, and before laying down to write down everything that's on your mind. Supposedly one of the reasons for insomnia is that the mind refuses to shut down thinking about whatever. So writing it down helps the mind to relax, because it no longer needs to agonize over remembering those things. So here I am, I don't have a journal by the bed, this will have to do. You get to read about all the things running through my mind tonight. It's mostly ideas I want to do tomorrow and Sunday... IF I can get some sleep!!!
First, the turkey pen, I keep trying to design it in my mind, figuring out how to fit everything together. Trying to make it big enough for the birds to live in comfortably using supplies I already have on hand. My wire is 3' high, and I think the lumber is 4', so the top wire will have to come down on each side an extra foot. That shouldn't be a problem since I think the length of the wood is either 10' or 12', so I'll need to run 3 sections of wire over the top, but it will still leave either 1' or 2' of extra wire on the side. The pen itself will actually only have 3 sides and a top, as the 3rd side will be the barn wall. I plan to attach the pen to the barn with hooks so when the turkeys are finished with the pen this fall, the chickens will inherit it as their outside pen.
I was also thinking about the 2 large dog crates I have sitting out there and how if I were to connect them together, it would make a perfect chicken coop for the Marans, of which I have only the pair. I'm not sure where all the connecting rods are, so I might need to wire them together. I used one of the sides and the back of one crate for the big-bird pen gate, so I'll need to figure something else out for that. I do have the door to the crate now, and will use the steel hanging water bucket for their water, but the nest aspect is harder to figure out. I could use the standard rubber bowl, but if it rains, that's no good. I need to be able to get to the nest regularly to collect, so I need to have it near the front of the run for that. I have a wooden box, but that might be too small for them.
I really want to get the gardens planted this week-end. I'm running out of time in more ways than one. I want to plant English cucumbers at the back of the big garden, so they can run up the heavy trellis back there. Then tomatoes through the bottom of that garden I think. Peppers above those, then squash and cucumbers above that. Onions and garlic around the periphery of that garden to help deter the groundhog a bit. It's worth a try anyway! It's the one thing he didn't touch last year. In the secondary garden will be sweet potatoes at the very bottom for that heavy trellis, then beans just above those, watermelon and cantaloupe above that, and potatoes at the top. I also have beets, green onions, eggplant, and carrots to plant, but I'll fit those in somewhere.
I took Aydi with me today to buy some flower plants for her to have her own little garden. I picked up a cheap bag of mulch and several pretty flowers for her to tend, including a pair of gardenia bushes. I have no idea where we'll put said garden yet though. Between the buildings and the "orchard" and the gardens and animals, I'm running out of space! I also have several trees to plant. I know the blueberry will go next to the fence with the other one from last year. I think I'll put the elderberry there as well. I do think I've finally figured out what to do with the Concord grape. The useless giant metal poles in the middle of the yard will become the grape trellis. I thought about just stringing wire there, but I could seriously see the kids running hell-bent through there, forgetting about the wire and getting hurt. Instead I'm going to put a section of welded-wire fencing for the grape to grow upon. I think it will be safer for everyone in both the short and long run. That really only leaves the Pawpaw tree. Those supposedly can get quite large, so I really need to think about it. Maybe behind the garage, next to the swingset. I do think I want to mulch around some of these trees though. Last year the weeds were terrible and are the biggest reason 2 of my little blueberry bushes didn't make it.
I also will need to setup my new watering system. I got some nice metal raised sprinklers, a brass 4-way divider and a nice commercial grade hose, so hopefully I can get things the way I want for the most efficient watering of the gardens.
Sometime this week-end I need to mow the front yard, wash laundry, clean cavy tubs and cat box, sort through the bags of wool I was given, go get some llama fiber from a lady, fix some rabbit cages and move 2 others to the trash area, and help David whenever I can to get my building up. But as you can plainly see, my plate is full of things that cannot wait anymore.
First, the turkey pen, I keep trying to design it in my mind, figuring out how to fit everything together. Trying to make it big enough for the birds to live in comfortably using supplies I already have on hand. My wire is 3' high, and I think the lumber is 4', so the top wire will have to come down on each side an extra foot. That shouldn't be a problem since I think the length of the wood is either 10' or 12', so I'll need to run 3 sections of wire over the top, but it will still leave either 1' or 2' of extra wire on the side. The pen itself will actually only have 3 sides and a top, as the 3rd side will be the barn wall. I plan to attach the pen to the barn with hooks so when the turkeys are finished with the pen this fall, the chickens will inherit it as their outside pen.
I was also thinking about the 2 large dog crates I have sitting out there and how if I were to connect them together, it would make a perfect chicken coop for the Marans, of which I have only the pair. I'm not sure where all the connecting rods are, so I might need to wire them together. I used one of the sides and the back of one crate for the big-bird pen gate, so I'll need to figure something else out for that. I do have the door to the crate now, and will use the steel hanging water bucket for their water, but the nest aspect is harder to figure out. I could use the standard rubber bowl, but if it rains, that's no good. I need to be able to get to the nest regularly to collect, so I need to have it near the front of the run for that. I have a wooden box, but that might be too small for them.
I really want to get the gardens planted this week-end. I'm running out of time in more ways than one. I want to plant English cucumbers at the back of the big garden, so they can run up the heavy trellis back there. Then tomatoes through the bottom of that garden I think. Peppers above those, then squash and cucumbers above that. Onions and garlic around the periphery of that garden to help deter the groundhog a bit. It's worth a try anyway! It's the one thing he didn't touch last year. In the secondary garden will be sweet potatoes at the very bottom for that heavy trellis, then beans just above those, watermelon and cantaloupe above that, and potatoes at the top. I also have beets, green onions, eggplant, and carrots to plant, but I'll fit those in somewhere.
I took Aydi with me today to buy some flower plants for her to have her own little garden. I picked up a cheap bag of mulch and several pretty flowers for her to tend, including a pair of gardenia bushes. I have no idea where we'll put said garden yet though. Between the buildings and the "orchard" and the gardens and animals, I'm running out of space! I also have several trees to plant. I know the blueberry will go next to the fence with the other one from last year. I think I'll put the elderberry there as well. I do think I've finally figured out what to do with the Concord grape. The useless giant metal poles in the middle of the yard will become the grape trellis. I thought about just stringing wire there, but I could seriously see the kids running hell-bent through there, forgetting about the wire and getting hurt. Instead I'm going to put a section of welded-wire fencing for the grape to grow upon. I think it will be safer for everyone in both the short and long run. That really only leaves the Pawpaw tree. Those supposedly can get quite large, so I really need to think about it. Maybe behind the garage, next to the swingset. I do think I want to mulch around some of these trees though. Last year the weeds were terrible and are the biggest reason 2 of my little blueberry bushes didn't make it.
I also will need to setup my new watering system. I got some nice metal raised sprinklers, a brass 4-way divider and a nice commercial grade hose, so hopefully I can get things the way I want for the most efficient watering of the gardens.
Sometime this week-end I need to mow the front yard, wash laundry, clean cavy tubs and cat box, sort through the bags of wool I was given, go get some llama fiber from a lady, fix some rabbit cages and move 2 others to the trash area, and help David whenever I can to get my building up. But as you can plainly see, my plate is full of things that cannot wait anymore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
