The Last Week of the Year

Some of the new pullets are laying    Some new shades of green. 

I had a little accident with the jumper cables. 

The positive clamp came off and touched metal. I haven’t had time to check out the battery to see if it’s ruined yet. 

Lots of pink sunrises with the rain. 

I haven’t had time to work on the barn and the rain is causing some sinkage behind the retaining wall. 

Posie and The Hooligans have been in heat trying to get out and find a boy. 

We’ve had days and days of rain and The Hooligans pen is a swamp so I’ve been trying to get more dry ground for them. So a cattle panel hoop. 

This is how I put them up by myself. Set the posts then bend the panel between them. 

Then wrestle it into an upright position and wire in place. Zip tie a tarp over it. 

Looking a bit like a homeless camp. Added some bedding pellets to help soak up some water. 

Moved a canopy wall down to help block the wind. 

The beginning of a yummy warm dinner on a wet cold day. Braised shanks and neck. Tomatoes, carrots, red wine and mushrooms. 

And some mulled wine to warm me up down to my toes. 

 #appreciation

I do appreciate the rain, we certainly need it. I also appreciate that this storm has not brought a lot of wind. 

Farmer Friday (quite a bit late!)

I guess I missed posting last week. I think it was an issue downloading pics from iCloud then I just got busy! The green line marks more picking to do

I thought I was done but discovered I’d mismeasured. And of course there was a big rock in the way. 

Ok all done. Time for string lines. 

Checking for square. Rechecking measurements. 

Some friends came and helped dig post holes. I’m sooo grateful. Otherwise I’d probably still be digging them!

First two posts set in concrete 

Digging the other two corner posts. 

The last one appeared to have been tunneled by ground squirrels and kept collapsing. 

Finally all set. More concrete poured. 

Apparently I didn’t get this post finished and up loaded two weeks ago! So now all the main posts are set, just the door posts to go. 

I worked on cleaning this area up and fixing some leaning fence panels. 

Because I was trying to bring home a new livestock guardian dog. 

That didn’t work out at all so back to looking for a puppy. 

Mocha is off to see a buck to get bred.  

New egg layers

Apparently Mocha was still nursing and with her gone Posie has been super full at milking time. 

Some friends came and helped harvest a wether. About 60 pounds of usable meat. 

Which is delicious. 

I made cheesecake. One advantage to living alone is you get the beaters all to yourself. 

I played with my meat grinder and made sausage.  Sort of Italian style. 

I’m not fond of doing chores by headlamp but the sunrise is gorgeous. 

With colder weather comes more chores. Cutting up trash wood for kindling. 

#appreciation

I appreciate my friends coming to help with projects and the abundance in my life. 

This Week

It’s been a busy week but I did squeeze in some hill time to go from this… 

To this. A bit more picking to do but getting there. 

The sun doesn’t come over the mountain until about 8:30 now. It’ll be after 9:00 Dec 21. 

Sent some extra cockerels off to freezer camp

Doing chores by headlamp in the morning sucks but the sunrise is pretty 

Made a yummy cheesecake from chèvre. Cheated and bought crust. Did you know they come in pecan now? It’s so yellow from my egg yolks. 

This poor chicken had a bad case of fowl pox but also somehow it’s eye is infected. Not sure it’s going to make it but she’s up eating and drinking so I’m doctoring. 

Mmmm. Posie your legs are just too short. I did find my beat up, dented 40 year old milk pail. It’s a bit shorter than this new one so using it now. The new one is fine under big tall goats but Posie has really short legs. 

I worked a bit getting grass out of this bed. Will take a few days before it’s all done and ready to plant again. 

Mmm. Pulled some carrots to cook. Not sure if they have nematode damage at all, it doesn’t look like it although forked roots can be a symptom these look more like the soil is not deep enough. I should probably double dig these beds before I try carrots again. 

And I found a heart rock  

#appreciation

Today I appreciate that the weather has been really nice. 

More Progress

Working on getting a flat space

Getting closer

Green paint marks where I still need to pick

You know I need to work right there Posie 

Posie makes me laugh 

A new set of paint lines

Still working on this bulge. The ground in this spot is almost as hard and dry as a rock. There are layers of calcium gluing rocks and gravel together 

Caramel is still being ridiculous and is trying to dry up. I don’t think she’s cut out to be a long term milker in which case she may be looking for a new home. 

After some days of zero eggs due to the fowl pox epidemic here things are starting to pick up a tiny bit. 

I cleared all the vegetation in this bed and raked up as much of the nematode infested roots as I could. Those go straight to the trash. 

Added gypsum for calcium

Made furrows and filled with worm castings 

Planted salad mix, spinach and cabbage 

The pink cosmos have started blooming. And the mums should start this week. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by. 

#appreciation

I so appreciate that the weather has been beautiful so I can work outside a lot.