Mid September Already?

Mmm. Alright Bambi how many kids are you hiding in there and when are you going to let them out???? I thought it would have happened by now….

Found some cute new signs for my market table. I have had to increase my prices a bit….. soap is now $6

A sugar scrub is this month’s new product 

The lilac soap was ready to package. Mmmm. Smells heavenly 

Picked up an awesome solar light for the Patchwork Shed. 

Digger sniffing around in the car. 

Digger went to the veterinarian for his rabies shot and other vaccines. At 5 months he weighs 62 pounds. 

Digger digs. That hole is knee high on me. 


Mmmm. Looks like some chickens need a new roof pretty soon. 

These four little bucklings will soon be wethers. They are all still available and if not sold will go in my freezer when the weather cools off. They are already eating almost as much as adults and the price of hay is going up. 

Well I’ve been a bit lazy today.  Did chores and cleaned pens until it got too hot. Came in and had some lunch and played on the computer some. And now it’s time to do afternoon chores. One of the reasons I haven’t been posting a lot is my phone battery seems to be dying. Of course it’s only 6 years old….  

Security Improvements

Just as I was starting chores this morning I hear a goat kid hollaring in distress. And find Midnight and Chocolate have hopped the fence again. One of Midnight’s boys was hollaring because he couldn’t find mom. 

Got them back in and worked on changing out the pintles for the gate so it won’t fall off every time I open it. 

Then things began to get complicated. It looked like Chocolate was coming into heat. She was even trying to ride the little bucklings.  So I slipped her into Bashful’s pen and yep she’s in heat. So likely December babies to come. But in this pic you can see what happened later. Gazelle and Chocolate began fighting through the fence. They bent up a brand new cattle panel. Mostly dented from Gazelle’s side. 

So I found a metal beam from an old shed we tore down and wired it right across where they were butting heads. That seemed to put a stop to it. 

Stopped to unload the car and clean up the driveway to get ready for hay delivery. I scored this cool packing crate yesterday. With some legs and some beefing up will make a great hay feeder It’s about 6.5’ long and about 2’ wide. 

But it’s longer than this little roof so started to add on. I got the T post set and another pallet put in place and was scrounging around for some long enough 2x4s to make the roof wider when Gazelle started pounding the fence so had to stop and fix that like I explained before. 

Puppies are like toddlers. When it gets too quiet you better go check. In this case Digger was just napping in his mud hole. 

I did work over here where they are hopping the fence. 

I found a long board to add in. I meant to cut some weed trees to put in the gaps but by then it was getting really hot.  It was 81°F at 5:00 am and by 10 it was miserable. 

I did manage to change out the biggest pad on my cooler. That by the way is a blue pad.  It was so clogged up with lime no air was getting through. Hopefully I’ll get the other 2 sides done tomorrow. But changing out just one side made a big difference in air flow in the house. 

Went to feed the bottle baby at noon and Digger decided he needed to cool off in the goats water. Of course I had to clean and refill buckets after that. 

And at milking time the storm rolled in. I got Posie milked ok and then Mocha and I got soaked   I didn’t even strip her out like I usually do. But that’s ok since she’s still nursing Latte. 

Then I put stuff in the shed and ran to the house sopping wet. Dried off and changed my shirt. Waited for the storm to pass and finished up milking. Fed Digger and the bottle baby. Trying to decide what to have for dinner. Something simple.  I’m too tired to think. Good night. 

More Heat and Humidity

Got outside before daylight to move some more chickens around. 

Worked in a garden spot pulling out Bermuda grass and some weeds. Planted a fig tree from my friends. Forgot to take a picture but also planted out a row of chives. This area is fruit trees, flowers and herbs. It’s been a bit neglected and areas that didn’t have permanent plantings were super dry. So I made some furrows and watered heavily. Have some more plants and seeds to put in once the ground is actually wet. 

I have NO idea how the tarantula got in the bathtub. Caught it in a jar and put it back outside. 

Digger is growing!  

Ever feel like you’re being watched 

Did all the usual chores and ran some errands. Found a new pair of pants in my size (30x30s are really hard to come by) and scored a cool packing crate that will make a nice hay feeder. 

And in other news Chocolate *may* not be pregnant after all. Because today it looked like maybe she was coming into heat. Bashful certainly thought so!  He was talking to her all afternoon. 

While not quite as hot as a few days ago it was just as humid and miserable and still no rain. 

And good night 

Farmer Friday

Been super hot and humid this week. I have gotten a couple little rain storms, maybe .2” altogether. The cattle panel arch over Posie’s pen collapsed. 

And came down so far I couldn’t stand up in there. I had to bale the water off and get the tarp fastened back where it belonged. 

Stuck some more sticks in the pallets but not enough to keep Chocolate from hopping over again. 

Moved the last 3 old olive eggers from the front yard to the big chicken house. 

Then moved the ducks into the pen Midnight’s gang was in. I’ll be moving the compost chickens into there too so they can scratch up and break down the deep bedding in there. 

That left the front yard kennels empty so I took down the shade cloth and tarps and started loosening up the ground. Most of it was hard and dry so watered it some. This area is shaded part of the day but I think I can grow some nice greens in here and the kennel will keep Digger out of them. 

Because he likes to play with plants. That was some nice Swiss chard. Good thing it grows fast this time of year. 

And this morning Posie got out and into the hill pen. She is strong and outweighs me so there’s no stopping her when she takes a notion. So I just shut the gate. Of course that set everybody off. And then Mocha got out. She was mostly looking for snacks on the milk stand but I got the bright idea to put her up on the hill too. Latte, her kid, is old enough to start weaning so I can get more milk. So everyone yelled all day, including Midnight, Gazelle, Chocolate and even Midnight’s kids. And of course Mocha and Latte were the loudest. 

And Mocha gave me half a gallon tonight instead of 2 1/2 pints. Milk is supply and demand so this will help increase the supply. 

And then Digger saw himself in the shiny BBQ. Made me laugh. 

To Market To Market

Got a few little jobs done on Friday like putting cattle panel over the hole in Posie’s gate 

I stuffed the pallet fence with weed tree saplings to help give these girls a little shade in the late afternoon. Would like to extend that some. Have also thought of being able to tie off a little shade cloth high up on the sticks for more shade. 

Didn’t really show up in the pic but there’s a huge hole in a fallow garden space. Maybe a rabbit burrow as it looks bigger than most of the ground squirrel holes I’ve seen. Goes quite always down. 

Had a lovely time at market and came home to Chocolate and Gazelle going walk about.  They even had Posie’s gate open. 

Apparently the wooden fence post I hinged to dried out and the pintles are twisting. Got the girls in, temporary fix. Will work on it when it cools down some.

At milking time I discovered there was more to the story. Posie has broken off her small scurs…

AND Mocha has blue paint on her horns (like Chocolate and Gazelle.  Mmmm so now I wonder if Posie and Mocha got out and they got the other gate open.  Mmmm. 

Digger looking cute and innocent. He’s getting a little better about chasing the cat and chickens IF I catch him BEFORE he actually does anything. Like we are walking and I see a loose chicken and Digger is paying too much attention to it. If I tell him NO and distract him it’s good. 

I have no idea what was sooo interesting under the car. 

Tonight’s milking was interrupted by a thunderstorm with a little rain so took even longer than usual. Got the bottle baby, Digger and me some dinner and went to bed. 

#appreciation

I appreciate all my customers that help support my crazy life 😀

Today was Derailed by the Crazy Train

Digger got his leash stuck because he went around the tree half a dozen times. 

Doing chores. The view from Bashful’s pen. 

Mmmm.  Chocolate are you sprouting and udder?   Mmmm. 

Mmmm. And Gazelle too. But I didn’t breed you two. And I have NO recollection of you and Bashful being out at the same time.  Mmmm. 

So Digger and I are just doing chores, I’m watering some plants as I go. No hurry. And realized Chocolate has her head stuck in the fence. 

I *almost* got her loose but her horns are too long and wide and she was fighting me trying to maneuver her head. Texted a friend and while we waited for help I put down a stack of cement blocks for her to stand on. 

So my morning was derailed and nothing I planned to do happened. By the time I got some smaller mesh wire over the cattle panel it was too hot to work in the sun. 

Mocha is a piggie. She is scraping up the fine residue of feed that is stuck to the feed pan with her teeth. 

Lousy pic, I know. But livestock guardian dogs are amazingly smart. Digger goes around this pen when I’m feeding. (These chickens are freaked out by him so I don’t let him go in this pen). Coming back down his rope catches under the edge and he gets stuck. Today as he came around the corner he grabbed the rope in his mouth and carried it so it wouldn’t catch. 

And the consensus is Bambi is pregnant. Oh boy. Getting more than I bargained for!

PS: this should have posted on Thursday but having issues with technology....