November 24, 2008

Monday morning farm report

Here is my promised update on yesterday's accomplishments.

1. there is now lighting in the hen house that should encourage the birds to start laying again.

2. I made one nesting box out of an old plastic storage bin (not clear, they like their privacy, don't ya know!) and some scrap wood.

3. I discovered a hidden nest they have been laying eggs in. It is in the barn, the little sneaks, they are not supposed to hang out in there. So, I marked the eggs in the nest (I have no idea how old they might be, so they will be decoys) and now, if any of them lay there, I'll know the fresh eggs from the decoy eggs. I figure this counts as a nesting box, so I got two finished!

4. I decided to start a blog devoted to the farm and all the activities based on the farm. I will probably be writing there more than here, unless I get really riled up about something that I cannot relate to life on the farm.

So, the big reveal is now - The Farm at Castle Argghhh!!!, My new blog!

Posted by Beth at 6:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 23, 2008

Running the farm

I am still learning how to do this farm thing. Some day, I would love for us to be much more self-sufficient when it comes to food and such. It is harder than you might think. It takes a lot of physical energy, and you have to constantly remember that there are a lot of living creatures completely dependent on you for food and water.

Like the chickens and Guinea Fowl. They need adequate clean water available at all times. They also have a nasty habit of getting the water all icky. Actually, I blame Mrs. Duck for that - she thinks all containers with water in them are her personal little ponds, and she plops herself in them (even in very cold weather) and gives herself a bath.

For some odd reason, Duck and Aflac do not put their entire bodies into the water - they just dunk their heads in.

Anyway, I often find that I need to change the water and clean the containers several times a day. Even the specialized waterers for chickens do not keep the water clean. They will sit on top of them and poop. Ick.

In the winter, I can't use water hoses to get the water to them, because they will freeze up, so I carry buckets of water to them.

And I need to get their lighting situation in the new hen house improved. Right now, there are two infrared heat lamps in it to keep the temperature above freezing, but because of the short winter days, and the lack of light, the hens do not lay eggs unless I install a light with a timer, to trick them into thinking it is not winter, so they will lay eggs!

If I can get them all to lay eggs, they should be able to pay for their own keep, important as the damned chicken feed has about doubled in price since last year, and this is supposed to be a money making venture at some time in the future! Or, at least a break-even venture!

And the goats, they actually prefer warm water in winter, or so I've been told. But I really don't like the idea of an electric cord in their part of the barn - the critters will munch on anything. So, I am going to put start boiling water a few times a day and pouring it into their cold water to make it a bit warmer.

The horses, believe it or not, are much easier. They are in a huge pasture with a small 1+ acre lake and a small pond and some streams. As long as they have adequate grass in the pasture and the occasional round bale of hay, they do pretty well by themselves.

Of course, the horses cost money - vet bills, shoeing, etc. can put a real big dent in my budget. And that is just for my two horses.

The other 7 horses here belong to Major and his brother, Andrew. They are supposed to be helping me out around the farm in return, but you know, I'm finding that they are too busy to help me out much. If I was charging them the average rate for pasture, I'd be making $100 a horse per month, which would sure make things easier. But they do not have that kind of money. Or if they do, they hide that fact pretty damn well!

Sometimes I know that people take advantage of us. We always try to help people out, but it in many cases, I feel like we are going broke without getting anything in return.

Except for Denizen Ry. When he shows up (sometimes with his lovely wife), he works his arse off helping me to mend fences and clean the barn, take care of the critters etc. Wow, what a great guy.

I wish he would teach Major and Andrew how to be more helpful.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I have got to figure out a way to earn some money. I lost my job a year ago, and that would have been fine if the market had not gone all to hell. I cannot go back to traveling all over the place and working 60 + hours a week only to be mocked for my age day in and out by the culture of youth that Cerner has developed.

I am scattered enough, though, that it is very hard for me to finish all the things I start. That does not make for a successful farm. I have got to prioritize projects and do them.

So, I am going to report each day what I plan to do and whether or not I get them done in an effort to encourage myself to NOT embarrass myself here on the blog.

Therefore, today, my goal is to set up lighting in the new hen house and to create a couple more nesting boxes in it - they don't like the makeshift one at all.

My other goal is to get two loads of laundry done and put away.

I'll update this evening or tomorrow morning!

Posted by Beth at 6:40 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 1, 2008

This is becoming a busy weekend

So I'll have to write more than one post. Today, I learned how to use an airless paint sprayer. I bought it a year ago, with high hopes of painting all the outbuildings something other than rusty aluminum.

But depression, laziness and bad weather got in my way, and I never set the airless sprayer up - even to just try it out.

So this morning, I got it out of the garage, had John help me find the hose that goes with it and set it up.

Incorrectly, of course. I did not tighten the gun part enough, and half a gallon of Kilz primer dribbled down my hand, arm and onto my blue jeans and sneakers.

So I figured that out, and started painting, but it didn't look very good. John came out and demonstrated how to do it correctly. I tried again, and still did not get it. Sweet husband showed me at least 10 times. I finally figured it out - and in the meantime, John painted an entire exterior wall teaching me how to do it! I almost feel like Tom Sawyer - LOL!

But really, I wasted a lot of paint, and I don't think I got the hang of spraying the paint until the last 1/2 gallon.

However, it is just the primer, and it is just a hen house, so it can be quite imperfect.

Major and his sister arrived to put the roof on the hen house, and John is out helping them now. I'm better off not watching people on high ladders using the nail gun to attach a roof, so I'm drinking a margarita and wondering how I'll get all this paint off my skin, hair and clothing.

Posted by Beth at 5:40 PM | Comments (1)

October 30, 2008

Update on farming

The hen house is getting close to completion. I never imagined it would take so darn long! Today, I put in a doorway and I'm currently caulking the walls and floor.

I hope to get the roof on either this evening or tomorrow. I have roofing material and all the stuff we need, but gosh, it's a little scary getting up that high.

I'll get some pictures up when our bandwidth usage allows it.

Posted by Beth at 3:47 PM

October 15, 2008

Rainy days

Hmmm. I have to work on the new Hen House - it's 8x14 feet long, and has a peak roof that is a lot higher than we realized. I have the two trusses up on the ends, but I have to get another 6 trusses up and screwed in.

I am afraid I'm going to have to go buy a longer ladder, because we were barely able to reach the peak with the ones we have.

This is going to be a very pricey hen house! I've spent over $600 for supplies, but I will have the satisfaction of knowing John and I and Wendy built it.

This darn rain is really pushing my schedule for building back.

In other farm news, Buffy is doing well. She and Gunner go out together and survey the area around the barn and house, keeping coyotes away. We've had a couple of close calls with skunks, though. I have to remember to completely close the barn door at night, and to check to be sure there are no spots where a skunk can sneak in. They are evil!

I found out that Holland Feed will sell my eggs for me. Only they will only sell them for $2 a dozen. That is $1 less than I normally get. However, it's better than having the eggs sitting in the fridge waiting for me to think of yet another egg recipe - LOL! And it should at least pay for their feed. I've switched to a different brand, instead of $14 for 50 lbs, it is $8 for 40 pounds. Feed has gone up so much the past year!

I'm going to make a nice market basket today, if it comes out, I'll put a picture up.

Posted by Beth at 8:14 AM | Comments (2)

October 10, 2008

Waking up before the dawn

Is starting to be a habit. Probably a good habit. I got up and fed dogs, cats and made coffee. I walked out to the barn to check on the goats and chickens and to turn on the radio and get Buffy the Coyote Slayer's puppy food.

Beautiful, beautiful sky. Lots of stars, no moon. And then I heard a bunch of absolutely bone-chilling sounds coming from the woods. I have no idea what it was. I'm hoping not a cougar or bobcat. That would be very bad. The sounds were not from owls or coyotes, I don't know. Maybe I'll go look for paw prints later today.

We have a lovely praying mantis watching for bugs in the barn. I told him he was welcome to over-winter here and get rid of insects! Not too sure he understood. If he is out there later, I'll get a picture of him.

Oh, speaking of pictures, I have to put together a video of Buffy. She is so cute that she looks like a huge stuffed dog.

She is a challenge to train, though. I think she finally understands that she has to protect the chickens, ducks, guineas and goats, not chase them!

I will continue working on my new hen house today. I am starting to put the floor on over the base. The instructions are a little unclear on Step 5. I'm building the 8x14 model, can't figure out why I'm supposed to cut the floor one inch shorter than the base - do I lay it out leaving 1/2 inch of the base all around or what? If anyone knows, please tell me!

Okay, I can hear Hal - he has to eat separately because he has very expensive food for his bladder condition - he wants out of his dining room (our bathroom).

Have a great Friday, all!

Posted by Beth at 5:41 AM | Comments (2)

October 3, 2008

My first attempt at a video

I have not yet figured out how to put music in for the titles and the transitions, but do tell me what you think, so far.

Thanks!

Posted by Beth at 10:10 PM | Comments (6)

September 14, 2008

Farms are a lot of work!

I can see that I will never want for something to do out here :)

I finally got the 500 gallon milk tank out of the milk room in the barn. Yeah, there is a hole in the wall, and I will have some odd things hanging from the ceiling, but after cleaning the floor and walls of that room for the past few days, I think I should be able to start moving my artsy stuff in there.

I have a radio there so I can have some background music or listen to talk radio, and John said something about getting a surplus desk for that room so I can keep all the paperwork for the goats and for my egg sales there.

The goats are becoming more and more friendly. My friends Robin, Wendy and Robin's son, Richard, helped me shear Belle and Horus. I still have 3 goats to shear, so I need to get everyone together as soon as the weather dries up a bit.

We have had quite a lot of rain for the past few days - partly due to Ike, and the ground is saturated. Unfortunately, that means the water gets into the barn from under the side door, and it is a MESS in there, more cleaning!

So, that's what I've been up to. How is everyone else doing?

Posted by Beth at 9:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 9, 2008

Goats hanging around

Posted by Beth at 4:42 PM | Comments (1)

June 5, 2008

I can has sales!?

I've been trying to grow things and take care of animals. Yesterday, after digging up and rinsing off about 150 huge Walla Walla green onions, I made my first trip to the Farmer's Market of Leavenworth, Kansas, and sold out! Didn't make much money, because the weather has been odd and not conducive for growing a lot of things of late, however, it looks like we will have a bumper crop of wild blackberries and gooseberries. I know I can easily sell the blackberries - but the gooseberries, I'm not so sure about!

I have planted non-wild cultivars of blackberries and raspberries, but they will not produce much this year, as they are just getting established. I somehow killed all my grapevines, so I'll try them again next year. Or maybe sometime this summer, when I'm not too busy with other things.

The tomatoes are looking good, so are the potatoes and the various hot peppers and the basil looks wondrous.

My beans are not doing well - I must have put them in the wrong place - I think I'll still try them, only somewhere else, and start them in the ground rather than in the house.

I think I may need a greenhouse - Hmmmmm.

Posted by Beth at 5:35 PM | Comments (3)

May 25, 2008

busy, busy, busy

Today, Serafina and her doeling (2 of the 3 goats from Rosebud), decided to go off on their own. Belle, Sammy and Horus hung around here and followed me everywhere. I started to get worried so I saddled up Willy and we went for a ride, trying to find the crafty goat and her doeling. Bah, no luck, but it is actually the first time I have ridden a horse in about 3 years, so that's all good.

I decided to go look for them. So I got my walking stick (a shepherd's crook, really) and my camera, and I headed off into the woods. Gosh, things grow so fast when it rains like that, I had to make my own path - walked for a good 2 hours, didn't find her, but I did find several HUGE patches of wild blackberries!! Got home, deticked myself and changed clothes and went out in the Ranger looking for her - still no luck. So I worked on cleaning up the smaller chicken coop and put mulch over all the bare pieces of ground that the chickens have scratched down to nothing. I gave Willy a bath, boy, did that horse need one! And I cleaned my saddle and bridle, both of which had not been properly cleaned for what - 3 years!

I highly recommend Leather CPR - it's pricey, but it is the best leather cleaner/conditioner I have ever used.

Yesterday, I took another two hour walk through the 40 acre pasture/woods. Took the dogs, it was raining a bit, but it was still a lot of fun. I've got to post some of the pictures.

My peonies started blooming TODAY - just in time for Memorial Day!

Serafina and her doeling came back to the general area of the barn, until she saw me, then she took off, and this time, all my little goats followed her. When it gets later, and she wants her grain, she should reappear. If not, I'll send Gunner and Kiki out after the goats, that'll get them in!!!

Posted by Beth at 5:35 PM | Comments (1)

May 19, 2008

Time flies when you are trying to catch up on planting!

We had a longer winter than we have had for a long time. Lots of cold, snow, ice and wind. Spring was rather late in appearing, and we had frosts for 2 weeks longer than normal, so I am behind.

I'm learning this farm stuff as I go, and I have already learned some lessons. I tried starting a lot of seeds indoors back in February. They grew pretty well, but because of the late frosts, I was delayed in transplanting them. When I finally did get them planted, I found that the darn plastic trays I had planted them in made it very difficult to get the plants out without squishing their roots. Sometimes I even had to cut the plastic cells to get my plants out.

If I was only planting a few plants, that would not be so bad, but when you are trying to plant several hundred of them, it's a nightmare.

Next year, I'm not going to use anything with plastic cells to start seeds in. I lost almost a whole tray of fennel and rosemary.

I bought the trays because they were made by Burpee, and I thought with that name, they would be good. Well, everything in their little mini greenhouse sets work well, except for the trays.

My horses, Willy is literally standing at the front door - he is ready for his morning grain, so I better get moving - I promise I'll post later with pictures!!

Posted by Beth at 6:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 10, 2008

I've been very busy on the farm

And I've had no time to blog. So I thought I'd post some pictures of what's been going on around here.

As you know, we are in Kansas. This is the time of year of rather, umm, interesting weather. Sometimes, the sky is so beautiful, that I have to run and get the camera. Here is a nice example:

We have a new barn cat, DC (stands for "dumped cat"). He is just a lovely cat. He came to us full of ticks and his coat all matted up, so we took him to Dr. Nikki and she neutered him, gave him his shots and got rid of the ticks and matted hair. He recovered quite quickly, as you can see:

We have two new members of the Castle Argghhh! farm, so far they are nameless, but gosh darn cute:

Stay tuned for more updates - LOL!

Posted by Beth at 6:38 AM | Comments (10)

April 29, 2008

Springtime means a lot of work for farmers

I have a zillion things to do, and naturally, things stop working or deliveries are not made on time or there is a frost to kill the tomatoes I put out or something awful happens.

But good things happen, too. Hummingbirds are back, butterflies are back, beautiful wild violets are blooming. I discovered that we have literally hundreds of Redbud Trees in the woods. Beautiful!

Daffodils are blooming. I found that we have a couple of nice lilac bushes, nearly blooming, and peonies - they always remind me of Memorial Day.

And the birds are nesting. Turkeys are flirting with each other with lots of gobble gobble gobble heard around the creek and the ponds. I met a pair of the tiniest little wrens on my morning walk today. They were collecting items to make their next with.

I found that the variegated hostas growing really need to be divided, as well as a lot of so-far unidentified bulb-type plants with leaves, but so far, no flowers.

Plus, I have a lot of landscaping to do on our yard. But most of that can wait until I get the plants that will actually produce (I hope) something salable into the ground. The weather has been too cold at night up until now to get most stuff going.

Oh, and the little tiller broke, so John bought me a new, bigger, better, newer, more flexible tiller. Only it was missing a part, but John, the greatest husband on earth, went back to the store and got the part and set it all up for me and taught me how it works tonight.

Almost forgot, my load of dirt finally arrived. It seemed like so much dirt in the truck, but once it was dumped in a field that is probably a couple of acres, it seemed like nothing, but it should be find for my raised beds once I till in some compost and peat. And I'll get to go and use the tractor to move it around - neat!

We are having a work party this weekend - we are putting in fencing for the goatlings. Tomorrow, I'll measure and figure out what we need and consult with Major on the best choices for fencing - high tensile, barbed, field, whatever.

And if we have time, maybe I can get a new, simple coop for the chickens built - the 24 6 week old chickens who are currently living in what is going to be my tack room - and I'm sure glad I have a power washer, once they get moved!!!!

I did get the garage pretty well cleaned out - well, at least in comparison to what it was! I still have to install the stuff on the walls that we can use to hold stuff, like the ladders, tools, etc.

But the fencing is most important. Ideally, we will get two areas fenced - the field to the East of the barn and the field to the west of the house - but that is a lot of work, so we need any help we can get - we will provide hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and beer - if you are interested, please let us know soon, so we can buy accordingly!

Today was the most beautiful Spring day ever. Gorgeous. Cool. Not humid (most important!!!)

It's time to get off to bed now. G'night.

Posted by Beth at 9:31 PM

April 23, 2008

Typical morning on the farm

For some reason, last night, I decided to wear pj's to bed. I must have had a premonition that I would need to run around outside in the morning.

I overslept. John had to make the coffee, usually my job. I woke up and remembered that Willy was in his stall in the barn and would want to get out, so I put my boots on and ran out to the barn, opened the door, and Willy bolted out - apparently he had once again pushed the gate to his stall open. I checked to be sure he had not managed to get into any grain, and he had been good - except for the bales of straw that had a box of stained glass on them that he knocked over.

So Willy takes off, and I hear a meow. And the meow is at my feet. It's a beautiful full-grown cat, not feral. We can use a barn cat, but this kitty has probably been dumped, and I'm not sure how farm savvy it is. I gave him some kitty food, and he ate it like he had not eaten for some time. I'm not sure if it is a he or she cat - didn't want to look while I'm holding my morning coffee.

In the meantime, Willy has had a nice canter through the back yard, the front yard and is now over on the field to the west of the house. That is an area that I hope to fence in for Willy, Petey and the goats, so I was happy to see that he liked it.

I introduced the cat to Gunner and Kiki, the dogs, and tell them that this cat is family - not prey, but defending the cat from coyotes is their job.

I introduced the cat to chickens, and told the cat that the birds are family, not prey or sport, and to please leave them alone.

By this time, Willy is in the front yard, munching away. So I went into the barn to get a rope, and found that he had really done a number on his gate - it was knocked completely off its hinges. damn. But I got the rope, went out, and threw it over his neck and put him out in the pasture with the other horses. He was ready, he had his little adventure, and I have horse poop to remove from the barn floor, the backyard and the front yard.

I'm still in my pj's and boots, getting ready call Dr. Nikki Green, our vet, to see if dumped kitty can get in for shots, neutering (if needed) and shearing - its long hair is hopelessly matted, and will have to be shaved off.

Every day is an adventure, and I love it.

Posted by Beth at 9:15 PM | Comments (5)

March 25, 2008

The weather is good, I'm a farmer

And I've been too busy to blog!

Today, I painted the chicken coop and cut the wood necessary for building a pen for John's two ducklings. I was painting all that wood after I cut it, and had enough left over to paint most of the chicken coop/house.

I hope to get the two ducks out into their own space tomorrow, as they make a humongous mess in the brooder with the baby chicks.

Speaking of baby chicks, I was trying to clean the brooder and a large piece of wood fell on them and broke the back of one of the chicks. Boy, do I feel awful! I held her until she died, and she is in a box waiting for burial. Sigh. I'm learning that birds are kinda fragile, but this is the first time I was personally responsible for the death of a critter. Sigh.

Willie and Petey are doing fine - they still have their winter coats so they are very fuzzy. Both of them lost weight during the winter - it was harder than what they are used to, so I pull them out of the pasture most mornings, and feed them beet pulp and Purina Equine Senior and hay.

I am really dying to ride Willy or Petey around the farm. I suppose Willy would be the safer ride - Petey is likely to dump me LOL.

Tomorrow, I have to put together the duck home and get them set up. I also need to get 6 grape vines planted, and get my raised beds started.

I also want to plant my seed potatoes sometime this week. And I have to start some of my flower seeds - poppies and larkspur and violas, etc.

I'm spending so much time outside that I'm neglecting the house. I've been waiting so long for spring, and I have tons and tons of things to get done.

I'm loving it!

Posted by Beth at 6:21 PM | Comments (2)

March 15, 2008

Getting closer to spring time!

First of all, I am so happy that John is back home after being gone all week long (including being gone for my birthday!). We went to Outback yesterday evening for dinner and had some wonderful food. Yum. It has been a while since I've had a steak.

Today, we went to the Train Show in Kansas City at Bartle Hall. It was rather expensive for what it was. $10 a ticket and $10 for parking. There were about 1/2 as many exhibitors this year than the last time we made it to that show, some years ago. But I did see some neat ideas in our scale (1:20.3).

We went to Sams Club both yesterday and today - it is rare we go there at all, but with starting a business and all, there are things we have to buy. We bought a cash register and a battery converter that will convert a car battery to AC for the cash register when I am at the Market. I needed it because I will have to pay sales tax, and it's easiest to figure it with the cash register - plus, it will be a good way to determine what sells when and what does not, with the PLU and Department keys.

We went back to Sam's today to get some tables for the Farmer's Market and some other things. My dad would call some of the stuff we got "basic provisions" (In other words, booze!).

And then, on our way home, John stopped at Grass Pad (a very interesting garden and seed supply store - their ads say "Grass Pad, high on grass!").

I bought seed potatoes to plant on St. Patrick's Day - Yukon Gold and two other types. I also bought some green onion sets and about 100 Gladiola bulbs (they had a great price).

The bulbs were 12 cents each. I should be able to sell the flowers for $1 a stem - I think that's a good return, plus, if I am really ambitious, I can dig up the bulbs in the fall and store them until next spring and then plant them again - which would give me a really, really, really good return on my money!

Our 25 baby chicks and two ducklings are doing well. They are in what used to be the milk-pasteurizing room in the barn. I set them up in a brooder with heat lamps and I'm heating the room itself with a space heater. It is kinda nice to go into the barn, open the door to that room and be warm!

The room next to it will be my pottery studio. It will also be the place where I shear my Angora Goats. It needs some work, and we will have to have an electrician out to install the power outlet for my kiln. I have running water in the barn, and in the spring, summer and fall, it will be great - next winter, though, I think I'll just use the studio at the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth - for $55 a month, I can use their wheels and get all my stuff fired.

I have mixed feeling about starting seeds under lights. They seem much more fragile that way. I talked to Rodney Parsons (the farmer who sharecrops our hay fields for us) and his wife just got a 6 ft. x 6 ft. polycarbonate greenhouse to start her seeds in, and she likes it better because it is natural light. The drawback, though, is that they need to heat it or it can still freeze at night. I think I'll look into that possibility for next year, assuming I survive this year!

Well, I'm fixing my handsome husband dinner now. Gotta go!

Posted by Beth at 5:43 PM | Comments (1)

March 13, 2008

I increased our critter count today

I got my 25 all pullet heavy breed chicks today. It's kind of a surprise package - these chicks are to be layers, and they are all different colors. All I know is that they are all the big chickens - the ones the hawks can't pick up and run off with!

Oh, and I got two ducklings, too. I figured, what the heck, ducks are nice birds.

And it appears that a handsome mallard duck and his lady have taken up residence in our large pond. They are pretty tough little birds, as I watched them chase off a pair of geese this afternoon. I much prefer the ducks to the geese - the geese just have parties that are way too big and messy, if you know what I mean.

I also put a down payment on 3 lovely Angora goats. Serafina is the name of the nanny goat, but her daughter, just a few weeks old, has no name. The third goat is a little kid - he will be our billy goat. The two girls are "colored" Angoras and the little boy goat is all white, nice coat.

When we go to get them, we will be able to transport Serafina in a large dog carrier and the other two in smaller dog carriers. Hope we can borrow them, as we don't really need them once we get the goats home.

I'll take baby chick and duckling pictures tomorrow. Darn, they are cute!

John will be happy that I built their brooder in the barn, so there will not be any mess in the garage! Well, from the chicks, anyway - lol!

Posted by Beth at 7:56 PM | Comments (9)

March 2, 2008

I once swore I would never shoot an animal

But that was before I realized that there are animals which will kill my chickens and guineas or steal their eggs.

.... Or spray our dogs with a scent that can make you pass out - yes, skunks. I am going to have to start practicing with my Christmas gift from John. And then, I'm swear, I am going to start hunting skunks in the woods. They are vermin worse than mice - they are probably too big for the Red-Tailed Hawks to go for, and they often carry rabies.

Never in my life did I ever think that shooting a critter, other than a human threatening my family, would be an ok thing in my mind.

Never in my life were my dogs repeatedly skunked!!!

And no live traps, people! I want these skunks GONE!!!!!!!

Posted by Beth at 4:55 PM | Comments (14)

February 21, 2008

Farm Report

I think I have to recognize that I'm only going to get this farm report post up maybe once a week or two weeks. I get distracted by other things.

On Sunday, we got about 8 inches of heavy, heavy snow. It was melting away nicely on Monday, but a cold front turned that slush to ice by Monday evening. The county road that goes through the farm was a sheet of ice, and I got stuck, and then in attempting to get unstuck, I slid into a very deep ditch.

Yesterday, I finally called a tow truck, and Bob winched the car out of the ditch, only then I could still not get enough traction to get up the hill to our driveway, so I had to back down to the bottom of the hill and gun it to get thru the icy spots.

Naturally, I have to haul hay out to the horses once or twice a day during this freeze. It's always a challenge to get the hay out without the horses fighting each other to keep it all to themselves. I alternate areas in the pasture where I put the hay - keeps them guessing, so I have a chance to spread it out in a wide enough area so each horse has his or her own space.

Lady, an aged horse, of sometimes bad temper, has a mean, mean kick - if anyone comes near her little pile of hay and grain, she can be pretty vicious. I watched her chase Petey down the other day - he slid and fell down hard on the icy/snowy ground, and scared the heck out of me because his legs ended up sticking thru the barbed wire fence - fortunately, he stayed calm, stood up and carefully extricated his legs from the wire without getting any cuts. I had no idea he was smart enough to do that!
But the horses seem to be doing mostly okay. Willy, though, my precious old horse, Willy, the best horse on earth, is having a hard time with this winter, I think. He stays away from the young horses, and whenever he sees me leaving the house, he whinnies for me. So I try to feed him separately whenever possible.

I tried getting him into the barn to give him a break from the brutal wind one night, but he actually kicked down one of the stall walls to escape - he wants to be in the pasture with the other horses.

Hopefully, when I get my angora goats, they will keep Willy company in the barn, and he won't do that again!

Chickens are fine, but I'm not getting any eggs right now. Seems that Helga has "gone broody", and as soon as any eggs are laid, she pulls them under her, and she seems determined to hatch these eggs, so I'm letting her do that. As cold as it is right now, if she was not setting on them, they would freeze and break before I can get to them, so maybe we can increase our little flock naturally.

Satchmo is still in the garage.

It's snowing again.

I think I'll work on starting some seeds today - I'll take pictures of my setup.

Posted by Beth at 7:33 AM | Comments (1)

February 3, 2008

Daily Farm Report

I think I shall endeavor to write a daily farm report. I find myself so busy running around after horses, dogs, cats, chickens and guineas, that I am exhausted by the time I sit down to log onto my computer. I should keep a diary of sorts, and this seems a good place!

Okay, here goes.

Last night, none of the guineas would go into the chicken run. I tried everything I knew to get them in there, but they are tired of winter and wanted some freedom. So they slept on the barn roof. Gunner was all upset about something, so he went out late running after some critter, and then spent a good chunk of the night on the deck, keeping an eye on my guineas.

John let him in the house at some point, and he jumped in bed in between us and wiggled and wagged to get some attention.

I woke up around 5:30, and I got up and threw on my boots and a coat over my nightgown so I could check on the guineas. I managed to get 2 of them into the chicken run, Dusty and Bill, who were napping on the ground under the elm - idiots! If they are going to sleep outside, they need to sleep up in a tree or something to avoid the ground predators!!

They were so sleepy, I merely walked over to the two of them, picked them up and stuck one under each arm to return them to their proper roosts in the chicken run.

The others were on the roof all night, and all survived. I figure God watches over really dumb critters like Guineas, otherwise, they would be extinct!!

I made the mistake of letting Gunner out this morning with guineas and chickens out of the chicken run - it seemed to be okay for awhile, he was checking out things on the other side of the farm, but he came back, saw birds out of their normal place and tried to herd them into the pen.

Naturally, all the birds freaked out, and Gunner did his weird thing of chasing down one of the birds (this time Bill, the Guinea) and laying by it until I come to get it. In fact, he was holding poor Bill down with a paw, I'm amazed the bird did not have a heart attack on the spot. They were almost the entire way down the steep hill behind our backyard, so I (still in my nightgown) had to hike down there and pick up Bill and carry him back to the pen.

John and I did take Gunner for a walk this morning (I guess maybe a mile and one half), but it started sleeting, snowing and raining, so we headed back home.

Major and his brother, Andy, came by to borrow our big trailer so they could go pick up a couple of round bales for the horses - their dad brought a big truckload back from Oklahoma yesterday, but he took it all up to their land in Atchison County.

It is a gray, chilly, wet Sunday. I completely cleaned the ugliest bathroom on earth today - tackled the ugliest bathroom tile on earth with really strong cleaner to see if I could make it less dingy, and I did! It's still ugly has hell, but at least it is not quite so depressing.

Hal, our fat cat, is still having bladder issues. He was at the Vet for two days last week, catheterized, so he could pee. He's home now, on antibiotics, and not a very happy camper. We are probably going to have that surgery done on him that will change his urinary tract so he can't get any more crystals stuck and prevent him from going potty. This is his third problem in three months.

And poor Little Girl is really showing her age. She has a hard time keeping food down, and spends nearly all her time sleeping. We have to brush her an bathe her because she just doesn't keep herself nice anymore.

All the other critters are pretty good.

And all this running around has finally kicked my metabolism, and I'm losing weight - hurray!

About 30 pounds so far.

Okay, that's all for today's Farm Report!

Posted by Beth at 11:56 AM | Comments (2)

January 18, 2008

One of the Guineas has laid an egg!

It was very cold here last night, so cold that the eggs I failed to gather yesterday had frozen and burst. But there were a couple of eggs laid this morning that I did bring in - and one belongs to one of the Guineas! My guess, Blanche, because she is always staying close to the coop and pen when all the other guineas explore the pasture, yard and barn area.

Anyway, guess which of these two eggs is a Guinea egg!

Posted by Beth at 4:22 PM | Comments (4)

January 12, 2008

Helga is back!

I don't know how, why, when or where, but this morning, as soon as I woke up, I pulled on my boots and ran outside to the Run of Argghhh! to count the chickens. And yes, I was wearing my flannel pajamas with penguins on them. Good thing no one can see our house!

I slept poorly last night because I was worried about Helga. I prayed that maybe St. Anthony (patron saint of lost things) and St. Francis (you should know about him!) would intercede with the Good Lord above and get Helga back safely.

Hey, I'm Irish Catholic, we do a lot of those kinda prayers, asking Saints to ask God to help us out - because we figure they are really on His good side, more so than us earth-bound sinners, and He will listen a little closer to the good Saints.

Anyway, I ran out in the 26 degree morning air and Helga was in the run. She made her nice chicken noises at me, and then hopped into the nest box, to lay her egg of the day.

I owe Gunner an apology. He wants to herd the birds, and scares them when he does, but he did not injure any of them.

Do any of you know anything about dogs who want to herd things? I need to understand what Gunner is trying to do. We are pretty sure he is a border collie/lab mix, and the border collie part of him is very strong!

This morning, in about a 5 minute session, I taught him to roll over. He is very quick!

Posted by Beth at 8:16 AM | Comments (5)

January 11, 2008

Farms make you exercise! (or what happened to Helga?)

So, today I planned to rearrange the living room, do some laundry, vacuum and clean the bathrooms when I got back from my massage/haircut/color job on my gray hair. It's no longer gray, but that is about the only thing I got done today because of .....

Critters. The critters made my afternoon crazy. I'm so pooped that I just poured myself a glass of wine, hoping to slow my heart rate to a normal speed after running all through the pasture, barn yard, front yard and back yard.

It started out as a walk out to the pasture to check on the horses - I had not laid eyes on all of them at once for a couple of days (they really like the far side behind a hill or two and the pond and the woods). Gunner, as always, needed some exercise, so I took him with me. Kiki followed slowly behind (she has a neurological injury that affects her left rear leg, so we are trying to keep her as quiet as possible to see if the steroids she is taking can help her).

And yes, I love parentheticals. I think that way (you know, always going off on tangents).

Anyway, the dogs and I headed across the road that bisects our land and I climbed through the barbed wire fence to go check out the horses and to cut the nylon cover on the round bale off, so the horses can get at the hay. Gunner and Kiki were very, very good, and stayed right with me. This end of the pasture is a soggy, muddy mess. The snow and ice and rain of the last few weeks have really done a number on it, so it is treacherous going.

We made our way over to the small stock pond, and I spotted Willy, grazing. Pretty soon, he saw me and started to stroll over to say hi. Pretty soon, all 12 horses came over to check me out. I pet them and checked to verify that Petey still had his shoes on (if you have never owned a horse who needs shoes, mud is the number one cause of lost horseshoes - it just sucks the shoes off their hooves!)

Gunner and Kiki were still being very good, in fact Gunner was just laying down watching.

When I was done with the horses, I headed back toward the barn, Gunner ran ahead and lost his fricking head and chased after the guineas and chickens (they all free range from morning until sunset.)

Damnit! Gunner cannot resist trying to "herd" the guineas and chickens. By the time I had sloshed through the mud and puddles in the pasture to the barn, Gunner was no longer in sight. I called and called and called, but he must have been ignoring me, as he did not come back. It was then that I realized I was missing one of my hens, Helga. She lays the prettiest brown speckled eggs, and she is the biggest of the hens.

I started searching for her - the other hens and Rocky the Rooster, following as I checked under bushes and behind the barn and in the coop.

I was getting pretty damn mad at Gunner - had he killed my lovely Helga?

I didn't even try to count the Guineas - they had flown off in several directions, ungraceful as they are, and they can normally get up into a tree to avoid bad, misbehaving dogs who think they can herd birds.

I gave up, and went into the house, with the intention of feeding the cats and Kiki, the only obedient dog around this farm!

I figured I'd go out on the deck to see if I could locate Gunner or Helga from a higher spot.

I spotted Gunner, about halfway down a rather treacherous hill behind the house. I called him, and he did not move. I thought, "Oh, shit, he must be feasting on Helga, my wonderful big, black hen who lays the best eggs ever".

I called him and called him, and he would not move one iota. Damn dog. So I walked down the hill to grab him and make him come up to the house.

I was about 2 yards away, and I saw a bird - only it was a guinea, not my hen. Gunner was very proud of himself - he had found the guinea and would not leave it to come to me. I was afraid that the bird was dead (it was Bill, the Guinea). But as I got closer, I could see the bird breathing, playing dead, I think. I picked him up, and his eyes opened and I could feel his little heart beating like crazy. I carried him up the hill, checking him out, and I saw that there were no visible wounds, and there did not appear to be any broken bones. Gunner continued to walk with me to the Chicken/Guinea Run of Argghhh! I set Bill down by the bird food, and he stood up, and ran into the coop. So he is okay. Apparently Gunner felt it was his job to watch over him, after he scared him half to death!

So, now I'm not sure if Gunner is responsible for the absence of Helga or not. He just ate all his dog food, so whatever the case, he didn't eat her. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if she shows up for dinner tonight. (her dinner, not mine).

I did find a piece of a Chinese newspaper on the ground close to the Run of Argghhh!- could a Chinese chef have come and stolen my hen? Is this the beginning of a true mystery, or a murder story?

Or is Helga safely in the bushes across the street, with the horses?

Stay tuned ...

Posted by Beth at 4:34 PM | Comments (1)

January 9, 2008

Roosters have feelings too!

Ad you might remember, Satchmo, my White Crested Black Polish Rooster, has been living in our garage because Rocky, my Plymouth Rock Barred Rooster, and the hens were trying to kill him by pecking at his head - they pulled out quite a few of his crest feathers, and drew blood.

So, Satchmo has been confined to the garage to recuperate. His feathers are growing back nicely, but his appetite is off, and he seems to be depressed.

John was a little worried about him, so I thought I'd go in and spend some quality time with him. Yes, he is a rooster, but apparently, he needed some attention.

I picked him up, walked over to a chair and held him on my chest and just petted him and spoke to him softly. Pretty soon, Satchmo was actually snuggling with me, making his little rooster noises very quietly.

Then he climbed up to my shoulder and did not want to let go, so I walked around the house with this silly rooster on my shoulder. He even let John pet him.

I need to find Satchmo a little bantam hen who won't try to pull his feathers out so he wont be lonely any more.

Then, I'll have to build him and his honey their own coop in a separate run, so the full-sized hens and rooster won't pick on him ever again!

In the meantime, John and I need to give Satchmo some extra attention each day, and let him feel loved.

Yes, this is corny.

Posted by Beth at 8:36 PM | Comments (5)

January 4, 2008

Guineas hanging out in the front yard trees

Posted by Beth at 8:38 AM | Comments (3)

November 19, 2007

OMG! One of the hens laid an egg! Our first egg!!

And I don't even have their nest boxes finished! I guess I should look around and see if there are any others - I do have four hens, after all!
Gee, I wonder which one laid it?

It's a perfect, brown egg. Perfect!!

Whoo hoo!

Posted by Beth at 4:52 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

How long does the odor of skunk linger on a dog?

Gunner managed to piss off a skunk last night - yuck.

Posted by Beth at 3:33 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

November 17, 2007

Some future chores around the farm

We have an awful lot of trees with thorns - some honey locust, some Osage Orange (hedge trees) and another one or two that are very annoying. There are a lot of baby thorny trees in the pasture, and I have flattened at least one tire of the Ranger when I've driven over them.

They need to be removed, at least the little new ones. I am NOT fond of them. So, I need to get a chainsaw and have Major and Andrew get rid of them this winter.

Here is a picture of the thorns of one of the trees, looking up in the evening:

Posted by Beth at 9:26 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 15, 2007

Research and more research

I can't begin to tell you all how much I love living on our farm. I wake up in the morning and I can hear my rooster, Satchmo, crow, and I watch the sun rise over the trees.

Some people think that Cock-a-Doodle-doo is an awful noise, but after living on a busy street in town, with the sounds of cars and trucks and motorcycles and stereo's with so much bass that things rattle on the shelves, Satchmo's crowing is a delight.

I love to go outside and feed the guineas, the chickens, check on the horses and cats and play with the dogs. But I want to do more. I want to figure out some way to make enough money off the farm to make the mortgage payment, and maybe even a little more.

So, I've been talking to the County Extension Agent, reading books, and trying to find some on-line resources - ideally a web community dedicated to family farming - but I'm having no luck at all. I don't know what to do!

I'm thinking maybe berries - blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. It takes a couple of years to get a decent crop, but the plants are long term plants, and if I can find the right spots to plant them, I think it could be a crop that people at the local farmer's markets will purchase.

I also want to raise some goats for their wool - Angora Goats, to be exact, but I want to start with a couple of baby goats, so they won't be wild, and they can be used to my brushing them.

And of course, I have the horses.

If any of you can suggest any resources for me, please do!

Posted by Beth at 8:38 AM | Comments (4)

October 30, 2007

Attack of the Asian Lady Bugs!

I have heard of this happening, but I've never seen it before. Last night, thousands of Asian Lady Bugs swarmed all over the deck and tried to find a way into the house.

Eventually, they found an entrance through I have only seen one or two this morning, I have no idea where they have hidden out for the winter.

If they swarm again today, I will get a picture!

Posted by Beth at 7:42 AM | Comments (4)

July 7, 2007

How I got lost in our 'front yard'

So, there were a bunch of people at the farm on the 4th of July. John had his first shooting party, I guess you might call it. We had targets set up in the back and folks were trying out their shooting abilities. It's kinda cool, because we can shoot from the back deck and not bother anyone!

Well, our son, Andy, and his girlfriend, Ashes and her younger sister, Sam, had driven up from Manhattan, Kansas to see the farm and spend the day with us. They were kinda bored, as we have no television (we are debating whether or not to get satellite tv) and no computers out there as yet.

So I thought, heck, I'll take them out one by one on the Ranger (fancy utility atv) and show them the front 40 acres - our front yard.

Now, this is not your typical farm - with lots of open acres of stuff growing. This had been a dairy farm. There is pasture and woods and a couple of fields of good brome hay. So you cannot look out from the front door and see to the end of the property.

Sam said she would like to see it, so we got on the Ranger, buckled up and I started driving. My thought was to try to drive the fence line - that way I'd know where I was. We started out doing pretty well - the grasses are very high - 3 to 4 feet, but we could see where we were going. There were depressions in the grass where deer had slept, we found a stock tank (little bitty pond for cattle to drink from) and a bleached out skull of a cow.

We had to enter the woods to explore further back, and things went well for a few minutes. And then, it seemed that we were deep in the woods, and the driving was, well, challenging. I told Sammi that I'd get us out of the woods in just a few minutes, as she is a city girl, and was getting pretty weird about bugs. And, she was getting smacked by cedar tree branches and vines as I tried to make our way to a meadow, where the bugs would not be so ubiquitous.

I discovered that we had some creek beds with very high banks - too high to get an ATV across. So I drove away from the fence line and alongside the creek to find a place suitable for fording.

I found a place to cross, only there was a fallen tree in the way - so, I spent probably 30 minutes moving the damn tree - fortunately, it was only about 10 inches in diameter, but it was about 20 feet long, and I'm not super strong, so it was a slow, slow process. I finally got it moved to the side and I drove across the creek and up into a meadow.

At this point I had not mentioned to poor little Sam that I had no idea how to get back to the house, I figured that I'd be able to see it at the high point of the meadow we had just entered. But no such luck. The beautiful meadow, with wildflowers and grasses, was surrounded by woods. I could not see past the trees. I knew I needed to head north, but it was around noon, and I had no idea which way north was. I finally stopped the Ranger, turned off the engine and listened for gunshots. (the folks plinking away at targets back at our house). That helped - I heard them shooting, and I knew which way north was.

That was good - but I still had no path or idea where a path would be to get us out of the woods.

I could catch a glimpse of our pond now and again, but there was a lot of brush and woods between us and the pond. It took a long time to get to it - lots of back tracking and getting out and moving branches and rocks. But we finally made it to the pond. Almost as soon as we got to the dam, a beautiful Great Blue Heron flew from the water up into a tree - Sam was amazied - darn those things are gigantic!!

From the pond, we were able to drive up the very rocky hill to the gate and then back to the house.

In the future, I will bring a compass, some water and a walkie talkie with me. I'm thinking I need to make some wooden signs that say : POND - THIS WAY, or WILDFLOWERS - THAT WAY, and most importantly - HOME - THIS WAY!

Posted by Beth at 6:00 AM | Comments (6)

July 3, 2007

Farm Update

Yesterday, John bought a Polaris Ranger for the farm - it will be delivered today. Last night, we bought a Ford F150 pickemup truck. It was made in Kansas City, Missouri, we like to buy local when possible. It is a 4x4 truck, and come to think of it, so is the Ranger.

Now, I have to make up my mind about horse stalls - you would not believe how many manufacturers of horse stalls there are!! And the prices, wow - they are all over the map. And John is looking at compact tractors.

John invited some friends to the farm on the 4th of July. We have no furniture as yet, and the only thing we do have ready is a place to shoot the guns - target stands, targets, fun, fun, fun.

I was doing some cleaning there on Sunday, and John was looking kinda bored, so I said, "John, why don't you go out back and shoot a gun?".

Heh, he did. Now I know what to do with the man when he is bored - he can go shoot guns and at the same time, be happy.

Have to get ready for work!

Posted by Beth at 5:28 AM | Comments (1)

July 1, 2007

Wow, so much to do!

Today, I decided to start with the Fly Lady cleaning method - shining my new sink. And yes, it needed it.

Since we have a couple of months to get all moved, we have the luxury of preparing the house and barn before we move there. So, I went to Wal-Mart this morning and spent nearly $200 on cleaning supplies and a few other things the new house needs. You know, like hummingbird feeders.

So I got some cleaning done and I filled two hummingbird feeders with nectar and hung them on the deck (which is covered - it is lovely!).

I did not expect to see a hummingbird for days, but within an hour or so, a hummingbird came to the feeder!

And then, to make things nicer, my new neighbor, Cheryl (lives 1/4 mile from us), gave me the biggest African Violet I have ever seen in my life! It has to be 14 or 15 inches in diameter -and it is blooming beautifully! OMG - I cannot kill it! Alan and Cheryl, our new neighbors, are just darling - they are a few years older than us, and completely retired. Cheryl is the daughter of the man whose farm we just purchased (he passed away last February) and she has given us all kinds of history on the place.

And yesterday, we did purchase a washer and dryer - I bought the GE front loading - yeah, I know, it is not as cool of a set as the LG and some of the others, but I just could not justify the huge price difference - nearly 1,000 bucks! And it is just John and I now - no more trying to keep up with Andy's clothes! Of course, we will have the horses there, and that means, I will spend a lot more time outside with them, but I could spend that thousand bucks on fencing!

Tomorrow, John has to meet the guys delivering the new washer/dryer out at the new house. Then, when I get off work, we need to go and buy a truck. We want the full bed, so we will get a regular cab - we're thinking an F-150 or F-250.

Then, we have to buy a utility ATV - we're thinking a Polaris Ranger, and we are going to need a tractor and some kind of brush cutter - that either the ATV or the tractor can pull.

Yikes. It's really daunting, but the land is so, so beautiful!

And hummingbirds!!!

Posted by Beth at 6:15 PM | Comments (7)