Are we living our dream?

[Medicine Woman]

I know what’s going to happen. The pumpkin will grow and take over the front yard and DH will chop the ragweed and cut grass around it and it will just have grass growing around the vines until harvest and he’ll get it back under control in the fall. Ultimately a pumpkin seed will grow again by accident and I will be thinking about solutions again next year. In the meantime I can console myself with the knowledge that I will have pumpkin to harvest and cook in a few months.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I know what’s going to happen. The pumpkin will grow and take over the front yard and DH will chop the ragweed and cut grass around it and it will just have grass growing around the vines until harvest and he’ll get it back under control in the fall. Ultimately a pumpkin seed will grow again by accident and I will be thinking about solutions again next year. In the meantime I can console myself with the knowledge that I will have pumpkin to harvest and cook in a few months.

Wherever you live, it might be worth it to succession sow your squash, so when one plant dies or goes to seed you have another to replace it.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I think the pumpkin we originally planted (by accident) grew, but cross pollinated with a butternut squash or some other kind of squash because round 2 harvest resulted in some really small seeds, I wouldn’t ordinarily associate with coming from a pumpkin. The flesh was really good though. The pumpkin I originally had was a gift to me from a coworker who assumed I would give it to my chickens. Yeah…I gave them the peelings but I ate that pumpkin myself. It’s like people don’t know they are food. Last year I smothered 7 pumpkins. I was told DH opened a pumpkin on the front porch and he claimed he dropped a seed that fell through the cracks. I don’t think I believe that exactly. More like he allowed a few seeds to fall between the cracks, hoping one of them germinated and he probably dropped water at that spot for the next 10 days…by accident, of course. I’m in a mood right now (that he put me in) but he’s got his perks.
I’m trying to avoid my phone except for things that actually benefit me. I used my notes to create a daily schedule to follow to keep me motivated to get things done in an orderly way. It’s fresh but I already tended to all my necessary chores just to keep things alive and a few extra things that probably no one noticed. Saturday, as usual, I watched my grandchildren and I told my son I don’t want any devices in use, including the tv. I picked up all the iPads. Only the baby was awake. I started cleaning the kitchen and my son told me I could bring all the food that was left out to my animals so I bagged everything and I was picking up the clean dishes so I would have room to drain the dirty dishes after washing and I handed clean pots to the baby to pick up and then gave him some kitchen spoons to put in the drawer and he clapped his hands . My daughter-in-law is Baptist and we are Catholic. I think they were so scared to upset each other by raising the children according to their religion that now the children have no concept whatsoever about God at all. But my son’s rosary hangs in a prominent place in the house. After getting the kitchen in order I took his rosary and began to pray with the baby crawling all over me and trying to grab my glasses and distract me. Once the 5 year old got up and hugged me, I told her I ordered a special book I want to read to her every Saturday and told her to get it out my purse. I told her it’s a children’s bible and it’s all about God. She confirmed my suspicion. She is so smart but doesn’t know anything about God. I read the creation story and half of the beginning of angels. I pointed to a picture of the crucified Jesus and she couldn’t name Him. But I named Him and I told her we would be reading all about Him. But I then started lunch and then I said it was time to clean up their room and I drug a chair to supervise. They all listened to me;even the baby. All I did was fold the extra blankets neat and sweep the floor when they picked up enough stuff. I felt like we spent more time together than we had in months. The 5 year old showed my son the Bible and I told him she will learn all about all those people because I’m bringing it every time I come. I did video the kids cleaning and told them to wave and say, I love you Momma and I sent it to my DIL. She is smart. She works the weekend special because my son only works half the day Saturday morning and has Sundays off so they only need a babysitter for a few hours Saturday morning. Dats me!! I had asked my son to save the ice cream container I had brought catfish in and put table scraps for the chickens but Saturday was really the first time I had a bunch of food for the flock. They feasted while the pigeons, for once had free access to the scratch feed. The chickens are currently on strike. It’s been a few days without an egg.
I guess I might clean the fridge today. DH pulled some shrimp out of the freezer a little while ago and I know I have to thin out the shelves. I really hate doing that but it’s always nice afterwards. I think we making spaghetti with some spaghetti squash. He is losing weight but I don’t know how much. I’m looking forward to his next doctor appointment.
Well enough of this…..time to check that schedule and see what I’m late on. Amen.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I’m trying to get started with hay bale gardening. I only put down contender green bean seeds that I felt needed to go in the ground or be wasted because something spilled on them. I saved one bale for lettuce. Well more on that later but if it looks like a winner I’m getting a bunch more and I will garden on top of used sheet metal or whatever . Anything to keep me out of the grocery store.
I can’t believe what just happened. I got back from the grocery store and after unloading everything I put the dogs in the truck to run them in the cane fields in the back of the street. Seriously!!! Someone abandoned around 40 started chicks!! I turned around and fetched the garbage bin and some scratch feed. DD and I with the dogs locked in the truck set up the bin with some scratch feed and I tricked about 20 chicks on round 1. I closed the bin and picked it up and started handing them to DD who was holding an old feed sack open for me. I’m pretty sure one of them was definitely a cockerel but most of them are pullets. I got RIR, brown LH, and some kind of grey/black exotic looking chicks that were smaller than the others with green legs. But my best guess is I got white, brown and green eggs layers. I only caught 3 more on round 2 and I ran the dogs, thinking I would come back after dark and catch them roosting but I couldn’t find them. I will try again in the morning but seriously….who does that?!?! Someone just lost a really nice investment!!
My DD who lives out of state is down the bayou so hopefully I can see her and the grandkids soon.
DD 17 ( the baby) was seen at Children’s Hospital yesterday and she has some issues with her hips but the good news is it’s treatable with PT and hard work so nothing that should stop martial arts training or the possibility of a military career which is a consideration.
I had a dream about a week ago that I was home and I was in my barn and I had so many beautiful chickens and I texted a few people about it and said I sure hope that was prophetic.

 

[Mini Horses]

Wow! What a lucky and unusual find! Hope some of the others are there when you go back We're following your bale garden results

 

[flowerbug]

maybe someone who bought them thinking they didn't need much care and then found out that they do require not only some care but also a fair amount of $ for feed...

or they all escaped? or the chicken hatchling stork ran into a storm? or ...

 

[Medicine Woman]

None there this morning and DH found a bit of feathers in the pasture close by but I did collect most of the started chickens yesterday. Well it got us moving earlier than usual so we unloaded the garbage bin and heading to DH’s place to feed the pigs and collect cucumbers.
I will make a pass in the garden and coop when we return.

 

[Medicine Woman]

maybe someone who bought them thinking they didn't need much care and then found out that they do require not only some care but also a fair amount of $ for feed...

or they all escaped? or the chicken hatchling stork ran into a storm? or ...

I don’t know what people think but someone invested money and cared for a bunch of chicks, giving them some kind of chick starter and brooding them through the hard part of their life and then all they would have needed was to be given a coop and wait for the goods to arrive in a few months and they got thrown to the wolves..literally. Stupid!!! I don’t even have another word for it. I’m sorry I couldn’t have caught the whole lot of them but I did get most.

 

[Messybun]

They might have started the birds and then heard about the flu coming back so ditched them out of fear. Maybe?
Either way, glad you got them!

 

[Medicine Woman]

It’s hard to take a good picture of the chicks at this time. I found one of them dead this morning but I will take the loss. I did put them through a major move yesterday after all. I’m so glad we have a 3 gallon waterer so I don’t have to stress all the time about them. DH pulled out another cage we can use as a tractor so we can thin them out soon but he wants to repair it some first. They will get crowded fast in this tractor. I added extra rations to ferment to allow for the chicks to get some. It will take 4 days to get a good fermentation cycle going for the extra crew.