Are we living our dream?

[Mini Horses]

Plus I am doing good if I have a quart.

I could make do with that but, most I'd drink. Then, need for cheeses.. Didn't milk as much this past yr and sure miss that. 2022 I'll get back into it. I enjoyed the time with each girl, as well as the milk. But I do have more does to milk than I need now! Looking for a few more customers for "herd shares". I use some extra to help feed other animals, too.

Hope you find your bird predator!

 

[Medicine Woman]

Oh I meant if the goat was tiny and didn’t have teats to fill my hands I was doing good to have a quart. I forgot the types of goat breeds that went into my last doe. She gave me 2 quarts in the morning and at least another quart in the evening. My kids complained that they didn’t like goats milk but I made cheese that was a big success and I lightened my coffee and at least had milk for myself. Also I used it for cooking and no one complained. There was a little boy that lived close by who was 4 years old and that was the only milk he could drink and apparently he liked it. It was hard for me to get the milking done when I was working weekends though. I don’t mind milking but kinda scared to plan something and then fail. Today was decent. We went to the coop alone and worked on the wall to secure the birds. We nailed a few cedar boards in place but I didn’t take a pic. DH did but I don’t know exactly how to steal the picture from him. I will try to put the one I took yesterday. I know we working slow because neither of us are what we once were but it brings me peace to be working for myself like that.

 

[Mini Horses]

True, age takes away an amount of strength and speed! I can attest to that. That's why I don't kick my butt too hard when something takes longer than expected. Just happy to still be doing the things I do.

Working does make regular milking a problem. I'd love to be home full time but, for many reasons, still working. Just plan to work fewer hours in 2022 and be home more to handle farm.

 

[Medicine Woman]

It really doesn’t look like I will have much of a choice for a while. The nursing home is still closed as well as a lot of our local businesses. I am just pinching pennies and trying to get the farm running again in optimal shape. I don’t want to go through the trouble of having my farm inspected so I can sell meat but I can sell live animals for a good price and then they can hire me to slaughter them so I won’t actually be selling meat . But I usually do very good with just selling chicks and meat birds. Certain people like to kill their own meat rather than buy from the store.
DH normally makes a big garden with his cousin but if I can just get the greenhouse going like I want I am pretty sure I could produce more. I could probably make a goat clean up my old garden area now so I at least have my raised beds ready to plant.
The cousin is forever tilling the rows. I am more about beds and heavy mulching and such.
So thinking about going hog wild with bantams. They are really cute and I can always get some Cornish Game Birds for meat. They just too cute. Makes me want to sit down and pluck. The small eggs can probably help me by giving me pickling eggs. And I love having hens that want to help me incubate hard to hatch eggs. But we shall see. One thing for sure... I have a male turkey to slaughter. Only need one of them...not two. I only saw one hen today.
I noticed a leak at the end of one of the automatic watering systems in a brooder. I had been cleaning up and stacking so many buckets and picking up sacks and such and that whole area was wet and slippery so not knowing when DH was going to be able to get around to repairing it, I shoved the bottom of a flattened tin feeder behind it, and put a shallow bucket underneath it, so the feeder drains the water into the bucket. I figured eventually it would be filled and the animals would notice and drink.
DH put so many drums to collect rainwater and I am afraid they will need to be drained. I know we put feeder fish in some but not all and the largest one is a bin. It’s full of mosquito larvae. I realize we went a while with no water after Ida but now we have to consider mosquitoes. He most probably was giving the animals rainwater to drink. Better than nothing . I will want the drums for grain though.

 

[Mini Horses]

I can relate! My job is one where jobs are assigned us at the stores. A lot of resets of areas in the store, so I move things into different configurations, based on the new plan-o-gram. It's also seasonal. Spring and early Fall, more work than wanted. Nov thru Feb, almost nothing. That means it's like 5 hrs a week. Not 50. Big difference. Knowing that, you try to plan $ ahead. But winter is tight! More heat, feed, hay, time. It's when you look at options, during slack time.

Very much like you right now, I look at what can be done to produce income from my farm. As we all know, farmers are hit with weather and marketing issues, heavily. A crap shoot sometimes. We just can't control some of it. Veggies can sell....if weather and pests allow you to grow enough beyond your own needs. Eggs can sell, chicks or meat birds, too. Here in VA we cannot sell raw milk for humans....but, for crafts or pets, ok. (Don't tell me you call your DH Fido) Plus they don't get into the "herd shares" usually. I like the sell live and hire me to butcher thought! I am fortunate to not have hurricane destruction!! Plus there is an active monthly auction for live animals...plus a weekly veggies one in season...both under 10 miles from me. An outlet, for sure. Time to farm. Mental block to give up "a job & paycheck" after 60+ yrs of having is hard

You have some good thoughts...and we work better under pressure sometimes -- I do! Looks like you do, also.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Mass in 90 minutes. DH wants to make a mock hog head cheese. Somehow a store must have donated pig feet to us survivors and some friends of ours said they knew who to give it to so I guess we gonna get a Boston Butt, greens and liver and cook it all down. Really I want the Boston Butt for the chunk of fat because I have been itching to render for soap making.
I just ordered some tins, drip bottles and plastic bottles for my remedies.
DH put 4 does in with bucks and I strongly advise him to separate them. He is on a roll drawing and picture of my grandchild. See y’all.

 

[Mini Horses]

How many goats do you have? Like the cows in your orchard pic. Orchard looks to be productive! That's always nice and you have sales from it!

 

[Medicine Woman]

I am not sure how many goats DH has. He took a buck away from the herd because the big guy was probably going to kill him. I understand he has at least 3 pregnant does. I know he sent a pregnant doe to his brother for weed control and she had twins the next day but not sure if he gave her to him or just sent her. DH really just uses them to keep down the grass and weeds in his grandparents old yard so the family isn’t bothered. But I like having a dairy animal. And I can sell bottle babies fast.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Got a sweet tooth and broke down and prepared a tarte a la boullie....Cajun dessert. Waiting for it to cool off.
I go in for bloodwork in the morning and I gotta bring DH to the cardiologist in the city by noontime.
He will be starting on blood thinners to hopefully get him out of atrial fib.
We went to the farm to feed everything and then we started working again on the wall in front of the coop. Almost done but I could hear him breathing continuously. Hope things get easier.
DH thought we had one turkey hen and two Tom’s. I saw a healthy hen today and a beat up hen moving slow and looks a bit smaller. I hope our repairs helps keep her safe. I swear she looked like a vulture. DH thinks maybe a dog got in or something. I hope she survives. She was intimidating me. I was throwing pellets and corn in two stalls and the geese and turkeys and little birds were running in and Miss Turkey was content to just eat the stuff that I was dropping in front of me. Maybe she wasn’t in a mood to compete for her supper. I really hope we can make a pass early and make sure she is okay. Bad enough she obviously found a bully. She doesn’t need to die from neglect after the fact. Really want to have her totally enclosed by tomorrow night.
I finally went to the doctor yesterday and he wrote scripts for all my meds and flushed a plug from my ear.
DH separated does from bucks yesterday but he doesn’t know if he will get lucky. He says he doesn’t know what he is doing wrong but he can’t breed rabbits anymore . I think we best bring a few to my farm because he has some cages with two does in them. Maybe once we bring the solar motion lights he will feel safe about it.
I am tired in advance for tomorrow.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Good morning. I was afraid I couldn’t log onto this site while drinking coffee and Facebook is boring me. Woke up at daybreak in the quiet just the way I like.
My cousin came over yesterday early morning with his daughter. Daughter told me she hadn’t slept in 3 days. I cooked breakfast for everyone, wile Cuz and DH sighted the pellet gun and I told the daughter to go to bed in DD’s room. These are the type of relatives that some of the family won’t even look at due to past mistakes. He has never harmed me though. I thought the daughter would be spending the night but they must have had plans. Made me a little nervous to leave for the doctor with daughter asleep and cousin with drained car battery still there but I knew they wouldn’t touch anything in my absence. Still....considering I lost my house and I am grateful to not be homeless I am just glad I had a bed to send her to sleep in.
So cardiologist told us to diet and exercise....not much I can add to that. Wants us to walk. I don’t mind except when your feet hurt so much it’s hard to think about walking 20 minutes on concrete (which is where DH imagines us to go). I rather go walk in the orchard if I have to walk. Mother Earth gives; concrete doesn’t.
Cousin said he might go to the coop with us today if we go to work. That would be a blessing. I went yesterday afternoon with his daughter after picking up DD at the ex and caught hell with the wire cutters, trying to close in the coop. Probably about to head back. I love being there. I really think eventually I will call it home again, although different than pre Ida.
Going to Fort Polk Christmas morning to be with DS and family. Might stay in a hotel that night and leave the next afternoon.
I finally received a gift from a cousin I have, who lives in CA. She really shocked me. She sent me $1,000. I told her I would never have expected that much. I am honestly humbled. She doesn’t in the least understand my lifestyle so she probably imagined horrible suffering from my misfortune which I won’t deny...mentally anyway but...well I thought she knew I have survival skills and if anyone could get through this, it was me. I might take the money and play with it and see what good I can do with it. There really are suffering people down here after all.
So I didn’t see the turkey hen yesterday dead or alive. Hope I see her in a little bit.
Supposedly my godchild has some clothes DD1 sent down for me and I best go over and get it because I am really shy on clothes since Ida thinned out my wardrobe. Oh I have a few cash gifts and some FEMA money but I can wait for the Catholic Community Center to reopen. I am not so desperate that I will pay full price for something so temporary as clothes....heck not just clothes but everything. DH’s doctor was throwing away his waiting room chairs and I took so many of them and other things.
Been thinking about aquaculture lately. This house has more windows than I am used to and I am thinking instead of putting curtains, why not measure and cut PVC pipes and cap off and grow green beans and a salad garden or herbs....whatever.