Bee~ Journal of then...

[lorihadams]

Oh, don't even start with the seed catalogs........I soooooo need a bigger garden!

Have you read In Defense of Food?

 

[Beekissed]

Not yet....my backwoods libraries don't have it and act like they can't get it.... :/

I've started using pine wood chips in my coop and in my sheep pen and was wondering, "WHY IN THE WORLD HAVEN'T YOU DONE THIS LONG AGO????" to myself....sometimes I do that, you know, just yell at myself out of the blue.....

What a great idea! DUH! I've always ever used straw and mulch hay for bedding but never the wood chips since I lived back in my old town and had rabbits over chickens. There I could get my wood chips/shavings for free~as much as I wanted! So, of course, I used wood chips and loved them very well....but had forgotten about how neat they were and really refusing to pay for them, ya know?

Well, now I pay.

But oh, how sweet it is to smell that sweet, wood chip smell when I go in the coop and the chickens are scratching up their own bedding again~HALLE-LUJAH, HALLE-LUJAH!

Deep litter method here I come~again!

Thinking of killing the unfatted calf next weekend....will take pics of the process and post them, if you guys want. I will be using my little ol' Bat as a model for the pics!

 

[justusnak]

Bee, we use pine shaveings in the coops...but not the barn. Heck, it would take quite the truckload for that big old barn and being that I have wool sheep...well...I dont think I want that mess....do I ? Maybe? I dont know...maybe I will try it once...see how bad it gets into the wool...Hmmm. Now im thinking...( thats a dangerous thing)
Are you going to process the calf yourself? Ohhh, I definately want a "step-by-step" tutorial....pics would be good too! Hubby refuses to process anything here...unless it has feathers, and even THEN he wont help. UGH! So, any larger animal...must be shipped out to processing.

 

[Farmfresh]

Pics - pics - pics - pics!!

 

[Beekissed]

I will be using the Bat for my model....she's much cuter!

The calf has just gotta go....can't stand her destructive tendencies and her ever growing steamy piles!

Today was a wonderfully beautiful day and, though it was Sunday, I worked at several things outside and it felt GREAT! Things I haven't been able to get to and my lazy boys can't seem to see. I usually wouldn't work on a Sunday, but this was more along the lines of pleasure~so I justified it!

I cleaned out the broody pen.

Made the hay in the dog barn calf-proof... (hate that animal!!!)

Made the sheep pen off-limits to The Hated Calf, cleaned it out and put down fresh pine shavings.

Fresh shavings in the coop and covered the last open window~very snug in there now.

Cleaned up and straightened all items in the yard~there were many!

Scrubbed out all watering buckets and began making a watering station away from my buildings. All animals will now drink at the watering station only~hallelujah! No more carrying buckets of water across a muddy garden to the livestock....

Cleaned out and straightened my tool shed/outhouse.

Made a hay rack type structure over my feed bin so that The Hated Calf cannot get IN the feed bin and lie down. Nor can she now pull great bunches of hay out of the bin onto the ground to use as her personal toilet!

Soaked up some sun in my adirondack chair while petting a dog under each hand, while sheep nibble my hair and The Hated Calf gives up trying to destroy my hay, my sheep pen or my feed bin and just lies down to sulk.

The sheep are happy, the chickens are happy, the dogs are happy, I am happy.......The Hated Calf is decidedly NOT happy! :bun

I had a great day! Love, love, love playing in the dirt, making things look nice, making things work better, watching the animals go quietly about their daily life.

 

[big brown horse]

That sounds like a great day to me!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

how big is the Hated Calf????

my buddy dressed a calf this summer and it was INCREDIBLE.. of course the cuts arent very big. but i sat down with huge plate of 'grass finished veal' and wow and double wow! i thought it was a great idea. i think his was 300ish lbs???? totally worked.

i'm thinking of getting a bottle calf in the spring - i can finish it on the goaties spring milk and then by mid summer i'll be grillin him up!

whoot!

 

[Beekissed]

I would say she goes around 200-250.....seems all bones and gut right now. We'll see how she tastes!

I got a sunburn today!

 

[pioneergirl]

Oh how I miss those days like the one you described! Those days make you feel like you've really got things accomplished, and make for a good night's sleep! One day, I'll have those days again!

And yes, please take us through your calf processing step by step!

 

[big brown horse]

A sunburn?!