Daydreaming while waiting impatiently!

[tortoise]

I squeezed in a shopping trip. Groceries and feed store. If I'm careful, I should have enough chicken feed to last until May (bug season!). Chicken feed was low in stock. I got the last 2 bags of the kind I prefer.

I doubled my stock of canned tomatoes, but its only enough for 3 or 4 months. Tomato products are projected for shortage/price increase due to CA drought. I saw some at the scratch and dent store. Not my preferred kind, but close enough and cheap enough to sway me. Best by Nov 2022, but thats okay for me.

I bought a couple jars of peanut butter because its currently the #1 recommended prepping food (according to google) so its vulnerable to panic buying, IMO.

I bought more navy beans because we've been using them faster than I expected. Walmart was out, but scratch and dent store had some. I'm stocking beans because people are likely to switch to beans/rice as meat prices rise. I'd rather buy now than when the price is higher.

 

[tortoise]

Got the check from lamb auction. Rough. feeder lambs went for $0.75/#. Usually is over $2/#. Thank goodness we sold half the lambs last month at higher prices! We didnt buy hay this year - made our own - so we came out okay.

I hope the hay is good quality. DH hasnt stocked grain for sheep yet. They need it February through April to maintain body condition.

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry about the lamb prices. We do not sell cattle/calves from mid/late Oct until after Dec 1st. There is a glut at the sales from farmers weaning them off... there is a shortage of trucks for hauling so buyers have to have places to keep them in lots... which means feed costs and labor... and Oct is known as "dead calf month" due to the crazy weather swings and many calves sold are directly off cows so not weaned and usually not vaccinated or anything. So as a buyer, you are comingling calves that all have "different bugs" and they are basically passing germs around and some may not be very immune to some germs...add to that the swings in temps and it is time for all sorts of respiratory diseases and they just get sick much easier...
And although I am not up on all the holidays, there are not very many ethnic holidays in the latter part of the fall, so not the demand so not the better prices.
Just some observations from years of selling livestock.

 

[tortoise]

Canning sure makes a mess of the kitchen! Uggh! My whole house is a mess!

I put DS15 to work washing dishes (which usually means he'll have to re-wash everything and the mess will continue...) Dehydrated apple slices coming up next. I didn't realize we have so few put up, whoops.

I need more pint and quart jars ASAP. I feel silly for not keeping track of how many I have left. I felt like I didn't can much because I didn't have a substantial garden harvest. But I've been canning a little here and there year-round. And my concept of "a lot" of canning has increased.

Buddy's family is moving this weekend. They haven't decided whether or not they will take him. I sent a message for what he will need to live in an apartment peacefully. I hope it's not too much for them. But if it is too much for them, I hope they recognize it now and don't take him. Buddy has a very good chance of a forever home through the shelter here.

 

[tortoise]

I found more jars yesterday. One store have wide mouth quarts, the other had wide mouth pints. And I found more 1/2 gallons too. I love them, so I bought a few more. Just about filled my trunk with jars. Now I gotta fill the jars! 1/2 gallons are easy, I use them for rodent-proof dry food storage. My 5 gallon buckets are full and I need to store more flour, so I will move rice and oats into jars. I don't stock a lot of rice, but I might be able to empty one bucket?

^^^ makes it sound like I have a lot of food storage. I don't. I've never prepped for more than 6 weeks. I would feel a whole lot better if I had 6 - 12 month's worth of the foods that are projected to be in short supply this coming winter and spring.

 

[tortoise]

DS15 put the windows back into the chicken coop.

DS15 started piecing together scraps of wood to patch the bottom of the chicken coop wall. DH took pity on us. He cut pieces of plywood and put them in with his pneumatic stapler. I caulked the cracks, thanks to @flowerbug 's tip about rodents chewing where they sense air movement.

DS15 attached the fence panels that divide my coop. I re-attached the hardware cloth on the fence (DS15 did an awful job of it!). DS15 and I put up chicken wire between the top of the fence panels and the ceiling.

DS15 whitewashed the coop interior.

I moved chicks into my coop! They have a 100 watt incandescent bulb for heat. No more chicks in my basement!

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Sounds like a lot of amazing chicken work completed yesterday! Great day for it. Glad to hear the chicks got upgraded to the outdoor coop

 

[tortoise]

Sounds like a lot of amazing chicken work completed yesterday! Great day for it. Glad to hear the chicks got upgraded to the outdoor coop

It's so much better! They had outgrown their baby chick brooder in my basement! It's so nice to see them acting like chickens outside and in the coop!

DS15 and I painted the coop exterior today. We ran out of white trim paint, but the barn red paint is done-enough for this year. I'm very happy with the coop progress!

 

[tortoise]

I didn't hear anything about Buddy's family this weekend. IDK what to make of that. I am starting to assume they are not taking him. I have mixed feelings. Buddy will be okay if they can't take him.

I adjusted my routines so he hasn't had an opportunity to mark in my house. He has nearly regained weight from his vomitting episodes, and he has stopped vomitting and regurgitating - thank goodness! He escaped once, and his recall is terrible. Worse than non-existent - someone taught him to keep away. (typically this happens when someone punishes a dog after catching it - it teaches them to not get caught.) If he is still here as the weather gets colder, I'll teach him recall in winter. Nothing like 20-below-zero temps to encourage a dog to come back quickly.

 

[tortoise]

I checked my stock. It's in worse condition than I thought. I stocked up last fall for 6 weeks worth of supplies in case of a bad COVID outbreak in the area. Most of that stock is gone. Great that I rotated and used it... not so great that I didn't actually restock. Boo. I made a shopping list. I might be able to go shopping tomorrow. My dogs' preferred kibble is on sale so I want to get a couple extra bags.

Celery and mushrooms are next up. I have canned tomatoes, but need to be sure I have enough ingredients to go with. I'm going to try dehydrating celery and see if it reconstitutes well-enough for my favorite soups and sauces.

Gracie the barn cat got her first dose of an injectable arthritis medication. I hope it works well!