Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Denim Deb]

I have one chick! The one that pipped yesterday still isn't out, and I have another one that's pipped, but not the one I heard peeping. The one that's out is the other one I heard peeping. So hopefully by the time I get home, I'll have some more chicks. I figure I'll be able to lock down my hen soon. I just hope she does hatch out some, and that they're close enough in age that I can slip these one's in w/her. Once she hatches her's out, I'll move her. And that's when I plan to add the chicks so hopefully she doesn't realize she has extras. If she won't take them all, I'll just have to raise these at home.

They're calling for 3 more hot days, then T storms late on Saturday followed by cooler weather. I hope they're right. I'm ready for fall. We get cooler weather, and I'll start doing a ton w/the horses. I think tomorrow I'm going to give them all a bath, they need it. For today, I'm just going to do some more work w/the tractor. So, my list for today is:

1. Wash and hang out a load of laundry
2. Fold and put away the clothes I washed yesterday
3. Clean bedroom
4. Dishes
5. Normal farm chores
6. Do some work w/the tractor
7. Work in DD's old bedroom
8. Feed bunny and goats and clean more of the goat pen
9. Work in garden
10. Pick tomatoes
11. Set up brooder

W/all the laundry I've been getting done, the laundry is now level w/the top of the bin. Next week though, I'm hoping it will go below that level. I have both towels and sheets to wash as well as 1 load of normal laundry, so that will hopefully go a long ways towards getting that bin empty. The level has been coming down every week. Normally by the time Monday rolls around, the laundry is almost to the top of the chute. It was only half way up this week.

 

[Denim Deb]

I now have 3 chicks! The other 2 eggs have not pipped, but I'm not opening the bator for at least another day-unless they were to hatch B4 this evening. We'll see what's in there when I get home.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Woo hoo for baby chicks!

 

[Denim Deb]

I still have the 3 chicks. I was hoping I'd find another one out by the time I got home, but no such luck. And, I haven't noticed any pips on the last 2 eggs. But as tempted as I am, I am not opening the bator tonight. I'll wait until the morning at the earliest.

I couldn't remember what all I had on my list for today, so I didn't set up the brooder, nor did I pick tomatoes. But since I'm putting the brooder in DD's old room for now, I'd rather wait. I got more of it cleaned today, and am now able to walk in the room-I just can't get any place in there! But, I can't blame her 100%. Hubby's been throwing junk in there, so now I have to sort it out. It will be slow, but I'm getting there.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get on in the morning or not. It's going to depend entirely on the weather. They're calling for the chance of showers. I didn't get done as much as I wanted to w/the tractor today, so I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow. But, I have a volunteer meeting at 10:00. If it's going to rain, I think I'm going to skip the meeting. It really cuts into my day having it at that time. I have to go to the farm, feed, then go to the meeting, then go back to the farm. I would not get back until around 11:30, if not later. Either way, I need to leave early, so I'm going to make my list for tomorrow tonight. So here's my list for tomorrow.

1. Set up brooder-I just won't have it in place until later
2. Wash a load of laundry and hang it out (weather permitting)
3. Work in basement
4. Fold and put away a load of laundry
5. Normal farm chores
6. Volunteer meeting-maybe
7. Do some work w/the tractor
8. Set up area for hen and chicks
9. Pick tomatoes and sauce them
10. Feed bunny and goats and finish raking out the goat pen
11. Work more in the garden

I planted some cauliflower, radishes and carrots. Tomorrow I'm hoping to plant some more carrots as well as cabbage, broccoli, spinach and potatoes. If I don't get finished tomorrow, I'll get done on Saturday-weather permitting.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm so glad that I didn't put dishes on my list! I got everything done on my list, plus a little extra! I had 3 bags of lime on my wagon. I put them out today-I wanted my wagon. Only problem being, my spreader stopped working, so I was spreading it by hand. I'd go a few feet, then reach in, grab a few handfuls of it and broadcast it. Wasn't quite how I'd planned to spread it, but it worked.

I also did a bunch of weeding in my chicken pen as well as along the fence line. I've left a lot of the weeds because they give shade, but they were getting out of hand. But there was one batch I left. As far as I can tell, I have some ground cherries growing there! I don't know of any other plant that has the same flower and papery husk, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. But, I'll probably double check just to be sure. Since it is a member of the nightshade family, I don't want to make a mistake! I've never, to my knowledge, eaten one. But if I like them, I'll be saving some seeds.

The tomatoes are sauced. So tomorrow, I'll be cooking it down. Didn't want to do it today since I was so busy.

I took the chicks out of the bator. There's still only the 3. I didn't turn off the bator, I'll give them another day or so B4 I decide they're not going to hatch. And it's a shame. One of the eggs was one that was peeping at me. So something must have happened after it went on lock down. My broody is supposed to be hatching her eggs any day now, so I should be able to slip these guys in w/her.

Other than potatoes, I got all my fall crops in! I don't know how well they'll do since the seeds were older, but I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Hubby is drunk again. I want peace and quiet, and he won't shut up. Hopefully he'll fall asleep soon. I still haven't had dinner and he's changed the bulbs in the kitchen. They're super bright CF bulbs. And, they're just too bright for me. It might not be so bad if it wasn't a 4 light fixture, but for me, it's overpowering.

 

[Denim Deb]

Today is going to be another hot one. Then, they're calling for T storms and a cool down. I hope they're right. I don't have a lot planned for today, so my list will be a nice, short one.

1. Go on bird walk
2. Go canoeing-it's shortly after the bird walk, so I'll take my canoe w/me and my water shoes
3. Plant potatoes. I have a couple of old hampers I'll be using
4. Normal farm chores. I hope my broody is about ready to hatch out her chicks
5. Take laundry down. I left it up yesterday
6. Feed goats and bunny
7. Make sauce
8. Dishes

Tomorrow I don't know that I'll do much of anything. Hubby is going to a football game, so I'll have a nice, quiet house.

 

[Denim Deb]

Well, I got everything on my list done plus a little extra. I let my broody out when I got to the farm and she was really enjoying her freedom. I had to wait until she was ready to go back on her eggs B4 I could leave. I'm hoping she'll hatch out the eggs tomorrow.

I'm having problems with my laptop, so I'm on my tablet. It's hard to type on it.

 

[Denim Deb]

Since it was so hard to type last night, I waited until this morning to type this out.

Out of the tomatoes I had, I got 5 quarts, and 1 1/2 pint. And, I'll need to do more on Monday! On the way home, I got another basket of peaches, so I need to get them done. I'll probably dehydrate this basket, then get another basket and can them. I'm going to try and get a basket every week until they're out of them. And if I can get some of those tiny jars, I might even make up a small batch of jam that I can give away. I hate given away larger jars.

My broody still hasn't hatched out her eggs. When I got there, I removed the platform I have so she could get out if she wanted to. Then I had to wait for her to decide to go back. I had put down piles of stone where I do the majority of my walking-especially where I pull the wagon, so I worked some on getting that spread out. I don't care if it gets pressed down into the ground, and gets grass growing up. In fact, I'm kind of hoping it does. I just want a way to walk out there when it's been wet so I'm not walking in mud. It can be slippery.

Last night, I picked my first 2 cucumbers! They were small, so I just cut them up w/some cherry tomatoes and ate them. They tasted so good. I also had a couple of eggs since I had cracked one on my way home. And, I baked a potato. So, other than the potato, my whole dinner was from stuff I had raised. That felt good.

My beans do not look that good, plus something has gotten in there and eaten some of the plants. I have a feeling it's a rabbit. I just don't know how it got in. I haven't noticed any place that looks like it could get in. Guess I'll have to look some more.

Other than doing some dishes, normal animal chores and dehydrating peaches, today should be a fairly relaxing day. I'll be going to church and maybe washing my truck and balancing my checkbook. But I don't really consider that stuff to be work. It's kind of relaxing to do. Tomorrow though, I'll be picking more tomatoes and doing more sauce! Plus, I may do some stewed tomatoes. I'm thrilled to be able to do it.

 

[Britesea]

Eek! I hate balancing my checkbook!
Do you have plans for your dried peaches? or just gonna nosh on em?

 

[Denim Deb]

I wouldn't mind balancing my checkbook as much if hubby would give me my statements every month! Instead, I often have to hunt for them. This is the first time I've balanced my checkbook since some time in December! I finally found all my statements. I had some, but not the one for December, so I was kind of stuck. I'm glad it's done.

The peaches just get noshed on. I had to hide the last bag I had from the first basket, otherwise they'd be gone by now!

I didn't do dishes. I'll be doing them tomorrow while my sauce is cooking down. And, I didn't feel like doing the truck, so I didn't. I needed to clean up my dehydrator, and by the time I was done, I just didn't feel like doing the peaches. I had left them in the bag I brought them home in. I took them out of that, and stuck them in the fridge. They pretty much filled up one drawer. I'll be working on them in the morning.