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

[FarmerJamie]

Yep

 

[BarredBuff]

Ohhh. I thought it was tommorow.

 

[Denim Deb]

Nope, it's today. But, tomorrow is the first full day of Spring, so maybe that's what you're thinking.

Hubby is working a ton of overtime right now, so I'm getting a lot done. I'll update later as to what all I've accomplished.

 

[savingdogs]

Your "boot sucking mud" line cracks me up......such a good way to describe it around here!

How do you handle it with the horses, the mud, I mean? I think my goats, who are minis, have a pretty big area, but the poo and rain and mud and hay and gravel have all made "boot sucking mud". Do you lay down straw for horses? It seems like their hooves and legs would be more delicate than goats.

 

[Denim Deb]

Nope, that wouldn't really help much. It might help for a bit, but then it would just make it worse. If they wore shoes, it would pull them off. :/

I'm hoping that having the manure cleaned up, and getting the gutters and rain barrels set up that it will help dry the area up. Plus, since my kids no longer play in sand, I'll be bringing that out, and figure out a way to have sand in front of the stalls. The mud is the worst there.

 

[savingdogs]

Sand, hm.....

I'd love to have a giant roof over my goat area for them to stand under. They would love it!

 

[Farmfresh]

Pea gravel and bark chips also work. I have seen them both in use at high dollar stables.

 

[Denim Deb]

Pea gravel and bark chips also work. I have seen them both in use at high dollar stables.

I have the sand. I'd have to pay for the pea gravel. :/

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, an update. I had 2 days last week when I worked extra hours. And, as much as I need the money, I really hated to do it. I have so much that I'm trying to do that I didn't want to spend the time working. But, I did manage to get more of the pasture clean. There is just so much manure in there that I'm getting quite a pile. It's way more than I expected. But, it hasn't really been cleaned in years, so I guess it's to be expected. I'm really thinking that instead of letting all this compost, I'll load it all into the manure spreader, and spread it on RU's largest field. It's 9 acres. Then, I'd know how much manure I'd get in a year.

On Saturday, my dad came over w/a trailer. I had a pile of manure composting since last fall for him. So, I got the tractor, and loaded him up. There's still some left, so I'll be taking it home, and putting it in my garden.

Since I never got the leaves in my garden last fall, the worms didn't work the manure into the garden. It just sat on top all winter long. So, this past week, I worked that into the top bit of top soil. Then, the part that did have leaves still from last year was raked, and those leaves were put where the soil is prepared. So, if I get the manure this week, and get that all done, I'll be able to plant soon! I'll worry about getting the fence up when I have time.

Last year, I tried growing sweet potatoes. Didn't have a clue as to what I as doing, and I got the slips in late. I saw them in a store, so I decided to try. I got a few from them, not many. Yesterday, I decided to have the last of them for dinner. I was going to save one and try to sprout it. But, I found that I had 1 rotten, and one was about half rotten. I just about had enough for dinner. Then I noticed that 2 of them had sprouts on the one end. So, I cut those off, and put them in water. I don't know if it will work or not, but I figured I'd try it. And, the one had a long section that was real skinny and twisty. I broke that off, and put it in the water too. Maybe I'll get something, maybe I won't.

I got tired of putting my clothes up on the line in the basement. They don't all fit, so I'd have to put them up bit by bit. When the line was put up, the end of it was just allowed to dangle and get all knotted up. I'm still waiting for my hubby to get my "umbrella" line back up, and he's not going to have time now for awhile. He's working 10 hours or more 7 days a week for the next few weeks. So, I took the line down and took it outside. I tied one end to the frame from the kids old swing. Then, I went around a sassafras tree, back to the swing, then along the front. So far, I've hung out 2 loads! I can only fit one load at a time, but that's better than what I did have! Only problem is there's a ton of junk there that needs to be cleaned up, and there's 2 small trees that I have to work around. But for now, that's OK.

I also cleaned up some of the junk in one area of the yard. Some of it is metal. Once the whole yard is cleaned, I'll be taking all the metal to a scrape yard and selling it. There's a ton of Japanese honeysuckle there, so I've been pulling up the vines, and feeding them to the goat. I know there's also poison ivy in that area, so I'll have to wear gloves when I pull that up.

Yesterday was a fun day. I was exhausted, so I planned on taking it as easy as possible. I had thought of getting a load of manure since it's supposed to be a rainy week, and I'd really like to get it in the garden, and plant stuff, but decided against it. First off, I hate to work on a Sunday, secondly, I just didn't have that kind of time, and lastly, I was just too tired to do all that. Well, I get to the farm and found out that someone had given RU 2 chickens, a hen and a rooster. She had put them in a cage, but they found this little tiny hole in the top of it. She hadn't thought they could get out, but they did. She had no idea where they were but given the chance, her dogs will kill and eat chickens. So, KN and I went looking for them.

It didn't take us long, we found them perched in a small spruce tree. I kept an eye on them while she went and got a ladder. I climbed up the ladder, only to have them go higher and on the other side of the tree. I moved the ladder, went up again, they flew down. We decided to catch the hen first. I've learned that the best way to catch a chicken is if you can get them in a corner where they can't get thru the fencing. At one point in time, she had gotten behind some pallets leaning up against a fence. I was at one end, KN went to the other end and tried to move her down the line. It was working, but the emu was on the other side of the fence. Ever been pecked at by an emu? Believe me, it's not much fun. The hen managed to get out of there w/out being caught, and ran down the one side. There are several RBs piled right here. I went on one side, KN went on the other. We got her into a corner, and I caught her! She was put in a cage. So, that left the rooster.

By this time, he had found the other chickens, and was trying to get the one rooster from the other side of the fence. I try telling KN to come around the other side, but she couldn't understand what I was saying, and came thru the pen. So of course, he ran away-into the yard where the dogs were! The dogs got all excited, so we're yelling at the dogs, hoping they can't get to him. (RU has the underground fence, just not sure where it goes to.) He goes thru a cattle panel, and into the front yard. The cattle panel runs from the deck for her pool to the field where my horses are. In order for me to get on the other side, I had to go around the pool, and thru 2 gates. I get to the front, and he goes under the deck.

I go back around. We managed to get him to go away from the dogs and into the field. He started to walk thru the field, and towards "my" barn. We thought he was going to go in, but Licky was in there, so he changed his mind. If he had I would have been able to catch him. He goes all the way around, then into the field where the chicken pen is. And, he goes back to challenging the other rooster. So, I figure we'll be able to catch him. The pen and a fence make a corner. I figure we'll be able to get him in the corner and catch him. Only problem is, there's a bunch of old corrugated metal right there. Because we had to step on that, we couldn't move fast enough, and lost him.

OK. I'm going to have to finish this later! It's started to thunder and lightening here!

 

[Farmfresh]

You sweet potato slips should root just fine. I start mine by suspending a whole organic potato between toothpicks in a jar half in the water. The sweet potato does have a right side up and that is usually more pointy. If you don't get leaves started in a couple of weeks I turn it over ... just in case.

If you are collecting the manure from the pasture to haul for you I think GREAT idea, but for RU's pasture rather than go to all of that extra work you just need to drag a harrow and spread the piles around.

I have seen people make their own pasture harrows from a hunk of old chain link fencing a heavy metal fence post and some old T-posts. You spread the fence and wire it firmly to the heavy post which is attached to the drag vehicle. The extra T-posts are wired on the "top side" of the fencing for extra weight and as a trail at the end of the setup.

You just drive and let it drag and it knocks down all of those piles and makes the pasture more fertile. No shoveling required!