FarmerDenise's journal - full on harvest time = busy, busy, busy

[FarmerDenise]

I puttered around the house today, played on the internet and finished a book.
I went and fed the animals their afternoon snack and got soaked. Cecilia and her chickies were hiding under the lilac bush. The feather dusters wouldn't let them out to get to better shelter. So I picked up Cecilia and used her to coax the chickies to the goats' former shed. It took a while. But they were happy to be inside, where it was nice and dry with a big pile of hay. I brought them a filled feeder and they chowed down
The feather dusters huddled under the boat, where they hogged a feeder and a waterer. The adult chickens were browsing in the field or taking shelter in the chicken house.
The goats were happy to see me and tried to get in my lap. They are too big to fit though. I stayed with them for a while during a more serious downpour. They scarfed down their carrots and grain. And nibbled on the hay after I fluffed it up again.

I hope I'll be able to let the goats into the field tomorrow. They start looking for escape routes, when they are locked up too long

 

[keljonma]

That was very interesting about the mustard seed - thank you for sharing!

 

[FarmerDenise]

My energy was low today. I rested and took care of animals. I enjoyed my time with the goats and the chickens. I took a bunch of pics. I might upload some later.
SO is making grilled ham & cheese sandwhiches for dinner.

We are glad the little boy feather dusters are turning out to be very obnoxious. It'll make it so much easier to send them to freezer camp!

 

[Farmfresh]

Several years ago I planted mustard for greens and it went wild around my garden. I thought at that time I should save the seeds to use. They were little and brown and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Would these seeds work for making your fermented mustard?

 

[FarmerDenise]

I don't know Farmfresh. I tasted the seed from the mustard that grows wild in our field. It tasted like mustard, so I experimentd. I would think the mustard that you have would work also.

 

[FarmerDenise]

We, the dog, my kitty and I, were woke up by a loud thunderclap this morning at about 5 am. By about 5:15 the power went out. And the rain hit. SO happened to be up to let one of the cats back in the house. As soon as that first thunderclap made everyone jump out of their skins, he turned on the coffee pot So when the power went out fifteen minutes later, we at least had coffee!!! We both thought of the goats and got dressed in rain gear to go out and check on them. The poor babies were very happy to see me. Flower climbed in my lap, as best as she could and Blossom stood verrry close to me. The dog stayed by my side the whole time When I locked her out of the goat pen, she stood and waited outside the door for me.
We rarely have thunder storms here. So it was scary and exciting. We checked to make sure everything around the house was ok and went back inside, the dog glued to my side of course. The power stayed out for about an hour. SO had gotten out the camping stove to heat up the goat milk. But I usually don't feed them til 9.
I am not an early bird, so this was probably the first time I was up and around at this time of morning since my red eye flight to the east coast last fall. We decided to go ahead and feed the goats early today, since today was such a weird day anyway.

The sun came out in the afternoon and everyone got to go out in the field and play and eat. SO and I enjoyed our time with the animals. Together we trimmed the goats hooves. We used scissors. It was easy to cut the hooves, but the goats did not like holding still for it. I turned Flower on her back and that worked. Blossom is not as strong minded as Flower, so she was easier to hold.


Now we are about to have our dinner. Organic baked chicken, salad from the garden, rice and canned corn. For desert, I bought some fancy cookies earlier today and we always have homemade yogurt and either home canned peaches or blackberries.

What a strange month this has been.

 

[TanksHill]

Such an eventful spring storm. We did not have any lightening and thunder this season. A few very heavy rains and even some hail but that's about it. We usually get at least one good lightening and thunder storm and watch it on the porch with the kids.

It' a shame that you can not sit down and explain to FIL that he is wasting his money when shopping for you. I am sure at his age he would be better saving it. Perhaps you could tell him you found out your allergic to gluten and can't eat most of what he is bringing. Could you ask him to help in some other way?

Glad to hear all of your animals are doing well.

gina

 

[Dace]

Hey FD....I read that you posted somewhere that Blossom was ill.

I hope she is doing better.....what is wrong?

Hugs and prayers ...

 

[FarmerDenise]

I got the shock of my life yesterday when I checked on the goats in the morning. Blosssom was laying lifeless in the pen. We rushed her to the vet. We spent and anxious 24 hours.
The vet called this morning with good news. She is up and around and eating. She had several seizures yesterday. And he is concerned that she may have more, so they are keeping her til tomorrow. He also gave her pain medication.
The vet thinks she may have polio. It is also possible that she ate a poisonous plant.
I plan on visiting her in a little while.

I am so happy that she is doing so much better. I had a sleepless night and was a zombie yesterday. We were unable to do anything we had planned. We just focused on taking care of our animals and vegged out. We had the tv on, but I have no idea what we watched

 

[FarmerDenise]

It sure has been a crazy busy month so far!
First Blossom got deathly sick, then just as Blossom was beginning to come 'round, we noticed something was off with Flower. I posted the details on another thread. But it has sure been nerve wracking.

Turns out both goats had goat Polio, which is a vitamin B deficiency. It could have been caused by any one of a number of things or a combination. Flower also ended up with a mystery infection. According to the vets, we got the goats in early!. I cannot imagine anyone waiting any longer, in both cases the goats showed some pretty extreme symptoms. One was lying down with her head curved back, looking like she was dead; the other had a hunched back and ended up screaming and spasoming every 15 minutes to 1/2 hour through the night. I didn't need a thermometer to tell she was burning up. I put icepacks on her neck and it would calm her down each time. I spent my year's animal fund on their vet bill.

Both goats are back outside in the chicken yard again and they have been sleeping out there too for the last few nights. When Blossom jumped over the xpen in the house, we knew it was time for them to go back outside for good Blossom is looking good and beginning to act herself again. Flower still has a ways to go. They each still get 2 bottles of milk a day and one bottle of water with electrolites and vitamins. I am diluting Blossom's bottles with more and more water, since she is eating really well and filling out nicely. But she still wants her bottle, so sometimes I just put water in hers and she is happy.

We got out field plowed a week ago, so we have been crazy busy getting everything planted. This is the latest our filed has ever been plowed. SO's BIL did it for us. He said he'd gladly do it for us from now on.

We had put all the feather duster roos in a seperate pen, since they were just a royal pain in the 'donkey'. I managed to butcher two and wanted to send the rest to freezer camp too, but then the goats ended up taking up so much of my time and energy, that I didn't get to it. I decided to let them out a few evenings, so they could browse the field for a little bit. They all ended up with sour crop. All but one died.

Then we noticed our wonderfull rooster Junior was laying down and not going after the hens or crowing. So I brought him inside. I had Susie inside already, because her skin needed some healing time inside. We also had a chick in the house that had pulled it's leg out of joint. So now we had 3 chickens in the house. Susie styed by his side the whole time he was in the house. On friday I thought I should bring him and Susie outside and put both of them in the dog pen, where they would be safe. I was hanging laundry, when SO came and said: "I think Junior is going, NOW!" He has a penchant for exageration, but I went to see for myself. Junior was definitely going down fast. I picked him up and we thought we would try and give him subcutaneous fluids, but before we got through the door he died. It was a very sad moment for us. He was definitely the best rooster I ever had.

Today I brought our frizzled silkie rooster (Elvis) to the farm center to rehome him, since we decided to keep the last of the feather duster roos. He is after all Junior's son. He also doesn't crow as loud as the silkie. At the farm store, I met a couple who were looking to trade in their mean ameraucana rooster for a nice and sweet one. I told them that the roo I just brought in, would be a good candidate for them. I am hoping they'll come back and get him. They sounded like a nice family. Their kids would no doubt be able to pick Elvis up, he is very tame.

Now that I have consolidated most of our critters into one pen, I am ready to pick up my Welsummer chicks, that my neighbor has kindly been taking care of for me. She had made a nice brooder box and has lots of chicks, so 2 more, were no bother for her. We do owe them lots of tomatoes by now though They gave up growing their own vegies, since their goats and chickens get into everything anyway. So we have an agreement, we grow the produce and we get stuff from their second hand business in exchange.
Oh and she has already offered her hubby for milking the goats, in case we need help, he grew up with goats.