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

[lalaland]

geesh, did I hear "peaches" AGAIN???? I'm really feeling your pain, Denise, with the peaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner - must have been a pretty traumatic day

glad I'm not the only one who is scrounging for dinner when bedtime rolls around. so much to do! when dark drives you in the house, all of a sudden you realize you are starving and just about anything goes for supper. tonights supper for me wasn't too bad - fried egg sandwich.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I settled on pancakes with PEACH jam on top

Yup, we got it ruff!

This year we have soo many peaches, I can't keep up with them. The goats have been eating them too. There is a peach tree in their enclosure and when they hear that thud of a peach hitting the ground, they both race for it to see who gets it. They quickly learned how to get the pit out and then they just munch on that juicy peach with the juice dribbling out their mouth. Tonight when I was combing them I realized that their faces are sticky with peach juice. They really liked me combing that sticky mess out.
I think I will try and wash some of it out tomorrow. Flower has it on her white fur too and it isn't white anymore

 

[Dace]

Have you posted any pics of your little goaties lately? I bet they have gotten BIG! Funny about them going after the peaches...I never knew that goats ate so many different things :/

 

[FarmerDenise]

I really do need to post some more pics of my little cuties. I have been so busy, I haven't even taken the time to take nice pictures. I tried to yesterday and ended up leaving the camera in a basket filled with apples, because I got sidetracked, again


I really need to come up with some way of bringing some money into this household :/
Our produce is a little too sporadic so far. And I after doing the farm and house chores, I am just too drained to do much more. I am going to try and send out one of my farm flyers today. I had a request from someone to be put on my mailing list. So far we just don't have produce in a consistent enough manner to fill CSA subscriptions. The occasional customer has fortunately helped pay for the chicken feed, but that is just not enough for some of the other bills that need to be paid. It used to be that I could just go to the temp agency and say I want to work and I'd have a temp job in short order. It worries me, that that is not happening these days.

I fed the dog the solids from the chicken broth I made yesterday. The chickens and the goats have been fed. Now I need to go and gather some greens for the rabbit. The dog needs a bath again too.

Lets see, things I would like to get done today:

Bathe the dog - check, dog is combed to remove the scabs and the bathroom cleaned
Wash bedding (to remove flea eggs and larvae ) - check, two loads of laundry up on the line and bed made
Salt the floors (for fleas)
Gather greens for the chickens, the rabbit and the goats
Harvest cucumbers, squash and whatever
Put away the seeds I gathered yesterday - check, cleaned and put in jars and labeled
Figure out something for dinner and get it made in time - check, took out frozen minestrone soup for tonight's dinner and a frozen chicken, one of ours, for tomorrow night's dinner
Turn peaches in dehydrator - check
Preserve something (I got plenty to choose from) -check, well sort of, I put the broth I made yesterday in the freezer
Clean up goat enclosure (the sticks left from branches and blackberries)
Take goats to DD's for some browsing
Deal with company that sent me something I didn't want or order and billed me for it
Take pictures of goats being cute - check and posted

Well, we'll see how much of it will get done. I'll be happy if I get half of it done. Maybe by posting it here, it'll actually happen

I am going to start with the laundry.

 

[Dace]

Well let's just bump up goatie pics towards the top end of our list ok?

These days work is just hard to come by....I hope you come up with a creatie idea that keeps you home with your garden and critters!

 

[lalaland]

sure wish I could borrow your goats! I have a patch of poison ivy creeping into the blackberries, and I want it gone. I don't know how to get rid of it, but I've heard goats eat it right up. true?

before I could get goats, I would need a shelter. gets kind of cold here.

 

[FarmerDenise]

lalaland, that's what I've hear too. These two are my first goats and I am on one heckof a learning curve

Ok,ok I got some pics, now I just need to load them...

DD has first dibs on borrowing the goats to chomp away at the blackberries that are taking over her yard.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I don't know how to get rid of it, but I've heard goats eat it right up. true?

yep they will eat it. its best for non-milkers - then you can make them "thrifty" by not feeding bagged food. oh yeah.. they will eat it alright. and you dont want your milkers dragging their udders thru all that stuff, for sure.

the only other ways to get rid of it are to napalm the yard with the special poison ivy herbicide (and you have to get the round up specifically for PI)... or cover yourself in plastic bags, cowboy up, and march out there and pull it all up. then hope to shout you dont have some kind of horrid reaction. you know not to burn it, right? burying it wont work either. its just a menace.

i still have some under the grapes and i've been mowing it over (holding breath, hoping for the best) and also hoeing it up. if you can get it to the point where it doesnt have any leaves (and keep the leaves off) you can kinda kill it. but it takes a lot of effort and remember that you've just tromped thru it so be careful of tying/untying your shoes and such. what a pain!

or just get pigs. they will kill it too
;-)

 

[FarmerDenise]

Goat pics

 

[FarmerDenise]

Here it is nearly 4:30. time to start evening chores.

Won't be taking goats to DD's today, too late for that. I did finally remember to give everyone their herbal wormer today. I usually do this on saturday
Still need to take the kitty litter box out too. I dump it around the henhouse to deter the rats. It works, sort of.
I got the frozen minestrone in the crock pot. Now I'll go out and see what needs picking, pull weeds to feed everyone, take the goats out for walk under the peach trees to eat weeds. Pick up all the downed peaches first. Feed the chickens etc, etc...
wish I had a drink, one with alcohol...