Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

frustratedearthmother

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Woo hoo - another 4 day weekend. Hope I can make good use of it!

We've been working on a fence project all week and got it completed last night - except for hanging the gate. My former students have been over every afternoon this week. They're great workers and quite comical entertainment too. They are fraternal twins and are in constant competition with each other. And, they "fight" amongst themselves constantly...mostly just trash talkin'...not real fighting. One scratched himself on a thorn bush and the other told him to make sure "you get a band-aid that'll match your purse", lol! They are both very athletic, body building, weight lifting, drill runnin' football guys who I've convinced that farm work is the best workout ever! They love it and are anxious for the next project.

I wormed two of the milkers yesterday...or was it the day before? Gee whiz - this is why I write everything down, lol. Anyway - the point is that I've gotta discard the milk for awhile. I'm gonna feed some to the dogs and chickens, but I'm also gonna dilute some down with water and pour it around the tomato plants. OH, OH, OH - I'm getting tomatoes! I had one yesterday and I'm about to go pick another for my breakfast. YUM!

Hoping that DH and I can take a weekend trip soon. Ok, so not a whole weekend... but at least a night away. We'll go down to the coast and grab a hotel room or maybe a bed and breakfast. I'll milk a little early one afternoon and we can leave right after that and won't have to be home for at least 24 hours! I need to get on that planning... DH is in dire need of a break!

Ok - gotta get busy.
 

frustratedearthmother

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Busy couple days. We bought the materials to work on the extra coop that will be built along the side of the new-ish barn. It'll give the pasture birds a place of their own with roosts and nest boxes and feeders that the goats can't get into. Not in a huge hurry with it - just working on it when we have the chance.

Garden is going great guns! I'm picking peas, zucchini, white squash and yellow squash daily. Tomatoes are abundant and I've had a couple already - right out in the garden - they never even made it to the house! I planted Yukon Gold tomatoes and while they haven't produced lots - they are tasty, tasty!

Still fiercely battling the weeds. I spread feed sacks and tarps everywhere that there are no veggies actively growing. If I have time and materials, I spread some old quail bedding or chicken litter or barn poo under the bags. Yesterday was the weekly watering day so I need to get out and start my weed attack this morning while they're easy to pull and before it gets too hot.

Nuttin' to it but to do it - so I better get started.
 

Denim Deb

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I've eaten tomatoes straight out of the garden as well. They taste better.
 

Denim Deb

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I used to work on a fruit farm. And I loved to pick the warm peaches off the tree if I was out mowing and eat them. That was the best way to eat them!
 

frustratedearthmother

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I totally agree...and I ain't sayin nuttin' about the empty pea pods laying all over the garden, lol! :drool They'll compost in place I suppose... The vines have come to the end of their lifespan so I pulled up at least half of them yesterday and fed 'em to the goats. They like pea plants every bit as much as I like the peas. I'll probably plant some bush beans there...or maybe some black-eye peas or something similar in that spot. Hard to believe that some of you folks aren't warm enough to plant everything yet and I'm already transitioning into hot weather plants. Crazy!

We're getting inundated with rain this morning. Houston (north of me) had serious street flooding yesterday evening, but we just got a healthy shower. "They" are saying we'll get more of the same today. I got to work at 7:30 cuz "they" said it was gonna hit this area at 7:38 - and it did! Crazy heavy rain for at least a half hour, and has settled in to a strong rain right now. I can't complain too much - at least not yet - because we really need the rain. We have been in a severe drought for quite awhile now. Rain is in the forecast all week long and while it will make things messy around the farm - it is a blessing!

We butchered the rest of the meaties yesterday. I saved 4 of the gals to experiment with. I want to cross them with a Dorking rooster and see what happens. Dorkings are absolutely beautiful meat birds. They are a low-slung, long bodied bird with a breast that goes on forever - but - they also take forever to grow out. At least 5-6 months. My hope is that a cross between them and a Cornish X will produce a bird that will grow a little faster. Time will tell. The gals are not going to lay for another couple months at least so this experiment might take awhile.

Also disbudded the little doeling yesterday. She wasn't real happy about it either...not sure why...
I get down on the ground and hold the little ones between my legs to disbud. She is so tiny that I had to tuck her way up between my thighs. And because she's so tiny it was hard to really hold her head the way I do the others so I didn't have a great grip when I started. The little stinker threw her head backwards and the dehorner came into contact with my belly, YIKES! I yanked it away before much damage was done - but I now have a t-shirt with a burn mark on it and a nice little blister on my tummy. That's a good reason to diet, huh? Can't have my belly big enough to be a target, lol!! :lol:

Okay, gonna go eat my apple for breakfast and get to work...
 

SSDreamin

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I am one of those poor souls who is still worried about frost, so has yet to plant!! I envy you - I have a hard time waiting patiently for that first homegrown tomato!
When I used to live in TX (San Antonio), I worked as a dispatcher for a towing company. When it rained - even just a few inches - it flooded so bad there that we made big bucks, fishing people's cars out of the oddest places! I rode along on the really weird ones, just so I could see it for myself! :D
 

frustratedearthmother

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Know what you mean about San Antonio...they caught some of the rain that Houston got yesterday and, sure enough, their floods made the news too.
 

Denim Deb

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Be glad you weren't a guy and that debudder didn't get you a little lower!
 
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