Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

We actually have sun, glorious sun(!) this morning - it's like a miracle! I was thanking the Lord right and left on my way in to work! Even better - I think it's supposed to stick around for a few days too. Niiiiice

I've got soooo many projects that I'm itching to get started on. I want some nice raised beds in the back yard so I can pamper some tomato plants this year. The 'big' gardens will still be out back. And, I want to re-do the back of the backyard fence. We got new fence down both sides of the backyard a couple months ago, but I think I've decided I want it across the backyard also - but only 4 ft tall instead of 6. I like being able to look out my kitchen window and get an idea of what's going on out back with the critters, so I don't want to totally block the view of the animal pens.

I want some more fruit trees. I've got a couple of persimmon trees and we put in three peach trees this past fall. Pear trees are on my list now. When I bought this place there were 3 big pear trees on them and they did great for a lot of years - but blight got them and I lost them all. I need to look for some blight resistant cultivars this time.


Noticed yesterday that a couple of my older goats are looking a little raggedy. I'll get them up in the front pens this weekend. They'll get wormed and enjoy a little TLC for awhile. This diet of constant rain, mud and cold is harder on them than the youngsters. I still haven't noticed any of the goats that I bred come back in season - so I'm hoping it's a done deal. I still have one more doe that I might consider breeding this year - and after that - no more for awhile. I made butter out of the last of the Pygmy cream last night. I'm gonna miss milking her cuz the milk is so bleepin' delicious...

Hope everyone is warm and dry!

 

[Wannabefree]

Lucky!!! If we don't get some sun soon I'm gonna have to get some vitamin D supplements

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I understand the need for Vitamin Sunshine! It was cloudy and rainy before I went to Cayman, it rained the whole time I was gone, and it's been cloudy/rainy since I've been home. That's about a two week stretch.... But, yesterday was good and except for a minor nuisance today is better!

Weatherman said a low of 33 last night - it was 28 when I got up. DH was working from home today so I called him a little while ago and asked him to go outside and check things out and we have a busted faucet - grrrrrrrrrr! That's what I get for listenin' to weather guy, lol. I should've already had it wrapped - so I can't really complain too much. We're s'posed to get to almost 60 today and even warmer over the weekend - yippee!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We topped out at 63 degrees today! The mud is starting to get thicker. It's stickier and not as slick....not sure if that's a good thing or bad, lol. Not even sure if analyzing mud is a good thing or bad....

Picked some Napa Cabbage out of the garden today and stir-fried it for dinner. Not bad.... BUT... the goat milk french vanilla ice cream I made for dessert was soooooooooo much better! AND - just to rub it in a little bit more - I topped it with some home made cajeta and just the tiniest sprinkle of sea salt.... OMG... it was better than... ummmm... well anyway - it was darn good!

The unbred Kinder gal was standing at the fence screaming like crazy this afternoon. She was screaming so badly that the buck pushed through a gate and tried to 'woo' her. Thank goodness there was still another fence between them because I don't want to breed her just yet. I need to space the breedings out for year round milk.

Dang, talking about milk made me think of ice cream and I want more than the tiny little 'sample' I already had. Good thing I only made a quart cuz I'm going back in for more!

 

[Denim Deb]

It's always good when the mud starts to get thicker cuz it's drying out! Hopefully, nothing will get stuck in it. We're going to be having colder weather next week which will help a ton w/all the mud we have. It will make it freeze. Only problem w/that is how rough the soil gets in w/my horses when that happens. Last time, I twisted my ankle.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yea! It is drying out pretty well... the worst place is still the pig pen, but even that's getting better.

Only milking once a day, in the evenings, has made my mornings just a little bit lazier. That's ok, because it's a prety quiet time on the farm these days. I brought in some of the goose eggs before we went on vacation because I was afraid they would freeze if left outside.
Lucy goosey is laying, but not brooding yet. Sooo, last night I put 13 Pilgrim eggs in the incubator. I don't really have much hope for them because they are kinda old, but it's worth a try. Goosey will keep laying, and someday will hopefully decide to go broody. This is the first year she's had a mate, and she's doing everything differently - but I think that's because of our screwy weather.

I'm getting into the "thinking about it" mode as far as starting some seeds. Tomatoes are calling to me and I intend to have a good harvest this year. Hopefully, the weather and the plants will all work with me. I'm going to definitely need to come up with an effective bug barrier. I slacked last year and let the bugs have the tomatoes..ugh... that will NOT happen this year!

I'm going to worm some of the oldster goats today. After much trial and tribulation yesterday I got them all up in the front pens. It's not that they didn't want to come up - it's that ALL the critters kept pushing through and into the front..... It took getting the waterhose after them to get them back out to the pasture, lol. Goats do NOT like getting sprayed!

I found a great deal on roast while at the store yesterday. I bought 5 of them and they will be getting canned up today or tomorrow. Still trying to clean the freezer out to make room for piggies, so canning makes the best sense. When we do the first pig - I'm going to try to can as much as possible because after that, I still have another one to process. What was I thinking? Oh well, I love me some pork!

Guess I better get up and get busy - have some muddy laundry to do today too. Lots of things on my 'to do' list so I'd better get to it.

 

[Wannabefree]

Goats do hate the hose, but it's so funny! They always give the "I can't BELIEVE you just did that to me!" look

Sounds like your list and my list are looking pretty similar, especially the muddy laundry part UGH! Have fun!!! I will

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Half way through the day and it's been fairly productive. Not to rub it in toooo much - but it's 70 degrees, my windows are open, and I had to shed the sweats! Even better - it's supposed to be this way for 4 or 5 more days!

I wormed the 4 skinny goats - so that's out of the way. Looked around and saw one of the roo's walking funny. He was walking so funny that I just walked up to him and picked him up with no fuss at all. He had a string (from a feed sack, I guess ) wrapped around his feet and he could barely take a step. Took care of that and he didn't even say 'thanks' - what's up with that?

Went to the back of the pig pen and cut a new gate so I didn't have to slog through the nasty, muddy, sticky, sloppy front of their pen anymore. Whew - that really helps!

I had moved the Barred Hollands into a new drier pen with the Pygmy bucks. Only problem - I can't put a feeder out for them cuz the stupid goats eat it all. So, I had to block off a corner of their pen in order for the Hollands to be able to eat. They need to eat - they haven't laid an egg in two days and there's at least a dozen hens in that group.

Couple days ago I found a great sale on chuck roasts - 2.99 a lb so I bought 4 of 'em. They're in the canner right now. Four fresh roasts - four quarts of canned roast. They weren't very big, but that's ok. I'll be going back and stocking up on a few more.

Taking a little break now. Still have some yard-cleaning to do. I want to get that marked off of my list already! Then feed all the critters, milk Ms. Red and it'll be HOT TUB TIME! DH finally got a new filter for it and we'll be checking it out tonight - woo hoo!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yes WBF - they give me that look ALLLLLLL the time! I didn't have all these goat problems when I just had pygmies - those dang Nubians are a Baaaaaaaaaaa-d influence!

Time for another muddy load.... ugh!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ahhhhhh, what a nice morning. It helps that we started our day with coffee in the hot tub. It's very foggy this morning so it made sense to "waste" a half-hour sipping our cup-o-joe in the tub. Got to spend some time listening to and finally glimpsing a Pileated Woodpecker at work.

We had one of our "do we stay here or look for another place" discussions. I'd love more land, and he'd love a bigger house having always grown up in one. I don't want a bigger house - I have enough trouble keeping this one clean! We'd both like to get off the coast because of the threat of hurricanes. But, in reality, we've only taken a direct hit from a hurricane twice in the last 30 years or so. There've been a couple of tropical storms too - but they aren't quite as destructive. So, does it make sense to uproot everything and start over? Kind of a moot discussion at this point, because we won't seriously consider moving until I retire - and that won't happen for at least 6 more ears or until we win the lottery, lol!

Todays agenda - paint the trim on a storage bldg in the back yard and trim the Queen Palms. Yesterday we got the lumber put away from the cleaning project a few weeks ago. I've got a couple piles of dirt that need to be spread, but it's waaaaay too wet and heavy to move right now. I'm trying to come up with a list of projects to work on over spring break. I know a young man that likes to earn extra money and I don't mind having a strong back help me out so I've got a few things in the planning stage.

I might tackle a couple of smaller projects that I've been considering. I need a couple more pens so I can separate some more of my chicken breeds. I've got a pen that can be divided pretty easily (I love stock panels) so I'm gonna put that on the 'if I find time today' list.

Guess if I'm gonna make any of these things happen I need to get up off of my behind and get busy!