Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

@Mini Horses Congrats on the twin girlies! What a pleasant surprise!

I've got a doe due in about a week. I'll probably pull her up to the front pen in a day or so. I would really like to get a doe baby this year. After she goes I won't have anything due until July-ish.

I have seen the Florida Weave before and have even tried it but didn't too well that time. My plants were too far apart. I think having them a bit crowded will actually be better for that system. I'm definitely going to try something along those lines...probably work it out as I go along, lol.

Cameo is a total love bug. She's the one who had the bad wound on her leg last year that I had to tend to every day for a couple of months. She took everything that I had to do to her with a smile. Days and days of two or more shots a day, cleaning that wound, the side-effects she got from the meds...it was all horrible for her but her sweet personality never changed. We have a mutual love affair going on, lol. However, she likes to give wet kisses and I have to draw the line there!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Aw so sweet! She is a keeper!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I am so tired...already. It's only 2pm and I've used up today's energy quota and maybe tomorrow's too. Was talking to my good neighbor about how bad our drainage is. We decided to go ahead and do the ditch we've been talking about. I have a middle busting plow that we're gonna use to dig it with. But right between our property was a row of Chinese tallow trees. For those that don't know what those are...they are considered a trash tree by most. Con: they spread like a weed and will take over a property within a year or so if you're not careful. Pro: they are a fast growing tree that makes good shade. Con: they are a short lived tree and these were already starting to die back making them a danger. Sooooo, those trees are no longer there....musta been about 8 of them. Pro: goats love them! (which is how they are kept in check around here, lol. So, he cut, his wife dragged them away with the tractor and I cleaned up all the broken branches. We've got them piled up close to my pasture right now so I can cut off branches at will and toss them over the fence. But, in a day or so they'll probably drag them over to their burn pile and they will be history.

I HATE cutting down trees from an ecological standpoint. So, as soon as our ditch is cut and we've got it all smoothed out around it we'll be putting in some pines where the tallows were. Neighbors want to put in some fruit trees too. I told 'em I'd buy 'em if we can plant them at their place and they can share the bounty with me. I'm running out of places to plant trees that the goats can't get to.

I'm going to try to put the kids in a pen during the day instead of separating at night. It' just so much easier for me to milk multiple goats in the evenings.

I'm gonna go look through my seed stash for some cucumber seeds. Almost forgot to plant some! Then I'm going to see if I've got a place to put some pole beans in. The bush beans are up! Hoping it'll dry up enough that I can put squash out in a closed off part of the buck pen. The buck pen has four sections that can each be closed off so I'm going to try to utilize one of those sections for garden. I've done it before and it has pretty decent dirt so I'm hopeful I can get a decent crop of something out of there!

I sent DH to run some errands since he's not so keen on tree work. Told him to heck with wine - I want a cold beer! I worked up quite a sweat outside and for some reason a beer just sounds good, lol. I don't drink a lot of beer but some occasions call for nothing but!

Back to it - yay...

 

[NH Homesteader]

You have plants up? Ahhh we still have snow!

Curious how the daytime penning goes.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I do have plants up!! From seeds - not just transplants. Several zucchini have sprouted and one yellow squash. Thought I might have to replant the yellow squash because the seeds were O.L.D. Two rows of bush beans are up. I've got lots of tomato plants - some are about ready to bloom. Might have bloomed by today. Searched and searched for cucumber seeds from my stocks yesterday and finally found some for 'white' cucumbers. Anybody ever grown any? They're supposed to be really mild. I tucked some into a tub close to a fence for a ready made trellis.

Yesterday I was waaaay too busy helping the neighbors cut trees and harvesting the free browse for the goats. They got so much they finally quit eating it, lol. WHAT? Goats turned down browse? But I trust them to know when enough is enough.

Need to get more mulching done. Hope to get a different area tilled, but it's too wet right now...ugh. More rain coming Tuesday night so if I don't get it done by then it's likely not gonna happen anytime soon. Really need a place for the sprawling plants to spread out. Might have to do some creative trellising in the smaller area.

I haven't even started the daytime penning of the little goats. I'm getting plenty of milk now but when Conan gets weaned we're gonna be drowning in it. However, I've got plenty of neighbors that I've converted, lol.

The neighbors got 18 eggs yesterday and a pair of hand-me-down rubber boots that my grandkids have out grown. I must have 6 or 8 different sizes of boots out in the garage just gathering spider webs so when I saw little T running around in the mud with tennis on - I slipped a couple pair of boots over to their back porch, lol. There is nothing more awesome than GOOD neighbors - and nothing more miserable than bad ones...

Being a tiny bit lazy this morning. Gotta get out there!

Happy Easter ya'll! (and don't forget that it's April fools day too)

 

[tortoise]

My kids are getting Easter eggs stuff with Jelly Belly beans .... laced with their Bamboozled nasty flavor look-alike beans. Happy Easter!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's priceless @tortoise !!

 

[NH Homesteader]

I've always hated April Fool's Day, lol. Some people just take it a little too far!

I did a scavenger hunt for DD1 and she found a new tackle box at the end. Which would have worked better if I put the clues in the right order haha! I was tired.... Oops!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

LOL - good for DD1 that she found her prize even with out of order clues!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Whew....stick a fork in me - I'm done.

Can't even remember everything I did today.... hmmm...milked this morning. Hauled some more browse for the goats offa the trees that were felled yesterday. Separated the mama and baby goats for awhile. Worked some in the garden trying to get a place ready to plant the climbing beans. Then I repotted about a half-dozen pine seedlings that we will use to replace the Chinese tallow trees we slaughtered yesterday. I've still got at least that many more in the original pot that I'll try to get in new pots tomorrow. Pulled down a bunch of old rusted 2 x 4 welded wire that was lining stock panels so the chickens can't get into the garden. That wire was probably at least 15 years old and looked it. Not quite as effective as it was at one time, lol. I got about 3/4 of that job done. Milked again, fed Conan his bottle a couple times today.

Showered now and sitting on my behind and may not move again until I go up to bed.