Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[snapshot]

Amen FEM! Life is good! Glad your garden is up and running! So nice to just sit outside and watch the pups make fools of themselves! So much fun.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, we've got a crappy chore to do this morning, lol. The downstairs toilet is leaking...ugh. Bolts are corroded out and we needa replace the wax seal and the bolts. YUCK!!! DH is in town gettng the stuff.

Truck salesman called him back and 'invited' him to come in to the dealership to talk some more about the truck, lol. Did I mention that I talked to one salesman and that DH talked to another? I know it's kinda wrong, but we thought we'd see how that worked out for us. I never changed my name to his name so they don't know we're married. And if we get 'caught' I'm just gonna tell my salesman that I didn't know DH was talking to the other salesman cuz he wanted to surprise me with the truck. Right now - his salesman seems to be more hungry than mine....and that'll pi$$ me off if I think mine isn't giving me as good of a deal cuz I'm a woman... GRRRRRRRR! I HATE, HATE, HATE the whole process of buying a new vehicle...

My plan for the day is to get some more mulch into the garden. It rained a LOT the other day and it's a pretty muddy mess in between the rows. Can't walk in the mud, but the places I've already mulched real heavy with hay make a fine path to walk on. That way I can still get in the garden to pull weeds or tuck in another plant or two. I've got one empty row and a couple 3 x 4 foot beds that still have room for last minute planting. The long row is designated for a few more tomatoes and some peppers that I still don't have set out yet. I think I'll tuck some eggplant into the beds...

 

[Denim Deb]

Ugh, I hate to shop for vehicles as well! I HATE it when I patronized, or treated like I'm an idiot because I'm a woman.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What an absolutely bee-you-teeeee-fullll day today was! I mulched a little, and planted a little. I brought the horses up and trimmed a little on the mama mare's feet. I need to get the farrier back out pretty soon. I can give 'em a little nip here and there, but I am NOT a farrier and am glad I'm not! I tried to give 'em a little grooming, but OMG, the horse hair was flyin' everywhere! It was in my mouth and eyes and everywhere in-between. They are shedding like crazy!

I planted a few little peppers and tomatoes that were kinda scraggly, but I put 'em out anyway. DH went and got all the materials to rebuild and re-secure the toilet. Whooo-weee...he's getting 'handier' every day! He even put the wheels on the chicken tractor! It's so much easier to move now, lol. A couple wheels make a world of difference!

Tomorrow I'm gonna transplant some of my herbs. Some will go into pots and some will go into the garden. I never, ever have any luck with cilantro and it doesn't look like this year is gonna be any different. But, I'm gonna try it again. Basil is coming along, as is the oregano. Mint is flourishing, but hey, who can kill mint???

We had a big scare today. One of DH's motorcycle buddies, V, is headed out for a 2 week ride with another friend. V leaves Houston this morning and heads to Ft.Worth where he's supposed to meet up with C so they can start their ride. V calls my hubster and says that C is almost two hours late for their rendevous. C is a serious type 1 diabetic and V is really worried about him. C has recently moved and V doesn't have his new address. So, V is calling DH, who is in town shopping, so he calls me at home and asks if I can do a search for C's new address. I found it through "whitepages.com" and relayed it to V who calls 911. EMT's get to C's home and find him passed out from low blood sugar. They take him to the ER, get him stabilized and as soon as he felt better - off they go on their motorcycle trip to CA. OMG...! This will likely be C's last motorcycle trip because he's about to be forced to go on dialysis because of his kidney failure due to diabetes. I hope they have a great trip with NO more drama! All prayers will be appreciated.

Tomorrow's to do list isn't too bad. I looove weekends ike this where you get some things accomplished, but don't have to kill yourself doing it.

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad they were able to get to him in time!

And, I hear ya on the shedding. The other day, a friend of CL's was out along w/her boyfriend. They were grooming her horses and had bandanas pulled up over their noses to keep the hair out! I was walking past them, so put my hands up in the air and told them, don't shoot!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

In the interest of lowering the feed bill.....

Chicken feed is outrageous! and, starter feed for the chicks is even worse! So, today we butchered 5 young roosters. They are about the size of a Cornish Game Hen, but not quite as filled out. They're very easy to butcher at this size. We even plucked, just cuz I wanted some skin-on birds to bake up. The worst part was the stinkin pin feathers...ugh. But, it's done and the remaining birds have more room in the tractor - so it's a win-win.

Got more stuff on the list today - so gotta get to it.

 

[Marianne]

Have you tried the fermented feed for your chickens? It really does cut your feed bill down by about a third. It's pretty easy to do - I just use some Folger's coffee cannisters, some thin-ish cotton material and some heavy rubber bands. I just drain the liquid from one can to another can of scratch. My hens started eating less after about three days.

Here's the blog link where I first found out about it: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

I take it that you can't let your hens free range?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I actually have done fermented feed for the chickens. I try to do it when they're young because it gives them such a good start. Butttttt, I have about 80 chickens now (yes that is even MORE reason to feed fermented feed) and it is just a little more labor intensive than I have time for right now.... Thanks for reminding me though - because I need to figure out a simple way to do it on a larger scale. When I was milking the goats, I would soak the feed in whey and let it ferment... It worked out very well.

Goats should start delivering in about three weeks - I know my workload will increase severely when that happens - but I am sooooo looking forward to milking again!

We had a fairly productive day. Started with butchering a few little roosters. I got in some weeding and a little mulching in the garden. Things are looking pretty good out there - hope it stays that way! I even got some herbs transplanted that were looking pretty scraggly in their little starter pots. Maybe they'll take off now.

The baby geese are totally spoiled rotten. Every time they see me they come running up with their special little "feed me" squeak. I'm makng them eat out of my hand and they're getting to be pretty darn tame. I just love Pilgrim Geese, they are so gentle and friendly.

Dinner tonight was totally from the farm. We grilled some pork chops - (man those pigs are tasty!), had green peas that were just about an hour away from the garden. So good and so satisfying to know we grew/raised it ourselves.

Watching a horror flick with DH.... yawn...

 

[Marianne]

Wow, with all those critters, you are busy!

 

[Wannabefree]

Sounds like everyone has had a busy day!! I need to start fermenting feeds again too :/ Too busy too though