Shrubs will last all of five minutes in a goat pasture! OK, make that two minutes....they are little buzz saws! You could plant some outside the fence as a windbreak, but goats don't go out in bad weather anyways.
Okay, so the nursery had several to choose from but they all get like 60ft tall. I told hubby we could plant one in the middle of the section of fence and one on the other side of the property to balance it out. They are far away enough from the house that we wouldn't have to worry about any limbs when they mature either. They are 10-12ft trees and are $49.95 each.
The guy is gonna keep an ear out for almond trees for me. We want those to go on the perimeter of the driveway but back far enough we don't get anything falling in the driveway.
Looks like we are gonna be planting grass next week. I just put in an order for 50lbs of buffalo grass seed. I am hoping this works out. It is riduculously expensive but supposed to be very tough and drought resistent. It also only grows to 6 inches so it doesn't need to be mown as often and it almost never needs to be fertilized. You only need 15 lbs per acre and we have 2-2 1/2 to seed. From what I've heard, plant it and leave it alone. We get so much wind that the ground dries out quickly after rain and we have no shade at all so the ground really bakes. I'm thinking I will put some clover in it too.
We are having to start from scratch because of all the pasture and where we dug up for the well and septic and all the electric lines and water lines we have mud everywhere and it needs to be graded some with a box blade. I dread it but hubby rented a core aerator for monday so it's happening.
I did find strawberries for $3.99 for 10 today so I bought 50
How many do I plant in a 4x4ft raised bed? They are quinault and eversweet varieties. Both are everbearers. YUM
Today is Chad's 35th birthday!!! The kids called him at 8 this morning and we all sang happy birthday to him. This afternoon he gets all the mallards TSC has left for chick days. Last I saw they had like 20.....oh boy.
He has an organic farmer that has an impoundment and he wants to put some mallards in it so hubby and I have agreed to raise them until they are good to go in the pond on his property. He has a buddy that wants 5 or 6 to go on his too. Good thing my kids' baby pool from last year has a hole in it cause I gotta put these things somewhere.
I also have to put in an order to Holderreads for my indian runners. I think I am going to stick with the blacks...they seem to be selling well in our area, people had just never seen black ducks before and couldn't resist their goofy little butts. I'm not happy with the way mine from McMurray are turning out...not tall enough and the colors are kind of muddled. Gonna be a fun couple of months till I can cut the numbers down and get rid of the mallards. I want to keep either 2 or 3 hens and one drake and get rid of the 2 drakes and 1 hen I have left.
Well, he called TSC to see how many mallards they had left and they are ordering him some more....so we'll go get them monday. They'll go in the barn in the baby pool until they get big enough to go in the chicken tractor without a heat lamp. His company is picking up the tab on this one so if I'm not paying for it he can get as many as he wants.
I went to TSC today and got hoof trimmers, goat nutri drench, probios, blue kote and sweet pdz for the goats. The best part was I used my gift card that I got for xmas so it didn't cost me a dime!
I'm trying to figure out what I want to order from Hoeggers. I know I need a small filter and pads and I am looking at getting the plastic lids for the mason jars and maybe a stethoscope and some EOs. I also need some scours meds to have on hand. I'm thinking I will get a new big pyrex glass measuring cup to milk into. I also want to get a thermometer and b vitamins from walmart.
We had a party for all the birthday peoples this month. We ended up with around 50 people I think, and they were here from noon until 10:30pm. Looooooong day.
The good news is that my dad got here early and helped Chad build the other sliding door for the hay side of the barn but TSC only had one slide rail left so we had to order the other one as well as the 2 gates for the goat pasture.
Hubby picks up his ducks (mallards) today and we ordered some grass seed that should be in sometime this week. Yesterday we finished staining the barn and got the tractor and smoothed out all the piled up dirt from the septic install that was piled up in the front and side yard so that is done.
I am miserable this morning. After 2 days of being outside in all the wind and sun my allergies are in full swing and I am doubled up on meds. I still can't breathe and I want to scrape my face off.
We have tons of leftovers from the party so I shouldn't have to cook a dang thing for the next 3 days or so.
Today we are taking it easy but I do want to share a few party pics. I especially wanted to brag on my friend the cake lady who did 2 fantastic cakes for my children. First the cupcake cake in the shape of a flower for Maddie
And next, the Mr. Potato Head cake for Tyler....it was over a foot tall!