MyKidLuvsGreenEgz .. .. COLORADO IS BURNING

[pinkfox]

lol i was thinking of doing my quail in little tractors too lol that way theres very little upkeep on those as well lol.
pretty much everything too small or too escapologist to be free ranged will be put in tractors on my little farm...the less work i have to do the better

 

[Farmfresh]

No you are NOT dumb. You are just thinking like me! I always tend to jump off at the deep end.

The only reason why I have sound advice for you now is lots of experience in the past. Just plan and think and add one thing at a time until you see what works best for your family.

Dragonlaurel made a great point, TRY things before you invest in raising them. In the past I was all about getting goats. Then I discovered that we really prefer cows milk to goat milk. Another thing we discovered through experience is my families love of sheep meat. A nice chunk lamb is almost the same as beef in many recipes. Who would have guessed it? Now if we ever do have a bit more space I will be raising some Katahdin sheep and possibly a mini cow of some kind.

 

[valmom]

Not dumb! Never! Just enthusiastic It's like taking the lid off a shaken soda- all these ideas have become possible now. It's not a bad thing to think about everything possible! It helps you prioritize and decide what you would love to do, given best case scenario. Then you have us to remind you about the work and it helps ground you to thinking about doing things you like doing that will give you the most bang for your buck.

I have always had horses- my whole life- and I can't imagine not having them. But we have gradually added chickens, and now bees. Maybe someday a goat (I'd love a fiber goat that I could milk, too!). I have considered alpaca for fiber. I have thought about a Dexter or a nice little Jersey cow. But right now I know I can't commit to milking anything, and I know for a fact that babies would become permanent pets considering my SO's track record even with the horses. So, even though we have room, I know what I can do and I spend a lot of time planning and thinking about each little baby expansion.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We DO have the goats, and hubby does really well with that milk and my farmer's cheese. Thing is, both my son and I are partial to cow's milk.

I don't know. It's frustrating. The goats tried to escape again today (now that they know the grass is greener.. ) and the chickens have discovered they prefer my garden so several times today I had to chase them out of the garden.

Here it is now 7:38 and I still have to put the chickens up for the night. I still have a chicken feather stuck in my throat; my kid didn't bother to check on me even tho I was coughing for 20 minutes straight. He hid his civics workbook because he didn't want to read about the constitution but it "magically" appeared when I said no more movies until he finds it. My carpal tunnel hurts even tho I have to milk the goat (got a whole 2 cups out of her tonight). It was 96+ here today, and I'm sweating (also in menopause).

Severely frustrated, and I'm thinking about adding more!?!?! Heck no!

Actually, I'm gonna talk Hubby into selling some of our chickens and harvesting enough to have each pen to only 10-13 each. Then I'm gonna say that now that we'll have a few extra bucks, he needs to change plans so that he's home every night and will commit to doing more every night and on weekends. No more running to his mom's at the drop of a hat to "fix her internet" (55 minute drive from home). No more sleeping in to noon, or asking me what chores have to be done or how much to feed what critter.

IF he wants to keep the goats.

Anyhoo, my computer crashed again this afternoon. Gotta order more milking filters before it dies again then install yet another virus scan program. Hope to be back online tomorrow.

Have a good night, all.

 

[Farmfresh]

I have heard that sheep's milk is quite comparable to cows milk. I would love to give that a try. A big sheep like a Katahdin or a dairy sheep like an Icelandic could be kept in far less space than a cow.

I hope you feel better. Believe me I KNOW what a drag it is to try and work hurting all of the time.

 

[abifae]

Yeh. Not dumb. Just enthusiastic

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

That group of chickens who discovered how to invade my garden was confined yesterday. And lo and behold, I got 8 eggs out of them yesterday! 8 !!! I usually get 4 or 5, if I'm lucky. So I searched around last night and found 4 in a hidden spot. Of course, had to throw them out with these horrific hot days and not knowing how long they'd been there but ... I gotta prune my chickens.

Anybody in the Denver/CS area need chickens?


Have egger crosses: some a beautiful blue-gray and a couple pure-white.

As soon as Hubby brings the upright freezer back from FIL's farm, we'll be rescheduling that appointment for chicken processing.

In other news, so hot here last night that I again didn't get any sleep. Finally, around 3, I got a hand towel soaking wet, laid back in bed and spread it on me. Finally cooled down enough to sleep. Until the puppy woke me up at 6:15.

Computer keeps crashing so I need to get back off in a minute and load a new virus software. Hope hope hope this one will get rid of the trojan that infected my computer.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Another sleepless night. That only means I'm gonna be pretty much worthless again today. At least it finally cooled off about an hour ago, but still gonna be a scorcher today (97 expected).

Since this year's garden was a tragic joke, gonna plan my basement garden for this winter. Think I'll decide what tomato to grow (or 2 or 3) and start those seeds. My basement is a walk-out and has 2 east-facing and 2 south-facing windows. Add a couple of grow lights, and it'll be just fine!

Thinking, for my winter basement garden:
2-3 tomatoes
2-3 bush cucumbers
2-3 string beans
1-2 bell peppers
1-2 yellow squash
2-4 strawberries (rescued from where my goats ate at them)
1-2 wonderberries (if I can find the seeds)

Seems like I'm missing something. Gotta think about it.

Going through my chickens today to figure out who to keep and who to sell. Gonna pair down from 69 to maybe 35.

 

[valmom]

I would love an indoor winter garden- just think, real veggies when there is snow on the ground! What are wonderberries?

Good luck selling/processing the chickens. It might be nice to get down to half and not have to feed them all winter!

 

[Wifezilla]

The season's are changing. My son doesn't sleep well sometimes. Usually seems to be in Spring and Fall. So when he doesn't sleep, I don't get to sleep either

FOr your grow lights, don't buy actual lights labeled "grow lights". Those do not put out enough lumens for healthy plant growth. I use the curly cfls. The 100w or 150w equivalents will work.