Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey everybody! i'm in a canning frenzy here....

B - here is the hoop house link.. Bourbon Red made these and i just bossed him around:
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6281

E - you are just right. the big one is the morning glory (which none of your barnyard folks should eat, i believe). its invasive here so i spend a lot of time tromping around and pulling it out.

javamama - yep. if you can raise kids you can raise kids. there's a million ways they can die but mostly likely they wont. the #1 tool you have is your mommy intuition. i'm not even a mommy but i can tell when something is off. the big thing is to take action immediately and not wait to find someone dead in the yard. and of course, cultivate your connections in 4H as soon as you can.

and for the record, i had had it with the stupid poison ivy and once my irish is up i just go and do it! i literally threw down my tools, went inside, called that gal, and drove up to get them. i usually take the approach of: whats the worst thing that could happen? ha!

you can check CL or your local feed store for someone selling hay. once you find them they are like gold. TSC is fine for most things, but ours only has some stuff some of the time....and the employees generally dont know anything about farming. the mgr at our local store is a star but most of their other employees get an " F- " from us.

for other stuff see: hoegger goat supply or caprine supply (i'm sure i spelled both wrong, just search on the above and include ", goat" and they will come up). go to their sites and request their catalogs so you know what stuff costs.

this is the best medical site i know of:
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/articlesMain.html

as far as the digestive stuff goes.. i gaze over when i start reading about rumens and acidosis and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... just remember:
1. its not a regular stomach is a rumen
2. feed the rumen first, then the goat
3. dry hay fixes a lot of things
4. you'll develop the ability to hear the rumen ruminatin' while you are with them - listen for the rumblings: once every minute or so and you are good to go.
5. dont make drastic changes to schedule or feed. if you have to change hay or feed then mix it gradually.
6. tell them to get out there and free range because its FREE!

the fiascofarm site has a good overview on this.

you'll do great and i love the yard!!!


now go and get your goat(s)!

 

[emilosevich]

just what I was getting ready to post OFG. PBS animal health is a wonderful place and many of their employees are just chock full of knowledge when it comes to animals. We are lucky with our local TSC, but yes I still have to rely on most of my own knowledge when it comes to items in there. Try to find yourself a good goat vet or a local longtime breeder. They will be invaluable is so many ways. If you are in NE ohio pm me and I can give the name of some local vets that are wonderful with goats.

gd- you got me to wondering so I went and looked it up really quick yucca the plant is different from yuca the food in the grocery store. Here is the link to wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca
I think it explains it better than I can.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

wow what a storm last nite! any of you other ohio folks get a pounding like we did!?!? must have been a hard rain as well based on all the mud in weird places.

i'm thrilled to announce that i think we have more pippin' goin on out there! another of the barred rock hens has eggs that are about to pop. yay!

we were going into town today but then i saw we have storm watches until this afternoon. so we'll be here instead. if i can get to the closer town (boo walmart!) i can get more jars to finish up the turkey canning i have to do. and shhhhh... i might sneak outside and do a little weeding... dont tell The Warden. i'm still on lock down.
:-(

happy wednesday!


ps javamama you have to update us on the goat thing!

 

[Javamama]

Yes we got that thunderstorm. Thanks for the sleep deprivation, Mother Nature :/ Just what I did not need. I have tomatoes to can today and I'm tired.

Update on goat situation. I am waffling back and forth. One minute I think I'm nuts to try it, and then I get all "I'll never know if I don't try"

I'm communicating with the goat lady - say, do you per chance know Colleen from EarKnotAcres in W. Mansfield? She's very nice and we may go up to visit this weekend to pick some doelings out.

I'm trying to figure out a housing plan that won't stick hubby in the workshop for the next month. He's a good builder, but very, very, slow. And honestly by the time he finishes, we could have had a prefab building delivered for the same price He just doesn't think about doing anything on the cheap. I have no skilz in the workshop. Sometimes I even find myself trying to use a knife wrong side down. Scary! And since having children, my capacity to make sense of measurements and follow plans is nil. I hope I get that ability back someday.

Have a good day! Stormclouds are forming here.

 

[newmochick]

Is everyone in OH ok? I don't know where everyone lives nor the hatchery that one person died in today but . . . . .

 

[Javamama]

Someone died in a hatchery?

...seems it was at an egg farm, from a roof collapse. We had some strong storms roll through this afternoon and last night. We have alot of small branches knocked out of our trees from the wind and the ducks have fresh puddles to play in.

 

[newmochick]

Not sure if it is a hatchery or an egg farm to some news organizations - meaning is the same? Two people died when the roof collapsed, 3 others were able to crawl out - all due to straight line winds.

 

[mlynd]

Hope everyone in Ohio is doing ok we are under a warning here now , we had excessve heat here today , should head u all way by morning be safe

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yeah it was a looloo here today. we are so glad that we stayed home and didnt go into town like we had planned!

in the nearby counties two barns collapsed and yes, sadly two people were killed when a barn/building in an egg farm completely "pancaked" as the sheriff said during the interview. they did not give any additional details about the building - other than it was a workspace.

they were clocking winds at over 60mph in some of the surrounding areas. semi trucks were blown over on the highway (3 traveling right in a row and then in another 2 at another location).

nearby (like in our barnyard), we could hear the thunder long before we saw any storm clouds and we were just kinda moseying around. we put the littlest of our crew (Meeps and ducklings) inside and then we just shrugged and went in. and came right back out after we saw the radar.

by that time the bad clouds were right over us and we hustled the turkeys, goats, most of the chickens (we aim for "critical mass" stragglers are on their own), and all the geese inside...and right when we walked back into the house the torrential rains started. our drive flooded and i think at one point the pigs were treading water.

and then it moved on.

and all this after we had tremendous lightening this morning for almost 2 hrs starting at 4am!

its been a looloo for sure and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the folks who were killed.

and now i'm going to bed and hopefully we wont have anymore storms.. but i lost one of our tv channels so i think some kind of weather is going on. better try and get some peeps in before the stormin' starts!

yikes!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

UPDATE:

HOLY CRAP!!!

good thing we lost that tv channel...i would have never looked at the radar!

um.. the biggest storm EVER is coming to pound us. so much for going to bed! i'm headed out to secure outside windows and to figure out if we need to shuffle the inside people around.

no where is that bucket for water in case we loose electric????? where's my flashlight??

YIKES!