SSDreamin Blessings and curses

[hqueen13]

So sorry about the fairer problems. My farrier managed his schedule to a T. If he is going to be 10 minutes late I get a text. In the 6 years I've worked with him I think he had to cancel one and it was weather related. Due to that cancellation he was 3 weeks late, but the weather was SO cold this winter and he can't work below about 20 degrees and it was below 20 for 2 weeks. It Was winter and their hooves don't seem to grow as much so it was ok.
That kind of behavior is unacceptable for a farther in my opinion. If guy can do it then anyone can do it. When he leaves i know my next scheduled appointment which is always 6 weeks exactly after the date. I hear of so many farrier that don't schedule like that and it blows my mind! Glad you ditched him and hope the new guy works out well!

 

[SSDreamin]

Had typed out a reply a few days ago, and it all disappeared
All the animals are doing great, acting like spoiled brats and driving me crazy! DH is working 6 days a week, and I do all the feedings, etc. - apparently not as quickly or as well as DH does, because they all seem ticked at me. This weekend (Happy 4th of July everybody!) DH gets 3 whole days, plus he had to quit working at 3pm Thursday so thats just like a half day - so we are doing projects all weekend. Yay. Yippee. We had to redo the floor tile in our only bathroom, so now we have to go out to the backyard where we parked our motorhome to 'do our business'. There won't be a toilet back in there until Sunday! Ugh. We are also laying water and electric out to the barn. DS#2 dug the first straight run of trench in preparation, and once DH lays the floor tile, we'll get going on the pipe. DH had really wanted to go pick up supplies to build a hay shelter this weekend too, but I'm not sure we'll have time. The barn is full, the round bales are covered, but we have an 'order' in for as many grass bales as we can get (which we were told may only be 120-140). Neither of us want them outside under tarps, and would prefer to move the round bales in under cover as well. I spent yesterday attempting to till the weedy spots in the garden (which didn't go well) and made a huge pot of carnitas.
We have all been disappointed by my attempts at cheesemaking. It's very dry and crumbly! So, I did some research and am trying again, but planning to stick to mostly mozzarella and ricotta until I get the cheddar and pepperjack figured out/we can sample my most recent efforts. I canned up a batch of rhubarb sauce. It started out as jam, but never set. I've decided to leave it as sauce and use it to make pancake syrup with, for the most part. I sampled some and man is it good! Sweet, tart, perfect! DH is crazy about rhubarb, so he should love it - and I love the idea of having rhubarb syrup (a taste of Spring)on our pancakes in January!

 

[Denim Deb]

You don't want the SBs under tarps for sure! Unless there's room for air to circulate, you'll lose them to mold. (Been there, done that)

 

[hqueen13]

Good luck with the hay shelter. That's so important. I'm hoping that my landlord tightens up the hay barn a little this year because it leaks pretty good. We're supposed to get a bunch of bales off of the field on the property, so I don't want it to go to waste!!

 

[SSDreamin]

Sorry I haven't posted. Health issues (nothing serious - just made me VERY tired and lethargic) and chores. DH is still working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. I'm not complaining, mind you. It was nice to have enough to pay the taxes, insurance, hay, and feed - instead of being in a money panic! Now, we are saving for 20 cord of wood. This coming winter is supposed to be wicked bad, and we ran out of wood last winter, so we're trying to get ahead. Ice Cream is doing good. I am waiting on a call from the 'straw' person as I type. We found a VERY small jersey bull to A.I. her with. The vet checked her over, and said she's all healed up and good to go. Yay! I love miniature cow babies Flank is HUGE! He is just over 5 months old, and almost as tall as his Mama! I had to put a weaning ring in his nose a week or so ago - that was fun I am really surprised he could reach down that far to still get milk! Chickens are good. Having some issues, but we'll be thinning the flock soon and that should resolve it. The ducks are...ducks. My Dad bought them a big trough at a yard sale, to use as a duck pond. I can't get them out of it to go in at night! We've pretty much decided to butcher them out come Fall - they don't eat bugs, flies or mosquitoes. I kinda want to keep a pair over winter in the isolation pen (with the chickens) but I may get over-ruled on that idea. Our rabbit, Pa, will be coming in the house soon, to live out his remaining days as a pet. The breeding pair will live in the barn, as usual. My brother and DH's parents insisted we get pigs, because they want fresh pork. We - I - now have 4 gilts to tend to, on top of everything else They aren't too bad, and we rung their noses so they don't dig. We set up Flank's old pen for them - they are in pig heaven! Make's it easy for me to feed, and they love the big indoor/outdoor arrangement. April is growing like a weed, and is smart as a whip! She will now give you a kiss if you ask her - unless you just sprayed her with fly spray (her least favorite thing, next to bathes) - then you ask for a kiss and she turns her head away from you Jim has gotten very trusting of me this year. I still can't get him past his fears, but he tries very hard to do whatever I ask of him, and he is much more loving than in the past. I can hug him now, which is amazing! The rain has quit, and the 'straw' lady is waiting on me, so I gotta go. Hope everybody is doing good and enjoying summer!

 

[Denim Deb]

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Glad you're feeling better. I'll bet ice cream is glad you found a smaller bull for her this time!

 

[hqueen13]

Sounds like everything is just humming along! Good to hear!

 

[Wannabefree]

 

[SSDreamin]

Quick update while I got a minute (OK, while I sit on my backside when I really should be doing something else!). Pig girls are growing well - I wish I could remember this breed cross, because they are really magnificent looking! I know they are part Hampshire, but forgot the other half of the crossing. Since we got a short warm up around here, we did a whole bunch of outdoor stuff, trying to get everything and everybody ready for winter.
Flank and Ice Cream have been separated. The weaning ring didn't work: It only managed to rip large gashes in Ice Creams teats. Flank has moved to Jim's old pen. He shares the horses water, but had no shelter (When Jim was in there, we strung the fence to include his half of the run-in). I happened to see a neat temporary shelter online, and we built it for Flank (once the pig girls go to the processor, he'll move back in his old pen for the winter. It will allow plenty of inside-the-barn space and a small winter pen). We drove 4 t-posts into the ground, per side. Then, we bent a cattle panel in the space between them. Once we had the depth we wanted (2 panels - 8 feet deep) we bought a tarp to fit it and zip tied it to the panels. He kept messing with the back, where the tarp hung down, so we put a couple t-posts in there and zip tied the tarp there too. Presto! A nice, 3-sided shelter! Each panel was 16 feet long, so Hubs calculated the proper distance for the posts so we'd have ample height for when we go in to spread straw or clean it out.
Jim has really turned a corner with me, and I'm very happy about it! I take him for walks (he and April are buddy sour, so I can only take him when someone can take her too) and - although everything still scares him - he doesn't jump around anymore. He looks to me when he's frightened. If I say he's safe, he goes ahead. April, on the other hand, is fearless! We walked by the woods the other day. Jim was a nervous wreck. April kept trying to go IN the woods to check it out! She's going to make for a great trail horse!
Hubby brought home 25 meaties a while back. So far, 24 have made it. Last time we did 16, so I figured 'what's 8 more?' HA! They seem to take up 3X the space!! The ducks have stopped laying. I baked with their eggs, but nobody would take any, so most of them ended up hard boiled for the pigs. Sad too. If we could've found a market for them, they are going for $8/dz here!
I have a few shell beans, very few tomatoes and a couple habanero's still growing in the garden. Once those finish (there are sunflowers too, but I'm not worried about damage to them) I'll cover my herb bed and turn the ducks out into the garden to clean up. We'll need a temporary shelter for them, but we need their present 'home' for the meaties. After all the chickens, ducks and pigs go to freezer camp, we plan to spread copious amounts of poo all over the garden. Next year will be it's 'year of rest' - any permanent/volunteer things that come up will be harvested, but the rest will just be turned under and pooped again come next fall. Hopefully that will help build up the soil. We have also been pulling stumps like mad men lately. DH got a tractor - a Ford 3550, with a bucket and a box blade. We are hoping to have expanded pasture areas planted by next Spring!
Still waiting on the wood delivery, which is making me very nervous! We've had several nights into the 30's already, and everybody keeps saying snow by Halloween here. I don't like depending on somebody else for wood!
Ended up getting a 'barn-in-a-box' for the hay. Laid down pallets, then OSB on top of that, then stacked the hay. Seems to be working alright, but it's so small we could only fit the SB's in it. All the RB's are wrapped/stacked beside the house again this year. Bummer.
DH moved my clothesline! Yay! Before, it only got sun for a brief time each sunny day. The new spot gets sun almost the whole day, and is in an open area that gets a breeze, so clothes dry quickly!! My city friends look at me weird when I practically jump up and down with excitement over my 'new' clothesline, but I don't care - it's so GREAT!!
I've harvested Muscadine's 3X this year, and there are still more ripening! One batch went to my MIL, but I turned the other two into jam. I plan to gather another bucket full, plus the grapes that grew on our vines in the garden, and try to make wine. I don't like alcohol, but maybe I can give it away as gifts?! Yeah, I can hear my city friends now! Someone who came to visit the other day said "You guys are like some new form of hippy or something!" DH said yes, in a way we are like hippies - minus the psychotropic drugs; but that isn't such a bad thing! Hmmm... OK, I guess.