Empty Garden Beds and Lazy Days

It's winter here on the farm and there is not a lot happening. The garden beds were all harvested in August and September. The eggs were all hatched out. Adult chickens and Ducks went to auction. Etc. The only things worth mentioning is that "Cow" the pig is getting fatter and a few of the goats are being boarded in greener pastures. See Boring!  Snore..............................

With that in mind I just wanted to post up and let you know that I have plans to continue writing this blog in early spring just as soon as the frost is off the ground and it's safe to plant once again.  Until then I'll be completing a multi-month workshop on how to write children's books and writing about that in a seperate blog.  

Thanks for visiting me.
I really appreciate you took a moment to stop in.

Rain? No Thank You ... Return To Sender

It's Wednesday, the middle of the second week since my children returned to school. I had such big plans for my garden bed renovation. I just knew it would be easier to get things done once the kids had returned to school and stopped fighting amongst themselves. I had all these ideas I wanted to try , beds I wanted to move, trees I wanted to transplant and what do you think happened .... Rain! Not a constant rain, but rain in the morning , rain in the afternoon and rain in the evening. You just can't get out there and get started when the weather man is telling you in another 30 minutes or so your going to have to pack it in because another fast moving storm in barreling in your direction carrying thunder and lightning and sporting a bad attitude.

There doesn't seem to be any end to this infernal rain so I'm going to start researching different ways to trellis peas and beans. As well as new vegetable possibilities for next years garden. I think this year I may order some more interesting seeds out of a catalog and see how I do with them.  So far there wasn't really anything that did not grow. It didn't always grow large or maybe wasn't as easy to grow as I expected but the rabbits have never let me down and have always produced more than enough fertilizer to keep my sprouts growing strong.

If you come across any good sites for garden designs please post a link here. I have been looking for sites that are visited frequently by people of similar interests.

Whoo Hoo - The Kids Are Headed Back To School.

This summer has been full of challenges. Three members of our immediate family have faced various medical complications and spent time in local hospitals. A dog got into our duck pen, and we lost almost all the ducks and the eggs keep disappearing from the chicken coop. I think that crows are taking off with the eggs but I can't say for sure.  At the very least I can say with some certainty that the culprit is an animal that flies; because the goats do not stand for anything "strange" to be inside their pen and have no trouble horning anything that doesn't belong there.

The children started their new elementary school on Monday 8/22/11 and although things will probably be a little shaky and unscheduled for the next week or two, I will be able to carve out time to write about what is going on down on the farm. I've missed not being able to write about the exciting adventures of owning a farm. It's not like anyone follows this blog, but by charting our farming experience we can learn from our mistakes and have something to look back on and share with our family and friends.

Cow has gotten So Big. It's amazing now much she has grown in just a few short months. We love her. She is incredibly smart and greets us at the fence every morning.  She also makes a fairly good watch dog as when anything unusual goes on out in the back field she is an incredible alarm system.
My only complaint is that she is showing signs of boredom. Yesterday she picked up her water trough; (a heavy duty plastic cement mixing pan) and slammed it down repeatedly, cracking it up. But oh that wasn't enough for her, she then jumped into the pan and pushed at the crack until the crack gave way and became a six by six inch hole out of which all the water once contained inside flowed out of and promptly flooded her pen.    Way to go Cow..... Another $15.00 down the drain... What shall we attempt next?  There has to be something you can not destroy!

Where O' Where Is That Farm Girl?

Anyone who is secretly reading this blog may have thought that I disappeared, but I haven't; I promise. My husband and I get one weekend alone together each year. This usually takes place the first or second weekend in June. Typically we take this time to go to a disabilities convention, The Family Cafe, started by Florida's previous governor Jeb Bush, 13 years ago. (Jeb in my opinion is the only BUSH worth a damn, because he cares about those who can't help themselves - the elderly and the disabled - and about peoples interests other than his own.) Anyway, this year due to personal financial constraints and budget cuts by Florida's current governor Rick Scott to programs for people with disabilities, we were unable to go.

Instead we had our oldest son work the farm and we took off to The Portal Hotel and Marina in Crystal River, which is about 30 minutes away from our home, for a little R & R. It was good to just get away and reconnect with each other. Nice to be far from the hassles of the everyday and not have to get up at 6:00 am to feed the animals and water the garden but still be close enough that if there was a problem we could get home quick and in a hurry.

What wasn't nice was what happened during our trip. Saturday I started to develop a sore throat, by Sunday (the day we arrived home) it hurt to swallow, Monday I couldn't eat anything except soup and ice cream and by Tuesday I was ready to rip my own throat out. Everything hurt and I couldn't even choke down the noodles from Chicken Noodle soup. My husband was at work and I had to have my mother come and get me and take me to the hospital. The ER said I either had Strep (bacterial) or Mono (viral), & that they were treating me for both, so heavily medicated I was.

I spent the next few days in bed, taking my meds and on Thursday ... Bang ... Woke up to my entire face being swollen and my eyes sealed shut. I freaked out, called my sister, Kim, who came and got me and took me back to the hospital. Turns out they think I had an allergic reaction to the medications that they gave me to fight off the first stuff.  So I got a bunch of fun intravenous medications and scripts for three more bottles of pills from the pharmacy and was sent home a second time. Hurray for miracles of science! Whoo hoo!

Needless to say, it's been 9 days since my last hospital visit and I'm still exhausted, lethargic doesn't even begin to cover it. I don't feel like myself at all but my voice finally returned to me two days ago. This weekend I have begun very slowly and carefully working on the farm again. Just watering the garden and feeding and watering the rabbits, while leaving the rest for someone else to do.  I think it's going to take a while before things get back to normal around here. Thankfully it's summer time so I have 3 out of my five children here everyday to help make sure things are taken care of semi-properly.

So that's what happened to farm girl... Going to spend some time now adding new pictures to the blog and relaxing at my desk.  Got to go "Get Er Done".

Fuzzy Bunnies!!

Today Velaney (and Logan) had five little baby bunnies. Two are little pinkies so they will most likely end up being white once their hair comes in, the other three and grey like their parents.  I was able to snap a picture of the babies with my cell phone but Velaney really didn't like me being near the box so soon after she had them. So I couldn't get any additional pictures with my digital camera because I didn't want to stress her out. So far she's being a good mommy, she pulled hair to make the nest and covered them over well for protection and warmth.

Charleigh is being absolutely crazy, I haven't bred her but she darn near ripped all the fur out of Logan's behind when I put him in the cage with her. I suppose that it is possible that she could have been bred before I purchased her and if that is the case then I could be expecting babies any day but I really doubt it. I think it's just a false pregnancy. I'll watch her until the first weekend in June just to be sure and I gave her a nest box to mess with. I'm curious to see what she does with it. I am a bit agitated with her as my husband made a hutch for her with a plastic mesh bottom instead of a wire bottom and Charleigh ate it. I told my husband you can't use that on rabbit hutches but he did it anyway... I guess some people have to learn by experience, even if it is costly.

I started visiting this new forum for gardening http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/forums . I have found the members to be very friendly and they have a section called "New Gardeners" just for us more inexperienced people to ask questions. Believe it or not the members actually answer you without the addition of smart ass commentary intended to make you feel stupid for not knowing the answer. I'd recommend this forum to both experienced and inexperienced gardeners of EVERY planting zone!!! Hope to see you there!

Grazing

The veggies are coming in, but there will not be very much to harvest this season as the family has been grazing in the garden all week.  It's such a wonderful thing to just be able to run outback and pick all those expensive extras you need for dinner.  The lettuce is all just about gone, we've made quite a few salads and my husband likes this rather odd concoction of leaf lettuce, mayo and sugar. The squash is comming in one or two at a time and is disappearing just as quickly through the creation of summer salads and a wonderful dish of perch, squash and scallions.  The scallions have been wonderful to me, I've been putting them into everything and they grow right back in a day or two. Today I  noticed that the pickling cucumbers are starting to make an appearance so I need to be finding a recipe for that right away! I've never done it before but my friends have and they usually come out pretty awesome!  My friend also makes different types of pickled eggs  and since the incubators are all full I may have just found something fun and suprising to do with our extra eggs.

Peppers are also popping up right after one another, they have been making a snappy little addition to porkchop and chicken dishes. About the only thing I'm not seeing ( other than the corn, that blew away) is the okra. What the heck is up with that? They are nice looking and bushy plants but I don't have a single okra and I wanted to pickle some of those too!  Dagnabbit! I have hopes that the ockra will appear soon but it will be really disappointing if they don't grow!

On the animal front, it appears as though Sassy is pregnant again. YAY! I would really like to have bottle fed babies here on the farm so they really make an attachment to me and the children, however when you OWN the mommy it's really hearbreaking hearing the babies crying for her so I guess we'd have to buy them at auction.  I was thinking today that if I could keep Sassy milked after she has her baby this time that I would try and get Cassie to make goat milk soap with me. We could do it ourselves, it's not all that hard and with both her older kids going off to school next year I bet I could con her into it.

Velaney (the rabbit) stopped eatting today but hasn't started pulling hair. The nesting box has been in the hutch for a few days and I expected that she would have started pulling already. There is always a chance that the first breeding opportunity didn't take, so we have until the 29th before I'm really going to start worrying about her. Hopefully the bunnies will arrive soon. I'd really like to get my "program" back up and running again... i'm excited about the rabbitry being self sufficient, Even if I sell babies for only $5.00 I'll make more than enough to cover the costs of feed and of course I'll have the manure for the garden and if need be a fryer or two for the table. I'd really love to have more than 10 adults rabbits but at this point I just don't have enough hutches to expand, mabe by the end of summer...

Well ...... one can hope!

The Whirling Dervish - What in Tarnation?

The corn was massacred today by what could only be classified as a whirling dervish constructed of sand and lime rock. I saw it riding on the wind, tearing down the road and bending all the trees in its path. Not far behind an icy rain followed in it's wake. There was no help for the garden, the tall stalks of corn snapped under the onslaught of sand and the brute force of the storms winds. About 10 of the thickest stalks still stand a sad reminder of what was to be harvested in the next few weeks.

After contacting a number of gardening forums to discuss the best course of action, we found that a broken stalk almost always results in a dead plant. Unlike other plants, corn will not continue to grow or produce once the stalk has taken on damage, so cutting the plants at the break and hoping the plant would regenerate to some extent was a false hope.

So my son and I pulled up the corn stalks that were broken and stripped the leaves from the stalks feeding them to the goats and rabbits. They were thankful for the treat. Then we pulled all of the baby corn ears off the stalks. Many were just little buds and broke as we tried to harvest them  but the largest was at least 3 1/2 inches.  It was truly sad but we did have enough baby corns harvested that we could add them to a stir fry.

The squash was tossed around and some of the bigger branches also snapped but I am hopeful that as the garden bed dries out many of the plants ( cucumbers, cantaloupe, sugar snap peas etc.) will stand back up and not look as terrible as they did when I came in from watering the animals this evening.

The only other notable thing that happened over the last few days is that a lot of my ducks started laying this week. The mornings collection went from 1-2 eggs to six or more.   Exciting stuff.. I think I need another incubator.

It's So Bright, Gotta Wear Shades

Cow got a sunburn. Yep, that's right a sunburn. I didn't even realize that could happen to a pig, but it did. I don't know why she allowed herself to get burned, I assume she fell asleep in the sun and just didn't realize she was taking on so many rays.  She's got a nice igloo dog house full of pine shavings she could have spent the day lounging inside. She also has a mud hole she could have flopped into and a 3x1 foot trough filled with fresh water that she could have cooled off in.  There was no sensible reason to go tanning. We are either going to have to rub her down with sun tan lotion everyday or she's going to have to get smart about the effects of over exposure and stop purposefully laying out in the sun.

The baby geese are ridicules, they walk on the sides of the water bowls and continuously tip them over. Their water bowls are made of thick black plastic with wide flat bottoms and in all the time I have used them for goats and dogs I've never had any of the animals manage to flip the them over. But these geese all stick together so if one is sitting on the edge all three have to and it doesn't take long for them to get the job done.
Luckily I don't have to worry about them over heating because the kiddie pool is always kept clean for them to cool off in any time they like.

I have gotten my first glimpse of a possible harvest. I have three squash about 1-2 inches long growing inside the garden. I hope more are soon to make an appearance because I love making a summer squash salad with italian dressing. It's cool, crisp and very tasty on  a hot summer day. The ingredients are below. It's easy to make and you only have to boil the squash for 2 to 3 minutes.

2 c. (2 med.) sliced 1/8 inch zucchini
2 c. (2 med.) halved lengthwise, sliced 1/8 inch yellow squash
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. basil leaves
3/4 c. italian dressing

1/2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1/2 c. sliced 1/8 inch red onion, separated into rings
2 med. ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

I have seen a few peppers but the rabbits keep running off with them, I think I'm going to have to put a fence around the garden. I didn't want to but these little buggers are thieves. Anytime something starts to ripen I head out to the garden the next morning and it's gone. Especially the strawberries. Not a single one has made it to "fully ripened" all season.

The incubator has been doing pretty well. Right now in the smallest chick nursery we have 17 baby chicks and the 6 guineas we bought from Sandy this weekend. On the back porch we will have our cute little duck, he's alone as none of the other ducklings has successfully hatched but everyone is showing him so much love that I know he's going to be an awesome pet and act more like a dog then a duck.

Poor Logan got kicked out of the rabbitry and he's on the back porch now too. Anytime that he's near Velaney she kicks up the biggest fuss and starts mouthing off and stomping her large feet. I guess he has really  overstayed his welcome as far as she is concerned. It's to early yet to put the nest box in her  hutch but I'm really looking forward to bunnies!

And that's what's going on .... Down on the Farm....

A Pig Called Cow.

There is a new addition on the farm.

 Meet COW!
She is a Yorkshire Mulefoot cross.
She's Going To Be Huge!

I know what your thinking, it's pretty messed up to call your pig, COW, but this name is only temporary. The name will stick with her just long enough for the family to come up with one that suits her, until then she's Cow. Why Cow you ask.. Well my little cousin Joey doesn't have much farming experience and so when he saw the goats on the farm for the first time two weeks ago he called them by the only name that seemed right to him, the only name he could come up with from his short life experience... they have four legs, a tail and they eat grass therefore it must be a Cow. Eh, people call their cows Hamburger and their pigs Porkchop so if they can get away with that, I should get away "flack free".

Three other additions will be arriving later this evening, baby geese. I'm told that these little cuties are still in their down which is grey in color, I figure that they are African grey, well know for sure once their feathers come in. You can't really trust what the people say at the auction house.

Four Guineas will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, possibly more. I have four on reserve, from Sandy in Spring Hill, but I never can tell how many my husband might come home with. If he can talk Sandy into a good deal for a bulk order he might just take them all, you never know with him.

Well that's all that's new on the farm today.

Happy Mother's Day To All You Farming and Blogging Mommies!

Malfunction Junction

Very disappointed today. An egg in our incubator was hatching last night when I went to sleep but when I awoke this morning although the hole was bigger, the baby chick was not free of the egg and had passed on. I don't understand it, the chick was fully formed, the incubator was full of water and the temperature was correct. What could have caused the death of a baby chick that was peeping and fighting it's way to freedom just hours before. The other chick that was hatching appears fine and is fluffing out quite nicely. Although we understand that your going to loose chicks from time to time, it always bothers me.

Cranky Duck, II hatched out earlier this week. I didn't say anything on the blog because he/she was born with it's insides outside and we weren't sure he/she was going to survive, but it's been three days and I'm certain we have managed to save this duck. The "insides" were sucked up inside the body, the duck is a lot stronger, it's eyes are open and it is quacking and walking now. I can tell that the duck will most likely always be weaker than the other ducks but that just means my children will have another favorite to add to their collection of PETS, unlike the other hatchlings, this one will receive a name and live the rest of it's life out here on our farm.

One of Big Buffs ladies has gone plum stupid all of a sudden. For the last few days she has entered the (hung) nesting box face first and left her rear end outside in the sun. Almost like she is roosting on the edge of the box. Then she is laying an egg and allowing it to drop three feet into the dirt below. The eggs are not breaking thankfully (are they made of rubber?) but what is this ladies problem? In all my days raising chickens I have never seen this type of activity before and it's more than slightly annoying.

Velaney (the rabbit) has bred with Logan. Logan has been very serious about getting the job done since they have been together the last few days but I think Velaney has had just about enough of his wild and wooly ways. Now every time he goes near her she is kicking up a fuss and telling him off. So I guess it's time for Logan to Get Out! I'll be looking forward to baby rabbits 31 days after their first breeding, roughly June 1st, although we will place a nesting box inside her cage the week of the 22nd just encase the babies come early. I hope Velaney is a good mother. It is her first breding and she will be a young mother. It is our first potential rabbit litter on the farm since 2005 and I'm very excited, thirty one days is going to feel like an eternity