Farmy stuff

So we have homes for all the piglets as far as I can tell. There may be one or two that aren't picked up by Sat but I have a back up home for them and they will be very tasty some day :)

Mama goat lost her kid in July. :( It was a sad and difficult day. I was really hoping for a keeper girl from her. We'll see if I breed her again. I might.

I owe a nice debt of gratitude to a local grocery store that is saving veggies for me. Thank you to M at FL.

Disappointment

I am surprised that I am still surprised when I make my rounds and see the shocking waste of our current system. But yet in some ways I'm glad it is still there as I see how many people live off of the cast offs of that system. It's a catch 22 that I don't like.

Spring has sprung

The apple tree that has done fuck all for the past 6 years is COVERED in blossoms. The asparagus is up. The peeps are peeping. The hens and dogs are moulting. (I am very glad the Labradors aren't covered in feathers)


Building garden beds and hopefully a greenhouse. Goats are being goaty.

Where has the year gone.

So.. half the year is gone... I guess that is my half assed part.

We went up to 7 goats and are back down to 4. Hopefully more on the way. Up to 30 chickens at one point now back down to 15. NO MORE.

Life got in the way of blogging but that is the way it is supposed to be.

And THIS time Turkish, I do mean it.

I know I said THIS TIME I was going to post more. Yeah, well, maybe this time.

We are going to be turning a .49 acre property w/ 5br house, 2 car garage, 2 sheds, and a semi-functional fence into a backyard homestead. We will have a total of 10 fruit trees, a rasp/wineberry patch. A blueberry patch. An herb garden. A veggie garden. 6 chickens and 4 goats. Eventually we will have a smoke house, a greenhouse and a canning/processing kitchen in the garage. Other projects are to include a solar water heater for at least 1 of the hot water tanks. A wood stove for the living room. Various useless ornamental plants will come out and edible ones will go in. Oy. I might be insane.

Busy week

On Tuesday my 15 minutes of farm related stuff was spent with baby goats. They were just born that day and I managed to check everybody out and get one of the mamas corralled in with her own babies. The other doe was determined that all 5 belonged to her. Um no. You have 2 nipples you are not allowed to have 5 babies. Nice try.


Wed: I worked with the house plants today. Taking some cuttings and checking on my rose cutting that I started from a bouquet rose. It appears to be rooting but I'm not going to pull it out to check. Right now I'm just hoping for the best.

Thurs: Back out to the goat farm. Checked on the babies (they are CUTE) and worked with the fence to try to keep Dulce the pain in the arse escapist from getting out. She simply doesn't seem to care about the zott from the fence.

Friday: Headed back out to the farm to put more fence posts in. Hoping that this solves the escaping goat issue. We shall see. I sense a freezer in her future. And of course to play with the bebee goaters.

Vicarious Spring Fever

My 15 minutes today was spent researching goat breeds. I like my Nubians. What I'd really like is to start a line of polled mini Nubians. If I start with my 2 big girls and a grade ND polled buck... I might have some luck. We'll see. First I have to fence in the yard a bit more.

The reason I like polled goats is that goats with horns simply ARE more dangerous. Not to say that you are guaranteed to be badly hurt by your goat but it certainly adds to the potential for an accident to happen. I dislike the dehorning process though. I think it is cruel and that if it can be avoided by selective breeding then why not.

The problem with this is from what I read the genetics do not work out because there is a link between breeding polled to polled goats and having a higher chance of producing a hermaphrodite, which for breeding purposes is sterile and useless.