Buck Stink

Ugh! Ick! Nasty! Disgusting!Yuck! I know there are more words to describe buck stench and I will think of more. I smell it ALL OVER my farm and my 2 neighbors that live way across the road can probably smell it too. It's just plain ole stanky. I have to shower after I touch John Henry. Lil Red is not stinky yet. I hope that doesn't mean he's not doing his job. I wonder if it matters that he's smaller than Penelope and Sandy. And that he has a pink collar on? But John is 1 1/2 now and he's disgustingly nasty at the moment. I can't wait til I take John to another farm in October. I know I'll be able to smell him from there though.

It's just that time of year. This too shall pass.

Barber Pole worms in sheep

I am having the worst time with these horrible worms in my sheep this year. And especially in these 2 darker wool sheep. Lucinda, the ewe in the top picture, was lagging behind this morning. In fact, she's been doing that the last few days. I had wormed her then and gave her a shot of penicillan and thiamine too. So this morning she's not there when I bring the feed nor is her ewe lamb. I saw Anabelle over in the pasture but not Lucinda. I had a bad feeling, like maybe she was dead. But then there she was, ambling over. So I ran back inside and got some Cydectin, Ivomec, penicilla and thiamine and caught her,( not an easy thing to do) and gave her all that. I hope she'll be ok. I had to do all this with the youngest Finn ewe a few days ago as well.


                                                                                         

And again with Abraham, the ram lamb. He got all the same treatment a few days ago. It's like they are being attacked by these worms more than any of the others. I have not had to do a thing with any of the hair sheep. They are all fine. I did worm them a few months ago just to be safe. But these 2 dark wool sheep are having a hard time.




So what I am wondering is there a natural predator that would attack and eat the Barber Pole worm larva? I have a friend who keeps the pastures mowed down and it's been awhile since the last time he mowed. I just called this morning to get him to do it again. I know that helps. But is there some kind of bug that I could get that would kill the worms? And is anyone else having a bad worm year too? What are you doing about it? I need to learn more about how to prevent this from going on every few months. What could I be doing to keep the worm population down here?

For Sale

I have decided to sell these 2 doelings.

 Iris Josie, the Lamancha doe, will be 6 months old Sept. 10. I have both parents here. They are both full Lamancha. Iris is very friendly.

Brie is the Nubian doe. She'll be 6 months Sept 27. I have her mother here. Sandy is mostly Nubian with some Toggenburg. The father was full Nubian. Brie is a twin to a beautiful spotted buckling. She is a little skittish but with more handling, she will be a great goat.

Both of their mothers are excellent milkers with great udders. So these 2 will be wonderful milk goats when they are ready.

I am asking $150.00 each. I would love to find someone with a farm and children who will love these 2 girls. I would also love for them to go together as they have been raised together and are used to being together. They have both been disbudded. And wormed and given CDT's. Both are very healthy.

I am selling them because it will be another year before they can be bred and I really don't have the room for them. They need a place where they can grow and run and play with plenty of good stuff to eat and good shelter and fences.

Around the farm this morning.

We got some much needed rain last night. My squash was all wilted and puny. I mulched with some old hay yesterday. The rain really brought them all back to life again. They are full of flowers and the bees are busy pollinating them. I am so glad to see bees at work doing what they were created to do.

There is a bumble bee deep down in the flower to the right. They were buzzing all over the garden this morning! I see little baby squash all over now. Can't wait to actually get some to cook. The seeds I had gotten from the little feed store just were not goo seeds. I only got maybe one or two every few weeks. The zucchini too. Not but a few of those. Had to get zucchini from other people just to make bread. So I got new seeds and started over and these are good.

To the left is the cucumbers, then collard greens, turnip greens, kale and Blue Lake beans. There are little tiny cucumbers already!

Here are some pretty green bean flowers. I just love the flowers these plants make. In a few weeks I'll be picking beans again!

 Here is just some of the zucchini plants. I planted more at the end of this row and I saw a few yesterday. With this rain, they will be popping up soon. These are really pretty plants this time. I think I will not plant squash and zucchini til August from now on.

 I have had really good luck with the bell peppers. I planted red, yellow, green, orange and purple this year. As well as 4 varieties of hot and sweet banana peppers. I didn't sell all of them so they went in the freezer or in jars.

I have not planted radishes in several years. I don't like them. Husband does but he's not here much to eat them. And they have to be picked right when they are ready. So I had gotten several packs of different varieties from a friend and mixed them all up and threw them in the ground. They came up pretty quick! I hope to try some roasted with other root veggies. Sounds good that way.

 This is one of the really old apple trees in the yard. I don't know why the people who had this place before us planted apple trees right in the yard. So aggravating to have to go under them to mow. I always get a branch in my hair. But the apples are SO good! I have one that is the early June transparent apple. A Granny Smith and this is a Yates. My very favorite apple is the Yates. It's crunchy and juicy and so good. Some friend of mine have an apple press to make cider and we get together every October and make cider.

The field peas. They are growing pretty good with all the weeds and cucumbers that grew back again. I love field peas. And they are so easy to grow and pick.

These are the 1st turnip greens I planted around the first of Aug. Too thick, but they are doing great. Can't wait for a big ole pot of greens and cornbread soon!

And the carrots in the cold frame. The ones I planted a few weeks ago in the garden are just barely coming up. I hope they grow now after the rain.

The day lillies have decided to show off again. I love them. They are so pretty and such happy flowers. A friend from Oregon sent these to me a few years ago.

And some weeds. I think weeds are beautiful and most actually serve a purpose. I leave a lot of weeds in some of the rows because the bugs will eat them and not the ones I want.









Stella says hello and good morning. She's such a sweet dog. But sure is starting to dig some of the biggest holes all over the yard. Then she does this. What a stinker.









SO everything looks good again. I am so thankful for good rain.

2 years ago

September 3 2010 my youngest daughter Abby married her best friend Jason. They've known each other since she was 17. They finally realized they could not live without each other and were very much in love. And they got married! It was a beautiful wedding in a small chapel in Ringgold, Ga. The same place where my mom married my step dad almost 34 years ago.

I am so happy for them. So here is wishing and praying for a wonderful 3rd year of marriage. I hope you both grow closer each day and know how much you are both loved. You are an inspiration to me and so many others. Happy anniversary!

Love, mom

Let the breeding begin!

This morning I noticed some head butting amongst the does. I was going to start the breeding maybe Tuesday but went ahead and did some musical goats after I was done milking and feeding everyone.







I went up front and got Lil Red, the new Boer buck. He's a March kid so I hope he's old enough to figure it out. If you click on the picture, you can see he has the equipment but his body needs to catch up with it.

 Sandy took one look at him and said "Seriously? Get me out of here right now, woman!" And Penelope was agreeing with her.

 And Lil Red said " But shouldn't I be in there with these 2 pretty little ones? They are more my size." And Iris Josie and Floppsy Belle both agreed. But no, you are both too young right now. Maybe next year.











Here is John Henry with Abby and Zarah. The girls
don't seem too impressed yet. He is quite happy though.

And you can see what Adabelle thinks about the whole situation. She wants no part of this at all. It only took her 4 years to get pregnant. And it might take 4 more as far away as she is.





I'll be putting Iris and Floppsy up front when I can catch them. I can catch Iris but that stinkin' kid of Sandy's is hard to catch. But I will get her.





So here we go. Breeding season 2012 has begun. I'll leave them like this til about the end of October. Then John Henry will go visit some other ladies at The Pocket Farm over the ridge for awhile. I'll have to figure out what to do with Lil Red then.

Anyone else breeding yet?

Making bread and dog food

I thought my bread mixing machine was broken. It's been sitting in the dining room for about 5 weeks now. No bread making going on here. So yesterday, I called to order the timer switch for it. It was going to be $49 plus shipping and would have been here in a few days. I thought that was pretty good. My friend's machine was doing the same thing, so ordered her one also.

Well, a little later, a parts technician called. He wanted to know what it was doing. I have only had this DLX for like 15 years now.Have made hundreds of loaves of bread and thousands of rolls. I love this thing. Also have the Whisper Mill grinder too. Altogether it was around $800 back then. Along with a flaker for oats. I was looking at the DLX machines on line yesterday and they are around that price alone. With nothing else. I need this one to work.

So he told me to take off the plastic knob and get a pair of pliers and turn the knob with them. I did. It worked. So he wanted to know if I wanted to put that order on hold. I said yes, please.

And today I made rolls and some almond, cranberry, cinnamon bread. Because I didn't have walnuts. Or raisins. It smells good. And the rolls are so good right out of the oven with butter. Yum.

So this is all my equipment and ingredients to make bread. Milk and eggs from my goats and hens. Honey (which we buy by the 5 gallon buckets) olive oil, sea salt, lecithin, yeast and gluten.

                                            You can see the pliers and the timer switch on the left of the DLX here.

                                    This is what it looks like after the first rise in the warm oven.

                          This recipe makes 3 loaves or 3 dozen small rolls. I made big rolls this time.

                                       
                                          And here are the rolls and bread ready for the 2nd rise.

Here it is all done. Nice and browned and smelling SO good! This is made with fresh ground hard white, hard red, Kamut and soft white wheat.

These are the buckets I store all the wheat berries in. There is a group of us bread bakers that get a lot of  our wheat and supplies  from The Bread Beckers in Woodstock, Ga. We also get truck loads of 50 pound bags of grain every few years from Montana Wheat Co. Some people make a lot of bread and rolls. I sell it sometimes at the market too.

And this is my dog's food. I was getting a little nervous because I only had 2 baggies of beef hearts in the freezer. And the slaughterhouse where I get the hearts and bones from had not butchered any cows in a few weeks. I went today and still none. So I got a box of pork bones and they threw in some sausage. I cooked some brown rice. I had some green beans and mac and cheese in the fridge and some chopped tomatoes. Added all that plus the 2 baggies of cut up hearts. Added some garlic powder. And had flaked some oats so added some raw oats too. Bagged up 14 bags.

All ready for the freezer now. 14 days worth of free dog food. I also add some dog chow so they'll have some crunch. They love this stuff. They also get raw bones for their afternoon snack. About 5 every afternoon, there are 3 dogs looking at me through the kitchen door, wanting their bones. I am so thankful for a place I can go to get raw food for my dogs. They all love it and are thriving on it. They've been eating raw for a few years now.I think that's why Sophie, the 15 year old Rat Terrier, is still around. She's healthy. One bag is divided between all 3 dogs with a little dog chow too. They are all fat. Not too fat though.