It's raining

After all my planting the past few days, God is watering for me!! Thank you!

Abraham, again

The vet finally called this afternoon. I told him what all I had been doing with for Abraham. He said stop the worming. They are probably all dead by now. He said these worms feed on protein. So I need to give him some B Complex for a few days and no grains right now. Just hay and grass. Also something called Red Cell. I'll look for that tomorrow at Tractor Supply. Abraham seems to be doing better.

And I am supposed to bring in some manure in 2 weeks. I'll bring some from a few of the other sheep and some goats too. Just to see what I am dealing with here. But so far he's still alive so something worked.

I will get the other 2 rams probably next week.

Thanks for all the great advice and comments about Abraham. I am learning so much.

Starting Over

This is why I stay so dirty and sweaty and nasty these days. That dry red Georgia clay soil. And it's dusty right now. It can start raining again after tonight. This is the South garden. Isn't the view great? It's so clear and pretty right now. Even though it's nearly 97 degrees out there, in the shade it feels so good, with a cool breeze blowing. But it feels better inside!

This is a very odd shaped garden. And I make the mistake every year of planting the outside rows first, then ending up in a V shape. Next year I will plant from the grape vines over, that way I might have striaghter rows ending with small rows up against that fence. 

This top picture is where I planted cucumbers in the left row all the way to the end and around the corner. Then zucchini in the middle to the right of the cucumbers. I still have one row after that to the right. Then I need more Swiss chard to finish that row. To the far right is the Blue Lake bush beans next to the fence.

Down this long row I planted 2 rows of Italian Roma bush beans. To the left is empty right now. It will have beets soon.



This bottom picture is where I will plant beets too. I could go ahead and plant the seeds now because August is just next week, right? And if you can see to the end to the left, there are 2 rows down there that I planted straight neck and crook neck yellow squash.

I just came in from the North garden, tilling some rows for field peas. I'll go out when the sun goes behind the trees. It's hot! I think we are in for some rain probably tomorrow. We need it again.

I was looking at the McCasslen running beans and I see lots of little ones coming on. So I hope by next Wednesday, I'll have some to take to market.

Freedom Ranger Chicks

 They're here! And early. They were shipped out yesterday from Pa. The lady at the post office called at 9:45 and said I had a box full of little peepers. I was expecting that 6:00 am call tomorrow morning. I thought I still had tonight to get the brooders ready. So had to hurry up and cut the 2 holes between the 2 boxes and put down shavings and mix their vitamin water and get their feed in the feeder. Got it all done and went to the Po. They were very loud. There was another lady there that came in after me and she just had a fit over them. They are cute little chicks.

 Here they are now all tucked into their new home for a few weeks. There are 51 of them. All differnt colors. I dipped each of their beaks at least 5 times in the water to make sure they got some. Then plopped them down into their feed trough.

 Then they took off! Some of them were a little slower and had to take a power nap. But after that, they were all on the run. Back and forth through the hole, from one side to the other. They look like little ants.

 But I think they have all been to the waterer and to the feeder now. And have all been through the hole several times. There is always one chick that's the loudest of them all. And I have one.

 This is a little video of them zipping around. The PO lady said these guys are bigger than any she's gotten there before. So hopefully in a few weeks I can put them outside. And they might not take the 12 weeks I had planned on waiting.

These little guys have not been vaccinated. They don't usually do that unless requested. So I got the vitamin and mineral additive to put in their water for the first few weeks. And the chick starter is unmedicated too. So they should be pretty natural healthy birds. Already have at least half sold. I'll post pictures every few weeks for my records and for others to see how these guys are growing.

Hard Work

You know you've been really working hard when the water in the shower is brown. And there is dirt after the water's gone down. And the white wash cloth is no longer white. I feel like I have been working harder the past few days than this whole summer. I have been mowing down old rows and tilling to make room for new things. I planted Blue Lake green beans this morning. Cucumbers a few days ago. I will plant Purple Hull field peas and squash tomorrow. I couldn't find zucchini so will look tomorrow. I also got some more beet and radish seeds. It seems like I have so much room for more things now.  I'll wait til about the middle of August to plant fall greens like kale, chard, collards, turnips, spinach and lettuce. It's almost August already!!

Here is some of the produce I took to market today. Not much. But I sold a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I love all the colors of the peppers. And the little Lemon Boy and Pink Girl and Valencia tomatoes. So pretty and colorful. I sold a lot of soap today too. I just need to get motivated to make more. I just got my order from Brambleberry so I have lots of new essential and fragrance oils to play with. Peppermint seems to be a favorite right now. I only have 2 bars left.

So has anyone been playing out in the gardens, replanting or harvesting?

What?

Can you see this? Click on and enlarge this picture. It's a woolie worm. This is July 25 th. A woolie worm that is ALL black. What is an all black woolie worm doing out on July 25 th? Really weird. It wasn't moving very fast either. I guess it was too hot with all that black wool on.

Wrong one, Sophie

I told Stella to go to her crate. She said "But someone's sleeping in my bed." Sure enough, there was the bad old dog, Sophie. She has done this before. And Stella will not go in when Sophie is in there.

Yes, you are a bad old dog, Sophie. "But I like this crate better."

This is her crate. Nice soft quilt for an old dog to lay on. Hmmm.... She's only 15. So she should get her way, right? Stella doesn't think so though.