Rain!!

 This is from the front porch. You can see the water coming off the roof. I think our gutters need fixed or cleaned out, ya think?

 Looking towards Pigeon Mt. Where is it? Behind the clouds and rain!

 Looking North from the front porch. Water just pouring off the roof to water the bushes and flowers.

 Looking out the kitchen door. Nice and wet out there. And it cooled off so much. I am so thankful for this little bit of rain. It has stopped but what we did get was much needed and very appreciated for sure. My sheep are happy!

I hope everyone who needs rain gets some soon. This was wonderful, if only for 15 minutes. It helped. It's been about a month since we have had rain here. All around us has had rain at some time but it's missed up by about a mile each time.

Lucinda. Again.

This morning while feeding and doing chores outside, I noticed Lucinda's jaw was swollen. Again. So I got 2 syringes and filled them with Cydectin and Ivermec. Grabbed the shepherds crook and some feed. Went out there amongst the sheep and proceeded to catch Lucinda. She has been letting me pet her just a little lately. But sheep know when something's up. And something very serious was up. With her. So Lucinda and a few others went into the little place that has a gate and I went in and shut it.  Gave them some feed and waited. I grabbed her with the crook and she let me give her both wormers and was so good. She knows I am not going to hurt her. I am just trying to help her.

It has been so hot and very dry here for the past month. The grass is all crispy and brown. So not much good stuff out there for the sheep and goats to eat. But the worms love this. They are thriving. I was talking a someone up in middle Tn. who has about 130 sheep and he said they have been going through the worm meds like crazy lately. In fact, he said that they have had 5 sheep die from this. I hope they can get theirs under control soon. If we could get some good rain and cooler temps, I think we can.

So lets all do the nekked rain dance!

Happy 15th birthday, Sophie!

 Sophie will be 15 years old tomorrow, the 7th. We got her and her sister Zoe when they were just 6 weeks old. So long ago. Zoe died 1 1/2 years ago in Jan. Sophie is doing pretty good for 15. She's a Rat Terrier. I have heard these little dogs can live to be over 20. She is so much like a little old lady. She has to take a running start to get up the 2 steps to the living room. She lays in the sun when it's 100 outside. I kid her and tell her she needs her sweater on. I have a friend who is 95 next week and she wears a sweater all the time.

 This is my husband. I got the 2 dogs for him way back when. She loves him.

 And she's had enough fun for the night. She's going to bed. She's old, she goes to bed early. And she will sleep all night til about 6 in the morning and wake me up with a few yips. I don't need an alarm clock. She's a good ole dog. I hope she has many more birthdays. As long as she can get up those steps on her own. I told her she's going to the doggy nursing home if I have to carry her in and out. That ain't happenin"!

Penelope Jane and Zarah Belle

This is Penelope Jane.  She looks so little here. She is a small goat, but really not that small. A few weeks ago she was laying on the ground and would let out a blood curdling scream. I took her into the milk room and checked her out all over. Nothing I could see was wrong with her. She didn't do it again til Tuesday evening. She'd lay on the ground and then just scream, kind of like she was in labor. So I checked her out again and only found a little sore spot right between her front legs. I put some antibiotic gel on that. Went ahead and wormed her with Valbazen. And gave her Nutridrench too. She seemed o k. 

The next morning  (July 4th of course) she was worse.  So took her to a vet I like up and over the mountain. While I was waiting, I noticed Penelope scratching at her right ear. And she coughed too. So did Zarah. So I told the vet. She checked her ears and they were full of crap. She looked to see if there was anything in them alive but nothing. Just crappy ear goop. She also checked her with the stethiscope. Her lungs sounded pretty bad. We thought maybe lung worms since she and Zarah both coughed quite a bit. So she gave me 2 syringes of Nuflor, a strong antibiotic, to give them that day then today.  Since I had already wormed them both with the Valbazen that morning.  Penelope is a whole lot better today. I also gave her a CDT shot. 

And this is Zarah Belle. This morning, a few minutes after giving the Nuflor shot to Zarah, she's laying on the ground, stretched out and screaming every few seconds. Then she'd get up and just jump in the air. I called the vet and left a message. I still have not heard back from her. So called a friend in Ohio. She has goats too. She said it sounded like tetanus. So I ran in here to the computer to see what to do for that. I had some of the things so ran around getting sugar water for electrolytes, Kaopectate, probiotics, and a shot of Pro Pen G. Gave her all that too. Also gave her and Penelope and Iris a CDT shot too. Oh, also gave her a shot of Ivermec under the skin because that kills lung worms. She was laying on the ground for awhile and then she'd move to another spot. I had also called another vet closer to see about getting some Banamine for pain.

And Friday is my day to be with  my 95 year old lady for the day. I take her to get her hair done, get groceries, pay her bills... So had to tell the other caregivers I couldn't come today because my goat was dying.

So I went to the vet and was telling them all her symptoms. The vet said it was a Thiamine deficiency. So got a bottle of Thiamine. (When I got home, I read that B Complex would do the same thing if I didn't have Thiamine. And I had B Complex.)  I am supposed to give her 3cc every day til she gets better.  When I got home Zarah was up and eating hay. She had drank all her water. I gave her more. She drank it. I went ahead and gave Penelope a shot. Then had to catch poor Zarah. She didn't want any more shots! And this is what she looks like now. Normal!

So these 2 goats have had all kinds of worm treatments, CDT shots, antibiotics. You name it, they have had it the past few days. So something has to work. And I am sick of all this too. I am going to put them all on a dry lot and just feed them hay. I also read that sulfer is in molasses and they should not have that. It depletes the thiamine in their bodies. I feed my milk goats 16% all grain with molasses in it. Then just started feeding the rest of the does and the buck a sweet feed pellet with molasses in it. They will not get any more of that. It's really hard trying to keep these animals healthy. And I hope all this helps.

If anyone has gone through this, would you please share how you treated it? I am always learning new things. And it's so helpful to know there are others out there that go through the same things.

This is just a view of what I have done with these 2 goats. I am not a vet, although I am learning so much by doing a lot of this myself. I can most of the time figure out what is wrong with my goats and sheep. But most of the time I ask for help and advice from my goat friends and vets. I can give shots and trim feet and help birth kids and lambs. So I know a little. And I learn a little more every day.

Naps Are Nice

This morning I woke up early, got all the critters fed and milked. Then went to the gardens. I picked a bushel of beans and that was just one side of the double row. Then went and picked cucumbers. Man, if you don't get those stinkers every day, they get as big as watermelons! Then picked some of the running beans. Then it was inside for me. I sat awhile and could not keep my eyes open. It could have been the Benadryl I took earlier because I was sneezing like crazy and my eyes were itchy and watery. That and the heat. But I had to go lay down. And I did.

Then the phone rang. My friend up the road stopped by to get advice about their new goat kid. He had cut his leg. So I went up there with CDT and antibiotic shots and some Vetericyn gel spray to do the vet thing. Got that all done. Now I am back in til later.

My friends will come about 8 tonight to help load 3 huge ram lambs into my Trooper for a ride to town. I have a friend with  a big fenced in yard that she needs them to eat down for her. She's been working on getting it ram ready. They'll stay there a few months. It's a nice place and they will get plenty of attention from all the people that live there.

I hope you all have a great day and stay cool! Thanks for coming to read my blog and see what's going on here at Outback Farm in Ga.

Cherry Limeade

This is the best drink on a hot summer day. And so easy to make. I just use sprite, cherries and some juice, limes and some Grenadine. And plenty of ice. Just mix all together and there ya go. Go find a nice cool shade tree and a good book. That's about all you need right there. (The store didn't have regular limes so I had to get little key limes. They work just as good.)

Bees Are Here!!!!

 I don't know if you can see them but there are honey bees all over my corn! I was out in the garden this morning and heard a strange noise that I couldn't quite figure out. I'd heard it before but it has been so long ago. Then I saw them. Lots and lots of honey bees! I had to look close but there are a lot of them. All over the corn tassels. I am so happy to see them again. It's been several years. It used to sound like New York City while I would be picking beans from all the bees in the corn. I guess they were just waiting for the corn to tassel. I am going to plant some more corn this week, just for the bees. I love honey bees. And I was so worried that the GMO corn across the road had run them off. But they are here again. Sweet beautiful bees!

 I love to hear the buzzing the bees make when they are happy. And their little legs are just full of corn pollen. I wish I knew where their hive was. They are just the most amazing of God's creatures. So complex yet so simple. And we could not live without them, I believe. They give us so much. Sweet wonderful honey and so much food. They are just amazing.

There are lots of bumble bees and yellow jackets and wasps all over. But haven't even really seen too many of those. They used to buzz all around the fallen old apples on the ground. But I have been picking those up and either giving the really bad ones to the chickens or the not so bad ones to the sheep. They love apples now. They will not climb the apple trees like the goats do. They wai patiently every morning for me to give them their apples. Such sweet sheep.

More Sheep, Chickens and a Dog

 These are the boys. Abraham in the front, Alfie in the middle and Axel standing, guarding the chickens. They are so big. They were all born in March. Alfie and Axel are more of a hair sheep and Abraham is a Finn. He's so handsome. And the friendliest one of the whole bunch of lambs. I may keep him to use for breeding Lucinda and the ewe lambs in the fall.

Axel and Abraham.

 The chicken yard. It's pretty big.  They have plenty of room to roam. The bottom picture is the back so it is an L-shaped yard. They have eaten every blade of grass in there though. When I mow I will put the bagger on and throw that grass in for them. They love it.

 The 2 new Americana chicks. They still won't go out/ Here they are behind the cage, safe from the mean ole big chickens. It's the darker little one that is being bullied. Hopefully that will stop soon.

 And here is Stella Bella Luna. She comes in with me to see her sheep. I will keep her with me when I come into the ram yard. They are young and nice right now, but they will not stay that way. And there are 3 of them and only one of me. So she will help keep them back away from me when the time comes. She loves her sheep. And they tolerate her. I need to learn some sheep herding commands for her. She knows "back"  and "out" and "that'll be all". I learned that from Jenna at www.coldantler. She's a good dog.

South Garden

 This is a shot of the South garden, again looking at Pigeon Mt in the background. Such a beautiful view. The sheep pasture is beyond the garden to the right.

 And this garden gets watered. I soaked it good last night and also fertilized with manure tea. So hopefully it will revive. I am picking some squash but not many yet.

 These are some purple peppers. They are so pretty.

 And some yellow peppers. Yes, they are supposed to be yellow!

 And a beautiful patch of my favorite flowers, zinnias. Love them! You just can't have too many of these around.

 These are Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. The best ever cherry tomato. SO GOOD!

 Poor tomato plants. They are do needing a good rain. But full of tomatoes. And they are amazing and juicy!

 Some of my grapes. And talk about good! Yum! And seedless too.

And of course have to get my sheep in here somehow. Lucinda is up at the house in the shade so she didn't get in this picture.

North Garden

 This is my North garden. It's quite yellow, in meed of a good soaking. No rain in weeks. Although we did have a little strange pop up storm last night and the ground was a little wet this morning.

So these are the beans. Kentucky Wonder and McCasslen pole beans and Blue Lake and Italian Roma bush beans.  They are all starting to come on really good right now. The Roma bean plants are so pretty and full of flowers.

 You can see how the bottoms are yellow in this picture. But they are full of big pretty beans.

 This is looking at the chicken house.

 This is looking at Pigeon Mt. to the East of us. We are in a beautiful valley with Lookout Mt. to the West behind us.

 Pretty bean vines reaching for the sky. You can see some holes where the Japanese beetles are having dinner. Then they are dinner for the chickens later. The chickens love those nasty creatures! I take a bucket and go down through the rows and shake the beetles into the bucket. The chickens are standing at the fence waiting for them to fall from the sky for them to eat up every evening.

These are the field peas. You can just see the pea pods and the pretty purple flowers. These plants love the heat and they look great. And are FULL of nice young pea pods. Can't wait to pick some.

So this is the North garden. In full production right now. I am picking cucumbers daily. There is a sweet potato patch to the right but it's very weedy.

Potatoes in my pockets

I was out mowing the garden rows this evening. The row to the right is potatoes, then kale, then cabbage then chard, then more potatoes. I have been digging up potatoes the past few weeks and I need to go ahead and finish digging them all up now so I can start planting other things there.  So I am mowing and see some pretty red potatoes on the ground. I grabbed them and stuck them in my pockets.

Then later as I am mowing the other garden, I see some pretty cucumbers I missed yesterday. So in the pockets they go. Then look at the very short okra plants and see some okra. Picked them and there they went into the pockets too.

 Handy thing, pockets. You really can't have too many. I was wearing a skirt one day with no pockets and I locked my keys in my car. Not good. I always stick my keys in my pockets instead of my purse because they will always fall down to the very bottom. So a pocket is easier. And this time it cost me a cracked front window. $175.00. So I like to wear things with pockets. Very handy thing, those pockets.

105

That used to be our address in Flintstone, Ga. not long ago. Now it's the temperature here today. And will be til Tuesday. I just want it to hurry up and get here. And with a chance of some showers!! Oh how we need some rain. I have been watering everything the past several days.

Now I have to go pick beans for market tomorrow morning. I don't really want to but there are beans out there that have got to be picked or they'll be too big. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like my beans too big. And I hope there will be some more cucumbers and squash and tomatoes too.

When I got home about 5:30, there was a sheep on the driveway. It was Alfie. He must have gotten out from under the chain link fence. I saw that spot and thought one or more of them might try getting under and out. Well, Alfie did. He was right there in the grass though. I wasn't worried that he'd run off. Not by himself. Uh uh. Not alone. And he didn't eat a single azalea or Crepe Myrtle leaf either. Good boy! Just grass. Now all 3 ram lambs are back in the bigger pasture. I am taking all 3 to a friend's yard next week for a few months to eat down a problem area for her. I might or might not miss the big guys.

And my ewes were all in the South pasture. No one was near death or hurt. I am very thankful. But there are still 3 more days of over 100 degrees to go.

And my arms and legs are SO itchy! From picking beans and squash and cucumbers. I wake up at night scratching. Ugh! And then the okra is starting to grow.

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? I hope y'all are staying cool. I want a pool real bad.

What a Life!

Yep, this is where Bubba lives right now. It's such an effort to even lift his ole head up. Sorry I disturbed you. Now get back to sleep.

You can lead sheep to the pool....

 but you can't make them get in it. Nope.


 I got this pool for my dogs awhile back. Stella loves it. But the dogs can come inside. The sheep can't. So I gave the pool to the sheep. I thought they might like to stand in it at least. They do drink from it. But no one's been in it yet. I thought Lucinda, the black ewe, might get in. She stands beside the trough a lot so I thought she might like something she could get into. But no. It's supposed to be 100 or better for the next several days here. I might see a sheep swimming later today.

These are the 2 newest ewe lambs, Amarillo in the front and Adelaide behind her. They are so cute. And getting a little friendlier toward me. They are a Finn-Suffolk cross. I think Adelaide is more Finn.

This is Adele. She's as big as her mother. And look at her! Silly lamb. I love my sheep.

All Done!

These are pictures from a few weeks ago. I didn't take any this morning. I was on a tight schedule. I wanted to see how fast I could get 6 chickens butchered, cleaned and in the fridge. I started at 7:15 and was all done and cleaned up by 8:45. Then a little longer to get them all in the fridge and iced down. So around 2 hours from start to finish. Not too bad for one farm gal. And that grill really made all the difference. I got them all done without having to stop at all. And the coolest thing happened. Right when I was finished with the very last chicken, the fire in the grill went out. It ran out of propane right at the last minute! Now that is a God thing to me.

 That live chicken on the table telling her friends goodbye is one of the chickens in the fridge right now.

 This one was pretty big. About 5 pounds.

 This is my killing cone hanging from a cedar tree. The white bucket we used to do the turkeys.

And now there are no more of these running around the yard anymore. For a few weeks anyway. I'll order some Freedom Rangers in a few weeks for an early September butchering.

If you can see that one lone chicken in the background in the cage, that's the devil hen. She's a game hen that got out of the coop about a month ago and I could never catch her. Til about a week or so ago. My grands were here and they helped get her. You can just see a green thing on top of the cage. Well, that's the straw that broke my back. It's a green tomato. That's all she wrote for that chick. Put an ad on Craig's List and a few days later, she's outta here! There will not be another chicken getting my tomatoes again. Or they'll end up like the one in the 2nd picture.

D Day Thursday

I will be butchering my last 6 chickens first thing in the morning. I got them all tonight and they are in the cage. That's one of them in the picture. She will be in that killing cone soon. I will be using the grill this time to keep the water hot so I don't have to stop after every 2nd bird to take it back to the kitchen to heat up again. This way I can get them all done in about an hour!! 5 of them are sold and the 6th one is mine. Then I will be ordering 50 Freedom Rangers in a few weeks and do it all over again.

It's only going to be about 100 degrees tomorrow. And the next day and the next day. So I'll start early. Then on to watering the tomatoes, peppers and squash and zucchini. I don't look forward to this heat at all. And am a little worried about my sheep more than the goats. I have a kiddie pool out there for them full of cool water. And a fan. I would bring Lucinda inside if I could. I hope she'll be ok. It's hot all over right now I guess.