Musical sheep. Again.

Last night, I noticed the 4 younger ewes jumping on each other and acting friskier than usual. So I went over and got Mr. Abraham. This is his first time in with the ewes. Ever. He's had to patiently wait his turn. The other 2 have been with the 4 older ewes and hopefully they are all bred now. But I did have to move big Darla over to stay with the other 2 rams because Abraham is her son.  She did not like that at all. And is still telling me so. She is VERY loud.

So last night, Abraham sniffed around a little. That's about all I saw so far. This morning, they are all just eating and grazing. Nothing much happening yet. I hope I wasn't too late. But that would be ok because 2 of the younger ewes are still so small. That's why I was waiting til later to breed them. And it would be ok if they don't get bred right now. I'll be keeping Abraham, so they could wait til spring.

Anyway, more goings on at Outback Farm. What's happening on your farms this time of year? It's too wet to do anything in the gardens right now.

Sharing the couch

Bubba, sharing his couch with Kansas this morning. She has to get up around 6 am to catch the bus for school at 6:40. This morning she couldn't quite get woke up so she came in and laid down on Bubba's couch with him. And he didn't mind one bit. He's keeping her feet warm for her. Good boy!

Love

Just love. That's all.

Finally, a tree

I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't like Christmas anymore. It used to be such a wonderful time for me and my family. I would have a tree in every room and decorations all over the house. We would have friends over for parties. Once I even had a neighborhood Christmas potluck dinner.  And when I worked at Ace hardware up the street, I had everyone over for deserts and I fixed everything. It was so fun. I used to bake things and take to neighbors and friends. I would make things with the kids. All our ornaments were hand made by me and my kids through the years. I still have them all. And now the grands are making them. It used to be fun. And magical. And exciting.

But now, I just feel like, what's the big deal? Why take down all the stuff that I have around the house and put up Christmas stuff for a month, then have to put it all away and do it over again? So much work. Ugh.

And since we moved way out here, no one wants to come out this far. So why bother? It's just us anyway. And I don't want to decorate for people passing by.

So today, I made myself go out back and look for a small pine tree. I wanted to at least have a tree. And a cute little scrubby Charlie Brown tree. And it would have to fit on top of the big huge dog crate in the dining room, because there is no room in this small house for it anywhere else. So I found this cute little scrub pine.

Brought it in and stuck it in my pretty antique metal apple bucket with rocks to hold it up. Put some water in it and a flat white sheet around. Went and bought a strand of 100 white lights because every strand I found didn't work. Then Heather and Kansas put up some of the ornaments. They couldn't be too heavy because the branches are not very big.

I think it looks pretty good. I do love white lights at night. And I will get some greenery and red berries for the front window and the buffet and mantle. And some candles. And that's it, folks. I'm done.


So Merry Christmas, y'all!

New website?

http://outbackfarm.webs.com/

I just tried to make a website. Still have some things to add.

The big clean-up

Today I decided to let the sheep clean up the garden for me. Their pasture is quite brown. Or actually, it's the same color as they are and I can hardly see them out there. So to the garden they went.

Then I felt sorry for all the does out back. So started taking them up front to the garden too. In 2's. It's pretty far to just let them go by themselves. Too many things to get into on the way there. There were so many things to eat, they were all over the place for awhile.

                                              The goats went over to clean up the fence row.

                                                And the sheep had to follow, of course. It was a very nice day. I worked up a sweat in no time out there.

While all the goats were up front, I decided to take the push mower to the goat yard and mow down all the dead stuff. It wore me out! This is where the goats live. This used to be a pine tree forest years ago. The people who owned this place had someone come in and cut them all down. And they just left all the trees to rot out there. And when we bought this place, it had all grown up with wild roses and blackberry bushes. And lots of little trees. It took the goats a few years, but this is all that's left now. Not much.

 I have asked the guy who owns the land all around us and owns lots of big equipment like bull dozers, if he would give me a price on grading it all and moving all the very old tree stumps. I would like to plant good grasses and hays for the goats. But today, I just mowed down all the dead stuff and got down to the green grass that's still out there.  This picture above is looking toward the SW.

And this picture below is looking toward the NW. So they have lots of room back there. Just no bushes or trees, which they would so much rather have.

 So last week, I turned off the electric fence and let them go out next door. It's gotten way overgrown over there and snakey looking. They have done a great job. But like any goat, they can't stay in this spot for long. They started going out in the fields, where they are not supposed to be. So had to put that to a stop.

And here is the pasture, almost all mowed and looking better. I want to go get some winter rye and  sow back here now, if it's not too late. I'll go to the co-op and see. Over to the left, by their barn, is alot of green grass still growing. And in the back yard too. And they have lots of hay mountains too.

And the goats are all back in their home again. They don't like too much change, these goats. And they like their barn. It's cold out there!

I am thinking about getting some pigs soon after the sheep finish what they can eat in the garden. Then I'll put pigs in there to till it all up for me.

The wood stove and shed

 This is the wood shed. Out on the driveway. Me, hubby, a few daughters and grand daughters and one son-in-law, helped build this thing. It has a tarp at the back of it. It's double stacked too. The wood is nice and dry now. Not much wood in it right now. But there will be more soon. There is a lady in her late 60's who cuts, splits and stacks wood for sale. I will be buying the rest of our wood from her. She's amazing.

So this is the new stove. It heats this whole house. There are 1200 SF downstairs and 400 upstairs. It gets mighty hot up there, I am told. We did have some trouble because of creosote buildup. Then chipping out bricks to make room for new longer stove pipe. Then the elbow broke. Then hubby had to leave right after the elbow broke. Then we thankfully had a really nice warm few weeks.

Hubby was here for a few days so he and daughter got it all hooked back up again and now we are nice and toasty warm again! Just in time too, because now it's going to be down in the high 20's to low 30's at night. And this stove keeps us warm now. I am so glad I went ahead and got this one. But now it's a little bit to the right of the fireplace, due to people who are not master stove pipe installers. But I'm fine with that, as long as the house doesn't burn down.