I mowed today!

 Me and 1, 578 other people. The sun came out and it didn't rain here all day! So on the mowers we all went. Gotta mow while the sun shines, right? And man, was it ever hot too. And humid, with all this moisture in the air. And I slid all over this place on that mower. I was afraid to mow up by the road because it's too close to the pond we get when it rains a lot. And I did not want to get stuck like I saw someone else did. So I'll get it later. And I'll have to trim everywhere tomorrow too. It looks so much better. It was beginning to become quite the jungle out here.

I like this picture of the house, with the sun behind it. It sure was nice to see it today. A welcome sight, indeed. And I feel better with all the high grass mowed now. It was getting to where I was afraid to walk through it. There are nasty creepy scary snakes out there!

And the bees were really active today. I was worried they had all left the hive. It's been too rainy and cloudy to check on them. When I did get close, I could hear bees inside the hive. And I am really smelling honey! I'll go tomorrow and get another super and frames so when I do check inside, I can put new frames in and take the frames with honey. I am really not sure what I'm doing. But I smell honey!

I love the clouds when they're like this. I have seen bunnies, baby pigs, all kinds of cute little animals. Love them!

More fire wood, chickens, blueberries apples and some sunshine

My husband is home for a few days, so we went today and got a truckload of the oak tree wood this morning. This is the bigger heavier pieces. It took both of us to get each piece into the truck. It'll be fall before it can be split. He tried a few of the bigger pieces and the maul just bounced right back off. Plus all the rain we've had made the wood heavier.  But our pile is growing fast!

The old oak tree is going to have to come down. It's 88 years old. Mrs. T was about 8 when her family planted that tree. And she'll be 96 on Thursday this week. I called her tree man who's been working n that tree for 30 years now. he came Friday to look at it and to talk to Mrs. T. She'll listen to him. And he said it needed to come down. It's old and falling and next time it falls, it will fall on her house and her bedroom would be first hit. This tree is huge. It's got to be at least 25 feet around at the base. But I'd rather see it come down than to destroy her house or even kill her.

So we will be getting lots of the wood. About this size. Plus they have a chipper and will bring me all the shredded brush. So it will go to a good use. Keeping us warm this winter. It already is. Loading and unloading wood is a really hot job! I am very thankful for this tree.

My friend up the road called me yesterday and said I needed to come down and pick blueberries at his neighbors house. She has lots of bushes and just couldn't get them all. So I went and we picked til we filled our buckets up. I got a gallon. I put them in qt. size baggies today and got 8. Also put 4 more bags of apples in the freezer.

Then this evening another friend came with their egg eating hen. I was going to be butchering some more of my CC meat birds and he wanted a lesson on butchering. I was glad to show him how. I had caught 7 this morning, but pardoned one because she needed another week. So did 6 more. And his 1.

So another busy Monday for me. I have had my shower and am nice and clean for a little while. It feels good!

Oh, the sun was out a lot today!! And the sky was partly blue too. It rained here and there. And while we were butchering, it came a downpour. But we were under some cedar trees and barely got wet. It was good to see the sun again, if only for a little while.

Rain, rain, go away!

It is STILL raining! This is the 5th straight day of rain. I cannot remember what a blue sky looks like, so I put this picture back up.

It has looked like this since Monday afternoon. Just rain, rain and more rain. Not really heavy rain, but a steady drizzly rain that sometimes goes to a downpour. Everything is soaked. Including my poor chickens. Goats will not come out of the barn at all. The sheep are all huddled under the shed over next door. It's just miserable weather.







I know I should not complain. I know the garden is loving this. I know in a few weeks, I will be praying for rain. And I know we are not the only ones flooding right now. I know God is in control. But it's DEPRESSING to say the least.

I hope someone out there has seen the sun and it's not really missing.

Happy weekend!

Meat birds

The 7 chickens I butchered Monday all weighed at least 4 pounds each. There were 2 @ 3.25 pounds. the rest were 4-4 1/2 pounds each. Not too bad. I can already tell the others are growing bigger. I am so ready for them all to be gone. I have spent a small fortune on these birds. There's no way I'll make it all back. Does anyone actually make a profit raising and selling meat chickens? Anyone? If so, I would love to know how.

Chickens, sheep, cheese, corn, apples and water kefir

Yesterday, I drove up to Cleveland, Tn. to pick up these girls. 7 Barred Rock pullets. 3 months old. They seem to be adjusting quite well. I have them in the coop. I went out awhile ago to check on them and the door was open. I thought they'd all be gone. But they were all still inside! Good girls. They seem a bit tired, so I put some electrolytes in their water.

I moved the sheep to the back yard this morning, to mow the grass down back there. So far, so good. They're so funny, these sheep.

I also had a cheese order. So got some made this morning. It's draining now.
















I had to stop at a friend's house to get a cage for the chickens and she said our friend Tony had called. He grows corn every year and we always get several dozen from him. He was picking yesterday so I got 5 dozen ears. He always puts an extra in. I got it all shucked and cut off the cob and now it's cooling from a short par-boil. I love that when I am doing food for canning or freezing, there is lots for the animals to eat too. The sheep and goats love the shucks and silks. I'll take the cobs to the pigs later. Also the cores from the apples I did too.

This tree is very old. An antique really. I don't know of anyone who has these trees. It's an Early June Transparent. It might have another name, I don't know. But my MIL had some at her farm. And every time we went up there, she'd cook some apples. So we were very happy to see a tree here when we bought this farm. I had a picture of a bucket of apples, but now it's gone. I put up 3 qts in the freezer and will have some for dinner tonight, along with corn on the cob and fried squash and cucumbers! Yum.

I am wondering if anyone has water kefir? I got this from a fermenting class way back in March. The grains are supposed to grow and multiply like crazy. But mine are not. This is about the same amount as I got back then. The drink is good. But the grains just aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing. I use organic sugar and regular sugar. I also went on'line and saw a guy who has some. He uses brown sugar and molasses too. And a bit of egg shell. So tried that. It was very thick. And then it got a film on it. I just don't know.

Just one of those Mondays

It started off with a phone call at 7 this morning. Mary, who stays with Mrs. T on the weekends, called to say a huge tree had fallen sometime during the night and was all over the yard, blocking the garage and driveway. Mary usually parks at the garage, but last Friday, I still had some shopping I needed to finish up for Mrs. T, so was going to drive Mrs. T's car. So had to get Mary to move her car so I could get out of the garage. And she never moved it back. Or it would have been crushed by the huge trunk.

Mrs. T is 95 years old. She'll be 96 next week. She was 8 years old when her parents planted this oak tree. It's gigantic. And over the years, she has had to have some major cutting on it. Lots of money spent on this tree. But she loves it. When I showed her out the window this morning, she was sad to see it. My daughter Abby and SIL Jason, were already out there cutting it up and clearing the brush.

You can see here how massive this was. And it had 2 sections. One went right in front of the garage, to the left. The other, at the top, went toward the barn. It landed on her herb garden, crushing a beautiful wisteria tree and a red bud tree, plus her herbs. But did not hit the barn or the garage.

We got a truck and trailer load of wood so far, with another big truckload still there. And a huge mountain of brush.

                                                    This is the garage, where Mary parks.

There was not a storm last night. Or rain or wind. The tree is just old and it's heavy. It just fell. You can see where it's just broken in pieces. It's not rotten either. And you can just see the left side of her little barn-storage building to the right. Didn't touch it.

And here is a pile of the wood, at my house. Seasoning in the sun til winter. Some will need to be split. This took several hours of work between us 3. And not how I had planned to spend my Monday.

This is what I was supposed to do this morning. I had 7 CC meat birds in a cage since Saturday, waiting for their turn in the cone. But stuff happens and they had to wait til this evening. Me and Kansas got the job done in about an hour. This was her first time pulling a heart out of the chicken. She said it was really warm in there! But she did it. A true farm girl! And every time I put a chicken in the cone, she thanked it, then said "off with your head".

And here they are, cooling in the cooler before they are weighed and bagged for the freezer. I only have about 65 more to go!

Also, one of the lambs, Blossom, had gotten out of the front fence and was whining and running around. Me, Heather and Kansas got her back in with the rest of the flock. Kansas was so good. She got the gate opened, then shut real fast behind her, before all the rest of the sheep got out. It sure is nice to have some help around here.

So that was my Monday. And my eye is still horrible. It didn't help at all, all that heavy wood and brush I had to carry this morning.. But I do love some free wood!

Good Monday morning!

Burst blood vessel

In my left eye. It's scary to see. I scare myself! It looks like an evil demon in scary movies with the horrible red glaring eyes. Hideous. Just hideous! I have to wear my sunglasses all the time so no one will see it.

It happened yesterday afternoon sometime. I have no idea why or where or how it happened. I mowed the sheep pasture and it was bumpy and I was under lots of tree branches. I thought at first I might have gotten a branch in my eye. But I think I would have remembered that. My left eye has been bothering me the past several days. I thought it was just allergies again. But then this.

So today, we went to my mom's for lunch. And she said I needed to go to the urgent care clinic up the road and have it looked at.  She went with me. I couldn't even let her look, it's so hideous. But the doctor said it was a burst blood vessel. And she gave me a prescription for eye drops. I was glad to get them. She also said it would be like this, hideous, for at least a week, maybe more. She said to not be lifting anything heavy for at least a week. Really? That's about all I do around here is lift heavy stuff. I am still hauling 5 gallon buckets of water to places where the hose won't reach. 50 pound sacks of feed too. And now I am going to be starting the butchering of many many meat chickens. Although they aren't really heavy, there's a lot of bending.

My blood pressure was 150/90 too. NOT good. I have got to lose weight. So starting tomorrow, July 1st, I am not eating any more sweets. And I LOVE all kinds of sweets. But I have done this before. So I can again. Me and my mom are going to Colorado the middle of August, so I have 6 weeks to see how much I can lose. I would love to wear a pretty long summer dress. And not look like a big fat old woman in a mumu. And some nice capris and shirts.

I just hate it when things like this happen. I am always getting hurt around here. Getting cut or scraped on something. Stepping on nails. Cutting fingers with knives. I don't like getting hurt at all. It messes me up and slows me down. And I don't like slow. But sometimes things happen for a reason. And I just have to go with it. But this is the most hideous thing ever.

Counting sheep

I am constantly counting my sheep. When I leave, when I come home, in the mornings, in the evenings.I just need to know they are all here. And together. Sometimes there might be 1 or 2 off by themselves, under a tree or in the barn. I go check on them to make sure they are ok. And I am listening to the sound of their bleats too. I can tell a distress call or a lamb wanting it's mother. Or a sheep's head stuck in a fence. Or even if a lamb has gotten out somehow. That's a frantic call for help! But a shepherd needs to know all these different calls and cries. So I am constantly checking on them during the day.

So far, they are all healthy and doing well. I am rotating pastures about every 3 weeks now. And mowing the pasture they just left a few days after. Plus I have 2 chicken tractors full of meat birds that are in their pasture, moving them all over, eating the sheep poop. That will help a lot. I have not had to worm them since they all had their lambs.

Speaking of lambs, they are all so big now. Even little Buttercup that was born a month ago, is growing so fast. And she's so sweet. But my little Bonnie Belle is still the sweetest of them all. She still comes to me and lets me pet her and love on her. She's just the sweetest little lamb.

I have 17 sheep now.  8 grown ewes, 8 lambs and a ram. I'll be taking the 3 wethered ram lambs to the butcher in the fall. They are growing really fast. I am curious to see if these will be bigger than the rams I had butchered last fall that weren't castrated. Those 2 were mostly hair sheep. 2 of this year's lambs are wool and one is hair. I'll see which are more meatier too. I castrated these guys so they could stay with the flock because I really don't have all that much room to keep rams separated. And they are all happy this way. Together, as sheep should be.

They are not getting any grain or hay right now, since there is so much grass for them to eat. Almost too much actually. But I am giving them kelp and minerals from the sea. I love how it all smells. Just like the ocean. And they love this stuff. I feel like it is making them much more healthy and is keeping their red blood cell count higher. And I was so pleased to see, after the last 2 ewes were sheared last week, the overall condition of their bodies. I was a little bit worried they might be a bit skinny under all that wool.  But they weren't! So, I am happy to see healthy, happy sheep at this time of year. Hopefully, this will carry into the fall and winter. I hope to be getting 2nd cut hay soon too. I'll be getting a better quality hay for them for winter.

And that's all for now. Just a little update on my sheep here at Outback Farm.

A flock of females

This is most of my family. My sister and her 3 girls and 2 grand daughters. My oldest daughter and her 3 daughters. Plus me. There were 11 females in my house for 7 days. My husband was home for 3 of those days. He didn't stand a chance for anything. I think he was glad to get back in his big truck and leave.

My sister and all her kids and my brother were all here for my step dad's memorial this past Sunday. My brother's son and daughter and their 2 kids couldn't be here. We missed them.

It was crowded in the house. And very loud at times. And there were a few scuffles and stuff. But when you get that many females together, there is always some drama. And lots of eating out. And lots of shopping. And talking late into the night. And teenagers  going in and out all night. And little kids going in and out all day. It was fun. But I am glad to get my house back again. And me and my mom will go to Col. to see everyone again in August.

My oldest niece brought her little dog Alicia with her. Bubba didn't like it one bit. It took about 5 days before they could actually tolerate each other. She was a little dog, but she wasn't afraid of anything.

                                                                       Silly people!

Makin' butter

This is my little niece Aubree. She was here with her momma Emilee and her sister, Taylor. Aubree just loved this little butter churn. So she was pretending to make butter.

She really had a good time while she was here.

She just loved Bubba and Stella. (And her Gigi loves Bubba. She wants to take him home with her.) They let her roll all over them. I hope they get to come back soon.

Sour pickles

I have done this before and I love them. The recipe is in Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz.


You just take fresh cucumbers, garlic, dill seeds, grape leaves, and salted water. Put the grape leaves, garlic and dill seeds in the bottom of a crock or bucket, or like I do, a glass jar. Then add the washed cucumbers with the ends cut off.

Add the brine, cover with a cloth and let sit in a cool place several days, tasting and checking for mold on top. Keep cucumbers covered with the brine. These are amazingly good. My whole family loves them. I hope you all try this.

 I will be making sour kraut soon too. And some beet kvass when my beets are ready.

Is anyone else doing any fermenting?

Taylor, the goat cleaner

This is Taylor, my great niece. She's a little city slicker. She's here visiting with her mother, sister, GiGi and aunts. She loves to help with the animals in the mornings. This morning, she helped feed the goats. Then she wanted to wash their udders for me before I milked them. She was trying to decide who to wash first.

                                                            She chose Penelope first.

                                                             
                                                          Then Zarah. She did not like this at all.

Then Sandy. Look, they have the same hair color! And apparently, Taylor thought Sandy was filthy, because she kept washing her "who-haws" over and over.

She finally said Sandy was clean enough to go back outside with the others.But just one more little spot right there.

Then she wanted to wash the little kids. They wanted nothing to do with that.

Taylor was a great little helper this morning. She also helped feed the chickens. I like little helpers.

Hens and chicks and baby goats

I got these hens and chicks a few years ago. And I found the hen planter to put them in at a little nursery in Tn. I didn't know if these were going to make it. Then they started to get green. Then I noticed these really pretty flowers. I love them.

I don't know if you can see it, but there is a volunteer tomato plant growing in this planter in my front window. It has flowers on it.






And this is Mariah's jaw. For those with goats, does this look like bottle jaw to you? I think it is. I have given  her Cydectin the first day, then Ivermectin, then Dectomax. And it's still there, just like this. So maybe she just has a double chin? She's half Nubian and half Boer. The other 2 don't have this.

 
The 3 girls together.They are so sweet. But very wild. Sandy's kids always are. Until they get older. I will probably keep these girls.

And I had a call this morning from a newspaper reporter. She wants to come out Thursday to do a little story on my farm. My friend up the road gave her my #. So she will come and do a story about the animals and soap and other things.

Also put an ad on CL for the LaMancha goats and had a call on them. She's going to come this evening to look at them.