Mom and dad sure are busy these days...

The baby birds in the nest in the laundry room are getting bigger and bigger every day. And noisy too! Keeping poor mom and dad on the run for more food.

Zucchini fritters and dill sauce...

I had a big zucchini out in the garden so grated it up, added an egg, salt, pepper, grated onion, some chopped fresh dill-weed and self rising flour. Fried them up in a cast iron skillet in a little oil. Then made some dill sauce with plain Greek yogurt with chopped fine dill-weed and salt. Yum. It was very good.

Honey bees are doing great!

 I had a friend come this morning, to check on my hives. He's the president of the honey bee club here in N. Ga. So I trust him. He also has many, many hives, all over. We went to the Garden hive first, which is the 2nd pic here. This is the hive, when I first got them, that he helped me install in the hive. He was a bit worried about this hive. But today, when he opened the top, he was quite impressed with how they have grown. They had already filled all the frames and were starting in on the "upstairs"! We did see a few SHB, so we set traps in both. Last night, I just lifted the lid on the Garden hive, and a moth flew out. So I was thinking I might have wax moths again. He said practically every hive has them. But this is a strong hive and the bees won't let them in. I was happy to hear that.

The Outback hive always has those long roach bugs in the top when I lift their lid. I try to kill them, but they are pretty fast. We also saw a few SHB and put a trap in there too. They are looking great too. And were very active. He said to continue feeding them. This hive had already drank all this sugar water.

So I am very happy to know that both hives are doing so well!

This is the sunset from last night. It was so pretty.

And one of the really big sunflowers, the birds have been eating from. I've seen the American Goldfinch on these. I love those birds.

And we have our youngest grand daughter, Kansas, most days now. Here she is, trying to draw a horse. I used to draw horses all the time when I was a kid. Had all the plastic horses. Dreamed of having a horse of my own one day. Finally got one. Had her 3 years, got bucked off, and that was it for me!

We have had some nice rain the past few days here. We sure did need it. I had mowed this whole property a few days ago. Now will have to mow again in a day or so. And now I don't have enough animals to eat all this grass down. I might have to get a cow or small horse. Who knows.

Monday. In the studio...

That sounds pretty cool. In the studio. My own little studio. I love it.

So I finally made the first batch of soap of 2014 today. I've had some plantain infusing in olive oil about a month now. So made plantain-lavender castille soap. It takes 8-10 weeks to cure. Long time. I'll go tomorrow to the International Market and get more Palm oil so I can start making more. Once I get in the mood to make soap, I go for it. I have lots of different scent ideas rolling around my head right now. So I have to make soap!

And while the lye and oil were getting to the same temps, I started needle felting some sheep. It sure does take a long time to make one sheep. Lots of little stuff to make. People seem to like the white sheep more than the black sheep. My favorite is the darker sheep. That's ok. I just washed a whole white fleece last week. So I will be making felted critters again.

Sure is extremely quiet here these days. Goodness, I had no idea how noisy goats were. Til they all left. I can hear birds again. I can walk out the door and not hear a goat holler. It's great! No, I do not miss them either. At all. May not ever get another goat.

The honey bees are doing great so far. They sucked up that sugar water really fast. I guess I shouldn't have put the new boxes on. Nothing going on in the Outback hive yet. I'll go check the Garden hive and see what they are doing.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Alpacas in the Outback...

The alpacas got in to the outback. I'll keep them back there a few days. They seem to be liking it ok. Plenty of shade for them all and a barn too. It's supposed to rain again Wednesday. Sure is nice out today.

Random Saturday...

 These boys have been practicing and jumping on all the girls. Just being obnoxious teenage boys. I had planned on castrating at 3 months, but time just got away. The other night, they were really being bad. So I decided to go ahead and castrate them. I didn't want to have to separate them, but keep them with the flock. And since I am not sure right now if I even want to breed sheep again, this is the best way to go.

So last night, I got everything together. First couldn't find bands, so had to call a freind up the road. He had some! Had already gotten shots of Banamine. And got 2 syringes of CDT. And of course some grain. And the hubby! Can't forget the most important part.

And these guys were BIG! I first checked to make sure when they were born. March 3rd. So just 4 months. And they are the quads. But man, they were big. Almost wasn't sure it was going to happen. But finally got those jewels popped down under the band and got it done.

Went to check on them about an hour later. Both boys in the stall, laying down. Pretty normal for what just happened. But Clack, the biggest one, sounded congested. I got them all up and walked them around for awhile. Then gave him another shot of Banamine.

This morning, all good. They were up walking with the rest of the flock. Clack sounds normal. You can see in this pic, how big their testicles are. Really had a hard time getting them in the banding tool.

And here is Charlotte, a single ewe lamb. Much bigger than these guys.

And of course, this always makes everything better, right?

This is Annabelle. She did not lamb this year. I am wondering if maybe she's pregnant? I did have that black Katahdin ram in with the ewes, even after they were having lambs. So she could be.

And here are some of the other reallt fat rotund sheep. They all really look good to me right now. Nice and healthy. Plenty of grazing. Rotating them every few days now. Very healthy.

And Thursday evening, I went ahead and put these sugar water feeders on both hives. You can see how they look this morning. Zan Asha said to just leave them on about 3 days. They get dependent on it and they'll not forage. These bees are so busy right now. They are going out back, toward Lookout Mt. Always come back with legs full of pollen. So something's blooming back there. Maybe Sourwood? (I have to take my dogs with me back here. I am so afraid of snakes, it's awful. And it's so over grown back here now. And with the hay fields back there 10' tall, I know there are snakes all over.)

Here's some Elderberry berries. And some blackberries thrown in. Very pretty. But hate blackberries. They always seem to win. I hope I get some of the elderberries this year. Birds always seem to get them all. But I have an abundance of the bushes all over now. So maybe.

And some really pretty, not quite ripe, tomatoes from the garden this morning!  I have to get them like this, because I have marauding rouge chickens, who love to peck at red ripe tomatoes a few times. Just for the heck of it. So I get them like this and let them ripen in the house. These are THE BEST tomatoes ever!

So I have the whole day BY MYSELF! Hubby is off on a motorcycle ride with his boyfriends. So it's just me. Washing clothes, hanging them out. Trimming honeysuckle off electric fence rows. Going to mow the fence line later when it dries up. It's just a beautiful summer day here at Outback Farm in Ga. Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend too!

Baby birds...

I've been a little worried about the baby birds on the laundry room shelf. They are so quiet. All the other baby birds around are noisy little buggars. So I snapped this picture and got a big baby mouth, wide open. Still don't know if all 4 are alive. But this little guy sure is.

And just now, I see both the mother and farther, with food in their beaks. Making all kinds of racket out there. So I am happy now!