I hope this works.

 I asked my friend Sarah a few days ago if she had a dry cow that I could borrow awhile. I had read that cows and horses don't carry the same worms as sheep and goats and were good together. Sarah has 3 Jersey cows she's been milking. But Louise must have had a miscarriage a month or so ago. So she needs to dry up. So her husband just brought her out here to stay awhile. I forgot how BIG cows are! And how stinkin' messy they are too. Yuck!

The sheep and alpacas are NOT too happy about these plans. Not at all. No siree. Not happy.

                                     They all had a little private meeting way over in the little yard.

But Louise didn't care at all. She was munching away on their mineral block. They also had a few things to say about that!

Still trying to decide on a plan of action. Haven't come up with anything good yet. I did put a board across the smaller gate, so the cow can't get in this yard, but the sheep can go in and out, to the field. When they think she's not looking. They'll get used to her, I suppose. Some day.

Meanwhile, Louise is going to eat. She sure has plenty to keep her busy. She didn't have anything like this where she was.  I hope she doesn't get sick.

So life on the farm is constantly changing. Still thinking about some pigs too. I have that electric netting fence I think I'll use to move the pigs around, following the sheep and cows. When they are over in the other pasture. This one isn't mine. Just borrowing it. So don't want to put pigs out there. But I also heard pigs will take care of the worm load as well. So between Miss Louise and a few pigs, these sheep should be ok. And Mel is coming tomorrow to get Charlotte and Claire, the 2 lambs I wanted to sell. This will leave me with 12 Finn sheep and 2 alpacas. But I have a big ole cow now.

Worms and bees...

I went to the farmer's market this morning. I had a soap sale this week at both markets, trying to make room for all my new soaps. I am going to take a short break from both markets, so I can make more soaps and salves and also lip balms. And wash wool for more dryer balls and needle felted animals. I need to build up my fall and Christmas inventory. Now to just get motivated. I am such a procrastinator though. I'll wait til the very last few days and then get busy. If I have so much time, I think I have SO MUCH TIME and will get to it later. Then later comes, and I have to work, work, work! But I think I do better like this. I just need to change my way of thinking.

And I am very discouraged and upset about my lambs. Poor little Cara barely made it up with the rest of the flock this morning when I went out to check on them. Poor baby. So I gave her another B complex shot and went ahead and wormed all 3 of the bottle lambs with more Dectomax. And gave them all sheep nutri drench.

Today, after market, I went to Tractor Supple to get some Safegaurd, which I read kills tape worms. That's what I saw in Cassidy's fecal the other day. There were 4 wormers that specifically worked on tape worms and that's all they had. I also got a 40# bag of Diotemacious Earth to sprinkle around where they take their siestas. I'll do that every day. Also put some in their feed trough. I so hate this.

I talked to my friend Sarah, who has 3 milk cows. I asked her if she had any that were dry now. I had read that cows and horses don't get the same parasites as sheep and goats and work well together. I think cows like the taller grass , where sheep like the lower grass. So she has 1 dry cow that is really not feasible for her to be feeding like for a whole year, so she's going to see if they can get her out here. That will be a good thing to help with all the horrible worms we are plagued with. I hope, anyway. Has anyone else had luck doing this? I'd love to hear about it. I just feel like I'm such a horrible shepherd right now. I wish I had a dry lot and a load of hay. I will be getting some hay and will try to keep them in for awhile. See if that helps.

I am so happy that I still have 2 hives of happy busy honey bees in the middle of August!!! My 1st hive last year lasted about 2 months, and was invaded by wax moths. Bees all left. So I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing right now for them. I have a friend coming Monday to get the last 2 lambs I wanted to sell. He has bees and said he'd check them while he's here. See if I can harvest a few frames of honey maybe? We shall see. I hope I can take at least 2 from each hive. But they are the busiest girls. They are coming and going all day. They are drinking water from the sheep's trough. I have bits of wood in there so they don't drown. But there is always some that do. I hate that. I also have a small kiddie pool in the side yard that is a tadpole nursery. The bees drink from there as well. I have a big piece of wood in that pool so they can drink from that. I love these bees.

I read somewhere that an older man, who'd had a few hives for a few years now in Missouri I think, was attacked by his bees while he was mowing. He died. They said he had a heart attack, that's what killed him. But he was covered in bees. So sad. It makes me think I better be careful and more aware of my bees when I mow around their hives. Anything could happen, I guess. You never know about wild creatures.

I don't know if you can zoom in on this pic or not, but these bees coming in are just loaded with bright orange, almost red, pollen. All on their little tiny legs. So cool!

But I am so happy both my hives are doing so well. Now to just get them through winter.

So I have THE WHOLE WEEKEND to myself!!!! Husband went to Indiana to get grand kids. What shall I do? It just feels good to have TOTAL quiet right now. No TV! Seems like he's constantly got that darn TV on.  There is so much to do. But there's always tomorrow, right?

My poor babies.

This has not been a very good week. I'm so glad I made 3 batches of soap on Sunday, or I would not have made any at all.

 I noticed Carabella's puffy jaws Sunday evening. I wormed her right away. All the others looked fine, so didn't do anything else.

That night, about 8, Mary, the weekend caretaker at Mrs. T's, called. Mrs. T had fallen and she didn't know if she should go to the ER or what. I really wasn't feeling too awful good, so I called my daughter to go see how bad it was before I drove all the way there. I ended up going. She had torn the skin off her right shin, about 4". Really didn't see any sense in taking her in that late and having to sit and wait when I could just take care of it myself. Thanks to my hubby! So washed it real good. Put Neosporin  all over it and wrapped it up real good.

Monday, my sister and niece came back from Colorado and were at Mom's for awhile, before they headed back down to S. Ga. So before going to Mom's, I stopped at Mrs. T's to change the bandages on her leg. Mary had said she was up and down all night and took the wrapping off a couple times. I wrapped it all back up and wrote on it with black marker "DO NOT TOUCH THIS!". I told her I was going to come back before going home and if she had messed with it, I was going to take her to the hospital and they were keeping her til it was better!

 I was starting to get all stuffed up, runny nose, a little congestion. Went to the dollar store and got some allergy meds. Took 2, like the directions said. Man, a few hours later, I could hardly hold my eyes open. But got to mom's and we went to lunch at the Japanese place where they fix the food in front of us. So fun!

So on the way home, I stopped to check on Mrs. T. She was sitting there in her chair all nice and sweet. Hadn't even tried to bother her leg. So went on home. Took care of the animals. Checked the sheep. Cara still puffy. I gave her Ivermec, LA200 and B Complex.

Tuesday, I was in bed ALL DAY! My head hurt. I was coughing every time I moved.. Low grade temp. Geeze Louise! The whole time though, as I lay in bed awake, I'm thinking of all the things I needed to be doing. SO many things! Then off I'd go again. And Emily, the mid-week caretaker, came in early and changed the bandages for me. I was so glad because I could not have gone and done it.

Wed. SO much better. Got up, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, mowed the whole front of the farm. Mowed down a bunch in the garden. Cleaned the burr comb out of the Garden hive and added another frame, because it only had 9 frames. Checked the Outback hive. Lots of activity there too. Then got ready for farmer's market. Had to go check Mrs. T's leg. All good so far!

Had a bad market afternoon. And I had a lady ask me last week to save her 3 dozen eggs for her this week. I have worried myself sick about those eggs. I might get 1 egg one day, 4 the next day. Then we'd have to eat some. I finally, after even deciding to go to market, had 2 dozen. Then the silly woman never even showed up! I will not do that again. But I did sell them. No problem selling eggs there anymore. People stand in line wanting eggs. I need to get more chickens!

So today. I wanted to take some fecals in to the vet to see what I was dealing with. HA! You know that saying "a watched pot never boils:? Well, when ya want as sheep to shit, THEY WILL NOT! I literally waited 2 flippin' hours for Cara to poop and do you think she ever did? NO! Never. Any other time, they are pooping like crazy. I just have to look at them and they poop. Stupid sheep. So I got samples from Cassidy, who had worm activity going on. Then Campbelle. Then FINALLY, Cameron! And she had some worms too. But NEVER did get anything from Cara. Even tried going in to get some, I was that desperate.

So took them to the vet. Went to Tractor Supply to get some sheep minerals. Ended up getting 2 mineral blocks for sheep. They LOVE them, by the way. Ate lunch with my mom. Went to Mrs. T's to change her bandages. Got a call from the vet. Yep, they do have worms, he said. Ok, I know that. What kind of worm. Well, he didn't know. They just had a lot of worms. I have to pay $15 per fecal for him to tell me my sheep have worms! What? THAT'S why I do not go to vets.

I also wanted to talk to the AG. extension guy to see what he could come up with to help me out. We decided I was not leaving them long enough on each pasture. They need to be leaving one pasture alone for at least 60 days. And the grass needs to be at least over 4" tall. I've been rotating them about every 15 days, then mowing where they just were a few days later, about 3". They don't really like tall grass. Anyway, I need to be doing things differently now if I want these worms to die.

Also wanted to get some kale and collard seeds. No where can I find seeds. So maybe no fall garden for me?

Went to the bee store. Talked to a 20 year old girl that works there. Very smart girl. Learned a lot from her today.

Then home to cook dinner for the man. And move the sheep back to the big pasture til October. I also had gotten a bottle of  Dectomax. Wormed Cassidy, Cameron, Campbelle and Carabella. I will worm the others if they need it. And I'll get some hay for mornings. I'll keep them in til the grass is dried. That's another thing I kind og knew already, but never thought about.

So tomorrow is my all day with Mrs. T/ I think I will run her over to the walk-in to make sure her leg is doing ok. Just to be safe. I was going to go to Indiana to pick up my 2 oldest grand daughters who have been in Wis. with cousins, but right now, I think I need to stay close by Mrs. T. Plus I might get a whole weekend to myself?! Plus Sat. morning is farmer's market too. I need to make some money! I'm having a soap sale to make room for all the new soap!




So while I'm waiting for sheep to S***, I took lots of pictures of them. This is poor little Carabella. She's so stinkin' fluffy, it's really hard to tell she's so puffy. But she really is, poor baby. One of my bottle babes.

                         And Cameron, another bottle baby. She started yesterday with the puffiness.

                                         Sheep rear ends. I was keeping an eye on them!

I love this shot. I got a lot like this. The blue sky, the green trees, the very tall hay, then the sheep. I felt like I was down in a hole, which I guess I was.

                                                                  My little fluffy Cara.

                                                       This is Amarillo, the quads mother.

                                                   Just a bunch of sheep and alpaca pics.

               Another puffy Cara pic. I really hate this. I have got to get this under control soon.

All the sheep and alpacas, except Cara, who was over to the right, drinking water. I moved them all back over to the bigger pasture later.

Sorry this is so long. I feel like I have neglected this blog and no one is going to even come here anymore. Sometimes, I am either just too busy, or I just don't have anything to say. Then, when I do, I keep on and on... Hope y'all have a great weekend!

(Looks like I already wrote about some of this. Sorry. I can blame this on the foggy head? And the guy that was coming didn't. But IS coming this next Monday.)

And thank you to my very favorite blog reader and friend Betty Ann, for checking in on me! Makes me feel so much better!

Yucky. Again.

It feels and looks like fall outside this morning. I see leaves falling to the ground in the back yard. Pretty. But, there is a wild cherry tree that's next door, but part of it hangs over our fence. Those leaves are falling in my yard. Wondering about the sheep eating them.  I know they'll kill certain animals at certain times of the year.

I've been working on building up my soap supply. Make 3 more yesterday. So 10 so far.

And I feel horrible. Again. But this time, I think it's allergies. I ran out of my day time pills and haven't gotten more. Benedryl knocks me out, so only take it at night. Although I have a low grade fever. I can hardly breath. And my sister and niece will be at my mom's sometime today. So will have to go see them.

And Mrs. T fell last night. Knocked the hide off her right shin. I had to go see if we should take to the ER or not. Really nothing they could do that I couldn't. Plus her skin is so thin right there, they couldn't sew it up.  And it being so late too. My daughter Abby came over to help. There was blood. But I can now thank my hubby that I was able to do what I did. We gathered all the things we'd need to clean it up and get it all bandaged up. I pulled the skin back on and wrapped her up. But she was up and down all night. Pulled the wrapping off. That woman! Called doctor and the nurse called. Told her what I did. She's going to talk to the doctor to see if I need to bring her in or not.

And have a guy coming sometime today to get Charlotte and Claire, the 2 cross ewe lambs I want to sell. And don't know when he'll be here.

All I wanna do is go to bed!

Dogwood Bridge. Family reunion fun, 2014

This is at Dogwood Bridge, in Ozone, Tn. We always come here the weekend of the family reunion. It's so fun.  And so beautiful here.

                                                         Alivia, jumping off the rocks.

 

                             And Abby jumping off the rocks too. Lots of rock jumping going on.

When we first got there, a huge long snake was spotted. It went down stream, but just in case it came back, one of the cousins got his gun.

                                                            Some bridge graffiti.

                                                Abby, after jumping in the water again.

                                                                 More bridge graffiti.

                                               I really liked this shot, with the towels hanging on the bridge.

This random dude came walking down the road, looked over the bridge to see how deep it was, walked across to the other side, ran and jumped off the bridge. Really cool. I think he lived right up the road and did this every day. A real show-off!

                                                     The stream. So pretty.

                         And this is what a bunch of teen- agers do when they all get to the house.

We had a great time at the Sherrill Family Reunion, 2014. Saw lots of family we only get to see once a year.

I am feeling so much better. And am waiting for my friend to call so we can head out to Huntsville to see Joel Salatin today. I think we may be a little later.

Busy, busy, then sick.

 Busy few weeks here. Lots of Indiana and Wisconsin family in for the Sherrill family reunion up in Crossville, Tn this past weekend. Some stayed here with us. It was so fun to have company. We really need to get the shower fixed upstairs though.

We were sitting outside at the picnic table and I saw something fly over to this pole with a long piece of straw. So we walked over to see what it was. Whatever these small black wasps are, one was just stuffing this hole up. I am just amazed at the intelligence of insects.

                                 And the beauty of a small seedless watermelon. So cool, isn't it?

So Monday evening, we had to go up on the mountain to get Coryn's clothes. My hubby's nephew and family had been making plans all summer for Chloe to go back to Wisconsin with them for a few weeks. They have a daughter her age. So when Coryn came, they asked her to come along too.  They went to King's Island in Ohio yesterday. Al just called and said they were home. So all kinds of fun stuff to do in Wisconsin for 2 Ga. kids.

Here's a hang glider, just jumping off the edge. I love going up there and watching them.

So here are all 3 girls, taking off Tuesday. Their son, who is 13, is in the very back seat.

Yesterday was Main St. market. It was SO hot there. Just wore me out. When it's hot like that, it's just not fun at all. I had gotten some Swiss Chard from my friend next door to me and some of the best cheese from Sequatchie Cove Creamery. It's called Nick-A-Jack. Washed in apple cider.  So I chopped some scallions and red pepper from my garden and scrambled eggs in with all this. I love it.

 
Here it is, ready to eat. I wish the bacon was mine. I am thinking about getting some pigs in a few months.

I got up this morning and was slightly dizzy. Kind of wobbly. And very tired. So did a few things. Then went to bed. woke up freezing cold. Turned down the AC. Put on a flannel shirt. I just now took my temp. 100.3. I feel hot. So I am having  pains below my stomach and some pressure. Feel like my insides might fall out any minute. I made some fresh grated ginger tea with honey and am drinking that.

The horrible part of this is, tomorrow morning, I am supposed to go to Huntsville, Al. with my friend Sarah, to hear Joel Salitin. I am so upset. I may have to call her and cancel. And I don't want to. I have always wanted to hear that man. And I feel like he will give me some sort of direction to go with this farm in the future. So I might wait to see what happens. I'll call Sarah just in case, to let her know. Bummer.

Plantain Salve

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=807599782595732

This is my little great niece Aubree, putting plantain salve on her nasty mosquito bites. She loves this stuff!

If you go to my FB page, Outback Farm, in Chickamauga, Ga, you can see the video. It's so cute.