May 12-27th
So, here it is, half way thru May and
what's going on around the farm? Time doesn't mean much around here
since it's all so scheduled and in high demand. There's not much
left over for deviation from the set routine. Out of bed every day,
same time no matter how tired you are. Feed and milk, tend to small
things that need done then head out to the off farm job. Rinse,
repeat.
Critters are doing fair to middling,
garden is coming along, no thanks to my old, good friend Ronnie, who
spends more time sitting on a bucket than anything else. Even tried
to get my son to turn some garden over for money to make it look like
he did something. So much for all his big promises and such, all lip
service and bullshit. Not really surprising since I seem to be
constantly surrounded by people who think they want to be just like
me but lack the stamina to keep up. Which, is just a polite way to
say they're full of crap and too lazy to follow up. And, a no show
today as well.
So, spring farm checklist- chicken
coop-nope. Run the front fencing-nope. Build the new lean-to for
the rabbits-nope. Turn the garden-nope. Well, kind of, that last
one isn't a total no check mark, I did arrange for the corn patch to
be tilled which it is. 3 days of rain in a row while I was working
kept me from getting that patch planted. Rain on my first day off in
2 weeks put a damper on farm stuff but I still managed to hoe the
tomato rows in the drizzle and weed both the strawberries and the
asparagus. My great farm hand Ronnie doesn't seem to understand the
importance of doing those things so I did it in the rain yesterday.
I'll be planting corn today by myself.
I've got 15 chicks in the brooder grow
tank, they're 3 weeks old. 2 batches of meat rabbit kits, not sure
how many are there tho. Just haven't messed with them yet. The calf
is growing like crazy. Meatball, the boer goat orphan, is growing
well. He's gotten over losing his only friend now. Hard hit for
both of us. I sold a young billy to someone local and while
delivering it, the herd went looking for the lost goat kid and Baby
goats kid apparently got hit on the side road. They've never been
out there before but the urge to find the missing kid must have been
very strong. So, that was kind of a blow to the farm, sell one and
lose one, cutting the sale price for the one in half.
The work schedule really has me run
down. No time to make cheese and I'm dumping almost all the milk I
get from Goober cow. I'm at the point now of where I feel like I
should just go ahead and sell her to someone who will use the milk.
Before, the cost of the feed to keep her in good flesh while milking
was worth it because of the cheese, cheese making classes, butter,
yogurt, etc. Now, with my work schedule consuming all my time, all
that milk is being dumped but the feed is still getting to the cow.
Tough choice to make since Goober is such a big part of this little
farm. With Lucky and Sis gone, there isn't much keeping me in the
farming mood anymore.
Ah, I've left the most messed up art of
my time away from the blog out! Roger George! Roger is a 50
something yr old man who lives local, works on the barges and likes
to build old cars. Been hanging around for about a year, talking
cars and such. Nice fellow, so I thought. Turns out, he and his
wife split and he needed a room to rent for a few days. I made it
clear there is just one rule on my farm, NO DRINKING. He obviously
missed that and proceeded to get drunk and follow me around crying
about how scared he was of being alone. Nope, this isn't going to
work out. Out he went. Yup, end of that, right? Not hardly. It's
been 3 months and he's got his friends all convinced there's some
great romance going on between us, he's been rerouting his mail to my
farm and telling his work he lives here on the farm. Never even a
hug between us, no friendly peck on the cheek, nothing! He is so
very not my type to start out with, quite round and bald. Nothing
wrong with either, just not what interests me in a man. Apparently,
in some peoples minds, not a chance in hell means someone loves you.
3 weeks ago, he got off the boat then he waited for me to go to work,
broke in to my home and stole all my farm records, the journals, all
of the printed blog. He said he thought he could hold it for ransom
to work out a deal with me to stay here. Oh Yah, that worked out
real well for him. I got my stuff back and he got a black eye. The
guy is batshit nuts and borderline stalker material. I'm currently
working on restraining orders. He's been on the boat for the past 3
weeks, we'll see what happens when he gets off it this time. He had
better stay clear of me and the farm, I'm getting good at delivering
black eyes to idiots.
So today has been a working day off.
I've been working on finishing up the front garden, turning
everything that's left because Ronnie simply can't do it and I can't
wait that long. Turning a 2' by 3' section in a 5 hour day, sitting
on a bucket and smoking just doesn't cut it. Times a wasting. I've
already found close to a pack worth of cigarette butts out in the
garden. Guess Ronnies idea of gardening is very different than mine
is. I'm leaning toward working it out so he isn't out here anymore.
Just don't have the time to deal with the bullshit. I'm getting
another one of our mutual friends to come pick up and board Rons
horse. He's used it as an excuse to keep coming out here but since
he got out on January, he's not touched that horse. All the promises
were dead air and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give him an escape or
another excuse to sit around and do nothing.
Yep! Worked it out! Ronnie is gone.
No more excuses. No more bullshit.
Now my thorn in the side is my
disrespectful 21 yr old son. The things he's done to me this past
year are amazing. The way he talks to me, wow. If I would ever has
talked to my own parents that way, I'd still be in the hospital!
Worse than that, he steals from me. Big blow up this past week,
rudeness, disrespect and I've had enough. Yep, that's done. The man
child will be taking care of himself from now on, the freeloading is
over. Time to grow up and take responsibility for your own choices
and your own stupid mistakes.
Now for some fun stuff! 3 orphan boer
goats now live here. Bottles twice a day because the young lady who originally took them then sold them back to
the herd master, pretty much didn't have a clue and they're pretty
well starved. She just dumped them back out in the pasture. Of
course, the herd rejected them. They've been here a few days and the
belly bloat is about half gone. Kids aren't weaned at 8 weeks and,
as they grow, if they aren't eating feed, they're most certainly not
candidates for weaning. Nannys here don't kick their kids off a teat
until at least 14 weeks around here. These 3 orphans looked like road kill
possums when they arrived here. Like the good shepard I am, I will
do all I can for them.
2 litters of meat rabbit kits were born
last week. Also, 34 chicks hatched. 15 in the first batch, 19 3
days ago. Still no chicken house built! I may try to get to it this
coming week. I need to pay the first installment of taxes so if
there's anything left of the paycheck, I'll do what I can to get it
going. Need it quick tho. Chicks are growing and if I just put them
out in the barn, I'll be feeding the local wildlife. As it turns out,
I was too late to feed the house wildlife. Zone flew out and the
kittens played with it. It's now stuck in the heating vent. I am
currently working on baiting it out.
A minor slip this weekend, the newborn
kid went missing. Saw the baby Saturday morning before I went to
work. Sunday, no kid. Monday, no kid. I walked all over the crp
looking for where that first time Momma might have left her kid at.
Couldn't find it. Tuesday morning and no kid. I resigned myself to
accepting it has been eaten by the coyotes. So, I set myself to task
on mowing around the barns and cleaning up more of the sons messes.
Some friends stopped by for a visit and lookie there, the newborn kid
is back! Bopping around the barnlot like it was never gone. Makes
me happy and mad, all at once. I'm thrilled the kid is back and
obviously okay but mad I couldn't find it. Oh well, whats done is
done.
Now, it's pouring rain. So much for
more clean up and mowing before work. I didn't get around to
building the fence for the corn and melon patch. Need that done asap
too. Not going to get built in the pouring rain tho. “Sigh” the
last 3 weeks it's rained on my days off. Part of it I guess. I'm
going to have to lose some sleep during the work week if I want to
get it done any time soon.........
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