One Week Down

It's a week to seed starting.  I've hardly had the time to even think about seed starting.  Wow, what a week this has been.  The off farm job has tested the limits of my patience.  The last couple of days most especially.  Not been pleasant.  Too tired to even think much about farming this week.  Too bad the paycheck doesn't reflect all the work I've done.  This just can't last for long or I'll never get anything done around here!


So, now to the blanket raffle.  Today was the last day and it ended up with 7 people entering the raffle.  My new farm hand, RG, pulled the name out of the box for me and Sara B is the lucky winner of the last Camo blanket of the season.  Congrats Sara!  The blanket will be in the mail tomorrow morning.

The baby Lionhead bunnies are big enough to go to new homes now.  I've got a couple people with appointments to view the choices tomorrow evening.  I'll be rebreeding tomorrow with another doe in the house acclimating, to be bred in the next week or so.

The house chickens went outside, finally.  They were starting to wander.  I took advantage of the gloriously warm days we've been having (65F!) and put them out in the old barn.  Can't be having chicken poop on the frontroom floor!  Nasty, LOL!

So, a few days of warm weather with the wind blowing and the farm is just starting to dry out.  Just in time for a couple days of rain, LOL  This time of year is always a hit and miss thing.  I was hoping to get the front garden cleaned out on my only day off this week.  Alas, torrential downpour is the forecast.  That figures "sigh"  Oh well, there's still plenty of time for that.  I'll just have to start seed then, a week early, LOL 

Another week in the books

BRRRRR, it's cold, still. Winter comes no matter what and I just deal with it when it gets here. So far this go-round, I'd been kind of spoiled since it's been cold but not the skin biting, freeze the stock tanks solid twice a day kind of cold like it is right now. The last 6 days have been miserable with a few more still to come before the warm up to mid 30sF. Of course, I'm on pins and needles, waiting for the house water lines to freeze and burst, again. So far, so good tho since the most vulnerable ones never got replaced for lack of insulation. Just wasn't in the budget last year. Water lines are cheap enough but those rolls of insulation, just never managed to get those covered. Eh, it's all good, I'm still alive. Just one of those adapt and overcome things.

Just one day left on the Macaw blanket raffle!  Just 3 people in the raffle so the odds are still excellent!

Speaking of still alive, baby lionhead bunnies were born on the 8^th. Another one that's so far so good. First time Momma and they're still alive. So far anyway.  I can hardly wait to play with them!

Oh, LOL, have a giggle with me...... last Thursday early afternoon, had to run over to a company store in another town that I occasionally work at. I needed to drop a couple things off there. After my visit, I stopped at the local McDonald's for a coffee and an internet connection. While I was sitting there, an older man just sat down at my table and introduced himself. Nice enough fellow until he insisted on “hitting” on me. Yep, I got propositioned! Well, I got instantly creeped out but as is my nature, stayed polite thru it and he hands me this business card with his name and number on it. Under his name it says “hen house proprietor”. WTH does that mean? Way too creepy for me! Yah, I'm gonna call ya, hold your breath! ROFL Not.. The world is full of strangely bizarre people.

Another batch of the pumpkin scrub soap is in the soap mold. I'm really liking it. It's got a pleasant smell to it without any added oils and it leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. A good addition to the line up I think. Next I will make a coffee soap. Supposed to be great for removing odors such as onion, garlic and gasoline. I'm going to make some and find out.

No baby goats yet. Probably not a bad thing since the weather is so nasty right now. Besides, I've got other things to worry about at the moment. Yep, the certified letter just came with the overdue tax bill in it. I knew it was coming, I couldn't pay it when it was due and I can't pay it now. Just not enough paycheck.

ARG, I'm currently suffering from another tooth problem. This time it's the other side, last molar on the top. It just fell apart. Now, it almost feels like another tooth is trying to push up into that spot. It's swelled and painful. Obviously some infection is in there too as the lymph node under my jaw is sore. Yah rah. Well, at least I got to sleep a couple nights.

I've got 3 new couch throws going all at once. A camo, a bublegum and a monet. 3 colors of yarn I had sitting here with nothing to do, LOL Left overs from the Christmas order I stitched up. I am really liking the bubblegum one, it reminds me of the colors in the old penny gumball machines. Should have at least one of them done early next week. Oh, I found more of that grape fizz colored yarn! I can't afford to buy it yet but I'm going to get some as soon as I can. I really favor that color scheme and was deeply disappointed on not finding any of it after the first blanket.

I've been working it thru my head, trying to figure out how to get the lean-to built. The design and construction isn't my problem. The supplies are. Same old tune, plenty of time, not enough green stuff. Some things you just can't scrap and salvage. I can't get going with the expansion of the rabbits or quail until I get that done and it depresses me. I have a cool design for quail runs that will make it easy to tend them and grow them. If I change the dimensions a little, it will most likely work for my smaller rabbits as well. Now all I have to do is protect them from the weather.

ARG, LOL, the 2 house hens are really a hen and a roo. Hahahaha, guess I wasn't paying attention very well. As I was feeding this morning, the roo hopped up in my hand. As I petted him, I realized he wasn't a lady chicken! Hahahahahaha duh, glad I'm so observant! Eh, he's still pet quality with his temperament and gentle behavior. I've also concluded that it wasn't the barred rock roo that fertilized his egg. His Daddy was that crazy cross bred roo that half looks like a rhode island red. Beautiful barred rock feathering all over his body and green tail feathers coming in, LOL Poor chicken.

Eh, must be the cold and dreary that's making me find amusement is such silly things. The rut of winter can easily get a body down if other distractions aren't found. I guess it's just my way of entertaining myself until it's time to dig, till and plant!

December Rains

Ick, it's raining again.  Mudhole on the farm!  Lost another batch of rabbits kits last night.  The weather behaving like a yo-yo is hard on the does and newborn kits.  So, I have managed to not get any live bunny kits at all.  None that lived more than a week anyway.  "Sigh"  depressing.

So far, since August, I've manged to get a couple blankets finished.  I am currently working on an order for 4 youth blankets.  I have 2 done and the third half done with one more to be finished before the 15th.  I'm sweating bullets a bit, it's going to be a close finish!  Each one takes 53 hours from start to finish.

So now, there is 5 days left in the blanket raffle.  So far, there's 5 people in the Camo blanket raffle and just 2 in the rainbow blanket raffle.  Still good odds so get your entry in quick!

Not much going on around the farm lately.  I am currently working on a new soap recipe.  One with coconut oil in it.  The hope is to make the soap more bubbly, the way most people expect soap to be.  I know, I'm veering from the old fashioned style to cater to the whims of the commercial products mindset but hey, who knows, it might make a good soap!  It's been in the mold for 2 days now, was too soft to remove yesterday.  I'm going to try to get it out tonite after work.  I've got my fingers crossed!

First Frost Already?

Brrr, it was unpleasant this morning!  Not quite a frost but 44F is down right unpleasant compared to what it was just a week ago.  Yep, it's that time of year already, it's going to be cold all the time very soon.  Am I ready?  Well heck no I'm not.  I never am.  I'm a big fat cry baby in cold weather.  I plug through it, miserable just because I would rather not be cold.  Busting ice out of buckets, frozen feet, chapped hands from the hot water in cold air for milking time, eh, just whaaa, LOL.

Eh, anyway, the cows are fat, the goats are sassy, chickens are finally laying steady now that Brandy dog is gone, rabbits should kindle in the next day or 2 and the pantry is full of canned goodies from the garden.

Now is the season of reading and writing, crochet and soap making.

So, here's the first blanket raffle of the season....

A reader asked I put this one up first so here it is.  The Grape Fizz, 38x50 lap throw.  One entry for $10 or 3 for $20.  We'll keep the entries open until Halloween.  You can enter via the paypal button, make sure you put grape fizz in the comment section or you may email me for snail mail(mmpaints@yahoo.com). 

I've got an incubator full of eggs but I'm not too sure they're going to hatch out.  The darn fuse blew over night and the poor unborn chicks got cold, too cold. So, a candling is in order tonight to see if they're all dead.  I hope they aren't dead but just in case, I did put 18 new eggs in there a few days ago.

As I said above, I've got 2 does that should kindle tonight or tomorrow, both good Mommas so 12 to 16 new bunnies should be arriving soon.  I love the bunnies, they are so darn cute and cuddly.  Something to play with while I'm waiting for the new round of goat kids to arrive.  The first ones should get here the 2nd week of January.  Seems like a long way off yet but they'll be here soon enough and it will seem like it was just yesterday when we started waiting for them.  Calves in February or March and we'll be full swing into a busy, busy year around here!  Milk, cheese, the new bake shop, the gardens, the quilting shop I'm working on, the new chicken runs and rabbit house, busy, busy, busy around here!  Plus the quail I want to add and the turkey runs, I've got some exciting plans for the new and revamped farm! Been a tough road and an even rougher summer but I can see daylight now.  A few small fixes on the 2 farm trucks (spider injection on the chevy and a few sensors for the ford) and we'll be in good shape for the new year.  I did manage to get all the parts for the hay equipment paid for, now I just need to find time to put it all together so it's ready for the next haying season.  This winter will be tight for hay but I think we'll make it through it.  Might have to buy a bale or 2 but it will be okay.  All we need to do is to get the taxes paid and we're good for the rest of the year.  How awesome is that?

Until next post........

Idle Time

Not too much is going on around the farm.  The nasty little hard frost killed the zucchini plants but I knew it would.  We've been watching it rain since yesterday with hopes of the seed in the ground germinating soon.  All the warm weather seedlings in the house are still patiently awaiting the warmer overnight temps.

So, without much more to do than scrub the floors (puppies and a goat) I actually flipped thru the weekly local ad paper that comes in the mail.  Woohooo, Aldi had boneless leg of lamb on sale!  Lamb is pretty expensive here, it's why I raise the occasional sheep here.  Why do I need a little lamb?  Ah, because I grew up in Chicago eating ethnic food.  Greek, Bohemian, Italian foods that I miss eating.  So, now I make/create those foods here for myself when I can.  Out came the meat grinder, a little pork and a little beef into the bowl with the leg of lamb.  That all got mixed up with rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, cumin, garlic and finely minced onion.  The meat sets for a couple hours so the herbs create the awesome flavor.  Since I don't have an upright rotisserie, I had to create my dish in a glass casserole pan.  The texture is a little different than what I ate at the little Greek "hole in the wall" shop up north but the taste is close enough!  Whip up some cucumber sauce (sour cream, grated cucumber, dill, garlic, a dash of prepared mustard) slice some onions, bake up some pita bread, slice some tomatoes and you've got what Greeks consider the ultimate fast food!  Now all I have to do is hide the meat so the hillbilly I married doesn't eat it all smothered in ketchup or bbq sauce (what an insult!)  Maybe next week I will make some baked Ziti....

Oh, I almost forgot!  We've got baby bunnies again.  The litter was born a couple days ago, there's only 3 or 4 this time (momma getting old) and should be out of the box in a week or so.  2 more girls should kindle sometime in the next couple of days.

A break in the Clouds

We finally got a break from the constant rain. Everything is soggy of course but the boy was excited enough by even the prospect of getting to shoot skeet that he push mowed around the root cellar/duck pond. It's been a long time since we could even afford to shoot a couple clays around here. I got a few shots in while grilling our lunch, in between the flips. Even the college kid took a few shots. She just didn't want her brother to out-do her, LOL. They even conned a neighbor to pull for them, LOL. He didn't want to try it himself tho.

Check out those crazy kittens. There's 2 there from different Mommas with my old cat, Shadow. Shadow is 9 years old and has adopted both litters of kittens, tends them like they are her own.

Possible rain showers on and off thru Tuesday so I'm hoping to get a few things planted. The over night temps are still in the mid 40s.

I sold 7 bunnies to Rural King yesterday, my son's friends mother works there and they needed bunnies so they got some. Got a decent price for them, plus I don't have to feed them to butcher size. That's a win-win situation. I have 9 more that are 2 weeks old plus another batch I havent counted that were born 3 days ago. The rabbits are doing well this year.

Thank you all for your comments on the passing of my old mare, Dusty. I miss her very much.