Where to start??????

I have been such a bad blogger, I don't even know how I got new followers but WELCOME! With Fall/Winter here I might have more time to post :)))

Where to start. Well we had some bad over the Summer. Remember my "free range" bunnies that my pet bunny Ellie had. First off those little ones dug several holes under the fence to get out of the chicken pen so after two years of living free willy nilly with the chickens Miss Ellie went missing :/ She either got out (thanks to her kids) or something got in (thanks to her kids) and took her. I miss seeing her everyday :( Shortly after that one of her kids showed up paralyzed and then another one was paralyzed. We put them down since they weren't able to move and after much Googling I've come up with the conclusion that they had E. cuniculi. I really enjoyed seeing them running all over the yard, playing in the barn, sitting on the back porch, and circling my feet when it was time for food. I won't ever let another bun be on the ground and I am lucky my meat rabbits weren't affected by the disease.

My female goat Lady came to me one day limping. When the hubs came home we got her on the stand and he found a thumb tack in her hoof. I guess I had dropped one when I was putting up fly tape. That hole became infected and her limp got worse. I went to the feed store and bought Kopertox. We used it on her hoof everyday for about a week and she healed up. I was super stressed about that too but VERY thankful that she is okay :)

Bub my goat buck is triple stinky this year. I guess since I have 2 females he's got to try harder. I can smell him on my back porch, it's really foul :p

We have been eating more rabbit. Our neighbor smoked one for us and we had bbq sliders. I cooked one and shredded the meat for rabbit tacos. That was pretty good too. My next meal will be rabbit chili. I make a white chili with chicken and I'm going to substitute rabbit. I can't wait to try it. I might not tell the kids and see if they notice a difference, lol! My fur tanning is going better. I can't say it's perfect yet, but I did get a compliment from my dad, so it's a little better and I'm ready to make my fur purse! With the price of meat at the store and the unknowns of that meat. I'm very thankful and grateful for my rabbits :))))

The hubs traded a truck for a fifth wheel. I talked him into not selling it so we can have it for an emergency. It was a hunting trailer and I'm in the process of cleaning it up a bit. I'm going to keep it masculine for resale but cleaner so if it needs to be home during a power outage it will be cozy :) I will post pics of my progress soon. So far I've only painted the ceiling. There is a reason humans don't look up all the time. It hurts!!!!!!

The last few weeks most of us (me included) have been sick with some weird gastrointestinal/respiratory virus. It has hung around for weeks. We are all just now starting to feel better. With all the crazy sickness out in the world, getting sick is scary.

Reading this makes me wonder what I actually do everyday besides stress and worry. It doesn't sound like I'm very busy but I am. Tonight I'm going to my first ever bee club meeting. I need to reconnect with my friends so I will be able to get bee's this Spring.

Enjoy the day ya'll, it's raining buckets here!

On the Fritz!!!!

My computer is on the fritz and as usual I really don't have time to mess with it :/ So I have been reading blogs when I have the patience but haven't been commenting because my patience usually runs out, lol!!!

The little one started school last week. I'm still not used to the alarm, it's loud. I prefer waking up on my own. On the bright side I only have 172 more days of screeching :/ My older daughters start school tomorrow. Both will be in High School and one will graduate. Where did the time go??? My birthday is also coming up (Friday) and I turn the big 40...................Where did my youth go??? I still feel like a kid and forty always seemed so OLD!

Our weather this year was so WEIRD! It was strangely Fall like for a few weeks but it seems Summer finally found us. This is also the first year that I haven't wanted a storm cellar (we had zero tornados) but a ton of earthquakes :/  The bugs, oh man the bugs this year are unreal! Flies have taken over my barnyard, it's a constant battle to keep everything as clean as possible but they still find something that interests them. This is the first year we have had aphids in the garden and also those damn blister beetles. They are working on my tomato plants again as I type :/

Our peach harvest this year wasn't as great as last year but I did make nine pints of yummy jam :)



My pet bunny that ran around the chicken yard went missing about a week ago. She was two years old and the first bunny ever born here, I miss her :(


My chickens have hatched out babies again :/ So far there is only one. I wasn't even sure the eggs were fertile, well they were lol! Chicken count=who knows!!!

Bub my goat buck is stinkin' up to high heaven. We were going to trim his hooves on Friday but got lazy and he went into rut the next day. Lesson learned there, lol!


I found an amazing deal at the feed store. Seed packs were 10 for a $1!!! I got 40 packs of seed for $4 some are heirloom. One pack retailed for $4, so I was pleased with this find!!!!!
My last visit to the grocery store renewed my desire to grow as much of our food as possible. Meat is outrageous and the quality of everything is poor!

Tomorrow I'm gardening all day, the little one has decided to ride the bus home from school which gives me the whole day to get things done. I hope she likes riding the bus. This might be the year I actually get my crap together!!!!

CRAP!!!!!

I found the missing blister beetles.......
They have moved on to my big garden and are doing work on my tomatoes! It only took them two days to demolish the volunteer tomato plant in the cantaloupe patch. I squirted a couple with wasp spray, not sure if it killed them. I despise pesticides and have worked really hard not to use them but I'm not losing my tomato's to these guys. So this evening, against my own gardening rules, the bugs will die. I hate this, but I really love my tomato's :(

Bug Update

Since I was a wee bit skittish of getting blisters on my hands. I had a great plan to grab the top of the plant with tongs, quickly snip the bottom of the plant with scissors, fling it on the ground and the stomp the daylights out of the bugs with my boots. So boots on, tongs and scissors in hand I walk over to the plant.........
I wouldn't call it a plant anymore, it's all stems no leaves and no bugs. They ate their fill last night and moved on. Hopefully not to the cantaloupe plant............
In other news. I'm obsessed with getting my rabbit furs done right. I had two that I did a little different, they didn't stink like crap and turned out pretty good. Then I had four more that I did my old way, well they stunk like crap and the fur slipped again, total waste of time. So today I watched this skinny Cajun fellow on YouTube do about twenty different furs. They turned out pretty good, so in a couple weeks when we butcher buns again, I'm trying it his way. I hope it works out because I'm obsessed with figuring this out!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anybody know what kinda bug this is??????? +UPDATE

Carolyn the bug guru answered this on FB! It's a blister beetle. Those of you that have them don't squish them they will give you blisters. According to Carolyn they demolish tomato plants quickly. When I googled blister beetles it says they eat bee's and grasshoppers too. They are covering this plant. I would say there is one per leaf so I am going to attempt to murder the whole lot of them in the morning :)

Cantaloupe is ready!

 

A raccoon had a nice treat last night :/ I'm leaving this one in hopes they will finish this meal and not start on another one. The leaves on this plant are hideous. We had aphids for the first time ever and I did nothing to kill them except wipe the leaves with my hand, spray them with water, and let the ladybugs do there thing. I'm surprised we even have a harvest.



Got my first ever Maran eggs yesterday!!!! The one on the right looks weird but I love it! My Maran hatch was dreadful and I ended up with what seemed like all roosters. I knew I had at least one hen, well I guess I have two. YEAH ME!!!!!

Summer

Since I haven't posted in a month some of my sweet blog friends have wondered where I've been. Well, I've been busy, just like many of my fellow homesteaders. There is never enough time in the day and to add to my normal crazy, the family and I have taken day trips almost every weekend in July. The first trip wasn't really a trip but a family gathering for the fourth. We stayed out late, so I prayed the chickens would be safe when we got back and they were. The next trip was floating down the Illinois river. That was fun and we got there early enough we were back home by 6. I was totally sunburnt after that one :/ One weekend we took some rabbit and veggies to a friends house. He slow cooked the rabbit on the Hasty Bake and grilled up the veggies. Best meal EVER. We stayed there really late. I worried about the chickens all the way home and they were fine. Our latest outing was The Center of the Universe Festival. It's an all weekend music fest. My older girls were going and we happened upon some cheap tickets so we were there with them. I'm glad we went since there was some creepy people and we were only a phone call away if they needed us. The music was meh, UNTIL, I sat next to a fella sitting on a curb playing a washboard. We talked for awhile, he said his band played bluegrass and they were just killing time before their gig at a bar down the road. Best part of the night! I sat on that curb getting my hee haw on and by the time the kids were done watching their show, the band was packing up to head to the bar. So once again we stayed out late and I worried about the chickens all the way home and they were fine :)
School starts in about 11 days. Summer went by too fast. I can honestly say I didn't get everything I wanted to do done, not even close. I did sew myself a dress. It's not perfect but I love it! I'm also working on a crocheted purse. I'm pretty sure I've been working on it for six months but it's almost done :) I want to make some harvest aprons for me and my friend but before that I need to hem skirts, finish my bee suit, and make a lady a nap mat for her kid. It never ends......

If you guys are still harvesting jalapenos, you have to try this recipe, it's yummy!

Cowboy Candy

• 3 pounds fresh, firm, jalapenos washed
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 6 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 12 tsp celery seed
• 3 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Remove the stems from the peppers. Slice them into uniform 1/8-1/4 inch rounds. Set aside
In a large pot, bring cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add the pepper slices and simmer for exactly 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peppers, loading into clean jars to within 1/4 inch of rim. Turn the heat up under the pot and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 6 minutes. use a ladle to pour the boiling syrup into the jars over the jalapeno slices. Insert a chopstick to the bottom of the jar two or three times to release any trapped pockets of air. Wipe the rims of the jars and put the lids on. Process for 10 minutes for half pints or 15 minutes for pints in boiling water. Allow to mellow for a month before eating

*I think the trick is to cook down the peppers. The last time I made these mine didn't cook down so when I put them in the jar it was full. Once they came out of the boiling water bath it was all juice and very little peppers. Just make sure your peppers are cooked down so your jar stays full :)))

The reason I didn't post the last two days of June is because.......

My computer has been hijacked by children. The girls got back from my sisters and have been LAZY watching movies/tv series on their devices and on my computer!!!!! I got rid of Netflix for the Summer so they wouldn't do this. I guess they have another source, grrrr!
My weekend without the children was uneventful for the most part. I guess I went on a vacation myself and became a slug.
The little bunny that hurt it's back is still alive. I wash it's hind end every day make sure it has water to drink and take it to the yard to nibble on grass. Friday I noticed it's sibling was falling down and it's legs weren't working that well. I researched poisonous plants for bunnies and found that I have several in my garden. I think they are either poisoned or they hurt their backs coming out of the chicken pen. The fencing is 2" x 4" rectangles. These bunnies were born in the pen but after a few weeks started venturing outside of it into the yard. The two that are hurt, stayed close to mamma but they played in the yard and my garden most of the day. One of the buns stays out back by the barn and rarely comes into the pen. It seems to be doing fine. Baby chicks are always on the other side of the pen free ranging until they get to big to fit through the slots. I loved watching the bunnies run all over the yard, even if they did eat up most of my green beans. I really don't know what happened to the little guy, but it's very sad to see it now :(
Saturday I made stir fry with vegetables from the garden. Did you know you can stir fry cucumbers? They are pretty good and taste like pickles!
I need to make some cowboy candy, weed the garden, sell some bunnies, clean cages, clean my pool, muck the barn, the list could go on and on so I need to get to work and get this published before the kids get up and take over the computer again!!!

 

Well....

that didn't take long! This morning when I let the chickens out somebody was crowing! It's my kind-a ugly grey and orange olive egger hen. So much for waiting on her green eggs. I'm actually glad she's a boy. Mrs. Winnie, my only easter egger is one of my original hens and she is getting old. I hatched out two of her babies this Spring both were female both have orange legs instead of greeny grey so I'm guessing they will lay brown eggs. So now that Mr. hen is a boy I could actually get some real easter eggers out of Mrs. Winnie! Since he just now found his crow, it might be awhile before he figures out his man bits. I'm just happy to have a rooster again!

My not very good looking boy! That one tail feather had me wondering if she was a he for a few weeks now :)

A very young Mrs. Winnie! Love that girl
 

Happy/Sad Day

Today my little brother got to go home from the hospital. He had viral meningitis which he got from his kids daycare. He had a horrible headache, couldn't stand lights, and was completely miserable for about a week. We aren't very close, (because of something stupid that happened about seven years ago) but I love him and want him to be healthy and happy, so I'm glad he's better. I also have several broody hens sitting on eggs and today found a baby chick in a nest that three of the crazy broads were sitting in :/ I'm pretty sure my chicken total will double over the next few weeks. Don't get Cochin's unless you want babies. Lots and lots of babies they love to sit on eggs. Even the half breeds!

The baby chick is the happy part of my day. The sad part is one of my free range baby bunnies has apparently hurt it's back and is now dragging it's back legs. This makes me cry (again) just to type it :'( I held the little cutie and bawled my eyes out tonight. I can tell it's not going to live much longer. I'm not sure what happened to it but it's very sad :( Mrs. Ellie it's mamma is the best mamma bunny ever and she is so loving to the little thing.

On the garden front, I'm throwing in the towel on the squash. The bugs win yet again this year! I have spent hours hand picking the nasty little turds off the plants and they are still destroying it. I think aphids have gotten out of control on my cantaloupe plants. The lady bugs are all over it but the underside of the leaves are full of bugs. I really don't like using chemicals on my garden so this is going to take some research and lots of work to save them :/

This weekend my kids are headed to the panhandle to visit my sister, swim, and ride horses. They leave in the morning so I need to get them packed up. It will be a nice break but I will worry and miss them while they are gone. I need to finish up their laundry and guess what! I haven't done a ding dong dish today. Yeah, I hate dishes that bad, lol!!!!!!

I hate my job!

I have nothing exciting to post besides my job sucks! I LOVE being able to stay home and garden, play with animals, sew, crochet, all that fun stuff BUT the house cleaning, laundry and dishes are for the birds! I literally spent FIVE hours cleaning my kitchen today! You would think in five hours the oven would be cleaned, the floors mopped, cabinets cleaned out, and all the crusty gunk from behind the appliances gone. Nope it took five hours just to get caught up on all the stuff I haven't done lately. I'm lucky to have the hubs. He's adjusted to our new way of life, which is pretty much a dirty house and he hasn't fired me, yet ;)

Well that's my boring post for the day. How many days are left? I will try to liven it up before I take my July hiatus from blogging so I can get my whole house clean :))))

Silence of the Yard

This is the first time in years that I didn't wake up to a roosters crow................I'm not sure how I feel about this :/

The chicken pen is calm (too calm). The hens will have time to regrow their missing feathers and won't look like a flock of mangy mutts. I have two hens that have dirty behinds probably from being oversexed :/ they are getting baths today. Those roosters would really piss me off with their aggressive lovin' so my anger issues are gone while visiting the chickens but the silence, good grief it's quiet. This will take some getting used to. It doesn't feel like a farm without rooster noises. Hopefully the baby roosters find their voice soon and end this silence of the yard...........

Chiggers, mosquitos, and flies oh my!!!!!

I rebated my swarm traps yesterday and got chiggers around my ankles. My whole body is ate up with mosquito bites and the flies. Good grief the flies! Why didn't I put these sticky strips up weeks ago!!!!!

One day after hanging this up :/

Worked in the garden tonight and watched one of my free range baby bunnies eat tons of green bean buds, ugghhhh, not cute!

We butchered three roosters this weekend and tonight our neighbors buddy (funny fellow) came and got the other five. So in the morning my girls/hens will have a much needed break! I'm super happy about this! Some of my hens are missing tons of feathers on their backs and it looks like it hurts. I hope they heal up before the baby roo's grow up to be little buttheads.

I haven't been able to see blogs on my computer. It took a major dump last night and kinda crashed, so my lack of commenting isn't intentional. I just can't see your posts. Sorry :(

My beehive

Got my beehive painted today. I still need a bottom board and a top for it so I'm planning on visiting my beekeeping buddy this week :)

Rabbit hides part deux

Yesterday I finally got the hides washed. Hung them on a clothesline outside since they still kinda smelled funny. Today I started working them. I am covered in fur, some of them have bald spots but I'm so in love with these furs, bald spots and all, they are beautiful. I'm also very proud of myself for getting through the whole process without barfing :)



Hanging on the line. Two of my compost bins in the background. Yes I have more than two. There is a lot of oopy around here lol! Notice the rabbits feet. Hubby wanted to save them. I'm sure I will end up making them into keychains or something gross, lol! Fun fact only the left hind foot is lucky :)

three done three to go see the bald spots in the black one :/

soft and purty :)

Bullfrog

My neighbor has a giant bullfrog in his pond. It sounds like a bull. I guess that's how they got their name :)))))
Have a great weekend ya'll!

Stupid goat

My baby goat Darcy used to snuggle in my lap when I would milk her mamma. Now the little $!#%head likes to play ram the lady with the milk bucket. I no more walk in and the head butting starts. I usually try to wrestle her down with my leg but now I just milk with one hand and put a choke hold on her with the other. Yesterday she got the best of me and rammed my knee cap. It hurt all day. I'm thinking she's going to be tied up while I'm milking Mrs. Lady. She won't like it, but I'm sick of my legs being black and blue. Glad the little turd doesn't have horns :/

Not sure about morning glories.......

but I am sure that the Wonderberry is a pain in the butt! LAST YEAR I had four plants in the big garden. The baby chickens that were able to get through the chicken wire enjoyed their fair share of the berries. They were very tedious to pick, the berries were also so small and chock full of seeds they weren't that good. Yesterday I pulled weeds from my herb garden (which is a few feet from the big garden) and noticed a Wonderberry plant amongst the lemon balm. It had blooms and berries all over it. Then in my big garden I realize they are EVERYWHERE. I guess I've been so obsessed with killing squash bugs I haven't really looked around. I have several quarts of berries frozen from last years harvest. My plan was to make wine with them. The nutty flavor of the berry would probably make a fine red wine. I need to get it made so maybe next Summer I will be glad they are popping up everywhere :)

The Wonderberry plant nestled amongst my green beans. Something is eating the leaves on all the plants in the garden but it's still producing like crazy :/

Garden fence

Our neighbors son is mentally off and is a bit of a pervert so last year we put up privacy fence to block our swimming pool from his creepy eyes. This year we made a garden fence. The hubs found a curved tree to border it and I'm in love with this new garden. I planted cucumbers on both ends, sugar snap peas for the little one, she loves to eat the peas straight off the plant. Birdhouse gourds which I guess squash bugs really like, GREAT :/ Morning glories and moon flowers in the center. After all that work to build a permanent garden fence we bought a used above ground pool for next year that won't even fit there, lol!!! So I'm thinking about making a new half circle garden where the pool usually goes so the garden will be growing again next year :))))

For Sunnybrook an up close picture of my morning glories :)

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads, step dads, grandpa's and great grandpa's out there :))))

My eight year old found this project on Pinterest. My 13 year old cut the ties out. My eight year old organized the ties how she wanted them to go and printed out the letters. My 17 and 13 year olds cut the letters out. Then my eight year old glued them on the ties. On her way to grandma's she told me to finish it up for her. So mamma hole punched and ran yarn through the ties and hung them on the mantle. What a project lol!!!!!

Have a great day fella's!

Sexy time

It seems roosters aren't the only one's that get extra loving at dusk. Since I didn't have the kids last night and I was in no hurry to cook dinner, I went to the garden to battle the squash bugs. Killed 10 real quick. The funny thing was they were paired up/mating. So if you have a squash bug problem, forget supper (or have it real early or real late) and get out there about 7 and getcha two squash bugs in one whack ;))))

My day.......

was pretty uneventful. Tried helping my teenage daughter sew up a skirt (for about 3 hours) on her horrible sewing machine that we got her for Christmas. I hate Wal-Mart, China, and all the junk that is sold these days!!! Finally busted out my sewing machine and she went to work. By that time I was done :/ Went outside to pull weeds in my raised beds. Battled a scorpion (and won) and saw this little cutie in my asparagus bed

held it for about 30 minutes until the hubs came home. We found what looks to be it's nest in the raised bed, so I put it back to wait for mamma to come feed it.

My MIL called to see if my little one wanted to stay the night and of course she did. The two older girls were headed to their dads this afternoon so this mamma has a much need night off, whoo hoo! Now I'm off to do my chores, have a great night ya'll!

Squash bugs and roosters!

I love your comments on my posts. I really enjoy reading them throughout the day. I just haven't had time to reply. This blog a day is time consuming but fun. Every day I try to visit other blogs and leave comments too. Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings :))))

I had been asked how many chickens I have. My kids say 100! I haven't really done a head count since the last time we lost some, so I tried to count them during a chicken scratch frenzy......... I think I'm close to 50???? I also thought I had my two older roosters and just four new cockerels, for a total of six roosters. Wrong!!! While doing my count the four cockerels turned into five and then last night during horny hour (that is the time right before bed when the roosters go on a humping spree) I realize one chicken that I thought was a hen is actually a roo! What!!!! So now I have eight roosters :///
When people that live in town buy or I give them chicks, I tell them whatever roosters they have in the bunch just put them for free on Craigslist. It's an easy way to get rid of them. I have always said it will be a cold day in hell before I give away my grown roosters/food. Well hell hasn't frozen over, but my time is limited, my freezers are full, and these roosters are driving me nuts! At least four of these guys will be put up for free, gasp, and hopefully some sort of peace will return to the chicken yard!

The squash bug battle has started. I lost my first plant a couple weeks ago. The rain seemed to keep the bastards at bay for awhile but now that the sun is back so are they. I don't know when I started squishing eggs and picking up bugs with no gloves on (probably when I started pulling fat off rabbit hides) but I'm no longer squeamish of the bugs and I'm on a mission to kill :))))

Shoooweeee

About a week ago we butchered five rabbits. I like to save the hides. I have this vision of making myself a rabbit fur purse/bag for Winter. I cooled the hides in cold water as soon as they came of the critter. I might have left them in just cool water over night since it was late when we finally got the bunnies butchered and put in the fridge. The next day I mixed up my tanning solution in clean room temperature water. Rinsed off the hides and put them in my redneck washing machine. A bucket with a hole in the lid where I put a dollar store plunger in and agitate the hides :))))) The bucket was in the kitchen because it was soo hot outside and the solution needs to be around 70* and agitated twice a day. I usually leave them in 24 hours then flesh the fat off. I think it was a day or two later when I found time to flesh them. I had already smelled what was brewing in the bucket when I would agitate them, gag! So Friday night after cleaning maggots out of the barn, scraping pee out of rabbit hutches, and cleaning up a nest box where a broody had stepped on an egg and the unborn chick was squished and stinkin' up to high heaven. I opened the bucket..........Nasty! I somehow managed not to barf and got two hides fleshed. I went in showered and that night in bed questioned what in the world I was doing. Saturday was my anniversary, since I had done a thorough job of cleaning the day before I just did minimal chores and avoided all things gross. Sunday I decided to finish my job. The hubs was in his shop piddling around cleaning up this and that. I brought out some paper towels laid them on his desk and opened the bucket. GAG!!!!! I discussed just throwing them out, the smell was too much, but like a true weirdo I carried on. The hubs came by one time and said he was going to go take a crap on my table, put a dead rat on it, and smear it around because that's what it smelled like I did to his desk, lol! One time he walked back in the shop and said "Hey why don't you go outside for about three minutes, come back in and realize you want to slap your spouse". Yep the smell was that bad. He eventually got a fan going behind me and blew some of the stench out the door. It didn't take too long to get the last three done, they had been in the solution so long the fat was coming off almost in one piece. I rinsed the bucket out refilled the solution for the next round and then went to rinse the stinky pelts. The fur was slipping :/  My neighbor laughed and said "you might just end up with chamois". These guys are comedians. I have a couple more days of them sitting in the solution before I shampoo them and hang them to dry. Fingers crossed I didn't ruin them. Once I get this fabulous bunny bag made I will just throw the future bun skins in the freezer and pull them out when I know I have time to work them. Like in the Winter :)

Suck muck :p

I love the rain. We need it. It's filling up the pond and watering the garden but..........

 

This is the corner of one of my chicken coops. Walking around the pen is dangerous. I might slip and fall into the poop soup that has been created. It stinks up the whole back yard too. I feel sorry for the chickens, they have decided to be ducks lately and brave the wet weather.

This disgusting slop is under the rabbit hutches. It has a totally different nasty smell and has become a breeding ground for a million gnats. I've been worried the buns will suffocate from the gnats. I've sprayed once and worried the spray would hurt the buns. I squish as many as I can twice a day. I'm ready for this to dry out again. I put lime down once but it rained the next day so it was gone.

The goat barn isn't as wet but everything is moist. The humidity has kept the hay and the free choice minerals damp. The rain made it impossible to clean for awhile and when it finally dried out enough that I could bring the wheel barrow over, the flies were insane!!! Thousands of them. When I peeled back the layer of moist straw which the goats had peed and pooed all over because it's been raining. I found maggots. Tons of them. It made me sick! I'm trying to keep the barn just dirt floor so it doesn't become a breeding ground for flies AGAIN but my goats love to pull their hay and fling it on the ground :/ My baby goat had scours Friday and I'm sure it was from the flies. I felt so bad but how the heck are you supposed to get anything done in this suck muck!!!!!

Friday's maggots, gnats, suck muck, and rabbit fleshing (that's a whole different post) had me questioning what the hell am I doing. This is nasty and not a normal life for a woman. Is it even worth it?

Then the baby goat, whose scours only lasted a day cuddles me. I get to look at my free range bunnies running around the yard and see mamma hens with their babies. Yep, it's worth it :))))

Lunch with a fellow blogger :))))))

Today, Carolyn from http://krazoacres.blogspot.com/ came to a town near where I live. So we met at a greasy spoon for some lunch. She took a picture. I don't think she's home yet but she will post it. I hate having my picture taken. I'm not real photogenic and according to my little one. I smiled too big and my eyes were squinty, whatever. It was great talking to her face to face :)
After lunch me and the little one went to the matinee to see The Fault in our Stars. Don't go! Saddest movie I've ever seen! That kind of show is best watched in the comfort of your own home. I have a headache from holding in a blubbery cry. Everyone left with mascara smears and boogers. Once again! Don't go!
I just got home so I need to check on the critters, make a run to the store, and then back home to shovel crap in this suck muck the rain has created!
Have a great day ya'll!!!!

Anniversary

Today is my Anniversary. The hubs and I got married on our dating Anniversary so we have now been together 12 years and married for 8. His coworker is getting married this evening. My plan is to hopefully get my chores done early. Get dressed like a lady for once and go celebrate all this love ♥

Blown Eggs :)))

My dad brought me this tool the other day. It's like a Dremel but an off brand. I love it.

So me and the little one tried our hand at blowing eggs. I used The Chicken Chicks directions. They turned out pretty good and my little one bragged about it to her sisters all night lol!!!!

I have a wire hen basket that my MIL gave me. It had someone else's blown eggs in it. I think I will fill it up with my own :)))

Busy day......

I love the days when you go and go and go and then realize it's late and you need to go to bed. That's how yesterday was for me.

I finally painted a light fixture that has been sitting in the floor for A YEAR!!! Before bed the hubs hooked it up and it looks awesome! I paid $5 for it at a yard sale and $3 for some turquoise sample paint. So for $8 I have a one of a kind, vintage looking light ♥♥♥ it!

After painting, I sat down with my two dogs and cut their hair with scissors. It took me three hours to get them both done but it saves me $70 in groomer bills each time I do it myself :)

When the hubs got home from work we decide to butcher the rabbits that are way over due for butchering. With a couple breaks and both of us involved we got five rabbits in the fridge in two hours :)))) Seven more to go. I'm not breeding them again until the weather cools off. It's going to be a booger keeping my four big bunnies cool as it is.

I had thawed out rabbit for dinner. I didn't feel like eating with the smell of innards on my hands but the hubs ate. It smelled soo good and he said it was delicious and tasted better than chicken. I'm going to have a bbq bunny sandwich for lunch :)))))

Turtle

The other day, on my way to the chicken pen, I accidentally stepped on this little snapper. Little one thought it was dead and buried it. Later that afternoon she told me something dug it up and ate it. I said "maybe it wasn't dead when you buried it and it dug itself out" Next day near the porch was the poor little snapper who had been buried alive, lol!

What I did yesterday

The hubs had plans to weed wack when he got off work, which is favorite thing to do, ha! So I decided to protect my newest grape vines and raspberry plants. I pulled grass up by the handfuls and made 12 trips to the front of my house to gather pavers to go around the grape vines. The weather was humid and hot. I was sweating like crazy in places that normally don't sweat and my glasses were sliding off my face. I battled rolie polies, a scorpion, and a tarantula but the grape vines were protected :) I went inside (dang the ac felt good) put my contacts in and grabbed a bandana to tie around my forehead. Although I got the sweating under control I was beat lazy and decided to protect this plant with less heavy bricks. We found these bricks in the rubble after our fence row was plowed down. Our new 2 acres was used as a dump back in the 50's so there is a lot of concrete, rebar, bricks, and just a bunch of crap in there. It's pretty bad but we are going to try and cover most of it with dirt. Anyways these bricks are cool. The red ones were used to make roads back in the day and the yellow ones are dated in the 1920's.

Little helper :)

 

 

Blog-A-Day

Thanks Carolyn for not letting me be a lazy blogger this Summer.

Right before Memorial Day weekend our neighbor and my husband made a deal. He is an excellent heavy machine worker and has friends with really big machines. The hubs is a hard working HVAC journeyman. We needed a fence row cleared. Remember when the hubs started clearing it in January and immediately cut his leg with a chainsaw. Well I've been belly aching about the goats needing pasture to save on the feed bill. With Summer here you can't get very far into the woods without being covered in ticks and the snakes, good grief, the snakes. The neighbor needed all new duct work under his house. The friend with the excavator wanted the neighbors dump truck bed. So Memorial day weekend the tradin' started. In about four hours the neighbor had the fence row cut and then we said what about a pond. So two days later we had a pond and it rained buckets that weekend :) I guess it rained pretty good last night and the pond is filling up some more :))))) The deep end of the pond is 15 feet to the top of the dam. The hubs put a big tree in the bottom for the fish that we will eventually stock it with. The hubs worked 16 hours straight Saturday and got his part of the bargain done. Not without achy shoulders, knees, and elbows but it's done and we couldn't be happier with our pond :))))

The two logs are going to be a bridge across what will eventually be a waterfall. They will probably end up moved since the water will/should get as high as where they are at.

Pretty butterfly.....

About a month ago, I told my little one that the grasshoppers were eating my cauliflower and broccoli plants. Around the same time I saw a pretty white butterfly hanging around the raised beds. Me a lover of the butterfly was happy to see it. It took about three weeks to realize that there was no flowers for that "butterfly" and it really liked the cauliflower. Oh crap I think it's a cabbage moth!!!! I looked in my garden book and guess what, it was.

I went outside and picked off tons of larvae, worms, and squished eggs. This is what I got the second time I checked the plants. I need a butterfly net to catch this girl. This is the second time I've tried to grow cauliflower but the first time to have moths. So beware sometimes the pretty butterfly is a plant eater!

Been busy!!!!

I've been pretty busy lately. Softball is over (thank goodness) and now it's the last weeks of school which is always crazy!!!! A lot has been going on around here but one project I wanted to share today is my home made bee suit! I'm super excited to get started on this. I got an XL mans button down shirt at Goodwill for five bucks. My plan is to cut out the button parts, hem it and put a really long zipper there instead. The collar that folds down will stick up with a Velcro fastner to keep it closed up around my neck and I will cut the cuffs off the sleeves, hem them and put a Velcro closure on them to keep the bees out :) The pants also bought at Goodwill for five bucks are scrubs with lots of pockets. They are size Large so they are loose on me. The ankles have elastic it's a little loose since I have toothpick legs but I think with my boots on a bee would be hard pressed to make it's way in there. I'm not going to do anything to the pants except sew them to the shirt. So for ten bucks, a zipper, and some Velcro I'm going to have a homemade bee suit :)))))))) No luck on capturing a swarm yet. I might have to beg a bee keeper for some if I want them this year :)

♥ Baby girl ♥

She's always moving when I try to take a pic or mamma is photo bombing so this is what I got so far :) She's so cute!!!!!
Carolyn said I worry too much and I do. I sat outside with Lady ALL DAY and night. I talked to Lady and petted her head and back through contractions. The moment I was about to give up and go in to sleep her water broke and by the time I looked back there the baby was half way out. I caught it and helped mamma clean it up and waited for the other baby. There wasn't another baby which is shocking!!! My girl was HUGE this time. I also thought it was a boy. She had poo all over her butt and I could hardly see but I thought it's a boy and I was just happy it was here and all was well. Once Lady got her rear cleaned up and I took another look I realized it's a girl and started bawling. The hubs laughed and said I'm a very emotional woman, lol! I'm just glad I won't have to sell this baby and my herd has finally grown :)
I'm physically and emotionally exhausted but extremely happy and in love with this nugget ♥
Have a great day ya'll!

It's a girl!!!!!

I'm going to bed! I will post pictures tomorrow :)))))))

It's started!!!!!

Miss Lady bagged up yesterday and this morning had a little discharge. If it's anything like last year, we should have kids some time tonight :)))))))))

Fodder results

I know this post is late.......I've been busy. Anyway the results of the fodder were pretty good. After about 8 days. I fed it to the animals. The chickens loved it the most. The goats not at all and the bunnies kinda liked it. I've decided since it's finally Spring and mowing/weeding season that I will only grow fodder in the Winter. I will give the chickens grass from mowing and weeds from the garden. It will be a lot easier and less time consuming since we have to do those chores anyway and we all know how busy this season is. So less time on one thing means more time for gardening :)

We butchered four of our roosters. My hens are still bald and missing feathers on their backs. I have four roosters left. I'm contemplating getting rid of all of them since I have several young cockerel babies. I might keep one rooster, I would miss the crowing :)

We finally butchered our first rabbits. They were 13 weeks old. I don't think I will wait that long again. The feed bill was getting up there. It was very emotional for me. I'm pretty sure the hubs didn't know what to do or say when I'm asking him to dispatch a bun and bawling the whole time. The second one was a little less emotional. I'm hoping with time that it will get easier. I'm learning to tan the hides. The first one was an utter disaster and now looks like holey road kill. I found a better way to do the second one. I'm hoping it's a success. I want to make a purse, it's weird I know but I love making purses that no one else could ever have :)

My goat Mrs. Lady is due in one week. Starting Friday I will be doing middle of the night checks just in case she goes a little early. This year having a due date was such a relief. My anxiety last year was unreal plus I didn't know what to expect when your goat is expecting so every little burp, fart, or stretch was labor, lol!

I've been harvesting asparagus like crazy. Love that stuff but hate the way it makes my pee smell. My strawberry patch has beautiful blossoms all in it. Now that (fingers crossed) our last freeze has passed I'm going to get to work on the big garden :)

I've been gathering dandelions to make some wine. I've wanted to make this wine for a couple of years and I'm finally going to do it :) I still have wonderberries frozen from last years harvest to make a red wine. The berries were nutty so I bet with a little age that will be tasty.

I went to a bee club dinner last week (I keep crashing these events, lol) and they said I should get my traps up ASAP so I did. So far the wasps like them :/ My lemon balm is the only herb to survive the Winter and is back in full force so I'm going to put a couple leaves inside of the traps today. While gathering dandelions I was surrounded by bees. I tried to tell them to check my traps out but they didn't listen, lol. Monday I missed the bee club meeting. I really need to go next month. It seems the more I show up to these events the more willing the people are to give me some bee's :)

The little one is doing great playing softball. I had no idea how much time a sport takes up. It makes life a little crazy!

Have a great week ya'll!

Fodder Day 7

It's getting tall on the end that has the drain holes. Now I drain it pretty good and then sit it flat so that the back end can catch up :) Feels funny like astro turf. It's still awesome. Even the kids are noticing the growth every day. My third tray I soaked too long in water and it's not sprouting very quickly. I can't wait to feed this to the bunnies and chickens. They will demolish it in minutes :)

Very busy! We have a softball game this evening so I'm trying to get all my stuff done and dinner made before the game.

Lady (my goat) is due in 23 days. I can't wait!!!

Enjoy the day ya'll!

Fodder Day 5

Wow! I'm super impressed with todays growth! Unfortunately it's only this wonderful on half the tray :/ The half that has the drain holes and WAS growing mold. I am keeping the trays flat today and hoping the other half will catch up, but isn't this cool :)

My little one had her first softball game last night. The weather was horrible I hid behind an umbrella trying to block the wind, it didn't help much but they won! This was the start of the season tournament play so once I got home and looked at the brackets I realized holy shiz they will be playing all day Saturday :/ Kudos, thanks, and much gratitude to my husband ♥ I am NOT a sports mom. I am a homesteader with a gazillion things to do. One of them is clean out the shed I told you guys about so I can empty my shed and make it into super coop. So today the hubs took the little one to all three of her games while I finished cleaning out the shed. The shed is ready to be moved, my Suburban is packed to the gills with keep sakes and other b.s., and my little ones team got 2nd in the tournament. I hate that I missed the games. My little one is the BEST player on her team and I'm not saying this because she's mine. The winning team even told her how great she was. I guess you can pick the team you want to play on which I think it would be crappy not to play with the girls you go to school with but the hubs thinks the winning team will try to get my child by next year. They are 8, lol!

After the shed was clean I came home and felt like I was gonna lose it. We have been so busy these last few days I haven't went to the store, cooked dinner, taken care of my critters the way I like, or cleaned house. I've actually ate McDonalds the last two days and normally I don't eat that crap twice a year. Anyways, even though I'm losing it tonight I'm going to get it together by tomorrow and get to the ding dang store and make cooking for my family a priority. We have games every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for the next several weeks. I regret signing her up but she loves it. I just need to get it together, provide meals for my family and make it to the games. Okay rant over! Have a great weekend ya'll

Fodder Day 4

I forgot to take a pic yesterday, but here's today's growth. I'm also growing mold :/ After some research I realized my house is too hot so today I'm going to put a little fan on the pans and turn the heater down to 69* Hopefully the mold will stop. I only have three pans going since I haven't went to the Dollar Tree again. I also need a new rack it's still not very organized.

Fodder Day 2

No picture it looks pretty much the same with a teeny tiny little sprout coming off the end. Started second tray and I still need more trays.

Getting my bee suit today and I might actually take a picture of myself looking like an astronaut stay tuned :)

Okay Sweetland farm I added a picture just for you :) You can barely see the teeniest tiniest little white sprouts coming out of the end. I'm glad you asked for this picture upon further inspection of this tray I noticed my drainage holes kind of suck and I had water standing in one end which was causing mold to already grow :/ I will make sure it gets drained good after each watering from now on and once this tray is harvested I will add more drain holes :)

Fodder Day 1

I finally got some barley seed, soaked it over night, drained it this morning and put it in a dollar store tray that I had drilled 1/8" holes in one side of. Put another tray under this one to catch the water run off and propped the end with no drain holes up with a flip flop :) My plan is to have eight trays going over the next eight days. I need five more trays from the dollar store and a couple of buckets for easier soaking and draining. Also need something to prop up the one side besides a flip flop. To have gotten this far is exciting. I will keep you posted. Hopefully I get it a little more organized by the end of the week :)

The Buzz

I've wanted to keep bee's for going on five years now. I always have an excuse/reason why I can't do it. This last week destiny had other plans. In one day the ball was rolling for this new adventure :) My woodworking neighbor is excited (almost too excited) about building me two hives. The same day I talked to him about doing that I found a free tour of a bee farm not far from my house. The guy that has this farm was Oklahoma's best beekeeper last year. Went on the tour yesterday he was a super cool dude and I learned a lot. I dreamt about bee's all night. Today the hubs is going to make me two swarm traps. This evening I will discuss in further detail the hive plans with the neighbor. At some point this week I'm going to get a suit, smoker, and some more frames. My hope is to be a beekeeper soon, I'm so excited :)

I still have a gazillion things to do on the homestead. Five roosters still need to make it into the freezer. I did get the barn mucked and aired out and ready for kidding (1 month left). I have my first two meat rabbits that need to be processed. I need to finish cleaning out a shed so I can move the crap out of my shed into the new shed and turn my old shed into a giant coop. I have 25 baby chicks and 15 more in the incubator add that to the thirty something bigs and that's a lot of chickens!!!! This week I must get some barley to start my fodder system. The chickens have been penned up for two weeks with no green stuff to eat so their egg yolks will start getting pale and that makes me sad. I've been gardening a little but need to do more. Can I get a clone of myself please. One that isn't sick with allergies :/

Happy Sunday ya'll! I will post pics of my swarm traps soon :)

Why I stay home.......

So I run into Wal-Mart neighborhood market to grab some paper towels, vitamin E for the goat, and the oh so important coffee creamer. The cashier is telling the customer ahead of me how her daughter works at Whole Foods (Whole Foods is a very expensive health food store) Anyway she is telling the customer how her daughter got into an argument at WF with a customer who was wanting grass fed chicken. My cashier was like "how stupid chickens don't eat grass". So even though I'm ease dropping and not in the conversation I say "trust me they do" I get a look like who asked you and you don't know what your talking about. Then she tells the customer ahead of me. She should have asked for cage free chicken it's cows that are grass fed! Here I say again "chickens do eat grass". I don't think she cared to know the truth since she ignored me and then the customer ahead of me that mamma smarty pants was talking to looked at me and said "As much as they charge for the chicken, I hope they do eat grass" lol! What I got from that conversation is there is a young woman working at Whole Foods that is willing to argue with customers about something she has no clue about, I think she got her manners and brains from her mamma,  I'm glad I don't shop there and I should probably keep my mouth shut while ease dropping :)

The reason..........

why I froze my butt off this Winter while covering these plants. They actually made it! Standing in the snow covering them up I felt like a crazy lady but tonight I will eat the fruits of my labor :)
Enjoy the weekend ya'll!!!