Definitely “spring” around here. We have two bluebird nests going (eggs in them) and a cardinal has a nest in one of our forsythia bushes. My dad noticed some little wrens building a nest in an old watering can that is turned on its side - wrens will build nests anywhere.
My dad is building two bluebird houses for his great-granddaughters (ages 2.5 & 5). They brought up a note (their mom wrote it, they decorated it) asking for him to please build them bb houses. He’s been working hard to get them done before they leave tomorrow. He’s got issues with his hands (numbness/pain) & advanced heart failure so the process is wearing him out, but he’s got one finished & one about 80%. I think he’ll make tomorrow’s “deadline” when they leave to go home.
The redbuds are in full bloom and a couple of them are “going green” as the leaves come out. Tulips are now blooming, the old apple trees are in bloom (very old - hollow limbs - we wonder every year if they’ll ‘come back’). Major mowing on Thursday since we had rain showers yesterday & they’re in the forecast for the entire weekend.
I did get myself a compost tumbler - taking partially decomposed leaves out of my “cold” compost bin & processing in the “hot” tumbler to break them down to more of a soil consistency. I’m curious to see how this process works out. I’m going to plant tithonia this weekend & hope it’s not too early - there is at least one hummingbird that has migrated back to our area, spotted on the feeder next door ... “my” hummers should be here within the week. They love tithonia so the sooner I can get them coming up, the better.
Thanks for the ping. Was out early this AM dirt is still to wet. And it wasn’t long before it started raining again. I have plants ready for transplanting, but can’t do it because of the weather.
I had planned to go ahead and transplant them into larger pots in the green house, but all the panels on the roof have somehow slipped down and it rained so hard there was water and inch deep on the floor and also huge deluge from the window, which got blown off and damaged immediately after we got it set up.
Hubby is still “thinking” about how it could be fixed. He needed a couple of more boards to complete the stairway for the shed/root cellar. Prices have tripled, since the original order.
I called that one correctly, when I advised hubby to go ahead and get the order in before he had the trees cut and land cleared. No way we could have afforded to build it at today’s prices.
And a good Good Morning to you!
Please add me to your ping list Diana!
I live in southern Indiana, Zone 6A
Rainy all week, so doing indoor stuff. I got ingredients for my seed-starting mix this week. I couldn’t find the exact mycorrhizal innoculant I wanted, but I found something sort of close.
2 orders came in this week. 5 bags of seed potatoes from Jungs, and 2 packets of the elusive Goldini Zucchini seeds! I’ll be growing those instead of my pumpkin breeding project this year. Hopefully they’ll do well enough to get a seed company interested.
This week the local farm-supply store had canning lids! This marks the second time I’ve seen them in a store in the last 13 months. There was a limit per-customer, but I got as many as I could.
One thing I keep having trouble with in my garden is planting labels. It doesn’t matter what I use to write on them with, by the end of the season they’ve faded so much they’re blank. It doesn’t even matter if the label is wood or plastic. So this year, I’m putting some extra work in and using a wood burner to write with. The annuals are getting popsicle-stick labels, while the perennials are getting labels made from sturdier wood soaked in wood hardener. Writing freehand isn’t working out so well, so I’ve ordered a set of hot-stamp tips for the wood burner in the shape of letters, and a silicone mitt to change them out with. Eventually, I will find a way to label things and have them stay labelled!
Well the meat goat situation isn’t going great. I’m working on getting more pasture growing and have plenty during the summer and fall and feed free choice hay when forage is getting slim.
The buck I got is a mischievous one and was the first one to walk through a 4,000 volt fence last year. The fence is up to 9,000 volts right now and he still walks through it but also has the doe he got pregnant and their buckling following. They however duck under the bottom wire as I finally witnessed yesterday. That one has a limiter on it to prevent weeds hitting it from dragging the voltage down the every other hot wire.
They’ve been staying pretty close, in our yard or along the outside of the fence and once in a while across the road at a property with no humans or livestock on it and our property hasn’t got a lot growing on it because my grass areas evidently have no cool/spring grasses. I’m placing square bales of hay around this year to help rectify that. So I haven’t worried about it too much and I do need to tighten of the fence just a little and I’ll be doing that and giving that bottom wire full voltage here in the next few days.
Because at dusk tonight, I saw the mischievous buck, his kid and mama doe heading over to the property to the North of me, through the woods, to get to his deer plot. So if tightening the fence up doesn’t do the trick, I’m getting rid of three goats, two of which I spent a total of $600 on. If I can’t get $600 for the buck and doe, I’ll sell the buckling, else he’s going in the freezer. Either way, I’ll get my 600 back and keep the serious, non escaping doe who is large and beautiful and will find a serious buck for her. I might just sell the buckling too because he is a fine specimen and if someone has the right fence or abundant land, he’d be good. He’s chunky but as pretty as any doeling I’ve ever seen so taking him for meat — dunno. Someone might pay good money for him.
All of them are very healthy looking and not underfed at all. The original two does are used to vast, lush pasture and the buck is just spoiled by one spoiled girl/woman. Husband must have made good money because she had several mini Scottish Highland cattle($15k ea) and sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, geese and who knows what else, all very nice looking animals but it was just her hobby. Probably $100k worth of animals and I’m sure she gave them the best of the best care. Of course she was petite, very pretty, permanent tan skin color with green eyes so .. you know how that goes.
The funny thing is, with two does, I got one kid. Twins are normal for goats and it wasn’t too surprising that the smaller doe only had one kid her fist time around. What was surprising is the larger doe not having a kid. She pays absolutely no attention to the buck though and I’ve never seen him interested in her. I’m thinking/hoping that she let it be known early on that he wasn’t gettin’ any from her(because he’s goofy).
I’m not into livestock that are high maintenance personality-wise or yummy snack wise. Gotta do something quick though because the bigger doe will get depressed eventually by being alone. Goats don’t do well alone mentally. Cows, pigs and chickens are ok with it but goats are the least domesticated of them genetically and are herd animals.
One year into meat goats and I’m most likely going to reduce my herd from the initial 3, now 4, down to one and asap two. I’ll be shopping for an older, calm Boer male. The does I got are Kiko, low maintenance and the buck was a Boer. Boers put weight on the kids but are higher maintenance as far as worms and hoof issues as the breed was developed in S Africa solely for their ability to gain weight/meat quickly. Not many worms in the desert soil though. I don’t mind one high maintenance goat, health-wise.
I would get a Kiko buck but the kids wouldn’t gain weight as fast and even at equal weight, would look thinner simply because the goat meat market expects the appearance of Boer looking goats and they just look chunky. Kiko actually has a better meat to bone ratio.
Similar to how black cattle fetch a higher price because — Angus. Even though they may not be Angus or that Angus come in more than one color.
I’m chocking it up to a good learning experience and hoping my one serious, good looking doe has the ability to have kids(twins or even triplets) and that getting a better buck will get me off to a good start.
First things first though. Tighten up fence, tighten up wire spacing, put full voltage to the bottom wire, after I weed wack 1500 foot of it. Might get some vegetation killer to maintain that. Not a fan but, if it’s localized and minimally used, so be it. Add some battens to hold vertical wire spacing between the posts and maybe that will fix it. If not, three are gone and one will replace.
Need to work on firewood which coincides with getting more sun on the flatter areas with good top soil.
I still have plans and steel pipe for a high tunnel and WILL have it put together this year but probably won’t be growing anything aside from a few cold weather items.
Need a few more chickens but I do have one good hen left out of three hens and one rooster, all taken by hawks. I don’t really feed her but she lays an egg pretty much everyday. She didn’t over winter but once she started, after 6 eggs, I tossed her a snack. Not going to make it a habit though. Gotta keep it random and occasional or they’ll expect it and become welfare recipients/dependents.
Bought a couple of LGD puppies, one of which is just gorgeous enough to be in a commercial or advertisement. He’s a bit of a whiner and I got him at 6 weeks so I think he should have stayed with mama a little longer but he’s coming around and any dog I’ve had from puppy stage has been a good dog. One out of several ‘other people’s dogs’ have been useless or worse.
These two puppies are replacing an adult LGD who didn’t like or trust humans any longer and never would have. He’s gone and I have scars and I’m sure I treated him better than the previous owner(s) because I never ‘whooped him with a big stick’ but noticed early on that if I walked by with a big stick(branch, pvc pipe etc) that he would put his head down and hide behind something.
So that’s my major homestead going ons.
Bought a 25-32mpg Ford Focus for $3k even though I’m a Chevy guy. Wife is driving that and I’m driving the F150, even though I’m a Chevy guy. Both good vehicles and good deals. Chevy’s aren’t good deals out here because a lot of people like Fords out here so that’s what’s more available. The truck is for when I need a truck, otherwise both of us use the car. Technically hers though. In reality, both are ours and we agree on that. She just had no vehicle when we met and she was 25 and we’ve always had one vehicle since(20 years) so now we have a vehicle she can clutter up with her stuff and one I can clutter up with my stuff yet they’re both ours.
Peace at last.