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Thursday, April 26, 2018
Saturday, April 7, 2018
SPRING IS A FICKLE BIT*H
WELL SHE IS!!
She teases us with bird song, flowers, green grass then ......BOOM! She takes it all away! Ok maybe not the green grass but seriously! 34 degrees and roaring wind in April in Texas! Jeez girl give it up!
I have 50+ 4 week old Cornish Cross chicken in 2 chicken tractors on pasture. I rais as much of my own meat as I can. But as you know they are rather fragile.
Well spring in Texas is storm season. Last night I got home from work just before dark to find a roaring North wind and one of the tarps ripped off; babies all soaking wet!
Under lightning thunder and pouring rain I replaced the tarps and added heat lamps and ran power cords out to the field. That was all I could do then. I wasn't horribly worried because it was so warm.
So warm that I turned on the a/c in the house to take out the heat and then opened the bedroom window when I went to bed.
Well.....
I woke up to my bedroom at 40 degrees and a roaring North Wind!!!
430am and I am slipping into my farm shoes and booking it out to the field to attempt to block the North wind from the little birds a little better with another tarp.
Then back to bed.
At the crack of dawn I was up again and back into my mud boots, sweats, and gloves to go out and move my egg laying flock to new pasture. They are in a Justin Rhodes style Chickshaw. I had closed them up last night and with the North Wind I didn't want them to stay locked up too long.
It takes me 1 hour to move them, their gear and the portable Premier 1 electric poultry netting to a new spot. In the cold North Wind! Bit*h!
After I let them out, and saw how happy the girls were eating grass and scratching around it kind of made it worth it.
Then over to the little birds dragging bungee cords and a larger tarp to add some more wind breaks to the chicken tractors. It may look funny but the relief was immediate. The birds started moving around and eating and drinking right away. That made me feel better.
I fed the dog pack I currently have and came back inside for some farm fresh eggs for breakfast.
I still can't feel my fingers.
You know what will happen? We will go from winter straight to 100 degree summer in 3 days. You watch.
She teases us with bird song, flowers, green grass then ......BOOM! She takes it all away! Ok maybe not the green grass but seriously! 34 degrees and roaring wind in April in Texas! Jeez girl give it up!
I have 50+ 4 week old Cornish Cross chicken in 2 chicken tractors on pasture. I rais as much of my own meat as I can. But as you know they are rather fragile.
Well spring in Texas is storm season. Last night I got home from work just before dark to find a roaring North wind and one of the tarps ripped off; babies all soaking wet!
Under lightning thunder and pouring rain I replaced the tarps and added heat lamps and ran power cords out to the field. That was all I could do then. I wasn't horribly worried because it was so warm.
So warm that I turned on the a/c in the house to take out the heat and then opened the bedroom window when I went to bed.
Well.....
I woke up to my bedroom at 40 degrees and a roaring North Wind!!!
430am and I am slipping into my farm shoes and booking it out to the field to attempt to block the North wind from the little birds a little better with another tarp.
Then back to bed.
At the crack of dawn I was up again and back into my mud boots, sweats, and gloves to go out and move my egg laying flock to new pasture. They are in a Justin Rhodes style Chickshaw. I had closed them up last night and with the North Wind I didn't want them to stay locked up too long.
It takes me 1 hour to move them, their gear and the portable Premier 1 electric poultry netting to a new spot. In the cold North Wind! Bit*h!
After I let them out, and saw how happy the girls were eating grass and scratching around it kind of made it worth it.
Then over to the little birds dragging bungee cords and a larger tarp to add some more wind breaks to the chicken tractors. It may look funny but the relief was immediate. The birds started moving around and eating and drinking right away. That made me feel better.
I fed the dog pack I currently have and came back inside for some farm fresh eggs for breakfast.
I still can't feel my fingers.
You know what will happen? We will go from winter straight to 100 degree summer in 3 days. You watch.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
FAMILY FOOD FOREST
What is my plan for my 3 acres? Actually I changed my vision to: What will my grand kids see when I am gone? What do I want to leave them?
Well I want to leave a food forest. Someplace to walk through that will provide shade, a place for reflection and memories of their time with me that will feed them.
How did I start...well I bought my farm 10 years ago without a vision. I did a lot of stuff that was hit miss and fail. I planted lots of trees and promptly killed them.
But in 2017 I got my vision! And I put it into action. I made my plan in writing. I bought 2 dry erase boards both of which are hanging in the hall. One is a to scale drawing of my farm. Each time I add something to the farm I draw it on the board.
The second is a running list of the trees and bushes I plant.
Yes I still do kill some and yes so do the bunnies. But I am getting better.
So far this year I have installed:
AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM...OR THE BEGINNING OF ONE..PS MAKE SURE THE PERSON YOU HIRE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND WARANTIES THEIR WORK
1 PINK LADY APPLE
1 HONEY CRISP APPLE
2 ALMONDS
4 HARDY KIWI (FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY...DON'T THINK THEY ARE ALIVE)
2 RED RASPBERRIES (AGAIN TRACTOR SUPPLY DON'T THINK THEY ARE EITHER)
4 MULBERRY TREES
2 ELDERBERRY BUSHES
25 SASSAFRAS TREES JUST ORDERED
I BUILT A BIG RED BARN ONE SIDE BEING CLAIMED BY THE GRAND KIDS FOR NOW...THEY ACTUALLY SLEEP IN THERE AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES
NEW ELECTRIC IS BEING RUN TO THE BARN THIS WEEK
DRAINAGE IS BEING PUT IN TO THE FRONT OF THE BARN AND A DRIVEWAY/PARKING AREA PUT IN
AT THE SAME TIME A LEVEL GRAVEL AREA WILL BE INSTALLED FOR WATER CATCHMENT TANKS
What I learned this year....is it worth the cost savings to buy tiny treelings? I am just not thinking it is. However if I have a green house it may be. So on the to buy list will be a good solid greenhouse or high tunnel.
Before the end of the year I hope to have the following planted:
2 pecan trees,
10 large blackberry bushes
10 hardy kiwi females and 2 males (have you tasted kiwi!!! wow)
2 goji berries
and the following projects completed:
3 frost free yard hydrants
pig pen built with auto feeder, hut and auto waterer
2 baby pigs purchased in the fall
5 batches of 60 meat chickens raised processed and in the freezer (first batch is now out on pasture)
This is a lot for a year for a single 57 year old woman with arthritis. I wish I had a farm hand once a week. I may need to make that a priority.
Guys some days I just don't want to get out of bed. But then I hear hungry cheeping and it gets me moving.
I love and hate planting trees. Hate digging holes but I love thinking about my grand kids and kids walking under them and picking fruit.
What motivates you with your life plans?
Well I want to leave a food forest. Someplace to walk through that will provide shade, a place for reflection and memories of their time with me that will feed them.
How did I start...well I bought my farm 10 years ago without a vision. I did a lot of stuff that was hit miss and fail. I planted lots of trees and promptly killed them.
But in 2017 I got my vision! And I put it into action. I made my plan in writing. I bought 2 dry erase boards both of which are hanging in the hall. One is a to scale drawing of my farm. Each time I add something to the farm I draw it on the board.
The second is a running list of the trees and bushes I plant.
Yes I still do kill some and yes so do the bunnies. But I am getting better.
So far this year I have installed:
AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM...OR THE BEGINNING OF ONE..PS MAKE SURE THE PERSON YOU HIRE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND WARANTIES THEIR WORK
1 PINK LADY APPLE
1 HONEY CRISP APPLE
2 ALMONDS
4 HARDY KIWI (FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY...DON'T THINK THEY ARE ALIVE)
2 RED RASPBERRIES (AGAIN TRACTOR SUPPLY DON'T THINK THEY ARE EITHER)
4 MULBERRY TREES
2 ELDERBERRY BUSHES
25 SASSAFRAS TREES JUST ORDERED
I BUILT A BIG RED BARN ONE SIDE BEING CLAIMED BY THE GRAND KIDS FOR NOW...THEY ACTUALLY SLEEP IN THERE AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES
NEW ELECTRIC IS BEING RUN TO THE BARN THIS WEEK
DRAINAGE IS BEING PUT IN TO THE FRONT OF THE BARN AND A DRIVEWAY/PARKING AREA PUT IN
AT THE SAME TIME A LEVEL GRAVEL AREA WILL BE INSTALLED FOR WATER CATCHMENT TANKS
What I learned this year....is it worth the cost savings to buy tiny treelings? I am just not thinking it is. However if I have a green house it may be. So on the to buy list will be a good solid greenhouse or high tunnel.
Before the end of the year I hope to have the following planted:
2 pecan trees,
10 large blackberry bushes
10 hardy kiwi females and 2 males (have you tasted kiwi!!! wow)
2 goji berries
and the following projects completed:
3 frost free yard hydrants
pig pen built with auto feeder, hut and auto waterer
2 baby pigs purchased in the fall
5 batches of 60 meat chickens raised processed and in the freezer (first batch is now out on pasture)
This is a lot for a year for a single 57 year old woman with arthritis. I wish I had a farm hand once a week. I may need to make that a priority.
Guys some days I just don't want to get out of bed. But then I hear hungry cheeping and it gets me moving.
I love and hate planting trees. Hate digging holes but I love thinking about my grand kids and kids walking under them and picking fruit.
What motivates you with your life plans?
Sunday, April 1, 2018
EASTER SUNDAY GOES TO THE DOGS
Easter Sunday
April 1, 2018
Most people go to church on Easter Sunday. I do farm chores. Today a little fun was added to the day with my sister, her pack o' dogs, and my mom coming to visit.
Chores on Easter Sunday? Is this wrong? No it is not. I don't, in fact, go to church at all. I have finally had enough of the politics in modern churches. I feel that people who tend to be power hungry, and who like to manipulate others, are the ones who choose to lead most American churches.
Yes there may be honest churches...they are few and far between and usually not "thriving".
So how do I feel about this day...Easter?
Well it is a day...the sun comes up and goes down just the same as any of the other 364 days in a year.
Holidays are set by the same kind of people who manipulate people with one ultimate motive...$$$$$.
Sale of candy, eggs (in a time when chickens are cranking them out), etc etc.
However. In the midst of this manipulation, some people start thinking about the creator. Same with December 25th. If you are interested in our creator, He will make himself clear to you.
The day Jesus died on the cross was horrifying. I did that to him.
The day he came back to life means everything. Nothing else matters. Nothing.
April 1, 2018
Most people go to church on Easter Sunday. I do farm chores. Today a little fun was added to the day with my sister, her pack o' dogs, and my mom coming to visit.
Chores on Easter Sunday? Is this wrong? No it is not. I don't, in fact, go to church at all. I have finally had enough of the politics in modern churches. I feel that people who tend to be power hungry, and who like to manipulate others, are the ones who choose to lead most American churches.
Yes there may be honest churches...they are few and far between and usually not "thriving".
So how do I feel about this day...Easter?
Well it is a day...the sun comes up and goes down just the same as any of the other 364 days in a year.
Holidays are set by the same kind of people who manipulate people with one ultimate motive...$$$$$.
Sale of candy, eggs (in a time when chickens are cranking them out), etc etc.
However. In the midst of this manipulation, some people start thinking about the creator. Same with December 25th. If you are interested in our creator, He will make himself clear to you.
The day Jesus died on the cross was horrifying. I did that to him.
The day he came back to life means everything. Nothing else matters. Nothing.
HAPPY EASTER
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