Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Gearing up for veggies!
My son was sick today so while he napped, I was able to get some things done outside during daylight hours. I got the vegetable/flower bed in the front filled with compost. I started prep on the other bed (weed removal). I was able to plant the goji berry bushes and the last loquat tree. I even decided to get a little crazy and start some seeds. Cherokee purple tomatoes, borage, nasturtiums, asparagus, and giant sunflowers are now beginning the germination process in a flat inside, while outside, I planted a bush-type cowpea and borage seed next to each new tree. The larger trees will become trellises for the more normal, vining type. It will be interesting to see how they do.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Long day
After work and a DMV visit, I got 9 fruit trees in the ground. I was very impressed with the root systems on these bare-root trees. Still have to plant two blueberry bushes, two passion flower vines, and a loquat tree (all potted) but that can wait for another day - I am beat!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Pictures of Goaties
Finally, a few pictures. This is chunky-monkey Daisy back in January. She's is a bit larger now. In the past she has only had singles and twins, and I believe the same will be true this time around - I'm fine with that as long as there's a doeling in there! She is not as steep in the rump as this picture would lead you to believe.
And little Sierra with one of our pecan trees. This little girl has enough energy for 3 or 4 goats. She momentarily paused, so I was able to get a picture before she started zooming around again. She is the spitting-image of her daddy who is out of the top-milk-producing doe at one of the more well-known ND farms in the area. Daisy was bred to Sierra's sire's littermate brother. I have high hopes for my girls and what they will produce for our family!
And finally, a picture of Sierra being a pest. Daisy just stood there - poor thing!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Another Great Blog
Pelenaka's Blog
This lady is hard-working and very resourceful. She seems to believe in the saying 'Bloom where you're planted.' She has a great writing style and is quite witty. I find myself checking in quite often, hoping she has posted while I was out!
This lady is hard-working and very resourceful. She seems to believe in the saying 'Bloom where you're planted.' She has a great writing style and is quite witty. I find myself checking in quite often, hoping she has posted while I was out!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Headway
We have progressed towards our goals more in the last three or four months than we have in the entire previous year. It feels great to finally be taking steps in the right direction.
Goats: Our two girls are doing great. Our older doe, Daisy, is showing her pregnancy now in both size and attitude. She's going to be a challenge to milk, I'm afraid. We've been working on touching her belly and udder while she's eating her grain at night and she gets quite acrobatic. I hope to have a milking stand built soon so we can start practicing on it. We have less than two months to go before her scheduled kidding time.
Little Sierra is growing like a weed and has become something of a pest. It can be difficult to do chores when she's nibbling (or biting!) your pants leg or using your back as a spring board. She's lucky she's cute :)
We have another doe to pick up in June after she's weaned her kids. It's going to be quite the drive to pick her up but she's worth it - her dam is an 8th generation star milker (8*D) which is quite a feat for Nigerian Dwarves. I am ecstatic to have her.
As soon as the weather breaks, I'll be fixing up our larger red barn in order to move them out there - as it is now, we have the goats in our backyard - not the best set up. My hubby has been very understanding but I can see that he doesn't appreciate their mischievous ways (when it comes to the various things they have access to in the backyard). The goal is to have them moved before Daisy kids.
Chickens: The girls we have left are doing very well. I hate to brag but our girls are obviously well-fed and healthy-looking, with bright eyes and silky feathers. Our neighbors were so enamoured with our girls that they bought a little laying flock of their own - with two roosters. The roosters have 'access' to our hens when they free-range so here's hoping we'll have some chicks later this year. As for plans - I am planning out a nesting box to attach to the outside of the coop. The girls don't like the current set-up, and they show it by not laying in the nestboxes. That will be another project for when the rains (finally!) go away.
Garden/Produce: I have gone slightly crazy with the seed and plant ordering lately. I also have tons (and tons) of plans and projects for this year's growing season. I hope to be semi-successful but I'm afraid this year is mostly going to be the beginning of a very large learning curve. It's taken me quite a while to get to this point - I generally procrastinate until there's no more time to do anything due to a huge fear of failure. This year, I just keep repeating - You can't succeed if you never try.
Other: I ordered some large, air-tight containers for food storage and ordered organic red wheat berries to fill them. I also bit the bullet and purchased a manual grain mill. I see a lot of baking and sore shoulders in my future.
And, finally, I'm planning a grey-water system, at least for the washing machine. It is such a waste to pump all of that water to the septic when we don't get rain all summer long. I haven't divulged this last plan to the hubby yet. He's not going to like it, but I'm sure he'll see the benefits after a while.
Until next time!
Goats: Our two girls are doing great. Our older doe, Daisy, is showing her pregnancy now in both size and attitude. She's going to be a challenge to milk, I'm afraid. We've been working on touching her belly and udder while she's eating her grain at night and she gets quite acrobatic. I hope to have a milking stand built soon so we can start practicing on it. We have less than two months to go before her scheduled kidding time.
Little Sierra is growing like a weed and has become something of a pest. It can be difficult to do chores when she's nibbling (or biting!) your pants leg or using your back as a spring board. She's lucky she's cute :)
We have another doe to pick up in June after she's weaned her kids. It's going to be quite the drive to pick her up but she's worth it - her dam is an 8th generation star milker (8*D) which is quite a feat for Nigerian Dwarves. I am ecstatic to have her.
As soon as the weather breaks, I'll be fixing up our larger red barn in order to move them out there - as it is now, we have the goats in our backyard - not the best set up. My hubby has been very understanding but I can see that he doesn't appreciate their mischievous ways (when it comes to the various things they have access to in the backyard). The goal is to have them moved before Daisy kids.
Chickens: The girls we have left are doing very well. I hate to brag but our girls are obviously well-fed and healthy-looking, with bright eyes and silky feathers. Our neighbors were so enamoured with our girls that they bought a little laying flock of their own - with two roosters. The roosters have 'access' to our hens when they free-range so here's hoping we'll have some chicks later this year. As for plans - I am planning out a nesting box to attach to the outside of the coop. The girls don't like the current set-up, and they show it by not laying in the nestboxes. That will be another project for when the rains (finally!) go away.
Garden/Produce: I have gone slightly crazy with the seed and plant ordering lately. I also have tons (and tons) of plans and projects for this year's growing season. I hope to be semi-successful but I'm afraid this year is mostly going to be the beginning of a very large learning curve. It's taken me quite a while to get to this point - I generally procrastinate until there's no more time to do anything due to a huge fear of failure. This year, I just keep repeating - You can't succeed if you never try.
Other: I ordered some large, air-tight containers for food storage and ordered organic red wheat berries to fill them. I also bit the bullet and purchased a manual grain mill. I see a lot of baking and sore shoulders in my future.
And, finally, I'm planning a grey-water system, at least for the washing machine. It is such a waste to pump all of that water to the septic when we don't get rain all summer long. I haven't divulged this last plan to the hubby yet. He's not going to like it, but I'm sure he'll see the benefits after a while.
Until next time!
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