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Sunday, August 2, 2009

Summer flies by

The greenhouse is looking naked now; we are recovering her this week and replacing trusses and getting ready for winter, It seems that my "winter preparation clock" starts ticking louder when the farmers' wheat turns gold, all ready to harvest.

Huckleberries are ripe and we have been picking, the garden is producing and we are eating solely from it. Our meat is from our own pigs, sheep, chickens and turkeys and the "Ladies" are producing dozens of eggs each day. It is a beautiful place to be, close to self-sufficiency.

All I need is a cow! Well, a lactating cow. Klippie, my Dexter heifer, and Nyx, my Zebu heifer, will be bred soon. Next summer we will be producing our own milk, so also cheese, cream and butter. I also want to add our own beehive next year. I also would like to sow better pasture, and fence the front of the farm, so we don't have to move fencing for the sheep.

By the way, this years lambs are for sale. They will be ready this fall. Also my Icelandic ewes and their boyfriend are for sale and also the Shetland sheep are for sale.

We have also been busy harvesting wild herbs, and making tinctures, decoctions etc. Gary loves to use my potions, I make a sleeping potion that helps him with his insomnia.

Lulu, this years surviving filly, had an ulcer in her eye but we were able to save it, she is medicated 3 times a day and is a devil to catch. She is healing nicely, thank goodness. Jack, our sheepdog, a mutt rescued by my brother off the streets of Salt Lake City, was hit by a dumb *** who decided to speed past the front of our house while Jack was retrieving a sheep from the yard across the street. Caleb ran over to help him, and he bit Caleb. Caleb ended up in the ER getting a Tetanus shot. Anyway long story short, Jack has a spiral fracture and after surgery and a cast, he has to be tied up for 8 WEEKS. He also gets X-rayed every week to make sure that it stays in place. At two weeks, he decided to go for a swim, on a potty break! He had to be put under anesthesia again to recast it. Now Jack goes potty with a guard.

One of the Manx cats had kittens, 5 of them. The next day there were six and the following seven. The two additions were obviously not hers, Layah, our Springer Spaniel was gathering them from wherever another cat had had her kittens. This morning one of the stolen kittens is missing, I think the real mama found out where they disappeared to.

Well, back to work. Funny how Sunday is never a day of rest, animals keep eating...lol

2 comments:

Tina said...

Your farm sounds so magical :)I love hearing about it and imagining how it all comes together :)

Beth Durtschi Moore said...

Wow, again I'm impressed. I want to be nearly self-sufficient. I have 13 acres and now that the house is mostly built (we built much of it ourselves) I want to get beef cattle, chickens, a bigger garden space, my greenhouse put in, etc. I really want a cow. Been trying to talk my 3 siblings that live nearby to go in on a couple and take turns milking them. That way we'd only have to milk 1 week out of 4! They won't do it. : (