2013 Spring

Lot of visits in the last few days, not complaining, just wondering!  Always enjoy visits to my pictures, thoughts and gripes.  

Busy, busy, busy around this little farm.  New kits (bunnies) born on Easter Sunday and Star is a good mother.  My rabbits seem to be a bit temperamental and sometimes behave in most unsavory ways.  Pinky's babe has developed into a beautiful little thing, but is still a bit hyper and not comfortable as yet with being handled.   

Chickens are so very happy to have the sunshine and warm weather return and the egg production has once again increased.  The brood has to be thinned but it is hard to do when they are all your babies.

My daughter's farm, Blessed Acres Farm, is growing and developing quite nicely.  She has spring onions ready to sell and they are beautiful!  Too much rain on the strawberries, but that can't be helped.  Maybe just a message that strawberries don't belong on her farm - she is allergic to them!  Greenhouse is filled with sprouted seeds and small plants almost ready to go in the ground.  The spinach patch is coming right along. 

The large field has been twice plowed and harrowed; ready for the rows to be laid and plants or seeds put in the rich ground.  In the next 90 to 120 days we will be feasting on beans, tomatoes, peas, spinach and all the good stuff and all GMO free and natural the way it was meant to be.  Chicks and ducks are thriving in their new space and should come right along in the next few weeks.  By August the chicks should be producing eggs regularly.  Buff Orpingtons are good layers if on the broody side.  She also has Arucanas which I know nothing about, but they are really cute chicks!

It is unbelievable how many people do not know they can not just travel across other people's property.  Many 4-wheeler's cutting through the woods and fields and when confronted are very aggressive as if the property owners are the offenders!  The lack of respect for other people's property and belongings astounds me, but I was raised in a different era.  A few years back we came home to find a man riding his 4- wheeler in the woods next to the house.  When ask who gave him permission, he said he didn't need permission - nobody lived there.  

The few problems encountered will not stop my joy at such a beautiful Spring!  So glad to have all the trees and shrubs budding out and blooming.  The rain has even come at good times to wash to excess away and help keep my sinus' free from irritation!

Many changes occurring in our world - both local and worldwide.  Praying that God protects us as we are forced to accept these changes and that He guides our leaders in their decisions that will so greatly affect us.

Thanks for dropping in and until next time . . .

Happy Reading!
Belle

Big Changes - New Directions

A couple of months ago, my daughter and her husband decided they would like to start a self sustaining farm.  Not a novel idea in this time or place.  After discussing the opportunities and the obstacles, this daughter of mine told me she wanted to buy part of my Dad's property to build this farm.  I didn't believe her.  My response was okay, sure.

My daughter and her sweet husband left 15 years ago for the mountains vowing to live on her mountain top home until she died.   I was more than sceptical.  After that discussion things started to move pretty fast and here two months later two loads of precious cargo have been moved and stored, the mountain top house is on the market and the clearing of the farm land has begun.  My son-in-law and granddaughter are staying with me while this daughter of mine travels home once a week to keep things in order and check on the homestead. 

I am finally coming to realize that this daughter of mine is coming home.  It has been a long long 15 years.  Hubby and I are adjusting our quiet laid back lifestyle to the hustle and bustle of having a pre-teen granddaughter and a teen age grandson around the house.  It has awakened our minds and bodies and got us going again.  Dog tired and weary at the end of the day, I am ready to go again with the coming day.  I have a lot of catching up to do with my two oldest grandchildren and I don't want to waste a minute.

My blogging is one thing that hasn't been foremost in my mind.  While I have a few minutes alone, I thought I would do a little catch up.  The garden is doing as well as can be expected with no rain for a couple of weeks and blistering hot days.  The green beans have done extremely well and the tomatoes were loaded with tomatoes one day and bare the next thanks to my roaming chickens.  The corn is tasseling so I can enjoy a few ears this summer anyway.  The bell peppers have been proficient in their production as have the cucumbers.  After planting 8 or 9 rows of peas, hubby decided to put a fence up to keep my little chicks out.  We should have a healthy crop for the rest of the season.

My little bunnies have reached the cut off stage - no more breeding until some are sold.  They are out growing their cages and running rampant.  The children still love to hold and play with them, but don't enjoy the sharp claws as the bunnies change into rabbits.

I started caning an old chair I picked up and have almost completed the seat.  I hope to finish it in the next few days.  I haven't done any sewing so those projects are still in the sewing basket.  I can save those for a rainy day. 

No new stories posted and that is something I will get worked back into my schedule soon.  Until then and until next time . . .

Happy reading!
Belle

Just a Little Catch Up!

Things have really started jumping around this little farm and I am trying to hop a long and keep up!  February was dragging along and I was dragging with it until the 24th - yes the day of the last big storm.  Star, my beautiful white and gray rabbit, decided to kindle on this day.  For those of you that do not speak rabbitese - kindle is giving birth.  Babies were dropping here there and yonder and unprepared me was running around in lightening and pouring rain trying to get her pen out of the rain and well stocked with all the needs of a new mother rabbit.  She had four kits (babies) and is a wonderful mother.  I checked on the other doe and Mr. Jedi and they were fine, so Star and I settled in for a quiet afternoon.  After the storms had passed, I fed the chickens and gathered the eggs and low and behold here comes Blondie followed by 12 little ones.  She led them straight to the barn to eat and eat they did!  I returned to check on Cleo and Jedi.  The pen was filled with babies.  Cleo must have danced in the rain and quickly deposited 9 little ones in an unprepared pen.  I lost about 5 to drowning and quickly moved Mother and kits into the second birthing pen.  She was not a good mother!  I ended up with one survivor and moved it into the pen with Star.  She immediately cleaned and fed the little one and now is the happy mother of 5.

I never realized that rabbits grew so quickly.  These little ones are a joy to watch. Star has been weaning them this week and I think she is about ready to go back to the big pen and let the little ones grow on up. 

In the two weeks in between this tumultuous Thursday, something killed 6 of Blondie biddies and my big rooster along with one laying hen.  I am hoping the hen is sitting on a nest somewhere, but I did find two patches of feathers behind the barn.  It had to big a big rascal to get my Barred Rock Rooster - he was huge!
I have managed to get in some sewing and therefore knocked back my stack a bit but not near enough.  That will have to wait though as I have two chairs to cane and those take priority. 

Have to run.  Until next time  . . .
Happy reading!
Belle

Yeah! It's Friday

I admit I must be a little touched, but I love the smell of animals.  I guess it comes from being raised on a dairy farm, but nothing smells better than a field of cows on a warm summer day.  Goats, well, they are a different story.  The smelliest of all animals - emus. 

A couple of weeks ago we went to the auction barn and on exiting the truck and overwhelming odor blasted us.  There were over 200 hundred goats at the barn that evening and I could not believe the stench.  Know I realize that the lover of goats probably think there is no better smell, as does the pig farmer, but really, there is nothing warm and cozy feeling about either.

Tonight means another trip to the auction barn and hopefully all the goat trading has taken place and we can move right on to the chickens, ducks and geese.  I love the beautiful silkies and would buy one for a pet, but every farm animal I have ever made a pet of, ended up in the frying pan.  I just don't think I could face that again.  Poor Blackie, my pet calf who grew to be an enormous cow, was really good eating once I got past the memories of her letting me lay against her belly while I read.  She became meat for the freezer when an even larger cow dumped her upside down in the feed trough.  We didn't try CPR as it took an hour or so just to haul her out of the trough via the tractor and a winch.  How would you do CPR on a cow?  Not sure, but such is life, but I don't think silkies are grown for eating.

It is suppose to be warm, warm, warm today and I might just get my feet in some dirt.  It is starting to look like an outside day already!  Have lots to do so I better get to it.  Thanks for visiting with me and drop in again soon.

Happy reading!
Belle

Update on my Chickens

I called him Rufus and Hubby called him Roscoe. He is now known as Rudy and has easily been tamed. My ole rooster with his pecking at my feet and flying at me with his deadly spurs has calmed considerably over the past week.

Something devoured two of my layers and left the emptied carcass for me to move. Matilda has never been a good layer (and not too friendly, to boot) so I needed more chickens if I wanted to continue to get eggs everyday. After making the coop and the barn a bit more secure, off to the local sale barn we went and there they were - beautiful Rhode Island Reds just waiting on me. We purchased five of these beauties and in the mix was a young rooster. We wanted all layers, but were willing to take the rooster to get the other four. Rhode Island Reds are proficient layers, but are also known for their aggressive nature.

We move the transport pens into the barn and slowly released our new friends. It being dark, Matilda and Rudy were already on the roost, so we knew there would be no interaction. The new birds went right to roost and settled in with no fuss. The next morning was a different story. Yes, Rudy had a gleam in his eye with all the new chicks about, but that young rooster really irritated him. He pranced and clawed and showed his stuff for two days finally settling down and accepting the fact he was no longer the cock of the walk. The new layers explored and ignored Rudy and Matilda and "took over" the chicken coop and barn. They definitely outnumbered Rudy and Matilda.

I haven't named the new layers or the rooster, but I am working on it. These layers are very friendly and love to eat out of your hand and enjoyed a bit of rubbing, too. One has already started laying and I am looking forward to getting more than one egg every two days.

Thanks for letting me share my day on the farm with you and

Happy reading!

Belle

A Little Piece of A Tittle Tale

Tittle was a little mouse that lived on Belle's Farm. Tittle loved living on a farm, it made him a landowner rather than just a field mouse. Those field mice were always having to scavenge for food. Tittle, well he just stole corn from the chickens or if Mr. Farmer didn't put the feed in the barrels, he filled up straight from the feed sacks. Tittles just loved it when Mr. Farmer was too busy to put the feed away. Tittle could carry off enough to last for a week at least, then he didn't have to fight with Essie the hen for the corn. Essie could be really mean with that beak of hers and it was just too hot to being running from Essie.

Tittle didn't know why people didn't like mice. He was a perfectly good little mouse and he liked to think of himself as a one mouse cleanup crew. Tittle was really good at cleaning all the crumbs and droppings off a floor and it didn't take him anytime to do it.

He really wished Mrs. Farmer wouldn't chase him with that broom. Silly woman didn't she know he could slip right through that broom straw. You could tell the new Mrs. Farmer hadn't lived on a farm before. She really had no idea how to catch a mouse. Now the Mrs. Farmer that use to live on the farm was nothing to play with. She was always chasing Tittle with a wet mop and he learned to steer clear of the house when she lived there. No mouse could escape wet mop strings.

Anyway, Tittle wanted to get some of that feed stored so her could head to the creek. He thought he might have a bath today. As hot as it was it would cool him off and he was sure it would surprise his Mom. Taking a bath without being told to was always a great way to surprise Mom. Tittles was scurrying back and forth filling his corner with corn. One more trip ought to do it and he would be off to the cool water.

Tittles stopped. Dead still, he listened. Yep, there it was. He was through for the day. Slowly, slowly, he back away and then ran as fast as he could. A huge, mean old king snake was now guarding the feed sack. Where had he come from? Tittles had to warn Mom. He didn't want her caught. Everybody knew that mice were a king snakes favorite meal. "Mom, Mom" Tittle called.

"What in the world are you yelling about?" Mom answered.

"Oh, Mom, there is a king snake in the feed room of the barn" Tittle cried.

"Well, we will just have to stay out of the barn for a few days and let him see there is nothing there for him to eat and he will be own his way" Mom replied.

"But where will we go?" asked Tittle.

"To the field of course. That is where we came from" Mom said.

Tittle felt sad. He hadn't lived in the field before. He had always made fun of the field mice. They didn't have a nice barn to live in and had to look for food and ate all those weird berries and things. They slept under logs and in trees and oh, how he wished he hadn't been so mean to them. Now he had to go live with them. Oh, what was Tittle going to do?

Click on the title above for the whole story - Happy reading! Belle

The Morning The Cow Lost Her Tail

Nobody can tell this story like Mom - but I will give it a try.

Dairy farming is hard at the best of times. Milking those angels early in the morning and again early afternoon, cleaning and more cleaning, planting, harvesting, feeding, then more cleaning. The milk barn is always cold and wet. A lucky farmer will have dependable help and believe me it makes all the difference. Sometimes it talks some false starts before you find just the right person. One who can get along with you, your animals, and do things the right way.

On most mornings, us girls never knew any of this was going on. We slept in our nice snug beds and dreamed our wonderful dreams, got up and had a warm nourishing breakfast, cleaned to the kitchen and then went to work or school. We didn't participate in those early morning milkings, but we worked the rest of the day. Summer and winter, wet or dry, warm or cold, it didn't matter, there was always work to be done.

The coldest day of the year and wet to boot, the milker called in sick. Yeah Right! No matter, the cows had to be milked. Dad got us all up. As we put on our layered clothes - long johns, sweats, two pair of socks, rubber boots, knit caps, and jackets - to stay as warm as possible. All those angels did not willingly come into the barn, some loved to play catch and slide in the mud and muck. Mom and Dad were already running the milking machines when my sister and I got to the barn.

What a mess! The cows had ice hanging from their tails and it was cold, really cold. Dad said we could go back to the house once we got all the cows in the barn and the feed hoppers filled. Sis and I went to work. I went after cows and she headed upstairs to fill the hoppers. There was nothing but frozen slush until you stepped in it - It wasn't frozen all the way through. Cows were in the barn, I was covered in - well you know, and Sis was down from the feed room.

Mom's head was covered in a hair net, her flannel pajama top was sticking out of the top of her sweat shirt and she was a sight. Mom was resting her head on the side of the cow as she took the milkers off. She turned around, dipped the milkers in the cleaning solution and put them on the next cow. She checked the cow she had finished milking, opened the door, and swatted her behind encouraging her to exit the milking stall. Most of the cows were hard to get out of the warmth of the barn when the milking was finished. The cow wouldn't budge, so she swatted her behind again. The cow jumped out of the stall and hollered as she ran out of the barn - without her bushy tail. A common practice in the winter, Mom had split the hair on the bottom of the cow's tail and tied it around the stall rods to keep the cow from swishing the tail in Mom's face while she was milking. Mom forgot to untie the hair when she let her out of the stall and the hair was jerked out of the end of the tail.

Mom starting hollering and crying, Dad was laughing, and Sis and I headed to the house. Poor cow! I don't believe she ever swished her tail again while being milked.