Over-The-Fence Chat Thread 7-15 thru 7-21

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Hi guys and gals,

Oh my, it's not quite 5:00 am on a Sunday morning, and I think I'm awake, at least I'm sitting up. It's been a rough week here on the homestead, but things are settling back down into normal again.

The garden looks like a wonderland with weeds in the rows, buts it's still beautiful and full of everything! Tomatoes comming on strong soon, and peppers and everything else. We need rain bad, for the first time the grass is looking dry this year, and I've had to bucket it to the plants and flowers. Send us some rain today!

We've gotten our outdoor wood stove moved onto the concrete pad, and are going to use 2 big cattle panels bend into U's for a roof for it. We'll put metal over that, and just put the pipe out thru the top. We'll have to figure out how to get the hot air run across the distance and into the house, probably under a porch of some kind. The cold air return need to run under there too. We just set it up temporarly last winter. Got 3 months to figure this out!

Cow and calves are doing great, we didn't get 2 more, just settled for 4 calves for right now, too much going on, and the price of calves seems to be going up, so we'll just go with these for now. But we will need a couple more soon, as the 2 bigger ones are getting close to being weaned.

It's good to hear of everyone's gardens, and the canning and freezing. My, I don't know how some of you do it, putting up hundreds of jars of stuff! I wish I was that good at it. I seem to be much better at growing it than canning it! I need to learn from you all to just do it. I don't have a cool place to store the jars though, and I don't know how they will keep. So mainly I just put in the freezer, but then, if the power went out.....yeah.

Well, I'm awake now I think, gotta make some java and wake Steve up to milk the cow, she's gonna be bellowing soon. Tell us all about your busy weeks gone by and to come! You keep me on my toes to keep up with ya'all!

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), July 15, 2001

Answers

Cindy,it's more fun to can with a buddy,but I live in Canada....happy Lord's day and yah I think I'll take my Java to the garden this morn'in.....

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), July 15, 2001.

Mornin everybody, I think I'm going to rest today, except for dehydrate about a half a bucket of tomatoe, transfer and process my kraut from stone jar to canning jars, I've also got a five gallan bucket of fermented dill pickles that need to be put up. We got the rest of our chickens butchered yesterday. I ordered 100 of the silver barred giants from Reich Poultry, halfed them with a friend ended up with 46 going to the freezer, 26 yesterday. They were all big and healthy and didn't lose a one to flip over. Figuring in my head, we've got less than 100.00 dollars in them, I think 2.00 a bird, not bad at all. There's some folk that have a pasture raise poultry home business that sell through the health food store, and an equal bird would be about 7.00 the best of remember. Our garden is not in full swing , we've got tomatoes ready, horticulture beans , purple hull pea and lots of insects. We're scheming on our fall garden now, honey got seeds for cabbage, broccolli, califloewr the other day, it's so hot I may start them in the house, husband is thinking of maybe a nursery bed with row cover , if it wasn't for bugs we would just plant them in place. I'm not doing much milking my darling doe Shasta has an orphane kid on her so I go out in the morning and strip her out, a "little" milking is a sweet way to start a day and Shasta is such a pleasure. I think I'll go start breakfast , I hope everyone is having a good day Sherry

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), July 15, 2001.

Hi everyone! I'm slow to get going this morning. For the life of me, I couldn't get to sleep last night. Finally did about 1:30am, and I'm feelin it this morning. Cindy, hope everyone is doin ok? I've been puttin up fruit in different ways, and I'm about over it now and ready for the veggies. Think I have enough different kind of preserves to put Smuckers out of business! I keep tellin myself how good it will taste this winter. The garden is doing real good. Haven't got anything from it yet, but hopefully soon. Well, I better get this old bod moving or I'll never get up. Have a great one, everybody!

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), July 15, 2001.

Yeah Annie, everyone is A OK. And Sherry, boy howdy, all those chickens, and I bet you know how to cook them too! Yeah, I need a buddy or two.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), July 15, 2001.

I'm back in the baby duckling business again. One of my Muscovys hatched out 22 (some hers, some from the two other hens). Funny, one hen abandoned her nest to take over another. I put her nest next to the other, which the pushed off duck took over, and this is the one which hatched. Both hens abandoned the nest when the ducklings hatched out, so I put the remaining eggs under my third hen. I took 12 to raise separately and left them ten. I suspect these ten are gone by now since the hens took them down to the pond. Baby ducklings are very easy to raise. I'll raise these to large juveniles before releasing them on the pond.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 15, 2001.


Greeting one and all!

I've spent too much time in the garden lately...I'm starting to see leaves, ants, and insects in my sleep. I'd guess it's becasue yesterday while I was out trying to cure my insect ills that I pulled out my hand with one BIG UGLY HAIRY SPIDER on it. AAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!

I really REALLY hate spiders. I don't care if they do eat bugs, surely they can leave me alone while they do it! Now I'm afraid to reach into the sunflowers again.

I watched in awe yesterday while my doeling once more completely cleared a fence. Now I've had to move her 3 times. So, EXACTLY how high does a goat fence need to be??? I've tried 3.5, 4, or 5 feet repectively. She's in a 10 x 10 ft room now. Any suggestions here? I'm afraid she'll break a leg soon, but what else can I do but keep building her fence up higher???

Peace, love, and light.

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), July 15, 2001.


Life here on the old 3/4s is doing just fine. Garden's making like it's gonna actually do something this year. Grapes are hanging heavy, too. We got watermelon vines but no blossoms yet. I think my pumpkins are gonna take over the corn patch. DH decided the corn was high enough to let the chickens in. WRONG! (He's done this once before with the same results). Hope we get some corn anyway.

Got a cute little checkerboard cake pan set the other day and so far have made two chocolate/yellow checkerboard cakes. I just love kitchen gadgets! Also finally found a reasonable butter churn on e- bay. Of course, the shipping is killing me, but I've always wanted one. This is not one of the tall ones with the wooden dasher in the top. I already have one of those. This is a clear glass jar with the "egg beater thingy" (and I do believe that is the correct technical term) in the top. Now all I have to do is find some dairy farmer willing to let me have some raw milk. Will probably only make butter once, but who knows, once might be enough.

Daughter Amy and grandson Ethan are arriving at the end of the week for a three week visit. They live in VA. Her husband is going on a fishing trip with his dad up in Maine so I get custody of daughter and grandson. Really looking forward to having her home. Since our visit to Disney in May, Ethan has been calling me "Mickey". (Beats the heck out of some other things he could be calling me). He keeps asking his mother "Mickey morrow?" Isn't that cute. And he's so-o-o- o-o- smart, too.

We've been having the greatest thunderstorms just about every evening. DH and I love to sit out on the porch swing and watch Mother Nature throwing a fit for herself. The other night she also threw in a little hail. Haven't seen hail in a coon's age.

Hang loose everyone. The sun is shining, crops are growing and all's well with the world. (My world at least.) And, Marty, watch out for those spiders. Yuck!!! I hate'm too.

Wishing you all enough.

-- Trevilians (Trevilians@mediaone.net), July 15, 2001.


Hi ever one hate to sound like a broken record but we need rain the ground is so dry ponds are getting low.ive been putting sweetcorn and tomatos also a little okra in the freezer. went fishing today but the boat quit me about 1/2 up the river. carburator came loose and didnt have eny thing to fix it with so had to come home. but lots of time left to fish.been awful busy this whole week end be glad to go baxck to work tomorrow so i can get rested up. got the corn stalks cut am going to till it all up and maybe have a fall garden never had one before. well its time to hit the hay so you all have a good week. Bob se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), July 15, 2001.

The Case of the Unknown Heifer:

My herd came up around the pond so I opened up the area in which hay bales are stored for them to eat down the tall grasses. Noticed at least two bulls and a steer weren't with them so I went looking. Couldn't find them, but did find a break in the fence between the neighbor and my fields. Called him, we repaired the fence and I asked him to look for my bulls with his herd. He said he didn't think they were there since when he dragged a dead cow up into the woods the previous day, he saw his bull and cows (if mine were there, they would have been with him). Checked again and found they were they were suppose to be. Apparently they were courting a cow who had laid down in the woods to where I didn't see them.

But... I came up with an extra heifer. She isn't one of mine and my neighbor doesn't think she is one of his either. Too big for being a spring calf (my case) or one missed when we worked his calves in the spring (since they received fly tags). Doesn't look like it came out of any of our bulls. We agreed to just let her run with my herd and I suggested we flip a coin for her. He countered we would just split whatever she sells for this fall since neither of use thought she was theirs. Aren't cooperative neighbors just great!

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 19, 2001.


Golly Ken, I wish we could get a free cow once in a while! And all those little ducklings, do they follow you around the farm? I can't have ducks unless I keep them locked up because they swim in the water tubs and then the animals won't drink the water.

We worked a trade out and are getting a really neat wooden incubator that holds 1600 chicken eggs or 2200 quail eggs. (not a typo) It's really beautiful and works great, a big wooden cabinet. So I guess come December, my friend Gary and myself will go into the hatching business again! Plus the guy has one more wooden one we will save up for and get. Just a tad smaller but still large. The hard part will be finding hatching eggs in December. If you have a truckload of chicks in March, you can really do well.

I just paid 5 dollars each for turkey babies, Royal Palms. Ducks go for 4-5 dollars each in the spring also. You can mail you extra duck eggs to us!

More adventures to come, the bees are on their way home this morning.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), July 21, 2001.



Cindy:

I really think it is my neighbor's heifer. My speculation is she was standing facing the fence, was in heat and his bull goosed her (to be polite) through the fence.

I'll keep you in mind the next time my Muscovies start laying if you are willing to pay for shipment. Will probably do so once more this year. They nest on the shelves in my garage/workshop. I'm down to three hens and two old males so would like to have some survive. Of the 20-30 they took down to the pond, yesterday I saw only one. Twelve I have in the kitchen seem to be doing fine. They seem to be a lot easier to raise than chicks.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 21, 2001.


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