New Year

Happy New Year Folks!

This will be the first full year at the farm and I hope a true year of production here.  The chickens should start producing eggs in March.  I hope the rabbits will have babies soon.  I am waiting for Camo and Miss to get busy and make little goats.  In the spring I will turn the garden into a living thing again and possibly enlarge its borders.

For now I need to get going on cutting down trees so expand the pasture beyond the backyard where the dogs run.

We had good holidays here.  Mom and Dad left this morning.  We saw lots of friends and family.  And much food was consumed.

I don't consider myself a christian or catholic.  I am more of a pagan.  I believe in the chaos of nature and each piece of nature having a spirit and connected to each other.  I might even hug a tree.

But that doesn't mean I won't harvest them for firewood or making animal shelters.  It doesn't mean I won't kill an animal for food.  What it means is I try to care and respect those things which I use to keep us fed and comfortable.  I thank the tree as it falls.  I keep the animals in roomy areas with as much fresh food and water as they want, and I try to keep them interested in their surroundings.  (I don't like battery cages stuffed with 3 chickens or more).

Some people don't see this season beyond Christmas and Hanukkah (or whatever holiday one may celebrate).  Some don't see any celebration but their own.  And some are curious about how other people enjoy this gathering time.

I see it as rebirth time.  The sun begins its climb back to dominance.  The weather will soon change back to the like giving pattern.   The renewal is coming, and it is a time to break from the drudgery of the cold and dormancy of winter.

2014 Will be the year of the Farm.  (and the horse according to the Chinese calendar ... so maybe for me to).

Defrosted

Well the world finally defrosted and we are in the mud.  But at least the critters can get to some grass now.  I even had the goats and rabbits on the yard yesterday so they could try and get some grass in their bellies.

I did some yard work.  I fixed the dog fence that I had broke when I ran over it with the chicken tractor.  The dogs did fairly well with it being down but they figured out it was dead and would visit me in the garage when I was getting feed and what not.  At least they never wanted to leave the yard.

I got the chickens onto a fresh patch of ground and they immediately went to pecking at the grass.  In a few months I will probably be sending roosters to the dinner plate.  I plan on keeping one to try and breed them so I don't have to buy replacement chicks.  I like my grey one but he is very skinny and I don't want those genes passing along.  I may just keep the barred rooster, he is quieter (so far) and is among the fattest of the chickens.

I pulled the goat cage out of the woods and have them up on the long grass I let grow all summer.  They can stay on one patch for at least two days before I move them and then the grass will be short enough for the chickens.  I keep hoping the little billy I have will grow bigger, so far he is still pretty small.  I hope he isn't some kind of dwarf or runt.

I did finally send the papers off for the goats, the doe to be transferred to me and the billy to be registered.  I would really like the doe to be bred soon but I think Camo thinks of her as a mom still and not a girlfriend, even though she isn't his mom.

I tried to cut some of the honeysuckle down so the goats could eat it (it was too tall) but all I ended up doing was getting the vines stuck in the suck and having the chain jerked off the bar.

The weather is going to change today from the nice temperatures down to freezing this weekend again.  hopefully the precipitation won't freeze too much.  For awhile there was ice wherever I walked cause the snow packed down.  It was not fun sliding across the yard.

We hope to be able to get some more wood this coming week and start heating with that again.  I don't want to have to buy more propane.

Oh and in WoW news: Unfinished Tale got back up to raiding strength and actually cleared a raid Wednesday.  Very happy and proud of all our folks.

Mom and Dad will be coming in for the holidays Monday.  Not sure when my next update will be with the holiday crazies.
Everyone enjoy yourselves and be safe.

more winter

It was very very pretty.

And two days later (this morning) it is fogging because the world is heating up so fast.  Please melt quickly!!!

Chugging along

The meager inch of snow we got still hasn't melted completely.  It has packed into a nice icy path leading down to the basement door.
The critters are all fine outside.  The chickens are chickening and the rabbits are rabbiting.  The goats I still have in the garage all the time though.  I just don't think it is worth moving their goat cage when most of the vegetation is covered in snow.  Maybe they would dig it out, but for now we're content.
Speaking of goats: I clipped their hooves today.  Not a huge chore, just something that needs to be done occasionally.  It was enough work to make me consider shedding my jacket though.

For not living in the house in St. Louis it is proving to be a lot of work.  Not much I want to discuss right here but mostly drudgery.

Also I didn't realize my virus protection was auto-updating and so it ate a lot of my internet usage for the month.  But this is one of our connections with our friends and family so we will keep using it.  Lesson learned.

Enjoy the view.

There is something magical about snow.
Don't get so excited, I still dislike winter, and the cold, and how it makes everything harder to do and makes the body ache.
But snow, when it is first coming down seems to have a mystical quality to it.  Something that changes this world into something new and foreign.
Until it is touched by mortal creatures.  Then it is dirtied in the streets, clogs the gutters, and turns into an ugly slushy mess.  And don't get me started on yellow snow, or any other color it turns...

But for the moment, I can sit inside a warm house and enjoy the view.

Snow!

View out the kitchen window.  It snowed about a half inch overnight and it started again later in the morning.  Still currently snowing near noon.  Down south by Mom and Dad the snow has been thick.

Chickens huddled together for warmth this morning in their chicken tractor.

 Hard to see them here, but you can see my gloves that I took off to take the picture!

So made some banana bread cause the store had 3lbs for a dollar.  (they weren't the pretty yellow anymore, but perfect for banana bread!)

Thanksgivakkah

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  I did.
Parents came up for a few days and we spent most of them out at friends and family eating all their food.  Hanukkah as wrapped up somewhat in that at Jimu and Allie's.

Well there is a warm stretch of weather so I decided the chickens need to learn to live in the tractor.  I covered the openings so they would have a fully covered 3 sides and brought it up to the garage.  I used the lawn tractor to pull it since it was an up-hill climb and it worked like a charm.

I got all the chickens transferred and they began pecking at the grass.  I am pleased they will be getting some greens now.  The only bad thing was I broke the invisible fence wire for the dogs when I drug the chicken tractor over it.  But that should be easy to fix.

In rabbit land : Big Mama did not kindle.  I am wondering if I bought a dud of a rabbit.  I am thinking I did.  I will breed her again today and the next several days.  This will be her final shot at having babies.  If she doesn't give birth by mid-January I will butcher her for meat.  I don't want to waste feed on a dud rabbit.  I am just aggravated that I was swindled out of more money for her from the guy cause he said she was pregnant and now I can't even get her pregnant.

The goats are doing well, eating up the left over leaves in the woods (mostly honey suckle).  I just move their pen everyday.  I hope Camo (the male) starts getting bigger soon and does his job and gets Miss pregnant before too long.  I want her to have spring kids.  I may end up selling him if she isn't dropping a baby by June or so and trying to get her bred from someone else's billy.