Ticks Beware!

We are down to two guinea after the "good" guinea decided to disappear at night for several days and then her feathers turned up in the yard one morning....

The ticks have been really bad this  year and I have wondered if it is because we no longer have enough guinea... so I got some more.  :)  Now if I can just keep them all alive until next spring....

A typical morning on my farm

I took this video after I had fed the goats and let the birds out.  I was hoping to catch the younger cockerels crowing, although I didn't manage to get that.

At 0:20 you'll see that Rucker was eating my pants while I tried to record things.....

At 0:30 you'll see Clyde taking advantage of one of his girlfriends

At 0:40 you'll see and hear The Stranger Rooster making the noise to call others over.  Clyde does this EVERY time I put treats out, but this is the first time the stranger rooster has done this, I think he's starting to feel at home and I think he has a thing for Silkie Sue (not in this video).

At 1:18 you'll see how Jenny has finished eating HER food so she went to eat Carrie's food, and cash came to help.  Jenny is a bit pushy even with her boys.

At 1:54 you'll see that Rucker has learned from mom

At 2:15 you'll see and hear a little from one of the youngest roosters (cockerels)

At 2:35 you'll see the chicks coming through the fence and then one of the cockerels strutting around.  This one has started crowing, but I didn't catch it in this video

A Typical Day

Recently I have had many people ask me questions about how I get everything done around here, especially since I'm a single mom.  

I decided to break it down for a typical week/work day based on this last school year.

I wake up at 4AM and head to the gym.  Yes, really.  I learned several years ago that I must workout if I want to stay in shape and physically able.  I think it also helps my self esteem.  Unfortunately, my only choice is to go at 4AM because there is just no other time to go.

As soon as I get home I change into my rubber work boots, take the dog out, feed the goats, and open the coop doors.  The youngest chicks get freedom to range all day and the laying-aged birds get freedom into the chicken run.   

The goal is to be in the shower by 5:30, so if I can get inside before 5:20, I will make myself eggs for breakfast.

From 5:30 to 6:30 I take a shower, get dressed, put makeup on and dry my hair, make lunches (since we don't often get it done at night), getting the boys up, nagging them to get ready, packing up my computer nad work bag, and sometimes making them breakfast.  The boys get up at about 6, so if they are dragging their feet then I don't have time to make them breakfast and they get granola bars and bananas or something else I can grab on the way out the door.

I drop the youngest at daycare and then make the hour drive to work.  I get to work around 7:30, and the students show up at 8:45.  I leave work at 4:05, the moment that I'm allowed to leave and I head straight to daycare to pick up the youngest.  

On a good day, I get him at about 4:45 and we are home by 5.  As soon as I get out of the car, I change into my rubber boots and head over to open the coop door that will let the laying hens free range, feed the goats, and let the dog out.

As soon as I'm inside the house I figure out dinner and get to work.  

The youngest goes to bed at 7, so after the animals are taken care of I only have about an hour and a half to make dinner, feed everyone, clean up from dinner, get him to clean himself and hopefully have him make his lunch, and put him to bed.  

Once he's in bed I head outside to count and lock up the birds and let the dog out one last time.  I try to finish the dishes and then I set my gym clothes out (I wear my gym pants to sleep so it's one less thing to do in the morning), check my email one last time, and go to bed.

The goal is to be in bed by 8, although I don't usually get to bed until almost 9, and at times it's later than that.

I am a firm believer that getting 8 hours of sleep is important to maintaining health, so that's what I try to get and I try to get the youngest son into bed so that he gets as close to 11 hours of sleep as possible.

This schedule has worked except during the swimming lesson or cross country season where we will have 2-4 nights of practices so that 90 minutes of time with the youngest son before bedtime also has to include driving to and from a 40-60 minute lesson or practice.  This also doesn't include the times that I need to clean out all of the animal water dishes and refill them or deal with other random issues like refilling feed chicken feed bins, luring goats back into the pen when they've gotten out, taking care of sick animals, etc.

On the weekends I play catch up and clean the water dishes, clean the coops out, pick up the dog messes, and do all of the household chores.

This has been the schedule for two years and since I am switching jobs next fall I am hoping that things will go smoother and I will have more time in the afternoon to get things done.  Hopefully I won't be getting up at 4AM anymore.  

We may finally have our second garden harvest soon

The garden has FINALLY started to produce...

I just hope the sweet potatoes are looking as good under ground as they do above ground.
If only I could get rid of those weeds....

One of the stacked herb pots.  I still need to plant more.

Sunflowers that the goats ate.... Looks like only one is still alive.

The goats got to the green beans too.  Half the plants are gone.

The broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages have been eaten by the goats :(

The tomatoes are starting to pop up

Calendula flowers

The first bell peppers

Potato plants

The first raspberries - and they tasted great!

The pumpkins are growing and I planted more watermelon plants.

The first butternut squash

The first zucchini

Darn goat

The goats are constantly trying to get the chicken food.  I finally put a chicken wire net over the top of the feeders so they can't put their heads inside and eat it all.

Tonight I was fighting Carrie off as I tried to fill the feeder and then I left the empty bag on the ground while I went to take care of a few other things....

I don't even think she found any crumbs in there

 This is what I walked around the corner and saw when I went back to get the bag.

Worst feeling followed by the best feeling

Last night when I counted the chickens we were one short.

Putting the birds in at night is a feat.  The 17 youngest chicks are in the smaller coop with the stranger rooster that's been back for about a week now.  There are 5 buff orpington chicks and then 12 easter eggers that my students hatched.  They're 2 months old now but since they like to move around when I am counting them, I have to count the five buff chicks first and then count the twelve.  The bigger problem is that they like to hide under the coop and we have to get them all out.

Then I head into the big coop and count the adult birds, 12 total.  And then the guinea, 2 left (one disappeared from the coop last week although we see her alive during the day.)  And then the 9 chicks that are all 3 months old and look the same.

Last night when I counted the adults I had 11.  So then I had to go through them to see which one was missing and for a moment I was scared I wouldn't be able to figure it out.  Do I really know all of my birds?

Clyde.
Big Red 1 (the sick one)
Big Red 2 (the healthy one)
Buffy Sue
Mary Sue
Buffy Two.. Wait... Buffy two was missing.

It was 10 PM, pitch black out because the clouds were covering the moon, and nasty from the rain.

I checked the obvious places (the goat houses) but since the goats were in there hiding from the rain and mud I knew she wasn't there.

It's a terrible feeling to have a missing bird and to know that when it's that dark out and the only normal places she could seek shelter are empty (at least empty of birds) you probably won't find it.

And then I walked over to the tall coop.  The coop that we haven't used since we built the big one.  The doors are always shut, the tiny window is 5 feet off the ground and doesn't have a screen from predators, and the chicken door is at least 3 feet off the ground and doesn't have a ramp or a door.  We simply don't use this coop because I never put the important pieces back on.

This is the window, 5 feet off the ground and even with a flash on the camera you can see how dark it is

And guess who was sitting inside?

I scooped her up and carried her to the big coop and finished my count.

It is the best feeling to find a bird and know that everyone is accounted for.  I'm not sure why she's sneaking off into her own private house and I don't know how she is even getting inside the coop.

Tonight, I found her in the same place...

A New Project and a Great Gift

We are hosting exchange students for a couple weeks in July and I needed to get more beds to accommodate everyone.  I bought a used bed online and planned to just use it and then get rid of it, until I realized how cool the bed was.  

It's a bunk bed with a third bed that looks like a drawer under it all.  Each of the two beds on the actual bunk bed have a shelf for books and storage.  In order to make things feel a bit more new I decided to take on the task of sanding it down and refinishing it.  I've never done this before but it didn't sound hard if I had the tools.  

So I bought them.

Any excuse to buy a new power tool makes me happy.

That's my new power sander, it's one of the few power tools I didn't own yet.
And that's one of the headboards "before" I got to work.

The youngest wanted to help.

And I made the oldest help.

It was looking exactly like it did before I started the task.  I'm not sure if that means I did a good job picking out the color of stain to match, or if I didn't do a good job making it look new.  :)

The right has the first coat of stain, the left has only been sanded down.

 It won't be put together until tomorrow and I still want to buy a new mattress for the youngest to have on the bed, but once it is complete I'll take a final picture.

UPDATED:  Here's the finished picture along with nightstand that I bought and finished.  I also got a small dresser that I finished but you can't see it in this picture.

And then I took on building my new grill.  :)  The parents pooled money to get me gift cards to Home Depot (among other places) for an end of the year gift.  I really don't think I will ever experience the kind of gift giving that I did at my old school.  Those parents were amazing, and I felt awkward as I'm not used to that type of stuff and it's unexpected.

Despite my desire to use the gift cards for practical supplies to build shelves for the canning supplies in the basement, I decided to get a real "gift" with them and I replaced our old grill.  This was the biggest grill that Home Depot had in stock.

Can't you just imagine how many steaks I can grill while also cooking corn on the cob, zucchini, and shrimp kabobs?  :)  Tomorrow we will grill our first meal of chicken and corn on the cob, and then I think I have one final package of pollo and carne asada.  :)

A day in the kitchen

The forecast said hot and sunny today so I promised the kids we'd go to the water park.  Then I woke up this morning to feed the animals and clean the coop and it was raining.  The weather report said rain and scattered thunderstorms all day and the waterpark actually posted to say they were closed for the day.

The only option was to swap our plans for later this week and try the water park another day.

So it was time to make some dill pickles.

We had picked up pickle size cucumbers at the farmers market last week but hadn't had a chance to pickle and can them.

The dill liquid

 We haven't tried them yet, so I can only hope they taste as good as they look.

We bought peaches at the farmer's market yesterday and while peeling them was easy one I did the boiling water dip, getting them off the seed and slicing them wasn't.

We only ended up with two quart jars, although I have enough peaches to make 2-3 more quart jars.  I was getting tired.

And then I made some biscuits from a new recipe I found.  These are all for the freezer and can go straight in to the oven when we want to eat them.

I may or may not have eaten a raw biscuit....

I was as tired as Faith looked

Wouldn't she be more comfortable in another place?

I will never understand why she chooses to attempt to lay on pieces of furniture that are clearly not big enough for her... And underneath her is a binder, a huge pile of papers, a few DVDs, etc.  Clearly, she doesn't mind.

The garden is looking good, but not good enough

We spent several hours in the garden today.  I was weeding all over the place and then the oldest son was helping to bring wheelbarrows full of the new soil into the garden for a few projects.  It isn't done but he promised to help tomorrow if we quit at about 2 today.  :)

We've gotten lettuce from the garden, but nothing else.  Everything is growing, but not fast enough for me.

Tomato plants from seeds on the left, broccoli and cauliflower down the middle, calendula in the back of the row

Calendula - flowers that will be fed to the chickens if they ever grow

More tomatoes, some from plants

One of two bell peppers, at least I see something growing

A sign of good things to come

Onions and Garlic

The cabbage is not looking good

Green beans, there are a few there to pick, but only a couple

Two types of leaf lettuce (right before he started cutting for dinner)

Sunflowers (minus the two the goats ate) :/

Carrots and parsnips

Parsnips

Six potato cages

Another view of how tall they are

Pumpkin plants in the front with the new soil around them

Watermelon plants, not doing very well

Squash

Zucchini

Brussels sprouts that the goats got to :(

Sweet potatoes

The herbs

Basil

Parsley

Dill

I never got around to planting more herbs in the ground, but I'm hoping I can still get some seeds out and still be able to harvest it because these pots didn't do as well as I had hoped.

There is still a good size area that needs to be weeded, mixed with the new soil, and then planted once I figure out what can be planted now and harvested in times.  Worst case scenario, I will do more potatoes.