Captain's Log

Sometimes I remember to write stuff down...maybe it will make it to this page?

December 9, 2018 - Good thing I don't pilot a starship! We'd be lost, and no one would know to look for us anywhere.

Yesterday, Isaac got married. Married to his friend of many years, Rebekah Cressman. Beautiful young lady who is a wonderful addition to our family. Everyone was in town, including my older three siblings and eldest niece, and we had a grand time at the farm.

Which is a good thing. Other things about the farm are a little discouraging, right now - first half of the summer was great for the garden; second half not so good. Bermuda grass controls most of our flower beds, but is still spotty in the front oval. Go figure. We planted pecan trees to line both sides of the drive, and one side is still there.

The bees did not get split. The bees split. One hive got inundated with wax moths, then the other got a little overwhelmed, and finally the bees just took off. We will restart this coming spring, after some research and reworking.

And so it is. The spring holds promise of a new beginning, and we will lean into that as a promise. Maybe this year our produce will thrive. I will do my part, God.

May 25, 2018 - Blondie has not yet had any kids, but she's got two or three more days of possibility. Currently, only the two survivors born to Shaggy...one boy and one girl. Four chicks in the brooder who will start integrating next week, and 8 eggs in the incubator that should start to hatch next week. We've had fairly consistent rain, with 1.7 inches overnight and slowing to a halt in the next little bit. With four new Maples in the ground, I'm thrilled at any rain we get!

The bees need to be split, so today we will inventory everything, head into town and get what we need, then maybe tomorrow it will be dry enough to do something with the hives. The current box has a deep and two mediums, and the second medium is almost 80% full (as of the May 7 check). The garden has yielded peas and broccoli, a couple radishes, cilantro and some onions. Although everything has sprouted at some level, last night's rain has flattened some of it, so we will need to rehab this weekend, Memorial Day weekend. Julie and Greg are due down tomorrow, John has added a heater to the pool, and plans are for a todo at his house tomorrow evening and possibly Sunday afternoon swim. The Debs are in the hanger, and they have a contract on their house...hearing Deb talk, though, they are a bit apart on some of the inspection results. She starts her new job Tuesday, so things are looking up for them.

I was looking back at the Nov. 30 livestock report, and it needs to be updated.

16 ranging chickens, 4 brooder pullets and eggs in the incubator
5 female, 6 male goats
One cat. Cit came and went for a while, but has just gone now. Hopefully, she found a better food situation.
3 dogs. However, Sali went to the Was family sometime this spring, and we replaced her with Juni, a 10-week old Great Pyrenees who has fit in quite nicely. She came from a farm close to Ada, where she spent her time in the barn with the chickens and goats.
2 donkeys are out on the north pasture getting fat
1 hive, hopefully being split this weekend

There it is.

May 11, 2018 - On the road celebrating a birthday...we had a third kid, born to Brownie, her first. It looked healthy, nursed a couple of times while we were working with them, but we got word this morning from our caretaker that the baby girl didn't make it through the night. Sorry for Brownie, and if we'd been there we may have been able to help, but who knows. We left the farm in pretty good shape, but will need to check everything and evaluate the effect of being gone for essentially three days at this time of year. Garden is sprouting, trees are budding, animals birthing, and a lot going on to be away.

May 7, 2018 - Been thinking about things to jot down, so now I will. For memory, the Desert Willow finally budded on May 1. So, remember next year that it is a late bloomer. Today, we had a racing pigeon visit, so Becky held it and we got the band number, sent an email. We'll see what comes of that. Then, we went out to check on the goats, and Shaggy had twins, not too long before we went out. They looked good; one had already nursed and the other latched on while we were out there. 4 pullets in the brooder, one with its head chopped off (glad I remembered that - it's still in the mudroom in a plastic bag. It had a very, very hard and long peeping time...probably the membrane of the egg). Isaac and I finished cleaning out a garden bed and built the first box to replace the decayed one - we'll do the second box and finish filling in the morning before he heads off to the UK to complete the Good News tour with Rend Collective.

April 13, 2018 - windy as all get out; too windy to plant the 12 Shumard, 13 Bur Oaks and 15 Ponderosa Pines we bought yesterday. Lately, our incubator has had success with only one of 6 - 8 eggs in there and we don't know quite what's up with that. Had a chick hatch at church on Easter morning, which was fun for the kids there. and, Kate and Dave brought their clan for the week after Easter. Great times! Maybe more writing this weekend?

Dec. 30, 2017 - Auracana and two other eggs hatched, the third chick showing signs of distress...neck bent backwards and the chick couldn't keep upright, but falls on its back and gets stranded. Haven't checked yet today to see if it made it through the night. Isaac and I put out the water heaters yesterday in the two big tubs; the high today is below freezing and the low for New Years Eve is 6 degrees! All the trees got water yesterday, but it's hard to tell how the oaks and pecans are doing during the winter.


Dec. 28, 2017 - well, I'm no Captain Kirk, that's for sure. The old goat was separated back out the day after Christmas, with the help of Jessica's boyfriend Rob and Nate. Yesterday we brought Spottie in; he was weak and dehydrated, unable to get around. After time inside and a couple handfuls of hay, we will put him back out today and bring him in tonight. He's been the least aggressive, most "runt"-like of the bunch, so we will have to wait and see if he makes it.  ONE egg has hatched so far, and we are coming up on the end of the time for the rest of them. That chick went to the brooder yesterday afternoon, and I noticed a pipping Auracana egg this morning. Yay.

While the kids were here (ours, not the goats), Rob and Nate slaughtered a chicken which got cooked as part of a delicious Thai meal prepared by Thaniya. It was a young rooster, so we are still getting 5-7 eggs a day, thanks to the extended hours of light in the coop. Nate pulled the solar gizmo apart and after deducing that he couldn't do anything for it, put it back together. It works! Huh.


Nov. 30, 2017 - It's easier to think about daily entries than it is to write them. Ten days, though, that has to be a record for me. We sorted the last girl from her mama on Monday, Nov. 27, and put the old Billie in with the old gals. It didn't take long for little girl to crawl through the fence and join them, so she's still in there. Let's hope nothing untoward happens to her. Also on Monday we arranged the transition coop and put the 4 month old pullet in there...Wednesday we put it in the main coop, and by  last night it was no where to be found. This morning was too foggy and dark to see it.

It's time to work the bees again. A couple of weeks ago we filled the sugar water with a winter mix and placed sugar on the inner lid.

Current livestock report: 14 ranging chickens, two brooder pullets.
4 female, 5 male goats
Two cats
3 dogs
2 donkeys
A host of bees

And we are about 2/3 through cleaning out vegetable garden beds. Kitchen garden and back oval are done for now.

Yesterday was the last day of class for my semester, tomorrow is juries. Finals next week, then manic work on Christmas decor.

Nov. 20, 2017 - the remaining billie baby got taken from mom today. He complained a bit, but overall I think he's going to make the adjustment fairly well. Right now, then, that puts the four young billies in one pen, the old billie goat in the middle and all the girls in the other pen. After Thanksgiving, we'll put billie in with the three big girls and the baby girl by herself in the middle pen.

One day, I'm going to have to reconfigure my pens.

Nov. 18, 2017 - today we weaned a couple of kids from their moms...I know, way too late, but it's been a long, hard summer, as evidenced by the lack of posts. We took little blondie and speckles off their moms and put them with baby idiot. They adapted without too much complaint.