June and July 2017

So its been awhile since anything new has been posted, and there's a lot to catch up on!!
Summer at the place has been going pretty well, it's hot and dry this time of year but except for the loss of two black chickens during heat that reached 115F, everyone is doing well.

I'm going to stick with the highlights of the summer, would love to post detailed how-to tutorials on things like hand-pollinating squash or canning pickles but time is precious when you're a Mama!

First, the garden. The garden at the place has been allowed to die off except for a few of the plants that have been around the longest. Things that will continue to produce next year still get watered. Everything else, don't waste your water. The cow needs it!

My small garden box in town however, is producing like crazy. My single crookneck squash plant has fed a dozen households, the tomatoes are starting to come into their own, the cucumbers are plentiful but not hugely abundant this year. All that chicken and cow manure I brought back from the Homestead with me really paid off in terms of produce!! I receive many compliments from friends and family on my 'might as well try' city garden.

Next, chickens!!
The chicks from last spring are now pullets, and the first batch has begun laying. There were originally 6 chicks in the first batch, but three were found dead with deep puncture wounds in them. Not the work of a dog, but I'm still not sure what exactly killed them.
This group is a Buff orphington, a barred rock and an americuana. The americuana out-lays everyone... she actually factually laid TWO eggs the other day, in a single day. She is the only green egg layer, so it was definitely her laying two eggs.

Late last month I switched some birds around and made a new pen, so the three point of lay pullets could have a bigger pen and a nestbox. Everyone ended up with more suitable quarters this way more space for all birds involved.

There are four more pullets who will need to go in with the older trio and who should begin laying soon also. All of these are Americuana pullets.

The small turkeys grew fast, and one seems to have disappeared the other day. No signs of it around so far, I am hoping it ran off with a wild turkey.
One of the local wild turkeys has decided to move in, and the young poults keep escaping to hang out with her so aren't penned when they should be. Arghhh. That hen makes me want turkey for dinner!!! She is not penned and not fed or watered, but she is not leaving either. It irritates me.

Goaties......Opal is trying to wean her babies, they are almost 3 months old now. They are stout and healthy little guys! I castrated them both about a month ago, they are wethers and not bucklings now. The other goats are happy and healthy also.

Food preservation.
I made a batch of spicy garlic dill pickles today, and some pickled squash-zucchini as well. I put four cans of pickles and three cans of squash into the canner, but I lost one jar of each-- the jars were old and the bottoms blew off them. What a disappointment!!! This is a first for me, and I wasn't too overjoyed at the idea of my hard work exploding like that.

In other news, the wild blackberries have come and gone. I had the opportunity to freeze a whole bunch. My original plan was to make preserves, but I made life easier on myself and just froze them instead. They will be very much enjoyed this winter!

Those are the farm highlights for the summer. There are other happenings afoot like a new and expanded turkey pen and major Jeep repairs, but those aren't very fun things to write about. The Jeep in particular has been vastly improved over the summer though, to which I am extremely grateful. 4X4 is an absolute must for the property in winter, and mine works perfectly now.

My son is growing very quickly and is happy and extremely healthy. He loves his farm time-- the animals absolutely fascinate him! I'm so glad he has an opportunity to be exposed to the good life that agriculture has to offer. It will influence him later in life for the better.

That about wraps things up until this Fall!