Can you believe it is already November? Thanksgiving is next Thursday and there is so much to do. So why aren't I up and about doing what needs to be doing? Well, because it's cold outside and I hate the cold and because everyone is sitting around playing "Mindcraft" on the computers and I hate working when no one else is.
Yes, I played for an hour and a half on "Mindcraft" too, but then the monsters came out and killed me, over and over again. And honestly, a person can only take being killed by zombies, spiders, and creepers for so long....
I then took time to catch up on emails, well actually I only read a couple emails before I got bored with that too, so then I got caught up with my Facebook friends. I've sort of arranged to buy a couple new rabbits - New Zealand Jr. Does this next Spring from my friend Morgan. And thanks to Morgan - she's been posting about growing fodder for her rabbits (http://wild1sfodderandcom.weebly.com), and posted a great website that I think I've spent the last two hours reading and watching about growing fodder along with other small farm projects (
http://fmicrofarm.com/diyprojects/) I think I'm going to try growing fodder for both my rabbits and poultry. If only I could find a nice warm place to grow it. (pondering here)
So what's been happening here on the farm.
Katrina is now in 7th grade. We are still schooling her at home, but she is trying this online school through Spray School District. It is really challenging for her to learn to meet the school's deadlines, which is a really good skill for her to learn.
Brandon is in 5th grade. We are homeschooling him. I have him currently working online with a company called "Time4Learning", but honestly I really can't afford the $20.00 a month fee. So I'm thinking I might just go back to using the 4-H curriculum for his schooling. I was hoping to have it easy this year with others doing the prep, planning, and grading this year. Oh well, guess I'd better trying to get my mind around it again.
We still have Splish and Splashes' two young goslings. Luke is now a little larger then Splash, but looks so much like him that I really have to watch his actions to figure out who is who. Lucy is small like Splish, and looks just like her except Splish's lobe hangs to one side due to an accident she had as a gosling where Lucy's lobe hangs evenly between her legs. There are other differences, but you really have to look them over before telling them apart. One of the biggest differences is that both Splish and Splash come right up to me and pull on my pants, follow me around and will eat out of my hands where Luke and Lucy Goosy are stand offish. Probably because Splish and Splash were hand raised and Luke and Lucy were flocked raised.
My Buckeye Pullets and Cockerel are almost fully grown. They are the biggest and broadest chickens we have. They are now seven months old, but still have not seen one egg from the pullets.
We had one of Brandon's Bantam Modern Game birds hatch, but he/she lives at a friend's house where it hatched. All four of his hens have completely stopped laying and the five of them come in at night as it is way too cold outside for their small little bodies. Also it helps keep the rooster from crowing too early in the morning and disturbing the neighbors.
Katrina had two chicks hatch from her Bantam Cochins. They both were doing great, but one morning a couple weeks ago Katrina went out and found one of the chicks had been smothered to death. It's really sweet to watch all five hens mothering the remaining chick. The chick is now half their size, and fully feathered. But on any given day you can go out and find the little one under any one of their wings. If it looses sight of it's mother, Little Red, then it just has to cry and one of the others will run over to it's rescue.
I decided to go ahead and keep the two Andalusians, the two Welsummers, and the remaining Wyandotte. They bring color and excitement to the flock. Plus they are all giving us some delicious eggs to eat. Now if they would just stop beating up on my Buckeye Cockerel, I'd put them in the same hen house with the Buckeyes.
On the bunny front...
Katrina has finally decided to do a major cut back on her Holland Lop Herd. So if anyone is interested in Holland Lops we are selling at least 12 to 14 of them at very low prices. I'm hoping to make room for a couple New Zealand Does and a trio of American Chins. I also already bought a couple Californian does that should be ready to start breeding in January. I have a Californian Buck that I'm sharing with my friend Kristen. He's housed at her place.
On the Garden Front...
I have not really put my gardens to bed yet. I've been letting the chickens and geese strip the plants of their leaves and what little fruits are left on them. I'll eventually go out and pull the remainder of the plants and see if I could cut them up and compost back into the garden. I also need to get Katrina out there to help me clean rabbit cages where I can throw their manure into the gardens as well as both kids can go out and rake the leaves to put into the gardens too.
Katrina and Brandon are both on a LEGO Robotics team, so we've been programming the robot to complete missions for the past couple of months. They go to competition on December 7th. Can't wait till it's over.
Meeko and Mia are our two young kitties. Meeko is a large kitty, weighing 10 lbs at four months old while Mia is half his size at 5 lbs at six months. They are already proving to be good mousers, and work hard at keeping my house rodent free. They are also so much fun to watch with their silly antics.
I did not do the Farmer's Market this year, but plan on making it my job this next year. This year I am participating at the new "Marketplace at the Mint". It is like a farmer's market but more like a holiday bazaar that runs every Saturday in the month of November till the 20 of December.
I am hoping to take an Aquaponics class in early December. If I can build an adequate system, I should be able to garden all year long and use much less water than traditional gardening. I plan on posting some of what I learn here soon.
Well, it's now time to put the birds to bed. How quickly the day flies by.
Yes, I played for an hour and a half on "Mindcraft" too, but then the monsters came out and killed me, over and over again. And honestly, a person can only take being killed by zombies, spiders, and creepers for so long....
I then took time to catch up on emails, well actually I only read a couple emails before I got bored with that too, so then I got caught up with my Facebook friends. I've sort of arranged to buy a couple new rabbits - New Zealand Jr. Does this next Spring from my friend Morgan. And thanks to Morgan - she's been posting about growing fodder for her rabbits (http://wild1sfodderandcom.weebly.com), and posted a great website that I think I've spent the last two hours reading and watching about growing fodder along with other small farm projects (
http://fmicrofarm.com/diyprojects/) I think I'm going to try growing fodder for both my rabbits and poultry. If only I could find a nice warm place to grow it. (pondering here)
So what's been happening here on the farm.
Katrina is now in 7th grade. We are still schooling her at home, but she is trying this online school through Spray School District. It is really challenging for her to learn to meet the school's deadlines, which is a really good skill for her to learn.
Brandon is in 5th grade. We are homeschooling him. I have him currently working online with a company called "Time4Learning", but honestly I really can't afford the $20.00 a month fee. So I'm thinking I might just go back to using the 4-H curriculum for his schooling. I was hoping to have it easy this year with others doing the prep, planning, and grading this year. Oh well, guess I'd better trying to get my mind around it again.
We still have Splish and Splashes' two young goslings. Luke is now a little larger then Splash, but looks so much like him that I really have to watch his actions to figure out who is who. Lucy is small like Splish, and looks just like her except Splish's lobe hangs to one side due to an accident she had as a gosling where Lucy's lobe hangs evenly between her legs. There are other differences, but you really have to look them over before telling them apart. One of the biggest differences is that both Splish and Splash come right up to me and pull on my pants, follow me around and will eat out of my hands where Luke and Lucy Goosy are stand offish. Probably because Splish and Splash were hand raised and Luke and Lucy were flocked raised.
My Buckeye Pullets and Cockerel are almost fully grown. They are the biggest and broadest chickens we have. They are now seven months old, but still have not seen one egg from the pullets.
We had one of Brandon's Bantam Modern Game birds hatch, but he/she lives at a friend's house where it hatched. All four of his hens have completely stopped laying and the five of them come in at night as it is way too cold outside for their small little bodies. Also it helps keep the rooster from crowing too early in the morning and disturbing the neighbors.
Katrina had two chicks hatch from her Bantam Cochins. They both were doing great, but one morning a couple weeks ago Katrina went out and found one of the chicks had been smothered to death. It's really sweet to watch all five hens mothering the remaining chick. The chick is now half their size, and fully feathered. But on any given day you can go out and find the little one under any one of their wings. If it looses sight of it's mother, Little Red, then it just has to cry and one of the others will run over to it's rescue.
I decided to go ahead and keep the two Andalusians, the two Welsummers, and the remaining Wyandotte. They bring color and excitement to the flock. Plus they are all giving us some delicious eggs to eat. Now if they would just stop beating up on my Buckeye Cockerel, I'd put them in the same hen house with the Buckeyes.
On the bunny front...
Katrina has finally decided to do a major cut back on her Holland Lop Herd. So if anyone is interested in Holland Lops we are selling at least 12 to 14 of them at very low prices. I'm hoping to make room for a couple New Zealand Does and a trio of American Chins. I also already bought a couple Californian does that should be ready to start breeding in January. I have a Californian Buck that I'm sharing with my friend Kristen. He's housed at her place.
On the Garden Front...
I have not really put my gardens to bed yet. I've been letting the chickens and geese strip the plants of their leaves and what little fruits are left on them. I'll eventually go out and pull the remainder of the plants and see if I could cut them up and compost back into the garden. I also need to get Katrina out there to help me clean rabbit cages where I can throw their manure into the gardens as well as both kids can go out and rake the leaves to put into the gardens too.
Katrina and Brandon are both on a LEGO Robotics team, so we've been programming the robot to complete missions for the past couple of months. They go to competition on December 7th. Can't wait till it's over.
Meeko and Mia are our two young kitties. Meeko is a large kitty, weighing 10 lbs at four months old while Mia is half his size at 5 lbs at six months. They are already proving to be good mousers, and work hard at keeping my house rodent free. They are also so much fun to watch with their silly antics.
I did not do the Farmer's Market this year, but plan on making it my job this next year. This year I am participating at the new "Marketplace at the Mint". It is like a farmer's market but more like a holiday bazaar that runs every Saturday in the month of November till the 20 of December.
I am hoping to take an Aquaponics class in early December. If I can build an adequate system, I should be able to garden all year long and use much less water than traditional gardening. I plan on posting some of what I learn here soon.
Well, it's now time to put the birds to bed. How quickly the day flies by.