wwFor the past few days one of my buff orpington hens has gone broody. This basically means that she has decided to sit on her eggs for the purpose of hatching them. I am hopeful that they are currently developing away happily and the end result will be a clutch of peepers that have never gone through the rigors of hatchery practices of being shoved into a cardboard box and shipped halfway across the country via the postal service. While I've been lucky and never had a sick, injured or (worst of all) dead chick arrive at our post office, I can't help but wonder what those first few days are like for them as they are jostled about on the trucks that will carry them to their new homes.
Unfortunately we are not set up to allow her to have the separate private area she needs to properly "set" on her eggs, and because of this it is not safe to leave the eggs in the regular nest box any longer than absolutely necessary. I think that might be a fun project for next year, though. As for this year, that translates to the use of an incubator. I have never in my life attempted this, so I have no idea if we will have success or a smelly depressing mess at the end of it all. But I thought, why not share this first experience with the cyberworld?
Today after I finish this entry, I will be setting up the incubator (we purchased a Hovabator with automatic egg turner) to make sure the temperature is stable and humidity is controlled. Then, if all goes well, I will be pulling eggs tomorrow and putting them in. Michael was kind enough to volunteer to put a web cam on the incubator, thus allowing us our own live peep show. Wish us luck on this new endeavor. I would sure love to be able to breed our own chickens here, thus adding one more step on the chain of raising my animals as compassionately as possible.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
What a week it's been! I came up to have our annual birthday party in our cabin in Gatlinburg. Every February I get together with friends from all all different eras of my life to have some completely immature fun. It's a real treat for me to see my closest friends, some of whom never met before we started the annual gathering, all in one place having giggle fits, cooking fabulous meals and generally acting like teenagers together for a few days.
This year was no different. Susan Beasley came all the way from Atlanta, and Sarah Glass drove all the way from Knoxville just to see us for an hour. What a compliment! It was quite touching and made me feel very special.
All was well until the last day of the week, when our plumbing went KABLOOEY! I assumed it was just due to a septic tank overdue for a pump. But of course nothing is that simple. The tank did need to be pumped, so that was timely. But the real problem was the tree roots that had grown into the line. The septic tank guys, who were extremely helpful and worked their butts off, managed to clear the line. I'd recommend them to anyone in the Gatlinburg/Sevierville area. Look up Romines Septic if ever you need some help. But unfortunately, so much pressure had built up behind the roots that the pipes under the house burst. For days all our water had been draining directly into the river!! I'm just thankful we use all plant-based cleaning and bathing products. But I shudder to think of the raw sewage that must have made its way into the water before we caught the problem. Sheesh, a person does all they can to be as environmentally responsible as possible and this happens!
Though I was able to line up a plumber willing to fix the problem, but it still leaves me waterless for almost a full week now. He can't be out to look at it until Monday, so it looks like my quick trip is turning into quite the extended stay.
What I feel the most guilty about is leaving Michael to have to deal with all the farm duties on his own. Not to mention the poor guy just sprained his ankle a few days ago. What a mess! Fortunately he does have friends who are taking up the call and helping him with those daily husbandry duties. I'd say there's a major dinner party to say thank you in our future, if ever I get back! I'm looking forward to a real meal after so many mass market microwave meals! I can't believe I used to eat this crap regularly. No wonder I felt like doody all the time!
In the meantime I'm knitting like a maniac, playing World of Warcraft and watching BBC through Netflix on demand. I'm glad Monarch of the Glen is so addictive.
This year was no different. Susan Beasley came all the way from Atlanta, and Sarah Glass drove all the way from Knoxville just to see us for an hour. What a compliment! It was quite touching and made me feel very special.
All was well until the last day of the week, when our plumbing went KABLOOEY! I assumed it was just due to a septic tank overdue for a pump. But of course nothing is that simple. The tank did need to be pumped, so that was timely. But the real problem was the tree roots that had grown into the line. The septic tank guys, who were extremely helpful and worked their butts off, managed to clear the line. I'd recommend them to anyone in the Gatlinburg/Sevierville area. Look up Romines Septic if ever you need some help. But unfortunately, so much pressure had built up behind the roots that the pipes under the house burst. For days all our water had been draining directly into the river!! I'm just thankful we use all plant-based cleaning and bathing products. But I shudder to think of the raw sewage that must have made its way into the water before we caught the problem. Sheesh, a person does all they can to be as environmentally responsible as possible and this happens!
Though I was able to line up a plumber willing to fix the problem, but it still leaves me waterless for almost a full week now. He can't be out to look at it until Monday, so it looks like my quick trip is turning into quite the extended stay.
What I feel the most guilty about is leaving Michael to have to deal with all the farm duties on his own. Not to mention the poor guy just sprained his ankle a few days ago. What a mess! Fortunately he does have friends who are taking up the call and helping him with those daily husbandry duties. I'd say there's a major dinner party to say thank you in our future, if ever I get back! I'm looking forward to a real meal after so many mass market microwave meals! I can't believe I used to eat this crap regularly. No wonder I felt like doody all the time!
In the meantime I'm knitting like a maniac, playing World of Warcraft and watching BBC through Netflix on demand. I'm glad Monarch of the Glen is so addictive.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Ready for our close up
Michael got on Woot.com and found a super deal on a hand held video camera. So I am going to entertain myself today by videotaping some of the routine and will put it up on You Tube. It's a busy busy day as I get ready for a road trip to our house in Gatlinburg for some R & R with some friends.
I finished my first sets of knitted coasters using bamboo fibers that I'd feel comfortable selling and put them up on eBay. Already got one set sold (thanks Bonnie!). I'll be taking them with me to the Cooper Young Community Farmers Market this Spring with the idea of selling them as wedding gifts. So it looks like I'll have at least 2 items there even if everything else is a big fat goose egg. I started a baby hat last night. If it works out I'll sell them as well. Scarves galore come Fall of course, but I am concentrating on what's seasonal right now.
The plastic for the greenhouse was dropped in the mail yesterday. I also tripled my pelargonium order after realizing I had nowhere near enough plants to comfortably attempt to propagate them myself. Add the seed order to it and I'll be a busy busy bee in a few weeks time. Ahhh spring! It may be that the first garden is a complete disaster, but I figure it's better than not trying at all!
I've got my materials together to build a vermicompost bin as well, which I plan on doing tonight if all other stuff gets done. But first, it's off to make some movie magic. Eat your heart out, Spielberg! Just as an aside thought I would like to point out that when I misspelled Spielberg it popped up in my spell checker. Now that is what I call famous.
I finished my first sets of knitted coasters using bamboo fibers that I'd feel comfortable selling and put them up on eBay. Already got one set sold (thanks Bonnie!). I'll be taking them with me to the Cooper Young Community Farmers Market this Spring with the idea of selling them as wedding gifts. So it looks like I'll have at least 2 items there even if everything else is a big fat goose egg. I started a baby hat last night. If it works out I'll sell them as well. Scarves galore come Fall of course, but I am concentrating on what's seasonal right now.
The plastic for the greenhouse was dropped in the mail yesterday. I also tripled my pelargonium order after realizing I had nowhere near enough plants to comfortably attempt to propagate them myself. Add the seed order to it and I'll be a busy busy bee in a few weeks time. Ahhh spring! It may be that the first garden is a complete disaster, but I figure it's better than not trying at all!
I've got my materials together to build a vermicompost bin as well, which I plan on doing tonight if all other stuff gets done. But first, it's off to make some movie magic. Eat your heart out, Spielberg! Just as an aside thought I would like to point out that when I misspelled Spielberg it popped up in my spell checker. Now that is what I call famous.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Adventures in Rodeo
Boy was yesterday a PITA. Eliot, our farm helper, was moving some stuff around and left a gate open before leaving the farm to run some errands. Unfortunately the gate he left open was a poor choice indeed as it was to the horse pasture.
Michael and I had just sat down to lunch when a knock came on the door. It was one of our neighbors, who told us all of my horses were out and wandering around on the roadside. So much for that hot lunch! I had also planned to go to Memphis to my first Tibetan language class at my sangha house, Pema Karpo Meditation Center. Good thing I hadn't!
I grabbed a bucket of feed (mostly out of habit, my horses are catch-able in any circumstance), Icon's halter and headed out the door. Michael drove me in the truck bed about 1/2 mile down the road where, sure enough, all the kids were having the time of their lives grazing by the side of the road. Though Icon did look a little relieved when I called him. I got the distinct impression that he'd realized he was quite lost, and wasn't sure what the next step was. He was all too happy to come up to me and be haltered and shown the way home.
When you have a group of horses loose, and there's only one of you, it helps if you know which horse is dominant (in my case it's Icon). Usually it's not too hard to get everyone to follow your dominant horse, so all you have to do is catch him/her and the others follow like ducks following their mom. Usually. They've gotten out once before and this technique worked like a charm. However things were a bit different this time, as some dipwad in a truck decided that we were taking too long and therefore it was a prudent decision to drive his truck through the group assuming that they would calmly part like a herd of sheep to let him through. Going 30, I might add. For the record, if you are wondering, that assumption is incorrect. Next thing I know I've got about 3800 pounds of horseflesh thundering around me in a blind panic, along with the 1700 pounds worth of Ikey at the end of a rope. Of course, followed by about 250 pounds of Badonkadonkey bringing up the rear. I have to admit that, even in the stress of that moment, he really is still comically cute when seen running with 2 belgian mares. I mean seriously, look:
After a couple of detours into our neighbors' yards I was able to get the girls' attention back to Icon, and finally all of them resumed their duck-like follow-the-leader formation. I am just so grateful that of all the neighbors who came out into their yards and onto their porches to watch the show that none of them decided to try and participate, or that no kids were out playing in areas that might have been in the path of the girls as they galloped past.
I am a bit flabbergasted that people who have lived in the country all their lives could be that unmindful of their surroundings. Though to be fair, most of them have cows rather than horses, and cows really do just sort of stand around stupidly. But let that be a lesson to my dear readers (all 2 or 3 of them). If you are one day driving along in the country and see horses out loose on the side of the road with one lone person leading one, followed by another in a truck bringing up the rear and frantically waving to you to stop, please do so! Not just for the safety of the horses and their handler, but for yourself as well! Trust me, if your pickup gets in an argument with a draft horse, the pickup loses.
Michael and I had just sat down to lunch when a knock came on the door. It was one of our neighbors, who told us all of my horses were out and wandering around on the roadside. So much for that hot lunch! I had also planned to go to Memphis to my first Tibetan language class at my sangha house, Pema Karpo Meditation Center. Good thing I hadn't!
I grabbed a bucket of feed (mostly out of habit, my horses are catch-able in any circumstance), Icon's halter and headed out the door. Michael drove me in the truck bed about 1/2 mile down the road where, sure enough, all the kids were having the time of their lives grazing by the side of the road. Though Icon did look a little relieved when I called him. I got the distinct impression that he'd realized he was quite lost, and wasn't sure what the next step was. He was all too happy to come up to me and be haltered and shown the way home.
When you have a group of horses loose, and there's only one of you, it helps if you know which horse is dominant (in my case it's Icon). Usually it's not too hard to get everyone to follow your dominant horse, so all you have to do is catch him/her and the others follow like ducks following their mom. Usually. They've gotten out once before and this technique worked like a charm. However things were a bit different this time, as some dipwad in a truck decided that we were taking too long and therefore it was a prudent decision to drive his truck through the group assuming that they would calmly part like a herd of sheep to let him through. Going 30, I might add. For the record, if you are wondering, that assumption is incorrect. Next thing I know I've got about 3800 pounds of horseflesh thundering around me in a blind panic, along with the 1700 pounds worth of Ikey at the end of a rope. Of course, followed by about 250 pounds of Badonkadonkey bringing up the rear. I have to admit that, even in the stress of that moment, he really is still comically cute when seen running with 2 belgian mares. I mean seriously, look:
After a couple of detours into our neighbors' yards I was able to get the girls' attention back to Icon, and finally all of them resumed their duck-like follow-the-leader formation. I am just so grateful that of all the neighbors who came out into their yards and onto their porches to watch the show that none of them decided to try and participate, or that no kids were out playing in areas that might have been in the path of the girls as they galloped past.I am a bit flabbergasted that people who have lived in the country all their lives could be that unmindful of their surroundings. Though to be fair, most of them have cows rather than horses, and cows really do just sort of stand around stupidly. But let that be a lesson to my dear readers (all 2 or 3 of them). If you are one day driving along in the country and see horses out loose on the side of the road with one lone person leading one, followed by another in a truck bringing up the rear and frantically waving to you to stop, please do so! Not just for the safety of the horses and their handler, but for yourself as well! Trust me, if your pickup gets in an argument with a draft horse, the pickup loses.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Amusing myself with a camera
It's forty-five degrees, what's up with all the white stuff that makes my feet cold?!
No grass, no bugs, cold feet. Man, winter sucks!
I am totally queen of the stump!
Badonkadonkey, Head of SecurityThursday, February 18, 2010
Greenhouse is shaping up
I'll be sad to see our farm help start his new job, but I'm thrilled for him that he got one in this economy. Eliot has been our employee for over a year now and has been absolutely invaluable. My physical weakness and lack of knowledge of all things mechanical coupled with Michael's illness has made it all too clear that homesteading is not for the faint of heart, nerve or body. It's easy to see why the farmers of "olden times" had fifty seven billion kids. It wasn't for lack of birth control, it was for need of farm hands!
Anyway, Eliot came out yesterday along with our friends from Oak Hill Farm and we managed to put the green house hoops up by the end of the evening. Or rather, Eliot did it and I hindered him on multiple occasions as I attempted to be useful. I did however, swing a sledgehammer with accuracy and strength enough to put one of the posts in ground. One of the 10. Eliot did the others. All of them. On his own. Sigh. Being old and weak sucks sometimes. So here are a few pictures of the deed being done. And yes, that's me in the coveralls. Contrary to popular belief, I actually do work. On occasion. Just not all that competently.
Here you see T and Eliot driving the base posts into the ground.
T and me securing the hoop in the ground pole
T's daughter supervising the project
The finished skeleton!
If farm life has taught me anything, it has taught me that patience is required. Not that I have any patience, mind you. I just know that I should have it. I'm a list checker-offer kind of person, and I tend to get a little overwhelmed and frustrated when something takes longer than a few hours to finish. But farm life is not like that. There's no project that is finished in a few hours, crossed off the list and then you're done forevermore. Nope, it's a never ending project that you are never "finished" with. Something is always in need of repair, something is always growing or in need of planting in order to start growing, something needs harvesting or it will go kaput, something needs feeding or it will starve. The list goes on and on. And in the meantime you have to juggle those day-to-day demands of your time with the long term projects like fencing a new pasture or adding to a chicken coop. Or starting a blog, for that matter. But as of now I wouldn't trade it for the world! What a far cry from my dreams of Broadway as a college kid, huh?
Here is the spot staked out where the greenhouse was going. Note the snow is STILL on the ground even though it's in the high forties for the third day in a row. Uh-NOY-ying!
Anyway, Eliot came out yesterday along with our friends from Oak Hill Farm and we managed to put the green house hoops up by the end of the evening. Or rather, Eliot did it and I hindered him on multiple occasions as I attempted to be useful. I did however, swing a sledgehammer with accuracy and strength enough to put one of the posts in ground. One of the 10. Eliot did the others. All of them. On his own. Sigh. Being old and weak sucks sometimes. So here are a few pictures of the deed being done. And yes, that's me in the coveralls. Contrary to popular belief, I actually do work. On occasion. Just not all that competently.
Here you see T and Eliot driving the base posts into the ground.
T and me securing the hoop in the ground pole
T's daughter supervising the project
The finished skeleton!Anyway, the skeleton of the greenhouse is now up. Next up is framing the door, followed by mulching the floor and covering the whole thing with plastic. I have high hopes that this will be done in time for the pelargoniums I ordered to arrive from . I'm starting small with only fourteen plants, but I figure it's best to take it slow and get a feel for things before I go headlong into becoming overwhelmed. Besides, I've got to get the chicken coop ready for the new additions to the family and that will take up quite a bit of time if I'm to be ready by May.
If farm life has taught me anything, it has taught me that patience is required. Not that I have any patience, mind you. I just know that I should have it. I'm a list checker-offer kind of person, and I tend to get a little overwhelmed and frustrated when something takes longer than a few hours to finish. But farm life is not like that. There's no project that is finished in a few hours, crossed off the list and then you're done forevermore. Nope, it's a never ending project that you are never "finished" with. Something is always in need of repair, something is always growing or in need of planting in order to start growing, something needs harvesting or it will go kaput, something needs feeding or it will starve. The list goes on and on. And in the meantime you have to juggle those day-to-day demands of your time with the long term projects like fencing a new pasture or adding to a chicken coop. Or starting a blog, for that matter. But as of now I wouldn't trade it for the world! What a far cry from my dreams of Broadway as a college kid, huh?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Poor Floyd!
Not a good day for the kids. I went outside to do the morning routine, reveling in a day finally filled with sun. I went in to collect the eggs and make sure everyone had food and fresh water and was immediately confronted by Floyd who has a horrible case of frostbite on his comb! He stared at me with his beady birdy eyes accusingly. So Michael and I replaced the tarp on one window of the coop with clear plastic to allow for more light and provide a stronger wind break. We also installed a third heat lamp over the roosts. I've no idea why he managed to go through those horrible ice storms, snows and subfreezing temps for so long but suddenly got frostbite one night. He's pretty sure I did it to him deliberately though.
I did take some great pictures of the girls enjoying their first dust bath (more like mud, as wet as it is) in the sun in what feels like weeks and weeks. They got a big kick out of it. I'll see if I can't get em up tonight.
I did take some great pictures of the girls enjoying their first dust bath (more like mud, as wet as it is) in the sun in what feels like weeks and weeks. They got a big kick out of it. I'll see if I can't get em up tonight.
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