Back To Normal

After many days of not heating the house, even after the kids had a day playing in the swimming pool, we're back to normal Minnesota weather. It sure feels damp and cold after the unseasonably warm weather we had at the beginning of March. This year it's in like a lamb and out like a lion, I guess. This means throwing wood in again. The kids so enjoy that! ;)

I've been just really busy lately, so haven't been able to keep up with all of your posts as much as I'd like. It has been good for my family to have me OFF the computer though, so I don't know how often I'll be "visiting" for a while.


Homestead Diary Update:

3-28-12: After two weeks of sitting on her eggs without moving so much as a muscle, the broody hen abandoned her 11 eggs. What a dissapointment for the kids! I'm wondering if it could be the eggs she was sitting on weren't fertile and she could tell. Our rooster is only a little bantam and he has 16 hens, most of them full size, to keep him busy. I think we're going to get an incubator and find some fertile eggs. That means ME being mama instead of the hen, so I'm not as thrilled about it. I was looking forward to getting out of that job after the last ones.

3-29-12: I decided the goats looked a bit copper deficient, so Copasure'd them this afternoon. I hadn't thought copper would be something they'd be low on here, since there's a lot of copper in the ground. However, I found out that if there's a lot of iron in the water (which there is), it bonds with the copper and leaves the body that way. I wanted to be sure they had what they needed for healthy babies. The bonus is that the copper oxide particles help expell stomach worms, and there were a few eggs in their last fecal exams. This crazy weather we've been having is really messing with a lot of herd management techniques that usually work well for parasite controll. There is so far no such thing as a clean, dry pasture to put the girls on. Many years we would have still been in the deep freeze at least half way through March, and the little nasties would be frozen too. I'm glad we're getting the needed moisture, but I look forward to it drying up a bit so I can move the girls to grass. I'd really rather not have to use a chemical dewormer after kidding if I can help it.

Counting Blessings #229 - 238

- 60 degrees on March 18th!
- thunderstorms in March
- the smell of dirt
- happy chickens
- broody hen!
- new bunnies
- pregnant goat(s) Click Here
- sound of children playing outside
- robbins back
- river rushing

The following is part of an e-mail that I sent a fellow blogger (and neighbor) today. It pretty much sums up why I've been lacking on posts lately. I've been feeling a bit empty on ideas.

...However, my posts have been sparse as well. I'm getting a bit bored by winter and school. That probably sounds terrible, especially admitting I'm bored with school. I don't think it's school so much as the fact that that's all that's happening lately. And, I know I'm bored with looking at these same walls so much. You have to sit on your butt a lot, acting very patient as they drop their pencil for the tenth time, while teaching kids. I welcome that in the late fall, after all the work of harvest and butchering. Not so much now. Not exactly practicing thankfulness, am I?...

I did, however, just finish a book that was depressing and inspiring at the same time. As We Are Now, by May Sarton, is a short novel about the plight of the elderly. It's a peek into the mind of a woman approaching the end of her life, feeling unloved and unwanted. It's a hard read, but worth it. The thoughts the author opened my mind to are a whirling today. Now, I want to soak up love, touch, color, service to others, work and play...memories, I guess, saving them up for a day when my physical usefulness to others may be over. Saving up "family" for a day when I might be spending a lot of time alone. I feel grateful that I have children around me now. All too soon they'll be off living lives of their own.
There are other things whirling around in my brain because of the book as well. My own grandparents, the elders in our community. Who touches them? Can you imagine not being touched for days and days together? I am constantly touched, hugged and kissed by sticky little fingers and faces, loved on by husband, prayed over by family and friend alike. How many people sit alone in home or apartment, or nursing home with no family near? How many memories and how much wisdom passes silently out of this world, forgotten forever?

Well, now wasn't that just what you expected to read here today? ;)

Homestead Diary 2-23-12 through 3-4-12

3-23-12 Did fecals on the goats (Starlight and Cupcake). Only two eggs on each slide. Still using the herbal dewormer.

3-28-12 Brought doe (rabbit) to the vet (Cherry; DX2). She appeared to have a mite problem that needed attention. Turned out that it may be mange. Not sure where she could have picked that up since she's never our of her all wire hutch hung up on the wall of the rabbit barn. Got .25cc Ivermectin SQ. I need to give her another injection on the 7th. Praying it doesn't spread.

3-3-12 Deep bedding finally reached the point of "deal with now" in the chicken and goat barns. Hauled out about 10 wheelbarrow loads. This fall, I want to wait longer to begin the deep bedding, to see if I can make it until spring is really here before having to deal with it. Last fall I began letting it build up in October, I think.

I've been working in the storage room of the barn lately. We're trying to get it cleaned out so we can build two more stalls for goats there. One will be for kidding, and the other for the future herd sires.
I've been hauling the canning jars out of there so we can store them on the new shelves in the garage. Thanks to Dan for the hard work. Now I have a place to store all the canning stuff. No more frantic searching! :) I've also been moving hay bales, trying to consolidate now that there are fewer bales. I've still got a LOT of stuff to move before Dan can start building the stalls.

That's about it for farm stuff. The rest of life continues as usual. :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!