Homestead update

It has been a VERY long time since I've done any updates, and with my FB break, I have time!  :)

Our biggest projects right now are trimming up our fence rows.... we have had a cow get out a FEW times, thankfully he was a bottle fed baby so he was pretty easy to get back in, but we have 2 that would NOT be so easy, so we went to work on really really getting the fence row mowed, trimmed, chopped down.  It was BAD!

Our next project we are working on is the chicken house.   This was not a written down planned job, but 2 days ago we found a chicken with it's neck/head gone laying on the front step of the chicken house.   Only one and some are pretty sure they smelled skunk too.... so began "Lock down the chicken house 101".   To which I saw many hands "on deck" and began thinking of many more things we NEED to do to our chicken house.... so the list began and was tackled.   We put back up the electric netting fence, not sure if it will REALLY make a difference?

 

We then also put up some small pieces of chicken wire around the bottom lattice. 

 

 

We also cleaned the inside out-- EWWWW  yes that was a it of a ugly job, but Zachary can now run the mower/tractor with a small wagon on the back so it wasn't as bad as previous years.

 

With that cleaned we then put some chicken wire at the base of the inside of the chicken house, chickens are always going under there any laying eggs....and it is very difficult to get them out.

 

This was a "trap" door entrance that had been closed off, but we re-opened it, hoping to keep NOSEY goats OUT of here (they like chicken food too I guess).  Yes, a few kids have thought it was a pretty neat sliding board!! 



This week we will also be FINALLY painting the chicken house.  We do not own this house, we rent for a very nice price.   Sometimes it is hard to invest in someone else's property, and yet sometimes it feels good to make improvements!

 

*We also replaced the chicken food container to a BRUTE plastic container, we had a metal one, but the chickens perched on it and their ..... ummmmm  secreations made it rust through. 

 

 

 

Next on the homestead TO DO list after the chicken house is painted is-- the goats.   Fall will be here before you know it and we need to get some goat things ready.    We have really not done well with their "extras".  Mainly kelp, we need to get them some kelp and some black sunflower seeds free choice, so they can be healthy and ready for their next pregnancy and kidding.    We also need to invest in a good buck.  

 

We are probably the worlds WORST buck keeper.  We have a terrible time keeping him away from the girls till "its time".   We have a terrible time with his smell!!  But this year we need to keep some kids to raise up, so we'd like to get a papered Lamancha buck.    We are down to just 2 Lamancha does, Bailey who is getting older, but still has atleast 2-3 good years left, and IC who whew weee it is a good thing she produces a LOT of good milk and milks out easily because she is not the friendliest goat.  She is not mean, just MOODY!

 

Bailey is the black and white doe...  IC is the brownish one NOT wanting her picture taken.

Bailey is everyone's favorite, mostly because she puts up with them.  lol    Just like her mama-- her mama was the most calm, patient goat I ever ever had..   Miss BIG MAMA very much!



After the goats are done, it won't be long, just need to get a plan in order.... is our first COW butchering.   No, we are doing doing it ourselves, but we have been SOO blessed this year.   Last year we bought a Maine-Anjou from a guy Jason works with I believe she was about 6 months old.   Well she was just getting big and "tame" to Zachary when the guy asked to buy her back because he lost a lot of his female cows and really needed to get things back up and running, so he sold us 2 steers in her place.   They are doing pretty good.   Well also this year we had 2 dairy steers GIVEN to us!  One was by a friend who needed the guy off his farm because his mama was not letting down her milk with him around.   The other came from a lady who gave us a free dairy buck and said she really really needed to get rid of her animals if we would take this steer we could have HIM for free too (so of course IN THE VAN he went!!)   We joke and wonder what the Lord knows that we don't that we need 4 cows!!   Well this August the poor pasture has taken a beating from 4 steers, so we are going to butcher the 2 dairy ones, because really they wont get THAT much bigger.  The Maine Anjou will get bigger though.   I'd like to be self-sufficient with cows, but I don't see that happening right now, so once we butcher all these steer we will have to buy more next year, maybe a female so we can reproduce our OWN calves.   Time will tell.  Right now we are just so excited to have our FIRST FREEZER cow from our OWN pasture.   Zachary is happy he does NOT have to butcher them...he has grown close to them.  

Here you can see how low the pasture is.  We do have 2 pastures, but I have not let the dairy cows over because they were bottle fed, and have horns and get a little too pushy sometimes and the kids have GREAT fun out in the goat pasture, yet mama worries when those cows are over there.     Once they are butchered the black ones will be rotated over, they do NOT have time for the kids.... they will stay far away.

Last by not least.... I am planning and researching and planning and researching.... because Zachary is ready to start up his meat rabbit business again.   We have 3 new rabbits in the wings, we have cages, BUT I really have this vision of setting these rabbits up in a COLONY STYLE home.   I think it is so much more natural and will just be AWESOME.    There is a lot to consider and I am researching and researching and researching....  So while we get the other animals ready for fall/winter I hope to have a plan for these rabbits.  I do think with out our EVER EXPANDING cat population it would be easier....but this if farm life....  :)

These are 2 females we have had, but they have not been bred in a while, so we will try soon and if they do not have babies (kits) we'll butcher them and start over with the 2 new ones. 

We have individual cages like this, but can I just say-- what a terrible life...  ughhh  The above picture is the entire length of our chicken house and can hold a few rabbits, so that is why we have them there.  We do have 12 cages like the ones below, but I can't hardly stand to see rabbits in there....

This square of our "goat" barn I would like to transform in to a rabbit colony even with an outside section.... but we'll see, Jason (my steady man with much more wisdom than my fly by night ideas) is patiently thinking this through WITH me.  :)   Hopefully by next spring it is UP and running somewhere.  If money were new object a storage shed with a fenced in pen (covered on top) would be the perfect set up, but alas-- MONEY is an OBJECT! 

Lastly a few garden pictures and what can I say-- I am not a gardener, don't even really love it-- want to love it-- want to do better but--


*blush* these are watermelons, I was super late letting Zachary plant his watermelon.  

These are crooked neck squash

These are zucchini and in the bed beans-- I have not had very good luck with beans this year.

These are delicious yellow "pear" type tomatoes....

My tomato plants are so heavy that I've had to tie some of the cages to help them stay UP!

Helping the sprinkler water the garden!!  :)

Our new mint patch, we have chocolate mint, apple mint and pear mint.... we have loved the fresh tea!!  

Alas if you think it is all work and no play-- there is play!

Riding in the wagon is lots of fun!!

Making forts in the pasture is also great fun.  
HOPING next year this will be a SMALL pig pasture for 2 pastured pigs!!  :)

Cooling off... the most awesome part of our "farm"-- the spring-- it really is a blessing...the animals can drink at THEIR leisure.  Last week it was almost dry, in 3 days it filled back up!!  SO thankful!

Playing in the dirt.