Pig and Turkey Adventures

Snow has arrived!

We knew it was coming and wanted to make sure all the critters were properly sheltered.  Penelope and the poults have been resistant to moving indoors so finally we had to force the issue.  Thursday evening we slunk out to the garden in the dark armed with fish landing nets.  It was pretty traumatizing for the turkeys but at least they are indoors.  I have them locked in the summer coop and will keep them incarcerated for a week or so before letting them out again.  Hopefully they will imprint on the little building as home.

Now the pigs - they sort of moved themselves.  Earlier in the week they went missing - their fence was laid flat.  After a bit of a search, Kevin found them over the hill north of the house at the edge of the the swamp.  Usually when they get out they are easily led back to their pen with a bucket of feed, but not this time.  They came as far as the front of the shop and stopped there.  Kevin had to put some fence panels together and "tow" them to get them moving so he just took them to where their winter quarters are, partly tucked under the haybarn roof. 

 The size difference is quite noticeable.  We've definitely had health problems with the pigs this year and three of the four are much smaller than they should be at this point.  On the up side, they are alive and seem to be recovered and growing again. 

The new pig pen enclosed a large mound of really old hay that Kevin hauled out of the hay barn earlier this summer.  It's been composting for a few months and the pigs are really enjoying digging into it.

Deer hunting season is almost upon us so the next two or three posts will be hunting updates from Kevin. Be safe and be well friends.

Random October

Subtitle:  A little of this and of that...

You may recall my post a couple of weeks ago.  I was crabby about all of the nasty insects on the laundry that was hanging on the clothesline; I described my efforts to removed them.  The post script to that story is that although I was able to shake most of the critters off of our clothes, I did not get them all.  I found a couple of the beasts on the INSIDE of my pants AT WORK, A WEEK LATER!!!  Ugh!

Let the randomness begin:

If someone calls you from my phone and meows... it's isn't me trying to be funny:

Kevin and Rollie ground feed for the pigs on Tuesday - they had a lot of helpers with the clean-up

and Kevin's hair ended up even whiter than it already is!

Penelope's poults are getting pretty big these days but they continue to be quite shy.

It was chicken moving weekend.  I have mentioned this event quite often over the years.  Each spring the hens and resident rooster move to the Summer Coop, then in the fall they move back to the Winter Coop.  It's hard to get photos of this because we all have our hands full of unhappy poultry, but Kurt did manage to get a couple this time:

Before the move - a sort of creepy shot inside of the Summer Coop:

And Kevin carrying a bird or two to the lit-up Winter Coop.

And there you have it - Random October.  Be well friends.

October happenings.

Another typical workweek has gone by followed by another busy weekend.  Kevin had the Scouts out for Flowers Funny Farm - an annual October event.  They camp on the other side of the woods so I don't see much of them.  Pretty quiet here so I get a little more done than usual.  Two batches of soap are in the molds, lots of laundry is done (no bugs this week, we finally have cooler weather!) and  I put in some garden time.  My main goal was to clear one of the beds to put in some garlic.  I did accomplish that with a little help from my friends - the feathered kinds.  There wasn't anyone around to take our picture, but my hens were such enthusiastic helpers that I had to be careful not to step on them as I forked over the bed!

I also got the pie pumpkins and squash out of the garden and into the shelter of the garage.  I will be cooking and freezing them over the next month or so. 

 The Carnival squash look too pretty to eat - each one is a little piece of art.

This big pumpkin is one from the Scout patch  It had escaped into the sunflowers but I found it in time for it to be sold.

I will share a picture from the greenhouse.  I am really looking forward to having my own fresh lettuce again - pretty soon.  Rollie has replaced the hail-damaged roof panels - Thanks Rollie!!!

More of Rollie's work - he has sided the shed where my sister Carolyn's camper and porch used to sit (it was just a roof).  At one time I was thinking new goat barn, but better yet, it will be housing some equipment and we can then remodel and enlarge the does area in the corner of the pole barn.  That will be very nice.

I hope you all are enjoying autumn - too bad it is such a short season. 

Be well friends.

Back from Vacation and ... Invasion of the Dreaded Beetle!

I am pretty sure that I whined a bit last year when the Asian Lady Beetles showed up - sorry, but I have to whine again.  They arrived yesterday and in such large numbers they could not be ignored.  If you have not experienced these insects for  yourself - you need to know that not only do they smell bad, they also bite.

I had to remove the clothes from the line in the late afternoon - normally a pleasant task on a sunny fall day, but not this time.  These nasty little beasts love to be in the sun and were hanging all over the wash and the garage wall, as well as just filling the air.  I had to resort to snatching a piece of clothing off the line and then dashing to the shade of the nearby pine tree. Then the garment had to be vigorously flipped to remove the creatures before being folded and dropped in the basket.  This procedure was then repeated for every item of the four loads of wash on the lines.  Tedious. 

We had a very nice little vacation up in the Bayfield/Washburn/Ashland area of Wisconsin.  We relaxed (although not as much as we thought we would), hiked, ate out (a lot), shopped, and even got to visit with some area farmers.  Here are a couple of photos from a hike we took to the sea caves.

 

 

Back at home, the pullets are starting to lay a few eggs and are now sporting blue leg bands.  The older hens will soon be joining them in the winter coop.

The wheat and rye are up and looking good.  This weekend was just beautiful in these parts (despite the wretched bugs!). 

And that is about enough for this week.  Until next time, be well friends!