Last Days of October

Major accomplishments for the week - for me anyway - the garlic is planted and the Winter Coop cleaned out.  Then, more rain!  It is pretty muddy around here.

Otherwise, I don't have much to report, so will just share some critter photos and call it a night.  Last week it was a turkey on the combine.  This week:

Turkey on the Cub...

Turkey in Rollie's truck...

Turkey on Silver!  Bad Turkey!!!

The pigs are hard to photograph since they always want to come right to a person, but I tried!  They sure are getting big.

Caught the does spending some time enjoying the sunshine today.

Next week - the good, the bad, and possibly the ugly of deer season opening weekend.  Until then, be well folks.

 See yah!

Fall Farm Happenings

During the two weeks since our last post, the weather has run the gamut: rain, snow, cold, warm, cloudy, sunny, windy, calm... you name it.  Just a day or two after the last post our morning chore-time was one of the most miserable yet... just above freezing, driving rain - unpleasant at any time but at 5:30 in the morning just plain nasty.  It sure made that first cup of coffee very welcome I can assure you!

The view from the milking stand has changed quite a bit.  Kevin's combine has been squeezed in - just clearing the rafters.  Due to my complaints at this obstruction, he removed a fence panel and moved the milking stand over.  I will adapt.   

You will notice the hunting blind on the wagon of course - it will soon be moved out to the woods onto a platform.  And beyond that, feasting on field, are some deer.

Getting ready for fall, the lads and the pigs have been moved to the barnyard.  The pigs are on short time these days; just a few more weeks to go.  Ranger will be moving in with Vinca and Echo around Halloween and Periwinkle will be moving in with Forest.

It will be an adjustment for Periwinkle but I think she will be glad not to have to sleep in the crate every night!

The pigs left behind some pretty big craters in the front field!

Six of the turkeys have gone to the freezer, and more are scheduled for that next month.  In the meantime, there are still ten of them roaming around the place - this one is checking out a roosting spot on the combine.

I have been spending quite a bit of my home time working on soap.  With the holidays and fall markets coming up, I need to get my inventory up.  Like my new label?

Last, Kevin is sharing a few shots from one of the trail cams.  It doesn't take the greatest pictures but they are interesting...

So that's enough for this evening.  I'm not sure if we will have a post next Sunday or not but two weeks from now I know Kevin will be posting a deer hunting report.  Until next time, be well folks.

Grey October Days

Greetings from Ole Lake Farm!

The view from the milking stand changes daily in autumn.  It seems like it's been a while since we've seen the sun for more than five minutes at a time, but at least it's not raining.  If the image seems a little hazy, that's the smoke from the wood stove drifting by.

Kevin's new (to us) combine came home yesterday.  I didn't have time to go along for the ride but when Kevin said there had been some exciting moments getting it on the trailer, I decided it was probably a good thing that I wasn't there!

Rollie says he can't drive it - it's too high -  he might get a nosebleed!

The boy scout troop trailer came home with new signage on it.  Rollie generously donated this trailer to the troop years ago when he retired from his construction business. From then until now, it's been unmarked.  Recently the family of five brothers, all Eagle Scouts from the troop, lost their dad.  The troop had meant a lot to them and they donated memorial money to the troop who then used that money for the signage on the trailer.  It looks so nice and is very meaningful to everyone associated with it.

 Kevin found more mutant vegetables growing out of the composting manure pile.  One of them looks like cross between a Carnival acorn squash and something else - I think I'll cook it up and see what it's like.

The turkeys used to be two little flocks but have lately joined forces and roam around together.  Quite a few of the youngsters are toms so there is a lot of gobbling and strutting going on around here these days.  Some of them will be going to the butcher next week with the young roosters - how many depends on how accessible they are when it is time to catch them.  Some have taken to roosting on the roof of the coop.  I won't mind having a few less of them - while I do enjoy the turkeys they eat a LOT and poop a LOT - and ALL OVER the place (no complaints from the Labrador tribe though - dogs are so disgusting!). 

You can see Dolly in the picture, looking rather unimpressed.  She has given up on her eggs - maybe she figured out that it's just not the right time of year for hatching eggs anyway.

That's about it for the farm update this evening.  Until next time, be well friends.