A post from both of us this week

First, Kevin gets his two-cents worth in:

What a difference a week can make when it comes to hunting.  Kent and Kellen flew in from Cheyenne on Tuesday and did see some deer, nothing with antlers. Kellen wanted to be a little selective on his second deer.  Well, it got to Saturday with just seeing fawns.  They did see some deer, and Kellen did shoot at one but did not get it.  But Kellen was able to participate in the “Beaver Dam” drive on state land and Kent was able to make his famous walk in the woods next to the road.  They were not productive, but the next generation of hunters at Ole Lake Farm got a taste of the “good old days”.  This weekend Tim and Nick returned to help fill some stands.  After seeing a whole bunch of deer last weekend, this weekend kind of shut down.  We did see deer, but with only Kellen having an antlerless tag, we did not see any bucks. We still have 3 buck tags to fill with 7 days of the season left.  We are all pretty “sat out”, so while there may be a little more sitting yet this season, it probably won’t be much.  So that is the deer hunting report for this past week, and I will let you know how it all ends up next weekend.  

Ah, now my turn... two weeks to catch-up on.

I don't do much with the deer hunting myself, other than as support staff.  A ride here, some assistance with meat wrapping on occasion, some cooking.  This year though, I claimed the fat tallow from the deer.  I have rendered down one batch, and have another big batch to do yet.  I plan to make soap with it this winter.

Mother Nature has not favored us with snow yet, or even very cold weather really.  We had been waiting for the on-and-off rain to stop, and when it did out came the combine and the sunflowers were finally harvested.  Ardis recorded the event on her camera, but getting those photos from her memory card into my computer has proved to be problematic.  Anyway, the sunflowers were sort of an experimental thing here at the farm, from the planting with our old corn planter to the cultivating and the harvest.  We did get some sunflower seed and a fair bit landed on the ground for the wild critters to enjoy.  Rollie and Kevin now have an idea about how the combine works with this crop, and next time will go better.  The pigs (yep, they are still with us) are getting to eat most of the seed.  What's left will get mixed into the does' kibble.

Rollie is not only our farmhand, but our handyman too.  He hung this door on the winter coop recently... I really like it and the old door was disintegrating anyway.   It came from friend Leslie's house... I thank you both, Rollie and Leslie, and so does my poultry!

 

Pretty snazzy door for a chicken coop, and it lets in a lot of light.  Someday I am going to get the shutter put back together...  maybe...

I have taken advantage of the weather to be able to harvest what is left in the garden when I have time to, instead of having to try to do everything at once.  The carrots are now all dug and put away and the beets are dug (but not put away).  I'm still eating kale and swiss-chard in my salads and will continue to do so until it's buried. This weekend I got the trellises down and worked on removing the cornstalks.  Not quite done with that project yet. 

In the greenhouse, the tomato plants continue to amaze me.  I pruned them back again this weekend... I cannot imagine what it would be like in there if I hadn't done any pruning at all...could I even get in the door?  Is it worth it for the few tomatoes I am getting out of there?  Maybe, just for the "wow" factor.

Not as good as ripened in the garden, but WAY better than the tasteless tomatoes offered at the store in town.

So, I have a new bird to show you.  I like to keep around thirty chickens in the winter coop over the cold season.  Because of the dog losses and a couple of deaths, the census out there is a little low.  My cousin Richard was nice enough to part with four of his birds, and two of them are Dark Cornish.  

I am quite taken with these hens.  Their sleek feathers, russet with black penciling are just beautiful.  Their body shape is a little different that my usual heavy layers, more primitive looking.  They have pea-combs, which adds to their exotic look.  This one just might get a name.

So, a pretty long post.  Enough for now I think   One or both of us will be back next week.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Be well friends.