November Goat Moves

November has arrived and with it the excitement of the impending deer hunting season - for some folks anyway. The weather has been pretty chilly with freezing temps every night and sometimes all day too.  This weekend getting the heated water pails organized was a priority.

Out in the barnyard, there is another kind of excitement going on - and a big change.  Our buck Ranger has moved to a new farm, and a new buck has come to ours - meet Hickory!

Poppy and Tamarack have moved to a nearby pen and shelter while Hickory visits Vinca and Echo.  The kids aren't thrilled with the arrangement but Kevin has been making their temporary home as comfortable as possible.  In the picture you can see the straw bales he has piled up on the right - when he was finished they had straw bales on both sides and the back to keep them snug and keep the drafts down.

Last weekend was my first indoor market of the fall/winter season - this is what my set up looked like.   I sure wish I had noticed the crooked tablecloth, but otherwise it looked pretty good.

My last pictures to share are kind of fun - I caught Tom napping today!

Surprise!

The next post you will see from us will likely be from Kevin with a hunting update. Until then, be well friends!

Feeling a Little Fall

This post is just a few bits of things

The latest View from the Milking Stand, taken just today  - about half of the leaves are down already.  There are at least three deer in this picture although it's really hard to see the out there. 

Preparations for the regular deer hunting season have begun and these past few days Kevin's brother Kent and nephew Kellen visited from Wyoming for a special early youth hunt.  Kellen didn't get the buck that he would have liked, but he still was successful and hopefully had a good time visiting Minnesota anyway. We know he learned a little more about that favorite chore that comes after your deer is down. Don't have lunch first.

Kevin and Rollie started to harvest the small field of buckwheat this weekend.  -The swather behaved pretty well (after acting up with some of the other grain) but the crop turned out to have too much moisture in it and the combine got all bound up.  The guys were struggling to dislodge a lot of ground up stems in the bowels of the machine when I happened along. 

I was in there, digging out the silage-like plant material and remarked that Kevin ought to take a picture.  I was thinking a side view of the machine with my feet sticking out the end would be amusing - this is the picture he took instead!

It was pretty cramped in there but we got it done.

The turkeys are within days of  being processed for the freezer.  We have most of them rounded up and jailed in the summer coop now.  They are not easy to catch!

Stray cat Scruff has been making more appearances - usually around milking time.  I am hoping she stays around.

Winky, Tulip, and Daffodil left today for a new farm home in southern Minnesota.  It's always a little sad to see the youngsters move on but we just can't keep them all.

 

As always, thank you for stopping by to read the blog. Until next time, be well friends!

Soggy Start to October

October, I am not impressed with you so far.... cold, wet, Very Wet - enough with the rain!

I didn't have a post last week because there just wasn't much to say - and not too much this week either.  It's just that time of year.  I will probably be posting every couple weeks for a while, or maybe even every third week.  This one is just a few tidbits.

Good news for the little orphan turkeys.  They had the smaller room in the Winter Coop to themselves for a while - a lot of valuable coop space for just a few ounces of poultry. Then they were adopted by friend Dana - doesn't she look happy about it?  What a great smile! Her first turkeys.  Thank you Dana!!!

In an all too brief interval between rain showers, I captured the latest View from the Milking Stand.  The woods are too soggy for woodcutting, but are getting pretty to look at.

Out in the barn, lots of hay is being consumed - the goats are constantly reminding me that they are water soluble, the slightest sprinkle will prevent them from going out!

I finished bringing the pumpkins and squash out of the garden today.  Many of them are stacked out on the front deck at the time being.  I'll be cooking and freezing them as time allows.

These leaf prints are from the sidewalk near my work.  Nature's art will not last but I think it's pretty cool.

And that's all I have!  Thanks for stopping by the blog, and until next time, be well friends!

Turkey Dinner

Farmers have livestock because most humans are omnivores.  We like dairy, we like eggs, we like meat.  Livestock are not pets.  That does not mean that we do not become fond of them

Last week I had a picture of Penelope and her poults.  This week the pictures tell a very different story.

We heard the coyotes not long after we went to bed last Sunday evening.  Did they have her already then?  Hard to say.

I had the day off work on Monday and California cousins Russ and Margaret came for lunch and a visit.  They ended up helping me find the survivors who were mostly in the very long tangled grass south of the winter coop. They were not easy to find or catch.

We recovered a total of six but some of them died in the following days.  Right now there are just two little orphan poults left.

On to a less sad subject.  The field that was brown just a few days ago is now green.  The winter wheat is up and looks great!

And a couple of random items - I am fascinated by the varied colors and shapes of wild mushrooms.  This picture is from Long Lake Conservation Center.  I was there Wednesday after work for a 5K put on by our health promotion team.  It's a beautiful place and I had to pause along the way to take this picture.

Supper tonight was chicken and spaghetti squash with alfredo sauce.  I just want to show you this huge spaghetti squash - not the usual type in appearance. My co-worker shared it with me - thank you Lois!  I think it is a variety called Sugaretti - that's the only thing I could find with a google search that looked anything like it.  It was very sweet and we enjoyed it.

I am finally getting tomatoes - good thing we haven't had a frost yet!  My own squash and pumpkins are looking pretty good - they like the straw bales I guess.  I will try to get some pictures of them for next time. 

I will be back next week - hopefully with a happier post.  Until then, be well friends.

Another Harvest and a Poultry Update

Today got off to a rocky start...  This year's stone crop was pretty slim.

Ha!  OK, I deserve those eye-rolls, but I just couldn't pass up the pun.  We don't have many stones in our fields, thank goodness.  Just a few in the far southwest of the property.  Every year there are a few to pick up. 

I am sure you want to know about Penelope and the poults - right?  We had such a cold and wet week, I was very worried about these little ones.  I got a good head count this morning and there are 11 of them.  So she has lost 2 or 3 but considering the weather, I think that is pretty good.  If these were hatched in the incubator I would have them in the coop with the heater on up to 80 degrees.  With their mama they've been running around in 58 degree rain, then she warms them up.

We have a new rooster.  We've been without one for a while, other than the cockerels who hatched last spring.  Those lads (there are 8 of them) have a date with the butcher next week.  On Monday I picked up a fine Buckeye rooster from farmer friend Joe.  On Tuesday morning I opened up the coop to find him dead on the floor.  Uh Joe??  Wednesday I picked up his replacement on my way home from work.  So far, so good - meet Rafael!

The hens and Rafael are penned up in the coop yard right for the time being.  I wanted to see if we would get more eggs but we aren't. 

There is more going on around here but I didn't get a lot of photos this week.  That is it for this evening then - thanks for stopping by the blog.  Until next time, be well friends!

Turkey Surprise!

The visual signs of fall are everywhere, but the most apparent thing and hardest to ignore is the cool weather we are having here.  We sure had a chilly weekend and although we haven't built a fire yet, I am pretty sure Kevin is thinking about it.  All I can say is thank goodness for our heated mattress pad!

I was busy  making soap on Monday and looked out the window to observe this... I call it The Meeting Of The Minds...  The picnic table isn't usually in the driveway but it was there temporarily while the lawn was being mowed.  I thought it was cute.

A lot of field work has gone on since the grain harvest.  The latest view from the milking stand shows that the field that was hay has been plowed, disced, and is now planted to winter wheat.

Our woods are still mostly green because of the type of trees we have.

The wild asters are in full flower:

and in the garden the roses are still blooming strong and are very fragrant.

Now- the reason for the title of the post.  Penelope the turkey hen had been missing for about a month.  I knew that it was possible that she was sitting on eggs, but since we saw no sign of her coming to the coop to eat, I also thought she might have died or been killed.

Turns out she was sitting on eggs.  Third time is a charm for her - she appeared in the yard on Friday with quite a bunch of tiny poults - it's hard to count them as she is always bustling them away when she sees us but estimates are 12 to 14.

Sigh... nice timing Penelope. 
 
That's it for this post; until next time, be well friends.

September 1

Here we are, September already!

Since my last post the grain harvest has been wrapped up - the spring wheat is in the trailer waiting to be fanned and we have a little more hay in the barn.

The days are noticeably shorter - the morning view from the milking stand looks kind of like this:

 So here is a view from Saturday afternoon - a beautiful day!  You can see Rollie on his way in from raking the hay.

In the garden I am still waiting on ripe tomatoes.  It's been cool so they are not progressing very fast.  The pumpkins and squash that are planted in the strawbales look great though- you can see them peaking out here and there.

Speaking of peaking, can you spot Scruffy, the feral cat in the long grass?

The turkeys, while not big enough to send to the butcher yet, are getting big and the little toms are acting a lot like their dad.

I harvest a big bowl of rose hips today- this evening they are cooked up and draining.  I decided to make them into syrup.  I'll let you know how that turns out. 

And that is all I have for this evening.  Thanks for stopping by the blog, and until next time, be well friends!