G took a week off work and we had a pretty great time together despite the awful heat and humidity. It really felt more like July than September.We were hoping to have hay brought in and put away, but our hay guy just lost yet another crop--about 400 bales worth. There has just been too much humidity in the last few weeks. I feel bad for him, but worried for us.
G was in Denver last night again but thankfully will be back late tonight. I think he has more extended travelling coming up, but I don't want to think about it.
A few updates:
We have two more accidental ducklings. They are cute of course, but I wonder if they will feather in before it starts to get cold. Mother Daisy is not fond of us at all, and is even more protective than a normal scary muscovy mother. She attacked us numerous times when we tried to take her eggs, and then of course when we had to capture her and the hatchlings to move them to a secure brooder. She hasn't forgotten that. But I just don't have the time right now to bribe her with treats or sit nearby so the ducklings don't fear me.
Our other two ducklings have now graduated to sleeping with the big ducks. We are pretty sure that one is a drake, and one a duck. I have a tentative home set up for the drake.
Wicket the hen has been raising her accidental chick very well. We don't know if it's a hen or roo yet.
Budgeree the Destroyer is now eating out of my hand, so I'm hopeful that when it gets cold he will make the right decision and come inside the house. If he doesn't, he likely won't survive until December.
We have another new farm visitor! A female racing pigeon showed up with Rocket (Garage Pigeon) and has been spending almost full days here, foraging and resting.
Our yarn and roving came back from the mill and looks amazing. I am spinning for a little bit almost every day. Henry's fleece was sent to a different mill to be turned into felt, and I'm expecting it to arrive any day now.
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Even though we bought an extra fridge a few weeks ago, we are still pretty much out of storage room for all of the bounty coming out of the garden. I could be picking 25-50 pounds of tomatoes per day. Never mind the squash and cukes and peppers. If only we had set up a farm stand this year!! G is the one skilled in preserving and fermenting, so he has been working late into the evenings over the hot stove to put up as much as possible. Some new recipes, some we've tried before.
Last week I left my camera and telephoto lens outside by the pond. That evening one of our hens was crashing, and I knew she would die within a few hours. I was very sad, and got distracted, and left the camera out overnight, where it sat in the rain and was partially submerged. I still have to call Nikon to see if there is anything that can be done. I will write about our sweet Jill another time. I miss her terribly. Don't get me wrong, I'm sad about my precious camera gear. But you can replace material things.
It's early afternoon right now, and the only reason I am making time to write is that it's raining out. I have to put up new aviary netting now that my special needs guinea hens have started to fly out of the electronetting every day. I also have to put hoops and bird/deer netting over our rice plants as they have actually started to produce kernels! The sparrows would make quick work of those if they found them.
We have 11 guinea keets. One lived in the house for the first week or so, since at day two we noticed her dragged a leg, and discovered a deep wound that went almost all around her leg. After three days of hydrogel and tegaderm I left it open and used HealX cream (Harrison's). It took a long time for the wound to heal under the scab, and the scab to fall off. I didn't want to put her out too early and have the others peck at it. Guineas and chickens are bad for things like that.
This morning I noticed one keet hunched up, sitting in corners, not keeping up with the family. I managed to catch her, and now she's in the house driving me nuts with her calling. She has loose stool and I think a sneeze, and some clicky breathing. The temperature dropped a lot overnight, so I'm wondering if it's an upper respiratory infection. Many guineas die of coccidia infections, and if I could I'd get a fecal done, I would. We are still planning to get a microscope for the farm so I can do regular fecal checks on the birds. But for right now, I have no idea if she has it or not. I'm keeping her on heat, and will keep her in the basement away from the house chickens just in case it is something airborne and contagious.
The horses have had just about enough of summer heat and flies I think. We have had plenty of grass for them to eat, but some of it just low quality canary grass, so not great for maintaining muscle mass. I put them into riding ring paddock that has an amazing crop of clover (we've over seeded several times and it's finally looking great). Only problem is that clover in this weather means slobbers. Oakley walked right up to me last night and drooled cups of saliva on my boots. Then Winston did it too. Slobbers is a condition caused by the toxin produced by a fungus sometimes found on clovers. The horse can even lose enough to lead to dehydration. So much to their dismay I moved them to a new 'boring' pasture this morning.
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| Farmers refer to this time of year as 'fly time'. Don't castrate your steers during fly time. Animals are stressed during fly time. You get the point. |
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I was harvesting raspberries and squashes yesterday while listening to a podcast. It was about sourcing high grade information and making use of mentors. How learning from other people who are actually doing the thing you are interested in can save you time, money and aggravation. It was the Permaculture Voices podcast, so of course it was referring to farming (on any scale really). This brought up something I was thinking about a few months ago, when Hive 1, our strongest hive swarmed and took off on us one sunny day back in July. I haven't had the time to write about the experience yet, but in short, there were signs beforehand that they would swarm, and I just didn't know how to interpret them.
Of course I was disappointed in myself, and the fault was very much my own. However, what I then became frustrated about was the lack of quality mentorship that I had received. I took a day long course at the U and have a certificate from the Department of Entomology. I regular chatted with the supplier of hives and equipment. Not once did I ever hear of a term called 'bearding', how to spot it and what to do about it. Turns out it was buried somewhere in a late chapter of one of my books. It should have been in the first few chapters! It should have been on a list of 'the five most common mistakes new beekeepers make'. At least that's what I think. Because it's a big deal!!
When I am teaching people about chicken keeping I make sure to hit the major points, the 'do this' as well as 'don't do this' and the why's of both of them. I teach people about housing, predator proofing, handling. People get so obsessed about when they can expect their first eggs, and I try to emphasize that if they don't learn how to mink-proof their coop, they will NEVER get eggs! I could come up with a whole bunch of analogies on this, but I don't have the time. Oh wait--here's a good one. It's like taking a sex ed class, but only later finding out that sex can lead to pregnancy. Kind of important to know at the beginning, don't you think?
I think a good mentor brings all sorts of practical information to the table when you are likely to need it, and doesn't just organize it in 'chapters' that you may or may not get to before the crappola hits the fan. Just sayin'.
So I hope all of you find good teachers and mentors in your life, whatever it is that you are pursuing.
That reminds me, I'm going to the permaculture course in Iowa in less than a month! Whoa! I have no doubt there will be many good learning opportunities and mentors I can rely on when putting their teachings into practice.
Well I guess that's it. I think Wookie hen might have bumblefoot, so I should head out and see if I can catch her. There is poop to muck, veg to pick, and barn songs to sing while I wait for my sweety to come home.
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