October happenings and harvests

I've been pretty busy for the last few days.  I've been pet sitting for a friend in town which means two trips per day away from the farm.  Right at morning and evening farm chore time of course. Thankfully G has been home and able to help with those chores.

We've had frost overnight for the past two nights. I harvested all of our peppers and covered our tender greens with frost blankets.  I managed to top up empty feeders in the bee hives just as the sky opened up and cold rain started the other night.  Bees are pretty slow to wake up these days until the warm autumn sun hits their hives.  They are still out foraging for whatever is available.  This time of year it's chickweed, tulsi tea, the last flush of calendulas and lavender, my one autumn sedum.  They should still be raising brood for a few weeks more so they definitely need pollen for that task.

G has been pickling, smoking and drying the harvest, while I mostly do the picking.  He's really found some great recipes this year.

We only have one hen still laying eggs, all the rest are molting.  One or two guineas are laying too. The funny thing is that last week I left the front door open so Fern could go outside, but little Solo hen snuck into the house and laid an egg somewhere.  I didn't know where she laid it, just heard her vocals afterwards.  So the next day I figured I'd better let her in the house so I could find where she laid, and since then she comes to the front door every day and either jumps up and down or vocalizes to let me know she's waiting to come in.  Fresh eggs right to our kitchen!!

The ducklings are huge now and almost completely feathered in. Last week I finally opened their fence to let their mom Amelia take them around the yard.  

The rest of the flock came to investigate them, and Aqua ripped some feathers from one of the slower drakes.  Over all it was pretty civilized, but Amelia still decided to take them back to their safe house.

G keeps wanting to get rid of the 'barn tractor' as we call it, because it's very very heavy--one of our original 'learning' coops, overbuilt.  But time and time again it's proven to be a great duck brooder.  It even has perches inside.  So a duck and her ducklings can stay safe and separate from the rest of the flock, until the ducklings are big enough that they won't get caught in the electro netting or attacked by cooper's hawks. Our charger was on the fritz so we didn't energize it, but it was still enough to keep them in a small area to themselves where they could range and exercise. The shorter wildlife barrier netting from Premier is pretty convenient and useful for less flighty animals like ducks.  This summer we've had a skunk digging under the fence for the garage bantams run, so I was still sort of on edge that the skunk would dig into the duck coop when the ducklings were tiny.  But I know Amelia would put up a tough fight if that were the case. Muscovy mamas are vicious!  My consolation was that there were still a few eggs around the yard for the skunk to get, and a bit of chook food, so hopefully the easy dinner would be the best choice.

  This year I made the mistake of leaving the newly hatched ducklings with Amelia (mom) in the communal coop, and by day three one of them had a broken leg (a bad compound fracture) and had to be euthanized.  Normally I pull the duck and ducklings on day one and separate them from the main flock. I got lazy this time and it didn't end well.  My vet told me ducks need their own space, not like chickens who will raise chicks among the flock. I'd never read that before but I trust his advice after 40 years as an avian vet, and after our own experience where I just feel it's too stressful on the mom to feel like she has to defend herself and her babies until they are mobile enough. 

First year with heirloom carrots and they did great!

One of the big harvests the night before first frost last week

I sense some fantastic Indian curries in my near future! 

Our old salvaged smoker wasn't doing the trick, so G picked up this fancy one! Our front yard smells amazing when he's smoking paprikas and jalapenos. 

Last week we noticed that Dot Dorking hen was having trouble walking without stumbling.  She is such a wildling and always has been, so it's disturbing that she was so easy to catch (with the net). We have no idea what's wrong with her.  Default is usually cancer of course.  She's in great body condition, good hydration, good appetite, no reproductive disease evident so far.  I'm not sure what to do with her now.  If her ataxia progresses she may get beat up by the flock.  So for now she's in quarantine until I decide what's the best course of action for her.

I just checked the weather report and apparently we'll be getting temperatures below freezing this week.

We have some major renovations planned for this month on the chook palace, the backyard coop, and possibly finally a new duck shed.  These structures we currently have are great and would have been fantastic back on Vancouver Island, which of course was our frame of reference when we arrived here.  But now after several seasons we are tired of spending hours in spring and fall making modifications for the upcoming seasons.  Time to get it done right.  Especially because the forecast is for a very cold winter, possibly 10 degrees colder than last winter. 

Starburst ewe is still suffering with her torn ear, which is in three pieces.  It's raw and scabby and swollen, and she keeps shaking it which doesn't help.  She let me get close this morning to examine it. I wish I'd had some ointment in my pocket to put on.... A lost opportunity.  Not sure she'll let me get close again today.  

I'm pretty excited that this week the fiber mill in North Dakota will be starting to process our fleeces that I sent out in May.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  Henry's fleece will be turned into roving, and with that I hope to make a braided rug.

Time keeps marching on.  As of this month, G will have been here in Minnesota for five years.  In January it will be five years for me.  I wonder what our lives would be like if we'd stayed in Victoria? I would at least have finished my degree.  And then?  

Wish us luck, and hope the cold doesn't settle in before we have these projects done.

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