A family farm

Monday, November 29, 2010

winter is coming ...

Well, Chris and I got some more winterizing done Saturday in the barn. We moved some wood, put some stuff away, put the non-running lawn tractor up on boards and picked up hay for the goats. We also picked up a new burn barrel because we went to empty out the old one and it cracked apart. The ring at the top came right off. So I emptied that out and got the bottom and the top ring that broke off put into the trailer that is full of crap to be emptied out at the dump. It would be nice to get that done. We don't have much that has to go to the dump, but it is a trailer full. We need to get a permanent plate for our trailer. Anyway ... I got the Christmas lights up Sunday evening. I even used our tree lights and put them on the crimson king maple and the crabapple tree as well as putting up our icicle lights, szchoop tree, snowflakes and reindeer. It was fun. Now it's time to get the inside of the house ready for winter - in other words, it needs a good cleaning --- from top to bottom. If I'm going to be spending much time inside (and that usually happens when the temps fall), I'm going to want to be in a clean house. I got a good start with cleaning our bedroom. Most of that stuff is now sitting in the living room waiting for a new home. I got the counter and the table all cleaned up and put the red tablecloth out with a few Christmas decorations. I'm getting excited! I even think we have it figured out what Alex is getting for Christmas ... which reminds me ... I was going to check on Kellie's gift!!! Chris will be all set soon.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Git er Done!

I got my garden "boxed" last night with the help of my faithful companion, Kellie. She put most of the rocks on. I opened up the boxes and got them flattened into one layer to cover the entire garden. Kellie put straw on the strawberries that are there, I put straw on the strawberries that are outside the garden. I also put straw on a few of my tender herbs. It just dawned on my that I'll have to put straw down on the strawberries that are in the backyard yet. Oops!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Some recent pictures







The new goat is Lucy - this is her riding in my car. The other two pictures are Harley sleeping in my lap - which she does EVERY evening (or she goes slightly nuts).






Well, I didn't ...

Well, I didn't get my garden boxed last night. We had a thunderstorm instead, complete with a tornado watch. It was quite intense - even got the dogs a little nervous with the thunder. Our golden hates loud bangs and will try to flee any situation. It's not good when we have our annual Guns and Grillin' event, because she is just terrified of the loud noises. But she finds a place under the bed and stays. She's pretty good about it all. Our doberman doesn't seem to be bothered by the loud noise which is kind of nice. I only hope that our golden doesn't teach her that she needs to be scared of it.

So that was my night. I paged through a new-to-me gardening book. I'm really getting into all of this. I skimmed through the annuals section and took a bit more time with the perennials section. To me, perennials just make so much more sense, unless you have annuals that are really good at reseeding themselves. You don't have to purchase and plant them every single spring. It just makes so much more economical sense. It is also nice to have your perennials grow and get big enough to divide and then you can sell the divisions if you want and make a little money, or you can keep them and just expand your perennial garden. I planted some cilantro that was done at the beginning of spring as a plant. It was done and gone to seed by August when I was hoping to have it to make salsa with my tomatoes and peppers, so I had to buy some. Now, because this fall has been rather warm, it has reseeded itself and I have baby cilantros growing. I need to cut some this evening and freeze it or dry it because we're getting a "wintry mix" and possibly some "snow" by this weekend. So hopefully it won't be rainy or nasty outside tonight because I have to get my little jobs done tonight!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Ending the Gardening Season ...

I'm laying down flattened and expanded cardboard boxes all over my garden tonight. The chickens have scratched the dirt up real well, so now it is time to make sure no weeds come up first thing in the spring. I should have more worms and great soil to till first thing in April. I have to get my rototiller over to my brother's house soon so he can putz around with it through the winter. He has as much access to it in the spring as I do. I don't mind. He's a mile up the road from me so sharing is easy. The other thing I need to do is cover my strawberries and not-so-hearty herbs with a nice blanket of straw. I have the straw. I need to use it.

We didn't get the donkey as I'd hoped, but we did acquire another goat - Lucy. She was already pregnant when we got her so I'm hoping for her to have at least one girl. We'll be able to keep her and raise her.

The chickens aren't laying very well right now, but I think they are molting. There are feathers everywhere! Hopefully they'll be done with that soon and get back to laying 8-10 eggs per day.

Harley is in heat, and it is so annoying! Can't wait for that to be done. First thing next January, she is getting fixed.