Monthly Homestead Update

Tags

cherry festival, chickens, gardening, homesteading, laying hens, meaties

Rain, rain and more rain.  That pretty much sums up the rest of July and early August.  It has been a rainy, rainy summer.  So rainy, in fact, that my garden is molding.  I went to pull beans yesterday, and they were mostly a fuzzy, slimy mess.  I salvaged as many as I could, and the rest shall be fed to the pigs.

In other gardening woes, something is eating our root veggies; namely, turnips, potatoes and sunchokes.  My current theory is voles, since they are the frustrating little creatures that leave mounds of dirt all over the grass.  What does one do about that?!

Gardening in the country is very different from gardening in the city.

Thankfully, the beets continue to do well, and many batches of beetniks have been made and consumed.

Jedi has turned out to be the best barn cat ever.  Not only is he a great mouser, he’s also super friendly and sweet.  It’s nice having a pal follow me around in the evening when I feed all the animals.  Soon we’ll be getting a farm dog, too!

One of our hens had bumblefoot in both feet, so we had to perform surgery on her about a week and a half ago.  I think it was more traumatizing for us than for her.  She seems fine.  Although, I don’t think we got it all.  One foot was quite swollen again yesterday.  I’ll check on it when I get home tonight.

We slaughtered the first six of our fifteen meaties this weekend.  My mom and dad came out to watch Liam and work on the barn while Will and I dispatched three hens and three roos.  It all went pretty well except for the plucking.  We cheaped out and decided to pluck by hand instead of buying a chicken plucker.  Not doing that again.  Some of those birds looked downright abused by the time I was done plucking.  I ended up having to skin three of them because they just looked so awful and those damn feathers wouldn’t come out!  Next batch, we’re using a chicken plucker.

Liam and I went to the annual Cherry Festival in Bruno last Sunday.  It was lots of fun.  I enjoyed the cherry-themed food (elephant ears with cherry sauce, cherry smokies, cherry ice cream), and he enjoyed the bouncy castle and the kids’ train rides.  I also bought three sour cherry trees to plant – Romeo, Cupid, and Carmine Jewel.  Bruno is an adorable little town.

The little laying chicks are getting bigger every day.  The last two days, I’ve heard a strange warbling sound coming from the coop early in the morning.  Weird, I thought.  I’ve never heard the hens make that sound before.  Today I realized that it’s not a hen making that sound; it’s a roo!  One (maybe two) of the littles are roosters, and they’re starting to crow!  It’s an adorable teenage/cracked voice crow!

I continue to work away at my full-time job.  Not quite adjusting to a full-time working schedule yet.  It’s been difficult.  But I like the money.  At least that’s one stress removed from my life now!

I keep plugging away though.  Get up at 5:30 p.m., have a cup of coffee, and plow into the day full-steam ahead.  Don’t stop until 10 p.m. and then it’s time for bed.

Hope everything is well on your homestead.  Until next time!