Yesterday

We butchered our 22 Cornish crosses yesterday. Our neighbor and her two daughters came. They are the same ages as Rhyyan and Lilley. It went super fast and easy. 

   Joelle dispatched. Malachi, Judah, and Wisdom got the birds. And did random jobs. Mrs M ended up mostly scalding. The girls were pretty quick at gutting. Next year I hope to raise 200. It shouldn't be too hard as the children are huge helps. Judah is challenging though. He wants to be too helpful. So he takes constant supervision. And he quickly tires of the 'lame' jobs. Like getting the birds. He would rather scald. Remove feet. Pluck or something that he deems important. Age should help that. And patience on my end. Lots of patience. 

No pictures. Though I was busy. 

Edit to add: the birds weighed out to be $1.50 a lb maximum. I'm very pleased. 

Slacker. Quitter. Lazy. Overzealous.

Whatever it is I didn't follow through with my food challenge. But I'm still producing. Milk and peppers. Green beans.  And greens. Now pecans. I should've known it was a silly idea.  Oh well. 

Enjoy the random pile of photos. Ha! This last picture was this morning. Naomi brought her harmonica to breakfast and randomly played for me during her meal poor girl had to serenade her own meal.  

Removing our old rock raised beds.

I've decided that the random beds around aren't what will work here anymore. So Malachi and I are pulling out all the rocks. Then moving out herbs to better places. 

Daisy Mae Roehrman

She is pure sweetness. 

October 3rd

Peppers. Eggs. We still can't find their pile... These are the eggs Judah brought in. Not sure if this is all of them. Mint. Judah wanted tea. And a cute tiny squash. 

Nettle seeds. Joelle wants to dehydrate and cook them. I'll let you know. 

All the happiness in the world!!!! I'm so excited!!!! MILK!!!!  Glorious milk!!! 

Loofa. Picked too early. Hopefully will dry and be nice. 

Earths gym today. I got it nearly cleaned out. I hope to rake in the morning and start tilling for some greens. 

 

   Gardening is good for my soul. I don't want to release it this year. My plan is lots of composting this winter. And all the plants I brought in. 

Today:   4.05

Yesterday:  4.20

Total:  8.25

October 2nd

We burned the brush pile where we typically find eggs. So we got less today. We need to find their new spot. 

 

Today:   1.26

Yesterday:  2.94

Total:  4.20

October 1st

Day 1. Challenging our family in raising all the food we can in 1 year. Or until I quit. Hopefully I succeed. 

Today's harvest.  

We got 14 eggs. 

A large handful of mouse melons a small bell pepper. 

Some hot peppers. 

A habanero.

 And a small handful of chili peppers. 2.94 lbs 

Rhyyan also found a puffball mushroom. But it was eaten before the picture was taken. 

It might get boring. But I hope to keep it interesting. Obviously it will get better come spring. 

I can't wait to see what we can do!

Fawn calved!!!

Heifer. 

I missed it. I slept in. Then made pancakes first. After causing a grease fire I was frustrated. So I went out to see Fawn 2 hrs later than normal. 

    I knew she would calve today! Last night her pins had dropped. And I still didn't get out early like I had been. I think I did too much yesterday. I was tired. 

   More later. Here are pictures for now. 

I had a silly idea.

We discovered a great vlog. Abundantpermaculture.com

It is encouraging and we upped our data allowance to afford a tiny bit of data usage on it. 

   But they did a 100 day challenge to see what they could produce. But I got curious what we could do in a year. In gardening and foraging in the wild. 

    At first I thought milking and microgreens would be cheating. But I feel confident that they aren't. They are work. Produced here. 

    So I'm starting October 1st. Weighing every thing we produce. Hopefully for s full year. But I am a great starter. Not so great at following through... But I'm excited and I'm just going to jump in and see how long I can swim. 

   We are putting in the fall garden this week. Need to clean up the trash garden. Bring in the pepper plants. And till the garden for fall crops. It is a tiny garden. So I think it is doable. 

    

But for now this sweet girl and I are going to sleep. Love to you all!

Microgreens

Our order has shipped!! I kept meaning to oreder. But it had to fall by the wayside for the summer. But I'm so excited!!!

Here is a update to the aerial photo

Our haven

This is a aerial of our nearly 10 acres. The picture is 3 years old.  We don't own the top right acre. Those lines are obvious. 

And we don't own just over 3 acres in a long strip starting in the top left. 

   I need to get a app that lets me draw on photos. I hope to do that soon. But I need to download every thing on my phone for more room first. But thought it might be interesting for people. 

Barn starts.

We were trying to decide what to do as far as barn size and shape. Patrick went down to the neighbors this morning to talk to him. Saw this frame. And ended up trading a half a bucket of sweet potatoes for it. Good deal! 

Patrick has to unbend one pipe and replace all four legs. So it is basically the roof frame. But it made our decision  for us.  Not my ideal. It won't be big enough to have a stall for her. Just a place for food and a stantion. Or now as I think about it I might be able to have a stall with a stantion she can't get into when it she is in it. I think I like that idea the best. Patrick thinks I need to have the feed barrels indoors. But they've never been in before. Not sure how we will do it. But part always does well. 

Fawn

Found bloody show on Fawn at 9:30. Had company. So we last had checked at 6/30. And at that time she was clean. It could happen in the night. Or insecure all days. But just keeping records. 

Chicks!!!

The other day I ran to town to get some supplies. I had to run into the farm store. They had Cornish Cross Chicks. I nearly got some. But decided to wait and talk to Patrick. Why I didn't call him I don't know. Likely because I don't think about having a phone on me. 

    When we told him they were there he said I shoulda got some. 

   This evening, a few days later, I called to see if they had any left. They were closing a hr later. And had marked them down 50% off.  I told Patrick and we ran out the door. 

    They were sold out of layers. But I wanted broilers mostly anyways. They had 22 left. We bought them all. 

  I have never had this few chickens. Ever. They should be easy. And currently they are inside. Remember the barn?? Yep. 

  

Outdoor garden work

Fawn has a lump on her udder. I would guess that is normal as she is bagging up. But I'm planning to ask on the cow boards in a bit. 

Sweet potato greens. Just learn they are edible and yummy. Can't wait to taste at supper. 

We were hauling boards. I had used them to hold down plastic garden sheets.  (Never ever again. ) 

Wisdom is a sweet girl. Anyone's buddy. 

Cheeser. 

Ergo (baby carrier) means visit Fawn to her now. If I strap her on I am signing the contract. Haha! Really. Yesterday we went in the rain. 

Hard workers!

Tubby found snails. 

See the babies in there? He loves snails!

She picked a top of the lambs quarter and whacked me with it as I worked. So helpful this one. 

Done!! Ok we still have sweet potatoes to  dig. But that is easy comparatively.  

    I had to pay with ice cream Sunday's and the Richard Greene 'Robin Hood' series. But I'd say it was very. Very worth it. 

Judah found a grasshopper. He thought it looked like it was eating him. And requested a photo. Cutie cutie!