We are buried in snow & it's hard to think about homestead projects right now. We haven't seen the ground since December-I sure hope it's still there! lol We're just trying to keep up with plowing & keeping the horses & beef cows in hay. :)
Plus, my dh just had surgery on his cervical vertebrae & can't pick up more than 5 lbs right now.
I had a lot of fun reading some of the posts from the barn hop, though & it got me excited for Spring, which some of you are apparently experiencing already. lol
This week we have been poring over the chick catalogs. We haven't ordered chicks in awhile & our hens are getting old, hence; we're getting less eggs. Since the cost of chicken feed is up, we can't keep feeding chickens that aren't laying eggs. We butchered some of our hens last month. They make great broth, but that's it.
Anybody have guinea hens? We're looking at those, too, to help control the bugs, ticks & weeds. They're kind of expensive, though.
Today our project is teaching the 4 month old lab puppy to leave the ducks alone. It's warm enough to let them out, so she's out there w/ a shock collar on with the low setting. She's been grabbing them by the necks & dragging them around. They are helpless to stop her. So far, she hasn't hurt any of them-she appears to have a soft mouth. But, the poor things need help. So, the shock collar should do the trick. It taught her to stop clawing the door when she wanted to come in.
The bull we got for free lease is going to stay here for awhile longer. He got all our cows bred, but the guy he belongs to asked if we could keep him longer & offered to help pay for his hay. What a nice bull he is, too-very calm & loves to have his head scratched (thru the fence of course) I hated to send our beautiful black angus bull to the auction, but we needed money to pay taxes. :( I hope he went for breeding purposes.
My dh wanted to band the nuggies of 3 bull calves the weekend before his surgery, but there was so much snow in front of the headlocks, that they weren't locking in. So, they'll now have to wait 3 months or so until he's all recovered from surgery. One of them is getting big for his britches, but his mother & the big bull keep putting him in his place.
It's getting really close to time to tap trees. It's going to be rough this year. My dh can't lift anything heavy yet & we'll have to trudge thru 3 ft of snow to tap trees& empty buckets every day. We don't tap enough trees to invest in the tubing system. I'm so glad my 12 yr old son knows how to tap the trees because I don't. :) I do so enjoy sitting around the wood stove out in the pole barn while we boil down sap on it, though. We have great visiting times as a family or with neighbors that stop in. Boiling sap seems to draw people here & they sit awhile. The wood stove & smell of sap turning to syrup makes you feel all homey & warm & more apt to chat.
I've been doing more sewing & really enjoying trying new things. I really enjoy projects that don't take months to do. I'm a fast food kind of person with sewing projects. :) I've been experimenting with felting wool sweaters & making longies for my 2 yr old who wears cloth dipes. I'm also going to make a few more pocket diapers for her. They're so much fun to make & so cute on her. Pretty soon she'll be done with diapers & then I won't have an excuse to make any more cloth diapers :((
I'm also going to make hats & mittens from wool sweaters that I am felting. Felting wool is super easy. You just wash it in warm water with a little bit of detergent. Then put in the dryer. It makes the wool very close knit & super-soft. Especially if you score some cashmere wool sweaters. I so love the thrift store!
This week I'm going to make a pair of leggings for my 6 yr old with the super long sleeves of a wool sweater that is purple, blue & gray striped. I'm not felting those-it's already soft.
So, I guess that's it. My son took the garbage down to the road, but then had to play around in the snow, so got the 4wheeler stuck, so that took awhile for him & his sister to dig it out. Now, he's back & ready to use the computer for school. :)
Just stopping by from the barn hop to say hi. I also love your tree tunnel. did you plant the trees like that?
ReplyDeletehappy day!