It’s January, the sun is shining, the grass is green and growing, and the air is warm and still. Though I miss the snow of Montana, the sight of my goats browsing the meadow’s treeline fills the void nicely. Rüma and Tisl are now less than 60 days from kidding. The fresh forest browse is excellent for their health. I’m beginning to see kid bulges on their petite frames. I tame my excitement for kids…
Tag: herb: usnea
“A Post About Today: April 16th, 2021”
It’s been a quiet and productive spring thus far. 2 of the 4 greenhouses are fully seeded/planted for the year. The upper greenhouse is about 1/3 planted, and only limited to that because we’ve only managed to create grow beds in 1/3 of the whole structure! Little sprouts are cropping everywhere. The currants are flowering, and the new kiwis are just putting out leaves. In another month or 2, the greenhouses will be stuffed full…
“Baby Goats Have Arrived!”
BABY GOATS! After 5 months of eager anticipation (the last 2 months of which were even more eager once we stopped milking in late January and instantly began missing fresh cheese), we have beautiful baby goaters! Tisl birthed first, 48 hours later than her technical due date. She was stealth-preggers, barely showing any baby bulge right up to birthing. I expected only 1 kid out of her. But she produced 2 beautiful kids. I had…
“Broken Chicken Feet”
If you live on a farm with chickens and any other livestock over 200lbs, chances are sooner or later you’ll see a limping chicken with a munched foot. Pigs, mules, horses, and even very large goats can easily crush a chicken’s foot with one step. Most of the time they are oblivious to the chicken’s thrashing screams and might not lift their foot right away. When the large livestock is being grained, and thus the…
“I Put a Bone in My Foot…”
Yep. I was on a steep slope, unfolding a large sheet of greenhouse plastic, and I stepped on what looked like plain dirt only to hear a grotesque juicy crunch and a surge of pain in the arch of my foot. I sat/fell down and proceeded to uproot a small -something- sticking up out of the dirt. It was the tip of a buried jagged, gnarly chunk of dog-chewed deer vertebrae with old black gristle…