Triple Creek Farm, October 27, 2012

This has been a productive week.  So many projects came full circle and progress can be seen.  New residents arrived on Monday morning.  Since I work for the animals, I consider them the farm staff.  It is like our home, If Momma ain't happy no one is happy.   We want our animals to be happy and enjoy their life.  It was very important to me that our fencing be strong and safe.  I know a tree can come down in a second and change everything.  But we started out with a good pasture fence.  I believe in the animals being put up at nighttime.  I was raised with our animals being put up at night and I think it is in my blood.

IN THE KITCHEN

Mr. Bootsie fired up the smoker on Sunday afternoon and smoked pork shoulders.  They were sliced and are in the freezer.  I started canning again this week.  I pickled jalapeno peppers and processed 9 pints of chicken broth/stock.

ON THE FARM

All the work on a pasture fence,  there was a plan and now our 2 new girls are here.  We have fainting goats, a neighbor had given Mr. Bootsie one at birth and this is why we were pushing to get the fence in, our plan was to purchase friends for our little girl.  Our neighbor has gotten sick and needed a home for both of his goats.  I am so glad things worked out and we had not bought the little girl (Hershey) to live here with other goats.  Gracie and Hershey are mother and daughter.  I will be looking for another breed of goat to add to our flock.  This will come in time.

 

IN THE COOP

The little peeps are now 6 months old, the older girls are starting to finish molting.  Not getting a lot of eggs but at least the feathers are not everywhere.

Ducks, I am totally confused.  Some days we are collecting 2 duck eggs.  Everyone has been telling me the curly tail is a male.  We thought it was a male but why am I collecting 2 eggs.  This has started since they starting living in the duck house.

This week the hens laid 20 eggs and 10 duck eggs were collected.

IN THE CARDEN

Something has been eating my cole plants, I know they are a little small plants, but I have to start somewhere. I had no idea Mr. Bootsie was going to take my idea for a cold tunnel and run with it.  It usually takes a while to get him going.  But in reality we had been thinking about this since the spring.  I think the culprits are squirrels so I found some candle chimneys and they did the trick.

I read where some are putting cold frames inside the tunnels and now I have a cold frame ready.  The tunnel has progressed this week, the drop in temperature will make it difficult to work with the plastic covering.

We are pulling green onions, picking peppers and eggplants.  Things are starting to grow in the greenhouse.  I have started some seeds and they are doing real good.  

IN CLOSING

There seems to be some type of weather going on all over the country.  We have promises of several different types of weather systems this week.  Our motto is "Prepare and hope for the best".  I do not mind preparing and we did not need to.  It helps us to remember everything we should do in case of bad weather.  Next week we will know if the preparations were necessary or not, maybe this will be just another practice run.  All of you who mean so much to me, Stay safe, do not take any chances.  Water can be very dangerous.  Please do not drive through any rising water.  Give those you love so much several hugs each and everyday.  We are experiencing some very interesting weather patterns.  Once again, Stay Safe.