Beautiful Day…Miserable Day…Beautiful Day…

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, jack1 Comment

And today it’s – Miserable Day! I went out to dig some holes for my baby apple trees and the skies opened up! It was hailing! Unfortunately Jack had just found an old steak bone in the field (my theory is that crows raid neighbor’s garbage and drop them in our field) and I’d grabbed him by the collar and was trying to talk him into dropping it – can’t just take it away because he gets ‘bitey’. So I was out there holding his collar, hunched over, when it started raining cats and dogs! But I wouldn’t let him go, because I know he really hates rain, and I figured he’d drop it faster the wetter he got. Finally I let him go and he shook and the bone went flying! I got it and we hurried back to the house. Dave helpfully snapped a picture.

Scythe

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, outdoors3 Comments

I got a new toy, I found a scythe on CL for $25. I’ve always wanted to try one.

I used it to clear an area of tall grass out at the edge of the yard. From where I’m standing taking the picture to the bush, and about ten foot wide – the grass was knee-high. You can see the pile of grass I cut up.

The scythe is an interesting tool. It’s still used in Europe for cutting grass, and the European models are supposed to be much nicer, lighter, and more efficient than the American version. Mine is heavy and clunky, the handle alone is a 3 inch round piece of heavy wood. It’s tiring on the arms. The European models have aluminum handles for light weight, and long razor-sharp blades. I am having trouble finding a place to buy a whetstone to sharpen my blade with. When I called the garden center the guy took a second to even figure out what a scythe was! So it looks like I’ll be ordering something off the net.

Best of all it never runs out of gas on you and strands you at the farthest point from the house, like lawnmowers occasionally do…

Walk on the tracks

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, outdoors1 Comment

I took Barclay for a short walk on the RR tracks near our house today

Barclay enjoyed tromping through the drainage ditch along the side of the tracks. I let him because it was clean and the water was running.

I made him get out of the ditch farther down where the water was stagnant and standing. It was full of tadpoles!

Look at the leg on the bottom one! How cool! I’ll have to go back and check on these guys and see how they develop.

On the other side of the tracks (the wrong side?) the ditch was sludgy and full of algae. Some of these algaes can be poisonous to dogs, so I didn’t let Barclay near it – yuk!

The only wildlife we saw was this busy little junco hopping around the tracks.

Looks like he caught something.

Wild Irises, I think…

Pretty pink rhodedendrons…

Purple rhodedendron. So pretty!

Applesauce

On By stefrobrtsIn food2 Comments

Last night applesauce was on the shopping list, and since I’ve been taking the food preservation course I knew applesauce was not hard to make and can. Instead of buying processed applesauce (with high-fructose corn syrup – yuk) I bought a variety of Washington apples and made applesauce and canned it. I ended up with three quart jars to put in the pantry and one half jar for immediate use. And it tasted very good. I tried two recipes – one with brown sugar and extra cinnamon and nutmeg – one with white sugar and less cinnamon. They were both very good.

I also made natural peanut butter (trying to get away from the hydrogenated fats in store-bought), which is so easy I don’t know why we don’t do it all the time. Today I’m going to dry some pineapple and start marinating some beef for jerky. Although I had said that the jerky wasn’t worth the trouble, after I was out of homemade jerky and bought some from the store, I realized how much better the homemade stuff was. So I’ve changed my mind, it’s totally worth the trouble!

One-eye’d hen update

On By stefrobrtsIn 2010chicks, chickensLeave a comment

My little black cochin with one eye has been living in the tractor with her ‘brother’, and I think I’ve finally found the perfect home for her – in fact I have two great homes lined up in case one doesn’t work out. Her eye seems to be improving, she might even be a normal chicken someday.

I feel a little bad though, because here and her buddy are so happy together. Here they are snuggling up in the corner of the tractor after breakfast. Unfortunately she’s going to an urban home, and roosters are not welcome. He’ll just have to settle in with the rest of the flock after she’s gone. She’ll be getting lots of attention at her new home, so I’m not worried about her.

The sheep are gone

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, garden1 Comment

It took four of us, and they still nearly evaded getting into the trailer, but they eventually were persuaded. So all of them are back home in their dry barn tonight. Now I need to go pick up some of that wonderful sheep poo to throw on a compost heap for next year’s garden!

rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain,

On By stefrobrtsIn Uncategorized2 Comments

We just set a record for 20 straight days of rain, had one nice sunny day, and today it’s back to the downpour. I think we’d call this the great storm of ’10, except it doesn’t sound nearly as impressive as a hurricane or an ice storm – it’s just sort of.. damp.

Our swale is filled up and spread wide across the field, and the pond at the bottom is as big as I’ve ever seen it. The poor sheep are limping around because their feet are sore from being wet so much. Our neighbor is taking them home today so they can dry out in his barn, get sheared and have their feet treated.

What the field can’t hold overflows down into the drainage ditches along the road. Unfortunately they are full too, so the water is just running over the road and the driveway.

Enough already! We call ‘uncle’! Everyone is sick and tired of being wet all day!
 

Please?