Apr
2009
Summer, winter, spring in just 3 days!
April 27th, 2009 at 07:22 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, WeatherThat’s the way it’s been here for the past couple of weeks. We’ve seen highs in the low 80’s followed by snow/sleet and lows below freezing. We’ve even had over an inch of rain this past week.
Oh, and you can’t forget the winds. Generally the wind begins about noon, but lately it’s been blowing nearly 24/7 thanks to the way the storms are passing to the north of us.
We’ve had to nail plywood back onto the stable, and rebuild a corner on the sheep shelter, as well as come up with another tarp to cover the cow manger. Thankfully, we’ve removed the tarps from the alfalfa stacks as they were completely shredded.
On the summer day, we quickly built three new raised boxes, and then waited for another time with little to no wind to fill them with sand and compost. We’ll plant peas and various lettuces in those boxes.
We’ve also added extra compost to the corn patch, and laid out the new drip irrigation system for our big garden.
Our garlic is doing very well in two of the three locations, something we were told would be the case. The rhubarb is growing nicely, and even Cindy’s strawberries are showing life. We’ll leave the berries alone until mid June.
The very last thing we’ve done was to remove the bird netting from the top of the chicken coop. A late, heavy, wet snow took it down and really made a mess of it. We also raked all the old bones, corn cobs, and other garbage the chickens have scratched up in their pen. We have a few young hens who like to fly out of the pen, so every once in a while we’re surprised by a hen going on walkabout.
Hopefully, we’ll get the new addition to the coop roughed out this weekend. Remember, we took a barn down for the wood, and part of that will become the new coop addition.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Apr
2009
We’re lamb foster parents
April 11th, 2009 at 07:30 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherWe got a call from our neighbor this morning. They’re overwhelmed with grand-kids and lambs, including four “bummers”. The plea came in early… could you come get this lamb like five minutes ago?
It took us a few hours to get ourselves ready. After all, we awoke to snow/rain, better than a quarter-inch. Feeding was a bit of an adventure. The chickens were the smartest of all. They stayed in their coop.
The cows were a soaking wet mess, even though they had a very good shelter. Some of the ewes had gone into their shelter and others (including the ram) were soaking wet. The horses were taking turns rolling in a pile of wet sand.
Back to the little lamb. She has been totally traumatized by the grand-kids. It appears she has some vision issues and doesn’t suck well. It’s a real chore to get a couple ounces of milk replacement down her. Fortunately, she’s old enough to nibble on hay and seems to drink water.
In the middle of a hail storm, we moved the lamb jug from the lamb pen to our little “patio” in front of the garage, and right outside our back door.
Bev attempted to be first one into the pen to help take the jug apart, but the ram, “Tom”, found her way to interesting for any of us to be comfortable. She quickly scrambled back over the feeder and we waited for Cindy.
Cindy went over the fence while Bev entertained Tom through the safety of the fence, until Cindy started dismantling the jug… Then Tom got way curious. A flake of hay solved the issue.
We hauled all the pieces to the patio while the lamb went exploring. Within a few minutes the lamb was safely inside the jug with a floor of straw, a flake of hay, and a water pan.
We feed every four hours with the exception of through the night. Oh, speaking of feed… it’s bottle time now.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Mar
2009
Spring has sprung around the neighborhood
March 16th, 2009 at 11:49 am by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, Sheep, WeatherThe critters are all coming out of their winter digs, and are on the prowl for prey. This past week we observed a huge male coyote digging in what was most likely a rabbit warren, looking for food. You can’t imagine how surprised we were to see him, less than 100 yards from our front door in broad daylight.
Wyly Coyote digging in a critter hole
Good news for wily coyote, Cindy feels he’s too far away, pointed in the wrong direction, and also about 400 yards away are people in a horse pen working their horses. So, she “shot” him with the camera!
Long-eared Owl sitting in a tree.
We’re still waiting for our girls to start birthing. From the looks of them, it will be another couple days at least.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Feb
2009
More snow… longing for spring
February 17th, 2009 at 09:22 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, WeatherWe went to bed with intermittent power outages, probably from the heavy snow laying branches on wires, or wires just snapping somewhere.
Over night we got three or four inches more of wet, heavy snow, right on top of a two inch layer of mud.
Yeah, it was pretty when we looked out. Feeding this morning was pretty easy as the ground was still frozen, but this evening… it was pretty sloppy, and by tomorrow, we’ll be back in the mud again.
Our little flock of chickens grew as we bought five new pullets from some folks in town. They’re Red Star and have just begun laying. Our old gals weren’t real thrilled with the newcomers, but I’m sure they’ll get over it.
As soon as spring really gets here, we have the lumber ready to double the size of our coop and then order another batch of chicks. Mom’s loving this egg business…
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Feb
2009
Some dogs just never learn
February 14th, 2009 at 09:24 pm by Shari Thomas in Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherWe’ve had another round of snow, about 3 inches. Not enough to shovel, just enough to make it really white and sparkly.
Our old gal, Mindy has been bugging Cindy and me to take her out with us when we go feed. So, most mornings, about the time she thinks we should be going out, she begins to patrol the hallway, the kitchen, both bedrooms until finally we gather our coats, hats, and gloves.
Each morning, it’s game on!
... the rest of the story...
Related posts
Feb
2009
Spring is just around the corner…
February 9th, 2009 at 02:53 pm by Shari Thomas in About Beryl, Around the Farm, Chickens, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherOr so we’ve been told.
I don’t know whether Phil saw his shadow or whether that even matters here on the high desert. But, I do know, the weather doesn’t lead me to believe spring is anywhere around the closest corner.
read the rest of the story
Related posts
Jan
2009
Snow: Five inches in three hours
January 25th, 2009 at 08:36 pm by Shari Thomas in About Beryl, Around the Farm, Chickens, Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherShortly after dinner, Cindy suggested we feed, even though is was about an hour early. Good thing we went out when we did. The wind was already sustained from the south-southeast at better than 20 mph.
We got the chickens fed, and closed in again (with high winds we keep their door closed), and turned our attention to the rest of the animals. As I tossed a couple flakes of hay into the cow and calf, I couldn’t help but think of the Arnold Palmer Classic Golf Tournament, where they had sustained winds in excess of 30 mph. Talk about golf balls going where you didn’t want them… the hay didn’t exactly land where I wanted it, either.
On to the sheep… C’mon girls, go that way so I can throw the hay over here and miss your woolly coats. You’ve done well this year. Maybe your wool will be worth a little more with less alfalfa tangled in it.
Cindy fed and watered the horses and called our two dogs back to the house. By then, it we spitting rain and we still had to reposition a couple bales of hay at the cow stack. With that done quickly, we stopped by the hen house to gather the eggs and head inside.
Within about 45 minutes, it was snowing… hard! It’s been doing that now for the past three hours. Weatherbug tells me we’re supposed to have five to 10 inches by tomorrow night.
Hmmm, we already have five inches and there’s a lot more storm to come yet. Bev’s not gonna have much fun tomorrow, digging out to go to work, only to have to dig the Senior bus out, too.
We’re even expecting a thunderstorm or two this evening… better known as “Thunder-snow”. Right now it’s 29.5 degrees. The wind had shifted to the northwest about time the snow started. That’s our indication that the front has passed. Never mind the jet stream is going the opposite direction.
I know one thing, the “arctic dogs”… Sarah the Finnish Spitz, and Koda the part Siberian Husky, would rather remain indoors, while our two lab crosses just love the snow. The shepherd… she’s not sure but will go play as long as someone else goes first.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Jan
2009
An average winter day on the farm
January 22nd, 2009 at 06:32 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, New Life, SheepThought I’d share an average day here at “Four Country Gals”.
With five dogs in the house, morning comes early, as in when the first dog wants out. That’s shortly after 5 AM. Mom gets up, since it’s her dog, Mindy. Then she heads back to bed.
Now, if Mom stays really quiet, the rest of the dogs settle down for another hour or so. About time Mindy wants in, the other dogs want out, so that’s a good time to start the coffee… around 6 AM. Start the coffee doesn’t mean “brew”. It means put the beans in the grinder side.
Brew is as easy as push the button to start the grind/brew cycle, something the next person up gets to do. That’s usually Cindy. She and Mom like to watch the sunrise from the kitchen. At this time of year, that’s about 7 AM.
Bev is up by 7:30 and I follow anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes later. Since Bev leaves the house at 8:30 at least 3 times a week, she gets her morning “computer duties” done first.
I get online shortly after 8:30, first checking e-mail and then proceeding through the overnight stats. By now, the dogs have all been out and back in at least three times before settling in for their morning naps.
Cindy and I both eat breakfast at the computer, with the exception of a weekly “breakfast at the table”. That’s the day we have a hearty farm breakfast. The rest of the time, it’s cold cereal or toast.
About 10 AM it’s time to feed the animals. Why so late? It has to do with the weather, attempting to keep the sheep from lambing in the middle of the night, and our own schedules. We’ve found that if we wait until 10, we’re not in quite such cold temperatures. It takes us about 30 minutes to get the horses, sheep, cows, chickens and wild birds all fed and watered.
Every once in a while, we have to spend a little longer rearranging the hay stacks. If we bring 10 or more bales into close reach, we only have to do that every couple of weeks.
By 11 it’s time to get serious about driving traffic. I have found that I can combine my Entrecard “drops” and Adgitize ad visits. It takes me about an hour to visit 50 blogs, stopping to read fresh content, and also to comment where appropriate.
All the while, I keep an eye on CNN, watching for breaking news.
Every three to five days, I spend time approving Entrecard advertising requests. On a monthly basis, I award credits to random advertisers, so I have to maintain some spreadsheets, which I keep updated regularly.
With six blogs to maintain, my biggest problem isn’t what to write, it’s what to write today. I have chosen to update one blog a day at a minimum. That keeps content fresh, but it also gives me permission not to write in each blog daily.
I guess part of it also has to do with “rewards”. Entrecard gives me 25 credits for new blog posts (maximum 3 per week), and Adgitize provides 100 points for a single daily blog post.
By late afternoon, I’ve typically fleshed the post in my mind. But first… it’s time to feed the animals again. As the sun stays up later, we’ll adjust the feeding schedule to feed about an hour before sunset (in the cool of the evening).
It takes me 15 to 30 minutes to create my blog posts. I edit as I go and use a spell-checker.
Once that is done, I drop some more Entrecards (rarely more than 100), sometimes working from the “inbox” where folks have already visited me, and sometimes just using the toolbar to select random blogs.
By 7:30 I’m ready to quit working and start playing. I keep a paid membership at Pogo, and we also have several games installed on each computer.
Bedtime comes as early as 9 PM. Since we each have TV’s, we tend to watch TV from bed for another hour or so, before quieting down for the night.
Oh, the dogs… they get at least two “last outs”. Mom puts them out and when they come in, they get treats. Bev puts them out before “pills”, and then lets them in for “pills” (only two actually get meds, but all get 1/2 a marshmallow). I put them out last and when they come in, I dispense treats in turn for obedience as in “sit, down, etc”.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Jan
2009
First time ever… someone else will feed
January 18th, 2009 at 06:12 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Day off, Family Cow, Horses, SheepMonday morning, bright and early (as in way before the sun rises), Bev, Cindy and I will be leaving for a day of “play” in Mesquite, NV.
We’re forced to allow Clyde, our neighbor, to feed our animals.
We’ve NEVER all been gone at a time when it was literally impossible to feed our animals. A couple years ago, we all left pretty early a couple of mornings (just before sunrise) to go to a Clinton Anderson Clinic, but then, it was summer and no frozen water buckets, or icy areas to cross.
So, Clyde will feed.
Cindy and I have carefully laid out the feed, measured the chicken mash, and left watering instructions. Clyde may keep all the eggs he finds. That could be none, one, or maybe even six or seven.
We’ll be playing away, and meeting with old Ohio neighbors by the time our chickens, sheep, cows and horses realize we’re not home… That’s unless they wake up at o’dark-thirty when we leave.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
Related posts
Jan
2009
Curious chickens, growing calf, pregnant sheep, muddy horses…
January 16th, 2009 at 07:12 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherThe weather was nice enough this morning to spend some time constructing a photo journal of what it looks like in mid-January on the SW Utah desert. Yeah… we have winter.
Curious chickens
Buttercup's growing up
Aren't I cute?
Don't bother me, I'm eating!
Two pregnant yearlings
Dakota, the 3-yr-old filly
Dusty showing off his hay belly
Neche, our oldest gal
We’re still good as far as our hay supply is concerned.
No hay left here.
Nearly 4 tons left for the horses
Over 4 tons left for the sheep.
About 3 tons left for the cows
Lamb and calf bedding straw.
There you have it. Our muddy little farm in the middle of winter, on the SW Utah desert. Those pregnant sheep will begin lambing in mid-March. Sure hope this mud is gone by then.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
