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Newly minted. You can still see the umbilical cord.
On December 28th, we were finally going to make a trek up to Spokane to see my husband’s mom. We were out feeding critters in the early morning before we left, and I look over and see four new little feet. Maggie, one of our American Blackbelly/Soay sheep, has had a baby, and its a boy! We weren’t expecting any babies until late January. Surprise!
Penned up and safe. Shortly after this picture was taken, I watched this little guy make a nest in the hay and lay down. How’s that for instincts!
I had not planned to end up with 13 turkeys this year. My intention was to raise 3 for ourselves, sell any extra as babies, and then butcher 3 in the fall for our own use, leaving 3 to carry over into next year. So I incubated a batch of eggs in April and thought I was good to go. The girls, Gracie-mae and Peggy-sue, had other ideas. They kept starting nest and brooding, and brooding, and brooding. I did sell a few, and we lost a few to predation, but we ended up with 13 mostly grown turkeys by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. Read the rest of this entry »
Today, as I look out my office window, it’s sunny. But it’s the first sunny day we’ve had in a week or more. In the winter, this area tends to get socked in with fog and gray for weeks at a time. What a gift sunshine can be in November. But it does make for some nice photographs.
Also making progress? This 10 week old welsummer rooster. In another 6 weeks or so I should start getting eggs from his siblings. Nice dark brown speckled eggs. Sweet.
If there is one life lesson I’m supposed to be learning this turn of the karmic wheel, its patience. Patience with people. Patience with projects. Patience with myself. Because once I’ve decided to do something, I want it done yesterday.
Peppers, peeking out from under some light weight agribon (row cover). The agribon is to help prevent sunburn on the ripening peppers. It’s an experiment.
You know those perfectly manicured gardens? The ones without a weed in sight or a blade of grass out of place? You know those gardeners? I don’t trust those gardeners. Read the rest of this entry »
As I get ready to take a quick road trip to see a friend, and then a longer road trip to see another friend at the end of the month, here’s a brief view of the garden coming on like gangbusters.
Ornamental Japanese Corn growing in the perennial garden (away from the sweet corn). SO pretty.
So, Charlie the turkey is kind of an odd duck. Or maybe he’s totally normal for a turkey. I’ve never had them until this last year. It’s a wonder Charlie ever has time to eat, because he displays and displays and displays. If I sit down in the poultry yard, he’ll dance around me and gobble for hours. Lately he’s lost a lot of the feathers on his chest, and some of his tail feathers. I just figure he’s starting to molt. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, the unnamed mama duck hatched out 6 babies.
Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve been following along, you know that we have a killdeer pair nesting in my garlic bed. Most birds will lay one egg a day, and I happened to find the nest on the day the first egg was laid, on May 21st. That means that the last egg (there are 4) was laid on May 24th. Which means this particular killdeer has a 25 day incubation period. (It can range from 24 to 28 days). I know this because they hatched TODAY. Well, three were hatched this morning. Hopefully the other egg will still hatch. Read the rest of this entry »
Baby possum in a coffee can.
Totally forgot to share this story. A couple of weeks ago, we were just dozing off to sleep when one of the dogs started barking like crazy. This wasn’t “a leaf is blowing across the yard – OMG” kind of bark (we have a lot of that). This was a “Mama, this is serious, get your butt out here” kind of bark. So I hoisted my tired bones out of bed and found the flash light. It took me a few minutes, but I finally discovered a baby possum, cornered against a fence by the dogs. Read the rest of this entry »
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