Word of the day: tenacious

June 4, 2013June 4, 201312 Comments

Why is the whole lawn mowed except for that little island out there?

I will tell you.

Today I mowed the wild garden down because we plan to sell the house, and no matter how much I like it, to most people it just looks like a lotta weeds.

Needs must…

However, there was a good reason for leaving that one spot unmowed.

Look!

You can see from the other picture that I had mowed right up to the edge of this stand of Goldenrod. She never moved, nor did she even appear to flinch, and I call that

Tenacious

What’a Weechoo Mama!

~*~*~*~

NOTE: She is sitting on roughly 30 eggs. (It seems that they all do this, though I have found no explanation for their egg hording behavior.) I know they won’t all hatch, but hope that at least a few will make it. The days to hatch for Guinea Fowl eggs is 26 to 28 days. I estimate she has been at it for a week which means that she sat it out in the torrential rains this past week, and will have to sit it out for any further rains we may get. So where was the Weechoo Papa while all this mowing was going on? Hiding in the neighbors pasture!

I told him he was a big chicken!

~*~

Definitions:

Merriam Webster defines tenacious as: persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired.

Weechoo : My pet name for my Guinea foul. It is my best attempt at the sound they make when they communicate, to me and each other, here on the Farmlet. 😉

And finally, I recommend this read from The Natural Poultry Farming Guide

Goose Pail Tales: a goose’s gotta dibble

May 16, 2013May 16, 201339 Comments

Living in an older home, on land that has been ranched, farmed and subdivided since the very early 18oos, leads to some interesting finds.

Digging for gardens, or even just the rainstorms we get, can bring many interesting items to the surface. Pocket knives, old bottles and tools, items thrown into the burn pile that wouldn’t burn, and more. There are tales of Indian arrowheads to be found everywhere here in Alabama, and that should not be surprising as this was once Native Amerindian land. Though I confess, I have yet to find any of this valuable treasure here on the Farmlet.

What I do find, after the fact, are the items the rain loosens and brings up. Things my geese will dibble up out of the soil, and like a Raccoon, will take to the water pail and wash.

To my chagrin, these items look dangerous and non-foodworthy. For your interest, or not 😉 , here are some treasures my geese have collected so far this year…

Each of these items were found at the end of the day when I dumped their water pails!

Row 1, L to R: rusted clockwork; a 2 in. reflector; a plastic soldier who’s seen some pretty serious action; an 8 in. plastic zip tie; a small bit of white plastic; a hose washer; a strange, plastic, locking clip; and a rubberized covering for a tool tip.

Row 2, L to R: An ancient bit of barbed wire; wire; a row of nails from 1 inch to 5 inches in length; two bits of *twisted mystery metal; and an underwire from a rather large cupped bra, with plastic coating missing. Eaten? 😛

Row 3, L to R: An eye screw with a bit of wire attached; a bolt with nut and washer rusted in place; an aluminum screw cap; a fuse from an automobile; a rather sharp piece of heavy gauge, cut aluminum; two miscellaneous bits of twisted, aluminum wire; and …

Row 4, L to R: Various pieces of glass from broken windows and old glass bottles! I find this everywhere on the property! I don’t know why we’re all not missing toes! Scary.

When I see the items the geese leave behind in their water, I often wonder how much of it I don’t see. That is to say, how much is small enough to be EATEN!

When I prepare my chickens for the table I have seen bits of glass they swallowed whole, usually pea sized or smaller. Thankfully, their crops and the rocks they swallow work the edges off the glass shards and apparently with no harm to the bird. But then I have to wonder…

What have the geese swallowed?

I haven’t a clue. I can only assume that if any items were swallowed, they were nothing deleterious to their health!

It is going to rain again today and tomorrow

~*~*~*~

*INTERESTING: I went looking for barbed wire history, and found this display:

(Available for sale HERE)

I may have a bit of antique Crandal ‘Champion’ ca. 1879, or Hodge ‘Spur Rowel’ (sp?) ca. 1887. Neither of them collectible in their rusted state, but a fun find!

~*~*~*~

Hm, if I train them right, maybe they’ll find something really good and I’ll get rich!

!!!

It’s been one of those days…

April 5, 2013August 4, 201443 Comments

It started with one of Polly’s eggs exploding in her nest and ruining the whole clutch. 😦

Then this afternoon I went out and all my bees are swarming! I tried to capture the swarm into another hive body that I have, but have no way of knowing if I got the queen or not. 😦

And just a while ago our realtor called and told us that someone else has bid on the property we found. The owner has told him that he wants cash, so now the other bidder has to talk to his wife and see what she says.

I really hope she says:

“NO!”

So now we shall wait to see if God says yes.

WARNING: for the easily grossed out, please read no further!

It seems that my day was not over yet, because the bad eggs I had pulled out earlier and put into a box to throw away, I promptly forgot about leaving them on the back steps. . .

Tucker found the box, dug into it, ate the contents and then barfed them up onto the living room rug. We tried several different applications and used the rug shampooer on it, but it is now hanging on the back fence. I don’t know if the stench will ever come out!

THEN, not to be outdone, Buddy found the remnants of one of the eggs (shells mostly) and he at them. Then for good measure rolled in the remainder. Two hours later he went into the bedroom and barfed on the carpet. Thankfully, the remainders, were not so virulent as the original nasty dead eggs, and therefore we were able to clean the bedroom carpets efficiently.

I have had enough and believe I will be heading off to bed now.

😛

This and that.

February 19, 201325 Comments

The application for the mortgage is in. Now we wait.

The chickens are back to laying again!

Fresh eggs anyone?

(!!!)

Late last week it got down to about 23 degrees overnight. It has taken me five years of living here to figure out to fill the water buckets the night before, and then just break the ice the next morning! WAY easier than hauling three gallon water buckets from the bathroom out to the goose run.

Recently, my friend Lori of Day by Day the Farm Girl Way wrote a post about how water freezes and its delicate nature HERE

Well, there is certainly nothing delicate about these 3 x 3 inch quite pointy formations, now is there? 😉

How did that happen?

**~*~**

Polly has a secret. Shhh…

And Frellnick is a very overprotective father to be!

He looks so threatening, doesn’t he? But he is all show with me. Georgie on the other hand has been getting his ‘tail feathers’ whupped this past week.

Sadly, I have had to separate them again. 😦

**~*~**

In the meantime, I have finally calmed down from the excitement of new Farmlet buying. So now I wait for a house appraisal, thoroughly CLEAN the aforementioned house in preparation for a very special visitor (who flies in for a weeks stay next month) and watch for Polly to begin setting in earnest!

So much is happening over the next four weeks!

Don’t you agree?