adventures at the feed store

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had to go to the doctor’s and I went ahead and got the new cervical cancer vaccine. That was a nasty one, my arm still burns. I had forgotten that I still had a credit there from when my insurance changed just before Maggie was born and didn’t have to pay a copay, so since I had $15 cash burning a hole in my pocket I stopped at Paul’s farm and garden to see what was up. I don’t usually buy feed at Paul’s but they do have the best vegetables for the garden there. They even had brussle sprouts! And a bunch of different herbs. Once I get the garden ready I will buy from there (anyone got a tiller I could borrow?) Sharon said she read that the best way to plant a tomatoe plant is in a bale of hay. Anyone with experience on that? Sounds worth a try. Paul’s had chicks for sale. I was suprised this early in the season, I was going to look around easter. I was glad I got them while I could though, the lady in front of me bought tons, I was about to holler I only want a couple save some for me. They had Road Island Reds, which is what Mabel and Henrietta are (yes we named them), they also had Barred Rock, Auracanas, Ideals, and Bantams. I don’t know what they are all like so I got 4 Reds since I am already so attatched to Mabel. Now here’s something I don’t understand. They had one box that was labeled Pullets, which is females, then they had a box of straight run which is mixed. I was wanting three females and one male, so they grabbed me 3 out of the pullet box and one out of the straight run which gives me a 50/50 chance of a rooster, they said they couldn’t tell what it was. Well then how do they know the pullets in the other box are pullets? Did they mess with the genetics so only pullets were laid? Beats me. So anyways I have 4 red chicks set up in a plastic tote next to “Auntie” Gilbert. They peeped all night long. Thankfully, the cat seems only mildly interested in them. Maggie was holding one before I knew it, fortunately she seemed to know not to squeeze it, but she was a little rough putting it back in the box. Seems ok though. Oh and my adult hens have finally started to lay eggs again after their winter strike.

Gardeners unite

Adrianne and I were talking yesterday, and we were throwing around the idea of opening our own little shop. This is something Mike and I have dreamed about before, especially with the candle thing, but never did anything about. But we were talking about getting all our friends involved and selling everything from the candles, my dads jewelry, some herbs from the garden, some stuff that Adrianne sews, maybe some of my chicken’s eggs. Could be fun and stress free if we all did it together, what do you say? Anyways that went on to the problem that I’m no green thumb and know nothing about growing herbs or drying them though I am willing to try, so if anyone wants to come by and work on a community garden in my back yard it’d be a fun project. So that’s my thought for the day.

Official business

We claimed the farm as a business this year. That means whenever ya’all come by for lessons I have to record it more carefully. We added up how much we spent on feed during the year- frightening. I need to find more ways to get these guys earning their keep!

Fun with Baccus

I just have to rave for a minute about what a good boy Baccus is turning out to be. Well, ok he still thinks the old barn is a black hole that will suck him in and eat him, but with a lot of praise he will face it. That’s what I like about him, he really does want to do his best for me, and we are starting to trust each other more. Every time I ride him I discover something new that he knows how to do. Someone really did take the time to train him correctly, he just needs to get in shape enough to do it. Wouldn’t hurt if I was more coordinated on my requests either. Its a nice change from Ponti, who will do whatever I ask but flips her head and “whines” about it the whole time. My only wish still is that I had a nice flat arena to ride test figures correctly in. Its really hard to ride leg yields and shoulder-ins on the side of a hill.

guineas come home

Well the guineas have adopted my neighbor.  They got out again while I was at work and wandered into her back yard and are entirely content to stay there a soak up the sun.  I tried to herd them up, but no use.  We were planing to let them range at some point anyways, they will just be eating the ticks in her yard instead of ours.  I threw some corn over the fence and they came and said hi, then went back to their sun spot.  My chickens are lonely now.  I think maybe I should have started with chicks and gotten the dogs used to them in the house first and then maybe they wouldn’t have chased them out of the yard.

Ahh, the unpredictability of farm life

We had some friends over for a birthday party last night, and wouldn’t ya know as soon as we sat down to eat Sharon comes in the back door saying the guineas are loose and the dogs are chasing them. So we all go running out and two are in the trees and one is under the house and who knows where number four ran off to, so here I have all my guests out in the cold with flash lights rounding up the goofy birds. And then the horses come galloping up the field to join in the fun with all the effects of pounding hooves in the dark. It was gloriously dramatic. The birds did finally calm down enough to come out of the trees and go back in their pen. I think everyone got a good laugh out of it. Its never boring when you work with animals, frustrating sometimes, but never boring.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Love you all! Now who can tell us the origins of this unique holiday?

Overdue for some cute pictures

no more candles

Well Mike has decided to stop being a distributer for Mia Bella. We never made any profit because we ended up burning them all for ourselves. They really are an excellent product. If you still want candles however, contact Adrianne and Margaret. That’s who we will get them from for ourselves.

Darwin Day

Here’s an interesting thing. There’s a poster at work about Darwin Day 2007 on Feb 11, 3-8:30 at the Unitarian Church. They will be having a Evolution and Creation forum. Dave Scultz Ph.D. will defend evolution and Milton Slocum, MD will defend creation. Being a Christian school kid, I’ve had to go to these things before and they can be pretty interesting. I’ve seen them go both ways. Sometimes they get a stupid Christian who can’t hold his own against a Ph.D., and sometimes they get a Christian who actually knows enough science to kick butt against an evolutionist who’s never been realistically challenged. The MD in this case is an LSU professor, he may actually know how to defend himself. Personally I don’t get too worked up about it, because wether you believe God did it or it happened by chance it all comes down to faith in the end, but it can be fun to talk about if everyone behaves civilly.