Winter Reading

Well here it is. The stack I have been meaning to read. The pile I couldn't wait for winter to be able to dive into. The current bane of my existence. What I mean to say is that I almost always look forward to winter because I am generally burnt out from gardening around the clock all summer. This winter was no exception. I have a confession to make. I haven't started most of them yet. A couple I have read and had planned to re-read, like the miniature donkey book, Beekeeping for Dummies and Square Foot Gardening. It never hurts to brush up on your knowledge, right? Except I haven't yet and spring is closing in on me. I mean really, it's Groundhog Day already and I haven't even started. (For those of you that don't already know, I love Groundhog Day. Not sure why but always have. )

I am starting to panic a little and I haven't ordered my seeds yet. I haven't even looked through and dogeared every page in 30 seed catalogs. What on earth is wrong with me? Maybe I am sick. Ooh, maybe I have Malaria. This really isn't normal for me and it truly baffles me a little. OK, a lot but who's keeping track. I do get over to peruse blogs I love (you all know who you are) but I can't even seem to muster the energy to leave comments which up until recently was something I got out of bed an hour earlier to do.  

So I am throwing down the challenge to myself. Heather (that's me): Get your butt in gear and get it done! There I said it to myself, to you and to my mom who occasionally reads my blog. I am going back to my old ways and I am gearing up for spring, whether I like it or not. Watch out blogland........ I'm coming to comment on your posts and stop lurking secretly. I am also going to plan my seed order. I am going to ready my stack 'o books.  On Friday night.

A Sunny Winter Day

 Today was a good day in animal land. The sun finally came out for the afternoon and I must say the farm pets enjoyed it thoroughly.  In this picture the mother goat is nearly asleep. The goats are so fair weather that they won't go out of the barn for water when the wind blows, let along when it's snowing. The chickens love the goats for some reason and the goats don't seem to mind the chicken ladies too much either.

 The donkey boys like the sun to shine too! They were caught several times throughout the day laying down and just soaking it all in. That is, when the mother goat isn't chasing them and stomping her feet in their direction. Funniest thing I have ever seen as that darn goat is afraid of her own shadow but acts very tough when the donkeys are around. You should see a pygmy goat put the sneak on a pair of miniature donkeys. It's almost sad. It really seems to empower her, nutty goat.

 And here is Ollie and the mother goat hanging out in the snow. It seems humorous to me that they won't go out into the snow in the barnyard which they have access to all day but put them out in the orchard area and snow doesn't seem to bother them at all.

Donkey Boys

It is harder than one might think to get a picture of a baby mini donkey with goofy Christmas antlers on his head. It is next to impossible to get a picture of two of them together.

So we bribed them. The boys love carrots. This one is the shyer of the two and he seems to know that manners will get him further than pushy behavior. His brother is still learning this lesson.

He is also more photogenic. He will actually stand there and let you take his picture even if he hates dumb antlers that make him look silly.

Poncho has to be snuck up on to get a picture. He comes running to see if you have treats in your pocket so getting a decent photo of him becomes more challenging. Most of my pictures of him are from 1 foot above his sweet little face while he begs for carrots.

Now that the ground is covered in snow the boys stay a little closer to the barn. Doyle plows them areas to hang out in but all that sticks through the snow to graze on is chicory. Too bad them chewing on the tops wouldn't kill the stuff like it did all my cherry trees. These guys can prune very fast when you aren't looking.

Hello 2010, Come On In!

Hello 2010, I have been waiting for you! I knew you would get here eventually. You just had to go about it in your own way. Well I have a spot all made up for you. You can even stay a year if you want to.

These were my homemade gifts to my family and close friends this year. I made two quart sized soup mixes.

Then I added applesauce, plum jelly, pear or peach butter and jalepeno jelly.

We put them together in assembly line fashion. A slow assembly line. These graced my dining room table for over a week waiting for the point when I could make the fudge to add to the matching tins.

The presentation was nice but the trays themselves flexed when you picked it up so I hot glued every jar to the tray and then used basket wrap and a blow dryer to shrink the wrapping. It didn't fix the problem but who complains about home made gifts. At least it isn't done out loud.

They turned out all right. Next year I am going to find some kind of boxes to put them in. Maybe 1/2 sized wooden crates. They will be a lot more secure that way. I think every one liked their gifts. I made 12 of them and it took a lot of time but it seems more fitting for me to give of my garden than spend so much time and money on things they probably won't ever use. Been there, done that.

First Poultry Loss This Morning

We had our first poultry loss this morning. My husband noticed that one of our hens was craning her neck and 'gasping' for breath last night. We raced into the house and started trying to figure out what it could be. She still wanted to roost with the others, moved around like normal but kept opening her mouth wide and arcing her neck.

I raced in the house and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to help her. It hasn't been too cold the last week so we left her in the coop where she was certain to have less stress. We got up at 5:00 this morning to check our forum board questions for answers to no avail. Doyle also headed to the chicken house and she was dead on the floor. I think he is going to try a necropsy on her to see if anything obvious was the culprit. We were pretty discouraged. We knew things could go wrong but we had a false sense of security because we have had such good luck with all the chickens we raised this year. I am sad but I also know that on the 'farm' anything can go wrong.

All of the other girls look good this morning. Begging for treats is the norm for them. Doyle's warm oatmeal during the bitter cold snap must have singed a nice memory in their minds' as they mob you when you walk in the door. We will keep a very close eye on them to make sure nothing seems to be amis with anyone else.

New Bird House

A neighbor brought this beauty into my work as a Christmas gift. What a wonderful suprise! His craftmanship is amazing. He even made it look like my chicken house, complete with two barnstars on each side.

It is feeder on the front side and the birds can dine in the 'run'. The back side is a bird house for shelter. Some lucky bird is going to each right near his home!

I was so excited! Dave made my whole week. I asked him if it would weather enough to be used outdoors and he told me it was barnwood from the barn next door, should weather just fine!

Feeding Birds

I have been busily refilling bird feeders around here. When the harsher weather comes I feel the need to supplement their diet and make it easier for them to sustain life.

I have an assortment of different feeder. Some large and ugly such as this one.

And this one.

I have pretty good variety of diners today. Here you see the Western Goldfinches. I have also been feeding Juncos, Red House Finches and Black Capped Chickadees. All are fun to watch. I am going to build an oriole feeder to attract them to stay around too. Apparently they like jelly and citrus. I can accomodate both.

The chicken ladies even like to come out and see what is going on. They don't love the snow but they do love to be running around. Here they are with a bare patch of grass, grazing. They also like to peck at the paint on my house. Yikes! Might be time to repaint.