Open Gates

I think I just discovered a new Olympic sport - goat wrangling. Yeah, you read that right. The arena would consist of slick 'mud,' slopes, a love-crazed buck, and a herd of does that could care less for his presence. The point of it all is to catch the buck before he gets to the girls, and you get bonus points for not falling on your face in the slippery muck.

You see, we kept the buck from the last kidding as a buck for various reasons; he has lovingly been dubbed 'Stinky Pete.' He thinks that he's king of the world. Now that he's 2 months, we need to separate him from the girls. He's running around, chasing the girls (they hate his guts), and saying, 'What, what?' all the live-long day.

My task today was to get him in with our other two bucks when I moved them out to pasture. I got the llama and the bucks out, no problem. I caught the midget with minimal hassle, and put the little guy with the big boys. He got bowled over and tackled; he's still too small to play with the big kids. With Jack close at his heels, I let Stinky Pete through a small opening in the gate, but Jack pushed right through too. Noo!!! I thought that it was all okay though since the other gate to the girls' pasture was closed - nope. Darn it! Jack gallivanted around and kicked up his heels because he got to be with the ladies. NOOOO!!!!!!!!! Oliver, our other buck, is jumping around on the other side of the fence because he's jealous of his comrade, and the llama is humming with concern, 'Get back to your pasture!' I tried to catch Jack before he got to that gate, but with all the rain we've been having, the ground was as slick as bacon grease and getting traction was out of the question. I've got two legs; he has four. I think he has the advantage.

As I'm trying to get a footing while sliding uphill, Jack is having a heyday, and the does are scared to death of the freaky, furry, stinky, testosterone fueled mass rampaging towards them. I finally caught up with the bloke, tried to grab onto his collar. Wait, where's his collar? He doesn't have a collar?! And he got away from me again. As I ran to grab a means of lassoing him, he tried wooing the ladies. They wouldn't tolerate him for a minute except for the one doe that went into heat this morning. She's been singing her love songs and wiggling her tail at those boys all day. Phooey... we weren't wanting to breed that doe until this fall. Quick review lesson in farm math: 1+1= a lot more. I have reason to believe that there will be baby goats this July.

I guess you could say that this is all just one big face palm.

I think we need to figure out a better pasture system for the bucks... And always close the gate behind you.

February Freeze

We got a gorgeous blanket of the white stuff and more is on the way! Driving home yesterday when the storm came in was fun. [/sarcasm] But the roads were bizarre. With the wind whipping the snow around, the roads looked like swirling water. Now, we're just hunkered down for the rest of the weekend and making sure that the animals don't have frozen water. Yes, we've been hauling hot water from the bathtub downstairs to the barn and coop. Water likes to solidify when it's 16 degrees outside. ;) Once the wind died down, the cold doesn't bite so much, and you can get out there and enjoy the powdery snow!

Rolled Fencing

Don't worry, we drained all the water from the pipes. 

Morgan isn't so sure about all this white stuff.

The one time every year that the geese are actually camouflaged 

Whee!

Man overboard!

Getting all worn out

Our lovely neighbor

"I'm going to get the other sled now"

Mt. St. Helens

Here we go!

Dramatic minimalist pinecone

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

It's a cold little birdie

I get to wear the Bofur hat! 

This cat has the right idea - stay inside where it's warm. 

Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been around on this blog lately. Things are relatively quiet on the farm this time of year, and there just isn't a whole bunch to post about. Unless you want to talk about all the seed and chicken catalogs that arrive by the truckload or making sure that the row covers in the garden stay on the frames or mucking out the chicken coop or the horrifically dry winter we've had so far. Then we could talk all day! Besides all that action, I've been able to really work through my herbalist program (getting close to completion!) and get some sewing done (okay, a lot of sewing). While we're on the topic of sewing, that's where my writing attention has been focused. I've been working to get a sewing blog up and running! You can go check it out here: http://pintucksandpinafores.blogspot.com/

Until next time!
SG

It's a Kombucha Mushroom.

A long, long while ago, we watched this cute Kid Snippets about health food. Maybe we thought it was funny because there were so many points that rung true. :shrugs: One of the lines that we constantly quote is, "It's dreen. Why is it dreen?" The other blip that gets tossed around frequently is the kombucha blip, and for good reason. We have the mushrooms sitting on the counter. I'd like to introduce you to Phil and Baby Phil.

Bonus points to whoever can catch the reference(s) in the names of our SCOBYs

And what does SCOBY stand for? Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast

Mmmm! Want some?

We originally had several mason jars of the SCOBYs, and they were all numbered (in our heads anyway). The only issue with that rotational system of kombucha consumption and fermentation is that, for a really odd reason, we couldn't keep the numbers straight, so the SCOBY colonies each got a name. And they all tasted weird. Except for Phil. Phil is our favorite. ;) Then Phil had a baby! Phil is a girl? :shrugs: Okay. Once Phil's baby had grown independent enough to live on its own, that SCOBY also got it's own jar. Eventually, we got to the point where we only drank kombucha from these two colonies. All the others stayed on their place up on the refrigerator, culturing away. 

The other day, Mom found GIANT jars for Phil and his family. It's now time to start this cranking through this kombucha making process. The ultimate goal is to not need to buy anymore from the store; you can buy an entire box of tea (kombucha fodder is essentially sweet tea) for the price of a small-ish bottle of the fermented tea. 

Farm Girl Got Geek: Captain America

 Captain America is probably one of my favorite superheroes. Okay, he isn't just 'probably' he is my favorite superhero, and I can't wait until Winter Soldier comes out next spring. In the meantime...

My mostly completed Capt. A outfit.

Dress: An old sheet from my stash that someone gave me. I cut out the pieces, did a couple of seams, painted, painted a second coat, then sewed the rest of the dress together. The belt is a $1 find from the thrift store. Inspiration from here

Shield: It's only duck tape and cardboard. Woot! I found the tutorial on Instructables

Boots and glasses: Purchased at store. Nothing exciting there. 

All I need now is to make some red spats and find some red gloves.  

And my lovely sister made an amigurumi Captain America for me! 

Want one for yourself? You can purchase the pattern and download it instantly on Etsy!

I'll let Loki wrap things up for me: 

A... Deer?

So you're just coming up the driveway, and do a double-take. Is that a deer? :gasp: And it's a stag! 

And you come to a stop. Wait. Is it moving or no? Why haven't I scared it off yet? You roll down the window. Is that even real? 

(In a very disappointed voice) No. It's not. 

But this little guy has fooled many folks! You're not the only one that he's duped. Our neighbor put this up a while ago, we all had our moment of trying to figure out if it's real or not. We all had a good laugh, and the deer remained. From the kitchen and the dining room table, we have an excellent view of the comings and goings of everyone, so we got to see the show of people slowing, stopping, getting out of their cars, taking pictures, and laughing as they go on. 

Then, on Christmas Eve, someone Santa-bombed the deer. How do we know when this happened? We saw our neighbor's reaction(s) to the holiday-decked deer from our dining room table (I guess it's the perfect place to spy on everyone). 

He looks like he partied too much. 

Photo courtesy of our neighbors

Christmas Sewing: Colossal Squid

Sorry for the radio silence lately, I told myself that I would try to resume a more regular blogging schedule after Christmas. Between Christmas trees, Christmas sewing, Christmas scheming, Christmas shopping, well, I guess I could just sum all that up as Christmas... Ahem, with all the Christmas-ing going on, I needed to limit my computer time to maximize productivity time and direct mental energy towards things that jumped higher up on the priority list. 

I much prefer a home-made Christmas. Something about turning your back on commercialism and consumerism and making things yourself just makes me feel freer. I'm weird that way. I'll step into a craft or fabric store any day, but when it comes to actual 'shopping,' I'll run the other way. 

Now to fill you in on what I've been working on - 

Between paper-piecing and pj sewing, I made a giant squid. Not joking. This sucker's probably over 7 ft tall! 

The inspiration and directions came from something I saw on Pinterest. Big surprise there. You can check out the tutorial for yourself here. I drew out the pattern pieces, cut everything out, and, with the help of Emi, sewed the silly squid together. We put the last stitched in on Christmas Eve.  

The thought of trying to wrap something of that size was daunting. So I skipped that step. After the mini-man went to bed and fell asleep, I crept into his room with the squid in tow, and gently put it right next to his head so he'd wake up with a colossal squid looking at him. The next morning, all I heard was, 'Wha...? WHOA!' And then he ran around the house showing everyone his monster plushie. 

Even when I was working on it, it was obvious that it wasn't a 'normal' project for me. Where would you hide such monstrosity? If I told you where I stashed it, I couldn't hide things there anymore. :P 

Make Trade

I have something you need; you have something that I need (or want... it just depends on what we're talking about here). You put a value of what you think your product is worth, and I'll do the same. It's as simple as that. No federal governments putting a supposed value on it, and no extra costs in printing the money. Just you and me making a trade.

With all the chickens that we grew out this year, we've come realize how much barter power we have with them. Those birds are pasture raised on corn free, soy free feed. They run around in the open air and foraging to their little chicken hearts' content. And apparently it's hard for folks to find a good source for their chicken dinner with a 'pedigree' like that. Years ago, after sitting down and running some numbers, we found it was cheaper to grow our own instead of buying it through a food co-op or farmers' market - that was the only reason we started raising our own meat. We had the space, and we already owned layer hens. How much harder can adding in meat chickens be? (That was a hypothetical question, therefore I won't answer that right now :P). It's only been in the past year that we've started exploring this option of 'bartering.'

A friend of ours has a really good source for vanilla beans. Wanna trade for chicken?
Some friends of mine are vegetable farmers but don't have a good source for chickens. We'd love to trade for some of your extra squash and onions and tomatoes and beets and and and and!
Elk meat for chicken? Bring it!
The booth that we go to at the farmers market in town? They ENCOURAGE trading. BOOM BABY!
Why didn't we get into this sooner? It's so much fun! We're going to have to include a barter batch of chickens for next year.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

You know you're getting used to the temperature staying below freezing if you think that 34 is a tropical heat wave. For the past week, we've been living and working in a Popsicle of a weather pattern. Something about extreme cold just wears you out, and when the wind gusts and swirls around, not much can protect you from its bite.

The best you can do is hunker down and minimize your time spent exposed to the elements. Unless of course you're out doing Christmas trees. ;) I just finished an entire laundry load of thermals and wool socks that we had used over the weekend. When Mom was out running errands, she found some really nice knit wool gloves with a fleece lining. Those were finger-savers. Those and my Bofur hat. Everyone's ears were freezing, but mine were toasty warm. :P

Ice from a bucket that was left outside. Before it was broken, it could have served as a bowl.

At least we can escape the cold by coming in the house and warming by the fire, the animals are out there with not much else besides what God gave them. Before the really cold weather sank in, we did our gosh-darn-bestest attempt to set the farm menagerie up for the weather. Our attempts were not in vain; they seem to have fared well (for the most past, mini chickens seem to have been the exception). We made sure that there was deep bedding, lots of hot water to prevent the buckets from freezing, and heat lamps (very well secured heat lamps, I might add). 

The geese's bucket and the frozen splashes against the back wall

One can't be too cautious when using heat lamps though... You need to be freakishly OCD when it comes to heat lamp safety. Our neighbors just down the road lost their entire barn last week because a heat lamp fell into the bedding. You could see that giant black smoke cloud rising for miles around. Driving past that old barn, all that's left is charred metal sheets left from the siding.


Now, I know that everyone from the NE corner and Midwest is probably rolling their eyes at me right now. Cold this deep is normal for them. It's something that you acclimate to and learn to live with (or you just do as the birds do and fly South). In our lovely, temperate, mild Pacific Northwest, we don't know what to do with ourselves when it gets cold. Give us drippy sogginess any day, and we'll handle it without an umbrella, but throw us into Canada's weather systems, and you just might give us enough reason to hibernate for the rest of the winter.

I think that the garden is done until spring

Stay warm and stay safe everyone!

Lost Inspiration

He was the smallest, proudest, most photogenic rooster one could ask for. And he's gone. Somewhere between is advanced age (for a chicken) ,the extreme cold, and his tiny size, he didn't make it. 

I've been working on a children's story with Mr. Collins as the star. Granted, the writing has been off and on as the words came to me, but now, that physical manifestation of that inspiration is no more. 

Farewell, Mr. Collins, you have no idea how much joy you gave people when you strutted up, puffed out your chest, and let out the biggest crow you could muster. You will be missed.