On The Farm This Week 4/20/12

The swan, across the road, is nesting.  This is the male, keeping guard so that no one disturbs her.

Horses:
Wrangler is losing all of his fur.  It looks a bit like rainrot, but I don't think it is - I think he just looses all of his shaggy fur in the spring?

Red used to get rainrot - this is how bad he would get:

Cows:

The calves are continuing to get big.  They are doing really well.

Goats:

Aryiana is bagging up - we should have a new baby before long.  She's so huge - I'm hoping for twins, but she usually only has one. 

Sheep:

sold the sheep this week.  :-(  I know it was the logical thing to do - we need to downsize and prioritize.  The sheep were not friendly, and needed sheared every year.  They did not provide any income, they were just pets.  The man who bought them transported them in the back of a van, which made me nervous..  but he wanted them as pets, so I think it was the best place for them.

Poultry:

We are drowning in eggs!  After not having ANY eggs for weeks, we now have a fridge full of them.  Omelets, fritatas, hard boiled eggs..  need to get some pickled eggs started this week.

We sold the peacocks too.  Not my breeding pair, Mr and Mrs Peabody stay, but the babies from last year are all sold, once we catch the one last loose one.

Garden:

A lot of work this week..  had topsoil delivered for the upper garden, filled in the 4x4 boxes in the back yard with some miracle grow to top them off.  A friend of mine gave me her extra strawberry plants - I got those planted, weeded the herb and back flower beds, edged the beds...  Next week I want to get some beans and brocolli in the ground, and maybe some other plants?

The iris are blooming

I'm trying two apps on my phone this year.  The first one is for planning my 4x4 raised beds:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dek.gardensquared&feature=search_result

The second is a paid app.  I almost never pay for apps.  But this one looked really promising, and it is cheap:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hutchinsonsoftware.gardenate&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5odXRjaGluc29uc29mdHdhcmUuZ2FyZGVuYXRlIl0.

I have not spent enough time with either app to know if I really love them yet or not.  It's been a busy week!  :-)

Misc:


We're having a skeet shoot here in a few weeks, there is SO much I want to get done/cleaned up around the farm before then!  Much like the house cleaning, I know i need a better plan for maintaining this year.  I think I need a rotation - on Tuesdays I work on one area, Thursdays another - maybe a front yard/back yard rotation?  And I MUST walk through the farm much more regularly.  I want to add walks out over the back fields, but daily I need to be in with the horses, chickens, goats..  and at least a walk through of the gardens, so I am more aware of what needs done, rather than avoiding it and living in denial.