Today On The Farm 6/11/2010

Moved the goats to the maternity pen.  The grass in there is so high you can barely see Lucy (the sheep) when she walks in the one section!  The goats are loving it today.   It's full of the woody weeds and thistle that goats love. 

 

Red (my horse) got his feet trimmed again today, and I talked with Lindsey about taking him to Cornell.   It's not as expensive as I had thought, but it's a 3 hour drive, with Red in a trailer...  so that takes some thought.  (the other three horses were trimmed recently, Red just needed a touch up visit)

 

Moved the horses to the front pasture, since the goats are not in there.  The ram, two billies, and Fred the llama are all in with the horses.

 

The baby chicks are all doing great!  I'm getting read to move them to the arcauna pen here this afternoon.  That will open the tractor pen up for the turkeys, who are getting big!

 

The arcaunas, all but the one nesting, will move with the other hens for summer.  The roosters will be put out to free range, so the girls can concentrate on laying eggs without being bothered by the boys.  For winter we'll put them all in together I think, then early spring I'll separate the arcaunas back out, so that I get a batch of straight arcauna chicks again next year. 

 

The two peahens have been fighting over the nest, and have the eggs all over.  I need to go in and put all the eggs on one nest, and hope one of them sits on them.

 

Gary is baling hay beside our upper shed, Nate is helping.  Luke is in the dairy barn for afternoon milking.  Dan is in the shed tinkering with the hay rake, making sure everything is ready for Monday. 

 

The timothy is high and thick, the rye is starting to go to head, and the wheat is starting to turn golden..  busy days ahead!

Planting Sweet Corn

10 New Baby Chicks Hatched Today

 Just hatched out today!  The momma is VERY protective, making it hard to get pics...  but the babies were sneaking out from under her.

 Two of them are black, 8 are yellow.  

Tissue Paper Flowers

From the Martha Stewart kits at Big Lots last year. The kids and I finished these up today.

Yes, there is a dog on my coffee table.  That's because school is done for the day and the dining room table is now a dining room table and no longer a school desk.  When it's a school desk she sleeps there, but when the computers go away it once again becomes a dinging room table, and obviously dogs are not allowed on dining room tables.  Obviously.

This is all perfectly logical to me these days, which is a little scary...  but really, once you get past the cashmere goat sleeping on the front porch rocker, the dog on the coffee table ceases to seem the least bit weird.  (Piper is back in her pen at the minute..  but she's a Houdini goat and will escape periodically and come up to the front porch to sleep)

Pork Lo Mein

My friend Annie shared this recipe with me, and it was a big hit here last night.  :-)


Pork Lo Mein

1/2 pkg whole wheat spaghetti, uncooked
1/4 cup  Kraft Signature Asian Sesame Dressing
1 lb. (450 g) pork tenderloin, cut into strips
2 cloves  garlic, minced
3 cups frozen stir-fry vegetables, thawed, drained
1/2 cup  25%-less-sodium beef broth
1 Tbsp. Kraft Light Smooth Peanut Butter
1/4 cup  lite soy sauce
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
Make It!

COOK spaghetti in large saucepan as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add
meat and garlic; stir-fry 3 min. Add vegetables, broth and peanut butter;
stir-fry 3 to 4 min. or until meat is done.

DRAIN spaghetti; return to pan. Add meat mixture and soy sauce; mix lightly.
Spoon onto platter; sprinkle with cilantro.

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Farm Work Monday - Penning The Chickens

For the last two years, Dan has had Monday's off and we have usually spent them on projects here around the farm.  This past week was his last Monday off.  Next Monday he starts classes for his cdl, in addition to working full time, making this our last Farm Work Monday.  Meaning it was the day to get the chickens PENNED!  We had wire fencing strung on metal posts, but it was constantly sagging, not high enough, and the hens were loose everywhere.

8 foot posts, scavenged from a neighbor who had pulled them out and was going to throw them out.

We have a post hole driller for the tractor - scavenged from a relative who had thrown it on his scrap pile. It's dull and not the best, but it still works and saved a lot of digging!

Fence tighteners that used to belong to Dan's dad.  When Dan's mom had the farm sale here, Uncle Bob pulled them out and said to take them down to his shed, they might need them.  When we moved in here, Dan went and got them back from his cousin, and we use them so hard...  always thankful that Uncle Bob pulled them out of the sale pile.  :-)

Nate using the fencing tools.

The bottom wire all strung, and the hens moved back in.  We cleaned out the chicken coop and moved the nesting box outside for now.  Dan already picked up the chicken wire and ran it across the top, making this a 6ft tall fence, but I haven't taken pics of that yet.  :-)

Eggs!  It's so nice to have all the eggs in one spot again!  There had been nests in sheds, shelters, all over the farm.