Ironing out a water mark

This would be what happens when you put a box with a hot stromboli in it, directly on my kitchen table.  Fortunately, this time I knew what to do about it.  In the past, for water rings on this table, I tried mayo.  It never worked.  I had resigned myself to sanding down, and refinishing the table, once the kids were a bit older.  (This belonged to my husbands great aunt - one of my favorite relatives)

This table has been waxed.  A lot.  Not by me - I got it this way.  It actually has thick foam protectors to cover the entire surface, so that it is protected all the time..  but I never quite understood why I would want a wood table top, just to cover it in foam and vinyl?

Anyway, I saw an episode of the Revolution, and learned that on waxed finishes, mayo does't work.  That you need to use heat!

A soft cloth, and an iron.  Do not let the iron set, keep it moving.  And this isn't instant..  it will take just a few minutes. 

But it's so worth the results!

On The Farm This Week 5/1/12

It's been a busy week on the farm.  Last Friday my Alpaca was delivered. On Saturday I bought a Donkey at the Amish sale.  We had kittens born, tore down the old fencing in the front yard (the former goat pen) and picked up all the lumber for the new fence, and this Saturday we acquired a new calf that needs bottle fed.

Fb Status from the farm this week:

Luke just called from inside the chicken coop- the wind blew the door shut and latched it from the outside, locking him in. Fortunately he had his cell phone w/ him. :-)

and another:
Today three men just walked into our pasture, to see how Rocky (Dan's horse) rides. Apparently they were under the impression they could buy him, so they just stopped by and walked into the pasture to go check him out. Didn't ask, didn't stop at the house - just walked right in. Unbelievable. 

Alfred the Alpaca:

Isn't he cute?  This is our first alpaca.  We hope to get him some girlfriends at some point this year.

More about Alpacas

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2012/04/alfred-alpaca.html

Donkey:

Donkey, named Donkey after the donkey in Shrek.  Another addition to the farm in the past week.  We got him at the Amish sale (Beaver Run Consignment Sale) but the man who brought him there bought him at Middleburg Auction.  He said it was a pity buy  - he was in bad shape when he bought him.  He got him healthy, then sold him.  Donkey is super friendly - we love him!

More about Donkeys -http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2012/04/donkey-donkey.html

Horses:

I RODE WRANGLER THIS WEEK!!!

This is a major big deal.  I've been struggling with the idea of a new horse. Wrangler has been here a couple of months now, but I kept finding excuses to not ride him.  I was a little afraid of him, and i miss Red something fierce.  But Wrangler did GREAT, he was a dream to ride.  Well behaved.  Didn't spook when the dogs ran and jumped in front of him.  Didn't spook with Rocky beside us (Dan's horse is a bit of a bully, and him and wrangler sometimes have issues when they are in the pasture..  I worried about having them both out riding side by side).  Now we just need to make riding a habit.

Meg rode Cricket, shown on the left here. She had a miserable time with him.  :-(  He is a little green.

Cows:

Arrived on Saturday - a 5 day old heifer calf (twin) from the dairy farm next door.  She's in her own pen out back for now, while she is bottle fed, we'll move her over with the others when she no longer needs a bottle.  

The other two continue to do well and get big!  They are temporarily living in the upper horse ring with Donkey, Alfred, and 3 goats.  All are getting along well.  Everyone is living there this week while the new fencing is being put up in our front yard.

Goats:

Still waiting for Aryiana to give birth...  Dan said from the feel of her ligaments, it will probably be another week or two.  I'd like to get the new fence up and get her moved back into her pen before she gives birth, but she'd be fine in the pen she is in now too.

Poultry:
Our oldest son FINALLY caught the last of the peacock "babies" (one year old, last years babies) so now the buyers can come pick them up - we have them all sold.  We are keeping Mr & Mrs Peabody, my breeding pair.

We are truly drowning in eggs. I know I could sell them, but for now I don't want to mess with that.  We've been giving them away left and right.

There are Emu chicks on craigslist this week, but they want $75 each for them. I'm afraid they would die for us, I'd rather buy adults to start with.

Garden:
It snowed this week.  Snow.  Now much, but enough that I am glad I didn't get overly anxious with all that super warm weather we had and plant a bunch of things outside.

Chickens checking out the strawberry plants

Empty raised beds in the back yard.  (The pallet fence in the back is the Calf pen, that is where we put the new calves when they arrive.  It's sheltered from the wind by the garage, and convenient to run out the back door and feed a bottle)

Misc:

Kittens born on the farm this week

We've started the new fencing project.  

http://hickoryspringfarm.blogspot.com/2012/04/fencing-project-before.html

Osgood-Schlatters

Our kids are all tall.  No surprise there, my husband and I are both 6ft tall, and both of us are shorter than our cousins.  Our youngest is growing SO fast though..  at one point, about a year and a half ago, he grew 6 inches in 6 months.

That's hard on your body.

For Matt, it caused a condition called "Osgood/Schlatters". Essentially it means his tendons couldn't keep up with his bones.  It cased a bulge under his knee, that if you touched, would bring him to the ground.  Severely painful.  He needed a knee brace for all physical activity.  Football, basketball, running in the yard - all impossible without the brace.  This is not a weak kid, he has a high pain tolerance, but this knee was causing him constant, significant, pain.  He couldn't sit with his knee bent.  He couldn't do squats in the weight room.  (His friends call this "the Oscar in Matt's knee", as in "Matt can't do the squats, because of Oscar.")

The Mayo Clinic website has a lot of great information on Osgood-Schlatters:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osgood-schlatter-disease/DS00392

It's surprising how many people we know who have this.  A lot of our adult friends still suffer with it, although it no longer causes them nearly as much pain, it never truly goes away.

One of our friends has a father that is a retired chiropractor.  He recommended a chiropractor for our son, and that was a route we were getting ready to explore.

But at Matt's last appointment, the xray showed either a calcium deposit, or a bone fragment, floating loose, and that the osgood-schlatters was much worse, rather than improving.  So they referred us to Sun Ortho.

The dr we saw at Sun Ortho is a marathon runner. Who also has Osgood Schlatters.  This was reassuring..  Matt hasn't been able to run much at all in the last year.  It's been too painful.  This dr recommended a new treatment, not FDA approved, and not covered by our insurance.  Normally those two statements make me nervous, but Sun Ortho has a great reputation, and has been great with our kids over the years through various broken bones and injuries.  I tend to trust them.  We made an appointment to have this experimental treatment done, and I came home and started some research.  This is what I found:
http://www.coreconcepts.com.sg/mcr/osgood-schlatter-disease-osd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracorporeal_shockwave_therapy

Every review I found online was very positive.  Results begin immediately, and it can continue to improve for up to 4 months.    We went ahead with the procedure.  ($350 out of pocket)


This is Matt receiving the ESWT treatment.  Normally this is NOT painful, but because this part of his knee is so painful when touched, and the machine has to be pressed tight into that sore area, it was pretty painful for him.

This was Thursday morning.  Thursday evening Matt sat with his knee bent.  For the first time in 6 months.  He did a couple of squats.  They were painful, but he did them.

No contact - he can't kneel, and can't wear the knee brace, for awhile.  His only "prescription" is lots of stretching exercises.  We're pretty excited by how effective this has been already, and we're looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Donkey, The Donkey

Look what I bought at the Amish Sale on Saturday.  :-)

We've been wanting a Donkey for awhile.

What for, you ask?

Why does everyone insist on asking me that?  I have 141 acres. I have 4 teens to help with animal chores.  I have pastures.  I have a lot of hay.  I often have animals because I like the way they look in the pastures.  Think of them as lawn mowers.  

But the donkey can be useful as a livestock guardian, to help keep the coyotes away.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex9396

Donkey has already taught Jet, the farm dog, who is boss - kicking him right out of this pasture.  That is nice, Jet scares Alfred, so Donkey keeps Jet away.  (Jet is also necessary to alert us when the coyotes, or annoying people, are too close)

And our Pastor's wife has been wanting one for the Christmas program for years.

And this one is soooooo friendly and sweet.  That's another reason we have some of the animals - simply for our friends children to visit and pet them.  Eventually I'll have grandchildren who will be amused by them too.

He gets along well with the goats, calves, and alpaca.  We aren't completely sure which pen he will live in, for now they are all sharing one pen waiting on the new fencing project to be done.  

Learning About Donkeys

A great site with all sorts of information, from the cost of keeping a Donkey, to a donkey webcam:

http://donkeyrescue.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=1003

A donkey can be expected to live about 40 years.

Another site with lots of info:

http://www.lowdowndonkey.com/Donkey%20Care.htm

Donkeys are pregnant for a full year, and can be bred at a VERY young age..  so it's important to keep the girls separate until they are 3 years of age.

More on Donkeys

http://www.hickoryhilldonkeyfarm.com/donkey_care.htm

They eat grass and hay and can have some grain, but they put on weight easily so grain is really not necessary at all, it may actually be best for them NOT to have any grain at all, depending on the grass and hay content.

They do need their hooves trimmed occasionally - but usually not too often in climates like ours here in PA.

Lots more info here:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/donkey2.htm

At The Livestock Auction in Dewart Today

At the Livestock Auction this afternoon

The sale seems to run later and later every week.  It is almost 3:30 now, and there is still a pen and a half of sheep before they will get to the goats.

Lots of changes here in the last year.  The computer system is a great upgrade.  We used to have to wait for the paper slips to travel up to the office before we could pay for what we bought.  Now we can walk up immediately, pay, and leave.

They used to sell the sheep after the goats and poultry, now they sell between the calves and goats.  I don't know what prompted the change, but it used to be you would only see a few sheep here. Often none at all.  This spring there are full pens of sheep, every week.  Sometimes there appear to be as many sheep here as there are calves.  There is one pen of really adorable yearlings, with long pretty fur. Another pen has 8 older sheep that do not look healthy at all.  :-(

There is a lot more poultry here ever& week too.  We brought in a crate of sex link hens, and a duck, today- cleaning out some of my excess poultry.  I prefer the "prettier" breeds, so the plain sex links are being sold to make more room for them.  Last year my hens hatched out some really pretty babies, I can't keep everything, and I want to keep these.  The duck I like, but he is male and tries to mate with my hens- he's hard on them, ripping feathers from their necks, so he is being sold.  He was dropped off at my house with some hens last year, I don't think he knows he is a duck.

There are several crates of meat chickens here, they look like they have come out of a commercial barn. Not full grown, but well started. A few boxes of rabbits, and at least two boxes with a hen and babies. One box has 8 week old barred rock chicks. I'd take them home, but with my luck they would all be roosters.

There are only 6 goats here today.  A boer nanny & 2 babies thatis thin and wormy looking, but obviously friendly and a good mom.  I wasn't looking for a boer goaat, but as I watch her, I just like her.  She has a good temperment.  Another boer, looks like a 4H or show goat.  Aloof. A little overfed.  A black dwarf baby, and a large, gorgreous, all black boer.  For looks, I was watching her.  I don't have an all black goat, she'd be a nice addition.  But she is not very friendly, and is a little aggressive towards the others.  I'm going to watch, but I wont pay too much for her.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Absolute insanity with the goat prices today. Kids sold for $110. Nannies went for $160 and up. I have no idea what that was about, prices are normally about half to 3/4 of that. So no new goats for me today! I bought a grey hen and her 9 peeps for $5. I didn't need them, but I have a weakness for grey hens, and for babies.

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.

Alfred The Alpaca

After a couple of months, Alfred was MISERABLE here.  He was obviously depressed. We found him a home with other alpacas, and he is very happy there - alpacas are a herd animal, and apparently goats are not always companions for them, Alfred was happiest with other alpacas.

Why did we get an alpaca?
     Because they are cute, and we knew someone who was selling one.  Yep, there are probably better reasons.  But That's all I've got.  :-)  He is intact, so if I can find some reasonably priced girls, we can have alpaca babies.  Which would be awesome.  (I just sold sheep because I didn't want to sheer them...  but we can pet Alfred.  We couldn't pet the sheep.  I'll learn to shear)

What do Alpaca's eat?
     Yep, I bought an alpaca without even knowing that.  So far I can tell you that he loves the grass.  He wasn't interested in the goats grain.  He hasn't touched the hay.   Good Website - http://www.alpacas.com/QnA/Care.aspx (Thanks Google!)

What's the Difference between a llama & an Alpaca?
    Again, I turn to google for help, and find: http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-and-llama.html
I did pretty much know this - we have had a llama here on the farm in the past.  What I did not realize is that alpacas are a herd animal.  right now I have Alfred in with the sheep, and I can move him with the horses for company..  but I do want to get him some girlfriends.  Basically, llamas are larger, and can be used for pulling carts, or keeping coyotes out of the pasture.  Alpacas are for fleece, and not much else.  Alpacas are smaller than llamas, and their fur is much softer, and a better texture, than llamas.

Misc:
Alpacas rarely challenge fences. Dan likes that.
They are a herd animal.  Alfred will need friends.  :-)
They need sheared.
They eat mostly grasses.
They do not require a lot of space.
They do need to be wormed.

I have to get a video of Alfred walking.  His gait is funny - it's fun to watch!  (I think it's a normal alpaca gait - just different than say, the horses, or the goats)


Cool new blog added to my reader - Alpaca Farm Girl
http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/ 

Another great website:
http://www.owning-alpaca.com/index.html