Sunday Homestead Update -Preparing for the Storm

We have what is predicted to be a big storm arriving today and lasting through Wednesday.  There is expected to be quite a bit of snow, and more importantly to the homestead – temperatures down to 0 (F)!  Brrrr!  This is very early in the season for us to get that cold, so we were caught of guard and have been scrambling to prepare the farm for it.

Water:

We had already put out some heated waterers and put the heater into the water trough.  But we finished up removing the un-heated waterers and getting them stored for winter, and added the last few heated waterers.  We filled all the waterers and blew out the hose.

Housing:

We cleaned out all the wet areas in the stalls and coops and added a lot of fresh bedding to give all the animals good, dry places out of the wind to bed down.

Garden:

We finished removing and storing all the trellises and cages.  As well as the last of the tents and frost fabric.

We harvested the last of the beets, radishes and celery that were still growing.  And removed the last of the dead plants that hadn’t been taken out and cleaned up.

Then we turned the top 2 inches of soil in the whole garden with a rake for pest control.  This good hard cold will help freeze and kill some of the eggs and larvae that pest bugs have left in the garden to torment us next season.  As we were raking we saw a lot of larvae and eggs.

House:

We put up some rubber door sealants around some of the doors where time and use had broken down the old stuff.  This ought to decrease the drafts around the doors.

We continued to work at chopping firewood.  We rented a splitter and worked on the piles of rounds we have.  Getting close to what we need to last all winter.

Heritage Arts:

So now that all our work is done and the snow is flying we can all have a nice relaxed Sunday by the fire.

Little Miss and Sunshine have been hired to knit some hats and a baby blanket, so they are happily working their way through those projects.

I am now weaving my second ever weaving project.  It is a set of 5 dishtowels.  I chose autumn colors – though the weather is making me feel more winter-y right now.

I started a knit-along with some friends this week too.  We are knitting the Match Play Poncho.  I am really looking forward to this.  I also cast-on some socks for Braveheart for Christmas, and a dress for Little Miss’s birthday.

Sunday Homestead Update – Firewood & Dirt

This week’s focus was firewood.  We are terribly behind on putting up enough firewood to heat the house for the winter.  We have been blessed with an opportunity to gather already bucked-up rounds from someone’s property where they took out a bunch of trees several years ago to put in a road.  So we have been collecting those and bringing them to our property to split.  So far we have been hand-splitting with an axe because we didn’t yet have enough rounds to warrant renting the splitter for the weekend.  But we have now collected enough and next week we will split, split, and split some more…oh and stack too.  We need about 5 cords of wood to heat our house for winter.

Meanwhile, while we were focusing on firewood, a surprise came our way.  Last weekend we finished the retaining wall for Mr. Smiles’ play area.

We were surprised to see how huge of an amount of fill dirt we are going to need to fill in what is a pretty shallow hill grade.  But we weren’t planning to deal with filling it until spring, so we figured we needed to start saving up and would deal with it later.  Then very suddenly on Tuesday, Mtn Man came upon an opportunity for some free fill.  He called and told me to get ready because it was coming that afternoon.  We were able to fill about 1/3 of the area with the free dirt!  What a blessing!  He also arranged for us to hopefully get some more free fill over the next few months to finish it off.  That will be so wonderful!

I wanted to put a pic here with the dirt fill in the play area, but wordpress keeps giving me errors when I try to upload them.

And then we got a couple more surprises that changed our plans – we filled two of our buck tags for the year.  All of our red meat to feed our family comes from hunting deer and elk, so that was a nice step towards having the meat we need for the next year.  We stopped our firewood efforts to deal with butchering those and getting them in the freezer.

Garden

We have been working on using the lumber from the huge trees we took down for someone to build the raised beds for the second veggie garden.  We were able to finish about 2/3 of the boxes with the lumber we have.  Next spring we will fill it with soil and compost and get the wildlife fence up around it and start using it.  At some point, when we get some more lumber, we will finish building the rest of the boxes.

Again, was going to put before and after pics here, but for some reason wordpress won’t upload those specific pics.  I’ll share them in a future post.

This new garden will more than double the amount of vegetables and herbs we are growing to feed our family.  What a blessing!

Sheep

We had a breakout this week.  Someone forgot to caribener the gate latch and one of the animals got it open.  The LGD, sheep, and goat all got out.  Thankfully, the goat and sheep were happy to start grazing right outside the barnyard, and with 5 of us we were able to get them back into the barnyard.  The LGD, however, was another story.  She took advantage of her new found freedom and followed her nose on an adventure.  Thankfully, we found her pretty quickly over in the forest behind our neighbor’s house.  It was a pretty stressful adventure, that I hope we can avoid repeating.

Heritage Arts

I finished another pair of socks this week.  These are again, the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern.  They are done with some yarn Mtn Man made me with CVM wool and dyed Bamboo.  They are bulky and cozy winter socks for Young Man, and I am happy with them.

I also finished my first ever weaving project, and I am starting to warp the next one.  More on that in a coming post.

Pine Seeds are Falling

Something interesting that happens every two years up here in the Ponderosa Pine forests is the pine trees release their seeds.  The trees are covered with beautiful cones right now.

Some are still closed tight, but they are currently all opening and releasing their seeds.  In this pic you can see the closed ones on the left, and the opens on the right.

And here is a close up that shows both closed and open.

The seeds have little sails on them to carry them through the air.

And they are EVERYWHERE.  All over the ground, all over the cars, all over the buildings.

What I love most about this aspect of nature is listening to hear the cones open up.  If you just rush through your day and don’t stop and listen you wont even notice them.  In fact I lived here for YEARS and never heard them.  And I have talked to many people who have lived here for YEARS and never heard them.  It is that subtle.  But if you take time to stop, be quiet, and listen, you can hear the cones opening.  It is a very quiet crackling popping kind of sound.  So I have been making sure to take the time to stop and listen to the trees this week.

Sunday Homestead Update

There is never a dull moment around our little farm.  Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways.  We had an adventure with some Golden Eagles this week that ended badly.

Thursday our Anatolian Shepherd LGD, Anya, was barking like crazy.  Her, this-is-serious-bark.  I ran out to see what was going on.  She was focused to the north of us and all the hair on her back was up.  I looked and watched and didn’t see anything.  Then I saw a very large bird fly through the forest.  I couldn’t see what it was because of the trees, but I could tell it was BIG.  Much bigger than the Red-tailed hawks we normally see around here.  I praised Anya and felt good that she was dealing so well with an aerial predator.

We have had problems with aerial predators before, specifically a Great-horned owl that over time killed 4 of our chickens.  This was back when we had our previous LGD, Tundra.  He was an excellent LGD, but he was getting old and slept a lot.  The owl would wait until he was asleep, then come down on a chicken, then Tundra would wake up and go after the owl.  The owl never got away with a bird, but they died anyway from the wounds from being hit by the owl.  We haven’t had any issues with aerial predators since Anya has been on guard.  She is very aware of them and young and always on the look-out.

Friday the kids brought me outside because they were seeing a large bird fighting with a Red-tailed hawk and they were hearing a lot of loud bird calls that were not familiar to them.  Throughout the day all of us got glimpses of the large bird but couldn’t figure out what it was.  And we heard the loud screeching all day.  Anya was on edge and barking a lot.  We kept a close eye on the barnyard and all seemed to be going well with Anya on duty.  When it would come near she would bark and all the chickens would run into the safety of their pen.

Mid-afternoon heat the activity in the sky calmed down and everything got quiet.  In the heat of the day the sheep, goat, and Anya all head into the barn to lay in the cool shade with the cross breeze blowing through.

What happened then wasn’t figured out until later in the day when we investigated everything, identified the large bird, and put all the pieces of the puzzle together in our heads.  From what we can tell, Anya was in the barn with the livestock and the chickens were in the barnyard scratching around.  A female Golden Eagle, with two fledglings to feed, waited for her opportunity patiently, and when Anya was in the barn she struck one of our Easter Eggers and started eating on it.  Anya figured out what was going on and came running out of the barn at the eagle, chasing it off.  Too late for the chicken, unfortunately.

The mom and the fledglings continue to hang out around our property, so we have kept the chickens closed in their pen until they move on to a new location.  And we are keeping our eyes on everything in the barnyard because although we don’t think she would go for a lamb, especially with the fact that Anya went after her, we are still being cautious.

I find it interesting that it was an Easter Egger, because last December when we lost a chicken to a bobcat, because Anya was in a different pen, it was an Easter Egger too.  We only have a couple in the flock of over 20 birds, so it seems too coincidental that they were both EEs that got killed.  I am guessing they don’t have as much predator instincts as the rest of the flock.  Especially because on Friday when the eagles were around we kept seeing the flock run into their pen throughout the day whenever they thought there was danger.  So I am guessing the EE didn’t run in when the rest of them did.

Putting Up Hay

Our property doesn’t have pasture, so we have to feed hay year-round.  Because hay is so seasonal in Colorado, and prices and availability change drastically based on the season, we try to fill the loft of the barn with all the hay we need for an entire year during the summer months.  We put up our first load this week.  We will probably be getting two more loads before the end of August.

Garden

Medicinal herbs can be hard to get going from seed.  This is our second year for the medicinal herb garden and things are starting to go pretty well.  We have two types of chamomile, one that we transplanted from the wild into the garden, and one that we planted.  Both are doing very well.  The yarrow is also starting to take off.  The lemon balm looks pretty good, and the echinacea are working on putting out some leaves.

Hopefully in a couple of years this is a beautifully full garden.

The celery harvest has started.

We also harvested our first 4 cabbages, for a total of 16 lbs.  We made cole slaw and started a big load of sauerkraut fermenting in the big crock.

I love fresh coleslaw in the summer!  And we will have plenty of sauerkraut for the fall and winter.

Cheesemaking

We made our first ever feta from our raw goat’s milk.  It turned out very yummy, except we over-salted it.  We are anxiously saving up milk to make another batch this week, without too much salt.

For the feta we needed a double boiler set up that could hold a gallon of milk.  Our double boiler isn’t even close to that big.  But Little Miss thought of this idea to use a big stainless steel bowl with butter knives on each side to suspend it a bit over the pot of boiling water.

Heritage Arts

I finished my Nightshift Shawl!  The pattern is by Andrea Mowry, and the yarn is Yakity Yak by Greenwood Fiberworks.  I am very happy with it.

Farm Therapy

What is it about a homestead that is so therapeutic?  Fresh air, sunshine, livestock, edible vegetation, providing for your own food needs, baby animal cuteness…?  All of those things, and more.

As we head into our youngest son’s 12th surgery in less than 4 years my heart is heavy.  I head out to the barnyard for my farm therapy.  I sit on a rock in the barnyard and listen to the sounds, breathe in the smells, and view the sights.

My immediate companion is the LGD, Anya, looking for some love.

Followed quickly by the goat, Pansy, who thinks she is an LGD too.

After some love they clear out, well actually, the dog heads off to more interesting things and the goat continues to demand affection.  I eventually ask her to give me some space.  Then the chickens come over and peck around my feet, hoping maybe I brought food with me.

The sheep are content to lay in the shade, along with a chicken companion.

Something about the area brings peace.  It is calm, and steady.  It is natural.  I take a deep breath and take it all in.  My heart relaxes a little.  The farm cannot remove my concerns, but it has therapeutic powers – some that can be explained, and some that defy explanation.  It helps me face the next mountain.

Sunday Homestead Update

We have had a cold wet week here in the mountains.  Last night we got down to 34…eeek!  Today we have a fire going to keep the house warm.  I don’t ever remember having a fire this late in the summer before.

Sheep

The lambs tails fell off.  I could tell we were getting close on Wednesday when I was surveying the livestock.  They get this strange stiffness to them right before they fall off.

We saw they were gone the next morning, except for Stormy’s. Hers took a couple extra days.

LGD

We had an incident with our Livestock Guardian Dog this week.  I was out near the barnyard and thought I saw her go for a chicken out of the corner of my eye.  But when I turned and looked fully it looked like she was just sniffing towards one of the hens that had just been put out with the flock that morning when we were shuffling birds around to make space.  A few minutes later I saw the other one that had just been put out that morning and I clearly saw Anya go after it, aiming for a full two front foot pounce right on it.  Thankfully, she missed, and I yelled “no” at her and she tucked tail and came to me submissively.

She has been living with the chickens for 7 months now without any issues.  We weren’t sure why she was all of a sudden going after them.  It seemed notable that she was going after the two that had just been added into the barnyard flock that morning.  I don’t doubt she knows each chicken and knew they were new.  But why try to pounce on them?  Just to be safe, we decided to close the flock into their enclosed exterior pen for a few days and not allow them to free range in the barnyard.  We were hoping that maybe after a couple of days living with the flock those two wouldn’t be so obviously different to her for whatever reason.  We let them all back out to the barnyard two days later and so far everything seems fine with her and them.

We have more chicken shuffling around to do in the coming weeks as the pullets mature, so we will keep a close eye on her through the changes.

Garden

Yes, indeed, one of our apple trees did not survive the winter.  Bummer.  Since we only have two, that means that we will not have apples this year as the other one doesn’t have a cross-pollinator.  We will be buying another replacement tree this year, and hopefully they will both make it through.  Our climate is questionable on apple trees.  There are a sparse few that I know of that have survived in our area.  We are hopeful to be able to get at least two successful trees going on our property.

The kids got Mtn Man The Fruit Gardener’s Bible for Father’s Day.  He has been pouring over it and learning all sorts of good things about our fruit trees and bushes.  It makes us excited as we dream and plan about ways we want to expand our fruit production in the future.

Our area had the coldest May on record in over a century and we have had three times as much moisture in the first 6 months of this year as we had in the first 6 moths of last year. So it has indeed been a very cold, wet spring.

My garden is a solid 3 weeks behind where it was this time last year, but overall it is doing well.

Last week we put WOWs back over the frosted tomato stems in hopes that some might come back to life. Some did!

And some did not.

Overall we are down 7 tomato plants out of 25. So we have 18 left. I am somewhat bummed about losing so many, but at the same time I do see a good side to it. We save our own seeds, so the seeds we save this year will be from plants that were able to survive a frost and therefore will make for more frost hardy plants in the future. So its a selective breeding through natural selection.

We are enjoying delicious lettuce and spinach from the garden.  The plants out in the garden are coming along pretty well.  The beans are just up and seem to have some bugs working on them, which is not good. But the garlic and onion patch is growing wonderfully. We are winding down on rhubarb and asparagus harvest.

One of the most exciting things is that we are in our second year of trying to get the medicinal herb garden going and we are seeing more and more little sprouts out there. We have valerian, thyme, and mint all established from last year. We now have new chamomile, lemon balm, and echinacea. Still cant get the red clover nor the desert parsley to go, but at least we are making some progress.

Heritage Arts

I finished the second sleeve of my cabled cardigan.  Now back to the main body again.