Expectant

This time of year is always so expectant.

Expectant of the spring to come.

Expectant of the life rising up from the earth again.

Expectant of the lives that will come from lives already here.

Expectant.

Even though we are snowed IN,

The stream is between the tree on your right and the first tree on your left.  Nope, you can't see it, I know.

having received another triple-headed snowstorm on top of the one we already had,

spring is coming.  There are plants growing under lights in the dining room, and plans for the year are being made.

So, no doubt about it.

On top of that, two of my girls are expectant as well.  Thanks to these two gentlemen,

Max on the left, Stu on the right.  I don't know which is "daddy"

Dulcinea now looks like this:

(No, she's probably not thankful.  Understandably so).

When I look at last year's pic, when I thought she might have been pregnant,

 

Last year's pic of an unpregnant Dulci.

but she was not, I am happy to say that Dulcinea is expectant too.  Due date?  April 7th.  We'll see if she sticks with it.

Lilly is also expectant, I believe.  She's not due until late May, but she's kinda-sorta showing.  She's drying up like gangbusters, which is not great, and dances on the milking stand like it's going out of style.  I taking that to mean she's also expectant, but I'm waiting until she pops to be sure.  If so, Lilly can expect this to be just about the last time she has to be expectant, since she's one of my CAE girls, and I'd prefer not to risk her, when there are 4 others who are clean to take her place.  At the very least, she will earn a break.  

On the other fronts?  I expect to get outside in the next two days to tap trees, as I am very, very late because of snowstorms.  I also expect to be seeding about 100 broccoli and 100 cauliflower plants this week, as it's that time already.  I also expect, honestly, to run out of room to put all these things because 200 seedlings on top of what's already growing is A LOT of seedlings in a limited space.  I expect to worry about this, since I already am worrying.  Might as well avoid the rush.

Also, at the end of the month, I expect to order the first batch of meatbirds to arrive next month, as well as a number of Delawares which I expect to be our sustainable meatbird of choice.  At least, I hope that's how it's going to work out.  I can't tell at all if it will, as I've only dealt with the Cornish Cross, but I am hoping that the Delawares will live up to their feed conversion ratios and become some good looking birds meaty birds who will be able to reproduce themselves and therefore keep us in chicken ad infinitum.

We'll see.

I also expect to figure out what to do about the turkey situation, as that would really be a nice addition to our stores, but NO WAY am I doing that whole turkey thing like I did back in 2012.  What a mess that was.  I expect this time, now that I've had experience, to turn out better.

So yep, expectant.  That's this time of year in a nutshell.  Is it the same for you??

This Looks Familiar.....

There is this:

AGAIN.

I swear, two days ago birds were singing, the sky was blue, and it was warm out (40ish).  And today, we step backwards.  Ugh.

But, though that's too familiar right now, other things are happening that are also the same.

Planting:

And.....

Eggs in the incubator. 

What's cooking, you ask?

 

Cream Legbars

 

Hen, pic from Greenfire Farms

My mom saw this breed somewhere, and wanted one in the worst way.  Greenfire Farms has them, but they want $60 for a female chick.  Ouch.  A while later, I stumbed across a listing on Craig's List for Muddy Hoof Farm, which raises heritage and rare breed poultry.  I figured "What the hell", and since I liked the name of the farm, I took a look.  Bingo!  I highly recommend them.  The eggs were wrapped beautifully, and the owner had emailed me several times to let me know the status of the laying hens and to answer my questions.  It has definitely been a very positive experience so far.

Roo, pic also from Greenfire

Anyway,  the blue eggs in the incubator are the Cream Legbars.  The brown eggs, however, belong to these:

Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons. 

Them's make my wittle heart go pitter pat.  They is SO pretty!

--ahem--

Muddy Hoof had those, and I had never seen them before.  But oh!  What a color!  And I like chickens.  So there are 6 of those in the incubator as well.

And we shall see what happens.  The incubator is in the living room, happily warming away.  Doesn't everyone keep their incubator in the living room????  It used to be in the kitchen, so I think it's a step up.  Maybe all the family noises will make them want to come out and join us.  You never know. 

And I have one more, totally unrelated picture for you.

This is Pickle, who is getting big, as they all are. 

Pickle is sleeping.

Pickle is sleeping upside down on my daughter's lap. 

Pickle is a unique individual. 

I thought you'd enjoy that.

I hope you all have a great day, and if you got whomped by the snow like we did, that you have a good book to read. 

Enjoy!

It Goes and It Goes

Well, the Dulci question is still out there.  Her heat is about over, but he refused her the entire time.  I can't figure it out.  She looks bred to me, so maybe it's wacky hormones.  Maybe it was because the weather was nice.  Very strange either way.

I am trying to come out of "hibernation mode" right now.  I resisted it a long time this winter.  I painted the kitchen cabinets, I painted trim, I brought new goats home, but it happened anyway.  It was grey and snowy so long last month that I just did my chores and then curled up with a good book.  UGH.  As much as I love to relax, I hate coming out of it.  And it's time, baby, it's time.

First, it's this time again:

Does that look familiar?  How about now? 

Oh yeah, it's tappin' time!  I was late this year.  I kept thinking it should be the second week of February, then it snowed, and I didn't get out there to tap until the 11th.  I should have started on the 1st, so I was pretty late.  Ah, we make due, right?

No matter, because I upped the "tappage" this year from 16 spiles (I keep wanting to call them splines) to 29 spiles.  In the last three days, I have gotten 37 gallons of sap.  37.  Last year it took me a week to get 10 gallons.  This year, I got 10 gallons the first day (and 15 the next, but who's counting?).  I honestly believe that though the number of spiles helps, it's the colder weather that's making the sap run better.  Last year was not cold enough.  This year absolutely has been.

We are using the turkey fryer method again, this time the one my brother bought us last year.  The dang thing is rocket powered and is cooking like a champ.  I am very pleased with it, but I would still like to switch to wood.  The propane is expensive, and the wood is not.  That will be on my list for the next time, I think.  For now, I'm super duper happy to have this working well.

I met my neighbor who lives behind me when I was tying up the taps the other day.  He's the one I copied last year when I had no idea when to start.  He's a very nice man, and was pleased as punch to see that someone else tapped their trees, too.  He's been doing it for 26 years, so you know, a minute or two.  We talked shop a little, and I've made a new friend.  So nice!!

Let's see....what else?  It snowed.  There's a shocker.

It's a real pretty snow, the kind that brings all the trees closer to you, somehow.  The pictures cannot capture the feeling no matter how I take them.  It makes me glad to live in the woods.  Though, I'm always glad to live in the woods, so it's really just a bonus.

And I'm building again.  Oh, I love building.  We've moved the red coopette to the "front yard", and I'm building a screened run for the fancy chickens.  The three little silkies are loving the garage, but they need to move out.  I am expecting chicks next month (supposedly), and I don't want them in with the chicks, eating all the food.  So the little coopette is cleaned, and the run is being built.  And I'm loving every minute of it, don't you know.  :)

On the rabbit front?  I thought you would ask!  It looks like Camille has been bred (to Buckley, which was planned), as she's digging to nowheresville in her house and making a hell of a mess.  All my girls seem to make a hell of a mess before they get "nesty".  I don't know why.  Unfortunately, it looks like Bella may have been bred, too.  Freaking PJB.  He hopped the fence one day when she was in the next run outside on the only non-snowy day we had in January.  I found her hiding in the corner, away from him, but he may have gotten to her.  She's digging to China, too, and that's a pretty good indicator on her part.  Grrr.... we'll have to see.  All of those bunnies will go up for adoption, though, even if I have to donate them to Agway.  Not a one of the last litter is making a good fiber rabbit, sweet as they are.  I just don't have the space.

I saved the best for last,you know.  The little abandoned bunny boos?  Well, they are doing just fine, thank you for asking.

We call her "big Bertha".  She is huge, compared to the little black ones.

This is feeding position.  She has just finished scarfing down 13 ccs of milk.

Growing like weeds, just like they should.  In fact, they outgrew their little nest box and have been jumping/falling over the sides, so they've been moved to classier digs.

Yep, that's an old (and clean) litter box.  We are purely class here. 

They have more space and plenty of hay to nibble, if they're so inclined, which they have been.  I also put feed, but they don't understand it yet.  They will.  Mom will come in to feed only at night now, and very reluctantly.  I think she may be drying up, because the littles go under and grunt and complain and when Daphne hops out, their tummies are still small.  So we're back on the milk and syrup routine, but I'm going to have to get some probiotics in them soon so they can start to digest other things.  We're not out of the woods yet, but their eyes are open, and they are inquisitive and growing, so things are good.

Thor doesn't care how clean that box is.  He knows it's a litter box.  He doesn't understand why I won't let him use it.  Bad laydee!!

Ok, well, I think things are good.  Thor has another opinion.  Honestly, I can't wait to see what happens when there are goat kids in the house.  He thinks this is stressful, just wait!

And Then There Were Three

It is too bad that you can't tell if an animal will be a good mama by looking at them.  It would save so much heartache.  Daphne is not a good mama.  After she booted three of her babies from the nest on Sunday, I made some changes to it, added a heat lamp, and crossed my fingers.  Unfortunately, she booted that same baby who came back from the edge one more time, and this time she wasn't so lucky. 

Out of the 6 beautiful babies she made, only 3 remain.  Two girls and one boy.

I have taken them in.  Literally.  They are in the house, sleeping in their nest in front of the woodstove.  I feed them with a syringe.  They will be the tamest rabbits on the planet when they grow up, that's for sure.

Innocence personified.  Then she peed on me.

They are very sweet and very wiggly, and a joy.  But they are a good amount of work, too.  I am looking forward to their opening their eyes, so they can find their ways around a bit and eat some real food.  One more week until that happens!

Winter has been renamed Cleo, and is doing very well.  She seemed to have Pink Eye the last two days, so she's been in heavy lockdown and been treated for it.  However, yesterday she was flagging heavily, so I let her out with Stewart.  Stewart loved the way she smelled, but he had some performance anxiety--he was so busy worrying about his other girls (who were locked in their yard), he couldn't do the deed.  I finally let everyone out, and he got down to business.  I can pretty safely say that he's bred her. 

Today she was flagging a little, but her heat seems to be short, so I let them all out together again, to catch the tail end of it.  Yes, he had no problem breeding her again.  All goes well, there will be babies born here from mid-May to early July, with Dulci going first and Cleo going last.  We will be busy! On the good front, Cleo's eyes were nice and clear this morning, and there was no sign of pink swelling.  I'm hoping I beat it back, or that it wasn't Pink Eye to begin with.  It's hard to say.  Cleo has been SO stressed about moving here, it could be anything at all.  Goats are funny like that.

Speaking of "like that", not to be outdone, Dulci was sick this morning.  Either she ate something she shouldn't have yesterday when they were out foraging, she didn't drink enough water overnight, or someone butted her in the stomach but good, but this morning she was droopy and looked like she had a stomachache.  She's done this to me before, delicate flower that she is, and I mixed up a bunch of rhododendron poisoning antidote, just in case.  I forced it down her throat and shot her in the butt with B vitamins.  She perked up pretty well, but she was still kind of tired all day.  She drank a ton of water this evening, so that might have been a lot of the issue.  Tomorrow will tell.  That girl loves her drama, she does.  Hopefully she'll be ok.

My girls do not love Cleo, but they don't hate her with a passion, either.  Minerva isn't loving her, but Minerva is queen, so she has to approve of everyone, and she's a tough nut to crack.  Lilly is second in that respect.  Dulci is the one who doesn't seem to mind too too much, and Stewart let her share his dinner this evening, which shocked me but good--he takes his food very seriously.  Then, when she retired to her garage-barn pen for the evening, he made his wookie noises looking for her.  He cracks me up, with the "ownership" he's taken of "his" girls in this short amount of time.  It's going to be interesting when he has to move to his bachelor pad in a couple of months.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of wookie noises then.  I may need to buy earplugs for the whole neighborhood.

Other than that, all the outdoor cats have an upper respiratory infection and are being treated, which they like not at all, and tomorrow we are supposed to get snow.  Either 3 inches or 15 inches, depending on who you ask.  So, pretty much business as usual here at Chicken Scratch.

If you're in the path of the storm, stay safe.  I'll let you know how it turns out here!
 

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It snowed again, and there's no school today for the kids, which means by 12 or so, they'll be bored, and I'll be looking for things for them to do.

Yeay.

It's ok, though.  I've been working, and as much as I need to do so, I am glad for the day to catch up a little.  

Minerva, snow goat.

On Sunday, I'm going to go check out a buckling to see if he'll fit with my girls.  This guy:

Isn't he handsome?  I am very excited about him.  As you can tell by the ears, he's a Nubian, and he comes from good lines.  I think he will add a lot of good to our homestead, so I'm hoping he'll be a good fit.  I have ordered him his own collar and harness, in anticipation.  Not that I'm looking forward to meeting him or anything.

Not that I like goats, or anything.

 

Nah, not me.

I remain very impartial.

I will definitely let you know. 

Minerva A La Mode

Playing Catch Up

Hello, my friends, hello!

Long time, no talk.  I certainly hope you had lovely holidays and are enjoying whatever winter weather you may be getting.  Today, we are getting snow, snow, snow.  It's quite lovely and fluffy.  This snow is going on top of the last snow, which was heavy and wet.  Of course that makes for some interesting walking and driving issues, but it sure is pretty.

We have had such a busy week, I'd love to catch you all up.  I hope you don't mind.

• I will say, without a doubt, that the time before Christmas is my favorite.  It's better than Christmas.  I love the anticipation and the excitement my kids feel.  Christmas Eve is the best. In my family, we have a big meal over at our house, and we sit and talk and laugh a lot. 

 

This year, my dad brought his banjo mandolin (hee hee, pop), and played for us.

 

 

I videoed it, but in the interest of family peace, I will not show it.  Instead I will hold it as blackmail.  Leverage is always good.

 

The concert was very nice, and the tree looked very pretty.

 

We also had a cannoli contest, which I could not enter as my cannoli cream was like soup.  Good soup, but soup nonetheless.  My brother won and made a speech that was full of humility and modesty.

 

 

Or not. 

 

 He got to take home a trophy with a "chef" that looked like Tutankhamen.  Lucky, lucky boy.  As for me, I don't ever want to see another cannoli again.

 

Luckily, dinner was much better than my cannolis.

• Christmas Day started at 4 in the morning, with my daughter bouncing up and down on the bed asking if we could open presents in an hour.  The answer was no. 

When we finally did open presents, after the animals were all squared away and so on, they had a great time. 

 

Christmas at our house is small.  We don't buy a lot of toys for the kids, but instead buy them books and things like that.  It's all in my sad efforts to "round out" my kids and broaden them.  And yes, I know that all they really want is Legos.  I still try.

 

All bets are off when we go to "Mema and Papa's" house (my parents).  There the "Wall O' Presents" awaits.

 

Yep, the kids nearly explode.  But they have to wait until we've all eaten brunch and then the opening begins.  This year, Santa brought everyone a present--headlamps.

They are completely awesome.  Santa rocks.

 

After gift giving, we basically sit around and eat all day, and the kids play with their toys.  It's a good day.  A very good day.

• I'd love to follow that up with something great, but after that, it's kind of a letdown.  The following day I was sick and slept the entire day away on the couch in an awkward position, which threw my back out again, and I'm currently trying to get it to heal because well, I need my back.  Go figure. 

I made this scarf for my mother for Christmas.  It's my favorite out of the three I made her.

 

I seem to get sick every year, right on the day after Christmas.  It's probably because of all the prep and running around and stuff.  Hopefully, now that I've gotten my yearly Christmas cold out of the way, I can move on. 

• My kids have been watching Despicable Me pretty much every day this vacation.  I'm not sure why they decided to watch it, but now they can't seem to stop.  I will admit, the movie starts slow, but it gets pretty funny.  I have sat down a time or two with them to watch bits and pieces.  Funny, funny.

Me and my hubby.

• When I was sick, and when my back was really out, my husband and kids took care of the animals for me.  What a nice break, though I could live without the sick/pain thing, I truly could. 

• 

  This is Percy, who really fits into this box, don't you know?  It may look too small, but it's really not.

• Today I went down to a friend's farm to meet our soon-to-be new goat, Winter.  Winter is a year old Boer goat, and is a beauty.  She's not showable because her ears folded wrong when she was cooking in her mama, but she's not for showing here, so it doesn't matter. 

Thor is depressed.

She comes from a 4 quart a day milker line, and since we have an issue with two of our girls and CAE, she'll be needed to pick up the slack.  Yep, I have a whole plan, but I won't bore you with the details right now.  Let's just say that the short of it is that I need to refocus on productivity, since feed has become so costly.  That means another girl bred (which Winter will be) and ready to be milked come Spring.  They need to earn their keep more than just being my goaty girls (though that does give them a pass forever and ever).

This is why Thor is depressed.  Her name is Sara, and she's new.  She's also (we believe) pregnant.  Long story, but needless to say, she's not interested in Thor.  And he really, really thinks she should be.  I would tell you that story, but I think Thor will say it better.  I'll ask him to sit down one day and write it.

I had a great time today with my friend.  It's nice to be able to talk "shop" with someone who knows all about it.  I spent WAY too much time in her goat pen, just surrounded by the goats.  Heaven, I tell you.  Yes, I really am a goat person.

• The little bunny-lings have reached 6 weeks and have been sexed three times now.   I feel by this point, they've developed enough that I can be sure, and I pronounce them girl, boy, boy.

Can you find three bunnies in this picture??

The girl, who's name is Violet, is slated to go live with my brother and his girlfriend in Albany.  The two boys, Timothy and Alexander, will remain here.  They are getting beautiful dark grey wool.  I'm very excited and I'm hoping it won't lighten too much, but that will depend on whether or not they take after mommy or daddy.  And they are friendly as all get-out.  I guess all that hard, horrible work socializing them is paying off.  I'm glad it was worth the sacrifice :).

Speaking of their daddy, Philip Johnny Bob is desperately in love with Daphne, and it's time they were acquainted.  Unfortunately, Daphne's built a nest and seems to think she's pregnant.  As it's been three weeks since it was built (and haired and all), I doubt it, but she doesn't really want PJB too close.  I think she's got her signals crossed.  The next clear day I have, I'm going to get those two a love connection and see what shakes out.

We are very, very mean to cats here.  None of us likes them at all.  Not. At. All.

• And finally, I've been spending a bit of time in my sewing room/office.  Not only thinking and planning for next year (lots of that), but also, shockingly, sewing.  It's been nice, since I have nothing else I can do with the cold and snow and all.  It has been a very long time since I've sewn anything that wasn't needing to be fixed or for something utilitarian.  Hopefully, I will have some pics to show when the dust settles.

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.  I can't wait to catch up with all of you, too!