FALL IS AMAZZZZING!!

Sunrise at the Double S

Where did summer go?  Goodness.  It came in roaring, nary a day to acclimate to the heat and humidity then it left as quickly.  We are having much cooler temperatures – a few nights down into the mid 40s already!  AND - a friend has actually had some frost on her truck.  I adjust well to temperatures, given time to do so.  I am not adjusting yet.  Brrrrr.....
 






As I was outside the other day, I realized the goats' coats are thicker (and oh so soft and snuggly!).  I thoroughly enjoyed giving the girls some extra attention while running my hands over their fuzziness. I wonder what that means, though?  Will we have a cold winter?  

It has been some time since I've updated and for that I truly apologize.  Between keeping up with the farm and market, I was job hunting.  Yes, it was time to find a steady paycheck.  We have a goal to meet that requires a full time paycheck.  Once that is accomplished, we hope to work very hard on not only making the farm self-sufficient (as much as we can), but also have it pay for itself instead of needing the “formal” job.   Sadly, that means I am away from the farm a lot, but Hubby is keeping things going while I am away.  I could gush on about how wonderful, terrific, super, etc., he is, but that would just make you jealous and I won’t do that.  <Grin>

Chicken Stalking

Since I last wrote, many changes have occurred at the Double S.  Where should we start?  How about with the chickens? 

The chickens all continue to do well.  Dundee has turned into a very handsome rooster.  He has mastered the art of crowing (at 4:30 a.m. no less) and has finally figured out how to court the girls properly.  Unfortunately, Mr. Chicken does not think too highly of Dundee's abilities and handsomeness.  Any time Dundee tries to court or service one of the hens, Mr. Chicken comes running and screeching from wherever he was and knocks him off or away.  It is actually comical.  Poor Dundee. Lucky for him Mr. Chicken is destined for the freezer.

2 of the 6 Australorp hens I purchased have turned out to be roosters.  Yep, Sweetie Pie and Fancy Pants are roosters.  Fancy Pants now resides elsewhere.  Sweetie Pie will stay.  I plan on breeding this Heritage Breed and having 2 roosters from different bloodlines will be a very good thing. 

Poof continues to do well after the "Dog Wars".  She still walks with a limp, some days worse than others.  Unfortunately, she can never go back into the big kids' pen.  Currently, she is still in the tractor.  This past weekend, I finished up the walls on a new Special Pen.  All that is left is to build a gate and move the house in.  This pen will house Poof for the rest of her life and any other chickens that cannot be with the general population.  I may also put chicks in this pen until they are old enough to go in with the big girls, but not completely sure yet. 

We have added a new member to the flock.  M&M.  She was not intentional.  I was at a Farmers Market/Animal swap week before last and found her.  Actually, a very conniving, sneaky young man (14 yrs old) was walking around with this amazingly beautiful and seriously spoiled frizzle bantam rooster.  He was talking to everyone trying to entice them into buying chicks.  I humored him (seriously, that's all I was doing!) by going over to take a look at some of these chicks he was selling. I figured if they weren't blue/green egg layers or full size, I was safe.  Wellllllll - this little bird reminded me of one of my pets that was lost in the “Dog Wars”.  She was fluffy and grey and as sweet as can be.  Durn it, I just couldn’t leave her there.  So, she has joined the Double S.  She currently lives with Poof who has taken the roll of Aunt very seriously. 

The rest of the hens are coming back from a serious molt. It looks like a feather bomb has gone off in their pen.  Oh boy.  Eggs were scarce for a while, but the production has come up recently.  As well, having one less rooster has done wonders.  Too many roosters in a hen house is not a good thing.  Once Mr. Chicken moves to the freezer, I expect it to come up even more.  
 
We have added a couple of new goats to our herd and  Peanut, one of our Toggenburg/Nubian twins has moved on to a new home.  Winnie (the other Twin) will move on soon as well.  Unfortunately, they displayed behavioral traits with the new goats we simply cannot allow, nor are we prepared with pens and pastures to deal with.  

Jacob and Rosebud

 Rosebud, a Nubian doeling, joined us first.
She was a gift from a Great Friend, Kat.  We purchased our original herd from Kat. When we lost Orla, Kat very kindly and graciously gave us Rosebud.  She is the sweetest, gentlest and most loving goat in the herd.  She LOVES our attention.  Kisses, hugs and lots of sweet looks came with this little girl.  Rosie Posie was the second to join.  She is a Nubian/Boer mix and another very sweet, somewhat shy but loving goat.  Last on the list is Miss Mollie.  She is a moon spotted Nubian.  She came to us “with kid”.  She should deliver some time in December – unfortunately, we are not sure exactly when in December, so we’ll be stalking her from about the middle of the month until she kids. 

Rosie Posie

Miss Mollie

The bees are amazingly well.  I have sadly neglected them since my original move in 2011.  Short back story – I moved out on my own in Feb 2011; met/married Hubby in the summer and moved again in the summer of 2011.  We found this place and moved the following summer, 2012.  Since the original move, so much went on the poor bees were neglected.  I had 3 swarms from 2 hives this past spring.  Still, all I managed to do was extract a bit of honey to allow room for more bees (which did work, but at the same time didn’t as they simply filled the empty frames with a combination of honey and new brood).  I have created a new hive from the overflow of brood from the original hives and now have 3 hives.  With any luck, hard work from the bees and maintenance from me, I hope to have a good honey harvest in the spring of 2014. 
 

Kitties like to read too

The gardens are morphing this year.  The front spring garden is no more.  We located it in an area that had great exposure to the sun at the right times, but – it was far from water (necessitating a heck of a hose system) and on a drainage path for the property.  Once things died back, we turned it under.  Hubby is letting it go back to pasture (and possibly it will house a critter in the future) and has started a new one in a new location.  He is working this one, with the tractor, every few days until spring.  His hopes are to turn and chew, turn and chew, turn and chew the ground until it is fluffy and mostly weed free by the time spring planting rolls around.  Once he feels the grass/weeds are chopped up and not an issue any more, I will start adding the compost and manure from the chickens and goats for him to turn under. 

I reckon this is all the update I have for this week.  I could go on and on and on and on (as Hubby says I tend to do – not sure I believe him, though <Big Grin>) but I will save my updates for regular weekly updates from here on out.  I will leave you with my Winter To-Do list and update on what I accomplish each week.
Finish “Special Needs” Pen
New Chicken Coop
ReFencing of the old pasture/New Goat Pen
Winter Garden going and growing
Break down free pallets to stacks of useable wood for multiple projects (yes!)
Set up a growing area in the storage trailer to allow for seed starting for the spring
Try to talk Hubby into a proper greenhouse (won’t be hard, as he’s willing – it’s just the materials we need to collect/purchase that are the sticking point here)
Try out new recipes for the market and decide which work well and which are best for home use (labor involved as well as costs are deciding factors)
Work on inventory of baskets and tote bags for the upcoming holiday season (Thanksgiving weekend is a big shopping day, as you know, and I’m sadly under-prepared).