Planning ahead

This is how we heat our upstairs using wood pellets. They get one-two ton of pellets put on our truck and then we off load each 40lb. bag of them by hand. Very hard work for a person at any age. I got it in my head we needed a better way to get these into our shop so we can stack them. I wanted loading rollers ever since I saw them used at a Tuesday Mornings warehouse/store a decade ago.

Finally our local used warehouse supply store posed several used ones for sale. We drove an hour away to look them over and came home with one. It took us two tries to get it off our truck and back on to terra firma. It is very hot here and this is hard to do in the heat.

And here it is still strapped together.

It is over 35 feet long when stretched out. It is height adjustable and very smooth. Now we can slide the pellet bags instead of carrying them from the truck and into the shop. I am very happy with this and the future old me will be as well. The price was $225 for one used 35 ft. loading rollers set. We had to remove some  stuff to make room for it. But that is another story for another time. For now we are almost set for winter.

 

Dead things and suntea

The rains we got two weeks ago have left us now in the Ozarks. It is the drought time of year for us now. High 90 heat and 78% humidity. It brings out the wildlife for water. An armadillo met its maker via my shepherd this week. I was not in a hurry to deal with it and so the smell began and the flies. This brought about the vultures, natures clean up crew. The deceased dillo was only about 30 feet away from the house. 

I set out my jar of sun tea for the day. About three hours later I checked on the tea. The lid was covered in blood droplets from the vulture fly overs. I had to toss the tea and wash the jar and start over. I moved the dead dillo into the far pasture first. This made the vultures happy with free range snacking and me happy for blood free tea. Ah the joys of Ozarks farm living.

I have been busy in the garden with Kajari melons, tomatoes and cucumbers.

The Kajari love this heat and are very nice hand sized one person serving sized melons. I can understand the devotion to these small sweet melons. They are very tasty. They fall off the vine when ripe. I bag mine to prevent bug damage. They trellis up very well. Worth the price for the first seed packs. Now I have many seeds saved as each melon is loaded with seeds.

 

Muscovy Mine

This was taken their first week out of the coop about one month of age. Muscovy and Runner ducklings.

This is them today two months later. Muscovy and Runners all still together.

 

They roam in a group all day and at dusk put themselves up in the coop. They have not found the pond yet. They are always on the move eating every bug they find. Which is great as it is june bug season. When the blister beetles arrive in August I hope they leave them alone. This is my first time raising Muscoy. It is a nice change to the flock dynamics. I got them for their intelligence and foraging skills. And they are very thorough foragers and not heavy feeders. Saves me money on feed.

Speaking of feed bills. I was burning through more feed than usual. I bought these gravity feeders for the young ducklings. The feeders were empty every night! Turns out I had an army of squirrels eating out of these bins every day and night. Along with deer, mice and turtles! So I removed them and went back to using the rubber dishes to feed the flock. I might use these over vacation but not for everyday. My feed amounts are back to normal now. These gravity feeders were great though, water and snow proof and very stable. I will use again in the winter but not when I have so many wild animals around.

With the rise of the disease killing wild birds in parts of the USA, I keep my flock feed only out for morning. My poultry get what they need and the rest they have to forage for.

The Hard Goodbye

 This was written by my husband last night after a horrible night looking for my Osa, finding her, then burying her:

Our old german shepherd, Osa, has been nearing the end. She's been barely able to walk, couldn't hear, and would forget she was eating, even between bites. She's not been in pain and seemed happy, so we didn't call the vet to put her down. We check on her throughout the day.

Today, I went out to put up the chickens and I couldn't find her. After lots of searching, Ruthlynn found her floating in the pond. Although we left water all over the property for her, she probably went for a drink or swim and fell over. So, I had to wade out in the dark and hook her collar to pull her out, which was horrible. We spent a few hours digging a hole in the pasture and buried her.

She was the best dog we've ever had. Ruth says she's not a dog person, but this was her dog. So, she could use some of your sympathy. Osa adopted us in 2009 and Ruth is the one that tamed and trained her. She dutifully patrolled our property, even when she could barely walk, and was Ruth's constant companion. She had quite a few exciting adventures, like escaping from the vet's office and stealing left-hand gloves from people's pockets. She even saved Ruth from a bear once.

It's sad to see her go, but I am thankful she lived her life with us.

Here's Ruth's post from 2009 when Osa first showed up at our place, emaciated and in need of help.

Orphan call

On Friday evening I sat outside and got a message from someone I have never met in person, just a FB friend. She knew I raised ducks and posted about raising ducks of all kinds. She was retired, had a flock of ducks on her farm and predators got to her flock. All were missing, killed and gone except one lone duck. She did not have a dog to watch the flock and they were easy pickings. She wanted to know if I would take the last duck. So we met at the feed store and I got this crazy female Indian runner. She is in quarantine until she learns this is her new coop and her new life. She can see every duck comes in at night and she wants to be a part of them, badly. She is afraid of me and makes that known. Very high strung for a duck. But I will give her a chance to relax and join up with my flock.

It is not a good idea to add animals into an established flock. They can carry diseases, parasites and more. I always try to pair up newborn orphans and try to avoid adult orphans. It requires a lot of my time and effort to quarantine an animal. You need to have separate area for them, separate feed and water. Also there is the unknown as to how the animal was treated. Do they have a fear of people or where their spoiled and fearless! Yes, that matters. A fearless rooster or drake will attack you when they are feeling the urge to mate or protect their flock. Some people raise livestock as pets, the animals get too big and they do not know what to do with that pet chicken or duck. Most do not want to buy a cage and deliver the pet to the auction house. But that is what is done with livestock. I do not name my livestock. It makes life easier when I have to sell or cull them. It is better for the animal if it enjoys its life on our farm until it can no longer serve a purpose. We do keep our poultry until they die of old age. Roosters get replaced each year. Young roosters get sold off. But our egg layers get to stay with us until they die. It is a good place to live. They are happy, keep the bugs down and are neat to have around. When a new arrival does not work out I have to build a cage and take it to the auction myself. But I try to give the animal a chance. It is one of the nice things about having a farm. 

 

 

Dill me In

My cabbages from seed have thrived even in this heat and drought.

My first successful harvest of cabbage.

Our upper garden this year. Butternut squash, peppers, dill, lettuce, melons. The tomatoes are not thriving this year. Waiting to see how they get on. But very slow this year. This is my second year leaving the fabric on the ground. I will pull this up this fall and put down new fabric next spring. I need to till in manure this winter.

The Kajari melons  growing on the archway.My first time growing these unique melons.

Ah the dill this year is so happy. I started from seeds this March in the greenhouse. They are five feet tall and full of heads.

Just a wall of happy dill for days.

I reduced my cucumber to half a cattle panel this year. I planted English and straight eight. Very heat tolerant and are located under a huge peach tree.

 

Green Beans then Breakfast

We had a cooler morning and so I picked green beans. There were too many! I had to get the sled and bigger buckets, picked about 10 gallons from thirty plants!

Many trips up the hill and back to the garden.

Came into the kitchen and got the jars going.

I canned about 16 quarts and gave the rest to the local senior center before they opened.

Then came home and made breakfast. Some for us but double recipe to take to neighbor and a friends house after. Busy day!

 

Cabinet Magic

Ok I admit it I hate housework. We moved so often in my childhood that cleaning the house was just not done. We moved instead. But as an adult I am having to maintain my house. We have cats and rabbits and fur is a problem. The vacuum takes care of most of that. But thanks to all our home cooking for most meals, the cabinets got furry. I tried everything to get the grease and fur off them. Then I found this and life is great.

Parker & Bailey cabinet cream on Amazon. Just a quarter size drop on a wet rag and then a dry rag and bam, instant clean, waxed shiney new cabinet. No sticky, no greasy, no furry, it all came out on the rag. It took 1 hour to do my entire kitchen. And it made me super happy. No scent to bother you. Just nice clean cabinets again.

Our hickory cabinets are new again! 

 

Green beans and firewood

This week my April planted green beans are ready to harvest them and planting more for the fall season.

We were pulling the old hay out of the lean too and there was a fresh dead armadillo wedged between the bale and the wall. It was a huge stinking mess I had to deal with in 90 degree heat. Not a fun time.

This is a Cottonmouth. Highly aggressive snake seen in our rivers and ponds this time of the year.

My baby ducklings are growing up. They are trained to return to the coop at night and they do. One nice thing about livestock raising experience, it makes life a bit easier. These are Muscovy and the brown ones are Indian runners.

We had three trees fall down in the windstorm this month. Fully leafed out heavy wet wood. We were able to cut and split them and stack them to season. Nice to have firewood for winter.

 

Farm For Sale in Missouri

 I wanted to post this for a nice family that came to our small Catholic church on June 13, 2021. They had 4 girls and one boy looking for a house with farm land around us. They drove 36 hours from Boston to look at a house in Mtn Grove, MO. The house was sold before they got here. So they called a for sale by owner near Mtn. View, MO instead. We had the pleasure of meeting them on their journey to buy a farm.

There is a lot of property not listed or banked owned sold at auction. This one is one of those.

https://www.sextonauctions.com/sat-june-26-10am-ruby-skiles

SATURDAY,

JUNE 26, 10:00 A.M.

Location: Dora, MO. 2190 St. Rt. 181, north on Hwy. 63 to Hwy. 14, west on 14 approx. 20 miles to Hwy. 181 (left), then approx. 1 mile to property on left. Watch for auction signs.

50 acres and house and barn.

I hope this family finds what they are looking for.

God Bless :)

Furiously Happy

If you like crazy humour, weird perspectives and inner thoughts of a crazy person, this is the book for you. The Bloggess Jenny Lawson is funny. She has written several books, runs a facebook group and is over the top hysterical. 

She is my hero. She loves bad taxidermy, giant roosters, admits to her mental issues, loves her family and makes the best out of her life as best she can. She is honest about how her mental issues have wreaked havoc on her life and the meds as well.

Let's pretend this never happened is my fav book. She had a difficult childhood and she shares it. I sent a copy to my parents, they did not get it. Lots of similarities to her parents and mine. These books will open your eyes to how some people see and interpret the world around them. And that is why I love her books. She sees the world with some bitter sweet crazy sarcasm.

 

Leather Me up

I recently bought a set of used saddle makers tools. They are over 40 years old and quite in a state of rust. Three days later I got them reconditioned and usable again, rust free and mothball scent free. Most are for leather carving and saddle work. Most are handmade and I have no clue as to how to use half of them. But I have the internet and my brother to help. I got them because I want to make my own leather stuff. Purses, bags, branchlets and whatever I want. There are a ton of great leather makers out there, I just want to give it a go. I can sew very well and love to learn new things. 

One thing I love is molding leather like fabric. You can use anything to make a mold. I found this metal jello mold in a shape I like, sea them. This 13 inch shell will be a base for veg tan leather turned into a purse. I get to try out dyes and paints along the way.

Going to be an interesting crafting journey I have always had an interest in.

 

Crazy Train

So after two weeks after 2nd Moderna vaccine I got sick. Some upper bronchial thing going around our small town, I got it. We have self isolated for a year, this means our immunity was down. First week out into the public, bam, got sick. Not from the vaccine but from weak immune system being away from people. A church member came to church sick and I got it. Then I gave it to my husband. His fever broke and he is full of snot and vinegar. I have a cough and some sinus but no fever. 

What got me was the dental visit. They have signs, masks, fever checks and Covid warnings everywhere. We had our teeth cleaned and x-rayed. The hygenist asked if we had any medical changes and I said yes, we got vaccinated. I am sure you all had as well. She huffed and said they were not required to at that office. I was shocked she was to angry in her response. My husband whispered that is a hot topic for many people. He was right. I had no idea and do not care. But her happy demeanor changed and she was cold after that. People who work in the medical dental field should get vaccinated for their own health. But here in Missouri that is not the general belief. You are the odd bird wanting to get a shot. The majority are happily returning to life as normal, traveling the world as if nothing was wrong. I am not that narcissistic.

It has been hard to shake off the stay at home urge. Seems like everyone is on the move this Memorial holiday. We are at home recovering from some bug. But my husband wants to hit the road and take a vacation. I am reluctant, to deal with opinionated angry people and travel. End of rant.