Feeding Big Dogs

Here is Zilla at 1 year old. She will be full grown with a weight around 200lbs. Her parents are both very large. Unlike, Osa who is on the smaller side for a German Shepherd around 70 lbs.

We have been looking to keep weight on her and normal dog food is not cutting it. So we are supplementing her diet with raw cow legs, dry food and canned food. Both dogs patrol night and day on our farm, lots of energy.

I can get these cow legs three dollars a bucket full at my local butchers. I have to dig out the ones I want to bring home. The flies are free. I can choose from goats, cow or sheep and pigs. But I know my girls like cow.

My yard looks like a forensics body farm lab. Cow parts and other things strewn about the yard to keep my dogs happy.

Zilla is very happy.

A Taste of Sun

It finally stopped raining after almost a week of downpours in the Ozarks.

Daisy takes in the setting sunlight before hunting in the humid night.

A haul of sweet corn from my experimental garden.

My sunflowers are bent, laden with seeds and hungry bees.

Fixing A Wounded Wedding Ring Quilt

 I was asked if I could fix a vintage hand quilted wedding ring quilt. The quilt was sewn in the 1980's using poly/cotton blend fabrics and washed and dried multiple times before I got it. The problem was that several pieces were threadbare.

Some parts were missing. Some fabric just needed stabilizer added to save the original fabric.

Worn pieces were lifted, stabilized and resewn in place.

I traced each piece and hand appliqued over the original piece, preserving the original work.

Hand quilting each new replacement.

My handmade puzzle pieces.

Sewn and ready to live a bit longer.

Quilt in progress. I used safety pins to mark the places needing repairs. It was over 100 tiny pieces and took 2 solid weeks to fix. The finished quilt was given as a wedding present from a mother-in-law to the bride.

Tea, cat and seeds.

With all this July heat I am able to make sun tea on my deck. I savor the tasty sun tea. My cat Poppy, has lost his winter fat and is a lean can once again. Summer heat means my collards have gone to seed. I am winnowing off seeds from their husks. Busy as always in the summer.

Busiest July Ever!

This July has been the busiest month for me ever. My late start gardens are now ready for harvest. What happens when you plant 10 green beans? You get green bean monsoon. And I will never plant 10 zucchini plants this close again. I have a zucchini forest that I crawl into to harvest in. I have cabbages, cucumbers,corn, beans, tomatoes,squash, potatoes and yams all waiting on me. But I also have several neighbors who enjoy the bounty from my garden. I have never worked so long in my garden before. From 8-12 lunch, then wait for the afternoon heat to pass 4-8, put up poultry at 9 (over 70+) then dinner. A farmer never gets rest this time of the year. Then I am planting my fall crops. I am always covered in straw and DE powder. And it is almost August now. Things are looking like an early fall with blooming morning glories and rampant copperheads. The rains have come and everything is green and growing. It has been such a productive summer. I thank the Lord for all this wonderful food. And I am happy to share with my friends.

Chicks and Roses

I finally put these 4 week old chicks in the Big House or the adult coop. These were late hatch of chickens and guinea chicks that were left behind or abandoned by their new moms. I call them orphan chicks. Since I have the time, space and set up to raise them, I go ahead and raise them in the house. Since they are 5 total, they will form a gang and look out for each other in the adults coop.They are in a bigger cage inside my adult coop. They will stay in that until they are about half the size of an adult. Their 3 month old older siblings (30) are now free range with the adult poultry (56). I bought 30 chicks to replace the ones the foxes got last summer. However, this summer has been less foxy. So I have some over abundance this summer. I will cull the roosters (dinner)and keep the hens. It is going to be a busy fall. We give the eggs to our church since we simply do not eat that many. And selling eggs is more work than I have time for on the farm.

These are the only red roses on my farm as the rest are pinks and yellows. These climb all summer and bloom all summer. I keep them since they are a good filler when nothing else is blooming. And it is a sturdy rose even under the snow and ice. It is always nice to come home and see these red roses waiting by the front of the walkway.

Tree Down

 This past week we had a night storm and I drove up my drive to have my path blocked by one of our trees. It was a nice shade tree for the driveway and will be missed. So this weekend we worked on clearing the driveway and chopping up the tree. We saved the big logs for firewood and used a loaner chipper for the smaller branches. It was hard work but we got it mostly cleaned up before the next storm came.

  

 

This was a nice shade tree and it will be missed. 

We will put in a blue spruce in its place this fall.

Husband clearing the branches

Chipper lessons on the PTO

Good news is that no animals were harmed under/in the tree.No birds and no squirrels in this tree.

But a ton of ticks, ants and beetles. I saved 2 tree truck slabs for counting the age of this tree.

Our tree was in full leaf and full of sap. It weighed a ton and then some. The root ball could barely be moved by our tractor even after the limbs were removed. 

Hippitus Hoppitus

Last week my young donkey brought me a surprise from the pasture, two wild rabbits. 

She drove them to me as I was working in the garden. They were not afraid of me nor the other farm animals. So my husband got out the camera and got photos of the wild rabbits.

This one hung around as the moon rose.

Hoping at my husband and happy on our farm.

Japan Me Saturday

This weekend we drove to the Japanese Gardens in Springfield, MO. It was a bit too hot to stroll but we did enjoy the park.It was very nicely done and we our our Japanese fix.

I want one of these just because it is so cool.

Clear water and lots of koi.

Neat bridge that I would like across my duck pond. Simple design and lots of fun to just hang out on.

Truck Me Up

A few weeks ago my husband and I drove to Salem, MO to an unusual auction. The park service was auctioning off their used vehicles, loaders, boats and UTV's. In the pouring rain we and about 200 other people looked over used equipment before the sale. We looked over the truck briefly then focused on the UTV's and the brush hogs. But I kept wanting to look over the trucks. They might go for cheap in this rain storm. So we looked them over and I realized that this is what I need, a truck. They had a handful that met my needs, automatic, big tires, cloth seats, in ok condition and can handle snow and rain. My 1990 Volvo is not good in floods and icy roads, but a 4x4 is. So we ran through the trucks and saw they were selling for a song. We were outbid on another then this one was the 2nd to last truck under a ton. We won it for a good price and I got to drive it home. My new/used  grey Chevy Silverado, 4x4, 1/2 ton, automatic, no frills farm truck. My first truck ever!

It has a big bed for farm feed. I just need to add some bling to the outside. Like mudflaps.

Good back seat for my German Shepherds, groceries and saddles.

I like the grey interior/exterior as it won't show dirt. So now my husband drives the one ton and I get to drive the 1/2 ton. Life is good.

All the Pretty Flowers

Recently, I went to the local greenhouse to look for some bedding plants. Since it is a local grower, I had more variety to choose from than a "mega-mart type" greenhouse. Such beauty abounds the eyes and the nose. Hanging plants, veggies, bedding plants, unique cacti and more were all home grown and for sale.

Too many to choose from!

By buying local I kept the business nearby happy instead of feeding the commercial mega mart. Plus the owner of the greenhouse was very knowledgeable about the plants he grew. Try getting that from an impersonal mega mart.

Colorful Clematis in the garden

 With all the rain we have has my plants are blooming like mad. My three clematis are blooming big vibrant blossoms  They almost look artificial. 

Candy cane

Violet and fuchsia mixed together.

Here is one of my veggie gardens. The yellow collards are going to seed after a long winter. My iris are blooming well along side the strawberries and the broccoli. The basil and the mint are in a race. My tomatoes are slow coming up. But the peas are very happy with the cool nights. Some days are hot and humid and some days damp and rainy, but still weeding has to happen. The straw cuts down on my weeding chores. The straw also makes for happy spiders and snakes in the garden. They visit my garden waiting for a snack during weeding time.

Hickory Chickory

Last Wednesday we hatched out 15 chicks out of 20 eggs. It was a good hatch.

These are our own home grown farm mix. Marans, Old English, Reds and Buffs are all bred with strong 4 different roosters. One rooster is a bantam and will soon have bantam hens of his own.

We gave away 10 of the larger chicks and kept the slower later hatched ones. With the addition of a new rooster we are getting different chicks this time. More color in the feathers and smarter behaviors and less aggressive. It is always a challenge raising your own. But so worth the effort. I love my farm life.