Ice Horses

 I woke up and was out the door at 7am. The poultry wanted no part in going outside. 

I fed the horses only to find their feet snowballed in ice. They were covered in ice sickles and heavy under ice coats. They were shivering and wet.

Poor Shelby with ice hanging from her ears and eyes. We used our warm 

hands to remove the ice from her face.

A slow drive in 4 wheel drive with my truck to the feed store to get heat lamps and heat bulbs. My husband was able to wire them in the stalls. The highway was plowed and salted, but the snow keeps coming and building on the road.

Frozen donkey

Happy warm horses with dry feet and a warm stall.

All the Pretty Colors

My plum tree decked out in LED lights.

The snow falls and filters the lights in a soft glow.

Slippery Slope

Here are my stairs with ice and potash. They are icing up nicely.

Here is my sleet deck at noon. 

At 9 pm tonight the snowflakes are big and coming down heavily. My stairs are covered in a cold white blanket. Nothing beats the first snowfall of the year in the Ozarks.

Blizzard Blueberries

I had a busy day yesterday getting the farm set for the snow. I thought I'd just take today off and rest. No such luck. There is a knock at the door and the Fed Ex guy delivers a box full of blueberry bushes. I was not expecting this as I received no advanced warning from the nursery. I had ordered these 3 months ago for an October delivery. I thought they lost the order.

With the sleet and snow coming down I have no choice. 

I have to get these 12 bushes in the ground before it freezes. My husband has a meeting until dark so I have to get going while the light is still available.

My trusty helper dog, Zilla.

Into the UTV I got dirt, wood chips and shovels. The sleet has gotten heavy now.

This is just 4 minutes and the seats are frozen and getting covered in ice.

Osa and Zilla watch me dig 12 holes. Luckily the ground is not frozen, yet.

Almost done.These blueberries will go dormant in the 

winter and be ready for new growth in the springtime. Looking forward to a 

harvest of berries next spring.

Not looking forward to getting in that cold frozen seat. I got it all done by dark. But still had to plant a single grape vine. Husband joined the fun. He helped tuck in the chickens and ducks in the coop. I got to drive around in the cold night blizzard for fun after planting was done. I was already cold and had to tuck in the UTV under tarps. And I have frozen smile face on to prove it.

Scrubby Ducky

Last weeks cold snap gave me a serious problem in my coop. A mother duck hatched out 7 ducklings. Our raised coop floor got very cold even with heat lamps. The next morning one duckling was dead and the rest were close to it. I brought 2 inside to be warmed by my husband and put together my indoor brooder box.

I had to leave mama duck outside and brought all 6 ducklings inside. I can raise baby poultry but an adult duck is no fun to have in the house.

By the next morning the baby ducklings had settled down in the brooder box. They made a mess and needed a bath. So we filled the tub half way with lukewarm water and dumped them in, supervised. I cleaned their brooder box while they swam about. Now everyday they get a bath and I can clean out their box.

In a few weeks they should be able to stand colder weather. I will put them back outside with their flock.

Until then, they get supervised 15 minutes to swim. Then they are taken out to dry off under their heat lamp.

Six ducklings and my cat, Ump watching over them.

The warm dry fresh clean cage. Food and water and dry pine shavings. 

This is the good life for these baby ducks.

Etudes Me?

This is my cat when I play. She sits on top of the piano and gives me this look while holding her ears back. I think she likes the vibrations this upright makes.

I am learning how to play with the left and the right at the same time. I am reading about pianos and reading sheet music. I would rather play then do anything else. The time flies by and I have to get farm chores done in the dark. But when playing the world goes away and there is only the sound of the piano.

Chicken Ranching

Here is Limpy a Cuckoo Maran hen I saved abandoned by her mother and almost eaten. I thought she was a he until the other roosters proved me wrong. And Limpy does not crow as her litter mates do. But she does not lay eggs yet, either. Limpy was not able to walk for 3 months of her life. Now you can't stop her and her long legs.

Americana rooster with lovely plumage. He survived the cull since he has a sweet 

disposition and is very pretty.

Our Egyptian Fayoumis hen. Very flighty fast bird but has survived the loss of her rooster mate.

Little King a Japanese Bantam rooster, Americana hen in the middle and Little Kings son on the right. The son is a full size rooster. Little King's son is being given away as he is not the nicest rooster to the hens. But he is a very pretty and showy bird.

Apples Down the Lane

 Or rather, hedge apples down the lane.

Here is 1/4 mile worth of Osage oranges or hedge apples cut in half and planted along our fence line.

All bright green and set in the dirt for a winters nap. In 3 years it will be tall enough to weave into a hedge row or natural barbwire. In 10 years it should produce these green apples. However, by keeping it short and stunted, it should not produce many apples.

Farm husband planting over 1,000 of these along our fence line.

Can you tell this was engineered?

More perfection

One worn out farmer. The osage orange bleeds a sticky sap that turns your gloves black and sticks to everything. But the sap is water soluble and easy to clean unlike pine sap.

Homey Soapy

A few weeks ago I was visiting a friends house and I noticed a unique scent in her laundry room. It was the homemade laundry soap she had in there. She told me about how cheap it was to make and how much she saved in cost. So this week I gave it a try. She was right, it was easy to make and to use. It works great and now my house has the same scent. The clothes are clean and I am happy. No more expensive laundry soap for me.

The main ingredient 1/2 a bar of Fels-Naptha soap.

Makes 5 gallons of laundry soap.

Melting down the soap bar, smells great. The final mix cools and gels slightly overnight. I use about 1/2 a cup of the new soap in my wash. Life is good.

The Recipe:

1/2 a bar of Fels-Naptha soap

1 cup of Borax

1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

5 cups of water then 3 gallons of hot water

Big 5 gallon Bucket, clean

Long spoon or stick to mix inside the 5 gallon bucket

1.Grate the 1/2 bar of soap with a cheese grater. Put the shavings into a pot filled with 5 cups of water. Boil and stir until all the soap shavings have all melted. Turn off the heat.

2. Put 3 gallons of hot water into your 5 gallon bucket. I used a clean empty 1 gallon milk container to pour the correct amount. Pour your melted soap mix into your 5 gallon hot water bucket. Then stir with a long stick or spoon. Add 1/2 cup of washing soda then 1 cup of Borax, stir until all is dissolved in your 5 gallon bucket. You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil into the bucket if you like a scent. I like the Fels-Naptha scent it already has.

3. Cover the bucket overnight. It will cool and gel up. You can then put your homemade soap in containers or leave it in the bucket. You can get 110 loads out of your new detergent. I keep a plastic 1/2 cup scoop to dole out my soap. Happy Laundry Day!

Was Lost and Found

My neighbors dog disappeared 3 days ago. We spent 3 days looking all over for a dog that comes up to people all the time. No sign. So we posted on Facebook and put up fliers and called everyone we knew. Today, the dog appeared in the garage to her owners surprise and delight. Someone anonymously put her in his garage.She was gritty, dirty and very hungry and thirsty, but she was fine. We are happy to have her back on our neighbors farm again.

She's Upright Here

This is the outside of my 1905 Knabe-Angelus. She is a plain simple piano with a clear window in the center to see the hammers. No fancy carvings here, almost an arts and crafts simplicity.

The original keys were replaced before we bought the piano.

It was well cared for with only slight piles of mouse hoarding under the hammers. This piano has not been in a flood nor outside as many do end up. There was soot from a wood stove on the inside of the casements. Someone took great care of the piano. If we did want to do a full restoration it would run about $10-$20K. But she is in tune and plays very well so for now we are happy. 

Quiet Hunting

This has been the first time that hunting season has been very quiet around here. It used to sound like a war zone. I guess since ammo is hard to find people are just not wasting it. 

She Rings True

I was able to get the name of a local piano tuner to come and tune my over 100 year old upright piano.

He came and worked on my piano for 4 hours. 

One string broke and had to be refitted again. 

By ear he was able to adjust the pins to get my piano back in tune. He removed parts of the piano to get to the strings. A bit dusty but this old piano was stored well and has aged beautifully.

We used our electric tuner as a visual aid for us to see what notes he was tuning to. He was dead on for all the notes. My old upright makes bright and loud notes again, no longer flat. Before he left he signed the low key hammer and dated it. So the next tuner will have the info. Unfortunately, our tuner's children had no interest in learning the tuning craft. It is a dying art just like playing music. At least here in the Missouri Ozarks, they still have music jam sessions.