Sunday, October 10, 2010

Mini strokes...

The duck situation is a little better, not much, but a little. They still start screaming at around 6:45am until about 8. My poor neighbor, I need to leave him a care package. The duck area is basically right next to his house, that was a great idea... Another brilliant idea was positioning the beehive on our backporch right next to the stairs that lead to the farm!! So every morning i have to haul ass past the bees by running down the steps. Ive had many near death experiences doing this. Especially now that the bees have multiplied like crazy. If i get outside early enough, before the bees wake up, I'm ok but anytime after that and I use the front door and just go around. We're thinking about building somekind of two panel blockade so solve this problem. Evidently if there is a wall or object in front of the hive they will fly straight up and out. So if I put one panel on the side next to the stairs and one directly infront of their entrance we may be able to coexist with bees living on the porch. But the tapping sound they make on the kitchen window at night when the lights are on isn't going anywhere im afraid. Who knew bees were attracted to lights like moths??
Oh yea, And I need some advice about getting rid of a nasty aphid problem, any ideas??? Aphids plus ants equals grumpy farmer... Just sayin.'

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Animals gone wild

i know I normally write about being overwhelmed and astonished by crazy animals, but I may have reached my limit. So since we have temporarily adopted these ducks, all he'll has broken loose and the ducks have tried their hardest to give me a stroke. When the new ducks were put in with the old ducks, I had them separated within the pen. That next morning I woke up to the loudest quacking I've heard yet. So I go outside and the ducks have broken through the inner barrier and are tear-assing back and forth like ping pong balls in this pen. When a new duck met an old duck they would scare each other so badly they would turn in the opposite direction and haul ass away, only to meet another strange duck two feet later. Do there were 24 grown geese sized ducks basically running in circles from each other. It was the craziest thing. Then the ducks would yell, making deputy dingle yell back, and thus went on for probrebly an hour before I said, f-it! And separated the ducks. So now I have the new ducks living with the goats and things have been much more peaceful... I haven't had a stroke yet. I have decided to downsize the animal situation. I sold the last three rabbits so now I only have two, my farm lady friend is coming tomorrow morning for the rouens, all eight if them. And if that old deputy dingle isn't getting down to business, he's getting put on craigslist!! Well, probrebly not, but it make me feel better knowing I have options.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Farm updates!

its so nice to know we were missed!! We've been super homesteading these last few weeks, its hard to remember what's happened! First, we've met a kindred spirit in the hood with ducks and chickens that he had to get rid of because somebody reported him. So we are going to be harboring his poutlry for a while until he can find other arrangements. This brings the number of ducks in the back yard to about 25. Omg, this is crazy. And I think there is a rooster as well... Trouble. The ducks are adorable though. They're spotted like a dog, it's so cute. But this is just the kind of kick in the pants needed to get a chicken petition going. Let us know if you'd like to get involved!!
We have started the fall garden with mixed results, the red Hopi dye amaranth has done really well, but the golden giant amaranth keeps getting eaten by varments. The peas and beans sprang back to life after the repeated goat/duck attacks a few weeks ago. Thank goodness. The red Russian kale is getting bigger and I'm still waiting for the carrots and beets to come up, but it's only been a few day since I planted them.
I think deputy dingle is getting the job done as well. I pretty sure they have the height difference figured out, he stands on the highest pallet in the manger while sugarbit backs up on the ground, sorry for that visual, but that kind of nitty gritty knowledge is part of farm life, haha. So gross. Don't worry, I won't post pictures of that. But I will post others!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Triple threat

Sharing is caring

King of the castle


Look what we made! And the goats love it! Now they play king of the castle and it's hilarious! We've also made a new goat fence out of reclaimed wood shipping containers. And I made a duck area too out of the same stuff. Hopefully my garden will finally be safe. I kind of went nutty yesterday and if you heard shreeking, that was not coco the local hooker, it was me. After chasing goats out if the garden all day, I built that darn fence single handedly and I couldn't be prouder. And after that I filled the raised beds in the lots with seeds and pulled the destroyed garden beds back to life. I strung up the Peking black peas and the Kentucky wonder snap beans. We had bamboo poles that were almost as tall as the upstairs windows that I made a trellise- like thing out of for them. That's after I had a near death experience trying to make a teepee. Picture bamboo coming at your head from all directions! I had to dive out of harms way, action movie style, landing with a splat. It was rediculous. And while all this chaos is going down, the baby never even stirred from his sleep once. Crazy.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What the...

Stuck again
Really? How on earth? Why? Why? Why? After a day of shoveling horse poop this what I come home to. Deputy Dingle stuck in the hay feeder. I wanted a buck why?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ghetto gardening

I am trying super super hard to get this lot not ghetto. It's hard when the humidity sucks the life out of you though. Ten minutes outside yesterday and I got dizzy. I planted some crops a few days ago and guess what! They sprouted! Thank god! I was worried because animals of all sorts have been trying to sabotage. And I am not lying when I tell you I saw a pack of pit bulls trample the beds. I need a fence badly. I've been scavenging wood for a while now and maybe have enough to make an entrance of some sort. I think I want to hang a sign of somekind too, saying something cute like, 'beautification in progress.' we'll see what I come up with. Any ideas??? Let me know!!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Deputy Dingle suffers consequences

That old Deputy Dingle and the two ladies busted through the goat fence and were sniffing the beehive. And guess what happened. The bees attacked and Dingle was the recipient of a couple, or few, bee stings. I was inside the house with the baby when I hear Dingle yelping, like a human with a touch of goat. I ran to the kitchen window and he is running and bucking, trampling my collard green sprouts, mind you. So I go out there and there is a bee buzzing around his head, going for the kill. The girls are standing there half panicked, not sure what to do or where to run. So I open the gate and he haul-asses past me to the manger and the girls are right behind him. Serves him right for breaking the rules, lol. Why is it that it's always me plus baby vs. The goats? And why do they always seem to out smart me? So not cool. But I'm pretty sure that the bee vs. Goats ended with the bees victorious. Suckers!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Quail massacre

Total dismemberment. I'm heart broken. Something ate them last night and left the nastiest mess. As soon as I walked onto the porch next to their bin, I saw a swarm of flies. I held my breath an peaked inside, complete carnage. Legs, wings, heads, organs, everywhere. I almost cried. I've spent too much time taking care of them for some careless animal to swoop in and destroy everything. It didn't even eat them all, just killed. It was terrible. I came inside and pulled myself together enough to look for the shovel. And like always it was nowhere to be found so I had to dig a hole with the hoe. Talk about insult to injury. Now I have to break the bad news to Mr. Farmer.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Deputy Dingle

I know what everybody's thinking... Where are the goat babies? Well, I've given up hope of babies. Failure. But I bought some insurance, a buck. And we've named him Deputy Dingle. He's six months old and half the size of the ladies so we'll see if they take him seriously. It's just going to take a little longer to get milking.
In the meantime I've scored some HUGE tubs for tilapia farming!! And there's a place in St. Augustine for the fingerling. So not all is lost, I'm still very disappointed though. I can't stand farming failures.

For the future I'm planning a farmstand at some point, fresh produce and such. I just need a location so I don't give the farm away. And there's also the little task of planting fall crops. But I need my manure delivery before then. I'm on a poo waiting list. Story of my life.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Baby ducks are heartless murderers


i have baby ducks in an ornamental birdcage that I swiped from my grandmothers trash pile in my house. The reason, they are murders. They stomped not one, but TWO baby quails!! And then slept on top of the bodies, like a serial killer. It was so gross, nature's rough. So they have been separated. The ducks now live in the dining room, where I can keep a close eye on them. I just can't figure out how they squirted poop inches from the cage onto the table. It's spiteful.
In other news, the moringa have sprouted! Now we will weather the end of the world just fine, haha. What this really means is free animal food! And bright orange egg yolks!! I'm so excited! We also filled the raised beds yesterday. We're only missing horse poo and pine bark. The pine bark has been sitting in the front yard for a month, I'm so embarassed to admit that, but what can I do with a baby and a crappy job?? Slowly but surely...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ch ch ch ch cherry bounce!!!!

How's this for irony? We fancy ourselves quite knowledgable about homesteading. Well... There's this large tree in our front yard, that we've always been unable to identify. I tryed looking online, but couldn't place it. Once a year it produces tiny black berries that we've always assumed were inedible. Then the other day our friend the farm lady came over a we decided to see if she knew. After popping one in her mouth, "ya that's a wild cherry". Really!? They're only about a bit more than a centimeter long and sure enough they have a tiny pit. We were floored. After all this time it turns out we have a 50 foot fruit tree outside our bedroom window and didn't even realize it. And they're just now starting to ripen. I see lots of jam and cherry bounce in our future. Cherry bounce is of course liquor infused with wild cherry and was apparently quite popular with early Americans. Even Martha Washington had her own recipe. How's that for patriotic?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

All goats are mischievous thieves, gate-crashers, and trespassers. Also they possess individual character, intelligence, and capacity for affection which can only be matched by the dog. –David Mackenzie, Farmer in the Western Isles (1954)

Hehe, so true! We'll y'all, no goat babies yet. We're still waiting and watching. We both wake up at the butt crack of dawn and scramble to the bathroom window to look, but nothing. So lame. They're still technically early, and they'd be super early if they got knocked up the last day with the buck. there's just no way to tell. I'm so ready to hop out there and deliver some babies. Hopefully my time to shine will come soon. In the meantime, me and the baby keep truckin' trying to keep up with this craziness.

Oh yea, and if anyone wants some goat babies let us know! We'll have them for sale at around three months old. And tell us about your homesteading adventures! We'd love to hear from other urban farmers! Or urban farmer lovers :)

Thursday, July 22, 2010

isn't this cute!?!? Eggplant Parmesan is on the menu tonight! And the countdown begins. Today is the 146th of 150 days gestation period for juggs and sugar. It could be any time now. Just worried that they're not really pregnant and I'll look like a fool. Wouldnt that be terrible! I'd be so embarassed. If that happens, I'll never mention the goats ever again, like it never happened. But I do have all my supplies in order just incase. Juggy HAS to be pregnant. Her heat cycle stopped all together, so it's either pregnancy or menopause and she's too young for that. And sugar bit just looks fat. We'll see! I'll definately give a detailed account of anything that happens. It could be tomorrow, it could be three weeks from now, who knows.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Subsistence Farming in the first world

Written by Mr. Farmer
That oil 'will' peak isn't a theory, the only question is 'when.'. It's almost hard to overestimate how profound the implications will be. Viewed in this light, attempts at self-sufficiency should take on a unique urgency, gardening in particular. In that vain, I'm going to begin to grow two subsistence crops, cassava and moringa. Both are drought tolerant, grow in poor soil, require little care, and are easily reproduced. Cassava is a rich source of starch, while moringa provides a surprising amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals. They are also a great source of animal fodder. The moringa tree is especially interesting, with a stunning array if uses, which I hope to outline in future poosts. Suffice to say it is the ideal post-peak crop, so much so I would honestly recommend everyone have a few growing in their yard. There's a whole lot more I would like to say but it will have to wait. Stay tuned for future experimentation.

Disclaimer by Mrs. Farmer
P.S. We are not nutballs who like conspiracy theories. We're just nutballs with livestock in the backyard, haha. Peak oil is just kinda scarry because it's been getting a lot of attention lately. There's no harm in being self sufficient for any reason you choose, farming is always fun!!!!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I woke up in a cold sweat

The goats are getting closer to blowing and there is so much to prepare for. They need selenium and vitamin A and D shots at 135 days (this Thursday). And there is so much I need to stock up on. Surgical gloves, antibiotic boluses, iodine, ky, newspaper, udder wipes, a bottle and nipple, molasses, and the list goes on. And that's just for the birth. The kids need all kinds of stuff up to 3 weeks of life, like disbudding, castration, (for males), shots, and so on. I woke up last night and had to google all kinds of stuff for like two hours to calm myself enough to go back to sleep. I feel better prepared this morning though, I just need to organize and start making shopping lists. I got nervous because a goat that has kidded before could potentially have like four babies. So it wouldn't be crazy to think that there will be eight babies, meaning I'll have a herd of 10 goats in the backyard. Oh my god, I'm getting twinges of panic again. Thank goodness I don't have many neighbors. I think I need to cut back on caffeine, after this last cup of coffee, I swear...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

OMG, I caught the rabbit

After maybe a month with this stupid rabbit on the loose, I finally caught him! It was so random, I was just doing my morning rounds and I look down at my feet and there he is. Just sitting there staring at me like no big deal. I crouched down, and scooped him up. He didn't even move or try to run, it was so crazy. I like rabbit whispered or something. I think he could sense my garden frustration and took pity on me and turned himself in. It was so like he let me catch him. I was not in control, he was.

So to celebrate I planted some seeds. After I duck proofed the garden naturally because those MFers are wicked garden killers as well. I finally feel in control of the backyard after weeks of chaos. So we have some heirloom peas and beans in the ground. And the plan for this weekend it making some raised beds for the lot. That's finally coming together after weeks of delays... I was starting to feel like a farming failure.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Kidding positions


This is the page I need to master. And I dont have much time left. I need to start keeping a close eye on them for signs if labor around the 22nd of July.


need to know how to deliver goat babies? This book will tell you!!

The bible


want to be the ultimate homesteader? Need to learn how to manage your herd of cattle, sharpen your axe, make some beeswax candles... This book will be your guide! There's even tips on how to save money. And now I finally have my own copy!!! Watch out for more homesteading greatness.

The first canning of the season


blueberry jam! The recipe was easy, blueberries and lots of sugar. My brother said I needed more blueberries in my sugar jam. And my 9 year old sister said, "I won't say anything about it because I can't say anything nice" and after I strangled her I reformulated the recipe. so for the next batch I cut the amount of sugar. 9 cups berries to 6 cups sugar instead of equal parts berry to sugar. I didn't have any complaints after that.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Baby rabbit runt


here are some updated animal pictures. Look how chunky the goats are! Their due date starts July 22nd. That's the 146th day from the first time they met the buck. Hopefully they are pregnant, not just fat, haha.

White baby

Fat sugar

Juggy peeing

Juggy close up

Sugar and juggy

Chicken eyes

Garden killer


this rabbit has killed every seedling and has set up camp in my raised bed. And what's worse is I can't collect his poo. That's the whole reason I have rabbits! Rabbit poo is the best manure because it doesn't have to be composted and can go straight onto the plant without burning anything. It's especily good for small scale urban farms because rabbits take so little space and can pretty much live off of kitchen scraps and some weeds. Chicken manure has to be composted because it has so much nitrogen. Goat poo is really good, but it's hard to collect. So this rabbit is really getting a free ride. I'll catch him when his guard is down. He is so fast and smart. Rabbis definately have more personality than people think...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Plenitude

Here is the new book we're reading! It's Plenitude by Juliet Schor. It's about disengaging from the current economic model, business as usual. Removing the middle man, growing your own food, etc. Check out her blog http://www.julietschor.org/2010/05/welcome-to-plenitude/. I swear you'll be buying for first herd of chickens after you read it, and maybe a goat or too...

I drink my coffee and hide

There is battle I fight every morning between coffee and farm. Let's not kid ourselves, the farm always wins. When I wake up in the morning I sneak downstairs and try to start the coffee maker before the animals know I'm awake. They look in the windows! If I peak out the upstairs window I get the stink eye from a goat. And in the morning if they hear anything inside the house they all start howling. The ducks are the worst. They quack and chirp all morning anyways, but they get crazy if they see movement in the window. When I didn't have the porch blocked off they would wait at the back door. And before we put up the goat fence the goats would rake the door with their hooves and it sounded like a human was knocking to come in. They also used to stand up in the window and beg for kitchen scraps.
So in the morning I sneak into the kitchen trying to hide from the animals to make coffee before I start my chores outside. Because once I'm outside I can't just do it half way. If I just feed the ducks the goats will yell, or if I feed just the ducks and goats the chickens will scream. And once I go through all that it'd just be mean to not feed the rabbits because they Can't speak. That's a lot to do at 6:30 in the morning without coffee. It takes a good 45 minutes to get everyone taken care of with food, fresh water, hay, veggies, pregnancy supplements for the goats, frozen water bottles for the bunnies. I love to do it all, but I'd love it more if they'd let me have coffee first...

Friday, June 18, 2010

Checking in part II


the bees were so productive in this first month that we were able to harvest! They filled the lower part of the hive and were moving upwards. The extra honeycomb had to be removed to put the other box on top. So we enjoyed the first fruits of our labor really early. I've been rationing it out in 2oz baby food containers. It isn't honey yet, it's flower nectar. The comb smelled like flowers when we took it out.


This is the extra comb and the queen box


This would look super fancy without that piece of hay on the plate

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Checking in

It's been a month with the bees and it's time to add the deep hive and to make sure the queen has gotten out of her box. Since their numbers are growing rapidly the deep hive will give them more space so they don't swarm. We are mainly looking for a capped brood meaning the queen is laying eggs and covers them with wax. And also to make sure there are no queen cells because that's a sign they are about to swarm because of over crowding.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

...like rabbits

Rabbits get pregnant...while they are pregnant. I went outside to do the evening rounds of food and guess what I found in the rabbit hutch...more baby rabbits!!! WTF! So I had to scramble and get the older rabbit babies out, luckily they had already weaned themselves and they are old enough to be separated from the mother. So we have 5 more bunnies. She must have gotten pregnant the day before she gave birth to the other ones because the first batch are 5 weeks old on monday. That poor rabbit! She hasnt had contact with a male in over a month! I really feel like these were immaculately conceived. Unless rabbits throw semen...nasty. i'm putting the first batch of babies up for sale as soon as I get some cute pictures of them, so I could use that money to get more wood for the garden.
Speaking of the garden, that big black girl rabbit keeps escaping and eating my seedlings. The garden is ruined!! I have to start from scratch! And she keeps getting out of everything I put her in. I have to solve this problem soon or I'll miss this planting season.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

So much to do

So we have permission to farm on the empty lot next door. Now is crunch time. I have the dirt to fill the beds delivered already, I have the wood to build the beds. All that is left to get is the manure. I have to sit and wait for my special friend from the feed store to come through, since she has a truck and poo connections. Hopefully this week I'll have everything pulled together and be able to start building.

In the meantime I've built another bunny house, chicken wired the garden to keep the ducks from trampling the seedlings, a little too late though so I have to start that all over again. Acquired some pine bark for the new garden. Started new seedlings for the community garden which I have to take over today and transplant so I dont look neglectful compared to everyone else's beds.

Here's a lis of things still left to do:
tie up tomato plants
start more seedlings
mow the lot
trim goat hooves
built big duck shelter
wean the rabbit babies slowly
beehive maintenance, check queen

spray pear tree with pepper mixture to get rid of squirrels
Last year every single pear was eaten! Three pear trees and no pears! Not this year! We've hung cd's, tied fake owls up, and now we are going to make a pepper mixture to spray them. Hopefully this will work.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I swear this isn't a picture of moldy bread


But can you guess what it is? It's shiitake spawn!! We are inoculating oak logs that we gleaned from the streets of the hood, in JEA's wake. Those suckers were going to throw them away. We ordered the spawn from Fungi Perfecti and they sent it in a box that you can plant and it grows a tree. We should have mushrooms sprouting in like 6 months to a year.

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Check out our new ride! We can totally make spectacles of ourselves now. Could you see that with a bale of hay and a goat tied to the back, tear-assing down the street in the middle of downtown. Watch out now.

This is exactly what it looks like


I have to admit, this isnt the first time. I panic when I see a city truck or the person who owns the lot next door pull up in front of the house. So, what do I do? I put the goats in the kitchen. Chickens, I feel, are a lot easier to explain than goats. A lot of people around here have some chickens. We even have a large pack of wild chickens that roam around. I had no idea they were truly wild until I saw a mama hen with a brood of day old chicks walking down the sidewalk. Anyways, so to keep my Illegal animal activities secret, I put the goats in the kitchen. After they give birth and start going into heat again, I'm going to have to keep Juggy in there during her cycle because when she is in heat, she lets EVERYONE know. She bleats every 10 seconds and it sounds like a human. The first time I heard this was about 6 months ago when I went to the bathroom at like 7:30 in the morning and I heard this God awful screeching, so naturally I thought it was the prostitutes wrapping up a night of work. Until I realized, this awful noise was coming from the backyard. Loud noises are very common around here at all times of day and night. The ladies working the corner are usually high, so they will talk to themselves, yell, laugh, while hopping from sidewalk to sidewalk. I named my favorite one Kiki Skittles Plantain. I truly thought she was a real lady because she's so skinny, until I caught her after hours sporting a five o'clock shadow.
The next time Juggy went into heat and was screeching I was hanging out on the balcony bouncing the baby when I saw this guy walking in the road keep turning around to see where this yelling was coming from. Then I hear him hoot back, like trying to communicate with the goat. Needless to say her loud self will be locked up in the kitchen next heat cycle, so she doesnt attract any homeless suiters. Gross.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Look at this fool...

You know your goat is pregnant when her food gets caught on her belly.
This is Sugarbit hangin' at the farm yesterday after I pulled some vines for them to snack on.

Still lounging. No clue how silly she is.

Those goats are so knocked up! They keep getting chunkier and chunkier, and lazier and lazier. There is no beast lazier than a pregnant goat. They've been laying down to eat! That is not normal for them. The dont run and play anymore, they just eat and and complain nowadays. I estimate they are around 3 out of 5 months pregnant, so I can only imagine what they feel like. They even waddle when they walk. I thought there was something wrong with Juggy's leg, but then I realized Sugarbit had the same swagger about her. So I guess they are feeling like I felt when I was 7 or 8 months pregnant, ugh, poor ladies!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Mailmen have loose lips


The first shipment of chicks two years ago was the tipping point. I swear chickens are a gateway animal to full blown farm. At first its like, ok, we could handle three chickens. Then they send more to keep the three warm, or they send an extra runt or two, and you cant give them back. Then a swarm of opossums wipes out your backyard herd and before you know it you've replaced those three chickens with 15 chicken, just incase a opossum attacks again. Then you're like, well no one seems to mind the poultry, why not some rabbits, you need manure for the garden and its hard to collect the chicken poo anyways. Then goats seem like the next natural progression, and they're so quiet that you're like, heck a couple ducks wouldnt hurt anything. They'll eat all the waste the rabbits and the goats dont want. But you cant just get three or five because of the opossum problem, you need insurance ducks just incase. But the opossum never comes back because of all the goat urine. So at the end of all this hoarding and planning, you end up with livestock in every corner of the backyard of your house in the middle of the ghetto. So my point is, the mailman sees a lot of crazy around here. And after all that, the bees are what makes him talk, the one LEGAL thing of this whole homestead is what provokes him to break his silence.
I was walking home from work and I hear someone honking at me, so I turn to be angry with them and look who it is, the mailman. He yells from across the street from his truck because he cant contain his excitement long enough for me to cross the street. He yells, "WHATS NEXT? A KANGAROO?!?!" He wasnt angry or anything, he just thought it was funny. Then he goes on to say how when he dropped off the bees to our neighbor he told him about the duck delivery. And I was like, oh crap, we are FOR REAL those crazy neighbors that you tell stories about to get a laugh. Like, "my neighbors are so crazy that..." Oh well, it cant be helped now.
Then the mailman goes on to blackmail me for honey at Christmas and eggs at his beck and call. Ugh, thank goodness I have insurance chickens for the extra eggs I'll need to pay off the mailman.

Squat Gardening


There is an empty lot next door to our house that we have been pining over for the last 2 years. In this neighborhood there are a ton of empty lots that used to have homes on them since the early 1900s. The city has had to demolish a majority of these homes due to neglect and prostitutes starting fires. This isnt the best area of town if you hadnt gathered that yet. But what makes this area special are the homes, and ok, we are known for tranny prostitutes and drugs and shootings, but there has been a lot of growth in the last 10 years because people with money started to realize the homes were amazing and have historic designation. In any event, the atmosphere here bodes well for urban farming. As long as we dont sell drugs, harbor prostitutes, or kill people, nobody really cares what we do.
Anyways, the lot next to our house has sat empty since we have been here and we have been dying to squat garden on it. Well, as it turns out, one of the people I work with knows they guy who owns the lot "really well" and is going to ask him if we could start a garden. We'll see! I need to start sketching out the are to plan my raised beds. I'm so excited! This would really solve our problems because we have all these fruit trees with no where really great to put them, but over there we could keep them in pots and scatter dwarf fruit trees everywhere. We have a pomegranate bush, fig tree, mulberries, elderberries, strawberry guava, and some prickly pear. And we're on the lookout for an olive tree that grows in the area also. All this great stuff, and I would hate if they didnt live up to their potential because of a bad location. Its been a real chore to keep these trees alive with the goats getting out, the chickens grabbing nibbles, and the lack of rain lately. Goats will kill anything you want to grow, but will boycott anything you want them to eat.
So on today's agenda is
1. plant grape vines
2. dump and re-hay duck box
3. drag branches to street
4. contemplate new compost location
5. wash dishes (hopefully)
6. move duckweed baby pool
7. build another raised bed, or two, or three...
8. visit community garden to check and water seedlings
9. admire beehive
10. drink beer as reward for hard work

Monday, May 17, 2010

Scaring the neighbors


So if our poor neighbor wasn't scared enough, he's plenty scared now. The bees were delivered the day before yesterday and both of us were at work. So the mailman gave them to our neighbor. He has been such a sport about everything. He's taken all the livestock in stride, until the bees landed on his doorstep. It is kinda creepy when they arrive because they are essentially in a mesh box. You can see every single bee in there, and they have a buzz that rattles your whole body. So I could see being alarmed if you didnt have time to mentally prepare yourself. He was really nice about it and just asked if we could aim the hive in the opposite direction of his house, which is completely understandable. I think we expanded his world by a little bit that day, if he wanted expanding or not. He said he would research beekeeping to calm his reservations about a swarm of stinging insects so near to his place of residence. I thought that was nice of him... he is totally getting a jar of honey for christmas. I thought it was nice of him to catch that runaway chicken for me when I was like 7 months pregnant, but this time I think he has met his quota for nice deeds.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Baby explosion!


Every time I call my mom and tell her there is a new addition to our farm, her immediate response is, "ok, i'll prepare a place in my barn to put them in." She said it about the chickens, the goats, the rabbits, and newest of all, the ducks. She is under the impression urban farming is ridiculous. Well the jokes on her!! We are not only successful, we are actually developing a small following in the community. Ok, so I know people are interested because they think we're eccentric with livestock in the backyard, but maybe it's more than that...
The latest deliveries to the homestead this week are baby Rouens, and six wrinkly rabbit babies. The ducks were planned, the rabbits on the other hand were a complete accident. I didnt think they were old enough to mate because I never saw any action, not even once! I'm almost inclined to believe it was immaculate. In any event we have baby bunnies, and I do love a good surprise.
The ducks are hangin in their tupperware bin making my house smell like a pond from the wet hay and duck poo. We wont be having company until those critters go outside, how embarrassing. Story of my life. I was kind of surprised when I received the package because they were chirping like chicks, so I peaked through the holes in the box to make sure they were actual ducks, which they were, thank goodness. I guess I expected little quacking noises or something I perceived as duck-like.
Next on the farming agenda is preparing for the goat babies in late July/early august. That includes building a lean-to on the side of the goat shed, cleaning and disinfecting the shed, practicing my goat delivering skills, and stocking up on supplies. I'm pretty sure both of the ladies are pregnant, but you can never be sure until the last minute. I have 150 days counted out on the calendar, and a week before and two weeks after just incase. If they are preggers, they should deliver by 160 days. So we'll see!!