Week In Review

We had a guinea casualty yesterday. Keegan noticed one of them hopping around the yard on one foot and let me know that it was hurt. We managed to corner it in the turkey coop so I could catch it and check it out. The poor thing had a severely broken leg. We had to put it out of its misery. My heart breaks to know that it was in such pain and I hope that it wasn't suffering for long before we found it. I wish I knew how on earth it managed to break it like that?! It is hard to tell. The guineas have started wandering farther and farther from home, always coming back, but who knows what kind of trouble they are getting into while they are gone. Brad has caught them in the road on several occasions and I hope that they don't get hit by a car!

Now that the guineas have stopped being so loud and alarming at the slightest little thing, I am much more attached to them and would like to keep them around! I never really noticed how pretty they are until I got a close-up look yesterday. They have such pretty eyelashes and are really attractive birds once you get over the shock of the white face, Mohawk, and horn on the top of their heads. They do need to get better at the tick control issue, which is a big reason that we got them to begin with. Keegan found 2 ticks on Ari (our little tick magnet) yesterday so they aren't doing as good of a job as I would like. Hopefully the remaining 9 will keep out of trouble and eat lots of bugs. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go ahead and  incubate some eggs just to make sure I'm covered? The eggs are fertile btw! I'm so excited!

The 10 baby chickens that hatched are doing well and have more than doubled in size! I can't believe how fast they grow! Their wing feathers have already come in so they will soon be out of the cute sweet baby chick stage and on to the awkward teen stage. These are the feistiest but most curious and trusting chicks we have ever had. They remind me a lot of turkey poults. When I put my hand in the brooder, rather than running away, the chicks run toward my hand and bite at it. No doubt thinking that I have food. These are the first chicks that I have hatched in the incubator rather than buying at the feed store or having them shipped. Apparently it really makes a difference in how they react to us. I hope they are this friendly and accepting of us when they grow up!

The tomato seedlings are about 3 inches tall and have 2-3 sets of true leaves. Time to transplant soon! The peppers are still germinating. It seems to be taking them forever, but then the tomatoes were much quicker than most plants and coming up. The oregano still didn't sprout... I will never order from that company again. I had hoped that it was operator error (even though I know I did everything the way I was supposed to) but too many seeds never even germinated despite any changes or extra effort on my part. They were duds and I wasted a lot of money. Lesson learned! Baker Creek from now on.

In other news... Brad and I got hitched on Friday! The thought of planning (and paying for) a big wedding had stressed me out for faaaaarrrr too long. I'm not a big fancy wedding type of person anyway but I was doing it for Brad's sake. Friday was our anniversary anyway, marking 6 years since the first day we met and I fell in love at first sight. We decided to make it official at a very small service. Maybe one day we will renew our vows and have a big celebration, but until then I am just happy to be married to my soulmate. Married... wow... 10 years ago I would have said you were crazy if you would have told me it would ever happen! And that I would be this happy about it! It goes to show that there really is that one special person out there for everyone. I've officially claimed mine and have the papers to prove it!

Sunny Sunday at the Homestead

 I can feel Autumn in the air! I LOVE it! Yesterday was the first official day of Fall. The evenings are cooler, but the days are still pretty warm. It has been in the mid 80's. Enough for me to break a sweat earlier. Brad, Keegan, and I picked up some hog panels, a pig feeder, waterer, t-posts, and electric fencing supplies from Brad's father (my enabler). The pigs can live in the hog panel ring, which can be moved around to new grass, for the first few weeks. At least, until we can get the electric fence up. This will give me time to train them to respect the fence before I rely on it, solely, to keep them restrained. It is getting close! I'm getting even more excited!
 I have been getting lists together, of supplies that we need to buy, so we can get started on the shop, green house, and chicken tractor. Things have been pretty productive, all things considering. I hate that we are losing daylight hours. It will soon be dark before I get home every day and productivity will drop significantly. I, personally, think that the time should be left the way it is during the summer, rather than having it fall back in the winter, and being left with even fewer hours of daylight than we are already getting. In my mind, that makes absolutely no sense, but then that is just me. I'm sure there is logic there somewhere or the rule wouldn't have been put in place. Anyway...

The turkeys are getting so big! I let them out today, for the first time since the hawk attack, to free range.  It was about an hour before dusk, so I was hoping that they wouldn't roam far, and I stayed out there to keep an eye on them. They make the most wonderful noises when they are happy or curious, which is almost ALL of the time! They, almost immediately, found the chicken feed. Einstein shared with them. I think he was relieved that they weren't chasing him off, like Jack does. They ended up doing it anyway, after a few minutes. Einstein put up a fight though! He fended off the whole flock of turkeys and didn't back down. I was so proud and would have taken pictures had I not been trying to catch and rescue

him from the huge turkeys, but Einy was having none of it thank-you-very-much! He fluffed his neck up like an umbrella and flew at them like a crazed lunatic! Normally, he is a lover, not a fighter.... well he's not much of a lover either because Jack doesn't like to share his harem of beauties, but my little Einy is such a sweet, goofy, little guy. I was very impressed. Finally, I fought the turkeys back, and Einy marched off, too proud to admit that he would have pee'd himself, if chickens pee'd. The turkeys puffed up and strutted around the yard like they owned the place, paying the ball of growling dogs that are usually rolling around the yard, no mind at
all. They can't lay still like normal dogs, they are constantly wresting and playing, and more closely resemble an highly energized, and very loud, ball of chaos, that rolls around the yard leaving a trail of dust wafting behind them, than actual, civilized, dogs.
I shouldn't be surprised, though. All of my animals are heathens. I love them though!  Luckily, at least the feathered heathens, are trained with sunflower seeds! That comes in very handy, like when trying to convince 13 turkeys to return to their coop before it gets dark (except when receiving mail is concerned, apparently).

I made a video of the turkeys strutting their stuff and making their wonderful happy noises, along with Jack crowing in the back ground, and it wouldn't surprise me if the dogs growling could be heard too. The chickens are doing wonderfully, as well! I have gotten as many as 9 eggs in one day, but then they usually drop to 4 or 5 the next day. It isn't constant, but it is perfect, as far as I am concerned. Beautiful shades of brown, blue, green, and even someone who is laying a white egg. I haven't figured out who that is yet.




I got some brush cleared this evening. Brad doesn't like me using a chainsaw because he worries that I'm not strong enough to keep it under control. His rule is, if I can start it, I can use it. Well... basically, I can't use it. So, I went and bought my own. I was debating on purchasing a battery powered saw, an electric saw, or going with a small gas powered one. I think electric would be useless, since I couldn't go farther than my power cord will reach. I went with the battery powered saw because small engines can be a pain to deal with. It is very small, but handles small stuff easily and it is light. The problem is that it doesn't hold a charge for very long, so I can't get a lot done at once.I had to go get my hedge clippers to finish up what I was doing. They are stout and can tackle pretty large saplings. I am still debating on whether to keep the saw, or to take it back and get a small gas powered engine. I need to get some more
brush cleared and make my decision before the time
runs out that I can take it back.

Fairy Tale Pumpkins

I got my seed order... or at least it is in town. My mail lady has issues with delivering my mail sometimes, so I have to find a way to make it to the post office to pick the package up during business hours. I think she is afraid of the mass of marauding chickens wandering around my yard, that think that every "people" has sunflower seeds to feed them! The poor girl is probably traumatized by being surrounded when she set foot out of her truck. I'm looking forward to getting to look through my seeds and plant my fall garden. I need to re-chicken-proof the back garden, first. I also put in another order with the same seed company. I ordered fairy tale pumpkins. They are supposed to be wonderful for pies, but I want them as decoration. They are beautiful! I am getting married in October of next year and plan to use an Autumn harvest theme. I ordered a mix of winter squash in the last order, and this time I also ordered a mixed variety of large sized gourds, mixed sunflowers, and maya sunflowers (which are excellent cut according to the description). My main flower will be sunflowers( my favorite!) but I also want to use mums. I plan to have pumpkins, and arrangements of squash, gourds, and flowers, as the main decorations. I figured that going with the season would be the most economical and green way to do it! Hopefully my harvest next year will fulfill my needs! I'm looking forward to the whole process, from seed til "I do"!