More?

I was surprised to see more chicks the other day.  Apparently one of our Leghorns (notoriously non-broody) decided to hatch a nest.  One day, she was walking around with 4 chicks and the next day, there were 3 more for a total of 7 little leghorn chicks!  They are darling, but I am surprised to see them at all!  

Also, we realized that our duck has been laying eggs.  I noticed a particularly 'dirty' looking egg a week or so ago, and mentioned to DH how thick the shell was on those off white eggs.  After eating them for a week, and doing a bit of research, we came to the conclusion that those are the duck eggs.  How neat!  I want to save them up for baking; I read they are wonderful for that!

Fall Garden

11 days after planting the seeds, here's what I have coming up in the gardens:

Carrots, broccoli, spinach and romaine.

Just sad

I noticed this sign at the gas pump today.  It's amazing that 5 years ago, $100 meant something different.  It meant a few gallons of paint and some trim to update a room in your house.  Or it meant several weeks worth of food.  It meant your electric bill or your car payment.  It meant a trip out of town for a day or two.  Today, it means a tank of gas.  

Wow, how lucky I felt as my tank topped off under the $100 max.  Yeah.  Lucky. 

Fall Swap

I signed up for a swap on Mary Jane's farm.  The theme was 'Fall' and the deadline was supposed to be Halloween.  My swap partner, Dawn, was way on the ball and I received my swap package the other day.  It was packed full of Fall themed decorations and candles, a hand embroidered blanket, and more.  

I am sorry to say I am not as on top of it as my partner, but hers will go out this week.  :)

Bye, Feathers

I am not all that attached to any of my animals.  They are not pets to me, but are there to provide me with food of some sort.  This helps a lot when they die for one reason or another; I really don't feel sad about it, especially when I knew all along they were going to be food (such as our beef steers).  

I was surprised to find how....lonely our yard feels since our rooster died.  He got stuck in the goat kid pen and had no water all day.  When I was milking on Sunday morning, I noticed something was really missing.  I realized it was our Silkie rooster, Feathers (named by my DD).  No crowing, no 'calling' the hens, no funny personality around.  I looked all over and found him in the pen.  

Normally, as I said, our animals deaths' don't effect me much.  But I really miss that rooster....

Progress

My war against the weeds appears to be leaning in my favor....I've only got one more section of the yard to combat.  Here's the pile now, a few days later.....

.........and what's left to do.

Also, looks like I might actually get some tangellos this

 year!!  This would be the first year it has actually produced fruit.  

And, I think it is time to start planning my fall garden.  Time to call the garden experts I know (my mom and MIL) to figure out what I can plant!  I want to make sure I don't miss the window of planting opportunity.

Upsides and Downsides

I noticed from all the rain we've gotten the last couple weeks, our trees have really grown quite a bit.  When we planted our cottonwoods about 15 months ago (+/-) they were just 3/4 inch whips; just little leaves growing off a stick, with no 'branches', and in the ground were only about 5 feet tall.  Plant them with expert help (Mom and Dad!!) and give them lots of water, and some of them have passed up our neighbor's pine trees.  (Our neighbor planted his pine trees about 3 years ago, and they were the 42" box size, or maybe bigger, when they went in the ground.  They looked huge at the time!!)  They look gorgeous, and make the perfect 'rustle' noise when the breeze blows.  I'm not sure of their height, but for comparison, the rail fence is 4 feet at the top rail.....

Contrast that with our 'front yard'......I have neglected it for many reasons.  For one thing, no one drives past it, aside from the garbage man.  Also, I can't see my front yard from any of my main windows.  So, I never see it until I am pulling up to the house, or leaving.  What I do see all day, is gorgeous green trees and grass, and it's easy to forget that there's a forest of brown ugly dirt and tumble weeds on the other side.  I began this morning my battle with these tumbleweeds, and made quite a bit of progress before I nearly passed out.  It was pleasantly cool this morning, but one can only take so much.  :)  Unfortunately, as huge as the pile of uprooted weeds is, there is at least 4 times that, still rooted in the ground.  :(  I'll keep at it, though, I need to reclaim what once 

was my front yard.  And maybe someday someone will buy the property next to us and clear it; that will really cut down on the weeds that spread to our yard.  

Just thought I'd rub it in to anyone who doesn't have homegrown steaks whenever they want; check out the size of that sirloin on the left!!  Yummmmmm....

And, finally, the mystery of the week.....There is a nest of some sort that has begun to form on our front door.  I know that wasps make nests like this out of mud, but the ones I have seen are much much larger.  I have drenched this mud clot with bug spray, and plan to arm myself with another can of it before I knock it to the ground.  Any guesses as to what is inside??