Catching Up: November 11-20, 2008

11/20/2008 Thursday: Overcast and likely that there will be some rain. It's also damp and chilly.

The calf drank 3/4 of a bottle of milk this morning. He's so small I may keep him at 3/4 of a bottle for a week or so. He was a little hunched over today. That might be because we took him from cows milk to powdered milk replacer. His gut flora will have to adjust and that will likely take a couple of days.

I did some barn scraping first with a pitchfork to pick up all the grass hay from the mess and then with a flat-headed shovel.

I like what I did when I reworked my barn to make it easier to feed the Herefords. With the fenceline feeders and with the collapsible round bale feeder I really have the option of feeding either round bales in the feeder or square bales along the fenceline feeder. Today I made a slight adjustment to the round bale feeder.

I had originally only put up three panels of the four that I bought just to see what the cows would do. Well, after watching them polish off the first two round bales it was clear that there would be no problem inserting the fourth section. The cows simply pushed the three sections nearly to the gate that I used to keep any little calves from getting into the barn proper. I figured I would insert the fourth section and see what happened. So today we added the fourth section and the hay and the cows proceeded to push the panels until they could comfortably eat the hay. Too wonderful!

These panels are each about 4.5 feet long so you can see I have a huge round bale feeder when one side alone is 12 feet wide (the side with the gate). But there doesn't seem to be any problems with the cows getting to the hay.

I'm always pleased when something works out and works out just as I had planned it. Even if I didn't draw it out on paper.

I do not know how I managed before I started feeding round bales. Feeding is especially pleasant now because all I have to do is open the gate, move two round bales about 20 feet, take off the bale wrap and then shut the gate behind me.

The good news is that my carpenter/roofer is going to screw in the plumbing straps with the bolts I purchased. They'll hold the fenceline feeders in place and also the round bale feeder. I want him to drill the holes and set the supports for the gate, too. Then things will be really sweet. No more dragging the gate across the dropped hay. Just a simple pull, a swing out, and the gate is open (and closed). Ah, the joy of it all.

I'm having the roof on my potting shed reroofed. It's leaking like a sieve because a large part of the roof has rusted out. Water everywhere inside. It's especially evident now that I had the roof cleaned off. Before the moss was keeping most of the water out.

My neighbor, also a roofer and carpenter will be doing the replacement. He's hardly working any hours now. People are using tarps on their roofs instead of replacing the roof so his work hours have been slashed. Fortunately he comes to me first when he has projects.

I could not believe this. Companies are so strapped for cash that they're willing to take a lot less for their goods if you only pay in cash. I saved a third of the cost of the roofing just by offering to pay cash. The salesman jumped at the chance. So, from now on I'm going to dicker with vendors to see if I can get a better deal if I pay cash.

I think I might have Pat put the metal roofing that was covering the stored wood on the side of the green barn. Right now there's an open space that could use enclosing. It will look a little funny till I can get that barn repainted (brown, what else?) but wood just doesn't work in a barnyard. In fact I'm going to have him put the black roofing paper around the base of the barn and the roofing will go around where the splash line is going to rot out eventually. Like I said, it won't look pretty till I can get it all one color but it won't rot on me.

I asked Susie in an email to tell me what her sorting area looked like? Is it one corral broken into several smaller paddocks with a gate squeeze that then lead to a head stall? I don't think halters are a possibility with my herd at least at this time. They're all pretty skittish despite the daily treats. I am very interested in the design of the corral. I don't want to make any mistakes since it's so time intensive to build and then have to fix. I do want to be able to move the cows into a head stall pretty much by myself.

Susie tells me Spud (Noel's red bull calf) is learning good manners. She must be doing a great job of training. I expect he'll be ready to breed pretty soon. They seem to learn fast when it comes to sex.

Now that I know what my soil is capable of I might put in a concrete pad to feed on - assuming I don't feed only in the barn from now on.

It turns out that my carpenter/roofer neighbor Patrick also knows how to do concrete forms and reinforcing. This summer we'll lay a concrete pad that extends out 20 feet from the front of the barn (3' there currently) and will have a concrete driveway to the compost storage pad which I'm also going to have installed. I figure if I do one or two major projects each year it won't take me too many years to get the animal's living quarters under control and I can spread out the spending over the few years.

My new friend, Danette, who lives above Adna, bought a wonderful place with about 10 almost square acres with all the amenities already there - flower beds, a hot tub, outbuildings, 4 car garage (not sure I'd want that but I'd find a use for it), a fountain, a coi pond and so on. Her house is wonderful and her barn is well organized with horse stalls. Very convenient for goats and small animals. I suggested some minor fence adjustments so that she could feed her cows near where the hay would be stored and where the guys with trailers could easily get in to pick up or drop off cattle.

She moved into this house this year (March) and already has all her pictures up and her collections of various kinds of pressed glass already displayed. Makes me wonder what's wrong with me that I'd rather be mucking out the barn than hanging my pictures and beautifying my house.

I went over to teach her how to handspin on her new (preowned) Ashford traditional spinning wheel on Tuesday. We had fun.

With any luck I can barter some of my extensive collection of handspinning fleeces and roving for a small round kitchen table and chairs that she wants to get rid of thus reducing my fiber load and making space for the table and chairs which I want to put in my loom room as a project table.

Other than that my bruises are slowly fading even if the lump on my arm is not. This was definitely a learning experience.

I had my teeth worked on again on Tuesday. They still hurt to chew with. The pain usually only lasts a few days at most and that time is nearly over. I guess it will all be worth it in the end (she says plaintively...)

I'm beginning to get scared about this economic downturn. Obama is going to have his hands full trying to get money flowing in the housing, financial and manufacturing systems. Not sure I approve of car manufacturers closing plants in the US and opening them in Mexico and China. And travelling by private jets. And refusing to give them up or sell them. Unh, unh. Not so good. Plus, what good is a CEO if he doesn't have a plan for what he's going to do with any bailout money? That's what CEOs are paid to do - have a plan for the future, right? When they don't I get excessively pissed off. Mutter, mutter.

The calf drank between a half and three-quarters of a bottle. I think I will cut him back to half a bottle until he gets a little older. I keep forgetting just how small he is. We'll work him up to a whole bottle when he gets used to the milk replacer. He did jump around a little bit after his dinner which I'm always pleased to see.

Dinner was meatloaf made with our hamburger and our pork sausage, our potatoes, baked, and store bought squash. I could have used our squash from the Hubbard squash Chas processed yesterday but decided to use up one of the squash we have downstairs.

Chas took the Hubbards off the lawn and has but them on the deck. When I talked with Mary H this morning she mentioned she cut the squash, peeled it, cut the flesh into small lengths and microwaved them till they were tender. Then she packaged them unmashed. She said they'll mash just fine when they're reheated.

11/19/2008 Wednesday: Nice all day with some sun in the afternoon. Sunrise 7:22am; Sunset 7:33 pm.

Another one of my activity packed days. I drove down to the barn to load up the large dog crate. While my back was turned Lucky jumped into the back of my Jeep and tried to make himself invisible. I dragged him out; he would leap back in. This happened about three times before I finally gave up. After all, dragging an 85 lb animal the length of the Jeep several times is exhausting. Besides, he's no problem at all. He's good even when there are strange dogs around.

This morning I drove over to the McCool's to pick up some farm made Swiss Cheese. I got three varieties: regular Swiss, Mountain Swiss and ??.

Gary had told me last night he had a calf for me. He actually had two for me to look at. The one was really large and was all brown; the other was little and brightly colored white and dark brown. The large one was $100.00; the other $75. My initial preference was for the large calf but he was really large. I kept reminding myself I want more meaty animals that aren't quite so large so I ultimately choose the smaller bull calf. The other deciding factor was that I wouldn't have been able to get the large calf into my large dog crate. So, I bought the smallish calf for $75.00.

Chas and I went into town shortly before noon. We hit the feed store (dog food, milk replacer), the library, the bank (more cash), Home Depot (pipe straps and bolts for the fenceline feeders), Grocery Outlet (canned goods), Goodwill (new plates, flower holder), the Orthodontist (new ring bracket for #30 tooth plus new square band (ouch)), gas, and finally Shop 'n Kart for our groceries for the week.

We got back quite late because my Ortho appointment wasn't until 2:40 pm and it took awhile. It was after 4pm when we got home, unchained the dog, and put the groceries away.

I did the evening chores after I went back into the house to make up a bottle of milk replacer for the new calf. I forgot I had him. The new Milking Shorthorn bull calf drank his full bottle this evening. This is the first bull calf that hasn't rejected his first feeding.

Dinner was refried beans, rice and tortillas. Not very exciting and the packaged rice was very salty. Not sure why Chas didn't want me to make rice from scratch.

For some reason Chas decided to start cooking up one of the Hubbard squashes. I didn't think it was quite ready yet. (It has to age for a month or so). Anyway it took forever to cook. I don't think he had the temperature quite hot enough. Anyway, he has it all cooked and separated from the shell and out on the porch to cool off. Tomorrow we'll process/mash it and put it into quart sized baggies for winter eating.

11/18/2008 Tuesday: Lovely morning but it clouded over in the afternoon.

I called the Providence Hospital billing service 800-643-7018 and was told to wait till I got an itemized bill from them. I have already paid by check $75.00 as requested by the hospital when I went back for a followup visit.

Left about 10am to head over to Danette and Joe's place for a morning and afternoon of handspinning. Course when I got there my drive band broke so I could not spin. I was actually there to help Danette learn how to spin anyway so my not spinning wasn't much of a loss.

We first looked around her place. I'd only seen the goats and cows (before butcher). Today I got to see her garden, compost heaps, coi pond, flower beds and her barn loft.

I love her place. They've got lots of antiques and Danette is really good about knowing where to put pictures. She's been moved in since March this year and has all her pictures up and her collections of various kinds of glass displayed. I've lived here for two and a half years and still don't have my pictures up. In defense I've been trying to whip the farm into shape which hasn't been easy.

Anyhow I explained some things she needed explained and showed her how to spin.

She made me a tortilla roundup for lunch with lots of veggies.

When I got back in I backed up to the green barn to empty the duck feed into the container. As I put it in I mixed the two grains together (cracked corn and chicken layena). I'll have to remember to take the half bag of chicken layena I had left over from the last purchase to the chicken barn. I'd brought it down to use with the ducks but decided to use a full bag of each grain.

Gary M has my day old calf ready. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning along with some of Sharon's Swiss cheese. Later Chas reminded me we were going to go to Shelton to get our flu shots. I goofed up because I didn't check the calendar first. We'll need to go to town tomorrow for my dentist appointment and to do our weekly shopping.

11/17/2008 Monday: Foggy and chilly.

Chas and I went into town to take him to the oral surgeon to have his wisdom tooth removed. I feel sorry for him because it really hurt when the tooth was removed.

I was reading a Yahoo group message on Self-Sufficient Living (although I've seen it before) that says of difficult animals: "Be nice or be dinner."

I researched "culling cattle" on google and found a couple of useful articles after I read my email.

Dinner was squash, mashed potatoes and tuna fish for Chas and squash, mashed potatoes and chicken for me.

11/16/2008 Sunday: Overcast and chilly.

I decided to sleep in this morning for an extra hour. I probably wouldn't need to sleep in if I got to bed earlier than midnight. Six hours just isn't enough sleep.

Around 11am Chas and I decided to put out hay for the Herefords and Dexters. The Dexters got their usual one bale and the Herefords got two bales since the new feeder will accommodate two. We pushed the two bales too far forward until they were touching the sides of the feeder which means some of the hay will be wasted.

I may decide to add in the last section of the feeder once I've permanently attached the ends to the two central posts and see how that works. It makes the feeder about 4 feet wider but the feeder is designed to push in so that all the animals can get access to the hay.

Just as we were finishing up with the feeding Enrique and Juan appeared to pick up the two ducks I promised them. The large white, quite old Muscovy male and the male that looks like a wild duck went away and will likely be eaten for dinner. When I did evening chores the ducks were all wary of me since I'd caught up the other ducks and then they disappeared.

One of the things I need to find out is if the young calves can get through the fenceline feeders and into the main part of the barn. If they can then I will have to use hog panels or stock panels cut to size (2) to keep them from going through the feeder openings.

Other than that we watched the Sunday morning news programs and I snoozed off and on and read magazines. After lunch I went over to Mike and Mary's place to pick up my roasting pan and visit with Mary. Mike is continuing to clean out his shop; I went out to visit Mike just to say hello.

Tonight we had Massamun curry over rice. It was delicious.

11/15/2008 Saturday: It was pretty nice out today. I think the sun even showed its face. Looks like it will be cloudy for the next three days.

Enrique and Juan arrived about 7:45 am just about the time I'd given up on them coming. I had them work on removing the final two mangers and installing the fence-line feeders and the collapsible round bale feeder. Unfortunately the round bale feeder is too big so we used three of the sections. I'll find a use for the fourth section. Ultimately I will probably purchase another fenceline feeder and will put that feeder outside. Till that time I'll use it in the barn. The round bale feeder goes between the two twelve foot posts.

It will be interesting to put the two new bales into the feeder in the barn. I expect there will be issues to deal with once the animals start eating from the feeder.

While the guys were cleaning out the barn (scraping out the manure) I washed the portobello mushrooms sliced them up and put them into the dehydrator. Later I removed a few to put in dinner.

Then I had the guys start work again on the brush at the back of the green barn.

Jon, Lorraine and Sharon O showed up in the afternoon and gave me a check for their half pig. We had a nice visit.

I did evening chores and had a nice nap while reading Allan Nation's "Grassfed to Finish" book. This is an extremely helpful book in thinking about the best sized animals to raise for solely grass-fed beef.

Dinner was hot noodles made with chicken, green peppers, portobello mushrooms, a leek from the garden and lots of garlic and hot sauce. It was almost, but not quite, too hot to eat. Delicious.

Danette invited me to come and spin at her place. We agreed on Tuesday at 10:30am. Should be fun. I haven't had time to spin forever.

11/14/2008 Friday: Another nice day until about 3:30 when the sky started to get overcast. Otherwise it was very pleasant to be out and about.

It was a busy day. Chas went out early to go muchrooming. He was successful and found a lot of Chanterelles. He brought them home and washed them up and has left them on the counter to dry out a little. They're not prime specimens because they got rained on pretty heavily, but they will be good to eat.

I ate breakfast after chores as usual and then went downstairs to the laundry room to empty out two large and two wash tubs. I wanted to use them to put salt in. I took the chance to do some dusting and rearranging of the various cleaning products that had formerly been in the tubs.

Once I had the tubs in hand I went out to mix salts together and to put out the kelp meal that I got delivered two days ago. The kelp meal went into one large tub for the Herefords and into a smaller one for the Dexters. Then I mixed regular table salt in with the mineral mix in roughly equal quantities and put that mix in the second large and small tubs. The large tubs went into the north end feeder and the small ones got tucked into a small protein block tub. I need to build a small mineral feeder - or get Mike to weld me up one.

Just as I finished up with the salt distribution Gary and Mary appeared with their trailer to pick up their bull (#238). Gary drove around the circular driveway and then backed up to the road pasture gate. We got a few range cubes in a bucket and Gary lured the bull into the trailer. Since he was a little reluctant at first. While he was in his reluctant phase I walked to the apple tree to get some apples since they are a favorite treat but by then Gary had him in the trailer. Once we got the cows back in the pasture - they'd come out to graze on the grass in the driveway - I fed the bull the apples as a special treat for getting into the trailer so easily.

Then Gary took a look around to admire all the work we've done. And then we talked about my removing the mangers and installing the fence-line feeders and gate and the round bale feeder. He said that he thought I should just have installed all fence-line feeders and just roll several round bales up to the fence-line feeder and push the bales in closer when the animals had eaten all the hay away from the fence-line feeder. I thought about that idea but really wanted them for feeding grain and square bales. I also wanted to be able to limit the amount of hay the cattle ate by forcing them to finish up the hay in the round bale feeder before they got more.

Right now I put a bale out on day 1, let them eat it day 1 and day 2 and most of day 3 when I put in a new bale. The cattle go through 500 lb in 2.5 days more or less since they're not on pasture.

Then we walked out to the area where I'm planning on putting the new corral, a corral I will use for the vet to administer vaccinations, treat sick animals and do castrations if I decide I don't want to do castrations any more. The new corral will include the water tubs - or at least one water tub - and maybe a feeder so that I can use the corral for keeping animals in for some reason or other. Gary said he would draw me out a picture of a corral.

Gary and Mary stayed for coffee while I wrote out a check to Gary for the bull - $150.00. Not bad since I think I had 8 cows bred.

Just as Gary and Mary left Mike and Mary showed up with Chas's pills. They also brought over some tools they were getting rid of. I got a skill saw (practically new), a carpenter's belt, and a bunch of other tools that Chas and I can use. Mike gave me a slide rule for Chas. Chas was thrilled with it even though it was dinged on one side. It came through the flood and will need to be cleaned up some but Chas will make it work smoothly again.

Chas ordered a sonic cleaner from a used scientific supply company - or at least requested that he be put on the list to get one. It's under two hundred dollars. I think it's bigger than the one Sharon's Charles brought over to show us.

I'd just finished making lunch but hadn't sat down to eat it when the mail woman drove up with my books from EatWild.com. It was nice to say hello to her and to get the books. I ordered them on the 11th.

Three of the books are on grazing (by Alan Nation) and the fourth is a book on dehydrating food.

After a short nap Chas and I walked out to the barn to get another round bale for the cows. We put it into the outside feeder but that will likely be the last bale for this year that we have to put outside since I'm hoping we'll get the mangers in the cow barn removed and the two fence-line feeders and round bale feeder installed where the mangers were tomorrow when my helpers show up.

I fed the goats, sheep and ducks and then came up to the house and began reading one of my new pasture management books. Lots of eye-opening ideas about pasture management. I can tell these books are going to be heavily used.

Dinner was a pizza.

11/13/2008 Thursday: Lovely sunny weather today although the wind picked up later in the day and it got cold just from the wind chill.

Not a highly successful day.

Sherry came to clean today so something got done. I have a clean house.

Chas & I had letters to mail so we went into Doty and got to meet the new owner of Phil's Store. Her name is Peggy. Seems like a great woman to talk to and clearly loves the new store. She's fixing it up some and replacing appliances that aren't working. She's doubled the goods that were formerly carried by removing a cooler that was occupying a lot of space in the middle of the store and has put out an ice cream set (small table and two chairs) on the space under the overhang. I guess the attached house is being gutted and refurbished, too.

Anyhow, I wrote Susie a check for $500.00 and mailed it in Doty. That has paid off the bull so he's going to be mine, soon. Then to start on the two cows.

Then we drove by Mike and Mary's to see if they were home. I'd called Mary this morning to tell her we needed the pills back for Chas's surgery Monday just in case he was in pain from the operation to remove his impacted wisdom tooth.

We stopped at Mary and Gary's place and spent an hour talking to Gary. We bored Chas with farm talk for about 20 minutes but were pretty good about keeping to more general topics. Gary will be coming by tomorrow to pick up his bull. I told him to bring rubber boots. Should be interesting rounding the bull up.

We came home to feed ourselves and Sherry. Sherry told me she was starting work at Danette's on Monday. She thanked me for giving Danette her phone number. I told Sherry to give Danette her portfolio of painted signs just in case Danette wanted some signs for her place.

I lazed away the afternoon napping and reading email.

Dinner was hamburger baked in the oven with an acorn squash. We cooked some of the tough beans I gleaned this fall in cream of mushroom soup. They were tender because I cooked them for over an hour. I cooked rice and wild mushrooms that Chas picked from our center island. The dinner was superb. A real treat.

11/12/2008 Wednesday: It's been pouring out all day. The Chehalis River is high but I don't think it will spill over its banks. So is Hope Creek for that matter. There are huge puddles of water everywhere as the water can't drain off fast enough. I hope tomorrow will be drier.

Chas and I got a bale ready to go out but we decided not to put it out till the afternoon because Chas had a 10am chiropractic appointment. As it turned out we put the bale in when it was practically dark. I will be glad when I put the round bale feeder in place. I may go out tomorrow and clean out the area where the feeder is going to go and then install the round bale feeder so that Friday when I we need to put in a new bale we can do it from inside the barn.

I put a bale of hay into the manger in the cow barn to supplement what little hay there was left in the round bale feeder. It probably wasn't enough but it tided the animals over till we could feed them tonight.

After getting the bale ready for tonight and tying up the dog, Chas and I took off for an exhausting day of dental visits and shopping. We hit the chiropractor (Chas), visited Staples for more DVD-Rs and a white board for the goat pen. Then off to Sunbirds to get a Carhart waterproof jacket and a hat for me, some bib overalls also for me, and some bright yellow rain pants for Chas. Then it was off to do the recycling. While I took care of the aluminum cans, Chas took the tin cans in to be recycled at the dump.

Then on to lunch at Berryfields restaurant, a short jaunt to the Visiting Nurse Services store for a pre-owned pillow, a 0 or 1 gauge circular knitting needle and a crochet hook.

Then on to Franz's for some of Chas's favorite bread: western hazelnut.

Our next stop was at the Orthodontists where I had spacers put in the space between the molar whose bracket fell off and the wire cut and bent so that it would stay in place. While I was there Chas went to the oral surgeon to check out possible oral cancer. It wasn't. He has an impacted wisdom tooth that he's going to have removed this coming Monday.

We then drove to a drug store where we bought vitamins and a pill holder for each of us as well as filling a prescription for Chas for antibiotics for his surgery. I have to remember to call Mary re the Percocet that I gave her for her back pain. Chas may need it for his tooth.

Then on to Home Depot where I got two pipe holders/straps for my gate. I may send Chas back on Monday after testing them in my barn on the 2 inch fence line feeders that I got last night. I need some way of attaching the fence line feeders to the 6x6 inch support posts. Always a lot of things to juggle when you're modifying your barn.

Then we went back aways to do our weekly shopping at Shop 'n Kart. I dashed through that task so that we could get to the Farm Store to pick up cracked corn, Purina chicken layena, a dog collar and some dolomite.

Then we raced home, quickly unpacked the food and I put most of it away. After most of the stuff we bought was in the house we raced out to put the hay in the feeder. I brought my wind-up flashlight so Chas could see what he was doing. For some reason he didn't turn the tractor lights on when he was in the barn and couldn't find them in the dark. I had brought the flashlight with me so that I could see to throw hay to the goats and sheep and to herd the ducks into their pen.

We had leftovers for dinner tonight: crock pot beans and tortillas. It was hard for me to eat because my molar hurt like hell from the

I did some research on chicken tractors tonight. I want to try out a chicken tractor. I might see if Mike can weld me up a light-weight chicken tractor. I'd just use it during nice weather to keep down the grass around the garden and on our lawn and maybe to dig up and fertilize the garden itself after we'd cleaned out the usable food.

I'm thinking I should move the hog panel into the garden to make a arbor since it's out of the barn. This is an idea worth thinking about. It could go in the middle path. Course that would make three arbors, the red arbor with the seat, the large (currently white) arbor for the "shade" garden and the hog panel arbor. I suppose I could use the hog panel as a place to grow beans and peas. Might be worth a try to set it up in the cottage garden and just grow the peas on it. Hummm.

Course I could use the hog panel to make a chicken tractor. I could use the panel for the sides. I'll have to think this through. The hog panel would just support chicken wire or hardware cloth or bunny wire. I could cover one end with roofing and have wheels put on it to make it move easier. I'd need doors and a way to pull the tractor. It would have to be strong but fairly lightweight.

11/11/2008 Tuesday: Rain. Supposed to be a really rainy day with lots of wind. So far no wind (10:10 am PST). Maybe the wind will pick up tonight.

Happy B'Day to me! Chas says he and I will go to Astoria for a visit as a B'day present. We'll have lunch in the Ship Inn and enjoy deep fried squid. We'll be so stuffed after dinner we'll hardly be able to drive home.

Mary H called this morning to tell me she is making soup from the turkey carcass I gave her yesterday afternoon when she came by to pick up some cabbage and collard greens and a dozen eggs.

The chickens aren't laying very much these days, about 3-4 eggs. I need to put in an LED light that I can turn on during evening chores.

I called Clayton from the Farm Store and didn't get him but he did call me back. We talked about getting 2 fence line feeders. I'd already checked the price ($342.99) but I asked him what kind of deal he could give me if I bought two 12 foot long feeders.. When he called back he quoted me a price $17.00 cheaper so I saved $34.00 just by asking. It is definitely worth asking.

We also talked about cow minerals. I've been feeding protein blocks and salt blocks but really believe I need to try out different salts. I purchased organic loose minerals from TPI ($29.49/50# bag), Kelp ($36.96/50# bag) and rock salt ($5.65/60# bag). I'm going to also purchase diatomaceous earth ($18.19/50# bag) tomorrow when I go to the Farm Store. I'll mix some of the rock salt in with the loose minerals so that they don't eat a lot all at once. Then after awhile I'll put it out full strength. I'll put the kelp in a separate container and also the diatomaceous earth in its own container. Then the cows can select what they want.

I'm hoping this will re-mineralize the pastures as the cows poop on the land.

Dave H. will be delivering this load tonight. He did deliver it and he and Chas and I unloaded the 2 fenceline feeder panels, the collapsible round bale feeder and the various minerals as well as the 2 protein block tubs.

I did a little investigating of the Modern Homestead Web site.http://www.themodernhomestead.us/, It has lots of information about pasture raising chickens and on raising worms in your greenhouse and overwintering plants in your greenhouse.

This afternoon I reorganized the cow barn a little bit. I got rid of the hog panel that I had stored in there. That dang thing was always in the way. I moved it to the copse of trees in the middle of the circular driveway. When I get my strength up I'll move it the rest of the way to the green barn. I want to figure out how to expand the pig pen with the extra panel without putting it around any trees. I wanted to be sure to have an area cleaned up for the stuff from the Farm Store.

I also took two loads of waste hay from the Dexter pen (there's at least one more load left) and tossed it into the chicken pen. Then I scattered their treat - cracked corn and sunflower seeds - into the hay so that they'd scratch the hay and eventually turn it into compost. I'll keep adding hay and wood chips to their pen. Something has to be done to keep the muck in the barnyard down. I really should have dropped in some chips when the weather was dryer.

I made a variation on baked beans in the crock pot. I sauteed some of our home raised sausage and took the meat away from what little fat there was remaining and tucked in four different kinds of beans, BBQ sauce, lime juice and Splenda as well as finely chopped onions and hot pepper seeds. That's going to be our dinner tonight along with tortillas, wheat, not corn, though. I prefer wheat tortillas. I always warm them up in a frying pan so that they get browned and hot. They're great with non-butter. Should be a good dinner.

I finally had a chance to read last Friday's Capital Press newspaper. Three things I noticed in the classifieds: very few dairy cattle are for sale but there are many beef animals for sale and the price is way low partially because the auctions are selling them for almost nothing. It's not a good time to be a beef producer. The third thing I noticed is that there is a lot of good quality hay for sale at a lower price than what was being asked even a month ago. And many will now deliver. I guess with fewer head of cattle and with little money floating around, the hay just isn't moving.

The bad news is that with the price of corn going up and with pigs, cattle and chickens eating corn, there may be a meat shortage. (article in November's Successful Farmer newsletter - http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1220889033664.xml).