June 1 - 10 in Reverse Chronological Order

06/10/2009 Wednesday: Cooler than yesterday, at least it felt like that to me.

Not a lot accomplished today.

After work I stopped at Sunbirds and picked up a short length of hose for under $4.00. I also picked up a salmon fish net with an extensible handle to use as a tool for catching chickens. Capturing the rooster yesterday made it really clear that having such a tool would be very handy.

I'm thinking of taking the Buff Orpingtons and either putting them in with the Red Rangers or taking them up to the chicken coop and putting them in with the remaining hens. I can't decide. They're doing okay so far in with the ducks but I'd like to see them separated. The ducks are so messy.

Chas ordered about $1200.00 worth of lumber from Lincoln Creek Lumber for our deck footings. Pat says we also need to order 5/8th or 3/4 inch gravel. We'll get a truckload and put it with the other gravel. There's not much left.

I need to take the lumber out of the barn. It's in my way. Chas and Pat leaned it against my hay bales, the ones I'm trying to get out of the barn by feeding the good ones to the critters and by spreading the moldy ones on the ground for fertilizer.

The piggies are getting brave they came within about 5 feet of me when I was putting water into their flat pan but headed out as far away from me as they could get when I went to put their dinner in their pan. They're still all sleeping in the dog kennel. I expect I should start putting hay into the Calf-Tel.

Pat has another job this week so he won't be in. You can't blame a guy for wanting to make more money than what I can pay him.

I went to Del's to pick up some chicken starter. As I was complaining about the price (same as Brand X, I grumbled), the woman who was helping me asked the age of my chickens. When I told her they were 6 weeks she suggested that I just get the 18% protein feed which is half the price. I bought three. I also picked up a feeder that will hold at least twice as much feed as the current gallon feeder plus it has a wider lip. The chicks are going without feed part of the day because they haven't figured out how to dig the feed out from under the holding section.

I'll have to pick up one or two of the birds and see how heavy they are. I might be able to butcher a couple to give the remainder a big more running around space.

06/09/2009 Tuesday: Sunny and hot all day - but not hugely hot - in fact, bearable. I got sunburned brush hogging S1 and the south corridor.

Got a late start this morning as I slept in till nearly 7am.

Chores took longer than usual because I usually take the time on my non-work days to attend to any issues that require attention such as scrubbing out water tubs, changing things around. Filling salt containers.

I did not do any goat or calf castrating today although I thought I would have time to at least do a couple of bucklings.

Instead I worked on the garden. I had three beds left to rototil for a second time, two long beds and one smaller bed. I planted kohl rabi in one of the small beds closest to the driveway separating the cottage garden from the vegetable garden. I found Hubbard squash seed at the Farm Store, but only one package. I planted two hills (6 seeds) way at the far (eastern) end of the garden. Then I planted about half a row of cabbage.

I watered the new plants and seeds and plants and seeds already planted starting from the north side of the garden but only got about half-way done before Chas was coming toward the cow gate after having spent at least three hours brush hogging N5. I asked him to do that field because I needed easier access to the broken top wire on the two wire corridor fence. I did not get the fence repaired because I will have to take the weed whacker with me and clean out under the fence before I can fix the fence.

I'd dropped off two more bales of waste hay in the corridor area by the entrance gate. As I came back towards the chicken coop I brush hogged the small end pasture where I'd dropped the hay. That chewed up the hay and spread it around. I also cut most of the buttercup. I'm trying to add tilth to the pastures. They're in really sad shape. The ground is as hard as a rock from the underlying clay soil. I should spread come of the compost from the pile in the Dexter pen in the south-most corridor to see if that won't improve the soil.

After lunch while Chas was recovering from his hard work brush hogging, I got the tractor which I had him leave in the corridor and brush hogged S1. So now the two fields look better and the weeds have been cut down. The grass is about 4-5 inches high now and should be more palatable with the tall, coarse grass cut down. The new grass should come up and should be tenderer. I still need to weed whack under the fence line. There's no grass but the thistles are getting big.

Chas sharpened my fish-gutting knife. Earlier in the day I took the fish net I borrowed from Jon and Lorraine O and caught the rooster who'd been terrorizing the girls and me. It was surprisingly easy to catch him. I barely had to chase him. The long handle on the salmon net worked like a champ. Once in the net I tied his feet together and then tied him to the post supporting the nest boxes. I left him there while I brush hogged S1.

When I returned I butchered him, scrubbed him thoroughly, removed any feathers, and cut him up. Since he's an older rooster I plan on cooking him all day on high in the crock pot. Once I get home I'll take the meat off the bones and add veggies and make a stew. I'd love to make dumplings but I'm not sure Chas likes chicken and dumplings. Oh well, I'll eat the dumplings if he doesn't want them.

We had ravioli with a topping of shrimp cooked in butter and garlic. It was so good.

Wally finally called me back. He's making haylege right now but will be cutting hay at the end of the month. I've ordered 60 bales. With those bales and with the bales from Gary Nelson I should have enough to last me through January assuming that we get some rain and that I get rid of some of my Herefords.

I know LauraVic will be leaving us for hamburger after she has her calf. The bull calves will definitely be leaving as will the three steers. That will reduce the herd by 5 animals.

06/08/2009 Monday: Sunshine but not too hot.

Worked for the Health Department today. But before I got into work I stopped at the Farm Store to pick up some All Purpose Livestock. I like their version of this feed better than Del's.

After work I stopped and paid for the tabs for my long trailer. Now I have to put them on.

While I was at work Chas drilled a hole in the side of one of the large posts in the cow barn (one of the posts we're using to hold the collapsible feeder with plates) and installed a small, but still substantial eye bolt. I wanted it so that I could snap the gate to the eye bolt using a carabiner on the chain that is attached to the gate.

Pigs are still with me. Braver now, they actually come out when I'm around. I saw them eating their dinner which is a mixture of All Purpose Livestock and pig starter.

Dinner was hot noodles. Chas got the vegetables ready while I did the cooking.

I let the cows out into N1 to graze for a few hours but before I did that I tested the polywire. I was getting 4.9mvt on all the lines except for the north-south line that was broken before. Well, it's broken again. I decided that I would let the cows out only long enough to get a full belly, about 4 hours. When I went out, one of the Milking Shorthorns and Wendy were out in N2. They'd broken through the fence. I had my tester with me. No reading at all. Grrr.

I may let the Herefords out only for three hours and then bring them in if Wendy and her partner in crime are going to keep breaking through the polywire. Tomorrow I plan on going out and fixing the broken wire and figuring out what is shorting out the wire. I'll need to take the weed whacker with me as the grass is pretty high along the fence line. The entire paddock needs to be brush hogged as well. There are many thistles back in the northwest corner. I think the thistles were brought in by the flood waters which covered that half of the property. I may ask Chas if he wants to help with that - or I could do it myself after I get the weed whacking done.

Alternatively, I could sell Wendy and all the bull calves. That's beginning to sound much better. I have too many animals as it is.

06/07/2009 Sunday: Overcast all day and not very warm. Some faint-hearted drizzle but not worth talking about.

Well, this Sunday was no day of rest.

I stripped the bed of everything and washed the mattress pad and pillow covers and later the sheets. After the bed was stripped, Chas and I flipped the mattress. It needed it badly. After that I put on the 3 inch foam rubber pad I purchased at Costco Tuesday. After dinner I remade the bed with Chas's help. Now our bed is three inches higher and clean. I hope this new mattress pad helps us sleep better.

Chores took forever this morning. The Herefords decided to roam and went through several polywire fences and ended up in N1 and N2. I'd put them in N5, the biggest field. Not sure why they wanted to roam. Perhaps the pasture is getting rank and we need to cut it. They even went through the double wire electric fence along the perimeter, at least two of them did.

I'll keep them in their winter pasture for a few days so that they'll forget and to give me time to figure out what the problem is with the fence. I did fix some spots where the wire was touching the t-posts and grounding the lines out but now I need to do a real survey of the fence and maybe even weed whack along the corridor. It would be easier to let the cows in to do the job for me. I need to consider that. I'd have to watch to make sure they didn't get out and I'd need to make sure the double strand fence was working.

Anyhow the cows did not get to go graze this evening. I may let them out to graze but bring them in after dinner and before dark. That way I don't have to spend my time in the morning fixing fences.

I also need to find out why the N paddock fences are not working at all.

Baby was making a huge racket this morning. She was hungry and everyone knew about it. The noise abated when I gave her some grain and hay.

I spent quite a bit of time rototilling the remaining beds. Some of the ends of the beds didn't have much tilth - in fact they were more like rototilling concrete - so I added well-composted chicken manure to those ends and did another rototilling. Hopefully that will loosen up the soil. I need to add spoiled hay and maybe even some compost from the various compost piles in the cow yards. Maybe I'll do that this fall if I have any compost left.

One of the three large beds I raked smooth and brought in two pieces of stock panel held together by a curlique fastener to be used as bean plant supports. I pounded in two t-posts and attached the stock panels to the posts using the farmer's secret weapon, binding twine. Then I planted two types of beans. On the north side I planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans and on the south side a Yard-long bean whose name I have forgotten. Something like Dow Guck.

I still have two long beds that need another round of tiller work before I can plant them but I need to decide what I want to plant in those beds. I need to put in Kohl-rabi and leeks but I probably should start the leeks in pots and transplant them. I also have two smaller beds available for planting. Maybe I'll put flowers in. Or cabbages. Kaija's still had cabbage plants available.

Chas came out to look at the little pigs this morning but couldn't find them. I showed him that they were just buried under the hay in the dog carrier and practically invisible. After only one day they have not associated me with food but I am calling them and getting them used to the sound of my voice. They're having a great time rooting up the grass and weeds. I can see that with three pigs there won't be any grass left in a short period of time. Oh well, I always have lots of uneaten hay from the goats that I can toss in.

I will probably put down lots of uneaten hay into their calf-tel for them to sleep on after I add wood chips for a base. The dog carrier won't work long for housing.

The pigs won't be ready for butcher until December, at least.

After finishing planting the beans I rounded up the stuff I was taking to Mary's. This included three plastic gallon jars from the coffee place, a full bucket of coffee grounds, magazines, and a couple of dozen eggs. On the way to her house I stopped at Marie's and gave her 18 eggs in a carton. Then I visited the Orcutts with some different magazines (Atlantic, Harpers, NY Review of Books). In exchange they loaned me their salmon catching net that I will use to capture the rooster that keeps trying to attack me. Once caught he'll be turned into dinner.

I still need to put up a killing rope and cone.

Chas took two of the support cross-pieces (top pieces) on the deck down. The remaining structure is pretty wobbly but I expect Pat will start dismembering the rest of the deck over the next week after he fixes gates and my second manger. I think Chas was tired from his work on the deck yesterday.

Susie, Curtis's new girlfriend and our plumber, Curtis, came by to say hello after dinner and to find out what kind of squash we grew last year. We grew Hubbard but I have not been able to find any seeds this year. We showed them around the farm, especially the garden area. They also admired the goats.

Curtis decided he wanted goats and wants to purchase my Boer doe that is blind in one eye and one of the little Boer bucklings. He'll select which buckling he wants after I castrate them and when they're ready for weaning. We did talk about his fruit trees and the potential damage the goats could do to the trees. The bucklings were born 04/02/09. They're ready for selling or harvest. I need to castrate them first. He is also thinking of buying a trio of Muscovy ducks. I hope one or the other of the Muscovies finally has some eggs hatch.

Dinner was a pork roast with baked potato and asparagus.

06/06/2009 Saturday: Overcast and chilly most of the day. Around dinner time the sun started shining.

This morning I moved the ducks and chicken tractors. Last night I set up the new five gallon waterer for the Red Ranger chicks (who are now almost as big as the Buff Orpingtons). I only put in 4 gallons so it wouldn't be so heavy to lift over the hog panel. I cleaned and filled the large white protein tub that I'm using in the duck pen and also the black short tub that the ducks also use but which is the waterer for the chickens. I think I will put in the metal waterer that I took out of the Red Ranger tractor when I put in the larger waterer.

After chores I moved a few things from the deck. Later Enrique helped me move the rest of the things including the dog's house off the deck. The dog's house is now under the vine maple trees.

Enrique got here later than usual - not until 9:30am. He couldn't find a car that he could use. His own car is actually under his uncle's name so he licensed it again in California. He finally decided to use his own car even though it doesn't have up-to-date plates.

Chas set him to work right away tearing down the back deck. Enrique and Chas first removed the translucent ripple panels and then started on the joists. Enrique did most of the work. Chas removed nails and tossed them in a bucket.

Pat and I are planning on using the ripple panels and uprights and the two or three windows I got from Mary and Gary last year to make the greenhouse. It will be a lean-to like the sheep pen but larger and with a translucent roof to let in more light. I had Enrique put the fiberglass panels and joists in the "green house."

Before Chas and I had to leave to go to Yelm to pick up some weaner pigs Enrique and I moved the Calf-Tel back into the pig pen. I will need to fill it full of hay for the pigs.

So, we drove almost to Yelm to visit Bill R who is a general contractor in his non-farming life.

Anyway I picked out, quite by accident, three gilts. They'll take a little longer to grow to eating size but should a lot of fun to raise.

When we got home we carried the dog carrier full of hay and piggies to the pig pen and put them in, dog carrier and all. I opened the door of the carrier and left them to find their own way out which they eventually did. While I was waiting to drive down to the chicken and duck tractors I poured a mixture of very expensive pig starter into some All Purpose Feed and then added water to make a slop. When I got back with the black rubber tub, well rinsed, I dumped their dinner into the tub. I expect they'll eat when I'm gone.

I always worry that somehow they'll escape but I'm hoping they won't because for sure they'll become dinner for the coyotes that prowl the area and I'll be out the $300.00 I paid for them. The pen is pretty secure (I think) and they tend to stay put if you feed them well. Still, these are pretty small piglets...

This evening when I went to feed the ducks and chickens down along the back yard, I removed the small black rubber tub, rinsed it and put it on the ATV for use by the new piggies. It will be their feeder till I get their automatic waterer working again and can free up the pig trough.

Dinner was eggs, cornmeal pancakes and a pork steak. I have to get rid of all the pork before we have Cheddar butchered.

06/05/2009 Friday: Overcast and the faintest hint of drizzle today. It was nice to have a cloudy and cool day after all the heat we had for the past two days.

I went into work today and worked on health indicators for the Health Department but before I arrived at work I stopped at the Farm Store and picked up three stout eyebolts for hanging my hammock. Two will go upstairs and one will go downstairs. We will also use a eye bolt with a nut on the end. The bolt will go through the 6" square support post and the eyebolt will screw into the wall. That way I can use my hammock on the upper deck or on the bottom deck. I also picked up two 50 lb sacks of chicken grower crumbles and 1 bag of layer pellets for the Barred Rocks.

I also picked up a 5 gallon chicken waterer. It will be nice to have a second waterer so that during the winter I can put fresh water out when it freezes and bring the frozen waterer in to be unthawed and scrubbed. I plan to use it to water the 27 Red Ranger chicks. During the previous two days of hot weather they ran out of water using just the gallon container. Of course I could have refilled the waterer in the morning but I thought it would last 24 hours. Not so. This way I can fill the waterer every other day and not be afraid that they will run out of water.

I stopped at Kaija's on the way home hoping to find some leeks but they were out. I did buy an artichoke, and some herbs. At the grocery store I bought some leek seed and some yard-long beans to plant in the garden. I think I will start the leeks indoors and then transplant them when they get old enough.

I think I must have a secret stash of garden seeds somewhere in the potting shed aside from the ones that got eaten by a little mousie. I just need to look.

I hung the chicken feeder to the widthwise board that is being used to support the steel panel keeping the tarp from falling down into the chicken tractor. I may try three pieces of rebar across the top and no sheet metal on the ducks. When I remove the Barred Rocks from the duck tractor I can afford to remove the metal sheets I've put around the outside. That will make the tractor so much lighter to move.

Pat did not get the second feeder built because he removed my old aluminum gate and replaced it with a heavier duty steel gate with mesh on the bottom. It's the green gate I purchased in 2006 when Elizabeth had her horse here. After that he put up my stock panel gate using heavy duty staples. I really need to pound in a t-post to keep the Herefords from using the gate as a scratching post.

After that he scavenged the boards that originally supported the north side of the green barn and removed the nails from them so that he could use them for making my second manger. The grain area will be about 2 inches thicker. I told Pat that if he ran out of the thicker wood to use the thicker wood in the back and a 2x4 in the front.

Tomorrow Enrique and Juan and I will clear off the deck and remove the roof and supports from the back door deck without damaging them too badly. Enrique can do the removal and Juan can stack the ripple plastic on the ATV for scrubbing and remove nails from the roof joists and uprights as they come down. I'll supervise the removal of the stuff on the deck and Chas will give the instructions for removal of the plastic roof, joists and uprights. I will help if I can.

We will leave the deck itself for another day since I also need the guys to remove the rhododendrons and replant them elsewhere. I plan to put the rhodies down in the flat land by the stream. The beavers probably won't eat them since they're poisonous to most animals. They'll look really pretty there. Unfortunately they'll be somewhat set back when we move them but should recover by next year's flowering season. (They're in flower now, dang it). I need to label them with their color.

I have resolved to castrate the bull calves as soon as I can after birth while they're still a manageable size even though the recommendations are that they be castrated at 90 days of age. At 90 days of age they've got enough testosterone to keep them growing well for the rest of the year. At a much younger age (less than a month) I can do the castration myself by throwing a halter on them and doing the deed myself. Once they get to be 3 months they're hard to catch and handle.

After this year's problem with the bull calves trying to breed any female that's in sight I will not keep intact male calves with the rest of the herd. I can still castrate them now but I need them localized in one place and I will definitely need help. I need a small corral to keep them in. I'm hoping Tye will be able to bring his horse over and help me round them up.

We had leftover pasta prima vera and t-bone steaks from the calf I had butchered in 2007 (Stew) for dinner. The steaks were great and not very large. He must have been a little over a year old when I had him butchered. He was Gary N's calf. The steaks were quite delicious but could have been a little more tender.

06/04/2009 Thursday: Another hot day but not quite as bad as Wednesday.

I spent most of my day working on the garden. I rototilled several beds and then planted another bed of corn, three tomato plants, three very long rows of beets in one bed, four yellow banana peppers and a hot pepper. I also planted 8 collard plants. I'll have lots to share with Mary and Mike if they all grow. I still have one large bed and one slightly narrower bed to rototil and a small bed to rototil. I still have to find leeks. Maybe I'll try seeds. Oh, yes. I planted 4 parsley plants in the herb bed outside the kitchen. I forgot about that.

As I planted or seeded a bed I watered it pretty well once and then went back to water some more.

Pat came over and he and Chas worked on re-attaching the collapsible feeder and repositioning the two fenceline feeders. When they were done with that project, Pat put legs on my feeder, the one that sits under the northern fenceline feeder.

Tomorrow he'll build me a second feeder similar to the one that he added the legs to. It will also be up on legs but built in such a way that I can slide the forks under it and take it out of the barn for cleaning or whatever. He also screwed down the plywood which was working its way loose. He'll also replace the aluminum gate in the northernmost stall with the green one I purchased in 2006. He'll have to add some pieces of wood since the gate is slightly smaller than the opening. This time the gate will open outward toward the barn side instead of to the electric fence side. It should make life a little easier.

It should be cooler tomorrow. The clouds rolled in tonight and the seabreeze was substantial.

Pat and I talked about the back deck. I'm going to pull up the indoor-outdoor carpet and remove the double sided tape, clean the sticky residue first with WD-40 and then with Dawn. After that I'll sand it and put on a primer coat and then paint it a deep forest green. It will look similar to old porches and will highlight any wicker furniture I get. Very country, don't you know?

Yesterday Pat brought us a salmon. I cooked it tonight along with a potato and some broccoli. All in all it was quite a delicious dinner. We even have enough left over for salmon salad sandwiches.

The youngest heifer, LillyKoo, is in season and all three bull calves are trying to breed her. This is the second or third time she's come into heat. Naturally Huck, my Dexter bull, is going crazy. He can smell her readiness but cannot get to her. He keeps bugling in frustration.

06/03/2009 Wednesday: Very, very hot today. I suspect it must have reached nearly 90 degrees F here.

I finally put the two doelings I purchased earlier this year into the pen with the other goats and moved Mysti and her two doelings into the pen vacated by Freddy and Blanche. The big goats were stepping on the babies. Mysti needed to do some serious bonding with her babies.

I did some watering today but know I need to do a lot more watering. The ground is parched. Even the weeds are wilting. I need a hose near where I have the various non-cottage garden flower beds. I saw one lying in the gazebo garden that might not leak. If it does I'll cut it and put in a new end or middle. Lord knows I have a lot of hose repair pieces.

I worked on the garden rototilling three beds in preparation for planting. I planted the onion sets, at least the sets that were still alive in the bed closest to the south end of the garden. Then I planted three kinds of chard and the corn in one bed. I also planted three squash plants and watered every thing.

The Dexters were in the south corridor in the next to the last section on the south side. Tomorrow they'll be moved to the last section. The Herefords ended up in the N5 pasture. I need to divide that pasture and may do that after Chas brush hogs the grass in that pasture. The thistles are starting to get large (12-14 inches).

Charles and Pat worked on finishing up the barn wall where we want to stack bales of hay and the 500 lb round bales we get from Wally. Pat brought us a salmon or xx tail end about a foot long. We'll eat that tomorrow because it's still frozen. I can hardly wait.

I finally brought one of the large white protein block tubs down to the duck tractor and filled it with water to the top. The ducks went crazy. Finally they could swim and not be standing in three inches of water. It was sure fun to watch the ducks. I also put out the smaller black tub for the chickens to use to drink from. I felt I needed to bring down the larger tub because the birds were totally out of water and so thirsty.

06/02/2009 Tuesday: Overcast most of the day. Warm and muggy.

Some excitement this morning. The Herefords had broken through the fence into S1 and were heading toward the Dexters. Everyone was bellowing about how their space was being invaded. I threw on a pair of pants, my t-shirt and shoes (no socks), grabbed the ATV and rounded them up and put them in for the day. I'd slept in till 7am. Thank heavens the Herefords are accustomed to being rounded up and herded with the ATV. I would not have been able to get them back into their pasture without the machine.

The new cow, Baby and her calf, seem to have settled in ok. Pixie is also doing well although her stall is wet. I'll have to add some more hay to sop up some of the moisture.

Magic (Marcy's 1/2 Boer daughter) had one doeling and one buckling this afternoon while we were at Costco. They are jumping around and I think have been fed. They sure are noisy. I need to take pictures.

Chas and I went to Evergreen College to their bookstore. Chas needed some pens. I didn't need anything but ended up with a notebook, a new coffee mug and two gardening books.

I was pooped by the time we got back around 3pm. After unloading all the food we sat down for a few minutes to rest then I went out to feed.

The freezers are all full again but we're stocked up. I finally got around to buying a mattress pad. It's three inches thick. We'll put it on this weekend. Chas and I will take the time to rotate the mattress and wash the existing mattress pad before putting everything back together and making the bed. I expect we'll sleep better and a $179. mattress pad is a lot less expensive than $1790.00 which is almost what we'd pay if we bought a new mattress.

The chores aren't so bad, mostly tossing hay. The new cow and Pixie got some alfalfa cubes. They seem to really enjoy them. I hauled out a short round tub for use in the duck tractor and scrubbed it out after I went down to feed and water the chicks and ducks. Tomorrow morning I'll put the new tub in and see if the ducks can get into it.

Fritz Coon has not called me back regarding a truckload of hay. I guess he's not interested. Oh well. I'll find someone else. There are lots of folks advertising hay in the local rags.

Dinner tonight was pasta prima vera made with squash, peas and celery in a tomato sauce with lots of garlic and Italian seasoning. The pasta could have cooked a little longer. I also heated up a leftover pork chop for each of us.

Pat didn't show up today.

06/01/2009 Monday: Another hot day but around dinner time the sky got cloudy. Think it's the residual from the thunder storms in Oregon. I wouldn't mind a little rain to refresh the grass.

I can't believe it's June already.

Not a lot to say today. I worked at the Health Department and during work on the County Health Indicators I also helped Jane, my office mate with some one-on-one learning. She taught me something namely that you can right-click on an Excel spreadsheet and copy the xls file into a Word document. Very cool.

Did the evening chores which took longer than usual because I had the two cows separated from the others which always means more work.

I cooked one of my Porterhouse steaks from the last cow I had butchered.

I have to call Bolars to schedule Cheddar's butcher. She seems very tired and old. I think the baby is taking a lot out of her.

I made up a list of things for Pat to do. He didn't show up today.