Hanging Baskets And Mixed Flower Seeds

Today I finished fixing the hanging basket that had torn. I filled it with garden soil and added vermiculite to it to help with water retention. Tomorrow I will be planting thyme seeds in it.

I also added two more baskets. Not sure what I'm going to put in these yet. I'll have to look through my herb packets.

But before I did that, I took these boxes of mixed seeds and scattered them in front of our house. Hoping for pretty colors rather than weeds. If you look closely, you'll see the dark spot in the middle of the garden and against the wall where the guinea is setting on eggs.

The only thing left to plant are these ixia and anemones. The 'bulbs' looked really small and dried out so I soaked them in jars for a little while this afternoon. Then I drained out the water and wrapped them in paper towels to wait until I can plant them tomorrow morning.

I'm not really expecting a whole lot from these seeds or bulbs because, I mean, they were only a couple of dollars. I'll be happy just to get something from them.

In other exciting news, I made spaghetti and used some of the tomatoes that I canned last year as sauce. I've done this before. But this time the herbs and such that I added to it were perfect and it tasted fantastic. I love being able to use things that came directly from my garden.

Speaking of garden, I need to get my squash and zucchini in the ground. They're starting to get flower buds while still in the red plastic cups. There are a couple other things that need to be planted too. But the squash and zucchini need it the most.

K guys. It's almost bedtime so I'm going to go catch up on some youtube videos before I have to go to sleep. Take care all and have a good night.

Taking It Easy Today

As usual, I pushed myself too hard yesterday. Firstly, it was hot and muggy out. Secondly, I was wearing jeans. So I wouldn't doubt I got a bit dehydrated and maybe a touch of heat stroke. I didn't want to stop in the middle of moving the wire and possibly leave areas where the sheep might be able to slip through. So I pushed myself to get it done. When I was finally done and went back inside, I was starting to get a headache.

Then to make matters worse, I'd put a chicken in a pot to cook while I was outside. When I got back inside, the water was all boiled off, the chicken was crispy, dry and a bit burnt. The house stank so badly of burnt chicken that I had to open the windows and put fans in front of the windows to dry to blow the smell out. So I'm sure the burnt chicken smell didn't help my head any.

And now I've had a headache since yesterday that won't go away. I did drink lots of water when I came back in the house. But my head was already starting to hurt by then.

But the girls sheeps have a bigger area now! So I'm happy about that. And I'm sure they are too.

So I've pretty much done nothing today. (Except feed the animals, of course.) Hopefully soon this headache will go away and I can get back to my usual routine of pushing myself too hard.

Take care all and have a good day.

Doubling The Girl Sheeps Area And Guineas Nesting

Today I doubled the girl sheeps' grazing area. A lot of it is still tall but I'll be working on knocking it down. It didn't stop the girls though. They've already been in there nibbling on anything tasty.

We lost another baby bunny. Don't know why. They were doing so well. Only thing I can figure is it got too cold since she's not covering them up. Now we're down to two. But they have nice fat bellies so hopefully that's a good sign.

In better news, the guineas have a nest and one of the hens it very broody. I had to use a stick to get her to move or she would have taken my hand off. This is in my flower bed in front of our house.

Ok, time to feed the beasties. Take care all and have a good day.

Weeding The Raised Beds And Frustrations With Momma Bunny

Today I got some weeding done in the raised beds. Up until it started raining. Again. And it's supposed to rain for the next three days. I'm thinking of investing in a boat for my property. Something like a ark maybe.

But I did get three beds done. You can see the progress from here.....

To here. On the right you'll notice a rudimentary trellis. This is because I found volunteer tomato plants in that bed. Which is good since the tomato plants I've actually tried to start are either not coming up, dying after they come up or just not growing well at all. I don't know what it is. Normally tomatoes are the easiest vegetable to grow.

Didn't get much more done. Except for some crochet. I did move the tractors. But that's about it. The baby bunnies are still alive and doing ok. I keep putting hay in their box but I think their mother is either knocking it down through the wire or eating it. Luckily it seems to be warm enough out to keep them from freezing. She is also still running back and forth in her cage like a nutjob. The babies are staying in the box. But the bouncing around also knocking over her food bowl which means her food falls through the wire. So I'm going to have to figure out what to do about that.

Anyway, that was it for my day and now it's almost bedtime. I'm really tired even though I didn't get much done.

Getting Small Tasks Done And Expanding The Girl Sheeps Area

Got several things accomplished today. Mostly small things but accomplished non the less. For one, I got a mineral feeder tray put inside the girl sheeps shelter. I kept forgetting and they haven't had any minerals since I moved them to their new area.

I checked the baby bunnies several times today and they seem to be doing really well now that they're in their boxed area. Nice, fat, round bellies full of milk and everybody cuddled up together.

I also repaired one of the baskets that I have hanging off the railing of our front porch. The one I repaired had a whole in the side and was leaking soil. This is what it would have looked like. (But without the leak.)

The previous fabric was burlap but it degraded really fast so this time I'm using landscape fabric. I still need to finish filling it and trim the excess fabric. I will probably be planting thyme in this one. The other three have catnip (previous picture), lavender and sage.

Lastly, I cut a path to start fencing off a bigger area for the girl sheeps. They've already chewed down most of the small area they have now. So it's definitely time to expand them.

Tomorrow I will probably bring over the mower and get the cut down as low and I can to make sure nothing touches the electric wire. I also plan on weeding some of the garden beds and starting to clear the extra weeds around the beds. But we'll see how much energy I have and how hot it gets. Or if it rains. Again. I know during the summer I'll be complaining that there's no rain. But why can't it just be in moderation all year? Oh well. You get what you get.

So, it's getting late and past my bedtime. Take care all and have a nice night.

Weeding The Garden, Cutworms And Building A Box For The Baby Bunnies

Let's start with yesterday. Yesterday I used my stirrup hoe a bit.

This clay soil is really hard to work. We'd gone a couple of days without much rain so things had gotten a chance to dry out a bit. This little bit took me all day. Partly because it was hot out and I kept having to take breaks to cool off. And partly because of the clay soil. Clay soil does loosen up a bit when it's wet so I thought maybe it would be easier to do after a rain. Hubby said I should just use the hose and wet it down first. I was like duh! Why didn't I think of that?

But do you see the plant next to the hoe handle and against the wire trellis? That was a healthy, happy cucumber plant. I say was because it's now dead. In fact, I planted 10 cucumber plants and I'm now down to two plants. I've done some research and I'm pretty sure it's cutworms. The plants are fine one day, and then cut off or chewed part of the way through the stem, about an inch or two above the soil. One of the ways to combat them is to put some kind of collar around the plants. So I'm going to restart my cucumber seeds, again, and then put collars around them when I plant them.

In some other side news, we've lost two of the newest baby bunnies. Not from predators this time. But I think just bad care by the mama. When I put her in the new cage, I expected her to take the hay and hair I'd given her and make a nice nest for the babies. But she didn't. I don't know if that's because she'd been nesting for so long that she was no longer interested. Or if maybe the move bothered her. Either way, no nest.

So instead the babies were crawling all over the cage. To make matters worse, anytime I'd come near the cage, especially to feed her, she would run back and forth in the cage which made the wire floor bounce. This knocked the babies around more. Being all over the cage, they weren't staying as warm as they should be. I also think she was stepping on them. I kept having to reach into the cage, construct some kind of nest in the hair and hay and put the babies all together. But each day since I've put them in there, I've found one dead.

So today I built a small box to keep the babies together. It's just a couple pieces of 1x4s and the box is 1'x1'. No bottom on it since there is already a wire floor. I put some hay and hair in there and snuggled them in, pulling a little bit over them. We shall see if this helps to keep them alive. Once they're big enough to run around the pen with the others, I'll turn the cage upside down and actually attach the box to the cage side and the wire floor.

I'd like to end this post on a positive note so here's a video I took of our pregnant piggies to show how big their bellies are getting.

Take care all and have a good night.

Mowing The Garden And What I Need To Do Next

I was finally able to mow around the garden yesterday. This is what it looked like before. (Mostly. You can see I'd already started to the right.)

Then it became this.

This, of course, is not the final product. I still need to weed in the raised beds and in between. I bought a stirrup hoe yesterday and will be trying that out today. I also left some of the taller stuff around the chicken pen. It helps to work as a bit of shade in the morning and afternoon.

But with this much done, I should be able to plant out some of my other seedlings. Like my squash and zucchini. I also need to direct seed my cream peas and something else. I'll have to look through my seeds to remember what the something else was.

But basically today will consist of doing some weeding, coming back into the house to cool off, doing some more weeding, cooling off in the house. Probably do a bit of house cleaning somewhere in there. I also need to repair one of my hanging baskets on the front porch. The burlap broke down enough that it could no longer hold the soil. I also bought some vermiculite to help with water retention.

Ok, I better get started. Take care all and have a good day.

New Rabbit Cage, Mowing The Garden And Finding Ways To Control Weeds

So what do yall think? Good cage? This is actually a redo of a cage I've built before. But the wood I used before was really thin and fell apart within about a year. These rabbits actually would hop in the shell of what was left and hang out in it so obviously they liked it. And I only had to use 3 of the 2'x'4' pieces of wood from the sheep shelter.

The basics of it are: 2'x4' top and back. 2'x2' sides. Hardware cloth wire. That way the poop and any spilled food falls through but small enough that nothing can reach through the wire. As you can see, the wire doesn't go all the way down to the bottom. Keeps them off the ground so they can stay dry. The wire is held in place with furring strips. You can see one running along the top edge in the front. Large doors for easy access inside. And spring clips to keep the doors closed.

I will be building more of these. I have a bit more wood I can take off the sheep shelter. But I need to buy more wire. I'd eventually like to line the whole side of their pen with cages like this.

I actually thought about posting my paypal link but I think that's against the rules. You're not allowed to 'ask' for money. Even though it's not really asking for money, it's giving people the option of donating. But whatever. Hardly anybody reads this anyway. And those that do, seem to be in the same boat I am so don't really have anything to donate.

I am working on things to put in my etsy store. Crocheted items, of course. But with everything else I have to get done, the crocheting has taken a back seat.

Anyway! The plan for today is to mow the garden. Yes, you heard that right. Mow the garden. To be specific, mowing the area immediately around the garden to knock all the weeds down. The area inside the garden will still need to be hand weeded. I'm thinking about putting down black plastic to help control the weeds inside the garden. Thinking about it. But still not sure. I don't like the idea of plastic going into the garden. But I've got so many other things that need my attention, weeding is just something I don't want to have to deal with this year.

I miss having my two big mulch piles. But I haven't seen the electric company trimming any trees so haven't been able to ask them to dump their wood chips at my house. And the ladies at the office don't seem to know anything about it. The only other option is to buy mulch. But for one, I don't trust those bags because who knows what else they add to them. Plus, that's just more money.

Anyway, it's about time to go feed the livestock. Been going out earlier to try and beat the worst of the heat. Oh, and I guess I should feed myself too. Think I'll do that first.

Take care all and have a good day.

Predator Update, New Life And Future Projects

So, predator update. No more missing, dead or injured chickens. Seems the tractor skirts are working well. The last baby bunny is gone. He had a big gash in his stomach and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it. I will probably keep Hermione in her cage anyway for about a week before I let Severus (my male) access to breed her again.

In some good news, Jenny (yes, our rabbits have Harry Potter themed names, I have children) had babies yesterday. She'd been nesting for over a week so I wasn't really sure if she was bred or not. She had 6 babies but one was stillborn. But we still have 5 healthy babies. Unfortunately we're not going to be able to keep any of them because Severus is her son from a previous litter. So they will all be used for meat.

See the wire on the right side of the cage? Yeah, not good. So today I'm going to take some wood from the sheep shelter to build a more secure cage for them.

The sheep shelter is currently 8' tall. For one, because the 2x4s come in 8' lengths and I didn't bother to cut them. I was also using the top part of the sheep shelter as a hay loft. But the tarp over it has torn with the high winds this spring and the hay was getting wet. So no hay loft.

Also having an 8' tall structure makes it really hard to put any kind of more permanent roof on it since all I have is a step ladder. Standing on the top step of a step ladder on uneven ground is NOT a fun experience. So the sheep shelter will be shortened and I will use that extra wood to make a nice new home for the babies.

I think the next project might have to be a bridge across the runoff. This is what I've had to deal with lately.

Anyway, everybody is already fed and I need to get out there and get this cage done. Take care all and have a good day.

Predators Strike Again

Not a post I wanted to write. But I figure it's only fair to share the good and the bad. Last night something got most of my baby bunnies. I never even saw for sure how many there were because I didn't want to disturb mommy and babies too much. But as far as I could tell, there were 3. Two are now gone and the third is missing a leg so is probably not going to make it anyway. But whatever it was pulled the other two right through the holes in the cage wire.

To make matters worse, something also got to some of my chickens in the second tractor. It didn't get inside the tractor. But it was able to reach under it enough to pull my hen's leg through and eat it completely off and injure two others hens. I put the one hen out of her misery and I may have to do another one.

Honestly, right now I just feel like selling all of my animals and just completely giving up on the whole homesteading thing. I am so disgusted at all the losses lately. I just can't justify right now why it would be worth it to even bother anymore.

But I'm also a very stubborn person. I'm also very loyal. These animals don't deserve for me to just give up on them. So to protect them, I need to come up with better systems to keep the predators out.

For the chickens it's obvious. The second tractor needs a skirt too. For the rabbits, I need cages that can't be reached into. This means wood and smaller wire. Specifically, I want to make cages with wood sides and roof and hardware cloth floor and front. I also need to finish closing in the rabbit pen as a whole.

Planting Out Seedlings, Predator Update And More Wire Moving

This is my green beans climbing my porch before I planted them yesterday.

Then I went outside earlier today and something had partially dug up half of the cucumber plants that I transplanted out. Didn't harm the plant itself. Just seemed to dig through the potting soil I had the plants growing in the cups. I think I caught them early enough though and replanted the plants. I think most of them will survive. Might take them a little bit to recover though because they lost a lot of roots because of being dug up.

So far I've had no more chicken losses so I guess the skirt is working. I think I'm going to have to do the same to the other tractor though. There was a spot outside of it where something had tried to dig under but given up. I'm still thinking possum. I think that's also what dug up my cucumber plants. Possibly looking for bugs or something. I've also seen a possum around here before.

We are leaving Turtle and Honey in the tractor with the others tonight. When we put them back in the tractor in the morning, they were getting picked on like we were introducing new chickens. So I'm just going to leave them with everybody else.

I did some moving around of the girl sheeps fence. Moved the posts out a bit to wear I had weedeated the other day. Tomorrow I hope to move the posts some more, do some more weedeating and hopefully weedeating the garden. The garden is already getting overgrown and a lot of my plants are about ready to go out. Between the stuff with the sheep and pig stuff and all of the rain, I just haven't gotten to my garden. I also have some more sprouted seeds that need to go in cups tomorrow. Lots to do, lots to do.

But, right now it's my bedtime. Take care all and have a good night.

Predator Problem And Possible Fix

The day before yesterday I noticed that the young chickens in the big tractor seemed to be fewer in number. I counted them and sure enough, I was missing three. 2 wyandottes and one buff orpington. No signs of struggle or anything. Just gone. Baffled, I laid some things around the edge of the tractor and I went about my day.

The next morning another wyandotte and another orpington was gone. This time I spotted a place under the edge of the tractor where there were an abnormal amount of feathers. Not an excessive amount. If I hadn't been looking for it, I wouldn't have really noticed it. But there was a small gap under the edge of the tractor where the ground was uneven. And the piece of wood I'd put there was moved. It was only a gap of 3, maybe 4 inches. But I guess it was enough.

I'm guessing possum. Raccoons are generally bigger so the only raccoon that could fit that space would be too little to take one of these chickens. Let alone two. Not a weasel because a weasel would have killed the whole bunch. So probably one or more possums, considering I'd lost the two in one night.

So yesterday I took some spare chicken wire and put it all around the bottom of the tractor like a skirt. I attached it to the bottom of the tractor and let about a foot of it lay on the ground out the tractor. This prevents predators from going under the edge of the tractor. A predator would normally go directly to the edge of the tractor and dig under. Or this case, just crawl under since there was already a gap. But with the chicken wire in the way, they can't crawl or dig under and they don't realize to go a foot or so out to go under the wire.

Last night we brought in two hens while we waited to see if my tractor skirt solution worked. Turtle, the wyandotte that my daughter nursed back to health when she was a chick and had a vitamin E deficiency. We also brought in an orpington hen that seems to prefer humans over her fellow chickens. She's super chill and loves to be held and petted. I've never met a chicken so affectionate. Because of her temperament and her buff color, my daughter named her Honey. Very fitting I thought.

So, did I lose anymore chickens this morning? Nope. But I'm not going to call it solved just yet. This predator might have found a meal somewhere else last night. So I'm going to give it a week and see if this fixes the problem. Turtle and Honey will be brought inside at night since they have sentimental value. But I feel pretty confident that this will work.

Something else I added was a light for the tractor. This kept the chickens more alert and somewhat active. Without a light they would all pile up in a corner and were probably easy pickings. I'd had a light for them before but it was a 45w incandescent bulb that I think drew more than 45 watts since it drained my solar battery more than it should have. Instead, I put in a 13w compact fluorescent bulb. A barely noticeable drain on the battery, so yay. I'm thinking the light might have been a deterrent also.

Ironically, I think most of the birds that were taken, were some of the young roosters. I know I had a couple more wyandotte roosters at least and now I'm down to just one. Not sure about the orpingtons since I wasn't 100% sure on their sexes yet. But most of the ones I have left are definitely hens. So I'm not sure if that's some small mercy or just a coincidence. Either way, I'm grateful for it.

Well, it's still raining so I can't do much outside. I will be planting out some of my seedlings in the cups since they're getting their second set of true leaves now. The green beans are starting to climb the porch railing. So I'll at least be able to get something accomplished. I suppose I could get some more cleaning done indoors. It does need to be done. Sigh. Maybe this is God's way of making me clean the house?

But before I do any of that, I'm going to have breakfast, feed the livestock and we're going to go see a movie. So I will see you guys later. Take care and have a good day.

Wasted Day

The first picture is from when I first put the girls in this area a few days ago.

This is from today. I was able to get some weedeating done fairly early in the day.

The rest of the day it was 'supposed' to rain all day. Barely a drop since this morning. (facepalm) I really hate the weather here. One minute the forecast says nonstop rain. Then the rain never shows up. Then the forecast says very little rain. And we have a FUCKING DOWNPOUR!!!

I wasted the whole day waiting for it to rain. I could have gotten so much more done. Wasted money and wasted resources can be dealt with. Wasted time you CAN NOT get back!

I'm going to start watching the doppler radar myself. I'm not a meteorologist but I can sure as hell see if there are rain clouds coming my way or not. The people at the weather station are obviously just guessing anyway.

Hope you had a better day. Take care.

More Rain, Rotational Grazing And Keeping Myself Occupied

So I guess I'm going to be taking a break for about a week. It's supposed to rain. A lot. Yay. (feigned enthusiasm) I won't be able to mow but hopefully there will be enough breaks in the rain that I can do some weedeating.

My plan for the girls is to get their area as big as the roll of wire will let me and then move it back and forth along the runoff. Something like this picture. This is an overhead of our property.

The black box to the north is about where they are now. (The black box to the south east is where the boys and the pigs are.) The red box is about how I want the girls area to be. Then as they graze down an area, I can move them east or west along the runoff in a sort of rotational grazing pattern.

But not much is going to get done this week. Not sure what I'm going to do indoors while I wait for things to dry out. Guess I could work on some crochet projects. Maybe tomorrow I'll finally show you guys some things I crocheted to help me sleep better. I'm thinking of making some more and selling them on etsy. I really need to get my etsy store going. Could earn myself some money to finally get some of these bigger projects done.

Anyway, guess I need to go find some things to binge watch on Netflix or Amazon video. While my hands are busy crocheting, I like to keep my mind busy also.

While I do that, you guys take care and have yourselves a good day.

Adjustments I've Made To The Fence, More Seeds Started And A Broody Duck

So the plan for today is to do some more mowing in the girl sheeps area. The current in the fence is also low so I need to find out where it's getting shorted. And also expand the boy sheeps area.

Now I worked up some images to show how many times I've had to move this stupid fence just in the last month or two. First one is what we started with. The chicken and garden areas aren't marked in the other pictures because they will always be there so don't need to be pointed out every time.

Then I tried to shorten my fence line so I could use the extra wire for the girl sheeps new area. The red lines are where the fence was previously. Didn't get much wire, somehow, but I did get a bunch of posts to use.

Then this is how I plan on moving the wire now. Expanding the boy sheeps area way out as far as I can. The only reason it will stop at the bottom is because the runoff is there and to the left and top are our property lines. The old pig area will be removed and next month the girl pigs will go into the welded wire fence where the boy sheeps used to be. I feel like I'm playing musical animals.

Pretty soon here I hope to get some pasture seed and put it in the old pigs area. They really tore that area up during the fall/winter/spring seasons so it's pretty bare.

This morning I got some more seeds started. Most were flowers. Some were vegetables that I'm having trouble getting to sprout properly. It's mostly a problem with, they sprout in the paper towels, I plant them in soil and then they just don't come up or they come up and then die. Don't know what's going on but I'm going to get them to work one way or another. (Most of these labels are self explanatory. But some I shorted. Like egg is eggplant. Cone is coneflower. Mari is marigold. And nast is nasturtium.)

I also seem to have a broody muscovy duck. She's spending a lot of time in the nest box and she makes a funny squeaking noise whenever I get near. I can't wait to see some baby duckies hatching.

K, guess I need to get to work. Everybody take care and have a good day.

Took A Day Off (Sort Of) And Baby Bunnies

I took a me day today. Haven't done anything but feed the animals and then sat around and did nothing. Also took a bit of a nap which I really needed.

Although I did plant some sprouted melon seeds into some of the plastic cups and I need to start some more seeds in the baggies. So I guess that is something. The seeds I'm starting next are mostly flower seeds. Mostly growing them to attract pollinators and beneficial predators. But also because they're pretty. It's nice to have lots of color in a vegetable garden as well as the usual flower garden. I also need to restart a couple of vegetables like my eggplant, romaine and kale. Just having a hard time getting some of these to survive. Not sure why.

But the most exciting news is that a couple of days ago, one of our rabbits had babies. So far they seem to be doing good. The only thing I'm really worried about right now is fly strike. I've lost a couple babies before just because flies laid eggs on the babies before they really got their fur in and it killed the babies. But we'll see.

They've been mostly covered in mama's fur to keep them warm. But since it's been so warm outside, mama uncovered them a little bit and I was able to take a video showing at least two babies wiggling around.

Oh, I also let the boy sheep out into the bigger area today. They've mostly stayed in their usual fenced area. But I think as they get more used to it, they'll spend more time out in the bigger area. Now that I've got the girls moved, I can open up the boys new area even more. I used to have a lot of wire separating the pigs and the sheep. Now I can just let them all intermingle and end up giving them a bigger area without having to cross fence which uses more wire and posts.

Anyway, it's almost time to give everybody their dinner. Take care all and have a good day/night.

Another Beautiful Iris, Battery Update And Moving The Sheep

This iris was in the same bed as my purple ones with the yellow throat. But I don't remember these from last year. Maybe just because there were just so many of the other ones. Still pretty though and still an iris, so love it just the same.

I don't know what it is about the fence charger, but it is the only thing I can put on the battery all night. I tried one night with the box fan I have in the window of the chicken coop along with the fence charger. I tried a simple light for the chicks along with the fence charger. The battery got down pretty low with either of those plugged in so I'm leaving them off for now until I can get more batteries.

I haven't done a post in a couple of days because I've been really busy with getting the new area arranged for the girl sheeps. Then today we moved the sheep (formerly pig) shelter to the new sheep area, put up the fence and moved the sheep over. As you can see, they look pretty confused. And probably not happy with us.

We put down plywood so they wouldn't sink in the mud while walking across the runoff. But they refused to cross. Probably just because it was something new. So two of them we had to grab by the leg, flip them on their back and carry them across. The third one went across on her own. Not sure if that was because her friends were on the other side, or if she just didn't want to be carried across.

Over the next few weeks and probably months, I'll be weedeating or mowing my way around this area to start expanding grazing space. Just like I did with their former area.

Their former area will become the area for the pigs and the boy sheeps. Until the girl piggies get close to baby time, then they'll be going into the boy sheeps current area. I've said this already, haven't I? Yeah, I think so. I always forget. I make plans and plans in my head and they're always changing every so slightly.

So these are the plans. For the moment. They will probably stay though because I really want a safe and secure place for the babies and the welded wire area is the only place I can really keep in small critters like baby piggies.

Anyway, I'm beyond tired, as always. So I'm going to go to bed and I will see you guys probably tomorrow. Take care all and have a good night.

Moving (Fighting) The Electric Wire Fence, Pig Escape And Torrential Rain

Ok, so a quick update before bedtime. Today I moved the electric fence. Again. The idea was to make the fenced area smaller and give myself some wire to use when I put the girls on the other side of the runoff. I don't think I got much extra after I was done.

But that wasn't the real story for today. The real story was things that happened while I was trying to move the fence. Like this pigs getting out. Pippy, our biggest pig was the main culprit. I had barely started moving posts and the wire was on the ground while I was trying to move a post and pull it tight. It was like she was right there waiting. As soon as that wire was down, she waltz right across like... Well, I don't know like what. But I swear she was waiting for it. I was able to get her to go back in with an offering of food.

Then the second time she and Boris got out. The bottom wire was up and tightened. You would think just the fact that it was there would have stopped them. But she and he stepped over it anyway. I think he was just following her. But since it was two pigs, I ran and got the hubby. And Pippy was not going back in for nothing. Boris ran off into the runoff. I was finally able to grab Pippy's back legs and basically walk her backwards back under the fence.

I had to chase Boris out of the runoff. Luckily there weren't too many briars there to try and fight my way through. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, mind you. Not much protection from briars. But I was able to get him out of the runoff and he managed to walk back over that strand of wire and went back in once he saw the girls.

I'm sure all the chasing and grabbing and yelling scared the pigs pretty good. So to make it up to them I turned on the hose and let it run for a while. Made them a big ole mud hole. They spent most of the day in that so there were no more escapes.

I won't even start on how much the electric fence wire got tangled. There was a lot of yelling and cussing with that. Not to mention all the times the wire got snagged on all the little sticks sticking up from all the saplings I cut down this year. I swear I would have been done in just a couple of hours if it weren't for the tangles and sapling sticks. Instead it took me all day.

Then some time in the afternoon, the sky decided to provide a downpour. During one of the worst tangles I've ever had to deal with. So I'm out there, soaking wet, water collecting in my muck boots, can't see through my glasses because of all the water on them so I had to look over them, thunder in the background, electrical wire in my hands and tangled all around me. I could just imagine the scene my family would find with me wrapped in wire and fried to a crisp. It then started to lightening so I went inside.

20 minutes later, it stops raining. facepalm

So I went back out to finish the fence. And you know what? I won. I got it done. Just before it was time to feed all the animals and put them to bed.

Tomorrow will consist of cutting a path across the runoff to bring the electric wire across. I just need one line to carry the current across. Then I string it through the posts to make a fenced in area. I'm hoping to be able to move this a little each day to create a bit of a rotational grazing system.

Then the boy sheeps will be able to run around in the electric fence area on this side of the property. And once the girl pigs get closer to farrowing, I can put them in the boy sheeps welded wire area to keep them and their babies safe and give them privacy. Boris will still be close to the girls though because he'll be in the electric fence area with the boy sheeps.

But that was pretty much my day. I don't think I gained much wire to use for the girls sheeps new area. Not sure how I managed that. But I think I might just buy one more roll of wire to give them a decent sized area.

Right now, it's late, I'm sore and worn out. I'm gonna got to bed and sleep like a rock. But before I go, here is a picture of some barrels hubby got me at his work. They usually have things like hand soap in them. But they have a number 2 on them so they are food safe. The one on the left is the sheep food, the one on the right is chicken food and the one in the middle is pig food. The metal rings clamp on REALLY tight. No more scavengers getting into my animal feed.

Anyway, time to go pass out. Take care all and have a good night.

Solar Battery, More Mowing And Plans For Moving Sheep

So the battery kept the fence charger going all night. It only got down to about 75%. Today I plugged in a light for the chicks and a box fan for the coop. During the summer I run the fan 24/7. And since we're already getting summer like temps, I plugged it in. We'll see how the battery holds up with the light and fan added to the load.

Today I also did a lot of mowing at the side yard and around the house. Tomorrow I'm going to try and mow around the garden and along the electric fence. Actually, I'll probably do the fence line first. That's more important. The grass and weeds have already gotten high enough to be touching the bottom wire. I move a couple of posts inward where they've already chewed down the grass, mow where the posts were, and then move the posts back.

I'm actually thinking of moving a lot of the electrical fence to the other side of the property. I'd shorten the area a lot on this side, take the posts and wire to the other side of the property and set everything up there. I'd put the girl sheep over there and allow the boys on this side, out of their welded wire fenced area.

Then I could use the welded wire area be for the pigs when they have their babies. The electrical fence holds in the older pigs. But I'm sure the babies would be able to get right under it. And I don't want babies running wild on my property. Too dangerous. They could get hurt or lost. I'll also be able to separate the girls from Boris so he doesn't breed them again right away. I'd like to give them a little time before they get pregnant again.

Moving the girls to the other side of the property, I could do a little rotational grazing by moving the fence over after they've chewed down an area. Won't be able to move it far depending on how much wire I'll have. But it'll at least give one area time to recover while they graze another. I'll have to build the girls some kind of movable shelter though. Actually, no I won't. I'll be able to use the pig shelter since the girl pigs will have the boy sheeps old shelter. And I'll just have Boris in with the boy sheep.

Yes, I think this will work out very nicely.

I also let the biddies some free time in the coop today and did an update video.

Anyway, it's almost time for bedtime. Good night all and have a good one.

Setting Up My Solar System And Chicken Loss

So yesterday I received my charge controller and inverter in the mail. Yes, I went ahead and bought the inverter too. I figured the sooner I can use the solar power, the sooner I can start making my money back. Yesterday I was also able to mount the inverter and charge controller on the wall under our crawlspace. Our foundation is pretty high on this side of the house and I can stand up fully (5'9") so there is plenty of space there for the components and future battery bank.

Today I connected all of the wires and other components (solar panels, charge controller, battery, inverter, load). The load is the electric fence for our sheep and pigs. I then sat for a while just to be sure that nothing was going to start smoking or sparking. That might sound silly. But this is my first time setting up a complete system like this. I wanted to be careful.

As I sat and waited, I did a couple of short videos. They're only a minute long each because that's how long an instagram video is.

Still waiting to see how long the battery can power the fence charger. So far it's 11pm and it's only at 83% according to the app for the charge controller. I think maybe the fence charger and a couple of lights for the chickens is about all I'm going to be able to manage with this battery though. Now starts the slow climb of building up our battery bank.

Good news, though, is that I'm not going to have to order another charge controller. This one is an mppt charge controller and it adjusts the voltage and amps to suite your system. For example, it will take in higher watts from 24v panels (or a couple of my 12v panels in parallel) because the amps will be less. I can hook up all 8 of my 100w panels this way and run it through this one charge controller. But it will also bring the voltage and amps down to the proper level to charge my 12v battery.

In other news, I lost one of my orpington chickens today. He was really sluggish this morning and not wanting to stand. I thought maybe he had a vitamin E deficiency like one of the other chicks did when she was only a week old. So I gave him some vitamin E and a vitamin mix for birds. I then put him in one of the rabbit cages so he could rest without being bothered. But by the afternoon he had passed on.

Really sucks to lose one. Wish I could have done more for him but I had no idea what was wrong and went with the only solution I could think of. The only good things are that he was a rooster (comb color and size already developing) and I only need one rooster. Also I only ordered 10 chicks and they sent me 11. So he was kind of my extra. As long as I don't lose anymore, I can deal with the one loss. Some loss is to be expected. Just really sucks when they die and there's nothing you can do about it.

Ok, uploading those short videos to youtube took way too long. Yay for rural internet. (sour face) I gotta go to bed peoples. Night night and sleep tight.

Weedeating The Front Yard And More Seedlings Transplanted

It rained yesterday so I couldn't do any mowing today. But I did do some weedeating. I'm trying to get more of our front yard under control but it takes a while to knock it all down. It also take a lot of fuel. I went through a whole can of fuel (premixed fuel from Lowe's) just doing this little bit. Well, almost a whole can. There's still a little bit in the can but not enough to actually fill the tank.

Now that this part is knocked down, I can run over it with the mower and cut it up into smaller bits. I'll keep doing this over the summer until I get all the way down to the road. The area to the far right was the hardest to do. It's really wet there (standing water) and I can't mow over that part for obvious reasons.

One of our ducks is laying eggs in the nest box which is 2 feet up in the air. Didn't think any of them could get up in there but she does. She has also started to pull feathers for a nest. So I put some more shavings in the nest box and added some ducks eggs that had been laid on the floor. Maybe I can get her to go broody and we can have some babies.

I also got the rest of my sprouting seeds transplanted. But I'm going to have to redo my romaine lettuce AGAIN! I was in town yesterday and it was barely cloudy. The weather forecast was only 20% so I wasn't expecting really any rain at all. On the way home it started raining. By the time I got home (15 minutes from town) it was a downpour. And all my seedlings were flooded.

I was able to lay the cups on their sides and let some of the water drain out. I was able to pour out some from the kohlrabi. But the romaine seeds are so tiny that I really don't know if they're going to make it or not. I might try the romaine in the cups instead of the shallow trays. So far things are coming along really well in the cups.

Anyway, gonna go play some World of Warcraft for a little bit. Maybe have something more for dinner than just Vienna sausages. I'm just being really lazy this afternoon. Maybe I'll have some ramen. Nice and easy.

Take care all and have a good night.

The First Mowing Of The Year And Flowers Are Blooming

So the past couple of days I've been mowing the front yard and giving the grass clippings to the animals.

They are enjoying them so much that they are eating them before their hay.

I've also got several flowers in bloom.

I love all my irises but I can't decide if I like the dark purple or the rust orange more.

My knockout rose is also going bonkers and producing so many flowers that it's making the branches bend. You can see I have one of the branches tied to the post of the porch.

And last, but not least, is a foxglove that my daughter bought and died. Well, I guess it had some seeds because they've bloomed this year. Foxgloves are a biennial which means they were grow for a whole year, bloom the following spring and then die off. But they are also highly poisonous so don't let your animals around them.

Ok, I think I'm going to go to bed early. I've got a bad tooth that caused me not to sleep very good lately. I've got some swelling and tenderness in my gums and the doctor gave me some antibiotics for that. But I'm definitely going to have to find a local dentist to deal with this crap. Tooth extractions are always expensive and I've put this one off for as long as I can.

K, have a good night all and take care.

Chicken Tractor And Paving Stones

Got the chicken tractor done.... Sort of. I forgot to buy hinges and a latch so instead I just screwed the wire in place. It will keep the chickens in and whatever else out.

They will be in there about a week before I move them to the pasture or front yard. Haven't decided yet. This time will also give them time to see this as their new home and help to till up my garden space some more. There are 12 chickens in there which would be too crowded if that was all they had. But once they start free ranging this will just be for food, water, nest boxes and sleeping.

I also got some pavers put in the girl sheeps' shelter. As you can tell, I'm going to need a lot more.

I also did some mowing of the front yard. Not much. Just enough to fill up the catch bag and give it to the animals. The pigs and ducks are enjoying their piles. The boy sheeps and the rabbits are pretty much ignoring theirs. But it is a bit warm today so they're hiding in the shade.

And now I need to eat dinner, feed the livestock and then transplant some sprouted seeds into some cups. The cucumbers in the cups I did yesterday are already starting to come up. Hopefully I'll be about to transplant them into the garden this weekend.

Take care all.

Making A Trellis and Planting Seed Sprouts

Been doing some work outside today. First I finished putting the wire on the top of the chicken tractor. I also bought and cut some wood to build the door. I didn't take a picture though because I'll do that tomorrow when I finish the tractor.

But I did use some more of the wire to make trellises.

And then I planted my pumpkin seedlings. The only seedlings to survive this crazy spring and all the rain.

I also transplanted some of the sprouted seeds into plastic cups. I figure this will give them a little more 'leg' room before I need to put them outside. These are zucchini and cucumbers so far. I will do some other varieties as they sprout.

One other thing that has started to sprout is the red romaine. But there were so many and they were so small that I wouldn't have been able to transplant them individually. So instead I tore the paper towel in half, laid each one in a container with some coconut coir seed starter mix and then sprinkled a little more on top and watered it in.

But that was pretty much my day. How was yours?