Researching and Organizing and waiting for Babies

Well, I am back in school (had only a VERY short week off).  I have spent some time organizing and a lot of time in the garden. 

I have not had any of my own babies hatch or be born.  :-(

Bunnies weren't pregnant. *sigh*  I had put Berkana and Momo with Ash...I really just think he is sterile...he is, of course, my favorite.  In the meantime I was working on getting my Silver Fox buck, Ronan, healthy again.  He got really skinny so I wormed him with a tiny bit of horse wormer and some basil essential oil in his food.  I have stuffed his face with good food and made sure he had ACV on a regular basis.  He is back to health again.  But now, my Silver Fox doe, Rowan, is a bit lethargic and not at a weight I like.  So, I just did the same with her, just with the basil essential oil...not the heavier dewormer.  I am not entirely sure it is the same...she isn't super interested in eating, at least not regular food...she leaves a bunch.  She gobbled down the baby food and the carrot I gave to her though.  These Silver Fox just seem to be giving me issues...I lost my first Silver Fox buck, Kaninchen, to something very similar, I just didn't catch it in time and it was in the middle of a cold winter (obviously not this past winter!).  Ugh...rabbit raising is certainly not as easy as some make it out to be!  My Harlequins are doing great, the babies are growing and Momo is going to go back to be bred again at the breeders this weekend.  I also just put Berkana, my Am. Chin doe, with Ronan so lets hope and cross fingers and pray and all that in about a month I have babies!

This weekend I am doing some summer prep work for the barn, hanging some fans (since the chickens kept knocking them over last year) and I am emptying my little freezer in prep for frozen water bottles.  For the turkeys I am buying a little kiddie pool so they can have a place to stand and get their feet cool when it is hot...frozen water bottles will go in the pools, as well as the rabbit cages, when it is really hot.  I am really afraid we are going to have a hot summer so I am trying to prepare.

Speaking of turkeys, all four hens are still setting!  I have cleared any eggs I can tell are "gone" but I am terrible at candling and fear for my life when I go near the nest! LOL I sure do hope they hatch soon or give up!  I have hay bales all around them though, just in case there are babies any day! 

For the waterfowl, my Pekin Duck is finally setting eggs hard...duck and chicken eggs under her.  And my geese are still setting hard...but they should be ready to hatch any day now...if they are fertile!  And there is no way, 1. I am getting those eggs out from under those ganders and 2. they are way too thick to even try to candle even if I was good at it!  So...more hoping and crossing fingers and prayers and stuff for baby hatchings!

However, to eleviate some of my angst at no babies, I bought 10 Khaki Cambell duck babies locally! They are so stinkin' cute with their floppy little feets!  But, man, are they messy!  I have the pen mostly set up in the Polish pen so I will finish the door up this weekend and move them out of the tuffy tote as soon as possible!

So, that is the feather head and furry update.  The garden is going pretty well, I got a lot done and planted but still have lots more.  My seedlings are doing okay...hope to plant them out soon.  The transplants are mostly doing okay.  I think I planted the broccoli I got from my friend a little too early but they are holding on so far.  I have older transplants of broccoli going and they had a rough start too but are doing much better now.  The lettuce is doing really well now after the chicken trampling and I hope to harvest some in the next week or two.  The onions are doing great.  The summer squash is growing really well!  I have a bunch of tomato transplants to get in the ground, mostly plum tomatoes, my paste seedlings aren't big enough yet.  I have two large eggplant transplants in the ground but am still waiting on planting my eggplant seedlings I started. My herbs are all happy and my spinach is finally coming up and my carrots finally sprouted.  I have peppers to plant this weekend and winter squash, corn, sunflowers and millet.  I have lots of work to do on beds still so it may be another week or two before everything is in.

And finally, I am trying desperately to organize and declutter.  I have been reading lots of blogs when I get a few moments for ideas on how to simplify, stop buying from the store and make my own stuff simply.  So far, I have found successful recipes for laundry detergent, fabric softer, dishwasher soap and some other cleaning things.  Vinegar and baking soda are your friends!  If anyone is interested I will post recipes.  I have some things I am working on for tinctures and salves and lotions and butters...I'll post when they are done. 

I am still working on decluttering my rooms, repurposing, recycling, putting in bins for a yard sale or throwing away.  It is a slow process though...especially with everything else going on around the homestead and school work.  I will get there though....