A start to the new year

December was kind of a yoyo month, some good things, some not so good, the end of the semester finals, holidays, being sick, new landlords, etc.

So I have been trying to get organized, house and homestead cleaned, etc slowly, a bit at a time.  The to do list is overwhelming sometimes and I think stress has been a good part of me getting sick and feeling so tired all the time...so, taking it a little chunk at a time is how I am trying to handle it. Today I got a bit of that chunk done...still lots more to do but it is a start.

I have laundry mostly caught up, fresh sheets on the bed, clothes set for the rest of the week. I have food set for the week for breakfast and lunches at work and dinners at home so I am not tempted to eat out. I made scones this morning so I have 3 more for breakfasts with the blueberry cheese I made. I have the rest of the french bread I made from last night's oyster po boys so I will have that with the salmon cakes I made the other day and the rosemary cheese I made. For dinners I have soup that I am making now, black eyed peas and tomato. The kitchen is mostly cleaned and organized and so are my other rooms.  

On the homestead, I got my last wayward Khaki girl in the pen thanks to some help.  Her partner is in the garden, so within fence but not in the secure pen but he isn't leaving her so hopefully he will be in there soon too.  I got some pins in to secure the other up front pen that the duck boys are in.  

I also got a bit done in the big barn:

1. I got the turkey girls out of the small coop and into the shed with the ducks for the time being.  I also got Beo (my Buff tom Beowulf) into the shed because the boys are starting to fight. Believe it or not it is the beginning of spring for everyone... the girls (turkeys and ducks) are just starting to lay eggs and the boys are starting their turf wars and giving the girls lots of attention! So Beo is with 2 of his 3 girls and I will be moving his 4th in some time this week.  I hope to get the big pen started in the next couple weeks so the ducks and Beo's crew will have more room outside...until then they have enough room in the shed but will have to stay locked up, I can not afford to lose any more of them.  

Beowulf

2. Since the turkeys are out of the small coop, I put the babies in with the polish featherheads.  Hopefully they do okay but it is past time for them to get out of the baby brooder. 

3. I got the barn raked out and hopefully will get all of that into the garden tomorrow evening.

The rest of this week/weekend I want to get some work done in the shed (light with timer up); clean the rabbit cages and get their poo into the garden; get some prep work done for new big pen attached to the shed and make some plans set for a decent turkey poult brooder and separate duckling brooder since I know brooding time will be upon me way too quickly particularly with classes starting again next week. And this year, I am going to brood my own babies! 

So...that is the start of my new year with determination to make things good and successful.

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....