Citrus Dreams

ICQ

2010-08-09T03:02:53Z

Does anyone remember my ICQ number? I can't retrieve it.... :p

Damned Stray Cats!!!

2008-12-16T06:13:15Z

I went out to check on a friend who wasn't feeling well tonight. When I got back, it sounded like there was a cat in with my does due to kid (and doe who did kid). So I went to go check on them, and I was shocked to see another baby!!! My yearling, Diana, had a baby girl!!

I really wasn't sure when she was due because I ran my buck with my does during the summer semester. So one day she had an utter the size of a softball and shortly after, I moved her to the birthing pen. I'm soooo glad I did O.O;;

Picture of a little girl

And picture of mama and baby

because there's placenta in the background. What? It was dark >_< And anyway, you've been warned o.o;;

New Kids!!

2008-12-12T04:41:18Z

It's been a while, so why not? Just born yesterday morning, the white buckling at approximately 9:45am and the frosty doeling about 15min later.

This little bugger is the first doeling born on this farm. No name yet...

And this is her brother....He looks *just like his father* and this is for you Liz and Mary Ann: Daddy bred Mommy *through* the fence that separated him from the does.

...

Not done :/

2008-08-19T05:39:59Z

I forgot how hard it was to pound T-posts in the hot sun in the dry season. At one point in the field, it was all rock. We were able to pound between rocks or break rocks.

And all I'll say is: I wish they had Frontline for People 0:)

Anyway, all the posts and insulators are up. We did about 80 posts on Saturday (got help from Geoff and his son-in-law), and dragged through the next 20 (only Geoff and me on Sunday). It was funny because my arms felt like pudding and it took three times as long (not exaggerating) to pound those posts on Sunday, even though I did a lot less work. Even milking the cow was painful :P But at least the hard part is done. All that's left is to run the hot wire, which I'll do tomorrow. I was hoping all this would have been finished by Sunday, but we really did accomplish a lot. So I'll try to finish it tommorrow or by the latest Wednesday. Classes start next Wednesday, and I want to try to tweak the fencing and make sure my goats stay in and my neighbor's nasty ass dogs stay out.

There is a broody hen setting on eggs in my milkshed, right below the hay rack. I didn't realize how stubborn broody hens are until I went out on Friday morning and found a small skunk snuggling next to her. Can you imagine how stubborn a broody hen can be to not even move off those eggs for a skunk?? But she was still there on Saturday when I went out there and found a big snake slithering down the wall of my milk shed. I don't know what it was, I only know it wasn't a rattlesnake. Thanks to Geoff who removed it. The hen is still there...

Someone is interested in one of my does. She's coming by tomorrow afternoon....maybe she'll take a buck too, she seemed interested in that ^.^ I really don't want to sell a doe, but if that's what it takes to sell a buck then so be it.

Not as planned, but I survived!

2008-08-16T07:53:23Z

The summer semester of nursing school really kicked my butt. I decided (with sound judgement) to not have a vegetable garden this summer because I was taking 12 credit hours with two clinicals in a condensed semester.

So my garden is overgrown and weedy and out of control :/ Oh well, at least I survived another semster of nursing school ^_^ I'll probably throw in a few goats to clean up the overgrown foliage....or wait until it gets cold and everything dies so it will be easier to pull out -.-;; Leaning towards the goat-thing ... I'll have to check out the list of poisonous-to-goats plants list first though.

I have 12 days of "summer vacation" before I return to school with a 15-credit hour load. I'll be taking Women's Health, Adult Health II, Research in Nursing and Nursing Informatics. That should keep me sufficiently busy. Again, two clinicals, but not a condensed semester.

In the meantime, my goat herd grew a bit, and since I think everyone is pregnant, it will grow again. So I'll be spending the next few days fencing in another field. All of my "supplies" were delivered today. Joey bushhogged the paremeter of the field (for easy access) Tuesday, and my friend/neighbor Geoff will be cleaning some existing fenceing of foliage in the morning. I'll be thumping T-posts and putting up seven strands of hotwire. My goal is to get done and move my herd by Sunday, but at least I know I have a bit more time.

Thanks to only_seimei, who designed my new website, I finally have a new home: Dammi Dolci! There is no anime or manga there anymore. But some of the images aren't working correctly. Will fix that in-between pounding T-posts :P

Life Update

2008-04-21T05:46:56Z

My garden is an absolute mess. I haven't been able to work on it, and so with all the rain, I lost control of it :/ I have to cover the aisles with weed cloth, followed by wood chips, to keep the grass down. I stuck my cows in it one by one to eat up the grass, and they did a good job, but poof, there grew grass really tall after a hard rain while I was in the middle of doing the weed cloth :/ I will try again after exams :/

This year we'll be growing tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli raab, radishes, carrots, red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, zucchini, round 8-ball zucchini, yellow squash, edamame beans, and I haven't decided what all else. I really don't need to finish the aisles to plant in my boxes, and I probably won't wait....the asparagus, strawberries and cold weather vegetables are already planted and growing.... We just had our (hopefully) last freeze last week, so I think I'm about on time.

One of my milk goats had babies: 2 boys, see the pics behind the cut. And I have a new yearling. Her name is Princess Diana...no I didn't name her and yes, she is all about being a princess. The bucks love her...they have bulging heart eyes whenever she comes near the fence that separates them. I tried to breed her with Vinnie when she arrived, but she beat the shit out of him. I guess she wasn't interested :P

I shaved Dakota and made him look like a lion yesterday. He's so cute...and much more little now. I have no pictures of our little lion.

The rest of the news can be done in pictures.

This is Sweetie. She's my 5 year-old Jersey. I sold Anita back to her breeder as she was a Freemartin and sterile. Poor little girl. I do miss her, she's was a nice little Jersey.

This is our milk shed. Joey, who swore he wouldn't do it, built me a milk shed while I was out. He's kewl. It's built off the side of the henhouse.

This is the stanchion that my friend/neighbor Geoff made, along with the hay rack on the wall. I have nice neighbors :)

This is Scarlet. Scarlet is a one-year-old beefmaster who thinks she's a puppy. An 800lb puppy. She was rejected by her wild and crazy mother, and had to be penned up and bottle fed along with another calf. The other calf went back with the herd when she got old enough, but Scarlet really didn't do well and got too skinny. Roger sent her over to me to keep my jersey company. She absolutely loves to be loved on. But I can't stay in the yard with her to long or she'll rub bruises on me and push me (almost into the electric fence today) around. She was chasing me while I was feeding them bananas. They love fruit.

This are Hali's babies: they're 1 month old now:

This is an earlier picture of boy2. He was chasing me down and climbing all over me today so I couldn't get a picture of him. He's the snuggle bunny of the two. In the below picture he's a few hours old.

This is Diana, my yearling. OMG, she is spoiled rotten. That mess of rubble in the background used to be a lean-to that blew apart in the high winds earlier this spring. Joey demolished it and is building a new one. It took him over two weeks to figure out we had a new goat. I figure it would have been longer, but his lean-to is like right there next to the nubian doe pen.

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Already an eventful year...

2008-02-25T06:22:26Z

Both good and bad news :(

First the good news: I got to see cd1 . Chris came out to Tennessee on business and stopped by the farm. It was a lot of fun Chris!. I hope you visit for a whole weekend or even longer ^.^

Joey graduated and passed his boards. He's now an LPN and has a job interview on Tuesday :) I, on the other hand, am in my second semester of nursing school.

Yesterday I picked up Hailey, a Nubian/Alpine goat mix. She's 100% milk goat and she's due to kid on March 18th. And I do plan on milking her :) She's actually Shelley and CiCi's mother. I can't wait to see her new babies.

Roger's bottlefed Beefmaster calf, Scarlett, decided she didn't want to be a cow anymore, refused to integrate with the rest of the herd, and learned how to jump the cattle gap just so she could get some human companionship. Well, she wound up sleeping in the flower beds and leaving mud pies in the garden and patio, and even walking on the front porch - plus she got real skinny (we think the other cows wouldn't let her eat). So Roger decided that since we get along so well he brought her over to me to keep Anita (my Jersey heifer) company. Anita and she got along very well most of the time, but when it came to food, Anita bullied Scarlet around a bit. But lately Scarlet turned the tables on her :P But I think Scarlet has food issues now. She no longer likes to be handled while she's eating...which is unfortunate because we kinda do stuff (like milking) while they're eating. I hope that changes soon. Plus, though she's very sweet, she unintentionally is rough. If I can't get her to stop, I'll have to send her back to Roger.

Ok, now the bad news, and it's kinda really bad. At least for me: I found out that Anita is a Freemartin. Her previous owner had told me that Anita has a twin brother, but didn't explain the ramifications other than to say that she couldn't be registered until after she calved. And the registration part she told me after I brought Anita home. However, I found by accident while browsing the US Jersey website for registration information, that when a heifer is born twin to a bull, there is a 90% chance she will be sterile. They share the same blood supply and the testosterone from the bull gets absorbed by the heifer, and results in her having missing, underdeveloped, or not working female reproductive parts. The bull usually is less fertile, but is still fertile. So I went ahead and had the vet come out, draw the blood and send it to the lab. And yep, she's positive for Freemartinism. I told the previous owners I wanted to return her and they agreed (though, of course) they weren't too happy about it. The lady insisted that she told me that Anita "wasn't a sure thing" and thought I understood, however, she also sold me a pasteurizer and was helping me look for milking machines, etc. She knew very well that I wanted Anita to be our family cow. But because she tested positive, they agreed t take her back and refundme. Whether it was intentional or not, partial disclosure doesn't absolve one of their responsibilities when they sell these guys. I'm not quite sure if the previous owners knew as much as I found out, or realized the severity, but I do appreciate that they took her back. So I brought Anita back Friday and it sucked really bad. While prepping her for more regular and routine handling, I had gotten attached to her. And I'm not ashamed to say I was crushed.

On the upside, I have an appointment to meet another Jersey next Saturday. I hope that will work out. I'm having the vet examine her before I commit.... She already has calves (and in fact, is bred to an Angus bull right now), so I know she's not a freemartin ¬.¬;; She's four years old, and while "coopertive" wasn't regularly milked. Soooo, we'll see how that turns out....

In the meantime, despite all the commotion, I've gotten in a lot of study time, and I'm off for another round again...

More and more family ^.^

2007-12-05T03:25:48Z

I haven't disappeared in the woods. I just got lost...

Really, I've been insanely busy trying to finish up the semester. Thankfully, my finals (and this semester) end on NEXT Friday, Dec 14th. So, I'm taking a break from studying for Pharmacology, I have an exam thursday. I'll be studying all day tomorrow and some of tonight too :(....

It's been a while since I've updated and believe it or not, there's news :)

There's no better explaining, than with pictures.

This here is Anita. She's a 4-month old Jersey (milk cow). She is due to arrive on Monday, Dec 17th... because I don't want anything else to interfere with studying :P This will give me enough time to pound some T-posts and run some electric fencing for her... actually, I only have to do two sides of fencing. The other two are already there...

I didn't tell Joey about this addition yet. I figure he'll notice something different after the 17th ¬.¬;;;

Here's another one of her with another little boy. The one to the left is a Jersey bull. Anita's on the right.

And here, finally, are the nubian goats. I was done on time and everything. I just didn't have time to post any images of them.
Here are Cici, Shelley, Mary (the does), Vinnie and Benny (the bucks).

Here's another one, because I think they're so cute. There's Cici, Vinnie, and Mary in the front, and Shelley and Benny in the back against the barn.

This is a "house" that Becky and I built for them. There's one for the bucks (to which they will be transferred next weekend), and one for the does.

Here's an update of Nikko, the baby. He's 11 months old now , bigger than Baaboo (and way more clumsy), and not done growing yet O.O;;

Here's an attempt to take a new family picture (with Nikko trying to escape the camera there on the floor behind the headboard on the left)...

Here's a another one... they really don't like to have their picture taken:

Here's another one just for the hell of it:

And that's what's been keeping me busy these days...

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Running out of time :/

2007-10-23T15:15:07Z

I'm starting to get worried ¬.¬;; I really must must must study for my pharm exam, which is on Thursday. But my goat pen isn't finished yet. Most of it is done. All the T Posts and panels are in, all my supplies are bought and in a shed. But I have to put in hinges for a gate, and the gate itself, and the lock for the gate (a chain lock attached to an outbuilding), run at least two strands of electric wire and connect the electric. Joey has to finish making basically a three-sided covered shelter that is between two outbuildings that border the goat yard. His only day off from classes is Thursday. I have to skirt the two outbuildings because there is enough room within that shelter to cause a draft, and enough room facing into the goat yard to let in small predators that would love eating my babies. That doesn't sound like a lot of work, but the problem is, we are now (after a long and bad drought) getting tons of rain (which is awesome, just ill timed). It's supposed to rain all day and night until at least Friday. I have that exam on Thursday and classes all day. Then I have an all day clinical at a grammar school doing vision testing on Friday, and then I won't be home until at least 530pm, with only an hour of daylight left. We're picking up the goats on Saturday early morning. So that's my problem ;_; If there's a break in the rain, I'll probably take a break from studying to do *somthing*.

The part about the buckling isn't critical, because I can put the buckling in with the doelings for a few days. What buckling? Why the buckling I couldn't resist of course :P In fact, I might get two O.O;;;;; For him, for now, I just need to add a few more panels (and a few more T Posts) because I need to keep him separate from the doelings. I bought an XL dogloo for his shelter. But it's okay if I finish up his yard on Saturday or Sunday, that's not a problem.

The kewl thing is, after I pick up the goats, I get to chill with family and friends over at Roger's farm. They're making molasses all day with a horse-driven churner, out of sugar cane they grow. Isn't that kewl??? ^.^ maybe I'll bring a goat with me :P

And so back to my study marathon. And there's been a cow in my field for two days o.0;

The Sale Barn

2007-10-19T08:03:04Z

On tuesday night, Roger, Becky and I (and two others) went to the Sale Barn, where they have animal auctions. They sell fruit and vegetables there too, and supplies like saddles, leads, tractors, whatever. Roger wanted me to experience this weekly event (kinda like how he wanted Joey to experience running cows :P). They have them in every city surrounding ours, on different days.

I didn't tell this to Roger, because I didn't want to upset him, but it was the worse experience I've had since moving here... it was horrible.

I was all excited to be there, and went to look at the section with horses and donkeys. They sometimes have llama and alpaca and the occasional zebra. So I wanted to check it out. Well, I was bombarded by a lot of sick, old, injured or emaciated horses (or a combination). I made the mistake of bonding with one of the horses and he let me stroke his face for a while. He was so sad. I was never so up-close to a horse before and I was surprised how expressive he was...which had me running out of the place in tears, out into the rain. Basically, I had a meltdown. I swear if I had a pen put up already I would have rescued one of those horses...

Before I go further, I have to add that there *were* some people who actually gave a shit about their animals, but because of the bad drought, weren't able to afford them anymore, and this was their last option. I don't think they were any happier than I was to be there. Horses just aren't selling here right now, and the cost of hay has tripled. One registered purebred gelding, about 3 years old, with medical history including shot records, went for a suprisingly low $185. That must have really hurt ...

Anyhow, when I composed myself (I think sufficiently masked by being rained on), I went back inside and hung out with Becky, who said that she felt the same way the first time she ever went to a sale barn. It wasn't any better, but the auction activity was distracting anyways.

The guys running the auction were bastards. They were very rough on the animals. They grabbed fowl by their legs, their wings, their necks. They piled cages on top of cages, so that birds were covered in feces from the cage above them. They injured the birds' feet by dragging the cages across the ground. It smelled horrible. Though I was fascinated by the fact that roosters went for like $18 each O.O;; Most of them were table birds. Some guy bought up all the pretty birds... Rabbits were grabbed by their ears, by their legs, and even grabbed and dangled by one leg.

The goats were mostly older, which I expected. A few were pretty emaciated, some coughing and snotty. There was one nanny with two little babies too. For the most part, aside from the billies, they were pretty clean and in relatively good condition. However, again, the guys running it were horrible. I can understand them dragging goats in by their horns (sometimes you can't get them any other way), but they grabbed them with both hands around their necks, by the tail, by the ear, by fist-fulls of skin...they were a bunch of asses. This couple that was standing next to us was waiting for the goats to get a notch in (along with Becky and me), so that we could all applaud in favor of the goats ¬.¬;; What was worse was that there was a (so-called) man in the ring, slapping the goats with a lasso, and chasing them around, tripping them with the lasso. He lassoed a pregnant nanny, and near whethered (gelded) a buck with that damned lasso...He was SUCH a jerk, and teaching a little boy of about 4 to do the same. Ignorance breeds ignorance I guess. Then there was an older guy standing near the exit of the pen...so that he could kick each and every goat as they ran out after being sold. The tip of the iceberg was when they literally threw a buckling into the pen by the scruff of his neck, which made him sumersault over, land on his head and fall on his back. He was about 4-5 months old. It was sickening.

Becky and I were there that long because we were interested in the nanny with two babies. But as they were brought out into the ring, the buckling was coughing and snotty, so we didn't bid on them afterall, and left after that.

Oh yeah, Becky bought a gorgeous white rabbit buck for $2...

Roger and Becky tried to console me by saying that even though the people who run the place are jerk offs, and some of the sellers are jerk-offs, that a lot of these animals find good homes, and for the majority of them, it's their last hope to find homes....And some of the older horses get bounced from sale barn to sale barn. I never want to go to a sale barn again, unless I rescue a horse...

Anyway, they said the one in our hometown is worse: There's a guy there who uses a cattle-prod on everything they sell, whether they "need it" or not. I won't be visiting that one anytime soon ...

More Babies!!!

2007-10-14T04:05:08Z

Yet again, we have added to the growing family ^.^

These three are nubian doelings:

They weren't weaned when we bought them. So we're bringing the above babies home on October 27th. That gives us time to put up fencing behind my outbuildings...which is going real well. The T-Posts are all in. All I have to do is add the panels, and the electric wire.

I have a buck too. Becky has him in her chicken pen right now. He's eating her bush, I hear. I'm glad he's amusing himself ¬.¬;;; I'll get a picture of him later.

In the meantime, Becky and I jointly own these doelings as well (these are mytonic goats):
They'll be in one of Becky's fields (between my and her houses). They too haven't been weaned. They'll join us on November 4th.

And a lil buckling...

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And that is all for now ¬.¬;;;

rencef @ 2007-09-23T21:51:00

2007-09-24T03:23:39Z

This weekend I made ricotta cheese. I got tired of hearing my mom complain about how she didn't like the store-bought kind. Then I made cannoli out of it :) then I baked a white cake, filled it with cannoli and frosted it with cream cheese frosting 0:) We like cannoli cake here .... but before that I decided to make pasta sauce. So Saturday we ate mastaccoli with meatballs and sausage and cannoli cake for dessert. It was awesome ^.^ Roger and Madge came too, so that made it extra nice.

I kinda liked making the ricotta cheese. I think next time I'm going to use goat milk. But mom wants to try mozarella cheese. It looks like fun so maybe that will be on the list for next weekend. Then after that, I'm going to try making a hard cheese.

I had the hardest time studying this weekend. I am very unmotivated and I have two exams on Tuesday. I think part of the problem is that I'm overwhelmed with the bulk of the material and I'm unsure of the instructors' testing styles. Last Thursday I had two exams. The extent of studying for my Community Health exam was just reading the instructor's powerpoint notes because the textbook was so boring I couldn't get through it. And in fact, the instructor isn't really using the book and told us to "skim the chapters and pay attention to the "stuff" in the margins and tables". Well, I did well on that exam. I earned an 88, which is damned good for not putting anything into studying. But I acutally studied for my Pharmacology exam and I thought I was prepared, but it was very difficult. I don't know what I got yet, but I don't think I did well.

Anyhow, it's a bit hard to figure out what to study when an instructor breaks down the number of questions per chapter she will ask and says something like, "chapter one: 2 questions". I almost feel it's more worth my while to study for a chapter in which we expect to be asked 9 questions, which of course makes sense. But it seems kinda hopeless when you're being tested on 12 chapters and trying to decide what's important or not.

So I think my lack of motivation comes from the above....and that there are a few more exams so if I screw this one up, I'll know better for the next few exams, and be able to bring up my grade. Plus, I'm majorly distracted: garden, chores, cheese, cleaning house.

I feel like a sloth. I'm going to try to study now :(

House of sick...

2007-09-10T01:06:40Z

Joey and I have a bad flu :( He caught it first (I think from Becky) , and much worse. Then I got it. We're both bogged down with homework too..

I can't believe how behind I am. The first day I walk into class and I'm chapters and chapters behind in each class. For example, as the instructor for Psych is going over the syllabus, she said we are a bit behind because there should be four chapters covered that first day, which of course we don't get to know about in advance. So we walk out four chapters behind, and are expected to read four additional ones for the next class o.0;; Same for Health Assessment. We went over six chapters of material at 100mph on the first day, and that's only the lecture textbook. We do the same amount in a lab book. The same for Pharmacology and Community Health.

No, don't ask. I don't know why we don't get to know about the syllabus in advance. It really would help if we could.

Anyway, to my surprise, Joe actually started to fence in my garden area before he got sick. It's going a bit slower now that he's in school and trying to get better, but I figure the growing season is almost over anyway. So I'll have a nice garden in the spring :) That, and something ate almost all the seedlings that were growing from a few weeks ago ¬.¬; So now I have to try and find time to lay down weed cloth and wood shavings in my aisles...hopefully before the grass grows back. Maybe next weekend. It's supposed to be a lot cooler so it's very possible that it'll get done. I need to change the shavings in my henhouse too...

Hot enough?

2007-08-18T04:34:42Z

I'm turning into my mother *GASP*, who likes to cook up a storm when it's 100 degrees. Literally. o.0;; We're on our 12th consecutive day in a row over 99. And we're in our 22nd consecutive day of in the 90s. And we're experiencing a severe draught. So it's been awful in my kitchen as it approaches 3pm and it's miserable until I wake up the next morning, at which time my air conditioning has caught up with it.

Anyhow, Becky called me up this morning, dying from cabin fever. She had a minor procedure done Tuesday and is still suffering and said she was immobile, and wanted to hang out. I love hanging out with my neighbors/friends. They're the kewlest.

Ok, so I pick her up and she has a taste for lemon meringue pie. So we make that. We cheat. We use a shortbread already made crust, and a pretty good canned filling, and Becky goes ahead and makes the meringue.

While she's making that, I whip up some chocolate pudding, with which I'm going to fill a from-scratch chocolate cake...which Becky mixes up. Then she mixes up the ingredients for chocolate cream cheese frosting: this all for my nephew Nicholas' birthday, who is also a choco-whore.

As we're finishing the pizza, the nephews arrive. The dogs go insane. And Sam runs to the henhouse and comes back with a bunch of eggs...and completely covered in shavings and bird poo. Apparently he rolled around under the brooder to get some hidden eggs. Ten-year-olds don't like to use rakes o.0;;

Then she blurts out that she has a taste for pizza and did I have any crust? She hasn't been eating since Tuesday, so here I go making crust dough and waiting for it to rise while we get together all of our toppings together. We bake three large pizzas. Joe wants to be kewl and bakes a fourth one that's like 3 inches high full of toppings before it gets in the oven.

It's hotter than HELL in my kitchen. But it was tons of fun. Plus, Becky's hubby Geoff fixed my garbage disposal ^.^;; He's kewl. But I fail to understand how my friend, who was suffering post-op pains, could turn into a workhorse and reck my kitchen o.0;; I wonder what we'll do tomorrow 0:)

Cause I wanna!

2007-08-18T04:14:53Z

From tsutanai, who wants to know:

1. Whuzza muffalatta sub?
It's an Italian sub with salami, ham, provolone cheese, mozarella, and olive salad. It's really yummy and rich.

2. Why Tennesee?
Because it's green and full of hills and valleys, unlike the flat lands of Illinois. It's warmer than up north and has a long growing season, and I hopefully won't wake up one morning to four feet of snow...and if I do wake up to any significant snow, the probability that it will all melt by the afternoon is pretty high. It's also not near a coast (I'm afraid of hurricanes and such).

3. Is there surplus with the animal husbandry?
I don't think so. I personally don't think there's enough, but then I'm really liking the country life very much. I think it's sad that when one goes to the grocery store, they can expect at least 60% of the produce to be imported product from other countries while our own farmers are losing their farms. Not that I don't support importing goods, because I think it makes happy neighbors, but more should be done in support of our farmers. These days, one can't "farm" as a sole source of income unless he/she is a bigtime producer. Usually people raise their cattle after working full time jobs, and if you're lucky you might get a little bit of extra cash afterwards. Selling their produce at farmer's markets is just a little bit of extra cash and more like a hobby as well.

4. How do you learn to take care of the various animals/grow things? (Me, I'd ask relatives, but, then, my family's not long off the farm anyway.)
I learned about my chickens, guineas and gardening from books and filled in the blanks with advice from neighbors. Mostly the books and my own experiences though. I'd probably need some mentoring if I were delving into something like cattle raising, goats, or especially horses.

5. How's the winters there?
They're mild. The first frost is estimated to be in late October. But it's common to have 70s in November and December. Coming from Chicago, IMO is that winter weather doesn't start here until at least January, and even then, you can still get warmer weather. Like, you get a few days of cold and a few days of more mild weather. The most significant thing about winters here, is that it can get really really cold in the overnight hours (below freezing, and even a hard freeze), and that it doesn't snow much here. If there is an inch of snow, the whole area closes down. I remember last year, on one of our snow days, it snowed one inch, and there were 99 accidents reported in Nashville O.O;;

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1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like.

2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.

5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

See? Not really on break...

2007-08-14T15:10:46Z

I spent way too much time in the sun yesterday and got a little sick from it, but I got a lot done. I cleaned out six of my crop containers and replanted a bunch of stuff. I pulled off all the netting and pulled up all the netting stakes too, and went back to temporarily using the chicken-wire-box covers. The chickens and guineas kept finding their way under the netting and stuff, so it was useless. The box tops will tide me over until Joe encloses my whole garden area in fencing and overhead netting. I'm excited about it.

I'm not sure if I'll add more boxes now or in the spring. I haven't decided yet... I sure have a lot to grow. I'm anxious to start the fava beans, pink banana winter squash, escarole, patty pan squash, pak choi and others. But it's a lot of work. I have the capacity to expand with 8 more boxes plus a big aisle in the middle, in which I'm going to grow grapes.

I read somewhere that the absolute planting limit for melons is August 20th. Well, I have no idea if it will work or not but I figure, I don't have much to lose by trying. So I planted some short season muskmelons, honeydew and silver line melon. I'll probably have to cover stuff in plastic later in the fall, but I'm sure it will be a good learning experience if anything else. My neighbors say they yield crops until January or February, so I have a good chance.

I replanted the cucumbers and the delicata squash, which were devoured by the chickens - but were quite prolific until devoured. And I replanted a bunch of radishes, spinach and broccoli raab that were devoured by insects. I replanted two zucchini plants and three different yellow squash plants. I kept all the pepper plants, which are starting to thrive in the heat. Then I seven-5 dusted everything for the bugs ¬.¬;;; eww...

I still have a lot of chores to do, both inside and outside. I hope to get them all done by the time classes start. Of course, some are more immediate than others. More immediately, I need to weed eat around all my garden boxes and lay down weed cloth so that my future garden is only boxes and grass-less aisles. And I have to get that done before Joe starts fencing or he won't start. He starts his class-break on Thursday. The problem is, it's so damned hot right now. I'll have to get the supplies today sometime and start the project early tomorrow morning. The only relief from the heat right now is from about 5am-8am, then it starts getting hot really fast. Yesterday, I started at 8am and it was in the low 70s and when I finally went inside at 1130am, it was well into the 90s already. Plus... I've never used the weed eater before O.O;;

Breaktime for me!

2007-08-11T17:05:46Z

But it's not really a break though ...

I survived my first semester in nursing school :) I celebrated with neighbors/friends with watermelon and mango martinis and BBQ ^.^ I'm trying to enjoy my break now, but I'm playing catchup with the chores around here ¬.¬;;; . I'm a bit nervous about returning on the 29th too. I'll be full time (more full time that I usually am). I'll be going five days a week. And I might have to go all the way out to Nashville for one of my clinicals O.O;;; I fricken hate Nashville. It's as congested as Downtown Chicago. Plus it's like an hour and a half way :( That's going to cost me in gas, even with a relatively fuel-efficient car.

So Joey wants to raise Angus or Beef Masters. I don't mind. I don't know what Angus looks like but the Beef Masters are pretty and the calves are adorable :P    But the first step before anything else would be to fence in an area for them, and with that being said, I'm sure we won't be getting them anytime soon. Joe's quite busy and even if I help him, I'm sure he won't want to devote the time and energy into fencing in a few acres.

Speaking of chores. Joey is being totally awesome and has taken on the project of fencing in my garden containers. He's going to enclose the whole garden area in fencing and overhead nettings like the henhouse. Because...those damned chicks and keets are getting into my garden boxes and devouring all my cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and melons, spinach, broccoli raab and everything :( ...... And he's making the enclosure big enough for me to put in 8 or 9 more containers, plus a nice wide aisle between them. He's going to reinforce the fencing so that I can use it to trellis.

Which brings me back to "chores". I have to clean out most of the contents of my boxes that died and replant. The only things that didn't get burned to a crisp or ruined by the chickens and guineas are the delicata (sweet potato) squash, cucumbers and peppers. The melons are doing well, but the chickens are getting to them before I can >_< Thankfully, we have a long growing season, and I fully intend to use every bit of it. The zucchini and yellow squash that I had to replant are already budding. And now that it's hotter than hell, the peppers are thriving.

Ok, I finally found something about Tennessee that I don't like: Rattlesnakes. Three in one week. And of course, I was the one to come upon each one. One was over five feet long. One was on our back patio, one was under the front stairs (I heard that one way before I saw it - it was MAD....probably being poked at by the chickens and guineas before I got out there), and one was at our mailbox. Our neighbors on both sides told us they must have smelled City Folk because they each only saw two in a seven-year period :P   I think it's because the creek running though our backyard is getting low and stagnant because of the drought. That, and Roger was bushhogging our fields for us.

Oh BTW - I finally dropped Hughes Net.   They certainly weren't able to deliver what they promised. "A clear view to the sourthern sky" definitely didn't work. It was as bad as dial-up and much less reliable. And not only that, after ten months and 18 calls for non-service, they had the nerve to try to penalize me for trying to break my 15-month contract with them, a contract they themselves couldn't fulfill. They were going to charge me a $300 disconnect fee. After arguing with them for almost two hours, I had to call information to get the number to their corporate office. All through that 2 hours, they refused to connect me with a supervisor. In fact, one of them told me that the only way I could get that $300 disconnect fee waived was to contact their Collections Company. When I called the collections company, they of course couldnt' help me because ... I wasn't in collections o.o; Well, no surprise there. But the collections representative told me that she was getting a lot of calls from Hughes Net customers who weren't happy.

Anyway, I finally tracked someone down in their corporate offfice who agreed that after 18 calls in for non-connectivity, that I had shown I was trying to work with them, and that I didn't deserve to be paying for a product that couldn't deliver. So she not only waived the $300 early disconnection fee, but she gave me a $200 refund for all the days that I couldn't connect. That was kewl. I'm still stuck with the equipment though. This was an expensive excursion...

So now I'm on Verizon Wireless access. I like it so far.

Paris and her DUI

2007-06-09T03:07:21Z

When I first heard about Paris being sentenced to jail after violating her previous orders, I felt it was justified. I was a little annoyed that it was then decided that she would only serve 23 out of the 45 days sentenced. But, then I found out that this is a typical arrangement. When she finally went to serve her sentence, I didn't think much of it. I figured, she's been walking a thin line and now she's paying for falling off. I was a bit angry to hear about her being released yesterday, and like a lot of people, thought it was unfair. Then, of course, a battle of the wills was taking place between the sheriff and the judge, with Paris in the middle. The point is, I really didn't give Paris too much thought until today.

I'll be honest: I don't like her one bit. I think she's trash with money. She's a spoiled, conceited, self-serving brat who risks the lives of others to be *kewl*, while thumbing her nose at everyone who disapproves of her destructive behaviour. But the fiasco that happened today has me thinking about Paris and her situation a hell of a lot more that I have time. Let's face it, we all have better things to do with our time. We certainly have more important things to think about.

I completely agree that driving under the influence is a very very serious problem. It's a crime that should be more severely dealt with and taken more seriously. On the Today show earlier this morning, I was appalled by a lawyer who said that Paris was being treated too harshly, that she hadn't hurt anyone, and if in fact she did kill or hurt anyone *then* she should be punished for it. The man went on to say that a woman being interviewed on the opposing side was "jealous" of Paris, and that's why she is so hard on Paris. He forgot to mention (for those who aren't abreast of the situation) that Paris was originally put on probation and her license was suspended, which she blatantly ignored. That makes this current sentence not too harsh. In additon, and more importantly, are the thousands of people who are killed by drivers under the influence. Doesn't that make it that much more important to focus on prevention, rather than just on punishment after a life has been lost?

I also understand that the Sheriff *can* release people early (unless it violates a Judge's direct order). So here we have a Sheriff who was, for whatever reason, touched by Paris' state of mind, and a Judge who is pissed off because his orders were ignored. It took a few hours for the Sheriff to obey the Judge's order to go get Paris from her home and deliver her to court...just because the Sheriff was pissed at the order and didn't want to go. So here we have an irate judge and an irate Sheriff battling over Paris, ending with the Judge not only sending her back to jail, but extending her time to the orginal 45 days.

I completely understand that Paris is going through a really rough time and is obviously distraught. Other inmates get that way too. Other inmates need medical attention, and psychological attention. She *shouldn't* be treated any differently. But I really don't know what to make of her sentence. I've seen less, and I've seen worse. I've seen community service, probation, etc. I also know that the majority of inmates can't afford the help that Paris is getting. She's got lawyers only an heiress can buy. What I do see is a spoiled rich brat violating laws, thumbing her nose at the law, and acting out every chance she gets.

The problem with all of this is that we, as outsiders, have no clue what is *really* going on and what all the variables are. I would HOPE that the Judge didn't sentence Paris just because he was pissed, but hey, it happens all the time. I would HOPE that she isn't on suicide watch tonight, because a punishment should fit the crime, and "breaking" her, or pushing her over the edge, for violating probation doesn't seem a good fit to me. However, was she intentionally not taking her medication to evoke sympathy? To be fair, maybe she wasn't taking her medication because she was depressed. The bigger question is why she wasn't encouraged to take her meds by the nurse. Even so, I'm wondering why the Judge didn't have her picking up garbage off the highway for a year, or scrubbing toilets, as other celebrities have been made to do. However, Paris can blame no one but herself for raising the ire of a Judge. The horseshoe is always bound to fall out sometime.

It's a tough call, and that's why I'm not a judge. She deserves to be sufficiently punished so that she doesn't do it again, and she should definitely serve as a model to her buddies, who are on the same downward spiral. But I'm a compassionate person, and I hope it's not as bad for her as her attorneys and publicists are making it out to be. I hope she comes out a better person though all of this.

What I totally don't understand at all, are those who are absolutely joyous at Paris' suffering. How miserable you must be in your little lives that this is the highlight of your day ¬.¬;;; To demand justice is one thing (and completely understandable), but laughing at someone else's pain, that's just pathetic...

LJ Deleting Accounts..

2007-05-31T14:46:23Z

...with questionable content?

Apparently there's a big purge being done on LJ according to this update post by LJ Admin. There will probably be another update soon, making that link old. Evidently, one's journal is up for "review" and possible deletion if one lists the following on their interests lists: child abuse, human sacrifice, kidnapping, killing, murder, paedophiles, paedophilia, rape, and beating people up. Interests also said to be targeted are: incest, lolita, shota...you get the point.

The people responsible is a group called Warriors for Innocence who are reporting sites and requesting that LJ take action against said accounts in accordance to their TOS.

Thanks for the info wmchichiri

But, and this is my ever-so-humble-but-completely-irrelevant-opinion, I'm not so sure that's such a bad idea ¬.¬;;;;;

But I do think that accounts that actually violate the TOS should be deleted, as opposed to support groups that are support/educational/informational/research driven in content but actually list these interests for obvious reasons. I'm glad LJ is going back to investigate the actual content and fix that problem

Chocolate Whore!

2007-05-27T07:36:58Z

I made cannoli cake this week. It was a modified white cake (I used cream instead of water in the mix and added vanilla), then I made cannoli for the filling, and then made buttercream frosting.

So Joe walks in says, "can you make a CHOCOLATE cake, with CHOCOLATE cannoli filling, and frost it with CHOCOLATE cannoli too?" Yes, there was a distinct emphasis on every CHOCOLATE.

So that's what I made yesterday. I think there's one piece left....He loved it! I thought it was pretty good too :)

I need a bigger garden!

2007-05-27T07:27:36Z

I have now reached the stage where my delicata squash, yellow squash, zucchini and melons are starting to outgrow my chicken wired protective covers on my garden. Now I have to figure out what to do to accomodate their growth and keep out the marauders.

It's nice having all the wildlife around you, but it sure is a pain in the butt to protect your crops from them >_<

I was thinking of using 1-inch pvc (one on each side of a box, or two boxes at a time) and running netting over it. Like, I would take a 10-foot long pipe, put one end in one corner of the box, and bend it backwards towards the fence, and anchor it against the fence. Kind of like an arch. Then do the same thing on the other side of either the same box, or the one next to it (protect two boxes at a time). That way, I can draw the net down over the pvc's and around back to the fence and when I'm into the boxes themselves, I can just pull up the net like a drape so I can get in. In theory, it should work o.0

I also thought of using 6-foot chicken wire around each box and leaving one side easily opened so that I can get in that way. I'd have to secure net on top of that too. I have 4-foot chicken wire too, that I can use, and do the same instead. I'm not sure what would be easier to work around when it came time to harvest, weed, etc.

I also decided that in addition to the boxes, I want an area along-side the henhouse to use for a bigger vegetable garden. I like the boxes very much, and I'm my yield is very good, but I want to freeze and can some crops for after the growing season as well. Also, my bigger crops *might* take up too much room, I'm not sure yet because this is my first venture. I would like new garden area itself to be 10x50 Basically, the same dimensions as the henhouse and pen. If it could be set up in time for planting fall crops, that would be awesome. But I'll have to wait until Joe bushhogs the area, which he already said he'd do. Then I'll have Roger come and till it, he also is just waiting for the call. That section will be protected by 6 foot chicken wire all around (with a gate to get in), and netting overhead as well. I want to use this space for the tall and sprawling stuff like the melons and squashes, eggplant, and even tomatoes. The boxes are still great for the smaller crops.

Whatever protection I have for the above boxes, I want it to be easily discarded later, because I won't need more than the present-covers if I only use the boxes for short crops later.

Oh yeah, I'm growing corn now too ^.^

A status report!

2007-05-16T02:05:21Z

My garden is growing!! Yeah, I know, it was inevitable, but seriously, it's such a kewl thing! I really thought half my stuff would die. The real challenge for me is going to be growing stuff vertically. I've done it with tomatoes, but I've never done it with stuff like small melons or small squashes.

I've already eaten spinach, different kinds of lettuces and radishes. And everything else is growing really well. I have tons of little itty bitty tomatoes and even my eggplants plants have buds. It's so kewl :)

I got rid of those four roosters. I chased them down and piled them all into a dog crate turned rooster-death-row and gave them to Roger. That's six eliminated in all. Now I have five roosters left, and actually my Buff Polish couple now venture out of the henhouse, which they didn't do before because of all the roosters around.

One of my Buff Orpington's is broody. I tried to stop her but she is so stubborn. So I figured, with the nephews coming in a few weeks, I'd let her keep a few eggs. Actually, this is round 2. The first round started about a month ago, but then it rained 4 inches of rain, and I think the eggs drowned. So I removed the old eggs and gave her new ones this weekend. They'll actually be even more on time for the kids to enjoy. I had her in a dog crate in one of the chicken pens, but I moved her inside the henhouse tonight (dog crate also) because it's supposed to storm again...

Another one is broody too, but I haven't let her keep eggs. I use a dustpan to pin her against the wall of the nests (and away from pecking range) and just take them eggs :P She gets very mad ¬.¬;;; My first broody hen has 19 eggs, and I think that's quite enough chickens for a while 0.0;; I feel sorry for her though, so I may let her keep like 3 or 4.... maybe I'll give some from hen1 to hen2.

I got on the mower two weeks ago. Now, this is not for entertainment purposes, this is real: I put a big hole in my chicken fence and had to patch it with chicken wire, I ran into a tree, I ran into five garden bricks that surrounded a garden around a different tree, and I ran over 3/4 of my Invisible Fence white flags....and then I snagged the deer/steer hook >_< And that was it for me that day. I didn't even have the guts to tell Joe that the mower flat out stopped...because the deer/steer hook was tangled in the blades. I called Geoff instead, asking for help, and all I got was insane laughter. So I asked him to hand over the phone to Becky, and she came over right away with her son, who fixed the mower in time for Joe not to come back home and kill me.

And so the current project: Joe enclosed a garden in front of the back patio with three levels of garden blocks. The area is about 15x5 and it will have mostly butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants, plus some roses and some dwarf lilacs. I ordered a dumpster of top soil to fill it and the guy wound up piling a four foot pile in the center of it ;_; So's here me trying to level it all out. I guess I'll take pictures when I'm done :P I plan on finishing that project this week because I can't stand having all these big and little plants all over my patio. I'm adding in some Canterbury Bells, Foxglove, and Lupines among others. I really can't wait to see that garden grow....

Clothes for Chickens

2007-04-27T04:34:10Z

Hey,

ladysashi You have to check this out Chicken Suit

Thanks felicity_miaow !!!

Spring is here!!!

2007-04-26T03:22:41Z

Finally :) And I finished all my vegetable garden boxes. My neighbor, Roger, offered to bring his tractor over and till a garden for me, but I really didn't want to deal with it. It seemed overwhelming. So I figured that if I contained the garden in separate boxes, I could manage them better and wouldn't get overwhelmed. But I really liked them, so I made four more this week - and sun-burned the heck out of my shoulders in the process :(

I had to cover the boxes with chicken wire protection so that my chickens wouldn't scratch in them. Don't think the idea was mine. I'm not that clever. I read up on Square Foot Gardening by Bartholemew while I was still in Chicago...though I didn't know I'd be free ranging chickens and guineas.

Incidentally, Becky is trading me 15 hens (delivered this monday) for 15 guineas (to be shipped May 25th and brooded in the brooder in my henhouse...actually I ordered 30 but Becky gets 15). There are five red star (big egg producers) and 10 frizzles.

And the strangest thing has happened to Mr. Rhodie. He comes to me to be pet and will sit in my arms to be pet. It's very sweet actually. I guess we won't make stew out of him. Though, I did have to cull an Araucana rooster because he starting picking fights with the other roosters. A friend did it, not me. I plan to have five more culled (starting with another Araucana tomorrow morning courtesy of Roger).

Anyway, all but one garden box is filled. The last box is mostly for shallots and garlic (which hasn't arrived yet), but I'm sure I'll put other stuff in. In particular, I'll probably use the back row for something like squash or melons.

Joe has just completed his first trimester at TTC's LPN program. He's been working on the farm since. He's been cleaning out the pool for the summer. He mowed the five acres that surround the house, he created his own garden and he attached a spigot to our well so that we can use well water to water the garden. The well isn't done yet, but it'll be on it's way. He thinks it needs a new pump. I'm surprised he hasn't shot anything though ¬.¬;;

Where to begin.... Here are the new hens. Aren't they so little and cute?

My vegetable containers. And look, the dwarf Pink Lady Apple Tree there between the boxes. I planted it last fall. It blossomed that week when it hit the 80s...and then the blossoms froze off during the cold snap the next week. But it looks like it might bud again...

Look, there's stuff growing! Those salad greens in the front row look like they're ready to be snipped.

I lined them up behind the henhouse so they wouldn't take up space out in the open. You know how much I love my backyard and all it's open space ^.^ I think this is neater anyway.

Here's Nikko at 8 weeks:

And here's Nikko growing too fast. Can you imagine??? He's 10 weeks old and he's doubled in size :( he's really a twin of Baaboo.

Dakota and Nikko are getting real close :)

And lastly, a new pecking order is being established...

</div>

rencef @ 2007-04-12T00:29:00

2007-04-12T05:52:20Z

I finally have the garden of my dreams. I think. Who knows, that might change tomrrow ¬.¬;; But for now, I have decided to garden in raised beds to avoid working with the clay and bigtime weeding.

So over Easter weekend, my friend Margaret (who visited from Chicago with her son Tommy, and Joe's son Sammy) and my friend/neighbor Roger and I built a 4x4 raised bed. Then Margaret and I built three more. Then we built a chicken-wire-covering over the boxes so that my chickens wouldn't scratch in them.

So far I have planted melon, bell peppers, brussel sprouts, Chinese (or Asian) broccoli, Asian eggplant, lots of Spinach (thanks to ardhon), carrots, radishes, different lettuces, fava beans, green beans, leek, green onions, red onions, Spanish onions, delica squash, zucchini, summer squash, and broccoli raab. I've mixed seed plantings and actual plant plantings among the various spots in the containers. Most are seeds though.

Tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and grape tomatoes are still inside a flat right now. They'll be moved outside later this week. My mom would like to tend the tomatoes and a few other things, so I'll be planting them in pots on the patio. The rest will go in containers and hanging pots (like the grape tomatoes).

I'm sure glad I didn't plant anything before this week though. That cold snap brought overnight lows into the 20s O.O;; My neighbors lost a lot of crops ;_;

Anyways, I decided I want four more boxes. Mom would like me to set aside some space for shallots, purple garlic, and what I know only as Korean Melon. And I want more stuff to freeze. And I want thumbelina carrots too.

I had Tommy plant a few raspberry plants too.

Surprisingly, the two pink lady apple and granny smith apple trees that I planted last fall actually budded. And even more surprisingly, it looks like they survived that cold snap. I think they're too small to produce any fruit this year though.

I have to plant a bunch of spices tomorrow. Those will go on the patio.

I was supposed to get come strawberries from Becky, but I think the cold snap killed them all O.O;;

I don't have very good luck with fruit though. The deer get to all my apples, pears and peaches in the back field. So I don't want to bother with any more of those. There are tons of berries in the woods that I can get. So I don't think I'm doing anymore berries. *Maybe* I'll do some strawberries if I can get them easily...and if I feel like it. Vegetables are more palatable to me lately (aside from the melons) and much easier to grow...

BTW, I lost my first chicken tonight *sniff sniff*. A perty buff orpington. Apparently I shut their pen gate before two stragglers got in. It was actually Dakota who noticed one of the chickens sleeping near the spit. Baaboo and Baci just went on their merry way beating each other in the grass nearby. But then while I was carrying the hen to the henhouse, I saw a headless chicken on my way ;_; The dogs all ran something off into the woods at that point and I disposed of Headless. I have to make sure they all get inside next time ;_; I just hope that whatever it was doesn't come back looking for more.