*she lives

Yes, she lives and she lives well!  These pictures were taken in February of this year when I had been without my my hubby off and on, more off than on mind you - since Thanksgiving.  We had agreed early on since our selection of breed was GIANT that she would not be all owed to sit on OUR furniture.  We held this through until January'ish.  

Look at me Mommy, don't I look precious up here? I am so comfortable. I can be your companion and lay beside you when you rest here since Daddy is not here. It is my job, Mommy, to snuggle with you since Daddy can't right now. HOOK. LINE. SINKER. 'nuff said.

What? Your gonna have to put a stop to this? What? You and Daddy agreed that I couldn't sit on the furniture? The idea of this disgust me Mommy.

Mommy, PLEASE. Don't I look so cute?  Um yes, Frayja, you do. That is how it all started, but you and I both know that it should have never stared and that it has to come to a quick end!  I did confess to Eric my waywardness. We agreed that it STILL was not a good idea, for many reasons.  Frayja is such a quick, smart, fast learner and breaking this habit only took a day or two.  She is still allowed to lay on her one piece of furniture and thankfully she does not get confused as to what is hers and what is not.  We are very happy with her temperament, with her obedience and her place in our family. 

This one was taken just this morning during a much needed rain. She asked to go out to potty, but made it no further than the front porch.

Owning her piece of furniture... 

Summer of '11

Perhaps you are wondering how she is getting along with the chickens, rabbits and goats and maybe even the cats.  Well  let me just say that she feels she is unduly challenged on a daily basis!  She is learning to be gentle with Julie and Munch (our inside cats). If she was able, she would love to show every one of the rabbits and every one of the chickens her tonsils.  We tried to introduce her to the sweet goats - it is going to take a while before she learns to be calm and gentle with them. But over all, she is well!

*summer is upon us!

Happy Summer Solstice!

 

*observe the cuteness

OH MY GOODNESS. WOW. These little critter are so adorable. They are some of the softest, sweetest things you have laid eyes on. We are going to keep eat every one of them at some point. Well not every one, we will be keeping a buck and doe for a dear friend of mine who wishes to start breeding for meat purposes as well.  We are also selling one as a pet and we will likely be keeping one or two does for breeding stock. 

I am not getting a thing done around here. I sit for hours watching them in their cuteness. Just kidding, as if I could sit still that long!  I love the way the two have their hands on the one in front of them. 

 Don't you want to come over to the nursery? Feeding time is only once a day, so visiting hours are wide open.  I find it amazing that the mother only has to feed her babies once a day, usually in the night. She hops in the nesting box, gets herself ready, stands over the babies while they lay on their back and nurse.  Her milk is so potent (if I can say that), that only one feeding per day is necessary.

Go ahead and sign me up, cause I know I am going to need help of the psychological kind when butchering time comes.  Oh.. for you readers who said no more discussions on what  happens at week 11, I am sorry. Guilty as charged, again. 

On a serious note, we started out initially with a total of 20 kits (baby rabbits).  Shortly after the two does kindled (had their babies), we checked both litters and found that Isis had lost 3 in the birthing process. A few days later we found 2 more that didn't make it, we chalked that up to heat.  We ended up taking every last bit of bedding out of the nesting boxes. Both Isis and Athena continued to pull their fur out to make a nest for their babies and covering them up all the while.  They have finally stopped and no longer seem to be worried about their young being fully covered. This past week we watched 4 more slowly lose the life that was once in them. Firstly, I was surprised that Isis had 12 young kits and was not taken by surprise when finding that 3 did not make it past the birthing, but I was a bit taken back by the others.  The other ones we lost may be due to heat or being the runts of the bunch. We do not know the exact reason, but one thing we have learned from these litters - we will not breed our does again in the month of May, June, July or early August due to heat issues. 

*fowl news

 Many of our girls will cautiously walk up to you if you are sitting down somewhere in the barnyard.  They seem to enjoy being "petted".  We started feeding our girls scratch from our hands just for fun,  around the time they were getting their pin feathers. We still feed them cracked corn from the palm of our hands several times a week as a treat.  

 Since the girls started laying their ranging time has been a bit curtailed.  They now have to wait until after lunch before the bug fest begins!  We are not so hip on having an egg hunt in the middle of the summer. 

This is one of the Easter Eggers (Araucana/Americana Breed). They look bearded and are one of the prettiest in our flock, in my opinion. They are the least trusting of the group.

 

This is one of our three Rhode Island Reds, she is one of the girls who likes to be petted.

*growing tomatoes

As a young girl I watched, took notes and participated in a large garden each year. On some days I was thrilled to be out helping momma and daddy, others.. not so much.  I have learned much of what I know about gardening through my parents.  I love the example they have set for me in this.

I wanted to share with you how we get such beautiful tomatoe plants each passing year.   Surely, many of you have monster tomatoe plants as well and do not do the same things as we do, so I am not saying we have the secret answer to a prosperous bush.  Lets get started:  First we take the first few small leaves off of the base of the little tomatoe plant and plant it about 2 inches or so deep.  As the bush starts to grow we watch closely and pinch out the suckers in order to give the plant more energy where needed.

We have never pinched the tops of our plants out, though I am sure some do and yield a large amount of fruit.  This is just how we do it.  We start with a 10-10-10 fertilizer about three weeks after the plants are set it and fertilize weekly there after. My father, lives and breathes by Miracle Grow, but we have stuck with a 10-10-10 for now.  For such a large garden as ours, the 10-10-10 is much cheaper and it seems to be working. We also add the tomatoe cages when the plant is still young.  Because the plants get so large and heavy with the fruit we also drive a stake down inside the cage for extra protection. 

These are our cucumber plants to the left and  our tomatoe bushes to the right.  When planting these two crops, ample room was left between rows - the cukes have just taken over and under and OVER!

This is the outside of the left side of the cucumber row.  Simply amazing.

When momma came this last time she brought with her a canning book, which has come in quite handy.  We used the recipe out of this book to make our pickled dills and now I am using it to make salsa.  I canned 5 pints of salsa yesterday, 2 half pints of orange marmalade, and 11 more jars of pickled cukes!  Our pantry is filling up!

*rejoice!

Today, even though I feel like this sunflower looks, I rejoice!  I rejoice because I have no reason to not rejoice!  I am tired, I am worn out, and I am ready for a break, but I rejoice!  We have been so very blessed by a ground that has burst forth with healthy hearty vegetable plants that have yielded more than we imagined (reminds me of Ephesians 3:20).   I hope you are having a great day and enjoying where ever it is that God has you today!

*beeing brave again

Most every evening the bees are bearding in a similar fashion as shown here.  We tend to believe it is a combination of two things: No doubt it has been warm (HOT) here, so we think that the hive is too hot which will cause the bees to beard in the evenings; the other things is we think the hive is brimming to overflowing. 

I am starting to feel somewhat more comfortable with this whole bee thing! I have even thought of using less protective gear, such as my gloves. It does make things a bit more hard to work around with the layer of leather on my fingers. I am smoking the entrance to get the hive ready for my workings.

The top board is off!  The hive is FULL of bees!

This is one of the frames from the supra which we added just a few weeks ago. These bees are amazing.

The white comb you see is their handiwork, and it is filled with honey.

In the midst of my moving the supras around, this is the activity that is going on out front.

This is the queen excluder which is on top of the hive body.  The hive body is below and is where the queen does all her work.  We want to keep her out of the supra's so she does not lay eggs in the cells. 

Can you see the Creator in this? I can. These are the workers of course, and they are doing what they do best.

The end result.. We took the first supra off the top of the hive body and set it aside with frames and bees in tact.  Then we added the new supra on top of the hive, after that we put the original supra on top.  We would have never thought that we might possibly get a supra of honey this fall, but it looks like a maybe.

 This is our first hive, we are learning as we go.  We are very blessed to have a local bee supplier and bee, well I will call him a bee master, available to us if we should need him.  If you have been thinking about starting a hive, I encourage you to read, research more and pray about taking the plunge.  I am glad we did all of the above. 

Photo credits goes to my dear husband, Eric. He did a great job!

*reality check

Self sufficiency that is the name of this game, remember? Ok, so these little critters (2 day old rabbit kits) are super ugly babies and I am not having a problem with the idea of raising them for 8 to 11 weeks for the butcher table.  Rabbit is the other other white meat!  It is going to be a healthy choice for our family and we are looking forward to the provision that lies in each of these momma's nesting boxes...

or are we? Oh my goodness, can you see that cuteness? Those little teeth?! That chubby little piglet nose?! WOW. I am going to need some type of therapy by the time I am done raising these little critters - almost a week down and 10 to go...

They really are starting to get some cuteness on them.  Their hair is starting to come in and in a few days we expect their eyes to open as well as their ears.  Isis, if you remember had a dozen kits, but unfortunately 3 were dead the same morning she gave birth.  A few days later we lost three more to what we are not quite sure, but we will give credit to the heat.  We have had to pull out bedding again and again as the momma's keep pulling more and more fur out to cover their babies.   Athena still has her 8 that she birthed in the beginning. Since she had fewer her babies are MUCH larger than Isis's babies are.  All adorable now, simply adorable. 

I have checked my reality and know that raising and butchering is what I am to do.  No attachments should be made, boy this is gonna be a rough 11 weeks. I can't even imagine how it will be when we start raising piglets.  I love piglets.