Cow Fog

If it wasn't for my one white cow, I would never be able to find the herd in the early mornings.

The fog has been so thick that the cows are almost invisible, especially the black ones.

Have you ever lost your herd in the fog?

How is the weather where you are?
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Out of the Bag

A few days ago I posted about how I was growing all my vine veggies in bags of soil.
I had started planting seeds in them about 4 weeks ago and they had all sprouted quickly.

It looked good and sounded good at the time, but recent developments have shown it not to be a good technique.

A week of rain, an unfortunate snail migration and continual cold temps at night made all my squash, melons, cukes and pumpkins fail to grow or they turned yellow and died.  Even with drainage holes, the bags never drained out and the bottom of the bags never warmed up.

Yesterday when the sun came out I did "veggie rescue" and cut all the bags open and removed the soaking wet clumps of soil and the remaining plants and lined them up at the end of one of my rows.

It was a muddy, cold mess of dirt and rotting roots.

The soil will take a few days of continual sunshine to dry out and hopefully the veggies will look a little better by then.

Sadly, I had used the last of my banana melon, white pumpkin and banana squash seeds in this bag technique and they did not survive.

Live and Learn.

Some of my friends are growing cukes in bags hung from their porches as well as potatoes in buckets, and all seem to be growing nicely.

When the soil warms up I am going to reseed a few regular buttercup squash and call it a done deal.

Anyone have any banana melon or banana squash seed they want to share?

Ever have a garden disaster?
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More Snakes

Things are finally drying out after a week of rain and powerful storms.

Most of my veggie plants are showing the wear and tear of too much water and no sun. Leaves are yellow and a few tomato plants have withered away and died.  Made me sad to see how many plants just faded away.

Just as I was about to go into my gardening shed and get some tools, I stepped on a big, thick snake.

We both screamed and ran in opposite directions.

After the initial surprise wore off, I went back, opened the shed door and there he was curled up in the corner by the door....plus a few of his other "friends" laying in the sunshine near my bale of straw.

One of them left a gift of a freshly shed snake skin on top of my water cup.

Within the first hour I had counted, and photographed 11 snakes in various positions in DRY, sunny areas around my garden.   They too had been waterlogged and bruised by hailstones and flying debris during the 2 powerful storms that ripped through here.

All the tired snakes were garter snakes.  I haven't seen the big mother milk snake today, but am sure I will.

Several of the snakes never moved while I replanted a few veggies and dug trenches to move the next deluge of water away from th garden shed.

They all seem healthy and well fed.

I guess that they are feeding on bugs, mice and other delectables they are finding around the edges of the garden, farm and coop.

I may start marking them with a bit of nail polish to see if I am seeing the same ones.  And of course I will have to name them.

This one I named Makemescream.  Its an old Indian name....

 

Do you have any resident snakes on your property?

Got any you named?

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Scenes From Today

Lots to see up here in Vermont.   The grass is green the barns are red and the cows are fat and happy.

There are many old farms with rolling hills, newly planted crops and family cemeteries.

The sky is blue and the lakes and streams are crystal clear and are full of trout waiting to meet you.

There are snoring steers sleeping on hillsides.

And beautiful Jersey cows up to their knees in lush grass.

Occasionally you will see the wonderful sight of an old manure spreader full of colorful flowers.

Rural Vermont is a beautiful place to experience.  If you have a chance, come visit.

How many of you have a piece of agricultural equipment in your yard as a lawn ornament ?
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DogChick

Mavis tolerates much in her little life.

One of the new pullets is fascinated by Mavis when she lays down.

 The Sussex pullet continually circles Mavis, checking her out, but never putting so much as a beak on the little dog.

Mavis naps as the bird walks all around her, sometimes snacking on a piece of grass or clover near her.

Every time this pullet does her daily dog dance, the other two Sussex pullets stand on the sidelines and watch.

I wonder what the conversation is while this takes place.

The other chickens never participate, just these Speckled Sussex.

Mavis takes it all in stride. Probably thankful its not a cow trying to herd her.

Do you have a hen that pesters one of your dogs?
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Oldest and Best

I discovered the oldest General Store in the USA.

It is located in a very rural town in Northern New England.

One day I was driving by and stopped and noticed the stores claim to fame.

Its a very interesting store.

Guess what town it is in.

Have you ever been to this very unusual place?
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Bagg'n It

I am planting all my squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers in bags of soil this year.

Last year I had so many vines growing in my garden that I couldn't find my other veggies AND the snails followed the vines to the other plants.

So, to reduce snail damage and the large amount of prime garden space used by squash and their relatives, I am experimenting with this technique.

I have lots of unusable hillsides that I will be "directing" the large orbs of veggies to head to.

 

I am using 2 different kinds of garden soil from 2 different companies.

From Day 1,  I have been keeping a garden diary on where and how I planted my seeds.

It will be interesting to see which soil grows the best plants.

Have any of you used this technique? 

Any helpful hints you want to share?

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Calf Dayz

The field is filling up with healthy calves.

They are romping all over the fields and jumping over clumps of grass in their never ending games of "chase me."

A few of the calves are real eye catching.

The newer calves stay close to their moms.

Other calves excel in hide and seek.

The fields smell sweet from all the wild roses and red clover.

Its nice to see such happy, healthy calves running free and enjoying the lush grass.

They eat. They drink. They nap.  A great summer life.

 

More on the way.

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Fair Feathered Fiends

Where there are silos, there are pigeons.

But only if the silos soak up the sun and warm the birds during the cold weather and only if sometimes they have grain spilled around them.

The birds leave free fertilizer all over the area, not exactly where its needed, but at least its there for the taking and stepping in....

Every day more show up to share the warm lids of the silos.

They sit like gargoyles on an ancient building.

I hear there is a big interest in supplying fresh squab to restaurants.

No doubt it is considered very sustainable agriculture.

Locally grown, grain fed, sunflower fed, spring water fed, fresh air, blue skys.

Have you ever eaten squab?

What does it taste like? ( don't say chicken..)
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Chicken Art

My chickens have been making art this week. I had never noticed before, but now I have become aware of their artistic abilities and will be spending more time photographing their creations.

Here is what I noticed on the step to the coop yesterday:

Simply made with shavings, red paint dribbles and wet feet.   Sheer genius.

There is a woman in NY whose cat makes art for $4,000 per piece.

I wonder what this step is now worth..

Do you have artistic critters in your barn?

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The Long Red Line

Its a great time to be a cow. The grass is tall, the sky is blue the streams are crystal clear and cold.

The herd is grazing in a new field every day trying to keep up with the growing of the lush grass.

These are my favorite colors: red, white and green.

*Thanks to all who responded about the big snake who is now living in my garden with all her 12 inch babies.
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Big Snake

I was unable to drive into my driveway yesterday as there was a long, good looking obstacle across the entire road.  I opened the door to get a close up and he zoomed into my garden.

So reptile lovers, tell me what kind of snake I have living in my garden. 

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Harold's New Home

I determined last week that Harold, my very handsome Blue Laced Red Wyandotte rooster was eating me out of house and home and needed to find a new farm to reside on.   He was also not adjusting to 2 of the new pullets I had obtained.   I could feed 4 more pullets on the amount of feed he was consuming and made my decision Tuesday night to put an ad on craigslist.  Wednesday at 6:53 am the emails started rolling in asking about his details.

In 2 days I received 82 emails from people who wanted him. I was astonished at the volume of email he got from one small ad.
My intention was to trade him for a pullet, but no one seems to have one to trade.

On Sunday Sarah, who sent the very first email wanting Harold, came up to get her new flock leader.

She has Golden Laced Wyandottes and is going to experiment with a cross of the two.

 I am still looking for 4 more pullets.  Still searching for a few good BLRWs.

Have you ever had a rooster you had to rehome?  What were your reasons for kicking him out of the coop?

Harold was a good rooster. He was dog, duck and people friendly. Clean and quiet. He hadn't figured out how to crow...at all.   These photos don't do his colors justice.

I hope he sends me a postcard.
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The Twin

I returned to the field early the next morning to see if the expected twin had been born and if it was a male or a female.

I brought my bucket of equipment and was ready to band, tag and weigh.

Unfortunately, somehow on Friday when I fell down the steep slope, I had lost my perfect Uncle Henry jacknife with 3 blades.

I have had that knife since my deployment during Hurricane Katrina and am pretty miffed that I may never find it.

I fully intended to look for the new calf and then my knife. In that order.

When I arrived to the field the herd was scattered around and chewing the lush grass.

The grass was still high.

It was going to be like an Easter egg hunt looking for a new calf.

I found Google and there was no calf nearby.  And she wasn't going to tell me where any of her calves were.
She has a long standing tradition of hiding her calves really really well.

Her first calf Gracie (the Guard Cow) was hidden in a 100 acre field for 8 days before we found her.
People, dogs and riders on horseback searched that field every day and none of us could find that calf. I thought coyotes had gotten it. But 8 days later Googie walked the calf out to the field by the road and showed us all how much smarter she was than the rest of us.

For now, Goog gave me the hairy eyeball as I approached her from the east side of the big field.

I walked a grid in the field looking for ALL the calves and doing a head count.  The grass was high and hard to walk in.   I eventually found all of the calves except for Goggies new heifer and any other calf she may have had.  I was ready to call out a search party.

If I had a good cow dog I know that I would of been able to find her calf sooner....but as you all know, Mavis is a reluctant cow dog.

She is always with me, but always outside of where the cows are.  She has an imaginary boundary and she will. not. cross. it.

 Anyhow, she had her paws full trying to keep an eye on me while I walked the field.  Mavis zooms all over the field on the other side of the fence keeping track of me.  I wear her out.

I walked the entire perimeter of the field and approached Googie from the west and that's when I saw a little white head in the grass.

Googie watched me at first and then pretended it was no big deal and went back to grazing.

 

As I approached the calf in the grass, I could feel my heart pounding with excitement.

It was the heifer from the evening before with a full belly.   No other new calf in the area.

I continued to look and went back to the areas I had walked and fallen 12 hours previously.

Hoping to either find a calf or my much used, and NEEDED, knife.

The grass on the left was grazed on Friday and the grass on the right was given to the herd this morning.

About 30 feet to the left is where the hill is and where I went butt over nose down it.

My knife was nowhere to be found, although I did find an extra ear tag and a pen.

 

 While I was looking for knife and calf, Wanda came over to see what I was doing OR to make a confession that she swallowed my knife.  I do not know which.

What I do know is that there is no twin and there is no knife.

I am actually a bit relieved that there is no second calf in Google's plans this weekend.  Twins are a lot of work and I usually have to bottle feed and creep feed them to keep them growing at the same pace as others.  Not to mention the work and stress on the mother.

Sadly, my knife is gone and won't be replaced for awhile.

So, dear friends.  Its a twinless weekend!         Time to exhale.
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Duck With a Disability

My Silver Appleyard duck, Agnes, has a wing that is twisted.   Better known as Angel Wing.

There are many suggested reasons for this wing twist issue, one being duck food that is too high in protein.  I don't feed a high protein grain.

I think it was caused from an injury. Probably from falling off of the ramp to the coop every day while her feathers were developing.

It took her longer to figure out how to go in and out of the coop, even with the added ramp addition.

She has never been as coordinated as the other duck, Ruthless.  And her technique for doing anything is to rush it and not look where she is going.

Here is a photo of her with her right wing that sticks out and gets caught on everything now.
Agnes is 2nd from the left, next to the rooster.

 This morning, with help from a friend we carefully wrapped the affected area of her wing and taped it.
The procedure took a good 10 minutes with vet wrap, scissors and tape.

She had it off in 30 seconds.

We did 3 more wraps and she still had them off in lightning speed.

I do not want to use duct tape.   it will be difficult to take off in 7 days.

Duck folks, Anyone have any other suggestions?

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