The Coming of Fall

Yesterday a cool front came through bringing a little rain and wind, and by the time our nightly chores came along it was in the 60s and we some of us needed jackets. Annika fed the chickens under her brothers' supervision while I fed the goats and Cohen filled up waters.

Then we went through the garden. The season is winding down. This year has been frustrating for me. We are learning the land, the pests, and the climate. This year was a learning year. I am learning that the mountains of North Carolina are not the same as the Tennessee Valley. I have a long list of what needs to be done before next spring.

Most of the zucchini and tomatoes are done and we pulled them up today. You can see the wood chips did their job and kept the weeds away. The peppers are still going strong. And I have lots of basil, tarragon and parsley. The sweet potatoes will be dug up just before the first frost.

We spent the day outside today. Pulling spent plants, adding more cover and compost to spots that never got mulched the first go round.  The chickens destroyed half my tomato crop this year, but they did a wonderful job in the compost bin. It's best looking compost that has ever come from our own heap.

 So for next year, the garden will get fenced. It will be expanded. It may or may not get raised beds. And in my head, it looks beautiful. The weather is turning, and I have all fall and winter to get those plans figured out and into reality.

linked to the Homestead Barn Hop, Country Garden Showcase,

More About Birds

 I had my camera out with me the other day, taking pictures of the garden, kids, etc. Like usual I was brought chickens to photograph. That is our Silkie chick up there. That is one spoiled bird. She's a tiny one, and gets toted around a lot. I'll admit she's pretty cute. Her name is Silkie.....only it's pronounced Sil-UH-key

This is Einstein. Check out her hat. This is another that gets carried around a lot. I don't think the poor thing can see very well with all that in her face. She's never with the flock and always lost somewhere by herself. Then there is Lavender. I am sad about this one. I've always wanted a Lavender Orpington and finally got one. And then she crowed.

Since we've talked about breeding birds we might keep him and hatch some eventually. He's still a pretty bird, I just wish he was a she!

Speaking of hatching, I mentioned our broody birds last time.  Black Hat was sitting on 6 eggs. One hatched.  Here she is with her little puff ball. She's a good mother and I love the sound of mother hen's clucking! Based on feathering I'd say this one came from a Black Australorp's egg.  We've got the peafowl eggs in the incubator now, they are at about day 11. Hatch day is around August 8. We had another bird go broody and we encouraged her once we saw the signs. I think we are finally sure of her broodiness to give her our beloved peafowl eggs. We'll make the swap later today, put her clutch in the incubator and give her the peafowl ones and hope for the best.

The turken went broody again in the old, run down chicken shed. We've tried to break her, but she hasn't gotten it yet. If she'd sit in the house we'd let her, but she wants her unsafe ledge. Last time we broke her by carrying her and holding her upside down for awhile.  It didn't work this time.

I hate to say it, but some birds just aren't pretty. The turken is one of them. The guineas are not much better. Though they are still adolescents.
 

Their feathers are pretty though.....wonder what I could do with them?

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Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways

The Bird Boys and Other Fowl Updates

 My boys love their birds. I think I may have mentioned that before. They spend more time with their chickens than they do their dogs or other cuddly pets. And if you think you can't pet a chicken, don't tell them that. Our newer chicks are now out and free ranging with the rest of the chickens. They still have separate coops, and I am wondering how I am going transition the old birds to the new coop. I have a feeling they will just go back to the old one every night.

We've had a couple broody birds over the past few months. Muh- yes, Muh, said like Duh! Is what they named the poor bird. Sat on eggs for the whole 21 days, a few exploded on her and had one partially formed chick. But she wasn't a very good sitter and left them often. The turken, named Turken Lee Jones, goes broody, but only in the old, broken down chicken coop in the goat's yard. She refuses to sit on eggs in a safe place. Then there was Black Hat, Lakin's crazy chicken. After attempting to break her since her choice of laying spots was the tool shed we finally gave up and gave her some eggs. She's due to hatch any day now.

The guineas are out and about too. I can hear them squawking right now. We started with 10. We had to cull one because of a nervous disorder. And on the 3rd night out we didn't make it out to make sure they all got inside before dark. About 5 min after dark we went out and couldn't find them. They had scattered. Armed with flashlights we found them- in trees, under bushes, etc. But we only found 6 of the 9. Hoping for the best we went back inside. Only one remained in the morning, and we found 2 piles of feathers. So we are down to 7 guineas. I think we have 3 girls and 4 boys.

And, then there are these 4, who I am not sure I have ever mentioned. They are Timber, Maple, Twinkle and Hank. They are Swedish Blue and Swedish Black ducks. I am not sure if they are hens or drakes yet, but so far I am leaning towards hens. They are about 7 weeks old now.

And finally, thanks to a customer at Paul's work, we have these in the incubator. 2 peacocks eggs. I am not sure what type yet, and it can be hard to hatch them out of the incubator. If we get another reliable broody chicken we might move them to under her. I am excited to see them hatch and what breed they are!

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 Weekend Whatever
 Farm Girl Friday 
What's Cluckin'  
Homestead Barn Hop

Improvments

 I've made some improvements in my dairy attempts. I successfully made mozzarella. Well it was successful until the stretching part then I am not sure I did it right, but the curd formed just right. Maybe I should ignore my aversion to the microwave and try that version?

I also made chevre. Which I made just right and turned out just right- but nobody liked it much.  Too strong in flavor. I used my successful batch of cultured buttermilk to make the chevre too.

We've also added to our family again:

10 little guinea keets, who are very flighty and so funny to watch.  They boys are getting used to the fact that they aren't quite as easy to catch and tame as the chicks.

In the eyes of the alpacas, this is probably the best improvement:

 

The alpacas came from a farm that was struggling with a mud problem. It was all mud, no grass. They lived on hay. When they got here  the goats had eaten down most of the fenced pasture. So there was some forage but not a lot. And there was a lot of buttercups- which are toxic and they avoid them. Between that, and the fact that they shared the yard with a goat who is fighting a tough case of worms, we decided to throw up a temporary pasture in the front field. We used step in posts, our old soft shelled shelter and a solar electric charger the boys found in brush. Now they have more grass than they know what to do with.

 

For Lakin's birthday he wanted to go to the WNC Nature Center. 

 

It was a nice little place. Bear, fox, wolves, coyotes, otters....

 

It wasn't very busy and nicely set.

I came home with major goat 

and barn envy.

Linked to the Homestead Barn Hop