Matilda is Winnie’s favorite sheep. https://youtube.com/shorts/lMtwrbF4qOM?feature=share Probably because she is the smallest of the sheep. https://youtube.com/shorts/KtzdBAf4sCQ?feature=share 
Category: Gardening and Homesteading
Culling the Flock
Last Monday we culled the roosters and drakes. This really should have been done at the start of Autumn, but, hey, we get to it when we can. Roosters and drakes eat feed, but they do not lay eggs. Therefore they are an economic drain instead of a resource. We really only need two roosters… Continue reading Culling the Flock
Weekend Update and some Pasture Musings
Just a semi-quick update on various things from last weekend, Since it is now this weekend, and will be past this weekend by the time this publishes. Edit: or not, since I hit "publish" instead of "schedule." Feeding the sheep. I don't remember which day this was, but it was a sunny afternoon. This was… Continue reading Weekend Update and some Pasture Musings
Re-routing the Garden Fence
One of my strongest pieces of advice to anyone looking to get into gardening is to start without a plan. Seriously, just put some seeds in the ground, and see what happens. This should be a relatively small piece of ground. Or a pot. In one growing season you will have opportunity to learn a… Continue reading Re-routing the Garden Fence
Salt Boxes
Cow salt and sheep salt are not the same. I don't know if you know this. You may have thought that we just salted our cow and our sheep with the same generic table salt, but you would be wrong. Sheep salt has to be granular, not blocked, because sheep have smooth tongues. They cannot… Continue reading Salt Boxes
Winnie Helping
Protecting the Orchard Plants… more.
Earlier this year we put plant protectors around a bunch of our orchard shrubs and pasture trees. This was in order to facilitate letting the sheep and cows pulse through the orchard to mow the grass down for us, without letting them browse all the leaves off the figs, mulberries and currants (I'm looking at… Continue reading Protecting the Orchard Plants… more.
Winter is Coming
Here in the good ol' Pacific Northwest, getting ready for winter is more about getting things ready for rain than it is prepping for snow or ice. This means cleaning out the gutters (before and after the leaves fall). We had gutter guards, but found that we grew too much moss under them and the… Continue reading Winter is Coming
Garden Snacks (not just for people)
Saturday was a run-around kind of day. The older three kids were all over the mountains with Deedee and Papa, picking apples, so Winnie got to be an only child for a day. She is very good at being an only child. Takes to it like the proverbial duck to water. Fortunately she only gets… Continue reading Garden Snacks (not just for people)
Fall Harvesting: Apples, Wheat, Taters, and Garlic.
Saturday was a busy garden day. Daddy and Winnie and Seppi got out there early, prepping last year's legume row to be ready for winter wheat. Of course, we do not hold with muzzling the ox that treadeth out the grain. In other words, snacks for everyone in the garden. This is a radish. We… Continue reading Fall Harvesting: Apples, Wheat, Taters, and Garlic.