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
Category: Our Pasture
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
Subdividing the South Pasture: One more Fence Anchor
Halloween fell on a Friday this year, and Daddy had the day off work. Since we were planning on going up to Enumclaw around lunch time, Daddy decided to get to the farm early and get in a few hours of work before that. So after feeding the animals, I got right to work in… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: One more Fence Anchor
Pasture Rehab
Meishans are a very interesting species of pig. We haven't completely figured out their behavior yet. Most of the time you can run them through the pasture and they may root a little here and there, but overall they will leave it alone. At most you'll have a spot or two where you have to… Continue reading Pasture Rehab
Subdividing the South Pasture: First two Fence Anchors
Lots of people (myself included) watch homesteaders on Youtube, and that show about early Victorian farms, and read John Seymour's "Self-Sufficient Life" and get all fired up about living the more simple life. Some even buy or rent or borrow some land and make a start at homesteading. But there is a dark side of… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: First two Fence Anchors
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)
Pasture Rehab (with a digression about Curly Dock).
We have moved the animals on. After about 10 days at the east end of the north pasture, we have shifted them to the north side. This is the worst and least productive part of the pasture. We have decided to mob graze it this fall/winter. That is, instead of moving the animals through fast… Continue reading Pasture Rehab (with a digression about Curly Dock).
Subdividing the South Pasture: Marking out the lines
Tuesday after school we set out for the pasture to mark out the lines where the new fence is going to run. The first step was removing the netting that has been up since early this summer. These longer sections of netting are extremely heavy and awkward to move. I will be so happy when… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: Marking out the lines
Not much gets done some days.
Monday was one of those days. We hustled hard first thing to get to the farm early, because it is Michaelmas and we wanted to get Iris back out on pasture. Why on Michaelmas? Because it's fun to say, and because it's memorable. It's a fixed feast at the end of September that I can… Continue reading Not much gets done some days.