Thursday morning Phil scooped new wood chips into the chicken house. I’m embarrassed to admit that we hadn’t added new wood chips since the chickens moved outside, back in mid-November. Phil smelled the ammonia from their manure, which means we’re losing some of the valuable fertilizer to the air. Good management would be stink-free.
While he was in the pen, the children wanted to join him and play with the animals. Isaiah somehow caught Strangey, his freebie exotic bird, and the other children all held chickens as they ran around. Even Abraham, who had a hard time keeping the wings under control and the legs at the same time—somehow the chickens kept slipping.
Crotchety old goat Chrystal felt frisky, we think—she pranced on her hind legs. Then she turned super aggressive, even knocking down Joe (who wasn’t holding a chicken). She butted him in front and he fell on his back. His jacket, and the thick hay-bedding protected him, but he cried in anger just the same. Naughty goat! Phil cannot wait to be done with goats. I hold out hope for fresh milk, and I am glad to have had these months to experience goats, but I do not want them anymore. And if they do not give me milk, goodbye, goats!
Phil next tried to replace the broken axe handle. He had hopes that, since he bought the replacement handle with the axe, he would have no difficulty slipping the new one in. Ha! Yet another piece of wood to sand smaller. Frustration! He ordered some fiberglass “unbreakable” axes.
When Phil finally returned to felling trees, he dropped a large one. And it didn’t go into the clearing where he wanted it to go, but got hung up on another tree next to it—a dangerous scenario, where the cut down but not fallen tree could fall, and any efforts around the cut tree must be cautious. As dusk fell, he used the truck and some slings to skid it down, but I think it bummed him out. Before that, all the trees fell right where he predicted.
Then, as he looked at the foot-high stumps he has left, he said, “I wonder if a chainsaw would be better.”
I could hardly believe it. For a year I’ve been close to nagging that perhaps a chainsaw might be a better use of time and effort. And Phil has steadily and stubbornly fought the idea. Now, after two weeks of manual labor to clear a small plot, he thinks a chainsaw is the way to go?
And this while Jadon happily hacked through a log almost the size of my hand with a hatchet. It took him a long time, and there was no real purpose for it, other than it was there. I remember digging a huge hole in the backyard as a child, big enough for six children to stand in up to their waists, just for the fun of it. I suspect this had the same appeal.
Aww, I hope you won't give up on dairy goats altogether! We "cull" for personality, and have some very huggable does. Goats, like dogs and horses, have very different personalities. We have one bully. If we had little ones, she'd be sold at the next auction.
ReplyDeleteThey are among the first to pay for their own feed bill, too - in fact on our farm, our whole feed bill is worth it during milk season, just because of the value of the milk.