Little Things of Little Consequence

No major changes since Saturday, just the little things of life.

Before we released the chicks to the big pen, one chick got "pasted up" (its vent (anus) was sealed off). I had assumed that an observant mother hen would notice such a problem and deal with it, so I hadn't been watching for that trouble. By the time I noticed, the chick looked sick: hunched up, eyes closed, standing off by itself.

I had no idea such a little chick could have been stopped up so far. I cleaned it out, and cleaned it out for probaby half an hour.

The next day, the chick was scrambling with its siblings, and all appeared well.

But a day after we moved the chicks into the large pen, one chick wasn't following its mother. I gave it a box on its own, but it kept hopping out, so we let it be. It must have died, since we never found any remains, and we had only 14 chicks.

Now we're down to 12. Phil figures that something picked off two during the day while they're out scratching around. At night, they're all under the mother, so much much chance for murder then. Too bad!

The twelve remaining are strong and large, and that is good.

The sheep have made it through one pass of the pome (apples and pears) orchard. On Saturday, Phil set up a long, thin path with our movable netting, and they went back and forth on that path over and over. Now they are racing through the growth on the orchard floor. Phil is trying to move them faster, and let them leave more on the ground.

We accidentally left the sheep without water all day on Sunday, while we went to church, ran errands, and went to Bible study. Thankfully, despite the heat, they must have had enough water in their grazing plants that none of them were prostrate or dead (or even distressed in any way) when we got home. We were thankful.

Phil's been reading several grazing books during the day right now, trying to figure out the best way to set up the new cow paddock, and how to help the sheep and pigs help our orchard floor. It's an intense learning curve.

The pigs appear to be growing well. We spent a couple hours last Tuesday visiting with our goat-cheese making neighbor Gail, who "makes some of the finest goat cheese in America," according to magazing Southern Living. (She didn't say that herself, but I read about it before meeting her). She had some extra whey, so our pigs have been sucking that down. I appreciate that they are growing well with less money out of pocket.

Phil was getting water in the barn, when a big insect flew in the door, stung him on the lip, and flew away. Bah! He had a very swollen lip, and even a little swelling in his cheek, but it wasn't too bad.

I have been trying to get back to a more normal routine, which means more time homeschooling the boys and working, and less time helping around the farm. If I do only two hours a day in farm work, that helps me keep balanced.

I've been rereading How to Grow More Vegetables, which may be the most impressive gardening book ever. I couldn't do his intensive beds last year when we moved in, since I had no running water, but now I'm ready to start. I've compiled a few layers of a compost bed the way John Jeavons recommends, and I did the first step of actually making a double-dug garden bed: I used a garden fork to loosen the top inches of soil.

The boys do funny things often. One of Isaiah's sandals split in three pieces a bit ago, and while he waits for new sandals to arrive, he and Jadon have been sharing a pair. Usually one will go barefoot, but the other day they made us laugh: they each put one sandal on and hopped to dinner.