Homestead update…

Monday started out as a great day and kind of ended on a bad note.  Every spring we borrow our neighbors tiller to work our garden.  The agreement is Randy changes the oil and gets it all ready so when I neighbor goes to use it it is all ready to go.  It works out great for both parties.  We don’t have a tiller and our neighbor is not a mechanic.  So, Randy tilled our garden and when he was nearly finished it broke.  $150, and two weeks later it is up and running again.  Randy got a phone call at 6:30 last night from our neighbors because the tiller had started smoking.  We got down there, Randy tinkered with it, and it threw a rod just like it did the first time it broke.  Our neighbor is being really great about it.  He knows there is a good possibility there is something else wrong causing this to happen over and over.  However, Randy is going to do a couple of things to it to see what’s going on.  The tiller is old and it may be a situation where he should just buy a new one.  When we went to bed last night we were pretty upset about it.  We hate borrowing and just needed a reminder that it is not a good thing to do.  We woke up this morning with better attitudes and decided we would just roll with the punches, fix it, and move on.

On my drive to work Randy called me to let me know a skunk had dug into our chicken coop and killed 11 or our 25 month-old chicks.  The skunk didn’t even eat them, just killed them for sport. 

Fourteen of them had gotten over or through the panel separating the chicks from the Banties and survived.  Isn’t that sad?  It just about made me sick this morning when he told me.  So, all our chickens are locked inside right now until we can figure out what to do to try to save the few we have left. 

Every morning starts with feeding our bottle lamb/lambs.  This particular morning it was really cold outside and the gate to the backyard was open, so our cute little bottle lamb made her way not only to the backdoor, but stepped right inside to have breakfast.

In other news, Friday and Saturday were spent putting up electric fencing in our pasture so we can 1) make paddocks to rotational graze our sheep and 2) block off a portion of the pasture so we can start replacing fencing.

This is Randy out in our pasture.  Our house is in the background.

We borrowed Mom and Dad’s four-wheeler and trailer and it made things so much easier.

Sunday, we sheared 36 sheep at our house and over 200 at Dad’s house.  We started at our house at 6:30 setting up and didn’t get home, showered, and settled until 7:00 that evening.  We were tired.

Monday, Randy took the day off and worked on my brother’s four-wheeler and worked on his pickup.  Hopefully we will have a pickup up and running again soon. 

Tonight we will be moving the chicks back inside their pen in the garage where they will be safe and sound.  Any suggestions for reinforcing our dirt floor coop are welcome.  I have read to bury 1 ½ to 2 feet of fencing around the perimeter, so we are debating on something like that.  We really feel dirt floors are the healthiest in a coop and would prefer not to do wood or concrete flooring. 

Our house is so cozy right now with the weather being in the 70s.  Windows open and cool fresh air blowing through the house.  What could be better?

What would a post be without a few dog pictures, right?

Here is Ash who doesn’t have the ability to take a picture with her eyes open.  She is playing with her favorite toy, Lamb Chop.

Here is Koal playing with the ONLY toy he has ever really played with, Animal.  Just incase you can’t read it, the front says, “Cats are not my friend.”

Have a wonderful day!