Category: Around the Homestead

Animals, Around the Homestead

Romanov Rams…

Gretchen

We bought two Romanov rams from Dad.  One will be used for breeding to our Dorper and Romanov ewes, and one will be used as a teaser ram.  We are hoping the teaser ram will do a couple of things for us:  increase prolifacy, compact our breeding season, and make it possible to lamb a little earlier in the spring (and still maintain a high number of lambs).

The Romanov for breeding is an exciting and daunting mission.  Romanovs are known for their large “litters” of lambs, so we are in hopes he will increase our numbers but within reason.  He is a quadruplet himself which is not a rare occurence for Romanovs.  Do I see bottle lambs in our future?

Meet the boys:

They didn’t have as far to travel as the Texel boys did…5 minutes not 5 hours.

Introductions were made.

And lunch was served.

When they finally got the courage to go out to pasture they headed straight for the Texels who had already bonded.

Look….sheep like us.

Eh wait…maybe they aren’t like us.

They still keep their distance from the Texels or the Texels from them, but hopefully they will all hit it off soon.  At least they aren’t fighting.

Then to add to the chaos we weaned four of our Texel ram lambs and threw them into the mix.

This is what I came home to.  

They have pretty much been keeping to themselves also.  But have finally stopped crying for their mamas.

Animals, Around the Homestead

New Texel Rams…

Gretchen

We have upped our ram count from two to six in the last couple of weeks.  We loaded up mom and dad’s pickup with a stock rack and headed to Sedalia, Missouri for the Midwest Stud Ram Sale.  We also hauled two puppies to the sale so they wouldn’t have to stay the duration of the sale (6 days) with their owner before being sold to individuals attending the sale.

And the shy one….aren’t they cute!

Once the puppies were dropped off with their owner it wast time to get serious.  We headed to the Sheep Pavilion where the Texels were to start looking at rams and deciding who we were going to bid on.  It was so hot and humid while we waited for the sale to start.  I thought I was going to die.  I’m not really great in the heat and that’s putting it nicely…I’m a sweater.

We ended up with the two exact rams we were hoping for.  A Texel Yearling from Fisher Texels and a ram lamb from Erdman Texels.  Randy went to get the pickup moved closer so we could load up our boys and get headed back home.  We had a 5+ hour drive ahead of us and wanted to get them moving so they could keep cool.

Once we got them home they were quarantined from the other sheep to make sure they were healthy and happy before shocking them with our two rams.  One of which is kind of a pain.

We were happy with how the sale turned out.  It is always a little stressful.  Between the drive, bidding on them, and hauling them home…it takes it out of us.

Around the Homestead

A Week “Off”

Gretchen

Randy’s Dad and Stepmom came for a visit this past week.  When they come we take a week off of work and use the week and their help to get our little farm ready for summer.  We worked in the garden, planted flowers, planted grass, weeding, and had a sewing lesson.  The guys were mechanics for the better part of the week woking on our pickup, Honda Express, and servicing both the cars. 

They were great help as always and got us off to a great start for summer.  It was such a fun week and went by way to fast.  Now it’s back to work.  Randy and I were really dreading today.  At least we have a long weekend to look forward to. 

We went out to do chores last night to find a ewe with bottle jaw which is a sign of worms.  It was nearly 90 degrees with a 30-35 mph wind and really humid.  I was hot and tired and in hopes of an easy evening of chores, a cool shower, and a early night to bed.  Instead we were wresting and doctoring sheep and looking them all over really well to make sure they were all okay.

All eleven of our cats have upper respiratory infections so I doctored them Saturday evening and will do the same tonight.  The one who got sick first and spread it to everyone else I cannot catch.  I’m going to get serious about it tonight and use a blanket to try to catch her.  I don’t know why she is so wild.  We have 2 out of the 10 who are really wild for some reason.  They were great as kittens, but little by little have just turned into little wild messes.

Randy and I are in hopes of starting and sticking to a nice little exercise routine now that summer is upon us.  I have been walking on my breaks and lunches, but have a feeling that will come to screeching hault once it gets hot out. 

I’m trying to get a game plan together for the kitchen.  I baked a loaf of bread Sunday, and we (the dogs included) nearly had a heat stroke the house was so hot.  We will be eating “cool” foods this summer for sure.  Egg sandwiches are a staple at our house and utilizing the grill and the 1/2 a beef we just got will be at the top of our menu list.

I am watching the clock until it’s time to head home and curl up in bed early.  Hope everyone is having a great Monday.

Around the Homestead

Local Beef, Whole Wheat Bread, Farmer’s Market, and Walking…

Gretchen

We filled our freezers to the brim with half a beef this past weekend.  We now have 340 lbs of beef to dine on.  We know where the steer was born, how and where it was raised, and know the butcher personally.  Even though we didn’t raise the meat ourselves and had to pay for it…it is still more satisfying and rewarding knowing what we are eating and knowing it is good for us.

I’m also changing up my Whole Wheat Bread back to my original recipe.  I had changed recipes so I wouldn’t have to use whole wheat bread flour.  It was just one less thing to buy and one less thing to store.  I already bought the whole wheat bread flour for this go around, but I may try it with all whole wheat flour and see how it turns out. 

Our farmer’s market opens this Saturday.  Woo hoo!!  It’s right across the street from where I work and open on Wednesdays.  New potatoes and a gallon of local/raw honey are at the top of my list!

I have also started walking on my breaks and lunches.  Last week I walked 7 miles, but this week I have only walked 1 mile so far.  I have had errands to run on my breaks and have been working through lunches to make up time for a doctor’s appointment.  It has been really stormy here, so I probably couldn’t have done a lot of walking this week anyway.  Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

The rain is nice so I haven’t had to water or run our soaker hoses.  We are just praying it doesn’t do anything severe.  Those storms in Oklahoma were so bad and it is so sad there for those people.  We lay awake at night during storms worrying about hail and Dad’s sheep without a building now.  Hopefully this storm season passes without any more losses.

Also by request, I plan to try out this recipe for Pumpernickel Bread in the next few days.  Will let you know how it turns out.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Around the Homestead

Dad’s Building…Bad Weather…

Gretchen

With high winds for two days in a row and then possibly a tornado touching down at mom and dad’s there is a lot of cleanup and rebuilding to be done.

Dad lost one of his new sheep buildings.  It blew all the way over onto it’s roof landing on some of his sheep.  Him and mom went outside at 5:30 am and with the tractor lifted the building up.  They were able to pull four lambs out alive, but 2 ewes and 2 babies weren’t so lucky.

This is the front entrance to the building.

Where the forks of the tractor buckled the roof trying to get the babies out.

More holes in the roof.

Here is the foundation where the building used to set.  It just broke off at the ground and blew over.  It could have been a lot worse with so many sheep laying behind the building out of the wind that night.  It was a huge loss, but still grateful it wasn’t any worse.

With forecasts for extremely high winds on the way again, Dad went out early and pulled all the pro-panel off by himself to try to salvage as much of it as he could to rebuild.  The roof is still underneath all the wood frame.  He will have to pull it off also to see if he can’t salvage some of it as well.

Until then the mamas and babies are out in the element with no shelter from the cold spring rain, hail, and storms that come with spring in Kansas.

Around the Homestead, Gardening

Spring Weeding…

Gretchen

I am not proud of this, but this is what happens when you use straw mulch that hasn’t aged for a year:

All the straw had sprouted and was starting to choke out my new plants.

This is what it looks like after nearly three weekends of weeding and tending to everything.

There are gallon cans around nearly every small plant on our property.  The chickens get to roam and do as they please so we have to protect small plants from their rooting around.

Around the Homestead, Self-Sufficiency

Randy’s Birthday….

Gretchen

Today is Randy’s birthday.  For his birthday he wanted to go fishing.  We had dentist appointments on Monday and took the rest of the day to fish with a friend of his.

Randy with his catfish.

Dan with his catfish.

And me with my catfish.

We were all successful and ended the day with 5 to take home and clean.  We caught lots of sunfish, bullhead, and catfish.  It was a fun day with lots of fish being reeled in. 

Around the Homestead

Grandma’s Birthday….

Gretchen

We spent the weekend with family for my Grandma’s 82nd birthday.

Grandma and I

Grandma with her grandkids

Grandma with her kids

Grandma with my cousin, Tannis

Sweet cousins

Randy and Uncle Stan sharing a loveseat….most likely getting into trouble as is usually the case when they get together.

A future “hippie” to follow in my footsteps.  She was adorable in this dress.

Everyone had a great time.  Lots of noise, laughter, and smiles filled our weekend.  It was sad to see it end.

Animals, Around the Homestead

Free Birds…

Gretchen

We have gotten to the point with our chickens we allow them to go wherever they please.  This was fine in the winter when things were dormant and the flowerbeds were empty.  With spring fast approaching we are questioning what we are going to do with them.  One group has a small backyard on their coop.  I’m in hopes of planting them a garden back there and beginning to let them out on it instead of giving them free rein of the property.  The other group of chickens used to stay primarily in the sheep lots, but have now gotten pretty daring and end up in the front yard, front flower beds, and strawberry beds daily.

This is just a taste of what our front step looks like after the little birds have had their way with our flower beds.  Not fun to come home to.  We appreaciate their help in turning the soil and bug control, but once seeds and new plants go in the ground they may be on lockdown for awhile.

We bought stakes over the weekend to stake chicken wire over new seedlings trying to come up.  We will see if this deters them or not.  They may all need to be moved into the coop with the backyard.  We are just hesitant to try this because it will mean mixing our Bantam rooster (just a little guy) with our Rhode Island rooster (a really big guy).  This will be a last resort.

In the meantime, my broom is my friend and my evenings are spent uncovering the echinacea and black-eyed susans trying to come up in the front bed and recovering the roots of the strawberries growing in the box behind Cooter in the above photo.  A small price to pay for fewer summer pests and some really yummy eggs.