Thanksgiving Babies and ...

the last breath of Summer...

First thing Thanksgiving morning Weed Whacker,the sheep, had her babies..here is baby # 1 in all his gooey glory!

 I couldn't help this picture, just look at the size of that bag!

As soon as Weed Whacker started talking to the little fellow the whole flock came over to see him!

They just  stood there, greeting him..letting him know he is part of their little family!

Charger lamb sat baby # 1 as Mom  took care of baby # 2 ...

Charger is a very good Dad!

Here are the new boys all dried off, one has short ears like Weed Whacker and one regular ears like Charger! Other than the ear thing they are almost identical!

Summer has breathed it last breath. A cold front has come in this afternoon! We were at 80* and high humidity ...uggg..so not the way this time of year is supposed to feel!  It may freeze tonight but if it doesn't it will tomorrow for sure so I went out and got all my green tomatoes and the last of my peppers and a handful of purple hull peas.

I had a lot of green tomatoes! Too bad they didn't ripen but I won't let them go to waste,nope! There are lots of things to make with them  the hard part is just going to be deciding what!

This is a picture of my one calendula plant, the flower almost doesn't look real it is so vivid

Happy Thanksgiving !

Hello Dolly!

 Meet Dolly,she is our brand new farm baby! Just look at that face, total cuteness! Dolly came to us this morning from my friend Texan. You can read about Dolly's story here.


 My friend Texan, did a great job taking care of her after her mom rejected her!  She is strong and full of energy and already trying to do The Goatie Goat Dance! I think she is going to be an excellent Goatie Goat Dancer,don't you?



Of course we had to introduce her to Oscar Petterson...




Oscar gave her a few gentle  touches to see what this strange critter was...

He was unsure and decided he would watch Dolly from the baby asparagus plants!

 Me and the Boy went to sit on the red bench by the goat pen with Dolly and Oscar followed...Mr.Petterson had made up his mind! He was the farm baby and he did not like this new critter and as far as he was concerned he was a cheetah and Dolly was a zebra!

He kept trying to attack her! It may have had something to do with that cute little wagging tail of Dolly's!


I think Dolly has formed her opinion of Mr.Oscar Peterson too...phtzsttttsss!

So now we have a new farm adventure...another bottle baby! I can't help it...just have a soft spot for taking care of critter babies..even if it means middle of the night feedings! I mean really,who could resist that face!

For Your Turkey Viewing Pleasure....

I present to you the following programs....

Veggies

 Fall is here so I though I would show you all what I have in the garden. I wish I had about ten times the amount that I have planted but maybe next year I will have more garden space...and what I mean by space is more raised beds with decent dirt!

Here are some nice sized green tomatoes! We had two nights of near misses with the temps dipping down to 33*! It warmed back up some so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will get some red ones! If not, everyone will be getting green tomato relish for Christmas!

  This is tarragon blooming! I tell you, if this herb will grow in this flower bed it will grow anywhere! I have had very few things grow well in this patch of gumbo! I also think the lawn was heavily weed and feeded  before we bought the place,the first couple of years I really had trouble establishing  flowerbeds.

Under the tomatoes in this bed I have some cabbages.Once we have frost the tomatoes will be gone and the cabbages will have this bed all to themselves! I did the same out in the garden,I planted my cabbages between the tomatoes to protect them from our harsh sun and I didn't loose one single cabbage this Fall!

Here are some turnips, we raise them mostly for their green tops. Nothing like a big ole mess of turnip greens and a pan of cornbread! That is a southern comfort!

 
Carrots...I wish I had a lot more planted! This is the first time I have had any success with them. I think it is because they are in one of the raised beds!

 The parsnips came up great this year too, both in the regular garden and the raised bed!

 This is a baby white kohlrabi...I really like these strange veggies and have  a lot of them planted around in different places!

 Here are some leeks and beets! The beets need thinning. I can grow leeks really well but have trouble with regular onions. Well, I can  grow the bunching onions but I can never, for some reason, grow a decent bulb onion! That's OK, leeks do just fine as a substitute for me!

These are collard greens...this is the first year I have grown them  and they seem to be doing great!

 Chives! Oh  how we love our chives around here! The Boy will hardly eat mashed potatoes with out chives in them! I absolutely  have to have them in my eggs in the mornings!

 This is some oregano,it has really taken off in the cooler weather! I need to get some in the dehydrator soon...

 

 I still have bell peppers and jalapenos making like crazy too!  I am already thinking about spring seeds and what I want to plant next year!  It is a sickness, I tell you all, this gardening fever!   So....what are you growing this fall?

Sheep Baby

 I usually don't post much towards the end of the week because I am busy with Boy stuff. Well...come to think of it, I guess everyday is a day busy with Boy stuff, him being homeschooled and all, but the end of the week stuff requires me to drive forever! OK, not forever but it feels like forever! It  leaves me with little spare time on those days! Then I wasn't in blog land earlier this week because The Boy, or as I have begun referring to him as, Typhoid Mary, gave me a nasty cold last weekend! A cold he swore he did not have! "No, Mom,it is just sinuses!" My mom senses were telling me other wise...sometimes being right is not all that great! Anyways....I am better now. So, where was I....Oh yeah....unless something exciting happens I am usually not in blog land much on the later half of the week. Yep, you guessed it, something exciting did happen! I have been watching this one particular sheep,Weed Whacker, who looks like she is going to explode any second, for signs of an impending birth! I am suspecting triplets...

 Well...when we got home from  the  trip to the orthodontist today we go out and check all the critters like we always do and lo and behold we have this little fellow!

 But to my surprise it did not explode out of Weed Whacker! He was born from a sheep I didn't think was close to being ready yet, Sea Salt! She usually has twins so she didn't  really look big enough to be ready for birthing yet...I tell you,every time I think I am getting good at predicting births around here these animals prove me wrong!

 This little fellow was already dry and prancing around when we found him! Yes, I managed to grab him up and it is a little boy!

 Here is his proud Papa,Charger! The sheep are so sweet when one gives birth, they all come and greet the babies and are gentle with them and stand still  and close so the babies can get to know them. Charger will watch over them closely and even  baby sit while the moms graze!

 Just look at that cute face!

Hopefully Weed Whacker will have 3 and make up for Sea Salt only having one. These sheep can often have triplets so we will just have to wait and see!

Another surprise I got today came in the mail. It was some wild garlic seeds from A Rural Journal. You should check her out if you haven't already! She has a great blog about living,learning and loving this country life so many of us have chosen!

Turkey on a Hot Tin Roof

I looked out the kitchen window the other day and what did I see...

 That's right,an escapee!

Mr. Young and  Juicy thinks he is doing something big. Little does he know if he hits the ground in this yard he has about as much chance of escaping Weenie's bite-o-death as he does at making it past Thanksgiving!

Yes, I have a special rehabilitation program for trouble making poultry! Be it turkey,chicken or duck! I have named this program "Supper"!

  For now Mr.Young and Juicy will get his wing clipped and put back in the Turkey yard...a sort of stay of execution!

 Oscar Peterson loved the wing clippings!

 Well, at first taste he kind of made a yak face....

 But he was not going to let that stop him from thoroughly attacking those feathers!

Oscar is a mighty hunter in training! Farm kitties have to be ferocious after all!

Pole Fixin'

If your pole looks like this.......

  ya may need to get it fixed! That thing was leaning so bad the if a bird landed on the line to the house I think it would have snapped! So we called the electric people and the first man came and said,"Yep, your pole's leaning." He said he would send someone else to look at it and write up a work order. The second man shows up the next day and says,"Yep, your pole's leaning." He ties an orange plastic tie on it and says someone will call me on Monday. They called and said they would be out first thing Tuesday.

 Sure enough ,first thing Tuesday morning a whole convoy of trucks show up at 8 o'clock sharp!

We did not get a new pole,those were for the next job.

They pulled up the old and might I add disturbingly short, anchor and drilled a new, deep,  big anchor for our leaning pole.

Then that truck left and in came the bucket truck to attach the new cable...

Then they tightened up the new cable.The pole is not completely straight but it has plenty of slack now on the line to the house. I hope the new anchor holds. It is this dirt we have, black gumbo.When we are in drought, like we usually are every summer it seems, it shrinks until it has huge cracks in it...you can pull up cemented fence post if you wanted too! Then in the winter it is slick as owl poop and clings to your boots like lead weights. So now the pole is fixed...on to the next thing to worry about,lol!

 Oh ! Here is a picture of one of Hubby's deranged dogs,Pork of Pork and Beans, absolutely begging to bite something.We had to chain them up since this was all going on in their yard. Poor Pork, he so badly wanted to bite a truck, loud engines enrage him! He once tried to bite a chain saw...would have ended badly for him I am sure! "Please Mom, can I bite just one truck or man...just one bite ...please..there are so many...."

Of course I had to say no....but I assured him he could bite any burglars that came into the yard or creepy monster like figures toting chainsaws!