Our little farm

We don’t really live on a farm, in that we don’t pay the bills with what we make.  We are trying to be a little more self sufficient and in that we seem to be doing ok. 

We have a garden that we have already been able to harvest some produce: tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce and some squash and onions.  Hopefully, it will continue but it is already hot and very, very dry.   We are in a long drought.  It hasn't rained in a long while.  Unfortunately, we haven’t even had any drizzles, nothing.

Yesterday, we butchered 19 X-cross white chickens that we have raised since they were a day old.  Kathie took pictures, I was kind of busy.  We got home from Nathan’s last regular season game and then started the processing.  The men folk – Rob, Daddy, Caleb and Nathan were outside doing the killing,  de-heading,  and blood draining.  Kathie, Katie, Mandy and I were inside doing the washing, dunking in hot water, plucking, and eviscerating.  That means taking out the “innards” as my Grandmother would have said.  Sammy watched the girls so that we could do the above.

Now we have 19 chickens in two freezers.  We also have two new calves, certainly late coming this year.  We usually have calves starting in late February/early March.  We had two new ones Saturday.  I admit, I am not a specialist in cow genetics but we have a solid black part-Angus cow that has never given birth to a cow that looks like her.  This new calf is no exception.  Brown with splotches of white.

                                              Ebony with her new calf.  One or two days old. 

Then we have another calf whose Mother is Daisy.  This is Daisy’s first calf.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if they are female or male yet.

Our fruit trees are not doing very well, I think because it is too dry except for the figs bushes,which are covered with figs.  We put in 9 berry bushes this year.  They have had there challenges – the bull stepping on them, dry, dry weather and bugs but we have gotten a few blue berries and we have some raspberries that are growing.

It has been a busy week, next week Mandy gets her cast off which will probably make things easier.  Mandy has a spika cast and it is from her waist, down one leg and is bent at the knee.  Which means she can sit but it is so high she can’t get under certain things like the piano.  She has a recital May 21st so, we are practicing with Kathie key board right now.