R.I.P. Ned

I did it. I butchered one of the roosters.

 I picked him as first because he's the most dangerous. He's attacked my 9-year old daughter on numerous occasions. So many that we've armed her with a tennis racket when she goes outside alone so she can fend him off. He's also attacked other people's children and that's really not cool. 

As he was a 14-month old rooster, he was thick skinned and rather tough. 

I turned him into rooster and rice soup and pressure-canned it. 

At least that's tasty!

Fickle and I

Goat Babies!

Mr. Freckles and Franny are proud to announce the birth of twin girls! 

Feisty: 

And Fickle:

Yay for garden space

Landscaper showed up today. 

Front is almost cleared out - three big bushes are gone. Next up in this area will be an herb garden. 

Started planting

A few weeks ago, we started cabbages, cauliflower, bok choy, and various herbs. Most everything is sprouting! This weekend we started 20 different types of tomatoes. 

I used cardboard tubes to make little seed starting pots and used milk cartons as individual greenhouses. Works great to keep the moisture level relatively high. 

Still haven't processed any roosters but I think I'll be doing some this week. I'm going to can them all. 

Husband's studio is still not ready because the local phone company is run by fucktarded idiots. 

Rooster Culling

Planned to process five of our six roosters today. That's too many roosters for just 12 hens. But Mother Nature interfered again. Couldn't find a spot to set up the propane burner - wanted to set up a big pot outside and keep the water nice and hot, but too windy out there. 

It's currently snowing. Husband had to leave early...AGAIN... because of the weather. Didn't want to get stuck here or in transit in the projected 5-10 inches of snow. 

Planted more seeds today. We planted some cabbage (3 types), cauliflower (2 types), bok choy, and various herbs last weekend and we have little sprouts!

 

Today, I planted some Minibel tomatoes. They are a tiny cherry tomato that does best in containers so no reason to wait for frost concerns for those. I also planted Roselle Red Thai, which is a kind of hibiscus that had edible flowers and leaves. Sounded interesting when I was buying seeds. What I didn't use, I put into a card and will mail to my oldest daughter in Tulsa. While speaking with her today, she said she was going to try and grow some tomatoes in her apartment and I thought "Hey! I have the perfect tomato!" 

Bacon is still brining as is the ham. I think I'm going to smoke a piece of bacon tomorrow and see if it's ready. It's been about 10 days. 

The ham I think will be for Easter :-)

Landscaping!

Tuesday, the landscaper came out to meet with me and talk about what I wanted to do with the gardens. 

The one in the front of the house, where the L-shaped porch is, will be cleared of bushes and whatever else is growing there and logs from the trees we had last year will be moved to the dump area. I thought I'd save money by cutting them up myself but locust wood is like iron - and it's eating up my chainsaw. 

The other area is down in my garden where I dug out the raised beds. I'm going to have it expanded like five or six times the size I have now. All they have to do is till and dig. Then add compost. 

He gave me a great price, because as he put it to his son (son is president, dad is vice), my job doesn't require any special skills but it's work he (dad) likes doing. 

Three weeks!!