Stranded

I am stuck at a bus station in Bakersfield. I was on my way down to see Luc sing at Westmont, and to see my sister and brother. I can't get through because the grapevine is closed due to weather, which is funny because I was all worried about it snowing and causing problems at home, which it didn't. I didn't even think about it snowing in the south. I should have taken the train directly to Santa Barbara. I guess it could be worse. I could be stuck on the bus on the road with no where to go.

2 down

We (Joel, Sam, Gabriel, Regan and myself) took Luc down to college this last weekend. My sister was there to help get him in and help me navigate around the campus and take care of the kids. I must say, Luc picked a wonderful college. As we were taking a tour he kept telling me that it was "perfect". He is at Westmont. If you know anything about it, it is a beautiful campus, with views of the beach from his dorm and the library. There are a lot of good resources for the students, and the staff really wants to see the kids succeed. Leaving him there has been bittersweet. So happy for him; he is going to have a wonderful experience. However, he is going to be missed by everyone here, although he isn't all that far away, and the train travels between here and there as well.

Life has gotten much quieter with Luc and Brianna gone, as well as with Nick and Gabriel in school. I actually got a bunch of laundry done, cleaned up the kitchen, and vacuumed quite a bit of the house. Feeling pretty good about all of that. Now if I could only find Joel's phone.....

We caught 3 more squirrels today, and Nick told me we caught one yesterday as well. That brings the total up to 13. I think I can plant my garden for the fall now. Still going to keep the trap out and baited though.

We caught 3 more squirrels today, and Nick told me we caught one yesterday as well. That brings the total up to 13. I think I can plant my garden for the fall now. Still going to keep the trap out and baited though.

Caught 2 more squirrels yesterday. They were both dead when I got there. My sister told me that a campground in here I California was closed due to finding squirrels with the plague. At least 3 more squirrels to go.

Squirrels

We caught 2 baby squirrels today. The last few squirrels that we have caught have all died in the trap, probably from heat stroke. Nick has been unhappy with that situation, and I am sure he was pleased that these little guys were ok. I have to admit, as unhappy as I am with the squirrel situation (did I tell you that they have eaten all of my dry bean plants? Every. Single. One.), they were sure cute. So, tonight we relocated them into an empty field. Once they figured out how to escape from the opened trap door, they ran very quickly not the blackberry thicket. I was feeling pretty happy--6, possibly 7 squirrels down, until nick mentioned that there were at least 5 squirrels left. 5. Squirrels. Left. Sigh.

We've got

Goats! Well, sort of. They aren't ours. A friend of mine has two goats that are in milk that we are borrowing to see how we like them. We want to see if we want them with thecow, instead of the cow, or not at all. They are experienced, and I don't have to deal with babies so that is a huge plus. So far, we really like them. On the plus side, they are really easy to milk. Even Regan has milked them (with some help from mommy). We tie up one leg and there is no kicking or stepping in the milk. They give about 3 quarts each milking, and they are milked twice a day. I *think* I have figured out the milk handling so that the milk taste really good. They have stayed in their electric fence enclosure. The negatives? Well, I don't have a lot of natural pasture for them, so I need to always buy their feed. The milk can get really goaty if you aren't careful. But, we have enough milk to drink and make yoghurt. Today I made goat's milk soap, and I am waiting on an order of rennet so that I can make some cheese. I am staring with mozzarella, and will move on to other cheeses if that seems to work well.

We processed the 10 chickens we had a few weekends ago. It ended up taking 3 hours from start to finish. I think the next time we do it will be much quicker. Everyone will have their own station that they can man. The chicken plucker worked amazingly well. We were all so impressed with how fast it stripped off the feathers. That was the worst part of doing the birds last time. The chicken plucker was well worth the money.

The cow is over at the breeders. I had planned to get all the different field areas rototilled and planted with some different grasses, but that has been really slow going. It is not going to be even close to ready when she gets back, not sure how that is going to go. Wonder if they can keep her there for awhile? Probably not.

Chicken plucker

Well, the chicken plucker finally arrived! We considered making one, but I found one that cost less to buy than to make. No brainier!

We will be processing the chickens this weekend. Excited to see how this works!

Getting help

Yesterday I was able to go and get some help in understanding and training Elsie. Christina, who I bought Elsie from, is a wonderful trainer, and seems to really understand cows. She gave me some excellent tips and training, and I feel much more comfortable and confident. I also got a stable mat for the stanchion, and Elsie seems much happier milking up there than in the redneck stanchion I had thrown together earlier.

Just done

Today is one of "those days". And by that, I mean I just feel done with all of this homesteading stuff. I spent 4 hours doing chores around the yard, and very little seemed to be going right. The cow is not letting down. So very little milk. I wanted to move her to a new area today. Couldn't get the fence to work. That took up a lot of time. Finally decided to move her in the back, but I had to redo that fence. Thought I had it working and put the cows back there. Watched as the little cow went through. Decided that since I don't have much growing (yet) in the garden, I could eat breakfast and have some coffee. Went back and fixed the fence, and watered the fence line. I really want them to get a good shock so they. Leave. It. Alone. Got the 2 groups of chickens fed. Watered one of the gardens. Watered the pots of seeds. Did the sprouted grains. Decided what to do with the trapped squirrel. (Woo hoo!). Strained the milk. I was so done at that point. We hadn't even done school, my hair wasn't brushed, Regan wasn't dressed, and it was 11:00. I am rethinking the whole moving of the pasture area every other day. It just simply takes too long right now. Yes, I want to feed Elsie more from what I can grow, but I am feeling overwhelmed with this. Perhaps if I move the cows once a week, and make the areas bigger. It would still be moving her to fresh areas and letting the grass rest, but it would be more manageable for me.

This is the squirrel trap we got. It took 2 days, but we caught one! We are going to relocate it to the lake area. Hopefully we can catch more and I will be able to have a great garden.

Updates

Early March--picked up 13 egg chickens. 2 Delaware, 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 2 Rhode Island Reds, and 7 Buff Orpingtons. Also got 25? Meat chickens.

Mid March--Ellie had her baby and it was a heifer. A few days prior to this, I thought she was in labor. She was losing her mucous plug, and was having runny stools. She also seemed to be contracting. We eagerly awaited for labor to progress. She sure looked miserable! By the next morning I was quite concerned that something was wrong so I called the vet. Who came pretty quickly. It ended up that she ate something poisonous. 2 days later we woke up and there was the calf! Milking her was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I tied her up to the fence and put a barrel by her rear legs. She did kick some, and I couldn't ever leave the bucket on the ground, but she didn't really kick me. It was more of a kicking of the bucket. Not even really hard. The next week she and her baby were sold.

April 7--woke up to a strange noise. As I went downstairs, we realized it was Elsie, bellowing. Kirk and I went outside and saw that the water bag was broken and hanging down. She was rocking back and forth and seemed really unhappy. I called the vet and left a message, then went into the house to get dressed. Kirk came in a few minutes later to let me know that the calf was born. I was super disappointed that we just missed it, and then he told me that she had had it before we ever went out. She was bellowing at her calf to tell it to get up. The calf--a bull calf--was fine, and eventually nursed. Elsie is super bossy with the calf, who we named Buster. He was sweet the first few days, but is turning out to be quite the stubborn calf.

Elsie has not been easy to milk. She had a very swollen teat, and was constantly kicking me. One day I was head to toe manure from her kicking. I kicked her right back and we had a come to Jesus moment. She got better, but still wasn't great. I needed a stanchion. I made a redneck stanchion, and although it wasn't pretty, it got the job done. I really expected her to be so much better! She was such a sweet cow before calving. Now? Not so much.

Varmints

A few days ago, I saw a rat scurrying across the garage floor. I informed my husband, and we put it on our list of things to do. Which meant it wouldn't get done for some time. Today, I found that sucker in our garbage can of chicken food. So, Joel got his b.b. gun and out we went to shoot it. For all that Joel wants to hunt and use his gun, he really couldn't take the first shot. So I did. Unfortunately, it took several shots to finally kill it. Even though I really don't like rats and I want them dead, it is sobering to take a life. With a trap or poison, killing is very hands off. But shooting? That is up close and personal. That rat looked me in the eye and whimpered so pitifully.

After it was all over, and Joel having dealt the final kill shot(s), he informed me that his gun doesn't always fire when pointed down. That explains a lot.