Here we are half way through the month of January. Spring draws closer at an ever quickening pace and I have much to do before it, and new kids arrive. Need to trim goat hooves, clean shelters for goats and chickens and ducks, build a top bar bee hive and plot out where/what to plant the garden.
Sunday:
This week started out cold and icy. The rain and slop that was falling last Saturday froze solid overnight and Sunday morning even the gravel driveway was iced over and slick. after “skating” to the other side of the road to get the newspaper, I decided that we would not be tempting fate by driving to church. We watched a local TV preacher and spent a quiet day mostly indoors.
Monday:
I continued researching bamboo as an animal fodder. I called a nursery in Oregon to clarify some questions I had about cold hardiness, planting, and controlling the plants. I am looking at three different types, Bissetti , Incense , and possibly Umbrella. I have a while before I can plant them in this climate to prepare the ground and find the exact right spot to put them. It is still just an idea at this point. The employee I talked to, talked about bamboo the way I talk about my goats and farm plans. I could tell she really knows and loves working with bamboo. I will most likely buy from this place when the time comes.
Tuesday:
I talked with the surveyors about an apparent discrepancy in the acreage between the original survey when we split the land and this last one in December. It looked like we came up short by almost 1 acre this time. It turns out that the 25 foot right-of-way the county has to maintain the road, over 1/2 mile is just that exact amount. I was also told that it was an error by the original survey team. Now we can move on.
Wednesday:
Marky took 2 vacation days from work in order to “clean” the basement. We were actually re-arranging and re-packing boxes that had gotten wet from the bathtub leak the previous few weeks. Mostly we were trying to get to one of several old trunks that supposedly contained some pictures Marky had been looking for. She has been doing some research for a 100 year celebration for Tyhee. In the process we have found some things we had forgotten about, sort of. We did get to at least 3 old trunks and we did find some old pictures. Some of the pictures we found show the original house on this land and the trees that her grandparents planted when they were a mere 6 ft. tall.
Digging in that old musty stuff has really affected my lungs and sinuses for the past several days. I think I am finally getting over it.
Thursday:
Both Wednesday and today the county has been working on the shoulder of Rio Vista Road starting just past my shop and going to the intersection of Reservation. We took a break today to walk up and talk to the crew since they were using our property to park some of their vehicles. Our neighbor with the feed lot is one of the county work crew and so we like to stay informed. They were filling in the steep barrow pit to make it easier to maintain the shoulder of the road. I was told they would come back later this year and also rework the deep ditch by my house. It would be nice to not have a pit that collects garbage running the length of my land.
Friday:
With our schedule back to normal not much happened outside of our routine. Marky back to work, the road crew wrapped up their work for now. I found some old postcards in one of the trunks and I have been going thru them. Found some old love letters from Marky’s grandma to her grandfather mixed in with the post cards from china showing pirates being beheaded. An odd mix i grant you, but the love letters were quite racy for the time.
I also found some old “Idaho Farmer” magazines that I am skimming through. I think this is the same magazine that her grandfather got the plans for the old septic system from. Very interesting read especially the advertisements for the “new” cars and tractors and farm implements of the day.
Saturday:
Today I banded Rusty. It was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. He is so much smaller than a full size goat at 3 months. I’m not at all sure I got the band on correctly, so I need to watch him closely for the next couple of weeks. Make sure there are no complications. Got a call late today that the guy was ready to bring Buddy the buck back home. He has been away for about 2 months. When he got here, he seemed to know right where to go and he and Rascal started right in on a pecking order scuffle. It is time to sell both bucks.
I think I’ll move the garden to where Jon had it. it will give me incentive to finish cleaning up that area.
Egg count for the week of January 12 thru 18 2014:
63 eggs collected
5 dozen filled
3 dozen sold