spring
So I've been without the internet for over a year now and the whole time I've been saying that it doesn't get any easier. I still think it's a bit frustrating not having all the information of the world at my finger tips (and now I have library books overdue and fines) but, I think..... It's finally getting easier. Part of it is probably the fact that everyone now accepts that email is not the way to get a hold of me and if I am not heard of for a while, it means I haven't found a place to blog. I also think another big reason why I don't care so much right now is also the same reason that my house is a huuuugggeee mess: It's SPRING!!! or summer... or at least gardening time!
Last summer I said that for sure i'm going to cut the size of my garden down this year. I said that all the way up till the end of winter when the gardening itch started getting really strong again and here I am with a huge garden and lots of plans for it. I think my plans are always way bigger than what happens. Oh well. For example, on Sunday I figured from Mon - Thurs I could get my onions, potatoes and corn planted. That's a laugh. I even bought a few perennials that I figured I could get in before the forcasted rain on Thurs. (that actually happened last night). Well, Monday, after work, I was going to get going on the onions when I realized that there were dozens of sunflower plants coming up just where I was going to plant the onions. So I transplanted as many as I could to the right spots and in some containers and then I tilled the rest under. I still have dozens more coming up all over the place from last years giants. So that was it for Monday. Tuesday I planned to actually plant the onions now and then even get a start on the potatoes. No gardening at all happened Tuesday because as soon as we got home we ended up going to mom and dad's for a dinner that couldn't be beat. mmmm. (Pork chops, cauliflower, potatoes, wine....). Last night I did get in the garden and I planted 2/3 of the the onions but ran out of steam to finish it. The problem with the big garden is that I end up planting way too much. I get tired of doing the one job and so I have to push myself to finish it and it ends up being a chore. And on top of it all, i don't end up needing or wanting that many. So, when I got tired of it last night, I decided to quit instead of make it a chore. Besides, mom says that a person could have a great garden if they put 10 min. of quality time into it everyday. And I did more that 10 min. by that time. So it rained last night and all those onions are getting a great start and the soil will probably be all mucky tonight when I get home but that's okay. Maybe I'll actually get to the potatoes yet.
Even though this post has been all agriculture so far, i'm not done. I have a great duck story yet... or at least I think it is:
So our two female ducks have disappeared during the days and are only around for a few minutes every evening just before sunset. This is a sure sign that they are nesting!! I first started noticing that one duck was gone at the begining of May so I figure it's eggs will hatch sometime during the last week of May. The second duck I think started sitting on her eggs the next week. The only problem was that Dan and I could not figure out at all where they were sitting. We have a tree line on one side of the property that is full of bugs and yummy grubs and the ducks are always walking through there so I figured they had nested down somewhere hidden in there. The problem is that would be a great place for a racoon to find a big meal. This is the same time a year ago when 2 of our chickens got eaten by a coon so I was slightly worried. Well, on Wednesday when we came home from our dinner that couldn't be beat we saw all four ducks standing around by the door of the barn. Wierd, it's almost like they wanted to get in. And then we noticed the females peaking in through the broken barn board (remember Mozzerella's escape attempt?). In fact they actually climbed in through the hole! We thought that was funny since most of our animals are always trying to get out of that barn. So we went in to chase them out anyways. We clearly watch BOTH females go in but when we went in could we find two? No. We looked for about 10 min! It's not a huge barn and the ducks aren't that small. We shooed one duck out and looked and looked. Finally, we put a ladder up to the hay mow to see if, by some wierd chance it figured out how to fly through that hole. After searching around in the old stale mow, there she was sitting in perfectly sheltered, safe pile of old dry straw. She had lots of down around her and wouldn't move. There it was. There was her nest. Can you believe how brilliant nature is? Instinct is amazing. What a super smart duck! Sure, racoons can still get up there but they havn't since we've been living here. It's warm and dry and safe. The only problem now is, what happens when the ducks hatch? How are they gonna get out? Sure theres a hole but can they fly? They'll try to follow there mother and fall right through the hole only to encounter our dog who gets super excited when she discovers any other animal that moves. I figure we'll keep an eye on the nest and when we notice they hatched we'll catch them and bring them down. And also put the dog somewhere else for a while. But on the other hand, if nature was brilliant enough to find that spot for a nest, I'm sure this will figure itself out too. Maybe I'll just put lot of straw under the hole for them to land on. The second female was trying to get into the barn like anything so I figure she's nesting up there too. I looked around for a while up there but didn't find a second nest. Could they be sitting beside eachother on the same nest? We'll see. Oh, these kinds of things make me so happy.
Mozzerella has calmed down quite a bit. The routine is keeping her in the chicken coop (with FOUR locks on the door) until we get home around 5:00. We let the chickens and the goat out at that time and tie the goat to a tree. She's got a 50 foot lead so has plenty of room but keeps all the grass on the 50 feet cut down within a few days. It's hard finding places to tie her up to where she can't get tangled up, reach any tulips or be scorching hot. Good thing we've got lots of space. She goes back in the chicken coop when the chickens go back (around 9:00). Four hours of grazing is good, right? She's got hay in the coop and doesn't eat grain anymore. In fact, neither do the chickens. I kinda stopped feeding them. They look fine still but only produce 2 eggs a day for 3 chickens. I think I'm going to buy some layer mash and feed them every other day. maybe. I don't really need to so that would be an extra cost. The goat really looks like she lost weight now. She's definately not looking skinny but healthier. If any of you think this is cruel and the animals need to be fed more, tell me. I'm just trying things out, right?
So that's it for the agrarian news. There isn't really much else that I find interesting right now. Work is work. I'm working about 35 hours a week now (almost too much but I don't want to complain) and working the same schedule as Dan which means that we drive to work and back together everyday. We leave the same time and get home the same time. I really like that part. And getting up so early really isn't that bad anymore. I actually kinda like it. We get up at 5:15 now and it's already light out by then. The birds seem really loud then too. I love the sunrise time. I would like to think that if I ever had to make my own schedule I would make it so that I always get up around sunrise (whether that's 5:15 or 7:30) and then always go to be 8ish hours before sunrise. I think we would all be a healthier society if we followed that sleep schedule. Unfortunately, clocks rule the day. Speaking of clocks, it's about time for my shift to start so, i'm off. See ya.....
Happy Mothers day to all you mothers out there!!
Last summer I said that for sure i'm going to cut the size of my garden down this year. I said that all the way up till the end of winter when the gardening itch started getting really strong again and here I am with a huge garden and lots of plans for it. I think my plans are always way bigger than what happens. Oh well. For example, on Sunday I figured from Mon - Thurs I could get my onions, potatoes and corn planted. That's a laugh. I even bought a few perennials that I figured I could get in before the forcasted rain on Thurs. (that actually happened last night). Well, Monday, after work, I was going to get going on the onions when I realized that there were dozens of sunflower plants coming up just where I was going to plant the onions. So I transplanted as many as I could to the right spots and in some containers and then I tilled the rest under. I still have dozens more coming up all over the place from last years giants. So that was it for Monday. Tuesday I planned to actually plant the onions now and then even get a start on the potatoes. No gardening at all happened Tuesday because as soon as we got home we ended up going to mom and dad's for a dinner that couldn't be beat. mmmm. (Pork chops, cauliflower, potatoes, wine....). Last night I did get in the garden and I planted 2/3 of the the onions but ran out of steam to finish it. The problem with the big garden is that I end up planting way too much. I get tired of doing the one job and so I have to push myself to finish it and it ends up being a chore. And on top of it all, i don't end up needing or wanting that many. So, when I got tired of it last night, I decided to quit instead of make it a chore. Besides, mom says that a person could have a great garden if they put 10 min. of quality time into it everyday. And I did more that 10 min. by that time. So it rained last night and all those onions are getting a great start and the soil will probably be all mucky tonight when I get home but that's okay. Maybe I'll actually get to the potatoes yet.
Even though this post has been all agriculture so far, i'm not done. I have a great duck story yet... or at least I think it is:
So our two female ducks have disappeared during the days and are only around for a few minutes every evening just before sunset. This is a sure sign that they are nesting!! I first started noticing that one duck was gone at the begining of May so I figure it's eggs will hatch sometime during the last week of May. The second duck I think started sitting on her eggs the next week. The only problem was that Dan and I could not figure out at all where they were sitting. We have a tree line on one side of the property that is full of bugs and yummy grubs and the ducks are always walking through there so I figured they had nested down somewhere hidden in there. The problem is that would be a great place for a racoon to find a big meal. This is the same time a year ago when 2 of our chickens got eaten by a coon so I was slightly worried. Well, on Wednesday when we came home from our dinner that couldn't be beat we saw all four ducks standing around by the door of the barn. Wierd, it's almost like they wanted to get in. And then we noticed the females peaking in through the broken barn board (remember Mozzerella's escape attempt?). In fact they actually climbed in through the hole! We thought that was funny since most of our animals are always trying to get out of that barn. So we went in to chase them out anyways. We clearly watch BOTH females go in but when we went in could we find two? No. We looked for about 10 min! It's not a huge barn and the ducks aren't that small. We shooed one duck out and looked and looked. Finally, we put a ladder up to the hay mow to see if, by some wierd chance it figured out how to fly through that hole. After searching around in the old stale mow, there she was sitting in perfectly sheltered, safe pile of old dry straw. She had lots of down around her and wouldn't move. There it was. There was her nest. Can you believe how brilliant nature is? Instinct is amazing. What a super smart duck! Sure, racoons can still get up there but they havn't since we've been living here. It's warm and dry and safe. The only problem now is, what happens when the ducks hatch? How are they gonna get out? Sure theres a hole but can they fly? They'll try to follow there mother and fall right through the hole only to encounter our dog who gets super excited when she discovers any other animal that moves. I figure we'll keep an eye on the nest and when we notice they hatched we'll catch them and bring them down. And also put the dog somewhere else for a while. But on the other hand, if nature was brilliant enough to find that spot for a nest, I'm sure this will figure itself out too. Maybe I'll just put lot of straw under the hole for them to land on. The second female was trying to get into the barn like anything so I figure she's nesting up there too. I looked around for a while up there but didn't find a second nest. Could they be sitting beside eachother on the same nest? We'll see. Oh, these kinds of things make me so happy.
Mozzerella has calmed down quite a bit. The routine is keeping her in the chicken coop (with FOUR locks on the door) until we get home around 5:00. We let the chickens and the goat out at that time and tie the goat to a tree. She's got a 50 foot lead so has plenty of room but keeps all the grass on the 50 feet cut down within a few days. It's hard finding places to tie her up to where she can't get tangled up, reach any tulips or be scorching hot. Good thing we've got lots of space. She goes back in the chicken coop when the chickens go back (around 9:00). Four hours of grazing is good, right? She's got hay in the coop and doesn't eat grain anymore. In fact, neither do the chickens. I kinda stopped feeding them. They look fine still but only produce 2 eggs a day for 3 chickens. I think I'm going to buy some layer mash and feed them every other day. maybe. I don't really need to so that would be an extra cost. The goat really looks like she lost weight now. She's definately not looking skinny but healthier. If any of you think this is cruel and the animals need to be fed more, tell me. I'm just trying things out, right?
So that's it for the agrarian news. There isn't really much else that I find interesting right now. Work is work. I'm working about 35 hours a week now (almost too much but I don't want to complain) and working the same schedule as Dan which means that we drive to work and back together everyday. We leave the same time and get home the same time. I really like that part. And getting up so early really isn't that bad anymore. I actually kinda like it. We get up at 5:15 now and it's already light out by then. The birds seem really loud then too. I love the sunrise time. I would like to think that if I ever had to make my own schedule I would make it so that I always get up around sunrise (whether that's 5:15 or 7:30) and then always go to be 8ish hours before sunrise. I think we would all be a healthier society if we followed that sleep schedule. Unfortunately, clocks rule the day. Speaking of clocks, it's about time for my shift to start so, i'm off. See ya.....
Happy Mothers day to all you mothers out there!!
posted by Nicole at 8:28 a.m.
2 Comments:
Dear Farmer Nicole,
Sounds delightful. I don't know about the 10 minutes per day until after everything is planted though. Just enjoy it. Don't worry about the should have, would have, could haves.
And your soil... it's beautiful, you'll be in there today for sure.
Hope we meet up some how this weekend, I have some plants for you.
Love mom
PS Hope you don't have any snapping turtles in that pond of yours. They love little duckies.
Mom, too bad. If 10 min is all i've got, 10 min. is all I'm going to give.
I'm not sure if I have snapping turtles or muskrats anymore. I haven't seen signs of them and Chloe's really been playing around there a lot. I guess we'll see right?
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