Ray has begun getting the weeds out of the garden. It’s had to wait a little bit, but just look at these results. We have more lettuce than we can reasonably eat. ( I will not be making cream of lettuce soup. I’d rather give away a couple dozen heads. Cream of Lettuce soup tastes like chlorophyll to me, anywya.) There are new broiler chicks in the barn. We’re not taking pictures since they won’t be with us long.
We awoke to an escaped cow. The horse is a little rough sometimes on these little guys when he plays, and they almost always find a way out of their pen when he pressures them. For a little while, the unnamed cow will hang out mowing the back yard.
Lief the llama jumped a second fence to avoid the sound of the newest cow. He ran all the way out of town and was on the outskirts of the next town before Ray caught up with him. On the bright side, Lief hs proven to be a very good walking llama. He sticks to the roads and follows a lead rope without worrying about finding his own way. Ursula, the previous walking llama, was very headstrong when it came to walking.
Today Ray tried out the neighbor’s gas powered weed eater. It has an extendable reach and an attachement that will allow branch cutting. The engine is 4stroke, so it’s better for the environment. But it’s still gas powered.
The fences and walkways are now clear of grass and bramble.
The llama does not like the new cow. He’s jumped the fence and is hanging out at the back of the property.
Our cow that will not be named arrived. There is always the trouble of attachment.
Welcome, Leif: Protector of the bovine, bane of the canine, and halter friendly llama. Leif has been here for a couple of weeks and is doing his job really well. He doesn’t go anywhere without his cow, and keeps the neighbors’ dog away. He brought some critters on his back, but a little Ivermectin and we’re hoping the problem will clear up quickly.
Let it rain, we’ll be ready.
The garden is in! A little more work on Ray’s part, and a lot of help from the baby, we finished the irrigation and planted the first round of seeds and transplants.
All winter we fought the water. In some ways we were the clear winners: the barn did not flood.
In some ways it was a draw: we directed the stream that runs next to the barn. As long as we didn’t drive over it with the truck, it stayed in the path we made. Did I mention that the truck is the only way to get to the manuer pile in the winter?
Ray rented a trench digger, got some help, and dug 300 feet of soon to be subterranian paths for this water. A French drain was about to begin. The trencher didn’t like working in very wet soil so the water path and about 15 feet of the area North of the barn had to be dug by hand. The trencher was returned, the pipe has been purchased, now we are waiting for a dry day to continue work.
This is it! This will work. We will finally overcome the water!
Cinnamon was dehorned today. She went to the vet for the procedure, and arrived in green style. This little cow isn’t going to be taken around in the car anymore now that she’s over a hundred pounds. But one last time, for ol’ time’s sake.
The weather has been having fun with us lately. How nice and sunny! How it snowed last night! And rained the day before, and was really great for two days before that.
Work must go on, though. Today is the day we’d been dreading: cleaning day. Sure it happens all the time, but the drainage is sucking the wheelbarrow into the earth. Help, help!
Things are looking good. There are fewer runny noses and more sunlight. Let’s hear it for Spring! And we’re back on track to make the outdoors our own again.
We’ll miss the black gold the alpacas and llamas provided, but there is just as much manuer on the pile as there ever wa.
Chicks are really hard to find this year, and since we aren’t looking for Cornish Crosses, people at the feed store don’t quite know what to make of our requests for a multi-purpose bird. We got a black sex link and three Australorps. These should be big girls that can lay eggs if we chicken out, so to speak. It took 7 visits to feed stores to find chicks this year. If you want a turkey, no problem.
If you aren’t part of the problem, you must be part of the solution? Oh, that’s not how that saying goes? We’re going to pretend it is for the time being. We’ve borrowed Red, a Welsh pony to help bring Brody back in line now that the llamas have left. Brody decided he was king of the barn, and there have only been these humans coming around occasionally to tell him otherwise.
As we are no longer a fiber farm, it might be time to rename llamaGrove. We’re not sure what to name it, but we have no llamas or alpacas. Let’s get the producing animals to work!