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Posts Tagged ‘Australian Shepherds’

I spent all day Saturday, canning, well not really all day, just my “spare” time not allotted for regular chores.  This isn’t a how-to post, just my reflections about food preservation. 
Kerr canning jar manufactured in 1957, the year I was born.
Food preservation is part of my life everyday, as it has been since I was born.  Not [...]

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 This post is for dog lovers.
My baby is one today.  It’s been a fun year, we had no idea who this guy was, that we brought into our lives last September.  He was just #8, my husband picked him out from several pictures that the breeder emailed us.
pup # 8

A wagon load of cuties, I [...]

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I always feel guilty if I waste food.  Whether from over planting, or being over zealous in my harvesting.  I try to ask myself, “Is this better on the vine, in the ground, … , OR in the refrigerator?”  The refrigerator is usually the most wasteful place for me, it costs money to run, and [...]

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After the big letdown with Jetta’s calving,  I was kind of glad that it rained most of the week.  I just didn’t feel like planting any garden.  We let Jetta lick and clean her calf, and eat the placenta.  The amniotic fluid on the calf, contains natural pain inhibitors, and eating the placenta helps prolong colostrum [...]

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She has to - she can’t deal with her owner anymore!  I broke down and called the vet yesterday, and he gave me several reasons that I shouldn’t worry about the calf.
•  The first baby can come at anytime.
•  The bull, (whom we only know as Willy) may throw late calves.
•  The owner can’t [...]

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It’s not the actual planting, it’s all the work beforehand and after, that takes so much time.  Making compost, seeding, tending, irrigation planning, and soil preparation.  This list could go on in more detail, but, it’s a long time and a lot of work from the idea of growing your own food, to get that food to the table.  [...]

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It’s that time of year when the greenhouse morphs from a safe haven for cool colors and foods to the hot vibrant colors and flavors of heat loving crops.  The biggest challenge  to planting for the summer, is getting the soil saturated beforehand.  In my lottery dreams - I would rebuild my greenhouses and make them [...]

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Jetta update:  Nothing!  Next Tuesday???
First calf of the season.

I was glad to see this guy, he the first.  This cow had twins last year, she did as good a job as possible, but they were considerably smaller than the singletons.  When fall came I sold them at auction since they were smaller, and always hungry.  Since [...]

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Jetta Update:  Still waiting…
Frozen colostrum, just is case something goes wrong.

 Everything that happens here starts with a seed, part of the “master plan.”  A seed can grow into a calf that may be a milk cow or beef, or a tree that makes firewood, lumber or that just makes us feel good  by looking at it.  These last [...]

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Still waiting on Jetta…
I’m in the garden…
Frog eggs, and one salamander egg cluster.

Pacific Tree frog tadpoles and Douglas Fir seed.

Trace, weedy garlic and potato onions.

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Cornish Cross chicks in brooder - day 5.  “Are we in the forest?”

I’m not a PC chicken farmer.  By this I mean I don’t let my chickens free-range.  There I said it!  The F-word of the pastured poultry world.  But, I know raising these chickens for part of our meat supply is an un-natural task.  [...]

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Despite my whining about the re-fencing, I was able to get some garden chores off of my list.
Hoping to accomplish by May 1st, weather permitting:
♣ Dig the last of the parsnips for the milk cow, and also cook some to check quality.
The cow thinks they are OK, the human thinks they look OK, despite 8″ of [...]

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My fencing bucket.

We pick up used food grade containers wherever we can, for storing chicken feed, minerals etc.  Most of the time I don’t look at the labels.  If we do, we are always surprised at the what the labels say.  I have 55 gallon drums that held tomato paste, 7 gallon buckets that held [...]

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Still snowing as of yesterday - today is clear with a temp of 23 deg F. But, once the sun is out I think it will warm considerably.
No Comment!  Boys…

I’m outta here!

Add this to the What??
What a Master Gardener haughtily said to us after seeing our compost piles.
“You will HAVE to buy worms, you can’t [...]

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WARNING
If you don’t get silly over your dogs and your kids, you won’t find this even mildly interesting.
The title of this post is the name my daughter, (at age 4) gave our dog Belle.  Other names, she went by where:  Bikkie, Crapper Treek Belle, Boop Diggy, and Dog Bags.  My husband and I could never remember how to say that [...]

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It’s amazing what the weather does in March.  Last Thursday brought cool rain, Friday gave us an inch of snow, and Saturday morning we woke up to a hard frost.  So much for the grass growing.  Now, Monday morning, snow again.  But I know better than to be impatient.  I also don’t want to complain about the [...]

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I’ve gotten several questions about the cow post, via email.  Thanks for the ?’s, it makes me realize how much I’m getting off topic.  Although, I doubt it will actually make me stop. (Getting off topic, that is)
Homeopathy - I think I will never be done learning about homeopathy.  The subject is so broad and like [...]

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