Posted in agriculture, cattle, farm as desired, farm life, redneck moments, rotational grazing, sustainability, tagged agriculture, beef cattle, cattle, farm life, redneck moments, rotational grazing on July 17, 2008 | 9 Comments »
This bruiser arrived by Bull Express on Tuesday. His name is Henry.
The steers like to hang out with bulls, and try to pick up a few pointers.
Henry will be here for 6 weeks, which will allow him to cover the cows through two heat cycles. If a cow doesn’t breed back in two heat cycles, [...]
Posted in agriculture, cattle, electric fencing, farm as desired, farm dogs, farm life, rotational grazing, sustainability, zero mile foodshed, tagged agriculture, cattle, farm dogs, farm life, rotational grazing, Salatin-style farming, sustainability on July 1, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I want to leave a light effect on this land that I have had the great fortune to grow up on. To do that, I have to understand when I have to be hard and when I have to be soft. Usually, I have to do both at the same time. Finesse is required to [...]
Posted in agriculture, farm as desired, farm dogs, farm life, pastured poultry, rotational grazing, sustainability, winter stores, zero mile foodshed, tagged agriculture, farm life, pastured poultry, rotational grazing, Salatin-style farming, self-sufficiency, sustainability, zero mile foodshed on June 18, 2008 | 16 Comments »
I have been sick - actually we have all been sick. DH and DD were sick with some kind of gastro trouble 2 weeks ago, and of course, me of cast iron stomach just scoffed. My turn came last Friday, and I have been sick ever since. Of course the weather breaks and I have [...]
Posted in agriculture, cattle, electric fencing, family cow, frugal living, rotational grazing, sustainability, zero mile foodshed, tagged agriculture, cattle, family cow, farm life, rotational grazing on June 4, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Since the pictures of the milk cows in tall grass prompted several comments, I thought maybe I should show a couple more pictures. Let me be clear, that area grows good grass! About half our pasture looks acceptable to me, as far as growth is concerned, and the other half is fair, down to poor. But, [...]
Posted in cattle, farm as desired, farm life, frugal living, pastured poultry, rotational grazing, sustainability, tagged beef cattle, cattle, electric fencing, farm life, frugal farming, frugal living, rotational grazing, Salatin-style farming, sustainability on May 21, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Remember this is under the farm as desired category - sooo read this with grain of salt. This is what our electric fencing has evolved to. Our methods work for us and it has taken us a while to get here. We work with combination of permanent fences and different styles of electric fences for different [...]
Posted in cattle, farm as desired, farm life, frugal living, sustainability, zero mile foodshed, tagged cattle, farm life, frugality, rotational grazing, Salatin-style farming, sustainability on May 11, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I wish all my pasture looked this good.
Grass, or the lack of it, rules my life. MiG (Management- intensive Grazing) is a complicated blend of art and science. I think about our pastures as much as I think about our gardens and orchards. After all it is food for someone, my cows, and they “feed” [...]
Posted in cattle, farm as desired, farm life, wildlife, tagged cattle, farm life, rotational grazing on April 28, 2008 | 8 Comments »
Do you ever make decisions that you think just maybe, you might regret? Most of these lapses in judgement have to do with coming clean with DH if something goes wrong, because if I get in a pickle, sometimes I need his help. I absolutely hate it when he changes from hubby to (my)mother in 60 seconds flat. Lots of [...]
Posted in cattle, farm as desired, farm life, tagged cattle, farm life, lost skills, quilting, rotational grazing, Salatin-style farming on April 24, 2008 | 8 Comments »
This post will be about fencing - but it also describes my life, and how I need to correlate where I have been, to where I am now. It is so true what they say about fencing being a physical barrier or a psychological barrier. I grew up with barb wire fencing and I still [...]
Posted in cattle, farm as desired, farm life, frugal living, hydraulic ram, lost skills, pastured poultry, recipes, sustainability, vegetables, winter stores, zero mile foodshed, tagged farm life, frugal living, rotational grazing, scratch cooking, zero mile foodshed on April 22, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Finally, today it seems like a normal PNW spring. I awoke several times at night to hear rain on the roof. You would think I wouldn’t want rain, but when I wake up and it’s quiet, that means snow. I’ll take the rain.
Today, I’m transitioning back into grazing. This past week of taking hay out [...]
Cinnabar moth larvae eating Tansy Ragwort