It was another busy weekend around the farm. Tim was off Friday. He helped Papaw saw boards in the morning for the siding on the house, and for another project that will be started soon. In the afternoon we ran errands together; without kids! Mamaw watched the kids while we dropped an instrument off at one of Tim's customers, did our first mystery shop, had lunch, went to the feed store, and made a quick grocery store stop. It wasn't exactly a date, but it was nice to be alone. It has been awhile.
The mystery shop was fun. We shopped a discount department store. There is a lot to remember on these mystery shops, and of course you can't take notes while you are there. I am not sure I would be able to do one alone if I had the kids with me. We didn't make any money on the mystery shop. Yes, I'm getting paid for it, but we spent more on lunch than that. We treated ourselves to a nice lunch. We also found some good deals on things we needed, and ended up spending more at the store. We still had a nice time together, and bought things we needed so I guess it was worthwhile.
Tim worked Saturday. The kids I were supposed to go on a field trip with our co-op group, but Vivian hadn't been feeling well all week, so we opted to stay home. The kids did school. Yes, on Saturday. They were off Friday after all. I'm a taskmaster aren't I?
We got a surprise in the evening; a husband for Maggie. Yes, we have another animal; a ram. He has no name yet. We have purchased several animals from the same guy. Last time he was here delivering a bull, Papaw mentioned that we were looking for a Suffolk ram, and how much he wanted to pay for it. Saturday night the guy pulls in with a ram in the back of his pickup. He is a big boy, and looks pretty nice. Maggie ran away when she saw him. I think she thinks she is a goat. She isn't ready to breed yet, and that is fine. We will be separating them. We want to wait so we will have spring lambs and not one born in January.
Yesterday, after church and lunch, it was straight to the farm work. Tim butchered a rabbit. I think he will tell that story later. We had her for dinner last night. Looks and tastes like chicken, but the texture is a little different. Then we sexed and separated our oldest litter. They are 8 weeks now and weighing a little over three pounds each. We weighed our young litter. There are only three of them, and at three weeks are already weighing over a pound a piece. They are little porkers; about double the other kits at the same age.
Next we tended to a goat with hoof rot. Poor thing was hobbling around and miserable. Two of her hooves were tender. We cleaned them out well, gave her a shot of antibiotics and squirted some on her hooves too. She was reasonably cooperative for the whole procedure, probably because we let her eat grain the whole time.
Then it was up to the garden to dig a few potatoes and check for tomatoes. We also checked on the wild apple trees up there. They aren't ripe yet, and there aren't many. Only one tree set any fruit. Very disappointing. I am assuming it is because of the dry summer we've had.
In the evening we laid out plans for a new storage and animal building; another new project. When they are sawing logs, they are running into many that aren't good enough for the house siding, but would be just fine for a storage building. In fact, they are finding more wood for the building than the house. So, it looks like the building will be started soon. I'm good with that. I would rather have the building than the siding on the house finished. I'm hoping to get rid of the eyesore of a storage area we are currently using. This building will also be for the chickens, and after it is up I can train them to roost and lay where they are supposed to. I'd also like to get more hens then.
The work and fun never stop around here. It's Monday and that means laundry. Yippee! (Said with extreme sarcasm!)
Not a title you see very often is it? Though I do tend to tell stories about Nolan(3) that show his stubborn or ornery side, he really does have a tender side. He can be very sweet and loving. He is the biggest cuddler, and is the only one of our kids to get attached to a security item. He has a red fleece throw that he sleeps with. In a pinch, he can be consoled with a substitute, but that is not always an easy task. Anyhow....
A few minutes later, I feel Nolan cuddle up to me. When I looked at him, his eyes were wide and brimming with tears. He looked up me and holding back the tears asked, "He isn't going to shoot us is he?"
. There really are a lot of similarities between our way of living and theirs. They raise meat and vegetables. They forage and hunt for food. We do too, but there are a couple of major differences. For one thing we have a lot of tools that make the jobs easier. I don't think I'd want to build a log home in the manner that they did. The second thing is we are not really and never will be completely dependent on the land for our survival, and I am glad for it.
