I was really hoping to do a blog post today where I could just put up some of the nice pictures that Nathan and I took over the weekend, instead of talking about ailing animals or plants. The animals, unfortunately, didn't cooperate with that plan.
Abby had to be rushed to the vet on Saturday for staples after a visiting friend's dog chomped her head. He wasn't happy about being locked in the yard and Abby happened to be standing closest to him. Poor Abby - what a belated 9th birthday present. We're keeping her off the farm right now so that the wound stays clean. She has been pretty sleepy and swollen but I don't think there is an infection (keeping my fingers crossed).
Ryan has had to take over duties as farm patroller.
While Abby takes a more "hands-off" approach with her farm staff, always maintaining distance and professionalism, Ryan prefers to become one of the gang and form real relationships with the staff. He even takes lunch with them.
Sometimes this can lead to a bit of a power struggle when the workers forget who's boss. Unfortunately, Ryan ran away from the conflict and left his cucumber behind.
Meanwhile, Abby was inside having a power struggle of her own. She isn't sure why the other house patient seems to be getting much better treatment than her.
As if Speckles' bumblefoot issue last week wasn't enough, today I found Dorothy all puffed up with her eyes closed in the coop when I went to collect eggs. This is very unusual when all of the chickens are usually running around the farm foraging in the morning.
I'm not sure what's wrong with her so I tried a few treatments. First I gave her a warm bath in epsom salts in case she's egg-bound (can't pass her egg).
Then I gave her some epsom salts in water orally in case she's constipated, and some apple cider vinegar in water for dehydration (and because apple cider vinegar is one of those 'cure-all' kind of things). Oh, and a bit of olive oil in case she her crop is blocked up. I basically covered most of the home cures in the book (or in the google, in this case). So far so good - she made a giant normal poop on the towel, is eating her scrambled egg and grain mix, and then perked up enough just now to jump on the table next to my computer to stare at me.
It might seem funny to blog readers to see a post one day about slaughtering chickens and then a post a few days later about treating a sick chicken and serving her scrambled eggs on a plate (chickens love their own eggs). We want all of our animals to live happy, pain-free lives. Even if some of them are for eating, they still deserve to be healthy and well treated. That should be a given when keeping any kind of animal.
We'll stop short, though, of orthodontics for our animals...even though I'm pretty sure Zeb could use a set of braces. Maybe a headgear, too.
The ever-so-photogenic Thomas.
You couldn't get a better setup if you tried. This little frog was hanging out on an artichoke flower.
Our artichokes were inedible! They were fibrous and the heart was just a mass of white strands. I'm not sure why... if you let them flower they sure are pretty. I don't think I'd bother growing them again, except maybe as decoration.
We never did get a swarm of bees in our hive but we are definitely getting pollinators in the greenhouse.
Lots of butternut squash were pollinated and are growing well.
We planted our fall crop - cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, lettuce.
Seedling sprouting in a grow bed.
The newest grow bed. This would be the perfect height for picking bush beans. Picking them from the ground is back breaking!
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