One for Woolly Bully

There was definitely no time to update the blog this weekend. The weather changed from a rainy, grey week to extreme heat just in time for our 8 guests to arrive. It was so hot that Nathan took both ends off the greenhouse and we built Zeb and Thomas an extra shade shelter since Molly the horse was hogging the first shelter. We knew they needed another one when we saw Thomas chasing Zeb all over the field (who knows why) and then suddenly collapse, breathing really hard. Zeb didn't even look winded - maybe his stint with Lucy last week got him in shape.

While we were building the shade shelter, our guests were sitting on stumps watching us and enjoying the traditional bbq in the paddock. We were concentrating on pounding the posts in when we heard screaming. Before we even really noticed what was happening, all of our friends were inside Nathan's truck with doors and windows closed. Woolly Bully had been walking along the fence and he took a half-hearted 3-step charge at Abby (she very easily avoided him), which I admit may have been panic inducing for a newcomer to the farm. I wish we had had a camera out there...

It was also finally hot enough to swim in the creek we discovered a few months ago. We all hiked in there to swim on Saturday, then went to a nearby lake on Sunday and to the ocean on Monday. Apparently there's a lazy river nearby that the locals tube down in the summer - that's next on the list!

When we cooked dinner on Saturday it was so nice to hear things like "this is how chicken is supposed to taste!" and "I don't normally like green beans but these are delicious!".

Carrots, beans, broccoli, peas and basil...everything is growing so quickly now!

Including the "chicks". Zebra Head now crows every morning....but they still take naps throughout the day. 

They also still sleep in a pile instead of on their roosts, and try to burrow underneath each other like they would with their mother.

First Visitors

Happy "Put Your Mother to Work Weeding" Day!

My parents came for a visit this weekend - plus their dog, Lucy, and cat, Darla, too.

Lucy (all 8 lbs of her) tried really hard to intimidate Woolly Bully and the cows but she wasn't too successful. They didn't even blink at eye. It didn't help that she was running away in fear while barking...

We got a lot done in the greenhouse. I weeded everything and staked the smaller tomato plants up using bamboo posts. I also finished planting the rest of the row with some pumpkins, eggplant, more tomatoes and a few of the brussels sprouts (just to see how they do). Our landlord cut a big vent in the top of the greenhouse to try and keep the temperature down on hot days so hopefully it won't be quite as extreme as it was this last week.

Nathan built a strawberry tower with five plants going up the length of pvc. Water trickles down through each pot from the top. I'll take pictures of the completed tower tomorrow - it's really cool.

We were admiring our hard work this evening when we heard a funny noise behind us. Ryan was lunging/pouncing at a Garter snake. He didn't quite know what to do with it (kind of like how we think he would make friends with a bunny, if he ever actually got close to one. All he wants to do with the chicks is lick them...). 

We were all interested in the snake.

Dinner time! Quiche with baby greens, ham, spicy sausage, tomatoes, cheddar and parmesan. Yummy.

Bull Show

Today it was hot...really hot. It was 28 degrees outside and 50 degrees in the greenhouse so we decided to take the dogs for a little cooling dip at the back of the farm.

A cooling dip sounds like a quiet, relaxing activity...but that isn't really the case when Abby and Ryan are involved. Swimming for them involves a lot of barking, yelping, splashing and general insanity. Woolly Bully and Meghan came over right away to see what the commotion was. 

They seemed to be somewhere between perplexed and impressed by the show.

After the dip, we picked up the bathtub (ie grow bed #2) that we'd noticed at the back of the property. Abby runs this place.

Hillbilly Deluxe

Such a pretty truck...Ryan is apparently bored in the back.

So we decided to put something a little more interesting in (on) the truck.

Just kidding! That isn't Nathan's truck...but that is the truck we saw when we pulled up to do our little Tilapia deal today (from the guy who had advertised the fish in the classifieds a few weeks ago).

When we pulled up to the interesting property I was just about ready to jump back in the car and drive away, but the guy turned out to be really nice and he had a pretty cool tank/grow bed set up.

We ended up with 58 (if we counted right) Tilapia fingerlings (1-3" long).

The dogs don't really care - they would rather play in the sand pile.

Woolly Bully doesn't care either. He just wants to ram in the mulch pile. He got out through an open gate the other day and dove head first into the mulch. He's pretty nervous so he ran back in when Nathan walked towards him.

 We forgot the camera with the fish pictures in the greenhouse. I'll put them on tomorrow!

Number 26

The farm has a new visitor for awhile. I guess he stays until his tough duties with "Meghan" and "Meghan's calf" (she is a consenting adult, don't worry) are done...

His name is "26".

He doesn't seem to be taking his duties too seriously. He spent a lot of time tackling the compost pile...

It was a beautiful day on the farm today so we got to work on the main chicken coop. The entire thing is going to cost us $20 (for the craigslist hardware cloth) plus a bit for netting over the top. Everything else is recycled.

First I cut the fronts off of these crates - they'll hang low on the wall and will be the nest boxes .

Nathan cut lengths of plywood to line the inside of the drywall playhouse (so the chickens won't peck at the drywall).

 One piece of plywood screwed to the wall. We're ignoring the creepy "god loves liam" writing all over the walls. 

The natural roosts that we found.

Ryan helps to recycle everything...

He and Abby are becoming real farm dogs. Abby's even got the grass chewing down.

Ryan got invited by Jim to help bring the horses in this afternoon. He was so excited that he was pretty much useless. Here are the horses coming in the right direction, with Ryan nowhere to be seen.

Here are the horses going in the wrong direction. Ryan is behind that post on the right about to come running back to us, terrified.

(the horses don't care about dogs at all and I don't let the dogs chase them, ever. Too dangerous!).

Back to the coop...Here it is with the two posts in and a trench dug to bury the hardware cloth (our landlord used his tractor to make holes for the posts). The trench took forever because the ground is so rocky.

Putting in the braces for the hardware cloth and posts.

Attaching the hardware cloth to the wood - we had to use nails and bend them over the cloth because the wood was too hard for our staple gun. Tomorrow we just have to put up the upper level of hardware cloth and get some netting for the top.

 Hopefully all the chicks will be healthy for their new coop. The snuffling chick has been separated from the others and seems to be the same as this morning. Zebra head in the top left corner is huge!

The plants are definitely healthy in the greenhouse. 

Peppers and cucumbers.

Tomatoes and melons.