Day 175

Well, apparently it's time to fix the fence between the home paddock and the back pasture. It's obviously sagged low enough that Mooser (the holstein steer) got over it easily enough to feed off of the pigs grain this morning. I had banished him and the other two cows into the back pasture, as I'm tired of feeding extra grain to the pigs and they've basically been having a hissy fit ever since. The moo and mope all day long. Silly cows.

The sheep in the orchard got moved to a fresh pasture today. Now we can finish mowing the orchard!

 Also, the turkeys are now finally ensconced in their pen and hopefully they'll stay there. I'm tired of going out to put turkeys away at 11 pm! Just as I'm ready to head to bed, it's ooops, I forgot about the turkeys. Sigh. I've lost two this week thanks to problems with the electric fence and one night I think I got out there too late. Which meant that after coming home from volunteering at Champoeg for 6 hours, I got to slit a turkeys throat by moonlight. How romantic, right? The poor turkey had a dislocated projecting coracoid (wing) bone, which looked rather painful and the only solution seemed to put it out of it's misery. Daniel trooped out with me to the processing trailer to supervise, since he's a pro, but I did the actual dirty work.

Reading, lately, Weeds

Weeds are the name of the game lately. Until the last few years, we've been at a standstill with the ongoing weed battle between the thistles and us. However, the last few years have seen the emergence of weeds that we had not battled before, namely, foxtail. Oh, you are my nemesis. And I'm noticing creeping buttercup where the pigs where last winter. So. In an effort to win the war, I've been doing some reading, mostly on the fabulous site, On Pasture, and I'm slowly putting together a battle plan.

Several things I've realized -

First of all, the weeds accumulating ties in nicely with when we started haying 3 pastures regularly and 2 not at all. I think I'll start alternating between the 3 haying pastures so that the 2 aren't so burdened. It will mean less hay, in a way, but then again, if we don't do anything weedy hay isn't worth anything!

I also want to up my game in terms of keeping track of grass growth. Perhaps with a big fancy chart!

And have more permanent subdivisions in the non haying (ie, rocky) pastures. This may, or may not, happen this year.

So far, I've found the following links useful and hope to find more.

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/13/the-abcs-of-soil-science/

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/07/plant-growth-under-rotational-grazing/

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/20/the-grass-whispering-journal-or-wwgwd-what-would-the-grass-whisperer-do/

http://onpasture.com/2013/04/09/maximizing-spring-green-up-without-destroying-summer-pastures/

Day 140

1. Made Rhubarb Crisps for dessert tonight. For dinner we had marinated barbecued porkchops, sauteed cabbage and red potatoes with chives.

Other happenings -

Homeschooling & piano

Finished filling up the potato bins with compost

Planted potatoes and onions

Moved some sheep into the orchard

Worked on a farm newsletter

Enjoyed the sunshine!

Day 290

1. The piggies enjoying their new home for the winter. They'll have access to different parts of pasture that need renovating from the barn. I'm not sure why I chose to move them at night. We ended with a truce. I used folding tables to block of the entrance to the yard and they agreed  not to go under the fence until the morning.

2. I've finally found a way that I like oatmeal. We eat oatmeal quite a bit here now that we do more family breakfasts, but, I would say it is about my least favorite thing to eat. I've never liked smooshy or bland things. However, I digress, my favorite way to eat oatmeal is with a dried fruit, a nut, and coconut. Above is pictured cranberry, raisins, walnuts and almonds. It was delish.

Day 194

1. Moozer reluctantly sporting his new handmade-by-me rope halter... he got to wear it while I did farm chores.
2. What else? Ugh, we are still getting through the stomach flu's domino effect on our family. Dad was kind enough to come out and help me with chores tonight. :)

Day 177

:: Beautiful coloring of the artichokes before they got cooked for dinner
:: My view from the pasture walking back from evening chores
:: What else? Feeling much better thanks to staying home from church on Sunday and sleeping in until 9:30 this morning, enjoying having (almost) all the Ayers* here! - Kerrilynn made pancakes for breakfast, and then throughout the day, Daniel & Ryan worked on mortaring the patio brickwork, cleaned up lunch, helped dump barrels, and worked in the barn, Andrew and Jacob worked on the processing trailer, weed wacking, fencing and organizing the barn, Hadley and Kerrilynn weeded for an amazingly long timer and helped with the barn. It was really great to have so much help! I worked on getting the electric fencing wires repaired around the pastures. And then Hadley and Susan made a cake for dessert tonight. I could get used to this. :) 


*The Ayers are good friends of ours who are "attempting" to move to Bend, three hours away. However, the bank/loan co./? has majorly mismanaged the paper work of the buyer of the old home. and of course the Ayers can't officially close the deal on their new house until the old house is settled. And, they didn't find out that everything was incredibly behind until the day they were loading the truck (almost two weeks ago) as they were getting lied to by a loan employee. So, we get the pleasure of them staying with us until everything gets sorted out. Which God willing, should happen by the end of the week! 

Day 174

:: Eating lunch near Llyod center with Mom and Jacob. And wishing we had planned our day in advance differently so we could have gone to the homeschool conference!
:: 2 & 3 Topaz playing with my hoopskirt laying on the rocking chair
:: What else? Mostly the day was spent up in Portland. Got some new pajamas! I haven't had a "matched set" in eons. I feel special. :) Moved the sheep fencing in the orchard. I'm experimenting with Mob Stocking. I'd like to try and do it in some of the fields we are not haying this year. Hopefully the sheep will cooperate.  Right now I'm getting them used to the idea of portable electric fencing. 

Day 172

:: The boys goofing off when we went out to admire the sunset... which was much redder than in the picture!
:: What else? A productive morning of farming, cleaning up the pastures, winding hoses, weedwacking, some of the Ayers arriving (poor Ayers, their move to Bend has gotten incredibly complicated due to a bank error, so they have another week until they can move in!), making strawberry jam

Day 171

1. Watching heifers move to fresh pasture at the Ralph Meyer Farm

2. What else? Uncle Roger and I attended an OSU Extension Small Farms Program: Raising Beef on Grass. It was well worth it! Gained some helpful tidbits about pasture maintenance and rotation, cows and enjoyed meeting new people! Ralph's wife and son also cooked us a delicious dinner. 

Day 170

1. Strawberry picking
2. Making strawberry daiquiris for the first time!
3. What else? Enjoying the Walkers visiting, farm stuff with Uncle Roger, recovering and cleaning up from family camp, talking to Sally, eating lots of strawberries!