Well the first of our goats gave birth Tuesday to a beautiful boy and girl (I will post pics tomarrow.) This is the mother we thought was carrying a single and she had twins. So that most likely means the one we where comparing her to and we thought was carrying twins is likely carrying triplets. She, Norah, is probably going to give birth toaday or tomarrow. That will then leave our newest and youngest goat, Ostara to give birth in a few weeks.
I did manage to get my partition finished in the barn in time and so far it works wonders. it will be even better to milk in and pen the kids up when the get bigger. Speaking of milking I will begin that chore again Monday. It will be sooooooo nicehaving fresh milk again. Won;t be much at first but after all give birth it will be plenty for drinking, and a few weeks after that we will have way more than we can drink and will be making lots of cheese.
Yesterday we got chicks. 12 white rocks for eggs (not really what I wanted :( ), 12 cornish cross rocks for meat, 6 partridge cochins for setting eggs, and 3 ducks. We still intend on getting some more in a week. If I can keep the cats away till they are older and then keep the raccoons away with the new chicken fort knox I am working on they should do well.
With everythign greening up fast and all the babies we are starting to again feel like a working homestead. It is funny, my goal each year is to add something new to our place, not just replace something lost. It feels like without chickens we were not a homestead and now that we have chicks again I feel like I am back at the starting point even though I KNOW I am well past it. None the less I looking forward to Ostara this coming week as I truly feel spring is here in my heart.
Well monday was my birthday, I turned 30 this year. I know all the "typical" responses and feelings I am suppose to have but I am not having them..really. In the end I do not care about being 30 but the social sheep lurking inside me says I SHOULD be caring. I should have been dreading it. I should be denying it. But I don't care. I don't give much thought to age at all. Mine or anyone elses. I have days were I actually have to count to remember how old I am. It is just low on the list of priorities.
We had a nice cake, which my 3 year old son was VERY excited about and was shaking as he waited for his mother to light the candles so he could help blow them out. I got a new table saw, which is getting ready to be put to a lot of use, constructing a wall for inside the barn and finishing our mudroom renovation.
We had a lovely week end as far as weather goes and already the willows are showing buds. The poplars, maples, and our apricot are not far behind. Spring is really on us now. I still have sooooooo much to do around here. OUr first goat is due to delivery this week so I have to finish the new divide in the barn. Oh it will be so nice to have fresh milk again!. Still need to get the rest of the garden fence up. We have gotten aspargrass and some peas in already. The fence needs to be up before they are! And the trees all pruning before they get going and making fruit.
Well this week certainly ended better than it began. My son took sick Monday night and vomited about every 20 minutes to an hour form about 9:30PM till about 2:30AM I chose to stay up with to let my wife rest. After that he settled down and slept and so did I for about 2 hours before having to get up and get ready for work. After work I returned home exhausted my son was much better but still vomitting somewhat and shy about food or drink. We went to bed hoping he would be better in the morning.
At midnight I awoke sick and then I vomited EVERY 20 minuted from midnight to about 5:30 AM. Already exhausted fomr the night before and now this. I could not sleep for the ill churning in my belly. I stayed weak all day. All I could manage to keep down was some ice water and a couple of freez-e-pop things. At 5 PM I managed to sleep and did so till 7AM the next morning. The sick feeling in my belly went away sometime during the sleep and I began feeling better. During that night my wife took sick and did the exact same thing. Because I was still weak and with my wife ill I opted to miss another day from work to care for her and look after our son.
That is the first time I have been that sick in several years. I am glad it was only for 24 hours. If it had been longer I am not sure I could have stomached enough liquids to see me through it.
As I said the week ended better. We felt good enough by Saturday to work in the garden. I managed to get about a third of the fence up I need more plastic and posts for teh gates before I can continue. So I then managed to get about half way done on a reterracing project in the garden. We live in a hollow, and nothing here is flat. The previous owner terraced out the garden area, but how he did it I do not understand. Between the two terraces is another sort of microterrace. What it was used for or why I do not know. I do not like it, perhaps it is just me and my wife but I am dividing it up between the upper and lower terrace to make ONLY two terraces. Currently they are bordered by logs which is fine. It adds to the rustic nature of our home. So they are getting reused, I just have to move all the dirt and restack the logs, should be done sometime this year.
This is a good time for a rant against wasteful fuel usage. I am doing this all by shovel. My goal in the future is to try and limit my fossil fuel usage and reduce my footprint on the Earth in that area as well as others. I really get annoyed with complaints from people about fuel costs. If you have to drive a busted up '77 F250 that gets 8 miles to the gallon fine I got no complaints against you. But come on who HAS to drive and H2?? If you drive one and are reading this you might want to stop now. Fuel will be the downfall of the USA if ever there is one. We are nation dependant on far flung goods..no village system here. If teh transportation system breaks down which would probably be teh best of two outcomes then we will be stuck trying to figure out what to do with what you have nearby. Option two is the force a dying horse to continue to try to go over the mountain. What will happen? The horse will finally die at the worse time possible. To translate: We will continue to "deal" with rising fuel costs. Not only at the pump but at the store as well Bananas $2 a pound, milk $10 a gallon. Eventually it will stress our econmy so bad that on slight problem and depression is upon us..then we are screwed. Ok so the answer to all this? Thinking. Think about how you use fuel in EVERY aspect of your life. Do I leave that light on? Do I need to go to town today? can I move that dirt with a shovel? End of Rant.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008, 03:48 AM [Homesteading]
Sunday morning I got the posts up for a our seven foot garden fence. I choose the day of the biggest windstorm to hit our area in years to do it. Despite the fact that the wind made it VERY difficult get the posts level I did it. I need to now figure out a gate configuation and get the posts up for that.
After that the actual fence can go up. For two years the deer and other wildlife has pillaged my garden, leaving scraps for us if that. This year I am day dreaming of a huge and very productive garden as well as harvest. I have to admit I get a little smile when I think of the dear standing on the other side of my fence gazing longingly with mouths watering, at the heaping tomato plants, the tall corn, and lush beans..hehe keep drooling!
Recent conversations with a new friend has finally spurred me to start talking about spirits and spirit boards here on my blog. I have always had an interest in spirits and when I was part of a coven I found simple plans in the witch's almanac for a spirit board. We built one and had many wonderful experiences with our incorporeal covenmate. It began my deep interest. In communing with other beings. I began forming theories on them. How they work? How boards work? What spirits are? BUt I have never expressed these ideas in writting. Now I shall in this category.
First I want to post grievances about the status of the spirit board in American popular culture. This tool and it can be a dangerous one has been deemed a child's toy as well as villified in the media. Spirit Boards have been around along time be for Ouija(which is not even a real word by the way.) They are a simple direct means of communicating in the language of the user, no different than the letter dial telegraph back in the day.
I hope to see more people use them and reclaim them from their exile. So if you use one post about.
Also of the posts I read, many are of a dark nature. I think this is due to people be affected by the media portrayal of the spirit board. If you go into using it thinking it is something evil or at the very least naughty, then that is what you get from it, things that are evil. It is just a tool people! Don't let the media tell you how to think, we are stong, independant pagans.
