Garden Pests

We do not use pesticides on our garden. We use natural pest control methods and only organic fertilizer. This year we have been lazy and have not used either. 

Our garden is kind of hit and miss. Our corn was a dismal failure, as were our bush beans. We got about 2 ounces of pole beans (Rattlesnake beans) and it is just enough to replant next year. Our peppers were okay, as were our melons. Our sunflowers were wonderful, and we got over 30 lbs of pickling cucumbers. We have some amazing volunteer Roma and Beefsteak tomatoes, they are just ripening slowly. Our major success story this year has been our cherry tomatoes. They did so well they choked out our chili peppers. These things grow like weeds. We have harvested over 7 lbs of tomatoes each no larger than a marble. And that does not count the ones that I catch the kids picking and snacking on. We still have tons of green ones that have yet to ripen. And they are so pretty!

I am pretty impressed with out harvest not only because we have never had such an abundant crop with so little work, but the horn worms have been out of control this year. There is ONE leaf left on this plant! 

We have done nothing to kill them but send Noah and Elliot out there to pick them off the plant and feed them to the chickens. 

Elliot spots them and Noah picks them off. Elliot is actually afraid of them. He says it is because they are gross and "throw up" on him. If doesn't phase Noah at all. They are a great team, but the worms do a lot of damage before they get big enough for the boys to take care of. 

One of the perks of not using any pest control but the "picking" method is whole ecosystems live in the plants. The kids have seem more bugs this year than any other year. 

These "Fuzzos" are a favorite among the kids. We had a tank of close to 20 of them for a few days. They just kept bringing them in! I finally told them they had to let them go because they would not turn into moths if they stayed inside. I don't know if that is true, but I was just tired of having to remind them to go get amaranth for them to eat. They eat A LOT! 

So may crickets. Big ones. 

Small ones. 

Whole families! (There are three in this picture. Can you see them all?) Also notice the half eaten tomatoes...dang worms...

There is also the mother of all grasshoppers: The Horse Lubber Grasshopper. 

I did not take this picture. Every time the kids catch one I try to get my camera, but it gets away before I can get a picture. Want a concept of how big they are? 

Again, I have no idea who this guy is...this is a Google image, but the kids have caught ones at least this big. The biggest one I saw in Noah's hand was roughly the size of a hot dog with grasshopper legs. I was really afraid of that one. 

Even better...they hiss...and fly. Essentially they are my mother's and sister's nightmares come to life. Elliot will manhandle these beasts, but don't get near him with a horn worm. 

Sure garden pests eat your food, but by letting them have a place in our garden we have uncovered the budding entomologists in our kids.  

New Farm Toys

Leigh has been wanting a riding lawn mower for close to a year. Last monsoon we had to cut the grass with a weed whacker. An acre of weed whacking is a long, crappy process. A friend of Leigh's is moving to New Mexico and she is trying to sell her house. She is selling a lot of her stuff and among her things is a nice riding mower with a tow behind cart. She needed it off her property to show the house so we brought it to our house. We love it so much we are going to buy it from her. 

Not only are we going to be able to mow the yard way faster than before, Leigh can give "train rides" to the kids. 

Notice Elliot's bull riding stance. 

There is so much hillbilly about this picture: shoeless, shirtless Noah in the back, the grass head sticking out of Elliot's teeth, the boots...they have real tree camo on them. But they are having so much fun! 

Liam love the rides...for others. He will not get in the cart, but squeals, laughs and runs along next to it. 

"Faster Dad! Faster!"

Who needs Disneyland? We have Mr. Toad's Wild Ride right here! 

This Little Piggy

Are you sick of all our farm-ly stuff yet? Well too bad! 

We got pigs!! 

We found a pig breeder in Tucson that pretty much always has piglets. He grew up in Iowa, and from our Army experience pretty much all Iowa has to offer is odd people and pigs. He vaccinates and castrates prior to selling. YAY! 

Our plan is to raise three pigs every six or so months. As done as I was with the last set at harvest time, I am so happy to have pigs back. Nothing goes to waste...nothing! We scrape our plates into the "pig bowl" after every meal and at the end of the day chuck the food into the pen. 

When I clean out my fridge and find those mushy kind of slimy veggies...into the pig pen. The other day I was milking Faye and she put her foot in the bucket. Don't dump it...feed it to the pigs! 

We are keeping one ourselves, raising one for the Laney's and raising the other for my parents. I brought them a pork shoulder when I visited in April and they were so impressed what what "real" pork tastes like they were happy to take the third. 

My mom has a soft spot in her heart for pigs. She wants very much to be a vegetarian because she feels bad for the animals. And she should. Animals raised in the American industrial food market are not treated humanely at all. Seeing her pork before it becomes pork is a small form of torture for her, but she knows we love the animals and treat them with respect. Yes their life is short, but it is far better than the pork she gets at the store. 

As a way of thanking her for taking steps to overcome her aversion to knowing her food before she eats it, we named the pigs after wine. (She is not a wino, she is a connoisseur!) :)

On the left is Zinfandel (Zin) and the right is Merlot. Zin is our only female and will be my parents pig. Merlot will go to the Laney's. 

This is Pino Noir. Pino for short. 

They sure are cute and funny right now. Whenever people ask me how I can slaughter (we call it harvest) such cute pigs, I tell them the truth. They are cute now. They are funny and play little piglet games, but in 6 months when they weigh close to 300 lbs each, eating 200 lbs of feed a week (that's over $80 a week!), and busting out of the pen trying to bite you, it becomes a lot easier. 

Harvest time should be the end of February. We should have bacon by March. Woo hoo!

Meet the Goats

I know I am behind on this but, hey! I'm proud I got this posted at all! 

About a week ago we purchased two Alpine goats in milk. A friend of Leigh's was downsizing his farm so it was nice to be able to buy these ladies from someone we knew and someone who was willing to answer a lot of our questions. We fly by the seat of our pants a lot of the time!

They came with the names but they just didn't fit with our naming schemes on the farm. We decided that they needed new names. They were soon dubbed Ernestine and Nedra Faye. 

Back Story: My grandmother was born and raised in a tiny town called Christiansburg, Virginia. We have several keepsakes from her life. Among them is a yearbook. Two of the girls who signed her yearbook were Ernestine Slusher and Nedra Faye Tucker. Upon hearing these names my mom knew she needed two little girl kitties names Ernestine and Nedra Faye. This was probably close to 15 years ago. Every cat she has gotten since then has been a boy. I never saw them as kitties, I saw them as goats. So I got two goats before she got two kitties, so I win! 

As a side note that will probably be of little interest to anyone but my mom and myself, I found Ernestine Slusher on the census: 1920, 1930, and 1940. She was the oldest of 4 children, her parents were Quinn and Elsie Slusher. In 1940 she was working as a dental assistant in a dental office in Christiansburg.

Anyway, we call then Ernie and Faye for short. 

Here is Ernie:

Faye had to push Bailey around a little bit just to prove she was bigger and bossier. 

Here she is rearing up for a head butt. 

Despite being bossy with the other goats, she is very sweet. 

Seamus needed to come in and supervise the goat meetings. 

If you look carefully in this picture you will see Elliot in a purple shirt. He was out there just chatting up the goats. I finally asked him if he wanted to get into the pen. 

Never was there more joy in a little boy's face! 

He did ask me why one (Faye) had "big milkers" and the other one had "little milkers". I tried to explain that animals are different just like people. Faye gives almost twice the milk Ernie gives, but Faye has kidded 3 times and Ernie has only once. That seemed satisfactory to him. He then wandered off and I heard him mutter, "I like big milkers." Well, there you go. 

Ernie says, "You sayin' there's something wrong with my milkers?"

We will be drying off the goats in a few weeks, even though we just got them. We will breed then in September and we don't want to have to milk over the holidays. 2 weeks after they kid we will start milking them again. 

By far goats are the most work we have ever had to put into livestock, but I love not having to buy milk anymore!! 

Worst...Day...

in a long time. (I dont say ever because while Leigh was deployed consisted of worse days than this...but this one is RIGHT up there!) Oh and excuse the lack of apostrophes...Quinn pulled that key off the computer. 

So here goes:

1. Leigh woke up late and did not have time to milk the goats with me. So I had to do it solo. Keep in mind we do not have a milk stand, a goat hobble, or children that understand that goats like calm quite milking time. I did the best I could but I was unable to empty one of the goats. (I know you have not met them yet kind reader...you will...

2. We began to do school. Elliot for into my canning stuff and ate some sugar. Lord help us all! I gave him a pass on school today.

3. This morning I began attracting bears. If you do not know what that is click here. 

4. Heather came and got Julia, Elliot and Noah and took them swimming. I am eternally grateful for that. Unfortunately when they came home they were tired and grouchy. 

5. Leigh got home from work at 3:30 (he is in a school for this week so he gets off early). He came home and we needed to harvest 3 more chickens (We did 3 yesterday. They are in the fridge). At one point (while I am making a total of 10 pint of nectarine jam and 6 loaves of sandwich bread) he starts screaming my name. And this scream is unlike one I have ever heard in my life. It said to me: I am I have nicked my own artery, or one of the children has stopped breathing. I burst out of the kitchen to kind him having been attacked by the 3 roosters we had crated for harvest. One for away and the other two were pinned, but they got a hold of him and spurred him. Worth the scream? No. But whatever. I shook for almost a half hour. 

6. After I had processed the jam, I turned my attention to the birds. We plan on making chicken breakfast sausage with the meat and stock with the carcasses. I start a carcass in the pot (one of the ones from a few months ago we had in the freezer) I do it in the crockpot over night. YUM! I cut over 6 lbs of meat off 6 birds. I then vacuum seal the carcasses for future stock, then vacuum seal the meat parts. All the cutting is done with a very dull knife. Add to to-do: Get knives sharpened at the farmers market on Thursday.

7. #6 is done under the gun because Julia has her first day of girl scouts today. She missed last week for being a witch. It starts at 5 and at 4:37 I look at her and say get in the car. I dont have my shoes on. Head almost explodes. She gets her shoes on and I cant find Quinns ANYWHERE. Just then Jessica calls to ask me to pick up Kaylee for girl scouts. (Luckily the lady she is babysitting for comes and gets her daughter while I am on the phone. On the plus side, we left Quinns shoes at her house last night. She brings them to scouts.

8. Scouts goes great. I start feeling weird and I realize I do not have it in me to cook dinner. I also realize I have had 1 Dr. Pepper today. That is it. No other food, no other liquid. I stop by McDonald's. I order food. The jack up our order badly...we were jipped 2 orders of fries, but instead we are given 3 McDoubles with no onions and double Big Mac sauce, a double quarter pounder and small fry. Whatever. 

9. I tag out with Leigh because he has to go to a meeting for the provident living fair the church is putting on. We are doing a backyard livestock booth. He has to be there at 7. I get the kids to bed and I not have to go milk the goats. Yes, I am tracking it is 7 and they should have been done 2 hours ago. Heather calls and I rope her into coming to help. The milking goes fine except Feys milk is a little off color. Kind of pinkish. I call Leigh because after the provident living meeting he is going to a friends house to  help him do some yard work. (Normally he would say no but he is leaving for Afghanistan in 2 weeks.) Leigh tells me to google it because he doesn't have a clue. This is what I find: 

Pink milk is normal in a doe who is not being milked or being milked roughly by someone who doesn't know what they are doing. The swelling from the surge of milk bursts small capilarries under the skin, giving you pink milk.  

Yep that fits the bill...its a weird way to kick me while I am down though. 

10. Not as weird as this though: Elliot, in a fit of rage over not being allowed to swing from the fraters or some damn thing, takes pinking shears to my couch. The head cushion right in the middle. If one of you would please tell Leigh, I do not want to. 

11. While sitting in the office talking about my ridiculous day I still feel odd. I then start getting chills, goosebumps, and achy. I take my temp. 101.5. Well there you go. My ever supportive sister looks at me and says: Well, maybe you are teething. (A bit of an inside joke about certain parents we have nannyd for) Took a Motrin. In the amount of time it has taken me to write this it has gone up to 102. 

I think this is where I am supposed to drop the mike. Ill ask Leigh when he gets home. 

Farm Update

Last week we we lost one of our bunnies to the dogs. Of course it could not be the unnamed meat rabbits, it had to be Elliot's pet bunny Penny. Luckily by the time I found her they had not torn her up, she was just dead. Elliot was very sad, but he asked if he could have a new bunny. We were in need of a buck breeder so we said sure. We got to pick him out, but he could be Elliot's bunny.

We placed some ads on Craigslist and a local pet shop responded us saying they had a 4 month old Flemish Giant. It was reasonably priced (and NO ONE around here has any bucks!) we went to go check him out.

When we got there the employee showed Leigh the rabbit (and after a rather uncomfortable moment to ensure that the rabbit was indeed a buck) Leigh asked how they knew he was a Flemish. The employee said "Oh, I looked on the internet and he looks like one." Ahhhh! Well, he does indeed look like a Flemish, and his feet are HUGE. He has a very bulky body. We believe he is part Flemish. We purchased him and let him lose with the ladies.

Meet Walter. 

He was very nervous about "colony living" at first. Having only lived in a cage free space to run around stressed him out. The does chased him all over every where. We left them out there for while and when we came back Walter was chasing them. I think he can get used to this kind of living. 

 We also had much mowing to do. The monsoons make all the grass grow out of control. This is our garden...somewhere under all that grass.

 We almost lost Quinn and Noah in it. 

There. Much better!

Then today we had a weird bee incident. When I got back from my run I saw tons of bees flying over the hives. We thought they were swarming. Once it had all calmed down Leigh went to go look for the swarm to capture it. Apparently they did not swarm...They bearded.

There are a lot of reasons why that could have happened, but we think it was not enough water. We filled up the water bucket near them again. We need to get out bee fountain up and going. But it was really cool to see so many of them at once. 

We Got a New Camera

I don't know what kind it is, but it is awesome! Leigh traded a shotgun for it. (Can I tell you how much I LOVE barter!) It is one of those cameras that you have to look through the viewfinder and it makes that novel little shutter sound when you take pictures. It also focuses on the stuff in the foreground. I love it!

This camera coincides with the "menfolk's" new hobby of bug collecting. Leigh has recently started collecting and pinning cool bugs from around here. The boys have jumped on board. We call it "Pinterest for Boys".

We have gotten some really good (albeit random) pictures with the camera. Enjoy!

The thing I love the most about this camera acquisition is that Leigh is all about taking pictures. I might start being in some of the blogs now!