It *WAS* a Trap!!

I knew it!
I just…knew it.
That nice weather last week was lulling us into a false sense of security.
Mother Nature said “oh, yeah! Go right ahead and plant out your tenders…your tomatoes and peppers and pumpkin starts…I promise, I’ll take care of them!”
And here we are.
Shivering because I’m too damn stubborn to turn the heat back on.
It’s currently +3c with the wind it feels like 0*
So had I planted like I really, really wanted to, my tender plants would be toast.
😂😂😂
Nice try Mother Nature.
But not this year.
I fought myself for a few days and then said “Wolfie, honey…it’s only the 3rd week of May. You are gonna get frost. Be. Patient.”
Well, glad I listened to myself, because, here we are.
Frost last night, frost tonight.
But my carrots, peas, and beets are planted and I’m ready to go on onions, radishes, greens and a few other cool weather crops.
Then I can look towards the warmer days/nights ahead for the plants and the beans and corn.

I am still waiting to hear from the local greenhouse to let me know when I can pick up my plant order from them.
Though, with the cooler temps. I’m happy to let *them* baby my plants a little while longer!

So my food production for today included putting 40 turkey eggs into the incubator.
To go with the 19 I set last week in the small incubator.
The eggs in the small one though, are being split with another farm.
I think mentioned this already, a friend had Sweetgrass turkey hatching eggs, and I set them to hatch. Well, I also had 7 of my Narragansett eggs ready to go in, so all in they went.
Our deal was to split whatever hatched from the Sweetgrass, but I figure the whole set is fair to split.
Since I have extras in the big ‘bator, I have no issues whatsoever counting my 7 Narragansett into the split deal.

My hope is, as always, for an abundant hatch.
Of the eggs in the big incubator, all the hens will stay on for eggs/hatching.
Any boys will have the most excellent of life before going on to Freezer Camp.
I hope that of the ones going to Freezer Camp there will be enough of them to offer a few for sale (after we take care of family and friends).
We still have people interested in well raised, home slaughtered birds, and I would love to have more to offer for sale.
And that’s why hens are staying on…our two toms Oscar and Dingus need more girls (5 hens to 2 toms is not ideal!) and welp, food is not going to get cheaper or easier to get. Especially well cared for, well raised, happy food.
I want to be you #HappyFoodTastesBetter dealer.
😂😂😂

And my other food production thing today was the finding and very much enjoying Les Stroud’s website for his latest project:
Les Stroud’s Wild Harvest

Les had a show years ago called “SurvivorMan”.
He was dropped off in remote locations, just him and his cameras, for 7 days.
And he had very, very limited tools to work with.
I really enjoyed the shows.
Now he’s exploring foraging, hunting and using all that he finds.
I’m telling you, it’s one more piece in the puzzle, foraging is.
So I’ll be binging that for a while.
Testing recipes where I can.
Soaking in the knowledge.
Trying to stay warm for the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, Ruby just wants a nap…

So. Tired.

Can’t say I blame her.
😉
Happy Wednesday y’all!

Thankful Thursday

Yeah, today is thankful Thursday.
I’m not feeling extremely thankful today though…

It’s cold.
It’s day I-don’t-even-know-any-more of extreme cold warnings. Which means it’s much colder than typical for this time of year.
I guess Mother Nature is catching us up for the nice weather we had back in December and January.
There’s always a cost, right?

So that hay we’ve been doing so well on?
Blowing through a bale every 3ish days.
But mares gotta eat, or they don’t stay warm.
A cold horse in this weather dies.
Not on my fucking watch, if I can help it.
So eating my Merry Mares have been.
And then there’s the waterer…*sigh*
I feel like it’s always something, know what I mean?
The winds were savage for a while, and the damn thing kept freezing over.
And then it froze at the spigot.
That means standing there in the freezing cold, with a hair dryer to thaw it…with 3 toddlers dying of thirst, even though I just brought them buckets of warm water from the house to drink, but they be dyin’ and I be cryin’ because my hands are cold and I’m hopin’ I can get the water running before the hair dryer conks out…
*sigh*
Get horses, she thought…
It’ll be fun, she thought…
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
😂😂😂

Egg production is waaaaaaay down too.
Where I was getting 50-60 eggs a day, now I’m getting 8. If I’m lucky.
People want eggs.
I don’t have much eggs.
I’m just barely making regulars and that’s because I had some stocked up from last week…but now we’re low because 8 effing eggs a day.
60ish hens.
But they’re eating and drinking and trying to stay warm.
Ain’t so easy even with a heat lamp and deep straw.

Today we found we’d lost a duck baby.
Again it’s the cold.
We can feed ’em, we can make sure there’s fresh water, and draft free coops and heat lamps and damn if some aren’t gonna just die on us anyways.
But ya sure feel like shit when it happens.

And then, just to cap off the craptastic shitstorm that is February, I have to go to the dentist.
While to some that’s not a big deal, for some of us it is.
I have a tooth that has to come out, but need a dentist that won’t make me wear a mask (got that) and will let my Hubby in the room too (can’t do that yet…fuck the govt, because it’s their shit restrictions) because y’all….this woman does not do well without her support person…
So I get to stay living with this fucking thing until the shitty restrictions open up enough that I can have my person in the room while having the dental work done.
Looking at the way the hand wringing from the “experts” is going, that oughta be sometime in 2037.
Think I’ll just tie a string to the tooth, tie the other end to Ruby’s halter and give my girl a big ol’ smack on the bum…that oughta yob that fucker right out of my mouth.
😂😂😂
And if I die, they can list me as a covid death.

I guess I should still be thankful…
My Hubby is still working and is able to get his teeth fixed (thank goodness! he’s had problems with his mouth since I’ve known him).
We have plenty of food in the house.
The house is warm.
We’re still able to share our bounty with those who need it.
All in all, as frustrated and cold and tired as we are, we’re still grateful for all that we have.

But for this weekend, I’m just done.

Here’s a picture of cats…Hobbes in front, Trouble in back.

Sharing with Sandee at Comedy Plus and Brian’s Home for Thankful Thursday.

Building a Berm

One of our biggest complaints about our Farm is the lack of trees.
Yeah, we knew it when we bought the place, but I don’t think we realized how much we’d miss those trees.
Bald assed prairie land is freakin’ c-c-cold!!
Colder than bush land because of the wind.
It also makes it damn near impossible to do much shooting with anything other than the shotgun or pellet guns.
That’s frustrating.
And so, this past month, Hubby and I discussed what would go into building a berm for practice shooting.

Some work with the tractor, some too-moldy-for-the-garden straw bales and a whole lot of horse crap.
Well…
Turns out this is something we can do.
And we waited far too damn long to do it!

So, last week, before the snows came, Hubby got started on building the berm.
And The Merry Mares have continued to keep up with their contributions.
After they decided they had to “inspect” his beginnings…

The inspection crew hard at work…or, more likely, hardly working…

Goodness knows, them nosey mares have to inspect every little thing to make sure we humans are doing it right.
😂😂😂

Heartfelt

I ask this, with real heartfelt emotion…

What the actual fuck, Mother Nature?

Yesterday we were a beautiful -1*c, and that ^^^ is today.
And it’s warmed up 5* already.
Holy. Effing. Moly.
🥶🥶🥶

Here’s a shot of Astrid sleeping on the composting poo pile for warmth…

Awww, she’s so cute when she sleeps like this.
❤

Sharing with Comedy Plus for Wordless Wednesday
and
Word of the Day Challenge for Heartfelt.

Temptation

There was some serious temptation on my part to take the camera outside today…
The light is stunning.
It’s clear, it’s cold, the snow is sparkling…
Absolutely beautiful.
BUT
It’s warmed up to a balmy -30*c
Which, considering we were hovering right around -39*c before the windchill overnight, is lovely.
And tomorrow is supposed to reach -11*c.
So, it’s cold, but beautiful.
Too cold for me to want to haul my camera out…
I’m a bit of a wuss these days.
Or, it could be because I already spent an hour and a half out there doing chores, and I really just wanted to come in for a hot cup of coffee…or 6.
😂😂😂

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get out to do some shooting.
I still have my Capture52 image to do for this week, and I’ve run out of recent edited images to share here and on Instagram.
And now I’ve learned from a weather alert that we have some strange weather coming. Listed as a “strong weather disturbance” I’m not too sure what to expect.
lol

But for today it’s cold, and I will share some of my favorite sunrise images with you to offset that…

The Palomino Princess at sunrise…

Best friends

Sharing with Word of the Day Challenge for Temptation
and
Brian’s Home for Thankful Thursday…because I am thankful we are over the halfway mark of January.
Spring is coming y’all.
We can do this.
I promise.
🧡🧡🧡

Like this post?
Feel free to buy me a coffee.
🙂