New Chicks

This family showed up the other day  These old girls get pretty cagey when they go broody.  In secret they start stashing away eggs in a strategically placed, hidden nest. When the pile is big enough in the nest they start incubating the eggs and in 21 days later this is what you get.  I don't know where the nest was or how many eggs she had but she has 7 little peeps following her around the yard.  They are all different colours so I think that has something to do with the different roosters from a previous post. :)  She is a very protective mom too, don't get your face anywhere near hers, she'll jump straight at it and attack you.

Pumpkins

Finally, the female pumpkin flowers show up!  There have been male flowers for a few weeks now, but they just bloom and die off.  We have a severe shortage of bees here, so to ensure that we have pumpkins this fall, I will go around and pollinate all the female flowers. Kinda like pumpkin sex.  The pumpkin row is about 500 feet long, so come see me when you all need your pumpkins!

Berry Picking

Went to Prairie Dome Strawberries the other day for some berries.  It was the first time I had ever been there and I was impressed.  The place is well planned and beautiful.  And the berries were spectacular.

It was the easiest picking I have ever done.  I picked 10 gallons in 1 hr and 5 min.

And I even saw the tractor I want to buy! International 234 hydro with 3ph and 540.  It would be great in my garden.  I have to start shopping.

Shearing Day

We've got another job done for the year. It seems that the shearer always comes on a hot sticky day and this was no exception.  The sheep run up our chute into his chute with special pull through doors.

Each ewe is pulled through the door and shorn by Cliff.  Someone takes the fleeces and puts them in the wool press to be bagged.

Very tired push help!

Most of the course wool will be shipped for sale.  This bag has the fleeces of about 40 ewes and weighs 300-400 pounds. 

Fleeces waiting to be washed, cleaned, carded and spun or felted.  I'll keep these to process myself for slippers and mitts.

Hay Crop 2011

For the first time ever while farming in Saskatchewan - We put up hay that has neither been rained on nor raked!!!  It is picture perfect. The yield was good too, over 2 ton/acre.  There was a lot of hay field that didn't get cut because the ground is so wet.  We also had Tony come in with his round baler to give us a hand to get done before the rain came.  We ended up with 2600 square bales and 122 rounds. There were relatively few breakdowns as well, so it was a good harvest.

Hannah ran the square baler and got very efficient at changing shear pins and changing twine on her own.

She just needs to remember to look behind the baler more often.  This is what happens when you run out of twine.

                                               Lyle and Zac did the picking with the bale picker.

That's a lot of loads back to the yard!

The barn loft and quonset are full to the brim.

Tired haying crew.

This is good hay!  <happy man>

Poor picture - but you can see the hawk sitting on the round bale.  Even the hawks like haying time.  They can see the mice.

Greenhouse Warming

It is so hot in the greenhouse that when you go outside in the 30 deg temperatures it feels cool and you want a jacket.  This silly cat slept all day in the greenhouse, just loving it. I could only stand a half hour at a time with sweat burning my eyes!   Ah, the easy life of a cat.

Haying

Haying is well under way.  We had the neighbor cut for us.  He did the first 40 acres with his 18ft cutter in 3 hours. It's incredible how fast that is. The swath is huge. I don't know if our square baler will be able to pick it all up. The second 40 acres is also cut now so we have to get going with baling.

The hot dry weather has helped with drying the hay.  It's been over 30 deg. for the last couple days.  Today promises to be the same.  It's 9 am and already 25 deg out.  I worked at the market garden this morning.  Went out at first light and worked until 8am.  It was already too hot then to be comfortable.

Achievement Day

Horse 4H is done for another year.  We didn't get enough riding in this year because of the wet ground but it was still a fun year.  Our sincere thanks to Tara who took on the job of Project Leader this year.  Hannah rode Chick this year, her 3 yr old buckskin filly, and they both did very well.  Hannah is looking so grown up. 

  

Showmanship class

Trail Class

Tim Taylor in the Garden

Why rototill the garden with the small tractor and 4 ft rototiller when you can do this.... with a 14 ft cultivator  < grrr! >

I guess I didn't want that strawberry patch   < sobbing >



Domination

Who do you think rules the hen house at the farm?

Is it this leghorn rooster?

Or this chantecler rooster?

  Or this large dual purpose?

Or this big bad boy?

Or this Jersey giant?

Or this banty?

That's right.  This little banty has the hens herded and the boys on the run!  In his mind he doesn't weigh less than 2 pounds.  With that attitude I'm glad he isn't any bigger.  He spends his day strutting and crowing.


On reflection, me thinks that I have too many roosters.

Tag - You're it!

Reggie and one of the barn cats spent the morning playing tag in the garden.  The cat was at a great disadvantage because Reggie can run 5 times faster than her.  Spent most of the morning working in the garden.  Rescued some of the early planted peas.  They're blooming now so it won't be long before we have peas! 

Yesterday afternoon was spent with Hannah at 4H. She's riding Chick this year.  She's 3 now and Hannah has done all the training and riding on her so far.  Tara jumped on her for a little extra schooling.

Camp

Rebecca left for camp today.  She will be staff at cadet camp at Penhold.  It will be quiet around here until August 20th.

Sign of the Times

Love this sign!  It's been popping up all over this spring and summer.

Reggie's Story

Reggie found his way to us on June 4.  He is a male whitetail deer and was about a week old when he arrived.  Friends of ours have a guardian dog with puppies and they live in the bush totally surrounded by trees.  Their  dog brought this fawn home into their yard and gave it to her puppies to eat.  Fortunately they were in the yard when this happened and were able to rescue the fawn.  He had several puncture marks on his back end and the skin was peeled back on both back legs.  Because the fawn was injured and there was no way to know where he had come from, I got the phone call to take the fawn because I am milking goats and this would be perfect food for him.

Reggie came in a box; he was incredibly small.  I used crazy glue and stuck the skin on his legs back together and treated him with antibiotics.

Here he is with the cat so you can see how small he actually is.  The next thing to do was get some food in him although he still had milk in his tummy from his mother.  He refused to nurse a bottle.

With persistence Zac was able to get him eating.  In the beginning Reggie ate every 2-3 hours and now he nurses about 5 times a day, on demand.  I haven't noticed him eating green stuff yet but he does eat dirt.

Reggie is now over a month old and thriving.  He spends most of the day outside but we bring him in at night.  That is no easy task because he hides on us in the trees and sometimes takes quite a while to locate him hiding in some hole. 

We plan to move him out with the sheep this fall where he will have access to good feed for his first winter but will be able to have some independence from us. We know he's a wild animal and are conscious about  not making a pet out of him.  I do feel honored though to be able to have a relationship with him.  Very few people have the opportunity we have had.

I will post more on Reggie during the summer, hopefully some video.