Good Morning - 2023

[ross]

Not sure how our pic got there . Can’t delete.

[ross]

Our 9 year old Tom died last night . Will miss the welcoming cobble when entering barn .

Our 9 year old Tom died last night . Will miss the welcoming cobble when entering barn .

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[Killerbunny]

What a handsome fellow (OK both). Great age. I love their noises. I know you'll miss him. Was he a Royal Palm?

[ross]

Yep I think , got from Kathy (mod)

[lolotsung]

sorry about the Tom... @ross ... He was so beautiful...

[lolotsung]

Hi all, I've been under a rock for a little while (vacation from work!) and just trying to catch up on stuff around the farm. Ducks are messy. Like i haven't had to shovel out the barn this much EVER. But it's all good-they don't know it yet but all but 7 of them will be headed into the smoker sometime before the snow flies (if i can get my act together). Been out in the bush a lot the last 3 weeks, seeing some incredible deer this year. HUGE bucks, a lots of does and this years fawns. Had to catch up on apples (not caught up yet) and grapes (done, phew, wine is brewing), get the garlic in (done-until the dogs dig it up), planted about 1000 tulips/daffodils/irises/other assorted spring bloomers, got the baking beans harvested and shelled. Got a lot of the seed collected, still picking up tree seeds/nuts for stratifying/scarifying. This year i have about a 1/2 of a sour cream container full of redbud seeds doing the cool/damp thing until planting in january. Also have 6 redbud little trees and another pawpaw dug into the ground to overwinter. Had a deer fight in the horse paddock on night and they completely totalled the horse fence in one spot. Pulled the tape off 8 posts, broke a bunch of connectors, and stretched the tape about 9 feet! Horse stayed home (we have food here) but that took me an entire day to retension and rehang, jump the busted bits and replace connectors.....We have a very hot fence now-don't touch! And so far, no more fencing tearing downs at night. We only see about 30 deer every night in the field. Chickens are moulting. badly. Our place looks like a total feather explosion everywhere, between them and the ducks. I opened up the barn yesterday and today with the nice weather and now our bean field looks like we've had at least 200 birds murdered out there! LOL. At least the feathers are out of the barn now! Toby is doing great with learning what milkbones are, that treats are yummy, that when the lab snarls she is DONE playing, walking well on a leash, sleeping through the night, and not chasing the cats any more. He's also really good around the ducks (they hissed at him) and comes into the barn for chores. We still have him on a leash all the time because his recall ain't great....more like "huh? who's Toby? Oh, wait, that's me, i think...isn't it? is that me? what?" LOL. it's coming. i have to remember we've only had him about 3 weeks now. Vet does think either dane or german shephard mixed with lab. he's certainly getting the dane drool.....so....um. Yeah. And he likes to dig in the dirt. Thankfully he likes chews, because he's a chewer and so far, it's not been a problem! Lots of walks. He's very protective - we need to work on that, but does try very hard to figure out what we are asking. He picked up give me a paw in about 6 tries. So there is a brain in there, but he is totally scary fast when he gets the zoomies, which is about 3 times a day-we throw him into the garden and he runs and runs and runs, i just stay out of the way until he's done. He's a really good dog and he and sally adore each other. Can't ask for much more than that!
Hope everyone is getting things squared away for cooler weather! We had a hard frost a couple nights ago!

I feel like a sloth. Where do you get the energy?

[WLLady]

WOW @ross he did really well! Sorry for the loss.

Toby is still doing great. He has started telling us about EVERYTHING that he thinks is "not right". LOL. we'll get a handle on the barking, it's already getting better.....he and sally are having a great time together. Sally i think is actually enjoying having a friend around.

Finally making headway on the bee treatments, we actually had mite counts low enough to bother counting this past week! another treatment this weekend and a wrap for winter coming up. We did get the squall that happened a couple days ago. Pretty, but....come on, my beans aren't off yet!!!! (although they DO need to come off....). Had a record 2 kids to the house for halloween (neighbours). usually they pop by so we can see their costumes. The one was a zombie (and mom is a make up artist!) so quite a convincing zombie, like please don't bleed on my floor from the hole in your face zombie! and the other was Wednesday Addams from the addams family. just awesome!

Lost a 7 year old chicken a couple days ago. Shocked that she made it that old! I don't think i'd gotten an egg from her in at least 2 years. Found out my muscovies don't mind snow (good). We got a few inches the other day and they were right out in it. Was hoping they'd eat more and clear the driveway....soon i do have to get some of them processed. it's a 50# bag of feed every 2 days for those ducks. yikes on the feed bill. Not sure if you all saw the same but my feed went up 2$ a bag last month. ouch! So pretty much everyone is free ranging right now-eat the bugs, because the food bill is crazy!

Quick visit up to @Bayvistafarm last weekend to pick up tree seeds and drop off some honeycomb Going to be growing a pile more trees this winter. Started up the veg garden in the upstairs hallway too-tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and zucchini this year. The cost of vegetables at our store is nuts, and to keep costs down they're almost all imported and not local! nope. not for me! So i'll be doing the weird task of buying potting soil. in november. LOL

[ross]

The golden years .

[Killerbunny]

Wow we can't even get to see a Dr. for anything routine because of COVID restrictions!
Bright spot was the little Screech Owl turning up for his winter timeshare in the kestrel box. This little thing is such a help in winter!

[Killerbunny]

Take care out there boys & girls! Our hunting season (gun, deer) opens tomorrow. Unfortuantely not for us but our neighbour has headed to camp.