Serafina is to be a momma

i can't see how many, but there are a fair amount eggies in there
she isn't setting close though
but it has been pretty hot
tomorrow is to be cold so i imagine she will set really close
falstaff is of course not helping at all
( what would you expect from falstaff)

meanwhile
they are eatting a ton of bugs ......flies included and bernie watched falstaff eat a spider.....oops wrong buggie that is a GOOD buggie.....

falstaff meets me at thier door looking for the leaf mold/compost and his corn
serafina LOVES the little bathing pool thingie that aunt pieheart gave them
( top of a garbage can......hey they aren't snobs)

they wag their tails at me

they pick over the leaf mold
they cut it all up
mix it all up
and i then take it out and mix it into the garden beds
wow they are so much help

shhhhh don't tell bernie but i prefer the ducks to him in the garden
they don't weed whack the soaker hose...........
they are much quieter then him too.........
and peaceful ( bernie likes his weed whacker........we won't go there)

i keep hoping that damn thing melts or something

and LOUD
how can I think with all that noise going on

ok
now we are to get really cold weather tomorrow with a sunday night low of 37
so i will be covering the garden
and then planting more monday

i got the beans up.......this hot weather has really really brought them on
they are about 6-8 inches high already

i put in the broccoli
the one poor remaining red cabbage
the purple cauliflower
some of the many many many MANY tomatoes i accidently grew
and then seeded some carrots
and some marigolds

i have to still put the peppers in......
and seed some corn
then there are the eggplant, zucchini, pumpkin......... winter squash, mellons
oye
celery, garden huckleberry, tomatillos *salsa is in my future*
and goodness knows WHAT ELSE
gees i forgot the beets, chard, brussels sprouts too

the deck garden has lettuce.... spinach
peas!
hahahah
oops gotta go
gotta water them

til next time

farmer vi

duckies and goaties and little lambsie daisies

ok first off
my baby goatie is going to her VERY first DAIRY GOAT SHOW
how about that!
little violet is all grown up and is to be BRED this fall
(tune in this fall and watch ME melt down with worry about my beloved little goat)

we named the female duckie
soooooooooooooooooo
( drum roll please)

it is SERAFINA!

that is the ONLY name i found that fits her!
remember what she looks like?

she is so sweet and serene
he is soooooooooo falstaff

so i give you...... falstaff and serafina muscovy

my duckies!

now as to the lambsie stuffs
i lost bonnie's and arabella's papers
damn
i need them as arabella is to be shown this year and she is definitely nice enough to win the blues
anyone pschyic?
they are beighish and in a page protector
help~!!!!

meanwhile
it's time to plant the garden
yup yup
and tonight the broccoli is going in and possibly some tomatoes


my duckies are helping me by processing the leaf mold
they cut it all up
mix it up really good
and it's ready to spread in the garden
hmmmmmmmmm
nice duckies
helpful duckies
momma's darlink duckies...............................

well mostly it's serafina that does the bulk of the work
( right now a whole bunch of females are nodding their heads in agreement)

while falstaff sleeps on the top of what was a hay bale.................

too bad he doesn't have a beer and a remote huh?
thank goodness he's a DUCK and they don't do that


oye

meanwhile
someone we all know and love.................... who shall remain nameless.....( but is a CITY BOY who's name rhymns with ernie..........)
decapitated a red cabbage plant
why ?
I have no freeken idea?
but remember this is the man that gardens with CHAINSAWS...............

he uses a weedwacker when a small hand pruner would be much more appropriate, not to mention better for the plants health................
the man who yanked UP the ground cover that was pretty and green with little flowers and put some ugly ass brown shit he got from the dump

oye

ok
i will cut him some slack as he is to help me in the garden tonight......... however he doesn't know that yet
hahahahah
that is my own little special surprise for him
that and egg salad I think for supper

oye
but there are tiny new lettuce leaves for his sandwitch



til next time

vi

what do you get when you fall in love?

and plant WAY too many tomatoes?
peppers
etc............

oh man
i have been seduced by heirlooms...........
now I love my peppers...... sweet peppers of ALL kinds
tomatoes are ok in my book
but I got into the heirlooms........

STOP
WAIT
SAVE YOURSELF
learn from my mistake

and whatever you do............
don't accidently over plant maremmano tomatoes........every single freeken one of them will grow.....(and they will apparently TWIN ......and you will have countless pots of them all over the deck)
( news at 11)

and don't continue on with at least 20 different heirloom varieties........... save yourself
be firm.......... you will thank me for it later

we have now a sort of jeririgged greenhouse on the deck
we have tomatoes and peppers under lights in the house
we have given MANY away
to complete strangers
i have almost gratefully watched a few get dampoff..........
( I SAID almost)

i got tomatoes and peppers in the windows
in the sink

i am begging my friends to take two..............three.............18 more tomatoes and pepper plants

i had BETTER have a harvest of SOMETHING this year.............

i want to be so buried in tomatoes and peppers that I come here and kevetch at you all about how i am out of my mind
and how NEXT year i am eatting out or some such nonsense.........

however i would really like to be able to dry about 100 pounds of sweet red peppers
and can about 100 quarts of assorted tomatoes......... ( i don't know why)

and we won't even
DISCUSS the pole beans................... 4 varities of assorted green beans....... then there are the red, yellow, purple, and turkey pole beans......... but that is another post........

meanwhile my RED CABBAGE.............. bernie the city boy strikes again......he decapitated it
oh man........

now you all wish me a farm.........cause NEXT year I need a greenhouse to start off with
and wish me a pretty farm please
with stately sugar maples
just like I have now

and no jackass' anywhere NEAR us


til next time
vi

canning season has offically begun!

there was a nice sale on chopmeat,
how could I resist
so I didn't........ canning season started with 3 nice quart batches of chopmeat with mixed veggies
one batch has mushrooms added
the others are just chopmeat with mixed veggies.

i am watching the meat sales now
i intend to can more meats with mixed veggies as it is a very FAST easy winter meal.
sickdays, late days, and snow days are easier this way.

while i wait for this batch in the canner........ bernie has gone to get us icecream and rootbeer

it's time for rootbeer floats!

woohoo

we love rootbeer floats around here!

meanwhile on the duckie front
we got them a small garbage can lid....... it's the perfect size for a small bath for them
and they LOVE IT
they prefer it to their water bucket even for drinking
we are going to give them a perch this week........as they ARE perching ducks

they really are the perfect backyard pet
no noise!
no smell!
and they mix and shred compost as well as eat bugs!


the beans are up out in the garden, the ones against the tarp.
they are doing so well that I tarped the other row of beans!
what started as a way to protect my duckies from jackass...turned out to be good for my garden!

we have the broccoli bed almost ready
and we prepped the tomato bed
i was going to put the plants out this morning but when we got up
the temp on the thermometer outside was 34!
too cold for tomatoes, but the broccoli should be ok
i put blood meal on the broccoli bed as there is a mole digging tunnels under it
I am sure that he has gotten all the worms out now
so the blood meal is there

we need to prep the pepper bed........that one for SURE needs black plastic to heat the soil
i want to heat the tomato bed and put a smallish hoop house.

now that jackass 'privacy' fenced against us........( I am STILL loving that)
we can hoop house out there without his shit bothering us

so we get WINTER veggies all winter .............no?
hahahaha
this is GREAT


now i think that's all i got to tell you all

if i forgot anything please remind me
vi

duckies bathing......

in their water bucket
I got to get them a pond

they remind me of little japanese monks

they first plunge thier little heads deep in the bucket
then they take a bit of water and sprinkle it over their backs
I sat down to watch them
they do that a few times then beat the air with their wings

i think they are getting used to me

they love the wheelbarrow full of leaf mold/compost i gave them again today
they eat the bugs out of it
and the maple tree seedlings
as well as other sprouted seeds

they enjoy it so very much
i love to sit and watch them root around

when I go and get the wheelbarrow they run to the side of their pen and watch me fill it with leaf mold
then they rush to where i dump it


I wish my hens could do the same
this is just about killing me that my hens aren't safe out there as long as jackass is around

but the ladies do make a lot of noise

bernie said if jackass is gone
we will put the ladies in tractors for the day and they will come in at night
( i would miss them way too much if they were left out there)

i long for the day when my ladies can free range in our back yard.......hopefully on a farm
and my duckies can fly free
with the sheepies cutting the lawn and the goaties triming the underbrush
and maybe a nice little mini jersey cow and her calf happily grazing on fresh pasture

with jackass nothing but a distant memory
displaced by the lowing of my cows, the contented clucking and boop booping of the chickens.......
all the animal sounds

?

and with luck...... I get to put my stories in a book for folks to read all together
and getting back to being an artist

vi

jackass neighbor!!!

http://www.pahomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=17523

can we say........ fraud
money laundering
criminal activity
can we say district attorney
attorney general

yes i knew we all could

vi
ps: I sooooooooo wish I could have this clip
but i can't afford the 40.00 for this one

HERE there be DUCKIES

duckie have landed and names

justinius or justinian Cornelius
Octavius Honoria Hortensius
laetres Amalia Antigonus
Archidamus Cornelia Desdemona
Drucilla Eugenia Euphemia
Hortencia Lavinia Lucretia
Falstaff Lucetta Luella
Novella Octavia Odessa
Malvolio Olivia Ophelia
Pericles Proteus Rosaline
Sebastian Agamemnon Orsino
Clachas Deiphobus Diomedes
Menelaus Alarbus Lucius
Quintus barnabus


here are some of the names we been considering

I am leaning to falstaff for the boy
ha
that male duck
we got them home, opened the crates.....and he concernedly and what we thought was TENDERLY called her and went over into her crate

was it a concerned reunion of two lovers seperated for a day?????????????????????

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

it was a horny male duck who'd been interuppted in the midst of his nookie
and wanted to finish

( see what i mean about falstaff? and he is a bit.............ah......portly...unlike her)


oh man MEN!

now i am attempting to associate ME with treats
I want them thinking.........."OOHHHHHHHHHHH nice lady with big straw hat, what have you brought us today"

today it was apples
they apparently don't care for apples
they liked the whole grain bred though
I can't wait to start feeding them slugs


they make a weird sort of dog sniffing noise
like a dog on a scent trail.......and they wag thier TAILS
hahahahaha
no kidding
and they got BLUE eyes
way cool
they watch me
but really they aren't all that concerned that i may hurt them
they don't rush me when i got to give them water or food or something.........
I almost was afraid that i would need body armour but they are pretty good duckies
I hope to get pictures soon

oye

vi

sheepies sans fleece***

(baby sheepies don't get shorn)


baby goaties.......cause.......well you know!


gee I LOVE life on the farm


vi

no news from the sheepie front

it rained like crazy today so hopefully my babies are still 'clothed'
I hope to get out to the farm for the derobing such as it is
I was busy all day......
I had a LIST of stuff to do
one part of the list was to research cow breeds
hahahahaha
( we have to move first huh? )
well i discovered not only mini jersey but dexter.....
so that pretty much is where we are heading for milk cows
they are much smaller.... in some cases much less then half the size of a full grown cow
the mini jersey will give a LOT of milk however
and they will do it on half the feed
I am thinking I am not all that tall......so i shouldn't have too much trouble handling them
with bernie helping with the hard stuff?

with two cows......you get milk all year long
probably too much milk huh?
about 6 gallons a day on an average

and me.............I LIKE milk

ok so i also love cheese and yogurt

and of course ICECREAM............
ok let's see

I gave the hens a mix of cornbread and hard boiled eggs and some of the kitty glow vitamin powder
as henrietta still isn't as bright red in her comb as I like to see on the girls

I am also thinking of a high tunnel hoop house out back
for winter gardening....
we can make one pretty cheaply
even the BIG ones are only about 500.
I am thinking maybe 75. for the one I would like............
and the girls maybe able to go out there as well.....
jackass won't be able to see them..........or hurt them
the ducks can defend themselves............... the muscovy drakes can be quite a deterant
to a moron who is too stupid for words..........

I have decided that until we know what is going on with bernie's job...... we are going to get as much stuff going here as we can... the high tunnel hoop house is not only dismantelable.....
but it is so cheap we could even leave it and build a new on at the next place

ideally i would love to put a hoop house for raising broilers out on the back parcel of land
but of couse with jackass next door we can't
I would like to raise about 100 broilers and 4 turkeys
for the freezer

I been also researching microfarms
tiny farms that earn a living
it's pretty cool if you have a mind

anyway
I am waiting to hear about my bonnie and edmund

stay tuned

vi

Firsts...... and hopefully no seconds!

well my two sheepie babies are getting shorn
not my lamb arabella........she won't get shorn until august
but my bonnie and my edmund
I can't get there to see it
sniff
but I hope for pictures
Carole says this shearer is most excellant and there will be very little if any second cuts
my first fleeces from my beloved tunis sheepies

in other news
we are getting muscovy ducks (accent on the COVY)
a pair of white ones
they will be working ducks as well as pets......eatting slugs in the garden
the hens won't eat nearly as much as the ducks and the hens would gleefully EXCAVATE the garden.

so until we get the chicken palace finished for hens
the muscovy ducks will live in there until the domicile du caneton finished.....
hahahahaha
the home of the duckling........sounds better in french

anyway.....
we will need some names befitting a rather droll pair of ducks
I am thinking...... something out of dickens?
well I mined the romans for calpurrnia's name....... and thaddeaus......well.... you know

soooooooooooooo how about dickens for the ducks

any ideas?


vi
stay tuned for what I hope will be pictures of bonnie and edmund getting shorn

march 31, heritage day at kutztown

Sunday march 25, 2007.... Spin surprised the hello out of me!

ok so maybe turning 50 isn't going to be so bad?
I got the best friends in the world

vi

Arabella at 1 month

and typhoon's new baby at 1/2 hour old


edited to add
my friend Julie is a tarot card artist as well as the author of some stuff on tarot
I put a link to her site on the side.........(it says 'my friend julie)
I love her decks, and i love her
so please go take a look if you are into tarot ( which i am)
she's coming to the east coast next month and I hope to get down to see her

vi

mother nature has GOT to be kidding right?

I am about to turn the big 50
in about two weeks
so what curve ball does mother nature that bitch decide to throw me????

NO not that pink line thing THANK Goodness........or you all would be reading this with a ouija board after I threw my fat ass off a building..............


noooooooooooooooo
she sent me a period
and not just any period......
one of those bring you to your knees turn your brain into jello shooters periods

the kind where you explode and three days later realize it!
cause you can't stand or MOVE for three days

this is old age?
THIS is menopause?
please

I got the chin hairs......... I got the hot flashes and the night sweats

please please please don't make me have to BUY them damn napkins

don't make me suffer the cramps and bloating

I got enough troubles

I swear
periods are only for young broads........us old farts aren't strong enough to be laid this low

a bit of stiffness in the morning I can understand

oh man

so anyway this monstrosity happened sunday morning

last night bernie said to me
you are looking a bit better..........
( did I mention the duck bill thing too?)
today I can speak in coherent sentances for the most part............
although I still can't stand up that long

and bernie wonders why....sometimes I just don't get ANYTHING done

oye


vi

almost alive

In like a lion?

Well march is doing it's thing

hot weather.......bitter cold weather
snow, sleet, ice....... freezing rain

it better be nice by my birthday as bernie is taking the day off
carole and kris are taking me out prior......
life is good

meanwhile
we cleaned the chicken's pens last weekend
now when we clean chickens we always use a particle dust mask.
I had picked up two new ones for us prior to this
the new ones were dust/mist/vapor
I ended up having a horrific allergic reaction............
bernie's ok
me......I went beyond trout lips to DUCK LIPS now
when it hits platypus beak......
i will go to the doctor

I taught yesterday and I am very thankful I don't have another class until the 23
as I think it is going to take that long to get normal looking again


oye
meanwhile............
arabella has some new little friends
two baby lambs born to hurricane the texel/bfl crossed ewe that is one of carole's flock
little violet is loosing her kid fat and getting all sleek and elegant like a nubian goat will

she is going to be bred this fall to mohava the new stud buck at lilac corners
my baby girl...
I will go through hell worrying about her delivering and her kid
carole will laugh at me as usual...
and comment on the size as well as the attachment of violet's udder
I will fuss and worry over her and feed her cinnamon raisin bread

bonnie and edmund are doing well as are the chickens
and the cats
and the roosters...........( they are married now......did I tell you all? my boys have WIVES.........multiple wives! well you know.......they are CHICKENS)

so it is apparently spring huh?
I am starting broccoili and onion seeds today
and maybe some peppers
I know that some time this month or next month we have to get out to the farm for manure
I would LOVE to be able to rent a dump truck to fill
and clean both carole's barns and monica's barns....... hitting kris' sheep shed on the way home
I want to make sure that the tomatoes are on 'hot bed's of raw manure
to keep them as warm as possible as early as possible
plus I need it for the worms..( you all should see the SIZE of my worms)


our annual skein contest starts this month
I am doing two grand prizes......
both tool kits for knitter/fiber people
they will have a ruler, folding scissor, stitch markers, emery, and probably a hand balm.
with room for the people to put their own crochet hook, waste yarn, pad and etc in there

the experienced one is going to be in teal blue and purple
the novice one in pinks and blues

I have to get up to odd lots and see if I can find a small tape measure and maybe needle gauge for each one

that will be next week i imagine

anyway..
I added arabella's picture to the side links
oh and............
does anyone know how to fix my template issue of smaller to miniscule sized archives?
I would appreciate it
ok

till next time


vi

can you all stand more BABY pictures??

sheepies and goaties oh my!!!!


there is little arabella.........and violet!
see?
hahaha
boy my little violet is sooooooooooo much like us........ that is her at the hay rack.....it's dinner time at the farm.





as you can see......our girl is happy and healthy....... she is bouncing around and you can't get a good clear picture of her



here are todays brand new saanen kids........that's jellybean thier momma
you all have seen her many times before
she had a girl and a boy

these little guys are so cute that I had to put two pictures in
they really say spring don't they? and they LOOK like bunnies! they also have blue eyes!

Lambsie PICTURES

this is carole holding arabella
cute huh?
she's about a week old here



a better picture?
there's bonnie being a good momma in the lower right corner


and


HERE'S BONNIE...............




a quick color/fleece note on tunis............

they are born red, and their legs and heads stay red..
they are allowed from a deep mahogany red to a lighter cinnamon red or tan
and their fleece after their lambs wool........turns various shades of cream

I would LIKE to breed for darker and redder faces and a pale cinnanom cream fleece
but we'll see what happens..........

vi

but arabella's lamb fleece is red........ and will be red if I can get her shorn in august
( carole said unless her daughter can shear, as the professional shearer won't come out for only one)

KNITTING content and arabella update

ok folks,
I had to write a short article for our local yarn store's next newsletter.
I did and since some of you won't get it......
I figured I would post it here for you all to read.

now on arabella.
I saw her thursday night.......she is double the size
and frisky, and curious, and adventureous
in short........she is everything a healthy lamb should be
I have tried to get more pictures but I am not sure how they turned out yet as the batteries are dead in my camera
I got to remember to do that later today or tomorrow

meanwhile
we are expecting a storm

so without too much further ado........
here is my short article

and my question to you all.....

WHAT IS IN YOUR toolkit????

What’s in YOUR tool kit
A tool kit in your knitting bag is compulsory. Believe me it will make your knitting life a whole lot simpler. A good basic kit doesn’t have to be huge, it can fit in about the length of a business sized envelope or a pencil case. Here is my list of indispensable tools that I just can’t leave home without:

1) Crochet hook or two, (or a double ended one) I have smaller one for sock weight or fingering yarns, and one larger for worsted. They are wonderful for dropped stitches or mistake stitches; you can ladder it up with this. Or do the chain for a temporary cast on.

2) Chibi, or blunt tapestry needle: I LOVE my chibi, as it allows me to run a lifeline, sew a bind off, mattress seams, weave in ends. And it comes in a cute little case.

3) Waste yarn, just a couple yards of a smooth dark solid color and a smooth light solid color, make this maybe a cotton or something that can slide easily. Some folks use dental floss, in the nice tiny little plastic boxes. Unless you are doing large blankets or afghans, about 2.5 yards of each is enough. I make tiny balls or sometimes wind it on a piece of rigid plastic or cardboard. Waste yarn holds stitches on an instep or where ever else you need it. Waste yarn allows you to knit in a tube and hold the place for a heel or a thumb.
You can use it with a crochet hook for a temporary cast on. See what I mean? You need this stuff.


4) Cutter of some sort for yarn, clover makes one, Clover thread cutter pendant, or you can get a nice pair of tiny folding scissors, I have even been known to carry a coupon slicer.

5) Needle sizer/gauge: you really do need some sort of measure with you, if not this….then a small retractable tape measure. ( my favorite is a sheepie)

6) Stitch markers: various kinds. These make life a LOT easier, get a special one to mark start of round. I like to use beaded ones when I can, lightweight ones for socks, heavier for worsted projects. Lace knitters, this is mandatory for you, one marker per each motif.

7) Postit notes: I like the super sticky for chart marking, also for making notes on your pattern without harming the original.

8) Pencil with a good eraser: well we all need to make notes right?
I make notes of where I left off, or if I altered stuff.

9) Emery board: get one that has a fine and extra fine side. This will smooth needles that are rough, and human nails that are rough. If you like to work with bamboo or wood needles like I do, you will occasionally get a rough tip. I couldn’t imagine having to either put down my knitting because the tip of my needle was snagging, or damage a really fine yarn.

Not necessary but kind of nice:
zip lock bag to hold your project
non-greasy hand balm or lotion
caps for your double point needles ( point protectors)
row counter
thermal gloves ( I really do like these occasionally)
a note pad
Yarn Yardage Guide ( you don’t need this, you CAN make notes to carry with you in your note pad)
Back up Xerox of your pattern

Shopping and putting together your knitting tool kit is a lot of fun. It doesn’t have to be very expensive, and as you can see, does not take up a lot of space.
I use small hard plastic pencil cases, small zippered tool bags, and an occasional drawstring muslin sack.
I hope you will enjoy this and have a wonderful time picking out a case that will make your knitting life easier.




ps for you chart knitters....... various colored highlighters are nice as well

til next time

vi here again

I been thinking

part of the fun of doing a tool kit is the containers....

so I ask you all...............

how low can you go?

how small can you go and get a full kit?

how tiny a cutter, how compact a case?

how INTERESTING a case?

I been thinking of some of the cases i have used in the past...............

i used clear plastic tubes with screw on metal tops

pill bottles

pretty and tiny decorative tins

( think sucrets or altod tins only pretty)

I dare you all..........

show me YOUR tool kits

the tool kit challenge is on..............................

( no prize or anything but it sure is fun)

and maybe if you can...........

a rough estimate of costs

so the newbie knitters amongst us have an idea

vi

arabella

ok she really moves FAST
I took 137 pictures of her and these are the ONLY ones that almost came out
plus it was COLD and the camera was slower then frozen dirt