Food, Inc.

I watched the movie Food, Inc. today. I can't say as I'm particularly surprised by the content. It reaffirmed my beliefs in growing as much of what we eat as is possible.

LIfe is Funny Sometimes

Coffee.....check
Get dressed.....check
Take truck to gas station.....check
Put gas in front tank.....uh.....check.....but what the hell?!? There are chicken eggs in the bed of the truck. Guess I found one of the hiding places my hens have been using! Right, now what? They will NOT survive the ride to Pawnee and back, so...I go inside, and ask for some paper towels and a small sack. I wrap each of the five eggs, and carefully put it in the sack, and proceed on my merry way.
Buy 350 pounds of assorted animal food.....check.
Get home.....check
Haul 350 pounds of food into the house.....oh, ow, ow, check
Call hubby and amuse him.....check

The seriously amusing thing is I had just told Mom on Monday that I need to find the hens' hiding places, because I'd definitely seen chicken sex, but no eggs. I also located the "nest" of my ONE Rouen duck. I left THAT egg there.

Post blog.....check

Rain, Rain, and Guess What? MORE RAIN

I realize that I should be thankful for all the rain we've had lately. However, I'm kinda at my limit for the moment. Please, Mother, let the ground dry out (AGAIN) so that we may once more traverse the pastures in (relative) safety. Currently, walking out the door is an activity worthy of military hazard pay, I swear. I'd take pictures, but I don't know where the camera(s) is(are) and wouldn't have any way of transferring them from the camera to the computer if I did. Yet.

When I fed the critters this morning, I managed to get a face full of pig food, the wind was blowing so hard as I put it over the fence for them. I love the feed, it does wonders for the piggies, but it's a coarse powder, and the blowback wasn't fun.

Homestead Happenings

Wow! It's been busy around here!

First the bad news, Gumdrop and Sir Lunchalot passed on, and have been buried in a big hole in the Northwest pasture. Smokey, Goosey and the boer baby also were victims of the intense Christmas snow and ice.

On to the good news. We have a new calf, London Broil. After basically giving up on Kaylahni, we put her in with Squire, but I guess she really was pregnant. A "fall" calf it was not, and a Dexter calf it is not, but it IS a calf, and she did it all on her own. He will be steered next weekend. Ewe3pio had twin ewe-lings, and Ewephoria is most certainly pregnant. We are also expecting some Nubian/Boer crosses soon, as Nina has started bagging up. I'm not sure if Paint and Joan are pregnant, yet. But I suspect that Doobie did his job thoroughly.

We (read JIM) spent the morning moving the pigs to their bigger and hopefully escape proof pen over what will be the garden. They seem happy with the new digs.

Soon we will have perimeter fence and new pastures for the sheep, goats and poultry. We will also be building movable shelters for all.