Chomping at the bit

As with anything worth doing, farming takes time ( unless you buy a working Farm....which I did not).

I'm chomping at the bit to see some results and right now there really isn't any. Most of our spare change is going towards finishing the house.

So here is my to-do list for the year. (I like lists. I love checking items off of those lists.)

Get Lucy freshened this winter and marigold this summer ( if she's big enough. Marigold is very petite!)

Build a windbreak around planned orchard ( located where washing machine and tub greywater can be used to irrigate)

Built a new windproof goat shelter!!! Of the utmost importance.

I wanted to get some Navajo churro sheep this year, but that may have to wait until next year.

Buy electric net fencing and solar junction box for pasture.

Ppp

Something I know I absolutely can do this year, is get some edible cactus planted

Surviving the sand storm

This is what's left of my goat shelter. It WAS a metal easy up, anchored in the ground with rebar. The sides were wood. The top was the original easy up top with an extra tarp over that ( because there was about a foot gap between the easy up canvas and where the wood ended. I guess I need something more sand proof. I've talked to other goat keepers up here. Many use shipping containers.  I imagine that may get quite hot during summer months. Perhaps I need a mud hut like the kinds used in the middle east, which is a similar environment . I leave you with these images.

Maces garden and other news of the oinking variety

<p>Mace and I started some seeds in a cardboard box 'green house'. The plastic sheeting was doubled and layer over the box lengthwise. Its stapled down on two sides and left unattached on the other for watering.</p>
<p>The gate panel resting on top was to keep the cat from squishing it down. He decided the warmed soil/ plastic made a perfect cat hammock!</p>
<p>There are two new additions to the family! Oliver and Olivia Wilhelm aka the potbellied pigs.</p>
<p>I would have preferred kune kune pigs or a heritage breed but this is what was available to Lover when she purchased them ( on a whim while I was gone!).</p>
<p>The weather has started warming during the day, so the chickens and ducks are really getting their lay on ( no double entendre implied!). I'm getting one duck egg and three chicken eggs a day now. By spring that number will at least double.

What to do with all th damn cardboard!?!

I'm still unpacking.... slowly. I have a steady and growing supply of cardboard boxes.

I can't just toss them, there's too much guilt involved. I know people post them for free moving boxes but I live in Podunk USA so the likelyhood of someone driving out to me for $5 worth of cardboard is nil.

So I've been throwing them in my shed until I could come up with a better solution for there disposal. Then Mace, my 4yo, asked if he could plant Some seeds- enter flickering lightbulb.

We will use our boxes as raised planter beds. The larger ones will be saved for brooding boxes this spring but the medium and small o.es are going to be for Maces garden.

I'm going to line the sides with grocery store plastic bags to help so much moisture from being drawn out of the soil. The best part? When said veg is done the cardboard boxes can be composted. If the held up Okay, I may shove them back in the shed until fall to use again ( being in the high desert gives us two growing seasons).

I'll post pics once we get everything started! I know I'm not the first to think of this, but hot damn I feel like a genious right now.

Lost a goat, gained 5 chickens!

I traded away one of my dairy goats ( three does is enough for my family right now) in exchange for 5 chickens and some cash. I now have 4 ameraucana / araucana Pullets and a gorgeous rooster.

I expected some drama amongst the chickens ad they worked out their pecking order. Instead, my three barred rocks shimmied under the coop divider to hang out with the ducks, abandoning the chicken coop to the newbies.

At least for today the brutality that can erupt has been postponed. Here are some crappy pictures.

Thinking about outdoors

To say I an not a cold tolerant person is an understatement... Id even go as far as to say an extreme understatement. Once its below 60° forget it. I'm as whiny as they come!

The sun is shining however, and its got me thinking of the coming spring and all the wonderfulness that goes with it.

I'm daydreaming of baby chicks, planting, outdoor dining and kidding season.

But mainly just outdoor living in general! I want to start working on an outdoor patio/ dining area. We have no dining area in our home. With our climate we can eat outside 8 months out of the year. An attractive,  comfortable area will allow that to happen more frequently.  Here are some pics of gorgeous outdoor spaces that I covet brought to you via the great Google search.

Raising bugs as aProtein source ( for birds..)

I'm no stranger to raising insects. I admit I've always had a certain draw to the more large exotic species. So while pouring over data on protein for chickens it wasn't surprising or nauseating to fin thread after thread of breeding bugs.

I found everything from redwigglers, crickets, meal worms, and my favorite -Giant cockroaches.

I tried worms and I killed them ( I'll try again some time). I actually hate crickets and they smell and are challenging to Contain ( years of scooping and bagging the little buffers for minimum wage didn't help my opinion of them). The mealworms looked promising but it seemed they required a bunch of store bought substances as a food source, which defeats the purpose, right?

Which brings me to dubia cockroaches. They are glorious. Being cockroaches, they'll happily Consume.kitchen and garden waste. This particular species doesn't fly and can't climb up the smooth sides of the growing been. They are HUMONGOUS.  just a handfull a day would provide enough protein for my growing flock. They don't bite or sting or hiss ( the last time I bred bugs they were hissing cockroaches from Madagascar ).

They breed in temps above 80 so during the warmer months i wont have to provide a heat source.

I have to say I have insect love at the moment. My only concern was of several were to escape the confines of the bathroom in the RV ( where I plan on breeding them) would they be able breed in my environment when the temps were appreciate?

I was told probably not because its too dry and they are tropical. And as they die in temps under 70° as soon as late fall got here, they'd all be dead in no time.flat.

I have to say I'm very excited! Last year I asked for worms for Christmas.  Next year I'm asking for cockroaches For my birthday ( no Tiffany boxes here!). Boy, I am an odd duck.