Work on Break

I’ve decided the good weather this Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time for me to get caught up on hooves.

Dolly

So far, I’ve managed to do twenty-nine sets of hooves.

Ostara followed her mom in, so she got hers done too!

That’s a good thing.

Moose was a pain, but they are done.

I still have more to get done.

Wanda is going to be a challenge to catch.

Hopefully, I can get most of them done before our next cold front comes through because I don’t like exposing that new hoof to the frozen ground. In the evenings, I did some knitting.

I look like an old woman with my cat and blanket and knitting.

Of course, I had my helpers.

Herbie trying to help; Rocky supervising from the bean bag.

I did finish the shawl I started quite a while ago.

I like how it turned out.

Another task I tackled over the long Thanksgiving was doing some yard work and cleaning the garden up.

The weather was nice enough to take the Ranger out.

Well, I finally pulled the tomato cages.  That’s about it.

You can hardly see them for all the weeds.

But it’s ready for winter, and whatever that might bring, now that harvest is done.  I really like seeing this–my field harvested and you can see the curves of contour planting (another way to help protect the soil from erosion).

harvested corn field

I think I managed to get a lot done this break.

Canning and Milking

Well, last Sunday was too wet for me to dig potatoes, but I ended up picking more bell peppers and tomatoes.

Salem checking it out

So I made my taco sauce.  It’s good.

Look at all those spices!

I might have to make another batch.

I have adjusted whose getting milked.  I had already cut Antigone and Astra down to once a day because I wasn’t getting very much from them.  Then one afternoon Antigone didn’t come up to get milked when I called, so I just quit milking her.

Antigone regrets her decision. She’s still begging to come in.

My other girls are not about to skip getting milked.  Ava and Astra were waiting under the walnut tree for me to come out to the barnyard and start milking.

Ava and Astra

Astra is still getting milked once a day.  She doesn’t give me a lot, but it is a bit more.  And it’s good for her to come in and eat.

I try to do her last and let her eat a bit longer when I can.  But sometimes Joy makes me call to her.  Then she’s last.

Joy coming up; Astra leaving the milk room

I am thrilled to have all this milk for mozzarella and yogurt.

starting a two-gallon batch of mozzarella

And I am getting my freezer filled back up. in case of bottle kids next year. And I’ll still get to add Zinnia to the lineup when I wean her girls!

Garden Friends

Earlier in the summer, I kept seeing a rabbit hop out of the garden when I would show up to work.  Of course, I never had my camera with me, and this weekend when I did have my camera, there was no rabbit to be seen (I’m not complaining about that). The garden is filled with creepy crawlies right now.  I can handle the grasshoppers.

These little green bugs on the milkweed below are devouring my tomatoes.  I am very not happy with them.

I’ve also met a couple of friends while I’ve been up picking the garden lately.  The first was a praying mantis.  It was not too sure about me photographing it, but I just kept sticking my phone in its face.

Then this past weekend the garden spider made its appearance.

These are a favorite spider of mine.

Interestingly enough, when I was looking for a bit of information on them (linked above), I read that their egg sacs are vulnerable to being eaten by praying mantises.  So, I might have to evict the next praying mantis I see.