Getting Ready for 2013

2013 should be one of our most exciting kidding season yet!  This year we will be breeding our 2nd and 3rd generations, and we will get a glimpse of what we're striving for in the newest kid crop.  We've decided to sell Frodo...you can read about him here http://www.queenacresonline.com/ForSale.html We are taking the herd in a different direction, and since I can only keep 6 bucks.....we're looking for a nice home for him.  He throws beautiful kids, has tons of milk in his bloodline, and you can't beat the flashy color.  He would be very reasonably priced for the right home, especially for one of my readers.

So our stud list this year is:
Manny
Pete
Sparta
Moon
Beaux
Ditto will be vacationing at TUH

Our does this year are:
Faith - 9th freshen
Cilly - 3rd freshen
Moon Pie - 3rd freshen
Fiona - 2nd freshen
Filly - 2nd freshen

All of these will be first fresheners.  Am I a glutton for punnishment or what?
Joy
Nommy
Fame
Fennel
Ginger
Genesis
Glory

Taking the year off will be:
Lace - milking her through
Angel - milking her through

Yes folks, that's a dozen kiddings if all goes well.  I've got one month to get everybody in tip-top condition and make the plans.  I am hoping to have kidding finished by the end of Feb.  First we have to run their annual bloodwork, trim hooves, be sure they are all fat and sassy (can check that one off already).

In the Waiting Room.....

Our rabbits are due to kindle any day.  Today was 28 days since they had their "date"; so I gave them a very nice flake of hay to play with and/or line their nest with.  Even Rooster O'Malley came in to see what was going on...

Looks like the Dark Eared Mama is getting into the hay.  It's probably the nicest hay she's ever run her wiskers through!

This is the view of their primary nest hole....from the back side...

From the front side, you face a couple of angry mama bunnies......but here are a couple of shots...

The opening has a thick layer of hard pan soil on top, built up over a year or so of hay and assorted organic compounds in the form of miscellaneous donations from various barnyard species.

Deep inside the nest it is cool.  The kits should do fine despite the heat.  Both does are good mamas.

The nest is at least 40" deep, so we won't really know how many bunnies or what day they were born until/unless we see them.  The biggest problem with this system is flooding.  A heavy rain or heavy garden watering would easily flood their nest. 

It's all in God's hands now, it will be what it will be.

Ya know....

if the temp is over 100ºF does it really matter at that point what it feels like???  Taken from our local forecast:


Current Conditions - As of 4:53 PM on Jun 26, 2012 (Local Time) from KGGG Reporting StationScattered Clouds 102°F Feels Like: 110°

Wind Chill: 102° Ceiling: Unl

Heat Index: 110° Visibility: 10.00mi

Dew Point: 70° Wind Speed: 8mph

Humidity: 35% Direction: 50° (NE)

Pressure: 29.74" Wind Gusts: NA

The Inside Club

We have many dogs.  Some days there are more here than other days, due to the fact that I've been known to keep a grandpuppy (kids' dog) or two at a time here and there.  This morning I happened to get a picture of our 4 in one shot. 

Popcorn is the one in the red dress.  She's wearing a dress because she is too cold in the house. She's quite comfortable baking on that concrete slab out in 103º weather; and I'd let her stay there....but she is an escape artist and I'm afraid one of the turkeys will eat her.  The lovely cream and white dog is my sidekick, Kapu.  She's mouthy and complains almost as much as I do.....don't know what I'd do without her.  On the left is Hank aka Hank the Tank.  He is Kapu's full brother from another litter.  He is such a needy child, but a really good boy.  Oh, the black Chihuahua is Grace.  Deep down inside she's the tiniest of them all....she just knows it....why else would she insist on sitting in our lap?
Since Levi and Julie (their house will be ready on the 1st and they will be moving!  YAY...oh I miss them already)  have been staying with us, we also have Zelda here.  Zelda is an aussie/border collie type dog...but not hyper at all.  She's very smart and well behaved.  She's so quiet most of the time we forget she's here....

Any time the inside club goes outside, the big boys have to come see what's up.....

Reserve is still in basic training and hasn't joined the outside pack yet.  She's in a seperate pen learning manners before she's fully trusted with the pack or the goats.  She's doing an excellent job with all the poultry, and with the goat kids under supervision.

Speaking of supervision.  We have to watch little Popcorn every second she is outside.  She has such a crush on her big brother, Aegis.....and thinks she should run loose with him.

Just look at that look on her face!

Rabbit Air Conditioning

Since our two female rabbits live in a colony pen, they can tunnel into the moist ground during the heat of the day and stay quite comfortable.  They have a few tunnels dug, which means that we don't do much walking around in there for fear of collapsing their nests.

Our male rabbit, however, lives in a traditional hutch type cage.  Although the hutch is under the cover of trees and is always shaded, when temps reach the triple digits it's time to intervene or he could heat stroke.  That's where these come in:

We keep a couple of 2 liter soda bottles full of water in the freezer.  Once the morning heat sets in, I put one of the frozen bottles in the bunny hutch.  It really helps keep the temp down in there....

They will lick on it, roll it around....and sleep next to it....

The next morning I wash off the bottle, put it back into the freezer, and give him the next one.  Heat is a real issue here during the summer....and I know that many parts of the country are dealing with hotter than normal temperatures.  It's important to keep the critters cool and hydrated.  We also hand out a lot of fresh fruits and veggies this time of year.  Some of the goats and rabbits won't drink enough water but most of them will eat some watermelon or cucumbers.

Gidget Goes Home

Well, we are a monster short this morning, since the Princess Monster went to Tails Up Homestead yesterday.  She was not at all happy with her travelling accomodations...

And there was no convincing her that being tightly confined like this would keep her from being jostled around too much for the drive....Oh the indignity of it all!

CB was there for her upon our arrival to rescue her from the entire ordeal...

I'm sure it won't take long for her to find her throne.  She's a natural.

Bob even managed to get a mugshot of CB and me together...sorry about the blur...

The big duck day

Well yesterday was the big duck butchering day.  With over 20 ducks still to put in the freezer I called for backup and my dear friend CB made the hour long trek to come and help.  Before arriving she had told me that she was bringing my Christmas present.  Boy was I ever surprised when she brought me the coolest lamp I have ever seen!!  She said she'd stopped by an antique shop and when she spotted it, she knew it had to come to my house.  I LOVE IT!

She knows me so well, and I can't thank her enough!  Isn't it great!?!?!
Of course after we had oooo'd and ahhhh'd over the lamp it was time to get down to the business of getting these guys into the freezer...

First we had to set up our butchering station, then rounded up the first 5 ducks to do.  After the first duck we realized that we had picked a very wrong day for the project.  The ducks are in a full molt, which means that once you start plucking you realize that they are covered in pin feathers making the plucking time at least tripled.  We sweated through the first 5, the rest got a stay of ducksecution.

They cleaned up nicely, but instead of the usual 10-15 minutes plucking time each, they each took over a half hour.  We'll feed out the flock for another week or so....until the molt is complete.

Of course we didn't let the rest of the afternoon go to waste.  We mixed up some yummy cucumber dip, popped some veggie kabobs on the grill along with some chicken...and came in the house to cool off and have a visit.

I thank God every day for sending me such a great friend!

Summer Growth

Well spring is certainly gone and we are knee deep in summer work!  Do you know what these are?  It's a stack of EMPTY brooders!  We're done with hatching and all the chicks, quail, ducklings, and poults are out of the brooders.  What a beautiful sight.

Of course they will be even prettier when they are scrubbed, sanitized, and stored for next hatching season.  We still have free ranging birds hatching their own and raising them, for instance this goofy turkey hen and her two invasive poults....

And our frizzle bantam cochins have 2 chicks hatched and still setting on more....

They are very nervous and protective moms....and a little bit BALD right now...poor things need some little chicken sweaters...

And our half plucked pheasant still has not grown any feathers...I wonder if the pecking it got did permenant damage?

There's a lot of growth in the garden....and it's living up to my garden sign...

We are getting quite a few banana peppers....and they are really yummy this year.

And a little bitty ear of corn on our little bitty corn plants...

The big producers so far is the horseradish....

And my all time favorite Straight Eight cucumbers...

And we have a UPO (unidentified planted object)....it's either squash or canteloupe.  The vine is over 12 feet long and it's covered in non-producing blossoms.

In the goat yard, the buck formerly known as Sparkin Sparta during his tenure at Tails Up Homestead...is now known as Stinkin Sparta.  He is trying to convince some does to come visit but is still under strict confinement until July.  His dance card will be full this year, but I'd rather wait for Dec/Jan kids and at least have November off to play in the house!  Can't wait to see his kids next year...he sure looks mighty good for a yearling.

Speaking of kids, little Cabrito is growing and doing really well.  He is already nearly as tall as Gypsy and Ginger...

By the way the rabbits are looking, we are expecting bunnies next week....

With all this growth there hasn't been much time to post.  Tomorrow is the big butcher day for the ducks, I have no idea how many we've got ready.  The plan is to put all but 3 in the freezer.  It will be a big relief to have that project done. 
Canning season is about to hit full swing with peaches and tomatoes coming up next.
I have a few goats to get ready to sell.
Weeding to do.
Quail and chickens to put in the freezer.
Milking barn to paint.
Weeding to do.
Buck pen to build.
Chicken coop to re-fence.
Weeding to do.
Cheese to make.

The list goes on and on.  Most importantly of course is my responsibility to keep this boys' hands full of cookies!

Happy Fathers Day!

Psalm 127

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

A breakfast for the king of Queenacres....our kids are all grown now, and in 13 days the last one will be leaving home (yay!)....Bob is not only still a great dad, but a great papa too! 

Breakfast consisted of a thin pork chop, fresh eggs, toast, hash browns, and a fruit cup...with a big o' glass of milk.  That should hold him over until our big lasagna dinner this evening with the kids.

I Love You Bob!

Pickled Quail Eggs....Finally!

We bought a few quail last fall in hopes that they would produce some eggs for me to pickle.  Well, they did....finally...and then we hatched some.  As a matter of fact, we hatched 48 of them.  Now the first batch of babies are laying eggs!  That was step 1 of pickled quail eggs.

Step 2 was when we planted beet seeds last fall.....and harvested them a few weeks ago.  I can't pickle quail eggs without first pickling beets.

So FINALLY....I can begin to see the goal.  I took a day's worth of quail's eggs...

Rinse them well and pull out any that are dirty or cracked.  Then put them in a pan, and pour in enough white vinegar to come halfway up the egg....

Then add enough cold water to well cover the eggs...

Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.  At the end of 5 minutes, pour cold water onto the eggs.  The vinegar in the boiling water, and the cold water shock makes a huge difference in the ease of peeling the eggs.  It also makes some of the eggs lose their spots....

But by following this procedure....you can peel a whole egg in one strip....



And you can do it again and again...

Next take your jar of beet pickle.  By now you have eaten all of the yummy beets from the jar and you have saved the juice.  Put the cooled, rinsed, hardboiled quail eggs into the jar of beet pickle and put it into the fridge.

Look at all of those lovely eggs in that pickle!

Let them sit for a couple of days.....and fix a nice salad.  Maybe home grown bitter greens and some crisp lettuce.  Cut up a home grown cucumber, top it with some sharp cheddar cheese and home grown/smoked bacon.  And then....

Slice that bad boy down.  I think it takes 3 quail eggs per salad.  Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

The flavor contrasts on the salad are devine.  If you like hardboiled eggs in a Macaroni or Potato salad, you should try these.