the weather

Even the horses think it's a good day to lay around. I did manage to move some of the "horse fertilizer" yesterday during a break in the weather. It's going to make awesome soil for the garden. The chickens are already scratching through it to see if there are any tasty bits in it that they might enjoy. I bought my potatoes to plant, but we're only going to plant russets because the red potatoes were just so expensive. I also bought my sweet potato to try and get slips off of.

Also, I mentioned in a previous post about the online photography course. I found out later that it's not a current course, but the information is still online. I'm still going to post the "assignments" here just to have someplace to chronicle my progress. So, the first assignment was "Assignment 1: Take at least one abstract photo based entirely on some of the compositional rules we talked about. Subjects should not be recognizable."

Ok, in this photo I used the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Mean. I also used the Triangle concept and negative space. The eye is in the center third of the photo, and also centered within the center third. The sky and the bridle create the triangles. The sky is also the negative space.

Taking a Break

We decided to take a bit of break this weekend. (Well, part of the weekend anyway.) A neighbor came and wanted to know if we wanted to go horseback riding. Never passing up a chance to saddle up, the hubby quickly agreed.

My tomatoes seeds have sprouted. I'll have to take a picture of them tomorrow. I'm really excited because this is the first time that I've sprouted them from seed.

New Yard For the Chickens

I guess I should've kept my big mouth shut when I said there aren't many chores to do this time of year. ;o) Right after I said that, the hubby came along with a list.

1. fix the water trough---done


2. take down the old fence behind the house so we can brush hog this weekend--done


3. brush hog this weekend (including the path to the back)


4. start the new chicken fence--done


5. start the tomato seeds (Ok I added that one.)--done

So, he welded the water trough up. We took down the old fence, and I 'm going to put it around my small beds in the front to keep the dogs out of my lettuce seeds. We started the new chicken fence, well, it's partly finished. We used wire and posts that we already had. We were so close to having enough hardware cloth, but we didn't want to buy anything we didn't have to so we used what we had. We're going to put sturdier wire on the "patch" when we take another part of the old fence down. That's the barn in the background. I'd like to paint it, but paint is kinda frivolous, so it stays how it is for now. The open part of the barn in the chicken fence is actually the chicken house (Its the black hole the other side of that tree.) It's where I have their laying boxes which is actually a set of old gym lockers that my dad gave me.

We're going to top the whole thing so the chickens can't get out as much. They are something else on my tomatoes! ;o) If you were standing at the fence looking at the chickens, my garden would be behind you. We are moving the chickens to a whole new spot, so the old spot is going to be part of my garden. Can we say wonderful fertilizer? ;o) Part of this whole plan is to cultivate as much grass in the front as possible for the horses to mow. I had part of my garden up there last year, but it doesn't get as much sun and it cuts into the grazing.

Part of what I'm doing for Mother Earth is that I don't have a lawnmower, not even a push mower, or weed eater. We have 3 ecological friendly ones who take turn mowing and weeding. We don't have to buy gas for them, and their "emissions" fertilize the grass they're mowing.

I put the tomato seeds under the grow light last night. It doesn't look like much now, but I planted three varieties of tomatoes. I planted Ace (a large tomato), cherry tomatoes and Roma tomatoes. I've never tried them from seeds before, and I've never tried the Ace or Roma varieties, even from a plant. There is a lady who lives in our neighborhood who is having some hard times. I planted enough seed to share plants with her. (Remember when I said that I was living my grandmother's life? ;o) That's exactly something that she would (and has) do.) I'm going to add pepper seeds, also but I still have to get them.

Today on the Farm

During the winter, there usually isn't much to do around here on the farm. It's too early to work the garden, at least for another month when I plant my potatoes. The chickens aren't laying, so we just have to throw them some feed everyday. Chores are just the basic day-to-day maintenance, for the most part.
Today is the day the farrier comes. We only have the horses trimmed. It won't be a while yet before we put shoes back on them. For the most part, the horses are only ridden around the farm, and we're lucky enough to not have too many rocks or other things that would hurt the horses' hooves.
So, since things are so slow, the hubby and I decided to do a little weekend getaway for our 12 th anniversary. We went to a really nice state park a few hours away and did some hiking and sightseeing. We has some beautiful weather, so we took advantage of that and got some much needed exercise, am I sore today, though. I have muscles that hurt that I was unaware that I even had! It was a wonderful weekend and we've decided that we need to get out more often and to take the girls when we go. I need to get into better hiking shape before my mother-in-law and I go to see the rock art in west Texas.
Well, I better go, the hubbs and the farrier should be here any time.

Happy 2008

Happy New Year everyone!

Now that Christmas is over with, I'm already thinking about what I want to plant in my spring garden. I bought a bunch of seeds on clearance at the end of the season last year. I think I paid about six cents a package for most of them. We had a lot of luck with squash, potatoes, green beans, and okra. This year I'm going to try and raise my own tomato seedlings, as my mom gave me my grandma's grow light. I'm also going to try to raise some fruit trees from seeds. A friend gave me a huge lemon off of her tree, and I read an article about how to start your own. My other grandmother had a lot of luck planting peach pits from peaches that she bought in the produce section.

The hubby and I were walking around outside this morning and we've decided to try and get some goats. We have 15 acres, but about 12 of them are heavily, heavily wooded. I eventually want to get some of the Spanish goats, because from what I've read, they make good pets. I want to be able to milk them to make soap. But, for now, we're going with miniature goats because they'll be easier to contain.

While we were walking around, checking things out, we discovered that our water trough has a hole in the bottom. He's going to fix that today. He wants to move it so that our Haflinger can't chase the other horses and knock the auto waterer off.

I've added some new things on the side under my profile. I finally was able to post some pictures that are permanent. I also joined a homesteading blogger group, and the link for that is a little further down.

Well, that's about it for now. It's a beautiful day outside and I really want to get some things done today. I may fire up the old tractor and start hauling "horse compost" into the gardens. Yep, I compost the easy way....let the horses do it ; ) !

Everyone have a blessed New Year! As my middle daughter said at 12:03 am last night, it's going to be a much better year this year, I promise! ;)