Had a bit of bad news here. The neighbor sold his farmland so we are out 20 acres of hay. The other neighbor is thinking about plowing down his small hay field that we make.
Lost a bit of land when the sale of the farm went through. We were told that we owned up to the fenceline but the stakes show we own up to about 15' from the fence so we lost a chunk of garden and will have to move more than a few raspberry plants.
We are reducing the number of animals around here and with the hay we have in the shed should have enough hay to keep a couple of goats and a beefer around for a while. But 20 goats and 4 cows might be a stretch.....
Cutting back on chickens this year as well, feed costs are horrible. Our friendly counter person at the feed mill said she can trim a few bucks off the bill by mixing something up so we will try that on a small scale this year.
Got some plowing done but still have to clean out the goat shed before we can get the rest of the plowing done.
Will be planting 3 or so acres of corn this year in the hopes of having pigs next year. Tammy really liked her pigs....
We should have enough pasture for the year if we move a couple of the cows. Chris wants to sell Big Money, and I have someone who might take Jack as a jumper bull for a while.
Garden is ready to plant, Chris and I cleaned the chicken coop out then I disced it in. Tammy has run the tiller over it a couple of times.
Have a lot of fence to make this year. Beat myself over the head with the post pounder last week. I think I might have given myself a slight concussion, still get a little dizzy once in a while   course Tammy says I'm always dizzy ;-)

Bout it for now

Enjoy the field work videos

Well, found a different job that will fit me better. 3rd shift at a local lumber mill. Nice place, been there for a long time. Make trim and mouldings so no really big saw blades to avoid. I do get some nice oak stuff that works well in the wood burner.
Should allow time for me to keep working on things around here.
Not much happening n the homestead front. We started some Alpine strawberries. They are an everbearer and don't run which is totally different from any we've had before. Read about them in a Victory Garden book.
Looking at building a hoop house and trying to get something going in the garden early. Time to start getting stuff in the starter trays and get the grow lights cranked up.
Priced field corn last week, ouch! But paying now is better than buying corn next winter. If the stuff grows well....

Well the new job pays well but on 2nd shift I work 52 hours a week and there isn't much time to do a lot of extra stuff.
Luckily it's winter and there isn't much to do except keep the animals fed and the wood pile cut up.
But this spring I think I will be a pretty tired guy trying to get everything done.
Kind of funny weather, 2 days till Christmas and it will be above freezing. Not complaining too hard though...
Have some hay to get around while Chris is off from school and lots of wood to cut up yet. Will soon be looking through the seed catalogs too!!
We had Smith Brothers come out and take care of the 3 piggies. Sold 2 of them and kept 1. Very tasty stuff indeed. I hope to be able to plant some corn this coming year so we can do more pigs.
The cows are all shaggy for winter and the goats are dried off and hopefully pregnant. Gwen looks really loaded, Tammy is hoping for triplets....
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Been a busy few weeks.
New job is 55 hours a week! Still training on first shift but will be moving to second shortly.
Still a few birds to get done around here but the pigs are gone.
Buddy of mine has some traveling to do this winter and he asked if we would take one of his dogs. We now have 3. The latest is Molly an Australian Shepard. She is a pretty good cow dog and a very nice girl all around. Still some noises with the other 2 yet though but that should settle down.

another day

Well it took all week but the hay dried down and we got it baled up. Pretty disappointing production though, only 2 wagon loads.
Have to feed some of it out right away as the last few were baled late Monday night. Almost missed 4H!
Finally found a job this week. I will be working at Merrill Iron and Steel as a 2nd shift maintenance man. Pretty big place, looks like it will be interesting work.
Finished helping our neighbor lay tile at his new place. Almost 2000 sq ft of marble tile..my wrists are worn out from all the trowel and sponge work.
The piggies have the garden all tilled up. Knocked down all the corn stalks...all I need to do is spread some chicken manure and run the disc across it in the spring. They will be going to freezer camp on the 18th.
Brother in law came up and we butchered some chickens. He took 13 home. Quite a load of meat. We need to finish the rest up.
Have to get all the firewood cut and split yet as well. And this year I'd like to haul the hay up and tarp it instead of continually plowing the driveway out all the way to the shed in back. We'll have to see how things go.

cutting hay

Well I did get to start cutting hay last night and it looks delicious.
I'll see if I can get some videos to work on here....

Another week

Been pretty busy since I restarted the blog. Tammy has been a blur out in the kitchen canning and drying the last of the garden stuff. Lots of tomatoes are in, she made up a few quarts of apple pie filling and we done 2 dryer loads of celery. Still have almost a bushel of apples to do, another load of celery, a load or so of carrots, and will have to see how her dried tomatoes turn out.
I've been helping a neighbor tile a few rooms in his new house. This weekend I ran the electric netting around and made a pasture for the goats. Then proceeded to fork out the accumulation of manure and bedding in their pen. I have 7 loads done and maybe one more to go.
Tammy spent yesterday afternoon working on fencing in a new pen for her piggies. Basically she did the garden and will let them run through there for a couple of weeks. I believe they will go away the 18th.
Today I am going to cut some hay. We look to have a week of good weather and it would be nice to get a third crop of the new seeding.