Whew!

It's been a very busy week here at Lazy Danes!

First off, we'd like to welcome Roscoe to the herd. Roscoe is a 7 month old, Nigerian/Nubian cross buck. His mom is a Nubian that is a very good milker so hopefully he will pass this to his kids as well. Scarlet and Merry Weather were a little concerned by him at first but they're all quite happy now. Fingers crossed we'll have baby goats (and therefore milk) next spring!

Today was spent getting another paddock laid out so we can begin to rotate the goats around. We got the trees cut and corner posts in, now comes the hard part - running the red band.

In other animal news, the chickens

are now all accounted for! One black giant's clutch of eggs was discovered by the bush hog.

The eggs were not viable, so we destroyed the rest and she has stopped setting them. Now she goes in at night with the others. The other black still comes up to eat occasionally, but is still setting somewhere.

The picture is what a broody chicken acts like. Here she is puffed up claiming her space on the

stairs.

The Royal Palm turkeys. They're

coming out some now to forage with the others.

In crops news, all the sweet potatoes have been harvested and are hardening off. Mmmm... sweet potato fries, pancakes, pies, casseroles....yum! The front field has been plowed and

planted with oats for the winter. Hopefully the chickens won't get all the seeds.

Yesterday, we all went to the Fiber Fair in Asheville, NC. It looked like it was going to be a nasty rainy day, but by the time we hit Hickory it was bright and sunny. The day turned out

beautiful and the leaves were at their peak.

The Fiber Fair was really neat. They had livestock shows, shearing competitions, spinning demonstrations, fiber, yarns, and pre-made goods. I came home with 3 small bags of alpaca fleece and 2 giant bags of raw wool. I definitely need to get spinning again! Chuck bought himself some alpaca socks and goat milk fudge. The girls were pleading with us to bring home a llama or alpaca, but that is much further down the road for us.

Alpaca fiber- raw, so it will have to combed and the small bits of farm removed before it's spun.

Raw Corriedale Wool- will have to be washed and combed

An interesting side note, this is from the farm we got our does from.

Raw Jacob Wool- will also have to be washed and combed

Here is some spinning that I have been working on recently. It's all angora from this little girl. It's so hard to see in pictures but the fiber spins almost striped from the variations in her fur. This spool is all angora which for a newbie like me is very frustrating to spin! But I really wanted to show off her unique color. Now I have to wait for her to make more....

She's Back!

My Black Giant is back! (One of them anyway- both of them went missing. One was a month ago the other about 2 weeks ago. )I was fixing lunch and glanced out the kitchen window to see her pecking around in the yard with the others. I grabbed some bread and ran out. Just like always, she saw me clear the door and came running for her morsels. She looks good except for a small cut behind her right eye. She's also very dominate among the other hens now. She was running them off the treats, puffing up at them and shielding the food with her wing. Very interesting behavior.

Now as to why she was gone... there are no chicks so far, but they could be tucked away somewhere still. She should bring them around soon since the eating here is so good. Of course, they may all be gone and that's why she's back without them. Or maybe she just got lost for a while.

I certainly hope she stays this time and that there are no other injuries I'm not aware of. I'm interested to see if there are any chicks to show up. Here's to the excitement of free range chickens!

Talking Turkeys

Our baby turkeys have started making their turkey noises. Somehow, Chuck can make them gobble but not me. It seems that 3 of the 5 are toms. They are poofing up and fanning their tails a little also but they wouldn't on this video.

This is a picture of their dad strutting. He was gobbling the whole time we were there- at every sound. He is a very proud turkey.

These guys will not be full grown for the holidays this year and we are going to try to make a breeding pair. We are planning to order more from the hatchery this spring also. Hopefully the following year we'll incubate and hatch our own. That's the plan as of now anyway.

Hammy (The Attacking Rooster)

Well the inevitable has happened here at Lazy Danes, Chuck had to kill Hammy. He has been getting braver and braver as the ratio of testosterone to brain cells rose higher. He even came after me the other day as I was feeding. Madison was very sad, even though she was afraid to go out of the house. Willow was fine with it. She's been the most attacked. Me, well while I wasn't crazy about his antics, he was so pretty and had the best crow! That and I raised him in the house from a tiny fragile chick. But the last thing I need is for the girls to have friends over that get flogged by a senseless roo. So, it is done and the attacking rooster is no more- although Harry does seem intent on taking his place. Here we go again...

In other chicken news, we have a black giant that has gone AWOL. She didn't come in one night for dinner and had not shown up when I came out after dark to close the coop. She did turn up the next day but was again missing for dinner. She's either coming up now when the other black giant is not in sight or she hasn't been back. Maybe she'll turn up with a brood of her own but I'm less and less hopeful.

Notes From the Kitchen

It's been a rainy morning here on the farm, and according to the web it's only going to be about 72 degrees today. Add to that I collected 6 more eggs this morning and I decided to spend the day in the kitchen. So far I've made a veggie quiche, and a squash pie, a pan of brown sugar brownies is waiting on the oven and for dinner there will be chicken and dumplings. Only dinner will not use eggs and I still have about 3 dozen in the fridge. I see another quiche around the corner.

Veggie quiche: Tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers and eggs all from the farm. I did wimp out on the crust and use a pre-made one.

Here you see 1 jumbo pink banana squash. It's an heirloom variety that cooks up very similar to a pumpkin. Bake it, add some spices, eggs and milk and you get....

a pie that hopefully is very pumpkin pie like. Again, I cheated and used a store bought crust.

The brown sugar brownies are waiting patiently for their turn in the oven. Willow however is most excited about those and is not as patient. She does enjoy making a quiche though since breaking eggs is her kitchen favorite. Very productive day in the kitchen- now I just need someone to do the dishes. *sigh*

New Recipe & Product - World's Best 100% Whole Wheat Cereal

All right, so since you can't have "Real Food, The Way It's Supposed To Be" without breakfast, and even Chuck can't eat eggs EVERY morning, we're going to see if anyone is interested in what we're calling "The World's Best 100% Whole Wheat Cereal".

What we do is take triple washed hard white wheat and hand-crack it with our Country Living Grain Mill, then package it in clean, durable #10 coffee cans. One coffee can is good for about 1 full month's worth of filling, delicious, high-fiber breakfasts.

For details and nutritional information, check it out below. It is YUMMY.....

Worlds Best Wheat Cereal

A Night Off

We just had a down pour on the farm that has left puddles in the fields. Since picking veggies is out of the question (unless I want to lose shoes in the red mud) I ran around around with my trusty Nikon.

The grapes are ripening nicely

So are the apples

Mimi's lazy susans

And by request, a picture of Hammy, the ornery rooster.

Tomorrow, I'll have to pull double duty. The zucchini and squash are going to grow audibly tonight. But for now I'm happy with the pretty pictures.