One Paddock Finished

After another two days, we have our new pig paddock fenced in just before the weather turned for the worst. Although we were dealing with extremely high wind gust we beat the rain. The gate is temporarily attached until we install the next run of field fence from the corner post the gate will permanently attach. We gave a trial run this afternoon with our goats, and they seemed to really like it. It’s only right they get the first use of area, since they were the labor that cleaned the area out in the first place. When we first moved in this area was completely overrun with head high weeds and honey suckle so thick you couldn’t walk through it. Besides we are still a couple months away from getting the pigs.
If you have an overgrown area I highly recommend getting a couple of goats to clear it for you. The goats prefer to eat weeds and broad leaf plants instead of grass. They will eat grass, but they go after all the stuff you want gone first. So when they leave an area it is almost completely free of everything except the grass.
I did manage to get the quail eggs sent to Mission to Mars today. I wanted to send them out yesterday, but by the time I would have had them packed the post office would have been closed. So I collected new eggs today and got them sent off today. It was the first time I have mailed eggs, so I don’t know how they will make the trip. I individually wrapped each one in bubble wrap and put them inside a tissue box and then wrapped the tissue box in bubble wrap also. Finally I placed empty boxes around the main box to take up space in the flat rate USPS box.
Our strawberry plants arrived from Stark Bros. today. My main project will be to get them in their bed tomorrow. All of the plants we started earlier have to be relocated to their new homes pretty quickly also. We couldn’t mix the soil for our square foot gardening system because of the wind this afternoon. We just hope the thunderstorm rolling through tomorrow will make its way quickly without causing any damage.

One of my Dark Cornish hens went broody today for about twenty minutes. We have been letting them out in the afternoons to free range while we work around the place and they have started laying their eggs in an empty horse stable. It's always an Easter Egg hunt around here when we let them out. Well today one decided to sit on three eggs. She looked so motherly all hunkered down on them, so I was just going to let her hatch them. Well that lasted until I fed the others and our top dawg Delaware rooster, (River), started calling the hens to eat. She decided eating was more important today.

Y’all Come Back!
Brad

How it all started.

After 9/11 I joined the Army National Guard, I had been Active Duty Air Force for almost 11 years before. I don't take our freedom for granted, and I did what I thought I should do. Notice that I said "I" not that I think that everyone should join. This is not a political or pro military post.

I was deployed to Iraq in September of 2005 and returned safely in October of 2006. While I was there my daughter turned 16 and my son turned 11. It's easy to say I missed them every minute of every day, but the down time was terrible. We worked 14 hour days and some 24 to 72 hour days. Believe it or not the long hours were the easiest, because I didn't have time to dwell on the things I was missing at home. I had always wanted to have a little place in the country to call my own and raise some cattle, so when I would daydream in Iraq that was mostly on my mind. I was laying on my rack at Ramadi, Iraq when it hit me. I need something that me and my family can do together and we can learn about at the same time, as well as spend time with the animals everyday.

When I got home, my wife and I bought our dream property. It's a rather large house sitting on 30 acres with a large enough (if possible) barn, 8 acres of pasture, two grain bins and 18 acres of row crop land. The fences are in good enough shape to hold the three horses in the pasture, but they were overgrown badly with honeysuckle and blackberry bushes.

What to do? I bought two goats! I had never been around these contrary stinking animals in my life. I actually think this was positive rather than a negative. I didn't know you couldn't put a collar on a goat and walk him around with a lead rope. I did it and it worked. I didn't know you couldn't put them on a chain where they could reach just a section of the fence and let them graze the brambles down. I did it and it worked. I didn't know you couldn't lead them back to the barn at night with the lead ropes and give them a little sweet feed and bed them down for the night. I did it and it worked. I didn't know you couldn't keep two bucks together. I did it and it worked. I didn't know you couldn't just turn them lose in the backyard while you were out there and they would stay there and play. I did it and it worked. Man it's sure a good thing I didn't know anything about goats. We still have LB and Bill and they will have a home for the rest of their lives. Now I just need to teach them to fence!

Y'all Come Back!
Brad