Thursday, July 12, 2012

A "state of the homestead" report

We returned from horse-camping to full-fledged summer. The pasture grasses have gone dormant; landscape plants and the garden need regular watering. The strawberries are about done; we ate a lot fresh and put 25 pints in the freezer. The raspberries are going strong now; lots of those are going in the freezer as well. The vegetables we planted are growing well and there are various blossoms and some green tomatoes promising produce later.

On the right, seven bales of "sheep & Larry hay"
In the middle, the remaining certified weed-free hay for horse-camping
On the far right, a small stack of valley hay
The horses and sheep all need hay to supplement the limited grazing/browse remaining, and the barn is nearly empty. We haven't purchased any of the local valley grass hay yet in hopes that the one local producer who irrigates to get second and third cuttings of orchard grass and alfalfa will have some for us (demand outstrips his supply). He called yesterday evening to say he has 54 bales of second cutting orchard grass and a ton of second cutting alfalfa. It's considerably more expensive than plain ol' valley grass hay, but also has far more nutritive value, so we'll take it. With the alfalfa, we can get by with the balance in valley hay for the horses. The sheep do best on third cutting orchard grass; hopefully we can get several tons of that from the same producer later.

Lambies three on halters be

Since the sheep don't think their pasture contains anything appetizing, I usually have to halter and lead them all to get them where I want them to go during the day. While a bit labor-intensive, it helps in halter-training the lambs and gives everyone else a regular "refresher course."

"Look busy – the boss is coming!"
The chickens are on summer break, apparently; two eggs in one day (from EIGHT hens) is cause for celebration. :-/  You can see July's pathetic tally over there on the right. I could understand this if we were suffering from the extreme heat that much of the rest of the country is experiencing, but we aren't. Humph.


We do have flowers; the daylilies are showing off now, my astilbe are revealing their assorted colors for the first time since I planted them a year ago, and the Centaurea continue to bloom. I noticed this pink flower among the self-seeded starts:
I'm thinking the blue and white varieties I purchased (you can see them in the background) cross-pollinated!


My token Tour de Fleece spinning continues except for the allowed "rest day;" I'm knitting frantically  on the gift shawl whenever I can. I started the last chart last night; I figure I have six more hours of knitting to do, plus washing and blocking. Yikes!

That's it for now from . . .

14 comments:

Kelly said...

As usual, there's nothing going on at Boulderneigh! (heavy sarcasm) I am desperately looking for hay in our drought ravaged area, I've got hay, just not enough for the winter. Even if I stopped feeding hay right now, I'd still need more for the winter. Anybody need a horse in Oregon? Gotta sell at least one of my 4.

Mary Ann said...

The astilbes are beautiful, I always wanted to grow them, but never have, and this year is not the year. The lambs on leashes made me laugh out loud.... what a great idea!

Tombstone Livestock said...

Love the chicken comment

Christine said...

I so wish I could give such a good report. "Everying is dead," seems so over dramatic even though it is true.

The chicken comment cracked me up.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Crazy chickens. Love your haltered sheeps :-).

Becky Utecht said...

I'm hoping to get a second crop of alfalfa/orchard grass this year. I have my hay done on shares and the entire first crop went to my hay guy. I still have some hay on hand from last year and the year before -- keeping my fingers crossed that we get more rain.
I love the astilbes. Not getting many eggs from my chickens either. Two are broody so they're out of production for several weeks now.

Michelle said...

Oh Kelly, I didn't even touch the surface of all the stuff that is REALLY going on around here -- just the "bloggy" stuff!

And I'm afraid horses are "surplus" everywhere.... :-/

Michelle said...

This is my first year with them Mary Ann. I hope they fill in over time; they've been very slow to grow and bloom. The deer haven't bothered them, though!

Michelle said...

Thanks; it cracked me up when I saw them crowded in that way yesterday (and still only got two eggs)!

Michelle said...

The news from around the country is heartbreaking, Christine; I feel for you!

Michelle said...

I would no more have a sheep that's not halter-broke than I would a horse, Sara; makes life SO much easier!

Michelle said...

Wow, Becky; what will you do if you DON'T get any more rain?!? Will your hay guy bring back half of the first cutting for you?

Susan said...

I am lucky in that I have hay guy that does it for a hobby. Imagine. He always calls and asks how much I will need, then puts it in his barn for me. He knows I can't store more than 50 bales. It's an amazing deal. I just call ahead and come and get a load. I hope he can keep this up! I don't know how the quality will be this year. He got first cutting (which my sheep and goats love - full of clover) before the real drought hit, so I am hopeful. I envy your lambies in halters.

Tina T-P said...

The man that The Shepherd gets his hay from has yet to put up even any first cutting hay - the weather has just not cooperated! Normally he will store 100 bales for us and John goes and gets 10 bales a month - so this is going to be interesting - Yikes - we had to pay $10 a bale for some from the feed store, but at least the picky sheep liked it - we end up giving a lot of feed store hay to our friend who has horses...T.