Happy first day of Spring 2011! I didn't get to see the megamoon last night, it was somewhat cloudy here in Indiana. But I got to see it starting to be full a few days ago. Gorgeous!
Well, I will have a new member of my animal family. I've been working with my down-the-road neighbor's mule (just three years old now and a total punk) for quite some time. She bought a new, gorgeous-built Foundation-style Quarter or QuarterX paint horse for her grandaughter. She left them across the fence from one another for a while and then put them in together this morning. Yep. The punk mule, Cyrus, decided that Amos (the new horse) was not to be tolerated. Ran him, kicked him, tortured him until Amos jumped the 5' fence into the next-door neighbor's pasture. The amusing part is that Amos, at probably 1100 lbs., is scared to DEATH of the neighbors goats. Here's this huge, bulldog-style QuarterX snorting and trying desperately to get away from a 100# goat. Pretty amusing if I hadn't felt so badly about him getting beaten up by the punk mule.
Amos has quite a few scrapes and marks on him now. I helped her bring Amos back into her pasture (without Cyrus in it!). The vet is coming to check him out but he appears to be ok. But the punk has to go! So I am going to fence off my drylot into two sections and bring the punk home here to work with him. He's big enough, nice enough and smart enough to make a nice riding mule. He'd make a good protector animal, but not if anything new is introduced evidently.
Always something here on a farm. Here's Cyrus!
Well, I will have a new member of my animal family. I've been working with my down-the-road neighbor's mule (just three years old now and a total punk) for quite some time. She bought a new, gorgeous-built Foundation-style Quarter or QuarterX paint horse for her grandaughter. She left them across the fence from one another for a while and then put them in together this morning. Yep. The punk mule, Cyrus, decided that Amos (the new horse) was not to be tolerated. Ran him, kicked him, tortured him until Amos jumped the 5' fence into the next-door neighbor's pasture. The amusing part is that Amos, at probably 1100 lbs., is scared to DEATH of the neighbors goats. Here's this huge, bulldog-style QuarterX snorting and trying desperately to get away from a 100# goat. Pretty amusing if I hadn't felt so badly about him getting beaten up by the punk mule.
Amos has quite a few scrapes and marks on him now. I helped her bring Amos back into her pasture (without Cyrus in it!). The vet is coming to check him out but he appears to be ok. But the punk has to go! So I am going to fence off my drylot into two sections and bring the punk home here to work with him. He's big enough, nice enough and smart enough to make a nice riding mule. He'd make a good protector animal, but not if anything new is introduced evidently.
Always something here on a farm. Here's Cyrus!
Total punk. About 14.1 or so. I've still got to measure him. I like everything about him except his neck is a bit donkey-like and not as refined as it could be. But I like him. I think he'll make a nice riding mule! This was back several months ago when we still had snow on the ground. Not anymore!
I'm making another batch of ricotta. I made the mistake of adding some aging-yogurt to the mozzarella I made yesterday and the yield was awful. So very very low. I'll not do that again.
On the upside, I'm getting ready to garden! With the tense economy, I'll plant a little extra this year. This year will be interesting. Groceries are predicted to be 5-10% higher in cost than last year. I've sent for some blackberries and need to buy some strawberry plants yet. I have wild pawpaws, mushrooms, black walnuts, hickory nuts and other foraged wildfoods so I'll be fine.
I've got Roma beans (flat-podded Italian green beans), yellow wax beans (wonderful color!), beets and more beets for juicing, herbs, Elephant garlic, tomatoes, pumpkins, black zucchini squash, Red LaSoda potatoes (a wonderful multi-purpose potato), flowers, Amish heirloom seeds - including Painted Lady Runner beans (edible and decorative), netted nutmeg cantaloupe and Dinosaur kale seeds - also known as Tuscan Kale - all the Amish heirloom seeds are from http://www.amishlandseeds.com Very nice folks and I'm looking forward to the decorative morning glories and different hollyhocks I got from them.
Other than breakfast (fresh Americana eggs, homemade sausage and coffee) and the ricotta cheese that's taking FOREVER to make, milking two goats and feeding the goats? I've gotten nothing done (except for helping bring Amos home for the neighbor)... It's after 1pm and I have a LOT to do today. It's my last day of my four-day vacation. Enjoy the First Day of Spring!
On the upside, I'm getting ready to garden! With the tense economy, I'll plant a little extra this year. This year will be interesting. Groceries are predicted to be 5-10% higher in cost than last year. I've sent for some blackberries and need to buy some strawberry plants yet. I have wild pawpaws, mushrooms, black walnuts, hickory nuts and other foraged wildfoods so I'll be fine.
I've got Roma beans (flat-podded Italian green beans), yellow wax beans (wonderful color!), beets and more beets for juicing, herbs, Elephant garlic, tomatoes, pumpkins, black zucchini squash, Red LaSoda potatoes (a wonderful multi-purpose potato), flowers, Amish heirloom seeds - including Painted Lady Runner beans (edible and decorative), netted nutmeg cantaloupe and Dinosaur kale seeds - also known as Tuscan Kale - all the Amish heirloom seeds are from http://www.amishlandseeds.com Very nice folks and I'm looking forward to the decorative morning glories and different hollyhocks I got from them.
Other than breakfast (fresh Americana eggs, homemade sausage and coffee) and the ricotta cheese that's taking FOREVER to make, milking two goats and feeding the goats? I've gotten nothing done (except for helping bring Amos home for the neighbor)... It's after 1pm and I have a LOT to do today. It's my last day of my four-day vacation. Enjoy the First Day of Spring!
Sarge kitty - one of my two outside cats. He's a lover AND a nipper. Silly cat. From a month or so ago when there was still snow on the ground! The rooster and the guineas are in the background...
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