A Discovery Just Past the Fence

Just over our fence to the south is a piece of property that is undeveloped, unruly, and unkempt.  You know what?  We like it that way.  It is a wild little patch of woods.  The owners are absentee and never mow.  The only problem with this is the critters.  The woods are full of rats, possums, snakes and other varmints.  Those spill over to our land and we have to deal with them.

One very positive part of that wild little patch of woods is the overgrowth of bushes.  As it turns out goats love to eat this "browse."  I mean, they tear it up.  As it threatens to encroach our perimeter fence, I chop it down with a machete and throw it over to the goats to munch on.  Lately, we've taken a tie-down for a dog and clipped one of the goats to it and put them over the fence and allowed them to eat on the browse.

Agnes eating in the woods

We stood there and watched her eat non-stop.  She drifted into the woods and the undergrowth almost engulfed her.

I glanced just to the west of where she was eating and something caught my eye.  It was a plant with different leaves than we're accustomed to seeing in the woods.  I immediately recognized what it was by its leaves - A Mulberry Tree!  Where did it come from?

About four years ago, IN THIS POST I talked about a friend who gave me some mulberries to plant.  In that post, I talk about scattering out the mulberries in the woods behind the house.  Well, lo and behold, we have success!  I can remember as a kid I would eat mulberries right off the tree at my grandmother's house.  The berries were sweet and they would stain your hands purple!  We loved them.  The birds loved them.

The problem that this small mulberry tree will encounter is competition.  It is growing beneath the canopy of privet, Chinese Tallow, and China berry tree - all invasive imports from China.  Sound familiar?

The Canopy

I have to chop down some of that canopy to allow some sunshine to reach the tree.  This will allow it to grow.  It will reach upward and outward and its limbs will bear fruit that we'll enjoy.  For that to happen, I have to get my machete and start chopping.  The goats in the pasture will enjoy eating it.

In no time, I had cleared away a lot of the overgrowth and the mulberry tree was free from some of the competition.

The mulberry tree was actually getting some sunshine on its leaves.  I will keep it cleaned up around the tree and will also spread some chicken litter around the base to give it some 'food' to boost its growth.

I'm so excited that we have had success in our own "Johnny Appleseed" project.  We will report when we have our first mulberry harvest.

A Day for Moms

“Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” – Proverbs 31:28-31

Sunday was Mother's Day - a great day to honor our Moms.  God created the perfect day for it with beautiful skies, gorgeous weather, and cool, comfortable weather.  We had church again outside and then rushed home to begin preparing the meal.  Here is my beautiful wife and mother of my children enjoying together time with the other men in her life.

Tricia and her boys (Russ on the left, Benjamin on the right)

The menu for the day was barbecued chicken and smoked sausage po-boys with sides of dirty rice, fresh green beans and squash, onions with sauteed mushrooms.  They were all cooked on the fire pit in the back yard. 

We honored three mothers - Tricia, my Mom, and Jenny, my sister.  They are all great Moms, for sure.  We spent the whole afternoon visiting, laughing, telling stories and remembering funny things from the past.  It is always fun to get together and just enjoy each other's company.

Patricia, My mom, and Jenny

Here is a photo of my mom and me!

My Mom and Me

Whether it is your mom or the mother of your children, I truly am blessed to have such amazing women in my life, and I am so thankful to God for His benevolence in allowing me to be associated with mothers of this quality.  Happy Mother's Day!

Onion Harvesting 2020

Our onions that we planted back on January 19th are ripening.  Over the next couple of weeks we will completely harvest all of them as they are ready.  The onion below is still growing.  You can tell because the tops are standing straight up:

When the neck becomes soft and the tops fall to the side like below, you know they are ripe and ready for pulling.

I gently pull them up and lay them on the side of the row.

I got a length of hurricane fence and stretched it out and placed the onions on top with the greens hanging beneath to dry.  This was working well, allowing good air flow, until we got a big thunderstorm that rolled through.  Tricia and I ran out in the pouring down rain and brought all of the onions under the patio.  It was a good plan while the weather held out, but you want to keep your onions dry once you harvest and cure them or they won't hold up.  They'll get soft and mildew and rot.

We cut the tops off the onions, leaving about an inch and a half of the neck and then cut off the roots.  We placed them on a shelf with open wire racks and then positioned a fan underneath to constantly blow air over the onions.  This apparatus is set up under the patio and should dry them.

I would estimate about half of the onions are drying like this now.  We're hoping we're successful in curing and storing the onions.  With our high humidity in South Louisiana, it is hard to cure onions and garlic without them getting soft and going bad.  Our garlic will be ready for harvest soon and we'll use the same process in curing them as well. 

2020 Meat Birds - Week Six

It is Wednesday Weigh Day.  As we check in on the chickens, we can see that they continue to grow.  They are filling up the tractor, whereas they used to only encompass just a minimal area.  The big white birds eat, poop, waddle around and start all over again.

We move the birds to fresh grass several times every day.  They poop a lot contributing to a nasty area that we don't want them standing around in.  One thing we've started doing differently this week is now we leave the light off at night.  In past weeks, they would eat all night.  Now we feed once in the morning, once around mid-day, and once in the late afternoon.  It's important to keep their water filled.  They drink a lot of water - about 10 gallons a day.  We have rain barrels in the back that we sequester rainwater off the roof and then water the chickens with it.

I picked up the bird for weighing tonight.  My method is to pick the very first bird by the door.  The trouble with weighing is that I can't ever locate the same bird to weigh.  The birds' weights vary.  Anyway, this gives us a pretty good Idea of where the birds are in terms of growth of carcass and weight gain.  I have to snap the photo quickly.  They don't like to be placed on top of the scale.

Here is where we are tonight:

Week Six 2020: 6 pounds 4 ounces.  Last week the bird weighed 3 pounds 12 ounces - a weight gain of 2 and a half pounds in a week!  Something is wrong there.  I think I picked up a monster bird.  That is the most weight they have ever gained in a week.  Tomorrow I'll look for the smallest in the tractor and weigh it.  Remember the goal we are shooting for to slaughter is all of them being 6 pounds.  A 6 pound bird yields a 4 pound carcass.

Here are comparisons from previous years:

• Week Six 2019: 4 pounds 5 ounces.
• Week Six 2018: 5 pounds 4 ounces.  
• Week Six 2017: 4 pounds 8 ounces.
• Week Six 2016: 5 pounds 1 ounce.

See ya for the weigh-in next week!

Church Under the Live Oak Tree

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  Hebrews 10:25-31 

Since this Coronavirus thing started, we, early on, decided that we weren't going to participate in the pandemic.  Largely, life has gone on as normal.  The major thing that has changed in the last six weeks is the absence of church services.  Oh, our pastor began doing YouTube video services, and we've watched them, but it is just not the same as assembling TOGETHER with the Body of Believers in Christian fellowship to be edified by preaching from the Word of God.  We've really missed that.

Although our State is still under "lockdown" orders, our Attorney General petitioned the Governor, and we were given permission to meet together for church services as long as certain guidelines are followed.  There is a lot in that last sentence that I disagree with, but in Christian charity, I'll refrain from complaining and just be grateful that we met.

At 10:45 am on the Lord's Day, Cornerstone Baptist Church of Jennings met under the shade of a live oak tree under a blue bird sky with a cool breeze blowing.  There were 33 church members in attendance.  We sang hymns including: "He Lives," "God Will Take Care of You," and "Victory in Jesus."  Then our preacher read from the Book of Judges about having character, using the story of Samson to illustrate.  The wind started to blow so briskly, our Pastor had to call his son to come help hold the pages of the Bible down so that he could read the passage!

Our church membership probably has the average age above 70 years old.  For this reason, many of our members are at-risk during this virus outbreak.  It was very hard to meet at a distance and not shake hands or hug one another.  We are social people.  We enjoy each others' company.  Hopefully, we will get back to normal quickly!

The Pastor went through the life and times of Samson in his message, detailing his character flaws and mistakes and the pain they caused him.  He closed by making the point that many of us, like Samson, like to do things in our own strength rather than relying on God.  It was thought-provoking and convicting.

God is in control. We need to trust in Him.  In Good Times and in Bad.

The Homestead Lady, In the Barn, With a Pipe

I walked out to the barn the other night to give Tricia a hand with the animals.  We have a real rodeo going on right now with two cows in milk, one bred cow, three goats, a five day old doeling, Ninety-something laying hens, one broody hen that has a week old baby chick she's taking care of.  Not to mention the 47 meat birds that are approaching six weeks old and Belle, our four month old Great Pyrenees puppy, that has recently begun to play too rough with the laying hens and killed them.  It keeps us on our toes, for sure.  It keeps us young, I like to tell myself.

As I walked in the barn, Tricia had just dispensed with a baby possum that was in the barn, presumably to kill and eat the defenseless baby chick.  All Tricia could find was a pipe in the corner of the barn for her weapon of choice, but that did the trick.  The next day I killed another one in the barn and the day following, one drowned in the water bucket in the barn.  Where there are baby possums, there's a momma and daddy possum.  I need to set a trap in the woods behind the hen house.


Chickens Checking out the Dead Baby Possum

Predators come and go and at times, trying to get to our chickens.  Hawks give them fits in the wintertime.  Possums get after 'em in the spring and summer.  Chicken Snakes (rat snakes)eat the chickens' eggs in the spring and summer.  We've killed numerous chicken snakes here lately and so far, three ceramic eggs are missing.  That means 3 chicken snakes have a fatal case of constipation and will die.

But like in the game of Clue, and to to solve the mystery of the dead baby possum in the photo above, I know who did it.   It was the Homestead Lady, In the Barn, With a Pipe!  I win.

New Kid in Town 2020

The days are getting longer!  Now it is still daylight when I get home from work.  On April 27th, I was working in the garden after work and Tricia hollered at me from across the pasture, "Annie had a baby!"  I ran out to meet her and found Annie standing over her little kid.  In her previous three pregnancies, she's had triplets.  When she only had one on the ground, Tricia and I made a thorough search of the pasture, looking for her missing babies.

We found no additional babies.  Annie only had one baby this time.  The next thing we always check is the sex.  Did she have a buckling or a doeling.  We lifted the legs to find...  A Doeling!  Got a girl.  Good news.  I hope this carries over to the dairy cows.  We've had nothing but bulls for the last six pregnancies.

The little one is a strong little thing and got up on shaky legs and began nursing.

I picked up the little one and Annie followed us to the barn.  We wanted to make sure they had a clean, dry place for the night.  Annie delivered her placenta and began nudging the baby to drink more.  We stayed and watched to ensure that she got her colostrum so she'll be strong and her immune system healthy.

Little goats always bring such excitement to our little farm when they are born.  They are playful, mischievous, and personality by the boatload.  She was giving Tricia a kiss on the cheek right here.

We decided to name her Matilda and may call her "Matty" for short.  We'll just have to see if she grows into that nickname.  Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, Matilda!