I'm Seeing Red

My blood is boiling.  I walked out to the barn yesterday afternoon to gather eggs in the hen house. It's a normal undertaking each afternoon after 5 pm.  I get the egg basket that hangs on a nail on the rafters of the barn and enter the hen house.  I always look carefully before grabbing eggs.  The other day there was a large chicken snake that had devoured an egg.  If he would have just stuck to eating rats, I would simply leave him alone.  But when they eat eggs, they've crossed the line.  A quick strike with a shovel liberated his head and erased an egg-eater.

This particular afternoon there was no snake, but there was a dead chicken.  This happens from time to time.  As the Good Book says, "It is appointed for men to die once..."  Apparently, it is appointed for chickens to die once, too.

I rounded the barn and walked in the shady area near the goat barn and there was a big fat hen.  She was dead, too!  No marks that I could see, but this is more than a coincidence.  Near the head gate, I found yet another!

And in the bull pen near the gate there was yet another deceased hen.  In fact, one of her friends was paying her last respects.

Last year we lost 39 hens to minks.  That was devastating.  The minks did their damage at night.  That's why I worked so hard to "mink-proof" the hen house.  And it worked!  Except now the killer has changed tactics and is killing in broad daylight.  I'm trying to formulate a plan.  We've got to nip this in the bud.  Last night, I put Belle in the barn.  No deaths overnight.  I left her in the barn during the day, and there were no more killed today.

The mink is a low-down, dirty scoundrel.  Once they get the taste of blood in their mouths, they continue to kill their prey.  They don't eat it.  They just enjoy the sport of killing.  It reminded me of something in the Bible that tells us what God hates:

 Proverbs 6:16-19 King James Version

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

This is true!  I've highlighted 3 of the 7 items that our mink is guilty of.  I hate minks!

Weekend Getaway

My sister's son, Hayes, got married in Natchitoches, Louisiana, this past Saturday night.  Natchitoches is about two hours away from us.  Our families got an airbnb lake house for the weekend.  We dried off Callie, the Nubian goat we've been milking so that we could get away.  It took a little 'doing,' but we put out enough food to last the chickens for 2 days and made sure there was plenty of water available for the cows and goats.

Belle, our dog, usually stays in her kennel... for one day.  Then she finds a way to escape by scaling the walls and in Houdini-like fashion, squirms through the tarp that is stretched tightly across the roof.  Prior to the trip, I armed myself with welded wire fencing, wire cutting pliers, and some tie wire and was able to construct an escape-proof barrier.  Now that everyone was good to go, we pulled out of the driveway for the drive up Hwy 165, I-49 and into Natchitoches.  It's the oldest city in Louisiana as it was established in 1714.  This fact surprises many people who thought that New Orleans bears that distinction.  

We got unpacked at the lake house and then met my cousin, Patrick, and his wife Alison down on Front Street.  It faces the Cane River and as we strolled down the street, we were happy to find that there was a meat pie festival going on.  Natchitoches is famous for their meat pies.  We, of course, indulged.  There was also a Corvette show on Front Street with many booths set up selling homemade jellies, pickled vegetables, and woodworking crafts.

It was time to get ready for the wedding festivities, so we got dressed.

(L-R Russ, me, Tricia)

Benjamin was a groomsman, so as we were about to drive to the reception after the wedding, my guys took a photo with their mama!

(L-R Benjamin, Tricia, and Russ)

The wedding reception was held under a big white tent in the middle of a cow pasture amidst rolling hills about 10 miles out in the country.  Catfish, Chicken, Macaroni and cheese, and Green beans were served and we took advantage of the time to visit with family and friends.  My sister, Jenny, bakes cakes as a side-hustle and in addition to being the mother of the groom, she somehow found time to bake the Bride's Wedding Cake AND the Groom's cake.  They were delicious and beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, here's a photo of my Mom and Dad at the reception.  I think it is a great photo of them!

The next morning we woke up early and enjoyed a cup of coffee and the sunrise coming up over Sibley Lake.  It was very peaceful and quiet.

In the stillness, we talked and read our daily reading as we read through the Bible.  We're currently about to finish up with 1 Kings.

It was so still.  The water on the lake was smooth as glass.  We watched an egret as he stood on a stump as the sun rose over the eastern horizon.

At around 11 AM we began our drive home.  As we pulled onto the homestead, we eagerly looked to Belle's kennel and found that...  Belle was in the doghouse still secure!  All is well.  What a nice weekend!  And Best wishes to the Groom (Hayes) and the Bride (Hannah)!

Checking In On the Recently Planted Fall Garden

This past week I put a lot of work in so that we could get the fall garden in.  Starting from the front, I cleared out some sweet potato vines and got a full row of broccoli and a row beside it of cauliflower. Just to the south of that, we planted Russian Red Kale, Siberian Kale, Dinosaur Kale and Rainbow Swiss Chard.  A little to the west of those rows, we put in a row of Detroit Dark Red Beets, Chioggia Beets and Bull's Blood Beets.

It is Very Dry for September in our area, so I was careful to get everything watered in and then kept the soil moist to aid in germination.

I almost forgot to tell you that in pulling up the youngest sweet potato vines in order to make room for the broccoli and cauliflower, I unearthed some Golden Wonder Sweet Potatoes.  I'll let these cure and we'll eat these first while waiting on the main sweet potato harvest coming up in about a month.

I made some room on the 16 foot trellis by removing the cucumber vines which had been decimated by army worms.  This enabled me to get the sugar snap peas planted.  They responded with a germination rate that approaches 99%.

We always like to have fresh green beans for Thanksgiving.  To achieve that, we got a row of snap beans that are up and thriving.  About 1/3 of the row is a variety called Calima.  The remaining 2/3 of the row is planted with Blue Lake Bush Green Beans.

Further to the south, we planted a row of kohlrabi and cabbage.  In the upcoming weeks, we'll get garlic in and then lettuce, mustard greens, turnips and radishes, amount other items.  The fall garden is about all planted.  Good weather's on the way.

A Crafty Beast in the Garden

It's that time of year where we're picking muscadines off our vine in the side yard garden.  Muscadines are a type of grapevine that grow in these parts.  They have thick skin and a lot of seeds, but the grape itself is very tasty.  I like to eat them sun-warmed right off the vine and spit the seeds on the ground.  We have many young muscadine vines coming up all over the place now.  Russ took one with him to his home and is adding to his vineyard.  He has his vines growing on a hurricane fence.  Our vine gets bigger every year and it is trellised on a cattle panel supported by two t-posts on the ends.  Russ was a horticulture major and explained to me that if we had pruned our vine properly, it would have made more grapes this year.  When the plant goes dormant, we'll give it a haircut so that we have a more abundant harvest next year.

I keep a watchful eye when picking muscadines.  Red wasps love to build their nests under the canopy of grape leaves.  They are hard to see and then when you reach in to pull some grapes off the vine, they fly out and sting you.  Last year I was fortunate to see the nest before they got me.  It was as big as a belt buckle and full of angry aggressive wasps.  In the old days, I'd cut a Dr. Pepper can in half and fill the bottom with gasoline and douse the nest with the gas.  It 'freezes' them instantly.  This method is a no-go for killing wasps around things we're going to eat.  It would not only kill the wasps, but would kill part of the muscadine vine, too.  So I put a generous amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid into a cup and swirled some hot water in the cup.  I through that on the nest and the wasps fell to the ground, unable to fly.  My leather boot put them out of their misery and I plucked the nest off the vine and stepped on it, too.

As I was searching for ripe muscadines and keeping my eyes peeled for wasps, I spotted this dude:

It's only a harmless garter snake, but it made me immediately think of Genesis 3:1 that says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.  And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

We have numerous garter snakes all over the place.  They're small and slither under the French doors.  We have to constantly pick them up and throw them back outside.  They eat frogs, lizards, geckos, and worms.  All their favorite foods are around our house, so we're constantly in contact with them.  Sometimes, their desire to get into the house gets them in trouble.  Last week one got slammed in the French door by accident, suffering an injury not unlike the one mentioned in Genesis 3:15.

The serpent I saw in the muscadine vine, fortunately, did not speak to me!  I am under no restrictions from which tree (or vine) in the garden from which I can eat, so I continued picking a bowlful of delicious muscadines.

Discovered Some Serious Tomato Plant Damage

I check on the tomato plants daily.  Despite the afternoons still in the low to mid 90's, the tomato plants have done quite well.  In fact, I was concerned that due to the heat, they wouldn't set fruit.  I had read that they will have problems setting fruit if temperatures exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  Well, that rule isn't set in stone as I'm seeing fruit all over the place.

But I'm seeing something else, too.  I walked down the tomato rows this afternoon and spotted this!

And here is it's neighbor!  What in the wide world of sports is going on?

Well, I have a pretty good idea.  It looks like damage from a tomato horn worm.  I decided I would carefully inspect each plant.  The tomato horn worm's appetite rivals mine.  It can eat a lot in just a short sitting.  The plants weren't like this yesterday.  So I started at the first plant, looking all over.  And then I spotted the perpetrator!  Can you see how camouflaged it is?  It blends right in to the stalk and leaves.

I snatched the hornworm off the plant with the quickness.  You can see how it got it's name.  It has a red barb on his rear end.  I read somewhere that they don't sting or bite, but I wasn't taking any chances.  It wasn't happy with me for removing it from it's lunch.

I'm sure there are more, so I began to go through the plants one by one.  Here's another one!

And another!

And yet still another.  In all, I picked seven of them off the plants, all except one were as fat as my index finger.

Tomato hornworms feed on members of the nightshade family, namely tomatoes and eggplant.  Speaking of names, the hornworm's scientific name is Manduca quinquemaculata.  But I can't pronounce that name.  I choose to simply call them... Chicken food!  I tossed each one over the fence and watched the birds quickly devour them.  Please be assured I watched until they were digested.  I don't want them to make their way back into the garden.

I'll check the plants again tomorrow for any fresh signs of damage.

Clipping Wings

Although we have three acres for our chickens to roam around on, the old saying that "the grass is always greener on the other side" rings true for chickens as well as cows and goats.  Even though I have the wings clipped on my chickens, I have a couple of chickens that squeeze themselves out between the hog wire perimeter fence.  Pro-tip: When you clip their wings, you only need to clip one of them.  They can't fly with feathers on only one wing.

Our new neighbors put in a chicken yard.  More and more people are getting 'backyard chickens.'  There's nothing quite like picking fresh eggs every day.  The neighbor's birds are young and not quite laying eggs yet.  They quickly ate all the grass in the new chicken yard and would fly up on top of their hen house and then jump down over the fence.  About 15 birds would come into our yard and were scratching in the landscape and got into the garden.  They also devoured our persimmons that had fallen from the tree, before we had a chance to pick them up.  We had to do something quickly!

Tricia and I got our old net that we use when we go crabbing, and I also picked up my tin snips.  We had some chickens' wings to clip.  With both of us working together over two days, we cornered the chickens one by one and gave them a haircut.  You just take one wing and using the sharp tin snips, cut the wing feathers way back.  Then we gently tossed them back over the fence to their home.

The chickens squawked to express their displeasure, but at the end of the ordeal, no one was worse for wear.  Except, I broke a cardinal rule of neighborliness.  I didn't let my neighbor know what we had done.  I remedied that situation this afternoon.  I talked to him about it and he was thankful, saying that we saved him a lot of time, energy, and work.  So everything is smoothed out.  Everyone is happy... except for the chickens that have lost their freedom!  I'll have to do something to remedy the problem of two of our forty something hens that get out as I don't want them getting into their yard.  It's been more peaceful over the past few days without a flock of chickens in the yard.  There are two guinea fowl, though, that we couldn't catch, but I haven't given up.  We'll get 'em yet.

A New Shed for the Bullpen

I started to tell you last week about our new construction project in the back pasture that we call the "bullpen."  It's where we keep the males of the bovine and goat persuasion segregated from the females in order to control breeding times so that the babies come when we want them to come.  The bullpen has no barn, no enclosure to get out of the rain.  It is bordered by woods that provide overhanging shade.  We can and do run them into the barn through a gate that's adjacent if weather gets too bad.

For Nicky the bull, it's not a big deal.  For Popcorn, the billy, he doesn't like the rain and is prone to getting hoof rot.  Tricia asked that we build a small lean-to or shed to provide protection from the elements to the animals in the bullpen.  That project has been on the list for a couple of months and this week, we decided to begin so that we would have it done before the north wind starts to blow and weather deteriorates.

Four 4x4 posts were set in the corners and cemented in.  Curious onlookers supervised the process and got in the way.  I had to move them out of the bullpen after my patience ran a little thin.

I looked at several plans, but none were exactly what I was looking for.  I ended up having no plans and would just play in by ear, wing it, and see how it comes out.  I took measurements and composed my materials list and drove to Stine Lumber to get necessary supplies - about $300 worth, although I did use some lumber I had stashed away in the barn rafters.  Side supports went up.  These add support but also will anchor the tin sides of the shed.

I'm no carpenter - not even on my best day.  I just kind of throw things together.  I used a level and tried my best to make things square.  Experience has taught me that the animals don't care about quality construction as long as it is functional.  The remainder of the walls go up as well as the boards that will support the sloping roof.

The roof rafters, I guess you'd call them are now on, supported by 3 inch screws.  The roof will open to the south, providing protection from the north winds of winter.

The roof is up and now the walls start going in.

The south side will remain wide open, but the other three sides will be closed off.  I assume later on we could gate off the opening, if the need arises.

Russ came by the house Saturday afternoon and helped me cut the tin into 5 foot sections and begin hanging the walls.  I couldn't have done this part alone.

Here's our completed shed.  It's small, yet it will provide a respite from cold winds and rain in the winter.

Here's a look from the west side.  A west side story, you might call it.

The project is complete.  Now it's time to get in the garden and start working on the fall/winter planting.