Too Little, But Not Too Late

Not much to say tonight. My son isn't feeling well. I am doing some online comparison shopping for tattoo machines (!!). Baked another pumpkin for pies tomorrow. Fun Times.

I Must Be Crazy

I know, it is a long-standing joke, at least to myself, that I must be crazy already. I haven't blogged (except in my head, and that doesn't really count) for several months. Granted, we have been busy, but I am sure I could have made time somewhere. My creative soul needs to be fed, even if it is through writing instead of my preferred method of the visual arts (or even dance, which I LOVE but just can't manage to do right now). One venue I have been thinking about for a few months is trying NaNoWriMo this year. If you haven't heard of it, look HERE. I don't know that I feel the need to write a novel, per se, but I do feel the need to tell my own story, and the story of my family history in some way.

Being November 1, and the first day of NaNoWriMo, I am still feeling conflicted about it. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Gah! Or maybe I will do THIS instead....

And I really, really, really want to do THIS!! for November too.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get this nifty little bagde widget to actually appear where I want it to. This platform is really counter-intuitive to me.

Strange Things Part Two

We have had a few interesting and somewhat strange things occur around here in the past week or so, and I thought it might be entertaining to document them here.

First off, on the daily rounds the kids do to check for eggs, Miss Claire found something unusual I had previously only read about. A most unusual egg....without a shell. I knew that one of our girls (a newer hen) was laying thin-shelled eggs, but this is the first time I saw one without any shell whatsoever. Of course we had to take pictures!

It is a sign of a calcium deficiency in the bird, which is usually an easy fix by adding oyster shell to their diet. Our problem? These girls free-range through the yard, so she should be getting enough calcium naturally. We also aren't positive which exact bird it is, because they roam freely, although I have narrowed it down to a likely suspect (the little Barred Rock my son likes to hold). So, I may have to try something a little different, like a container of yogurt (and hope that Miss shell-less egg layer actually eats it!). If it continues, then very likely she is destined for freezer camp.

The kiddos were utterly fascinated by it, and wanted to keep holding the extra-fragile egg. After a day or so of taking photos, careful cradling, and attempts to peer into it with a flashlight , I fed it to the pigs. Who promptly gobbled up the snack and wanted more. Typical little piggies!!

Next, was the unusual fruit occurrence.  What do you do when your husband brings you a fruit that is quite literally making its' own foam? Why, take pictures of course!! I know they could be more cleverly placed, but I was not feeling terribly creative at the moment.

Several weeks ago ( and by several I really mean almost two months) I picked up some kiwi fruit from the grocery store. Several were still quite hard, so I kept them in the fruit basket so they could ripen a little faster by staying with the apples. They even took a journey to our house for a week and back, as I kept forgetting about them. Back into their little basket, I again completely forgot about them. Until dear husband found one that was bubbling away, fermenting itself in its' own hairy little skin.

Oops. I'm happy it didn't get all mouldy at least. I think the birds (chickens, etc) were quite happy when I tossed it in the yard for them to eat. Maybe a little too happy...

Berkshire Pigs

The pigs have arrived! Well, actually, we drove about 200 miles to meet the woman we were picking them up from.

They are a heritage breed called Berkshire (I will put in some links when my lazy butt gets around to it).

I have to say (which freaks me out a little), just looking at them, I see meat. It is totally unlike the goats or a cow, where I have to imagine where different cuts come from. The pigs are just so muscular, it is really obvious. And it makes me salivate just thinking of the Bacon and ham and chops we will eventually have from their progeny. Yum.

We talked about getting pigs for quite a while, before actually doing it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I feel about raising them. The plan is to have these two girls (gilts, or young female pigs) and a boy (eventually our boar), and breed hem. Their offspring we would raise for meat or for sale, or both. Since they are unrelated, it is easier to do our own breeding, as well as crossbreeding for any specific traits we want. The thing is, some of these breeds seem to get just HUGE. We went to see a breeder a few months ago, and their pigs were really intimidating in size. I know I will probably get used to them, since we see them every day, but the size and sheer weight and muscle behind them is, well, intimidating. Plus, they are smart. Even if they are the intelligence of your average 4-5 year old, that is pretty clever! I guess it is a good thing we have opposable thumbs, and they don't. I believe it also makes a huge difference in how you treat your animals. I like to think that we treat ours pretty well, and treat them with kindness.

So now we have expanded our little self-sustainable farm (eventually!!) A little bit more. Hopefully one day soon we will have our land to go with it!

Frustration

At any single point in my day, I often have three or four blog posts running through my head. You would think that with all that brain activity going on, I would actually post more often. Yet I don't. Why? I suppose a certain amount of procrastination, combined with bad timing and probably a bit of laziness too. Plus, a certain amount of not wanting to put words out there that I don't want existing on the interwebs for all time.

I think the frustration for me comes from the procrastination and bad timing most of all. I have been trying to figure out for some time now, why exactly I put things off until the last minute. Any number of tasks I could accomplish in the day. However they often escape me, and I am left with the maddening feeling that I COULD have accomplished something today if only I had the time to. Frustrating, isn't it. I know that having two highly active little people in my life means that I actually get far less done than I would have before having children. I am ok with that. I would just like to figure out how to beat this putting off until another day aspect of it all.....

Thoughts

     The ashes of my fire consumed
  Wasting as I wait
          For something I can only smell
   At the back of my throat
                       Like a long lost child
I search with clouds of thread
          Wanting to remember the taste

Snakes and Crawfish

We were working at the landshare today, trying to get more seeds planted and the field flood irrigation going. I know, it is WAY late for planting out doors around here, but since we only recently came up with this agreement, it is what we have to work with. Hopefully something useful will actually grow, and it can be a positive experience!

Anyways, while planting with the kiddos, we saw some interesting things. First was a small garter snake I caught. It was about 18 inches long, and was slithering through the waterways we have made to irrigate the field we are working in. I am really surprised I even caught it, it was moving so fast. I wanted to get a picture, but I left my camera in the truck so it wouldn't get ruined in my pocket. The kids held it for a little while, and were quite pleased to see it there.

Second was the strangest and most unexpected. A Crawfish. In the middle of a field, in the middle of the desert! Our best guess is that it came from a lake about 15-20 miles away, and was carried through the irrigation canals to our little plot of land. Poor little critter was already dead, but I'm sure his nutrients will only help the soil in the area. Thank you, little Crawfish, for such an unexpected surprise!