Most Liked Post

Trying to think how to make posting on Blogger a little more interesting.

What I want to do - link my Instagram account 

and

What happens when I try - it no workies

Yeah, I'm a techno-wiz....NOT.

Adventurous me said "Let's google this and see how that works."
It is high time that I learn something new.

Found a site that gives step by step directions and I STILL couldn't get it to work.
I followed the directions! I must be crazy...

So back to what I know. I'll just link the post I'm trying to highlight because I know THAT will work. Well, it did before I thought I might make my blog kinda cool. So let's do this...

To see the most liked photo on my Instagram go HERE.

In the meantime I'll be trying to figure out how to link the instagram to this space.

Farm life is so much easier compared to figuring out computer-y stuff.

Freezer

In October 2016 we were out for a walk and on our way back I happened to look and see a FREE freezer at a house in the subdivision across the street from us. 

FREE?!

A beauty...all for FREE!

We were close to home so Tom went and got his truck and I went and knocked on our friends door - who lived a couple of doors down and asked for a hand with the freezer. According to our friend the guy who was giving the freezer away had used it for making cheese or something and must have decided to move on to other hobbies.

After we got it home we set it up in the garage and there it sat. At least for a couple of years before we put anything in it. Last year after we brought home the pigs I was told that we could pay a small fee and bring home a bunch of bread from the Franz Outlet. Which we did...until last fall, almost two years after bringing home of the freezer. Last September we processed our first batch of Freedom Rangers last year.

These days you'll find a healthy supply of homemade bone broth, homegrown chicken and the innards of those chickens. There are a few loaves of bread and packages of bagels still showing up as well.

We are set up for a little while. 

Right now, we have a little bit of pork that Tom brought home from a pig butchery class that he participated in last Sunday. 

Just so much pork

With chicken and pork in the freezer, all we need is a little bit of grass-fed beef to round things out. For now we will have to stick with Butcher Box. We could make a change in how we source our beef and go with a local farm that raises grass-fed beef not far from our home and that would eliminate the subscription service. Also, the beef would be local and we could choose what cuts we would like most.

Another thing, as the season goes on I'll need to make some adjustments as I have great plans to add vegetables to the freezer. I am hoping to at least get some fresh beans out of the garden and into the freezer this season. There wasn't nearly enough from last year - so I planted a double row of beans this year.

Farm Life is a good life...with good food!

I Am Not Crazy

Whoa...where am I going with this...???

Okay, when I go through a seed catalog or look at websites that peddle seeds I am very specific about what I am looking for. So while I was looking at beans that I wanted to try out I found one called Tiger's Eye HERE. It is a bean that can be eaten while it is still tender or shelled later and stored. I liked the color and I liked that it was a bush variety. Not that I have something against pole type beans, but I have had a lot of luck with the bush variety of beans in the past couple of years.

Anyway...I popped these seeds into the ground while getting the big garden planted and was excited to see that most of the seeds germinated! A good thing since I don't know how much we'll yield from one plant. Anymore my motto is "more is better!"

This past weekend I was doing some weeding in the garden, because it was overdue and I looked at the beans and I saw LONG stems growing upwards. WHAT?! It was suprising to me because I thought for sure they were bush beans.

OH SNAP!

July 15, 2019

I didn't have the seed packet, but I knew that I had a few more leftover so the packet wasn't in the garbage. When I finally did find the packet I looked at the planting instructions which stated it would need a trellis/support.

SWELL...

Yesterday Tom went out to Lowe's via Wilco and came away with some T-Posts and some EMT to create the top bar of the trellis. Those were installed and once I arrived home I attached the remainder of the Roller Hooks that I ordered a couple of years ago, but only just recently started really using in the garden.

A better photo...

When you visit the Seed Savers website (as well as a couple of others) it states that this variety of bean is bush habit.

This is confirmation that I am not crazy!

Farm life - it is confusing...

Natural Pest Control

A couple of weeks ago I noticed some cabbageworm damage on my....cabbage - duh.

Besides geese that eat anything and everything and bunnies that squeeze through the fence the other pest we have in the garden would be cabbageworms. Rather than letting the little buggers continue eating my plants I decided it was time to fight back. Checked into Mr. Google-Pants and found a couple of different things that could work. One of the remedies required more ingredients than I was willing to put into the spray, but the other...well, it was the winner.

My search for Essential Oils and cabbageworms took me to MIGardener and an all-purpose garden pest control spray. This recipe only required three different essential oils, some dish soap and water. That's it! So easy! Go HERE to get more details on the recipe.

BUT...The real test would be how effective is the spray in action?

So I ordered up my inexpensive essential oils (marigold, peppermint and rosemary) each cost 10ml bottle was less than $10 - thank you very much Amazon. Received the delivery on July 3rd and mixed up the solution and sprayed my plants on the 4th. As I sprayed I made note of how many worms I saw and the damage that had already been done. At that time the damage wasn't extensive, but I'm sure that the worms would be back in no time to munch more of the plants. We gotta put an end to that! By the weekend I noticed that there wasn't MORE damage - ALRIGHT! The first spray was a little on the light side so I decided to spray the plants a little more. Couldn't hurt right?

It rained a little this week so yesterday I spray the plants a little more. Checking underneath most of the leaves I found that the damage didn't increase AND only found one green worm trying to make a meal of my plant. Sorry dude...spritz, spritz, spritz!

July 9, 2019

Now, the total cost of the essential oils was $25.47, but the solution is concentrated, so only a small portion would be used to mix up a gallon of the spray (although, I only have a quart size spray bottle right now). Essential oils are super powerful, so even the tiniest amount makes a difference. The fact that I'm not using chemicals in the garden is worth it though. If I don't spray this is what might happen:

photo credit storyblocks video

It's not a pretty sight, but it's also one that I don't want in my garden.

What kind of pest control do you use? Comment below :)

Farm Life is the best life - bugs and all!

Feeding the Pigs

Rex with Fiona in the distance.

Over the past few months we have noticed Mr. Rex starting to bully poor Fiona at meal time. They each get the same stuff in their bowls and one doesn't get more than the other. We have also been trying to monitor their weight as they were completely overweight about 6 or 7 months ago. Our bad, they wanted ALL THE FOOD and we gave them A LOT.

Back to the issue at hand. When they get their food and they will mostly happily gobble up the goodies and stuff, but Rex was a little quicker with the inhaling of his food and will sometimes wander over to Fionas area. Then he will literally push her out of the way and eat her ration.

Seriously?!

This became hard to watch and a few days ago so we decided (or I decided) it was time to put some distance between them. Thus making feeding the pigs a two person deal. So yeah, I need to get out and be more involved anyway.

The trick is to catch the attention of one of them and have the other person lure the other further down the paddock. It's only been like three days with 2 feedings per day and they seem to be getting the hang of the new routine. With time I hope that they will get the routine down and we won't have to try to get someone's attention and walk to a specific spot while avoiding their poo.

By the weekend there will be a new section of Premier 1 fencing and we can separate them and make sure that Rex will leave his missus alone during feeding time and Fiona will have the opportunity to eat in peace.

This would be ideal as we are wondering if she is actually pregnant and would definitely require the extra food/nutrition.

BUT - THAT  is an issue for another day.

M.I.A.

Okay...I've stayed away long enough! Not on purpose, just a little busy the past few weeks and feeling oh so tired a lot. Like A LOT! So, I decided that I'm going to post a little bit of something several times a week.

This past weekend we went to a local running shop and we both got ourselves some new running shoes!

New Balance 880 for me

New Balance 1080 for Tom

The last shoes that I had for three years were not that great. I didn't feel 100% comfortable and just felt like running was turning into a chore. So over the next couple of years with those shoes our running routine kept dwindling down until we weren't getting out early at all. 

The good thing is that the guy that helped us with our new shoes brought these out for me to try out and it was like the heavens opened up and the angels sang...for real! 

Okay, they felt REALLY good. There was a second pair that I didn't like as much and when I had one of each on I definitely knew that I had to go with the New Balance! Come to think of it, I don't even know what brand the other pair was. Oh well. 

While I was checking out my two pair of shoes, Tom had a stack of men's shoes that were his size just sitting there waiting to be tried on! So he did his own assessment while Fit Right Ron was helping me out. After a few pairs he settled on the New Balance as well. 

This is not my first pair of New Balance shoes. My first pair was from way back when I was starting to run a bit more and like it at the same time - imagine that. I just remember that pair being really stiff, but still fit well and allowed me to actually feel like a runner.

So for now we are just fitting in quick walk/runs in the early morning hours. Today was the second time out and it was GREAT! We did a kind of race thing (okay maybe I was racing in my mind). We did the same route, but in opposite directions. I wanted to figure out where we would pass each other on the route. I actually did alright and felt pretty good about my second time out after not getting out hardly at all for the past couple of years for sure.

Actually using my sport watch for more than just keeping time.

Anyway, this is what is on my mind today. I see that it is sprinkling out right now, so my outside time might be limited to just getting the pigs fed. THAT is now a chore that takes the both of us.

More on that tomorrow...

I promise not to disappear...for a while anyway.