Little Fall Update!

Lots of things going on here at the Backwards Homestead! I am so ashamed that I have not posted in SO long! Boo me! Summer is always pretty busy, and this one was no different. I thought I would post. even if it is not anything specifically cool! So, here is a montage of a few of the animals enjoying the morning!

Heavenly little cabin!

But first! A picture of the cabin where Roger and I took out little mini VACATION! It was the most amazing time. Only two days, and it was cold, but I swear it was heaven. I absolutely adore this cabin and I wish we had one of our very own. I really had to have been born in the wrong era..Can we say pioneer life with internet?

Little piggies! Ok...Not so little piggies! LOL!

 These are two of the "little" piggies that were born during the ice storm last winter. They are some fat little sausages!!

Flossie!

Flossie and Elmer..Yep..he is nursing..Has he no shame! Then Ellie getting lovies. Yea, we hug our cows! :)

Ellie getting Trina hugs!

Morning kisses!

 Here are Renee and Sweet Pea. two of the new girls here on the farm. They are just adorable! Renee, the brown girl, is due to calve any day now and we are so excited!

Now THAT is a fine bull!

Here is Taz strolling on by to go out to pasture. Is he handsome or what?! We are also happy to announce that he is now a part of the Backwards Homestead clan. Yay! Thanks Sara and Earl for giving us the opportunity to try before we buy so to speak while he was visiting the girls. We promise he will have a great home here as we already love him!

HAY!!

Elmer, Porter and ClaraBelle  checking out the leftover hay after we moved the ring to add a new roll! Of course they had to flick it around a bit. Aerating I imagine...LOL!

Baelfire and his morning drink, lol

 Bae getting a cool drink after breakfast. He sure has grown into a beautiful young man!

Get to work Pud'nin!

Pud'nin moving one of the troughs over to the other side of the pen. They eat over here so we figured might as well set their table over there!

Charlotte pigging out!

Charlotte eating her corn. Beside the giant wallow they made with their water! Pigs...

"What are you looking at"

 Wilbur laying by the remains of his hut that he destroyed...What a silly piggy! Does he think winter is never going to come?!

We wanna eat HERE!

 The reason we moved the trough! These guys are determined to eat right here..So, we moved the trough so they are not eating off the ground.

Boo and her babies!

 See those little peeps peeking out? They are so adorable. Boo is a good Mama, but sadly she is slowly losing these guys to a hawk. She started out with 16 and is down to only 9... :(  Makes me sad! Hopefully he will move on and she can raise these babies without worry!

Squirt!

 Here is Squirt having her breakfast. She comes in every morning and every night to eat here in this stall. She is so smart and is now able to go out in the big pasture with everyone else during the day. Sweet Pea is her Mama, so it is cool to see them together. Although, she spends most of her time with Renee or Taz. She is just beautiful and such a sweetheart!

Here is Elmer and Squirt! He is a hoss! Hard to believe that he is just a month and a half older than Squirt! But, girls are supposed to be dainty! I guess we can say Flossie has power milk as we have shamefully never managed to get him weaned..Yea, as proven by the earlier picture, he is STILL on the teat!

Got hay?

 Pud'nins trusty tractor waiting to get to to work put out a roll of hay! Such a good tractor, I think it is Pud'nins favorite.

More fatty pigs!

Well, there you go! Not much of a post, but I hope you enjoyed the small update. Leave a comment if you have a minute, it makes me smile, lol  I will go with a picture of a flock of geese that I snapped a picture of as they were coming over the barn. I am not ready for winter, but fall is just dandy!

Meet Taz!

The Moo girls here on the Backwards Homestead are very happy these days! They are entertaining a handsome bull and they are all trying to catch his eye!. We were a bit nervous about having a bull here on the farm after the craziness that was MooGurgles! He kept us all wondering when he was going to break out and chase us across the farm! Buckets died, and fences suffered under his tyranny! He made beautiful babies, but he was ruthless!
But when we went to pick up Renee and SweetPea we talked to Sara and Earl about their bull Taz. He is beautiful, and seemed to be much calmer than our last experience. I was still nervous..But, we have several girls, who need a man..
So, what do we do? We borrowed them a man. Meet Taz!

Sara and Earl delivered him yesterday, and the girls were so excited. Especially Ellie, although I am not sure how it went since she was actually AI'd on Wednesday. but, then came in full bellowing, standing heat on Friday morning. So, we shall see! Either way, Flossie, and SweetPea are still open and he looks like he is just the bull to do the job! WooHoo! Let there be calves!

Taz and Ellie

 Here is is with Ellie, they  seemed to hit it off, even if they did have to engage in a bit of head butting at first!
Of course, as calm as he seems, we must remember, as we do with ALL livestock, to be very careful. Always respect the fact that they can change in an instant, and are very large! Luckily, Taz is very calm tempered, and has been a wonderful guest! We are really enjoying having him here on the Backwards Homestead.

Taz Keeping watch over the girls

He sure looks smug here in this picture! Even though he is usually with way more girls, he seemed really happy to be here!







Bae was a bit unsure about the new visitor, lol At first he was trying to run him off, but Taz was unfazed..He was like what'ev!

Bae says "WHAT?!?!"

" HELLO!!! We have ENOUGH cows!!"







 But since he actually likes the cows, it wasn't long before they were all grazing together. I guess he thought he had to check him out, and Taz wanted no part of the whole deal! He had a job to do!

Pigs...are unconcerned

Wilbur and Charlotte were not the least bit impressed. Wilbur was too busy trying to get through the fence to visit with Charlotte..She was busy laying by the fence to give him inspiration. Ugh..Pigs!
As an ending note, here is a video of Sweet Pea and Renee running to supper. Not the best, and ignore the constant clanging of the gate, lol I initially made the video to show Sweet Peas LONG moo that she belts out when you call her to supper!

So, there you go, that was my yesterday. Today...I have 10 dozen ears of corn I need to do, plus grapes to pick! So I better get busy! Leave a comment to let me know you were here if you like! :)
**Again, Shout out to Sara and Earl for loaning us their amazing bull! You guys are the best!**

Cows, Cows, Cows!

Things have been so busy around here, and quite frankly, I am having a hard time adjusting to some of the changes that have been happening lately. As most know, my Mom has Alzheimers, which is progressing. Some of our family also moved far enough away that visits are not possible very often. So, as much as they are having positive things happening, here we feel the fact that they are not here deeply. I am happiest with my family close..lol It is just who I am.
With Mom, this disease is just brutal. Watching someone you love, slowly lose their entire life of memories is just rough, no matter how you look at it. So many times I am just not fit for man nor beast as they say..
Hopefully I can get back into writing here for those who are interested in the crazy happenings here on the farm. Lots of things HAVE happened, and more are sure to be in the works!
I will start with a few happy things, like new cows! I mean really, who doesn't want more cows?! We found two really sweet girls at a local dairy, and they were a perfect fit for our farm! The best part, is we not only found cows, but we also made some friends. Nothing like finding friends who are honestly GOOD people. Shout out to Sara and Earl! They have been a HUGE help with all the questions that I have about cows in general, which if you know me...is A LOT of questions!
Well, here they are! The new girls, in all their cuteness!

Renee!

This is Renee! She is due in October and I cannot wait! Nothing like a little calf to make your day brighter. We are just so excited to see what she is going to have, Yay! 

SweetPea

This is SweetPea, and she is a real beauty! She is open, which means she has not been bred yet. Or at least we are pretty sure she is not bred. We will have to take care of that soon though, lol Hmmm...Where to find a man for SweetPea?! Right now, she is "in milk" so she is quite hungry as you can tell by her head stuffed in the food pan!

Squirt

And...Here is Squirt! She is a little heifer, who is just beautiful! The best part, is the is actually SweetPeas baby! So yea, keeping the family together, lol Well, sort of together, as they are separate since Squirt was just weaned when we got her and to stay that way she will have to be out of the pen with her milky mama!
We still have the rest of our little herd, and Eleanor was just at the vet yesterday being "AI'd", or Artificially Inseminated. I am really hoping that it all went well and she will bring a little calf into the world next summer. Go Ellie!

Eleanor

Here is the little beauty! Hasn't she grown! Seem like only yesterday she was a little bitty thing flying around the round pen kicking her heels up in the winter sunshine! She will hopefully be a Mama soon! I love this cow!!
Well, off to take care of farmy things, more later, so stay tuned!  Leave a comment to let me know you were here, I love getting feedback!

Gardens, Blackberries and Even More Bees!

Lots of things going on here this summer. Bees are buzzing, cows are munching, chickens are pecking, and the garden is growing! So busy around here that I barely know if I am coming or going! But I will say, this is my favorite time of year, all the fresh veggies, new ventures! Well, ok, my favorite thing is fresh veggies. And fruits! Lets not forget fruits!
Here is a few pictures of the things growing here on the Backwards Homestead!

Pears

Blackberries

 Yummy! Look, there is one that is ready! And it was delicious!!

Grapes

Really?!?!

We finally got the arbor built and the grapes are doing great!It took a little while to get it done, but they look so nice now! But, this is the first year that we have had Japanese Beetles. Go away beetles!

Mulch!

Mulched with wood chips this year, now I just need to finish! but it has been SO hot!

All that GREEN!

 Nevermind the grass, this is preweeding! But..I really hate hoeing..Yea..really!

Tomatoes!

 I cannot wait to get a nice homegrown tomato! I am having to keep an eye on Pud'nin, he is dying for a batch of fried green tomatoes, and I am determined to get a red ripe tomato first! I keep expecting to catch him up in the middle of the night, frying one up!

Aww! A little zucchini 

Such a little bitty squash!

Baby scallop squash

These guys came up volunteer and we were crossing our fingers that they were what we call patty pan squash. Technically scallop squash, but hey! when in Rome!
We also got MORE bees! This time it was a Nuc, which came with 5 filled frames with brood and honey! Woot! Here are a few pictures, I will have more later when I get a chance to get them from Austin, lol I was helping Dad so camera use was a bit hard with bees flying all around my head! Getting stung on the face was also a little bit of a Buzz kill..(hehe) But here are a few pics as a preview!

The bee whisperer!

We had an audience! Yay!

My Sister in Law Tabitha my other Mom Janet, my niece Taylor and nephews Kameron and Kyler came to see Dad work his magic! Austin also came down and was a camera guy!
I swear, I have never seen anyone so at ease as Dad with a hive of nervous bees. Having his help during this beeventure has been amazing.

So toasty! Bees cooling the hive!

Well, not much of a post, but duty calls and I better get at it! Hopefully I can get a bit of time to post about the meat chicken pen adventure, and the even newer bees! Thank you to every one who stops by to read my blithering!

Year Of The Cicada?!

Yikes! Here on the Backwards Homestead we are being overcome with Cicadas!! They are everywhere!  Anyone who knows me is aware that I HATE flying bugs. Well, hate is a strong word, lets say I strongly dislike them, which again translates into have an unnatural paralyzing fear of  them.... SO, this return of the Cicada is like my worst nightmare as far as bugs are concerned.  I spend my time flailing, flapping and otherwise making everyone around me laugh uncontrollably. Not..Cool!
So, I decided to go out, and try to make peace with the Cicada. Or, at least take pictures of them, with a zoom lens, from a distance. But, there are SO.Many! They are covering the trees, the bushes, the flowers. Their little shells are piling up everywhere, leaving a brown slimy mess when they mix with the rain. Ugh...

Anywho, thought I would share a few of the pictures that we have (Thanks Katrina), and maybe this will at least make them a bit interesting. lol

Wow, how did I EVER fit inside that tiny shell!?

This one has not been out too long, but almost dry and then he will fly away. If he is lucky, he will make it past the chickens! They are having a blast getting full as can be on these things!

Where is the sunscreen?!

 This one is still white, he is not ready to run the chicken gauntlet quite yet! Gotta be quick to make it past those snappy chicken beaks!

Too Slow!

  He didn't get out in time and dried until he was too hard to exit his shell. He is pretty much doomed. Molting is a tricky process and it seems time is of the essence!

NOT my hand, this is Katrina! *shivers*

This one is still IN the shell, a late bloomer I suppose! He better get cracking! hehe! Otherwise he will be stuck in there forever...
Just in case you ever wondered, here is a bit of cicada information! I always called the Cicada, a locust. It was just what I thought they were actually. But, a locust is basically a grasshopper. Responsible for mass plant destruction, plagues etc. Here, is the Desert Locust. A mighty hungry insect

Picture attribution: Copyright © 2011 - 2014 FactSpy.net

 The Cicada, on the other hand, actually do not eat much at all during their short lifespan. They basically climb out of the ground ( in the nymph stage), find their way up a tree, branch or otherwise, shed their skin (molt), sing a while, mate, lay eggs, and die..Yea, All in three to four weeks. That is how long the cicada has to dig out of the ground, claw out of that shell, make a bucket list, and fulfill it. Wow, amazing really if you think about it!

Fresh out of the shell, waiting for wings to open!

 Another interesting tidbit. There are actually cicada that come every year, and then the periodic cicada, which comes every 13 years, or every 17 years. This is said the be the 17year cycle of the cicada. We never notice the annual cicada as much since they come slowly, spread over several months. We hear them in the summer, singing away, but since there aren't huge piles of them we don't give them much thought. The periodic cicada, is way more of an attention getter. Since they have such a large number, that comes in a shorter time frame, they insist on being noticed! Totally different to see a few shells on your apple tree, as opposed to slogging through cicada shells to get to your car! Ok, so I exaggerated! But...it SEEMS that bad!

They're everywhere!!

Well, hope this post was a bit interesting, and here is a link to find a bit more information on the cicada. Cicada. Picture credits to Katrina, she has been diligent in preserving the invasion! Thanks goodness, as I am too busy screaming like a girl to get any good pictures!

That Time Of Year Again!

It is that time of year again! Can you guess what I am talking about?! Here is a hint!

Do you know yet? Well, here is one more hint!

Ok! I know you are sure by now that I am talking about HAYING season! Time to take all the grass and turn it into feed for the animals this winter. We decided to do a few square bales this year just in case we had to have an animal in the barn. Hard to put a round roll in a barn stall! We just did the small field behind the garden his time, and it was a rush as we had rain coming. We also like to have something small the first cutting because if you have ever worked with an older square baler, then you know that it takes a WHILE for it to start baling the perfect bales that you see in pictures! Well, the same applies with an older round baler, and tractor..and and and!!

So pretty!

Here you go! No telling how many were banana shaped, tied on one side or just plain ugly before this beauty slid out on the ground! It was way too green to be baling really, but the storm was coming and since it was only about 12 bales, we pushed it and went on ahead and baled. Gotta start somewhere!

Pud'nin and his trusty tractor!

Exercise time!

 This is my haying time view, lol I usually walk behind the baler keeping an eye on things, giving a thumbs up, or a thumbs down, to let Pud'nin know how things are going. I usually get plenty of exercise during hay season. Now why am I not skinny!?

Finally!

 I know it is a pain in the booty, but I sure love the look of old equipment. But since we are not rich I guess I better get to liking the looks of it anyway! But...I really do, and the sound of it clicking along is actually relaxing. When it is going smoothly that is!

GRRRR!!

 Pud'nin was not a happy camper here...This is during the "adjustment period" Only one side tied, Boo! Another thing that is no fun is this..a shear pin breaking always makes Pud'nin frown!

Boo! Not a happy sound!

Miley Girl!

Miley is helping me keep an eye on things! She is never too far from my side these days, and is really starting to wiggle her way in my heart. Stay tuned for an update on her too, things are looking up!
On another note, the bees are still toodling along. Doing great. Here are a few pictures of them one warm day.

What a Big bee!

I am thinking that large guy there in the center is a " New Bee" hehe. :) He is all fuzzy and cute and was spending his time preening, then just flew off to do whatever bee job he was born to do!
Here is a short video of the bees keeping the hive cool. Pretty ingenious!

The ones just standing there flapping their wings are the ones cooling the hive. The rest are just coming and going, busy as..well BEES! Sometimes they land right on the ones flapping, and nobody even misses a beat. They just go ahead, doing their jobs like nothing even happened!
Today it  is pretty rainy here on the Backwards Homestead. which is great! The garden has not had ONE drop of rain since it was planted. We have been packing water to the plants so they would not die, ugh! So I am pretty happy about rain! Yay!

So dry!

See! No change at all! Hopefully after the rain, we will start seeing some seedlings making their way out of the dirt. I sure hope so! I just LOVE gardening and putting all the food up for winter.
Hope you enjoyed the update, and leave me a comment if you stopped by! Until next time, be blessed and may life be gentle!