Summer Heat!

Who knew when we were busy freezing our booty's off on February that we would ever manage to see summer! It was so darn cold and icy that I thought I was just gona freeze over and maybe, just maybe thaw out in July!  But here we are, in the midst of all the summer rush and it is just awesome.
Here on the Backwards Homestead summer is a really busy time of year. We are haying this week, and with all of the rain we are several weeks behind, which is really frustrating. As the grass matures, the nutritional value declines. Not to mention that that the weeds take the opportunity to grow huge and who wants to eat icky weeds?! Not these animals! I do really like haying time because the fields look so pretty with their new haircuts and they hay smells SO good! Of course, that sometimes changes when we do small square bales. THAT is hard as heck to enjoy in any way shape or form...

Long way to the back of THIS field!

Lee just clicking along

Mmmm Hay! Tractor not to bad either!

But, it is not all good! We did have a mishap. The wheel bearing broke on the tractor. BOO!

Also in the summer gardening is full steam ahead. We also got a late start with all that as well, so the garden is just now starting to bear enough to start canning and pickling. This is really one of my favorite things of summer. I LOVE putting up all the bounty of summer and then popping open a can of fresh home grown veggies when the ice and snow is blowing cold! Last winter was the first year that we really ate mainly out of the pantry. Now I have jar after jar ready, sitting empty, waiting to be refilled with the summer bounty.  Today I will be canning summer squash and making dill pickles. I know, it is not politically correct to can summer squash, but it has been something my family has done for generations and I stand by my ancestors methods, lol Go squash!
I think I should have been born in a different century because I just love canning and all the other old fashioned stuff. Here is a picture of a few jars I did last year, I will get updated ones as soon as I get started!

Summer is also exciting because we usually have new babies on the farm. It is the time for hatching chickies and all sorts of littles! This summer we are expecting our first little of baby pigs. We are really excited and Charlotte is getting quite round. Soon we will have to separate her and Wilbur so the babies can be born safely. Boars are not so sweet and cuddly when their babies are born, and will sometimes kill and eat them. ICK! How rude is that!?! So, to avoid widespread carnage in the hog lot we will give Charlotte her privacy when she gets ready to give birth.

Charlotte and Wilbur! That is Her Royal Roundness in the shelter, lol

Sadly we had to take Mr. Moogurgles off to freezer camp. He was getting just too hard to handle so he and Keg made their last ride a few weeks ago. I was such a crybaby! We take our animals to the local Amish processing facility and I was so shameful in my grief that I am sure they wanted to throw homegrown veggies at me and take my self sufficiency badge!! We do love our animals, so it was very sad to see them go, but such is this lifestyle and not to mention that safety has to be considered with anything we have here on the farm. Having an angry bull charging your butt every day is not too healthy! Still, we are sad and I miss his unruly self. Keg too, as grumpy as we was too!

Flossie, Mr, Moogurgles and Keg

Our meat chickens are growing too, getting nice and plump! I actually had to harvest, butcher, murder, however you look at it, one early. He was getting big and having trouble walking. So, I did the deed. It was hard, but I had steeled myself to the fact it had to be done. He was a little small, as they still have a couple of weeks to go before they are at their prime weight. Here is a picture of the finished product!

On a lighter note, here are the rest of the meat birds, and the Turkeys being spoiled by Katrina. I know they say not to play with your food, but trina has a soft spot for all animals. I wonder where she got that trait?

Last but not least, here is a video of Trina and Madea the turkey. Madea thinks Trina is a turkey, so they scratch together every afternoon.

Well, until next time! If you are reading this, feel free to leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary!

How does your garden grow?
Anyone remember that nursery rhyme from when you were a kid? My mom used to read nursery rhymes to me all the time and I actually remember them from way back then! The reason I used that particular nursery rhyme is that is is Spring! Yep, and that means it is time to get out in the SUN, and plant your garden!
This year we have decided that we are going to try and make this farm pay for itself a little bit, and since we will have the Backwards Homestead totally paid off this summer, there is no time like the present to start some self sustaining projects like bigger gardens!
For several years now we have been fighting the same garden spot and the hard clay dirt that it contains. It is a nightmare. I am totally serious when I say that you could actually throw a pot with the dirt. When we till, it turns into hard clods that just rattle around your hoe making you so mad that you could actually pitch those clods at anyone who even doubted the depth of the clayness!

WATER!!! WATER!!

To make things even more needful as far as MORE garden area, Katrina and Joy had went to town to buy me some seed potatoes and onion sets. When they get to the store, the guy is overcome with seed potatoes! He offers them a 50 lb bag, with a BOGO deal!  Trina, being her mothers daughter, comes home with 100 pounds of seed potatoes! To be fair, she did call first, but I am sure knowing the answer. I mean FREE TATER! Who would say no to that? Not I! I now needed a tater patch. A big tater patch...
We had already decided that we wanted to expand our horizons, and till up a few more garden plots.... But! I was pretty nervous because taking totally awesome grass, and tilling it up gives me hives! After all, what if the dirt was the same?! What if it was still clay-e?! What if it washed, and made a huge mess of the yard?!? What if!?!? I could pass out just thinking about all the things that COULD happen.

The INHUMANITY!!

 So, one day while I was inside, Pud'nin just went outside, leaped on his trusty tractor, and tilled me a spot. I was a bit nervous when I saw it, and I admit I was a bit itchy. It looked great, but....what if?!
But, we forged ahead.
But, this digging thing is addictive, and like most farm things, is one enough? Is two enough?! What about THREE! Since I had gotten my hives under control, and the world had not ended because we had tilled up the grass, we decided to till yet ANOTHER garden spot! This one is even bigger than the original garden area!! Woot!

The original area, AKA the clay mine!

This is the third spot, ignore the grass, been too wet to till!

The second area where I figured out the world will go on even  if I destroy the grass.

It has been SO awesome having all that dirt, all the possibilities. We planted onions, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers! We planted potatoes, green beans, horticulture beans and watermelons. We planted until there was not a single inch of unseeded dirt. It.Was.Awesome.
Well, unless you count that I threw out my back and I am still not able to walk totally right, it was awesome! Someone had to take one for the team, so what is a little back pain...or alot of back pain. Debilitating back pain actually. Looking back, if you decide to triple your garden space, you might wanna stretch a bit first, it can be a bit of a buzz kill when you are laying flat on your back crying like a girl for days!

But, it was worth it because now I have so much stuff growing that when it all comes in I will be under mountains of produce! Acres of squash, billions of tomatoes!! I can't wait to start eating and canning all sorts of yumminess. We ate so much of my stash last winter that I will be one busy woman this summer. This is the part of being a throwback in time. Feeding my family from the land and from the work that I do myself as a labor of love! There is nothing better than popping open a jar of home canned goodies. Or being able to give someone a gift of summer deliciousness in the middle of December.

Yummy!

Did anyone else decide to go big or go home? Expand a garden? Take on a new project that will make things way better for yourself and your family? If so, I sure hope you are as excited as we are with our venture into mega gardening!

Mr. Moogurgles and The Oh So Scary Day!

I have been slacking! I swore I would post at least every week and this spring has been SO busy! There is no way to catch up in one post, so I will touch on a few of the highlights here on the farm. But bear in mind, if I ramble, I am having to take medicine for a back injury!
First off we have managed to get not one, but three gardens tilled and planted! I am so excited because that means more for for us to put up for the winter.

The apples and other fruit trees did manage to keep their fruit through all of the freezy temperatures, which also makes me very happy! I am totally out of blackberry jam and cowboy candy, so come on little plants! Winter makes me so darn droopy, so when we get to garden and see all the green plants poking up through the dirt, I could not be any happier!
We also had a huge issue with cow love earlier this month! Flossie needed a man, and Mr. Moogurgles was more than happy to fulfill her every dream. But in the process he hated anyone and everyone who even looked at his woman!
Roger and I go to feed one morning, and he has jumped the fence.  I figured this out when I rounded the barn he greeted me with a roar from the middle of Flossies pen! Ok...I yelled at Pud'nin that we had a problem! Mr. M. did not like Ellie. At all! So he was busy trying to toss her over the moon! How rude! We did manage to whisk her out, after he tried several times to punt Pud'nin!
So, here we are, with a amorous bull, in with our cow. I have to milk her. There is no choice. Pud'nin is so brave! He distracts Mr. Moogurgles with a bucket of feed. (Obviously Mr. M. is a typical male), which he promptly butts with his head after grabbing a nibble! I grab Flossie, and we run to the barn. Mr. M. Is NOT happy...We start milking Flossie and we hear his bellowing out in the pen. I am very nervous, after all, I have seen the running of the bulls on television! Plus, my shirt was red!! I was doomed!!
I sneak to the back of the barn, lay flat and look under the wall...I do NOT see his feet! O.M.G! I tiptoe to the front of the barn, slip out the front door, pressed against the wall...sneaking, ever so quietly sneaking..Just as I peep around the edge I see the blue feed bucket flying through the air and hear a roar from Mr. Moogurgles!! Believe me, I did not waste time getting back inside the barn! I yell at Pud'nin. " He is out!!" We quietly close the sliding door on the barn, and click the latches.

Now we wait. We have the object of his affection, in the barn, and he knows it.
I am now standing with Flossie, on her lead right behind the closed door, and then I hear it...then I see it!  He is snorting, UNDER the door! Dust is flying up in the air, he bellows...Flossie, betrays us with a MOO!!! I tell her she is a traitor, darn love sick cow!!
We hatch a plan. Desperate times call for desperate measures! We want to live!! We will wait for him to go back around the barn, then we will open the door. Then I will run with Flossie to the gate, getting her IN the pasture. If all works well, he will then see her, run through the gate, and voila, all is well.
We are holding our breath, waiting for our opportunity. Finally I hear him attacking the blue bucket again, so I know he is around the side of the barn. Ever so slowly, we open the door...I make a break for it while Roger goes to make sure Mr. M. is not coming.  I open the gate and get Flossie to lumber in the pasture. Then I hear it....the pounding of hooves!
At this point I realize the flaw in our plan....I am now IN the pasture, holding the gate, with Flossie on her lead. IN THE PASTURE. To get out, without shaking the hoof of the bull, I will have to either go through 4 strands of hotwire, or over the gate. I look up, he is still coming, I am yelling at Pud'nin, unhook the hotwire, get the gate, unhook the wire!!! He is running back and forth trying to do what I said...I was looking at the strands of fence, they were so close together...I am not a small woman. To get out, I was gona have to straddle an electric fence. Or, maybe this?

 Hmmm, not a pleasant thought, but, the other option was to manage to jump on a swinging gate, at the same time a really mad, lust blinded bull, came bellowing through, while letting Flossie off her lead. After one more consideration of the parts of my body that might be zapped by the fence, I chose the gate hurdle. Amazingly, I made it over, and slammed the gate. Never think that a fat older lady cannot get her booty off the ground with enough motivation! A raging bull on one side, and getting your nether region zapped by an electric fence, instant motivation!!
Now we have yet another problem. Flossie had to be milked, twice a day, plus Ellie has to nurse, at least twice a day. Mr. Moogurgles, could not have cared less about either of our problems, he had his own wooing and mooing to tend with.
So twice a day, we had to have one of the guys, or sometimes two, stand guard with a hot stick, while we stole Flossie for a few minutes. He stood at the fence, bellowing, and literally kicking dust over his back like a cartoon bull!

 That, was the longest week ever! I can only hope, that he managed to do his job, and Flossie is with calf. If not, we are in for another Rodeo in about 2 weeks! HELP!
Hey! Don't be afraid to leave a comment, I would love to hear from anyone who reads the posts! :)

Tuxedos,Strawberries, Window Boxes and A Dog With A Sense of Humor!

Things are pretty hectic here on the homestead. Out youngest will be getting married in July, and things are starting to get real. I have been in denial, since we just had the next to youngest get married last summer! These kids are trying their best to make Pud'nin and I old!
So, with that in mind, Pud'nin had to go get fitted for a tuxedo Yea, a tuxedo. For anyone who knows him, you know that he does NOT wear tuxedos! He rarely wears a shirt that is even in one piece. He is a jeans and sleeveless denim kinda guy. Just goes to show, this Dad will do anything for his kiddos. Even wear a monkey suit! But, I have to say, Pud'nin cleans up pretty good!

Nice!

Shiny shoes!

We also walked around the Mall checking out dresses, went to Hobby Lobby and ate dinner with Mom, Katrina and Joy. THEN, we came home just in time to watch Kaeli play basketball in her Intramural games. She did AWESOME!! My phone was dead, so I didn't get any pictures. If I get a few I will post them so you can see her cuteness. She really was a force to be reckoned with on the court.
It was quite a busy day! Fun in so many ways, but still, by last night I was more than ready to go to bed, lol
Today, was a new day. It was sunny and the temperatures were perfect. Of course the normal chores were still there! Flossie has been losing quite a bit of weight and we were thinking it was Ellie being such a piggy. But we noticed today that her hay roll was packed so hard that she could not tear any off and eat it during the day! I am heartbroken! Of course she still gets a lot of stuff to eat other than that roll of hay, but still, I feel like a bad cow mom! Tomorrow we will take that roll out, and replace it with one that is not hard as a rock! I also have to go get feed tomorrow so I will get her some Alfalfa cubes to help her with her nutrition. Even though she still gets 3 huge coffee cans of 16% feed twice a day, plus about 4 to 5 flakes of Bermuda hay at night, she needs hay during the day!

That is the offending hay roll in the background!

After my morning animal chores, I weeded the strawberry bed. I am a bit sad that it is not spreading like I had hoped. Still a good stand of plants and I cannot wait until the berries are ripe and ready! Freezer Jam here I come!

Oooooh Berries!

The window box that Pud'nin made me for the barn is now up and bloomy! He did such a good job, and it was such a sweet surprise. I love flowers and maybe with it being up in the air little Miss Jayne will not dig all the flowers out, lol That doggy is the flowerocolypse! Here is the flower box in all its cuteness.

Pretty!

We also checked the eggs in the incubator and out of 9 dozen eggs we only had about 6 that were not viable. Woot! So in about 2 weeks we are going to have little fluffballs popping out everywhere. I can't wait. Baby chickens are just too darn cute. We are really hoping that we will be able to turn this into a money making project. Wouldn't that be awesome!?
The seeds I planted are sprouting and looking all healthy and green. I cannot wait until it is time to get the garden ready and start planting. I absolutely love summer and all the fresh fruits and veggies. We are out of several yummies and I need to restock the pantry!

Squash

Peeking out of the dirt!

Now, about that dog with a sense of humor. Let me tell you, just because you feed a dog every day, let them in and deal with their terrible gas, do not think they will cut you any slack at all..they will not. I was sitting out in the yard, enjoying the sunshine under the peach trees. Then, without any warning at all, It happens!! Trina yells for me to LOOK OUT! I turn around, and THIS is what I see!!

WHAAAAT!!

That is exactly what it looks like! Ace, was PEEING in the tree I was sitting by! Of all the nerve! Only I, have a dog, that will literally pee right on me! Luckily Trina yelled, and I was able to jump out of the way of the waterworks. Of course, I did whip around and take this quick picture, because after all. without pictures it didn't happen!
That about sums it up here on the Backwards Homestead. I am so blessed to be able to live out here in the country, surrounded by nature. This life can be hard, and the hours are long, but I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

Springtime On The Farm!

Busy days around the farm. Warm weather brings a lot of work with it cleaning up all the mess that Mother Nature left during the winter. Flowerbeds to clean, leaves to rake, sticks and limbs to pick up. Not to mention all the spring animal chores like cleaning their pens, fence repair and making sure they are ready for the new season. Even though it is a lot of work, I can say that it is just so wonderful to see the flowers blooming and the sun shining!

I even managed to plant a few things in the garden! Yay me! Pud'nin tilled me up a small plot and I put out some cabbage and broccoli. I also planted some peas, lettuce, spinach and onions. It is always nice when it is time to garden. My favorite time of the year. Earlier this year we found a couple of the little greenhouse thingys on sale at Tractor Supply. We picked them up and I did manage to get some seeds started in there as well. Not many, but it will be nice to get an early start on a couple things. I will say that the wind has made the greenhouses a challenge, I have to tie them to the fence to keep them from blowing away!!

Such cute little things!

I checked yesterday and the seeds are actually sprouting, Woot! I am pretty excited, and I also planted some cabbage in a big pot that I have in the yard. It works like a charm every year. Keeps me from having to buy the plants from the store.

Look! Baby Cabbages!

Flossie and Eleanor are doing great too. Ellie is growing and is just beautiful! The only negative is that the little piggy is getting almost ALL of the yummy Flossie milk! She is quite the eater, lol She is eating hay, grass and will even belly up to the feed trough with her mama for her share of feed. She is leading pretty good, but a but stubborn! Hopefully we can get her all ready to be a milk cow like her Mama! It will not be too long before she will be old enough to wean, and I am sure she and Flossie will not be happy about that little bit of news. We are trying to figure out how to get Flossie and Ellie out in the pasture, but I am worried that once Ellie hits the open range, she will be hard to get back out to train. Not to mention that Twister can be a real turd and I do not want him to hurt her..Then we have Keg, the steer. He is just too aggressive for us to go out in the field to get her or Flossie. It is past time for him to go to freezer camp, but I actually have NO room in the freezer for him at this time. Seems nothing is easy when it comes to the farm life!

Here's my girls!

Ciskgo in the afternoon sun

Princess and Elvis are adjusting very well to their new home and they have become best friends. It has been really good for Princess since she is getting older and the huge pasture was sometimes a challenge for her as far as getting up to the barn at feeding time. Now we can keep a close eye on her and she does not have as far to walk to get to the food and water.

Elvis saying hello!

Time for a Spring Brushing!

We also have a few chicks this spring. We have Silkies, Buff Orpington and Polish Crested babies. We also have several eggs in the incubator. I sure hope we have a good hatch and can sell the little fluffballs to make a bit of money here on the farm. These guys need to pull their weight a little bit, LOL! Here are a few pictures of the little cuties!

Getting ready!

Chickies!

Little Polish Crested

Buffies enjoying the great outdoors!

Look at all these eggs! They were all laid right here on the farm! We are having a bit of an issue with Jayne getting in the chicken house and eating the eggs, so not so many eggs these days. We are working on persuading her to stay out of the henhouse, and I am sure she will get the point soon, She is a smart girl!

Can't you just hear them peeping!

The piggies are also getting along just great! Hopefully we will have the pitter patter of little hooves this summer. I know Wilbur has been wooing Charlotte and although she does not seem as impressed as she could be during the day, who knows what happens in the pig pen at night!? Here is the happy couple.

I am especially excited about something that is not even an animal! Pud'nin made us a fire ring! Yea, I am SO happy. He made it from the rim off an old tractor tire. Took him a while to cut the old tire off, but now I have not only a nifty flower bed, but we also have this nifty fire ring! Last night we all went out and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. It was so nice, Sadly, I do not think we gone ONE picture..BOO!!! We were just having so much fun I suppose. But, I do have a picture of the fire ring filled with wood and ready to go.

Too Cool!

Well, that is what has been happening here on the Backwards Homestead. Now off to do a few more things on the endless list of chores! It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day, so lets all get outside and get some warm and cheery sunshine on our faces!