Eggs and hay and Blogs

My ducks started laying again.  It took a farmer (Marcus) to bring it to my attention that I needed to give them some oyster shells.  Duh.  I should have know better.  Thank you Marcus, I’ve missed the eggs.

A local farmer is going to be cutting the back fields, including the one I rent.  My landlord asked my permission before letting him do the cutting.  I told him fine as long as I got at least one round bale from the cutting.  The land, which is not mine, but is rented, is starting to produce for me.  I believe two round bales will get me through the winter as long as we don’t suffer another drought.  The grass is growing well.  Hair sheep are able to survive on much less than wool sheep so as long as there’s some grass for them to eat over the winter, we’ll be all set.

I hate feeding grain to my livestock as it is not a natural food for them, especially given the quality of food stuff produced in the United States today.

When I last spoke to Marcus we talked about raising up chickens and butchering them.  I need to get there.  I really need to get past not eating what I’ve raised and butchered and stop buying meat from the grocery store.

Next year I will raise some calves up for slaughter, that’s a definite.  I got into keeping livestock for the dogs, but that is now changing.  I now feel like I’m raising these animals to sustain us (cats, dogs and me) rather than as a recreational activity for the dogs.  See where trialing gets you, or doesn’t get you for that matter? 

On Blogs, I read Blogs that are written by people I know and it has become a source of irritation for me.  I wish people had pass a basic literacy test and know how to use spell check before they could start a Blog.  Blogger (and others) has added more clutter to the rubbish heap that the Internet can be.  I have been “blogging” before “blogging” became a term with Natural Rearing Notes  which has been in existence since 1997.  I didn’t use “blogger” tools like Blogger back then, they were not available.  I used basic HTML for navigation.  I’m slowly pulling my old entries into Word Press format.  I love Word Press.  It makes the process a lot easier to manage.  Anyway, today I found two Blogs, The Mindful Word  and Slowly She Turned  that I really like and have book-marked them and will spend my free time reading these and like Blogs and forget the rubbish. 

Lately a big part of my life has been removing the rubbish.  It’s a good thing.

Last night I stopped at the Mexican market on my way home to get some chicken for the cats.  The meat there is fresher than that you can purchase in a grocery store and I like supporting the small markets.  I miss the Italian markets that I had access to in Boston.  When I got home I quickly ground up the chicken, then took the dogs for a run.  When I got back, I started the lawn mower and mowed my agility field until it got dark.  I swallowed close to a pound of hay seed while out with the dogs and that coupled with what the lawnmower was kicking up made my asthma act up.  Lovely.  Got back in the house and chopped up the chicken breasts I had poached before I went out with the dogs and started potatoes boiling to make potato salad.  I’m looking forward to the long weekend and plan to do some grilling.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.  I’m glad my Open Ranch noncompete run got pulled from the trial that is scheduled for this weekend in Lawndale.  Otherwise, I’d be there this weekend instead of home enjoying my animals, the people I choose to surround myself with and of course the beautiful place where I live.  The more and more I think about it, the more I think I may cut way back on the number of trials, in any venue, that I do in the future.  Given gas is not going to get any cheaper, it’s best to avoid unnecessary traveling.