the green grass grows all around

It finally happened. I had to break out... the lawnmower...

I kept holding out for hair sheep and goats, mainly because of all the junk/stuff hidden in the tall grass throughout the farm. I'd hate to find something by hitting it with the mower. Alas, the grass has decided not to wait for me to buy sheep so I had to start mowing this week. Unfortunately, between fixing the mower four times and picking up junk and tree branches in the "yard", it has been slow going. Despite all that, I came back ready to go yesterday - I had my hat on, sweet new sunglasses, ipod, hearing protection and long sleeve shirt. Before I got anywhere, the mower broke AGAIN but this time I can't fix it, so I need to find someone to work on it...

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I'm still here!

I've been wrangling runaway turkeys...

Playing with cute puppy dogs...

Taking care of baby chicks, baby ducks, baby turkeys and a few guineas as well...

And taking care of some BIG, noisy ducks...

I know people say that you can't brood ducks, turkeys and chickens all together, but it's worked out great for us!  We did lose a couple turkeys when we first got them, but they are notoriously hard to raise.  So far, everyone gets along great.  Although I did see one little Bourbon Red poult pecking on an Indian Runner duck who finally got tired of it.  So, he turned around and whacked the crap out of the little poult with his beak.  It was pretty funny...

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T-minus 7 days

I just spoke with the owner of Jag Wireless and he said we should have 5 Mbps of broadband internet in a week! It's "Line of Sight" so we have to be able to see the antenna/dish from our house. We're on a high spot but the closest tower is down on the other side of a hill about 7 miles away. But all we had to do was tell them that we were interested and they said they would get a repeater tower put up for us. It's HALF THE PRICE of satellite and should be much more dependable. So I was very excited to find these guys. Work has been rough with our mobile broadband, I tested the speed on Friday and I was running at .08 Mbps...

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Hollywood here we come

Well, we had our interview with NET yesterday. I can't say that I've been on camera like that before so, needless to say, I felt pretty silly. As soon as it was over I was wishing we could rewind and do it all over again. I didn't even think about the fact that I should be looking into the camera and there were so many things I wanted to say but didn't. Oh well, they have hours and hours of interviews that will be cut down to 30 minutes, so I'm hopeful that they can pick out a couple minutes that make us look/sound good.
The documentary is about local foods in and around Nebraska. They asked us to interview because they wanted someone who was just getting started. We talked to the producer about coming back to follow our progress, so we'll see.

Farm updates - I fixed the tiller yesterday and (shallow) tilled up a small area. Jamie said we need to shallow till and then pull the weeds out before we do the deeper tilling. Beats me, I'm just the farm hand... Tried to move the pigs to a different pen so they could graze but they decided they didn't want to. I thought I could coax them with food but I was wrong. They weren't in a hurry to run off but they definitely weren't in a hurry to go where I wanted them to. After 20 minutes, I finally called for reinforcements and Jamie helped me get them back in.

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Return of the Groundhog!?

I just saw that dang groundhog again!!! I took him about three miles away and dropped him off at an abandoned farmstead. But here he is! I know it's the same one because he was running straight towards the house. I ran downstairs as fast as I could, to head him off, and he turned and ran. I engaged in pursuit with my K9 partner but the culprit escaped. Max is continuing to canvas the area. Meanwhile, I've attempted to interview witnesses but they are refusing to cooperate. They are too busy eating and drinking (and quacking).

That's what I get for trying to be nice. Well, (as the song goes) no more Mr. Nice Guy.

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Turning a Corner

The weather looks like it's finally going to stay warmer. It shouldn't be long before we start complaining how hot it is.

We have started turning our attention to more permanent solutions on the farm. We are still very much in "survival mode", fixing things as they come up. But we are at the point where we are moving towards more long term solutions, in particular, with the animals. The poultry are growing quickly and we are running out of space. The Pekin ducks are about a month old and need to be outside. We have debated whether to give them free range and to bring them in at night or to try the "pastured poultry" approach. We've decided to try the pasture approach and will be building movable shelters/tractors for the Pekin ducks. That will allow them be outside eating grass and bugs as they please while providing protection from predators and weather. We will probably do the same with the turkeys and possibly some of the chickens. It's the more labor intensive option but we think it makes sense. The egg laying chickens and ducks will likely be free range around the farm during the day and cooped up at night to keep them safe. If we encounter problems with this scenario, we will go to an egg mobile (a hen house on wheels) with portable poultry netting.

The garden has been on the back burner, a bit, but Jamie has been diligently growing her seedlings and we hope to have them in the ground this week. There was a large garden here previously and we have asparagus growing like crazy. We were told there are 400 crowns of asparagus and I believe it...

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My ducks are going through puberty.

We let our ducks outside to roam this weekend for the first time.  And they had a blast.  They were a little hesitant at first, but dove right in eating dirt and grass.  And like I said, they are going through puberty.  I about fell on the floor laughing the first time I heard them.  So, let me explain, when ducks are little they peep just like baby chicks.  I was surprised by that, because I always assumed ducks quacked since they were born.  These ducks are about three weeks old and I just noticed last week that their voices are changing.  Instead of a cute "peep-peep", its more like a broken bicycle horn.  I wish I could imitate it for everyone, because it just cracks me up!

I took a video of them getting let outside for the first time and you might be able to hear them with their voices cracking.  But you will also get to see what happens when one of the ducks gets his foot caught and his owner panics...

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