Friday, July 11, 2019
(Waxing Scorpio)

Justin’s birthday.

The Mullein flowers are ready.

 

Friday, July 12, 2019
(Waxing Sagittarius)

Worked at my mom’s office most of the day.

Harvested garlic. Hung it up on metal hangers in the garage with a fan. I did stab two bulbs with the fork, so I will be fermenting those instead.

Saturday, July 13, 2019
(Waxing Sagittarius)

Penelope’s chick died during the night. It was not thriving and this is not unexpected. Penelope is back to normal behavior. Cass and Bella are both trying to brood in the same basket. I tried putting eggs in the nesting boxes of the new chicken barn and putting them in there, but they returned to the basket. Geese are being aggressive toward the other birds and are being a nuisance. Cornish cross are showing heat distress.

Received new fencing for aviary yesterday and Pete moved it to the back.

Finished planting peppers. Planted more beans.

Harvested fava beans, salad greens, radishes, turnips and beets.

Corn appears to be sprouting.

 

Sunday, July 14, 2019
(Waxing Sagittarius)

This morning the geese got into the garden while I was watering and ate the corn sprouts. (sigh) I ordered Peaches & Cream from Amazon, 1 day shipping. Corn should be ready in 80-85 days. Hoping for a slow autumn.

Cass and Bella are both still trying to brood in the same basket.

I worked at the store till 10pm today.

 

Monday, July 15, 2019
(Waxing Capricorn)

They’re talking about a wave of triple-digit temperatures this week. I want to get the last of the meat birds butchered today. Not a lot of room in the fridge or freezer though. I am not sure my refrigerator is keeping the temperature right. I need a second fridge, but I can’t afford one. I would like one just for ferments.

I butchered two chickens today and got a start on some stock. Had dilled fava beans, roasted turnips and a lovely salad with roasted beets and steamed chicken and a balsamic vinaigrette, all from the garden with the exception of the dressing.  So good. Gonna plant more beets and turnips.

It’s hot today. It rained quite a bit this afternoon and it cooled off a bit for awhile, but it’s hot again.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019
(Full Capricorn)

Now they are talking about rain all week from Tropical Storm Barry. I am down with that. Cleaned about 1/3 of the barn this morning.

I am uninspired re: the full moon. We like to have a bonfire, but it’s just so hot!

Wednesday, July 17
(Waning Aquarius)

Really hot. I have decided not to go into the office this week so that I can stay home and monitor the animals. Today I sorted out the mealworms. Penelope helped out by putting some in her belly. Also made some bread dough and homemade noodles. The humidity is messing with my dough! Went to the grocery store and the feed store. Made chicken, mushrooms, peas, and noodles in a cream sauce for dinner with sliced, salted cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

We have been getting tomatoes from the red cherry and black vernissage tomato plants pretty much daily, but we’re not in love with the flavor of them.

Thursday, July 18
(Waning Aquarius)

There is definately a baby chick in the Princess basket with Cassie and Bella. I can hear it peeping. They won’t let me anywhere near the nest though, so I guess I don’t get to see. Firestar is looking much better lately.

I ordered a plastic roughneck shed for the geese. They are due for an upgrade. Cost $500. Can’t afford it, but we can’t afford overcrowded geese either. The ducks’ shed also needs replacing as the wood is starting to rot out. They will inherit the geese’s old shed. When the aviary is complete, I will make the change for the ducks, but the geese get their new shed ASAP. I was going to move them into the yard with the other birds, but they are really being nuisances. I have to figure something else out for them. They are grazers and need space, but I might have to limit them to supervised grazing periods or rotate them through if they are going to be yard bullies.

Friday, July 19
(Waning Aquarius)

There are two baby chicks in the Princess basket. They are both taking care of them. I moved the basket off the high shelf onto the floor of the barn so they can take them out.

Saturday, July 20
(Waning Pisces)

Cassie has moved out of the Princess nest with two chicks, one naked neck partially melanistic and one fully feathered melanistic. She has moved them into the doghouse. Bella is still sitting on 3 eggs.

The power went out today. No water either as our well pump is electric

Sunday, July 21st
(Waning Pisces)

Worked at the store all afternoon.

Monday, July 22nd
(Waning Aries)

Our mystery squashes are blooming, but only male blooms so far. They are mystery squash because the tray they were growing in went flying and all the labels flew out and apparently the seeds hopped around too, because I thought they were the same type of squash but one is vining and one is a bush type. The vining plant is not climbing either the fence or the stick teepee it was provided, but it taking over the garden. Typical.

I began preparing to take the meat in the freezer to my mom’s to pressure can it tomorrow. It hasn’t thawed yet, but I am seeing ice crystals forming in the freezer that looks like thawing is eminent.

Power came on in the evening, the meat in the freezer is saved. The food in the kitchen freezer is all thawed out though. I moved it into the fridge, gave the whole thing a wipe down and I’ll be incorporating the thawed food into this weeks meals. We have: waffles, some various frozen vegetables, cooked plain rice, a curry, some chicken stock, salmon fillets, hamburgers and some chicken tenders. Not bad. I’m sure we can eat it up in a few days.

Tuesday, July 23rd
(Waning Aries)

The geese’s new shed arrived today but we didn’t get a chance to set it up yet. Hope to have it set up by the weekend. Baby geese are huge. They don’t seem crowded in the new shed yet, but they will be soon. They look bigger every time I look at them!

Bella has two new chicks, one naked necked/non-melanistic and one fully feathered/melanistic. I gave the remaining egg to Firestar.  The weather is near perfect today. Sunny and mild, a brief rain in the afternoon so I don’t have to water.

Wednesday, July 24th
(Waning Aries)

Worked at the office all day. Brought in some garlic to share. I am getting cucumbers for trade. None of my cucumber seeds have sprouted (From Annie’s Heirlooms). I replanted and then replanted again a few days ago with new seeds, we’ll see how those do. I think I’ll be picking up a cucumber plant at the grocery store tonight. I have also replanted my melons, also from Annie’s. (There were some eggplant I replanted twice before getting more elsewhere also. I think I won’t be buying from Annie’s anymore. Though the corn is doing well.)

Bella’s chicks look good this morning. I moved the basket back down from the shelf in case they feel like going forth, though the latest one doesn’t seem ready yet. Could be by the end of the day.

I am feeling overwhelmed and really disappointed that I haven’t finished my planned projects for spring and haven’t even started some. The garden is getting away from me and the livestock are stinking. I don’t abide stinking livestock. Stinking livestock means: I have too many, I don’t have enough space AND/OR I am not cleaning enough. I do not have time to clean more and the space I have is the space I have, so clearly I have too many. And here they are making more! (sigh) Gonna have to sort this out.

Thursday, July 25th
(Waning Taurus)

Mosquitoes are insane. Kiddo looks like he has the measles. I was up all night slapping bugs off me. Ugh. I did a lot of work in the dining room, rearranged some stuff, went ahead and did some deep cleaning while I was at it and set up our brand new microwave. We haven’t had a microwave in like 10 years. We went shopping, tried to find a cucumber plant. Thee are none to be had. We bought an ice plant, a yarrow and lemon grass instead. And also some canning supplies. We’ll be mostly canning the next chickens we butcher. I was way too stressed out about the freezer during the last power outage.

Friday, July 26, 2019
(Waning Taurus)

The gimpy gosling is gimpy again as of this afternoon- it was fine when I let them out this morning. I have been carrying it around and moving it into the shade. I kept it on my lap much of the time that I was working on the new goose fence (hubs is building the new goose shed which is this kit) It pooped on me a lot.

Saturday, July 27, 2019
(Waning Gemini)

It was super hot today and I tried to work on the fence for a bit but it was just ridiculous, so the new goose yard remains unfinished. I did fence them off in a shady area and put the gimpy goose in a comfy shady spot with water and food. I penned the other geese in with it so that it wouldn’t strain itself trying to keep up with them. I checked on him several times and each time he had managed to move away from the water (it could kind of scoot backward) and back out into the sun and the third time it was no longer alive. So I buried it. *sigh*

Went to bed with a migraine.

Sunday, July 28, 2019
(Waning crescent, Gemini)

Firestar has a chick. So, we now have five chicks. I went to work at 2pm with a migraine. Everything smells! I could smell the people and all their stinky chemicals at work. Ugh. Migraines.

We had a big storm in the evening and power was out when I got home.

Monday, July 29, 2019
(Waning crescent, Cancer)

The power came back on before I woke up today. Woke up a bit late, feet hurt bad. The temperature has dropped considerably.

Lulu is trying to brood, but I took away her eggs and locked her in the other coop. I’ve had enough of this brooding nonsense. It is raining all day and the yard is a muddy mess and I’m sliding all over the place. Ugh.

Hubs finished the shed on Sunday while I was at work. It rained much of the day and we were able to test out its ability to stay dry inside, works just fine. We put them to bed in it, five geese total now. The goslings are getting nice and big. But they are seriously bullying the chicks and the other birds in general so I have to make finishing their new run a priority.

Harvested a few peppers today, a big Jim, a chocolate bell and alma paprika. Also, some red cherry and black vernissage tomatoes. 2 green globe artichokes. Several purple top turnips. We have potatoes ready for harvest.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019
(Waning crescent, Cancer)

I spent much of the day cleaning out closets. The power was out much of the day. So we went shopping and used my Tractor Supply coupon to get more fencing supplies and bird food. And I got new laundry supplies at the grocery store. My clothesline has gone missing, needed to get a new one. They only had a braided cotton thing; how long is that going to last? And canning jars were on sale, so I stocked up.

My feet hurt.

Wednesday, July 31
(Waning crescent, Leo)

I finished the goose yard. The fence is all sturdy and the geese seem to like it okay, though they are a bit confused. No more mixing flocks. Hah. Bully geese. Now they have grass, shade and a big ole shed and do not ever need to mix with the other birds.