Only In Magazines

I've read about how a compost pile is supposed to work.  It seems so easy in the magazines, but it never works for me.  It doesn't warm up like it's supposed to and the stuff either doesn't break down or gets an icky smell.

Until now!  We have a hot pile!  That big pile of stuff that we clean out of the shed every day is steaming.  It's amazing!  You can see frost near the bottom and steam coming off the top.  It really does work!  I feel so affirmed for being lazy and just piling it up.  So the secret is vast amounts of manure and pee-soaked straw... he-he-he... we are going to have such a good garden next year.

We got eight eggs yesterday.  That's a lot for this time of year!  We'll probably get hardly any tomorrow, but we're still taking it as a message from God that we show make a pecan pie.

Christina's mastitis has disappeared.  The milk filters so fast that it seems there's a hole in the filter.  We are getting about four gallons a day, and jerky must be getting about a gallon and a half.  She's almost nine years old and still producing like mad, it seems to me.  The owie on her neck looks nasty, but it's dry and not pussing, so we figure she'll recover on her own.  With the snow gone, Christina goes out on the pasture every day and seems to find a little grass to eat.  Good for her!

In the other pasture, beefy and jerky go out regularly.  Beefy stood at the back by the fence but jerky just ran and ran.  What a goofy baby.

Lets Start by Mowing

Our last child fell to the stomach flu.  It was another mostly sleepless night, but the main activity has subsided and she is resting now.  I am the only one who hasn't fallen, but today I don't feel great.  A week of less than my share of sleep and more than my share of work has taken its toll. 

At dinner last night there were only four of us — two children gone, one in bed, and one moved out.  One daughter commented on how empty the table felt, "and this is the size of a normal American family."

I love having a large family.  I love that our house is full of energy and warmth.  I love that we are together most of the time, not pulled away to school or the office.  But there is a downside to so much life — illness takes a long time.  This bug that takes a person down for three days has lasted two weeks in our family.

As our daughter lay in her sick bed, we gave her some good news. The injured chicken starting walking.  This is the daughter who named the hen Soody.  Last night we let her into the garden with the rest of the flock and she held her own.  She still kind of sinks sometimes, but she walked around capably and even ran at one point.  Thank you God that we don't have to kill that chicken.

This was a week off of homeschooling.  We had big plans to get some things finished outside, none of which got done.  With the majority of the family recovered, we started by mowing the lawn for the first time in a long while, maybe since July.  When it's hot the grass doesn't grow as much and I congratulate myself at the lower carbon-load by not mowing.  But it's not hot any more and we waited too long.  The kids cleared the lawn off and then watched from inside while I drove the machine. Only once did my husband have to fix it.  The job was huge.  Bags had to be dumped every pass and the blower filled up several times. 

Our compost pile is in with the chickens.  I read that chickens make great compost turners by digging through the pile.  Not having to turn the pile ourselves is pretty compelling so we have given it a try.  At the least, the chickens love the fresh green grass and they do kick it around.  Next spring we will have to move it out for one year before it's used.  I've heard that fresh chicken manure, which they add regularly, needs a year to compost before it's safe to put on the garden.

We feed our chickens a mix of wheat, oats, and corn that we buy at a local grain elevator.  It's cheaper that the pre-mixed stuff at the farm store and I like that it's just straight grain.  Yesterday when I went out to check on Soody, I noticed that the chicken food barrel was almost empty.  I pointed it out to my nine-year old who usually feeds them and she said, "oh yeah, we're almost out."  So yesterday afternoon my husband and I made a unplanned run for grain.  While we were there, we drove past a livestock shed and I noticed ears sticking out.  I looked closer and discovered several large pigs housed in the shed.  I pointed it out, "look, there are pigs right there and you can't even smell them." Hmmmm.......