As I was saying before munchkin pushed buttons...
It rained all night but the goats managed to stay pretty dry thanks to this little shelter that was already here in a pen that was already here when we bought the place.
[caption id="attachment_17" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Eleven week old male kiko goats."]
[/caption]The goats seem to have sweet temperaments for the most part except that the brown headed one likes to rare up on his hind feet and try to head but our little chihuahua, Chili. It would be a sad day if the goat were ever successful.
[caption id="attachment_18" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Goat pen."]
[/caption]The pen is probably 50x50 feet and looks pretty rough but it's actually in decent enough shape and full of food they love to eat.
[caption id="attachment_19" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The shelter the goats hung out under all night."]
[/caption]The shelter is about four feet tall with a simple corrugated metal roof on four posts. Better than what they had at the place we bought them from...nothing.
I looked around the pen today which is FULL of blackberry bushes and you can tell they've been chowin' down.
[caption id="attachment_20" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Nibbled up blackberry bush."]
[/caption]If only we could survive on what the goats like to eat, we'd have it made. This is my garden today and if we had to survive on it, we'd all starve.
I'm learning though and things are growing and baring fruit despite me and my ignorance. It appears, though, that we have a mole problem. A couple of my squash vines (spaghetti and pumpkin) have suddenly shriveled up and died while everything around them and the other like vines are doing great. Our lab likes to dig up moles around the outside of the garden fence so I assume that's our problem. We just put down cardboard between most of the plants to keep the weeds at bay and help retain water. The garden did look like nothing but tall, tall weeds just a couple of weeks ago. I got too busy to keep up with it, but good old hubs helped me out and we reclaimed it with little to no harm done all in a weekend. He's enjoyed gardening this year even though he doesn't like veggies. I've learned I need to grow more staples like beans and we could use some fruit too. I ordered some seeds from a local heirloom supplier and received twenty new seed packets yesterday, including three or four new varieties of beans. I'm using heirloom so that I can hopefully save seeds for planting from year to year.
[caption id="attachment_21" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Some of our young, pretty hens."]
[/caption]Yesterday, hubs also brought home this incubator we borrowed from a friend. It's actually an old hospital incubator, but our friend has had success with hatching eggs in it, so as soon as I can make a spot in the house for it we're going to put all the eggs we have on hand in it which is probably only a dozen or so.
[caption id="attachment_22" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Incubator"]
[/caption]I figure we ought to get four to six new laying hens from this first batch, assuming the other half are roosters. The chickens we have now aren't broody at all so this is how we're having to do things. At least it won't cost anymore than the electricity to operate it for the next 21 or so days.
[caption id="attachment_16" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hens looking like they want in the house. Silly chickens."]
[/caption]Earlier in the spring, hubs built a chicken tractor for them which he would move to a new patch of grass everyday but now we just let them run loose every day. There's just nothing better than grass fed chicken eggs.
[caption id="attachment_23" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Chicken tractor."]
[/caption]On another note, we're always working on our little bitty house trying to finish it up as time and money allow (both are few and far between.) The house has 800 square feet on the first floor and one bathroom, small master bedroom, living room, kitchen dining area and laundry. It's small but efficient. The second floor or loft (accessible only by ladder) will add another 400 square feet once it's done including two bedrooms and a half bath. Right now it's nothing more than a roof with insulation between the studs. The kids sleep up there on mattresses on the floor with all their stuff. At least without the walls it's extra roomy right now. In case you're thinking we're hillbillys that just don't know any better, we used to work hard to keep up with that silly Jones family. We lived in a very, very nice house in a very, very nice neighborhood and hubs was a fine home builder. When the housing market crashed, we knew we had to jump ship. Now hubs "works for the man" and we qualify for government programs like food stamps and WIC but we're surviving. In fact, we've reduced our debt from goodness knows how high to $41,000 and I like to see the amount continue to fall. We've always wanted to live in the country for the quite and the privacy but now I couldn't imagine living a life I love more than this. I enjoy the challenges that come with homesteading. I even enjoy working on a small budget. I would like to have a bigger budget since the world is coming to an end as we know it, but what do you do?
I wish I could get my blog out there to like minded people right now, because I'd like to know what you all are doing to prepare for the upcoming depression. Are you storing food, moving to the country, buying gold or are you possibly living the same as you would if it weren't coming. Need some motivation to get ready for it? Try watching youtube videos of Gerald Celente. His track record speaks for itself so don't assume he's just an excentric loon. Get ready 'cause it's coming.
-Mrs. Homesteader
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