Happy New Year!

Here's to another year in the record books!  I'm so looking forward to 2016 and what it has in store for The Compound.  Thank you for following along.  Happy New Year!

Prayers Please

This was from Christmas 2014.  She caught dinner!

I'm asking my Blogger friends to please keep the Moose's Mom in your prayers.  She was recently diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Treatments are to begin in January.



Little Grandma- Happiest Place on Earth

She was affectionately called “Little Grandma” in our house.  She was a spitfire, lucky if she was 4’8” or so and never over 100 lbs even soaking wet.   She was the Mother of 12 children with too many grand and great grand children to even count.   Absolutely loved by all! There isn’t a one of us that hasn’t been touched by her in some way. 

While my Dad was serving in Viet Nam, my Mom and I stayed with her and my Grandfather.  My Grandma would get up in the morning and as soon as I’d started to make some noise she’d come and get me from my crib and bring me downstairs for breakfast.  My brother and I would spend our Christmas and Easter breaks from school with them most days while our parents worked.  No matter what time we’d have to be dropped off, and that was pretty early on some cold snowy days, she was always ready for us with a huge smile on her face and breakfast ready.  Usually some Polka music on in the background. 

She didn’t have material wealth, no fancy house or clothes but she had a HUGE heart.   She always made you feel special and loved.  My fondest memories of her were sitting around the dining table and playing card games.  If you were lucky you sat to her left and she’d feed you the cards you needed to fill your hand.  She loved to let us win, and trust me she could have easily beaten any one of us at any time she was that good but she’d rather see the joy on our faces.  And not one of us will ever just walk by the game of Yahtzee and not think of her.  It was a rite of passage to sit with her and play game after game of Yahtzee!  

One of my more notable memories was of my Mom driving us to pick up my Dad from work and as we’re heading down Main Street in Oshkosh, I looked out the window and saw my Grandma with her purse on her arm and the other arm just swinging away.  She was going somewhere in a hurry and with a purpose.   She wasn’t even close to home.  She never learned how to drive, she walked everywhere!  I mean everywhere and not just a slow meandering walk a high- gear power walk!  That gene has been passed down to some of us and I have actually been told a time or two to slow down, you walk to fast! 

One of her goals was to live to be 100.  She made it to 101!  She went to live in a nursing home this past November as she finally needed around the clock care.  She told my Aunt Dort she had 1 week to get her out of there!  She didn't want to stay around all those old people!

Disneyland has a saying; “The Happiest Place on Earth”, they’re wrong.  The Happiest Place on Earth was wherever she was. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  - John F Kennedy

Thanks to everyone that stops by on occasion to read my posts.  I pray you have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family.

Hooked on a Feeling - It's Finally Fall at The Compound

I had the BJ Thomas song in my head this morning;  Hooked on a Feeling.  So now that I've dated myself and got those of you around my same age, singing this song to yourselves  Your Welcome!



To the Little Girl who was kind enough to give me Fludders, here's your update;

He's doing great!  At first he was a bit scared, especially of our white rooster.  He liked to hide to stay out of the way.  So this weekend we removed the white rooster and put him in his own area so Fludders can get more comfortable with his new home and with all the hens at The Compound.  He's been eating and actually making friends with our pigs too.  I even saw him napping next to some of my girl pigs on Saturday.  Thank you for giving him to me!  We will do our best to spoil him rotten!



The humidity and heat have finally backed off and if the weatherman is right, we may finally be able to put the summer of 2015 behind us.  Although it was a bit warm this weekend, the humidity was not there and the Moose only went through about 3 t-shirts.  That's how we gauge things, not by temperature but by how often he has to change t-shirts.

The guys finished our new turkey housing addition, (of which I didn't get any photos), moved the four teenage turkeys to the new enclosure and in with the original flock (there was a bit of a kerfuffle), and added another lean-to area for the male hogs.

I spent my time working on the garden beds, removing the yellowing leaves from the tomato plants, removing caterpillars which are the bane of my existence at the moment, and look at what they did in one week to my cucumber plants; 

I really hate using pesticides, but the bugs leave me no choice.  It's that or no vegetables.  I found three different type of caterpillars in my garden.  Some roll the leaves back over themselves so they can eat in peace, others just eat large holes in the leaves and the worst one's you can hardly see until they've had their fill; they make the leaves look like lace.  Frankly, the pesticide didn't even phase this last type.

The tomatoes are going strong, and I've only found a few small green inch worm type bugs, and a couple of black caterpillars.  Besides some leaf miners which out at The Compound always get on my plants, they seem to be doing really well.

While I was working in the garden, or frankly going just about everywhere one of our supervisors stuck by my side to make sure I was doing things right.  Here's Kitty-Kitty;

Of the three semi-feral cats we rescued this past year she is the friendliest.  Here are the other two  Bones and Claire;



Skin and "Bones"  he has a hard time putting on weight.

Claire



.That's it for now, you can go back to singing Hooked on a Feeling....

 





Upcycled; Feed Troughs and Garden Update (another picture heavy post)

First of all, let me introduce you to our newest Compound member;  Flutters.   A Buff Orpington, someone in the area needed a new home for him and he is likely the luckiest rooster in these parts!  2.5 acres and over 30 girls to call his own!  We have him in a separate location from them at the moment just to make sure he's healthy (and we have no doubt), but it's a precaution we have to take with the investment we have in all of our girls.  In a few short weeks, he'll be introduced.

 

He may have second thoughts once the girls start to tell him who's really boss at The Compound!

 

 

Here's our upcycled project and garden update:

 
 
 



These




















And this

Became this!  Pig trough/feeder and waterer.  Pigs are THE most destructive animals I have ever seen.  I make no promises this will hold up, only time will tell.  The barrels were cut in half, and then attached to some of the long and FREE wood pallets you see in the above photo.  Besides some nails and sweat equity by the guys the only real cost was the barrels at a whopping $10 a piece.  Yes, we found a mother load and a company that brings them in with aloe vera in them, we just have to rinse them out.  We bought 20, we'll use some to catch rain water, and about 10 of them to make feeders for each of the four areas we have hogs currently housed in by size or sex.

We'll keep you posted, but so far it's hard for them to manage standing in them, it's too slippery inside and for the larger girls, they  (the hogs) are just too wide to get a foot hold.  Although that didn't stop one from trying to chew on the wood!

Here's one of four sections of Kirby cucumbers.  It has taken off up onto the top of the shade cloth and reached over to the avocado tree we just moved there.  It's kind of creepy but it's almost as if they can see where to reach out to.

The honey bees are working their magic on the blossoms.  All morning the area had a quiet hum.  I left them alone.  I watered and picked off the occasional caterpillars later in the day.

Some romas starting to fruit.

Some cucumbers also taking shape.

Mini pumpkins.  A few of these should be ready for Halloween, and the rest for sure by Thanksgiving.

I'm growing these in the beds as well.  They are climbing up the shade cloth too and hanging over the edges.

To be honest, I have no idea what this is, could be cauliflower, broccoli or brussel sprouts.  We'll just call it a surprise!

A sunflower! 

In the background, is a newly sprouted mango!  It'll only take 7  - 8 years to produce, but you have to start somewhere.

We have forks in our hands just waiting for the first salad from our garden beds!

Otherwise, the Moose and I are pooped again this weekend.  The sun was definitely out, and we are counting down the days until the middle to end of October!  Bring on Fall!

 

Picture Heavy Update

Be warned, picture and video heavy. 

First, the raised bed gardens the Moose built me.

 



 

Here's the loads of free wood and pallets the Moose and Donnie pick up each week.

 

 
 

Here are the bacon bits.

 

 

 

 

Here are the new girls!

 

 

Finally, here's the new remote controlled rotisserie!

 



Shame on Me and Compound Update

Well, it's been awhile since I posted, so here's an update;

Like most of you, we have really been busy.  And shame on me for not taking any photos.  I take my camera along, and even have a camera on my phone but I never get it out at the end of the day. So one of my upcoming posts will be picture loaded!

I have mentioned in the past we have a local company that gives away their wood pallets.  Now their pallets are not the typical pallets of let's say 3' x 3' or so.  Nope, these are 3-4' wide by 10-12' long!  Some with more than useable 2x4's which we remove and use for building projects.  Some of the pallets we keep together and have made fencing for pig areas and recently raised bed gardens.  Up off the ground so no more bending over to pick weeds for me!

The Moose and the Twins (BJ and Donnie) built me 8 raised beds so far and we have everything from tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, to lettuce growing in them right now and all doing really well.  Except for the typical aphid and pest issues; we'll never be without those problems.  We've not had any success growing plants in direct sunlight.  I know every package of vegetable seed states direct sunlight. It just kills them at The Compound, especially this time of year and if we don't get them started now we won't get a harvest before any potential freeze/cold temperatures happen.

So, we use shade cloth above all of the beds, it filters the light and keeps the torrential rains from totally demolishing the delicate plants.  We just have to water more often, sometimes up to three times a day for the cucumbers.  As it stands we are working out ideas and plans to build our "upcycled" (patio doors) green house around these beds that are already in place.  The greenhouse along with our outdoor kitchen are projects slated for the cooler weather months.

We have 16 new chicks and a total of 5 new turkeys.  The chicks are New Hampshire Reds, 3 white feathered (I can't remember the breed, but its a specific breed the hatchery came up with) and 1 lonely Easter Egger.  It's not actually lonely, it fits right in the mix.  We will be culling our old flock this fall/winter as soon as this groups starts to lay eggs.  Our hens are molting right now and we are getting very few eggs, besides they are all aging and giving less and less.  Most of our birds are going on 2 years old with Miss Corrie running on 3 years and Berta going on 4 years.  They'll always have a place at The Compound even though neither has laid an egg in months.

I'd have to disagree with Ben Franklin on having Turkeys as our national bird.  Frankly, if they were in school, they'd be put in the corner with a dunce cap!  I have fun watching them, but they have a strange ability to get in trouble, or cause trouble like walking over the top of the Moose's truck!  He was not happy..  We'll at least have turkey for Thanksgiving this year.

As to pigs, we have more than enough!  We are getting ready to butcher a couple in the coming months, again we're waiting for some cooler temperatures. 

Finally, the rabbits.  I have been trying to find someone interested in my lop ears and I can't get rid of them for free.  We are working to get meat rabbits, and have one buck and two does to work with.  We'll be breeding them this coming October.

I promise to get some pictures for a follow up post.  It's hard to believe we're in the middle of September already! 

God Bless,

Quote of the Day

 "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison

Interesting Times

We're living in interesting times.  Some times it's like watching a movie in slow motion and other times it's as if someone hit the fast forward button.  If you spend more than 5 minutes watching the local news, which is nothing but a "who shot who" last night report, and even less time watching any of the other news outlets for national and international news, you've likely wasted your time. I'm grateful and thankful I have something else to do with mine.

Not that we should ignore what's going on in the world but I'd like to see the news please.  The comings and goings of the Hollywood elite is not news, it's just obnoxious.  It's become nothing but idol worship as far as I can tell.  I like a good movie or T.V. show, but I don't care about their private lives and I sure as heck am not going to embarrass myself by making a point to stand in line to see one of them face to face. 

Add in the recent Supreme Court ruling along with the Femocrats from California moving to ban the terms "husband and wife" from laws nation wide;  They want gender neutral terms used such as spouse or married couple.  I'm tired of the nonsense.  Our way of life, and what has made this country great is being taken away piece by piece at an ever faster "fast forward" pace.  We're going to look back someday, not in the too distant future, and this country will either not exist or be a shadow of it's former self. (There is room to argue that we are already at that precipice)

I believe your word is your bond.  When you agree to do something for someone, you do it.  It rarely happens anymore, the excuses people can come up with to not uphold the agreement always amazes me.  They'll promise you the moon, but call someone on the carpet for not holding up their end, and it suddenly becomes your problem and you're the evil one.  If we're being honest, we should be standing up for ourselves and demand that others raise the bar as well.  That handshake means something.

I'm not sure what they've used on us, but it's as if the world is afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing, so basically no one does anything for fear their feelings might get hurt.  People hide behind emails and social media.  I see kids posting on FB complaining about their parents or jobs, and then getting a multitude of "thumbs ups" from their friends.  They take this as vindication and that they are somehow right in their thinking.  What's worse is the others that actually "thumbed up", have no clue as to the true story.  What are they "thumbing up" too?  A snot nosed "kid" who has zero respect for anyone including themselves?  Emails and social media do not allow for honest timely discord. 

Parents don't keep their children in line, and demand the respect that is owed. It's called parenting, they are not meant to be your best friend.  Frankly, a decent best friend is also going to tell you when you have a problem, and if they don't they're really not your friend.   I see parents of grown children that still pay their bills for them.  Yes, I understand we all may need some help from time to time, (I'm not against helping people) life has a funny way of doing that to people, but allowing them to free load because you're afraid they'll get angry with you does not help to raise them up.  Allowing them to be disrespectful in any situation is not right.  Teach a man to fish or demand they learn.

I'm of the female persuasion, so when it comes to emotions and feelings I understand.  I also understand that feelings are not reality, and the world is black and white, not gray.  When it comes down to brass tacks, it may look gray at the moment, but if you research and pray enough the true color will appear.  I'm tired of the lines between them getting blurred by people not willing to own up to their own problems, or others with hidden agendas.  It's either right or it's wrong.

The term "love your neighbor" does not infer I give up my beliefs to support yours, especially to make you feel better about yourself.  It means demanding we continue to raise the bar, hold people accountable for their actions, help people where we can so they can go on to help others, demand honesty, integrity and respect from yourself and others. Frankly if this country lived by demanding these things, which are all spelled out in God's word, we'd have a chance of getting back on track and we could watch this movie in real time. 

All's Well

I thought I'd add a quick report for my loyal followers;

The Moose and I are doing just fine.  Busier than a one-armed paper hanger, but just fine.  We have 17 new piglets (bacon bits as Pioneer Preppy likes to call them) at The Compound, 16 from our own sows and 1 that was found on the side of the road of all things.  She's just darling and won't leave her adoptive mothers side, and mom just loves on her too.  So all's well on that account.

We have two new turkey chicks, and hopefully more on the way.  4 of the hens are back to laying on eggs again.  Seems weird to me, but I guess if they don't have any following them around, then they feel left out.  So we'll see in a couple of weeks if we have any other new chicks.  With the bird issues in other parts of the country, the fact we may indeed have a turkey on our table at Thanksgiving is nice.

I think I've sold my rabbits.  The Holland Lop Ears are cute as a button, but at this point, I'd like to lighten the load.  It's not that they take much time, or really cost that much money.  I'd like to see someone else that really wants them raise and breed them.

Weather is turning hot and HUMID, and we're starting to see the normal summer afternoon rain pattern go into full swing.

Other than that, hope you're all doing well.  I do stop by your blogs and see what you're up to on occasion.  Wishing you all the best.

Short Hiatus

Life is on a changing course for us personally and at The Compound.  But that's life, if we stayed stagnant we'd start to smell like a muddy pond or in our case the pig wallow.  Appetizing right?

I don't have much to offer as an explanation at this point.  I will be in and out periodically over the next couple of months.  I just won't be posting very much.  There are things God has put in our path that we need to give our full attention too. 

So to those that follow along, and send me notes or phone calls to see what's up and why I've not posted, everything is fine.  We just need to embrace the change in our lives and all that God springs forth.  We are truly blessed.

100K

In just a few short weeks we'll have owned The Compound for 5 years.  We purchased the property in May 2010.  I started the blog several months later, as a journal of our progress.  In that amount of time, I've written 490 entries including this one, and I have now reached over 100,000 page views!

All I can say is thanks for following along!  You are much appreciated!  For those that have taken the time to comment, an extra big thank you!

Springing New Life

We're going to be expecting new arrivals at The Compound in the next 4-6 weeks.  We have two pigs ready to deliver in early May.  Our best mom from last year, Pepper and a new mom to be, Queenie (my absolute favorite).  Can you believe I don't have a readily available picture of Queenie!  It must be because I don't take the time to get one, I'm too busy scratching her ears or her belly!

This was Pepper last year, a few days before delivering.

 



Since we're only a few weeks out, we separated them to the farrowing area, got their wallow filled up and fresh straw laid down.  Now they won't have to share food with 10 very hungry teenage pigs.  It leads to a lot of squabbling.  Getting these two girls to the farrowing pen was easy work.  They love to be loved, so they just followed us in to see what we were up to.  They both get along very well, and we're eagerly waiting to see the new brood.

We did have two turkeys hatch in the past week, and 3 more hens sitting.  We never did see the Toms covering the hens, but obviously they did at some point.  Again, I didn't get any pictures.  Although, the hens wouldn't let me get very close, or they'd start puffing up.  Even the Tom's would get between me and the little chicks.  Since this is my first foray into Turkey raising, it's all been interesting to watch.

We did catch a very large rat snake trying to make it's way into the Turkey pen.  I'm sure after those little chicks.  That immediate problem has been resolved.

We bred our Holland Lop Ear rabbits this past weekend, so we'll be looking for kits in early May. What have you used for nesting boxes?  Anything extra I should be thinking about for the new moms?

Pickles on the left and Cupcake on the right.

We're debating on whether or not we start raising Quail.  Anyone want to let me know the good, bad and ugly of raising them?  Is it worth the endeavor?  I'd like to get fertilized eggs and hatch my own.

We also have an incubator full of chicken eggs.  We didn't raise any new chicks last year on our own, and some of our girls are getting up there in age.  Although you'd hardly know it, we still get 4 dozen or so eggs each week out of about 30 hens. Too many for us to eat anyway, so we give them away.  After the new chicks reach laying age, we'll need to cull the flock.  Not something we look forward to, but the more animals we have, the more money it costs and the harder it will be to sustain them and us.

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great week!

Happy Easter

Wishing all of my blogging friends a Happy Easter!

A Hunting Wabbit We Will Go

Actually no hunting needed on our part, unless you call opening a rabbit hutch hunting.  This Sunday was the first time in all my many years I actually ate rabbit.  Yes, this former total city girl ate the rabbit she has watched and helped raise.  And it WAS delicious! 

Served up fried and baked.  The fried was a bit on the tough side, but tasty.  My favorite was the baked.  Baked for about 3 hours it was fall off the bone good.

I did not participate in the processing of the rabbits, and I likely should have except the Moose and I were busy with other projects;

Moving pigs around, and building dividing walls to keep them in other areas so we can actually use our garden space for gardening.  No pictures yet, just too busy.

We're starting to get ripened blue berries from our 25+ plants.  Not a lot yet, but the bushes are covered in berries.  There's also a few small mulberries in this bowl.  There is nothing like fresh from the garden berries.

Supervisor and Repurposed Pallets as a Hog Enclosure

 

Well, here's one of our supervisors.  This is the first time since we got them that she was actually showing herself in daytime.  I think her hunger over took her fear of being seen.  Of course I obliged and gave her a can of cat food.  They love the wet, and will only tolerate the dry if they are that hungry.  But since she showed up when I was around, she got wet food.  Ate the whole thing herself.

We brought in three feral cats to The Compound to help us with the rat population.  We have no way of knowing if they are actually doing their job.  We have such a huge problem with rats and it's a constant battle.  Neighbors say the same thing, so it's not just me.  We've cut back on the amount of feeders, removed some hiding places, but they still seem to find a way to be bothersome.  By how hunger this little girl was, I'm not sure she's got hunting rats figured out yet.  Oh, and another feral male cat has joined the squadron.  Thank goodness our three girls are fixed, so no worries on that end.  They've all filled out and look healthier since their arrival.

 

 

Here's another pallet repurpose project.  We've made another hog pen, using the pallets that are 14' long.  Free is good!  It covers two sides, along with the container as a wall on one side, and metal fencing along the back.  We used metal fencing on the back as it's the low lying area and will get water during the summer rain.  It's also where their wallow is. It's roughly 30' x 42'.  It's holding 5 hogs.

 

 

To say the females that now have access to this area are happy, is an understatement.  They just love it!  I don't know how they tolerate all the blackberry vines, but they do.  They run right through them, and have burrowed themselves some sleeping quarters right in the middle.  There are a few trees in this area to help provide shade during the summer heat.  The guys set them up with an automatic waterer, and we'll be building them a feeder in the next week or so.

 

I didn't take any pictures of my blueberry bushes, but we're going to have a great harvest as long as the birds don't invade and eat them all!  I'm hoping they'll ripen in time for Easter so we can make a cobbler or pie with them for the entire Compound Crew.

 

Summer heat has arrived here in central FL.  We were in the 90's this weekend and it felt like it.  It's going to take some time to build up to tolerating the heat, especially since we just got used to the cooler temperatures.

 

 

 



Yes, We are Still Around

It's been some time again since my last post.  We are still here, and still too busy to think straight.  This past weekend was one of the first in the last few we actually spent working at The Compound.

I cleaned up after the chickens, turkeys and rabbits.  We have a broody Turkey hen, sitting on around 12-15 eggs from what I could see.  Hopefully they are fertilized, because I've never seen a Tom cover a hen.  They show off enough, but I'm not sure they've made their move yet.  Only time will tell.

We set up a water system for the rabbits.  I hope to show what we did in another post, when I actually have taken the appropriate pictures. 

We set up a 250 gallon water tank near the 25 blueberry plants and planter boxes to make watering easier than hauling 5 gallon buckets across the property.

We also set up a new hog enclosure.  It's almost finished, just a few minor things still need to be done;  auto water/nipple, and a feeder.  We have two sows that will be delivering late April/early May.  They're our two favorite females and we hope they deliver healthy piglets with good temperaments like their momma's.

That's the short version of what we did this weekend.  Next weekend, we're off to help R&B fix up a rental property. 

Trivia

We've been absent recently.  Too many irons in the fire and a business trip to boot!  So, here are some photos.  You need to guess where we were.

Clue #1, definitely not Florida!

Clue #2, starts out around 1,000 feet

Clue #3, ends at around 8,500 feet

Clue #4, you have to take a ride to get there

Clue #5, it has snow this time of year

Clue #6, Sonny Bono was once the mayor!



Palm Springs, via Anaheim for a recent convention.  We took the Aerial Tramway, worth the 2 hour trip and it was simply majestic.

Repurpose Project - shipping crates = planter boxes

 Yippee!  Ron works at a local airport and found some empty shipping boxes that at one time carried airplane parts.  He and the Moose picked them up late Friday and early Saturday we began their transformation into our new planter boxes!

All we had to do was add some legs, of which those materials came from the free pallets.  Other than some stain that was sprayed on all but two and some hardware it's another project that cost nearly nothing.  My kind of project!

The weather was fantastic, sunny and breezy, highs in the upper 60's.  Along with a trip to the hardware and feed stores, this project took the better part of the day.  We used the tractor to straighten out the ground level, moved some large stones to keep the second level from eroding away, and brought over the 3 potted blueberry plants    This way I can take care of all the blueberries at one time.

We think it was a nice find! 

Ron and James continue to work on the bath house.  The roof for both decks was put on and the surround for the outdoor shower was also installed.

Another friend of ours, Fred who is always on the lookout for us, was able to procure a skid full of old electrical wiring, 7' tall metal posts and some crating materials from a piece of very heavy equipment.  I didn't get a photo of it, but all of it together pretty much took up the entire trailer.  The wheels are starting to spin on how and where we'll use all of our great finds!

Solar Panel Update

As promised, here are the photos of the solar panels installed.  What you see at the bottom (although not the greatest picture) is a trailer axle.  Our original plans, to allow us to move the panels east to west throughout the day, may not come to fruition.  The panels when installed together are extremely heavy.  But we are learning as we go. So at this point, they are tied down in a fixed position.  Eventually we’ll be able to put a jack underneath the axle and lift the panels into a more flat position when the sun shifts its location more northward during the summer months. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were also able to repurpose more of those free pallets to use as a structure to support the panels.  Those pallets have sure come in handy!  Some of them are even 16’ long.  They contain 16’ 2x4’s, which we can easily take apart.  I’m not even sure I’d call it a drawback; we have to remove the nails on occasion.

The panels also made more energy than we could store again.  Even with a refrigerator, freezer, and multiple tools in operation.  It’s a such fun!

Weekend Happenings Part 2 (1/17/15)

We’ve acquired another couple of acres right next to ours so we now have a spread of about 5 total acres.  It has a small pond, which we are considering adding some of our Tilapia.  We are also working on a small building.  Some of the materials were purchased, but we have been able to use some the free windows and doors that The Moose has been acquiring.  I’d guess the cost so far is roughly $800.00.  It will have a wrap around deck and an observation set up on the roof, along with the containers of water for the shower.  

  

 

 

 

 

The guys also continued to build shelving in the container.   Again, all materials, except for the nails are from the free pallets.  

I was able to get the chickens, turkeys and rabbits taken care of.  All are doing very well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blueberries are starting to blossom, so I gave them a light dusting of fertilizer.  I’m hoping we’ll get a nice yield of berries, but since they were just planted a few months ago, this may be a slower year.

 

R&B, part of The Compound group are raising our goats in their back yard, since they need care a couple times a day.  We’ve been blessed with the birth of 4 new baby goats in the last month or so.  They are cute little devils!  They don’t run, they hop all four feet the same time, bounce off of the trees or the backs of their Moms and can stop on a dime!  We’ll eventually be milking them, but for now they’re just getting spoiled.