Sunday, June 28, 2009

Another Farm Day

Another day of barn chores at the farm today. S was working. Pretty funny, I have known him since he was in Kindergarten with my oldest and now I work with him occasionally! (reading that makes me feel OLD)

He is really easy to work with, being kind of new we have more conversation of where we are at with the chores. First the main barn cleaned and fed, then hold back the does and kids for hooves. Let the wethers out, catch the horses, bring them in for feed and grain. Then smoke break! :D

Mr. Boss asked us to unload the grain-I asked S to do it and volunteered to do "The Hill" with just Willow. "The Hill" is where the yearling bucks are right now-six of them. Well, served me right overfilling the waterbucket and then I had to lug it all the way up the hill. LOL.

Usually P locks the bucklings out to clean the house, but I let them in and they were no trouble. Willow and I had a great time visiting our favorites. I worked on the shyer ones with cheek scratches. Yul (formally Ursula's Boy) was so sweet!

Then the bucks at Jenny Nash. Boss decided it didn't need two adults and set S off at another chore so it was just Willow and I again. That is really the toughest part of the job. Four little houses and three big igloos-9 senior bucks and four two year olds...that is a lot of poop. Doesn't help that the drainage there is non existent-with the rain it can turn into a quagmire.

We were lucky today, and just as we were releasing the bucks (one of the last steps), it started to rain, and by the time I made it home, it was a downpour. All afternoon. Jeez, we are going to get washed away like my basil and swiss chard sproutlings. LOL.

I do have a few pumpkins that survived the slugs-it seems as though the slugs preferred them just as they are sprouting. I ringed all the mounds with ashes and that seemed to help, except when the rain soaked them. Then one day I spent an hour in the rain handpicking slugs-every slug I could find in that area. That was a gross job. I figured every slug I took would be one less to reproduce for next year.

***

Boss made me laugh today at the farm.

For background, my blog pseudonym is Tree Ocean, so I will use that in the story telling.

There is a doe at the farm that shares my first name-she was there before I started three years ago so she is not named after me.

There is a black locust tree that was in full bloom this past week, and I stopped to admire the fallen blossoms on Tuesday and saw more on the treetop. They look like pea blossoms.

Boss lets the goats out in the yard every morning while cleaning the barn.

Now to the story:

Boss said to me, "There were black locust flowers all over the old well and Tree (the goat) ate them all."

I expressed interest, recalling the blossoms and wondering in my head if the goat would get sick from eating a ton of them, running the pharmacopeia through my head and coming up empty on black locust toxicology...while Boss throws in..

"I was telling L ( her husband)Tree ate them all and he said, "Tree Ocean?" "

There ya go Mouse, waiting for THAT recipe....hehehe

3 comments:

Wood Mouse said...

Tree Ocean Marinated in Black Locus flowers, mmm! But do I use red or white wine for that?

tree ocean said...

I would say white, but preferrably mead made from the honey of black locust blossoms for pure decadence...

tree ocean said...

PS I did find some recipes @
http://www.wildfoods.info/wildfoods/blacklocust.html