| September is the end of sheep breeding season and hopefully the harvesting of tomatoes (insert face palm emoji here). Cooler weather is moving in! Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: Livestock News Garden Report Woodland Adventures Arts & Crafts Corner Thank You! |
Livestock News
Please check out our Hair Sheep Price List!
Categories include: Registered St Croix Breeding Stock, Registered/Recorded Katahdin Breeding Stock, Commercial Unpapered Katahdin Breeding Stock, Commercial Unpapered St Croix Breeding Stock, & Market lambs.
It’s time to start thinking about what you might want next Spring!
Contact us to be put on a waiting list!
The boys left their girlfriends on the 8th (a day later than I had planned, but life happens!). Here is a video of the boys in their “Be Nice” pen in the barn. The tires are to keep them from being able to back up and charge each other.
We’ve had no real prolonged rain so the pastures just don’t have any grass. We’re going to have to go get another couple ton so we have enough for winter! The ewes, rams, and lambs are nice and fat though heading into the winter. The old mare is 31 and not looking the greatest. May have to find a place to put her solo so she can get extra food. I have some ideas of modifications to her winter shelter that might work. The lambs/retired ewe that will be out with her won’t be able to reach.
We made a deal with a family friend of Shane’s.
On Sept 14th, we traded St Croix Ram, Leroy, for a Kune Kune pig to put in our freezer later this fall. The llama discovered there was something “alien” in the barn and has been sounding the alarm. The pig, never hearing a llama before either, has been huffing loudly at her. Silly critters!
Out in the coop, a couple young chickens we were given from some people in the neighborhood turned out to be roosters and have started crowing. They’re big boys too, and look a bit like Barred Rock dominant crossbred roos. The rest of the chicks are running amok and still have their young chicken voices. Hoping for more hens than roos, fingers crossed!!! Keep finding hidden nests were hens are laying and leaving eggs. One in the barn behind an alfalfa bale and one in the limb-wood burn pile where we cleaned up the oak that fell last May. Silly dang birds!
Garden Report
We have those tomato plants in the front yard and the deer keep trying to destroy them. Found a green tomato laying on the ground, eaten in half. Bet it gave them a tummy ache. I sure hope we get some tomatoes before the weather turns! Kinda thinking the front yard needs the deer fence instead of the orchard! As of the end of this month, I see several green tomatoes. If I see the smallest hint of a blush, I’m bringing them in the house!
Don’t forget!
I’ve compiled a list of planting dates for 2025 based on the moon phases:
2025 Planting Guide – Zones 7/8
October is a good time to plant Fava Beans, garlic cloves, shallot bulb, onion sets, spring-flowering bulbs (such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, etc), groundcovers, trees & shrubs. Also mulch trees, shrubs and perennial beds for winter.
Woodland Adventures
Trail-cam from August that didn’t make it into the last blog. Quail sound so cute!
We’ve been cutting SO MUCH FIREWOOD this month down in the lower pasture. We’re trying to get as much done as possible before the rains make it impossible to get the truck down there. It’s a semi-steep hill and soft ground won’t be our friend. While tossing wood into the truck bed, I noticed a wood-worker’s dream! Wood turned green by a special kind of fungus called “Green Elf Cup”. These are a bit dehydrated, but you can actually see the little cup fruiting bodies. Woodworkers have been known to collect it, carve it, polish it and make all sorts of items from it, including inlays!
Arts & Crafts Corner
Hit a bit of a roadblock with Etsy. Still working things out for Shane’s online store, probably going to create his own website to sell things. Stay tuned!
Thank You!
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Taboo kitty says she will see you all again November 1st
for the October Homestead Happenings!
Hollow Hills Ranch 