Over-The-Fence Chat Thread 4-22 thru 4-28

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It's been a beautiful week here in Kentucky, warm weather is here again and the weatherman said we have passed our last frost till fall. The little bit of cold wasn't enough to hurt any of the blooming trees or plants, all the fruit should be fine. We had some good rain this week too.

We had a showing yesterday and they want to buy our place. We'll know more after they go to the bank on Monday. I havn't been over to the other farm since spring begun, so today we'll go see what everything looks like green. The place is empty so it'll probably be full of wasps and bees, we'll need to spray. All the goats are fine, puppies are growing fast. I haven't done much on the garden because I knew we'd probably sell it, but I did save one huge pile of barn cleanings to take with me to start a new garden. What are you all up to?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001

Answers

Weather has been typical springtime in Wyoming. Wednesday we set a high of 80...tonight it's snowing and we are under a Winter storm advisory. I got my seeds "planted" to start inside. Lots of root crops and different beans, this is my first in ground garden in years. Hope that it makes it. Waiting for my two nanny goats to kid. One's been bagging up for the past two weeks, the other is just pouched out. I have two geese setting on a dozen eggs each. Goslings due first week of May. My dozen Aracuna chicks are doing fine...I have them in my spare room in a huge TV box. They're fine. Eating and growing, feathering nicely. I've been looking for land locally since moving to Washington isn't working out. But I have a lease on this land for three more years, so I have some time to find someplace else to move. Been daydreaming about how I want to remodel this old trailer....Just need the income and I can get it done.... Hope all of you are having a peaceful spring...

-- Deborah (bearwaoman@Yahoo.com), April 22, 2001.

Cindy , glad things are going well .Thats great if you sell .The wind is kicking butt here , but it is warm .We have been putting a swingset together and cleaning up after a long winter .We have a new calf , both he and mama are fine.The sheep are due next .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), April 22, 2001.

I really feel for you folks up North. Here in Florida I am already picking cherry tomatoes from the garden. Last week I planted 5 citrus trees and a peach tree. After tripping over my broken 5' finish mower for 3 months, and unable to find anyone who was willing to come out and fix it for me, I finally bit the bullet and dove into it myself. It took me one entire day to take it apart and find a new belt to replace the broken one. Once I had it back together, it ran for a few minutes before I saw smoke- and discovered why the original belt had broken. Apparently the idler pulley was broken (I was had- I bought it that way, but didn't know it. The belt broke the first time I tried to use it). So, spent another frustrating day finding a replacement for that and tearing the mower apart AGAIN! Finally fixed it, got my own pasture mowed on Friday. Yesterday my neighbor hired me to mow his 5 acre pasture. I got half of it done before I was too sunburned to continue- will finish it tomorrow. Hope it warms up for you all soon.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), April 22, 2001.

Happy Earth Day!! My son & I planted 23 trees yesterday, started raining last night. This is good. Supposed to turn to snow today...spring in Colorado is always interesting. This is better than the blizzard 10 days ago, some people were without electric for over a week. We had just a couple days without electric which mostly stressed my son...no computer!! DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), April 22, 2001.

It's lovely in Arkansas, everything is green and the dogwoods have been blooming for a week or so. I love watching the birds carry their nesting material, a blue jay dropped half a envelope right in front of me yesterday. Friend gave me two baby bronze turkeys this week, I named them Ike and Tina Turkey. I guess this has been a big week because I got my new puppy last night she's a rat terrier and I named her Sister, she is so very cute.It'll take a little getting use to her small size, my last companion was a wiemaraner named Rosemary. Ilost Rosemary in Jan. she'll be a hard act to follow. I planted Zinnia, lockspur and marigolds yesterday. I wish everyone a great week and happy homesteading.. Sherry

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), April 22, 2001.


Hi, all, We are slowly but surely coming into Spring. Flowers are blooming, husband is moving this year's firewood into the woodshed to make room for next year's. Today (Sunday) is beautiful. Just hung my second load of clothes on the line (fresh sheets tonight!), put a pan of dinner rolls and a loaf of homemade bread in the oven. Can't decide whether to make brownies or chocolate cake for later.

We're getting the winter debris raked up and put in the compost pile. I just noticed my Lilies of the Valley are out of the ground about a 1/2 inch. I love those. They usually bloom around my birthday. Turning 54 in a couple of weeks. Ugh! Where did the time go?

I've been going through some of the older messages and gleening all kinds of wonder information regarding simplfying, recycling, saving money, being frugal; all those ideas I love reading. For years, I've whined that Countryside only came every other month. Now, reading this forum is like reading Countryside every day!!

Bless everyone out there for all your wonderful information. Happy Earth Day and Happy Spring.

Thanks for reading.

-- Dianne in Mass (dianne.bone@usa.net), April 22, 2001.


It has been gorgeous here in KY hasn't it Cindy? I hope the warm weather is here to stay. Still have lots to do in garden and yard-if I could just fit it all in! Husband put halter and lead on month old calf for first time today and you would have thought we had a rodeo bull on our hands the way the calf went off. It was pretty entertaining all in all. Hope everyone has a great week!

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), April 22, 2001.

Well, we had spring for a while, then back to stormy. HIGH,and I do mean HIGH winds today, and cold. Snow blowing sideways, too. On the good side, we had a new foal today, a molly mule. So cute! Have 3 more foals due in the next month, and maybe by then we will have the garden in. You just never know about Colorado weather--it changes in just a few minutes! Working on my quilt squares, doing canning, a little inside cleaning, and trying to get through the new issue of Countryside! Usually I get it read front to back the first day, but too busy lately. Hope everyone is ready for spring! Jan

-- Jan in Co (Janice12@aol.com), April 22, 2001.

The garden is PRODUCING!!! I planted radishes march 15 (tilled by hand on 10th) and they are huge. Carrots coming up, snow peas are climbing up the dog run fence and struck over a foot high. Corn planted on mar 15 survived several frosts and temps in the mid twentys last week (somehow??!) and is 8-10 inches high, raspberries are going to town, letuce is up, I LOVE SPRING!!

-- Kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), April 22, 2001.

O.K., I envy you southern folks for now ... but I just can't take the heat and humidity come summer. We do have flowers coming up and I've started turning over the garden. I'm doing it by hand but am seriously thinking of getting a small horse-drawn plow. We live in Amish territory so it shouldn't be too hard to come up with. On the other hand, I'm getting some much needed exercise!

On the downside, we almost lost our 2yo filly a couple of days ago. She decided to try to jump a gate and got her foot caught between the gate and the post holding it. Of course I was the only one there at the time and had quite a time getting her loose. I though she was going to break her leg for sure. The good news is that despite some pretty nastly scrapes and a little swelling, she's doing pretty good. I was literally sick to my stomach after the ordeal and every time I close my eyes, I still see her hung up and fighting...

Have to end on a good note. I'm so excited to be able to open windows and I love hearing the sounds of spring! I do enjoy winter, it's beautiful and the rest after a productive summer and fall harvest is welcomed. But it's just too darn quiet! I go nuts trying to sleep in town due to traffic noise but somehow the sounds of nature put me right out. Spring seemed a little late in arriving this year but it just makes me appreciate it that much more.

Hoosiermom

-- Hoosiermom (hdnpines@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.



Tulips are blooming alongside the daffodils. Just got 6 new layers(black sexlinks) Morel seasonis over, but managed to put away quite a few(dry,frozen) Peas,lettuce, and spinach are popping up in the garden. Rhubarb appears to be growing faster than I can cut it as usual, (maybe I should stop spreading it out into bigger patches? Naw,that would be no fun atoll.) The rains appear to be making up for a rather dry winter, but I think we have enough now!

-- sherrie in wa. (sdunkling@aol.com), April 23, 2001.

Cherry tomatoes already??? Wow, I'm lucky to have a little spinach & lettuce peep through. Jan in Co... yeah, how about that weather? We've had 50+mph winds here for the past week... blew the roof off of one of my goat sheds. It's back on now. At least it's not flooding like around the Mississippi. Yesterday, we had snow (I'm at 7,000 feet), today up to 68 & the rest of the week will be calm, sunny, and warm. Taking tomorrow off and starting on shearing my mama goats. I'm way late, babies start coming next week! Enjoy hearing from you all. Happy, happy spring to you all! dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), April 23, 2001.

Here in central Pa...we are having beautiful weather..the daffodils are blooming and the tulips are starting to open up...I moved the 5 little ducks outside and they are enjoying their new home...I have one duck sitting on 22 eggs but nothng has hatched so far..The goats are laying around in this hot weather..It has been in the 80's the last few days...the lettuce and spinach are poking up and the trees have budded out. I think i should now start my spring cleaning.....Chris.

-- Chris Parris (tinatudor@aol.com), April 23, 2001.

The weather has been great here in Georgia, with limited rains and lots of sun lately. Winds have been blowing, but not too hard and everything is green. The turkeys are nesting in the windrow, and the chickens are laying like crazy. The horses have shed out and are slick and shiny and love to run when the wind blows. I have carrots and onions coming up, roses starting to bloom, asparagus about a foot tall, and the english peas are up (too much rain in March and so now they are late coming in). We have already mowed two paddocks and put in some new grass seed and cleared out about a half acre for a yard behind the house. Now just waiting for that grass to come up. I love spring this year, it just proves that there is more than three seasons in Georgia, spring, hot, hotter and cold. Ya'll have a good week. Cindy

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), April 23, 2001.

Hey Chris,

Do you know how I do my spring cleaning? I wait for a real windy day, open the west and east doors to the house, and it creates a vacume. I go around dusting all the walls and ceilings and everything, then along all the floors, always towards the east. And it all blows out the door! This house is long, from west to east, and it really blows in here, we're up on a hill. You have to test each door to see if it blows in or sucks out, it's cool. And it's fast!

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), April 24, 2001.



It has been a beautiful sunshine week here in Western Montana. I actually mowed my grass in the yard (for the first time this year) The Tulips are almost ready to bloom, running around without a coat and sometimes no sweater. It's great! Between the sunshine and the Sassafras Tea, my energy has soared. ***One of my poodles is going to have pups, (bred to a tiny poodle) the first week of June. I am excited and can't wait.***Waiting til I can plant some veggies outside. We are still having cold nights, our last frost is usually somewhere in May or early June.. Montana is very unpredictable. We have a shorter growing season than what I am used to. Back in WV we had a wonderful, longer growing season,,,can't wait to move back. One of these days...Enjoy and celebrate your Springtime..

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), April 27, 2001.

I miss Ky. Cindy...lived there almost 10 yrs. but love the south. All my veggies are in contaianers this year and doing marvelously. got something new to keep the deer away and they won't even come near. it's called:"Not tonight, Deer." Is working very well. I hear them snrting rather fiercely, but nothing has been touched. It makes me laugh. Can I count "my birds" like you all count your goats? Ha!Ha! Went to visit some rlatives in Fort Worth and when I got back a wren had gottn under the dish towel of my outside sink and there are 3 eggs in the nest. Suffice it to say I had to move my portable sink, but kept the dishtowel in tact so Mrs. Wren can have those babies safe and sound. It will be fun to have her there and watch the process. And my same "hummers" can back full force this year. I did get to help my neighbeor with 8 new Australian Shep pups. Four of them received new homes this week, with the other four to be leaving this weekend. We tried to keep each other from crying. the biggest of the litter weighed in at 5lb. 4oz and the smallest 4lbs. We got attached, yet they are all going to very good and well-wanted homes. Oh...and the best thing of all is my Horned Owl that has come back for the third year in a row. was so neat to be hooted at for the first time on Mar. 17, right at dusk. He was in the same tree, on the same branch. POretty cool if you ask me. Take care you all.

-- Dee in Tx. (drebai@yahoo.com), April 27, 2001.

Greetings to all!!!!! Nothing like Spring, huh!! The ol' sap starts to rise in all of us!! :) It has been a BEAUTIFUL one here in upstate S.C. Dogwoods are a more brilliant white than I've seen in years!! Got one hen setting and should have chicks sometime when I wake up, if my calender isn't lying to me!! LOL New White Rock and Golden Comet chicks are growing like crazy! Will start the garden as soon as I finish the new storage shed, which should be soon!! :) Hope everyone has bumper crops this year, and the time to put them up!! LOL Love to all, and God Bless!!

-- Uncle jake (lulafred@cs.com), April 29, 2001.

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