A Jesusfreaks tales of farm life with soon to be Six kids

[farmerjan]

Is that colorful "worm" that looks like it is on the dill, a monarch larvae? Not a tomato hornworm.....It's pretty, so hope it is from a beneficial.....

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Its a dill caterpillar. They become black swallow tail butterflies which is one of my favorites.

 

[farmerjan]

Oh, thanks. I did look up Monarch butterflies, and their caterpillar is somewhat similar. NEAT.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Round belly does not work well for tilling with pick axe.... so many seed packs its a good thing i have till the end of august to plant most of them. I just got one pack of corn done seven rows and hot sore and uncomfortable. My arms and legs are fine just the belly and back complaining. Oh well need to hydrate clean house some and cook dinner. Also picked up meat and did a list of how many lbs of each and how much each meal cost to get through dhs head that he needs to get use to chicken quarters since they are .89lb and using 2-3 lbs every meal is alot cheaper then any other meat we have in our area. Dh finally fixed the mower so yay there and he going to work on the kids bunk bed and get it done this weekend if he wants to live lol. We have a queen bed and when the three youngers pile in my bed it i cant sleep. So that has gotta change. Not much new this week. Sunflowers are almost ready to harvest and once they are i plant corn there instead. Also plant more sunflowers else where. Have some acorn squash thats finally almost ready to harvest along with some pumkins anf canterlope. Tomatoes have started getting red and coming in along with greens. Peppers are about to start flowering cant wait. Between now anf end of august this is my seed list to get done. 3 Sweet corn, 4popping corn, 4flour corn, 4peas, 5carrots, 4beets, 2green onions,2 some herbs that i cant rememeber... i think thats it... might be more i know dd1 also has some flower packs that i need to plant but dont remember what or how many... the new yellow squash plants, zuchini, cucumber, green beans, 9 types of greens are doing well and wont belong before i can harvest from them. Funny thing is i planted the zuchini and squash because the other plants started dieing then something changed now and they are doing well. The dang chickens dug up two or three types of greens and along with my extra egg plant.... one rooster is going to go he the one i mainly see in the garden eating things so he got to go.

 

[Baymule]

Meat is getting expensive. The steer we raised, cost of steer, feed, hay and processing, came in at $3 per pound. We split it with our DD and family. We figure a steer every other year will keep us in beef. We have been keeping a whole hog for ourselves each year, but with the beef, will probably only keep a half, so will split one with DD. Haha, just sold a half to one of DDs friends, so looks like we will split a half hog between us. Plus all the CCX chickens in the freezer.

At some point, y’all will get your own place and you will be able to raise your own meat.

 

[Bruce]

Oh, thanks. I did look up Monarch butterflies, and their caterpillar is somewhat similar. NEAT.

This article details the difference
Regardless they are both attractive butterflies and caterpillars.

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks @Bruce... interesting about the similarities in the caterpillars. I guess the reason we have alot of the black swallowtail butterfies is the over abundance of "queen anne's lace" or wild carrot that we have here. It is quite the weed in this area so they have plenty to eat....I guess I will be a little less critical of it as long as it stays out of the hayfields.....

 

[Deecarter]

Hello all, I a mother of three. My oldest (my daughter)will be five come March 29, my second( my son) child is 2 and my newest addition (son) is five days old. We have a small herd of three goats, two does Lilly and Daisy, and our buck Buck lol( my husband named him because he looked like a deer). Lilly has finally kidded she gave birth the same day I did the best lol. She won't feed her kid but she take care of him otherwise, she also kicks while being milked with a milk machine however she some what ok with hand milking unless something is under her to catch the milk. Daisy due sometime in june- early July. We also have rabbits two does might add two more one for and one buck still debating. We also have three breeding geese(3 others will be processed), 24chickens(4 meat birds waiting to be processed), four ducks (3hens, one Drake), 3 turkey hens (waiting to get a Tom). We also have fish and two cats. My daughter loves the ducks, my two year old loves the geese which try to hiss at everyone but him its funny how terrified the gander is of him he won't even his in his direction just runs all Joshua does is chase him lol. I am hoping to get my garden started soon once I able. I can't wait to have most of my groceries out the back door lol. We trying to buy some land as well after that I am looking at cows, sheep, pigs,and bees I might be farm obsessed lol. I homeschooling our oldest Lucy, and will the other two as well as you can guess I am a stay at home mom. I also like baking lol. I try to stay busy.

You certainly are busy! Congratulations on the new baby! Where do you live? I have a kicker too. I bought some hobbles from Caprine Supply. They aren't expensive and work very, very well.

 

[Bruce]

I have way too much Queen Anne's Lace! It takes over the lawn and the pasture area. I hope the butterflies find something else to eat (we do have a lot of flowering plants) because I'm on a mission to keep the QAL from going to seed.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

City ordience of a town we looking at moving to says you can have no more the one litter of chickens... called and asked the stupid question of what number is a litter of chickens was told a momma and her chicks....