Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

We have two pens separate from the main pen - one with the ram and two wethers and the other is the nursery pen with the ewe and her lambs and our tamest ewe with her lamb. Since they are separate we want to make sure Maisy is familiar with all of the so we don't have any problem when we integrate the flock. We will be separating half the girls in July and Ringo will go in with them. Ringo has always been around dogs and has no fear of them and Maisy spends a lot of time at the gate where Ringo stays so there hasn't been any bad things happening.

 

[greybeard]

Mike, have you had any problems with those yellow fence insulators?

I installed several hundred Zareba brand 4 and 6" standoffs in 2011, and have had problems with them succumbing to UV degradation. I've had to replace all of them with some black ones of another brand.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sure is nice that things are going so well and Maisy has taken to her role....good Girl Maisy!!

 

[Mike CHS]

Mike, have you had any problems with those yellow fence insulators?

I installed several hundred Zareba brand 4 and 6" standoffs in 2011, and have had problems with them succumbing to UV degradation. I've had to replace all of them with some black ones of another brand.

These have only been in for about 6 months but our other fence has been in for almost a year with no problem. Bases on you post though I'll keep an eye on them.

 

[Mike CHS]

Sure is nice that things are going so well and Maisy has taken to her role....good Girl Maisy!!

This has been a learning experience for both Maisy and us. We love this girl and no matter what happens from here on out she has a forever home. We had a lot of questions about how she was raised but were naive and chose to believe what we wanted. She has adapted to everything that we could expect and even more.

 

[greybeard]

These have only been in for about 6 months but our other fence has been in for almost a year with no problem. Bases on you post though I'll keep an eye on them.

They all failed in the same manner. After about 6-8 months they cracked, then a little later, broke in the bend where the insulator's shape goes around the back of the teepost.

 

[Mike CHS]

Thanks for the info, we will keep an eye on them.

 

[Mike CHS]

We took some time this morning to work on the garden beds. We got string ran along most of the tomatoes and put cages for those we don't support with garden sisal. The cucumbers are starting to climb so we ran sisal down the horizontal wire runs in the beds. We have been eating asparagus for almost two months now so we refreshed the bed with some compost and fertilizer and will let it rest for the rest of the year. These crowns were 4 year old crowns transplanted here from South Carolina.

We should be getting squash in the next week or so and everything else is in that fast grow mode that only happens in the spring before it gets hot.

We have one bed that has several volunteer cantaloupe plants coming up and since we only grew one type of heirloom cantaloupe last year we just added something for them to climb on.

That sickly Bradford Pear tree in the 1st picture is the tree that the tornado slammed or old red trailer into and tore off most of the branches. It's going to come down this summer but it is planted in slab rock and they don't like to let go of the rock so it takes a lot to get them out.

 

[Southern by choice]

I love your land! What a beautiful thing to wake up and see everyday!

 

[greybeard]

I got tired of running the strings, stakes, and posts for tomatoes each year.
Bought a roll of concrete reinforcement wire for about $80. Cut it into 60-66" lengths (10-11 'squares') , and formed tubes about 16"-20" in diameter.
I think I'm on my 8th year using the same cages.
Off season, I just stand them up next to a fence and tie them off to the fence till next year.
When I'm using them, I hold them in place with cheap plastic tent stakes--some people cut the bottom horizontal wire off to form 'legs; they push down into the ground but I found that not to be an option in my hard clay.