Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Baymule]

I have several sheep that love to be brushed. Ringo manages to get between me and whoever is receiving attention. He is such and attention hog! Then here comes Sheba and Sentry, I need octopus arms! I have one ewe that lifts a dainty hoof and paws me for more, she is so spoiled.

Aren't they fun? Sheep are so sweet, so trusting and they make me smile.

 

[Mike CHS]

The temperature made for excellent work conditions outside so we got rid of a lot of small jobs and painted one of the shelter tarps that is showing some light fraying. We also did some Tennessee engineering to take care of a wash out area on one of our fences. It was about 5" deep but off to the side of the fence so we took an old cattle panel and attached to the fence and down in the wash area. The area was almost exactly the length of the panel so it worked well. I used a little concrete mix to elevate the area where it started so it will divert the water at that point.

Our squash isn't putting on very much fruit but early last spring I took what was left of last summers squash and threw them in a ditch area down by the railroad tunnel. The plants are huge and covered with Spaghetti Squash and Hubbard.

 

[Baymule]

Volunteer squash!

 

[Mike CHS]

We are going to swap paddocks with the boys and the ewes in the morning to bring the ewes in to check out a few of them plus a couple of the lamb ewes are ready for another dose of wormer. We finished all of the fecals several days ago and the results made us smile. I still don't understand the physiology that explains parasite load but our 7 oldest (3 years old) ewes had zero eggs and the only time they were wormed was right at weaning. Five of our replacement ewe lambs had a negligible load and 3 had zero. The young ones had been on our worst paddock for parasite load but I have sprayed it twice with nitrogen before moving them in so there appears to be some weight in favor of what I had read about nitrogen killing parasites.

We have been seeing some good prices on property in the last couple of years that makes it look good for us if we ever want to truly retire (I can't see me doing that unless I have to). We bought our little farm for just under $2,000 an acre seven years ago and parcels from 10-50 acres in our area are going for just under $15K an acre and most them are converting to developments. We are only 50 miles from Franklin which is the new tech city for Tennessee so I guess that explains the popularity Most of my working life I commuted from 45-90 miles so I can see the reasoning.

 

[Baymule]

I don’t know why you would totally retire either. After all, they make electric wheelchairs LOL. Just put in an order for balloon tires so you don’t sink in the mud.

 

[Bruce]

Volunteer squash!

I have one as well. It has taken over the 4'x5' compost bay we are currently using and spreading to the one to the left. Just starting to flower.

 

[Mike CHS]

We got green beans planting in two of the raised beds and another bed tilled and seeded with radishes and beats. These beds are big enough that it should give us all of the green beans that we can use for winter. We have been chopping bell peppers and freezing first then putting in gallon zip lock bags. I broke out the 4 bags we have frozen and vacuum sealed one pound each in quart bags. We were using our last couple of pound bags this season just about the time we started harvesting peppers so we will freeze a bit more this year to make sure we have enough. I can't think of too many dishes that I don't use at least some bell pepper but we cook a lot of Cajun foods that call for it.

The okra is going gang busters and we have already sliced and frozen probably a little over 20 pounds so we don't need much more for ourselves but the neighbors are coming down and getting some about every few days for their freezer.

We are getting a good rain shower now and it's supposed to storm quite a bit tonight and forecast to for the rest of the week. Teresa is working the sheep fecal samples now from what we pulled the other day so we will treat any that's needed and rotate them to fresh grass tomorrow.

The kittens and their momma have settled in and seem to feel at home. They all four come running out when I'm going down to the shop. I don't think their momma will ever be tame but she will come out and sit about 10' from me to watch whatever I'm doing. The first few weeks they were here the momma would move them around quite a bit and often we wouldn't see them at all during the day but you could tell they were coming in for feed. They now stay across from the shop or all four sleep in a lawn chair down there.

 

[Baymule]

I think I'll yank my squash vines out and plant some more zuchinni, maybe it will make before first frost.

 

[Ridgetop]

Sadly my huge (8') tall tomato bushes still have not produced any tomatoes I see tiny green ones, but somehow the ground squirrels or rats are getting them when they are green. Yesterday 2 of the dogs were in the tomato bed and Bubba was prowling around the outside. When DS1 nd I checked the rat trap had a live rat and 2 carcasses. I climbed up on the wall and fished the cage out with a hook then handed it over the fence to DS1 who dealt with the live rat and then cleaned our the carcasses. I think there is a large ground squirrel colony under the tomato bed. The tomato bed is lined in wire mesh, but those pests can climb everything.

We need a barn full of cats - dog proof cats!

An easy way to cook down tomato sauce and catsup is to put it in a low oven and just stir it every few hours. Works on applesauce too. No scorching. Instead of canning all my tomatoes during the summer (when I had tomatoes) was to put them all in a big plastic garbage bag and freeze them. In the wider I would put them in cold water and the skins would slough off. Then chop them up, add onions, celery, and seasonings, and cook them down in the oven for tomato sauce. When they thickened up I would put them in the jars and into the pressure canner or water bath. Much easier than dealing with them in the middle of summer with all the other veggies.

 

[Mike CHS]

After checking the fecal samples that we pulled, I'll give the sheep another day in the shop paddock and then start a rotation since the grass is getting so tall. Two of the ewes had zero eggs and another had a real light load that we don't worm for.

A side story that I found out about this morning and has nothing to do with farming. Before I retired part of my job was managing the ATC contract wherever the Air Force used civilian contract controllers. They are still in Kabul and those guys were told to stay on the job to provide ATC service for the evacuation. The only problem was that power had been cut to their maintenance shelter which meant they had no radar or radios and no way to communicate with anyone. One of the controllers used the military version of social media and sent a message to a bunch of controllers at other bases and they wound up talking to one in Japan. The only stateside communication he could establish stateside was with Kingpin which is an outfit in South Carolina. They have satellite radios and between the man in Japan, the controllers in Kabul along with the controllers at Kingpin, they worked out how to link up with the C-17's inbound to Kabul and relayed landing instructions from Kabul to the aircraft. Not very efficient but it worked.