Blind Hog and Acorn

A week of wood splitting, cooking, and treating a goat with hind leg paralysis.  Acorn gave the goat 30% chance of recovery at first, and danged if the nanny did not pull through.  Is almost 80% better now and for a goat whose rear right leg was totally free of tone and only a little muscle strength in her left rear leg, she is now standing and walking about.  Treated for goat polio one day then m...

Blind Hog and Acorn attended not one but TWO No Kings protests.  It was amazing and so refreshing to see so many smiling, happy people.  First in the local small town with an attendance of 78, then to a much larger rally in Springfield. Downpours were taken in stride as the rain was most welcomed and it literally and figuratively did not dampen the mood. Farm chores for winter begun.  Acorn will b...

German Extra Hardy is the variety of garlic and this was the second harvest year for heads purchased in 2023.  Obviously the variety agrees with the Ozarks' soil. Blind Hog and Acorn been doin' the usual farm chores.  Firewood getting brought in and cut, put away.  Acorn surprised Blind Hog with a fire in the woodstove- a most peculiar day when it looked like the highs might be under 60F...

After ten months of planning, Blind Hog and Acorn had a great two weeks away.   Helsinki, Tallinn, Oslo and Aurland were awesome. Lots of museums, sites, friends made new and old.  Farm-sitters reported no issues and also had a relaxing time away from the city. Now it is time for fall chores:  goat breeding, garlic planting, bean shelling, wood stacking. Dorothy said "there's no place li...

Still no rain at the farm...  Talk about dusty dry...  Ugh...  A few odd nannies were taken to the sale barn this morning- leaves Acorn with four dairy girls and the rest of the herd is either 50%-75% Savanna, just as was planned.  Kidding will bring the 88% and it is all uphill from there... New dishwasher installed.  All should be good and fingers crossed will stay that way.  Blind Hog and Acorn...

It has been a hot week of home repairs and late nights....  Hot water heater, pantry sink faucet, kitchen faucet, dishwasher...  Some things were fixed, others had to be replaced...   Other than that, the house is getting a good deep cleaning, Blind hog has been doing "dozer work" with the Mahindra, and Sam got himself joyfully skunked.  He was so proud. Blind hog also had to clean out v...

Cider and applesauce makin days at the farm.  The fresh cider is just wonderful and the "with the peel" applesauce super easy to make. String lights are all up on the barns, timer/dimmers installed.  As Blind Hog says, "The circus has come to town..." Roses are planted, mulched and watered...  All good there.  Now if the farm could just get some rain...  Driest August on record...

Springfield House deep hole filled...  Baked goods being made...  Cuttings from roses started...   Sam, Blind Hog and Acorn all got vaccinations on Wednesday- lol...  Acorn later got a hip injection on Friday and was ecstatic on the relief. $26 from Sam's Club and the goats now have a dance hall...  50' barn and 48' of string lights.

The week started hot and ended hotter ... Bling Hog and Acorn ditched work for riding around in the air conditioned car, some shopping was done... Springfield house had another sewer clog, 17 days after the cleanout was put in due to a clog.  Acorn called a company that gave a good bid for sewer lateral replacement, and it was started the next day! Goat mineral has been reformulated now that the c...

Phew!  Goatlets weaned, getting fed supplemental kibble to plump them up and avoid the weaning slump so they can be sold. Then to find out a beehive was struck by lightning! Garden going bonkers... Two trees taken down, we managed the clean up.  Roof of house is now safe from overhanging limbs.  Powerlines still need attention. Would love a couple good slow, rainy days...

Garden is booming, but then so is the grass all around the raised beds.  Acorn's ultimate solution?  MAKE MORE RAISED BEDS! Blind Hog is finding he likes working with the new Kioti, or Lil' Monkey as Acorn calls it.  The "Kuboki..."  Little tractor has plenty of power, that's for sure! Springfield house will be needing sewer lateral line replacement...  Getting bids on tha...

Phew!  Acorn has been a schwetty puddle lately... Chores are sporadic- out for an hour then back in to recover.  Driving up to the post office is a lovely way to cool down, according to Acorn...  Driving ANYWHERE has been better than melting.  Blind Hog and Acorn took the kiddos to Crystal Bridges to see the KAWS exhibit.  Was a good way to spend a very hot day. Roses have been procured, marked do...

Hot weather is upon Steelmeadow.  The farmers are doing what work they can, early and later in the day. Golf cart "lids" working out as tractor sunshades.  The one on the Mahindra is about done. Looks pretty good. Beans, zucchini, cukes, tomatoes, berries, peppers, greens all coming in.  Eating is good!

Been a busy enough week...  Usual farm chores, some landscape work at the Springfield house... Miss Massey Has a new home- guy who lives about 2 miles away as the crow flies needed a tractor and voila!  Blind Hog and Acorn had just the ticket.  The farmers followed the buyer home  as he had to go the long way around due to the bridge construction, so he got a good 45+ minute test drive.  Miss Mass...

Busy enough week on the farm- got those bucklings sold and doelings listed for sale.  Garden is kicking in, Blind Hog has been doing yard and driveway work and even supervised and fetched so Acorn could change the shocks on the old F350. Acorn canned up some baked beans, brat buns, and pickled slaw.  Pretty darn tasty! Blind Hog wants sun canopies for the tractors so Acorn looked online, then thou...

Blind Hog and Acorn have been at it, busy enough for sure.  Biggest  accomplishment was getting the bucklings all gathered up and taken to market.  Phew!   Done and Done! Acorn had a couple physical therapy appointments, one with dry needling.  Is just awesome.  Will continue PT once a week now for the next four weeks. Garden is growing, produce harvested and canned.  Meg's pumpkins threaten...

Between fence repairs, Sam's misadventures (killing a cat and then a few days later getting stung and swelling up), working in the hot/humid weather, the farmers decided to get a new small tractor and sell Miss Massey.  A small tractor WITH front end loader is most clever and no doubt will work just fine on the farm. Now to sell the Massey Ferguson to its next good home. Mom sent along a coun...

After a fun filled week on the farm, nothing says "let's take it easy" better than attending a "No Kings" protest in a strongly Republican town. Blind Hog and Acorn were flipped the bird several times, several pro-Trump drivers kept coming back, honking their horns, letting loose with air horns.  Not sure if they knew that their behavior was exactly what the other folks we...

All 60 nannies and kids were run through the working station- tagged, vaccinated, dewormed, castrated, weighed and feet trimmed.  Took 8 hrs and several liters of water, including four breaks.  Blind Hog and Acorn almost fell out.  Good news is that the job is DONE!  The scales however gave crazy readings.  Will have to work on that some more... The last goose eggs hatched.  One buyer is taking ev...

Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy- the usual chores plus making a split from the beehive, working on the tractors, putzing about in the garden. Sam got skunked- nothing new there.

Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy farmers- fields are clipped, everything mowed and trimmed.  Let the rains begin.  Well, as long as the county road does not get washed away... Good news with the single surviving beehive- it is thriving!  Acorn will do a thorough box-by-box inspection next week.  Maybe even make a split! Has certainly been a beautiful May.  Hard to believe Solstice is just around...

Blind Hog is clipping the fields, already "that time" again...  Early blast of summer temps at the farm, upper 80's!  he has the first three paddocks done, a couple more on the west side then he can do the two in the east. Acorn has been wrangling black snakes from around the geese and chickens... The snakes do love eggs... Garden is coming along nicely- strawberries ripening. Almos...

Acorn was complaining about lagging internet speeds and dropped cell signal, so she and Blind Hog raided up the cell phone amplifier antenna higher on the roof- moving it to the peak as well as puttin git on a 10' mast.  Already speeds have increased from -114 dB to -102 dB and sometimes even faster!  it is the little things... Garden doing well, had its first irrigation today.  Sam has been...

May get down to the upper 30's at the farm tonight- Acorn holding off to plant the tomatoes after this last cold snap. Snakey-gosling of last week only lived a couple days- figuring it might have been an infection from the snake bite.  Her brother is out with mom and dad, doing very well. Health maintenance week, some landlord property work.  Lawn needs mowing and the goats are grazing in the...

Gosling saved from being a black snake's lunch (much drama ensued); rhubarb pie, asparagus and lettuce feeding the farmers for lunch. The first nice morel of the Spring found- Acorn talked to some mushroom hunters and they also thought it was an off year.  Few and far between!