Rough Summer

Hi! sorry I haven't blogged in so long. It's been a really rough summer and a real struggle. Losing two beloved dogs in less than a month just crushed my heart, and it was a hard summer on the farm. so much death and bad luck. It's really been discouraging.

We raised meat/broiler chickens for the first time ever this summer. It turned out to be a very bad decision. The meat birds were stinky and disgusting, all they do is eat and poop. They took a lot of work cleaning them out all the darn time, and they really made us struggle financially. When it was all said and done, we could of gotten more chicken from sobey's for less money (and a hell of a lot less work!). We lost money raising them, and wasted hours of our time caring for them. Unfortunately we stupidly ordered two groups of them, so have another group of 30 here right now. Can't wait till they are out of here, I really hate them. Never again!

The whole summer was such hard work. Trying so hard to make a farm profit and take care of all the birds, put us so far behind on writing, art and our etsy stores. It was so stupid! We lost money on our online work taking care of the farm.

Due to all the birds (we normally have around 50-60 birds, but with the nasty meat birds and all the babies we had over 100 for most of the summer) we didn't have time to go out and do anything. no bike trips to the beach, almost no wildcrafting, nothing. We were stuck at home all the time caring for all the critters.

I also had a bad health summer. Lots of breathing problems, sarcoidosis pain and depression. I didn't have a lot of energy and the bit I had went to caring for the critters.

We had a lot of predator problems this summer. I believe all the extra birds and the smell from the meat birds attracted more than normal. Lost several birds to foxes and birds of prey. And we had our first ever chicken disease hit the birds this summer; we lost a bunch of Polish chicken chicks to it. Very upsetting.

The whole summer was one problem after another!

The summer sucked. We never had a bonfire. We never had a BBQ. nothing. By the time night hit every night, I was too tired and in too much pain to do anything.

Obviously we need to make much better decisions next year! Definitely will not be raising meat birds and will be downsizing the flock a bit. Gotta go back to putting the online work and businesses first! They are what pays the bills.

Everything is a learning experience

The whole summer was made worse by the hole in my heart from losing Taco and Skully. I miss them so much. I still cry every single day over them. I'm super thankful that we got Bosco, without him I think I would of ended up with such bad depression I would of needed some medical help. The loss was too much for me. Bosco was the only bright light of the summer. He was the reason I got out of bed each day. He was the light in the dark.

Unfortunately life is hard sometimes and we struggle through the best we can. Things always get better if we just keep trying. 2019 was a really bad year for me, I'm already excited for 2020. I'm sure it will be much much better!

Hugs and love!

Skully

Today is our last day with our big sweet old guy Skulliwags McLovin. Skully is starting to suffer so it's sadly time to say good-bye. He's 13 years old; he made it 1-2 years longer than we expected. We are gonna miss the big old guy so much. It's a hard blow to lose two dogs in a 4 week period. Skully was an amazing friend and we were blessed to have him as part of our family. He has a vet appointment tomorrow morning.

It's hard to believe that all we have left of our old boys is Buddha. We pray he is with us many more years. I'm really glad we got the new puppy Bosco, he doesn't take the pain away and doesn't make us miss our lost boys any less, but he is a light during a dark time, and helps us smile when we are sad. I don't know how I would of made it through the last month without him. 

Here's some fav pics of Skully. He was the sweetest gentlest dog around.

Mamas and their Babes

We've been having a great baby summer this year! So many babies hatching! I sell 95% of the babes born here as I can't keep them all (and we are trying to make money!), but as the moms work so hard hatching the babes, I always let each mom keep a couple of babies to raise. 

This is Turkey (she was hatched last summer by my turkey Mindy) and one of her chicks. 

This is Mindy and her baby guinea keet. The keet is small, you have to look carefully to see it in the grass!

My gees. Olive, Poppy and Mr. Peabody have one gosling. they are amazing parents!

This is Dolly down at the pond with her ducklings. I would of preferred that she didn't go to the pond with them, but she snuck by me! 

And this is Ebony with her duckling. She shared a nest with Dolly; Dolly the duck got four ducklings and ebony the chicken got one. she's a happy mama.

I love all the mamas! It's wonderful that they don't care if their babe is the same as them or not, they just care for them :)

Healing

A week ago today I buried my best little buddy. It still hurts a lot. I miss him so much. When I walk into the livingroom, I start to smile and lift my hand to wave,  expecting to see him sitting in his spot on the couch, and then I see he's not there, and my heart sinks like a stone. I'm really lonely without him.

I'm so glad we brought his body home from the vet's and we buried it here. I visit his grave every morning when I wake up and every night before bed. We buried him in the forest, beside the biggest tree on the property.

I will be getting a new puppy/dog asap. Taco was a very tenacious dog and helped kill rats here on the farm. so in addition to me needing a new best friend, we need a new ratter  If left unchecked, we will end up with a serious rat problem here. Last year, rats killed several of our baby birds. It was very upsetting. The cats can only do so much. Rats are more of a dog's domain.

I have found an excellent pup in New Brunswick that I'd like to get. It's a standard shorthaired Dachshund/Mini Australian shepherd cross. Dachshunds are excellent vermin killers; they have been used to kill rats, badgers and even foxes. The mini Aussie shepherd is a solid all purpose farm dog and herder. It should be an excellent cross. The pup should end up being about 25 pounds. Both Dachshunds and Aussie Shepherds are extremely loyal, so hopefully he will be as good as friend as Taco was. 

This is one of the pup from the litter.

The vet bills left me pretty broke and I'm pinching pennies right now trying to save enough to get the puppy. Dogs here on the East Coast are outrageously expensive! :( If anyone would like to help out and donate a little to my puppy fund, my email for both Paypal and Etransfer is:

roguewolf-imphavok@hotmail.com

Thank you for caring!

Hugs and love!

Taco

My sweet Chihuahua Taco passed away on Monday. Sadly he had a brain tumor.  I am devastated. I loved him more than I can ever express. He was my best friend. He was only 11.5 years old. 

Here's a bunch of my favorite photos of my little man. there is a lot! I'm sure I have hundreds of pics of him. 

This is Taco when he was a puppy. he was soooooo cute!

Taco with his big brothers Buddha and Skully. Buddha and Skully are a year and a half older than him.

Taco and I at the Pugalug fundraiser event

                 Taco and Toffee were playing! It just looks mean, it wasn't :)

Taco was the very best little dog ever. He was my very best friend. I'm lost without him. :( I was really blessed to have him in my life. Really lucky to have him in my family. 

Muscovy Mama and ducklings

Mead

Yesterday, I bottled all the mead that was made at the mead making workshop I held last June. It turned out wonderfully! Nice smooth taste with a hint of cinnamon and citrus.

I have another mead making workshop coming up this coming Saturday. I still have one spot left, so if anyone is interested in attending let me know!

If you can't attend, but would like to learn how to make mead, chcek out my book!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/patricia-cartwright-stephanie-mitchener/mead-made-easy/paperback/product-23720847.html