Farm notes: Hopefully last freeze/frost...some casualties

Quick farm notes (a reminder that this is where I do my record keeping.. sorry if its boring):

Things are much quieter without the mini-pops around. We are so glad they found a good home but they sure were cute. We're kind of relieved to be moving forward and out of kidding season. It was a dilly. 


Little Nibbles is turning into a good milker. I'm only milking her once a day in the morning. Its a compromise that will keep me from staking her down by the road with a sign that says "Free to a BAD home." More on that later....


* Dang that last, late frost/freeze last nite! 7am and still very cold, but Little Mo just wouldn't let me sleep in. The cats, of course, get up with the sun and remind me that I also need to get up with the sun.
* Most everything was covered and survived the freeze....but a few casualties. First the grapes seem to be done in.... which is a shame because I spent a lot of time getting them strung up on their new trellises. Next a few of the beans weren't entirely covered under the row cover. Also some of the buckwheat was killed off.  And a few potato plants were frost-bitten.
* We re-fenced the Upper Gardens (East and West) and its now one big garden and I LOVE it.. great space almost like a room. Worked on weeding and getting a few more rows of onions in the ground.* Potted up some herbs.
* Mollee is sitting on one lone egg, but bless her heart, she is trying.
* No geese are setting which is very weird, I don't know if we'll have goslings this year or not.
* Miss Dash has forgiven me and is doing a fine job with the dinner-mutt eggs. She peeps for me to open the brooder so she can get out for a stretch. She likes it if I'm on time. She's very fussy.
* Miss Duck won't be moved. For anything. We need to take up some of her eggs so we won't be drowning in ducklings again.
* One of the buckeyes is brooding! She kept trying to make a nest in the goose house - which is very dangerous for her. So I scooped her up and sat her down in the other hen house brooder. I'll give her a day or so then mound up the turkey eggs under her. Its musical nests around here....ducks on hens eggs, turkeys on hens eggs, chickens on turkeys eggs... sheesh!
* Chirper, the young turkey hen, still won't set her nest, but wow its a beauty. She really made it nice.
* The guineas are laying! A lot really, but they don't seem to know what they are doing. The eggs are everywhere and not in a nest or hidden anywhere as far as we can tell.
* Two younger turkey hens are trying to make a nest (part time, they won't sit still) in the main turkey coop. Not sure what that is about and, of course, they won't actually lay IN the nest boxes. For heaven's sakes.

So there is a lot of egg layin' and settin' going on. Gosh with all the news lately we're not buying gold... chickens are the new wealth!  How about the oil slick burning?

Happy Wednesday everyone!