Tangle Tree Ranch

Yes, we got snow and wind. Not funny, when I looked at the forecast last night, no mentioning of THIS. So Bob had to find a horse trailer, and get sheep and goats home. Poor goats, this weather is not for them, so I am glad they are home.

I have been catching renegade chickens both last night and to night. They love their freedom, but they need to get in their coop, or they will freeze to death. This job is sometimes funny, other times not. They just do not understand, so even equipt with a fish net, they run faster than me. I try my best, and go in to warm up, and they try again. They do roost for the night, so I just have to find the there, and be quick with the net. Not always easy......

Hopefully we will have our own eggs again. I had to break down and bought some. NOT FUN, we have hens for egg production, not for enjoyment. That we enjoy our feathered critter is good, and they do give us a good laugh now and then. But please let me find eggs. I think I might have to clip part of their top beak off, it grows back out. But since we put different groups of birds together, you avoid pecking this way.

Enjoy the day, and hope for sun,

Marte

The weather lately is just beautiful. We have had a nice fal, some of our neighbors have finished their field work, so they are ready to seed when spring comes. Smart farmer, others have quit for the year, so there are different ways of farming. One method might not be better than the other, but we all know how short spring in ND is. 

Our puppies are growing, they will be ready to leave us the week before Christmas, so I better do some advertisement for them.  I do not want 10 guard dogs!!!!

Chickens and turkeys are butchered, and there are 7 ducks left for this coming weekend.

One of our small ponies, the one who had the foal, she is broke to ride, or drive. I ground drove her on Sunday, and she knew what I wanted. So Bob will be busy making a small sled for her.

Other than firewood hauling, 400 bales of hay out in the fields, we are getting ready for winter. Can you really be ready for something so predictable?????

Thursday, I had a chiropractor appointment, after a miss hap earlier this week. It hurt, that was how stiff and tight I was in my back and neck. I did errands in Devils Lake, came home, found Bob sleeping. He had a fever and was sick. I did the chores, cooked and our child helped. 

Friday, Bob still sick, I did chores, cut fire wood. We helped each other and got the big stove/ wood fire boiler going. Our home is heated by wood, so we spend time doing the good work of cutting down dead trees. 

Saturday, cut down a big cotton wood in Devils Lake. We got 3 saw mill logs of it, and some fire wood. We need to fix one of our barns, so saw mill logs is good. We have our own chain saw mill, so we are on the way to be sustainable in that aspect.We also fixed fence for our crawling calves. I am £$€"#¤%of their fence crawling, so we fixed it.

Sunday, so we thought we had it fixed, the "#¤%@£$€calves where out this morning. All three of us watched them all day, to see where they crawled back in. They knew it, so they waited until we ate. I AM "#¤%of them, so here comes trouble. More barbed wire, electric fence, and if that do not stop them, FREEZZZEEERRR. They are grass fed, so they will taste gooooooood.

Then we where going to butcher chickens, and do you not think that the motor on the plucker had frozen up. No not from the cold, it is stuck, and needs to be replaced. There flies my unearned money out of my valet.

Do you not just love it????

Well, we are so used to it, that this was just another day on the farm.

We finally have our bathroom back. Our female dog used the tub as her birthing room. It keep all 8 puppies warm, and mom too warm. So today they all got a nice den in one of our barns. It is lined with hay bales and blankets, so there should be no draft to reach the cute ones. Mom is a good mom, all 8 are within grams of each other at birth, and so far they have gain the same way. We feed her all the time, so her milk production is good. When the pup's are 2 to 3 weeks old, we will start to supplement feed them too. We use our homemade dog food. Meat scraps, rice and vegetables boiled and ground. Add a dash of milk powder, and dog food there is.

Other than dogs and puppies chores, Bob cultivated one of our 1 acres plots with the MF. I dug sun chockes, and moved them to a new spot. Then I started on the chore of replanting them. Bob came to help, so it went fast. We hope to harvest some next year, or we might just dig them up, divide them, move them to a new location, and start over. It takes a "few" to make a pound.

Garlic got divided, and is ready to plant. But that might just have to wait. We are cutting fire wood in the morning, then I hope we are reducing our poultry population. Like cut it in half or so. In other refine words, we are going to butcher chickens ASAP. I am fed up of them, do not get me wrong, but they need to get in the freezer.

And a word to all of you who read this blog, Thank You.

Even if you read it, to find out what I do wrong, or not, according to your book or your punter.  Enjoy, we are having fun at our farm, even when thing are tough.

So far 3 puppies, ALL FEMALE!!! I do think this will be a night with very short sleep schedule. I know I can go to bed at 2:30 am, Bob gets home from his night shift, and get up at 6:30am, and make work at 8pm. It only takes 1 hour to drive to work, so better pack my bag and add lots of extra snacks for the long work day. Well, the work day is not longer, I just have less sleep. But as long as mother dog and puppies are fine, I can sleep tomorrow night.

Our guard dog just started to deliver her litter of puppies. I moved her in to our bathroom, where all kinds of animals go for nursing and warm up. So  fare she have had one, do not know the sex, but a white bundle of joy.  I will stay up with her, so here comes another short night. But I fell it is my duty to stay with her. Our male guard dog is just acting weird, he do not want to come close to me. Yesterday he walked on my feet, to night, not so much. I can not even get close enough to pet him. And they tell us animals can not think!!!!!!!!!

Poor Bob, the MF is having some issues with its diesel tank, there is rust in the tank. Guess what happens every so often??? It stops, change the extra filter, crank it over and go, for another 40 min. Then start over, FUNNY????????????????

No, but it can be fixed, as soon as it runs out of diesel. PS it is only 50 gallons on the tank, so it will take some time. Frustrating, but part of farming. 

I am not suppose to eat too much bake gods, actually non. So I just made 2dz zucchini muffins, 1 zucchini bread and 1 banana bread. I hope Bob can take some down to the neighbors, 5 miles down the road.  I like to share.

We gave our motherless kittens bath again to night. They do not mind, so we have them trained.  But one of them struggles with diarrhea, so I guess we have to find out what to do for the little one. 

The weather is WINDY, like 55miles per hour. Not bad!!!! I followed Brad over the lake crossing, so I felt safe, accept he drives like#¤&¤¤. But safe, always safe. They are combining corn, at 15% moisture. It has to be at 13% moisture to store.  So they will put it in a bin, turn the fans on, and let the air dry it down. They do not have to run it to the dryer.

The sloughs had white caps on the today, so that is how windy it is.  The animals do not like this weather, but they will be safe. At least it is warm when this wind hit. Think -30, not fun. Soon we will have it, so we might cut some fire wood.

Take care, if you are bore, come see us.

Marte

Well, Snow White, our latest momma cat, left her kittens. So we have been feeding 4 small kittens in the house. Not a extra job I ever would have thought of, but here we are. One was dead as we came home from work, the other 3 needed baths. So I gave them one. They are drying on the heath mat, on low setting, and under towels. I have groomed them as good as I can, fed them, and hope they live up. Snow Whit will not see one more summer, if she shows up again.

The garden is finished for this year, but there are still lots to do. Our tiller is still not running, so I am turning raised beds by hand. Good exercise!! I could eat a whole cake by my self after one bed was done. So I guess I might do one more, so I can work off that cake I want to eat.

Today I wore caprice and short sleeve, not bad for the 3rd of October in North Dakota.

we finished our fence yesterday, so the goats and sheep are on pasture, finally. It was a good feeling at 10 pm last night when we unloaded them in the pasture. The guard dogs are left at home, due to climbing issues on Gandolf the White. But there is nothing that electric fens will not stop, so we will put up extra electric fence on the top of the fence. That will do the trick, I hope......

So long, see you around, oh that's right, we will read around next time.

Yes, we grow green tomatoes. Green and yellow striped, Green Sausage they are called. They are the best, and they produce like crazy. Something to grow in containers, but give them something to climb on. This year we will have green ketchup. We usually make our own, but we throw all colors together, but not this time. Green ketchup it is.  Maybe down the road we can have white, yellow, green, red and black ketchup, Something for Farmers Market?????

Last night I ground up deer meat from last fall. I am making bratwurst. It is a fast meal when we come in from the field.Sine we make it our self, we can control what goes in to them. No surprises there.

Our MF tractor is coming home tomorrow, after a good over haul at the shop. It only cost us $5,500. Just pocket change, yea right, not on this farm. But we had to have it fixed, so I guess you just find the money some how. Since the tractor have been at the shop in Ada, MN, we are so behind with the hay, that we have to still cut, even though the quality is low. The animals need the roughage that the hay provide, and we have to buy grain to supplement the nutrition. You can not have it all at the same time, I guess.Bob and our daughter will drive the International 4700 truck and trailer to get the MF tomorrow. She is looking forward to get the Ladybug tractor back. MF are red and black, ladybug colors.

The goats and sheep will go on pasture this weekend. That means that one of our 4 fencing projects are done. Finally, after a long waite. 

Our thoughts goes out to all the people suffering from different kind of food poisoning. We wash our hands before we start to harvest, equipment gets disinfected before use, and we use good agricultural practices. water to irrigate with is rural water, so it is tested. I do not care about the extra cost, it is worth it. Manure is stored before it is put on fields, and it is put on in the fall, so by spring many harmful bacterias are gone. We feel we can not be careful enough with food production and handling.

Well, like I said yesterday, I was not sure if we where going to have a garden CSA next year. But I do belive so, since I have ordered 3lb of garlic bulbs for planting. I like garlic, and we use it as a devormer for all our animals. But I ordered them for next years CSA. So here we go, planing next growing season, before this one is fully ended. Typical farmer...????

We like the CSA form for selling our products, so maybe we will add some more to our shares next year. Like different meats that we raise. Right now we have 1/4 beef for sale, at ¤3.75 per lb. Not a bad price. So maybe I will use part of this one for next springs CSA start. Our customers got the choice between lamb and grass fed beef in the first week. They like the meat, so why not continue with it.

Our 50 hens on the other hand, well we get 4 eggs daily, so they need to go in pens or tractors for next year. We need their eggs.

The weather today was just beautiful, not fall like at all. Climate change???

Yes, we still have some tomatoes growing, on thier bushes. So the last frost did not kill off everything. We will have one more week of CSA, and that is it for this season. Then comes the question, do it next year, or not???

I should not say this, but I do not mind the rain we are getting right now. Our garden needed it, or what is left of our garden. There are several tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants left. So there is still produce. 

We are planing next years garden, so we are ordering garlic in. I think we are ordering like 5 to 10lb, so there should be some for next years CSA. 

We had great help on Sunday with putting up fences for our goats and sheep, so we will finish it on Saturday. I am so happy about this. The goats and sheep need some weeks on grass. I am going to deworm them on Thursday night. Any volunteers to help??? It is not hard work, just time consuming.

Right now I am getting this blog done, thank you to all our followers, and then I am going to bed. It has been too late too many nights, and my body is teling me so.

PS, the crossing of Devils Lake, the lake it self, was not fun tonight. I took the shortes distance of road across the lake, but the longest way home. I do not trust the way they are doing the construction. I think they are under estimating the power and depth of waves. So one day there will be a cave in, in the middle of the road, that is my nightmare.

Take care, stay safe, eat well and let the once you love know so.              

Marte

Yep, we got it, and it hit hard. Most of the cucumbers are frozen, some tomatoes are, all the fresh beans and ALL squash. So this was a short and sweet growing season. We still have some produce left to harvest, like potatoes, leek, rhubarb  and maybe some Jerusalem Artichokes. Some tomatoes are still good, but this can change, some of the melons seamed OK too. But a few more days will tell us what is left.

I fell kind of overwhelmed by this early frost. I tried my best to protect our plants, but the strong wind made it very difficult. Then the wind died down, probably after 2am, and the frost snuck in. I had planed to use smoke screen, but that did not work, due to the wind. Frost blankets too, would have worked if the wind had died down sooner.  But I needed some sleep, .....

Well next yeat is a new growing season, and it will garantert be different than this years. Natur is good that way. That is why we grow so many different vegetables, and many varaitys of each. You never know.............

I can not help but to fell like I let our customers down, but it is hard to fight Mother Nature.

We got frost early this morning. Bob said that some of the cucumbers might have taken a hit. The summer squash has for sure. I spread hay out over the plants, so we will see on Saturday how it went. This frost where 2 weeks earlier that last year, so weather patterns is changing. I have to wait until Saturday to determine which plants froze and which did not. It takes a few days for some plants to show, others show right away. Nature is funny this way.

It is cold enough in our house, so I have started one of our 2 woods stoves. It takes the chill off fast. We use pallets and other recycled wood to heat our house with. It works.

Other than that, I have a sinus infection, so I have to go back to a cleansing diet, and no carbs for a while. My body react on too much carbs in my food intake. I stuff up. Not funny, but I can live with detox every 5 weeks. You loos weight on it too.