Book Challenge #2

Well, I finished the Time Machine and I must say that I enjoyed it very much. It was not at all as I expected it to be. It was an exciting book full of adventure. The general plot is that a scientist invents a time machine and travels to another world where he stays a little while because it seems like paradise. However, he soon realizes that the gentle people that he is staying with are actually "cattle" for the wild animalistic people of the underground. These almost inhuman beings have captured his time machine so that he cannot leave without encountering them on a very close and personal level. Then, of course, he runs into the dilemma of what to do with the sweet gentle people he has grown to care for now that he knows their eventual fate. As I said, not at all what I expected it to be.  It is a very delightful book. I suppose I could expound on deep theories and analyses. However, I was reading this simply for fun and to broaden my mental library. So I won't expound on anything other than it was a fun book and not overly long so it can be finished rather quickly.

My next adventure in reading is the complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I have read a few of these (Hound of the Baskervilles), but have not read in its entirety. I must say it is a bit drier than I expected so far. Anyone else out there in blogger land adding to their mental library?

 Blessings to all, Kat

Photo Friday 11/3/2017

Well, I have decided to post photos on Fridays to keep track of the progression of things around the farm. Really I will try to do better about keeping up with this. So here is the first set of photos.

This is the front of our cottage

Front of the barn. Complete mess because of all the projects going on.

Back of the barn, where the livestock stalls are at.

This is the fence that needs to be moved so that stall 1 in enclosed in the dry lot area.

Beginning of the garden area

Another view of the garden area

Fence line hayrack that we built. Can be utilized from both sides of the fence. Lattice work enables slowfeeding and less waste.

Wood Floor in stall 1 built from crossties and gravel dust

Our Willow and our Pond.

This is the newly cleaned rabbit colony almost completed. This was just before the last few hay bales went in.

Have a happy weekend!

Winterizing the rabbit colony

I really like to keep things simple in the winter because I just don't like being out in the cold anymore than I have to. So, I winterize the rabbit colony so that not much time needs to be spent in there. Today, I cleaned it out really well and cleaned all the "holes"/nesting areas. Then I lined and stacked enough hay bales so that there is enough hay for the winter in the colony but they are stacked in such a way that they also provide hiding places or nice warm beds for the rabbits. I put a good deep layer of clean shavings on the floor and made sure the feed can was full of feed. The feed will have to be refilled as it only holds enough for 2 months at a time. I also put another water bucket in there so that if I only get out there once a day then they have plenty of water, feed and hay. I moved the nesting holes around so that everyone of the girls can feel like they have some privacy. I also swept down all spider webs and covered a hole with hardware cloth to prevent anything from coming in the colony. It is a good idea to do maintenance things before inclement weather so that things stay in good working order and you don't have to be out anymore than necessary when the weather is bad. I do like where we have the colony in the barn, but I am just not sure that it is as big as we need it to be to accommodate all of our bunnies. We will see how it works out in the next year though and see what is happening by next summer. I might try putting some does in cages raised off the ground to kindle so as to prevent overcrowding. I have seen where we have had litters since we have moved but something killed one litter and then another litter was killed and eaten. hence the hardware cloth over the hole that might allow something small in. We know we have snakes and we have killed one rat (a really big one at that). Both love to eat baby bunnies, but competing does will also kill rival females' litters. The first litter that was killed was scattered all over the colony so we think that is what happened. Putting does in raised cages separately will give more room for does that are nesting on the floor. So we will just have to get a feel for our colony in this new situation and new place. Adjustments might have to be made. Blessings, Kat

Boy I am bad at posting on this new blog!

Man, I am really bad at updating this new blog. Our life has been really busy trying to get all projects done that are necessary for using the barn this winter. We had major flooding issues and so we put a French drain around the barn that now directs the water around the barn and into the pond so now the inside stays very dry even with copious amounts of water raining down. Fortunately we have very different soil than we did at Whisper Wind. There we had heavy clay soil and here it is much more sandy mixed with loam. It is beautiful soil and it perks really well. So, the French drain took some time and was a bit slow going. However, it is done and the inside of the stalls in the barn stay nice and dry. We then had to move a wall to make the stalls a little more horse friendly even though a couple of them will be used for goats. We had one large stall and then one that was really too small, but by moving the dividing wall a couple of feet both stalls are now comfortable for a horse. They aren't as large as I would really like them. Due to the age of the barn and stalls were not designed for maximum comfort of livestock back then we are doing pretty good to have them as comfortable as they are. The feed room is almost finished only needing the back wall and the back doorway. We still have some flooring to do but that small portion can wait until spring. We also had to refloor one stall on the back of the barn completely because it had bee dug out so much over the years that it was a good 2 feet lower than the outside, so that you had to jump down into it. We decided to use crossties and gravel to floor this stall. It isn't something that is common anymore to see stalls floored with wood because it can be slick when wet. However, wood is very insulating and has "give". We spaced the crossties a few inches apart and filled the spaces with gravel dust. This will allow for drainage and help with traction. The crossties are old railroad ties and so are well treated and will hold up for many years. Covered with shaving this will make a very comfortable and sturdy floor for any animal that the stall will hold over the years. This winter it will be goats. They will stay nice an snug in there with the new floor. The horse will be at the other end of the barn together and the chickens will be in the middle until we move them and then their stall will be used in February for kidding stalls for the goats. As I say it has been a ton of work and we still have the back fence to move and finish, along with the back of the feed room. We are almost done and the animals will be nice and snug this winter. It will also be sooooo much easier to get them all fed and cared for when it is cold and wet outside. Much nicer for me this winter. I really do think we are going to like this new place so much. Blessings to all, Kat

Twaddle Free Book Challenge

I have set myself a challenge when it comes to my reading material. I have a beautiful library full of books, some of which I have never read. Most of those that haven't been read are considered classics or as Charlotte Mason would say...twaddle free. Some of them I haven't read because I have seen a movie based on the book or know the general story line and don't really think that it will be interesting. Some I haven't read because the author was very heavy into the darkside of mankind (Joseph Conrad) and well I don't generally like anything that heavy for entertainment. However, I don't like having unread books in my library either. So my challenge to myself is that for every general entertainment (twaddle) book that I read (lately has been the Mitford series) I must read one of the classics in my library. So right now I am reading The Time Machine by Jules Verne. This is one that I thought I knew the general story and so wasn't interested in really reading it. Boy was I wrong! This is a great book and I didn't know the story at all. I highly recommend it. So, I am going to challenge my readers to broaden their horizons in good solid twaddle free literature. What are you reading this month? Blessings from the pond, Kat

Rainy Day at Willow Pond

Today was a rainy day since a tropical storm was moving in. Rainy days are good for getting little inside projects completed and we had plenty of those since moving in. There are still pictures not hung on the wall, the master bathroom shower needed new caulk and a variety of other little things that we knew would need to be done to the house when we bought it. We have been so busy over the past 8 weeks just getting everything here and getting the animals here that little things have been left undone. Rainy days are also good for getting to know how your property handles loads of water dumped on you in one day. Ours does pretty well. We knew we would have issues in the barn area and we do....all around the barn. So we are moving that up on the priority list to take care of. There is just so much and so many things seem to be a priority. Well, we do what we can do in the time we have to work. Moving a farm is so hard. We did what need to be done to get the animals here, but they are not ideally housed. The goats have a pasture and had a temporary shelter that they tore down this past week. I haven't had time to replace it so on this very rainy day they have had.....a tree. Again, I can only do so much. Ideally we would have liked to have had everything in place and everything done like we wanted to start off with, but that just didn't happen in reality. Reality says this is a long project that will take time and we can't pay for two places for all that time. So we do what we can as we can. The rainy days like today give us a chance to take a break from the big projects and enjoy our little projects... the little things that make a house a home. Tonight is even a clean out the refrigerator for supper night, so another good thing about rainy days. Nobody worked hard enough to work up an appetite so a light meal is just fine. Next time you have a rainy day, think about the joy you can find. Blessings, Kat

Father's Day and Husbands

Yesterday was Father's Day and it was a particularly hard one for my husband because he lost his dad this past month. The girls and I worked hard to make it a special day for him to try and ease his pain while letting him know how special he is to us. I think he had a good afternoon and evening and he was thrilled that both of his daughters were here to spend the day with him. I got my husband a small remote control boat to play with in the pond (yes even grown men need fun toys to play with). He loves it and the girls loved it too. They had a lot of laughs and giggles watching Daddy learn how to operate his new boat. It is so important that we honor our husbands and fathers every chance we get, but especially on Father's Day. Take that chance to really make them feel special. So many times we take them for granted in all that they do. I am just as guilty of this as anyone out there. Lately I was complaining about how hard this move had been and how tired and worn down I feel. Then my darling husband reminded me very gently that he was tired too. That is when I realized that over the past month he has worked a full time job and overtime, moved his family into a new house, started a new farm from scratch and buried his father. He is exhausted and yet he just keeps going and never complains. I felt awful. So my goal the rest of this month is to make him feel as special as I can make him feel. I think the girls and I got a good start yesterday. He was the center of our attention and we took him out to dinner so he could have his favorite seafood. I should honor him more everyday and make sure that I am his best cheerleader. I know that I fall into the rut of everyday life and forget at times that he needs my encouragement and my thankfulness to keep him going on the task at hand of providing for his family, loving us completely, and keeping us safe. He is our knight in shining armor and we let him know that he is our champion. Blessings to you all, Kat

Welcome to Willow Pond

I would like to welcome all old readers from Homesteading and Homekeeping at Whisper Wind Farm to join us on our new journey here at Willow Pond. And then, I would like to welcome any new readers to join us here as well and to take a peak at where we have been. Feel free to take a look at the "About" pages, I hope you all enjoy this new adventure with us. Blessings, Kat