Mom's Cats Become Barn Cats

 

So, we have more critters than just the goats and the rabbits.  When my mother passed away there was a dilemma of what to do with her cats. She had 6, 4 of which were feral even though they would come up to her. We had trapped them at one time to have them fixed and vaccinated. Mom was the resident cat lady of her little town. She didn't actively seek them out...they sought her out. Make no mistake about it, Mom loved her cats and she loved that they would seek her out. Fortunately, the numbers really never got out of control as most of them were outside cats and they just don't have long life spans. Well, we hated to leave mom's cats to the new residents of her house. They had already made it very clear that the cats were not going to be welcome. So, the 2 that were domesticated love bugs were easy to move. Then we once again set about trapping the others. We managed to get 2 more before it was very clear that the new owners of the house didn't appreciate us returning daily to check the traps. We wished the cats the best and made our way home one last time. Moving cats is no easy thing. When you get them to their new place you have to confine them for a good bit until they are absolutely sure that the new place is their source of dinner. None of these cats had ever been confined and only one had been a partial housecat. The old cat, Buttons, would come in the house to eat and then whine to go back out. We tried to confine them in the barn, which was not designed to confine cats, especially determined feral cats. We also, were trying to decide how best to introduce them to the dogs in such a way that they dogs understood that they belonged here now. The 2 feral cats were the first to escape their confinement and were chased into the woods by the dogs. Then poor old Buttons, escaped before we could thoroughly train the dogs. Pumpkin the terrier got to her first and Titan was next. My husband saw it happen but could not get to her fast enough. Buttons death broke my heart. Mom had her for quite a number of years and she had been a fixture at mom's house for a long time. It was like losing my Mom all over again I guess because she loved Buttons so much. And then there is Mr. Gray. The dogs learned that the cats were off limits...they were mine. But by now our track record was not so great. We made sure that they dogs understood that Mr. Gray was to be left alone. That darn little terrier, Pumpkin, though is pretty stubborn and has to constantly be watched. For weeks after Buttons' death Mr. Gray lived in the loft of the barn only coming down at night. We fed him up there since it was where he felt safe. During the day he would lie on the roof of the walkway like a lion overseeing his territory. Now, he eats in the feed room and spends time with us in the yard. He truly only feels safe if I am outside or the dogs are inside. I thought he was all that we had left of our attempt to save Mom's cats, but just last week I had a surprise. Mr Gray brought a friend to dinner, Ace. Ace was Mom's black cat and he had been one of the two that took off into the woods. Ace had been a housepet that truly did not want to be a housepet. He was not quite as feral as the other cats, but he was only a pet on his terms....not yours. So now we have 2 cats, Ace and Mr. Gray. Ace we never see except at feeding time. I know when he is in the woods close by though because that little terrier starts running up and down the fence. Mr. Gray will hear us in the yard or the barn yard and come down to follow us around and receive a few extra scratches. For someone who really doesn't like cats very much, I must say I am happy to have these two cats around. 

Rabbit update

 Our rabbits are doing well in the barn colony. We have replaced a couple of bucks over the last couple of years to keep our genetics fresh. They truly are meat mutts. We have had Dutch, New Zealand, Chinchilla, and Silver Fox blood in there. They are healthy and breeding like...well...rabbits. For anyone who doesn't know we keep our rabbits in a colony. When the babies are weaned by their mothers and eating well on their own we put them up in cages to grow out. If we need to keep a replacement doe, then my daughter will pick her favorite girl and she will stay on the floor with the adults. My youngest daughter, Little Britches, is the rabbit whisperer. The moms will actually take her to their nest to show off their babies and they do not get upset when she handles them. She starts handling them before their eyes even open and so when she walks into the colony they all run to see her and get their daily scratches. She has been able to keep one as a pet in the house ever since she was little. Rabbits actually live quite a few years as domestic pets as long as they are taken good care of. Little Britches had to learn all about rabbit care before she was able to choose her first pet rabbit. His name was Fuzzy Bunny and she was about 6.  I chose him for her because he was so friendly as a baby and just determined to love someone. He was the best pet rabbit and the two of them adored each other. She taught him how to sit still so that she could groom him and he taught her the proper way to pet and address a rabbit. Lagomorphs are definitely a bit particular about how they are handled. She learned quickly. When he died  of old age a couple of years ago, she chose another rabbit....Peter. Where Fuzzy Bunny was sweet and loving to everyone in the family, Peter is the opposite. He loves Little Britches and only Little Britches. He charges and growls at everyone else. The dogs are even afraid of him. He is about 12 pounds of the devil incarnate. Those are not ears I assure you....they are horns. However, he worships and adores Little Britches. He even sleeps on her bed at night to guard her. And since rabbits are nocturnal it is the only way she can get any sleep. If she locks him up at night she rattles the cage so hard that the whole house can hear him. He learned how to use a litter box for her, he guards her, she can do anything to him and hold him in any such way (including upside down). The only thing he does not like is to go outside on his leash (yes he is leash trained).  He has decided the outside is not a good place to be. Inside is much nicer and he is convinced that there are things outside that will eat him and he doesn't like that. In the house he is large and in charge, outside...his instincts tell him that there are much larger critters than him. However, he loves her and she loves him and wants him to get some fresh air and exercise. So off they go for a walk around the house in the grass while she monitors every plant he is near so that he cannot chew on the wrong one or so that he doesn't each too much of a good thing (like the clover patches). Peter is always thrilled to get back in the house at the end of his journey. Little Britches loves her bunnies and she says that her house will have a whole bedroom dedicated to pet rabbits. It will be a romper room for bunnies and her husband will just have to deal with it. If it is a room full of "Peters" then I feel terribly sorry for the rest of the household.  As for the bunnies in the colony, she knows their fate but loves on them while she can. They never get names, but she knows each mom and which babies belong to which mom. I think they live a good life and that is always my goal for my livestock....that they have a good life full of love and kindness before they become dinner. I think that is why I have always had a hard time selling any of them, because I don't trust anyone else to be kind and loving to them and I don't ever want them to suffer or be afraid. I guess it is the least I can do because they sacrifice so much for us.  I suppose even Peter deserves our love and kindness. Have a blessed day all!

Goat Update

 Surprise! I actually made it back today. Today's update concerns our small goat herd. We lost our old buck last year to old age. It was time honestly because we really need some fresh genetics in our herd. He was a good boy, very gentle and loving. He is desperately missed. He did leave us with a full crop of babies this spring. We recently sold all but 2 of them, Bambi and Thumper. Both girls and both pretty skittish, but they are beautiful young does. Then we have Tickle and her first baby Pickle. Tickle is Lily's first baby. Lily was actually terrified of Tickle and ran away every time Tickle tried to get close to her. We wound up bottle feeding Tickle, so she is super friendly. In fact if you don't scratch her head when you are out there with the goats, she will follow you around butting you gently in the behind. Thumper is Lilly's second baby and by this time she was ready to try this mama gig. She actually turned into a really nice mama. She is also a really nice milker. Honestly, I can milk her anywhere as long as I have a pan of food. I don't even have to tie her up. Then there is Speckles, our old girl. If I am remembering correctly she is going on 8 years old. I don't expect to get many more babies from her. She is a great mama, a good milker and a strong producer. She has strong Kastdemur lines and it shows in her milk. So we are currently looking for a new buck. It's not a frantic look even though breeding season is coming up quickly. I am giving the girls some rest as we softly look. I need different genetics and so far everything I have seen is Kastdemur. I need something else. We are trying to keep our herd small, but it is so hard. Just like Bambi and Thumper....I never really expected to keep them. However, as I watched them growing the better they looked and I convinced myself that they would produce some really nice offspring and Speckles was getting old. You know....the old goats are like potato chips deal...All in all, the herd is doing well and they have really helped to improve our property. Even though I may retire from milking in the future, I will never get rid of all of my goats. They are really great for improving property and keeping fence lines clean. TaTa for now. More tomorrow!. Can't let this writing streak end so soon!

Once Again it has been Awhile

 Yes, once again it has been awhile. I always have the best of intentions, but life this past year was a bit "more" than I planned. Or ever thought it would be. I thought I was leaving the restaurant business last July. However, I was asked to stay and for some reason I just could not say no. Shortly after my mother was diagnosed with cancer. It was in her bones, spread all over her body and no one could determine where it originated from. After a whirlwind month of appointments, testing, radiation to shrink a tumor for pain relief; Mom was sent home with the diagnosis of there is nothing more that we can do but try to manage the pain. Mom went downhill pretty quickly. In July, we were going out to lunch after doctor's appointments. In August we were doing the same but Mom was tired a little more. In September, it was becoming harder to manage mom's pain and even though we went to lunch a couple of times the pain became too much and our trips ended. By October the pain was really hard, but she did not want us to call in hospice. Toward the middle of October she stopped eating and just drank a few sips of an ensure. We called in hospice the last week of October and Mom passed away the first week of November.  My mother's health had been horrible for years and there had been many times that I had called my sister from the hospital and told her to come home. Mom always made a recovery....until she didn't.  It was expected, anticipated, prepared for....but it still hit me like a freight train that my mama was gone. The person I had coffee with each week and went out to lunch with at least once a month if she felt like it. The person I called in the event anything good or bad happened in my life. It has been a tough year even though I know Mom's suffering is over. She missed the birth of her first great grandchild by just 2 months. It was a hard day. I also lost my Godmother in August, just as things were ramping up with Mom. Work became much more busy than I bargained for and then I was hit with another blow. My Goddaughter passed away. She was young. Now, I am in another transition period. I am leaving the restaurant and coming back home. I will go back to writing and working on my artwork. Our little homestead is still going strong and we are getting ready to search for a new buck for our little herd. The rabbits are breeding like rabbits and we currently have 2 chickens. We have had a difficult time with chickens here on this homestead, but I think that might be another post. My oldest had a baby in January, she is now 25. My youngest is getting ready to finish high school soon and thinks she wants to be a marine biologist. I am a Nana and my husband is a Grandaddy. Yes, time for another chapter in our life and I guess back to blogging about our goings on and our thoughts. I guess it is time for the Journey of Willow Pond to actually become a real documented journey. So, my goal this week is to write daily and let's see if we can catch up on this journey. Blessings to all, Kat

It's Been Awhile

 Wow, 3 years!! It has been 3 years since I have posted anything here. Time to rev it up and get going again. So let me shake the dust off my keyboard, crack my knuckles, and see what my brain can come up with. It has been a very busy 3 years. Little britches has been riding horses, schooling, and playing volleyball. As if that isn't enough to keep a mom busy and a dad broke, I started what was supposed to be a part-time job. A very part-time job to help pay for all of these extras and extra projects to improve our little farm turned into a much bigger part-time job. At one time in my life, I was a restaurant manager. I went to a local restaurant just to be a relief cook on Saturdays. Earning a little extra money would help with some of the extra projects we wanted to do around here. Somehow, I am still not really sure how, I once again became the restaurant manager. I am still part-time, but a little more involved than just Saturdays. We have done quite a bit here on our little farm. Too much to list in one post, so I will work on that separately. I simply can't believe we have been here 5 years. The time has gone quickly. I feel like it is time to shift back to writing and crafts. I have some ideas that I am itching to get started on and it looks like my part-time job is going to become more part-time in the near future. Time for a shift in focus. Welcome everybody to Willow Pond. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as we are.

The Power of the 5-minute tidy

I am an avid believer in Flylady's system of cleaning and household management. At one time in my life it was the ideal system to get my household in order and then I adapted it to help manage the farm at Whisper Wind. So one thing that Flylady says is that you can do anything for 5 minutes and she is so right about that. You CAN do ANYTHING for 5 minutes. Set a timer and check it out if you don't believe me. The best thing about doing them regularly is the huge difference they can make in cleaning, organization, and cutting down big messes/projects into little chunks. They have to be my favorite part of the flylady system. We have been cleaning up around here ever since we moved in. There was 30 years worth of stuff left here by the previous owner. Then when the house was renovated, extra material unused materials from the house were just dumped in the flower beds and out by the barn. When I say there was stuff I wasn't kidding. The barn was full, next to the barn was full, and then there was discarded stuff all over the place. We are still working on this although we have hauled off and burned loads and loads. We still have hot spots as flylady would say because we had nowhere else to put our stuff and then there are the piles where stuff was being used. Anyway, I think you get the picture. Anyway, I have used the power of the 5 minute tidy to clean up and organize many things. This week, I am going to challenge myself to complete as many 5 minute tidy's as I can without making it a chain, which then becomes real cleaning. I am going to take before and after pictures so that you can see the power of the Tidy and the versatility of it as well. It doesn't have to be limited to the inside of the house at all. Let's get set, ready and tidy! Blessings, Kat

Our Goals for Willow Pond

I realized this week that this blog for Willow Pond will be like Whisper Wind Farm a little, but mostly it will be very unlike Whisper Wind Farm. Whisper Wind Farm was all about experimenting, learning, and adventuring into a new life filled with better health and more self sufficiency. Willow Pond will have a bit of that as we have talked about with the garden. But for the most part I know what works for us. I am mostly done experimenting just for the sake of trying  something new. Our family is smaller so our needs are a bit smaller as well. Our eating habits have changed and seem to be changing a little more. I am sure that our goals might evolve a little more as time goes on and we get more used to our new little place, but for now here is where we are thinking of our journey heading.

Retirement- We will be here when we retire and most likely this will be the last house/farm that we will buy. We like our way of life and will probably continue doing this to some degree or another for a very long time, health permitting. With that being said we are looking at our design ideas from a retirement aging in place perspective. Making things built well, in a permanent type manner so to speak, with a design that will be easy on aging bodies. Hence the raised garden beds in an enclosure. I think it will make gardening well into our golden years much more possible and also much more enjoyable.

Livestock areas more easily managed- Of course since we are working with something already here it won't be exactly what I would like to have in my minds eye. But we are doing a great job of making what we have into what we want to have. It is taking time and money but will be worth it in the long run. Some of this goes along with our long term gold years/retirement plan of having things easier to deal with on aging bodies. Our livestock area is set up to easily move animals with minimal effort (the simple opening of a gate). It is also set up so that there is a place for everything and things can be kept where they are needed most.

Manageable Landscaping- I love a beautiful yard and I love cottage type gardens. But I also love to do many things...not just one. So our thoughts are to continue the previous owners idea of having a beautiful landscaping that needs minimal input from us. We have things blooming throughout the year here already and those things need very little from us. Average care needed is about an hour a week. I could do more and probably will do more as I love gardening and do want to add some more. We also want to cut down on the grass that we mow.  We have already cut that down by adding another paddock. But the gardening that I am planning for beauty is also being planned for ease of care. Perennials are definitely the way to go.

House-- We spent 16 years in a house that we hated because we loved the property and it was in a location that was good for us at the time. When we looked for property this time, the house took a bigger priority on the list, which is why we settled for 6.5 acres when we were searching for 10-15 acres. I love my little cottage. It is beautiful. It isn't falling apart and won't be the money pit that the other was. It has been updated and cared for over the years unlike our previously vacant and neglected hulk of outdated everything. The rooms are big and open and it is charming for us.  We love our little cottage and it is easily maintained and I imagine will continue to be so as we age.

Economics- Our biggest goal was to be able to go into retirement with no house payment. We have no illusions that our retirement will be smaller than we would like it to be. We started saving young, but life's hardships hit us badly and we not only had to stop for a number of years but wound up living on what had been paid. We would have starved otherwise and are thankful that the money was there to see us through. However, we are a bit more behind than we would like. So we wanted something that was reasonable enough to be paid off in 15 years. This house will be paid off before we retire and that will be a huge boon to being able to live off our retirement.

Health- We are no longer interested in experimenting. We know what we eat, we know the ins and outs of processing different animals and what we use the most of. So the food that we either grow or raise will be what will be most beneficial for us both in time and use. I will make very little cheese, because I eat very little dairy anymore. My youngest daughter doesn't like cheese at all. So my husband is the only one who eats cheese. Also for that matter will mean keeping fewer goats. Fewer goats is always easier, I don't care what anyone says.

Lifestyle- My youngest daughters interest is in horses. She is looking to do some heavy competing and maybe one day make a career as a trainer/coach/barn owner/competitor. So our focus is beginning to shift to be more on horses again. We are looking at paddock setups for our little place. It will also serve the other animals well also as a rotational system. However, we are leaving enough room for a jumping area and a full size dressage arena. Right now her training bill is high and will only get higher unless we can bring that training home. This is huge for us. As a homeschooling mom my goal is not only to teach my child in the traditional subjects, but also to give them the extra training/schooling that might be a career path for them. This daughter is severely dyslexic. She has thought about it and said that maybe college isn't the right path for her and she might be right. So maybe she has another path that is uniquely hers and being homeschooled she has the opportunity to explore that path early. We are giving her that opportunity. And of course I am delighted since riding was a big part of my life and probably would have been my career choice had my family supported me in any way.

So that so far is our list of goals and aspirations for this place. We are excited about this journey that we have entered into with more confidence thanks to the ups and down of our journey at Whisper Wind Farm. Blessings to all, Kat

Trying New Things with Hugulkultur

What?! is...hugulkultur. Well, simply put hugulkultur is a method of gardening designed to save water and add nutrients and tilth to the soil. I lazily used hugulkultur for a large flower bed at the old farm and I am planning to use a combination of HGK (hugulkultur) for my new raised beds because they are so deep and wide enough to accommodate this to a certain extent. That old flower garden did grow beautiful flowers that multiplied and all of that without much of any effort on my part. I rarely watered in and only once a year pulled a few weeds out of it. Of course, like everything that I do I modify things a bit to suit me. So let me explain HGK in the way that I understand it. Typically with this method of gardening a pit is dug, filled with wood and then the soil mounded over the top of the wood. Like I suggested this created a mound on which all sides can be planted. This is much like the concept of biodynamics and deep digging. As the wood breaks down organically is tends to hold more moisture therefore creating less need for water. It also improves the tilth of the soil. Much like a forest floor that has years of organic matter broken down on it. The soil is soft and spongy, easily workable. Getting a little more scientific it is thought that the breakdown of the carbon in the wood will lock any nitrogen breakdown into the soil so that it is available for the plants to use. Therefore the soil is full of nutrition for healthy strong plants. The true puritan method of hugultur sounds like a lot of work and seems like it would require a good amount of wood. Since I am building raised beds then I have my own bit of work of a different kind, but at least it isn't digging a trench. Also, we don't have a lot of excess wood. We have some....mostly small branches cleaned up from around the yard and off the fenceline. Just tidying up kind of stuff. However, all that little stuff will help fill these large raised bed containers that I am building. See that is my main motivation, because having moved and not able to bring all of my good soil from the old farm I am starting fresh. Starting fresh translates to I don't have much to start with. I am simply trying to fill some space that might actually have some use. I get rid of the yard trash in a useful manner and it might help make my garden grow. But if you are really interested in hardcore permaculture then check out hugulkultur gardening more in depth. Hardcore permies type folks swear by it and they know a whole lot more about it than I do. Blessings, Kat

Lasagna Gardening

I read the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza right after it first came out years ago. I used that method for my first couple of small gardens and did really well. Then I moved more into biodynamics looking for more production and bigger gardens. The reason that I abandoned this method as my gardens grew was that it was hard to find enough "lasagna" materials for a very large garden without spending money and.. well.. back then we didn't have any to spend. So all of our materials had to be free and found. However, we are shrinking in size again and I need to help fill all of these deep raised beds. I have a large round bale of hay that is old and needs to be gotten rid of, I have an uncomposted pile of horse/goat/chicken manure, I have a copious amount of weeds being cleaned up from a very overgrown yard, and now I have a ton of leaves falling daily into the yard. Sounds like lasagna material to me. With the lasagna method you build a compost pile, layering green and brown material. Ideally, you would then let it compost. Then you would plant it and watch your garden grow. However, in the book Patricia was in a rush one year and so she built her "lasagna" then planted directly on top before it had a chance to fully compost. She had the best garden ever that year according to her book. I am using relatively fresh horse and chicken manure which tends to compost "hot" and can burn plants. I have a few months before I plan on planting. I also am putting that material further down in the lasagna layering so as not to burn any plants from the heat produced. So, once I layer my lasagna layers then I will have filled most of the space within my beds and will be able to scrounge up enough dirt (from the French drains around the barn) to layer on top. Then I should have some really rich material from which to watch my garden grow! Let's hope it works. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Our Raised Bed Garden

The garden at Whisper Wind was a double dug garden and it was rather large with beds going in several different directions. during the peak of growing season it often resembled a wild overgrown jungle. Vegetables intertwined with flowers and herbs to make a mass of vegetation that only a gardener could make sense of. It was beautiful and I loved the wildness of it. However, we have one thing in abundance here at Willow Pond that we did not have in abundance at Whisper Wind.....snakes. Some of which are venomous and I really do not want to find one in my wild tangle of vegetable madness. I don't mind the non venomous ones. We have a very large black rat snake living in the tree behind the barn and we had a nest of baby corn snakes near another tree. But we have also had 3 water moccasins and one copperhead. Our dog was bitten by one of these nasties already and I don't relish joining him on the victim list. While I cannot completely snake proof a garden I can do what I can to make it not so accessible to them. So I am going with raised beds in a square keyhole configuration that will provide an outside wall to discourage snakes from entering inside the working area. The beds themselves will be 2 feet tall and covered in recycled roofing metal. Then the outside perimeter of the garden will be another 4 feet high with chicken wire covered in bird netting. We are then going to use an old screen door for the garden gate. So all of this will form our garden "room". I could have done the raised beds shorter, but I am trying to think long term. We plan to retire here and at some point in my life I won't like to bend over very much. I will still want to garden and I am sure it will remain a sort of therapy for me. So the extra height will mean that I won't have to bend over hardly at all to work in the garden. I will also be able to sit on the side of the beds to work if necessary. Typically, it is recommended that a raised bed garden be 4 feet wide, but I am short and since I won't be able to work this garden from both sides because of the wall of chicken wire I kept it to 3 feet in width. This is a comfortable reach for me since I am a bit short, but also if I am sitting. I am filling the beds in a combination huegulkultur, lasagna garden fashion. We have had many small limbs and such that needed to be cleaned up around the yard and especially in the pasture so I am gathering these and packing them into the bottom of the beds. Then I am layering old hay on top, with a layering of weeds and yard clippings, then old hay, then manure, then old hay and then soil and compost mix. It is a good deal of space to fill and I am just getting started with the filling as I am building so this is a work in progress that I expect will take several weeks to complete. I truly can't wait to see it finished though and expect that I will be really happy this spring working in my new garden. Happy Gardening, Kat

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