Hot as Smoked Peppers out There

I haven't been as worried about the big animals in this heat, they've seen it before.  We just make sure they always have water.  I have been worried about the little chickies.  They are only three weeks old, and at this age they can handle extreme heat and cold, but it's REALLY hot as you all know no matter where you live right now.  So I turned on Stella's Little Tikes beach ball sprinkler, I think they loved it!!

Below is a picture of some gorgeous smoked peppers.  A local organic grower down the street, Terry, grows all kinds of peppers, microgreens, potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, etc.  He sells to many of the local restaurants in downtown Greenville.  He smokes the peppers and makes his own salad dressings also, yumm!!

He gave us four different kinds of smoked peppers so we can use them in our sausage preparation!  Thanks Terry!!

Bumm-holes

Who knew that the stress of travel can cause chicks poop to paste to their bummhole and need assistance with cleaning?  Not me, folks.  I have never received mail order chicks until now, nor have I ever had to clean a 3 day old chicks bumm.  Dry feathers keep the chicks warm (they should stay in 90 degree heat for 7 days), so after I bathed their butts, I had to dry them with a hair dryer.  Some of the chicks loved the hair dryer, others, not so much.  I hope they are all still alive in the morning.  They seemed pretty dry when the sun went down.

Baby Chicks Arrived Today

I got a phone call from the post office this morning that my baby chicks had arrived.  27 Naked Neck chicks and 1 surprise freebie that you receive from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  They will stay in a box in the garage for the next day or two til their house is ready, again :)  The dogs haven't left the garage since they arrived.

And...Again...

It was a week ago yesterday that the storm hit and attempted to demolish everything on the farm.  We haven't had time to even begin cleaning up.  Last night, it came back for more.  I was at work, James had Stella in the tub when the storm rolled up the driveway.  No pictures this time because I am just to disgusted with the whole thing.  We lost another tree, this time in the llamas lower field, just inches from the fence.  I had been fixing up one of the chicken houses that got twisted up the week before.  That one flew over the truck and about 50 yards down the hill.  Inside our egg house, the hens lay in covered litter boxes and dog houses.  James said the boxes were in flight inside the house!!  Bench swing in the back yard flipped over, again.  Stella's swimming pool flew about 500 yards to the pig pen!  The reason the inexpensive blow up pool is so important to us is that we lost three pools last Summer in storms.  Literally, they were lost, only one was recovered on the neighbors property!
Now it's T-Minus 5 days till the baby chicks arrive.  We built a Super Duper Brawny Strong chicken house today, just one more wall and the roof and it will be complete.  Keep your fingers crossed!
The garden loves all the rain, but it's pretty battered from the wind and hail. 
The animals are just pissed. They are over this weather.  The dogs never leave the garage (Rowen is terrified of storms).  The llamas never leave their carport, and the chickens never leave their boxes.  The ducks may not care for the storms, but they love the aftermath...Big mud puddles everywhere!!!

Big Storm! Was it a twister?

Yesterday was Stella's birthday, the big 2.  She was sitting in the kitchen enjoying her birthday ice cream cone.  We never watch the local news, but we were trying to track the storms that were heading in from TN and Western NC.  I went out back to pick up a few of Stella's toys from the yard, James went upstairs to turn the computer off.  All we could see to the West was an ominous sky creeping closer and closer.  I went to the door leading to the garage to make sure the dogs were in there and lower the garage door.  When I looked out, I could see the gravel from our long, windy driveway flying towards the house.  Our house is covered in huge windows, so I pushed Stella's highchair inbetween the dishwasher and the pantry wall, the lights were flickering on and off, she was getting upset, no longer eating her icecream cone.  I see her watching the trees outside, they were sideways in the wind.  All we could hear is the wind and the hail pelting the house.  James could barely see out the windows of the sunroom.  "Holy Schnikies" shit started flying all over the place outside!!  My two newest chicken houses have been in the front yard, one has been housing a few baby chicks.  One house flew about 40 feet and crashed into a tree, the other flipped over, hit our house and crashed down on the satellite dish.  James ran out to catch the four chicks that were running in circles after their house flew off of their heads.  He got them all on the porch which is where they stayed until we carried them down to the egg house.

After 5 or 6 minutes of this, the wind died and the hail changed to rain.  All we saw outside were sheets of metal wrapped around trees, the roof to one of the chicken houses showed up in the back yard.  All the llamas made it to their carport.  Good thing since a tree speared through their other shelter.  That is the shelter that has the llama chute attached to shear wool.  A tree near the old farmhouse fell over the fence and flattened a storage shed that held gardening supplies, equestrian tack, and hay.  The rabbit habitat I've been building for Stella got destroyed.  Planters and potted pepper plants are gone...

 We have family coming into town for Stella's birthday this weekend, I am expecting 27 baby chicks to be delivered in 10 days, I am 8 months pregnant, it's 94 degrees everyday...

 But it will all get done.  We think we can salvage all the materials to use for something or another.  We are thankful that the house is fine, all animals are accounted for, and no heavy equipment or uninsured equipment was damaged.

Just another day on the farm, right?  Cheers

Farm Fresh Veggies!

I picked 15 zucchinis this morning.  I will head down this afternoon to check the garlic, it should be ready in the next few weeks.

What the???

As you saw in the last post, we lost a hand full of chickens to the fox.  A few nights ago we lost 5 more to an owl that broke through the roof of their house.  Yesterday, we lost another in broad daylight, which must have been a fox.  They know the dogs routine and they wait until Remus and Rowen lay down to nap, then they come through the fence.
Poor James is out there every night with a spotlight and a shotgun, but no luck.  He needs a gun with longer range and a scope.
Animals need to feed their babies, I understand, but not with my pets!!
On a lighter note, I ordered 25 Plymouth Rock chicks that should be here this week.  They are good for eggs and for meat.  The majority of these 25 will be meat chickens, but I will save a rooster and 3-4 hens for egg production and baby chick production for more meat chickens.
All the veggies and fruits are in the ground and sprouting.  The llamas and dogs have yet to be groomed...  The pig is in the freezer, now I'm shopping for a breeding pair of Tamworth pigs.  I'm having a tough time finding them.
I am looking out the window at the rain that has just started, we've had a couple of hot, dry weeks.  We have a chance of rain for the next few days.  it will nourish the farm and give us a few days to not do much :)