Waiting for Spring!

I am impatiently waiting for spring to arrive. However, I am certainly not bored while the wait goes on! I have so many projects on the go right now. I am working on my field chicken coop, and have done as much as I can while I wait for someone to help me get more much needed pallets. The good news is that what I have put up so far... is still standing!! ;-) It's a miracle, I tell you. I am not known for my building skills. I had to change my plan for the coop at the last minute. I put some of it together, then realized it was going to be wayyyy too small for all my chickens and ducks, so I expanded it before it got to late to do so. So, now I need almost double the pallets than what I needed before.

I also got a load of gravel to help temporarily repair my awful driveway. I am busily moving wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow full into all the humungous potholes. I had a guy out to give me a quote on fixing it permanently. I have to get proper ditches built, then resurface it. It will only cost me about $2000.
Guess I need to sell ALOT more veggies this summer. OUCH!

I am also busy making more garden beds. This is a slow and ongoing process, as I need to get a cardboard base down to kill the weeds first, before I add compost and soil on top. My friend John picked up a big bunch of cardboard for me yesterday, and is going to get a bunch more for me in about 2 weeks. Then, good news.... another friend of mine found me a utility trailer for my car! It is the back of a truck, and has a canopy for it. It will cost me $100, plus whatever it is for a hitch. I am THRILLED! This will save me from having to annoy all my friends for the next few years everytime I need something! I can use it to take my turkeys and chickens to the processor, to pick up hay for my gardens and chicken coops, for bringing home my little baby goats, and for picking up cardboard. To name a few uses! This will be a very well-used trailer!

I have been up a couple of times to the greenhouse. Planting, planting, and replanting. The mice and the birds are doing a number up there. I put out traps, and so did Elliot. He caught one mouse so far. Hopefully we will get more of the little buggers! All my pretty green shoots got snipped off at the quick. I've had to replant my spinach three times so far, and a few other things. A bit frustrating.
I fertilized my healthy green shoots with my homemade manure/compost tea today. Will hopefully make everything big and strong.

I bought two new fruit trees today. A Red Haven Peach tree, and a Fuji apple. I only need four more trees, and my orchard will be complete! I need 2 more apples, 1 pear, and 1 plum. The pear and the plum will be easy, but the two apples I want I am having a hard time finding. I figure you only plant these trees once, so I might as well get the kinds I want!

Dog boarding has been insanely busy of late. Last year, this was my 'slow' time. Not this year! I am going crazy. The dogs keep me so busy, I sometimes find it hard to find time to do all my farming duties. Sigh. Oh, well. At least it is paying the bills!
I joke that the dogs are getting in the way of my farming. I guess it's just growing pains, and it will settle out in the next few years.

I named my other two Dorking roosters last week. We all know Bully, the boy who is shooting blanks. Then, I had the 2 roos that I raised this past year for breeding. Well, one of them beat the bloody crap out of the other. The winner's name is Bloody Monday. The loser is Dumbass. I swear that bird has a death wish. He keeps coming out into where the dogs are. I can't believe I've been able to save him so many times! Then, if he's not trying to get eaten by a dog, he flies back in with Bloody Monday, who beats the crap out of him again.
That's why his name is Dumbass.

Making More Plans and another Farm Visit

Through doing dog agility, I have met a fellow farmer. She and her family have a 50+ acre farm not too far from here. They have beef cattle, Boer goats, Muscovy ducks, and sheep. Plus lots of dogs. What's a farm without lots of dogs??!! Anyway, Jody invited me out for a visit and a tour of her farm. I am continually researching what different ways I can make money from my farm, so one day I won't have to do the dog boarding anymore, and I figured this was a great chance to get some ideas.

Jody was amazingly helpful, and gave me lots of good information, and my little brain has been going a mile a minute since I got back.
Partly because I fell in love with her little goats. The Boer goat is traditionally a meat goat, but Jody says only about 10% of the goats she sells are for meat. The rest all get sold as pets. They were super friendly, and very cute. I actually cried a bit when I saw two little kids (about 3 months old). I've never seen anything so amazingly adorable. They have little floppy ears, and the friendliest expressions on their faces. I guess they are a friendly and docile breed.
I think I want a couple! I've been going over plans in my head about how to make it work with the boarding dogs. I think my own dogs would adapt to them very well. If I had 2 little goats, they would go a long way in helping me to clear all the brush and grass I have growing around, and keeping all the brambles in check. That's my main reason for wanting them. They need no extra feed, so upkeep and costs would be quite low. I am thinking of getting a breeding pair, then they would have a couple of babies every 8-10 months or so... these I could sell for about $150-$175 each. I think its' a win-win situation. I get free land-clearing, and the goats get an all-they-can-eat smorgasbord.
Jody's babies are born in January. She has invited me out to see the little ones just after they are born. I can't wait! They are weaned and ready to go in April. So, I have lots of time to figure out some dog-proof fencing. I am going to leash train the little goats, and make sure they grow up super friendly, so they will be easy to handle and move about the property.

They also raise Muscovy ducks. Jody sells live ducks, and meat ducks, and eggs. Next time I go out, I'm going to ask many more questions about those, too. Who knows... maybe another way to make some income on my little farm!