Blind Hog and Acorn

Season 2, Episode #18~ Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

A roller coaster of a week for Blind Hog and the Acorn; ups, downs, ups, downs. Good news is that they are both still here to bitch and complain, better than the alternative! A bit of a longish episode, live on Sunday morning.

Morels are about done. The last ones collected were dehydrated; works like a champ. Acorn saw a morel in the woods today but is was as dark as a pine cone, “Let is seed out for next year.”

Blind Hog needed to mow the yard, but the mower front wheels won’t be delivered until Monday. Massey Ferguson and brush hog to the rescue. Acorn also used the push mower and string trimmer. Have to say, it doesn’t look half bad.

Blind Hog and Acorn has “interesting times” with car buying on Monday. 90 minutes of joy on the way home and then a deer stopped the happy campers. So much for the “lovely pink full moon…” All it did was stir up the wildlife.

Heifer born this week, grass is growing, goslings and chicks co-mingling. Blind Hog and Acorn are still here, so all is good.

Season 2, Episode #17~ Gosling Time

Blind Hog was walking down to get the mail and guess what??? He found a morel! All on his own! Wooooooot! Listen to the latest episode dropping Sunday morning to find out more.

Goslings are hatching, flooding rain in the forecast. “Its raining geese, hallelujah it’s raining geese…”

Garden survived the hard freeze and even the apple blossoms look good. Just one stalk of asparagus fizzled. That snow was a big surprise but it did not last long at all.

Chicks are hatched and another 16 eggs in the incubator.

Back to chores!

Season 2, Episode #16~ Chicks-r-Hatching!

Dropping Sunday morning- the latest podcast!

What is that racket you ask? PEEPS!!! Chicks have begun to hatch; geese, fingers crossed, should begin pipping next week.

Blind Hog spent time on the Massey Ferguson, clipping yet another paddock. He even went to the East Field and cut up that dead tree that had fallen on the fenceline. Brought it home in three loads, and already has it cut to length, ready for the woodsplitter.

Acorn has been gardening; plants set out, water lines flushed, drip tape laid and floating row covers stretched out over PVC conduit hoops over the beds. Looks nice!

Morels are popping, asparagus too. Blind Hog even hoisted Acorn up into the front end loader and the purple martin gourds are all ready for their occupants. They forgot to mention this on the podcast. Maybe Acorn needs to make a list of topics, you know, like she used to do…

Season 2, Episode 15~ Bread Labor

Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy busy- composting, gardening, lighting, welding … Even if it means eating a big lunch then falling promptly to sleep for 90 minutes…

Garden is in the process of being planted, kidding has about ended. Had to make a run for conduit so acorn could have hoops to support the floating row covers for the bed she planted today.

Morels have begun to pop out, Sam the Farm Dog has a new backpack. Listen in and see what else has been going on…

Season 2, Episode #14~ Driving Home from Tractor Supply

Of course, when you check the air in one tire you automatically want to check the air in ALL the tires, right? Well, maybe wrong- especially if you are checking air in fluid-filled tires and the valve has corroded. Acorn found this out the hard way and long story short, a tractor tire valve had to be replaced, STAT!

Good news is that all went fine, except for the 38 miles out and back but it was a lovely late afternoon.

Busy week on the farm; selling goats, stringing out grazing areas in the paddocks, checking eggs for progress in the incubator, baking cookies.

Happy Easter from the Farm!

**If this is “healthy soap,” then what is the alternative?**

Season 2, Episode #13~ Hatching Big Plans

Sunday’s podcast tells how Acorn is incubating all sorts of ideas to make farm dollars, literally and figuratively. 14 goose eggs are in an incubator, and 2 doz chicken eggs to go into the other. Plus, pending goat and heifer sales, let the good times roll!

Blind Hog continues progress working on the wall sculpture commission, so that is also most excellent.

Lacking only 5 more goats to kid, “piss or get off the pot!” Acorn is getting a bit tired of waiting on the stragglers, but stragglers they are. These girls must have just gone out of heat when the bucks went in, so you can figure 4 weeks after the first kids hit the ground, so there you go.

Has been a lovely first week of Spring, but wait- snow and subfreezing temps in the forecast in a few days. Always something…

Season 2, Episode #12~ Vernal Equinox

Podcast dropping 3/21/2021: First day of spring on the farm and how cold was it??? 23F!!! Crazy! Good news is that it will be warmer next couple weeks, so that will be helpful for the new baby goats- up to 41 total now- is a field of popping white kidlets out in the field.

Blind Hog and Acorn have been doing the usual chores, setting out hay, counting the kids. Even started back on that sculpture friends Glen and Becky desire. Acorn could not help giving Blind Hog a hard time about “studio help…”

Pasture rotation will be more of a priority in 2021, keep the herds moving and make the most of the available forage. The more you move, the better it is. If you have the time of course and time is what we have plenty of.

Acorn up on her lookout deck at the hay barn

Season 2, Episode #11~ Kids-a-Poppin!

Acorn has been dusting off her caprine midwifery skills, Blind Hog has been Master Electrician. As of now, 21 kids on the ground! Episode 11 airs Sunday morning, 3/14! Pi Day!

#79 and her pair of 3 pounders… But look! They are standing!

Bottle kids are cute, but not desired. They wrap around your ankles worse than cats. A set of 3 lb twins born- will see if they will pull on through. Is almost time to give them another bit of colostrum- they cannot stand yet to nurse, so any assistance now will help them down the road.

Ethel the Goose has begun to lay- using her older eggs for baked goods. Eventually she will go broody and hopefully hatch out some, but for now she lays lays lays... 20-40 perhaps!

Been working on one of the pickups to sell- is in the shop now as my initial fuel filter replacement was not quite enough…

Time to go give the new kids a bit of bottle!

Season 2, Episode #10~ Old Fawn Kicks off the Next Kidding Cycle

Let the pigeons fly! 2021 Kidding, Round 2 has begun! Old Fawn, 10 yrs old popped out twins.

What more did Blind Hog and Acorn get up to this week? The usual chores, plus plumbing and electric repairs.

Tree seedlings from the Missouri Conservation Department

Weather is nice, but it turned out all the crazies in the Big City. Lawdy- all the wrecks, all the people. Shopping is not a delight but something to be done in the early weekday mornings- not on a Sunny Saturday afternoon!

Season 2, Episode #9~ Sapped Out

The sap run was short and sweet! Acorn figures it was actually a false run, brought on by the Polar Vortex. Two weeks of below freezing temps forced the sap back down, and when the temps warmed up, up came the sap. Good enough for two quarts total of finished syrup. Impressive, especially if you think of the 40:1 sap to syrup ratio!

Goats in the dairy barn are all kidded out, now is kidding time for the commercial and Spanish goats. The old goat barn has been prepped, all good to go.

Acorn had to get out of bed at 10:30 pm to eliminate a varmint in the hen house that killed another hen. Sam got skunk sprayed. Blind Hog got his first Fauchi Ouchie. All in all, a typical week on the farm!