Just as I was leaving for work there was a big fuss in the yard - raven cawing, hen shrieking, dog barking, and the high pitched shriek of a baby chick. I got over to the site just in time to see a raven with a dark, limp shape in it's talons as it flew off.
Dejected, I went over to the nest to see if any eggs were left and heard "peep peep peep" from the hay shed. Sure enough, a wee baby had survived the attack. So, of a nest of about a dozen eggs, we had one baby but really, better than none. So, the very beloved farm dog. LG and I came home midday a couple of weeks ago to find Winchester sitting in the yard looking just off. Instead of his usual bounding over to the car, happily greeting us, he just stay in place, looking flat and off (I know I already said that but it's the word that best describes it). So, we get closer and can see that he's shaking and covered in drool and he's got these expressive eyes that are saying "help" and not really moving. We aren't sure what's happened because he's not talking. Given his, um, impulse control problem with food I'm wondering if he's been poisoned by something he's found or compost or... ? So, then the diagnostics start: head to toe assessment. He's defensive around the face and head, and no we're thinking that he may have been hit by a car. We notice there's some blood in his drool. LG, the ever growing/ever hungry teen goes in to start cooking himself something to eat and I go in to phone the vet to see if they'll fit us in. They tell us to come right away. LG shuts off the stove and, in spite of teen pangs of hunger, helps me lift the injured pup (ok, older man) in to the car. We get to the vet and he's no more interested in the vet (a stranger to him -we'd never seen her before) looking in his mouth than he was me. She's seen a bit of abrasion when she could get a little peek and suggests sedating him to get a better look. Of course, we do that. Even under sedation, he's aware of where we are and if he's people are around. How do I know? He was sedated with his head in my lap, as soon as I moved away, he squirmed and started moving again. I came over and patted him, he'd slightly wag his tail. Vet patted him, no tail wag. That's how attentive he is. Or regular vet leaves the surgery he's in the middle of to help out. Finally we get his mouth open wide enough to see inside and there's a massive tear, at least 4inches long. The theory - he's torn his throat open on a stick. It's nothing that can be mended - to wide, poor location, and not much that can be done. They ensure there are no splinters in the wound (there weren't, thank goodness) and tell us that they can reverse the sedation in about 20mins but there's not much they can do for him. So, we go feed the teen and come back. When we get back there, Winchester is groggy but ready to go and cannot wait to be home. We collect the anti-inflammatories and antibiotics and head home. Now, I'm not a big fan of prophylactic antibiotics but my goodness, I couldn't be more grateful for them in this case. So, we watch him closely the first night (I might have slept on the floor with him). He's pretty tragic: but he's alive. With an injury like that, it's not a sure thing that he would be.
Now, two weeks later, he's come through and out the other side. Some things have certainly changed for him, it's clearly still painful to lick and the barking's been cut down to a minimum but he's thriving and mostly back to his old self. Which includes trying to entice us to throw sticks for him (I bought soft frisbees - never again with sticks!). Well, in spite of my best efforts, I've given in to my habit. And yes, another goat came home. He's just young but shows great promise. He comes out of spectacular dairy and temperament bloodlines, and we love him already.
I cannot wait to see his babies! So, as we slid closer to the other side of summer gardening season, new questions start to crop up. One I have been asked about is... how do you know when to harvest your potatoes? Especially when they look like this: I mean seriously - how can you see those blooms and not be thinking... can I eat these yet? Such a good question - how do we know our potatoes are ready for eating? So, you probably planted your potatoes much earlier this year. Don't know much about growing potatoes? Let's start there then. You'll want to plant seed potatoes, rather than just grocery store ones, even organics. I've found that even with the organic ones (the non-organics are treated to keep them from sprouting), the yield isn't great and sometimes the potatoes never really get big. So, consider purchasing some seed potatoes from a reputable provider. You can't (I think) ship potatoes across the border so buy from your own country. Ideally, you'd want to get them well before it's time to plant. That way, you can chit them well in advance of planting. I've seen two explanations of chitting -one is to just let them be in a light place and grow long shoots; the other is when you cut them into quarters and let the sides harden a bit before planting. Either way, get them well before planting, and place them in an egg carton with the most eyes up. By the way the side with the most eyes is called the rose. So, plant them rose side up. Once they eyes have grown to about an inch long, plant them out according to your local calendar and their variety - there are earlies, mids, and lates. Smart planters want all three :) And yes they're a bit sensitive to frost but you can mitigate that by covering them in a bit of row cover. So, you can plant them a few ways. You can plant them old school - in depressions that allow you to mound up soil around them as they grow. Or newer school - in a container. Either way, adding dirt as they grow up will mean more potatoey deliciousness for you. Continue to water regularly and mound up the soil.
With earlies, you can start digging (carefully - use your hands not a shovel) for new potatoes once you see the blooms fully open and definitely once they're dropping off. The longer you wait, the larger the potatoes get. With maincrops (as the mids- and lates are called) you're supposed to wait until the foliage starts to turn yellow and gives up. And then 10-14 days after that (depends on who you ask) you can lift them. I am not the best at keeping track of which type is which so I'm often scrabbling around the base of the plants once the blooms are visible. Also - I love potatoes and by the time they're blooming, I'm so excited that I just need to eat some fresh from the garden. If you aren't going to devour them straight away, you're best to leave them sitting out to dry before storing. This helps to harden the skin and preserve them. Best ways to eat potatoes? I love new potatoes boiled and then tossed with a bit of butter and fresh herbs from the garden. I also love potatoes roasted, baked, and mashed. I just love them and that's all there is to say about that. This will be our 12th (I think) Spring in this house and it’s the first one where we won’t have any babies. It’s a strange thing to wrap my head around. From the first year in this house where a puppy literally wandered out of the forest to ducklings, goslings, chicks, lambs,and kids, there have been babies of one kind or another. And this year, none (unless a hen or duck on a secret nest surprises us). I have to say I’m mixed on the whole thing. On the one hand, the reduction in stress and worry and busy-ness is a great thing. Chores are simple and haven’t changed. No specialized foods needed. I don’t need to sleep with one ear and one eye open in case babies arrive on the same day as snow. On the other hand, those long nights and early mornings have fond memories for me. The time we watched from our bedroom window with our then little son as one of our ewes gave birth to twins (one of whom would become a bottle baby affectionately referred to as Super Lamb). Here is a pic with her and Paks (our Pyr, also gone) found online (my photos of them are archived) J and I watched a goodly amount of BSG while either waiting for labouring ewes or keeping ridiculously late hours because what’s the point of going to bed when you’re getting up in two hours to bottle feed anyway? of course there comes a point when you have to call it and just go to bed, with your phone tucked under your pillow so the alarm wakes you without waking everyone else. Or last year when the boys were away from home during kidding and my poor, cold Gita had to come in the house to warm up. It was just her and I and the dog. She tipped the scales at just over a pound when she was born so, I would bring her in every two hours, after being nursed, so as not to inadvertently weaken her or interfere with the bonding process. I think it was the goats that did me in this year. To lose two brothers, one at three months old and the other at seven months , and not know why. They were healthy enough at birth but Freyr went downhill quickly. Bern not as fast but he died late on New Year’s Day this year. Rough start to the year. With their deaths and the accompanying unanswered questions, in spite of the investigations that were done, I decided that I wouldn’t be doing any breeding this year and paired my livestock right down.
Now we have three goats, chickens, and ducks. That’s it. And while it’s meant a reduction in stress and work, it’s also reduced other things. No more waking up with all of the anticipation of a kid at Christmas, looking outside to see if babies arrived in the night, no lamb Olympics around the house, no fresh milk, no peepers hopping on your hand and pecking a bit of food out of it (ok, that still happens but the chickens are no longer small and cute when they do it). It’s a well needed break but a trade off too. I suppose that’s smallholding in a nutshell. It’s rarely easy, it’s exhausting, and so full of emotion. But it’s real. It’s a kind of reality you cannot experience in any other way. I think that’s part of what makes the joys so full and the lows so deep. It’s a tough one to explain to people who either aren’t doing it or who don’t get it, especially when you work outside of the home in addition to keeping a smallholding. Why on earth would you want to deal with kidding or lambing and still have to be at work at 8:30 the next morning? I don’t know that there is a way to put that feeling into words. I suppose for those of us inclined to it, the nearest thing would be to call it a vocation, a calling. There are just some things that you do that aren’t about how much money you make or making your life easier, they’re just what has to be. For me, smallholding is very much like that. So, there was a post before this one - and I don't mean a duck peeking in my window. Yes, that really happened. Anyway, I posted it and then... it was gone. My theory is that it was such a great post, such an award winning post that the interwebs couldn't handle it and, to protect itself, the interwebs hid it. So, here is my attempt to recapture perfection. It's a funny thing, this web page. You wouldn't know it but have been talking to all of you for years. I've wanted to do this and started a few times but it's never stuck. Why is that? Well, I've always been a big fan of go big or go home. It turns out that if you go too big, the project is too much and it just can't get off the ground. So, instead of starting with a huge webpage, full of completely developed resources, articles by guest authors, and all of that kind of stuff, I've decided to start in a smaller, though much more logical place; the beginning. That sentiment always puts this song in my head: And now it can be in your head too.
Kidding aside, there is something to be said for starting at the beginning. My hope is that I can share enough information to make that beginning a little less challenging, a little lighter and more fun, a little more hopeful. Here we'll share information on everything from gardening in the forest to living with goats and various philosophical matters. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you. |
AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
August 2017
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