Spring is here. Beautiful time of the year. Everything springs to life. Doors and windows stay open. With the Four Seasons, noted time traveler Vivaldi captured a bit of this energy. Let’s see what’s happening with four movements here at Raising Wood.
Our open market economy sells trees in pots RIGHT NOW because everyone has the itch to plant them. Jenny is reworking a peach tree from 3 years ago in this picture. Cardboard base, heaping piles of mulch, and deep watering all go together. There’s fruit budding on this tree now and we should get our first harvest off it. Jenny also planted some fig trees and has plans for pear trees. There is a lot of excitement about future harvests around here, even before we address the berry patch invitations.
Mesquite trees are a pain. Literally, full of thorns. They grow in the pasture and need to be be taken out by hand. Or, alternatively, you can water around it and let pasture pigs waller around it to destroy it. The pigs like this option. So do I.
Goat mothers are interesting creatures. Dot here gave birth to twins. The boy is enormous and thriving. The girl is rickety and slow. Dot recognized this from birth. She triaged the situation by focusing all her care on the boy while comprehensively neglecting the girl.
Fortunately we’re accustomed. Now we have kidding pens to set up our own triage. Five days of keeping them separate from the herd. Four times a day forcing nursing sessions for the little girl. Three goats learning to be a family. Two determined shepherds. Now one self standing and self feeding girl goat. Success is satisfying.
2am. The flock guardian Ashok is barking in the pasture. Jenny investigates. Jenny sees the problem and rouses me from bed. There is a dead chicken in the meat bird tractor. Cause of death matches three chicks from four weeks prior. The head is fine, the organs are fine, the neck is fine. The legs and thighs are sliced into chicken burger and feathers are everywhere.
Turns out Ashok was barking at a 3ft tall owl. Jenny watched it sneak talons under the lip of the tractor to grab chickens l. When the chick was 12oz, it was a good snack. Now these birds are 7lb and they don’t fit under the frame. Owl doesn’t care and just tears off a talon full of thigh meat.
I can’t always tell when an owl will show up. I can add a PVC pipe flap on the gaps. They are working for a week now and no more sliced up birds.
Well, not til we process them in early May to fill the freezer, as is right and proper. Happy spring y’all.
