Restoration Agriculture in North Texas by the Wood Family
Winter passed and spring is come…and of course we’re scrambling to get the garden prepared.
There are some really incredible gardens and gardeners out there. We see them on the YouTube and talk to them when they are our neighbors… we’re still on the front side of the learning curve.
If you are too, now is the time! Muck up some dirt, throw down some lettuce seeds and embrace the beauty of managing creation. God put Adam in the garden first for a reason.
The snow melted off and we’re excited for spring, and the baby goats (kids) that are coming soon.
Sadly one of our first time momma’s gave stillbirth twins yesterday. Marbles seemed healthy otherwise and has given no indication of any pregnancy problems. Now though, we did have a problem.
She is fully ready to nurse twins but no twins to nurse, and we are on the clock to figure something out. There are three options:
1. Do nothing and hope she doesn’t develop mastitis (infection!)
2. Do something. Do the work of manually pulling her milk several times a day.
3. Find a bottle baby goat to graft onto her.
We chose option 3 and found a very nice couple a few hours away on Craigslist l. We loaded up the kids and picked up Mr. Mutton, a bottle fed buckling 9 days old.
Part of this process is setting momma Marbles up in a small space that doesn’t make her feel isolation but does keep her with the baby.
So we took a pair of gates, a t-post and some heavy zip ties to make a partition.
Using a stone under the white gate helps it swing in and out freely.
The Marbles and Mr. Mutton grafting project is ongoing, more to come on that!
The snow tells stories of the past. Tales of travelers and expeditions the full length of the driveway.
It appears to be a footprint in three parts. The investigation led to a father and son. The witness testimony was eager but ultimately without merit.
Folks, were dealing with rabbits here. Crisis averted and the mail wasn’t here anyways. Back to your normally scheduled programming.
It’s been holding steady well below freezing for 3 days now. I’m a Texas boy, this is new and strange. One of the problems we noticed quickly is the animals water freezes over, so you have to go break it open.
It doesn’t sound daunting or tedious until you have to suit up for the cold. I freezer burned an earlobe on day one without enough head coverings.
The best tool so far is the mattock from EasyDigging. Normally a good hand tool for people of all ages in the garden, it’s become my go to for opening water portals. Then there’s steers like this that don’t want the easy water, they’ll get some on their own.
Through it all, I’ve been impressed by the Anatolian Shepherd, Sullivan, having the least amount of concern about the cold.
The Cold is not something we spend much time preparing for. It seldom freezes in north texas, and never for long. Until this week, a week looking to be solid below freezing and with many inches of… What’s this? Real snow??
We don’t have much infrastructure for winter, so we are learning what our livestock need by watching closely and adjusting, and beating the ice off the water tubs many times today.