We aren’t sure what we have at the moment. Technically we are still in summer. This week we have been feeling the chill in the air and I’m starting to see signs of fall. Especially in the light angle and how early it gets dark. That and I have the age-old drive to stock up on everything. Today, we have rain that is supposed to turn to snow. It already has turned north of us. Just a couple hours north they’ve had up to 7 inches of the white stuff already. I don’t mind this kind of weather but it isn’t good for crops or trees that still have all their leaves.
I have my firewood ordered. Now we’ll see if the fella can get it delivered. I have enough little bits here and there that we can have a fire tonight. This is good because our electric furnace has issues and I’d rather not have to fire it up. We haven’t gotten to fixing it yet. This weather change will sure be a push to do that.
I have the straw for animal bedding. Chickens are pretty well set up and ready for the cold. I’ll have to string an electrical extension cord if we need to run the heat lamp, but I’m hoping to avoid that with having moved them out of the windy spot. I will play it by ear and we’ll see what we get for cold weather this year. I wouldn’t mind skipping the -30 degrees for a week stretch this winter. I like cold and all but that was a tad brutal and not very kind to the animals.
I have the 3 grazing yearlings on the property at the moment. Not sure when/if they’ll move off for the winter. The grass is holding alright. The late season stuff had started to come in a bit and I notice they are hitting areas that they’d avoided all summer. It is very interesting to watch their eating patterns.
I’m adding 2 goats to our crazy mix. Cashgora goats, which are a cross between cashmere and angora goats. They are pets that need a different home. I’m not too sure about goats overall but they are supposed to be tame, leash broken, and have fiber so we’ll give them a try. I’ll be impressed if my fences hold them. I’m certainly not holding my breath there. I’ll work on it little by little. I have hay for them and a three-sided shed so as soon as I’m done being crazy with our fiber fair I’ll go pick them up. Roughly a week from now they’ll be here. I’m excited as I hope to use them to help graze my front 3 acres or so that is very bushy with a brush that I haven’t been able to identify yet. Helps I haven’t tried very hard.
We are also busy selling some of our stuff and moving things around to see how we’ll do with a smaller place. We’ll probably have our land surveyed this fall and see how that goes. We haven’t settled on anything for now but are talking a lot about needs, wants, and design elements. We are leaning toward things like composting toilets, grey water systems, and at least supplemental solar power. Our big dislike right now is that our well has an electric pump so when we lose power we lose water. That is kind of a big deal, especially with all the animals. Even if we stay right like we are we want to change that to make it possible to have water even without power.
Okay, I have a fiber fair coming up in just a couple of days and I am way behind on prepping for it. I’d better get in gear.
Two Bit Acres 