Lil Sister Saga continues

Well, good news and bad news.  Lil Sister kidded last night during the storm.  Just one kid, surprised me since she was so huge.  Kid was weak, I had to CPR it, it nursed but didn't live thru the night.  Sis still has afterbirth to pass, 12 hours later, but I did get her milked this morning so the hormones should kick in and cause her to clean out the afterbirth.  Poor Sis, she can't figure out why the kid won't get up for her.  Grizz has been by her side the whole time, trying to comfort her.  Silly dog he is but a good dog/goat buddy just the same. While this is better than what I had feared (a repeat of her Momma), it's not ideal for her and we still have some business to work thru before she's all okay.

Eh, such is life on a farm where the miracle/circle of life happens with all it's gooey, bloody glory.

Why Didn't I Think of This

From Melonpopzdropz.... my fb friend Janine posted this link late last nite.  I just saw it this morning since Lil Sister kidded under the dually last nite in the nasty storm that rolled thru...

This to me is actually an easier was to propagate onions compared to planting the seeds and then waiting for them to grow enough for seed onion sets for next season.  Here's the content from the link....

Making a bag of onions last forever-

It makes me wonder why more people don’ t do this.  I thought about it and I thought that maybe a lot of people just don’t know how.  I should just blog the process and enlighten you.   It is heaps of fun and certainly a way of providing all the onions you will ever need for your household.

This is how step by step:

Materials to start.

Slice of the onion base or save the base from your dinner preparation tonight.

• You will need:
• any onion
• a sharp knife
• board
• pot with some soil

The onion base

Slice the onion at the base root end,  leaving a decent amount of onion attached.  I like to think of that as nourishment the plant will need until it can survive alone, only my theory.  Leave this base for a few  hours to dry just a little or form a skin if you like, it hardens a little and toughens.
Place the onion base in soil either in the pot or directly into the garden.  Make a spot for it and sit it gently down on to the ground with a faerie push.. not hard and gently cover with some soil about enough to cover it 2cm or so.  Water well

onion sprouted in the garden

Onion shoots dug up for splitting

Roots start to form and this is evident when green shoots start to appear above the ground.   Keep watering and when sufficient roots and a plant have formed.  Dig it up.

sliced shoot to make two plants

This step is important and now its time to multiply what you already have.   One onion will usually form 2 or more separate plants.  You will see this in the base you have dug up.

Go back to your sharp knife and board and slice through these separate onion plants leaving root stock on all of the separate pieces.

Peel off any excess onion from the shoot. You will know this as it has already begun to separate from the onion.

Make a nice spot for your new baby onions and plant. Once in the ground slice off the green 2/3 of the way down the green.  Don’t panic this will be good for the plant and it will grow true strong leaves then.

The spot should have plenty of room because before very long you will have a continuous bed of onions growing and harvesting!

 I hope this explains the process of what I do here almost daily.  I have been doing this for awhile and it has become very apparent to me as I said in the beginning that  a lot are not aware how to do this!   No one I showed except one person knew,  that one person didn’t have success and thought they did it wrong!  They did,  the didn’t separate after shooting the first time!
Food should not be the price it is in shops and controlled by multinational companies.  It is FOOD.  Take back ownership of at least the onions.  This  process I have outlined is just one simple way you can at least provide your own family with relatively free onions forever!

Happy Gardening!
Ps  Garlic can be planted as simple as well.   I will blog that process separately down the track!    Just briefly though with the garlic you separate a garlic and plant the pieces in to the ground by sitting the bottom / root end gently on the well prepared ground / don’t cover with dirt..Do then cover with about ten inches of Mulch.. that’s it… no pictures here yet!  I will do this soon!  No need to panic yet as its too early for planting for optimum!  You plant latest of summer just before autumn or fall as some of you may call it!   9mths in the ground.. cut the flowers and pull up a month after the flower chopping!

Farm "Tales" or Tails...

Okay, let's start with a little background... my rural area actually has a wildlife rescue.  It's a non profit and the woman running it is, frankly, a bitch.  She reminds me of those PETA activists who think us mere mortals are much too stupid to care for animals.  Anyway, I have this thing about baby animals.  Doesn't matter what it is, I can't just let it die for no reason.  I even once hatched out a clutch of water moccasin eggs from a well I filled in.  Anyway, a friends' daughter came across a baby skunk.  Don't know the specifics but she had it.  She called the rescue and the woman was promptly rude to her (as expected) and refused the baby skunk.  She brought the baby skunk to me for advice.  I rubbed the baby skunk on my dirty shirt (been sweating all day planting trees) and then rubbed it on my very pregnant farm cat, Charcoal.  Charcoal, being the good mother she is and very close to birthing, immediately loved it up and took off with it.  This morning I went on the search to find where she had deposited the baby skunk, just to double check and make sure she did what I was expecting her to do.  Yep, she did.  Come to find out, she'd had her kittens in the old barn loft and the baby skunk is right in the pile.  Score one for mother nature!  Since Charcoals kittens will grow up to be farm cats (wilder than June hares) the baby skunk will have no problems growing up wild as it should be.  Another baby animal saved from death.  With any luck, the skunk will inherit Charcoals road sense and be an unusual addition to the crazy critters that call this piece of land their home.  Can't wait for the first spray, LOL  Just glad I didn't have to try to put that baby skunk on a rabbit Momma!  That could have been interesting...

 The bottle babies learning about feed from the chickens!

 Cocoa calf supervising the milking.

 The seasons first strawberries!  Oh yum, they were tasty!

Our newest edition to the farm herd, this little guy was born on Wednesday.  I'm still waiting for the walking houseboat called Sissy Goat to kid....

Spring Shaping Up

 The 4 days of rain passed and the cows are happy to be back outside and grazing.  Dingleberry keeps right with Goober and Cocoa.

I picked up a recipe for stuffed peppers off a friend on facebook and gave it a try.  All the ingredients but the vinegar and worcestershire sauce can be grown, created or hunted here.  Onions, celery, ground meat, tomato sauce, cheese and the peppers.  Eh, it had a good flavor but if I make this again, I will be changing a few things...

The peppers were the last thing I made in the kitchen that didn't turn to shit.  yesterday, I tried to make a cheesecake and a ball of mozzarella cheese.  Both did not turn out so good.  Guess I had too many other things going on at the same time.  I'll need to get out of the funk quick tho, I've got another 3 gallons of milk in the fridge just from yesterdays milking!

Today I will be finishing the mowing (hopefully)  There's a bunch that needs to be mowed in areas I will be working in this week.  The ticks are already taking over the farm and the tall grass just gives them a deeper hold.  Push mowing sucks.  Not much alternative tho since it's all I've got.

I'll be scavenging the scrap wood pile for pieces I can use to make the new chicken hut.  I'd like to have that done by this weekend....

Lots to do.............