Orchids and more

Siting here working on some photos.. enjoying the warm sun saying spring is here.. (but we most likely will get frost soon sigh) went to the local store.. and they finally got a new shipment of orchids.. i picked out one phalaenopsis.. or moth orchid.. i hope it survives. this is the first orchid i got that had rot in some roots an was looking like it could get a bad case of it and die.. but. i trimmed off the sick roots.. sprayed it clean.. picked off other stuff.. sprayed again dipped it in a vitamin b complex solution to help the roots and put it in fresh orchid medium.. or called orchid bark..
sad to say allot of store orchids come packed with sphagnum moss. and tightly.. not allowing for air movement.. and its usually so soaked it starts to rot.
here are a few photos of some of my new orchids.. you will notice the one looks different than the other which is the same color.. they are the same .. clones.. but the difference is one is peloric.. which means the 2 petals turn into lips in a way.. some are more peloric than others.. this is a strong peloric.. farther down this page you will see the yellow orchid.. it is also peloric .. but light on it... they dont know what causes orchids to go peloric.. they think sometimes during the cloning process something gets tweaked... its possible..

winter storm warning

ahh its hard to believe there is a winter storm warning in effect. but then maybe not.. its so nice and toasty in the house with the wood stove going.. a pot of 3 day stew bubling on top emmiting its aromas tempting me into an early meal.

my orchids are blooming also the full size orange tree in a pot with tennisball sized fruits hanging off the branches.. and my 3 other dwarf citrus going too.... belying the fact that it is winter outside. christmas will soon be here.

a good friend gave me her mothers old car.. so now i have a way of getting around especially when mother is at work.. being a 1 car family out in the country. doesnot work well.

Thanksgiving

There are many things I am thankfull for. my health.. my family.. my life. many things even that I cannot put to words.This Thanksgiving was different.. the last couple years its just mom and I .. not much to cook for.. lol. this year we were invited to our churches supper . actually it was more like a huge family. and extended family and we were invited and joined in. there were children everywhere.. it was wonderful.. my contribution to the meal was one sliced thin smoked venison rump. it was tender and tasty. and one person who didn't like deer meat as she said it all tasted nasty was very surprised.. and also one smoked heritage turkey. a young royal palm.

i butchered the bird. plucked it then cleaned it out.. made a brine of sugar water salt cinnamon sticks all spice and other spices.. and soaked the bird in a bucket for 12 hours.. i then took it out.. rinsed it off.. and smoked it in mesquite.. then after that we cooked it.. that turkey came out sooo good.. by time dinner was done.. the carcase looked like vultures had picked at it.. it was the funniest thing to see..

but it made me feel good to know i helped feed these people.. that I also contributed my mother made the dressing. a wonderful bread dressing with apples.. yum..

It's been a while

Life got ahold of me and its been a while since I last posted.. but im back.. I don't have the goats anymore.. it was too hard for me to contain them.. they with thier penchance for escape. lol.. so i got a milk cow.. easier to corall in.. one animal. 4 spigots.. and all is well.. still have the chickens.. a few horses and of course turkeys.. the bees got sold but we plan on getting more.. part of the life hitting us is that we thought we were going to have to move.. moms job and all..

the foal that was posted last year is a nice long yearling now.. will be 2 july 31.

this is a photo from summer time.

It's a Girl!!!

this morning. kate foaled a beautifull filly. dark bay almost black. going to go grey. 2 hind what look like partial stockings. half the hoof each is growing out black. verry super tippy ears. the tippiest i have ever seen from one of her foals. just looking at them reminds me of the mawari horses from india. lol. kate had a fairly easy delivery. baby wanted to litterally run from birth on. i had to pick her up to move her to a safer area..(small grass paddoc foaling) and she resented it immensly. trying to buck her hind end up and kick. lol. had to have the vet out because kate retained her placenta. filly in the meantime is running around and the vet commented on how active she was for a 8 hour old foal.

Foaling time is soon to be here

About once a year I breed one or 2 mares to my stallion. this year I have Kate.(Kayem Khaloufa) a purebred arabian mare in foal to Haap Whispering Wind. aka Peter..""I wanted to name him Haap E Peter"" lol
but anyways. Kate is now 22. Arabian mares are known for thier fertility and longevity .I have known arabian mares to foal up to thier 30s! last year sadly kates only purebred filly GT Kassandraa "others were boys" had a freak accident and broke her back. she is the grey in deep grass in the photo a couple blogs down. she was something else. totally unflapable. even when the trailer unhitched itelf from the truck going down a steep curvy road. and it was her first time trailering too. this was a fily that if she saw you with hot chockolate in the winter you better give her some or she would take it for herself. just thinking and remembering her makes me sad and brings tears to my eyes.. she was that special. well this year. I am hoping that kate foals a filly. tho I will be happy for a healthy foal of any color and gender. it will most likely be kates last foal. she deserves retirement from babies after this one. now most arab breeders would not think to breed her. her with her too long face. more upright shoulder. long back.. but. what makes her special. her attitude. the never give up. she also has never gone lame or had any other problems. i used to use her as a guide horse on trail rides for a rental stable. going out several times a day racking in 15 or more miles. now that might not seem like much. but it was up a steep one lane dirt road. trucks and cars would zoom past. then up and down steep california hills. this was a old ranch next to lake dixon in southern california. beautifull country.I would team pen off her. team sort. goat tie. gymkhana.etc. parades.Her first son Krol Monarch is a endurance horse of the best type. he won in open halter shows while i had him as did his sister kassandraa... this is a type of mare i deem quality enough to breed. one that passes on her stability. usability. mind set. and inner beauty as well as outer beauty. she consistantly produced better than herself.

There are alot of people that will say. I dont like arabs they are too wild. etc. well a arabian is a thinking persons horse. you cant just manhandle them. the bedouins for so many years had bred them for thier mind and usability in warfare. they would keep the mares in thier tents before even allowing thier wives in to sleep. the horses for so many generations carefully selected thus had almost become human in thier minds and like a child woudl not do well in an abusive environment. also nowadays most people are breeding strictly for looks. the wild horses that people see are the ones that are not only man made from abuse in the showring etc. (there are many non abusive trainers out there) but from so much interbreeding just for looks and to heck with the mind. that like in any animal. bad breeding is bad breeding. you breed a mean or wild dog to another you will most likely get the same. no matter what it looks like. you breed for a good steady animal. that can go the distance. and work for you. and to heck with the looks. you will get a great animal. and bonus if it is typey.sad is the day that the show animal today is nothing like what came before. the day when a single horse was brought in by a family. shown mandy differenc diciplines and did well raring to go at the end of the day still. nowadays unfortunatley there are too many specilized horses. that can it seems do only one thing and thankfully there are quite a few breeders that look for usability and mind set and then looks. the polish arabian breeders are one. they breed. then race them if they do well they show.. heck most of our best horses have ties to polish blood. Bask being a big one and Witez.
well anyways sorry for rambling on. the photo above is of kate. she is the white mare. and within 2-3 weeks she should foal. I have the front pen/pasture all ready. cleaned lots of fresh grass growing and well fenced. will have photos when baby is born I promise.

We have liftoff!! "babies chicks hatched"

well late last night. first egg got a tented crack in its shell. those who have incubated or seen babies hatch know what i am talking about. so far the count is 12 babies out of 48 eggs 5 were clear and one didnot make it past the second week. (candle eggs that are being incubated. if you dont and one is bad it will explode contaminationg the hatch and killing most of the babies in egg..)

so far it looks like 8 silvers and 4 golden laced wyndotts. no rocks so far in this hatch. woohoo.

a rock is a wyndotte with a normal comb not the rose comb.

this is the third generation. about 2 years ago i bought thier grandparents as chicks. raised them. had them lay so many eggs that i kept a few and hatched those. they in turn grew up. i ate the males. and kept the females.. and took thier eggs for this hatch. i might do another hatch later in the year have not decided yet.

now for different news. . has anyone seen the ark go by? 4 straight days of unrelentless rain.. my garden on the hill is saturated. 1/3 the popcorn fell over due to the super soft soil and the high winds. i got wire up between. so they are semi up. as long as they are not on the ground. they can get polinated and still produce my ears i need. i cannot workj in the garden. each step and the mudd is over my ankles.. my tomatoes are wilted a bit. i suspect it is from the 4 days wet and cold then today was sorta sunny and hot. will see how they do later. and will keep an eye on them. sure hope they dont die. we are depending on them for this winters stores.

but suck is life on a farm. you depend on nature and god to get what you need. the moon and stars watermellon is doing well. as is the cantelope. i sure hope the potatoes do not rot in the ground. as soon as it is dry enough im diggin those puppies up and storing them. gotta harvest the kholrabi and cann the leaves and the main part.

things are looking up in the old house.. one day we will get a real stick house but right now. we just make it by. it sure is nice not having to be totally dependant on the store for your goodies.

last week i made my own candy. black lickorice. the old fasioned hard candy. it came out great. but i also learned. if you make candy and it says do not stir then dont stir. if you do. like i did with the first batch. you will end up getting crystilization before it even gets to the hard crack stage and there is nothing to do to ffix it but grin and bear it and eat it as is..

Musings...

as I sit here in the messy living room looking out of the window at my clean well growing vegetable garden. I think, boy I am so lucky and so blessed. it was a struggle for mom and I to get where we are today. Mom started in California with me a small child. and my sister just born. we were in a apartment. later mom was able to buy a town house with her VA loan..(she was a Marine)15 years pass. we had a garden in the small 20 x20 back yard but it was not much. the city grew and the once nice area turned dangerous. we then go up to a small desert town community near Idylwild.. did you know that Elvis visited the lake hemet. also. if you watch old westerns and if you remember bonanza? that opening scene was shot in mountain center. I also rode horses up in the mountains.. later that small town started to grow. people moved in with dirt bikes saying we moved here so our children could enjoy themselves. but it was at the detriment of the longtime residents. so we decide to move again. I tell mom. want about Missouri?It is midway between NY where her family lives and California where my sister lives her daughter.....I had gone to Missouri to visit some Friends i knew...and I knew the area and liked it immensely. so we head up here to check out houses.. point taken. if you go to house hunt. and like a house by photos. don't buy by photos along go up to look at it and take someone with you that has no interest in the house you buy so that you have someone to tell you hold on friend. this house has too many problems look at it. is it something you want to deal with?
well finally we find the house for us. tho not what i would like permanently it is a nice place. 8 acres in a l shape big pond for fish and water for livestock and us if we need it. sloping hiss where i have my garden .. some woods for firewood and beauty. nut trees for food.easy access to a road. and mom was able to buy it outright . it was a miracle that we got it. mom was not sure if we would qualify for a loan since she did not have a job here in Missouri at the time. we looked and looked for houses. finally we went to one Realtor. told them what we wanted. and as the lady was stockpiling places to go look. mom was looking through the magazines that place put out. she said. what about this place 8 acres and a pond 2 car detached garage. single wide mobile with an add on (someday we will build a stick house on it). for 49 k.. lady said its already been sold. the guy came up and said nope. it just fell out of escrow that morning! so the lady takes us and the list of different places. and we head out. first house we saw. was the 49 k one. first time we stepped foot on the land. and i saw the pond. i knew it was for us. we never bothered to look at the other places we bought the house right there.. god had a plan for us and he wanted us to have that house. it might be just a stepping stone for us or it might be permanent. we don't know but we will go with the flow and whatever he has planned for us. This year. it has been 2 years we have been here. we have gone through 3 summers and 2 winters the third year the garden is going it is the best it has been. we will put away allot of the vegetables. can meat etc. and have enough to see us through the winter like last year but this year we will have more.There have been trials and tribulations. and nothing has been super easy. but we weather it and become stronger because of it. and learn. that is the important thing. we learn from the things that we do....

Heeere chicky chicky!

Well.. Last night I cleaned up the incubator. disinfected it and set it up and let it run hot. then this morning I lowered the temp till it was at 99.5-100 degrees then took the eggs i had collected from my flock over the past 4-5 days and set them in. .I now have 48 egg in for hatching. Now all kinds of things can go wrong from now till then. There is a 21 Day incubation period. The egg could be sterile. one could die half way and burst contamination the others the power could go out . etc all kinds of things. But if things go well most will hatch. the Eggs come from my Silver and Golden laced wyndots and rocks. . Personally I prefer to use a automatic egg turner. it turns them so you don't have to .It keeps you from having to handle them allot. lessening the chance of transferring infection to the eggs. also lessens the chance that you will break one. then when they hatch. the ones that do .50% of them at least will be males.. now last year when i did a hatch i was hoping the silvers would be females. well turns out the Golden's were females and the silvers all 11 of them were males. lol. may bee this year things Will go my way?
chickens can be an all purpose breed. you have the eggs. then the meat. the feathers you can use for decoration or to tie flies. their manure is some of the best for gardens. and they can be a source of amusement. ever watch chickens fight over food? throw in a huge Caterpillar one will pick it up and run the others Will follow. the worm will transfer from beak to beak till finally it is pulled apart and the respective winner's eat their spoils.

It's The Cheese!

I am now milking the goats 2 times a day morning at 10:30-11 and night time same time.

I have 4 does that are giving milk. but I'm only milking 3 of them. the one doe with the purebred sannen babies I am leaving them on her to grow as big as possible. not to mention the dam gives so much milk. that each time I go to milk her her udder is tight tight packed

she is one that could easily win at a show with her udder alone..

so, I'm milking 2 first year fresheners and one second year freshener( pictured here). the 2 first years are both purebred sannens the 2ND year one is half alpine and half sable. she has ideal teats but her bag does not get very large. I'm not too worried as it is nice and pliable and so far I'm not having to worry about injuries to it or mastitis which is a infection of the udder that can be caused either by injury or bacterial infection.

well anyways. since I have enough milk in the fridge for us at this time. and I had a hankering for fresh cheese. I decided to make myself some. there is a great place to go to for ingredients culture and recipes. ill put the link on the goat links page.the one I am going to make is a simple cheese using rennet. then you drain the whey off. and make the cheese into a patty.. put into a bowl sprinkle salt on top. let sit a couple hours and turn it over. and sprinkle that side with salt and let sit a little longer. you then can use it in recipes or eat it fresh.

Horse Power....

I love horses.. my first equine. was a donkey ...In 1994 a friend gave me (where I lived at the time) a donkey from the blm and her daughter.. more like a long term loan.

with patience and only a bit and bailing twine,I taught that donkey to take a rider. and I learned to stick like a flea on their flat level backs going up and down steep hills.It was not till 4 months later when I was able to afford a saddle.

That took some time to get used to for me lol. Well one day my friend 3 miles down the road called me and said. have a hen for you if you want it. SO. without a car and since we are way out in the country anyways. I saddled up my trusty long eared steed .I get my empty purse with a zipper on it and head on out. about a hour later I get to her place. we sit and chat a bit and talk about different animals and such as goes on in the farming community. she then hands me the hen. so I put it into the purse with its head sticking out and the zipper zipped up to its head. It could not get out but it could breath. Well. I go up to the donkey and twine the handle of the purse to the saddle horn and I hop on. All is going well. we go about 200 feet when the chicken goes Bwaaaaaaakkkkk... donkey stops.. then donkey goes one way and I go the other. I get up and dust off. and watch the poor donkey go into a spin trying to find out what the heck is attacked to its side. lol soon tho she stops and I'm able to get up to her.. and show her it is not a problem. all is fine and I'm on my way back home...

My second was an Arabian gelding named EverReady. As he was always ready to go.
he was the neatest animal. was dumped at a low end auction by his breeder. We never found out why. He was the most steady trustworthy animal. At that time I lived way out about 5 miles down a dirt road.I used to do everythign on him. Ride bareback Explore all the different trails. The place I lived was way behind the Wild animal park in California..If you rode about 8 miles down different fire roads you could get to the service road that went behind the place. I got to see the condors in their breeding pen. and other critters. they even have a Mexican fan palm that did something rare. about 10-14 feet up.. it slit in half and now one stem and 2 palm heads that now go up about 3-5 feet each. I probably put hundreds of miles on that guy. one time. a friend wanted one of the sheep i had. soo. I saddled him up. shoved the sheep over the saddle and got on behind. all went well. you cant say all horses would have put up with that. but he did.

Now we have just 2 horses.. Kate a Grey arabian mare.. who I sorta Rescued when she was 12. (long and separate story to that)who is now 21 and expecting her 5Th and final foal. and Mouse. a unknown breed Grulla filly who when I got her had a month old stifle injury and was totally 3 legged lame. with PT bute and shoeing I did myself. she can now walk almost normally. can trot a bit and can run like a wild thing. She is 3 years old this year I'm guessing from the teeth.

Got fish?

Well today started out OK for me. had some things to do inside the house. then I had to clean out and refill the bee feeders. ( top feeders that go over the hive)
well. I get the feeders cleaned I'm all dressed up for the bees.I have my arms full the 5 gallon bucket of sugar syrup. and the other side I'm pulling the cart. well at the gate. all heck breaks loose. I trip. and I thought I can catch myself on the pipe panels (portable pipe corals I use as a gate for that area) well I lean into it when I tripped. and it starts to slide so I end up having a good hit on my right ear. the sugar water goes everywhere. and a bit of the cartilage in my ear is torn.I can feel it clinking when I touch it also is pain full. Its the inner rim of the ear towards the back the hard stuff. SO I get done with what I can. and clean myself up. I decide to go fishing. and I catch 2 respectable size fish. hey mom guess what we are having for dinner. this is all from our pond too.

Midnight light show........

Last night around 12 midnight. lightning was playing around the sky not touching ground but racing from one end to the other. they were probably the longest lightning i have seen. i tried to get photos but it didn't quite work . digital cameras are not good at that stuff. but i did catch a small one. I'm hoping things will dry out so i can weed the garden. i can weed now but it is so moist out there that the weeds will survive the uprooting and regrow new roots. i have to wait for a nice sunny day. where they will be dry up after I uproot them. The poor goats are hating this as they don't like to get wet and it cuts down on their grazing time. and i cant wean the babies till i can get some hay in to feed them with . and i cant do that till it dries enough for the local farmers to cut the years first. ahh everything is connected somehow out here. and if one thing doesn't fall into place it sort o puts a binder on things.i don't have to quite milk the goats until i can wean the babies off thankfully.tho i can get a bit if i need it by taking a baby off at night and taking the morning milk.

Garden and colorfull Popcorn

Here is the previously promised photo of one of my varigated indian popcorns. i think it will take another couple years before I have the gene down and it breeds true.

frogs and more..............

The other night we had a visitor at the door. A tree frog. I was able to take a few photos. and then go out and actually feed it a few moths. the greedy gut took them all. the weather doesn't seem to be calming. this morning around 4 am it started to thunder. and the alarm went off warning about flood danger for certain counties. and it is not only out here in the country that can get flooded. cities are in far worse danger. with all the cement and other stuff blocking the natural seepage of rainwater into the ground . Instead of going into the ground it travels on top. collecting and causing havoc. This morning I woke up to partial sun wet ground from the evenings rain. the ground is too wet to do any weeding without sinking to my ankles in the soil.
the garden is huge and when we first moved here it was pure clay. each year it gets better and the vegetables grow better and stronger. and the soil itself gets more added humus.
we did have a semi late hard frost this year. everything had leafed out roses were in bloom then bam. we had such a hard frost that the leaves on the trees were toast as well as the flower buds on the nut trees and acorns. and the roses. my poor roses. every one of them died. see the growth means there is fluid in there flowing. and when we had that fast hard frost. it caused the fluid in the cells to expand. effectively killing the plant. thankfully the fruit trees survived.. all the leaves on the rhubarb were toast. and the new growth has spindly stems in comparison to the earlier first growth. ahh the life on a farm never know what is gona hit you next. lol. heck about 6 weeks ago I wake up early go to feed the dairy goats. and notice a baby's leg is hanging sideways. I'm thinking. o damn.. so i go to get the baby. an hour later.. I catch her..
I give her a little ace to calm her down and semi knock her out. take a PVC pipe that I had prepared by cutting to size then in half. wrapped her leg in batting. put the half pipe over the back of her leg. and wrap it all in sealatex bandaging. the self sticky stuff. about3 weeks-4 weeks later I gently take it off and examine her. it is solid. and not moving. there is a big lump around the area where the bone restructured itself. bone does that and about a year or 2 later it will look normal again as it re restructures itself.the area of the break will also be stronger than it was before. she was gimpy for about 2-3 weeks.. and now can walk run and jump like nothing happened.