We had another cold, rainy week with the sun finally making an appearance today. Read below for more detailed descriptions of the photos.
- This was taken where Rainey creek flows into Riffe Lake, a lake created by an dam in the 60’s. New regulations regarding earthquake readiness have forced them to keep the lake much lower than usual which will result in hundreds or thousands of acres of new pasture land.
- This time of year we have very little fresh veggies so we usually make some sprouts. To go with our salad, I made some baked beans with lots of dehydrated vegetables added. We also offered some of the fresh mozzarella that I make with any milk that doesn’t get sold.
- Our farm is just below Dog Mountain, a popular spot for hang gliders. This picture was taken at the wildlife preserve about a mile from our farm.
12. Twasheek unfortunately stepped on a nail that penetrated the soft part of his hoof (frog) by about an inch. He developed an infection as a result and is not putting any weight on the affected foot. Our farrier made him a boot to keep the foot clean and dry and we’re giving the old guy pain meds and antibiotics. Because Twasheek is 35 years old (about 100 in human years), he may succumb to this trauma, but we’re remaining optimistic for now. It happened on Sunday and now, on Friday he’s still not putting any weight on the foot. He is, however laying down which will give his other front foot some relief.
13. Our seed incubator wasn’t keeping the flats warm enough and now after a week, we have very little germination. I put in a higher watt lightbulb (the heat source) and it seems to be keeping warm now. However I don’t know if any of the seeds that really need the warm environment have rotted due to being too cold. We may be late this year in getting our nightshade seedlings started: tomatoes, eggplant and peppers.
14. Billy is making an new, improved seed incubator that is large enough that I can keep flats of started seedlings in it over night. We don’t have a heated greenhouse, so we’re always trying to figure out how to keep the heat loving starts happy.
15. Ra Ra is a 4 year old ox whose mother died when he was only 3 days old. His former owners had no way to feed him, so we adopted him. This week we moved him into the round pen with Lani Moo, Shyami and Bala because he was getting beaten up with the big boys. In this picture he is meeting the new chicks for the first time. He was careful not to step on them.
16. The chicks’ daddies are quite gentle with the babies. This was the first day that I let them out because it has been so rainy.
New Nandagram Cow Protection 