WabiSabi, hoof trimming, turkey porn

after reading the latest edition of Mother Earth News, I enjoyed the WabiSabi article the best.
...will inspire you to see that less is more, simple is beautiful and there is endless beauty in the everyday objects around you... http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/Japanese-Philosophy-Of-Wabi-Sabi-Seeing-Beauty-In-The-Everyday.aspx#ixzz1CYFoGLWi

I'll have to name a goat - WabiSabi.
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we've had some decent weather this weekend, Mike got 30 more bales of hay yesterday, got 'em in the hayloft. 40 bales last weekend and 30 bales this weekend, we should be good on hay until June - hay season.

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today [Sunday], we've been hoof trimming

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We measured Cahoot, we worried he has grown too tall at the withers, for the show ring. Not supposed to exceed 23 1/2" at the top of the shoulders.

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and we've been witnessing a lot of turkey porn this weekend. Obviously, it's turkey breeding season. Everytime we walk by a turkey girl, she lays down. :-)

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Franklin and Jefferson don't allow Bennie any of the action but Bennie seems to be doing fairy well.

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I've been trying to see if by bred does are pregnant. We don't ever have any bucks running with the girls, but put a doe and a buck in a pen for a minute if the doe is in heat. The buck will mount her for 2 seconds and it's over, so never sure if it took. Sometimes, it's obvious when a girl is in heat but sometimes not. Nigerians come into heat every 21 days.

We'll go to the gym this evening, we have a schedule of Sun, Tues, and Thurs evenings, unless the weather doesn't cooperate. Mike was a long-distance runner in a previous life, and he's worked his way up to 4 miles running on the treadmill. I mostly do the elliptical machine and weights.

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CalorieCount, seems good, it's free and easy to keep up with calories each day. I've only used it one day, however, Friday :-) when I cook on the weekends, I don't know how to track it. I made some REALLY good SloppyJoe's this weekend. Loads of flavor.

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Gotta get back to hoof trimming at the moment.

on my way to work this morning

When the snow is on the outhouse...

we've got the snow a blowin' today
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When the snow is on the outhouse,
And the frost is on the seat;
It’s then that nature’s duty calls
And you move with hurried feet!

You don’t have time to shovel,
So you waller through the snow;
And you don’t need a weatherman
To know it’s four below!

You make a quick deposit
And tear a page or two
Of last year’s mail house catalog –
Or even corn cobs will do!

Then to the house and fireside
You hurry without fail…
With frozen stuff hanging from your nose
And frostbite on your tail!

gas prices

Oh my, driving down our main street this morning, at the gas stations, I was seeing $3.04 per gallon gas for regular on one side of the street and $3.05 per gallon for regular gas on the other side of the street.

Geez, I can't afford gasoline or a new electric/battery-operated car. How much is regular gas in your area?

in the Belly of the Beast

Yes, I've read another prison book. I buy 'em real cheap off of Amazon - used books. This one was written by Jack Henry Abbott.

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1965 - At the age of twenty-one, Jack Abbott was serving a sentence for forgery in a Utah prison when he stabbed a fellow inmate to death. He was given a sentence of three to twenty years for this offense.
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1971 - His sentence was increased by a further nineteen years after he escaped and committed a bank robbery in Colorado. Behind bars he was troublesome and often refused to obey guards' orders. He spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement.
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It was Abbott's good fortune that the federal prison had a library. He began to read everything he could get his hands on, especially the works of the classic philosophers. "Nine-tenths of my vocabulary, I have never heard spoken,"

1977 - He read that author Norman Mailer was writing about convicted killer Gary Gilmore. Abbott wrote to Mailer and offered to write about his time behind bars and the conditions he was experiencing. Mailer agreed and helped to publish In the Belly of the Beast, a book on life in the prison system consisting of Abbott's letters to Mailer. Mailer received over 2,000 letters from Abbott. He described them as the most intense, direct, unadorned and detached letters he had ever read.

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"How I wish this would end! How I wish I could walk free in the world, could find my life again and see and do things other people do."

So the book basically ends here. Just facinating how his writings are just amazing for someone who didn't get past the 6th grade. I start wondering whatever happened to Abbott so I do a Goggle search...

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1980 - After Abbott’s widely publicised book was launched there was a campaign, initiated by Mailer and supported by leading Hollywood writers and actors, for Abbott’s release on parole. Susan Sarandon named her son, Jack Henry, after him.
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Abbott was released on parole in June 1980. He went to New York City and was the toast of the literary scene for a short while. On the morning of July 18, just six weeks after getting out of prison, Jack Abbott went to a small cafe called the Binibon in Manhattan. He clashed with 22-year-old Richard Adan, son-in-law of the restaurant's owner, over Adan's telling him the restroom was for staff only. The short-tempered Abbott stabbed Adan in the chest, killing him. The very next day, unaware of Abbott's crime, the New York Times ran a positive review of The Belly of the Beast.
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1982 - He was convicted of manslaughter and given fifteen years to life. Apart from the advance fee of $12,500, Abbott did not receive any profits from The Belly of the Beast, as Richard Adan's widow successfully sued him for $7.5 million in damages, which meant she received all the money from the book's sales.
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2001 - He appeared before the parole board, but his application was turned down because of his failure to express remorse and his lengthy criminal record and disciplinary problems in prison.
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2002 - On February 10, 2002, Jack Abbott hanged himself in his prison cell using a makeshift noose constructed from his bedsheets and shoelaces. He left a suicide note, whose contents have not been made public.

I like redheads

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats
Bourbon Red Turkeys
Rhode Island Red Chickens

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5 of our 7 bucks

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We bought 40 more bales of hay today.

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Pied Guinea's

goat-weight tape

A couple of years ago, recommended by my experienced goat friends, I bought a goat-weight tape from Hoeggers's Supply. I recently read a couple posts from bloggers wondering how to approximate a dairy goat's weight. I think the weight tape is more for standard-size dairy goats and I have Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats (however, all our goats are fat), but it gives me some idea about their weight, when I dose for wormers, etc.
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You put the tape just behind the front legs and come up around the body - heart girth.
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http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=3669&cat=0&page=1
Use this handy, easy-to-read measuring tape to determine the approximate weight of your goats. This specially designed tape converts your goat’s heart girth measurement into body weight. Made of sturdy, wipe-clean vinyl.
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Any feedback would be appreciated.

2 new recipes

From Noble Pig - I made this Ramen noodle recipe tonight - easy, inexpensive, and tasty. You don't use the seasoning packet. I'm not a cilantro fan so I used chives. Next time, I'll probably add in some green peas, water chestnuts, fresh mushrooms, then some scrambled egg sprinkled on top.
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watch Giada make these Fried/Smashed Red Potatoes,be sure to see the smash part

Martha Stewart's digs

Martha Stewart

click on her name
and check out Martha's Stewart's home, click through the photo's. I'm sure I could be quite comfortable there, especially having all the manpower that she does.

Yellow Wolf Farm

Yellow Wolf Farm
http://yellowwolffarm.blogspot.com/
This post is about sending you to another blog. Stacey is a friend of mine who lives an hour plus away. For y'all who enjoy my blog, you'll like hers because Stacey knows a lot about self-sufficient living. Follow her blog and you'll learn a lot.


HonkyTonk first was bought my my sister-in-law, Sherry (Scott and Jeremy's mother), at a Farmers Market. Then, he lived with us for a while when we lived in a rural neighborhood. Then, he lived with a family, one county over, who had a beautiful pond. Then, after his girlfriend got killed, he came back to us, and then he went to Stacey's, but she sent him and her other geese to live at a vineyard while she was moving, once settled Stacey got them back. He is the tamest gander you'll ever meet, such a wonderful personality, just darling. I had a diaper made for him, made out of bathing suit material, and he'd sometimes sleep next to my bed.
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One time, Mike and I put HonkyTonk in the backseat, drove 6 hours one way to Cornerstone Farm, spent 2 nights at their B&B, to let HT pick out a girlfriend. Super African, Tootsie, picked HIM out. Scroll down almost to the bottom and you'll see us.

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http://yellowwolffarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/permanent-residents.html
Also, be sure to read about Stacey's, Rufus.
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Stacey knows that if HonkyTonk ever needs to be rehomed again, now that we live on 30 acres, HonkyTonk (and his present girlfriend) would always have a home here.
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Also notice that Yellow Wolf Farm and Cornerstone Farm have Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats.

Pork, Chickens, nephews, hopefully thawing out

Today, Mike and I are working on this Pulled Pork Recipe

at the moment, the pork is lathered with mustard, and the dry rub is on

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Due to such harsh winter weather, 2 roosters and 2 hens have died. Both, our Wheaten Marans roo and our Cuckoo Marans roo - Duffy and Early. Hoping to thaw out some today and the surviving animals get a respite.

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We went to see nephew Jeremy in jail this morning. He said whenever he receives a letter now, the other guys ask if it's from the "farmers." Apparently, everyone at the jailhouse is appreciating me sending goat, turkey, and chicken photo's.

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Christopher Meade is also in the same jail as Jeremy. On Saturday mornings, our visit to the jailhouse is an "interesting" place.

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Jeremy told me not to read anymore prison books, said he was still hoping not to go.

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This afternoon (while the pork slowly bakes), we're going to see another nephew, Demetre, wrestle at the high school. Not all of Mike's family are convicts. :-)
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We used to always see Jeremy around cutting wood, that bulldozer is a constant reminder.

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Purkey says she's waiting for the Easter Bunny.

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The sun is out today, but doesn't get here until about 11:00AM, when it tops the hill. I've had to hike the road all week, my truck is still parked at inlaws.