The Country Homemaker Hop #62

Happy Wednesday!  I hope your Mother's Day was full of hugs and time spent with loved ones.  My day was great.  While traveling back home from the Chino Goat Show I managed to sneak in a few short visits with my Mom-in-law and my own Mother and sisters.  Everyone is well and my entire family fell in love with my baby goats.

California, like much of the country, has been experiencing strange weather again this year.  Our temperatures have been hovering near twenty degrees above average every day, near the century mark. Gasp.

Around the homestead lately, things have been buzzing.  My NWC honeybees threw off a swarm that appear to have killed/taken over the small hive of feral italian bees that I pulled from the house wall a few weeks ago.  I am sad about the loss of the feral bees especially since they were so gentle compared to my carniolans, but I do now have a thriving second hive.

My baby dairy goats are thriving.  I recently cut them back to two milk bottles per day since they've been eating alfalfa and minerals really well for a while now.  I introduced a grain mix (just a bit) to expand their palette.

My shih tzu dogs think they're little lords.  They'd run wild up and down the mountainside if I did not kennel them.  Unfortunately, they are on the menu of some of our large predators so until the main front yard fence is finished, they're imprisoned.

My garden is growing well in spite of the countless gophers and even moles. Ick!  I have lost count of how many I have killed this month, but I know it's now more than 15.  These last few are pretty smart though.  I am going to have to figure out how to outfox them soon.

Yesterday, we found a bird nest full of chicks under a wall mounted air conditioner unit.  I am not sure what kind of bird they are yet, but the mother bird is nearly as tiny as they are.  Amazing.  Just a hair larger than hummingbirds.

We had to move them gently and thankfully Mama has been tending them still.  I just saw her bring back another flying insect critter to feed her hungry brood.

Well, I am off to weed whack.  I have 5 acres of pasture to knock down this week.  My hubby got me a neat contraption.  It's like a weed whacker built onto the wheels of a lawn mower.  It really speeds things up for me and it seems to find all the downed, long lost barbed wire...  it sure is a blessing.

Have a great week on the homestead!  

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