Farminess and Homesteading...

Thought instead of my usual Saturday postcard...
I'd share a cute video by a homesteader
and don't worry...the ending is pleasant : )



May your day or night be pleasant by the grace of God.

When the Man is not Around...

a rare occurance here on Pilgrim's Farm...

is when my husband isn't around to take care of the manly things

so, when one of the plantain trees fell over on the cottage compound fence...

and my husband had duties elsewhere for the day...

I assessed the situation and knew my wimpy woman muscles would come into play

with the tree bringing the fence down to the ground...

and the tree acting as a possible bridge to goatville on the other side...

and my dog, Shadow, with a penchant for chasing goats in a not so playful way...

"who? me?!"

but, who is otherwise great with the chickens...

"you good doggie, you"

well, this couldn't wait for my man to come home to

I did notice a bunch of plantains fell with the tree

grabbing my machete...

I went to the other side of the fence...

and what would have taken my husband to do with about 3 whacks...

took me about 50 whacks

and being careful not to whack the irrigation line to the orchard trees in the process

the plantains are still young but, edible...

and in my next week's post, I'll show you how we eat them green

the job wasn't done after the tree cutting...

the fence had to be pulled back up and that was harder than I first thought

it took some pulling and yanking and by the time I had it back up all the way...

the sweat was running into my eyes

but, there you have it...

a pause in enjoying a mission accomplished

the goats are safer and Shadow is safer

speaking of accomplishment...

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished,

that the scripture might be fulfilled,

said, I thirst.

And he that saw it bare record,

and his record is true:

and he knoweth that he saith true,

that ye might believe.

For these things were done,

that the scripture should be fulfilled,

A bone of him shall not be broken.

John 19:28,35,36

Jesus Christ's mission when He died on the cross was accomplished in the saving of His people.

May your day or night be accomplished in the grace of God.

Fowl Deeds...

As in chicken, that is...

once a month, when I clean out the chicken coop...

and the old stuff gets shoveled into buckets...

my garden eagerly anticipates fresh nutrition

a month's worth of old grass cuttings and chicken manure...

gets unceremoniously dumped into the tomato beds

this makes good fertilizer and heightens up my garden beds...

giving more mulch around the roots of the plants

and because I know little flies come around to enjoy the scent of fresh chicken compost...

I sprinkle a little diatomaceous earth to discourage their visits around my plants

and it was rumored among the chicken gossipers that Rosie...

my latest pullet who graduated to full-fledged egg layer...

rebelled against the rules of the roost...

and opted to lay her eggs under a rock in the rock garden

at least...she let me know where her egg can be found

this planter pot apparently gives peepers the idea that...

it's comfortable seating

Praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord from the heavens:

praise ye him in the heights.

Praise ye him, all his angels:

praise ye him, all his hosts.

Praise ye him, sun and moon:

praise ye him, all ye stars of light.

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,

and ye waters that be above the heavens.

Let them praise the name of the Lord:

for he commanded, and they were created.

He hath also established them for ever and ever:

he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

Mountains, and all hills; 

fruitful trees, and all cedars:

Beasts, and all cattle; creeping thing, and flying fowl:

Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:

Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

Let them praise the name of the Lord:

for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints;

even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.

Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 148

May your day or night find praise in God's grace.

Saturday Flower Power Postcard...

Where tiny pink blossoms are getting ready to burst into yellow plum fruit

And God said,

Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,

which is upon the face of all the earth,

and every tree,

in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;

to you it shall be for meat.

Genesis 1:29

May your day or night blossom in the grace of God.

Tids of Bits - Here and There...

Hello!

whether he was interested in me or the camera...

I couldn't say

but, Bibi was more interested in just hanging out with her doe kid...

side by side

Pippi followed me around checking out the goats

and if you know what roosters look like...

Pippi ought to be Pip

because you see...

this little Pippi (click name for the story)...

has grown into quite a nice looking roo

and just so nobody makes a mistake about it...

he now crows his little heart out a few times a day

he tries to fancy himself a ladies man...

but, the ladies don't seem to understand

give it time, Pip...

just give it time...

those lady hens will come around

in the meantime...

instead of throwing out the morning coffee grounds...

I prefer to mix them in with some oyster shell powder

the oyster shell pebbles are crushed into powder in a plastic bag and pound with a hammer...

(I highly advise against using your precious coffee or spice grinder for this)

and mixed in with the coffee grounds...

which gets sprinkled on my garden bed sowed with carrot seeds...

which makes a great organic fertilizer of nitrogen and calcium

this will help bring up those carrots with the nutrition they need...

to give us the nutrition we need

do you see the tiny carrot tops coming up through the soil?

and this is beside the point...

but do you think it's about time we get to trimming the ivy on the cottage?

I think so...

and was glad to hear my husband thinks so, too

he gets the job because ladders aren't exactly my thing

oh! yoo-hoo, Farina...!

are you ready for the milking fun?!

ah yes, this sweet doe has been giving us lots of good, fresh milk

she puts a lot of her own sweetness into it...

as long as we give her treats in a bucket while we milk her

and speaking of the joy of the Lord...

Thou wilt show me the path of life:

in Thy presence is fullness of joy;

at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 16:11

May your day or night be found in the joy of the Lord's grace.

Organically Speaking...

Every morning, we get a flock of large parrots that fly out to wherever they go to find food...

stopping briefly to check out the starfruit trees on our farm...

then, heading on out to forage all day among the trees for fruits and seeds

every evening...

they stop by our farm and eat the seeds of these trees...

before they head on home for the night...

wherever that may be, as I do not know where they come from or go to

I love to see them...

even if they are noisy sometimes and steal some of our starfruit...

if only for a short time

the kitchen garden is doing fine and we get enough to eat from it...

a gift from the Lord

we planted some plum tomatoes for the first time and so far...

they look good enough to eat

the first tomato plants we planted became a meal for some tiny critters...

possibly flea beetles that love to chew tomato leaves

you can see the holes in the leaves below

in this photo below, more evidence of nasties on my plants

and although, we were still getting some good tomatoes, it was a matter of time...

before the plants would be affected to the point of no return and harvest time cut off too soon

I like to keep my tomato plants strong and healthy as long as possible...

and wasn't going to let the nasties steal my plants the next time

when I transplanted my next tomato sets and to get ahead of the pests...

my solution was to put 1 teaspoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle

and once every two weeks, sprayed the plants from the time they were transplanted as seedlings...

till they started to flower, making sure the leaves were sprayed well

I do believe it is working

just a very few leaves got munched on but, wherever they are, the spray bottle comes out...

and those leaves get a toxic-chemical-free mist...

and pests don't become immune to natural, organic control

I like it when a tomato can be picked and eaten right off the plant...

without the concern of toxicity hanging over one's head

now that our carrots have been halfway harvested...

in between the lettuce...

I have plenty room for carrot seeds

by the time the carrot greens start to push their way up and out of the soil...

the lettuce will be harvested

instead of letting the empty spaces go to waste with nothing growing during lettuce time...

I took my little garden fork and crissed-crossed all around the lettuce 

I sprayed water over the bed and then sprinkled the carrot seeds on top of the damp soil

then took a couple of big scoops of top/potting soil and lightly covered the seeds...

simply sprinkling the soil with a scoop

when I went to do this, there was no scoop to be found

so I took an empty plastic vinegar jug and cut out the bottom and 1/2 of the side...

leaving the lid on the jug

it works well enough for me 

once the carrot seeds were covered...

I wet the soil once again...

and hopefully, the Lord will bless my efforts with carrots, if He pleases

I looked up from my garden work and was rewarded with a beautiful view of a red dragonfly

it sat long enough for me to grab the camera and snap

And every creature which is in heaven,

and on the earth, and under the earth,

and such as are in the sea,

and all that are in them,

heard I saying, 

Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power,

be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,

and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

Revelation 5:13

May your day or night be blessed in God's grace.