On the right, aspirin for people. On the left, aspirin for cows. Twice a day, Lottie, the Jersey cow, gets two of the big ones. The instructions say ‘by bolus’ which is a fancy way of saying ‘poke it down her throat.’ It’s a common technique, and every feed supply store sells a simple [...]
Some birds don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain. When the rain becomes an ice storm, bad things happen to dumb birds. Earlier this month, I went to bed knowing nasty weather was headed our way. I’d made all reasonable preparations and moved the livestock and poultry to shelter. This [...]
December isn’t prime nesting time, but we can’t convince this banty hen of that. This is her first nest, but she seems to have the basics mastered. Puff up and spread out to cover the eggs, screech at anybody who gets close, peck when the screech isn’t enough. The chances of her raising young through [...]
Lottie’s had a rough week. Her 4-month-old calf is a rather vigorous nurser. Add a bit of chapping from winter weather, and her tender parts got quite sore. She quit letting the calf nurse, which led to other issues. She wasn’t too amenable to hand-milking either. We tried one thing, then another, and she got [...]
Honestly, the tree did not look this big out in the field. It’s an eastern red cedar, cut from a poor corner of pasture about 300 yards from the house. The full, bushy side of the growing tree faced southwest and benefitted from the bountiful sunshine such a view offers. The backside faced deep [...]
I slept through the actual moment of Winter Solstice, when because of the Earth’s tilt, the Northern Hemisphere leans farther away from the sun than at any other time during the year. It happened just after midnight here in the central U.S., and thus began the first day of winter.
To celebrate, Mother Nature brought [...]
I’ve been using floating row covers in the greenhouse lately to add an extra level of protection on cold nights. Jugs of water around what few tender plants remain in there help a lot, too. The water warms with the day’s heat, and at night, when temperatures drop, the heat radiates from [...]
The view from the roadside across a section of prairie I pass on the way to town. It rained hard a couple hours after I took this photo. If you look along the horizon, you can see the heavy gray of the storm moving in from the southwest.
Photographed November 30, 2007 – one very confused, but delicious ripe strawberry. You’d better believe I washed it off and ate it.
Variety: Jewel
Planted: September 2007
My supplier kept the dormant plants in cold storage for the summer, so they arrived in the usual state of bundled roots I’ve always dealt with in spring plantings. The warm [...]
