Grow the Change: Spring is in the air

15 April 2009

Spring is in the air

The kids are out on their training tethers, enjoying the sun. I tried to show them some early fresh grass, but they just spit and sneezed at it, preferring their hay. They had a good head-butting frolic before settling down to chew their cuds.

And the does are nibbling on poplar buds and bark. The tannins in the poplar bark have a de-worming property, along with pumpkin or squash seeds, parsley and wormwood, we are treating them for worms. Neither looks to be infested, along with their general condition, we check the color of the inside of their eyelids. Pink-red means very healthy and shades of pale pink mean that the animal is anemic. They are both on the pink-red scale, but spring is a good time to treat for worms.

Pilgrim finally had his first good bucking romp in the field this Saturday (before we got another foot of snow on Sunday, still melting). He started with a good series of bucks, which I of course missed with the camera, except the very last one, he is in mid-buck when this little clip starts. Not bad for a 13 year old ex-racetrack horse. The dogs got pretty excited about the whole thing too.

4 comments:

Chiot's Run said...: They sure look like they're enjoying the sunshine!; April 15, 2009 at 4:33 PM
ChristyACB said...: I didn't know all that about the worming properties of those plants. Do they tend to go towards those plants if they need it?; April 15, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: I see the ground!! Wow!! I'm so happy you're all enjoying spring, my friend! :); April 17, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Freija and Beringian Fritillary said...: Chiot's, it's amazing what a bit of sunshine and warm air does to stir things up around here.

Christy, there are dozens of plants, herbs, barks, seeds with de-worming properties, some more potent than others. The goats and the horse do tend toward the poplar bark and buds, and anything green they can find in the pastures. Plants with high minerals like dandelion are desirable to them now. And they have never yet turned down an offering of winter squash pulp and seeds. But you can't just rely on their instincts, which is why we give them the specific doses of the herbal treatments when we observe the need for it.

farm mom, yeah bare ground! Hope green things are starting to grow in your neck of the woods.; April 17, 2009 at 12:39 PM

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The way we live

Just in case you are curious about the way we live... We produce enough income from a half-acre market garden to live a simple, debt-free lifestyle. We are off-grid and produce our power from an 80 Watt solar panel to run the things we need. We hydro-cool our perishables, and can, dry or cellar our food instead of running a fridge or freezer. We cook and heat water with wood, year-round, which means getting a fire going each morning, even in the heat of our two week long summer, and doing all the cooking and washing before the heat of the day. We ride bicycles to get where we need to go, especially to the Community Internet Access Center, and barter for rides into town for shopping a few times a year. In our Northern garden, Zone 4, we produce and preserve our own vegetables, herbs and most of our grains in a half-acre garden and acre grain field. We keep a small herd of goats, and a small flock of hens, to produce our meat, dairy products and eggs. We live seasonally, our daily life in the spring centers on planting and cultivating, our daily life in summer centers on harvesting and preserving, our daily life in fall centers on preparing for winter, and our daily life in winter centers on reading, learning, writing, philosophizing, planning and crafting. We are always looking for ways to innovate the tools and techniques for growing food on a home-scale. And we are always looking for ways to strengthen the effect of our lifestyle choices by connecting what we do with the larger community.