Stone Baerm Adventures

Soo I missed two days again. Something I got done yesterday was seeding Hugh and Gill. They both have a bunch of squash seeds in them, but I've got no idea what type of squash. There were three different sizes, but the rest is a mystery. We'll see when they sprout!

Today we moved some electric fence around. Did we both get shocked? Yes. I've touched some of the other fences out of curiosity and they gave me a little zap, but not too bad. Today I touched the fence surrounding the horse paddock and some swear words actually flew out of my mouth. It was quite a shock, and it happened twice while I was trying to thread some twine between the fence and a post - it was like threading the eye of a needle but with higher stakes. Don't touch electric fences if you can avoid it. Or pee on them.

Good productive day so far. The bone crusher is partially complete! All I've gotta do is add a cap to it to keep moisture out of the tube and to give better grip. I stuck the handle on this morning. I did several short welds instead of a couple continuous ones because I didn't want to burn through, and the set up was a little awkward. The welds aren't gorgeous but they will hold. Got a selfie with one of the farm cats while I was working. She was trying to watch me weld and I had to keep moving her away to stop her from blinding herself. She's cute but we think she might have a death wish, and that's why we call her D.W.. I tried to no avail to even out the top of the handle, so I think I need to grind it. Unfortunately last night while I was in the shed working on a handle for a hammer D.W. laid on top of my grinder (it was unplugged, phew) then slipped and knocked it off the shelf, cracking the grinding wheel. So now I need a new grinding wheel. Oh well at least she's cute.

Other than that today has been fairly relaxed. Just lots of little jobs. Took some bark off a post, took apart the old arbor some more, and dug the hole for a post to rebuild another arbor.

I did some barnyard repairs today. One of the goat pens has a latch where the little knob/handle kept falling out. First I tried to see if a 1/4" bolt would just screw into the hole. Nope. I moved from that onto welding. I figured I'd just weld the little piece in place. Flawless plan right? I welded it just fine, just a little tack but it held strong. Unfortunately due to my lack of understanding of how those latches come together, I made things worse. The handle was on, but now it wouldn't even go into the latch - this was my oh shit I gotta fix this moment. I had changed it from a functional but annoying latch to a completely useless latch. So I tried to grind my weld down then pop the pin back out by hammering it....again alright idea but did NOT work. The weld penetrated much deeper than I thought. I mean it means I did a good job welding, but it was impossible to undo without going half way through the bolt. Hmmmm.

So then I decided to cut the handle off, grind it down, and start with another bolt that was in the tool shed. I did just that. Cut and ground it down, then tacked a new bolt in its place. It was actually the most challenging weld I've done to date, because there was very little room for error. If I slipped and the arc moved just a couple millimeters over I'd weld the bolt to the cage and the whole thing would be useless. I did it though! But then the bolt wouldn't slide because of the big weld beads. I ground it down as best I could. Again this was very challenging as there was a small amount of space for my grinding wheel to get in there. At a few points I had to grind with one hand and hold the latch up with the other (don't do this if you've never used a grinder before lol). I got it though! Screwed the whole assembly back on, and we now have a functional latch that shouldn't fall out unless you take a sledge hammer or grinder to it. It doesn't look gorgeous but it works. That might become a slogan of mine.

Other than that today was relaxed and productive. Watched more of the PDC and learned about zones and sectors. I'm keeping a count of the minutes I've watched so I can make sure I'm keeping pace to finish by the end of the summer or earlier.

We did some other smaller stuff too like digging some post holes, collecting some compost and other things I can't remember right now.

Hi Cam.  We just got back from our cottage at Lake Talon.  I just spend the last few minutes reading your posts and looking at the creative  things you are doing. Your posts are so well written and I enjoy the bits of humour along the way.
When you say "we started by preparing ..." who is we?  Are you working alongside other people? Do they live on the homestead as well?
It seems as if you have a new plan almost every day creating something new or newly-repaired using whatever is handy.
I am interested  to know if you ever did create bone meal.   ( I thought bone meal came in a box that you buy at a gardening outlet. ) We planted some cherry tomato plants at the cottage and added bone meal to the soil.
How long do you plan to live at this place?
Keep up the posts and pictures.  They're very enjoyable.
Grandma J.

Mary Ann Jones wrote:
Hi Cam.  We just got back from our cottage at Lake Talon.  I just spend the last few minutes reading your posts and looking at the creative  things you are doing. Your posts are so well written and I enjoy the bits of humour along the way.
When you say "we started by preparing ..." who is we?  Are you working alongside other people? Do they live on the homestead as well?
It seems as if you have a new plan almost every day creating something new or newly-repaired using whatever is handy.
I am interested  to know if you ever did create bone meal.   ( I thought bone meal came in a box that you buy at a gardening outlet. ) We planted some cherry tomato plants at the cottage and added bone meal to the soil.
How long do you plan to live at this place?
Keep up the posts and pictures.  They're very enjoyable.
Grandma J.

I'm glad you like them! And it is me, Kate (she's on permies as well)  and another middle aged guy who has been here several years. So we can either mean Kate and I, me and the other guy (he likes his privacy that's why I'm not naming him), or all three of us. So that's the gang here.

Yes there is lots to do here. The fence is done now, so we're onto more gardening related jobs. Today I was bringing some well composted barn mix over to the garden to fill up some beds and to cover some roots that had been exposed during fence construction . I also fed the goats some dandelions which they very much enjoyed.

I did make some bone meal before I left town, and I posted about it. It was a pretty energy intensive way to do it but it worked. The way Kate does it is by boiling the bones in a big pot over a fire either outside in the summer or on the woodstove in the winter. After boiling she gets all the bones in a big bowl and crushes them. I'm in the midst of making her a tool that'll make it easier to crush the bones after they've been boiled. I posted about that too.

I hope your tomato plants do well! With the bone meal they should be very happy. And I will be here until the end of August.

Thread about bone crusher tool

Thread about bone meal I made

Forgot to add these to my last post - got some cute pics of the goats in the grass today.

Short post because we just finished a movie and my eyes are tired of staring at screens. I took some photos today! Some on my phone, and some later on my dslr. I'll upload the phone ones here and the dslr ones later I think. I also planted one of the big hugel beds with zucchini and squash seedlings. Hope they take well!

So it has been a busy past couple days around here. First, there is a new dog! Her name is Curragh ("cur-uh") and she's a Great Pyrenees mixed with something else. So far so good. She is friendly with all the farm animals. Her one quirk is that she very much enjoys eating goat poop...I'm trying to get her off it because it's not a great habit. Good little dog though, and very cute.

I also learned to throw knives yesterday. I started on some smaller blades which were hard to stick, not only because I'm a beginner but because they were a bit dull. We got some bigger blades out with a better edge on them, and I was able to stick a few of them. That sure is a bad ass skill. Even just holding those knives makes you feel pretty cool.

Finally, we found a baby raccoon outside the barn during chores today. We heard some squeaking near the truck and we saw it sauntering around. It was very young, and clearly not in a great spot because from what I've learned they don't leave the den until they're older unless something goes wrong. So where was the mom? This is the sad part. For about a week we had a creature breaking into the chicken coop. It stole a lot of eggs, and killed two chickens. We were thinking it might be a fisher or weasel, but what we ended up catching in the live trap was a young raccoon. She was shot, and I buried her shortly after (there is little time right now for learning to skin and butcher as we have lots of planting to do). We are in a farming community, so dropping her off somewhere else would have set her on someone else's barn.  That was a couple days ago, and it was only today that we found the baby. We now think the raccoon I buried was the mother of the baby unfortunately. The baby got brought to a sanctuary today, and by the sounds of it will be accepted into a new litter as it is still so young. So it should end up living a good life. Still sad though.

Finally I got some photos with my DSLR. The files are huge so I'm only going to put one up, but I like it.

Yes, it is wildlife baby season...

It would be highly unlikely there is only one baby raccoon, you need to look around and keep your ears open for the rest - they have as many as eight (commonly 3-6) and can survive a long time when they lose Mum; I've rescued live kits two weeks after Mum was trapped or shot.

IF you ever find orphan wildlife, feeding them is often the worst thing you can do, especially if dehydrated or emaciated. I get it, it seems counter intuitive, but unless hydrated they are unable to process food or milk (NEVER feed a wild orphan cow milk!!!). Even goat milk (which could be used in an emergency) will cause the creatures body to pull fluids from critical organs in an attempt to process what is now in their gut, this is why it can do serious harm, and even lead to death. Electrolytes MUST be given to any dehydrated or emaciated creature BEFORE very slowly (over several days) weaning onto appropriate formula.

Please, do not think or feel I am chastising or criticizing you, that is absolutely NOT my intent. I just want to offer the best protocols for ANYONE who finds themselves in this situation; an orphan with a KNOWN dead or relocated Mum (fawn, raccoon, squirrel...any mammal).

To continue, this is the time of year Raccoons move their kits from the nursery den. Often this means they must spend a night alone, "parked" as the travel distance is to great for Mum to complete the move in one day. She WILL return for them within 24 hrs - unless she is harmed or killed during this risky time.

If worried, confine them in a large rubbermaid type tote until evening and place in a cool, dark location until nightfall. Cut a large hole in the lid, about 8 inches round, in the center and place the lid on it; or in the bottom and turn upside down.  Alternatively, a clean garbage can, or other tall but unclimbable container, with access for Mum around two feet high.  This will keep them contained, but Mum can still easily retrieve them. Return the tote to the EXACT same location they were found so she is able to locate them.

A kit in distress will be dirty; mucky eyes, debris in fur. They may have sunken eyes, and their skin will "tent"; when pulled up at the shoulder blades it will not sna back, but rather slowly recede or stay up in a ridge or wrinkle. THESE signs indicate a baby in distress.  Keep it warm and offer pedialyte or other hydration fluids, and contact your vet, local police, or animal control if you do not know who does wildlife rehab in your area.

THANK YOU so much for rescuing this wee one, getting the kit into care, with experienced rehabbers, and knowing where to access that care promptly.  You saved a life!

So Curragh now has a new respect for goats. Daisy, the mixed breed, has had it out for her from the beginning. The other goats have kept an eye on Curragh, but they weren't aggressive. Daisy wasn't until last night. Chores were different from usual because of the extreme heat (we peaked at 40C today). As a result Daisy was out on her own after she refused to go back in her pen. When I went out with Curragh to close a gate, Daisy was there and watching Curragh very intensely. I was mostly keeping myself between them, but then I turned my back to work with the gate, and I heard a squeal and felt Curragh bump into me as she jumped back from Daisy. Daisy had given her a good old headbutt. Curragh is totally fine, but now she gives the goats, even the babies, a wide berth. Daisy is still watching her like a hawk though.

In other news, Gill has babies! I counted four sprouts popping up, and I think more are on their way.

The rest of today was spent cutting comfrey and tying it up to dry. It's a little prickly but not too bad to handle. I learned a surgical knot too. It's good to hold its tension while you tie the second one to finish the knot. Once the comfrey is dried it's all set to be winter feed for the goats which I've heard they like.

I also did some laundry by hand yesterday. Curragh whizzed on my sheets yesterday morning when she ran in overexcited, so I washed them later. I got a 5 gallon bucket, got some rainwater from the barrels, and put a bit of vinegar in the mix too. Then I put one sheet at a time in and did the whole wash cycle. Then I wrung them out as best I could, and hung them on the supports for the grapevines. They dried quickly in the high heat. They also smell great now too from the lavender in the garden and that generally pleasant outdoor smell.

Good Morning Lorinne.

Happy to say the kit is fine and good hands at a local sanctuary.   "She" has been placed with a group of about the same age (4 to 5 weeks old).  

We found her screaming in the wide open lane in front of the barn, having come out of the nearby bush.  She was in full sun and in harms way of the homestead livestock.  So, considering the situation, we acted quickly working with what we had at hand.

The sanctuary said the goat's milk did her no harm, as she took only enough to settle her down till she could be transported to the sanctuary.  

Thanks for the advice, that has been duly noted for any future situations.

Cheers!  K

Lorinne Anderson wrote:Yes, it is wildlife baby season...

It would be highly unlikely there is only one baby raccoon, you need to look around and keep your ears open for the rest - they have as many as eight (commonly 3-6) and can survive a long time when they lose Mum; I've rescued live kits two weeks after Mum was trapped or shot.

IF you ever find orphan wildlife, feeding them is often the worst thing you can do, especially if dehydrated or emaciated. I get it, it seems counter intuitive, but unless hydrated they are unable to process food or milk (NEVER feed a wild orphan cow milk!!!). Even goat milk (which could be used in an emergency) will cause the creatures body to pull fluids from critical organs in an attempt to process what is now in their gut, this is why it can do serious harm, and even lead to death. Electrolytes MUST be given to any dehydrated or emaciated creature BEFORE very slowly (over several days) weaning onto appropriate formula.

Please, do not think or feel I am chastising or criticizing you, that is absolutely NOT my intent. I just want to offer the best protocols for ANYONE who finds themselves in this situation; an orphan with a KNOWN dead or relocated Mum (fawn, raccoon, squirrel...any mammal).

To continue, this is the time of year Raccoons move their kits from the nursery den. Often this means they must spend a night alone, "parked" as the travel distance is to great for Mum to complete the move in one day. She WILL return for them within 24 hrs - unless she is harmed or killed during this risky time.

If worried, confine them in a large rubbermaid type tote until evening and place in a cool, dark location until nightfall. Cut a large hole in the lid, about 8 inches round, in the center and place the lid on it; or in the bottom and turn upside down.  Alternatively, a clean garbage can, or other tall but unclimbable container, with access for Mum around two feet high.  This will keep them contained, but Mum can still easily retrieve them. Return the tote to the EXACT same location they were found so she is able to locate them.

A kit in distress will be dirty; mucky eyes, debris in fur. They may have sunken eyes, and their skin will "tent"; when pulled up at the shoulder blades it will not sna back, but rather slowly recede or stay up in a ridge or wrinkle. THESE signs indicate a baby in distress.  Keep it warm and offer pedialyte or other hydration fluids, and contact your vet, local police, or animal control if you do not know who does wildlife rehab in your area.

THANK YOU so much for rescuing this wee one, getting the kit into care, with experienced rehabbers, and knowing where to access that care promptly.  You saved a life!

Hey Lorinne just read this today. Thank you for the advice! I will put it into practice if or when I experience something like this again.

Rain!! After a long while of very dry weather we got a huge dumping of rain today. Normally the goats don't like the rain and run inside the barn as soon as it begins. But today they were so warm they stayed out in it until it started to really pour. We actually have a couple trees down. Lots of rain and wind came by.

Other than that, I just did a few small jobs. Brought some barn compost up, put a shelf up, and deactivated a live trap in one of the fields further down the property.

Another good day down. Today I tried out my finished bone/eggshell crusher to see how it works. It works very well! I went from bones to a crumbly powder in about half an hour. More details are here.

I also hit a milestone in the Geoff Lawton PDC - I'm over 25% done! Or specifically 1097 minutes watched of 4320 (72 hours). The last lectures have been on how trees fit into permaculture systems and they were very neat. It reminded me of multiple books I want to read. One called The Overstory, one called The Understory, and Mycelium Running. I already have too many books on the go though so those will have to wait.

We did some more comfrey cutting and tying today. I learned that I need to do a slipknot on the bundles so they don't fall out of the knot when they dry and shrink in size.

We also did some trimming of the lilac tree. We took a bunch of dead branches off that were creating too much shade, and tossed the smaller parts over the fence for the goats to nibble on.

The rain we got a couple days ago was a microburst apparently. It got very windy, and some trees came down. One by the hugels was down, so I took the smaller branches off and gave them to the goats.

Oh, and yesterday Curragh was set free in the garden! First she was confused with the leash dragging behind her, but as soon as it clicked , she was off and running. She's actually very good in the garden, at least so far. She's only dug one spot which is good.

Lots of physical work today. I am going to sleep very well tonight.

The first big task was dealing with a fallen poplar tree that came down during the microburst a few days ago. It's a good size tree - at it's largest the trunk is a little over a foot in diameter. It fell on top of the fence by the road, so we need to take it off and get the fence back up. Today we took all the foliage off and stuffed it in the back of the truck, and brought it to the goats to munch on. It was a feast! Then I went back to get some logs. It's much clearer now, but there is still work to do. And to all you city folks who buy trucks just to drive around alone with the bed empty - look at the photos. THIS is what trucks were made for!! That's a pet peeve of mine.

Following that I rested and watched some more of the PDC. Now I'm onto working with water -  learning about dams right now, and I'm sure water catchment is coming up.

I had a shitty evening...literally. I mucked out a stall in the barn for the first time. Basically clearing the litter out right down to the wood floor, then putting a thin layer of dry stuff down so the goats have something to lay on as wood isn't very comfy. For anyone who has mucked out a barn, you know the smell. But if you haven't...it's pungent. There's a strong odour of ammonia, plus a sulfur-like scent which it turns out is hydrogen sulfide. It's definitely something you want good ventilation for. Thankfully the breeze tonight was clearing stuff out just fine. Five more stalls to go!

Tonight's dinner was great, especially after the physical work today. There was sweet potato, steamed veggies, ribs and sausage rolls for dinner. For dessert I had some toffee pudding cake with 100% goat whipped cream whipped up today. Mmm-mm was that ever good. I also just had some cheesecake with more of the whipped cream. Mmm.