Hubby took a week of "vacation" so that he could work on some yard projects. Mostly it was spent building this wood storage frame, chainsawing up/bucking trees, and chipping up the branches. He also spent some time researching tractors.
The piles are stacked apart to allow the wood to age properly for burning in the wood stove.
Next wood storage frame in progress.
Another pile of wood chips -- I am using these to refill the chicken, duck, and turkey houses following my deep cleaning.
Gathering the last of the tomatoes. We are supposed to have our first frost this week.
My goal for the winter is to double the size of the backyard garden. I clear off a layer of weedy topsoil, put down a layer of cardboard, add all the manure that I deep clean out of the coops and some compost, and then spray it with the hose. The chickens usually follow behind me and scratch it all up too. I will also continue to spread each week's load of rabbit droppings in the beds. Hopefully in a couple of years this soil will be nice and rich.
I butchered our last 2 old hens this week. They were the only 2 left from our first flock. They still laid eggs occasionally, but I decided that it would be better not to put them through another winter. I also took into consideration the cost of their feed and the fact that the older hens are more likely to get sick and sicken the rest of the flock. The kids were not happy to see them go to Heaven, but understand that they had a good life and fulfilled their purpose on Earth. It is very spiritual to offer a prayer of gratitude for food that you raised and have gotten to know. I can't help thinking how much easier it would be for people to eat meat "sparingly" if they raised it themselves.
Older hens are good for making soup, especially pho. My Vietnamese friend told me that they have a hard time finding old hen meat at the store. I gave him our two old ladies for making pho and they are going to bring us part of their delicious recipe for dinner tonight.
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