Farm Fresh: Schooling and Livestock Updates

 

In Cub Scouts this week Brother S and Brother M launched rockets that they made with a little help from Grandpa J and Daddy. 

Brother S became a Bobcat.

Miss L found a bag of party balloons and the kids had fun playing with them. They filled some with cornstarch to make stress balls. 

I used the dirt excavated from the cistern patio to fill in some of the pine tree stump holes. Of course, it quickly became another place for playing with dump trucks and digging race tracks.

I spread a nice clean layer of mulch in the two duck houses and our tree guy dropped off another load.  Perfect timing for preparing the orchard and sensitive plants like the artichokes for winter. 

For science, the kids worked on writing, illustrating and presenting "creature reports" on an arthropod of their choice. Brother M reported on Hercules Beetles.

Brother S reported on Crayfish.  Miss L reported on Stink Bugs and Big Sis A reported on Praying Mantises. 

In art class we learned about Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo. 

We tried to breed 9 does this week! Why so many?  I have not bred any of my does since March (because of the rat saga).  They tend to be less willing to mate the longer it has been since their last litter.  Of the 9, only 5 successfully mated, and those were all does who have not been bred before. 

You can see my notes and XL poster of breeding lines on top of the cage.  I have tried to keep enough genetic distance so that I can continue to sell breeding pairs. I sold one of the does that was bred and already have 2 buyers interested in purchasing kits from the 4 litters we expect mid-November. 

Hubby and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this week. We have not gone out on a real date since quarantine started so we splurged on a carry-out platter of sushi and sashimi from our favorite local place. 

We could have kept it all for ourselves... but we were nice and shared some with the kids. 

The next night we had a big family campfire and cookout with all the cousins and Grandmama and Grandpa J. It was pretty wild and I failed to take any pictures. Big sister A sent this picture to the cousins when they were excitedly chatting online about the upcoming gathering. 

After the first week, the chicks recovered from their rough trip and we have not had any more losses. We have 87 left. They are almost one month old.

 Big Sister A is in charge of caring for them. 

All the photos are very red due to the red heat lamps.  The red light is supposed to keep them from pecking each other. I was very worried that they would outgrow their brooder before the 6 week mark (when they are feathered enough to go outside).  Two weeks to go and they still have plenty of space in there.