calling any one from missouri

[shawluvsbirds]

Milk weed is really going now.
However... This is not where i originally put it. It decided to transplant itself I guess.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

 

[OhZark Biddies]

mutual face swishing
We see always see our neighbor's horses in this position. We watched them rotate 180º simultaneously, staying head to tail at all times. They both wanted to see us, but took turns...
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Lol... that’s fun... I’ve always wondered how long it takes a pair of horses to learn to cooperate like that...

I remember watching a parade with my grandad and some old guy he knew... and they weren’t impressed with the first few teams of horses pulling float wagons, because one horse was doing all the work... both of those old guys being raised with working horse teams ...

“Well that’s just trail horses in a harness!... that don’t make a team...“

then finally a team of ‘cow pony’s’ (smaller horses ) ... came through pulling a small wagon, neither with any slack in the harness, and they got tickled about those being the best team in the parade, lol

I had no clue what they were seeing that I didn’t... and afterwards I asked and my grandad explained how a good team of horses that has worked together for a while learns that they must both pull, or it eventually wears them both down

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Oh my...

I’m walking Laurel and Hardy before bedtime and just spotted a prickly pear bloom in the rock garden by the bee hives... I was not expecting that, lol

Looks like one other might have two blooms in the works

 

[SueT]

My DH said his grandpa used to have a team consisting of a very large horse named Buck and a very small mule named Jimmy. This was before most people had automobiles, but someone ran their car off the road and got it stuck in the ditch. So Grandpa took Buck by himself to pull the car out. He got him hooked up to the car and said,'Pull Buck, Pull Jimmy!' Someone asked why are you calling Jimmy when he's not here? Grandpa said, 'Buck won't pull if he thinks Jimmy's not helping. '
My MIL, as a girl, used to ride Jimmy bareback across this section to visit her sweetheart, who she later married....

 

[OhZark Biddies]

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I started seeds for orange butterfly milkweed ( or whatever it’s called) this year and it’s done pretty good... so far ... this is them in the rock garden... I’m thinking they’re not gonna bloom this year ... but I thought the same of the prickly pears, lol

 

[OhZark Biddies]

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I found this guy at a creek we swam at earlier , I'm pretty sure it's a long pincerd crayfish ! I also found what I think is a zebra swallowtail which I'll upload pics of later , please correct me if I'm wrong!

Let me correct you... you’re wrong!!! ... that there is properly called a ‘mud bug’

Lol... I don’t know what kind it was, but it was a dandy!

I used to have a pet goose
that I’d take to the creek, and I’d flip rocks and catch crawdads and throw them up on the bank... that little goose would eat as many as I could catch... I never gave him a dandy like that though!

 

[Crestcrazy2]

This is the butterfly I was telling you guys about!
P.S.
The crayfish are dead !

 

[karenerwin]

@karenerwin Where do you process your birds? We've looked into meat birds but we don't have any place to process them nearby.

I kill them in the backyard.I have a big tree that we put a screw into. I hang the bird upside down on a rope looped over this screw. I let them bleed out right at the base of that tree. (It has been named the "killing tree" because we are so imaginative. )
I can always hose it down if I need to. We don't live in a subdivision, so there aren't really any neighbors near enough to be bothered by my butchering of chickens (or turkeys) plus a lot of people out here still hang their deer in trees in their yards.
@Sueby as far as the entrails and other non-edible parts I either bury them in the garden (winter time), toss them on a fire, or bury them in the compost pile. I do give the chickens the meat carcass to pick over ( as well as the liver, gizzard & heart if I'm not using them for something). But I know a lot of people find that practice distasteful. So I know that won't be for everyone. But the chickens like it, it's a source of protein and it isn't wasteful. Sometimes I use the carcass to boil down a nice rich chicken broth.

 

[karenerwin]

6 lbs! Nice... I talk about doing meat birds every year and then never do...

I butchered another big meat bird. This one was 8.0 pounds dressed but not pieced out. I don't like to leave them whole so I cut the breasts into 2 pieces, then another bag for the wings (I try to collect from several birds before using the food saver machine)and another bag for the legs and thighs. I'm not a fan of backs so I don't save those. I do keep a bag for chicken meat scraps that I will use to make ground chicken.

I was thinking cone and lopping shears....ours are kept really sharp.
My husband tried lopping shears and a machete. Both of them had trouble making a clean kill. The chickens skin and feathers really protect them well!
SueT if you do end up butchering any, you are supposed to let them sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours before you toss them in the freezer. Something about letting the rigor mortis
pass so that they will be more tender when you cook them.

Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind...

I’ve transplanted a bunch of volunteer seedlings the last few years ... so hopefully some of those will be white ones, just for variety...

I’ve searched for info on the genetics of the purple crossed with the white... but never found anything... I suspect the purple is dominant though... maybe not

I think you are correct about the genetics. I have probably 9 purple for every 1 white. I made mine into a hedge row fence at one time, but now that area has been made larger and fenced in with cattle panels. A good part of the Rose of Sharon fence line is still very much there though.

I also decided not to process the 2 younger meat birds today. I examined their legs and hips and didn't find any breaks or injuries, so I am going to let them be for now. They will be the first ones I do from that group and I may do them sooner than later, but for now they are able to eat and drink and don't look to be at risk of getting an infection...