Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[Northie]

DH says no ducks.... But.... The more baby duckies I see the harder they are to resist. What colours were in the Last batch? How much harder to take care of are they anyway??? Oh my goodness the cuteness of that last picture!

 

[drumstick diva]

Duckies are cute but, also poo like crazy and mess around with water not a good combo. Still they are awfully cute

 

[CanuckBock]

Lots of helpers were to be had...


Fair Weather Fixins!​

Harvested a whole bunch of veg garden stuff...Rick said best to take the greens out on Saturday as it made no sense risking it.

Was fun to harvest this all up!
​

The peas were always just for the fun of it for Fixins and too hard to cover up decently...so the pile there, they are now in the porch for sorting out later...some red onions, last of the multiplier onions--tops would not stand a chance! Sure has been nice using them up in dinners...

Scallpers!​

​

So if we tally it up like somehow it was a financial endeavour...them boxes of Romaine go for $20 a piece so forty on lettuce, about $20 on spinach...more than pays to cover my seed costs just there in the greens. Yeh, never able to completely drop my "bean counter" persona I guess.

Now if we factor in the fresh factor and the simple fact that I merely have to slip on shoes to go "shopping" for fresh produce...worth a BAzillion dollars eh!

There was even a bag of assorted greens for the birds-- ​

But left roots (beets, potatoes and carrots) and beans in along with two plots of Swiss Chard and two squash plants. Unsure if this will survive but I did make a huge blast of effort to give it a chance...making up over a dozen poly bagged blankets (sore fingees!) is an effort to see if anything makes it thru. Gotta try I guess.


The cherry tomatoes in the Man Porch are just going great guns...I remember having drawers full of green tomatoes when we lived on the Coast. Stored in the dark with a ripe apple and eating reds till November!

Bring on the RED!

Explains the over the top attempt to keep them going!

Heat lamp, propane heater...tenplast covers...yeh...GO Cherries GO!​

Rick mentioned something about "buying a basket" for all the efforts/costs but there is NO fun in not being challenged to see if you can!

Stopping between hatches to bleach up holding baskets and some feed/water containers...

Ready, set and go to rock and roll again!!​

Rick got some time put in on the parking building...Saturday was fine and pleasant.

​

He got to put up the frames he made on his tool room.

​

​

Came home with my new calf sled...sookum er what!

​

Rick's getting me some hardware so I can hook up my tug line to the front of the new unit and watch my dusting of snow fly as I gallop about making new trail!


Got me some skunk chickens...

​

Laughed and laughed when my eyes first fell on them...my first thoughts on them were I have hatched some SKUNKs...little stinkers, eh! Not the right pattern fer polec@ts (and yeh the word "pole" for the French word for chicken as in "poule" but pronounced PULL not POLE!), I know but you gotta go with what first crosses your mind...and my first thoughts were SKUNKS!

Two Polecats​

Got five of them now...teach me for switching my buff/red like clan of Chantecler hens to see what a Buff and a Red Chantecler will sire!

Left is two cockerel breeding Partridges / top middle is a self-Buff / right is two pullet breeder Partridges
​

Gonna be alot of fun seeing how they feather out...them STINKERS!

Quote:

​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[drumstick diva]

Too much work on the farm, I'm getting dizzy spells reading about it. If you should ever run out of peas(winter) will Fixins eat canned ones??? It is a concern of mine.

 

[CanuckBock]

Too much work on the farm, I'm getting dizzy spells reading about it. If you should ever run out of peas(winter) will Fixins eat canned ones??? It is a concern of mine.

Diva...

Never fret! We have a plan to deal with the winters...the whole TEN months of winters that we get...here in Alberta!

When Fixins cannot eat fresh grown peas in the pod... ​

Savage beast Fixins...like the Hyena on the Serengeti...eating the wild killed prey--the Romaine Gazelle...very rare (not well done, not even cooked at all!) ​

Fixins loves the stems of the romaine lettuce and thankfully the humans eat a regular diet of greens all year here (prefer it grown in the veg garden but stores work!).

Got some garden lettuce stocked up for now... the cow dog will get her greens.

​

We purchase cases of Romaine lettuce in winter for the good cheer and happiness factors it brings to the birds (dogs and humans too). I am trying to keep us all alive if I am able.

She will also harvest grass to eat when the season is right! Classic COW dog behaviour!

Here she is on the sixth going over to eat some grass in the garden plot ​

Fixins, she does jest fine...roughing it out in the elements...risking life and limb with the potential of an avalanche of snow--beaning her in the head!

Are you done clicking? Dad has birch in the wood stove that needs watching​

Here are the preparations for her dinner tonight. I've said I feel like I work at a zoo sometimes!

​

Never had this in a dog but she has developed allergies to grains...so we buy her a Salmon & Potato blended kibble as the base. She gets a serving at breakfast and at dinner...I make both feedings each evening.

Last night we had fried chicken with the scallop potatoes. So I took the back, ribs and other trimmings and made her a fresh chicken soup stock.

I have some chicken stock left here that I stored in the fridge and it will be reheated tonight. I pour that hot broth over the kibs, soaks into the kibble to add a rich flavour...she gets minced chicken from last night (if I don't mince it--she picks the pieces out and leaves the kibs behind...she is not spoilt...no NEVER!) and then I add the frozen peas. Frozen peas are good all year round for her ... I use them frozen to COOL the food down so she quits dancing about the kitchen and can have her dinner sooner as opposed to later! You know dogs, no sense of time and you cannot tell them WAIT!

I had an Uncle that insisted on "canned peas" at every dinner...I cannot lie...I simply do not have fond memories of those peas. The consistency was moosh and well it was just simply weird texture and taste wise. So for me, canned is tainted...but frozen works! LOL

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote:

 

[bamadude]

Is there cliff notes for genetics? Its information overload when i start reading about it....i think the chick on the left (silver) is male??? The one on the right (gold) would be female???

 

[lularat]

CanuckBock...do you ever get any rest? You have so much going on all the time....I guess you have to be really organized to get everything done? Really enjoy reading your thread and the time you put into it.

 

[Wisher1000]

Is there cliff notes for genetics? Its information overload when i start reading about it....i think the chick on the left (silver) is male??? The one on the right (gold) would be female???

Hey, Dude, I have been doing genetics self study. I found this site helpful.

http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page0.html

 

[bamadude]

Thanks wisher. I have been checking out a color calculator. Its pretty neat to see all the possibilities of offspring i could get. Of my recent hatch, i have 1 wheaten and 1 cuckoo marans roos. Gonna be some cool looking oes