The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[Peanutsmomma]

Unfortunately Cyn. its another behind this one on Mon. I think.

The low pressures aggravate me too. Cold is ok but without the humidity and very low or very high pressures we get somtimes. I am looking forward to being able to get out in the yard again. I did not can or garden last yr. but hope to this yr. I had those headaches terrible for about 10 yrs and they let up, I have a milder form now, just enough for me to feel the pressure and just enough for advil to help some. It still makes me feel yucky for days though.
I have been hunting eggs already for this spring. The BBS part english orps.are in waynesville which is great for me. I think piglet on byc has the speckled, jubilee orps. I hope so. I can not afford the chicks. I got part english buffs from piglet last yr. and was pleased. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for me. I am having ? prolapse problems again. I hope I will not need surgery again. The Dr. here is setting me up for an appt. in Asheville.

Gosh, I hope you don't have to have surgery again either. Hopefully, the weather will be better when you have to make your trip to Asheville.

I see you live in Franklin. My husband and I think your town is just beautiful! We were just through there in November. Do you mind me asking from whom you are getting your BBS Orp eggs from in Waynesville (another precious town)? I need to find a source for those and the Jubilee's too as when my Buffs go broody I want them to hatch those two particular breeds. I have great things about the rare breed Orpington eggs from Papa's Poultry in CA but I would rather get them from a more local source if possible. Stay warm and dry today!

 

[crazyhen]

She is not a breeder and I would need to ask first about someone else getting eggs. I don't know how many she has at this time. I won't know if surgery is in the works until I get a call back from the referal to a Dr. in Asheville and see him. I am waitting.
Yep I missed my garden last yr. We had a few tomatoes and cukes but a friend of mine made me pickles, I was just not up to it. If I need surgery I think , If possible I'll wait till fall. I do not want to have to miss my summer again. Then again if its got to be sooner I will see.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

She is not a breeder and I would need to ask first about someone else getting eggs. I don't know how many she has at this time. I won't know if surgery is in the works until I get a call back from the referal to a Dr. in Asheville and see him. I am waitting.
Yep I missed my garden last yr. We had a few tomatoes and cukes but a friend of mine made me pickles, I was just not up to it. If I need surgery I think , If possible I'll wait till fall. I do not want to have to miss my summer again. Then again if its got to be sooner I will see.

Well, I am not ready for any eggs right now because my baby girls are not showing signs of going broody but I would appreciate it if you would ask your friend for me for future reference. My husband and I are looking at properties up her way and your way too so we are familiar with the area. I am always looking for an excuse to head up Western NC.

 

[crazyhen]

Well, I am not ready for any eggs right now because my baby girls are not showing signs of going broody but I would appreciate it if you would ask your friend for me for future reference. My husband and I are looking at properties up her way and your way too so we are familiar with the area. I am always looking for an excuse to head up Western NC.

Well now would be a good time to look for land. My 4 acres and home were devalued this yr by 1/4. Prices are way down after the evaluation. Made me angry. Lost most of the value it had acumulated the last 24 yrs. They are now going to raise the tax rate oh goody.
Really though this is a really good place. We have a first rate library, sm hospital with ties to Asheville. I can usually find most anything that I need here. I love it.

 

[speckledhen]

Well now would be a good time to look for land. My 4 acres and home were devalued this yr by 1/4. Prices are way down after the evaluation. Made me angry. Lost most of the value it had acumulated the last 24 yrs. They are now going to raise the tax rate oh goody.
Really though this is a really good place. We have a first rate library, sm hospital with ties to Asheville. I can usually find most anything that I need here. I love it.

Our value didn't do anything but go UP, UP, UP. And the complete renovation after the fire made it go up more. My house taxes when we got here back in 2002 were only about $298 a year (aside from the two extra lots, which are paid separately). It hadn't been reassessed in a few years, I guess. Now, they are over $700/yr! And there was the big tax fight when they told me that my two extra unimproved lots together in a down market with a glut of property that no one could sell were worth about $58K just so they could rob us blind. Tom fought them and won. The folks who didn't fight it probably regret it. I think the entire tax commission was replaced, too, as they should have been.

That is one reason I decided to let the bottom lot go. It was adding over $100 to my tax bill by itself even after they rightfully adjusted the values back down where they should be, and it was not doing me any good except to have it, which I loved, and I'd own 100 acres if I could afford the taxes, but I have to be realistic. We can't do that. We are military folks living at poverty level. Being big land owners is not in the cards for us. I'll still have 3.6 acres because we're keeping the lot in between us and the one that we are letting go. I hope that having someone living down there isn't going to make me want to leave. I've loved my complete privacy, but if it is just a vacation type cabin that goes there, it won't be so bad, as long as someone doesn't bring a dog they let run. Then, the fun will begin.

This morning we have a minor snow event. It won't stick on the ground, was raining for 24 hours prior and too warm.

 

[speckledhen]

Work started on the clean up and renovation of the adjoining lot.

What was there not long after the logging, just on the other side of the livestock perimeter fence (which surrounds our main 2.22 acres the house sits on):

You can see the steel posts of the fence in this photo and there is a white cable that goes across the top of it as a visual barrier for the deer to see it. They still run into it sometimes. All the piles of tree tops and brush. If you click and make it larger, probably easier to see.

Then, it grew up into stuff that doesn't grow in dense woods, lots of briars, plus all the tree roots trying to come back, etc. You couldn't even walk back there anymore, something I loved to do when it was all woods. I love the opened up view of Piney Mtn and Watson Mtn and other unnamed peaks, but with the good comes the not-so-good and that is what we're taking care of with this. My birds range all the way back to that fence line and I was afraid that predators could sneak up on them easily in all the mess that you'll see below.


And, the first wave of clean up he did before the weather went south (why is all bad stuff called "going south"? I'm insulted) All stumps will be removed, all brush piled and burned, all firewood-suitable laying logs piled for us to cut up, damaged-from-the-previous logging trees cut, ground leveled and the entire 1.38 acres seeded with low growing ground cover. I may just take down part of the fence and have him come inside and level out my garden spot for the spring, too.

 

[holm25]

Speckled hen whats going in the pasture???

 

[speckledhen]

Speckled hen whats going in the pasture???

Well, my dear, that's the $64000 question. This guy who is clearing/cleaning also raises Angus cattle and he may get us a steer to raise out there and process for our freezer. Or we may just enjoy being able to take a mower and cut without having to worry about stumps and other nasty grabby things. I'm not really sure yet.

By the way, I love your avatar.

 

[holm25]

Would you do grass fed beef?? Thanks that is our milk cow Lady and her heifer calf June Bug. In the second pic you can see how dark the calf got!!

 

[speckledhen]

That calf sure did darken up a lot! I have an EE named June that I call Junebug. Her daughter, owned by Ladyhawk, sired by Isaac, is named Junebug.

I really am not sure what we'll do yet. We were just approached with the idea of raising up a steer for ourselves. My grandfather had a 50 acre farm in west Georgia (Carrollton) and raised broiler chickens, pigs and Angus beef so I've been around cattle, just not in many years. I may do it, but we'll have to plant something back there after it's ready and see how it grows. We really have enough garden space for the two of us inside the fence we have now so don't need to grow anything to eat back there, though we may plant a few fruit trees, which are easily protected from deer with circles of fencing. We will be fencing that lot to tie into the fence we already have up here on the main property and then, after that, we'll ponder on it.