The Good Day All Thread

I'm not on NextDoor. I was for a while but didn't like it. I'm actually having someone who is on Facebook put things on Marketplace, and using Craigslist. I'm not on Facebook myself, either. Some things, I sit on the curb with a Free sign, or take to GoodWill. It's been a major cleanup. It's a big weight off me. I have a neighbor who volunteers at two places, and took things there, too.

 

It’s funny even though we dread the clean out and surprisingly it makes us feel so much better.

 

Good Saturday morning all. Currently just 9°C and sunny. I've been for my dog walk, now I'm having my coffee. At 8am our local farm store opens and I'll be there buying some chicken wire to attach along the garden fence to keep the bunnies out. They continue to eat everything in the garden, but the final straw was them chewing off the forming strawberries and leaving them to rot. I've been watching those darn strawberries form and was excited to finally have home grown strawberries! The chard, lettuce and kale have been eaten to the ground. I also moved some volunteer dill from one raised bed to another (thinking that bunnies don't like dill because it was untouched by them) and the buggers ate them to the ground! I can't plant my beans until I can keep the bunnies out and today is the day I try the final solution. If it doesn't keep the bunnies out of the veggie garden I will unfortunately have to start shooting. The amount of rabbits in this yard is insane, and I've tried absolutely everything else, so lets hope this works. I don't understand why they aren't in the surrounding clover fields!
After the fence re-enforcement project is done, there is lots of grass to cut and flower gardens to weed. I hope its a productive day!
Have a great day all

 

So kind of you to be concerned about us! We are accustomed to power outages and have little solar powered lanterns that we charge on sunny days and use when we have no power. We are pretty adapt at fixing cold meals and the cat comes in at the first hint of a storm.
No chance of us evacuating. We are on top of a hill so we won't flood, and "tornado alley" is way north of us. In 17 years here we have experienced high winds, but no tornadoes. The hens have two joining coops. If one gets pretty wet they "self-evacuate" to the other. Food and water are kept in both, and also nest boxes. Timi, being a cat, takes care of herself by letting us take care of her!

 

Netty it’s so upsetting when rabbits invade our gardens. I wonder if you tried hot pepper spray on the garden delicacies. I surely get it I have had so many critters devastate my gardens over the years. Not to mention those high falootin power company tree hackers/wackers/idiots that … well not going there to upsetting. you know the drill.

I have been extremely on top of the entire field of invasion. By ground , sea and air , critter's this year ( well maybe not by sea ) by controlling gophers, moles, voles and rabbits and deer. Oh and let’s not forget the ground squirrels. Keeping everything around the perimeter and pastures mowed very low seems to have helped a lot. Also setting traps early for gophers and caught 4 with their pants down this week. I began mowing 2x’s a day in March. No more holes or any critters even deer. Not one deer scat found on the entire property for 3 months.

It may be a bit early to brag but when the entire property looks like swiss cheese from the wild zoo around here I am going to take all the credit for now. So by eliminating the grass hay in the pastures and lawns mowed every day seems to be working for now. There is a lot of food in the gardens but each perimeter is strictly scrutinized 2x’a a day by a mower. I have declared war and broke out my weapons of mass destruction. The rider mow and tractor.
to think of all the money I have spent to detour all these critters over the years when I had a mower the entire time .

 

Good morning everyone.

It must be so soul destroying to see the devastating damage caused by wildlife. Yes we love our wildlife but everything has its limitations and boundaries....and that includes them !! Some of you folk are really up against it and my heart goes out to you all. You're doing a top job at trying to keep them out/ discouraging all uninvited visitors........but gosh what hard work it is for you all . Well done for your determination.

We have deer, foxes and fields full of rabbits but thankfully they do tend to stay in the surrounding fields.....gosh now I've said this I hope I haven't jinxed things!


Today we're in for fab weather so no hanging around indoors for us, can't wait to get out there and get my hands muddy.

Hope you all have good weather and a good day too.
Enjoy.

 

Oreti have a great time plain in the mud.

 

Cloudier today with a chance shower later on . We were out for most the day yesterday.......so guess where I'm planning to spend today .

Have a good one

 

Netty— it is heartbreaking to hear your account of the disappointing rabbit damage. It takes me back several years ago when some people began tossing pet unwanted rabbits over the fence into our complex. In a matter of months there was an enormous explosion in the numbers. They were literally everywhere. People had to uit up fences around their gardens to protect their veg and fruit. To give an example: i walked from my allotment up to the front gate— some 250 meters— and saw 71 rabbits !

I took the initiative to call-in a falconer's club to catch as many as they could. I even offered soup and sarnies afterwards. They never showed up. Tch. But almost all the bunnies died within a few days. Perhaps myxomatosis. There were carcasses lying about all over the place. Good riddance. Those rabbits caused so much heartbreak that there were actually gardeners that gave up gardening and left our organization.

I was so desperate myself that I wanted to shoot them myself, but of course in such a crowded country, that was impossible. Too dangerous to other humans.

Anyhow Netty, I hope that you can get a hold of this problem…and if you must shoot them, then that is what you must do. At least you can eat them if cleaned properly. —waste not, want not my mamma always used to say.

Pac— chapeau for your readiness with the land, sea and air invasions there. Let me see now, is it one if by land and two if by sea in the church tower. You have your own horses so Paul can stay nestled in his cramped accommodations. Right?

Jane, of course we are worried about you and your conditions there. If we can’t be there, we tend to imagine the worst. Glad to hear you are doing oké.

 

Netty, sorry about the rabbits. So frustrating!

No gardening at my house today. We went through the in- law house, choosing furniture to move to the farmhouse. It's not suitable for the planned condo purchase. Then, moved unwanted furniture from the farm house to the in-law house, to sell or give away. I hired a mover for the heavy stuff.

When we bought the farm house, twelve years ago, we furnished it from estate and yard sales. Comfortable, solid furnishings but a hodge podge and never felt like "home". Now, it does. I had bought all of that over the years. It's only "stuff" and as long as it was needed, I was happy. But it's nice getting some back again.

I'm excited about one thing - we got the upright freezer back. No more searching through the chest freezer. It's very nice seeing everything right in front of your eyes, organized and easy to find. Yay! I like an organize freezer.

Still a lot of work ahead, but today was a big step.

Also, they had a good price on generators at the big warehouse store, so I bought one. Now to call the electrician to install it.

 

We defrosted the freezer in anticipation of decent harvests. Washing clothes…the garden duds were threatening to walk away. Just got back from voting for the European Parliament.

We made two pots of blueberry jam from a frozen supply ( two years old ).
We have been force-feeding ourselves frozen veg, ice cream and bread loaves to make room for new food and to keep the amt of frozen stuff that had to be kept cold to a minimum.

The Bride is nursing sore muscles and joints, but I will head out to the lottie shortly.

 

Sjoerd, so sorry the bride has soreness--sure hope it eases soon.
Not much going today. I made chicken pate yesterday, and will have the excitement (?) of unmolding it today for dinner. Wish me luck!
Husband will be mowing as soon as the morning dew dries off, and bringing in the garlic that has been hanging in the barn to dry. I'll roast some garlic and make garlic butter to pop in the freezer.
Hope you all have a good, unexciting day!

 

Thanks so much, Marlin…she thanks you greatly. She is happy sitting and reading.
It rained here, so I am late in leaving. In the meantime, it is tea-time so we are having tea and choccies. Beginning my second cup now, so the lottie is in sight.
I hope your man gets that grass mown.

 

I hope your bride is without aches and pains very soon!

 

Not much in garden. I watered container plants. They need slug bait which I keep forgetting.

Sorted out enough to take a carload to the thrift store. I make certain all is clean and working, and in good condition, before taking. It's a slow process. The house seems noticeably "lighter" and more livable, bit by bit.

I think the combination of the pandemic ("We might need this") and health issues compounded the keeping of more than we should have.

Meals today were "Pantry & Freezer Vegetables, Black Bean, and Barley Stew" and "Pantry noodles with Freezer tomato sauce". Both were quite good.