Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report~ Week 10

more rain again this week. (not complaining!) even though we weren't able to be in the garden we had plenty of other stuff to keep us busy.

like butchering these guys. (who are were 10 weeks old. i just miscounted. like 4 times.)

we skin our chickens, since the idea and smell of wet chicken feathers is enough to make anyone gag and consider going vegan. besides, chickens are kind of gross to begin with... Dave taught G how to skin a chicken, and with the both of them skinning and me gutting we had a nice and efficient assembly line going. we were done with all 20 of the chickens before lunch.

here they are in all their naked, embarrassed glory.



this guy weighed in at 4 ½ pounds~ not too bad. the remaining 30 chickens will be butchered in 2 weeks like we had originally planned. (except for the one ravaged lonely hen that was rescued by the little neighbor girl to be kept for a pet.)


so, from 20 chickens we got 15 meals. we had the chicken tenders on Wednesday night for dinner, and they were delicious. tender, juicy, yummy...






the lettuce in the cold frames is producing nicely, and we've been enjoying lots of salads. especially wilted lettuce. (although G keeps telling me that it cannot be technically called a salad if it's just a bowl of lettuce...)



M and i weeded both the onions and the beets this week. both seem to be doing well. the row of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are another story, however. it seems that Little Peter Rabbit found my row of tender plants, and he and his sisters had a party. they chewed off every. single. plant. right down the line! i even had nearly a flat left over that i was going to plant in another row, and they found and ate that, too!



the pigs are doing fine, and growing well. mostly. the pink (female) pig is a runt. Dave had mentioned that when i first brought her home, and it seems that he's right. in spite of the fact that both the pigs were the same size when we got them, the red (male) pig is obviously growing faster. I'm not very pleased, but of course there is nothing that i can do about it.



next fall when i go to get our next pair, I'll know what to look for. one of the tell-tale signs of a runt is curly hair. the red pig's hair is all straight. however, the runt's hair is very curly, especially towards the back.

can you tell what this curious little cutey is?

it's a duck! an Indian runner duck, actually. Dave has always wanted this particular breed of duck, and back when i ordered our peeps i also ordered him half a dozen runners. they arrived on Tuesday, and have settled into the mud room nicely.

both A and B like the ducks, and go to "visit" them regularly. (although i have caught M snuggling with the ducklings, too!) the ducks are friendly, and getting tame. they are so sweet! already we can see their upright walking habit. when they get to parading around the swimming pool it's quite comical to watch. makes me think of that song:

Six little ducks that i once knew

Fat ones, skinny one, little ones too

But the one little duck with the feather on his back

He led the others with a "quack, quack, quack"

so, with that song now annoyingly and permanently looping in your head, I'll leave you until next week...