Monday

Monday

Mooky took a shower Sunday night before bed because he was nauseous, then he woke up about 2 AM feeling much more nauseous and took another shower! He is one clean kid. Monday was not a good day for him. He was extremely fatigued along with the nausea and he had a fever.
A friend asked me if he has ever been tested for cystic fibrosis. I looked it up since I know nothing about it, and found that the symptoms are usually respiratory, along with digestive problems. None of the symptoms really match except stomach aches.
Mean Lily: I got nearly 2 gallons of milk from her yesterday (I only milk once a day) and she behaved perfectly while I milked her. It makes such a difference to have the fly problem under control. There is a tiny banty hen setting on a nest of eggs up in the far reaches of the loft, so while I milk I am always listening for the up high peep of baby chicks. It's hard because there are plenty of little peeps coming from the chicks eating the oats Lily drops under her feeder. Three of Erinn's banty hens have hatched out Ameracauna chicks so far, but this one up in the loft escaped my attention for who-knows-how-long, so I didnt take her tiny eggs away from her and replace them with full size eggs. As soon as they hatch I will move her to the chicken pen for a few days, and then let her run free with the other chickens.
Garden: It's out of control!! A weed jungle. More volunteer tomato plants popped up than I can handle. And they are all tiny little cherry tomatoes! Last year we did a pretty good job of weed control... and I finally realized that it is because I had one more helper last year than I do this year!
So, I decided to let a few chickens into the garden. They ate tomatoes and bugs for 2 days before I let them out. Those stupid Cornishes ate too much and were drooling red tomato juice. Lovely.




Cheese: I went through the freezer trying to figure out which milk was in there before The (not so) Great Thaw, and which milk I put in there afterwards. I pulled out 7 gallons and thawed it all out to see what was good and what was bad. 2 gallons looked yucky so it went to the chickens and the pig, and I made a big pot of cottage cheese with the rest. This way, I can be sure that any milk I send to Mum/Kiwi/Halcy will be fresh and good. I was thinking about how I wish I could make cheddar cheese, and then I wouldnt be buying ANY cheese. And I decided to see how often I could substitute homemade cottage cheese for store bought cheddar. I made fajitas for supper and instead of topping them with shredded cheddar, I mixed some cottage cheese into the pan. Mooky and I ate ours on corn tortillas and Kris ate his on flour tortillas. It was GREAT! I used venison and homegrown bell peppers.



Tuesday

Mooky slept better last night, so I am hoping he will have a better day! He was out doing his chores at the first hint of light, so that's a good sign.