103 degrees and months of drought = Devestation to the Garden.

Made it to the second night of the PHISH show, had a blast!

I left about ten days ago to head back home to Va Beach to hang out with friends and also hit up a Phish concert. The concert was sick and I really enjoyed just hanging with my other Phish heads and close friends at the show.

While I was home, I did a lot of things including trying to get a missing persons file really started at the police station for my Brother (kinda hard since he is over 18 years old). In the governments eyes, he isn't missing because he is an adult. As an update for those concerned about my brother, he has been out of total communication since March, so no news. :(

Trains are everywhere in Arkansas

Also helped my parents clean house, and downsize a lot to the point where we had a really classy garage sale. I'm talking things new in the box going for pennies on the dollar. Actually I was very happy I wasn't a costumer, because I would have bought the whole lot of it. Not trying to joke other peoples garage sales, but mine didn't have crap in it. I threw the crap out in the trash and only sold nice quality stuff. Thing is, people are really cheap when they garage sale, to the point I was getting frustrated when people would (for instance) turn down my $200 guitar I was selling for only $40 and was willing to take $30, but the highest offer I got was $20... I mean really, you want my guitar for 90% off of retail?? Americans can be disgustingly cheap, I didn't mind losing a huge profit on every single item I put out, but I didn't want to just give it away. I was selling DVDs (good titles that people want) for a buck a piece and people were still griping about that, and I had over 500 out there for sale! Kinda makes me want to never do that again. A lot of it was my life in a nutshell, again, with this whole trip to Arkansas and also my life experience as of late, I feel all this material stuff just weighs you down in the long run, so I had to just let it go. All in all I sold between my moms stuff, Drew's Stuff, and my stuff probably around $4,000 (or more if you really take into account the DVD prices) worth of material items, but walked away with around $750 that I split with my mom and dad. Then donated another $500 or so worth of stuff to my friend who works as a prop master and art director for a lot of different TV shows (who was elated to get it all), so who knows, I might see some of my stuff in an upcoming edition of "Murder Investigation" or whatever shows he works on for Discovery channel. :P

Fastest tour of Washington DC EVER! Final approach took me right past the mall and reflecting pool to see the Senate, The Washington Monument, and Lincoln memorial

At my friend Erin's Farm from Virginia Intermont College!

I now officially fully own my truck and trailer. Made my third trip to DMV this last trip home and got all the red tape fixed and cured to get proper ownership, tax titles and licensing fee's out of the way for another year too, so that took 240$ of my garage sale profit, so realistically I only made about $120 after everything was said and done after DMV was out of the way... so much for making the garage sale pay for my trip this time around. One further sad note from DMV is now I no longer have my T1-3VOOM license plate tags that I have sported since I was sixteen years old. (it says MOOVE-IT, when I am riding your butt in your rear view mirror, for those who don't get it, nobody ever did, it was my own inside joke...lol) I had to turn them in to DMV because they were past the expiration date and have to reapply to get them again, so maybe I will later on in life.

She runs her own equine school. I'm impressed!

Among other things helping my parents out with, and just cleaning up lose ends in Virginia Beach, once again my free time to hang with friends evaporated quicker than water in a hot skillet on a 103 degree day. I had a botched open house on the Sunday I was home due to the fact I don't think it was properly advertised, but that was supposed to be for people who get ticked off at me for not seeing them when I come home, instead, I just hung out with neighbors and some good family friends that came out to it (including the Ballentines and Chris and Shieryl!! Thanks guys for coming out, now I know who my REAL friends are...lol, just playing for all the rest of ya...). So alas my time at home ran out, spent good time with good friends and family but had to get back to the farm....

What was once a Banana Pepper plant.

While I was away, the drought that has been going on for months continued and a scorching heatwave also rolled through like the day I left, and has continued to be hot since, averaging 103 degrees daily for a while now, plus the next three days are all set to be 103, finally after Tuesday, it is supposed to calm down to 99 degrees... I am not sure Ill be able to tell a difference. But while I was gone, within a few days, one of the Cornish Hens died from a heart attack and my garden went from struggling, to wilted and brown. The goats kept getting out of their side of the yard and invading the chicken coop, and the Guineas are now more grown and have left the coop to wander the yard, eating bugs! So yeah, the Guineas are the only happy part of the past paragraph, but that is farm life for ya in a nutshell. What a year to take up farming as a career! lol. Just keep smiling, just keep smiling... yeah, look at the pictures below to get an idea. Some of my plants are just done, gone, wilted and at the point of no return... but for some reason, some are still kicking and screaming refusing to be put out of their misery... I will keep those babies alive if its the last thing I do!! :P

Corn, all dead and dried up

My poor little Cornish Hen that died from the heart attack is a double whammy, because they were the ones that ate the most, so cost the most to grow, and also turned out to be the most friendly. That is so typical, the ones I have to cull off in the next few days turned out to be the friendliest creatures on the farm.... really in truly, life is not fair some times, but again, they at least got a awesome life here at the farm, versus being stuck in a cage no bigger than they are their entire life, so I think it is a fair tradeoff for them... just not for me. Who ever would want to kill off a friend? The Chickens and Goats literally are my friends here, I have my neighbors and my roomy too, but I think I spend the most time with the chickens...lol!

I do have more to say, but for now, I need to go to bed, long day ahead tomorrow. As usual, Ill let the pics do the rest of the talking!

I think the roots on this Tomato plant are going to be strong enough to pull through! Might salvage this guy.

The almighty potato box was no match for the heat and drought

Whats left of the Romain Lettuce plants

My poor head lettuce. Once again, still to this day have not had success with head lettuce. :(

Potato tire... might pull through, been watering since I have gotten back nonstop

Another Banana pepper plant, again, this one might make it... maybe

Sunflower is a now a brown stick protruding from the ground. But the (what I thought was a cucumber) now gourd plant is actually looking strong!

My first (and probably last) Zucchini!!

Most of the watermelon plants burned out, this guy was toast (but still tasted descent... the whole two bites I got out of it) gave the rest to the chickens... which loooooved it!

This watermelon might pull through!

Cantaloupe plants are now off the menu :(

One last look at my corn, the little tiny bit we were able to pull off the plant was actually really sweet.

Be back in a week!

I am heading out of town in the morning to come back to Virginia Beach for a little while. But before I head out of town, just wanted to get one more post in.

Since I arrived here, I think I have only missed a handful of sunsets, and I don't see that changing. Every night I go outside and sit in the yard with Cheyenne and listen to the sounds around me. Lately the sounds have gotten pretty noisy with the cicadas chirping persistently around, however its kinda nice after a while you get used to it, and almost become a mantra or a chant and literally will make you lose track of time. A few nights ago, I was out there for over three hours (and boy did my back feel it later) laying on the picnic table counting passing satellites. The temperature was awesome, and if it weren't for the bugs and the later back ache, I would have stayed out all night. (Plan to soon actually)

The Goats are still a little shy, but now when I feed them I put the food in one hand and my other above it (almost like I'm clapping, but not) then while they are munching away in the one hand, I can reach over a bit and give them a scratch around the ears... sly I know.

Did I mention, I dig the Arkansas sunset? Just wish I had a someone here to share it with (other than Cheyenne and the goats and chickens...lol)

Got a bit further than this in the construction of the newest house.. "oh look, looks like the other buildings I have built... how original". My theory, if it works the first time, keep doing it, so back off! And tell me when have you built three houses in a matter of months? Oh you haven't eh? OK then! :P This time around I went with an exposed frame construction to save even more on wood. Plus we had a whole bunch of 1"x2"x 40"(somethings) so I started to cut them up and made them the walls of this particular project... again, total cost of this project... $0.00!! Waaaahooo!!!! (even the back wall, which is a window) was just laying around the property. Also I have made this building special. Over the summer time, it can be used as a playhouse for the 2 yr old. Over the winter time, early spring- it can be converted to a full out greenhouse, just remove the single piece of roof and add a clear plastic roof instead and boom! GREENHOUSE! Multiple use building. I tell ya, what will I think of next?

For those wondering about the orchard... some of it is doing alright, but was surprised when I found this new growth on the "fruit Cocktail" tree... earlier it looked a lot like a stick and was about to give up hope on the thing.

Here is a very friendly bug that had no problems crawling all over me. Even when I put him down once, he crawled back on, so I gave in... and took some pictures. Its cool though, its natural camouflage looks strikingly like a leaf, even had the vein pattern of a leaf in the wing. Pretty sly creature, however; if my chickens ever find him, I don't think they would care if its a bug or a leaf, if it moves, it'll get pecked at the least!

Found some of the smaller chicks bullying the guineas... they must be at the bottom of the pecking order. It doesn't pay to be a bully! Everyone needs to just get along! :) (don't worry, I removed them)

The water is really low, because it hasn't rained in an extremely long time, and even longer before that! But it is still nice to dive in and float about on the river that flows through the property. It has been a while since I have been down there and had to bushwhack my way to the area that is easily accessible to the water. (only pulled off a whopping three ticks!...lol)  So it felt great to dive... I mean, wade into the shallow cool pool of cow poop infested water! Oh yeah, totally walked up river (because the water is so low) and saw my third copperhead snake today! This one was swimming... away from me, which was great, because I would have peed my shorts if he was swimming towards me.

One of the original Carrots that I seeded at the beginning of the sowing season.... yup.. its small.. but it was tasty!

Good luck farm, good luck farm animals, good luck Cheyenne! See you guys again soon! For now, its time to go see some other friends... be back soon!

It was a Blind Snake!

My snake-worm hybrid that I found out was a "blind snake"

"Blind snake" (from the internet)

I knew I wasn't crazy when I found the night crawler-snake hybrid on the driveway the other day!!


After some research, I found out it is called a "blind snake". Owls resist the urge to eat them and keep them in their nests because the blind snake will eat the maggots that evolve from the owl castings! Check out the pics I found and compare them to the one I took. Totally the same creature and the same size. It is also called the worm snake, so really in-truly I wasn't that far off. Kinda wish I knew what I was handling though, it seems like it is a pretty fascinating little creature!

"Blind Snake" (from the internet)

How to be frugal...

FREE WOOD!!! (Your not seeing the other cabinet)

I went dumpster diving today, and walked out with a couple bucks worth of free wood and some free cabinets! I think at least one of the cabinets will go inside the chicken coop to put the chicken feed inside off the ground away from rodents and the prying beaks of the chickens trying to get a midnight snack.

The wood is a whole bunch of 2x4's that have nails in them from a demolition job (no worries I had permission to take it) so a new project is taking out all the nails! With some of the wood, I plan on making the farmers two year old a little house for her to play in, and when she grows out of it, it can be used as a turkey house or some other small enclosure for a farm animal in the future! And, Ill have plenty of wood to spare, so also plan on making a nice little tool shed for the garden tools to go in!

The other cabinets will get used for storage in the garage and I think we plan on putting one in the basement laundry area for detergent storage and whatnot. The best part, is that the demo job is only half way through, so I should be getting another truck load soon!

Couldn't believe how behaved she was,
 and yes, I did it sitting on the ground! (bad Dave)

Another way I am trying to be more froogle is now I plan on using my free time to take care of my own dogs grooming. I went onto Amazon.com and bought a $50 pair of animal clippers. Every time I take my dog to the groomer it is always over 50$ plus tip, so now that I have used it the first time, every time I shave down my dog in the future, its FREE! Wahhooo!!!  I know, its not a professional job, but really, Cheyenne is in the country right now, she isn't trying to win any beauty contest, and she already won over my heart and thats all that matters.

Anyone need hair for a wig?

She used to be a Boykin, now shes a Lab.. I DID GOOD! :)

I have to admit, I need to give out credit where it is due... Thank you to all of Cheyennes previous groomers! Last time I tried cutting her hair,(like six years ago) I got the first paw done, and quite, because she wanted nothing to do with it. Today, she just sat there, wagging her tail, acting like it was just another day at the park as I shaved her down. That is a complete 180 from what I remember, so again, thank you to everyone that has ever groomed Cheyenne! After I was done, I could not believe the amount of hair that was on the ground. I almost feel bad that she was lugging around that much of a coat in this hot weather, now, I am possitive she will be much cooler. As for me and my newest hobby of dog grooming... I think I did alright for never doing it before in my life. She wont win the purina dog show contest for best coat, but she doesnt look bad, and definiatly not as bad as I have seen of other non professionals who have attempted to save money by grooming their own dog!

My first Watermelon!

 As I was weeding the garden yesterday, I found a WATERMELON!! Finally, something is going alright in there. I continued on and found about five more about the size of my thumbnail..lol.. but its a start, and the big one is about two times the size of a golf ball. Who knows, I might still get something cool out of the garden this year after all!!

The Goats using their barn... and its not raining! Baby steps, baby steps!

Fun for the goats... and the two year old likes the teeter-totter too!

This picture so doesn't do this sunset justice, it was awesome.

Wanna know how to do the rooster dance?

The rooster dance goes a little like this!  "Haven't you heard?... the bird is the word!... bird bird bird, bid is the word, bird bird bird, bird is the word, everyone has heard that the bird is the word, haven't you heard that the bird is the word?" <- Thanks Family Guy

This guy has not heard that the bird is the word. This is actually the other rooster, and is too friendly, gonna miss him when he is gone.

Tonight's sunset

Han and Leia sitting in a tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g, first comes love, then comes marriage, now give me a baby!

Big Ol' update!!

The Cornish hens, are getting FAT!

 I kinda have been putting this off for a while, but need to get a post in because I have many pictures and also many stories to tell... so without further ado, put on your reading glasses and lets get started!

Last time I wrote we had just adopted two goats to the farm. With the addition of the goats, I really feel that this is an official homestead now! After the goats start producing kids and milk (maybe this summer??), and the chickens start producing eggs (in about eight to ten more weeks), and after the garden starts to cooperate (should be in the next year or so) this place will be a prime example (hopefully) of getting the majority of the things you need off the land and being near self sufficient!

You guys aren't supposed to be in here!

As stated in my personal bio, I don't really see a future for the US dollar, and as time has progressed, I am thinking the Euro will fail too with Spain and Greece flailing around. So, I am finding true comfort in the fact that if the world ever does go down hill, I have a place to come to and literally survive if needed. Hopefully though, the world will continue to turn and I will be able to do the same thing to my own property that I have one day, and turn it into my retreat learning center for the masses to come and explore and learn!

Time to leave the coop goats!

First picture of the Goats eating near me.

Over the past week we have been "rehabbing" the goats. Usually (as stated in my plethora of Goat books and online) Goats are naturally curious creatures and will want to check you out and be friends. Well, our goats didn't want anything to do with us for the first few days, I was chalking it up to it being a new place, new surroundings, but was still taken aback by how much they didn't want to really hang out with us. I also found it sad (and kinda funny at the same time) that they liked their goat house until I finished it, then they refused to go inside it, well, until it rained the other day... then they were all about it.

Very shy goat finally eating in front of me!

After much thought, I personally feel that these poor goats didn't have much human interaction. At their old farm, they were cooped up in a 10'x20' area and had a dog house sized shelter, their living conditions were fairly poor. Also the farm owners had about 60 other goats and hundreds of different chickens, peacocks, ducks, guineas etc, so I find it hard to see the old owners really even having the time to make these little guys friendly. Before everyone starts blaming the farmers, I do feel for them, it is hard to not accept everything that comes your way, owning farm animals is kinda addicting, and I can see people letting the numbers get out of hand. And when I was talking to them, they sounded like they actually do care about the animals, I just think they have too many to manage properly. Personally, I have already turned down a free horse!! I just know I cant afford it. But yeah, its still hard to say "no thanks" especially when I'm from the city life and a horse costs lots of money to even buy one out there, let alone house and feed it.

YES they finally have decided we are cool enough to eat out of our hands.

After days and days of just sitting in the barn yard in a chair, letting the goats get used to a person in their space, I finally got the goats to eat out of a bucket that I put between my feet! Finally, just yesterday, we got the Goats to actually eat out of our hands! They are still jumpy and wont let you pet them, except a little scratch under the chin while they are munching away but I am positive within the next few weeks they will be our best buddies! I have since even put up some theme park rides for them in their goat yard, consisting of ramps that go nowhere, and a teeter totter made out of wood and tires, also some milk crates to stand on and a platform (that they really like) that is just some wood on a tire. Slowly but surely they are acclimating to the new place and I feel they are starting to actually enjoy it here. When we first brought them home, I kept finding them inside the chicken coop hanging with the chicks, but I blocked off the chicken yard from the goats for now because I dont want the goats thinking the coop is their home.

Now, if a Goat wants goat food, they have to come to us!

Now, that is one sexy beard!

Obviously we were excited about the goats finally eating out of our hand

So we had to take a lot of pictures

The Rooster running around the yard

Speaking about Chickens, the Rooster is just AWESOME, he doesn't crow too much, and has really taken to guarding the flock, the ladies just follow him wherever he goes and the chickens have been more apt to explore and scratch around the chicken yard for bugs! Thank goodness, because the bugs were starting to get worse. I have noticed the chickens have actually reduced their food intake from the chicken starter/grower feed, so I know they are eating more bugs. I thought getting a full sized rooster might increase the feed output, but have been pleasantly surprised that it has done the opposite! Fun times, fun times, it is just crazy cool watching the birds run around (yes literally run around) the yard playing and eating and exploring. I would recommend raising chickens to anyone who can, just a real pleasant addition to a yard.

Finally the fat Cornish hens decided to go outside... to sleep

 One thing I wont recommend is getting the Cornish Hen breed, bred specifically for butchering. Even though they reach full maturity to butcher size in six to eight weeks, it seems to me, that the chickens eat way too much to make it cost affective. All they want to do is lounge around and eat all day. They eat, I would say, four times the amount that a regular chicken does, and doesn't really go for the bugs too much. So, if your like me, and just can't see yourself going vegetarian or Vegan, I would recommend a good cross breed chicken (made to produce eggs and also good for meat), like the Rhode Island Reds, or Buff Opringtons, they will still get the same size as the Cornish Hens, but will take longer to get to that weight, and also will produce eggs in the meantime, also they won't eat all the chicken feed and do their part in the bug population control. They are also a revolving producing door, they will give you new chicks to replace them, and when you need a chicken for dinner, you just cull one out of the flock. It is also kinda sad watching the Cornish hens try to walk around, as it really is just like what you see in the documentaries, they are so heavy, they can only walk for a few feet, then lay down and rest. Even with the opportunity to exercise and free range, I couldn't prevent that, and I tried. :(  Next week I am coming home to Virginia Beach for the PHISH concert, and when I get back here, I will have to do the deed, and cull out the Cornish Hens. Not looking forward to it, but I personally feel that knowing where your meat comes from and knowing they had an awesome life with plenty of room to "waddle" about will make it worth it. Future warning, I will have a post on the culling process from start to finish, I will have a "viewer discretion" warning before you read it, if that is something you would like to skip.

What the coop looks like at night.

Yes you heard right, I will be home next week. And for my massage clients/friends that are reading this, I will have some slots open for massage. The Days I plan on doing massage are Monday and Tuesday June 25th and 26th. I will have an extremely limited number of spots open, and I feel they will fill up quick! So, if you want one, call or text me and I will start filling up the slots! Now, obviously, I no longer have a spot in Reinhold Chiropractics office, so I will be doing them out of my old house (literally a block away from the office right off of Pleasure House Rd), and because of my tight scheduling, I will only be doing hour long massages, no half hours... sorry. :)

Guineas are getting bigger! Time to move them out of the brood

Big Dave's way of separating the Chicks from the guineas

Today was GRADUATION DAY for the young Guineas. They are constantly trying to get out of the brood box, so I decided to give them more space and have quarantined a space for them in the coop so they can get used to the chickens and also know where home is. I quickly found out though, even that my cage I made for them is about four feet high, they have no problem flying up and perching on the top. So, its more for their protection from the rest of the chickens, but we are letting nature take its course and hopefully in the next few weeks will see the guineas eating all the ticks throughout the property! We have decided to not clip their wings as we actually want them to be able to hop the fence and eat bugs around the house, but need them to be able to fly away (especially cause of the dogs) in case a predator comes around. Currently all 16 have made it so far, and I hope we don't lose any, as the more we have, the better for bug control!

They stayed in that corner for a while.

Potato box is flowering, so Potatoes will be coming soon!

The Garden is continuing to chug along. I am still holding out that they will produce something in the coming months that I can be proud of, but I am not holding my breath! I know it was a long shot to have a successful garden in virgin soil (full of rocks) the first year, but this winter, I plan on doing a cover crop of beans of some sort and will also be adding goat and chicken manure so by next year when we till it all in, maybe the ground will be more adapt for growing. :)

The past week has just been eventful! It is always cool watching this place just take shape. Remember at the beginning of the blog I took pictures of the yard, nice and empty. Soon, in the next few posts, I will retake some pictures and put them side by side of then to now. It is just amazing seeing the difference. But, till then, enjoy these 30 or so pictures of the happenings around the place!

You guessed it... its a sunset

Look its another sunset!

Mr Rooster watching his ladies

Rhodey using my ramp!

Just like at the petting zoo

The only goat toy I made that they have decided to use in front of me.

Beginnings of a head of letucee

Romain lettuce started to "shoot" so I cut off the tops to help stop that.

My wal-mart tomato plants... doing the best(ish)

Charlie Brown tomato plant s still trying, his cousin behind him has two!

All the pepper plants are each about a foot high, and each have one single pepper on them...lol

Sunflower is still trying to grow!

Potato tire nearing it's flowering stage too.