ozarks podcast

"See that little doeling?  She's not dead, she's just mostly dead" as Miracle Max would say...

And so kidding begins...  Triplets, twins, twins, and an eight pound miracle single.

Second batch of goose eggs in the incubator, cold snap moving in tonight.

Blind Hog has been splitting firewood, Acorn playing the midwife.  All and all, a tiring week on the farm!

After the purge came the big payout...  686 lbs of scrap metal to the recycler, all for $76...  Like selling a truckload of black walnuts to the hulling station...  Actually, walnuts bring a few more pennies per pound...

Workshop cleared, hay set out, goats sorted-tagged-vaxxed, fuel filter replaced on the Tracker.  Now Acorn has to see about changing the distributor. Fun fun...  Then to the Big City for more recycling, errands, Blind Hog's annual echo test and more errands...

Cold weather plants have been repotted- all good there.  Eggs in the incubator doing well- the others were candled and one dud egg found.  10 eggs currently out with the geese- they continue to lay, except for Alpha.  Not sure what is up with her...

Acorn watched a webinar on native plant landscaping- VERY interesting...  You can start one any time of the year!

Pizza has been made- doubled the recipe and have some for now, some for later.

Acorn is going to town cleaning the workshop; or as Frank calls, it our "plunder room..."  Like Texas has pirates?  Plunder?  Arrrrrrrrrr!

A good week of work on the farm overall.  Bookkeeping done, doctor appts all good, farm animals doing well and Blind Hog is bringing home nice dead oak logs from our next door neighbor. Cutting ands splitting all those will keep him busy!

Bees have been checked and moved, a bit. Both hives survived the winter and the farmers did not feed them.

Received the new baby monitor cameras and base unit- working like a champ! Under $90 so that is even better.

Tomorrow will be more cleaning of the workshop, should be warm enough so Acorn can roll up the big door. Hot damn!

Sam even caught himself a big old groundhog. Happiness everywhere!

The aggressive gander, Mr Meany, has been chosen for Christmas dinner.  In fact, processing, chilling and roasting is already completed!  Thanks to friend Meg for her recipes and I even have 2 gallons of delicious stock!

The week started with a birthday trip (The Badger's) to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  Had a great afternoon.

Will be a warmer than usual holiday, getting a wee bit of rain...  If you call "heavy mist" rain...

The December mini-summer" has come and gone.  Highs in the 60's with freezing mornings right around the corner.  Was nice while it lasted!

Blind Hog now has the "sinus crud" and both he and Acorn are leaving a trail of tissues...  Well, Acorn prefers bandanas over tissues..  NeilMed squeezy bottle sinus rinsers have save the day.  Costco special.  Muy bueno!

Little goats have been worked over, looking good.  Garden has been mulched, more tulips planted.  Acorn tried out the sourdough English muffins- perfect result.  Also whipped up some cinnamon rolls- two dozen in the freezer, unbaked.  Had to bake up eight though to give them a test.

Blind Hog says he cannot judge the batch with just one small bun...

Ugh...  Acorn is not hitting on all 8 cylinders and the podcast was thusly abbreviated.  Blind Hog and Acorn still put in a bit of time doing fun projects, like the dog portrait commission from Ol' Frank.

Next week should be better, fingers crossed...

Lovely Thanksgiving at the kiddos in Springfield, and Acorn did manage to get in a little cooking.  Black Friday shopping amounted to going to Tractor Supply for a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid for the Mahindra...

Besides football, cooking, eating, and working on a painting- has been a nice quiet at the farm.  Blind Hog and Acorn will try to have something more exciting to discuss next week!

Goats barns are cleaned!  Goose pens revamped! All the busy work chores getting done at last and have to say, the weather has been most cooperative.

Blind Hog's visit to the eye doctor allowed Acorn to listen in on local conversation. Talk about face palm... Oy!

The farmers got a new tv- just in time for Monday Night's Super Bowl rematch.

Kiddos are hosting Thanksgiving dinner.  Will be a great time.
Until next week!

After  eleven days away from the farm, were Blind Hog and Acorn even missed?  Sam had farmsitter, goats and poultry on auto-pilot pretty much...

ANYWAY, there is just too much to cover in one or two more podcasts so Acorn wants to break things down into three "travel episodes" to rehash all the fun travel details. The Truth will Out!  Ha!

Was 34F this morning so the first wood stove firing occurred.  Got it right toasty in no time.  Blind Hog and Acorn attended FarmFest today and Acorn got her ass right chapped...  

Next episode?  Amsterdam!

Bucklings to the sale barn, house cleaned, yard mowed, animals all set with farm sitter- sounds like a great time for Blind Hog and Acorn to head to EUROPE!

Check out the Blind Hog and Acorn Facebook page for pictures and updates.
https://www.facebook.com/blindhogandacorn

There will not be a podcast 10/3- unless Acorn figures something clever to do...  Otherwise, you will hear all about the adventures on 10/8!

After last week's podcast Acorn realized that old Lulu the cow was not doing well, so she eased Lulu out of her mortal coil and Blind Hog carried the 17 yr old cow up to the north 40.  Sadness, but how many cows live that long and have such a good life?  Not many I bet!

Cleaning up in the garden, clipping down the fields in preparation for fall fescue growth...  If the rains will fall...  Geese actually made it through the dog door and were all on the screen porch!  Yes, it got a little messy...

All in all, a bittersweet yet productive week capped off with a trip to the art museum.  Annie Leibovitz preview did not disappoint!

Ragweed, humidity and a return from Texas.  other than that, not much else shakin' at the farm.

Massey Ferguson still being worked on, but the list of problem-causing items is being diminished.

Old Frank was in fine shape for Acorn's visit, was good to see hi and meet the other family.

Sam got skunked, so what else is new?  Chickens were having some discussion in the  middle of the yard and would not divulge the topic of the impromptu meeting...

Acorn is taking off Friday morning for a weekend visiting The Goat Man, ol' Frank, in San Marcos TX.  Therefore, Blind Hog and Sam will be left to man the conn in her absence.

This week has been full of old tractor mechanic funs, problem is getting closer to being solved but not quite there yet...

Blind Hog will find himself with plenty of baked treats to ease his woes...  Cookies, cake, brownies, cornbread...  

Heat returns after a few days of "Fall Preview" weather...  Mornings in the 50's... Lovely...

Another couple bands of possibly severe storms headed to SteelMeadow- has been pleasantly rainy, but oh!  That humidity!

Miss Massey the Tractor is acting up, goats are moved from  west to west fields, gooses continue their yard patrol and hummingbirds are sucking down syrup like crazy.

Tomatoes appreciated being staked up, all good with them.

Junior Constable Mouser is growing like a weed...

THREE trees down in one week (as far as Blind Hog and Acorn know) and much firewood will be the result from two of them- the latest tree to fall was a sycamore and it is not much punkin' for burning...

July ended with 6.5" of rain so small wonder the trees were "loose in the ground..."

Goats are happy, geese are happy, Junior Constable Mouser has Sam and Inky as BFFs... Poor Boots has been missing now for 2 weeks. Acorn is thinking a snake bit him.

Will the humidity lift?  We can only hope!

Has been a good 10 years since the farm has witnessed such a long heatwave, and it isn't even August yet...  Good thing Savanna goats are heat tolerant!

The honey extraction worked well- about 7 gallons of dark amber spring honey.  Deeeeelicious!

Acorn is selling camera equipment so she can get a new camera that fits in a pocket instead of an albatross around the neck...  Blind Hog has been catching up on reading.

All good at SteelMeadow Farm, least there are no pressing issues at the moment!

Triple digit highs next week?  Not looking forward to it!

Blind Hog and Acorn had a grand time with company- Dave, our former neighbor.  Had a fun-filled few days and even managed a trip to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Acorn DID get the littlest kids dosed with dewormer- tapeworms have shown up again.  Only kids get them, not so much with adult goats.

Will Blind Hog spend a few hours next week in the workshop, getting it straightened out?  Only time will tell!

Drought continues however there have been some bright sorts the past week- goats got sold, goats got moved, and everyone seems hunky dory....  Well, except for the garden which is forlorn for lack of plantings this year.

NEXT YEAR the garden will be lovely- Acorn promises.  Already planning to heavily compost then cover the raised beds, make it all extra good for next spring.

Just watching the clouds go by... No rain on the farm in a while...

Blind Hog and Acorn have another feline in the pig barn/ chicken coop... A little blonde kitten that is probably male...  Maybe...  Sgt's Inky and Boots can show him the ropes.

Selling goats during a low price slump, waiting for rain, and going on a diet of all things.  Talk about a variety of woes!

Acorn does love a good breakfast though...  Arroz con pollo, beans, tortilla, fruit... Put that fried egg on top and all is right with the world!

Midsommar already- Blind Hog and Acorn took a second bunch of goats to market this morning, filing in behind all the Amish who were having contract haulers bring in their sheep- 3,000 head consigned already.

Is a bit toasty at the farm, but heat cannot be compared to Texas' heatwave- that is for sure!

AC fun in Springfield...  What will the final bid be???