Selective Weeding.
Even the weeds are sorted and carted off to this animal or that animal or this group of birds. Manu is still a little mystified by real food. But Naomi is doing well at eating her vegetables and weeds and of course Poppy eats everything being a breast feeding mother and all. And all the chickens love their greens.
The girls had a lovely day weeding, it was not too hot. 
But I was in bed early – because I have a deep hacking cough. And it is exhausting. I so seldom get sick that I find myself bad tempered and frustrated with myself when I am a bit poorly. Plus this computer has decided not to accept any photographs sent from my new phone or upload anything from Camera House. So it might be time to buy a new card.
I will call the computer man today and Amanda took some photos with her phone and after a few tries my computer was able to receive them in an email. I know we are very lucky to even have this kind of technology but goodness it is frustrating when it does not work. Without all this we would not even have this blog. I should be more grateful but I am sick!
This is Geraldine. The little lone peahen. We don’t know if she is a peahen or a peacock but she is a feisty one. She is presently ruling the roost in the Turkey House. And doing very well.
I hope you have a lovely day. Do not be worried if I do not post tomorrow, it is possible that the computer needs work. And I need work. Thank goodness I have Amanda and her Mum to help out while I recover my health.
Amanda’s Grandmother puts goldfish in her water barrels to eat the mosquito larvae. And we have millions of mosquitoes this year. So tomorrow I might get some goldfish (when I am out getting a new card for Camera House and some cough mixture for these bloody lungs) and I am going to try this out. It sounds like a delightful idea. Though I will have to bring them in for the winter.
Oh and I almost forgot. Now that the calf is weaned from Lady Astor, we are getting PILES of delicious cream. So tonight we are making my favourite Russian meatballs with PILES of cream sauce.
Maybe I will put a few goldfish in the frog garden too. Hmm. We cannot get near that garden for the mosquitoes.
All is well on the farm except for my head.
Love your friend on the farm
celi
60 Comments on “Selective Weeding.”
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Gold fish in the water barrel….sounds interesting.
I heard that if you have ducks then you will never have mosquito problem. Maybe you can try that plus you don’t have to bring them in in the winter time, unless you put them in the freezer 😉
Hope you feel better tomorrow 🌻
Look after yourself. Amanda’s photos are great. Nice to see a pic of you in action… with Tina steaming ahead 🙂
Sorry to hear you are not well C, get better soon. We haven’t seen the turkeys since they hatched and they are so big. Cute little Geraldine. I know you have harsh winters, but I have Koi and I just stop feeding them fish food and turn off their waterfall and they survive winter just fine. Koi in Japan have to cope with frozen ponds and they all survive too. Laura
I’d love to send you some of our barking geckos, who can eat their own weight in mozzies in a day. Not much against your mozzie population, but it sounds as if you need to attack it from several fronts. And that cough, Celi, do please, please take care of yourself…. You work so hard, you’re out in all weathers, wet and cold, and I find it miraculous that you aren’t sick more often.
Feel better soon.
I hope you are better soon. That is a lovely little peachick.
I think goldfish are a wonderful idea. How deep is the frog pond? It might just work for that too! All that moisture might be growing some weird molds or pollens that got into the air. Take care of that cough.
Maybe I’ll put a few Mexican free-tailed bats in the mail for you. They love mossies!
I think the wet has something to do with it too. I will ask the pharmacist for an expectorant – I don’t know what is best here.
I put mosquito dunks in my water barrels and water garden. I’m pretty resistant to “treatments” of either synthetic or natural kinds, but I have a horrible mosquito problem and from everything I’ve read, they are really safe for every living thing but mosquitos. They are pretty cheap, too.
What is a mosquito dunk?
If you give in ‘mosquito dunk’ on Amazon you will get some Information, Celi. – Never heard of it before, either.
And I found this:
Biological mosquito control prevents your water garden from becoming a mosquito breeding ground. Used by professionals for more than a decade to effectively kill mosquito larvae before they mature into biting adult pests. Slowly released Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), a biological mosquito larvicide, works for 30 days or more. Works fast on mosquito populations (within 24 hours) to treat up to 100 square feet of surface water, regardless of depth. 2″ diameter dunks can be easily broken up to treat small areas. Unused Dunks retain their potency indefinitely, so you can store them without waste.
Recommended usage: Place one Mosquito Dunk in pond for every 100 square feet of water surface, every 30 days.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=7487
Lots of Love, Irmi
Also, here is all you’d ever want to know about mosquitoes, forms of mosquito control…: anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8158.pdf
Get well soon!
Celi, when you upload photos from Camera House, do you delete them from the camera or on the computer. My cards died quickly and I was told it was because I cleared it while in the computer and not on the camera. Since I developed the habit of returning the card to the camera before deleting them, there has been no problem.
Do take care and rest as much as you can. I give you permission the have a hot toddy before bedtime!
I hope you feel better! Summer colds are the most miserable!
So sorry you are not feeling well…I wonder if it is a side effect of all the rain. It is good you have help. We have been revisiting the piggy videos today. They are so darling those wee piglets. In the first video, there is a moment where one of them narrowly escapes being squished under a flopping-down Poppy. I am sort of amazed by that near miss. They must happen all the time…Poppy is huge compared to them. But she does seem to be a very attentive Mum. I love the noises on the farm. All the birdsong. I think I would go into a sort of happy trance there. Take good care of yourself.
Nice, nice photos! Beautiful shot of the piggy kindergarten. And nice to see you – from very far – with your dogs and talking to one of the kune kunes. Is it Tane? With you in this photo I have a glance and imagination how big your barn is!
Oh for the cream! I love cream so much. And the butter made out of fresh cream…. mmmmh!
Take care of you, give you some rest! You need it. It’s great that you’ve got help. – And get well soon!
Honey and lemon and bourbon…… might not make you feel better – but it does taste very good. 😉
My livelihood is earned by fixing computer problems. Actually fixing software problems. And I even get very frustrated and ungrateful when they act up. So – you get a pass on your angst with the technology.
Yes – always format your card with your camera and not on your computer. When the computer says ‘Delete Photos from card?’ say NO….. My cannon owners manual went into a huge discussion on the why. I just saw “only clear the card by formatting it with your camera or deleting via the camera”, stopped there and said oh okay. I have a flash drive that is going on 8 years old now.
Would the frogs eat the gold fish?
That’s interesting, I obviously never read my camera manual properly! I have always cleared my card on my computer, and my card is coming up 3 years old now, so I wouldn’t complain too much if it did die. I wonder if it is just certain programs that kill cards or certain cards that don’t last as long? Or maybe I just got lucky with a good card. Who knows with computers!
I’m not surprised you’ve got the crud, mucking around in all that wet. You must be patient with yourself–the body is telling you something.
We always had goldfish in the big cement water tank. It was always fun to watch them clean the cows’ mouths when they would come to get a drink after being let out of the parlor. Some of those fish were well over 6 inches long. We had a tank heater in the winter so they stayed put. Some summers we would have hundreds of baby goldfish. Once in awhile we had to fish out a catfish. One of the cats would go fishing and fall in. Generally it was the same cat who never seem to learn its lesson about water, narrow ledges and curious cows. Love those little piglet pictures and videos.
The youngest and I were in Pontiac 2 weeks ago today. Stopped at Taco Bell for lunch after a quick trip to Chicago to collect his passport so he could go to Canada with the Boy Scouts the next day. Kept thinking about you and your passport adventure and that I should have paid closer attention at the time,
Get well quickly! It is finally raining here so thank you for sending some of your abundance this way. The mozzies can be brutal when it is so wet so I hope you figure out a way to reduce them. the goldfish in the rain barrels sounds like an amazing idea.
I didn’t realize pigs grow so fast!
Oh dear it’s most prob got something to do with gardening in the rain. Get well soon x
Sending you healing vibes my friend. Hope you get better soon. That cough is awful. Mom is fighting it too. XOXO – Bacon
Be well, my friend, and rest.
Everyone here had that cough a month or so ago–dreadful. Do take care of yourself and rest. Ha! I know that’s not your nature but do it anyway, its what you need. Sending love and healing thoughts.
Feel better soon Miss C. When you mentioned the abundance of cream and I first saw the word Russian I was sure you were going in the direction of ‘White Russian’ or even something equally boozy to clear out the lung crud…although I am all about the piles of cream sauce as well. I think the goldfish idea is brilliant. Actually anything that will gobble up damn mosquitoes is brilliant. They see me coming and scream out to their friends that the buffet is OPEN.
oh our poor Miss C! I am so very sorry that you are ill. I think it is all the rain and the frustration of not being able to get on. I do hope that you will soon recover and hopefully you will have been to visit the doc….
I can give you the recipe that my children’s grandmother gave me for a cough that no medicine could cure. When my son was around 3 he had the worst cough and we tried it all. Weeks went by and he was no better. Grandmother put a half cup of honey, a squeeze of lemon, a pat of butter and a jigger of bourbon or brandy into the mix and warmed it on the pilot light of the stove. Every few hours we gave this to my toddler, In two days time the cough eased and by weeks end was gone. It’s better than anything you can buy in the store. With all you have to do, you have no time for all the hacking to drain your energy. I sure have learned a lot here today so wanted to give something back. The hot toddy recommendation is on target as well. Do get well and I wish your computer wellness too. I’ve had the same problem uploading from my cell phone so I have to e-mail all my photos to myself. 😦 Have some rest. That’s what your cough wants.
Adding my get well wishes to all the others and also my support for hot honey, lemon and whisky!
get well soon! I imagine it’s all this rain that is at fault for your cough…..thanks for all the lovely photos! Would not miss a day reading your blog- such a great start to my day! Cheers!
What a brilliant idea – goldfish in the water butts. Clever.clever.clever. We’ve not had the rain you’ve had but we’re still swarming with mozzies. This might be a good solution!
Morning all (well, it’s afternoon here. ) I’,m so sorry you’re poorly. What a good job you have some help at the moment. Golden Orfe are much better than goldfish at eating mozzies and larvae, and they are beautiful to watch, being superb athletes.
I sympathise with your computer woes. We took my unopenable laptop to where it came from this time last year, and “our technician is on holiday” so they could do nothing. Then we took it to a laptop service place and he said that the password had been changed and to get on to Orange (in France) A) I have not changed the password, and it’s Windows that’s buggered it up, not Orange! I am at my wits end. As Sally has been chasing round with or for me all day, (eye test and new spex etc) we gave up. I can get my emails on Sally’s pc, so know that it’s not an Orange problem. I think I shall have to give up computering and blogging and writing poetry…….
This may be my swansong,
love
ViV
I do hope you get to feeling better. I just went through a huge mess with my computer and my router…I sure know how frustrating it can be.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
As all others have said, I too am so sorry you are feeling rotten. It is so hard to go on with life when you feel bad…and it’s hard to think you’ll ever feel good again. And like the others, I thought right away…oh she got drenched the other day…that’s why she’s ill.
I hope the pharmacist can help you fast! Thank God ?amanda and her Mom are there to help you.
Thank God Amanda and her Mom are there to help you. I hate how this computer puts question marks and all sorts of inappropriate words in my mouth!
It’s not your computer, it’s wordpress. I have to check up nearly every word to get it right before pressing the post botton. And still are there wrong letters… grrrr.
button – that was me, hehe. 🙂
I hope you feel better very quickly. Try to get a little rest…
Uggg… a summer cold! I agree with most everyone else, am sure it’s due to all the chilly rain and your tramping around in it for the past few weeks. My cure to (a) not get a cold is a fresh orange every single day — not juice, it must be the orange itself — and (b) the cure once the cold settles in is two or more oranges each day and extra sleep. Sleep is when the body heals itself so do make sure to get some extra.
When we lived out in the country years ago we had a rather large pond with goldfish in it. They had originally been the little ones you get in a department store and had multiplied and grown to about 8 to 10 inches long. They weathered the Canadian winters under the ice and came back stronger each year. However, unless your barrels are heated, I think you’re right that you would have to bring them in to winter them over as the barrels would freeze solid unless they are sunk deep in the ground.
And I fully agree with your frustration over computer problems; I don’t think it needs a sick cold thrown into the mess to feel that frustration but am sure the cold makes it even worse.
Whispering healing prayers for you… do get some extra sleep, and have a lovely day! ~ Mame 🙂
Oh, and I almost forgot — those wee piggies are absolutely precious! I love love love their appearance — they seem almost silken and their floppy ears are entrancing… hehehe — I could watch their video hundreds of times.
You take care of that cough. Rest. But , then you know all of that.
Thanks for sharing your photos and for your wonderful journal of farm life. I am a farmer’s daughter and miss it.
Have a wonderful Thursday.
Sarah
OMG! Those turkeys look like vultures (sorry turkeys). I love the goldfish idea and I hope you feel better soon. I recommend Jack Daniels for a bad cough 😉
Summer colds are the worst. Rain makes it so easy to pull up weeds! That little peahen definitely looks like she could keep everyone in line 🙂
Goldfish are a good idea for mosquito larvae. Also keep in mind a little shade for the fish when it is hot.
The goldfish will eat any frog spawn, but if there are tons of mosquitoes, the frogs aren’t doing their jobs anyway.
I forgot to add that I hope you are well soon. Summer colds are a drag!
Plus i have to limit the time with the pigs – I do NOT want to share this cough!
I hope you feel better soon! Summer is the worst time to be sick! I found out the hard way here about goldfish drawing raccoons. My goldfish became raccoon dinner in just a couple of nights. 😦
Celi, I know you have had plenty of good advice already, and I’m sure your chemist has something that will help your cough, but just in case the cough decides to hang around, I had to tell you about this stuff I have been using this winter (as it is here in NZ at the moment). http://www.harkerherbals.com/product/catalogue/respiratory-winter-health. I am an asthmatic and every winter come down with bronchitis, but I have been taking the deep lung elixir this winter and so far (knock on wood!) I haven’t had anything, even when everyone around me at work has been coughing and sneezing, which for me is a minor miracle! Here’s hoping you feel better soon 🙂
Thank you miss kitty I will get my children to look into that for me! I always pick up my supplies when I am in NZ
Take care of yourself! I love the idea of a hot toddy…
Feel better, miss c!
Commiserations – I am abed too with a cold.
Lots of water, don’t push yourself too hard. Your body needs energy to heal so take care
Hi Celi, sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well .. Lemon, honey and a slug of scotch 😄 get well soon miss
Dearest, I hope by the time you read this you are already swiftly on the mend. Coughing is such hard work!!! Julie’s cough mixture sounds like the perfect antidote for both lungs and nerves. (Leave out the lemon and honey if absolutely necessary.) Sending love and cyberhugs and the hope that your farmy creatures will all see you through admirably. ❤
K
Hope you got something for that cough and are feeling better.
One year I had a large trash can to catch extra rainwater from the roof. Of course the mosquitoes found it, but I put a few fish in there. Worked great, and I’m sure the fish loved their diet!