Garden

 I realized that I had not done a garden update recently so that is what this post is about. Here in East Texas the weather is as unpredictable as the future. Due to late spring freezes,we had to replant our garden so it's a little behind than other gardens. The produce that we have been harvesting include Collard Greens, radishes, jalapeno peppers, and soon zucchini. Some of our friends who have gardens gave produce to us so we have a wide variety of fresh produce. Mr. Doc, a former Marine has given us red onions, garlic, and spinach which we are eating in soup for lunch today.  

Two of the main benefits I enjoyed of raising a garden include fresh produce and good picture opportunities... 

4-H District Photography Contest

 At Round-Up this year, I found out how I placed at the 4-H District Photography Contest.
This year the specialty theme was 4-H so I used a picture I had of my sister's team Window Wow display last year. I took a picture of a fire my mom made for the catch-all category. A picture of my chickens in their nesting box was entered in the domestic animal category Orange roses from Fresh won in the Dominant color group. A picture of bread also at Fresh placed in the food category. I entered a picture of a petrified fish in the marine aquatic category to be different than the competition. An owl at the zoo was entered under Night Photography group. Next year if I place 1st with my pictures I will be able to advance to State with them.

Kittens

Paws's litter

After our kitten bonanza last year I thought that we spayed all of our female cats. We weren't able to catch two of the mother cats at the time we spayed the others mothers;so now we have twelve kittens. Spot one of the original cats who is now tame had five kittens. One is a tabby and the others are orange. The mother had her kittens in the hay so that she could have easy access to food. The next cat who gave birth is Paws. She had three kittens, one gray, one black and white and later one that was a tabby. she conveniently had them on Mom's patio set. Mom is letting them stay there until their eyes open. Lastly, Grey baby who is Spot's untamed child from last year had three kittens in the horse trailer. She delivered three tabbies one which has a calico face. In an ideal situation we will keep two kittens and give away the rest. We plan on reducing our cat population down to eight by rehoming a few full grown cats. 

My advice to you is to spay or neuter your cats. If you want kittens adopt them from the shelter or a neighbor.

Andrew with his favorite cat.

Spot's litter

Life on the Farm

My flock of chickens.

 I'm so sorry that I have not blogged recently, and I hope to catch all you viewers up on what I've been doing. One of the activities that keeps me occupied the most would be taking care of all my animals.
Recently, raccoons have been raiding my cages to eat quail. My Dad and I set a trap for the raccoon and we caught him two nights later. After this incident I thought my problems were over. Three days ago six of my quail were dead.  For my poultry to be safe, I brought my quail, bantam and chicks inside our building. Again my Dad helped me set a trap. The next night, we caught the raccoon in the trap only after catching a cat. This morning when I went to feed the rabbits, their cage door was open. Upon further investigation I saw fur and blood on the ground. I also saw that one of the rabbits foot was hurt. Dad was trying to go to sleep, ( he was working night shift ) so I woke him up and told him about the problem. Two of the rabbits had to put them down so Dad handled them. I took the one that was the best and brought in to the building. Once again my Dad helped me set a trap for the culprit.

In other news our garden is doing good.The radish seeds have come up and we have our first green tomato. In our orchard we have small green peaches on the trees. Three of our cats had litters which you will see in the next post.

Quail