Mini Mantis Monday and a Gosling Encounter

Sorry for the blurry pics but I had to zoom all the way in to be able to see the little ones. I put blades of grass in for them to climb up and out of the cage with which they jumped on right away. There were at least 100 mantis that hatched from just the one of twelve cases.

I am super anxious for them to grow up big and strong so they can devour all the pests on the farm. If I could get 1000 mini mantis to release from this batch then the likely hood of having even a quarter of them survive would do wonders for the farm. Mantis are some of the ultimate pest killers.

I was in the garden and I heard a damned honking on the hillside. The sheep were looking at something and I could not see anything for the longest time. The honking kept getting louder until I finally saw the mother Canada goose and her tow of goslings. She had apparently been trying to get to the water but had run into my fence lines. She had a lot of trouble trying to get through and as she headed back up the hill I grabbed a couple of the goslings. I wanted J to hold one and I snapped a selfie with one. We tossed them back and they crawled up the hillside to the rest. They eventually ended up under the bald eagle nest and then wandered off to the other side of the hill.

It was all I could do not to keep the pair of goslings.

One of my small rows of lettuce did not sprout a single thing so I planted 8 spots of Skao Duen Amaranth. It is a popular thai green and should do well during the heat of the summer. They can get pretty big so I only planted a handful of spots so it doesn't take over the area.

The sheep had decimated their bale of hay so I had to roll the last one in to their pen, wrap it in fence, and cover it so the lambs aren't on top of it. I managed to tweak my back some more while rolling the 600 pound bale. I really need a tractor at some point.

Since I had to move the last bale into the pen the pair of ducks that have nests that were at it's base needed a new cover. I tossed the bed liner down but initially they couldn't figure out how to get in. Then once I spun it a bit they ducked in and jumped back on their nests. Hopefully at least one of our 4 ducks sitting will hatch some babies. Hopefully our male Pekin is capable and viable so there are actually fertilized eggs.

Water for the animals had to be refilled since the shit head ducks have been bathing in it. They have a pool just for them but NOOOOO they have to muddy the sheep water. That is getting dealt with today.

I added a waterer to the chickens and ducks since the ducks destroy the water in the pool. This way they have clean drinking water during the day and it would be nice if it would last more than a day before needing to be refilled.

In the morning I saw a few of our young hens had found their way in to the pole bean garden so I made sure to run a length of chicken wire over the field fence so they can't get in now.

The washers holder is super slick now. I added the bucket to hold the 2 sets of golf balls and then a beer holder on top for the thrower. It is just a canning jar lid and ring that I nailed down. It fits a 12oz can perfectly.

The rest of my time in the afternoon/evening was spent on the organizing of the car port. With all the other things to do during the day it is hard to focus on the organizing solely so it gets shoved aside often. I am down to the last things to clean up though so hoping I can get it finished up today or tomorrow at the latest. I have 3 sheds to organize after the car port so I am not exactly rushing to get it done. I have organizing in my future for a while.

Today is more organizing, a trip to the school for packet pickup, and I am expecting to finally get our deck materials delivered. Hopefully I get the call and the delivery today. If so that will start the deck project which will take me about a week to finish up most likely since I work by myself.

For more information about our farm:
Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce

All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.

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