A New Place to Buy Blue Heron Farm Cheese

Yesterday we went to Sandy's Market in west Houston. They do a small, indoor farmer's market every Wednesday from 10-2. The vendors set up in and among the regular displays at the store - mostly in the bulk and produce areas. Samples are handed out and customers just buy the farmers' products at the checkout with their other items. Really neat set-up.

We have decided that suburban people deserve to eat good cheese, too and so will start attending that market on Wednesdays. Any product that does not sell on Wednesday morning will get stocked on the shelves, so you can get a second chance if you have to work during the demo time.

I hope we'll see some familiar faces as well as meet some new folks. We won't be brining a ton of cheese to this market, as we don't really have a ton...but it is a small way to get good food into the hands of some new folks. Hope to see some of you there.

Chainsaw action

I took some photos of the tree cutting yesterday. Stitched them together with a nifty program to make a panoramic so you can get an idea of how full our yard is with branches and wood.



...and now a hurricane is on the way. I really hope those branches and logs don't go airborne and crash through our big picture window. I am already having a bad day.

This sucks worse than that last thing

Max killed our female turkey this morning.

I didn't think to look in the yard before I let him out this morning and I guess she was in it.

I am absolutely broken hearted. And so is TOD.

This sucks.

I was going to go ahead and butcher her, but there just isn't enough meat to bother. What a total waste. I really hate days like this.

Max has had a poultry problem since we got him earlier this year. We think it is left from his days as a rural stray. We are trying really hard to correct it, but I screwed up and let him out without checking the yard and without his training collar on.

This is an unbelievably upsetting lesson. But one I hope to learn and not get lax about again.

Sh*t.

Veins!

Yesterday while Dawn was off the nest getting something to eat, Christian snuck an egg for me to candle.

We have veins!

I tried to take a photo, but it was really hard to get myself smushed into the coat closet, hold the flashlight and the egg and also focus the camera in the dark. I had to use auto-focus to free up my left hand, but it has trouble working that close to the subject... and in the dark, to boot.

Eventually I gave up and put the egg on a shelf, but then I couldn't block the light from escaping out the sides. Guinea eggs are small. And after all that, the camera still had trouble.

You'll have to use your imagination here - but this is a fertile egg. It's totally out of focus, but I give up. In the lower left, you can see the yolk and the veins branch out from there.

There are 15 in the nest. Go, Dawn, go!

Well, that sucks.

We have been desperate for rain. Aside from the few sprinkles we had in the middle of our hay debacle, this summer has been unbearably dry. Last night it finally looked promising.

It started getting really blustery at about five. REALLY blustery. At around 5:30 I heard a strange noise. Kind of a cracking noise like really close lightening, but then it evolved into more of a groan. Followed by a thud.


It was the giant cedar tree in our front yard.

I went to get Christian, who was letting the goats into the barn. We did a cursory inspection that revealed a VERY high likelihood that the VERY large section that was down would also manage to pull down a nice sized portion of the big, beautiful live oak in which it was caught. Bummer.


The weight of the cedar did, in fact, pull down two large live oak branches within the next hour. Here is what we awoke to this morning. ...check out Max in the right hand corner for scale.



Sigh.

Guess we need to get a chain saw.

TOD

The turkey formerly known as Thanksgiving shall now be known as TOD. (Turkey of Death)

That turkey is freakin' me out, man.

He hasn't really attacked me, but he rushes me. And freaks my stuff out. A lot.

Sometimes it is head on, but the scary episodes are when he comes running at Mach 2 , in total silence, from behind. It has not gone unnoticed that his gait is exactly like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

Like I said, so far he hasn't actually attacked me. But I've got my eye on him. And I ain't afraid to kick him if I have to. TOD, you are on notice.

Peep Peep II, Electric Boogaloo

Well, Dawn is setting. The incubation period is 25-28 days, so we'll see what we get in a month.

If she doesn't give up before then.

I am wondering if I should buy an incubator. I really want some more peep peeps.

Oh, and speaking of the guineas...I think we're going to eat one. And when I say we, I mean Christian.

Tony - the alpha guinea, has become VERY mean and he routinely terrorizes the other poultry now - chickens, ducks and even the turkeys. :( He mixed it up with Russell Crowe (our rooster) the other day and RC lost all of his tail feathers in the battle. Such a bummer.

Two males of any fowl breed seems to be one too many. Unless there is a huge harem of females to keep them happy. He really needs to go if our farm is to regain its peaceful balance. And I wouldn't feel good about killing him if we didn't make use of the carcass. It just doesn't seem right. I am not sure we are up to the task of butchering yet, so it may be a while. I'll take a photo if we make coq a vin. guinea fowl are supposed to be great eating.