What week is it again?

I have been keeping incredibly busy between the garden getting put to bed, reading, planting garlic, and finding the saffron crocuses blooming in my center console. Not to mention medical needs foster kittens, as well as getting sick and actually having to take days off work.

Over the last 2 weeks I finished reading “Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science” by Enrique Salmon, and started reading “Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit” by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. I’ve not gotten very far into it, but I cannot wait to start to listen to it while I’m working this next week. Iwigara was a really insightful book, and I enjoyed writing about it almost as much as I enjoyed reading it.

The sheep successfully cleared the garden spaces, and so I got to start covering the beds, and putting down some clover for the winter. I just used my hands to spread it, and I’m sure it’s going to be patchy, but it’s all going to get turned under once the ground can be worked in the spring, and I will be putting landscape fabric down on it. I know there is a lot of controversy over the landscape fabric, and how it’s made of plastic, but I had to make decisions regarding how much I can handle in regards to weeding and managing the amount of space I need and want in order to successfully grow enough produce to feed my family as well as continue the CSA for my community. The CSA is a really big commitment, but it was something that I really enjoyed doing for people.

I got a little overwhelmed and burnt out this year, and I know that I can attribute a lot of It to the complete mess of overgrowth and weeds that I had to contend with, as well as the complete lack of help. I need to think on how I’m going to combat the lack of help for next year, because commitments seem to not be being honored these days, which is so very frustrating. It’s funny how I find more things to think about as I’m writing these!

I got the garlic planted (insert dance party here), FINALLY. I seriously can’t believe it took so long, but I’m just glad that it got done before it got cold again. My husband was looking for something in the car, and he opened the center console to the saffron crocuses having bloomed in complete darkness in the center console. I’m really not sure how to go from here, but I’m going to stick them in the ground on Monday and hope for the best… When my mom gave them to me, she told me they weren’t going to bloom until next year, so I thought I had a little extra time. Nope… and they’re hearty things to have bloomed in complete darkness! I’ll keep this updated as I see how they grow! I will be giving all of the saffron I harvest to my mom, since these were her bulbs that she was really excited about until she injured her arm and couldn’t keep up with the garden anymore. I hope to bring whatever I have to Christmas for her.

I haven’t had enough time in the garden, and I already feel the tug to et back out there, and it hasn’t even actually gotten cold yet!!

It’s been a long time since an illness has taken me out. This last week I had to miss 2 days of work because I couldn’t get out of bed, and it was just a cold! I’m glad that I got the rest though, because I was back at work and healthy just a couple days later.

Having a farm is an interesting thing. Animals get sick, and google leads to different sources in how to treat with antibiotics or other treatments you can find at the feed store. I started with chickens, and they got a respiratory infection, so I learned to give intramuscular injections. Kittens born to the barn cats needed vaccines, so I learned to give Subcutaneous injections.
Lambs born to mothers who rejected them, and were too cold to suck on a bottle needed tubing, or too many puppies born to a single mother and needed supplementation but won’t take a bottle, so I learned to tube feed. I can also give intravenous injections to horses.

I learned all these things by watching. I see people do things so many times in a row, that I decide I can do it, and then? I do it successfully, over and over again until it becomes second nature. I’ve successfully taught some of these skills to people who I am close to, and who are willing to watch a video or me do it over and over again before they give it a shot. My husband can now tube feed our kittens who need it.

A month and a half ago, a little orange kitten was found alone in someone’s driveway. They thought it was so young that it needed bottle feeding. I have bottle fed before, as I fostered kittens all through high school, and then bottle fed last year as well. I offered to take the kitten, but when we got him home, he was already old enough to eat wet food. Going through that post, I noticed someone mentioned a rescue who might be able to take him, and I reached out to them to become a foster. I’ve since had a set of 3 come through, and had 2 of those move on, because they were eating and healthy. The smallest, Vici (vee-chee), was sick, and she’s finally healthy and almost ready to move along and get adopted, hopefully with the little orange boy, Nemo.

I also took in 3 who needed to learn how to eat, and they were only here for a week before they were absolute professional eaters. I got a call about 5 one-week old neonates who needed bottle feeding, and the 3 I taught to eat quickly moved on to a new foster so I could prep for these new babies.
They’ve been here for almost a month now, and while we’ve lost one, the rest are growing up very well.

We’re headed into winter, which means less kittens born hopefully. I should be able to see these guys through to their adoption, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I need to move them along once they’re weaned, so that we can start this process all over again! It’s hard, but I love making a difference.