Shroomin and such!

Well, my daughter and I made our annual trip to see a very good friend of mine in Quaker City Ohio yesterday to spend the day picking mushrooms.  We got to my friend Richard's house just after ten.  We planned this trip a couple of weeks ago.  We are used to getting wet as it seems to rain every year when we go to see him.  However, it is usually warmer than 40 degrees out.  With the warm winter and even warmer spring we have had I expected it to be quite nice.  It was 78 on Friday when I got home from work and loaded everything up. 

 We had to improvise some ponchos to deal with the cold rain!

We took our new atv with us to allow us to access more places easier but we spent most of the time using the truck to get around.  We tried taking the atv's out after lunch as the radar showed the rain clearing out and it had stopped so we thought we were good to go.  However, less than five minutes after we headed out it really started raining and we got soaked.  My daughter was  little trooper though and we got through all our spots and back to the truck to change and warm back up. 

We did find 44 morels total.  Not as good as last year but they were all really nice 4-7 inches tall and clean so we were not let down.

 My buddy let us bring them all home to make it worth the trip and we all had fun even though we got soaked and froze our butts off.  I am planning a solo trip down to hunt with him again next weekend in the hopes that the rain and the upcoming warm weather will kick them into higher production by then. 



Some quick updates:

Legacy is doing well and with the addition of his new friend Pearl (Precious' calf) he seems to be enjoying life so far. 

Mario got another pedicure this week.  His feet are looking pretty good now.  One more trimming and he should be back to where he needs to be.  The Farrier said that he was showing signs of getting too much grain after he got done trimming his feet.  I have noticed him getting into the pig feed lately so I put him back out with the cows after we got done.  He seemed to like that change as he quickly trotted out into the pasture and started checking out the new calves.

We ground another batch of pig feed today.  They are eating 2200#'s in three weeks now.   I sold all the babies from the last three litters except for two.  One of those two we are raising for a roaster pig for my buddy Richard and the other we are keeping here to fatten out.  Mallory is due on the 5th and Marshmallow is due on the 24th.  I can't wait to see what Marshmallow's first litter looks like. 

While I was waiting for Josh to bring the mixer to make pig feed I decided to button up a couple more items in the pig barn.  I properly reattached the rubber flaps to the bottom of the doors and moved the one wall mounted feeder to a better position.  I also opened up the doorway to the cattle pasture for the pigs.  They quickly found out and spent the entire day out in the big pasture with the cows.  I am hoping that letting them out there gets them to stop tearing up the barn as they have been getting more destructive the longer they have been couped up. 

Hope everyone has a great week. 

Kenny

Project I'm working on at work.

Got a patio going up top with a fire pit to the left beside Gabe.

My buddy Willie took the new four wheeler for a ride!

I made the mistake of telling my buddy Willie to go try out our new four wheeler.  He thought it was a submarine!   Took us an hour to get it running after we drug it out if the creek with the Tractor.  All good though!

Mushrooms, New Calf, and a Priceless moment!

Well, it has been another very busy week mainly due to work.  We decided to try a new idea at work this week and started mulching our large commercial properties at night to avoid traffic, people, and interruptions.  We increased our productivity two to three times more than what we do in the daytime on the same properties.  The downside was that I was up all night and it took all week to adjust, going back in again tonight for a second week.

A benefit to being on night shift is being the early bird to look for mushrooms.  They started very early this year but just a few have come out to peak so far. 

 I found these little guys in my woods.  Haven't found any anywhere else.  Hoping it warms back up again so they will start producing soon!  I am craving them bad.  These barely made an omelet.

A priceless moment!

 Clearing a new area of field of trees and stumps, grading it out, and seeding : $700

Finding a used 4x4 honda atv, purchase and fuel to bring home : $1450

Getting your five year old daughter and two year old son to pick up sticks and rocks from field for an hour and have fun doing : PRICELESS!!

After picking up the rocks from the new field we brought them all down to the house and used them to fill in the bare edges of the beds where I lost some gravel mulch while cleaned up the lawn and beds last weekend.

We also have a new aviary guest living here on the farm.  The other day I thought I saw a large white pigeon in one of the trees in the pasture.  Then yesterday I was out working in the yard and there it was, eating the leftover sunflower seeds on the ground below the bird feeder.

My wife and kids had some friends over yesterday.  They played all over the farm.  They checked out the pigs, the pasture, and the cows and even got see a new calf right after it was born!

This is Precious with her new baby heifer.  This is her first calf and it is 50's first grand daughter.   This picture was taken just a couple minutes after birth.

She is also Thunder's first calf.  She is quite big, I am guessing her to be about 90-95's.  My average calf here is about 65-75's.   She got up within minutes and was eating within the hour. 

I am very happy with the color.  Her momma is 1/8 Hereford and 7/8's angus.  Her daddy I thought to be 1/2 Charolais and 1/2 Angus.  He may be mostly Charolais as I wasn't expecting such a light colored calf.  She is very cute and I am very happy with her!

She and her mother were off to explore as I headed up to the house to visit with our guests.

I wanted to drop in a picture of the pigs enjoying the garden.  I will have to take them out this week as they have completely cleared it out and are getting close to messing up the grapes.  After taking them off the garden I am going to borrow dads large tractor tiller and till it and rake out and mulch it to keep the weeds from coming back.  If it is loose enough I may just try to rake it out and not turn it any more. 

Have a great weekend everyone.

Kenny