Farm Friday: I'm a Baby Killer!

Ohhhh, what has become of me? **gnashes teeth**

Who am I? **drops to knees and pulls hair**

I killed babies today.

They were baby rats, but nevertheless, they were babies, and I killed them!

Well, truth be told, I didn't actually do the killing. I had my hit man, girl, rat terrier do it.

See, Julie and I were doing some work in the barn, and we moved this big honkin' metal thing that weighed a ton if it weighed an ounce, and out scurried this big ol' (ewwww) rat. Cindy (the rat terrier) gave chase and, well, I'd rather not say how it ended for said rat.

Then she ran back over to the big honkin' metal thing and quick as a jack rabbit, out she came with this tiny little thing in her jaws. It was a baby rat, probably not more than a few days old. Dead, of course. And I actually felt sad. These barn rats are the scourge of my existence, but I'm so screwed up I felt SAD that this widdle biddy baby was killed.

But before I could generate any tears, off Cindy ran back behind The Thing again, and I went over and looked and there was a whole nest of them. Probably close to a dozen. Did I call her off and place them all in a shoebox with some cotton wadding?



Image source

(I didn't take this picture, but this is pretty much what they looked like)



I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind.

But for once in my life I did the smart, responsible thing when it came to animals.

I sicced my dog on them.

I figured, one crunch to the head and they're gone, pretty quick.

I didn't know what else to do.

I mean, I certainly couldn't facilitate baby rats growing up into adult rats to be killed by me or one of my kids another day.

And left to their own devices with no mother they would die anyway, only it would take a lot longer.

But I killed babies, oh my GOD!



Anyway, I will have to find a way to live on. 

One foot in front of the other, as they say.



And I do have some LIVE babies on the farm that I am not killing.

And they are extremely cute.

I will show you a picture when my phone camera and my computer decide they can talk to one another again.


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Thanks!

Farm Friday: Living the Dream Life

I get a lot of awesome comments from my awesome readers.

I'm sure they must be here for the skillful and poetic writing (see above sentence).



Anyway, one comment I get a good bit is something along the lines of
"You're living my dream life".

And it is a dream life for many people. Myself included.

But if I'm going to be a responsible blogger, I think I need to point out a few of the less-than romantic realities of hobby farming.

Because it's not all gathering wildflowers in a sunny field or walking through pristine bedding to collect fresh eggs in a vintage basket.

So if you're picturing Laura Ingalls in a Massengil commercial, I think it's time for me to paint you a new picture.

In fact, let me give you a little quiz on this "dream life", and we'll see how you fare.


Rats

If you have a farm, they will come.

So let me ask you, when you hear the word 'rat', do you picture

a:

Head straight to your nearest Petco and get yourself a little cage and a hamster. That's as close as you should get to farming.


b:

Buy a horse and board it at someone else's farm.



or c:

Get you some barn cats and a rat terrier. You're ready.






Mud

No one is quite sure of the science behind it, but farms seem to generate mud. Lots of it. So again, I ask, when you hear 'mud', do you picture

a:

Buying your eggs and veggies from a farmer's market is as near as you should get to farming.






b:

Not even close.




or c:

Yeah.  That's about it.  Get a snorkel and come on down.






Decision-Making

Living on a farm, you sometimes have to make tough decisions.
For instance, if you see a mangy, skanky-looking fox skulking around your barn for a few days, and then one day you find him curled up in the corner DEAD, do you

a:
Cry a little, offer up a prayer to the god of wildlife, and bury him under your prize rosebush?

b:
Cut off his head and stick it in the mail?
AS ADVISED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP PEOPLE!!!!

or c:
Scoop him up with a shovel and ditch him in the thicket and marshes under cover of night, a la Jimmy Hoffa?



I still can't talk about it.





Preparedness

If you were to live on a farm, which of the following would you be physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to do?

a: sexually violate your hen with mineral oil and rubber gloves when, in your chicken ignorance, you mistake broodiness for being egg-bound.

b: Scrub out dirty water buckets.

c: Scrub out dirty water buckets in which you have picked out drowned rats.

d: Scoop manure till your back breaks.

e: Track said manure into your house, as if you didn't have enough to clean up already.

f: Castrate ram-lambs and bucklings with your very own Elastrator.

g: Fix fences and gates while your household projects remain on the to-do list.

h: Spend $300 on a hay delivery while you feed your kids Ramen till payday.

i: Pull #$!*ing burrs out of manes and tails till your fingers bleed.

j: Massage the udders and nipples of mastitic does and ewes and mares.

k: All of the above and much, much more.



If you answered "c" in the rats, mud, and decision making portions of the test, and "k" in the preparedness section, you might be ready to buy the farm.



But just one more word of caution:

While you'll find there's a little of this in farming:

There's a heck of a lot more of this:

And believe me when I tell you, if that's the worst I ever looked doing the dirty work of farming, I would be thrilled.




But go ahead.  Get some chickens.  Maybe a few goats. 

Live the dream.

Just don't say I didn't warn you....










Image sources: shutterstock.com, istockphoto.com, equinaturaledits.blogspot.com, nfws.org.uk, saviortpc.com, sodahead.com, animal.discovery.com, stylecraze.com, yesspaces.com, 123rf.com

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Like it?
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Thanks!

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In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller. You can find my full schedule in my sidebar, come join the fun!


****************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Farm Friday: Sandy

So Hurricane Sandy came through last Monday and Tuesday.

Although we were smack-dab in her direct path, we were far enough inland that we didn't have any real problems.

We never lost power, although if we had, we would have been OK with our hard-wired generator.

We had several inches of rain, but with our house's elevation, never got any household flooding.

Lots of mature trees around us, but all the wind knocked down was smaller branches and leaves.

The only real problem was the barn. Our barn always gets flooded whenever we get a heavy rain, and Sandy was a bit more than a heavy rain.

While SOME of our dogs were hard at work keeping our barn free of rats (ha),
others were riding out the storm all cozied up on the couch.

Tuesday morning, we found a lot of water still in the barn, though a good bit of it had receded.



We found a Romeo and Juliet rat pair that had lost their lives in the water.

Why does this make me so sad?





And sadly, we found one of our meat chicks had drowned, as well. Not in the water rushing through the barn, but in a bucket I had placed to catch a bad drip.

I couldn't bring myself to take that picture.

Rest in peace little chickie, rest in peace. Your brethren will be following you into the afterlife shortly.

got drama?



Anyway, I hope you all fared well in the storm.  Please chime in and let me know how you did!







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Read it. Like it? Follow it. Please? Thanks.
(Follow my blog by adding yourself as a follower with Google Friends Connect in my sidebar!)


***************************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, Natural Living Mamma's Natural Living Mondays, The Chicken Chick's Clever Chicks, A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras, Ponder Wonder's Soul Food Monday and @ Home Take 2's Mom's Monday Mingle
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday, Crafty Garden Mama's Tuesday Greens, and The Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny, Tilly's Nest's Down Home, and Crafty Spices Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop, and Two In Diapers' Mommy Brain Mixer
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday, Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday, @Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop, and Tutus and Tea Parties' Pinteresting Party.

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking up today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, and Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday;  "Edible Bowls" with Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday; and "Thursday Afternoon Play-by-Play" with @Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos.

Come join the fun!




****************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.