The coops have all been cleaned, and the adorable Silky coop has some fall decor in the window box. The windows are washed, dishes scrubbed, cob webs removed.
I tried something I've been wanting to mess around with for years... I white washed the inside of the big coop. The walls are thin wood panels, and discolored from fly specs and chicken poop. It looked dingy. Old fashioned white wash is made from hydrated lime, salt and water. My husband, who was raised in the south, said there is an old expression that goes, "Too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash." As I was slopping the stuff around I certainly did not feel "too proud."
Whitewash has been used around homesteads for centuries. Not only does it brighten things up, but its easy to use, inexpensive, and safe around animals.Even better, it has some antibacterial properties, and as an added bonus, it deters insects.
It goes on like water, and is drippy. For someone who likes immediate gratification, as I do, it was a dud. But a few hours later, after drying, it looks white. I definitely need to do another coat, and I think I will mix it a little more concentrated this time. I can see that it is going to brighten the space up considerably.
If I manage to get a thicker mixture I will attempt to do the ceiling, as well. I have 20 new chicks due to arrive this week. I hope they will like the spruced up coop.
A few weeks ago we had an excavator come out and dig up the soil in front of the donkey dorm. They put down a thick layer of sand. The animals really like the sand, it must feel nice on their feet. They roll in it, and lounge in it, too, spending much of their day there. The next step was to have a fence put up so I could keep the animals in there during mud season.I found a local fence company that could do the work quickly and at a good price. Cedar round rails, with a stout rubber coated metal wire fastened on the inside. I asked the owner if he could make it so the gate would swing inwards. My thought was that if it did, it would block the doorway and I could keep the animals in if I needed to. This could come in handy in a variety of ways. The man thought about it and said, "You know, I have some left over wood. I could build you a Dutch door for $100." The price was right, and I was thinking that having a door would be awfully nice in a heavy rain or blizzard. While I was at Wag It Camp, the fence guy came and put the fence around the new sandy area. He also built and hung the door. Chris sent me pictures, and it looked so nice. But by the time I got home, the donkeys had destroyed it. The wind had blown the door shut, with one donkey in and two out. They chewed and kicked until they destroyed it, so they could all be together. I was sad.
Then this week the fence guy stopped in. "You didn't like the door?" He asked.He looked sad. Chris had taken the broken thing down. I said, "I never even saw it!" and explained what happened. He wanted to see it, and went right to work to fix it. In no time he had it repaired and re-hung.
In a few weeks we will hang the clear, plastic window up and the donkey dorm will be snug for the winter. I need to re-stain the outside, too, to brighten it up and make the pretty new door match.. If my whitewashing experiment works well, I plan to do the inside of the donkey dorm, too.
I had one more project taken care of. There were two old pine trees in this area. The goats had chewed them up and they were dead. Earlier this summer we had them cut down, and one of my carpenter customers helped me out. We left the tree trunks about 4 feet high. And the carpenter wrangled a 20 foot long pallet.
He mounted the pallet on top of the stumps, and then nailed plywood on top of that. We are calling it "Billy Goat Gruff Bridge." The goats took to it immediately. The donkeys like the shade it throws.
The animals. They keep us busy, thinking of ways to better care for them, and keeping them healthy, happy and comfortable. They repay us by being adorable, friendly,and generally fabulous.
And giving us delicious milk to make yogurt, cheese and soap.
It is good, at the end of the day, to look at the things we have accomplished around the farmlette.
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