Spring Cleanup

We've started spring cleanup around here and boy does the place need it!!

Last night we took down some of the Christmas lights off the fence... it was the first chance we could, as a bunch of them were frozen down under the snow and ice and that part has just melted over the last few days.

I took down the rest of the Christmas lights this morning, they just have to find their way to the storage container upstairs. There's still one extension cord out there that's frozen in some ice... a couple more days of warmth and it should be free.

I also picked up some of the random objects that were laying around... there were 2 pieces of rubber matting on the front lawn that I had used to cover the internet cable when it still crossed the driveway. They got tossed on the front lawn once the snow hit and I had to move the cable for the snow removal guy... since then it of course got an extension added to it and it runs a long way around the property now. I imagine some day they will show up and bury that.... likely sometime after all the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground.

There were some salvaged boards laying around from when we made the goat ghetto, I picked them up and added them to the "weird shit" pile that is beside the feed building. There's all sorts of boards, pipes and strange objects in this pile... seemed like a good idea to put like items together.

I raked up some piles of hay/straw that were outside the feed room door that had been there most of the winter but have just been revealed when the snow melted there. I hauled that away in muck buckets to one of our THREE manure piles!

I have 3 manure piles because the original one, we used most of the winter, snew blew paths to it, slogged through the deep snow... but then with the last really big storm we gave up. So I started another pile (its small) closer to where the goats were living at the time, figuring I would load it up in the cart with the lawn tractor in the good weather and add it to the original pile.

Then, when we moved the goats, both piles were too far and too inaccessible from snow to carry all that way, so another pile was started closer to the new pen. Its not a very big pile yet and I'll likely move it and add it to the original pile once the lawn tractor has a chance to get around the property. Too much snow and mud for it right now.

I also started to clean out the winter goat pen today. There's quite a bit of stuff there to be cleaned up. I made two piles in that enclosure, one for really wet, partly rotted stuff and another pile for the dry stuff. I'm hoping to move the really wet, partly rotted pile right to a garden destination (to avoid moving it twice) and the other pile will have to go to the original manure pile and cook for a while.

I made a pass around the whole goat pen and piled up what I could. Underneath the loose stuff there's still quite a bit of ice... it was insulated by the loose stuff... now it should melt a bit better.

I also started cleaning out their old shelter... man is it deep in there!! The shelter itself is still frozen down into the snow and ice, so I can't tip it yet... which means I have to go in there and practically crawl around. Lovely. I got a bunch out of there, but again, lots of it is wet from the thaw and frozen solid. I took out what I could and hopefully that will help it melt now that that insulation is gone. Its really remarkable how much hay/straw/poop there is!

I have a few windows open again today to let in some fresh air and man is it nice! Its clouding up now and we're supposed to get a bit of rain this afternoon, so I'll have to close them again, but for now, I'm enjoying that!

Well its just about goaty lunch time so I should get out there before the rain starts... I've started separating the goats at grain time... Bert eats all his and then sets to work on Ernie's. Bert needs LESS grain not more... and Ernie needs MORE grain, not less. I've been putting a collar on one of them and pulling them out of the pen to eat and then feeding the other in the pen. Works well and Ernie is now getting a bit more grain.... scrawny little bugger that he is!

That's it for now!
-- L