Pets, worming and fence questions

Well, it has been decided - we are getting a hot wire for a fence to keep Buck in. We hope to have it installed within the next two weeks. We'll just bite the bullet and put it in. I think we can manage to keep it clear of growth. Maybe I will put cardboard and mulch under it all the way around to keep anything from growing there. I can also dump the wood ashes in the tough spots to kill the growth without poisoning the ground or animals. Salt works well too. We'll have to cut back all those blackberry bushes!

How high should the wire be and what do we do about the 2-3 ft of snow? Will the snow drifts over it short it out?

We just have to get through the next couple of weeks with Buck chained a lot. He's unhappy and, therefore, so are we. He's the joy of our lives right now and we'd do just about anything for him - except let him wander free around the neighborhood.

We take him outside and play every day. I let him run around with me when I am outside but I have to keep him in sight or he will quietly sneak off and go through the fence. I think I have found where he is getting out and will fix those couple of spots today. Then we'll see how it goes. He will have to be chained when we cannot keep an eye on him, at least until we get the electric wire in place.

I wormed the pets today, all three of them. I know that roundworm powder package says that it's easy with no vomiting or wrestling with the critters (I paraphrased). I have used this roundworm powder about every three months, since Abby came to us about a year ago.

I wasted an entire box the first time, following the directions. The paper that comes in the box says that you take the food away until the pet is hungry. Then give them a little, put the worm powder in the remainder, then let them finish it. Not fuss, no mess, no vomiting, no hassle, etc. etc. etc.

Ha!

Both Abby and Shadow turn their noses up at anything with that powder in it. They simply will not eat it. I have even put it in tuna and they wouldn't eat it and they LOVE tuna! All I have to do is start opening a tuna can and I have two cats at my feet. It's not the can opener, it's the tuna. They love it - but not with the worm medicine in it.

So, I came up with a plan several months ago. I dissolve the powder in a little water and put it into a syringe. I then squirt this liquid into the back of the cats mouth. Of course, I have to hold each one wrapped up tightly and wrestle with the critter to get it all down. I only squirt a little at a time, giving them the opportunity to swallow it. I have done this a couple of times in the past year and it works ok, of course, both cats were just born summer 2009, so have not been very big at the past wormings.

This method seems to work well for Abby the tabby. She is still quite small and light. Usually Abby is the feisty one, biting when she wants down and always grabbing and playing, but a real sweetie and dear to our hearts! When I wrapped her up tightly in my polar fleece sweater, she just snuggled down into it and relaxed. I think she liked it, at least until I start forcing her to swallow that horrid stuff.

She doesn't like that.

Shadow on the other hand, is usually very mild. We call him the "Little Gentleman" because he is always so polite and easy going. He never shows a claw or bad attitude to anyone, not even Buck. He and Buck have become buddies, sort of. He will purr and rub against Buck and hang with him, until Buck starts to play rough, then Shadow runs away. Shadow purrs all the time whenever anyone comes near. He loves everyone and puts up with anything, always purring - HOWEVER - he has grown into a very large, stocky and unbelievably strong fellow. I didn't realize how strong until I tried to wrap him up and feed him the worm medicine with a syringe. It become immediately clear to me just how much muscle he had grown since the last time. I got a deep long gash of a scratch, but did manage to get it all into him, on him and on me. I gave him and extra half dose for this reason.

He forgave me and purred when I came to see him later to ask his forgiveness for having to put him through that and, as usual, I cleaned up cat barf this morning.

What do other people use to rid their cats of roundworms? There has got to be something easier that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or a visit to the vet!

Giving worm medicine to Buck was a piece of cake, or a muffin as it turned out to be. He just gobbled it all up and licked anything left behind. It went down totally unnoticed and as quick as a wink. I don't think he would need it if he would just quit EATING THE CAT POOP out of the litter box! Dogs! You would never catch Shadow doing that! He's too high falutin' to eat anything other than cat food and fish. Shadow won't even eat raw hamburger!

So all three pets get wormed at the same time.

Abby the Tabby, on the other hand, will eat whatever she sees Buck eating. She ate an entire dry cracker a couple of weeks ago because Buck got one! Abby and Buck are not friends - not at all. He would love to play with her but she's just too little and won't put up with anything from him. She won't back down either, so this usually results in Buck getting a few clawed swats on the nose whenever he gets near her. He has learned to just back off and ignore her.

He absolutely adores Shadow! I'm glad Shadow has learned to be friendly with Buck. It's so sweet!

Here are my questions:

1)Is there something easier that I can use to rid my cats of roundworm without a vet visit? (Cats don't eat pumpkin seeds or garlic.)

2)How high do I need to put the electric wire?
3)Will the snow drifts short out the electric wire and how do we overcome this problem - It is not possible to keep it shovelled all around the 3.5 acres of fence. Perhaps a higher, second, separate system wire, turning the bottom one off in winter?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
I apologize for the lack of pictures. (I will add some later.)

Soap Making and Buck

I have been making soap for the Craft Fair on Dec 4th. I made three small batches just this morning and a few last week. I am cooking it so it will be ready to use. Soapmaking is fun and so addictive!! I took this picture (above) of my soap last year. It's for my book on "Making Organic Soap at Home" that I have for sale on my farm site. I like doing photo shoots of things. It's a fun hobby!


This is one shelf in the soap closet in the bathroom where I dry all my soap. It contains strawberry, lilac and "blueberry pie". The strawberry is not as pink as I would like. It's a bit too peachy buy I have always had a problem getting a good strawberry soap colour. I have had good, pink soap before but it always seems to be something other than strawberry. When I aim for real pink, I can't get it. Oh well, "Murphy's Law". If anyone finds out where this "Murphy" lives, please let me know. I have a thing or two to say to that fellow!

The "Blueberry pie" soap is my favourite this year! It was a rebatching experiment to save a soap with a colour that I did not like. I am very happy with the way it turned out!

This is the other shelf in my soap closet with this year's soap on it. It contains "almond biscotti", coconut, "healing herb" and "sweet orange". The "healing herb" soap is made with oil of oregano and thyme - both natural antibiotics. Some of these soaps are made with milk, which is why they are browner.

The "almond biscotti" is my favourite soap scent! It's amazing and always sells out first.

These are for the craft fair at Base Borden on December 4th. I now have all the pumpkin pies, brown sugar body scrub and soaps completed for the sale. I like to have it done ahead of time. I am a bit rushed this year, but next year I am going to start in January making things for the fall sales! I always say that...

On another note: in a fit of determination, "That dog is not going to beat me!" I spent five hours working on the fence yesterday. I am not exaggerating! I was out there for five hours filling weak spots in the fence line! Keep in mind that our fence peremeters almost 4 acres in every kind of terrain. It's a very big fence. I came in swearing that he could not possibly get out again. I filled every tiny spot with cement, logs or bricks, that he could not move, some wired in place.

He got out again this morning while I was gone to the store.

When I came home, Buck was chained. Hubby said a woman brought him to the door and said that she thinks this is our dog. We are very glad we got him an engraved label a few weeks ago!! He was out on the nearby highway and cars were driving around him. That's scary! People go 80-100k on that highway. It's just on the other side of our big 10 acre field.

She said that she stopped the car and he came right up to her. That's Buck! He's just a puppy and loves everyone. He weighs 100 lbs now and is only 10 mos old. He is as tall as I am when he stands up and I am 5'4". His feet are as big as my hands. Some people are afraid of him when they see him. Some people are aghast at his size and say things like, "It's not possible for a dog to be that big and just be a puppy. Is it possible for a dog to get that big?" and "He must be part wolf. Is he part wolf?" Like a wolf would be that big! humph!

He's dejected and so am I. I guess we are going to have to look at another solution, maybe a real electric wire. However will we keep the grass and weeds cut under it?

Crafts for the Fair

Here are some things I have made for the Christmas Fair in my earlier post.

These are the eight pies that I baked yesterday. They are all made with ambercup/turban squash mix from our garden. Six are edged with toasted mini marshmallows. It's a good way to hide the edge if it gets too brown or breaks off. It helps make them fancy too :-)


I plan to advertise them as fresh baked fall garden pies, not "pumpkin" pies, since technically they're not. Can cucurbita maxima squash be called "pumpkin"? It's better than pumpkin, too. I cut out some pastry leaves, browned them and put some in groups of three on top of a few pies, too, just to make them fancier. I hate to throw away good pastry scraps. I usually save them until I have enough for another pie, but I decided to use these instead.


These are the painted Christmas tree balls that I am making. I plan to customize them at the time of purchase. I might sell these, cusomtized, through the website too, maybe. They're plastic, not glass, so they don't break that easily or weigh much.

Buck got out again this morning so I let our cat, Shadow, out knowing that Buck would try to follow him and might show me where he was getting out. Shadow goes right through the fence like it's not there. Sure, enough, Buck went to a spot I have repaired and slipped out underneath it, through a very small space. He came back when I called him and I put a log in front of the spot. I can see that I need to reconsider what I have thought to be spaces too small for Buck to get out of. A lot of his size is fur right now and deceiving. He can wiggle through quite a small space!

Tomorrow I will go back outside and re Buck-proof the fence. Today is my birthday and I'm very ill, so it'll have to wait. It's horrid to be so ill on one's birthday!
It'll pass, as things always do...

Christmas Fair

I was going along, minding my own business, as busy as ever, when a friend sent me an email asking me if I would be interested in renting a table at the Base Borden Christmas Fair this year. She is in Base Borden and offered to secure and pay for a table for me if I wanted to enter. (She's a very nice friend.) She sent me the information and cost and it was very reasonable. I immediately said, "I couldn't possibly do that this year. I'm way too busy!" I've done Christmas Bazaars before.

I thought about it for a few days and sent her another one saying, "You know what. I'm doing this! Christmas fairs and bazaars are so much fun, the price is so reasonable and I really want to do it. Get me a table!" (I really need another project right now like I need a hole in my head!) I talked her into renting two tables and selling stuff with me. So now it's even more fun! You always need two people working at these things anyway, in case, you have to, you know...use the facilities or something. Really, it's just so I can get food and, more importantly, COFFEE when I really need it. We can take turns shopping at the fair! We can chat when its slow.

She is going to sell a few craft items and mostly baked goods, mainly cookies.

So, to make a short story long, I am spending every spare moment (which is not a lot) making things for the fair.

At first I had about a zillion ideas of things to make and sell. After running around for a day or so without really accomplishing anything, I narrowed it down to just a few that I can focus on. I have to watch myself now, as I keep thinking of new things I could make. I don't think I'm going to have the time to make the things from my "focus" list, as it is.

I am busily making soap and cooking it so it will be ready on time. I have now made: almond biscotti (my favourite), coconut, blackberry (which I still need to rebatch and colour), sweet orange vegan and healing-herbal-antibiotic with oil of oregano and thyme. I have plans to make blueberry, strawberry and lilac this week.

I am selling:

1) Hand painted Christmas tree balls with country scenes, that are customized with lettering like "The Gallants", "Baby's First Christmas", "Our First Christmas Together" and so forth. I plan to take some paint with me and customize them on the spot.

2) Hand painted Greeting cards

3) Pumpkin/squash pies. Some plain, some "nut free"(no nutmeg), some with maple, some with nuts, some with mini marshmallows toasted on top - whole pies only.

4) Pine cone Christmas tree ornaments, snowed & glittered

5) Beaded lanyards and eyeglass chains

6) Paintings

7) Christmas grapevine wreaths

I brought in a small tree with lots of branches to hang my Christmas tree balls on as I paint them. I might take it with me as a hanging display! It's standing in a big pot of soil, anchored with bricks. I bought a doz balls and have put two coats of base paint on them all. I have completely finished one, just to see what it looks like. I might make some hand painted fridge magnets with country scenes too, time and mental energy permitting. I think I could paint up some stained and painted wooden signs with saying on them to hang on the wall. My favourite is: "Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes" and, of course, Bible verses.

I have so many other things to do! Buck is still getting out. Once last week and once again today. I spent a day last week "Buck proofing" the front fence area where he was getting out. I spent this morning "Buck proofing" the back stretch where he got out into the woods today. Someone picked him up and took him to the pound on Saturday. Now he has a license and a tag with phone numbers and address clearly engraved on it. He had no ID before. When an honest person finds him ("when", not if, he gets out again) they will know where to return him or they can call us. Hopefully, he won't get out again.

When we leave the house now or at night, Buck is chained. He got out today when I was out there with him, fixing the fence. He's sneaky and he knows he's not suppose to be outside the fence so he won't come when I call him, if he's out. He just hunkers down and becomes real quiet. Today I looked all over and called him to "Come in and get a treat" for half an hour! When I finally gave up and went in, I slammed the door so he would hear it. He got back inside the fence and came running like he had been there all the time.

Anyway, I've been fencing all summer long. This has been "the year of the fence". I feel like I have done nothing but work on the fence for a long time now and I'm sure it's not over yet. He will find a way. He goes along and tests the fence for weakness and looks for ways out. I've seen him doing it! Whenever I say that he cannot possibly get out now, he gets out. We have started calling him "Houdini".

All this to say that I am still very busy with other things too. There's still a large pile of cut wood on the parking lot that needs to be stacked on the porch. It's taken a back seat to the Christmas fair stuff, for now, but will need to be moved before the bottom layer is frozen in place until spring. There's still lots of garden work to be done before snowfall. I might end up leaving some of it until early spring when I hope to have more time. Maybe winter will be late this year?

I have lots of squash in the basement to process for pies for the fair and to freeze before it starts to go bad. We also have the tobacco to process. Most is colour cured now, the rest might need to be moved so it will cure before it freezes. Does anyone out there grow tobacco in the great, white north? How late do you let it hang in a shed before winter comes? Does it ever freeze and can it still be aged after being frozen and thawed? If we hung it in the basement to cure would our house smell like tobacco? I'm a bit worried about it hanging outside in the shed now. It is supposes to be -7c one night this week.

The Chrstmas fair in Base Borden promises to be loads of fun, espeically with a friend to chat with! If you are in this area on Dec 4th, please come and introduce yourself!

The Perfect Squash

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I like to grow squash, lots of squash. Over the past couple of years I have grown many different kinds in search of the perfect squash. Well, I think I have found it!

This is the Hopi Black squash. It's very large! I know it's not black now, but it is black when it's young, as it is in this picture.

It is as large as a big hubbard, but the skin is easier to peel and can be cut with a knife, as opposed to an axe. I have to use an axe or a hammer to cut into a hubbard squash.


The Hopi Black squash is very sweet, dense and delicious. It has a small seed cavity with a lot of meat.


The meat is a much darker orange than any squash I have seen. There's a big difference in the colour. Does this mean it has more beta carrotene? I wish I could find more information on that!

This is a very old, rare and hard to find heirloom squash. It was grown by the Hopi Indians generations ago. It produced as much cooked and finished squash for the freezer as I got from 4-5 small ambercups.

This will be the only squash I grow for our family in the future. It's very large, meaty, soft skinned, sweet, delicious and easy to grow. It does have a long growing season so I will start them early indoors, but that's fun anyway.

I may plant many different types in the big field next year for a "pic your own" squash and pumpkin field...maybe, but this will be the only one I grow for processing by us.