Coyote pups on the prowl

 After loosing my prized goose, a guinea hen, two ducks and 6 chickens all within about two weeks I knew the coyotes had started moving back in. I set up the game camera and caught these guys in action.
looks like I need to get up very early according to the timestamp if I want to clear these pups out.
there is another set of photos I've not uploaded to the blog that also show them going through around the same time of the morning over several days so a very good chance this is their normal routine.

New bees

Finally found a wild swarm moved into the small hive and today I transferred them to a large hive. Should be plenty of room now

Snakes & Rain

last weekend i killed a copperhead and a 6' ratsnake just outside the back door.

we finally got some needed rain, so far we've had over 4.5" for the month of July (only 9" total for the year so far)

cheers
John

edible and medicinal wild resources

After recent rains i found this very obnoxious weed that came up in the garden (which is all harvested now).
a thick reddish watery stem and thousands of painful spines coming from each leaf and branch. I discovered it to be what is call Spiny Amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus).
a few searches on Google and i discovered besides being a source of remedy for many ailments, it is also very high protein source and eaten/cooked like you would spinach.

long story short, this is a very useful plant so it will be harvested and spared from the "Round-up" spray.

i then, by accident ran across the uses for Smilax Glauca and discovered it is the main ingredient in old-fashioned Sarsaparilla drink along with several medical uses. So once again, another useful plant on the ranch.

I've found many other native plants on the property that are either a food source, medicinal use, or natural insecticide. if i can get my photos pulled off my phone, i'll post them later.

I also have Passion flower ("passiflori incarnata") growing wild. I've been told that a tea from the dried flowers is very soothing and relaxing. I'll have to give it a try sometime.

summer 2013

a lot going on here on the ranch.
canning the produce of the garden, dehydrating herbs and other stuff, building the "Pour-house", eliminating coyotes and poisonous snakes, making a lot of Rum and Bourbon "infusions".

The garden was producing pretty well until the temps started going into triple-digits and it seems no matter how much water i used, it all dried up and pasted on to the compost bin. along with the scorching heat, the stink bugs were really bad this year and took out most of the Roma tomatoes.
i got a butt-load of peppers before the heat and pickled, dried and frozen a lot of them.
we got about 20lbs of potatoes and 12lbs of onions this year - onions went to the dehydrator and we canned all the potatoes.
The "Pour house" will be where i move all my beer making and cooking activities to when it's finished. it's where i have the deep freeze and beer frig also. just outside the pour house is the smokers (hot and cold smokers) and also my carcass hoist for butchering anything from a small hog to a full steer. coyotes have taken out all but 4 of my chickens and my momma goose and the last of the original guinea hens. i've set snares and cameras around to get a reading on their patterns to be able to efficiently set the snares.
the chicken snakes haven't been so bad this year, but i've now eliminated 4 copperheads within a few feet of the house. just the other morning i was putting the dogs out for their morning pee and there was a 4' copperhead at the back steps. The Taurus judge with a #6 shot 410 shell took care of it.
we were starting to get over run with bunnies and squirrels, but since the coyotes started coming in i'm seeing their numbers diminish quickly.