Anya got Ash back in the house! She fed him a big dish of tuna, and he let her pet him as he ate. She was petting his face and moved back down to pet his shoulders … and she picked him up and brought him back inside. I know she’ll be a lot more careful in the future so he doesn’t get outside until he really trusts us!
Category: Homesteading
Kitten Escape
Ash got out today — and he’s really afraid of us outside. Hopefully he’ll come in again when it starts to get cold in a few days (20’s and 30’s overnight!)
Kitten Snuggles
Ash is still a very snuggly kitten. Anya spends a lot of time holding him — she will read a book while he sleeps (and sometimes she naps too … I always tell her you know you are getting old when a nap sounds like a good idea, so now she tells me she’s getting old!)
Office Redesign
The office is almost done! We have most of the bookshelves completed and have started loading the shelves with books. We still need to find a smaller game table for the space between the family room and the office area.
Farm Kitten
This is Ash — our rescue kitten. The Cali-Kitty had four kittens. They were all around on the 27th playing and napping. The morning of the 28th, I woke up really early — just after sunrise. One of the gray kittens was sitting under our garden cart. When he saw me move, he came over to the door and started crying.
This was odd because, just the day before, Anya had observed that we’ve never heard any of these cats talk. I put his food outside (we take it in at night to avoid feeding the raccoons), and he ate while I let the ducks, chickens, and turkeys out. Throughout the day, he was staying near our house, all alone, and crying. But he was afraid of us so dart away any time we opened the door. Finally, we put the small trap out with his food in it. And, in the evening, we had a little gray kitten in the trap.
Scott spent some time getting the kitten to trust him while Anya and I got the birds into their coops. We brought him inside in a larger cage, gave him food and water, and a cat box. Anya sat next to the cage petting him (something that seemed to soothe him). By the next day, we could pick him up and hold him. He purrs when you cuddle and pet him. Anya has been taking him into the bathroom so he has a chance to explore without getting lost somewhere in the house.
The Ultimate Cat Toy
Neko’s favorite toy was two feathers mounted to a string so they made a V shape and spun like a maple seed as the string was pulled through the air. With a bunch of birds around the farm, though, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to train the kittens to chase after fluttering feathers. Anya has played with the kittens with string, she’s wiggled her fingers along the glass and they bat at them, she’s made a ball for them from her old socks. But today we encountered the ultimate cat toy — the seed pods from a sycamore tree — Scott picked a few up whilst he was mowing the lawn. Wow do the kittens enjoy batting these things all over the place. But you have to be careful walking around the back patio — never know where a ball might be lurking!
Pickled Baby Corn
We made a lot of pickled things this week — pickled green tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, and pickled baby corn.
The Kittens Returned
All of the stray kitties disappeared last Thursday — no Patches, no Cali-Kitty (although there may only be one grown up calico cat … still don’t know!), no Cali-Kitten, no Fritter, no Black Currant, and no Pebble.
We saw a calico girl yesterday — she ran by while we were getting the chickens and turkeys into the coop and ate — and saw Patches earlier today (she was really hungry!).
But, tonight, Anya was playing a video game and saw some movement outside. She thought there might be a raccoon or opossum … but looked again and saw the kittens.
Autumn Hive Inspection
We inspected our hive this afternoon — they need food! There are maybe three frames full of bees, so we consolidated down to one hive body and removed all of the empty frames. There are bees bringing in nectar and pollen, very little brood (research tells me this is normal for this time of year since rearing brood takes a lot of resources). Most importantly, though, we need to order winter bee food and get that into the hive quickly.
Frost Harvest
There were a number of frost advisories, so we harvested the tomatoes (red and green), corn (fully grown corn and anything else that was on the stalks), and last cucumbers.
