July ~ WHOAH.

So, Yeah. This month has been one hundred percent, out of control, crazy busy. In a good way.

Since my last post, June 27th ish...we have had THIRTEEN out of state visitors. Yup. No joke.

From everywhere including: Colorado, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

And the month rides on....tomorrow we have two more friends arriving from Utah and Oregon. Woohoo, Party Time!

It has been awesome to see everyone.

Above we have a photo of my friend Marcella, a college roommate from Keene State and her boyfriend Chris, who also incidentally went to Keene State but we didn't know him. Strange.

Any who, Marcy came out for the fourth of July weekend and although it wasn't QUITE warm out yet, we had a blast and did ALOT of stuff. We visited Yellowstone National Park, saw a rodeo, went to a parade, and floated the Madison River (see photo). They are threatening to come back again this winter, and I will hold them to it!

A few weeks later we had 7 crazy dudes from nashvegas crash the pad.

I hadn't done that much laughing in a long time. My cheeks were definitely sore. Not to mention my legs from the epic hike a bunch of us went on. Whew! Hiking with a bunch of boys is NOT easy work.

In the photo above you can spy them at work putting on a show at Big Sky Resort.

I'm told I had a great time.

We look forward to www. thefesty.com in October!

AW YEAH

ZING!

Despite giving himself a major ice-cream-headache-three-day-migraine by washing his hair in Jack Creek, the doctor kills it on the soundboard at Big Sky.

You'll never believe it, but our garden is sort of kicking ass these days!
It's all about the short season veggies...
I also figured out that since our soil is SOO SOOOOOO clay, that it holds water quite well and needs much less of it.
Above we have some baby bush bean plants, some lettuce, and the beginnings of some basil plants.

PEEEEEEAAS!!!!
These are just the tall ones (almost four feet tall). We have a ton of successful pea plants, it makes me happy.

Here is some of our mammoth sunflowers and a row of potatoes! I have never grown either plant, so it is exciting to watch the daily transformations for sure.

Some Thoughts on the Garden
It has been a very bumpy road thus far. But, as I have learned from living in the West, bumpy roads usually lead to something VERY cool, so you just have to commit, sit back, relax, and go with the flow sometimes.

I have learned that, YES, our soil sucks right now. But I also know that because of the amount of manure we produce through our animals, there is only one direction our soil can go from here. And that direction is AWESOME. Is awesome even a direction? hmmmm....

I digress.

I have also figured out that, YES, we live in a canyon and canyons are windy.

Sprinklers? Not so much.

It's all about the hose and hand watering.

Next year: drip hose system.

Weeds? I'm not a big weed puller (Ed can attest to this). I would rather gnaw my own arm off in fact. This year I threw down clean straw between my rows of plants to cut down on random crap sprouting. It seems to be working. Not only this, but it holds in moisture nicely.

I don't know a lot about what I'm doing yet, but I do know this: a plate full of food you grew yourself tastes SO good. YUM!

Janet: a tribute to the anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death.

Since being forced to listen to Classic Rock each night (I blast a clock radio in the goat shed to keep nosey bears and bobcats away), the goats have gained a sincere appreciation for Nirvana, Grateful Dead, Billy Joel, and the Beach Boys.

Who knew?

With our recent chick order from June, the hatchery threw in a free random rare breed chick because we ordered so many....

I have no idea WHAT this rare breed is, but I'm pretty sure it's a rooster, and I'm pretty sure those fancy feathered feet were made for dancing.

Love this chick!

Anyone have a good name for mr. fluffy feet?

Only time will tell if it's a he or a she, so keep that in mind!

Delilah Jones, my very favorite, four-year-old (one of the originals) barred rock henny penny.

She now lets me pick her up and walk around with her in my arms.

Not to mention she is laying like a champion and loves to chit chat.

Barred Rocks are the shit, I'm tellin ya. Git one.

HO BOY.

Look who is finally walking around outside!

The FREAKIN meatbirds.

God they're fat.

It's seriously ridiculous.

These 17 birds are now 6 weeks old! 6 weeks to go!!! (can't go fast enough let me tell you)

* The buff orpington chick you see in the background is the same age as these behemoths!

Above you can see the little door that leads to the outside world from their shed. That little door has caused big trouble for these fatties! Only about half of them can actually navigate the exit or entry themselves, the rest of them get shoved in or out by us each morning and evening. It's actually pretty funny. Lots of squawking.

I do feel better about having them outside during the day now however. They are finally getting some sunlight for vitamin D production and they seem to be getting around more since they love to eat grass and chase bugs. There was definitely a 'Sweatin to the Oldies' period for them though where they would just collapse exhausted after walking two feet. Now they are getting 'in shape'....ha ha ha. riiiiight.

This is what the inside of chick world looks like these days.

* notice the ramp I had to construct for the fatties since they couldn't bear to make the six inch leap through the door. *sigh*

Thoughts on Meat Birds: Week 6

Well, we are halfway there! Oh man, really???? THAT'S IT???

These birds are FLYING through feed right now. No pun intended. And it's not cheap.

The good thing is that our friend Joe, who will help us with butchering these bad boys, has been supplementing a good portion of our feed with used grains from his beer brewing. He brings over about 15 pounds of wet, stinky, grains (malt? rye? not sure. I should probably know this.) every other week, which I then dry in the sun and feed to the chickens.

They seem to love it....although I'm pretty sure I could fill their feed bin with rocks or sand and they would still scarf it all down in the blink of an eye.

Now that they are outside during the day, they are also foraging a little bit, which helps cut down on food costs.

An upside to these meat birds (yes, there is actually an upside) is that I don't worry about them being carried off by a flying predator (hawk, osprey, eagle, owl) while outside during the day. You would need a FORKLIFT to get these things off the ground.

Trust me.

They also aren't getting picked on by my adult egg layers (which is a first for me to see), I'm guessing due to their size. The hens actually seem to be a little bit petrified of the beasts. It's nice to know I don't have to worry about any pecking order which is usually a major concern with introducing new birds to an established flock.

Well...I think that may be all for now folks.

Life is good in Jack Creek.

In the coming weeks we have more visitors to play with, a serious bluegrass festival in Idaho to attend, a wedding to watch, and many veggies to eat!

Hugs and dog hair.

~Katie

Fishing and Fly Tying

Summer Has Arrived


In mid-June around here, the weather decides to turn incredibly nice for 3-4 months. During this time, there is no need to look at the weather forecast. You can mostly expect to wake up to another beautiful day aside from an occasional afternoon thunderstorm, especially in the mountains. The snow melts in the mountains and the creeks turn gin-colored. Bugs begin to crawl to the surface of the rivers and the trout begin to eat them. And crazy people like myself, try to imitate these bugs, put them on a hook and a line, and try to catch them for some reason. Most of the time we let these beautiful fish go, but occasionally you can take a few and make fish tacos or a delicious trout dinner. This view here, can be seen from the bank of most Montana rivers and streams. Beautiful day:





All the Hype


Fishing reports, in my opinion, tend to be similar to ski reports. Mostly a bunch of dirt-bags (like myself) getting overly excited about a situation and spreading false information to get everyone else overly excited. You really can't get a true report until you get out yourself and throw the stuff you have in your fishing bag (or vest if you're into that kind of thing) to the fish. Not to mention, each tiny section of the river can vary, just like traffic on an Interstate Highway. You may have to pass through all the construction on I-15 in Ogden, UT or you may be cruising smooth on I-87 past Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. Throw in a bunch of other factors, such as driving a beat up old clunker, like maybe a VW Bus or an Eagle from the early 80's, that doesn't go above 55 MPH, and you have yourself a difficult day on the Interstate, I mean river. Does that make sense or am I rambling like a bumbling idiot?


The hype was big on this day. "Salmonflies are out!" I heard and read on the reports."It's game on!" a friend told me. The Salmon Fly hatch is an important event around here and for good reason. Fish spend the entire spring getting beat up by snowmelt runoff, and when it finally clears and the water level drops, there happens to be big bugs that fit in the palm of your hand, crawling to the banks and flying around. The trout go absolutely crazy for these bugs and when you can hit the hatch right, it's euphoria. Well, of course, being a fellow dirt-bag, I believed all the hype and headed to the Madison River 10 miles down the road with hopes of hitting euphoria.





Not Quite Euphoria, but Good Times


That's my friend Randell with the fish of the day. A healthy 23 inch brown trout. Randell is a great friend I've met through playing music in Bozeman. This fish has been around awhile, and has the battle scars to prove it. The river was still WAY high, and it was WAY dirty, so we were stuck to hunt for fish underneath the surface. I would much rather do this anyway. Don't get me wrong, I like to fish with a dry fly, but, c'mon, the big fish don't rise to the surface. Except for a Salmon Fly. We caught a handful of fish and brought a couple nice trout to the boat. We saw ONE Salmon Fly on this particular stretch of "Interstate" and a bird flew by and ate it. Not on this day, but "The Salmon Flies are here!!".......any day now, I swear. We were happy to be in the sun, floating down one of the most beautiful rivers I've ever seen. Here's another closer look at Randells hammer of a trout. Beautiful fish:

What did that fish eat?

This particular fish happened to eat a Prince Nymph. The Prince is a go to favorite for fishing under the surface of the water, and is an attractor nymph that imitates a wide variety of insects in the river. You can get these flies at a fly shop. After a number of years spending my hard earned money at the fly shop, only to see my bugs get snagged on a submerged tree branch or rock and get broken off, I began to dabble in the art of tying my own flies. I have quite the collection of feathers and fur of different animals used to create these flies. Some people take it further by ordering their chickens in the spring and getting the "Fly Tyers Special".... We'll leave that guy nameless.

Step by Step to Tying a Prince Nymph ( I bet you can't wait!)

It all starts here, at my fly tying bench that I made. At our house in Bozeman, I kept it in the basement and it usually had feathers and fur everywhere. I wanted it in the living room at our new house to keep me motivated and that has kept me keeping it clean and organized as well.

I figured the first two photos were self explanatory. The next step involves tying some lead wire on your hook so that there is more weight for your fly to sink to the bottom of the river. This is where the rest of the bugs usually are and that's where the fish are eating.

I then take some feathers from a goose, goose biot to be exact, and tie on a tail:

If your pet peacock has run off to the neighbors house, you'll need to go to the fly shop and buy a bag of this. Peacock herl. I use this in a ton of different flies.

I usually grab 3 strands and twist them together to make one large strand. Here's how you tie it on, and begin wrapping it around your hook.

This next feather is one from the neck of a hen, or female chicken.

I may have lost some of you by now.

Almost done

The final touch is another piece of white goose biot to imitate the wings.

There you have it. The stripped down basic version of tying a Prince Nymph. There is something exciting about creating this and having a trout eat it. I still remember the excitement of a trout eating my first black woolly bugger and it goes from there. I'll leave you with a picture of a brown trout I caught this weekend that was an honest 18 inches. He ate a Copper John. I won't bore you with that one. But.....stay tuned for the Salmon Fly update cause the big bugs are here and its game on!!!

ahhhhhh summer....

Well....it's been awhile. I know, I know. I'm supposed to keep up on this thing. Problem is, I'm finding waaaayyyy too many other things to do. It's a good thing.

Let's do a little recap, shall we?

The Milking Situation

Things are looking up! I got myself a gggrrreat little contraption called a 'hobble'.

(see above photo)

It's a little nylon set of velcro handcuffs, or should we say, 'hoofcuffs' for animals with hooves. Each time Wild Child hops up onto the milking stand and starts to kick away, I slip these bad boys on her back hoofs, and VIOLA!

I can freely milk both sides of her udder with no kicking, moaning, or crying. Fantastic! If we can even remember that far back, I had shared in my last post that Cheap Trick, her not-so-little-anymore-but-still-nursing buckling was partial to only one side of her udder, and that she preferred me not to touch that one side. Well......WE CHANGED THAT.

And, although Mr. Cheap Trick is still hanging on, barely, we are up to about three cups a milk a day. Which is nice! I am VERY excited for him to stop nursing, so that we can have more however. Since I'm addicted to cereal!

Ah....and here's the culprit himself!! He's so cute though, isn't he?

Nom Nom Nom...


Pasture Time
Here's the crew enjoying their new and improved pasture! I worked really hard today to fence off a large area of prime riverfront property for these lucky goats today. The thing is....we REALLY don't want to have to mow it.

Here is a good view of the pasture these goats spend their lazy days inside of now. On the left is the driveway and on the right and back side is Jack Creek. This pasture is fenced in using a mobile electric fence powered by solar. LOVE IT!


Egg-thirty!
My girls are finally done with the moult, and lookin pretty fine in their new feathers!! It has been about 8 weeks since they stopped laying eggs (no eggs during moult)...soo....anyday now!! We are pretty SICK of waiting!! I still love them though. My little hennys.

MOOOOOO

Calfy!!! Lookin good, brotha!

*calfy is not ours, he is on the property we caretake.

**calfy is going to get eaten in the fall. shhhh don't tell him.

Frisbee Flats, AKA: The Backyard

Me and Hattie relaxing up on Frisbee Flats behind the house.

It's a pretty spot. Smells good too with all the sagebrush and Lupine abloom.

still life: whiskey ginger with Lupine

HAY!

Look what Ed built us! It's a keyhole hayfeeder for the goats!

The design of a keyhole feeder stops the goats from pulling their heads back out to chew, and in turn dropping fresh hay onto the ground. They are PICKYabout where their food comes from and wont eat hay off the ground once it falls! Who knew??

Garden Grumpypants
Yeah so......remember all my awesome plants that I grew from seed? Yeah.

Well....long story short. I put them in the ground, and then they died.

I. WAS. SO. MAD.

But I'm ok now...in the above picture you can see what all of my seedlings looked like for about a week after I put them in the ground. It was cold as heck. Imagine that!

*my broccoli is doing great I will have you know.

New Animals!

Above is Molly the mule! (thanks annie, had no clue)

She is so pretty. Normally. Apparently she has just rolled in some mud though....
There is also a new (white) horse named Ghost.

Ed and I went for a successful horseback ride last night. Such fun. We just walked around the house properties, but for us, it was a big step without the horse trainer around. Next time we hope to hit the trails. Stay tuned!

My baby chicks arrived from the hatchery last Monday. In total, we received 32 chicks. 24 of them Cornish Cross meat birds, and 8 of them are egg birds (a rooster in the mix as well)....

I have never dealt with Cornish Cross birds before, and will never buy them again.

They are of poor quality and we have already lost 7 for no reason.

I know how to take care of baby chicks. They are warm. They have food. They have vitamin-drenched water in abundance. I am not happy! The hatchery was kind enough to reimburse me for the first five, however, so I can't complain TOO much.

But next time, I will go with a different variety of meatbird for sure!

Non-rainy Days Are Good.

Wow, who are THESE goodlooking folks?!

Oh wait.

Ed and I spend last Sunday afternoon relaxing down by that river.

It was pretty epic, being the first *warm and sunny* day of the season...LOVED IT.

Can't wait for more!

I'm sorry that this post is so all over the place, but I am trying to catch you up with all the latest gossip around Jack Creek! It's hard!

Give me some credit here.

Take care and wear yer bugspray.