• Products
    • Meat
    • Hatching Eggs
    • Table Eggs
    • Livestock For Sale
    • Order Form (Babies)
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Garden
    • Reviews
  • Newsletters
  • Waterfowl
    • Waterfowl Breed Chart
    • About American Geese
    • About Muscovy Ducks
    • About Ancona Ducks
    • About Cayuga Ducks
    • About Runner Ducks
    • About Khaki Campbells
    • About Welsh Harlequin Ducks
  • Landfowl
    • Chickens >
      • Chicken Breed Chart
      • Colored Egg Layers
      • Chicken Management
    • Turkeys
  • Recipes
    • Cooking with Duck Eggs
    • Egg Recipes
    • Muscovy Recipes
    • Goose, Duck & Wild Waterfowl Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Mics. Recipes
  • Farm Events
    • Seed Swap
    • Workshops
Moose Manor Farms

I'm Moonlighting as tour-guide

8/28/2010

0 Comments

 
Mom & Me on the Mall
This week my mom and her friend came out from California to visit for a couple of days so, of course, we three played tourist for a bit.  The only time I really get out to see the sites is when I have guests in town... otherwise it's just the daily grind and then home again.   It's always fun to get out there and revisit the interesting stuff we have in DC.  I mean, I see the Capitol Building every day on my way into work.... but it still never gets old.  And the memorials are great - the Korean War Memorial is my favorite followed by the FDR Memorial. 

Korean War Memorial
Korean War Memorial

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a patriot or if it’s the newness of living in our nations capitol, but I never tire of seeing the monuments. It brings our country’s birth into perspective for me every time.  Seeing that small seed of our independence  planted by bold, intrepid, and strong willed people building a new life in a new place; watching the historical timeline to see it germinate; and follow our

Picture
FDR Memorial

founding fathers trial and error while they tend its frail leaves with their own brand of hard hewn and hard headed individuality until it grew into the strong and vigorous grove it is today.  It's amazing to me every time to see how we got from there to here.

And the monuments always pull at the heartstrings.  It’s important to remember that they aren’t dedicated to the celebration of war but as a remembrance to those who gave their lives so that we could remain free… or so that other nations could live free in a republic (for which it stands, one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all). 

We saw all the monuments on the Mall but there wasn’t time to take them to Arlington – which isn’t something you breeze through.  We visited a sampling of the 9 Smithsonian’s that DC has on offer, and had a wonderful dinner at the house with my closest friends.  It was a lot of activity to pack into only 2 days but I had a great time.

Bread Line
                                                              Breadline at the FDR Memorial

Mom got to spend some time with the granddogs and Savannah Kitty who she hadn’t seen in a long time.  And she  was finally able to meet the chickens, ducks and geese and see my little operation.  Buffy the Orphington had just hatched out her second brood of the season so I had 10 brand new little baby Silkies, Ameraucana’s, and Naked Neck Turkins to fascinate over.

The ducks were skittish because something scared them pretty good the first day she was here.  I still don’t know for sure what’s terrorizing the birds but the ducks and geese stayed in their duckyard or very close to it for those few days.

Today I was out there catching up on chores all day and after I chased them out into the barnyard for exercise, sunshine and fresh pasture they decided that it was safe as long as I was out there walking around so there were a lot of happy little chortles as they found the tastier bugs.  I reckon we’re back on track and I’m glad to see everyone acting like they should.
Pretty Girl Muscovy 8/28
Pretty Girl mostly recovered

The Muscovy have spent the last 3 weeks in “sickbay” after a really horrible hawk attack in early August.  All 5 were terribly maimed and I wasn’t sure 3 of them would even make it through the night.  I did lose Freckles on the second day but everyone else miraculously pulled through and all their wounds have healed up so well!

When I found them after the attack, I got them all cleaned up and then I applied new dressing on their wounds  twice a day and got them on vitamins and probiotics (Rooster Booster is awesome!).  They all stayed in a little corner of the barn sleeping most of the time for the first few days.  Then when they weren’t hanging out in the barn, they were confined to a relatively small yard covered with bird netting and salted with straw to keep them all clean.  Pretty Girl took the longest to come out of the barn and to heal but her wounds were the worst, except for Freckles.  Eventually, I gave them a pool to swim and get themselves cleaned-up in with a good dose of vinegar to keep the bacteria in check.  I was really amazed at how quickly and thoroughly they recovered… you can hardley see any scaring, it's totally amazing.

Today I took down their portable fence and let them free into the barnyard… they were so happy to roam and hunt for bugs and I was happy to see them enjoying that again.  I’ll miss Freckles though.  She was so friendly and would come running up to me when I came out in the barnyard. 

This week I’ll expand the primary duckyard, effectively tripling the space to about 250’ x 250’, then put a bird netting roof over the top of it.  I’ll move the Muscovy into the regular duckbarn with the rest of the flock (since they’ve been sleeping in MY barn for the last 15 weeks) and everyone will stay in the duckyard when I’m not home and only come out to range on the rest of the property when I get home from work and on the weekend.  I’ve lost 20 ducks in the last 15 weeks so it’s far too dangerous for them to be out from under cover when I’m not there.



Back to Top



0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dana

    About Farmrgirl

    Small town Calif. farm-girl leaves the ranch behind for many years of adventure at sea, travels the world, then moves to Washington DC in 2007 where she finds the perfect homestead to settle down: acres of secluded Southern Maryland woods where she goes granola by raising her quality of life, Mastiffs, ducks, chickens, and tomatoes {& one Bengal kitty}... sustainably.


    Our Farm News Delivered Directly to Your Inbox Once a Month.
    Get Newsletter


    +43
    +56°
    +43°
    Washington
    Wednesday, 31
    Thursday   +57° +42°
    Friday   +55° +40°
    Saturday   +54° +42°
    Sunday   +56° +43°
    Monday   +53° +44°
    Tuesday   +55° +41°
    See 7-Day Forecast
    © http://booked.net


    My Blog Archives

    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    December 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010


    Stuff I've blogged about

    All
    Agri Monster
    Ancona Ducks
    Art I Love
    Baby Animals
    Bee Hives
    Blogs
    Brooder
    Broody Hens
    Building Projects
    Campbell Ducks
    Cayuga Ducks
    Chicken Plucker
    Chickens
    Chicken Tractor
    Cornish Roasters
    Corporate Organics Myth
    Crunchy Politics
    Ducks
    English Shepherd
    Family
    Farmers Markets & Swaps
    First Aid
    Freedom
    Garden
    Geese
    Goose
    Great Articles
    Harvest
    Hatchery
    Hatching Eggs
    Hawks
    Holidays
    Homemade Incubator
    Injuries
    Khaki Campbell Ducks
    Local Food
    Local Wildlife
    Losses
    Mastiffs
    Military
    Moosemeals
    Moose Meets
    Moyaone Market
    Muscovy
    Muscovy Ducks
    Mushrooms
    My Mooseherders
    Patriotism
    Pecking Order
    Prayer
    Preserving
    Runner Ducks
    Sexing Babies
    Snow
    Summer Harvest
    Washington Dc
    Weather
    Weddings
    Welsh Harlequin Ducks
    Welsummer Chickens



    Prices In Real Time

    RSS Feed

Moose Manor Farms, LLC   |  Moyaone Reserve, Accokeek, Maryland   |  (301) 678- 3533   |    All Rights Reserved 2022   |    NPIP 51-582   |  Newsletter  |   Contact

Woman Veteran Owned Business
Picture
Picture
SPPA Member
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from cinnamon_girl