Turkey the cat and the Lettuce disaster

One thing that people do rural areas is dump animals that they no longer want as pets; I have animals and couches and other stuff show up on the side of the road. It's an unfortunate part of being close to the city. The animals usually starve to death, get hit by cars trying to run somewhere, get eaten by a coyote, or a farmer kills it because it's preying on livestock. Feral cats are deadly to small poultry.


I caught turkey the cat killing my little turkey poults. The big turkeys were too big for her, but she killed 2 or 3 before I finally lured her over with some food. She'd been someones cat and was tame and friendly, but was obviously nursing kittens and was starving. So I didn't begrudge her the turkeys, but I did have her spayed. Notice that the tip of her right ear is missing. That tipping is how you indicate that a feral cat has been spayed. She seemed friendly, and I was ok with her being a barn cat. I took her home to tame her a little more, and ended up keeping her at the house.

Turkey the cat is in robust good health. Spayed and with a full set of vaccinations ($11 at the feed store) she's one of the few animals that survive being dumped. We managed to trap one of her kittens as well, a little white spitfire that is not at all tame. the kitten has been living in a dog carrier in our living room for a month or so now, so that we can tame it down enough to allow us to handle it and get it spayed or neutered when we figure out what sex it is. It still hisses and spits and claws, but it's getting a little calmer every day.

So tonight turkey decided to jump up on the light table and managed to knock over a tray of lettuce sprouts.
it takes about 2 hours to replant 288 lettuce seedlings. Curious to see how many survive.

Perils of urban farming: Petty theft

One of the things about having a farm near an urban area, at least for me, is a constant level of petty theft. Yesterday they stole 1 large plastic garbage can, 2 smaller (30 gallon) garbage cans, and a large pet carrier.

I've lost shoves, picks, axes, poultry nets and livestock, as well. Most of my animals are pretty tame, and will come right up to you if you carry a bucket. So I've been moving most of my livestock away from the fence, and every day I've been going through a cleanup ritual.

But I mean, c'mon! garbage cans? how much meth can you get for a used garbage can? If you want $7, come and work an hour. I'll figure out something for you to do, and you don't run the risk of me catching you. Because if I do I'll be pretty darned mad.

My farm is far enough from town that people have to drive to get to me. If you have enough money for gas, or a car, leave my shovel alone!

Chickens and turkeys don't have brands, and they're pretty good, easy sales downtown, off the back of a truck.

Looks like I get to have a surveillance system now. Oh Joy. That's what I had in mind when I started farming.

grrrrrr