Clean Up Time!

It has been busy here on the farm. You know, you can never do too much research when buying a new farm animal. So many people say you can breed a dairy goat by 10 months of age. I decided on visiting a dairy farm ( we tasted the milk and it is now my favorite milk). After spending a few hours absorbing all the information then going home and digesting it all, we decided to sell the younger goats we bought and buy older already bred does. The younger goats were too small to breed this year. While I was visiting my new friend, I was astonished when I realized just how big the bucks are. After talking to her for some time, she advised that she did not like to breed her does until they were at least 1.5 years old and she thought we should wait to breed. Our purpose was to have milk this spring so we set out to find some that fit the bill. We bought Blissberry Liberty and Blissberry Billie. These girls came all the way from MN. The young lady I bought them from used them as show goats for 4H and decided to sell them because she is going to show longhorns.

I picked them up Monday morning andI didn't have time to do much of anything else. I spent so much time on the phone trying to plan everything. They are going for sonograms this week to confirm they're bred.

We also started cleaning up the garden beds so we could plant some cover crops. We spent more time doing some research to see what we could use that would serve more than one purpose. So far we have decided to use a mixed crop of elbon rye over seeded with winter rye. They are both great as goat feed. We raked up the mulch from the melon beds, pulled up the tomato plants that were finished for the year, picked almost all the veggies and made salsa with a few of those peppers and our jarred tomatoes.

We have been giving away peppers. We gave away a grocery bag full last week and we cut up another whole bag today. We froze three quart bags full, made two quarts of salsa and still gave away all the jalapenos you see there in the middle. I know I should be wearing gloves but I always forget until it is too late. My hands have been on fire for hours now!

Cleaning up the garden reminded me to pick the pomegranates. They turned out amazing!



We were able to get our well house fixed.  I was wondering if we were ever going to finish.  Now all that is left is weather-proofing it again.  Last year some dogs tore off all the insulation.  We have a 1,500 gallon tank to store water.  The pipes between it and the well house have to be wrapped with heat tape then insulated.  The tank allows us to have plenty of water and water pressure at any given time and is nice to have with a large family and two homes.

I wanted to give eveyone an update on the ducks.  They are gowing like crazy! They are as big as my 2.5 month old chickens.  It's just crazy!  It's hard to get a picture of these guys.  They are moving in with my older chickens very soon.  They are making a big mess in my brooder. **Grin**

Have a great week everyone!

What a week....

This week was crazy! We have had some predator issues. An owl and a skunk decided to make visits. I was so sure we had our bases covered but unfortunately we lost our male duck to a huge owl. It was a sad day for the little girls because every morning they are the first ones up and they head out to check for duck eggs. It's their favorite breakfast and they love the ducks. Our female ducks are still out there and doing great with the exception of a minor injury to the smallest one. It just never dawned on me that an owl would mess with them. They are a Rouen and Pekin mix, so they are really big. I think the male duck was protecting his girls. One of my neighbor’s dogs ended up being sprayed by a skunk. I just hope it doesn't try to make a guest appearance here. We smell him almost every evening. Cool weather always seems to bring the predators in closer. It's time to keep a watchful eye.

A neighbor’s dog actually tore up the fence to one of the chicken breeder pens. Thank goodness I designed the coops to keep them safe. They can fly up top and get away from most anything. Unfortunately chickens, when startled, sometimes fly out of the pens. One of my beautiful lavender pullets managed to fly out and the dog grabbed her. Thank goodness my neighbor was able to grab the chicken before there was too much damage. I did have to stitch up her abdomen(a first for me) and give her an antibiotic shot. She is now up walking around and seems fine. I thought she wouldn't make it through the night.

We had baby ducks last weekend, right after my post.  Four beautiful ducklings. There were 2 yellow ones.  It's really hard to keep that many ducks together to take pictures.

 This weekend I was so excited.  I had ordered pretty expensive hatching eggs from CA.  They are a very rare breed called Isbar.  I ordered twosets of eggs. In the first shipment, I received twenty eggs. A few broke during shipping and only one developed.  I was so worried it wouldn’t hatch, but guess what!  It did.  I have a beautiful splash Isbar chick.  In the second shipment, I received eighteen eggs and only one developed.  I can only hope it hatches as well.  I moved it from the incubator to the hatcher this morning, and it is due to hatch on November 1^st. 

We finally made progress fixing things.  We made a new flip up door for the broken coop and started on the nest boxes for the other four coops.  We also made time to clean up the shed which needed it badly!  Let’s keep moving forward. **smile**

A farm never sleeps

This weekend found us finishing up projects and repairing others.  Unfortunately we never seem to finish all we set out to do.  Our plan was to fix a broken flip up door on the bottom of a chicken coop, rebuild a warped door on the chicken tractor, fix some broken face boards on the well house and rebuild the dog run that out precious little 2 lb Chihuahua keeps climbing out of. 

We didn’t even finish half of what we had planned. We were able to rebuild the dog run.  The ducks were happy to have their area back to themselves I am sure.  Two playful pups are not really their cup of tea. Thank goodness little Francis is still contained, so I think his climbing days are over.  We went from 2 ft fence to 4 ft fencing. Hope this one lasts.

We were able to rebuild the door for the chicken tractor.  That was a quick and simple job. The hard part was we had to rearrange some of the wood and hardware on the front of the tractor.  I like the way it looks now.  I get to watch the chicks since the door is a frame with chicken wire.

About the only other thing we accomplished other than enjoying a beautiful weekend was our compost bins.  We finally started working on them.  We have been piling up hay and chicken manure for 2 years now, but never really ended up with anything usable.  We built what will be our first section of the compost system, and we filled it up too. We will have to add on to it as soon as I clean the chicken coops this week. Sounds fun, right? Funny thing is… I actually enjoy it. 

Goats are doing great.  Neither one were used to being messed with. The younger one (Bonnie) is now sweet as can be. She will jump up on me like a dog at feed time (no it doesn’t hurt), and calls me over there every time I am outside. I love it! Fancy on the other hand is still quite shy.  She is just beginning to ask for attention. She is eating out of our hands, and will only allow me to touch her head.  If I try and rub her head she still pulls away, but at least it is progress.

Finding Time....

Finally sitting down to take a breath.  Made some progress here on the farm over the last week and weekend.  Here is the beginning stage of the newest project. The goat shelter! We decided to start small instead of going straight for the full size jersey cow.  They require much more pasture space, more feed, and what would we do with all that milk???  Starting with 2 nubian doelings sounded more reasonable.  Giving us all a chance to bond with the younger animals and learn the skills of the trade, so to speak.

Framed from FREE pallets from my local lumber store and feed store.  We were going to pull apart more pallets to fill in the gaps on the outside, but we were strained for time and good weather.  We went ahead and used siding panels for the back, front and west sides.  We left the east side ventilated. We also purchased galvanized steel roofing for $18. Not too terribly bad.  Here is the finished shelter and my girls. 



A Little Progress

    Today found a little progress... The cooler air moved in just in time for us to make our rack for the fire wood.  It had been sitting in the trailer for almost 2 weeks. We knew what we wanted to do, but had to find time to build it.  The weather was just a bonus.    

Here is the front side .  It holds all the fire wood for the house.  I kept a few buckets of wood for the fire pit I plan to put together sometime this fall.  Not sure where I will keep that yet.  I am sure we will come up with a plan soon.

Here is the back side.  It holds all the grill wood. Richard loves to smoke brisket, chicken and ribs.  All the retaining wall bricks were given to us by my father-in-law.  So that was free!  The sweet man we bought the firewood from gave us the pallets.  We only had to pay for the wood. The larger chunks of wood we decided to use as seats around our fire pit. Those were also given to us by the man we bought the firewood from.  I love the rustic look it gives everything. 

 

  Hopefully my next update with be about our new goats.  We were in the market for a family milk cow.  Since we needed a little more time to prepare for a cow, we decided on the milk goats. 

Come Follow Us on Our Journey

We left the city with dreams of a country life. 

    Our idea was to get our family away from the distractions and influence of the city, allowing us to connect with God and each other.  2 years into our journey we have a decent start. Starting with very little money, and big dreams can be challenging to say the least.  We bought 5 acres with a small home, 2 septic systems, a well (we knew we had to have that), and not much else.  Not even trees, save for the little pear tree and the couple of mesquite trees.
    My mother (actually my grandmother) decided she did not want to stay in the city.  She bought a little mobile home and had it set up and hooked up to the other septic.  We tapped into the well for her water. We were lucky to have a large 2,000 gallon water storage tank so we have plenty of water and pressure.
    Long story short, I wanted to share with everyone.  If this is your dream... it can happen. You can make it work! We will be building the blog as time allows, and we will try and keep you as up to date as we can.  We started with blank canvas, and I will have to get you all up to speed.  I hope this will be as much fun for you as it has been for us!