Just a little update....

I am getting impatient waiting on Pearl to have these babies or baby but I am just sure she has to have twins. I sold Baba's last baby this weekend so now she is giving nearly a gallon a day in milk. So far I have only been making soap but I think I am going to have start some other things to use up this milk. So far I have been freezing it and that works out pretty good.

Gertie is now 8 weeks old and she is such a sweet girl. She is still on her bottle but now stays out to pasture and is eating and sleeping all day. I am so proud that she has not even tried to get out of the fence and stays right with Maybell. I thought Maybell was still just a baby until you see Gertie next to her.

I have been walking her to get her used to the halter and lead so that YEARS down the road I can handle her to milk her. She does so good, as good as my poodles do. For some reason, Rosie (donkey) wants to bite her, not hard it is like a nibble but I am not sure why. She has grew up with cows and goats and I have never seen her bite, ever!

Well school is back in and so far Alston has done great and really seems to like it. He plans to try out for Golf and Basketball so say a prayer for him to stay focused and make those good grades!

A Prayer for the Animals

                                                   Snikers as a little fellow...

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly treated;
for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals,
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.
*******************************************************

How anyone could ever hurt a harmless animal is beyond me!


Look at that face...this is my second child Ramzy!

Gertie's First Treat

Well last night had some excitement! I have been walking Gertie around the pasture and yard to get her used to the lead and while we were out walking by the peach tree I wondered if she would like one. I picked a soft one and poke a little hole so she could get a taste of the juice and boy did she love that!!

Here she is after a few bites, she was alllllll about it.

By this time the juice was running down my arm oh and let me rephrase that, the juice and a large amount of her slobber!

Now here is the second peach. It was the cutest thing to hear her sucking on that and when she was done she had peach and the juice all over her mouth, running down her chin!

After having her out walking around I started to think about how long it had been since I had a halter on Maybell and being that she only has 4 months till I can bred her then I need to work more with her so that she will be used to it to milk. Although, I want to add that instead of kicking me in the leg everytime I try, I can now pull her utters and her stand still with no halter or leads! I try to do this alot so that she will not be startled by it when it is time to milk....still a while away but I can't wait! Anyway, I get her into the stall with me and Gertie so that I can put a halter on her and she was not gonna have it. I thought at one time she had knocked loose the boards dividing the stalls then she went to spinning and poor Gertie finally jumped on the goat milking table to get out of the way! I eventually give up, only for Gertie's sake. When I let her out on her own it is just gonna be me and Maybell and I bet she comes out wearing a purple halter! I guess now i see why I am always bruised and look at myself and think "well where did that come from?"

Other than that their Granny (my Mom) sent the pigs the shucks and cobs of seventy ears of corn so needless to say they were busy for a while then sound asleep! Maybell (my big girl heifer) and Scatter Pat (my donkey) also enjoyed some shucks and cobs.

....hopefully soon I will have more wood and finish my new building!

Oh..I wanted to mention how happy I am that after changing Priscilla's feed and giving her some garden veggies she has lost a lot of weight and looks much healthier and happy.

This is before she lost weight and her skin was tight and you could hardly see her eyes.

She can move around better too. She had gotten so over weight and with a pig you cannot cut them back or starve them so I changed to higher protein and no corn. I should have known better than to use hog feed since it is designed to fatten farm pigs but I am still learning and the all have it made so no harm done but she looks great!

The new heifer baby and some other happenings!!!

I have a new addition to the farm, Gertie!

Here she is chewing on my shorts!

She is a 5 week old Holstein heifer. Her mom produced over 8 gallons of milk a day so when she freshens I will be busy! Maybell only has 4 months till I can bred her and I can't wait till I can milk them and start making stuff with it. Gertie is such a sweet little girl, she loves attention and will even nearly fall asleep with her head in my lap. I have her all fixed up in the barn with her straw, food, water and a big ole fan to keep her cool! She is eating good, has 2 bottles a day and eats grain. I hate that she has to stay pinned up for now but the two baby goats, who aren't really babies anymore but they get on their knees and crawl under to see her. She does not know what to think about them but does seem to like the company. Yesterday I got her out on a lead rope and she did so good. She wanted to run and boy was it a hot day to run circles in the pasture!

Now, I had been noticing that I was missing some eggs and a bunny rabbit when Jon came running in the house saying "do you wanna get your gun'? This 4 foot monster was leaving the coop! Being that this week was the week that I had truly overdone it moving my bedroom furniture to sand and stain the floors, I was extremely sore and was on meds for inflamed muscles so firing a 9 mm was not a good idea and I let Jon have the honors! Boy did I hate to pass that up! I am sure that he had grown to be this big and strong from all the protein he had gotten from my eggs!

I only have one baby boy piglet left to sell and the pig pen is back for Priscilla and Hambone to enjoy their peace and quiet. They grow so fast and my goodness they can eat!

Now other than freezing corn and making cobblers that is about it. I do have lots of pears and peaches almost ready for picking so once they are ripe I will freeze the peaches and make some pear preserves...yum!

A little update......

Having time to update a blog is hard to do. Since my last update I have had new baby pigs that are now 3 weeks old, I sold Jack and some sad but good news is that Therby has gone to live on a farm where he will be acting in plays! I am so glad that he has a forever home and will not end up as someone's hamburger. Instead he is being spoiled by many people, acting and then grazing the rest of the time with his new friends! You can view the website where he is at, at snowcampdrama.com. It was sad to sell some of my animals but I still have a plenty and right now with all the ones I have it just seems like there is harmony.

I have made some more soap and we have been using it also, seems to be pretty good stuff. Now that it is looking like Pearl is going to have more kids and BaBa is working of weening I have hardly no milk at the moment but I will soon.

I finally finished my new shelter and it was a job to set beams, by myself when it was a blazing 90 plus degrees outside. Just after the roof was on a thunder storm came up with a down pour and I could not wait to see all the pains of my labor as they all ran to it! Well it didn't work out that way, as the rain poured and I watched from the window inside the house....there they were all grazing in the rain. I was thinking "Please just one of you get under it" but no luck that time. I am happy to say it is used often now for rain and shade. Now all that is left is closing it in and covering the red part with siding once I find a timber person who will fool with me because I have such a small order.

Just before roof was put on

Outside the farm I have taken up kayaking which I love! I have always loved rivers and floating down one is just so peaceful. I took Alston this week down the Dan River and he too loves it! We are ready to go back! I am in search for another Old Town Otter boat but not had any luck so since my birthday is just around the corner I think I will just buy me a new one and Alston can use the one that I have. They, to me are the best boats ever.

Some things around the farm today....

Alston is off to camp today so I had plenty of work to do! First my feeding pans for the donkeys and mule keep getting moved around and I am tired of having to go collect them so I drilled holes in them and wired them to the post, now they can't get away! You might have to look hard to see the wire.

Jack getting a little close!

Check out those spots he has now that he has lost that fuzz.

One of my free range rabbits.

Gross, this is my next project, cleaning out the coop after the turkey hen sat in here for a month.

Ham Bone, couldn't even get picture he wanted to cuddle.

Priscilla, napping as usual.

Beautiful Therby......sunning

Therby and Maybell

Maybell wanting cold water.

My two milkers, I got plenty of milk today!

....milking then freezing it, cleaning, bug spray, snake-away, cleaning porch, painting door and porch furniture, watering flowers and garden, gathering eggs, laundry, dishes, now off to clean to the coops then to pick up Alston and back home to fry some squash.

A few things I love to see....

All of us have things that we enjoy seeing and looking at but here are a few pictures of what I call a beautiful site!

This is the scene from my front porch the other night, you just can't beat that with any ocean or mountain. All these farmers around here all work so hard and work together gathering all this hay.

Then I love to ride around and see all these big open fields when they are mowed down so pretty and have all the bales sitting around.

This is just kind of funny to me but I like to look out my kitchen window and see it but my rabbits, all 3 of them live in the yard just like my dog, chickens, ducks, turkeys, etc. They are not scared, do not run from you and stretch out in the sun and rest. This is them at the driveway where they usually lay under the car like the cat. They have a cage that they sleep in, they just go in and out when they want.

Another cute one is this little piggy rooting!