isaac!

So we finally picked up our new billy goat on Sunday. Man, is he cute! He was born on May 4th, and looks super healthy and happy. Well, mostly happy. Already he is stubborn as all get out, but also very loving and affectionate. Because he was so young and was still nursing, we needed to train him to drink from a bottle. I don't think it's a good idea for babies to be taken from their moms so early because it's pretty stressful on them, but because he is going to be living with us for a long time as a stud, we also need him to think that we are his moms. He is going to get really big and horny, and if he isn't friendly, he's going to be a problem! So...we are feeding him from a bottle, holding him whenever we can, and letting him take naps with us. I slept with him in the barn the first night, and I'm really glad I did. He was totally scared by all the new noises. The following day he was so frantic to get out of his pen that he hung himself by his back hoof. Suddenly, he became a house goat. Erin gave us a huge dog kennel, and he sleeps in there. He is, for the most part, house trained! I think it was a bit of an accident, but whatever, it works. He cries when he needs out, goes in the exact same spot, and seems pretty much ok with everything. Still, I hope he isn't missing his mom too much. The goat girls will be giving birth any day, and when that happens, the little ones can spend some time together. He'll have some new friends to hang out with.



I have been trying to let the girls and Flower graze everyday, but it is quite the pain. The girls are completely destroying their fencing, and I have to really keep an eye on them. Flower got her head stuck in the fence the other day and pretty much had a heart attack. She was so hot I was really quite worried about her. I ended up shearing her with scissors! That took a while. A pro takes about 10 minutes, and it took me well over an hour. But she is cooler now, I think, and looks quite fancy. My camera broke so Diane came in the middle of the shearing and took some pix. When I get a new camera, I'll make sure I post one of the completed Flower. She was pretty sweet about it. Of course Little Richard was a complete asshole and kept trying to eat her wool. What a nuthead. Whenever he wants her food, he pulls her wool, which hurts, and so he gets what he wants. Yep, did I mention he's a bit of an ass?

snow yesterday..

Forgot to mention that yesterday at 11 am we had snow come down in Hancock. Yep, lots of it. Only for a minute or two, but it really doesn't matter, right? The point is that there was snow coming down and it is the middle of May. Worked outside without a jacket just a few hours later. So bizarre!

hugical outside table

So I was doing my business in the bathroom the other day looking at the new summer Sundance catalogue, and came across this magnificent outdoor table. It was made from these huge logs. Totally beautiful. I had the realization that I have all the wood I would need to build such a table for the farm, so I decided that building it was the most important thing I could possibly be doing at the moment.

Here's the main log I found from the homestead foundation. In this picture, I have already cut it in half via the chainsaw, which has really been having a rough go of it. It is not doing well at all and the guys at the shop aren't sure why. Bummer. Plus they keep giving me the wrong length chain. What up with that? Anyway, the halves were still so heavy that it was struggle to drag them to the deck! Amazing pcs of hand hewn wood. I'm so happy to be making use of them.



It's hard to see, but the legs of the table are leaning against the cement blogs. They're huge, too!



Starting to put it together:



Here it is, half finished. The dimensions end up being 13 ft by 57 inches. Way too big for the deck, as it turns out. So I'm clearing the area next to the house and will put it there. Was planning on doing that anyway, although not this summer, but, you know, one must go with the flow. It ends up that there is a lot of nice soil over there so I'll plant lots of the tomatoes and peppers there, and make a really cool dining area!



Here's the dining area so far. Rio and I pulled a huge rock out yesterday. Man, it was big, and I could barely move it myself. Between the 2 of us, we at least got it out of the hole. I'll put a few tires to stop erosion right under the little tree and plant some vine veggies in them. That should work out ok. We'll see what it ends up looking like. The wood will all be in the wood shed, so it should look pretty in that area! Sweet!

the turkeys are out and other little things

So we've been working, but I haven't been too great on the taking pictures part. I keep forgetting.

Anyway, Jarvie came out last weekend to help me put the greenhouse up. Except that I can't find the instructions. Yep, that's right. A greenhouse in pieces with no instructions. Yep, I did cuss. And yep, I got over it. So we decided to put in a little garden instead, which you can see below. We put the cabbage and broccoli in. Yep, the geese and ducks ate all the leaves off, and yep, I cussed again. Just a little bit, though. We will be lucky if they make it. But still, it was great fun putting it all together. I totally appreciated the help.



We also finally got the turkey run open yesterday. I've been careful with them as they are sensitive to the cold and wind and I don't want them getting sick. The goats are being butts and trying to eat them and mess up the run fencing, but that's goats for you. Always in everyone else's business, always trying to get to the other side of the fence. Always loving the drama. They are so like humans I can't believe it sometimes. When I look at their "buttness" I can see my own, so I guess that's a good thing!






Benj took these pictures of some of the hens running around. We had a fox come into the yard last night at dusk, right in view of the front door. Vanna chased him away, but I'm thinking it's going to be tricky to keep everyone alive if they are out running around. I'd sure like to have this whole property fenced in so that everyone can run in peace. Wouldn't that be great???

more pix....

Amalia and Doug's friends stopped by for a visit as well, just in time to eat! Doug impressed us with the best gravy ever, and I impressed everyone with my lack of carving ability. Amalia really impressed everyone by eating some meat. We then impressed each other with our applesauce making. It was delicious, as usual, and only took 3 hours. We had that baby cooking!

Doug, May, and Aaron:



At dinner-- Aaron, Amalia, Me, Dan, Doug:



Aaron and Amalia getting the fire going:



Doug and Aaron getting the kettle situated:



Me adding the apples, Newspaper Dan looking goofy as heck!:



May stirring:



Me and Doug hypnotized by the fire:



Pagan ritual?:

the most amazing days...

are always the most unexpected. But boy, do they end up being memorable. Such was yesterday. For many reasons.

Originally, yesterday was going to be an ice cream day, as friend Mike Robertson signed me up to receive all the new varieties of Haagan- Dazs coming out this year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, as it turned out, the shipment was delayed. But Amalia and Doug biked out anyway to do some studying. Right. It's quite hopeless to attempt that out here, as I know!

Doug at least was working away until I finally caught the big rooster who has been starting to turn a bit mean. The female chickens are losing feathers on their backs and heads from him always jumping on them, and he went after me the other day. I have known that life would be a bit more peaceful out here without him, but me and butchering aren't great pals, so I've been dreading it. But once I caught him, it had to be then, to the surprise of all of us. Especially Doug and Amalia, who are both vegetarians.

But we all participated, all had our own experiences and interpretations, and it was quite amazing. I would think that it must have been especially crazy for Amalia, who hasn't eaten meat in 6 years, and Doug, who has pretty much been a vegetarian for a year now.

What is really interesting is that, because she participated, Amalia felt like she HAD to eat some of the rooster, like it wasn't really an option. And she did. As did Doug.

Their friends Kim and Aaron stopped by as we were finishing cooking him, and so did Newspaper Dan, who brought ice cream. Doug made an amazing gravy, we had brown rice and cucumbers, and it was just fabulous!

Amalia:



Doug and I trying to look like we know what we're doing with the chicken:

pix from amalia

So here are a couple of pix from Amalia.

Shady:



Vanna checking out the little chicks when they arrived:

doug's family!

Hey!

So I haven't been on here much, nor have I taken many pictures. Part of that is because I think my camera might be shot, and then I've been so freaking busy I just haven't thought about taking pictures.


But everything is fine here. The turkeys are now out of the house (yay!!), and are currently in an isolated area in the little chick house. I'll be moving them to their own place in the bigger barn soon. I'm just a bit worried about it still being too cold for them. Maybe later this week? The weather is looking like it will stay in the 50s. Right. That means it might snow!

What else...Lizzy is sitting on 15 eggs now! This morning I went out there and both she and a duck were sitting on the nest! At first I couldn't find the duck and was worried that something had gotten into the barn to have a snack, but nope, there she was, sitting with Lizzy. Lizzy didn't seem too upset, which is pretty awesome. Actually, I think the ducks are sitting on the nest at night, so that's kind of cool. I would really like to see the turkey babies make it. How awesome that would be!

And I think that Hershey might actually be pregnant, too! That's pretty exciting. So if they are pregnant, their due date falls at the same time that I will be leaving to go to a class in Miami! Yikes! Doug and friends might be having a very exciting farm stay! Fingers crossed the girls have their babies before I leave. Just for Doug's sake. On the other hand, how great will it be for me not to have to worry about it and to let Doug take care of it when it happens! That seems wrong somehow, but I'll take if it happens that way!!

So I finally got to meet Doug's family!

Here's a picture of Deb with her new boyfriend, Shady:



And the rest of the family! Michael, Amalia (family, too!), Deb, Doug, and Susan: