Spring Peepers

I was looking under my stats bar and under search words was

---How to get rid of spring peepers

3 Times!!!

Why oh why would anyone want to get rid of these cute critters.  They are the heralds for spring.

I just don't understand some people.

Kinda like why would my son and husband eat frog legs...

I'll never understand.

Spring Update

Any treats?

Pisnak

The weather has been so nice these days.  Well okay, last week wasn't so nice.  It was warm but pouring rain.   I wouldn't know...I was in Ontario and there it was freezing!!! I left to nice sunny and warm temps and went to a deep freeze. It was wind, rain, snow and more wind.  And we were dressed for spring. Yikes! Thank goodness we were to be indoors.  I went for Home Hardware business. Christmas shopping. You buy Christmas items in the spring and summer stuff in the fall.  That's retail for ya.

Me and my girl on a sick day. We slept in my lazy girl chair all day!

The week before I was sick. Yuck! I had a major head cold. I actually stayed home from work one day. That's strange for me.  But when you're sick, you're sick. It's better I stay home, sleep and not spread my germs than go to work, get paid for being worthless and make everyone else sick.  Some people don't believe in this philosophy.  I wish they did.

J. and Pisnak enjoying the afternoon sun.

All the kids are gone to their new homes.  This is such a relief. They're cute at the beginning, but they get on your nerves after awhile.

TIMBERRR!!!

We had a tree that the neighbour figured was going to fall on his barn one day.  So we let him cut it down.  They're poplar trees. They grow extremely fast, but are weak.  They were just small 4 ft whips when we planted them 15 years ago. Now look at it!  So they're not very strong trees and the last few years they've begun splitting at the top and falling over. So far nothing much has been damaged but this one it's roots were starting to show and if it fell it was either going to fall on our goat barn or the neighbour's barn.

The girls.

While I was in Ontario Febe decided she was going to be sick.  One morning Dave went in the barn and she wouldn't get up.  He thought, "Uh oh. She's dying"  That day she went from milking 3 litres in the morning and the same at night to 1/2 cup!  She wouldn't eat or drink.  She had no fever and was otherwise fine.   So the vet came Friday and checked her out.  He said if she was sick she was on the mend because he even brought a fecal sample and she had barely any worms or coccidia.  We've given her glycol and her appetite is coming back to normal. She's milking better.  I don't think she'll go back this year to what she was milking but at least she's looking, feeling and milking better.  The vet figures she might have gotten into something or she was just missing me. Awwwww....

J. was trying to get his picture taken with just Pisnak when Tundra decided she wanted to be in the photo to.

Oh but on a more exciting note...I asked Dave to get the vet to ultrasound Stockings to see if she's pregnant or not.  This is her first freshening. We bred her on the tail end of breeding season so we didn't know if we got her or not. I guess we did...she's having at least twins! Usually goats don't have twins their first time. This might be exciting or scary.

I'm going to have twins!!

Friends of ours had a buck and he got broke.

Goat chops (slightly overdone) and Johnsonville Italian Sausages for a backup!

So what do you do with an old broken buck if you're a vegetarian...give him to your friends that aren't vegetarian and they'll make goat jerky and goat chops out of him.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm trying out BBQued goat chops.

We'll end this post on that note.

Like father, like son I guess.

Have a blessed evening
Lisa

The Acadian Cowboy

Yippeee Kiyeeee!!! We have one happy little camper on the farm now. J. is so happy, he can ride a donkey.  He was so happy...I said what would you do if we had a horse!?  He said he'd pass out! I said, "So would I. "  

The girls are adjusting well.  The first night we had to bring them in took us over 30 minutes for just one.  Now they just follow us in.  They actually listen very well.  J. told me tonight that Sally wouldn't let his cousin, Alex get close to him or Susie.  She was protective of J.  That's weird.

A very happy camper

From just having them under a week I can already see their different personalities.  Susie the mom is very laid back and kind.  Her daughter Sally is more independent and has a slight attitude.  But that's just so far. It hasn't been a week yet. Things might change.

J. and the girls.

Antonio stopping to smell the grass.

 It seems like we have new neighbours.  We used to have beavers in our lake a long time ago, but someone came on our land and trapped them.  We were not happy.  Now it seems like a new family has just moved in!  It's going to be fascinating to watch them.

New neighours

Some geese dropped in the pond to greet our new neighbours

Well it's time to log off and get ready for the farmer's market tomorrow.

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Surprise!!

One animal I have always, always wanted was a horse. It must be a little girl thing...so many little girls want a horse.  But alas it's not meant to be for a long time.  One other animal I've always wanted was a miniature donkey. I find they look like bobble head donkeys. Their heads are so big and their bodies so little.  They are so cute!!

But they are also sooo expensive.  So I just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a 

"lawn ornament".

Then Dave saw an ad for some that were for sale not far where we live. AND they were reasonably priced.  But they were being sold as a set, mother and daughter.  I only wanted one.

We called the lady and went to see them.  She also made us an offer we couldn't refuse.  She lowered the price and she gave us the baby barn (which is in excellent shape) that they live in.

The price we paid for the donkeys is what we would have paid for just the barn!

So I am now the proud owner of 2 mini donkeys.  The mother is pregnant and due in August.  This year the daughter will be 4 years old and ready to breed.  What I want is to breed her to our friend's miniature horse.  Hopefully to make miniature mules!

I will have to contact the vet on this to make sure it's safe for the donkey.

Sally

Having donkeys is a learning curve.  It also teaches you extremely patience.  Dave told me, "If you thought the goats were contrary, just wait till you see these guys!"

Susie

See, he went to pick them up while I was at work.  So he had first hand experience.  I got my first hand experience when I got home from work and there was only me and Tomas to bring them in.  The mom, Susie came in no problem.....Sally on the other hand. She came to the barn no problem....then stopped. And would NOT move.  Finally after 30 minutes of gently persuasion, carrots and talking sweet nothings in her ear she still didn't move.

So desperate times call for desperate measures. We pulled and tugged and pulled and yanked and pulled some more.. Finally we got her in her stall.

Now I have to go check on them.

They already kicked Tundra twice.  Tundra won't be bothering them again.

Carrots anyone?

Have a Blessed day

Lisa

.............

Stay tuned......excited new coming in a few days!

Happy Easter!

Well we hopped in the car Friday and drove to the pickers house. The jelly cupboard is not as antiquiky as I thought it was, but it does suit the decor of the house.  From the way it looks inside and how it was made I'd say it's made in the '60's. So now I have another problem.  I need to fill it! So if it behooves any of you to send me jellies, jams or preserves. I'd be eternally grateful!  Just Kidding!

My new to me jelly cupboard

Well the Easter Bunny stopped by last night. J. was slightly excited.  There was candy everywhere!! Sugar Rush!

Caramilk and Easter Cream eggs. Life is good!

Our day at the farmer's market was ok.  We sold more than if we would have been at our local market, but did we sell enough to make the difference in travel time, gas and the extra price of the booth?  We can't really make a decision after just once.  We'll have to wait a few months or so.

But the people were super friendly and there was a lot of people going through those doors. I'd say a good 500.  It's amazing.  I guess there'll be a lot more this summer.

Well we tried the Henry Milker this morning.  It's a bit more time consuming but it works like a charm.  I was really impressed.  I imagine when I get used to it, it'll take less time.  The goats didn't mind it at all either.  This is going to save my wrists big time.

Well gotta go.

Have a Blessed Easter

Lisa

Decisions....decisions...

Ok, let me go on the record that I don't know if I'm liking this new blogger layout.  I don't like change. Period.

Things have been going well here at Spring Peeper Farm. All the kids have been spoken for, they all have deposits put on them. One less stress to think about.  Now we only have to wait and see if Stockings is pregnant.  I think she is. She's eating alot more and putting on a bit of bulk.  It's hard to know if she's preggers since we bred her on the tail end of the breeding season.  So even if she wouldn't have been impregnanted she wouldn't have come back into heat.

Since we have Pisnak for next year's breeding it was time to think about selling Tomi.  I was going to wait a few more months before selling him, yet someone approached us to sell him to them.  So Tomi is now gone.  They bought him sight unseen. They just heard that we had good breeding stock.

Another decision we have had to make is to let the chickens out...or not to let the chickens out.  I love seeing the chickens free range.  But hubby brought me along the property today to show what my lovely girls have been doing.

One of our bushes is being uprooted by chickens

Last year they were starting in the garden to.  Already they are uprooting my bulbs, my flowers etc...  So I have to make the decision to either leave the hens inside and save my landscaping and veggie gardens, spend a lot more on feed and also save their lives because Tundra is still killing them. Or...let them go, sell Tundra, and say good bye to my flowers, lawn, trees and veggie garden. Hmmmm.... It's almost a no brainer.  I'll have to keep them inside. I'm not happy with the decision but I really have no choice. We are going to increase their pen size and Sunday afternoons I'll let them run loose.

It looks like a desert scene instead of my lawn.

That's all rocks that the chickens dragged and scratched out from underneath that shed.

I've made the decision of buying a milker. My wrists are killing me.  I've been overdosing on glucosamine for the last several months and it's not helping.  Yet I cannot afford a 1500$ milker so we're going to try the Henry Milker. I'm going to try it tomorrow.  I'll let you know if it's worth the 200$ I paid for it.

The Henry Milker...all the way from Alaska.

Tomorrow we are going to a new farmer's market. We are going to try the Yarmouth Farmer's Market. It's alot bigger than the one we're used to.  It's also farther.  So it's going to have to pay big time with the price of gas the way it's going up. It's a 45 minute drive from our house. The tables are also double the price.  Hopefully it'll pay for itself.  I'm also going to check out an antique jelly cupboard at a local picker's house.  I've always wanted a jelly cupboard but they are all so expensive or the wrong size or wrong look etc....this one seems to be the right size, the right look and most importantly the right price!

I'll keep you posted.  

Maybe he's getting older...but I'm not!

I'm going to leave you with photos of J's birthday (he turned 11!!) and Tomas eating lobster or playing with his lobster.

Tomas and the lobster

Oh...and I'm not liking the new blogger format ....

Have a Blessed Good Friday.

Lisa