Springtime on the Farm

Every year the government puts on Open Farm Day.

We've participated in it twice so far.

But it's in the fall which is all fine and dandy if you're a farm

that raises fruits and vegetables.

But when you raise animals the best time is in the spring when all the baby animals are still around!!

So I decided to put together our very own 

Spring Time on the Farm!

At first I had it planned for end of April.

But the weather was not cooperating and Azelle still was fighting mastitis.

She wasn't feeling up to par, so the last thing I wanted was for her to be disturbed by strangers.

So I planned for mid May.

It was a bit chilly, but there were no flies!

I had a soap making demo and a milking demo. And we talked

to people on how to homestead even if you have a full time job.

The milking demo, people were encouraged to try their hand at it.

We had samples of goats milk, goat's milk fudge and cheese!

There was goat and bunny shaped cookies for the kids!

I sold some soap and we accepted donations for Fort MacMurray.

I think everyone had a great time.

In a matter of 4 hours over 100 people came to our little farm!!!

And parking wasn't too much of an issue like I had originally feared.

My mom manned the soap and food table (next year we need two people for that)

Dave showed people around, as did I,

And my friend Susan was the official keeper of the 4 legged kids!

She said it was the easiest job she ever had.

Walk around with a baby goat on a leash.

Chester in all his glory! Dave changed Christian's name to Chester because his face
 looks like a court jester. So Chester the Jester.

Stuart enjoying one of many peanuts

A little lady milking Caith and doing an excellent job at it!

She even fed the pigs!

By the end of the day we were all pooped!

Especially the little ones.

It was a lot of work, so I'm still thinking if I should make another one next year.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Have a Blessed Day!

Lisa

New Life

Since it's been a mild winter the girls have been roaming the property a lot.

They aren't permitted to roam it in the summer because they like causing destruction in my raised beds.  4 acres! And they have to go in my raised bed! 4 acres! 

I mean come on!

But the girls this year have been very productive so I can't be mad at them too much.

The weeks that they would slack off, I would just gently mention two words..

Fricot Pot

oh and the other two words

Freezer Camp

worked amazingly well to get them going again.

Yesterday, they almost all laid an egg! Nice going girls!

Kidding time is fast approaching.

Well it's not fast approaching. It's here!

Maggie is due in 6 days

(even though she doesn't look it. She keeps her girlish figure right to the end. She carries well. No baby fat for her! Right to the gym after delivery! Goat Pilates I've seen her doing when she thinks nobody is watching.But she needs a sports bra.  I won't be telling her though.)

Now poor Azelle is due March 25. She doesn't keep her girlish figure. Azelle is having issues this pregnancy.  One side of her udder has gotten mastitis. And the vet figures it will be permanent.

We can be hopefully optimistic (the vets exact words) that next year she will go back to normal.

But when they get mastitis when they're dry it's usually permanent.

So it seems we shall be bottle feeding kids this spring. Ugh.

Since she is an awesome milk producer, she might be able to nurse both kids....

with our luck she'll have triplets.

Last Saturday we had a surprise.

I had no idea when Caith was due. I watched and watched and watched last fall for signs of heat and couldn't see any.  So that meant that either she was too young (highly unlikely) or that the buck got her while I wasn't there and her heat was short.  So I thought she'd be due now.  Then in January I saw her and the buck fooling around and I thought...oh no.  That means a June kid.

Then I walk in the barn last Saturday morning and there he was...

Stevie.

Here he is just a day old.

This is him yesterday. His first day outside with momma.

A whole week old.

Ain't he cute!

Jamie's bunny business has expanded a little. He got his first litter and 5 survived. They're ready to be sold as pets in a few weeks. He's hoping that they'll sell as pets because now he doesn't know if he can do the deed and use them as meat rabbits...if you know what I mean. 

His birthday is this month and

he saw this little gal.  So guess what.  We have a new addition to the farm. 

She stays inside. 

He named her Caramel and she's a Holland Lop.

Friendly and cute as a button.

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

The slow week

My forsythia and magnolia bushes

This blog should be entitled...The Last Two Weeks in Photos.

It started with a beautiful rainbow. Isn't this picture so inspirational with the Irving propane truck in the foreground. tee hee

I thought the rainbow would show up better.

Well once again its the case of "never say never". Words have alot of calories. That's why I don't seem to be able to lose any weight. I keep eating my words. Sigh....

I always said that we would never, ever get a trampoline for J. Well, Dave found a near new trampoline in the local paper for next to nothing. Sooooo here it is. We are having a blast with it.

J. and the trampoline

The weather is holding out. It's been just beautiful. Some days are a bit chilly, but mostly sunny. The problem like I mentioned in my last post is that we are not getting any amounts of rain. Not good. By now my garden has a few inches of water between the rows. At the moment, it's almost dust. Not good. But my garlic is doing wonderful.

The Garlic

My rhubard almost didn't make it. Dave didn't realize it was there and tilled the garden. Uh oh! This is all I have left of it.

The rhubard on it's last legs

Febe and the exploding udder.

The goats are doing well. They all go outside together now. Esme is terrorizing Cindi Lou. Febe is terrorizing Esme, but most of the time protecting Cindi Lou. My dilemma now is should I get rid of Esme or Febe. I was going to get rid of Febe since she's not very nice with J. But.....she gets along with everyone except Esme. Esme on the other hand doesn't get along with Febe or Cindi Lou. Even J. would rather me get rid of Esme than Febe. His opinion is....

"Mum, Febe is a good mother and milker, you don't know what you're going to get with Esme. I like Esme, but you sometimes have to think about the big picture. I can always stay out of Febe's way. But she is getting nicer to me."

My child is wise beyond his 9 years.

We are going to band one of the boys. It's a buck year. Everyone has had bucklings. Not a good thing. It's hard to sell them. I really hate to think that they would go for meat, but.....

Cindi Lou, Mike and Art

Last night I seperated Mike and Arthur from their mom, so I can get some milk in the morning. It didn't go so well. There was whole lot of blatting going on. But this morning everyone seemed happy and I had 2 litres of milk! Which I am drinking now. Ahhh! It's so good.

I have been trying to take photos of the kids, but it's hard to take a nice photo of flying objects! I love this photo. Look at Mike's legs. He is just flying. (ignore the junk in the background).

The Wild goat rodeo

Cindi Lou had little scabs all over her body. We have no clue why. I even called the vet and they have no clue why. So I've treated her with Cy-Lence and everyone else for that matter in case it's a case of lice or mites. It seems like it's doing better. It's against my religion to drink, but these goats are working hard to drive me to it!

Cindi Lou Who

Otis is doing well. He likes to stick his tongue out at us. He's going to the big pasture up the road in a few weeks. His hair loss is doing better. We treated him with Cy-Lence and it seems like it did the trick. We have a different problem now. Dave got the farmer up the road to come and castrate him because we were told that he hadn't been pinched where we got him. So Herbie, the farmer came to do it (and he's done it many, many times.) He can't find "them" to pinch "them". Hmmm....strange.

Otis

The following photo is the perfect reason why you should plant your veggies in the greenhouse within a few days of cleaning it out. Not cleaning out your greenhouse and waiting a few weeks to plant your veggies!

My Evil Greenhouse!

This is called doing your work twice!!! I swear.. I'll never learn. I thought I was getting a jump on the year. I guess not!

Most of the pigs are gone. Only one left. He was supposed to leave at the same time as the others, but the guy's car broke down on the way, so he's coming Tuesday. If he stays here any longer Dave is charging him boarding fees which is normal.

J. feeding the piglets

Two of our young chickens have died yesterday and today. One from being picked to death and the other, we aren't sure why. Chickens are evil things. I hope we don't lose anymore. The two we did lose were pullets. Crud.

Last week was Stampede Day at our place. Who needs the Calgary Stampede when you have goats!

I needed to get Cindi Lou out of the pasture to feed her. So I just opened the gate a bit and Febe stuck her nose through. I grabbed her collar, but at the same time Esme tried to sneak out also. So I grabbed her collar too. (do you see where this is going?) For a split second I had control of the situation. Then my foot got caught in a tree root. There I go being dragged around for a few seconds (felt like minutes) on the ground by two goats before I realize...."Let go, stupid dummy!" All this time, Dave and a visitor are watching me thinking..."What is she doing?"

Never a dull moment.

Yesterday J. and I painted the barn, well one side of it. Then we ran out of paint. Then he painted his tree fort.

Tomorrow I have the entire day planned..

-get chicken feed

-do banking

-clean sheet day

-clean (and I mean scrub on my knees kinda clean) the kitchen floor

-paint the french door in the kitchen

-clean the goat pen

-make supper so we can eat for 4:30 so we can go to drum lessons

-go fishing with J. after school.

Phew... I think that's it! Dave asked what I was going to do in the afternoon after I've done this list.

Today was a good sermon at church. We had Calvin Smith from CMI come and explain creationism and how is pertains to regular everyday life instead of evolution, which we don't beleive in. www.creation.com

My Magnolia Tree

Well I think that's it for this post. Have a blessed day!

Lisa