Welcome to the Farm

Okay, so I'm behind on updates again...imagine that.

We were very fortunate to find a great small stock farm here locally. We enjoyed the time we spent there and loving on the goats. The owner's name is Matt and we spent quite a bit of time talking with him and learning from him. That's what farmers do...they educate each other. Then you take that knowledge you gained and you teach the next generation. My dad was the foreman of a poultry farm when I was growing up so I've learned quit a bit from him since we've had chickens. Any time there's a problem, that's who we call.

We sold Anabelle's twins two weeks ago on July 7th. Then we used that profit to add our two newest additions to the farm on July 14th. Please welcome, G.G. & The Duke.

Duke is a bottle raised male. Fortunately for us, he's very gentle, sweet, & loves to be loved on. He was dis budded so I don't have to worry about horns around the kiddos we keep...or with us for that matter. Duke and G.G. are Nigerian Dwarf goats.

While we were at the farm to get our goats, there were ducks waddling around with the rest of the animals. We said before that we planned to eventually add ducks and later, pigs. So, we've also added a duck family. We bought four Muscovy's. A drake, a hen, and two ducklings. Meet, Professor Von Drake, Daisy Mae, and ??.

We still do not have names for the ducklings. They're supposed to be females. Any suggestions?

**By the way...anyone with small children who watch Mickey Mouse Club House know where we got the drakes name.**

And what shall the goats be needing this winter? Hay! We bought ours today & Linds was excited to get to haul hay to the hay barn.

They were small bales weighing in at about 35/40 pounds each. The people we bought from were having problems with their hay baler so the bales were sloppy and not tight like they should be. But, because of that and because we were willing to pick up the hay from the field so they didn't have to move, we got a great deal on it.

A lot has been done around here lately:

We got the pool up on the 4th of July & have been enjoying it on the scorching days of summer...

Fences have been built...

A picnic table has been built & enjoyed...

Puppies are almost 6 weeks old and ready to sell...

We said good bye to our first kids, Tom & Jerry...

And we lost Cali. About an hour or two after taking this picture, we never saw her again...

So here's where the current count is:

67 chickens (including 9 meat birds we'll be slaughtering in about 2-3 weeks)
3 goats
4 ducks
3 dogs
7 puppies (all for sale!)
3 adults
1 teenager
and a partridge in a pear tree
...not really, but what's one more thing around here, right?!?
Now we're gearing up for the Olympics this Friday and vacation soon!! We are so ridiculously excited about both!!! We're doing a tour around the countries of the Olympics in our meal plan over the next three weeks. We'll be enjoying baklava, curried coconut chicken, chicken parmesan, chicken cordon bleu, souvlaki, kung pao chicken, fish & chips, & so much more. Can't wait!!

Hopefully we'll have more updates sooner rather than later...but don't hold your breath.

7/27/12 Update: We sold 6 out of 7 puppies between Tuesday & Thursday!! We only have one puppy left & it may wind up staying here because he is deaf & we don't think anyone will want him. We're still trying to find him a home though.