Archive for January, 2013

Hmmm. It’s Winter……

Here are Pokey, Zippy, Jack and Moses enjoying some of the warm days we have had in the early part of January.

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Jack is becoming more friendly.  We have eased into petting him, whenever we could get close enough.  Now, I think he has decided he kinda likes us!

The hair on his forehead feels like a stuffed animals, super soft….just like his father Moses.

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This weekend the weather was in the 70’s….and I loved every minute of it.  Especially since the forecast was for RAIN, RAIN, RAIN…in the coming days.

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Billy and I worked on every outside chore we could while the weather was nice.

And squeezed in a little leisure walk in the woods too!

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I love seeing the moss and wild ferns grow on and around the rocks….

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Reminds me of lush carpet.

Then the RAIN came….

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And it poured down rain for several days.  The rivers around here are WAY out of their banks and they haven’t even crested yet.

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Poor Zsa-Zsa….

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and Brandy….they looked as if they wanted it to stop already…but…. it had only just begun.

It was just about 3:30 or 4:00 when I left the pasture and checked on the hens….but they were not outside….

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So, when I went to the front door…I saw all these little wet chicken footprints…..and sure enough….

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they had already gone in for the day……I suppose if chickens wore pajamas and robes they would have had theirs on.  They had no intentions on going back out in the rain.

But they did leave me a couple of eggs.

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They like to use the same little box to lay in…but on this day they spread out a little…

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I suppose since they had called it a short day…that is why I only had three eggs.  However, they made up for it the next day and gave me 5…all in one box.

The goats haven’t cared much for the rain either….

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When I arrived back at the house they all looked pitiful at the fence.  It has been a while since I have had a picture showing  how much Hoot n Nanny and Jethro have grown.  Hoot n Nanny is the one on the far left…Jethro is the one right in front of her.  It always amazes me how quick the goats grow.  Freddy is the reddish goat in the middle and Pearl..which is Hoot n Nanny’s mother is the white goat on the far right.

Since we had a lot of nice weather before the rain….the Jonquils are popping their heads up a little earlier than last year.

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Sooooo…they forecasted that we just might get a ban of snow…..

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and as I began to type this post…..it started snowing……

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it is pretty…..but I hope it doesn’t hang around.

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The goats have invaded the dog house….all five of them!  They too hope it quits soon.

It is rare that we get an accumulation of snow…the schools have already sent everyone home early.  Around here if snow is coming everyone runs to the store for bread and milk….and hunkers down for a long winters nap.

Thankfully, I went to the store yesterday.  I have milk and bread…although I am not real sure why everyone wants that to eat when it snows?

I seemed to have lost my touch for cooking….hmmm…come to think about it….maybe I never really had it to begin with.  But…thanks to google and all these other ladies that have blogs….and seem to be good cooks…… I am attempting to make beef stew and a new cornbread recipe.  Now THAT  is comfort food.

It is smelling really good right now!

However, if it turns out ..like everything else lately….we may be having that milk and bread!

A full year….

Christmas marked a full year since I became a     . com.

I thought it would be neat to reflect on a few of the things that happened this last year on the farm.

In January of 2012

Our first goat was born.

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We named him Jethro…..

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and he stole our hearts!

In February….

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I reflected on being married for 16 years….

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and how we went from”City living”….

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to living out an episode of “Green Acres”…and loving every minute of it!

In March…..

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Cupid delivered a beautiful baby girl…that we named…Toots

and the very next day….we were blessed with our second goat….

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Hoot- n- Nanny….

In April…..

Billy delivered his first calf…..

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I suppose this was one of the most beautiful moments we have experienced so far.  We had lost a cow named Jett and her calf…black beauty…. in labor just a day before this delivery.  It was exceptionally special that Billy and I were able to help Zsa Zsa in her time of need on this particular night.

I love this picture….I just happened to catch an exhausted Billy….. thanking God for a healthy Mama and baby.

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Precious…Precious

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We named her JOY!

In May….

We had a new dog  join us.  And of course there was all kinds of new excitement with her.

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and as puppy’s do….she grew

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and grew….

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and grew…..matter of fact…I think she is still growing!

In June….

We picked beautiful blackberry’s from the very bushes we planted a few years ago.

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It was soooo exciting to pick containers of fruit each day…. for weeks.   But…. man…. those thorns HURT!

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I had a very interesting time making my FIRST batch of blackberry Jelly.

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Then I made Blackberry Jam and well let’s just say……before long we had many, many jars of jelly.

In July….

Our first donkey was born….on July 4th!!!!!

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He is a real beauty…. we named him Jack.

In August…

Every where you looked…you could see the area….was covered in wild  flowers

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Even the things you see everyday…seem to have an extra beauty about them…..

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as the flowers turned ordinary into extraordinary.

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even fields that were without flowers….had their own beauty….

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In September….

We brought chickens home to their new house.

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they seemed to settled right in….

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and we have enjoyed them….very much.  I never knew chickens had personalities….but they do.

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In October….

Beautiful colors came to the mountain…..

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and yet….these pictures cannot truly show you just how beautiful the colors really were.

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I found that a walk in the woods was the only way I could absorb it all.

In November….

Billy received his Buffalo head mount …..

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Billy said it all…. when he saw him…..WOAH…..he’s BIG!

Funny….the animals just don’t look THAT big in the field.

In December….

We celebrated the birth of  Jesus Christ….

I love seeing country churches…especially at Christmas.

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We also enjoyed a nice country breakfast with our family.

Our neighbors shared their fresh homemade sausage with us.

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Billy also cooked up some bacon

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and we enjoyed fresh eggs from our hens….

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Of course we also had a nice selection of Jelly and Jam to choose from too!

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It has been a fun year experiencing all the things that the country has to offer.

Everyday is  a reminder of this verse….

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I was shocked that the blog had over 7,000 views this year.

I was equally amazed that it is being seen all over the world, places that I have never been to in person.  I find it interesting that most people like to just read and not comment.  I am that way myself with the blogs I visit.  However, I love reading what other viewers think about a post.  So please feel free to comment.

Thank you for taking this journey with us this year…I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Have a very Happy New Year,

Billy, Sonya and all our critters!

Catch up day

Today was a day of catching up on all the things that have been put on hold during the holidays.  First and foremost on my list was to clean the chicken coop.  It hasn’t been very long since I cleaned it and it hasn’t seemed to bother the girls any…..they have been laying plenty of eggs.

It is my understanding that they normally slow down in the winter time.  However, I have a friend/neighbor that remembers a wives tale from her mother.  Several other neighbors have told me the same thing…so there must be something to the tale.  It is said that if you put hot pepper in corn bread and feed it to the hens it will make them lay more eggs.

Now….I don’t know if there is any truth to this or not….but the girls sure seem to be steady.  My neighbor cooks up a batch for them every so often.  I have been collecting 3 to 4 eggs a day.  That means that I am gathering around 21 (or more) eggs a week.  Not bad….especially since I only have 6 hens.

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Free range eggs are supposed to be healthier.  There is actually less cholesterol…. more vitamin D, less saturated fat, up to 2 times more omega 3…. just to name a few things.

Ironically, I am not an egg eater.  I know…I should be ashamed.  But I do like to eat things that have egg in them.  Like fried rice and stuff like that…I just don’t care for egg by itself.  I am going to work on that though.  So, I started the other day.  I cooked one of our girls eggs next to a store bought egg.  I just wanted to see the difference.

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Store bought on the left and free range on the right.  The yolks are deeper in color…almost orange looking.

Chickens love to eat bugs and worms and all kinds of creepy crawling critters. All of that natural eating from things found in the ground are the very reason why they are better for you.  Of course in the winter the bugs are a little more scarce than they are the rest of the year.  Today, while cleaning their house I moved a bale of hay that I had sitting by the porch.  They went NUTS….they found worms and little black bugs and all kinds of things that were either under the hay and in the hay.  I had given them some chicken scratch this morning…but they ignored it and went straight to the spot where the hay had been.

I have these little critters on hand for those cold days….when I think they would like a treat.  They are mill worms….dried.

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Isn’t that just crazy?  I am finding that there are a lot of things that I do that are crazy since I moved out to the land.  I often have baggies of these mill worms in my car.  And I find that I kinda like the smell of sweet feed that I take over to the cows.  I have containers of cut apples for the donkeys and ponies in the fridge most of the time…and I am constantly setting aside food scraps for the goats.  I try to make sure I label what they are for….afraid Billy might think it is something for him to munch on.  It wouldn’t take but one good bite and he would know that it wasn’t…but I would hate for that to happen.

I got tickled yesterday when Billy put on some coveralls that he wears when it is really cold out.  He had them on about a week ago and they had been in the garage until yesterday.  He reached in his pocket and pulled out an egg….we both busted out laughing.

We are really enjoying farm life.

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The girls are getting bigger combs….it has been neat watching them grow.

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This is usually what you see when you pass by the fence.  All tails….that means that they are happy, happy, happy!