Aurora and Phillip

A little bit of perfect arrived on our little farm the other night.

 Meet Aurora and Phillip, the two sweet kids that were born Saturday night.

We went out to feed at 6:30 and could tell Justice was starting to go into labor, but she lacked all the signs that would have made us think she was very close to delivering. She had torn up the barn stall, digging up the straw and creating little 'nests', but she still ate like she was starved and wasn't dilated or having noticeable contractions. But when we went out again in an hour to see if she'd progressed, there were two tiny baby goats in the pen with her. The little boy came first, standing on wobbly legs next to his mama. The baby girl had just been born and wasn't even standing yet.

We were sad to have missed the birth, but thrilled that she had no trouble and didn't need us. Both babies eventually stood up, and it wasn't long until they started nursing.

Justice is a wonderful mother, and knew exactly what needed to be done.

We helped dry them off just a little bit, but she did most of the work. She didn't mind having us in there with her, holding them and petting them and working with them a bit, though as soon as a barn cat comes near she threatens to butt it across the stall. 

We stayed out for a couple of hours, making sure they were nursing and showing them the warming barrel where they could sleep (and dry off some more. Wet babies plus a cold night is a little disconcerting.) Within two hours, they were hopping around on their shaky newborn legs, reaching around and then falling down only to get up and try again. We could have stayed and watched longer, but by then it was long past bedtime for little girls, and they were cold and tired.

The girls are both thrilled, as is to be expected. Chloe got all teary as she watched Aurora stand for the first time. Cora was shaking with excitement. As soon as we dipped their cords and determined their genders, Cora announced their names - apparently she had had their names planned for some time and had just been waiting to tell us what they would be. Aurora, you know, is Sleeping Beauty's name, and Phillip is her prince. Okay, so it's not my first pick, but it'll do. Chloe has adopted Phillip as her very own, and he's already taken to following her around the stall and nudging her leg when he wants his head scratched.


Aurora immediately became Cora's, and while she is not so fond of being petted, she seems to love being held close to her girl's chest.


For two goats who came from the same mama and daddy, they sure do look different. Phillip has long, floppy ears like a nubian with a cream colored head and spots. He's stocky, the larger of the two.


Aurora is dainty and nearly pure white, with tiny la mancha ears, like a little pixie.


Phillip is outgoing and playful, sticking his nose between the slats to sniff the dogs or trying to get Liberty to play with him (much to Justice's chagrin.) Aurora is more shy, preferring to stay nearer her mama, occasionally jumping around but only half-heartedly. It's like she's trying to pretend to be grown up, while he's all rough-and-tumble little boy.

While we were waiting to see whether Jussie would have boys or girls, the expectation was that we would keep a girl, but would either eat or sell any boys. Yeah, well. That was before we saw Phillip. There is No Way I am eating him. I've just accepted that we now have two more goats. Besides, Chloe loves him. Clearly, we're going to have to work on this attachment thing. It's not so bad with feathered animals, but these furry ones melt your heart the moment you set eyes on them!

Welcome to the farm, Aurora and Phillip!

And 'Justice' For All

Have you ever tried to photograph children and goats together?

It's nearly impossible - they never stop moving!

Someone will almost always be blurry because there is always a tremendous amount of running and giggling going on.

Of course, occasionally they stand still... if there is grain involved.
 
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We have a new goat. The girls are calling her Justice. You know, because we already have Liberty... so now we have Liberty and Justice.


She's a Toggenburg. I didn't want a Toggenburg. I wanted a Nubian. But this sweet lady was for sale, and it didn't take long for her to tug on our heartstrings and decide that if she needed a new home, it should be our Forever Home Farm.

She's friendly as all get out, following the girls wherever they go (whether they are holding a grain can or not.) She's almost four years old, and is pregnant and due in January. You know, because if we're going to learn how to raise kids, we might as well do it in the dead of winter up in the mountains.

We're excited to have her.

This also means we will be giving Snickers, our Goat-On-Loan, back to the neighbor, who was kind enough to let us bring her home to keep Liberty company until we found a permanent goat. (This was after learning the hard way - twice - that you really can't just have one goat.)

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I'm not sure I ever really wanted goats all that badly... but I gotta tell ya, they sure are tremendous fun. And the smiles they put on the faces of Two Little Girls makes me love them all the more.

Welcome Home, Justice!

Making Friends With the Barn Cats

When we moved in, we were informed that we would be inheriting some barn cats. We weren't quite sure how many... at first we thought it was three, and then we realized there were at least two pairs of "twins" when we'd see them both at the food bowl at the same time. The girls have watched them from the window each day, and have given them all names, though they have never let us get anywhere near them.

But then we found their hiding spot: the hay loft. So we started bringing them bits of hot dogs, scraps of meat from dinner, and other goodies. What better way to make friends with half-wild barn cats?


This is Buff. He's the most friendly, to the point where he now even lets us pet him (and even asks us to sometimes.)


These two are Sally and Batman. They aren't quite so friendly, but will at least accept bits of food as long as it's tossed toward them from a distance.


Hiding somewhere below floor level, near the wall, are two fluffy cats. One is Grandma Kitty, and I can't recall the other's name right now. They won't let us anywhere near them, even if we come bearing gifts.

It's a good lesson in patience for the girls, standing completely still and waiting until their new friends come out of hiding. They're learning to move slowly and carefully, something neither of them is terribly good at.


*Please pardon the mess that is our hay loft. It's all stuff left behind by the previous owners, and we haven't made it out that far to clean up yet. It certainly is a treasure trove though: an ancient old wagon, all in pieces; an old rocking chair, a chest of drawers,an upholstered foot stool, a kitchen table and six chairs; even an old boat hanging from the rafters. Some day I'll find the time to go through it all, and refinish things one by one to add to the decor inside. Until then, the cats have a lovely furnished hay loft in which to spend their days.

Cheep, cheep, peep.

Once again, we went to the feed store. And once again, there was the "cheep cheep peep!" of the baby poultry. I'm tellin' ya, it's virtually impossible to walk out of that store without a box of fluffy, peeping little birds. Sigh.

And so... meet Tinkerbell, Freckles, Penelope, and Twilight.

If you've ever tried to photograph baby chickens,
you'll understand why all of these pictures
are so awful.

Penelope is a Blue Andalusian. She'll lay white eggs. Twilight, the gray one, will lay blue eggs. I believe she's a variety of Auracana, but I can't remember for sure. Tinkerbell and Freckles are banties - they'll lay eggs the size of marbles. The only reason we got banties was because The Oldest was dead set on owning a couple of banties this year. I will admit, though, that they are absolutely darling little things.

Penelope.

These four will be pets, in addition to Jupiter, Grammy, Matilda and Goldilocks, the four egg-laying hens we already have. They will be tormented loved and cuddled and hand-fed worms and vegetable trimmings, and will hopefully live long, happy lives as beloved chickens.

And while we were picking out our pet chickens, we noticed a sign over one of the brooders at the store that read, "Buy Any 50lb Bag of Chicken Feed, Get 10 Roosters Free." Well now, who can turn down a deal like that? It's like 10 free dinners.

Meet "The Boys"
Note the little green dots on their heads, identifying them as Roosters, and therefore mostly unwanted by the general population, who are primarily interested in buying egg-laying hens, not roosters for eating. They are Buff Orpington roosters, and will be butchered in September.

The Turkeys are all alive and well, growing rapidly, as baby birds are wont to do. They seemed so small still, until we brought home the baby chickens. Now we realize how big they really are already!

Turkeys are surprisingly calm for baby birds. When you hold them, they just settle right in and relax. And they are curious as all get out, pecking and picking at everything they see. I'm thinking next year, we'll need some heirloom turkeys to keep around because I think I like turkey personalities.And this is a quick shot of our "nursery" set up.

The guest house on our property is set up to be more of a workshop. It is the perfect place to raise baby poultry, and baby plants. Note the plants growing happily under the lights on the table at the right-hand side of the photo. Currently tomatoes, bell peppers, an assortment of cole crops, and some herbs and flowers are sprouting and growing. The two tanks together are where the Meat Birds live, and the new pet chickens are on the far left. And in the background, all the shelves and boxes of Miscellaneous Stuff that the previous owner left for us - screws and nails and other bits of hardware, cans of paints and wood finishes, and all kinds of other yet-undiscovered treasures.

So the poultry count is now up to 22: 8 pet hens, a pet rooster, 10 meat roosters, and 3 meat turkeys. Hopefully we don't have to go to the feed store again until after chick days are over. Clearly, I lack the self control to keep going in there.

4-H: A Family Affair

Oldest One's first 4-H riding meeting turned into a family affair yesterday.

At the rodeo grounds in the Tiny Little Town, all the little girls brought their horses for a lesson and some fun. Parents were encouraged to bring their own horses, and the leader brought along a couple of her own horses that Andrew and I got to ride. Even Grammy came up from the Big City with her horse, Roxy. If there's one thing that's not lacking in Oldest One's horse adventures, it's family involvement.

Here's my Oldest One with Bandit.


All went well with him and she was having a great time, until she took him to the far side of the arena by herself. When he looked over and realized all his friends were back at the gate, he took off running back toward them. Scared poor Oldest half to death, though to look at her you wouldn't have known it. She looked so calm and was seated so nicely as he loped across the arena. When he finally stopped, she started bawling. "I was wrong. I don't like 4-H. I don't like horses. Horses are scary. I don't want to do this any more."

Her leader - who seems to know exactly what to say to a scared kid - patiently took her around for awhile, talked to her, and calmed her down.

Ten minutes later, when they came back, Oldest patted Bandit on the neck and said, "I guess I was lying about not liking 4-H." And for the rest of the afternoon, all she could talk about was how much fun it was to lope.

Hubby rode Bertha, the 4-H leader's draft horse that she uses primarily for driving.

Apparently she hadn't been ridden much in the past year and was feeling a bit frisky. He had his own adventure when Bertha decided to rear up and dance around a little bit while he rode her. No big thing though, he handled it like a pro. I imagine if he'd had the opportunity to grow up with horses, he'd be quite the horseman now - he's got such a calm, patient, confident manner about him that horses would relate so well to.

Grammy's horse behaved perfectly, and Littlest One rode double with her.

It won't be long until Littlest needs a horse or pony of her own - you put her up on one, and I think she'd stay all day if you let her. She wasn't ready to get down when Grammy was ready to quit.

And yes, even I got on a horse. It'd been fourteen years since I got bucked off my own horse as a teen. I never did get back on after that. For all that I was nervous, it sure did feel good to be back on a horse again.


So an afternoon of family horseback riding - it made us all want our own horses even more desperately. We spent the evening talking about long trail rides together, camping in places only horses can get us, and how we're going to figure as much riding as possible into our already too-busy schedules.

The best part - we get to do this every week! I'm so glad we she joined 4-H. :-)

Lazarus

Since the current theme seems to be showing you our new animals, let me take this moment to introduce Lazarus:



Lazarus was a City Rooster. City Roosters are not allowed to crow at unreasonable hours of the morning, but no one told him that.

My best friend raised him from an egg. Well, okay, one of her hens did. Her hen got broody, so she put some of my mom's fertilized eggs under the hen and got two baby chicks from it. Both turned out to be roosters. One rooster was mean and unpleasant and swiftly made it to the stew pot. The other was Lazarus.



He's gentle and kind. He's just loud. He's got a beautiful voice and exercises it daily, starting at about 4:30 am, as roosters are prone to do. Only that kind of singing isn't allowed when one lives in the city. As bad as she felt, my sweet best friend tried to do away with him. She thought he was dead. (It was a rather traumatic experience for her. I'd share the whole story but I'd end up laughing uncontrollably and I'm not sure she thinks it's funny yet.) But when she went out to the trash can, there was this big, beautiful rooster looking at her, with a disgruntled look in his beady chicken eyes.

And so, she named him Lazarus, and he came to live here on our farm, where he can crow to his heart's content and has our four hens as his own personal flock. He seems rather happy now, and we're glad to have him. Well, as long as he stays gentle and kind. The first time he attacks one of us, I have no qualms about putting him in our stew pot.

Bandit

For a Little Girl who loves horses with a deep sort of passion, and after said Little Girl lost her first horse-friend after only six weeks of getting to love him, a dream has come true. Our nearest neighbor heard that we had a Little Girl looking for a good, kid-friendly horse. It just so happened she had a pony that was needing a 'job'. The 'job', of course, is to stand patiently while Two Little Girls brush him and pet him, and to do his best to respond to the confusing cues of a still-learning nine year old.

This is Bandit.



He's not ours for keeps, but will be living with us as long as Two Little Girls are content to ride him and care for him, which I imagine will be some time. He raised three other kids, now all grown, and while they aren't willing to sell him, they are happy to see him raising two more.



He is absolutely delightful, so loving and patient and cheerful. He's half Percheron, a kind of draft horse, and half pony. He's nearly as wide as he is tall, and his hooves are absolutely enormous. He's about 20 years old - old enough to know how to deal with kids, young enough to still have some spunk.



So far they've only ridden him bareback with a halter and lead rope, but he does pretty well taking cues from that. Oldest One is looking forward to saddling and bridling him and going for jaunts through the hay field. Some day I'll get over my motherly fears and allow that. For now, it's walking along with me next to her. But she's thrilled to have him, and to have him here at her own house, where she can feed him and water him and visit him as often as she wants to.

Even cleaning his stall and corral is great fun... at least, for now. In fact, Two Little Girls got into an argument over who got to clean up the last manure pile, they were having such a nice time doing it. I imagine the excitement will wear off eventually, but I love seeing them do real work with such cheerful spirits. Having animals is so good for Little Girl character.


It's good for Mommy character, too. I can't tell you how pleasant I find it to go out there and spend time with him. Troubles and worries and stress and frustration all seem to disappear when there is a furry animal to focus one's attention on. Hopefully some day we'll have a whole farm full of them... I won't have time to think about anything else!

Huck

We adopted a puppy.

You know, since we're not going to overwhelm ourselves by taking on new animals our first year. Heh.



His name is Huck, and he's three months old. Our neighbors' Great Pyrenees went visiting one night, and had a hot date with the other neighbors' Saint Bernard. The result was one adorable puppy with paws twice the size of our Labrador's.



He is to be our Outdoor Dog. Though I can't understand why, it would seem my husband doesn't like the idea of another enormous dog sleeping between us.


Being the Outdoor Dog, his primary job will be chasing off the critters that get too close to the fenced area of our property. Because farm dogs have jobs, you know, unlike the lazy hunk of black lab that spends her days sleeping in the sunshine on the floor of the living room. The girls have each asked if he can come sleep inside "just for one night". I was tempted to let him - poor puppy outside in the dark garage all alone - but we all know that would quickly result in the biggest, slobberiest indoor dog I've ever seen. So out in the garage he stays, until he's grown up enough for an outdoor dog house.

We had a lovely first day with him though. If I were a more responsible housewife, I'd tell you that I folded laundry and washed dishes and watched the girls play with him. But it was sixty five degrees outside today, and there was a puppy out there for heaven's sake. I accomplished very little indoors, but thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and the cuddles. With a personality as sweet as his - and Two Little Girls to thoroughly spoil him - I have no doubt he's going to be a wonderful dog.

Silly Chickens

Chickens are anxious creatures by nature. If you change even the slightest thing about their surroundings, they go into a nervous panic.

Sometimes it's just fun to screw with them.

I changed their waterer tonight. I got sick of the little jar-topped waterer constantly being filled with food, newspaper bits, poop, and whatever else they could manage to fill it with, therefore rendering the water undrinkable. I've been changing their water four times a day, and tonight I finally got sick of it. I ditched the silly half-inch-high chick waterer for a plastic tupperware container with higher sides.

This change, of course, invoked immediate panic.

What is this strange contraption The Woman has placed in our cage?


Will it hurt us?

They all scurried to the far side of the cage and huddled there, staring at the Mysterious Thing, tilting their heads and watching it ever so carefully.

Hmm. It's not moving.

Grammy, being the outgoing and brave one, came in for a closer look. She sat pecking the plastic on the side of the container for a surprisingly long time before it occurred to her to see what was in the container.


Ha! It's water! And clean water, at that!

She tweeted her excitement to the rest of the scaredy-cats. Err, chickens. Goldilocks ran over and promptly climbed into the water and stood there. And continued to stand there, until the water soaked through her feathers to her skin and she realized that she was, in fact, getting wet. Egads! More panic, a frantic fluttering of wings, and tremendous chicken-squawking.

Each of the silly chickens came over, pecked repeatedly at the plastic (why?) and finally each took a drink, proving to me that they were at least smart enough to recognize water. Kind of.

These chickens really are entertaining little things. Eh, well, not so little anymore. Poor things are going through their "awkward stage". There's absolutely nothing cute about a half-feathered-out chicken. But there's plenty that is humorous, so at least they're good for something!

Christmas bits & photos

Every year on the day after Christmas, while I'm putting away the dozens of toys, I remind myself not to go overboard the next year because we just don't have space for all the wonderful new goodies.

And by December of the following year, I forget that reminder.

(Those aren't all from us. We spoil our kids, but not that badly! Some of those are from family, too.)


The girls had a great time, and got lots of wonderful presents. I love this part - watching them open things and getting excited. I'm glad to be a Momma.

The girls set out cookies and milk for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolph, with a note.



In return, Santa brought Chloe a Fur Real Friends yellow duckling (barely - he almost didn't get it to her in time!) It is indeed her very favorite gift.




He brought Cora (and Daddy) a wooden train set.



Among other things, I gave my husband a set of duck decoys, hoping to encourage him to keep bringin' home good things to eat. (And to smoke, in the smoker my parents bought us!! Oh, we are spoiled!)

Chloe is a present-opening pro. She ripped right into them, no holds barred. The shot gun was a big hit.

Cora was much slower and more systematic about it all, but did eventually get everything unwrapped. I'm happy to report that she didn't end up getting buried alive in gifts, as we were worried she might.


I think the cat was happy when we finally got all the presents out from under his tree, freeing up his favorite place to nap. It got pretty crowded under there on Christmas Eve, but he managed to find room to curl up and get cozy.

My husband gave me a beautiful diamond necklace (on Christmas Eve, he couldn't wait.) I need to photograph it, it's gorgeous and I feel truly loved (and spoiled rotten.) He also gave me (us) feather pillows, some books I'd wanted, and lots of other great stuff! I'm so lucky to have such a great guy for a husband.

Christmas is a whole season long at our house, but it's nice when it all culminates with lots of fun new things to enjoy.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas, too!