Preparing for Milk

Daisy is due to kid any day now so I've got all my supplies organized and ready to go. It makes my little heart glad to think of the wonderful milk that will soon fill those jars...

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The Booty

Okay, so I couldn't wait. I had to have at least one hen. Noodle needed a friend. Her name is Penny, and although I have no picture of her yet, I do have a picture of the long awaited first egg that she laid. We are very excited. NO, you don't understand, we (Ezra, Rose, and I) jumped up and down in the freezing cold outside of the chicken coop and gave each other high fives when we found this egg. Can't wait to eat 'em. (There are actually 3 now.)data:post.body

Noodle

Thank you, Nathan Smith, for talking us into taking one of your roosters. He is fabulous! One of the most interesting pets I have ever had. Unbeknownst to me, chickens are territorial and stick close to home. So, in spite of the fact that we are technically at the end of a subdivision, because we are zoned for live stock, we can have chickens because they don't ever leave our property. I have vowed that soon we will have our own flock of hens. Oh, we named the rooster Noodle.data:post.body

The Fence

The goats are scheduled to come on the 20th (that's today!!) Unfortunately, late last night I was still not finished with preparations for their arrival. I had built my first ever gate, which I am very proud of, but the roll of fencing still stood against the barn wall, awaiting my touch. At 10:30 last night it was starting to sleet and my eldest son, Ezra had called it quits with helping me and gone inside to bed. No problem I thought. I can nail this fencing thing on my own.

If you have ever tried to unroll fencing by yourself, at night, in a cold barn, with nothing but car headlights to light your way, you may be able to imagine what began to unfold. It certainly wasn't the fence. As I struggled with the roll of fencing I decided to take off my work gloves because they were getting in the way. I also decided to put my cell phone in my pocket in case I needed it for some reason. So far, that's one for two. Taking the gloves off wasn't the smoothest move I've ever made. Long story short, 15 minutes into my fruitless attempts to unroll the fence, my three middle fingers were hopelessly caught inside the wire fencing. The more I pulled, the tighter they were trapped. I could see after just five minutes that one of my fingers was turning blue and I was starting to panic. Great, I have a farm for a grand total of 15 days and I lose my fingers in a farming accident? Typical.

I suddenly remembered my cell phone and pulled it from my pocket with my free hand. I called my knight in shining armor who was in the house, having done the dishes and put the kids to bed single-handedly in order that his lovely bride could fulfill her dreams in the barn. One ring, two, three, four, voice mail. I tried again. One, two, three, four, nothing. Apparently my knight is a heavy sleeper. By this time my fingers were swelling and throbbing. I had visions of hacking them off like the mountain climber who got caught between two rocks. Would I have the courage to do it?

I dragged my overly dramatic brain back to reality and did what any sensible farm girl working totally alone in the dead of night in an ice storm would do. I called 911. I told them to turn off their sirens so my kids wouldn't wake up and waited for their arrival. 15 minutes later the nicest group of guys and one woman, showed up to help me with wire cutters that made me quake in my too big muck boots. After a few harrowing minutes in which I was entirely too close to the massive jaws of those cutters, I was free and trying to bend my fingers. Miraculously, there was no damage--just bruises, and I was eternally grateful to the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department.

BUT the best part is yet to come. When those guys got finished rescuing me (and making fun of my sleeping husband) they looked around, picked up my tools, and put up that fence lickety split! They did in fifteen minutes what I couldn't have accomplished in 3 hours! After praying all day that God would help me finish that fence, it wasn't the answer I was expecting--but then God is like that.

The above picture is of my three children, spreading out straw for the new inhabitants of our barn!data:post.body

Swimming in Goats

So I'm getting two doe goats from my friend Michelle but it turns out she has one more lonely buckling who doesn't have a home yet.




What was I to say?data:post.body

Visions of Goat Kids

So we have a farm.






Now we need...goats. Thanks to my sweet husband who indulges my love to take on more than I can handle, we will soon be adding two new members to our family. Daisy and Fudge, two Oberhasli dairy goats, will be arriving at our new farm in a couple of weeks. Rosie and I are beside ourselves. The boys are happy, but not delirious like we are.

Fudge is the one pictured here. She is almost 7 months old and cute as a button! The most exciting part of all of this is that the goat not pictured (that would be Daisy) will be giving birth to goat kids in the beginning of February! Then the real fun begins as we get to milk her!data:post.body

It Begins

After years of dreaming and a whirlwind week of decisions, we decided to make the leap from downtown living to semi-country life. We closed the deal on a small house nestled at the edge of a rural subdivision on December 5th, 2008 and moved in the next day. We were the proud owners of (plus or minus) 5.89 acres of land. The kids and I couldn't contain our excitement about the land. My hubby was thrilled to own a huge three car garage. So, it began. Our urban farm adventure.data:post.body