The Peek-a-Boo Guard Llama

When we brought home the insta-dairy herd, all residency in the barn was suddenly claimed by goats, and there was no room in the inn for our llamas. We had the hardest time picking just one llama to keep as a guard for our mini caprines since everyone had their favorite llama. Somehow, someway, it was decided that Zorro would be our watchman.

So we're down to one camelid. And he quickly adopted all the little goats has his herd. Ne'er to part. If you so much as walk one of the goats out of the pasture or barn, Zorro is right there in almost a panic at the gate whining for them to come back. (Yeah, this guy doesn't hum like your stereotypical llama... he's either silently standing aloof or whining for his goat buddies to come back) The funny thing is, the does are petrified of their towering sentinel.  I don't blame them, actually; those tiny goats only come up to about his knee.

Now he has also decided that it is his duty to keep an eye on the baby goats. Dare I say, nothing will happen to them while under his watchful eye. When we had Mazy and her twins in a separate area, Zorro would come into the barn, check on everybody else (all while causing a tizzy and stampede), he would sneak over to the window with the newborns to peer in, then he would just stand there watching them. I don't know if he was curious about the whole ordeal, if he was shocked by their tiny size, or if he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that there were two trouble makers. (Llamas usually only have one cria per pregnancy; goats on the other hand... well, you hope that it's only two.) When Dreamer had her kids, we also kept them in a different spot so they could have some peace and quiet from the rest of the herd. Again, the llama would do his rounds in the barn, and then he'd stand in the window and just watch them.

I don't know how he'll do as a guard llama in the long run - he's an intact male. But so far, it's been fun to watch him try to get assimilated into a goat herd. ;)

Half-Hearted Egg Laying Attempt

You usually get them when the hens are just starting to lay. After they start to figure out what they're doing, the quantity of teeny eggs dwindles to the rare oddity. So whenever one is found in the nesting boxes, it's a treat. Today, the chicken decided to only do half the job since it's Mother's Day. ;)

Spring Chicks Baby Quilt

It's done! I've been working on it ever since Emily and Isaac announced that they were going to have a baby. The little guy is a month old now... Better late than never! (In my defense, I've had baby showers, bridal showers, weddings, adrenal fatigue, baby goats, meat chickens... The creative energy just isn't as abundant as I would like)

I got the last of the binding sewn on last night; now it's ready to go! :D

A blend of vintage feed-sack and modern boldness. 

It features 'shoo-fly' quilt blocks off set by hand-embroidered squares. I only had to buy coordinating fat quarters (courtesy the local Joann's store) to make the shoo-fly since I had all the white muslin already in my stash. The chicken designs are from 'Rise & Shine' by Yesterday's Charm. The border fabric is also from Joann's. Just don't look too closely to the actual quilting of it though... getting the quilt top, batting, and backing to all line up perfectly is not my forte... As for the binding, well... I cheat. I buy wide bias tape (single fold) to do the last step. I use the machine to sew one side down and then hand sew the other to made a clean finish.  

I must admit... I'll miss working on it. Maybe I'll have to make one for myself and stick it in my collection.

Happy Star Wars Day to us!

We've been literally sitting on the edge of our seats for a week waiting for Dreamer to have her kids.  

Last Saturday, the plan was to go to a wedding, but that morning, Dreamer's tail ligaments were noticeably looser. After checking on her every hour or so, we decided to go to the wedding anyway. She wasn't progressing beyond the initial signs. How would we feel if we stayed home and she didn't kid? We'd miss the wedding and look like... well... anti-social wanna-be farmers. (Yeah, we're total beginners at this whole dairy goat thing - we haven't the slightest idea of what we're doing)

And all week she didn't get any closer to telling us that 'it's time.' Even though we checked on her about four times a day. Is this what it feels like to be a first time parent?

Why all the fuss about this goat? Well, long story short... last year, she kidded early, one of the twins was a still born, the other kid died a few days later, etc, etc, etc... You can read more of the story here.

Needless to say, we've been on pins and needles and praying that everything would be okay. 

Well, fast forward to yesterday morning. She didn't want her morning grain. Or apples. And she snubbed the ever-coveted raisins. Since when did the bubble goat not eat raisins? Oh my word. It might be the day! 

We checked on her at lunch. Nothing new.

Are we really being over anxious with this whole thing?

I checked on her again later that afternoon. Oh, what's that? She's alone. Softly bleating (she's usually a very quiet goat). In the corner. In a... nest? I felt her ligaments - almost non-existent. And her udder had bagged up considerably. Hopefully she would kid before midnight. ;)

So we got her all set up in the kidding stall.

If you want to teach an 8 year-old patience, have him watch a goat in labor. He was about to throw in the towel and have his computer turn when mama goat started having serious contractions. He was glued to the straw bale from that point on. With plenty of questions, of course.

Before the sun set, we had twins. A scrawny little boy and a hearty little girl. Both a gorgeous black with some white and brown spots.

A round of 'aww...'s later, it was time to get the chores done. Life marches on. 

But the little boy was having a hard time figuring out the whole nursing thing, so Mom and I stayed out in the barn 'til after 10:30 pm trying to get some food in him. 

I would have posted this all last night, but I was whooped and didn't have any good pictures of the kids.

As for names, Luke and Leia Skywalker is the obvious choice considering the day that they were born. But Mom's not that into Star Wars. ;)

Little Mister under the heat lamp

Me and the little miss. 

PS - do you know how hard it is to get amniotic fluid and colostrum smell out of your hands?

Country Chic Wedding - Sonia and Stacy

A farm boy met a country girl, and they fell in love. 

He left a message for her in her boots.

Her daddy's first look after she got ready

And he surprised her with a horse-drawn carriage for their get-away. 

So We Got a Trail Cam...

And what do we do with it? Well, first we placed it down on the corner of the property looking towards a well used trail. Plenty of coyote pictures, a shot of a bob cat, and somehow a bumble bee tripped the camera too.
...
And then we decided to stick it on a tree overlooking one of the chicken tractors on the front lawn. Why? Because something tampered with the tarp on the first night we had the birds out there. So we set up the trail cam and waited to see if we would catch the perpetrator in the act.

The next morning, we pulled out the memory card to see what we caught.

Nothing.

At least, not of the predatory kind. We got pictures of one of the hens that keeps getting out of her yard. She was probably hoping to get some of the meat birds' feed.

Is It Tasty?

We've been trying to figure out how to get all the goats all of their herbal dewormer in a sane, easy way. The bag has been sitting on the counter for goodness knows how long now - starting at us. Taunting us. Telling us we don't know what the heck we're doing. After much self-pep-talk and mulling over, Mom and I finally dug in and gave it a try. We did the math for how much all of the critters on the farm needed (that included the dog, cats, llama, chickens, and goats). We did the medicine balls accordingly. The ooey-gooey, brownie like things sat on the counter as we contemplated out next move and tried to convince the first cat that it was just molasses (She didn't buy it, by the way... she much preferred the meat that we were cooking up for lunch). The dewormer bars weren't even on the counter for more than 5 minutes, and Jake and Jess had both come through and thought about eating the 'treats.' At least we were able to stop them in time. Eli on the other hand... well... He came running through after the initial, "You don't want to eat that." So he missed the entire bit. He had a 'brownie' in his mouth in a flash, and he spat it out even faster. "What is that?! That's disgusting!" It's for the goats, kiddo. "Are they okay for humans?" Yeah... It's just an herbal mixture you'd get if you had worms, and you didn't swallow anything. So you're all good.

To prevent any further human consumption or mishaps, we headed out with our plate of goat tasties to see if we could tempt the goats with them as easily as we did Eli.

They didn't dig 'em. At all. Just a couple sniffs, and they were on the other side of the barn. Except for Morgan, who will eat just about anything. She downed her dose and made a move for seconds. We still had a plate full of noms... The turkeys weren't so easily convinced. The cats wouldn't have anything to do with it. The only animals that ate (and enjoyed) their treats were the chickens (after we mixed in some oats and seeds), the llama, Morgan (but you knew that already), and the dog. Yeah. The dog. She loved dewormer snacks.

We still needed to get the goats their doses. So we headed in to try a different mixture. They like nut butter and apples. Maybe they won't notice if we add in some extra ingredients... They were on to us before we even walked in the barn. And snubbed it from the far corner.

Did we learn anything from this? Ehh... I think Eli did. ;)

Chore Time

Chores have been taking a lot longer lately. I wonder why...

Actually, I don't.

Dreamer is due to kid next week. Poor girl looks like she's going to pop.

I think I need to start a blog of just pictures of this cat.

Cornish Roasters: Almost Week #6

Hard to think that in... Oh my... Have we really reached the half-way marker 'til butcher day? They're looking tastier by the day. I think it's the insane amount of food that they chow down.

Farm Girl Fashion

 Or 'lack there-of' is more of what I should say. Just humor me for a moment - think of all the things that are fashionable or in style. Could you walk out to the barn in those cute heels without making a llama look at you funny? Could you climb the barn ladder in that adorable dress? Are you able to easily move around and get work done in skinny jeans? Are the chickens chasing you around trying to peck at those manicured nails? (PS - red is their favorite color)

Photos courtesy of Christi

Needless to say, I think you're right to assume that 99% of my wardrobe is purely practical.

- Thrift store denim. Even if those $60 jeans fit perfectly and look simply amazing, I can't justify spending more than $10 since I'm just going to have them completely worn out and stained in a week... I just filled a bin with jeans that I've destroyed. I'll have to come up with different uses for all that denim.

- A lot of old t-shirts. And new t-shirts. But those become 'old' very quickly. Have you noticed how flimsy t-shirts have become lately? They're already thread bare before they even hit the store shelves!

- Every farm girl needs a canvas coat. I've killed countless other coats and sweatshirts, but my old faithful Carhartt has yet to give up on me.

- Boots. Not the fashion boots either. I kinda need my footwear to have tread so I don't slip in the mud and muck. ;) I've got leather boots, muck boots, rubber boots, slip-on wanna-be-boots...

- Everything in the closet is fair game for working outside. You never know when something might happen, and you won't have time to change out of your 'nice' clothes. ;) Heck, I've been out there checking on meat chickens in the field in my pj's. I've been picking out dry grass particles ever since.

- I just got my annual pair of flip flops. My impractical chore shoes that I treat like they're indestructible  Can't wait for the warmer weather! Once the sandals decide to go belly up, summer is done. If they don't last that long, I blame the manufacturer for making them cheaply and buy another pair from the clearance rack.

What about the last 1% of my closet? Well, after that shpill, rant, whatever you want to call it, I have something to add:

I. Love. Dresses.

I even have shoes to go with those dresses that make getting from the house to the car  a tripping hazard waiting to happen. I will pull the 'I can't check on the critters right now because I don't want to get my clothes dirty' card.

So, yes, even if most of my clothes make me look like a tomboy, there is still a girly-girl in me that loves feeling pretty and feminine. Maybe it's because the rest of the week I look like I live in a barn. And that's not very far from the truth. ;)