30 Mar
Macie, our doeling, doing her best impression of a helicopter:
A bit faster, and she might get enough lift to take off!
As the snow melted in this glorious sunny day, she and her brothers ventured out of the barn to frolic. More pictures are on our facebook page.
They’re 11 days old today and growing quickly – the largest buck is 17.4 lbs, while the smallest is 14.8.
24 Mar
The baby goats are now 5 days old and growing quickly, already skipping around the barn (they’re saving their pasture skipping for when the snow melts). We’ve posted more pics on our facebook page, but here are a couple of them:
4 Jan
David’s original hens are approaching 2 years old and starting to slow down in production, and a skunk took out the eggs our broody hen was sitting on that were planned to be replacement layers.
So David used some of his profits to buy more chicks. This morning, just after 6, the nice woman who runs the local post office called to tell us they had arrived. So we hopped into the car and drove down the hill.
The early boy gets the birds
You may think the post office is only open from 9-5, but the work starts a lot earlier.
Lots of peeping going on in that box!
Time to go home!
David ordered 25 barred rock hens, plus 2 roosters. We also added an additional free chick the hatchery calls a “meal-maker” – in return, David promises to give the eggs she produces to needy people. Then, as a surprise for David, we added 3 “hatchery choice” mystery hens (the brown ones in the photo). The kids are trying to figure out what kind they are. The hatchery also added a couple extras just in case there were losses.
All of them made it safely!
Transfering the chicks to the brooder… please excuse the messy garage – I just finished making the brooder, and I tend to make a mess when I work.
Chicks in the their new home. The brooder is 4×4, but I put in a smaller divider for the first few weeks to keep them warmer.
The family spent a few minutes monitoring the chicks to make sure they were happy and not indicating any distress.
They should be laying by May!
1 Jan
We are blessed, really. Even though we intentionally had a down-sized bounty under the tree this year, we were overwhelmed with the generosity of friends and family. I don’t want to disparage any of the amazing and thoughtful gifts we received this Christmas, but I would like to highlight some of the creative homemade ones.
Caveat: I just thought about the theme for this post today, and so many of the edible homemade gifts are no longer available for me to take photos!
Our kids were very active and crafty this year. For me, they found a toy John Deere tractor at the dollar store, then decorated it with “Sculpey” clay. It features Jessie the Boer Goat, Doc the Duck, and Chuck the Chicken Duck.
Our tractor, complete with farm animals
For my wife, one daughter used Sculpey, a reclaimed salsa jar, and imagination to build a snow globe.
Winter Wonderland
One of the big hits was something my dad made for our youngest… an old-fashioned slingshot.
Davey Crockett and his trusty slingshot (aiming at trees, not chickens)
And as always, our friends and relatives knocked us over with an amazing variety of homemade treats. These allowed us to keep plenty of snacks and sweets available, as our house was blessedly full-to-the-brim with visitors from before Christmas to yesterday afternoon. On display here: the few remaining cookies, buckeyes, toffee, and homemade apple cider wine!
It still amazes me that we are down to just this!
Of course, we made a lot of the gifts we sent out ourselves as well, mostly canned goods from this summer. However, we also gave some store-bought gifts (including a trio of $5 disc sleds for the kids that were an absolute hoot on Christmas day). A friend told us she’s thinking of doing a 100% handmade Christmas next year. We’re wondering if we’re up to the challenge!
1 Oct
Tri-Dye Jam
God blessed us with some amazing fruit this year, both on our trees and in the bushes around the Flying T.
We picked berries through the summer. Wild strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries were superb on the farm and in the neighborhood. Our blueberries were a bust, but two friend’s blueberry groves were absolutely amazing. We also did a couple trips to pick-your-own places to fill up on strawberries. As berry season was coming to a close, our peaches arrived by the bushel.
The canning operation was in full bore several days during August and September, and one of the many fun experiments we tried was what we call “Tri-Dye Jam,” made completely from peaches, raspberries, and blackberries we picked right here. We’ve been using generic white labels, but decided to have some fun with these ones.
Tri-Dye Jam ready for the larder
For Tri-Dye, we modified the Peach Jam recipe from the wonderful website, pickyourown.org, using 4 cups of peeled and diced peaches and 1 cup each of raspberry and blackberry puree.
And yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.
A Joyful Birth