Just a Note.....

......to say that our blog is not dead, and there will be a "good" post soon.

Lately my thoughts have been going in so many directions at once that I don't know which one to fallow through on and post about.

Also, it is very nearly springtime on a farm, meaning that things are very busy here. Our day starts a 5:30 (a.m.) and ends around 9:00 (p.m.) or so right now.

Project(s) report:

Living room~coming right along, slow and steady wins the race.

Goats~milking one right now and making yogurt and cheese. New babies will be arriving in April!

Chickens~we are getting between 11 and 14 eggs a day. Glad they slowed down for the winter! (ha ha)

Cows~ever growing, always eating, and good producers of "garden soil enhancer".

Dogs~I think Ollie has stopped growing taller, but he is still filling out. At the last vet visit he weighed in at 140lbs. His latest achievement was killing a skunk that has been hanging around. He smelled horrible, but we are proud of him. Dozer limps and coughs and tries to get in the house on cold days (or at least get some sympathy for his "aches and pains" :) Gracie just eats and sleeps, except at night when we are trying to sleep, then she barks.

New additions~Rabbits and pigs, both for meat purposes. More on them later.

Garden~I have started the early plants, and they are all up and doing well. We are planning a lot, so we will see what happens!

Well, thats all for now. I need to go start some cookies and then make supper.

God bless,

Rachel

Goose-ber-ry, Ber-ry-goose, Jel-lo, Blue.

This title must be read to the rhythm of 1-&-a, 2-e-&, 3-&, 4, and will probably only be understood by those in orchestra, but it is stuck in my head and kind of goes with what I have been doing lately, so I will use it. Besides, it saves me sitting here for the next half hour trying to come up with a clever and witty title.

Well life moves on, and much faster than seems possible. My mind tells me that we are in the month of May, while the calendar proudly displays an arrangement of bright, hot colors, and letters forming the word “JULY”.

We did finally get the garden planted. Now it looks really good, and we are starting to enjoy to fresh produce that it supplies. Although it is not in “full swing” production, we have had broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, turnips, spinach, and some peppers. I confess that I am most eager for the tomatoes to be ready, but so far they are all still green.

The gooseberries (hence part of the post title*) and mulberries are also ripe right now, and we have been taking advantage of the many bushes and trees that are on this property. So far I have done some jam of each kind, and am working on a batch of Mul-Goose jelly. We’ll see how that one works out.......

We have also been doing some fishing in our river this year. Last time we went, Andrew caught two nice sized bass. Unfortunately, he also caught himself, so the trip was cut short as we hurried home to try and get two thirds of a treble hook out of his hand. It was quite the ordeal (both parts of the hook where in past the barb), and we were all very thankful when it was over. (There is no picture of this event because we were all upset to think about taking one, sorry)

On the house we are working on finishing up the laundry room floor, getting the well fixed, and some other things, and then it is one to the living room. We are both eager to have the whole house finished and looking nice, but there is only so much time in a day......

And before I close, the ever popular Ollie update.

Yes, he is huge. There is no trickery in this picture, he really is that big.

Well I think that is about it for this time. As usual I will try not to let it be so long between posts next time.

God bless,

Rachel

*An explanation on the rest of the title. We have been eating a lot of jello lately. It is very refreshing, and if you buy the plain kind you can put in what ever you want for flavoring and sweetening, then you know what you are eating. I don’t really have anything for the “blue” part, except that it is a cold color which is nice in the summer. It is also just what comes at the end of the pattern so I had to use it. I think ten years of orchestra is affecting my brain.

Signs of Spring

Spring is officially here! This happens to be one of my favorite times of the year. It is always amazing to me to watch things sprout and grow, and reminds me of what a wonderful God we have! Here are some pictures of Spring at our house this year.

The Daffodils are up and showing off their colors wonderfully





My yard is so full of violets that I have decided to move some of them to the flower beds rather than mow them down each week.












The broccoli and cabbage plants waiting for the rain to end so they can be planted outside.





Our newest arrivals, and a very sure sign of spring!





The only thing cuter than a fluffy baby chick........





.....is a duckling. Unfortunately this little guy belongs to my brother, not me. Maybe I could just go over and barrow him for a while......






This is "Buck" Leeper (think the Mitfford books :) Although he is small now, he will grow up to be the "Daddy" goat of our heard.

Isn't he cute?





Meet George, the (new) official mouser and bird defense system for our milking shed.

Last, but not least, what is a post without an Ollie update? Yes, he is big. Yes, he will get bigger. Yes, he does eat a lot. Yes, he is a great dog, and just keeps getting better!

Additions

Here are some pictures of the latest additions to our "farm".

Bella

Maria (the bigger one)

Lena

and Jack

They are Kinder (pronounced with a short "i", not long "i" sound) goats. A breed developed for both milk production and for meat use, Kinders are not big goats, but are high performers, or so our research says. Jack and Lena are Maria's babies. We are milking her a little, and they are still nursing. We plan to fatten Jack up for meat next winter, and raise Lena to be a mama. Bella decided to have her babies a little earlier than they were ready to come, and in the middle of wintriest night so far this year. Needless to say, they did not make it, but we will give her another chance latter this year (when it isn't so cold!).

Below is a picture of Oliver. He is now bigger than our beagle and almost too heavy to pick up. He is 10 weeks old this week and had no idea what to do with the snow at first. Now he loves it and has a lot of fun scattering it around with his ginormous paws.

Well that's all for now, I have cookies to bake and snow to go walking in (finally!).

God Bless

Christmas

Well Christmas is over. I hope it was a good one for all of you. We had a great time. We went to Colin's parents for Christmas Eve and had Aunt Susan's traditional gift game. It was lots of fun with lots of good food.
On Christmas day we got up and opened presents and then we packed the car and headed to Ohio. My mom's family all live up there and we stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa for several days. It was really nice to see everyone, and for Colin to get to meet some of our extended family. Here are some pictures form Christmas. Enjoy!



Our first Christmas tree!

Colin and his Christmas present, Oliver

Me with my present, a beautiful black dress coat.

Three of my siblings, Sn, Aj, & Ea, playing and singing for us.

My youngest brother, Al, displaying his present.

Oliver, after a long day. He is Anatolian Shepard, and is going to be very big.

He is only 5 1/2 weeks old in this picture.

Well that is all for now, I hope you all have had a great new year so far.

God Bless,

Rachel