What do cows eat?

The proper cattle diet explained

One minute and 25 seconds.

Moving the farm

moving the farm

In a little while, my family will be pulling up stakes, loading everything into a big red stock trailer and moving the farm.

the goats, the chickens, the horses, the dogs, the cats, and the 3 of us...

moving. not quite 5 miles.

to a beautiful, secluded little place down a quiet dead end road. a place with flowers, and birds but no grackles, cattle grazing on green pastures, tall trees....

actually we hope it looks like this soon. But it will take some work on our part, and the good Lord's blessing.

This is my husbands parents place, and a year ago, it looked as I describe it. They have made that place beautiful. They planted flowers and trees. Raised vegetables. Nice yard. And they built it all up from scratch. Hard work. Nice screen porch on the house. Beautiful place.

But mother nature hasn't cooperated. We are in the worst drought in 44 years. The farm soil has dried up, and the 50+ mph winds are carrying it where ever it blows. Dirt is piling up like brown snowdrifts around the place. blowdirt we call it around here. A very fine dirt, almost like talcum powder. It piles up in the yard, it gets in the house, it gets everywhere.

They are moving to town, and we are moving into the place, in hopes that someday soon the weather changes. It will. Even the dust bowl ended. How much longer will this one last? Only time will tell. (although the national weather service isn't giving much hope for the near future)

For now I will thank my Mother and Father-in-law, and the Good Lord, for the opportunity to live at that beautiful place.... and pray for rain.

The Goat Babies, three

"Little Moma's" just born today triplets!

In Memoriam

Remembering our freind Stretch, whom we lost late this past summer. We did our level best to save her. The vets were baffled. In retrospect, I think she got in to some farm chemicals.

She was a good dog, we miss her very much.

The Long Silence

Can you tell school started again? Like 6 months ago? (I'm a teachers aid/school bus driver) Yeah, been busy, and also a little lazy about posting. I need to get back into it, and hope I am starting to with this short post.

Several new things going on to talk about.

But its time to get ready for church right now, so it will have to wait.

Life is good! God is the ultimate source of all good!

I'll be back!

Project De-clutter

These shelves were previously the home of lots of un-used stuff and clutter. Mostly dusty VHS tapes. How much better it feels to walk into an uncluttered room! Thank you, Flylady!

Life with goats

Never a dull moment.

Mud Is Slick

Saddle

They make many different saddles nowadays. English saddles, western saddles. Leather saddles, tooled, smooth. Some even made of heavy cloth like stuff, lightweight and comparatively inexpensive. I like western saddles with hand tooling. Something John Wayne would ride in. I think he would have liked this one. My hubby got it for me from a friend. Its dark right now because its wet, I gave it a bath yesterday. I will use neatsfoot oil on it when it dries, so it will probably be close to this shade when its all said and done.

Here's a detail of the tooling.

I may need a crane to set it on my horse, but I may never ride the horse if I can't get a farrier out here!

One Foggy Morning

Jenny's horse and her just-born-last-night baby.

On the Wings of a Dove

My husband found a wounded dove near our house. She had a bloody, apparently broken wing. He easily caught her, brought her home, and placed her in an empty rabbit hutch. We would not have been surprised to find her dead the next morning.

Happily, she wasn't, and we kept her fed and watered, and just gave her time to heal.

That was about six weeks ago.

We have discussed letting her go several times. Can she fly now? Do we wait until the weather is cooler? When would be the best time to let her go?

Yesterday morning when I went outside, there was a male dove sitting on our clothesline post. I walked close to him, and he didn't move until I was very near him, then he only flew a few feet farther. I went on about my business, walking on out to the horse pen where I spent quite a bit of time.

Later when my husband came outside, there was that male dove on the clothesline again.

Did you know doves mate for life?

"I wonder if that could be our doves mate?" He asked.

We decided it was time.

He went to the cage and got her. She was afraid when he reached in to get her, and lost a feather or two trying to get away. He brought her to the edge of our yard, gently tossed her up into the air.

Her wings caught the wind and she was off. Not a perfect flight, her damaged wing caused her to fly slightly tipped. But she flew across our road and landed high in the top of our neighbors tree.

I lost track of her for a moment while my husband and I celebrated her release and flight. Then I saw her again in the tree, along with another dove, and then noticed that the other dove was no longer on our clothesline.

It was a very good feeling, we knew that had he not brought her home, she would surely have died.

Later in the day, several hours later, my daughter and I walked out to the horse pen. Sitting on the top pipe of the pen was a pair of doves. As we got closer, one flew away. The other waited a second or two and flew also.

She flew slightly tipped, and a feather fell from her as she flew away.

Horses and Goats on my 1057 farm

First, my horse. Yeah, he's a little swaybacked. And I'm still waiting on the farrier. Eager to see how he's going to work out for me. Hubby bought me a very nice looking saddle. It needs a little saddle soap and conditioning, then I will post a pic of it.

Mi caballo.

Jenny's horse, Shadey.

Another view of Shadey. Do you notice anything about Shadey that just stands out to you?

These kids are full of mischief.

And curiosity. "I wonder how cameras taste?"

Down on the 1057 farm

Meet the herd. Third from left is Napoleon. The 3 toward the front are "Little Moma" and her 2 kids, and in the background are Sookie's 2 kids with Sookie.


Since you can't see Sookies babies too well...
See the trampoline in the background? (right above the tires laying on the ground)The goats love to play on it.

One last photo for your amusement...
Stretch wondering when the hamburgers will be done.