Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has finally arrived!  This last winter had been unbearably long!  Today, the sun was shining, there is NO snow left anywhere on the farm and some flowers and plants have started to grow.  Above is a picture that I took around Easter...but I think of baby chicks when I think of spring!  JJ made this bird nest and baby bird hatching out of a egg at Kindergarten.  I thought it would be fun to put a real chick by the pretend, yellow one.  The baby chick didn't think it was as fun...but managed to stay put for long enough for me to snap a picture! 

This should be a big week at the farm.  We are hoping our bees will arrive early this week.  Jay is all ready! Below is a picture of him modeling his new bee suit!

We get to pick up Patrick and Smokey on Saturday.  The pasture/paddock area is almost ready.  Mr. Jim got some gates put up and J has to do a little more work to make the fence 'goat ready.'   I'm sure we will be all set by Saturday.  

My favorite part of this weekend (besides sharing many smiles, hugs and laughs with my friends from HS during a little mini-reunion on Saturday night) is right now!  I'm writing this blog entry while sitting in a comfy, wooden rocking chair on our front porch.  I'm watching Pickle ride his tri-cycle and JJ is perfecting his bike riding (mothering multi-tasking at its best)  He learned (in about one hour) how to ride a 2-wheeler on grass, gravel and brick!  He is now all-terrain.  Oh and...farmer J is making us all supper on the grill!  

Goodbye winter...hello spring! 

Patrick and Smokey

It turns out that the name "Kiaran or Ciaran" just didn't fit for one of our baby goats.  Pickle kept referring to the little black/grey/white goat as "Smokey" so that is now his name.  Here are some pictures from the third trip to see the goats.  J, JJ, Pickle, Mima and Papa went to see them some weeks back.

The goats come to their new "home" the first Saturday of May.  J wrote on that date on the calendar 'Goat Party.'  Farmer J (with some help of my brother) and Mr. Jim- got fencing put up around the pasture.  We have heard that goats are very social and always trying to break free of captivity to find their human family.  Hopefully, the fence will keep them in and safe.  We will keep you updated!

 Here is J with Patrick. 

 Here is Patrick standing on one of the Mama's backs! They do this all the time!

Here is Patrick getting some 'Mama milk.'  The baby goats only drink milk from their mother...despite there being many nursing mama goats in the pen.

What have we gotten ourselves into?! Pretty sure this is Smokey humping Patrick.

Small, medium and large (birds)

Six (small) baby chicks.

No names yet.  They all huddle in the corner of the box for both warmth and protection. 

They believe firmly in 'strength in numbers'. 

A close up view of some of the chicks. I should call the chick on the left "Cleopatra".  

I love natural black "eye liner". 

You can see all three breeds in this picture. 

Here are the "medium" size birds on the farm (the full grown hens). 

In this picture, you can see two "buffs" and "Baby Boots" (the boys favorite). 

Baby Boots or "Boots" got that name as she has foot feathers that look like 'boots'. 

This buff is trying to lay an egg but is missing some privacy.  Farmer J made lovely wooden nesting boxes for the hens but they prefer to lay their eggs in this cardboard box.  I guess they are 'no frill' gals.  The funniest part about hens is that if one hen is laying an egg in a nesting box, another hen will try and get in the SAME nesting box (despite the fact that there are 3-4 empty nesting boxes.)  

The hens love being out of their coop. They also love warming themselves by laying next to the house. They step all over each other to worm they way into the perfect spot. 

The boys like to look out of the window and see the hens frolicking below them.  

 And LARGE!  Here are some pictures of the turkeys that LOVE the farm.  Check out the blue turkey head.  Who knew?! 

Here is the Turkey (Papa) Tom in full feather action! 

Perfect harmony- medium and large birds together!  The small (baby chicks) are definitely NOT ready to mingle with the big boys (and girls) yet!  

10 years and counting

Today is Farmer J and my 10 year wedding anniversary.  We celebrated our 10 year anniversary with our trip to Key West in January.  Who would think that three months later...it would still be snowing at the farm? But that's another post...

I won't get all mushy gushy on this blog (as no (hobby) farmer husband would like that) but I thought I would post a few pictures of our wedding day.  Lovingly (and luckily), I still look back at our wedding day as one of the happiest days of my life.  I love you J and thank God everyday for blessing me with you and our boys!

                         

Spring Break is Over

Today is the last "official" day of J and JJ's spring break.  JJ is certain that he is not well enough to return to school tomorrow.  He is definitely feeling better but his gut might not be quite right for returning to school.  And this flu has been so nasty that we don't want to share it with anyone, especially his young classmates and dear teacher!

Today, it was my turn.  Its amazing how you can get sick of laying on the couch and watching movies.  I know now why the boys just wanted to lay around.  My stomach feels like it is tied up in knots.  The fetal position is the most comfortable!

Pickle is still sick-- he is going on day 4.  Luckily, he was able to keep down some fluids and food today.  I wrapped him up in a cozy blanket and rocked him in the rocking chair on our front porch to get him some fresh air and a change of scenery.  Once outside, I could tell it was spring-- the motorcycles (and the accompanying noise) are back.  One definite benefit of winter-- no motorcycle noise!

We decided to go for a drive so we could all get out of the house--we were feeling a little too coop'ed up.  Minutes into the drive, Pickle got sick--all over himself, the van and the carseat.  I guess the car ride wasn't a good idea.  In the midst of Pickle's eruption in the back seat, J had to swerve as a goose flew into the country road we were driving down.  Once again, I guess the car ride wasn't a good idea.  J carried Pickle (still buckled inot his car seat) into the mudroom.  What a mess!  One benefit of being sick (and J now feeling better)... he was on car seat clean up duty!

I'll say another pray tonight for my family's health- especially our littlest patient.  He is being such a trooper but I can tell he is getting frustrated and tired of being sick.  His big brother is now taking his turn taking care of him! "And I'll be my brother's keeper, so the whole world knows that we're not alone"...

Quarantine

Here are some important numbers for you:

3=  Members of our family that have the flu (mama is still going strong)

2= Puking sessions in the last 24 hrs

3= Times we had to open the windows to air out the 'blue' room-- where all the sick ones were located for most of the day--

0=Times Pickle complained about being sick

15=Times Pickle said "Good" when we asked him how he felt (even minutes after he puked)

2=Bathrooms disinfected

12=Chickens accounted for despite the flu hitting the farm

1=Chick with "sticky butt" (when it rains, it pours)

1= Little boy not thrilled (at all) with his first spring break!

???=Hours the boys have watched Hulu and Netflix.  Poor Pick Pick and JJ have been so sick they could barely walk from room to room.  Really, all they could do was lay on the couch and go between napping, sipping fluids, and watching movies.  When Pickle thought he was going to puke, we had to pick him up and run him to the bathroom! 

0=Fights J and I have gotten into despite being surrounded by puking/pooping children for the last 2-3 days

We are skipping J's family Easter gathering tomorrow as we are just too contagious and nasty! I'm hoping tomorrow will bring some warm, spring weather, in case we need to air out the house some more!  I'm also praying that my boys start feeling better!

That Sweet Familiar Sound...

Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep!

For me, from now on, the sound of baby chick's peeping will always remind me of this farm and the month of April.  I didn't realized how much I missed that sound of baby chicks until I heard that lovely 'noise' once again!

Our flock has grown.  We now have six more "babies."  We just got back from picking up our chicks from a farm less than a mile from JJ's (rural) school.  We got 2 Ameraucanas, 2 Light Brahmas and 2 Golden Laced Wyandotes.  These are all new breeds to us and the farm. 

You need to know some vocabulary when you pick out baby chickens!

Pullet: a young hen, usually less than one year old

Straight Run:  1:1 ratio of males and females, or an equal chance of getting a boy or girl

We got all pullets. Given our, not so cheery historical experience with cockerels (young male chickens) and roosters (adult male chickens), we decided to get more egg laying hens.  None of these birds will be meat birds. 

At first, we weren't going to get any more hens.  But after losing Magnolia and Primrose (RIP), and expecting to lose one to two more this year (hopefully not but we will see), we thought we should expand the flock!  And... I just really wanted chicks again this spring.  Farmer J surprised me with finding baby chicks close to home and agreeing to get a few (o.k., half a dozen) more!

Here is what the chicks will look like when they are older!



This is an Ameraucana.  We already have Araucanas! The Ameraucana's, like the Araucana's, will lay pretty blue/green eggs!  They are sometimes called "Easter Eggers."  How fun that we got them
less than a week from Easter! These chickens are "American" in origin. 


This is a Gold Laced Wyandotte.  We had some Silver Laced Wyandotte roosters in the past but never Gold Laced hens!  Wyandotte's are known for being good egg layers and docile.  They also tolerate being "confined" (in a coop most of winter).  They lay large, brown eggs. The Wyandottes are also an American breed. 


Here is a Light Brahma.  These chickens have the feathers on their feet (like our "Baby Boots"). They typically get quite large.  These chickens originated in Asia.  They are reported a being very friendly and "excellent pets."  They are "good" egg layers and lay mediam, brown eggs. 

Better go.  My patient is calling me!  JJ and Pickle are down and out with the flu!  We are hoping to all be healthy for J's family easter this Sunday!

Spring Break

Today is Wednesday and it's the middle of JJ's first spring break...and he has the flu!  Poor guy! I anticipated that this would happen due to a recent flu virus that is being shared amongst friends, family and strangers alike.

The rest of us are healthy and we have been getting lots of things done around the farm and in the farmhouse.  Today, I did massive spring cleaning in the kitchen.  J has been working on getting the barn ready for the goats and kittens.  My dad helped Farmer J get the beehive up and ready as 3 lbs of bees will be mailed to us later this month.  Below are some pictures of the newly created hive!

 Here is the hive.  The window is made from plexi-glass so we can watch the bees at work! 

 Above is another view of the plexi-glass window. 

When you take off the top to the hive. There are wooden slats (see the six above) that the bees will attach their honeycomb (and therefore honey) to! 

I'll leave you with some more pictures of our baby goats and maybe one of our future barn kittens!  These pictures are from JJ and my first trip to see them and Pickle and J's second time!

 Mama milk!

 Just born kitten!  Eyes not even open yet! I love that baby kitten 'meow'.

 Shake your boom boom! That is for Miss Carly!

 Here is Ciaran! "Little dark one"

 Here is me and Ciaran.  He was giving me love!  

Here is Farmer J and Patrick! 

This Old (Farm) House

Here are some pictures from inside the house.  I often show pictures from outside but I thought you all might like to see some indoor shots as well! 

Here are our fresh eggs. This ceramic egg carton fits nicely above our kitchen sink on the window ledge.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, we have been able to let the chickens out of the coop!  It's nice to be able to see my 'girls' out of my kitchen window once again!

This little door is on the landing of the staircase.  We really don't know what it's original purpose was or how old it is.  It is a good spot for hide and go seek.   The paint on the stairwell is not as pink as this picture makes it look. 

If you go up the stairs (one to two steps) and look up, this is what you see.  It's a nice secret hiding place for me and J, as the children cannot reach it.  The last thing I hid in here was some amazing peanut brittle from Gma Dawn! I again wonder how it was originally used! 

Here is another picture of the staircase.  The open door at the top goes out to the original "upstairs" of the 1860's log cabin.  It' is a tiny, unfinished room.  It looks a lot like the girls room from "Little House on the Prairie."  When the wood stove is going, this room is as toasty warm as a sauna.  Hot air definitely rises!  Inside the room, there is another open door that opens up to the fireplace room (see below.)  J put up a wooden gate to make sure no little ones could fall!  Often, the children play in here.  A little boy's imagination can go wild here!

 

This is the light fixture in the guest bedroom/office.  I love all the little details of this house that make it so unique. 

 



This is the back of the door in the guest room.  When we first moved in, my dad said, "I found the closet" and pointed to the knobs on the back of the door!  None of the rooms upstairs have any closets.  We turned the smallest of the upstairs rooms (directly off our bedroom) into a walk-in closet.

 

J's mom (Mima) made us this beautiful quilt and gave it to us as a housewarming gift when we moved to the farm.  It is called "Apple Crisp."  This quilt is not only lovely but has helped keep us warm during all these cold winter nights!  Thank you Mima!

 



Here is a great picture of the red wood burning stove. The heat from the stove was drying out JJ's winter boots!

 

Here is another view.  In the corner, you can see the piece of furniture my parents got us for storing firewood.  It works really well and fits in nicely in the corner of the room. 

This picture was taken from the fireplace room, looking up to the loft (again, think of the upstairs from "Little House on the Prairie").  You can see J's carpentry handywork to keep the children out of danger. 



This is the door between the mudroom and the fireplace room. You can see a little notch of the wood is missing.  See a closer up picture below.

 

This notch works perfectly for taking off your winter boots! I wonder how many people before me have used this notch to help take off their wet, snowy winter boots!

 

This is the door latch on the door that leads to the basement! You don't see many latches in new construction homes!

 

 

That is it for now for the indoor tour!  I hope to post more pictures soon.  J, JJ, Pickle and J's parents went out to see the goats again today (3rd trip to date).  I think the goat farmers are getting the idea that we are really excited about our baby goats! 

 

The latest on their names:  Ciaran (means "the little dark one" in Gaelic) for the little black goat and Rory for the other one.  We are thinking of giving them Irish names as they were born very close to St. Patrick's Day (and I'm obsessed with everything Gaelic/Irish).  (Too funny- Mumford & Sons just came on Pandora... I know the band is English but hey, close enough to be ironic!)