John Muir quote

To protect our children's privacy, we will not be posting any pictures of their faces or sharing their names within this blog. Please refrain from using their names when posting any comments to this blog. Thank you!

~Protective Mama


Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

~John Muir


Welcome to The Wary Farmwife seasonal journey! My goal, to blog daily (give or take a day, week or month) to showcase hobby farm life across the seasons. Stop by The Wary Farmwife blog and check out what we're up to...our front porch door is always open!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

"Why are we giving the goats a bath???"

J decided it was a good idea to give the goats a bath.  Enjoy!
 
Ciaran first!

In you go! 
Suds up!
Clean behind your ears!
Rinse and...
repeat!
And a final rinse...with warm (from the day's sun) hose water!
Padraig's turn!
In you go, Padraig!
Scrub a dub dub- one goat out of the tub!
Can't forget about Padraig's ears!
Good job boys!  Here is a treat!
Towel dry!
We just washed Ciaran and his face is now all dirty from his goat treats!
Check out those nicely trimmed hoofs! Thank you farmer J!
Padraig- clean as a whistle!

We've got a piper (chicken) down!



 
Here is "cheeks".  She is one of our araucana hens (the ones that lay the beautiful blue eggs)...and she is hurt.  When we came back from a weekend away (with chicken babysitter left in charge), something must have happened to cheeks (by NO fault of said chicken babysitter.)  I'm actually surprised it's taken this long for something to happen to one of our birds.  Our hens absolutely LOVE to roam free on the farm.  And we really believe in free range hens BUT it does increase their risk of getting injured or killed. 
 
We don't know exactly what happened to "cheeks" but J thinks her leg is broken.  Here is a picture of her post farmer J intervention.  J attempted to re-set her broken leg and put it in this "cast".  This whole process involved lots of hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic cream, gauze and, of course, red electrical tape. 
 
Cheeks is still alive and, we hope, going to heal.  J changed her bandage today.  Her prognosis is still "guarded."  We are keeping Cheeks in the shade, putting food and water close to her and sending her lots of love. 
 
Ironically, we were just saying how 18 hens are way too many (mainly because we can't stand all their poop, especially when they (literally) poop on our welcome mat) and here we are doing everything we can to save 1 of 18.  I'm sure we are being silly (and probably would be laughed at by many "real" farmers) but we really don't care. 
 
I will keep you updated on Cheeks!

It's Summer...Finally!

It's been awhile since I last posted an entry.  Here are a few pictures that (somewhat) explain the hiatus!  There are other reasons as well...but they are much to boring to write about!

Ahhhhh... this is nice.  I'm using an umbrella that cover's a child's wagon to stay cool and protected from the hot (finally) summer sun!

Farmer J took this picture.  I love that I'm blurry in the background. 

A summer day by the lake...

Pickle got to go on a kayak ride with Dada! Full steam ahead, Dada! 

JJ is taking in the scenary (for about a second).  I think he threw 100 stones in the lake (see below).

Splash! Dada caught the shot at the exact right moment!

Avoiding naptime vs. being silly on the hammock.  Both. 

Happy 4th of July! What's better than fireworks and sharing some Moscota with a bestie!

Gardening has also taken up much of Famer's J's time.  During strawberry season, I often went straight from my car to the strawberry plants.  I love sun-warmed strawberries. 

Holy extreme close-up J!  What happened to me being blurry!  But this picture does make me, again, thankful for my parent's getting me braces! Thanks mom and dad!

Here's a better shot of the garden.  It's even more wild and bountiful now-- but my pictures (and blog entries) typically run a month or so behind.

Pickle (incognito). Read below.

One weekend we spent hosting my parent's antique sale at the farm!  (Above) Pickle was wearing an antique helmet.  It was a fun weekend.  Despite some rain here and there, the weather was relatively cooperative.  During the down time, we played a lot of soccer, a made up version of dodge/T-ball, visited with family, and celebrated my Dad's birthday. 

And what's summer without swimming lessons.  Here... pickle is doing a "bob".

And running the bases at T-ball...

And being silly at T-ball....

JJ looks a lot more serious.  He's got a good swing and arm for throwing but would still rather be on the farm than on a baseball diamond.  I'll enjoy it while it lasts...

And the rest of the time... well, farmer J (like most (hobby) farmer's) loves the weather.  So a lot of time has been outside on nice days, on the front porch watching a storm come in, playing t-ball in the rain (Thanks for coming over Shannon), picnic lunches, catching fireflies at dusk, listening to the nightime lullabyes of frogs and cicadas and just "making hay when the sun shines" as the old timers say.  (O.K., so we are not really making hay but we are making the most of this amazing experience living on this historic farm. )  And on another (goat) note...it's a lot harded to buy hay than you would think.  So maybe we do need to make our own hay :) Stay tuned on that one!