I LOVE the farm in spring!

Spring has sprung and it's signs are all around...including the spring wreath on the front door!

No more snow on the "Welcome" mat; now we have completely welcomed in Spring!

Some tiny blue flowers are starting to grow...

Our daffodils were beautiful... but most are now gone! However, the lilac bush, apple tree and crabapple trees are in full bloom.  The apple tree's blossoms are completely intoxicating with their sweet smell.  We all decided that heaven smells like apple tree blossoms!  

The baby chicks...who are now closer to a pullet than a chick...were moved from the house to the chicken coop.  We kept them in this box and put them in the front of the coop- away from the rest of the hens until they got a little bigger.  

 They got to go on little "fieldtrips" on the farm.  Their favorite spot was in this basement window.  They would stay here for hours until we put them back in their new "coop" (see below). 

The pullets are now out of the box (as they were big enough to fly out!)  They have been fully integrated into the coop and we haven't noticed any issues.  The pullets now have free range of the farm but they tend to all stick together and, typically, stay close by the coop!  

Despite the chicks now in the coop, the hen's egg production hasn't been impacted in the least!  We have eggs coming out of our ears.  Luckily, we have lots of friends and family; it's rare for someone to leave the farm without a dozen of eggs! And the boys have really taken to sunny side up eggs (which is great!) 

Padraig (Brown) and Ciaran (Black) are doing great!  Their home in the barn is working well.  Until a few days ago, we were putting them in the chicken coop (the spot where the baby chicks box was located). We felt they were safer there... especially on the nights when the coyote calls woke us from our slumber!  

Now, they are safe; kept in a large animal crate during nighty-night time!  If any predator did get in the barn, Ciaran and Padraig would be protected! 

The boys (goat boys), not too unlike my human boys, always want to be together.  They cry when they are separated and just seem to love each other a ton!  It is quite an endearing sight to see!  

Ciaran continues to love attention and Mr. Padraig is coming along! They both love to be brushed, scratched on the head and back and held in our arms.  O.K., maybe Ciaran more than Padraig but we are working on him!  Soon he will come around.  

Here is an older picture of part of the bee box.  Farmer J coated the wood in beeswax (instead of varnish) to protect the wood and keep our honey clean from nasty chemicals.  The bees have arrived and seem to be doing quite well.  J got a call from the post office that our bees had arrived and he was there before 7 a.m. last Saturday morning.  Their first night on the farm was a cold one but they have been successful with making honeycomb and I'm sure they are loving all the spring flowers, pollen flying around and the warmer weather this week has given them.

 Here are some of the time lapse photographs that Farmer J took of a scheduled brush/prairie burn on the farm (behind the pasture).  The appropriate measures were taken for safety!  J, Mr. Jim, myself and firefighters Pickle and JJ were all present.  It was quite a sight to see! 

Thumbs up from Farmer J!  

Some other (probably not so interesting) updates:

-J is back to mowing the lawn

-We have transplanted some raspberry plants from my Aunt Donna's garden.  THANK YOU to my Aunt Donna and my parents!  

-We have found out that Padraig likes to chase the chickens!! Very funny to watch!

-We are in the midst of Morel hunting! 

-The turkeys seem to have moved on... we haven't seen them for awhile

-We hear coyote howls at least once a month

-The frogs are deafening loud at nighttime!  Our new springtime lullabye!

-I'm fighting off ants in the kitchen.  Thanks for the Windex tip, Karina! I'm now obsessive! 

-Many things have been planted in the garden; the strawberry plants are looking great.  Pickle is already eating arugula fresh from the garden (dirt and all).  

Best be off...to keep things real.  I have laundry to do....

Ciaran and Padraig are home!

Here is Farmer Tracy (the goat breeder).  She is saying 'Goodbye' to Padraig.  She said the brown/black goats are the "spunky" ones!  We are seeing that as well! 

Here is me and Ciaran in the back of the "Goat Mobile" (a.k.a. our mini-van).  He is mid- "maaaaaaaaa"

Our "Goat Mobile" carried one Farmer J, me, JJ, Pickle, Ciaran, Padraig, two bales of straw and one bale of hay!  I wanted J to stop at a garage sale (that we saw on the way to the goat farm) on the way home...but realized a few minutes into the journey that pulling up to the garage sale (in a very fancy neighborhood) in our "Goat Mobile" might not be a good idea.   Right after J took this photo-- Padraig tried to jump out of the van.  J, with his quick ninja reflexes, caught Padraig in one hand- while holding our pricey camera in the other! We were all impressed! 

 The baby goats new home (in the lower part of the barn.)  The barn hasn't had animals in it for quite awhile. The straw (from their home farm) made for a cozy and comforting "home away from home." 

Farmer J is just finishing up some handy work on the fence.  Chicken wire had to be put around the entire perimeter of the pasture as the goats would easily fit underneath the wooden fence. 

I'm giving Ciaran some more love.  The goats are quite friendly.  They do not bite or kick.  They seem to like being held.  At first, they ran away from us.  But now they stay close by.  

Here Farmer J has Padraig in a love 'head lock'. This little guy is a wild one... but he is coming around.  

Here are the boys trying to catch Padraig.  Good luck boys! 

Today, I taught the boys that the goats will not run away, unless you chase them!  

Awwwwww!  Cute, little lads.  We gave them Irish names to remind us of our memorable time in Ireland and because they were born in March. "Padraig" was a character's name from Ballykissangel (my all-time favorite BBC/Irish drama).  In our first apartment together, J and I would watch the show on Sunday nights! "Padraig" is another version of "Patrick".  "Ciaran" means "the little dark one".  Smokey didn't stick as J and I kept calling the black goat "Ciaran."  Now the boys call him "Ciaran" more than "Smokey".  

Don't forget to shut the gate when you leave!  Thanks to Mr. Jim for all the nice fence work!

On Sunday, we had Brad and Karina (my #1 blog fan) over for dinner! They brought us white tulips, as Karina lovingly recalled our recent anniversary (the bridesmaids carried white tulips), held together in a mason jar (perfect for a farmhouse) with that extra little touch of a green ribbon (as Karina knows how I love everything green --as the color reminds me of Ireland!)  Very sweet!  

Pickle took this picture of me and my flowers!  Thanks Brad and Karina! We will call when it is time to go Morel hunting!  

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"...