Last weekend, Anna got the first Harry Potter book at the library for Alex. He started reading Friday afternoon and finished Saturday night. This week, she got the second book, and again, he read it Friday evening through Saturday night. He even spent some time reading out loud to his sisters.
We believe in the 2nd Amendment and firearm education
While Amanda may not even be 2 years old, she loves having a gun on her hip. There are only 2 problems
1. It is a right handed holster and she is left handed.
2. It is actually Vicki’s gun and When Vicki discovered Amanda wearing it, she took it back.
I guess we need to buy more guns.
Getting some broilers
Anna and I have debated many times the advantages and disadvantages of what to raise for a meat chicken. In the end, our primary concern is that we are raising a healthy chicken for our family to eat. We are offering some extra birds for sale, but based on the time committment to process the chickens (and raise them) we do not anticipate raising hundreds of chickens at a time. So, despite some previous discussions and plans, we have decided to order Freedom Rangers. One significant advantage of this bird is we can keep some for our own breeding stock if we want. The first batch of chickens will get processed in late June or early July.
Seedling preps
For the past few days, I have come home to dirt cooking in the oven. Today, I found Anna using the kitchen to start the seedlings for the garden. Based on the number of seedlings she is planting, I expect to get informed any day that we are adding new garden space.
Just another non-stop weekend building and improving the farm
Since the base was having a “big drill” last week, the Nautilus Museum was closed Thursday and Friday so I had the day off. Of course, we are always behind on the list of farm projects, so it seemed like a great time to catch up (a little). In fact, I have yet to meet a farmer who feels everything is just right and caught up on their farm…
The biggest project for the weekend was goat fencing. I hired 2 high schoolers to work for me Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because I needed the extra hands. My neighbor Tim has a large backhoe that he brought down to remove a couple of stumps for me. After that, I put up 1 long stretch of fence to create a corridor between the horses and goats. Now we can easily go back and forth across the bottom of the property. Of course, that 12′ wide by 180′ long corridor can also be used as a grazing area for ponies, calf, etc. Then I built a fully contained by field fence kid area inside the goat pen. I’ll explain why.
When a doe has kids, the kids get all of momma’s milk for the first 2 weeks. After that, we start to isolate the kids at night so we can milk the doe in the morning. For Betty’s kids, we just locked them in the kidding stall at night. However, since Maggie is due this week, we needed a better/larger solution. Now, our 30’x30′ kid pen can be used as the overnight isolation area. I’m sure it will get lots of other use too.
As I have discussed before, we like to recycle as much as possible. I have previously posted about recycling pallets into goat shelters and chicken coops. Last week when I went to get another load of pallets, I found out the moving company that supplies us is going out of business. Bad news for them, but good for us because they are emptying out their warehouses. That means I was able to get 4’x4′ wood crates and 7’x7′ shipping crates. Add a recycled door, and what do you have? How about a storage shed for the rabbitry. Now all of the rabbit supplies, feed, hay, etc are conveniently located next to the cages (it just needs some paint).
Of course, we had people coming and going all weekend. Some were here to buy chicks, while other were just here to meet us or catch up. For example, we placed an ad in the North Stonington Bulletin Board classifieds. Some neighbors a couple of miles away saw the ad and found our page. It turns out they have a very similar mindset with slightly different focus. Check out this blog to learn more about Morning Star Meadows Farms and their Icelandic Sheep! You can also see what other blogs we like on the right side of our home page.
And there was one other little thing. Turbo. We were waiting to get serious about finding a new horse for me until we placed Cinder in a new home. Well, on Wednesday Cinder went to a new home. On Friday, I test rode Turbo. And Sunday morning, I brought him home on a 30 day trial. I never have been very patient. Vicki approves.
It’s good to be crazy.
Meet Turbo!
Only 4 days after Cinder went to his new home, we have the barn filled again. Turbo (SF Galaxy Quest) is an 11 year old, 16.1h National Show Horse (1/2 Saddlebred 1/2 Arabian). His color is Seal Brown and he is already barefoot.
After a short test ride on Friday, I was hooked. We have him on a 30 day trial period to make sure it works out. He has the get up and go that I love, is very responsive under saddle, and has jumping experience. He just didn’t bond with the previous owner. Looks like I found my show horse!
Amanda is a fan of cornbread
Unseasonably warm
With temps in the 70s on the second day of Spring, the kids just had to have the slip-n-slide out.
Anna now offers riding lessons!
Anna now offers riding lessons for kids! We will be taking a limited number of students for lessons during the week and on Saturdays. For details, including pricing, please see our horse page.
Cinder has a new family
Today we had a woman who lives only a few miles away come and meet Cinder. She understands the possibly issues with his legs and has decided she would like to have him on her farm. She is very experienced with horses and has 2 other horses already. Since we felt comfortable with her knowledge and experience, we have agreed to give her Cinder. After 11 years in our family, Cinder will move to a new family on Wednesday afternoon.