What's Happening On The Farm?

Today was beautiful and we took full advantage of the sunshine by working outdoors. We're still cutting and splitting wood. So far, we have cut and split 70 logs and we still have a lot to do. We'll do another 20 logs Tuesday and Wednesday while the weather is nice. The goats sure enjoyed the sunshine today. Everyone was lying in the sun taking full advantage of it too. There is a lot of mud and wet ground from the rain that we had on Saturday night in our bottom but they find higher, dryer ground to lounge around on. Still waiting on some Nigerian Dwarf goats to kid. Of course, they wouldn't kid today while the weather was so nice. I suppose they are waiting for the rain to come in on Thursday of this week. That's the way goats are. They will hold their babies in until the weather is terrible. I've got triplet Nigerian Dwarf doe bottle babies that are growing and doing well. Their mom, Annie, has an udder problem so they nurse from one side of her udder while I supplement them twice a day with a bottle. I believe she could raise all three on one side but I just feel better helping her out some. Had some Flemish Giant rabbits picked up today along with one Nigerian Dwarf kid. It seems as though everyone was out and about in this nice weather. Oh, I almost forgot. I bred rabbits today to have Easter bunnies. I already have requests for certain colors of lionhead and mini-rex bunnies. Tomorrow will be more rabbit breeding. I'll have all of my pet rabbits bred by tomorrow and will have to continue breeding the Tennessee Redback rabbits for about one week. I have approximately 23 Tennessee Redback does so it takes time for the two bucks to make their rounds.

Daily Happenings

This morning it is still cold with the temperature being 17 degrees at 7:30 AM. There is a heavy frost and all the water troughs are frozen over and this afternoon the weather people are calling for a light dusting of snow. We've still got snow from three weeks ago and we've discovered a new toy for sledding - - a golf car top *** fast! Cain and Abel, my first ADGA registered Nubian kids, were picked up yesterday afternoon to go to their new home in South Carolina to be trained as pack animals. They had their hooves trimmed, were tattooed and dewormed before pickup. I'll miss them. They were very sweet and friendly bucklings. I'll be milking Cain and Abel's mom, Jackie, beginning today. Since the weather is so cold, I'm going to milk her inside of the barn instead of in my "open air" milk room. Too cold out there for her and me both! No new arrivals from the Nigerian Dwarf goats since Sunday. Still have a few left to kid. Raphaela looks as though she is going to explode. Her nickname is "Chunky Monkey" if that gives you any indication of what she looks like normally. She loves to eat! I also made a new Buffalo Gal's goat's milk soap last night - - This, That and the Other. It is an extra-powerful hand scrubbing soap that is a combination of all my other soaps plus added pumice for cleansing. It will be great to keep beside a laundry or kitchen sink. Look for it to be available in February! Speaking of soap, I now have Valentine's Day gift sets available at Cricket's Nest Craft Shop, Mostly Local and Germanton Antiques & Consignments along with the farm. They contain soap in a red metal bucket or white ceramic bag with hearts along with a Valentine's Day card. Also, there are individual soaps in white, pink and red organza favor bags along with a Valentines Day card. Look for these new items.

Monday

Well it is time to get settled back into the "old routine".

Snow is almost gone. F-I-N-A-L-L-Y. Wish we could do something with all the mud that is left.

We're hoping to get back onto the fencing work this week. There is no rain forecasted here and it should be sunny and warm (50's) in the afternoon. We have all the wire up, just need to run the barb wire, hang the gates and trim off the corner braces and we'll be done! Then, it will be time to pick another project - - probably splitting wood.

Cool/Rainy Weather Is Coming

With the rainy weather forecasted for the end of the week and with the highs only in the 40's on Thursday and Friday, I decided to get some of my outdoor work done today. We hauled the wood rack up from the tractor shed and put it in its position on the porch. We filled it with dry wood from our wood shed - - so I'm ready to crank up the wood stove for another season. I've got my fire starters ready and the pipe has been cleaned out. I also mowed the yard again. It has really been growing with all the showers and sunshine that we've been having. I even had to rake grass in some spots! Two of my Nigerian Dwarf doe kids were weaned today. These blue eyed girls are now 8 weeks old. They are in a pen in the barn with a couple of older doe kids so they have lots of company. They will stay penned for a week or so or until they no longer try to get back to their dam. Rabbit toenails were also trimmed today. I made the rounds through everyone so they are in good shape to go into winter. The driveway was scraped getting it back into shape. The wet ground prevented the normal dust.

Rain Storm

Hope everyone enjoyed our American flags that we had on our farm sign for Memorial Day and for the upcoming Flag Day and 4th of July. The storm that came through Thursday night ripped them off of our sign posts and shredded them. We only received 1/2 inch of rain but the wind and lightening was strong. After the storm, we had a few limbs down on some of our fences and lots of leaves everywhere. We went out and cleaned up everything everything before dark. Our son, Andy, had already been working at Tanglewood Park this week getting up trees (60-70) off of the golf course due to an earlier storm. Tonight, after this latest storm, he got called back into work to remove an oak tree that had fallen on the Detention Center off of Shattalon Drive in Winston-Salem. The tree also crushed one car and dented several more. They will finish up removing it Friday. More bad weather is in the forecast for tonight. All the animals made it through the storm by staying in their barns. At least none of them blew over like they have before. Now the smaller hutches are secured to the ground with utility building tie downs.