Going to the dogs (actually the D.O.G.)

What a fun day! We went to Lockwood to a D.O.G. - better known as a Dutch Oven Gathering. They had a terrific turnout with 76 different dishes cooked in dutch ovens. These are cooked in a very heavy cast iron covered pot with briquettes under and briquettes on top. There were so many different dishes, I don't know where to start - stews, beans, pulled pork, Mexican style orange chicken, chicken tamale casserole, meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, etc. Desserts included yummy cinnamon rolls, apple betty, bread pudding with whipped cream, berry cobbler, chocolate bread pudding with kahlua (I'm getting hungry again just listing these). Anyway, besides unlimited great food, the company was great. The kids were polite and playing together and the adults were friendly and warm. Can't wait for next year! The photos are of a chuck wagon that Robert Healy brought. He served coffee to everyone.

The only negative to the day was a few hours of rain and even it wasn't too bad because we really need more rain. We planted several thousand vegetable transplants this past week and they are all benefitting from it tonight.

So - if you every hear that someone is going to a D.O.G., make sure you go!

Things are a poppin' at the farm. We got a bit or rain and the grass sure appreciates it. The morning began foggy but this afternoon is glorious.

This photo is the twins that we had to help birth last week. I feel a special connection to them. One is a girl so she will stay with us for future breeding. The darker one is a boy. He will be raised for meat. Some people ask if it bothers me to eat the animals we raise. That is a difficult question. I love playing with them, but understand that their purpose is to nourish our bodies.

We are planting hot and heavy right now. We have lots of vegetables of every type going into the ground. I can't wait! Now I need to get busy selling them.

We put our month old chicks in the hen house. They stay pretty close to their crates but don't seem to be bothered by the big hens. We have been getting 3-5 turkey eggs each day along with 5-7 dozen chicken eggs. Our customers seem to love the turkey eggs as they are sold as soon as I put them in the eggstand. The newest chicks are being well taken care of in the brooder pens. They will be ready to go out in another 3 weeks or so.

Our pigs have a new luxury mansion that they are moving into. I'll send you pictures on our next visit.

Pray for rain.

Spring and rebirth

It was so pretty last week. Babies were being born and Angel was enjoying the pond.

Marvin came and got me out of the office on Thursday to go see this cute little lamb that had just been born. As we were ready to leave, one of my nanny goats came walking by and was obviously having trouble giving birth. After watching her for a while, Marvin decided that we needed to help. It was a good thing we did. He pulled the baby and the Nanny just walked away. It is her first year and she didn't have any idea that she needed to stay with her baby. A half an hour later, she was again trying to deliver. This time, the little kid had a leg stuck and was way too large to be birthed. We again assisted and again she just walked away. I guess that goats are like people - some have a natural motherly instinct and some don't. We ended up having to move her and the two kids into a small area in the barn. We were both up most of the night checking on her and they finally started eating. I'm happy to say that they are doing great!

We got about a half of an inch of rain last night (thank goodness). If we can keep getting it every few days, we ought to have another good year of hay.

My second cousin, Dawn Patterson from Lockwood has a granddaughter named Tagen living with her. We picked her up and brought her home to spend the night with us. We got up this morning (Sunday) and gave Marvin a morning off. Tagen and I took care of feeding all the animals while he fixed us breakfast. It took us about an hour and a half, but we got everything finished. We will still need to go collect eggs a couple of times during the day and give the nanny some more feed. The baby chicks will need fresh food and water twice more before night. Marvin will need to fix a broken water line and a few more repairs but otherwise I am going to try to keep it a relaxing day.

Well, off to fill the egg stand. Have a great day!

Bald Eagles

I had to share these wonderful pictures that my sister, Colleen Andrus, took when she was out and about yesterday. We live in such a wonderful area.

We received our second order of baby chicks this morning. They are so darn cute. They come to us via US Mail from Missouri. Chicks can live for 3 days without food or water after hatching so they pack them in cardboard boxes and send them to us. When we get them, we have to unload them one by one and dip each of their beaks in the water. Then they head for the food. The first batch that we received a month ago will be moved outside this week with a heating light for cold times.

Have a great day!

Today is the first day of Spring!

And what is more natural than spring lambs! It certainly feels the part - we have new lambs, new kids (goats), chicks and pigs. The sun is shining and it's beautiful outside (even though I'm stuck inside :(

My babies moved away. My daughter in law, Melissa, has officially moved to Washington state with my grandsons, Landon and Carter. Our son James will be joining her there in a couple of weeks. He is in the Army and is finishing his training in Virginia before go to his base. Of course Murphy visited with his "law" and Melissa came down with Chicken Pox on the way there. So now she is over 1000 miles away, doesn't know anyone and is sick. It's just a matter of time before both boys (4 months and 2 yrs old) come down with them as well.

Back at the farm, our first batch of baby chicks is almost ready to join the other girls. They are a little more than 3 weeks old and have their feathers and want to fly! We still have them under lights to keep them warm for a couple of more weeks. There is another batch in transit for the second brooder pen so it ought to be fun!

Well back to the grindstone. Nice talking at you!

The past revisted

I found these pictures from 2010 when going through my computer.

Those cute little white fuzzballs (with mud on their feet) are Ben and Angel the day they came home. They were just 6 weeks old and Ben already weighed 30 pounds. Of course, they are 4 times that size now but just as cute.

The little bird on the back of the pig is a baby barn owl. It fell from the owl box in the tree and rode around on the back of our mama pig for at least 20 minutes. Just too funny.

We finally got some much needed rain this week (with much prayer). Colleen and Del actually had snow on the ground at DVR this morning. We really don't need that!

We found a new baby ewe (lamb) that we didn't realize was in the arroyo with the others. She looks to be a few weeks old. We have 2 more new babies born this past week. It must be Spring!

The grass seems to be jumping out of the ground. We spend the winter wishing that it would green up and the spring trying to keep up with the growth. Isn't that just like life?

Happy wet week to you all.

Are you my mother?

Sugar is the little filly we adopted when she was very young. Her mama died and she was orphaned so we took her in and have been raising her. The other day, she was curious about the Mangalitsa pigs and was over sniffing at them. Sugar has a bit of an identity crisis because she has been raised with our orphaned calf, MooMoo. Now Sugar thinks she may be a calf and MooMoo thinks he may be a horse. For a while, she thought she might be a pig!

On Friday, the elk knocked down a section of our fencing and Sugar and MooMoo took off across the neighbors rangeland. He was very kind and put them into one of his corrals until we could go to retrieve them. Around 5:00, we took my little old horsetrailer down there and sent them up the chute. That was fine until we asked them to get into the trailer. That didn't quite go as we hoped. We finally were able to talk MooMoo into it, but Sugar didn't feel the need. We took the calf home and put him in the pen and went back for her. Finally our wonderful son-in-law Travis (he's a horse trainer) came and showed us how it's done. When we got back to the house, MooMoo and Sugar ran up to each other and rubbed their noses. It was really cute.

We have started irrigation on some hay fields to hold them over until we get rain. It looks promising that we might be blessed this week - we sure hope so.

Vegetables are going into the ground, but it is still a bit early for most spring veggies. We'll have to wait to see how they are done.

We are planning to start a CSA this summer. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, it means that we will find people that would like to eat our yummy pesticide free produce and free range eggs. they will sign up for a "subscription" and receive a bag of them each week for a predetermined amount of time. We will have a delivery day and time and will meet in town for distribution. Additionally, members will be encouraged to visit the farm to see where their food comes from. Recipes and "surprises" will accompany the food. Stay tuned for more information.

windmill & girls with pig

I am at a wonderful small farm conference this week in Valencia. It is the most valuable one I've attended so far. Surrounded by others doing the same things we are doing and facing the same challenges. I wish Marvin could have been here, but someone has to man the ship.

He said we have a new lamb at home. We are still waiting for more Mangalitsa piglets as another gilt is showing sign that they will be here any day.

The cute picture above is Kylie and Alicia holding one of the first litter. The amazing photo of the windmill was taken by Kylie.

I will write more when I get home - enjoy the day!