My Happy Place Homestead

adding pics to entries

mini vacation

We are taking a mini vacation next week. Our neighbor is going to look after our home and our animals. (he's even gonna milk the goats for us!) We have to take my oldest children to their dad's which is in Southern Alabama on the coast. We used to live down there and know the area. Anyway, we are going to stay for two days near the beach and relax before heading home! We have to go there anyway so why not! I have a digital camera now so I can take pics and post them when we get back! OOH I can't wait!!!

Chickens and ducks

All those silly chickens and they won't grow fast enough to be of any help! They are still too small to eat and too young to lay! All they do is eat, eat, eat..............ugh! They smell bad and they are noisy. Hopefully one day they will pay off.

On the other hand, I just got some new baby duckies! I bought 4 at Atwoods and then the next day was in there for something else and saw an injured one. I called the salesgirl over there and showed her the sick/injured one. She said they were just gonna "get rid of it" so she gave it to me thinking it was dying. I brought it home, got it dry, got it warm and joined a duck group online for info. Turns out it is a crested something and they have neurological problems! The baby is doing great just really wobbly! She's gonna make it. Especially with help from the nice ppl on the group. These ducks are only for pets though. I DO NOT eat duck!!! I probably will eat whatever eggs they don't sit though. If I even got lucky enough to get girls and a boy. They may be all boys or all girls for all I know! But they sure are cute! I just love ducks!

The Goats

Well, now for the goats.

We have, I think, 17 or 18 goats. It's hard to keep them straight. I have 3 babies sold that are still here. One mama sold that is still here. Either my baby buck or my "teenage" buck sold. Not sure which yet. Sold a dry doe yesterday to my neighbor, but he still has one of my does over at his place. She isn't weaned yet. Plus he has 2 boers that belong to my husband. So our goats are kinda scattered and I can't remember which ones are which anymore! LOL!

I have a really mean horrible goat that is an awesome milker! She gives good creamy milk and a lot of it. Unfortunatly, it takes 2 men and 20 minutes to catch her and get her on the stand!  But then in the end it is worth it. She is a scrub goat. I have 3 scrub goats. They are always healthy. My full bloods are always NOT healthy! Especially my Togg. Anybody need a full blood Toggenburg that throws beautiful babies and is extremely high maintenance?

I just had an Ober doe kid with one buckling. He is a beauty! And sweet. I wish I could keep him. I only have one more left to kid. She is due at the end of June, first of July. Can't wait. Hope it's girls!

So that is the update on the goats. By next month I will have sorted out who stays and who goes. I need to cut down to one buck and only milking does. If I can't milk them by breeding them this fall, I can't keep them. I have to give myself limits or I'll keep them all!!

The Garden

Well, I can't believe it has been a month since I last updated! Spring is sooooo busy here!

Where do I start.... We got our garden in and now it looks like I'm growing a lawn. LOL The grass came back wonderfully green and lush! Now to get rid of it. 

We have so many different veggies out there I don't even know if I can name them all. We have corn, lettuces (2 types), potatoes, cabbage, red cabbage, mustard, radishes, spinach, green beans, blackeyed peas, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, jalepeno peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, turnips, green peas, okra, cucumbers, several different types of tomatoes, lima beans, yellow crookneck squash, yellow straightneck squash, zucchini squash, onions, chives, sage, strawberries, dill, fennel, parsley, thyme, basil, catnip, and some other stuff I just can't remember! LOL

I still have seeds for more squash, watermelons, cantaloupe, pumpkins, and several different veggies for the fall garden. I still have to get in the field corn for the animals and the pinto beans. Some are for the animals and some are for us.

Well, spring is not quite over yet. Maybe I still have time!

Time to update

Well, we have been sooooo busy! It is about time I update my blog.  We did not have the chicken processing yet. We have postponed it indefinitely. We will pick another date soon. We have been busy building fences, making pens, taking care of animals, etc....

We finally got our garden tilled. Now if I can just find the time to put in the seeds. I planted 4 strawberry plants, 4 lettuce plants, fennel, dill, catnip, sage, parsley, thyme, and one tomato plant. I have several other tomato plants to put in along with peppers, squashes, and some others I can't remember right now. I have a billion seeds of every veggie known to man! Our fruit trees are laden with peaches, pears, and apples. The last frost did not kill them...yaaaaahhhh!!!

The goats have been soo happy since we got the back pasture fenced for them. We have also added to our herd recently. My husband and our neighbor went to an auction and salvaged one nubian for me and one nubie/boer cross for the neighbor and a boer cross buckling for the neighbor. Then we went and bought 2 boer does for my husband. He and the neighbor are getting into the meat goat thing. My snobby dairy goats don't want anything to do with those meat goats! We finally got the buck pen finished today. The boys were so happy to get out of the barn stall. We converted an old horse corral into a goat pen. We built a little shed out of scraps from the barn. Tin, boards, plywood, and pallets are now a house for the bucks and they love it!!

My Oberhasli is set to kid any day now. Hopefully soon, but it could be as late as the 24th. Oh well, she is a FF (first timer) so it will probably take forever.

We finally got a Great Pyrenees for an LGD. She was a $250.00 dog that someone gave to us! They were going to shoot her. They paid all that money to have her as a house dog. She got too big and started jumping the fence and so they were gonna put her down. My husband brought her home instead. She is scared of my goats, but luckily there are some good advisors on workingLGDs a yahoo group. 

So I am caught up for now. I will have to come back and write more later. I'm really tired and ready for bed. It is only 8:15!! Building stuff is tiring!!!!!!!!   

AARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New price on the workshop

More new Chicks

Yucky disbudding results

One of my poor babies got infected from the disbudding. She jerked and moved and when she did the disbudding iron scraped her horn bud off!!! Yuck! I put her back out with the others thinking that the heat from the iron would have cauterized it.  The next morning she was lying in the sun and wasn't moving. She didn't even try to get up when I picked her up. She didn't make a sound as I took her to the house. Her head was oozing pus and was yucky. I called the vet, but he was swamped and would have to call me back. I know the receptionist and she told me the only thing she knew about goats was how to BBQ them! LOL She said I knew more than she did. So I took the baby and put her in my oldest son's lap in our van and drove to the feed store. I bought my buck from the owner and since he has goats I thought he might know what to do. Luckily there were several others in there that have goats. They all looked at her little head. I asked if I could use regular neosporin on her and they yes, that's what they would use. One lady said use the neosporin and give her an aspirin and see if that doen't do it. So I took her home and used neosporin and gave her half an aspirin. She was still pretty lethargic at this point, but not long after she was up and going!!! I put her back out with the other goats and she went straight to momma for some milk! Now she is doing great. Not a thing wrong with her. Oh and the vet called me back that evening. He laughed when I told him. He told me I used common sense. There wasn't anything he needed to do for her. He said if she got bad to bring her in, but the ppl at the feed store said to just give her a shot of pennicilian. So I'll do that. Doc Fields is great and cheap, but he is a much farther drive than the feed store. Feed store, 1.2 miles.....Doc, 16 miles. Gas is too expensive! The feed store is my first choice from now on! Thank God they were there when I needed them!

I feel like such a goat farmer now!!!!

gardening day

I am crazy!!

I must be crazy! I find myself missing our land on the mountain more and more. We have 20 acres on the side of a mountain off the grid. Beautiful place. The part near the dirt track (road) is flat and almost level although covered in trees. When we first bought the place it was nothing but trees and rocks. The first year, we slept in a tent and cooked on a fire. Then our neighbors let us stay in one of their cabins that was empty. That didn't work out. That neighbor is deceased now so I won't say why it didn't work. Then we stayed in another empty cabin of another neighbor's but we weren't getting anything done on our place because my husband had to work in town. Town was only 20 miles away, but takes 45 minutes from our land. So we move back on our land into the tent again. Summer is not such a hard time. Sleep in the tent, bathe in the creek, cook on a campfire...etc...But winter was coming.... Dh built a quonset hut for us out of cattle panel fencing, t-posts, wooden pallets, plywood, 2X3's, roll insulation, tarps, an old door, some waterproof material, and old carpet. We actually only put about $280.00 into the thing! It was a 12 X 16 cabin when we got done. I'll explain how it was done in another post. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Dh wasn't making enough money for us to stay and he couldn't go over the road and leave us (me and five kids) on a mountain with nothing. So off we went to Minnesota and spent the winter with my family. Dh went off to JBHunt land. Spring came as it always does and so did the layoffs. Dh lost his job due to cutbacks. So he came and got us and brought us back to our mountain. Summer again is a great time to live like that. We lived in our quonset hut and loved it. Ok at first I was scared to death that some snake was gonna come crawling in and sleep with us. Kept me up many a night until I finally prayed about it and let God keep the snakes away. Summer passes quickly though and winter was headed our way again. So this time we went and rented a cabin from one of those rent to own places. It was a 12 X 30 and for a while we felt like we had moved up in the world. We moved our propane stove in and I had a small counter and some shelves. I practically made a kitchen! I had my big table in there and chairs. We had beds! We even put in a woodburning stove. The kids slept in lofts. Sounds ideal, huh? Wish it were so! We were soooooo crowded in that cabin. Winter came and the woodstove was eating wood so fast we couldn't keep it fed. It was leaky and was always smoking up the house. We had to get several times each night to keep it going. Everything stunk like it had been in a fire. I love the smokey smell, but this was horrible! We weren't getting any sleep, we stunk, we couldn't bathe. We did have a black rubber tub that we could bring in and bathe in, but we could only do that once or twice a week as we didn't have enough room and something had to be moved out first. Then we had to tack up blankets so no one could see you. Then heating water....whole nother story!!! We had 3 pots that didn't hold enough water at a time so we had to fill and heat them twice. Of course by the time the second set got done the first set was cold already...arghhhh!! It got so hard to live in there. Trying to homeschool with half on the bed half at the table because we didn't have enough room. No one could change clothes in there because there were no doors. The boys had to go outside in the cold or back up to their lofts so my dd and I could change. Of course, we still got walked in on several times. As for the bathroom situation.....I'll save that one too. Don't want to put it all in one post, there isn't room on this website!!

Still I miss it. Not living in the cabin in winter of course. But staying in the tent and the quonset hut in spring, summer and fall. Those are great times. I love my little farm I'm on now, but I'm torn. Should I stay with the conveniences of on grid farm living? Where all the buildings are already built. Or do I follow my heart back to the extremely hard work and peacefulness of the mountain? I know if I want to go back, no one will go with me..LOL I wish I were kidding, but winter was really hard on the kids and they don't want to go back. Dh loves not having to drive an hour to get to a job 20 miles away. He also likes hopping in a hot shower when he comes home dirty. I like having a toilet and running water. Why does it have to be a compromise? Why can't I have this homestead on the mountain? Oh yeah, I remember now....because I'm not rich....I forgot...............

Chicken Processing Equipment

No one wants my goaties!

So Much Rain!!

I can't believe the amount of rain we have had! I don't even know the totals, but everything from the house to the barn is at least 2-3 inches deep and it stopped raining last night! The sun is finally trying to break through the clouds. Hopefully it will start drying everything up. I don't like slogging through mud to feed the animals. I have to do it myself because it is too messy for the kids to walk down there. YUK! The chicks are loving it because they are out in the coop now and they have been out playing in the mud. They've been squawking and chirping and running around. Maybe they're just glad the rain stopped too! :0)

Well, enough for now. The sun is out, the house is dirty, and I have bread to bake. So I must open windows, start cleaning and get the bread in oven!!

Home Chicken Processing Workshop

Come join us at My Happy Place Homestead for a day of learning and fun. You will be able to spend the day on the farm with the goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks. Expect good food and engaging conversations. 

We are now taking reservations for our Home Chicken Processing Workshops. Our first workshop will be held Saturday, April 5th. starting at 10:00 am. 

You will learn how to: kill using killing cones, scald with electric scalder, pluck with electric plucker, eviscerate, and can the meat with a pressure canner, all in a quick, efficient, and professional manner.

We will be serving a meal of fresh goat milk or tea, homemade sourdough bread, chicken and rice soup, and homemade dessert.

The total cost for the workshop is $25.00 for the day including your meal. There will also be a door prize drawing. 1st prize winner will take home a chicken.

Pre-registration required. Limit 15 people. We accept money order or paypal. E-mail andiplus5@yahoo.com for more information.

Big Giant Yard Sale!!

I know that is a redundant title, but it's true. We are going in with a family of 10 to have a yard/bake sale. It's gonna be BIG!! We'll have everything from cookies to clothes to homeschool materials. I don't even know what all I have.....We still have stuff here in our barn from the previous owner. I have permission to sell that too. yippeeee!! I want it out of my barn! It should be a fun weekend. If anyone lives close to Heavener, Oklahoma....we are having it the last weekend in March. The 28th and 29th. It will be on the south side of town in front of Rosie's Discount Groceries. (which by the way is a super cheap place to shop!) And no, I don't own it........lol

We are having the sale so we can use the money for a huge field trip. We haven't made up our minds where yet, but we're working on it! It's the only way we can all afford to go. Gas is so expensive.....but that's a topic for another entry!!!

Even More Babies!

We have more goat babies! My togg gave birth to twin girls day before yesterday! Beautiful babies. I am keeping one and the other is spoken for. I managed to trade for 12 cauliflower plants, 12 broccoli, and 12 cabbage. Plus several ducks and plenty of duck eggs. And of course cash. Cash is always good!

They were born at 4:00 pm Wednesday the 11th. They are chocolate brown with traditional Togg markings. This makes 6 babies with one more momma left to kid. She is either due next week on the 21st or 3 weeks later. We don't care, we just can't wait for more babies!!

Baby Chickies