Saturday on the Homestead

Posted on 2008-Dec-27 at 02:50 by Crystal Miller - 7 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Well even though winter is just starting I am so happy to say we are finally thawing out!  The temps went above 32 and now everything is beginning to melt into one big soupy mess..  But hey at least we can get out and about now.  Emily and Leanne dug out her car yesterday..  no easy feat.  Today I think she is dying for a shopping and Starbucks fix with her sisters.  Cabin fever is alive and thriving around here!  LOL..   

Today I will be at home.  I have soap business stuff to catch up on and a house to clean and food to make.  We feasted on Christmas Eve dinner and then leftovers for a few days.  My son was thrilled to enjoy lots of homemade food..  and lots of food is what I made.  But now it is time to make some more.  I did make a pot of navy bean soup yesterday with my leftover ham bone. Today I think spaghetti or lasagna will be on the menu too.   

I typically take down my tree the day after Christmas but my son had two requests before he came home.. one was pizza (did that for him the first night he got here) and the other was a Christmas tree..  so for him I will leave it up a few more days.  But by Monday it has got to go..  I start feeling a real need about now to get my life reorganized and ready for the new year.  

I am currently contemplating my new year goals..  I am not a big fan of resolutions instead I make goals.  So I will be praying and working towards some new personal goals, business goals, website goals, and more.  So what do you typically do..  goals or resolutions?   

Well that is all from the homestead today..  Keep warm as we head into 2009!

Whew...

Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 07:47 by Chas - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

A Pray for Everyone

Posted on Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 12:49 by HandsNHearts - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Merry Christmas from the Burrell's!

Posted on Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 07:32 by Chas - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Merry Christmas

Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 11:43 by <>< B. - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Updates from the Homestead

Posted on 2008-Dec-24 at 04:40 by Crystal Miller - 5 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Well the last snow pictures I showed you were just the beginning of this storm!  LOL..  well maybe not really..  but pretty close! We got a break from the snow for a few hours but it is back again.  I will share some updated pics in this post. 

My hubby was finally able to come home on Monday night!  Yea!!  I kept watching the DOT website waiting to see when the highway would be open and finally about 4:30pm Jacob refreshed the webpage and came to me saying..  Mom I think it’s open now.  So I checked and sure enough.  I called Tobin’s cell and told him the good news and he was so happy.   He had worked Saturday night as usual, slept at work in a chair for a few hours and worked another shift on Sunday plus overtime.  By Monday morning the highway was still closed. His company paid for a hotel room for him so he could get some sleep which was a real blessing. But by Monday evening things were open again and he could come home. 

On Tuesday he cleared the driveway and by afternoon we were able to get to town and pick up groceries and then we were going to pick up my son.  But his plane had mechanical difficulties and was delayed 4 hours.  So we headed home, unpacked groceries and went back to town to pick him up at midnight.  We were so thrilled to see him!!  It has been a year and half since he has been home.  He arrived home to see all the yellow balloons greeting him from the fence posts and tied to trees lining the driveway and the back porch.  We had pizza and talked till nearly 3am..  needless to say we all slept in this morning!   

We also woke up to MORE snow and it has been snowing ever since.  Tobin redid the driveway and then dug our neighbor out of his drive way too.  Tobin says if it does not stop snowing pretty soon there will be no place to put all this snow after cleans up!   

Well now for pics..  remember the picnic table?  Well if you look carefully you may just be able to see it now..   that is my deck almost completely full of snow..
 

Here are a few more shots from around my property.. 

Part of the driveway with the snow walls on each side from the snow removed…
 

My front yard…
 

Updated pic of Emily’s car… 
 

And some pretty pics of our property that Emily took this morning…

Have a very Merry Christmas Everyone! 

Moma's Favorite Christmas Cookie

Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 08:13 by Chas - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Elf Yourself 2008

Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008 at 11:33 by Chas - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Taking it all in...

Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 12:00 by Chas - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

~Mini Nubians~

Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008 at 2:38 PM by FaithfulAcres - 2 Comments - Link

 Well from my breeding Mini Nubians and milking them, I can tell you what we have experienced.

My does range from 26 to 28 inches at the withers.

My Bucks range from 26 to 32 inches at the withers.

We have breed Mini Nubians from the spring of 2002 to present.  We started with 1st and 2nd generation stock.  Now keep in mind that they are bred to begin with from a Nigerien buck bred to a Nubian Doe.  That cross makes 1st generation mini nubians of a 50/50% . ie. half Nigerien /half Nubian. We started with goats of this cross.  Some having ears that were shorter or not down like Nubians then.  We worked with those first 5 goats and from that got our first 3rd gen stock born that summer.  Ears were much improved !

My does milk between 4 to 9 qts per day , depending on what freshening it was and if they were from good milking stock.

in 2004 I bred for our first 75/25% 1st generation stock.  ie. a mini nubian buck bred to purebred Nubian does or American Does.  All registered stock, ie. ADGA and MDGA then. Again Ears were much improved as was breed character.  We have had many nice goats born to us along the way in 6 years.

This year I had my 5th gen doe give birth to the first registered Purebred Mini Nubian Stock in the US that is of 6th generations.  One buckling as you read on my blog went to OK to Good Goats near Tulsa. I retained a buck Faithful Acres Gad and his Sister Faithful Acres Asher, both are Purebred Mini Nubians and registered with The Miniature Dairy Goat Association . MDGA     This kidding I have allowed Magnolia to raise her own kids and have not milked her as I believe she may be bred for February of this coming year.  I bred her to my 2nd generation buck for 3rd gen kids, as he is very nice, shorter and from excellent milking mini nubian lines that have nice breed character and He himself won 1st place in intermediate bucks on MDGA's Virtual Show. 

Mini Nubians have wonderful personalities.  Magnoia my herd queen is rather talkative, but at times she is silent too. Each goat is different, as people are.

I will try to post pictures here soon so you all can see the mini nubians There is a picture of Faithful Acres Benjamin in my posts with his new owner Suriyah Fish of Good Goats in OK.

Blessings

Linda