Life on the Farm Known as Critterhaven

Welcome to Critterhaven Farm's Blog

Raising Nigerian Dwarf Goats in Southern Middle Tennessee

Life is always busy here at the farm...

Yesterday we headed to Flanary Keepsake Farm in Symsonia KY to pick up what I am calling my grand baby goat.  Her mother was born on our farm to our beloved Auralia and the late Zorro, and I told LaNita I would buy Brandy back if she ever decided to sell her.  So we picked up her first daughter from Brandy, our grand baby we have named Keepsake Farm’s Breaking Dawn, continuing the movie and more so the Twilight theme we have going with this seasons kiddings.  With 2 registered does left to kid I should be able to work a New Moon and Eclipse in with the Twlight and Bella we already have.

I just LOVE LaNita's place.  Just a beautiful farm!  She is a veterinarian and loves her critters and it shows.  I took hubby to show him her chicken and duck pens and maybe give him some ideas

This will do it for the newbies coming to the farm.  Two of our previous does are returning from Teresa at Little Wishes Farm.  We have Susie’s daughter here, whom my daughter has officially named Little Wishes Hannah Montana (again with the movie theme).  Her mom will be joining us again as soon as she weans Hannah’s two brothers.  And we will pick up Storm before Teresa moves to her new farm in mid June.  I’m so happy she is moving closer to us!  Between our farm, Teresa’s new farm, and Kay Allen’s farm at Blessed Assurance Farm, we now have 3 Nigerian Dwarf herds here in southern middle TN within a 15 mile radius of one another!  I just love goat neighbors!

We should have kittens in the next few weeks.  Not that we planned for it.  Witchipoo became pregnant before I realized it or had a chance to get her spayed, so looks like we’ll be looking forward to the blessed event I would say before the end of the month.

And I hope Cheetah our pot bellied pig is pregnant.  We took her to the neighbors who had purchased an unrelated male and his mother from us a couple of years ago, and so that we would not have to have a male on the property Cheetah resided there for a couple of weeks.  Now she is back and looks to be in the motherly way.  She absolutely loves being a mom, and although I say I won’t do it, we may end up keeping a baby girl from this litter to keep Cheetah company.  Cheetah is just so good with the goats and especially the babies I hope we can have as much luck with another pig and the goats as we have with her.

Back to Little Wishes Hannah Montana, my husband accuses me of wanting another baby to dress up.  Yes, I have to admit I love dressing up the baby goats.  But only the ones that live with us for a while in the house and are bottle babies!  And thank goodness there is only one at a time that does that.  Miss Ella has been turned back out in the field as a real goat.  She still gets her one bottle a day at 8 weeks old, but she will still follow you around like a puppy when she is out loose.  She was going to go with us yesterday, but she now smells so much like a true goat she spent the day in the garage while we headed to KY.  But Hannah was in the carrier in the back seat with her collar and dress on.

I often wonder how other goat owners manage with the babies that need a lot of TLC.  We are so used to ours coming in the bathroom it is nothing new.  I was talking to a friend of mine this weekend and she said it is not normal when there is not a baby goat in her house.  I think what I would like to do is one day when we add a den out the back of the house to put a covered carport to the side of it with a utility room of sorts off the back for the babies.  Maybe install a heated tile floor where we could do away with the heaters or heat lamp or heating pads.  As hubby says….”One of these days”.  I always say when we win the lottery and he reminds me you have to play to win.  Oh yeah, I forgot.J

Things are falling into place where we can FINALLY get started on the barn!  I know what I want, it is just getting it out of my head and down on paper.  And then mapped out on the ground, and then started. That shouldn’t be hard.  But at least we are closer now than we were.  My goal is to have it up, at least the majority of it, by this winter.  And the good thing is we shouldn’t have many babies due this fall, so no babies to worry about the cold weather.  I plan on having nearly all the girls bred this fall for spring babies.  It was so much easier this year on me and on the moms and kids.  And by fall the October 2008 doelings will be old enough to be bred as well as my senior girls will have had a year to rest, so I plan on breeding all of them except for of course this springs girls.   BIG spring 2010 season, and unless a doe is just spectacular I will be selling all the kids from that kidding season. 

I am SET for the garden season this year!  Got my heirloom tomato and watermelon plants out, and we also have cucumbers, onions, okra, and cantaloupe out.  I have to plant corn and beans this week, and maybe a few other things, but for the most part that will be it.  We moved the refrigerator from the garage in the house in the utility room, so I am ready for those veggies to start rolling in!

And my beautiful and smart girl Ella Claire graduated from preK on Friday.  She is growing into a wonderful and gorgeous little lady.  Next year…Kindergarten!  She actually cries when they do NOT have school!  Here she is with her PreK teacher Mrs. Moorehead.  She learned SO much as Mrs. Moorehead is a wonderful teacher and loves her students very much!  

 I’ll update more tomorrow night on how the new girls are doing.  I’m really loving Twitter and update it a little more frequently than the blog, however I’m enjoying so much reading the emails I get from those of you who enjoy my blogs! Life is NEVER dull here at Critterhaven!

Susan

Spring is here, but it's a wet one....

Wow…another month has passed and I’ve not blogged.  It’s not that I haven’t meant to.  I really do.  But life happens so quickly I just never get the chance.  I think I started about three separate entries, but by the time I got around to almost posting them the moments had passed and I felt the urge to hit the delete button.

So here is a catch up synopsis of my last month.  And boy has it been busy and wet.  I think it has rained every day except one in the past week.

All but 3 of the does have kidded.  Poor Nana, our eight-year-old Nubian mix, had twins at the neighbors’ house.  I got over there about 5am and she had a cold deceased baby boy at her side, and had been pushing for hours to get the doeling out.  After 15 minutes of convincing her not to push, I got the baby’s neck turned around where she could come out, and she too was deceased.  It will be the last time Nana is bred, because now she gets to live out her life with another senior gal at my friend Kathy’s just down the road.  If only all of our old gals could get such a chance at retirement.

We have 3 little boys and one girl left out of the kiddings so far left for sale.  I have decided to sell two does and that will be it for our older stock for a while to come.  Probably will have some kids out of the three remaining does who will kid in May and June, but no more adult stock for a while.  Sold my big buck tonight along with one of the junior bucks, and the other 4 will be our herdsires.   Nine babies on the ground now, and it is so much fun watching them play on the Little Tykes outdoor toys!

Funny, this kidding isn’t even over with and I’m already planning the next.  Life on the farm never ends!

Little Ella, our bottle baby goat came down with diarrhea last week.  About the same time I realized I had not dewormed nor coccidia treated the babies.  She is better now, and all of them have been treated.  That is what happens when you get busy with life.  You always forget something.  Or at least I do!

I think the sheep have finally adapted to their new life here at the farm.  All I have to do now is shake a feed bucket and Bubba follows anywhere.  And then the girls follow right behind him.  I moved them to the backfield and now they can graze and run to their hearts content.  The next project is moving the does to the front field.  I let them out to graze there daily, but they are not confined in any way.  It is hard with the rain to get the fences up, although the ground is now very easy to put in the fence posts!

We hatched out eight baby Midget White turkeys, but only 6 have survived.  Hopefully we’ll get at least a few girls out of the bunch and will keep one or two toms by which to raise and maintain our flock.  And baby quail are hatching out by the handful.  I think we have about 15 now and 2 more just hatched out tonight.  They are no bigger than your thumb when they hatch, and then grow to about the size of an adult quail, maybe the size of a large fist.  We plan on stocking the freezer with the adult males we have now, and then raising the females for more eggs and offspring.  Hubby wants me to pickle the eggs, which I have never done before, but I’m open to anything now I guess.  Waste not; want not, our new motto.

We received three new Sebastopol goslings in the mail the other day from a friend in Paris TN.  They are so sweet!  They were raised around people so they love to follow us around.  Of course our girls won’t have anything to do with them.  Hopefully they will merge with them when they get a little bigger.  They are about a month old now.  We think we have two males and one female in the new babies.  The little girl was not eating for a couple of days, but took her to the vet and he recommended yogurt.  So 10cc later of vanilla yogurt and she is now eating today.  Yay!  She is smaller than her brothers, but loves to be with them.  When she was away from them she cried and gooty gooty’d at me until she was back with them.

My little girl graduates from PreK next Friday.  Seems like the other day we were at the hospital and holding her in my arms.  She was a week late and has always impressed me with how smart and perceptive she is.  Although when I reminded her that graduation was next Friday she promptly said YES…then asked what was graduation.  Ah children….J

Well our yard sale got postponed from tomorrow until next Saturday because of rain.  Will it ever stop!!! I finally got the garden planted…well most of it.  About 25 tomato plants put out, along with broccoli, okra, peppers, watermelon, and strawberries.  But it is so wet I have not had the chance to put out any seeds, like beans or corn.  They probably would have been washed away anyhow with all the rain.  I think last weekend up until Thursday we got over 8 inches.  And probably with this weekends storms it will be another 1-2 inches.  The ground is just saturated.  Makes up for the drought last year for sure.  At least the pond is holding water now.  After the drought it cracked and hasn’t held water since, but it keeps coming down so steadily now that it doesn’t have time to empty.

Cheetah our pot-bellied pig should be giving birth in the next few weeks.  We took her to our neighbor up the road who has an unrelated male and we’re pretty sure she is expecting now.  I have people asking me for babies so now I should be able to oblige.   She has had two litters in the past.  Eight babies one time and three the next, and we’ve never had enough to fill the orders.  These should be black and white spotted and should arrive before the middle of June.

If I don’t get time to update by blogging, you can follow me now on Facebook or Twitter.  I know.  I’m one of those who always say I won’t get snarled in the new internet fads.  But it makes it so easy to communicate and keep in touch with what is going on.  And I have to admit; following people such as Ben Stiller on Twitter is a hoot!  He just got his kids’ new pets.  Sea Monkeys.  Now I have to say we have never tried Sea Monkeys here at Critterhaven and probably never will.  Life is never dull.

It is much easier to write snippets on Twitter, so I will probably update it more frequently than my blog, but I promise to blog as often as possible too.

We just got a pair of Egyptian geese.  Now these guys are TRULY unusual looking.  They have a hissing noise rather than your usual honking like a goose does.  We should be able to breed them next year.

I am looking for new homes for my Australian Shepherd and Papillion.  We love them dearly, but they really need more attention than we are able to give them, and I think either one or both would be great at agility. 

I'd like to say a WONDERFUL thank you to Gail and her family, our friends in Alabama. We were sitting here one Sat. evening in the front yard enjoying the spring evening and lo and behold a car turned in pulling a trailer, and I just knew it was Gail.  They brought us a huge four paneled dog kennel, a lot of barn wood, tin, fence posts, even a chicken nesting box, one of those big two decker ones.   And did I mention the HUGE shade tarp? I can never thank Gail enough for the kindness she has shown my family.  And our little wether Phil went home with her to join her other little pet goats.  I know he’ll have a wonderful home.  She fosters children so they are well loved by her entire family.

And thank you for all the wonderful emails I receive weekly from friends and fans of Critterhaven.  I have met some wonderful people such as Gail and others whom I have been able to help and they have returned the favor.  During these times it helps to have folks who are going through the same things you are to bounce ideas off of and share our experiences with to help to make it easier on us all.

Until next time…hope you are enjoying spring as much as we are here at Critterhaven.

Susan

I Remember....

• I remember hiking across the field to the creek and fishing with my brother and his buddies, and the day the snake went over my foot while I was fishing on the bank
• I remember pulling potatoes off the roots while dad hoed them up in the garden
• I remember my brother curling up in the baby doll bed with my mommy doll (he denies it now)
• I remember the neighbors’ dog catching my brother’s blue Easter chick and running across the field with it while my brother ran behind screaming “Bluey, Bluey, Bluey!” . The neighbor later took care of the dog..said he had been looking for a reason to anyway.
• I remember climbing in the barn rafters
• I remember riding my horse out in the field, even though he would buck me off half of the time
• I remember dad riding said horse one time and getting bucked off, and never riding him again
• I remember having slumber parties in our old living room
• I remember Old Pat, the big cow that we kept to raise calves off of.  David, Susan, and Brian went to the freezer
• I remember being in the backfield with my dad and Papa, and the bull trying to run me down.  As I ran up the tree he slipped and fell, giving them a chance to get hold of him.
• I remember picking honeysuckle off the back fence and sucking the ‘honey’ out of the stems.
• I remember picking peaches in the orchard and eating them right off the trees
• I remember going to all the high school football games my senior year, and we won the State Championship that year
• I remember burying every one of the critters we ever had growing up under the big cedar tree in the side yard.  We always said some archaeologist in the future would think it was a ritualistic burial ground
• I remember when the momma dog had puppies, and we ended up taking them to the animal shelter, but keeping the odd one named “Gopher”
• I remember losing Gopher in the snow storm a week later
• I remember ever time we would try to see what Santa brought us the floor board in the hall giving us away with the creaking, and mom telling us to go back to bed
• I remember my room…I loved my room…and I loved decorating it and keeping it clean
• I remember sneaking out of my room through the window when my mom would lock us in there for something we did bad, and climbing into my brother’s room to play instead
• I remember the baby rabbit I kept for a summer in a bird cage, and then releasing him after a couple of month’s back out into the field
• I remember when they tore down the concrete front porch, and the copperhead snakes came out from under it, and jumping on the car while dad and the other guys killed them
• I remember at Christmas going and chopping down cedars for our trees, and then going to Grandma’s to let her pick out one…
• I remember the time Grandma got mad at me, and chased me under her bed from one side to the other…still can’t remember what about
• I remember my brother chasing my mom and aunt Kathy and I with the hose pipe around the back yard.  He got it when mom caught up with him.
• I remember making homemade ice cream with the old hand crank ice cream maker in the wooden bucket
• I remember my brother throwing a rock at the back of my head and having to go to the hospital.  He got it for that too.
• I remember eating at Grandma’s for every occasion…the family getting together. And my job was to go get the rolls.  And I absolutely hated sitting at the ‘side table’ with my cousin
• I remember fighting with my 3-year younger brother. But we would always wait until mom and dad were in the garden. Thinking they couldn’t hear us. But they always did
• I remember when we were robbed.  Mom walked in the door and said so calmly “We’ve been robbed”.  My brother yelled “My Star Wars stuff!” and I yelled “My Breyers!” Neither of which were stolen.  Dad’s rifle was sitting on the bar stool and the pistols that were his grandfather’s were gone.  The police said the robbers were probably scared off.
• I remember coming home after going to the hospital when my aunt had my cousin, and the tornado had hit our barn while the storms came while we were gone.
• I remember coming back from Nashville or Columbia at night after going out to eat, and WSM Grand Ole’ Opry on the radio.

All of these memories above are like flashes of memory.  I can remember them in detail if I stop and think about it, but they are like images on a video camera, cataloged in time in my mind.

But I remember more than anything one constant. Watching Dan Miller on the Scene at Six and Ten on WSMV Channel 4.  I remember Miller and Company.  And I remember Pat Sajak, Charlie Mac Alexander, Lonnie Lardner, Bill Hall, and all of the past cohorts of his that I grew up watching on the nightly news. 

Dan Miller passed away unexpectedly last Wed. of a heart attack.  He was in his hometown of Augusta Georgia covering the Masters tournament with his long time friends and co-workers Rudy Kalis and Terry Bulger.  He passed away doing what he loved and spending his last few hours and minutes with people who loved him.

Dolly Parton sent flowers to the church where his services are being held tomorrow with the message on the card reading "I Will Always Love You....Dolly Parton".  So did the Grand Ole Opry.  He was loved by all.

He will be missed, not only by myself who enjoyed reading his blog at Dan’s Notebook, but by thousands of viewers across the Middle Tennessee area who invited him into their homes night after night for nearly 40 years I guess.  I'm 42.

Rest in peace Dan Miller…you were trusted by all of us to bring us the news in an honest and non-biased manner, and you will always be thought of often and with warm thanks. 

There will never be another one like you...not in my lifetime.

Dan Miller

1941-2009

Oh what a beautiful day....

I'm aging fast.....but still getting babies.... ;-)

Sunday I was 42...wow.  Who would have thought it would happen.  I think back to high school and earlier, and wow.  I remember going to the creek with the boys carrying our bamboo fishing poles, and the time that I was sitting there and a snake ran over my foot.  Didn't know I could run so fast!

Well our little buckling Pendragon went to his new home on Saturday.  He is now the herdsire at  Pinnacle Hills Farm in NC.  We'll miss him, but we were buck poor around here!  Here I am saying goodbye...running my mouth, as usual!

But he probably could care less that he was leaving the pen with his brothers and sisters, because now he is the ladies man!  At home at Pinnacle Hills Goat Farm in North Carolina...thanks Mary for the update and pictures!!

My polled buck Lancelot wasn't feeling too well Sunday night.  Would not come out of the doghouse in the field so we put him up in the garage so I could monitor him and see what was wrong.  He had clumpy poop, but no fever, but a cough, so I fear he may be trying to take on pneumonia.  The crazy warm in then 60's one day near 70 and then down to below freezing at night.  Oh, I'm so ready for spring!  So he got a B12/Fortified B Complex shot and settled down to eating hay.  I'm holding him off grain for a few days until his gut settles.  Also started him on a 5 day treatment of Twin Pen SQ and oral Vitamin C and Molly's Herbals Immune Tincture, the latter of which he'll get 3x daily.  He LOVES the Vitamin C.  It's a liquid and smells like OJ.  He nearly sucks the entire syringe down his throat.  But he is much better this morning and the cough isn't as noticeable.  Last night it would last for a minute or so at a time.  He wants back outside, but I'm going to keep him up for at least a couple more days and then might move him up front with Cheetah the pig.  I think the bigger boys are pushing him around and I dare not lose another buck to head butting like we did Zorro.   Oh the hazards of goat care, and OH FOR THAT BARN!

Well, I knew it would happen.  I've been herd surfing.  Know what that is?  Checking out other people's herds and drooling.  Oh, it never fails to happen.  We already had plans to purchase a doeling from Creekside Farm if the breeding I wanted resulted in a blue eyed girl.  Guess what?  TWIN Blue eyed flashy doelings!!!  Just my luck..right?   So little "Creekside Farm S Blue Twilight" is on her way to us in a couple of weeks.  She is an adorable little bottle girl, so we are getting her in about 2 weeks or so.  Picture courtesy of Creekside Farm in KY:

And we can't just have all girls here now can we?  We have 3 boys now.  2 of Zorro's, whom we cannot breed to their sisters, and then Lancelot, who will have some daughters on the ground in a month or so.  So we went looking for an unrelated blue eyed buckling.  And we found one!  This handsome little man is out of Oldesouth Farm in AL.  Flash, genetics, dairy, blue eyes, this boy has it all!!  We hope to name him "Oldesouth SF Blue Maverick".

 Just listen to this: This little guy is a grandson of PGCH/MCH/CH Little Tots Estate Tsuga and PGCH/MCH/CH SM3Pines JurEn’s Swell Foop on his dam's side, and on his sire's side Woodhaven Farms Rand McNally and Little Tot's Estate Euphorbia are his grandparents.  His great grandsire on his sire's side is also PGCH/MCH/CH SM3Pines JurEn’s Swell Foop. LOTS of great genetics and udder capacity behind this little guy!! He will be arriving sometime in March.

I'm looking at plans for different barns and trying to put together exactly what we want to build.  Since we will be doing most of the work ourselves I want it to be simple but functional.  About 4-6 stalls and another room for hay storage and then one for the milk stand.   I saw one the other day I liked and then a new friend down in GA has the exact same thing I like but built with metal where I want to build ours with wood.  This is from Green Acres Goat Farm in GA.  You'll fall in love with her site!

I hope to have something started by mid April. 

Okay...now for what I'm doing to make the money spread thin right now go further.  Well to start, we are not buying anything at the that isn't on sale.  Today I went to Krogers and bought meat.  I bought 2 pot roast kits with the meat and all the fixin's marked down from $14.99 to $7.49.  Goes out of date on the 26th.  Then I bought 2 whole hens for less than $4 each.  Once again, marked down.  6 packages of precooked precut turkey strips for $1.49 each, marked down from $2.99 each.  And then some ham sandwich meat on sale for $1.49, well for $38 I have main entree for the next 2 weeks, plus my hubby has enough for lunch the next day too.

I also make sure we always have plenty of the staples, when they are on sale of course.  Rice, pastas, flour, and dried beans.  I can always supplement with these things.  And of course now that I have my freezer I can stock up on anything that is perishable on sale, and only buy canned when it is on sale.  And sugar...we always keep sugar on hand...which reminds me..I have to go get some today...

But I now have a new favorite place to shop.  There is a discount store in town which has been here for about 2 years now, but I just went there about two months ago.  It is called S & D Warehouse, and boy is it thrift shopping at it's best!!  Groceries, clothing, office supplies, furniture, housewares, you name it, it is there!!  From name brand to little known brand.  Sometimes the cans may be dented or the items slightly out of date, but for the most part it's simply things which now have new packaging so the old packaging was pulled off the shelf.  Nothing wrong with it, just not the new style now.  Or it's a discountinued product.  Like I found a 24 pack of fruit cups, which the kids love, in the cans, for $2.49.  That is 10cents a can.  At the store they were about 59cents a can.  I bought 2 cases.  Then I found frozen tilapia breaded fish for $1.49...same thing at Krogers was $3.99.  No need for coupons there...I don't even know if they take them or not.  No need. 

I shop for clothes at our local Good Samaritan.  Unlike Goodwill, they are open one day a week and have volunteer help only, so no payroll overhead, so their prices are lower.  Plus they give to needy groups in the area, and if someone has a fire the families can come in and shop for free.  They are really a wonderful and giving group of folks.  But to pay for their rent and utilities they operate the store.  I have found antiques, name brand clothing, shoes, household wares, just about anything there.  Some I've sold on ebay for a profit, some we have used.  I purchased a few dresses for church there today.  And childrens toys are free for the taking.  Last week we got 3 Littlest Pet Shoppe playhouses, for free!  my daughter was thrilled.  My son's buddy is Mr. Wilfred who works there with his wife.  He just loves him and when we drive by he says "Wilfffferd!!!

And then finally we are turning lights out when we leave a room.  I turned the heat down to 68 all the time.  We just wear long sleeves in the house too.  I'm anxious to see if it makes a difference on the electric bill, especially since last month it was $311!!!

Sent off our taxes.  We actually get a refund...whoohoo.  Not a big one, but every little bit helps.  Course it is spent already paying off existing bills, but it will be nice to not have those over our heads.  Then we will plan on building the barn!!  My petsitting picked up over last year, so those funds will go toward the construction...along with the sale of spring kids.

Looks like the stimulus bill will help us some.  We fall under the part about the Mortgage Modification.  So I'm getting all the necessary documents and paperwork together so that after March 4th we can contact our mortgage company and get something worked out.  You have no idea what a stress reliever this will be.  We don't want money help.  We only want more reasonable terms where we can afford what we have.  I'm not asking Uncle Sam to give me a handout.  We work for what we have, but I am asking my  mortgage company to be reasonable and see exactly what we can afford and work with us to that end. They don't want the house back, and we want to keep it, so it makes sense to work with us instead of against us.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Well I guess that is it for now.  I'm so ready for spring!!  The girls are due to start kidding in about 3 weeks, so we'll be busy.  I'm trying to get the house cleaned up so I can concentrate on the outside as soon as it gets warmer.  The trailer that we moved over here from my father in laws place after he passed away has to be emptied, then I am going to convert it into a place for the does with their kids.  I think I can put about 3 stalls in it where they can come and go.  It sits in the area we are fencing in for the does in the side yard, so it will work out right and we won't have to move it or build them anything over there.  We need to work on it some, but it is water tight on the roof, and when they lifted it to the blocks it settled some, but it will work for now.  The barn is proposed for the other field.

Take care until next time....

Jack playing keep away from the cat....

The dangers of playing keep away by yourself....

Okay mom...it's not THAT funny...

Yes it was!!!!

Susan

Winter is STILL here...but we've been busy...

Time sure flies.  Nearly an entire month has passed in the blink of an eye, but it seems like the other day when I was posting before.  But as I look back I realize lots of things have happened.

We added another pyrenees to our guard dog family.  Jack Frost joined our LGD’s, but he isn’t too happy about it.  He can find the smallest hole and get out.  Or rather, he will just climb the fence!  But he is WONDERFUL with the kids.  The two legged ones.  He is usually so intent on getting out of the field that he isn’t paying any attention to the goat kids.  But he is smart, already knowing his name in about 3 days, and he has learned the feeding routine.  He loves Snow, our female LGD, but we are keeping him away from Aslan for now since both are males.  Aslan is neutered, but I think he still knows Jack is a boy.  He hasn’t accepted him like he did Snow.  He took to her the first day.  I want him to grow a little more and we will put him in with Aslan, with supervision of course.

And we adopted three Suffolk sheep!! The rescue they came from is moving to FL and their foster mom was afraid they could not handle the FL summers, so now they reside at Critterhaven.  We plan on raising bottle lambs from the two females, and the male is fixed so he is just a big pet.  They are all 3 about 2 years old, and all 3 are siblings.  I have a friend who raises Suffolks in Chapel Hill, and we plan on breeding them fall of this year to have spring lambs in 2010.  We named the adults Bubba, Cotton, and Candy.  They are sweet and a little skittish, but very curious, especially when I am working on their makeshift shelter.  It covers them from the rain, and they have thick coats to protect them from the cold.  When we move them to their permanent pasture up front when the weather warms up we will be building a large lean to from the scrap barn we tore down to protect them from the weather.

Then we moved Cheetah to the old buck pen, which has since served as  the temporary pen for the LGD rescue boys we still have.  We moved them to separate adjacent pens so they could both eat in peace.  Then Cheetah is very happy with her move to the large pen that was the buck pen, but will be our large garden this spring.  Oh I cannot WAIT!  I already have plans for some PVC bean poles and trellises – my dad runs a plumbing and hardware store in town so I have plenty at my disposal at cost J

I moved my silkies to the front pen.  They were loose, free roaming about the yard, but after the hawks have decimated our loose pigeon population (from twelve now down to one) I feared the silkies were next.  They are not happy about it, and I’m hoping our two foster LGD’s won’t get loose and get to them, but for now they will just have to bear with me and stay confined until the weather gets warmer and I can expand the pen they are in.  They will be happy later this summer as their pen borders the garden and I plan on throwing them the extras from the garden.   This year I hopefully will have lots of babies to sell as normally we end up loosing them to the hawks and weather and now they will have a more permanent and safe haven for raising babies.  I have sold off the ‘mutts’ of the bunch and now have some really nice toppy and feather legged girls and boys to raise from.  My white ones are definitely show quality and should pass these traits onto their offspring.

And as far as the goats go, we are preparing for our spring kidding beginning in March.  Three girls are due then, and in the weeks to follow.  We don’t have near as many due this year as we sold off so many, but we are keeping all of our girls, so this time next year our breeding numbers should be up.  All with the Critterhaven Farm herd name!!!  I am anticipating the kiddings from Little Wishes and Flanary Keepsake Farm, and possibly one from Creekside Farm in Ky if the breeding results in a doeling.   In other words, we will be goat poor again, AND the estrogen level around here will be through the roof!  I  love my goats, and will never NOT have them here.

I’m also looking at adding a non related blue eyed buckling if he is available.  This way I’ll have a flashy blue eyed buck to breed to all the doelings I’m keeping when they reach breeding age.

I heard someone say today ( I listen to talk radio mostly)  about how people are ‘laying in store’.  They said that maybe the bumper crop of fruits and veggies we had last year wasn’t just a fluke.  That maybe things were given to us for a reason.  So that with these hard times and the way the economy is going that we should lay by in store as much as we could.  I couldn’t help but think that is exactly what happened.  That we were being warned to some degree after the drought from the year before and the poor crops, that last year was a blessing and we should accept it as such.  I plan on doing the same this year if we are so blessed again.

Oh the weather was so nice today…the temp is supposed to be around 65…but with storms.  But then the cold hits again, with temps in the 30’s.  BRRR….! I am SO ready for spring!  Not only have I started working on garden plans and layout, but I’m also looking at plans for our barn.  This IS the year for it.  We plan on using the old three stall barn we tore down a couple of years ago for lean to’s on the property.  But what we are going to do is build a pole barn of sorts.  We can frame and wire and water it, but my only thing is roofing it.  I’m scared to death of heights, and don’t know enough about making sure of the pitch of the roof and the weight load to make sure it is all proper, so we’ll have to hire someone for that part of it.  I want it to have four stalls, two for kidding, one for the kids, and one for a milking/feeding stall.   One story with a small loft for a few bales of hay.  We keep alfalfa for the girls and don’t keep a lot at a time but just enough for them.  We have the red building, but we use it mostly for storage, and I need to get the Mennonites to put a new roof on it this year, as it leaks.

Speaking of alfalfa, I had a new feeder built for me by a man in Alabama.  Very nice and sturdy.  His boer goats couldn't knock it over, so I knew my ND's couldn't.  He even shortened it for my nigies.  I'm moving it to the corner of the garage so that when we fence in the girls in the side yard they will have access to the hay without me having to go into the field.  AND they don't waste any this way either, very important with alfalfa hay!

Somehow someway we have to make the house payment on Friday.  I know we can.  We always do.  I just hate worrying about it.  Someday it will all be caught up and this place will be ours.  I know that or I would not be making plans otherwise.  When I knew we needed money this week and wasn’t sure where it was going to come from, my petsitting picked up for the week.  Two weeks ago I had no jobs lined up, and now this week I have about six petsitting jobs.  My ebay auctions did great for last week and I plan on running some more tomorrow to end on Sunday.  And the thrift stores are helping.  One in particular knows what I look for and is helping me out by letting me know what is available early and before anyone else.  Today I found four old martini glasses, two cherry what not shelves, two lead crystal lamps, and two old lamps from the 70’s.  Just enough to double my money on and sell on our local tv station’s tradetime show Thursday night. 

I can’t help but think how our farm has changed since we moved here nearly four years ago.  We started out with our mixed herd of Nigerian and mini Nubian goats.  We sold out the mini Nubians due to too many goats and I could not bear to lose my beloved Nigerians.  But then we had to downsize them and now I have the small herd that I love and can manage.  We’ll be adding 2-3 doelings this year from other farms, but no adult does unless the two I sold previously that we have first dibs to buy back from a fellow breeder of mine decides to sell them.  And we’ll keep our doelings and possibly a blue eyed buckling from our own herd during spring kidding.  We sold off the llamas because of the time and money it was taking to manage them.  I saw one down the road at a neighbors farm today, and thought of the ones we had here.  Gertie is just as pretty as she was when she was here, and is loving living with the mini horses she is with now.

We are not raising pot bellied pigs right now, but I’m not ruling that out in the future.  We loved having the babies, and there was always a demand for them.  Cheetah loves being a mother, and she is a good one, but I just hate having a non neutered male on the property.   So we’ll either have to work out having her bred elsewhere, or else no more baby pot bellied piglets. 

We thought once about having ostriches here, and we did have Proud Mary, but until we can get a pen built apart from the goats and strictly for the ostriches, that will be put on hold also.

And oh how QUIET it is now in the yard compared to how it used to be.  It used to be OH so loud outside, and now….not so much.  I mean there is still the quacking of ducks, the occasional goose holler, the guineas hollering ‘pot rack’, and only about 20 roosters compared to over 100 at one time.

Yes, the farm has shrunk in the amount of animals here, but it is still Critterhaven.  Still home.  Still the place where my kids were born and raised.  Still the place where no matter how many creditors are calling I can sit in the yard and forget that much of the world for awhile.  If I did not have it I do not know what I would do.  We could let it go back to the mortgage company and things would be so much easier.  Less stress.  Less money going out.  But oh me oh my, much oh much less joy in this life.

And the wonderful wonderful friends I have met along the way.  Whether they have bought goats from us, or just stopped by to say hello.  The ones that even tho they have their own troubles they still bring us food and fellowship.  I can never thank everyone enough that has helped and prayed for and with us during the past few years.

I can say that Critterhaven is here to stay, no matter what.  I came up with the name back in the 70’s when I was collecting Breyer model horses as a teenager.  And it as stuck.  There has to be a reason that this farm came to fruition.  I just say the name and people either say “oh yeah,  that is the goat lady isn’t it?’ or “They do dog and cat rescue don’t they?”  I even get “I see that sign on her truck driving through town all the time!” J!!  It’s nice to be known, and for the good things we do too.  I just hope I pass it all down to my kids one day and are around to see the good they continue to do here, with the Nigerian dwarf breed of goats and the herdname, and with the animal rescue.  After all, Critterhaven is for the animals.  That is how it started and how it continues today and tomorrow.

I’ll cover what we are doing to save $$ in the next blog since this one pretty much has taken up all of my time about the farm.

Okay, reading back over this I do tend to ramble, but I also get told that people like my ramblings, so I won’t apologize, but I’ll just say….

Until next time and thanks for reading…

Susan

Brrr...and home sweet home....and usual ramblings...

It snowed the other day and we’re expecting freezing rain and ice tonight.  Not a lot, but it is in the forecast.  Hopefully it will stay north of us.  My 5 year old is upset though.  She is afraid there won’t be any school tomorrow too.  Probably the only kid who is not wanting snow, but school instead.  This is a picture off the back deck after the snow.  Can't wait until warm weather so I can get outside and clean up my yard!

Well I’m down to 187 lbs.  Yippee!!! Not only do I feel better, but my clothes fit better too.  I’m eating breakfast in the morning.  Special K or a whole wheat bagel, and for lunch a salad usually, like today.

Still eating on my kid’s plates.  Cuts the portions and I still clean my plate.  Supper tonight will be chicken.  It’s in the crock pot now.  The refrigerator freezer in the garage got unplugged over the weekend, so now I had to cook up about 8 chicken breasts at once before they ruined.   So I’ll debone and BBQ it tonight.  We can eat on that for days then.

The good news is I got a new…well new to me….upright freezer.  I had a small chest one, but I kept losing stuff in the bottom of it.  It is hard to organize a chest one.  It was only about 7 cubic foot, but I still would lose things in the bottom, forgetting I had bought something like frozen fries, then finding them 6 months later when I had created a hole and saw them on the bottom.  So my goal was to find an upright one, no matter how old….and I did!  Within 2 days a guy called me and he had one sitting outside, I went and saw it, and the next day hubby brought it home to me…YAY!  You know you are grown up when you are thrilled with a used freezer.  I can’t wait until freezing/canning season starts again!  My brother is getting my chest freezer, so the upright cost me nearly nothing.

Speaking of canning/freezing.  It is time to start looking at garden catalogs, and I have been.  My new fav veggie will be sweet taters as my son calls them.  I have one at least every other night.  My son and I are the only two in the family who like them.  So DH and my daughter get a regular baked one.  I love the sweet potatoes because I can put them in the microwave in a paper towel, and about 5 minutes later they are done.  A little low cal butter and a spoonful of brown sugar and they are delicious!  I also want to add some grapevines to the area.  I’m planning on putting the garden where the bucks were the past couple of years.  The area is fenced and on a slope, and with the tiller our friends in AL gave us we should be able to do a fine garden this year.  After container gardening last year I ended up buying as much from the local farmers market as I grew.  I want to change those percentages this year and grow more here.  There is nothing like opening a jar or box of your own fixin’s.  I opened a jar of peaches to eat on my cereal this morning.  Much better than the store bought kind!

I have got to share this shelter we built for the goats before it got so cold.   When I heard it was getting down to the single digits last week, I knew we had to do something.  So a friend of mine, Kathy of Parham Farm in West TN, had built this shelter for her goats.  I decided to do it for ours.  It consists of a fencing panel, about 20 foot long, insulation, and a couple of tarps.  We placed ours in the lean-to in the kidding pen.  The good thing about this shelter is, it is portable.  This spring we will move it to another part of the side field pen and put it between some Tposts to brace it.  We had the fence panel, taken down from the pen where we had the feeder pigs.  Then I got a strip of insulation from my dad’s hardware store.  We put that over the arched panel, then put two tarps over that, being careful to tuck them under the ends of the panels so that no draft could get under it.  I will add another panel parallel to this one this spring, as well as add a back panel and insulation to the backside of this.  Thank you to Kathy and her wonderful website for this idea!  It really does work very well!  They all stayed nice and warm during the cold cold weather.  And the kids were all in the garage, on bedding and hay, under heat lamps.  They stayed warm the entire time. We had one incident of someone, I think Snow, our pyrenese/komondor pup, pulling the heat lamp down.  A could of the kids got to close and we had some singed hair, but now Snow is out in the field with Aslan, and she absolutely loves it.  I think next time we get a pup I won’t start them with the kids, but  rather the older ones.  She has realized now they are not playthings, but instead they are bigger and can knock her.  She has a new admiration for them now.

We have yet to pay the December mortgage.  DH just went back to work on Monday after being laid off since before Christmas.  He worked at my dad’s shop, but doesn’t make there what he does at the plant. So of course we have been on a tight tight budget.  Petsitting has paid for gas and the utility bills, but not much more.  I dread talking to the mortgage company.  Not because of having to speak with them…it would just be nice if it were not outsourced to India and if the person on the other end could speak enough English to understand them.  And the act of reading from a script rather than putting any emotion into the conversation, well let’s just say I hate calling them.  But tomorrow I will, and set up the payments for December and January and February, and just hope we can meet them.  Income tax season cannot get here fast enough.  Just waiting on the W2’s.

We have started eating every meal here at home.  DH is even taking his meal to work daily.  We were doing it some, but not on a regular basis.  Now we are.  I went to town at noon to petsit, and the kids wanted to stop at McD’s.  But we didn’t.  Came home and fixed them a turkey sandwich, and I had my usual salad.  With the freezer, the pantry, and what we have here, we should not have to eat out for months.  I have some gift certificates to use around town, and I can honestly say that is the only eating out we will be doing!  I have a friend who on Sunday sits down and lists what the family will be eating for the entire week on a bulletin board in the kitchen.  I don’t have the bulletin board, but I have started making the list, and it is so wonderful to know what is coming up.  I can not only plan my day, but my week too.

And now for my weekly list.  Today was spent catching up on emails from the weekend.  I very rarely get online on the weekend, so come Monday there are usually about 500 emails to download. I subscribe to a lot of yahoo groups, mainly  homesteading/goat/recipe ones.  So that was done today.  Then after I finish this entry, which I plan on doing bi weekly at least, I am listing some church/Christian books to ebay, along with some items I didn’t sell prior to Christmas.  I had some inquiries too about a couple of goats for sale and some of the hutches and pens for sale, so looks like I’ll be online for a bit tonight.  But first I’ll go to town and sell on our local TV station’s TV Tradetime tonight.  Then back to selling on ebay.

I've got to throw in this picture of my silky babies.  They are about 8 weeks old now and just as tame as can be.  I don't know what I'll do when we have to move them outside.  Right now they are in the pen, but run out when we open it to feed them and hop around the floor.  With my luck they will be all boys!  We'll use them in the educational petting zoo we are hoping to start up in the next year or so.

All in all things are going okay...not wonderful…but I still can say I love my life.  I never thought a few months ago I’d be saying that.   Spring is around the corner.  The house will be caught up in a couple of months, and despite the cold’s otherwise everyone is healthy and well in our family.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss my goats in detail and what my new money saving techniques are.  I can’t believe how much I save now!

Until next time….and thanks for reading.

Susan

Another Year...Another Resolution...NOT....

As I started writing to today’s blog, I deleted and rewrote about three times.  Finally in the end I decided to write what I began in the beginning….much of it due to the fact I’m sitting here watching The Biggest Loser and realizing I never want to qualify for that show.  Not because I probably don’t already.  Not because I don’t believe in it, or sit here in awe of the folks who are on it.  Their courage and stamina are amazing.  But mainly because of the failures in my life that have caused me to have to need to consider it.  I sit here saying I’m not as big as they are, but at the same time I realize I could be.  Eat a little more, dessert every night, more soda than I do drink…I’d be there.  First you say, “it’s just 5 more pounds.”  Then it becomes, “ I can lose it anytime.”  Then the excuses are gone, and you are just fat and overweight.  Forget political correctness.  Fat is fat.  Let’s call it what it is. 

What changed it for me?  My kids.  No, I can’t say that. I’m not doing it for them.  I’m doing it for me.  “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.”  “For 2009, you have to make time for yourself.”  Yes, quoting Dr. Phil and Oprah there.  Hey, if Oprah can do it so can I.

So far?  Down from a high of 195 to now 192.  Hey, every little bit counts.  Special K in the morning…change from my usual either not eating breakfast, or a quick drive thru at McD’s for a bacon and biscuit, with cheese of course.  Lunch is a salad and a small something else, like sandwich or today spaghetti, about 1 cup.  And supper tonight..I’m

SO proud of myself.  I’m using my kid’s divided plate to lessen my portions, AND I only ate ½ of the burger I had fixed.  On whole wheat bread.  But then I had one cup mac and cheese and ½ cup pork and beans. I know…not exactly low in calories so that is why I cut the portions.  Still eating what I love, just less of it.  No dessert.  No roll.  Tea to drink.  And I only had ½ of a soda today.  The other beverages were the mix in bottle drinks of green tea and energy drink.  Okay, so I just had an English muffin.  A whole wheat English muffin thank you, with strawberry butter on it to finish (like jam but not).  A little at a time, that is my goal.  AND planning meals.  That seems to help.  I’ve never done that before.

What is the magic number?  I’m not sure.  I was fit in 1999 at a weight of 135.  Size 4/6.  But I think that is too low.  I was more anorexic than fit I think.  About 145-150 is more doable and more fit for my body I believe, so that is the goal.  Size 6/8.  And more maintainable I think.

This is the year for me.  As soon as this rain finishes…the walking begins.  We live on a rural road and it is 8/10ths of a mile to the highway.  Walking shoes, here I come!  I love walking, and now have an MP3 player (yard sale) to help me out. 

Now as for the farm, there are more resolutions.  No, I wasn’t going to use that word and I still won’t.  Let’s call them plans.  Okay, so here are the plans for 2009 for the farm.  GET A BARN OF SOME KIND BUILT.  I don’t care if it is a teepee.  I will have a barn.  I mean, the garage is working fine for the babies, but once spring kidding comes we’ll need stalls, and room for moms and babies.  I need a barn, and we’ll have something if I have to frame and build it myself.  Plan 2 is getting the front field fenced.  In stages tho, not all at once like I’ve tried to do in the past.  That is where I failed.  A little at a time, in smaller pens, is best.

Plan 3 is for the rescue part of Critterhaven.  Regardless of whether we get any funding from donations this year, I plan on getting the trailer ready for a kennel type area.  I just have to get my brother in law to remove his things, then do some renovating and it will work so that I don’t have to turn as many away this year.  This plan might not be as doable as the others, but I’m going to try.

What am I listening to right now?  My Twilight CD.  Hubby and I went to see themovie “Twilight” on Dec. 12.  I started reading the books on Dec. 23^rd.  I finished reading all 4 of them, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, on Dec. 29^th.   Am I addicted?  Yes, but not to Twilight.  More to the incredible writing of the former stay at home mom that wrote the series.  Same as I am to JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series.  Yes, I can be young at heart sometimes.  But I am in awe of someone who can spit out stories like that and make a success of it.   I dream of doing that.  I have stories happen every day here on the farm.  If I can just put them down on paper, or laptop as it were, I could be there.  And I plan on it.  Just have to move them from my head to the medium of choice.  I did some fanfic when I was younger, and was told it was good.  Let’s just hope I still have it in me. 

My fav TV show right now?  CHUCK.  I absolutely LOVE it.  Makes me want to go into Best Buy, which I did the other day looking for the Twilight CD, and I couldn’t find it  there, but I couldn’t help giggling the entire time I was in there, especially when I saw the Geek Squad mobile. 

My fav activity right now?  Actually, looking forward to walking….I remember years  ago when I got to go at lunch time at work and I loved it.  I want to get that feeling back.

And my hubby and my New Year’s plan for ourselves?  Okay…call this one a resolution.    Or maybe a goal.  To never go to bed angry at one another, and to make time for family and for us.  I can honestly say I fell in love again all over with my DH over the holidays.  Not because of gifts or the spirit of Christmas, but one night, after the first of the year, we stayed up until 3am in the dark..just talking.  We swore from then on we would be honest and open with each other.  And would you believe how liberating and how eye opening honesty can be and how amazing.  I am so grateful and so honored to have my DH and my children in my life.  God is truly blessing us.  We may not realize it when we struggle with the mortgage, or when we lose a critter or have to sell some of them to help pay the bills, but when kidding season is upon us, or when we are together as a family, it is there, and we just have to open our eyes to see it.

Well enough of plans and goals and likes.  We are looking forward to kidding season here on the farm.  Again.  Babies should start arriving in March, our first time with a polled buck.  I can’t wait to see what we get.  I have people wanting does, but we won’t have any of them available until Fall 2009.  It will be so fun to see what we get this year.  We acquired a doe from Kay at Blessed Assurance Farm, a blue eyed tri color with great genetics.  Ms. Carrie On then decided once she got here she wanted a boyfriend, so Lancelot provided her with one.  Her kids should be due somewhere around June 6^th.

Then we’ve been promised a doeling from our previous baby Brandi from Ms. Lanita at Flanary Keepsake Farm in Ky.  This will be Zorro’s and Auralia’s great grand daughter.  Okay, so I’m still sentimental in trying to keep Zorro’s spirit here at our farm.  Then from our sale of Susanne to Little Wishes Farm and Ms. Teresa we are anticipating a doeling for the fall kidding.  Let’s hope this is a girl year instead of a buck one like last year!

And here in my house, right now, I have 3 little silky chicks we are raising.   My hen decided to hatch hers out in the bitter cold.  6 little chicks.  And now I have 3 left here about 3 weeks later.  Another plan for this year is to get a real pen built for the silkies. 

I am so happy with 2009 already.  Instead of hoping the year is better than last, I’m going to do my best to make it so.  Change cannot be brought about by our government or others, but by ourselves.

Happy New Year, and happy life.

Love, Life, and Thanksgiving...

I was in Good Samaritan this morning, and all of the sudden my phone rings.  It's my hubby, and I just knew he was calling to tell me that they are only working 4 days again this week, and that he'll be off work again on Friday, after being shut down last week all week long.  Great.....

"Happy Anniversary", he said as I answered.  I was stunned.  I NEVER forget our family date.  Kids birthdays, parents birthdays, holidays, I remember them all.  But I forgot today.  I have been so wrapped up in figuring out ways to make money to pay the mortgage, I completely forgot.  We usually have a date out planned, but with money being, well, not here, this year we decided to combine his birthday on the 12th and our anniversary and go eat out at a later date and go to a movie, with granny keeping the kids.   So yes, I forgot my first anniversary in 6 years.  Happy 6th Anniversary hubby.  I love ya!

In today's day and time, I never believed in the kindness of strangers.  I mean really, take a look around you.  I'm a news junkie, and DH loves the fact (NOT) that every time he gets in the car he has to move the radio off talk radio.  And most of what you hear, like over the weekend with the tragedy at Walmart in VA I think, is everyone is out for themselves.  Well I'm here to tell you...NOT SO.  Last year a lovely family in AL purchased one of my baby goats.   Then she called me this year to help her sell her goat herd.  I did so eagerly and willingly, because she is a fellow goat person, and because she is one of the most caring people (and her hubby too) that I have ever had the opportunity in this life to meet. 

Then this past week, this wonderful caring family came to pick up a couple of the goats which had not sold, and unbeknowst to myself brought a trailer full of food...for us.  Four full boxes, a chest cooler full, and a wonderful ham.   

Then a tiller for our spring/summer garden next year on top of it all.  And what did she say as I stood there stunned?  "Merry Christmas".  I have never in my life experienced such generosity and compassion as this family has shown to us.   We truly gave thanks this Thanksgiving, and will continue to do so.  With friends so dear to us, I know we are not alone in our cares and concerns as we struggle through this life...one day at a time.  Gail, you and your family mean the world to us, and you know we are always here if you need us also.  Words cannot express what your gifts have meant to us during this time.  Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.

I can't help but think our giving daily on freecycle to someone who might need something, kid's clothes and toys, and today two computer printers and a monitor, might be playing a part in all of this somewhere.  The phrase "what goes around comes around" keeps playing in my mind.  I will continue to daily find something to give away.  My house is becoming less cluttered by the day, but my heart is full.

The kids are so excited.  It wonderful seeing Christmas through the eyes of our 2 and 4 year old.  The spirit of Christmas is so alive in them as we put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  My only concern this year is where to get my daughter a unicorn?  *g*  I've tried explaining they are not real, but she has 'seen them on tv' so she knows they are.  *sigh*

My plan was to sell daily on ebay until Christmas.  Heaven knows I have enough stuff to do so.  But time is passing swiftly, so today that is the plan.  That and finish the Christmas decorating.  Time to go let the girls out now to graze.  Yesterday they were confined to the pen with hay since it was raining, and while it isn't warm today it's just misting snow, so they will go out in that.  I hate leaving the babies up in the stall, but I don't want to risk any pneumonia this time of year.  Next warm day they can go out.  I still have a few bucklings for sale, but if they are not sold by mid February I'll probably end up wethering them and selling them as pets.  All but 2 of them.  One I know we are keeping to replace Zorro, the other is so gorgeous in coloring and conformation we will keep him as a buckling and use him for some of our future does. 

I'm going to move Mamba into the pen with Rider and have her bred to him for spring.  I don't think Lancelot has bred her yet, but he seems to have covered everyone else.  That pairing gave us little Misty, and I'd like to get those same genetics again.  And maybe Paris.  She seems to be coming in, and since we still own her I'd like to get a doeling from her.  I'm going to remove her and Sierra from the sales list, and keep them on as breeding does.  I was going to retire Paris and Auralia, but they so love being moms, so I will instead just watch them physically and make sure they are okay to be bred.  Since we switched where our hay came from, they are doing much better.  I'm afraid either the sage content was too high in the other, or we were getting no nutrition from it at all.  

A couple of the kids we disbudded this year are showing some signs of scurring, so I'm going to have to pick a day and re-disbud them.  Oh, I hate the smell of burning and their cries, but it has to be done.  We are reworming this week as a preventative measure and finishing up our third round of coccidia preventative treatments.  A couple of them have gotten leary of me at night.  I learned something new.  Do not treat for coccidia when you are giving them a bottle...not at the same time.  The milk counter acts the medicine.  Never knew that before, but it explains alot about why it didn't seem to work in the past.  So now I give the medicine at supper time, and then go out and give their pm bottle around 10pm at bedtime.  Working wonderfully that way.

The two new, although old faces to Critterhaven, pups in the front field, are doing well.  They were two of our anatolian/pyrenese pups born here on the farm months ago.  Now we are finding them new homes, and I'm in the process of putting them on my petfinder page along with the shih tzu/lhapso mix pups this week.  I have got to get that done in case someone is looking for a couple for Christmas.

So today I'm filled with thankfullness still, and loving every bit of my life, even tho the November mortgage hasn't been paid, and the vet bills are still outrageous, and bill collectors are constantly calling.  Things always work out, somehow, someway.   It's amazing I feel this peaceful today with that over my head.  But the kids are healthy and well fed, my husband still has his job even tho they are cutting hours and others around us are losing theirs (another plant just announced their closing in town), and I have about 5 bins full of items to price and go to my booth at the antique mall just in time for Christmas.  I truly believe we will be okay, and whether it is ignorance on my part, or just plain stubborness, everything will work out in the end.  It always has and always does.

God Bless You and Keep You

Susan

Welcome to my world....

I have used this phrase often, mostly when talking to my hubby.  Like last night.  He got home from work, I was fixing supper and in and out with the goats, the kids were fussing with each other, and the dogs were chasing the kitten.  And poor little Noah had pooped his diaper.  He finally said, "It's crazy around here!"  And I said.....

"Welcome to my world."

I had brought the pups into the house from their pen in the garage to take pics to put them on my petfinder site, and Keesha our senior keeshond was in the house, and she is in dire need of a hair trim, our newest kitten Fridge was in here (named so because she can't seem to stay out of it), and then of course the usual house dogs Cricket the terrier, Bea the papillon, and Heidi the Aussie were in here.  Oh, and then there is Hawk the 2 year old black cat.    Not to count the cockatiel and the hamsters (were 2, now about 16), and the fish.  I think that gets all that is supposed to be in here.  Anyway, somehow I managed to tackle some of the mess in our 1500 sq. foot home even with all this.  And he thinks it's chaos.  To me it is commotion but when it isn't here I can't function.  I think there is a name for that...probably some kind of disorder.

With the rash of burglaries in the area lately, I'm kinda glad to have my own alarm system here at the house.  You don't dare walk in unannounced.  You are greeted with barks and growls.  Thank goodness.  And that doesn't even cover Aslan the pyranese outside.  Our goat guard.  Times are hard and it appears people are resorting to any means to make a buck.

Me, I'm on ebay today...honestly I might add.  Dr. Phil had on a couple yesterday that made about 15K on ebay monthly by selling stolen goods they had shoplifted.  I can't imagine making that...even on an honest dime.  I'm happy with my little chip of the block.  So today so we will have some money for the kids Christmas I am selling on ebay.  My daughter has asked Santa for bunk beds since we have moved her brother into her room and made his room a playroom.  They are 2 and 4.  We are okay this way for now.  And now we can reach them in case of fire in their beds at night without the toys all over the room blocking our paths!  Today I'm also planning on taking 2 - 55 gallon trashbags to their rooms and clearing out the 'old toys' they don't play with anymore.  i'll bet I can repackage some and they would think they were new!  This Christmas will be lean, but I plan on making up for it with homemade cooking, decorating the tree with the entire family, and truly making it a more traditional Christmas.  One they can remember, with friends and family coming over throughout the season.

To add to the chaos I've picked out paint for our bedroom and bath, and the living room and my computer area.  I'm so tired of the pastel pink/peach that is in here....country look I am not.  So for the bedroom I chose a purple called Sensuality and a green for the bath called Emerald Isle.  Can't decide for the living room yet...either a brick red or a brownish red.   Guess what we'll be doing over Thanksgiving!  Not hitting Black Friday I guarantee.  DH is off all work....another plant shutdown to try to save the company...but we'll take shifts working at the family business that week to still bring in income.  The other days....ebay.

I still need to mark my items for my booth at the local antique mall.  Hopefully by Christmas that will generate a little more income also.  If the weather would cooperate I'd love to have one final yard sale, but alas, with it 40 or below...not many people are in the mood to yard sale.

I have done really well on my promise to give away at least one thing daily.  Today I had sold my wet vaccuum but found 2 bottles of the floor cleaner unopened, so up they go on our freecycle yahoo group today.  I have a couple of kids coats for tomorrow.  They should go fast.  It is such a joy to see what you give away making someone else happy.  And what doesn't get taken, other than the free hamsters, will be taken to Good Samaritan.  

Our baby goats are growing strong.  We are preventative treating for coccidia today again..this is the 3rd day and so far everyone seems to be taking it very well.  I had one doeling that was acting puny one night and the next morning she was deceased.  No idea why.  I can only wonder if maybe she had an allergic reaction to the Nuflor shot I gave her before bed.  I won't do that again.  Not when I'm not there to watch.  I learn something every year....like this year not giving the coccidia medicine in their bottle.  I learned the milk lowers the efficiency of the drug.  I didn't know that before.  Now I do and we give it straight to the babies.  You should have seen us weighing them in the corn sack with our antique scale.  Some struggled, some just lay there swinging.  It was so cute, but we got accurate weights on them all, something I usually do not manage to do.  Glad I found the old scale.  Yard sale...$4.

I have also been having a cup of hot cocoa at bedtime.  It SO helps me sleep. Last night hubby got up sick at 2:30 and I never heard him.  My son is running a fever last night and today, but no other symptoms.  He is playing quietly now, so I know he doesn't feel good.  After he ate his pancakes this morning he was ready to go lie down.  NOT normal, so we'll be watching him.  Seems like someone is always sick at the holidays. 

AND my New Years resolution has started early.  Eating salad for at least 2 meals a day, I've been able to lose a few even with the cold outside.  As soon as my son starts feeling better we'll be picking up our daily walk again.  I'm determined by April or May of next year to be well on my way to my pre-kidding weight! *g*  I started with taking about 7 inches off my hair.  May have been the wrong time of year to do it...my neck is freezing...but after having longer hair since 1998 at least, this is a change.  But I love it and have had many compliments on it and the darker color...so it was a welcome change.

Better get on and get with it.  The goats have been let out to graze on the open field, and now it's time to tackle what I've put off...picking up the kids rooms!  I told my daughter it would be changed by tonight...so I'd better get started.  I'll post later after...here is before...wish me luck!

Then off to ebay.  I plan on listing at least 5 auctions a day until after Thanksgiving, then re-evaluating and seeing what I have left.  Wish me luck there also!

Until later.....everyone start enjoying life, and the holidays.

Oh, I read a passage I love today on one of the yahoo groups.  Proverbs 27 I believe...

 23 Know well the condition of your flocks,
And pay attention to your herds;

This really does apply when you own goats.  DAILY.

Susan

Trials and Tribulations...

It's been nearly a month since I posted last, and well, alot has passed.  We found out that Sky did pass away from a torn uterus, and the vet at the state lab assured me there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.  It still does not ease the hurt, but at least we have one of her babies, a beautiful paint doeling, retained from that kidding, and we have her nearly identical daughter Martina McBleu from last years kidding, and she is bred for spring kidding.  It will be bitter sweet, as I had hoped to have mom, daughter, and granddaughter here on the farm, but her memory lives on in her two gorgeous girls.

Sky two weeks before she kidded and passed away.

While other things have happened here, some not so good, we've managed to hold on.  The mortgage is being paid every month, simply by counting our pennies, and not doing anything beyond our budget.  The pantry is full, since prior to DH's 4 day a week cutback I was cutting coupons and finding deals where I could.  The canning all summer long has helped too.  With a 2 and a 4 year old going through jelly and applesauce like it was gold it helped I was able to take advantage of the abundant apple crop this year and 'lay in store'. 

We have 7 registered does that remain in the herd bred for spring, and 2 non registered.  All should be bred to our polled buck for spring kiddings.  In addition we retained 4 of our doelings from the fall kidding, and we still have our 2 bucks.  So the herd is cut in half, but so much more manageable now.  It still hurts with any loss though.  I just hope those days are over.  We have been able to find a few bales of alfalfa hay, and hopefully this will make a difference.  Still at $9 a bale we can only buy a few at a time.  With no llamas to feed now, and the horse has gone to a rescue more familiar with horses, the goats are the only thing eating hay.  We still are using round bales out in the field to keep out all time, good quality orchard grass hay, but I like having the alfalfa for the kids and the nannies.  The bucks appear to be doing fine on the orchard grass hay.  For awhile the goats were eating the alfalfa pellets, but I notice now they are not eating them, nosing them out of the way for grain.  A friend of mine has Saanans he milks and I'm going to find out what he feeds them on the milkstand. 

I guess what really hurt over this time was a friend of 30 years ending our friendship because I would not let her have the horse.  Now you have to know, this girl is like a sister to me.  But financially she could not care for the horse, however she could not see this.  She herself had just said to me they were looking into bankruptcy again.  So instead she had another girl say she wanted it, and ended up lying to us about it, and kept demanding on vet checks and such for the girl.  And then to beat all we found out someone had 'turned us in for neglect' to the local extension agent who knows me and knows I would never abuse or aid in the abuse of an animal.  Any animal who is found to be neglected in our county must be moved to another county, however it was thought by merely turning me in for neglect the horse would be taken from me and given to them.  It was explained to them that does not happen, but rather the animal is moved out of the county to a rescue facility.  I have NEVER been accused in all my twenty plus years of animal rescue of neglect, much less by a close friend.  In fact, I have the vet bills and vet references to prove our animals are all taken care of.  But life goes on, and it will for Pixie.  After searching for a suitable home, we have been able to place Pixie in another rescue with more experienced equine personnel.  She will be able to live out her life with another senior horse, and should get lots of love and care and gain more weight than just the 10 or so pounds we were able to put on her.  On the advice of a vet we added beet pulp with molasses to her feed, as well as black oil sunflower seeds and that really seemed to help. 

Whenever I do placement of one of our rescues, I make sure it is the best home for the animal.  I have the records and emails to prove this is the case.  One of my best success stories is Maggie, now renamed Seana, living as a therapy dog/companion to her disabled veteran owner.  I am so proud of her and her accomplishments already, AND I am thrilled to get updates on her  regularly!!  She was pulled just hours from death at the animal shelter. 

Seana with 3 of her new friends in the dog park at her new home in Delaware

Sorry for the soap box rant, but I just had to get that off my chest.  I hold no grudge or ill will against her and want her to know that, but from her end I know she does not wish to continue our friendship.  So I go on and wish her well, and yes, I still love her like my sister. 

The goat kids are now in the new playspace with the new 'guardian' our new 1/2 komondor and 1/2 pyrenese pup 'Snow'.  She is showing great potential, although from the pic below you couldn't tell!  The fourth day 'on the job' she proceeded to bring back a stray baby who had wandered too far from the rest of the herd, running after him, getting behind him, and bouncing on him until he joined the rest of the herd.  She then lay down next to me like, 'my job is done'.  Amazing.

Well as much as I hate to I'm going to put our two puppies up on my petfinder site and find them homes.  They are so cute.  We were called by another rescue group to take in 5 puppies that were dropped off at the pound in town.  Got there and they were probably about 3 days old, eyes still closed and umbilical cords still on.  Within the next week, 3 had passed away, but these two survived, due mainly to the fact my papillon Bea, who has NEVER been a mom and never been bred, came into a false heat, and false pregnancy, and down dropped her milk and she has been feeding the pups.  Unbelievable.  But now, it is time to find the pups homes, so Spot and Mouse will be listed on my petfinder site by this weekend.  I'm not sure, but the closest breed we can associate with them are Lhapso Apso's..so they will be listed as mixes of the breed.

I've asked myself over and over, why do I do this?  Why do I raise the animals if there is death? Why do I rescue the animals if I just have them for a bit.  The answer is simple now, and it took these past few weeks to realize that.  Because if I do not, I will be empty.  They bring a joy to my life, even in the tragedy, because we have the memories.  Even in the pain of their leaving for new homes, because of the memories and experience of life they bring.  Which leads to my new venture.  I've had in my mind for a few months now a book idea, and while I may not be able to traditionally publish it, I'm working on possibly doing it as a downloadable ebook.  Life here on the farm, and tales of all the ones who have come and gone.  Their beginnings, their life, their final days.  It will be a true animal lover's tale of life lived to the fullest.  We can all certainly learn from our animal's.  I know I have.  I do not know when I will have it completed, but it is in the works as we speak.

I am VERY grateful for all the words of encouragement during these times.  Your reminding me of Job's trials was just the mindset and reminder I needed.  We just found out another plant here in town is closing by the end of next year...and my brother in law and sister in law work there.  Some nearly 500 workers will be affected by the plants closing here in this town and the next, and I truly feel and pray for those affected.  DH's job is okay for now.  If there are to be further cuts he will be affected by having to move from 1st to 3rd shift, but we will survive.  For now we just go day by day...saving as we can...praying always...and always thankful for what we do have.  That and thank goodness for ebay.

I've also started a new challenge to myself and I encourage you to do it also.  Nearly every community has an online yahoo freecycle group nearby.  I have been blessed to have received a microwave and a few other things from it, and now have pledged myself to find something to give away every weekday until Christmas.  Outgrown kids clothing, pieces of quilting material, roosters, even plastic bags I've given away so far.  You'll be surprised at what people need and use.  Today's freebie is an older playpen that is the old wooden type.  Banned for kids use, but still good to use for stuffed animals, toys, and the like.  I have to post it tonight.  I encourage you to go through your house and find what you are not using...ie if you haven't used in a year, guess what..?  Probably not going to.  So why not give it away?  Make someone's day, and clean your house and heart while you are at it!

Enough rambling.  I've pretty much covered everything but the election this go round, but I won't go there tonight.  I've done enough soap box for one day!  Maybe tomorrow, or maybe in 2012 I'll campaign for someone from a great northern state. 

Thank you for listening and caring about Critterhaven.  Good night, and God bless.

Susan

Going Quiet for Awhile

If you don't hear from me for a while, do not be alarmed.  After the start of what I thought was going to be a wonderful kidding season, things have been a roller coaster ride to say the least.  We started out with bucks and does which is what every goat breeder loves to see, then it turned heavily buck.  That is okay.  I have enough demand for wethers I can make it work.

I had the minerals right, the feed right, and soda out...everything was right...feeding hay daily and turning them out to grass in the front field at least every other day.

Then Sargenka died, one of our blue eyed does.  Ellington Kord lab could not determine a cause but could not rule out toxicity of some sort due to lack of urine.  Her son died not long after, and her daughter Rain was looking poorly too.  After telling a good friend my theory about mushroom poisoning she recommended milk thistle.  I got some, and have been giving it to Rain in her bottle daily.  She is happy and healthy, still a little on the frail side but gaining ground every day.

Then Zorro our foundation herd sire was found dead in one of the igloo's one morning.  I could not bear an autopsy on him so we buried him under the willow tree.  From the looks of him I believe it was a severe blow to the head by the bigger buck.  I had been meaning to move him and had not.  So I feel his was my fault.

Then Susie had her two kids...one we found dead..the other lived a day.  Premature by a week I figure.  So far she is okay and is headed to a new home tomorrow.

Then two days ago Sky kidded with our first set of quads.  I think Blaze had 4 when we first moved here..but they were not registered.  One of Sky's was deceased when we found them...a little malformed boy.  But she had a healthy girl and boy standing already.  Then she lay down to kid a 4th.  Strained and strained and finally we ended up giving a little tug and out popped a girl bigger than the 3 put together.  But she was a girl.  Thank goodness.

Then yesterday morning I found the big girl near death.  After an hour and 1/2 of lying in the bathroom floor with her with the heater, the hairdryer, and the heating pad on her, I couldn't get her temp to register and she died. 

This morning I went out to let Sky out of the stall and she and her boy were dead.

I am taking her to Ellington today.  The only thing I can assume is maybe she retained her placenta.  But last night she was eating and everything okay.  So I just don't know.  Hopefully Ellington will have some answers.  She was sold so now I am waiting to see whom else the person who had bought her may want in her place.

I know I should be thankful for the doelings and bucklings that I have gotten this year that are happy and healthy so far.   But I am constantly on the brink of paranoidism wondering are they okay, and wondering if I'm not neglecting the rest of my family because of it.

So I'm going to be out of pocket for awhile while I deal with all of this and decide what the future of the farm might be.  I know in the long run it is worth it...but in the meantime I just don't know.  I'm just so tired of dealing with it all.

Thanks for all of your kind words and encouragement.  They .really are appreciated.

What One Can Bear....

I hear all the time that God will not lay on a person more than one can bear.  Well I'm about bearing all I can this week.

Three of the puppies have died, but the other two are very healthy.  My papillon, Bea, who has never been bred or a mom is now feeding them as she is going through a false heat/pregnancy.  Has milk and everything.  Beats all I've ever seen.

Then Tuesday one of our Nigerian Does died after struggling for a couple of days.  She is at the state lab pending an autopsy, but I'm betting it's hypocalcemia.  That same day while I was taking her to the lab hubby called and another doe had twin bucklings, one was deceased and the other weak.  I treated him for white muscle disease but he didn't pull through either. 

Then today, in the middle of selling off the majority of the herd to pay for the mortgage and cut down on the feed, we found our herd sire, Zorro, dead.  No apparent cause, but he was butting heads last night awfully hard with the other bucks.  We are burying him tomorrow under the willow tree out back.

I sometimes wonder if it is worth all the effort.  All the sweat and tears we have put into this place, not to mention the money.  I think maybe it would be easier if we rented and didn't have to go and feed every night...but could just enjoy life.

But them I realize to us this is life.  I'm already missing terribly the does I had to sell tonight to pay the mortgage.  They are still here but now belong to another farm.  They won't be far up the road and I can visit, but I miss them already.  And now that Zorro is gone I feel our herd's foundation is gone.

So here is to you Chestnut Grove Lilly's Zorro.  Mom's little man...our champion even tho he was never shown and never won a ribbon.  In our book he already was a champion.  I was once offered $500 for him and turned it down.  I would again in a heartbeat.

2-26-04  to 10-3-08

AGS and NDGA registered Nigerian Dwarf buck

Catching Up on Things....

Is it time to sit down and say whew yet?  I had no idea so many people took time out of their day to read what I had to say.  But according to the comments I receive I have been very amiss in not relating happenings here on the farm.  Thank you to all who commented to me and had such nice things to say about my blog and the farm.  You asked for it…so here goes….

I knew I had not blogged in awhile, although I did take time out on 9-11 to pay tribute to the brave men and women then and now.

But I didn’t know it had been since July!  A lot has happened since then….so this entry is entitled appropriately playing catch up. 

Kidding season started back on Sept. 4^th.  That day we had one doe kid, then the 5^th 2 does kidded, and then one on the 7^th and one on the 8^th.  We are expecting two to kid anyday now, and then the rest sometime before the goat festival in town which is Oct. 10^th.  So now I have 9 little babies to feed, 3 of them totally on the bottle and the other 6 get one a day and nurse moms the rest of the time.

Then last Sat we were surprised by the arrival of a male cria, born to our female llama Patches.  Dark red like his daddy.  Little did we know that Sunday morning he would be joined by a tee tiny cria male born to our Vegas.  We had no idea she was even bred!  I originally thought C2 was a female.  Thought so for about 4 days until I turned ‘her’ up and saw ‘she’ was a ‘he’!  No matter…we are still keeping him, having him gelded when time and he will become our little petting zoo man!  He is so sweet and reminds me of his grandmother who we lost for unknown reasons a year after she arrived here.  She did give us Vegas, and now a little grandson that is her spitting image.

Then a week ago I get a call from another rescue in town.  Jerry wants to know if I’ll take in 5 puppies who don’t even have their eyes open yet that have been dumped at the local shelter.  First I said no.  I couldn’t fathom enough time in the day to feed and stimulate puppies!!  But then the vet tech in me kicked in, I went to see them, and sure enough, I ended up bringing 5 three to five day old pups home with me.  Every 3 hours…what was I thinking.  3 girls and 2 boys…and I still don’t know what kind.  But they are cute.  And adorable.  And I’m glad I said yes.

Apples.  Coming out of my EARS!  We have been here 3 years, and this is the first year we have had apples on these trees.  DELICIOUS.  I don’t know what kind…but I’ve made applesauce, canned them for pies later, and now am looking at all kinds of apple recipes to see what else I can do with them.  I think I’ll just chop some and can them for cakes and muffins and breads this holiday season to give as gifts.  The pear trees are loaded too, but I'm not a pear person.  I think I will put up some, but the rest we are giving away and then feeding some to the hogs.

I’ve sold a total of 7 goats in the past two weeks.  Still have some bucklings left to sale, and one of our does freshened with teat spurs on her udder, so she is for sale.  And then Sat. I adopted out our two pot bellied pigs in rescue.  And gave away countless roosters and pullets.  It’s still like a zoo around here, but with winter coming on I am cutting down on the numbers as best I can.  One of the llamas and her cria are for sale.  The meat hogs are coming along fine.  We are finishing them out on watermelons and pumpkins soon, and then the last couple of weeks according to the old timers around here we’ll finish feeding them on corn.  We have a farmer who gives us his left over watermelons and pumpkins out of the field, so they are not costing us anything.  DH has already gotten 2 truckloads of watermelons and soon will come the pumpkins.  It’s hard to look at the two pigs and not feel a twinge that we are feeding them to eat.  I’ve never eaten anything other than the eggs here at the farm, and the milk…but I mean no animal.  But times being what they are and the price of things in the store…we have no choice.  It will mean meat in the freezers this winter, where otherwise we would only be eating what I had canned.   The kids get protein from PB and beans we get with WIC, but that is it.   I never dreamed times would be so hard.  And I fear they will get worse before they get better.

Our goat festival will be here before we know it the second weekend in October.  I am on the committee in charge of the signs, and while I have all that covered, I have no where near my stuff ready.  I was hoping to make soap, but that has not happened and since it has to cure it probably will not.  So I have plans to make some goat themed bird feeders out of old tin lids and old pie pans.  I’ll upload a picture if I can get them made in time.  I always do okay with the antiques and primitives I have for sale, but this year I’m even short on those, not having the money to go yard selling like I usually do.  But we’ll have fun anyway.  We always do.

And to beat everything my lower back has been out for a week.  Hurts to walk, hurts to sit...but I still get up and manage and go.  I'm the mom..it's what we do.

Well it is late now and I have to get up early in the morning and petsit.  I have a court date this week for another judgement.  They will just have to get in line behind everyone else for their payment.  At least the mortgage is caught up for now.  I'll play more catch up tomorrow..have to ebay...to pay the mortgage..of course!

Thanks for listening.  Goodnight and God Bless.

The Day America Was Awakened

9-11-01

The Day America Was Awakened

Critterhaven Farm Takes Today to Remember All of Those Who Gave Their Lives For Us That Day

And For Those Who Made and are still Making It Possible for me being able to take my daughter to school this morning without fear of a roadside bomb going off.   For being able to send my husband to work today with the knowledge he would be safe and come home to us this evening.  For being able to enjoy the birthing and raising of our farm animals without fear of a government or individuals coming to take them as payments due.  For being able to sit here and voice my opinions and views and ideas without the fear of being imprisoned for my beliefs.

And for being able to pray to God.  As a Nashville radio personality put it today...in the end, it won't matter who's military is the strongest, or who's government is more powerful.

It will be who's God is the only one true God.  Amen.  And God Bless America and those who love and serve her well.

And if you are reading this today, thank God, thank your President, and thank your military. 

Grandma Claire's Summer Applesauce

Some may see this as a long drawn out way to do applesauce, but I've found out by trial and error this is the applesauce my Grandma made.  It has the same taste and smell and consistency as hers did.  I now think you have to let them sit a little to get this taste.

Day One:

I use a variety of apples...not just one certain kind.  I wash the apples very good and remove the stems.  I then put the batch of apples in my stockpot, enough to fill it and enough water where the apples are bobbing a bit.  In other words not packed so tightly you can't stir them when they start getting soft.

Cook until they get soggy...I mean the falling apart kind...starting to mush.  Let cool and put in the fridge overnight..in the same stockpot.

Day Two:

Remove stock pot from refrigerator and cook until they are warm and soggy again.  By this time they should start changing color from the yellow applesauce we are all used to to the brownish color you want.

Cool and return to refrigerator.  Tomorrow's the day!

Day Three:

Remove pot from refrigerator and cook until warm and mushy again.  By this time the apples are falling apart and the peelings and seeds coming out on their own.

Take your sieve and bit by bit roll out the sauce from your cooked apples.  Dispose of the leftover pulpy apple matter anyway you like (we feed ours to the slaughter hogs.  They love it!)

To the sauce add a sprinkle of cinnamon and a sprinkle of nutmeg.  Probably about 2 tsp. of each.  Then add 2 cups of sugar.  Stir well.  Let cook for about 15 minutes more.  The aroma and taste remind me of Grandma's!

Ladle into hot jars and put on lid and ring.  Can either by water bath or by pressure canner.  I do pressure canner and get up to 10 on the gauge.

Enjoy!

My hectic life...and then some...

I always start out with well intentions.  I have the day set the night before in my head.  Get up, do the chores, do what is on the list....then I wake up with an ear ache on the right side and a sore throat on that side too, and sigh..there goes all plans out the window. 

How do you do it? How do you train yourself to absolutely stick to what you planned for the day?  Organization is definately NOT one of my strong suites.  But we get by.  I just have to work on that part of our life.  Today I'm just NOT with it.

But yesterday I did get alot done.  After my daughter and I picked apples from my mom's house (ours are about a week or two away of being ready) I decided to make homemade applesauce using my grandma's recipe and technique.  I called it "Grandma's 3 day applesauce".  She didn't leave a recipe for it, but the whole family nearly fought over the last jar in her pantry when she passed away as the house was being cleared out.  For years I missed that wonderful taste, until I got my mom's pressure canner and grandma's stock pot and utensils, and decided I would try it myself.  The first batch was regular old applesauce.  So I started looking through my grandma's cookbooks looking for her recipe.  None there, so I found in the old 1954 First Edition Westinghouse cookbook she used one called Summer applesauce.  Still not quite there, so one day making it I was so tired I simply cooked the apples and left them in the pan, putting them in the refrigerator.  Next day, same thing...cooked them, and returned them to the refrigerator.  The next day I was bound and determined..so I mashed up the mushy apples...I was so excited!! The color was there!! Now for the test.  I put them through the sieve, got out the mashed apples, I added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little sugar....and voila...Grandma's applesauce!!

I'll put the recipe in the recipe section of my blog.

Since then I been too busy with life to think about canning.  Until this year.  And the first thing I did with apples was make the applesauce.  It is wonderful!!  It is almost like they have to ferment a little maybe?  I put up 12 pints of the stuff.  And as soon as my trees get ready I'm making more.  The kids love it, I love it....I'm thinking this will not be enough!

Today it's getting the kids rooms cleaned up and snapping and canning green beans.  I can do that in one day thank goodness.   The farmers market is Friday again and I will get more then, and hopefully some more plums and peaches to put up.  I'm going to make some peach jam and not just the plum peach I've made before.  This is the peach plum.  I did some as freezer jam, and canned some.

I need to rebatch the plum jelly I tried to make.  It didn't set but I think my batch was too big.  I'm dividing it into two smaller batches this time.

A lady who is starting in foster care (the human kind) came by and took all the toys we were taking to Goodwill.  I'm so glad to help out a family that is trying to help others in some small way.

We've taken in a wonderful little male CKC Shih Tzu to find a forever home for.  He is a doll!  He absolutely hates being alone but fortunately around here he never is!

Every once in awhile I get a sign to tell me I'm doing the right thing with rescue.  This go round, Molly is that sign.  I talked about her in an earlier post.  She has found her forever home and it is something.  Molly is going to Delaware to be a therapy/service dog.  I am so happy about this!  The person who is adopting her lost his beloved companion earlier this year, and Molly is going to fill the void in his life as he is filling it in hers.  She was rescued from a high kill shelter. And I think this new life is what she was meant for.

On a sad note about 2 weeks ago I backed over our oldest cat Scooter, and had to take him in to be euthanized.  He was a 16 1/2 year old outdoor cat.  Loved to lick! We called him Scooter Pooter, and he had survived everything in this area from cytaux to FIP, never catching any of it himself. He was never sick a day in his life, but he was getting slower and deaf as the days went on.  We would bring him in, but he wanted out.  It was his world.  We passed away quietly in my arms, and we buried him under the weeping willow tree in the back yard. 

It's been two weeks, and my heart still aches.  So today's blog is dedicated to Scooter, who was just one of the inspirations for this farm.

Goodbye Scooter Pooter.  Wait for me at the Rainbow Bridge. We love and will miss you deeply.

Mom

My mind and heart are full...

It seems like as the days wear on and the older I get, I am more appreciative of what we have.  Our home may not be paid for, but daily we live here along with all the critters and we make it til evening.  Then the next day we wake up and it starts all over again.  I finally have learned not to dread the next bill, but know that it will somehow get paid.  It always has.   The work that seems to pile up will be there waiting til I can get to it.  The pens will get built, the house will get cleaned, and life will go on.  As much as I have to do today I felt the need to write and catch up on my thoughts.

The future of this country scares me with the people we have in charge running it as though they do not live here but live in these utopias where the 'common people' are not listened to.  But it is us 'common folk' that contribute to their salaries, make their jobs possible, and elect most of them office.  When will our concerns and frustrations be listened to?  I fear for my children, but I fear for my country.  Every great nation has fallen.  Pay attention to your history or you are doomed to repeat it.  I feel we are headed down this path.  If the Godliness of this country falls, this country will.   Thank goodness for our men and women in harms way who are keeping our principles and the virtue of this country intact.    I can only pray their efforts and sacrifices are not in vain.

Today I plan on finishing up the LOADS of laundry that is waiting for me in the laundry room.  As soon as the tree is removed that fell we are moving the clothesline to the back immediately behind the house so I can utilize the power of the sun to dry my laundry.  We are wasting so much electricity with this dryer.  It takes about 3 turns to dry a load!  I would also like to work on a patio out back where we can put the outdoor fireplace and enjoy the evenings.  I have to get someone to move all the pigeon pens and reclaim my back yard!  The rabbit hutch is so heavy we will probably leave it where it is and just build and camoflage around it.

Plus today I'm finishing up the container planting of herbs and some late veggies.  We should be getting rain tomorrow and Sat. morning so want to finish by then.  Plus I need to get the yard mowed.  It is already up past my ankles.  I hate mowing this year because of last years drought.  I'm so leery of not having pasture so I let the goats out daily to get their belly fill in the front yard.  But it is growing so much this year they can't eat it fast enough!

I think I'll wean the baby pot bellied pigs today too.  They are getting very fat and faster so I need to do it now and let mom out or I will never be able to handle them at all.  The smaller dog pen is now empty so I can put them in that.

We took one of the rescues, Molly, in to be spayed today, so I'll have to get her this afternoon.  No more puppies until Heidi has her litter, then spay is on the agenda for her too!  This is Molly in her usual pose.  She knows sit, stay, walks on a leash, is housebroken, and will be up to date on her vaccinations.  She should find a loving home very easy!

Oh, before I forget.  Last night we had fresh green beans I snapped with small white potatoes, fresh golden and white corn we shucked.  My daughter called it 'shuckin corn'.  And some chicken breast with pasta.  I felt so healthy!  Tonight I have more beans to snap and taters to cook, and then some peaches I think I will peel and have with some cream.  I can't help but feel healthier just thinking about it!

I'll get some pictures made today and show them off tomorrow.

Until then, enjoy your life.  We are!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning...ouch....

What would we do?

Watching the news about the flooding in the midwest I can't help but think.  What would we do if this happened to us?  We have all these animals we are responsible for.  And even though this place in our knowledge has never flooded before, I'm sure many of the places in the midwest that flooded never did before either. 

Would we save a few and leave the others?  Of course we would get the kids to safety first...but then where would we start? And like so many of the ones involved in the major flooding, would we have time to?

Made me start thinking we need to set plans in place for either evacuation (my parents live on a farm on a hill), or the terrible task of evaluating our rather expensive Nigerian Dwarf goat herd and considering who would be the ones to save.  Who could continue on the herd as we have striven to build it?  These are not easy questions to answer, as every one of the goats are important to us.

And then there are the dogs, those in rescue and our own adopted dogs.   I tense and panic everytime there is a severe storm.  So far we have been lucky that none of our animals have ever been injured, in a shed collapse and two trees falling.  Crazy me has been known to head out in a lightening storm to check on things, although I have gotten better in my old age.  A bolt of lightening that hit a tree overhead once and I felt the static on the back of my neck sorta cured me of that.

I finished my "Tennessee Master Meat Goat Producer" course last week.  I'm now officially an 'expert'.  Well not really.  And even though I'm not a meat goat producer alot of the information was relavant to goat producing in general. I learned alot and really enjoyed the class.  Plus got two very nice certificates, one from UT and a nice yard sign stating my new status!

I'm SO far behind on the garden.  I have some planted in containers but I've still got some on the porch that I will be planting this afternoon in pots.  With the ducks and geese and chickens and all it is hard to ground plant because I am constantly having to chase them away!  NEXT year, as I always say.  We'll have a fenced in garden.  Yeah, next year.  For now I have okra, tomatoes of all kinds, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantelope planted.  I can't wait for fresh out of OUR garden.

Taking in another aussie to foster tomorrow.  It seems like now is the time folks start dumping dogs.  Puppies that grew too much since Christmas and now are not that cute sweet puppy anymore...puppies and kittens that were 'unplanned'...and breeding moms that are no longer meeting their 'quota'.  Happens everytime this year.

I'm going to start a record of books that I'm reading for the summer.  I have a bunch to get started on, but so far have just started reading one.  This time of the year is the big vacation time so my petsitting business has picked up.  Four this week.  One continues through next week so I'll be good and tired by next weekend!

We are STILL trying to downsize.  Baby lop rabbits, pot bellied piglets, chickens, ducks, geese, you name it right now we have them for sale.  Goats both babies and adults too.  Seems like it is never ending.  And to think.  In 3 months kidding season starts again!

Picking up the tree that fell in the yard over two weeks ago tonight to haul off.  We cut up as much of the wood as we could but the rest of it including all the branches are headed to my brother in laws place to fill in ditches.  Although we don't have an indoor fireplace I look forward to using the outdoor one on cooler nights.  I'm designing the backyard after this tree is gone to build a screened room off the back of the house, and hopefully put a primitive kitchen out there.  I'd love to do most if not all the work myself.

Off to clean house, again...seems it is never ending.  Would love to hire a maid for one week, but with finances that won't happen.  I need to get down on my hands and knees and clean, and it is NOT easy to do at my age.  I think I'm getting mom's lupus.  I have not been tested but all signs are pointing toward it. Constant joint pain, and now my fingers get really stiff and tiresome.

I started again on my herbal supplements.  Years ago I did so and felt so much better for it.  So I'm doing it again.  I think if I got some of this weight off I would feel so much beetter.  At 5'4" 189lbs is not where I want to be.  More like around 135.  Hey, it's doable!  I think I was there...once.

How you moms do it I don't know!  I have plans for the day and then like today I'm behind on them.  After lunch and I'm behind.  I go through these highs and lows in life.  I get up one morning with all the gumption to get going and get so much done, and then the next day I want to stay in bed all day.  So what is the key to doing it?  I keep reading all of the wonderful blogs on here to envision the how to.  Maybe soon it will kick in!  I call us homesteading newbies, although we have had the farm for three years now.  I have books, ideas, know how.  It is just getting time, energy, and money to do it.  As granddaddy used to say...."If the good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise....we'll get it done by and by."

I've always heard that "It's not the destination, it's the journey."  I disagree.  It IS the destination, isn't it?  If it were not why would we be here?  So I say, "Enjoy the journey while keeping your eye on the destination."