Critterhaven Farm

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.