The thunderstorm that rolled through last evening brought some much wanted relief from the humidity and heat.  Today was "breezy" and cool.  Besides the wind it was quite beautiful outside.

I cleaned out the brooder coop since all we have left in there are a few ducklings and quail.  I moved the turkeys and older chicks to the barn yesterday.  Then my brother called, asking if this was duck rescue.  He had found 6 ducklings wondering across the street without a mama or papa in sight  He scoop them up to saftey and called me.  A short time later, the 6 orphans arrived at the farm.  I believe they are mallards.

Madison put the 6 ducklings in with the new chicks as I'm pretty sure old mama duck wasn't gonna want new babies with her youngsters.  I'll try to get a picture of the newcomers in the next day or 2.

Amber went back home today.  She seems to really like being out here and enjoying all the "different" stuff.  She's real good about helping but not real comfortable around the adult animals but she manages.

I sold out of eggs today.  I teased the kids that they needed to squeeze the chickens to get a few extra eggs.  I'm not sure if they did or not but 6 eggs came up from the barn after chores tonight, lol. 

We also had a couple milk customers.  I'm so thanksful they stopped in.  I was beginning to think I best be canning the milk as I'm running out of freezer space.  I've been reading on canning milk.  Anyone on here have experience with canned milk?

Hey Liz...  6 pound chickens.. oh, I'm sure some of mine will be there as well.  Glad to hear the pigs are doing well.  The chicken plucker... we got it for free from someone with sister-in-law works with.  It's a homemade jobber and needs new fingers.  If you are in the area, stop by and I'll show it to ya. 

I've been in the garden as well.  Those weeds seem to grow twice as fast as the plants it seems.  If you need tomato plants, I have many volunteers which I'm starting to pull as they are choking out my peppers.  You are welcome to have some.

Well, I think that covers today.  GoodNight!
Carol

I decided to to finish mulching the potato plot today but got distracted by my squash plants who were losing the battle against the weeds so I started there.  I did manage to get them mulched and weeded and moved to the potatoes but the wheel fell off the wagon I was using to haul straw so I had to stop.  Rich has been busy baling hay today so he wasn't able to help me.  I guess the potatoes will have to wait another day.

I took Madison and Amber (my niece) to a parade in town despite the rain showers we were getting.  The girls didn't care... they had to go and collect that ever so precious candy, lol.

Ham was on the menu for supper which the girls and I enjoyed during a short thunderstorm that moved through this evening... we even got a small amount of hail.  Rich was still out in the fields when the storm hit and returned home looking like a soaked dog, lol.  He did mention that the hail didn't feel so good.  There isn't a cab on his tractor .

That's about it for today.  It's definately going to be a cool night.  It's been so hot and humid here that the cool night after the storm is very much welcomed.  Goodnight!
Carol

Wow, am I tired tonight.  I've barely been home all day.  First we got chores done early as my mom was having surgery.  I needed to pick her from the hospital and bring her home.  Naturally, they were running late by an hour.  But I got her all settled in before my brother arrived. 

Then it was off to pick up my niece who is staying with us for the weekend.  Next, off to run errands in town.  Seems the goats like to have some feed when being milked... go figure!  LOL  I picked up pizza in town as it was well past suppertime when we got home.

It was chores time again.  It took a bit longer as we are getting rabbits onto their "show" feed so we did a bit a mixing and rearranging to make it easier. 

I'm off to shower.  Goodnight!
Carol

No new babies overnight which was a good thing as I didn't wake up to make a middle of the night barn check. But at 5:30 am, Montana was passing a bit of mucus so after chores, Madison headed out to find Montana and bring her to a birthing pen.

When she found Montana, she was in hard labor so we all grabbed a seat in the pasture and waited.  Shortly thereafter, we welcomed a doeling into the world.  Montana had a bit of trouble but not bad at all.

After watching the new baby for a bit, the rest of the goat herd decided to come up and check out what was going on:

Rich had found himself a comfy seat and all the baby kids had to greet him as they walked by.  Yes, our gaots are very tame, thanks to Madison who works with them.

Here's Huckleberry.  I just love his coloring... unfortunately for him, he will be sold to market in the fall, unless someone wants him as a herd buck.

We did manage to get Montana and baby into the barn so they can bond for a day or 2.  Since she's a new mom, I thought it was best she get some alone time with baby.

The rest of the day was spent trying to stay cool and not sweaty in this humid hot weather we are experiencing here.

So I'm off to the shower!  GoodNight!
Carol

Today, Madison headed out to pasture to retrive our dairy goats for milking and she found this:

It's a snapping turtle who obviously came up from the creek that runs through our property.  Here is what she was doing to far from the creek:

Madison had her dad catch the turtle and bring it to the barn while she investigated the turtle nest.  She found 98 eggs, 2 were crushed.  What do 96 turtle eggs look like you ask?  Well, just like this:

We discussed butchering the turtle but after some reading, we decided that mama could go back to the creek and that's where Rich took her after she posed for this picture:

What fun out here.  There is always something new to learn.  I so love living out here.

Madison also informed me that I have to do a barn check during the night as Montana looks a bit "laborish."  So I better do another barn check and get to bed!  GoodNight!
Carol

First, I want to send out Happy Father's Day wishes to my dear hubby.

It rained all day so once again, we were unable to process chickens.  I'm now shooting for Tuesday but there is rain in the forecast for that day as well.

Poor Rich, we need the rain but it has ruin all his ditch grass hay.  He was unable to get it baled yesterday after raking it and now he says its ruined.  Not a great Father's Day for him.

We did try a new thing today... Lamb chops.  Oh, they were so delicious!  I was hoping to gril them but since it was pouring rain, I broiled them in the oven after marinating them.  I'm so glad everyone liked them and we have a few more sheep that can head to the freezer!

Nothing new in the barn.  We are just waiting for Lucy or Montana to pop, hopefully without complications!

Well, I'm off to shower.  GoodNight!
Carol

Inbetween rain showers, Madison was in the strawberry patch and picked a shirtful of berries.

So we made strawberry pie from them.  Oh yummy yummy!  I'm so happy to see that the patch is doing well and producing lots of berries.  I'm going to have plenty to can/freeze.

The raspberries are going crazy.  I planted 12 sticks last year and they probably doubled or tripled before fall.  And this year.. I bet I have over 200 plants.  I don't know what to do.  If it gets any thicker, we are not going to be able to pick the berries.  I'm not complaining, I just need to figure out what to do with all the plants.

Well, I better get back to my pie.  I'm going to have a second piece!
Carol 

After an uneventful overnight in the barn, we decided to butcher a few chickens.  It will be nice to finally have these 50 some birds frozen.  We still have more to go but it's nice to have a few out of the way.  We got to use the chicken plucker on chickens for the first time and how slick that machine is!  I love it!

I also started mulching the potato garden.  I had way too many green spots on the potatoes last year so I decided to heavily mulch the potatoes this year with hilling to hopefully avoid.  We have a huge stack of bad straw that I'm using.  It will also go on the rest of the gardens but the potatoes are first as some willb e ready for harvest around July 4th.

Verona didn't have any more kids.  She seems tired but is doing fairly well considering the awful time she had last night.  I started her on antibotics.  She is my heavy milker so I really don't want to lose her.

So we have Montana and Lucy next to kid.  Montana could go at anytime but Lucy should not go before July 1st.  We have out of state family coming the week after July 4th so maybe they will experience a goat kidding.. who knows!  LOL

Well it's time for chores.  GoodNight!
Carol

Most of my day was spent helping Madison prepare for her 4H livestock demostration.  She gave her demo om Preparing a rabbit for a show and did very well for her first time.  You could tell she was super nervous.  She took Bugsy to "show."  Poor guy, she was flipping him around and monkeying with him due to her nerves.  But he sat there like show rabbit should.  The judge was impressed with how tolerant the Bugsy was.

Madison got a blue ribbon and will do her demostration again at the county fair.  Tonight, the demostrations were done in an assisted living facility in a nearby town.  Here's Madison showing the crowd Bugsy.

After we got home, which was around 9:30 pm,  Madison and Austin headed down to start chores only to find Verona in labor.  After Chas was asleep, Austin joined us in the barn as Verona was having complications. 

My beloved dairy goat was in hard labor and Rich said he was sure something was wrong.  Finally, I saw something but not what I wanted to see, it was either a tail or an ear.  I soon figured out that it was a tail and after a quick read on the internet, I was back in the barn, doing what I needed to do which involved repositioning the kid and delivering it.

I delivered the first doeling but it was dead.  I think the umbilical cord was cut when I "helped."  No sooner was the first kid out and Verona delivered the head of the next kid but it was stuck.  This time Madison assisted and delivered a doeling.  This one was very much alive and after all that, Verona was busy cleaning and caring for the baby.

All that happened just a few minutes ago and I'm pretty sure she is done kidding but will need to be checked a couple more times before I head to bed.

So I'm very tired and need a shower!  GoodNight!
Carol

Today was the quilting day at church for 4H.  Madison was so excited about her project.  And Naomi had brought her fancy sewing machine.  Madison caught on real fast how to use this nice machine and was busy all afternoon sewing and learning.

Here she is sewing on the applique (sp?).  She decided to put her name on the quilted wall banner.

Madsion didn't finish her project as we had a 4H meeting after the quilting class.  But she was happy as she got to sew quilt squares together with the fancy machine, lol.  Our 4H group is doing a community pride project donating quilts.

Naomi will have Madison over next week to complete her project.  It's so wonderful to have such great neighbors!

GoodNight!
Carol