Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Pig in a Poke Shelter & Chicken Stew Coop

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Just photos of the new shelters we're erecting. We started on the coop flooring and then went to the pig shelter. They are built on skids so can be moved. The chicken coop will pretty much be at a permanent location, the pig shelter will be moved every now and again.

The pig shelter is 6'x6'. I don't expect to be housing at 400 lb. pigs. I expect they'll be taken off before then. I plan to start them out in the garden so they can till it up for me and save me the work of getting out and pushing the rototiller around.








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Side walls are up and roof rafters are going on. Due to the fact that this shelter does not have a front, the rafters are as they are for added strength so the shelter does not twist when being moved. 



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front of the pig shelter


The chicken coop is 7'x8'.

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Wordless Wednesday: Mommy & Me

Snow

Snow? In March??? While it's entirely possible (though not likely given the weather we've been having (read: GLORIOUS!) I am not talking about weather but about our new LGD (livestock guardian dog), Snow.

Snow came as a re-home. We've been fortunate enough to receive two fabulous LGD's as re-homes that are working out fabulous here.

Jeremiah and I have both mentioned to each other that after a year, King needs a companion and helper. He has been bored on days/nights when there's nothing to do so we talked about getting another. We were prepared to buy a puppy since adults are few and far between but there was an ad on Craigslist on Monday afternoon and by Monday evening she was at her new home. Bad circumstances with horrible neighbors forced her to leave or have her life cut short.

She's a Great Pyrenees, one of the better known LGD breeds. She looks somewhat like King, bigger bone structure, if you can believe that, slightly narrower face and affectionate (and slobbery) as all get out! But, a great addition!
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LOVES THE KIDS!

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Already hard at work surveying.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Little Moments Like This

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Baby fix (the girls)

So far, 2 does have kidded. The count is 3 buck kids and 2 doe kids.Three more does are due to kid between the end of the month/first of next month and the rest are spread haphazard until June.


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Marmalade Butterscotch Puddin' ("Puddin'" )

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Marmalade Coconut Meringue ("Coconut")

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Goat & Farm Site

I've maintained a site for the goats for some time allowing access to pedigrees, breeding plans, etc. but felt it was time to kind of group goats and farm operations in one place.

You're welcome to check it out if you wish: Marmalade Hollow Farm Site

I'll still be maintaining my personal/family blog here, however.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Springing Spring!!!

Spring is springing rapidly! It's a bit early, but I, for one, am NOT complaining!

I went out to water my seeds today and already I have herbs and one tomato up! I planted them a week ago and nearly all week they've been outside. Why? No greenhouse or hot boxes and I have yet to put them inside under a florescent light so they sat outside. Jeremiah's not been home to help me build some hot boxes but I think finally today we'll get a few together so I can at least get these guys under some cover even if they are eager to grow! Our days have been in the 70's and 80's and our nights in the 60's so it's no wonder they are popping but still, warmer and out of the wind would be better!

Tomato
Tomato

basil
Basil

Oregano
Oregano

It was goat show and tell at school on Friday for Rachel's class. Of course everyone ooooohs and ahhhhhs and it makes Rachel feel special and we get to promote goats and all that fun stuff.

Rache's show and tell

Show and tell

Show and tell

show and tell 2nd grade



show and tell

I just happened to think, some of you may like to view the rental house and how it's coming along. Follow this link to checkout the demo and framing photos: Framing and Demo

That's all for now, another busy week ahead with rain expected tomorrow. No more goats due until the end of the month. The current 5 are all well and having fun as baby goats tend to go. 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Story of our lives

One word: Busy. All in all we're not too busy, we take time every day to spend time as a family, somehow.

Drew has been on again off again sick with this nasty bug going around. There is one bad thing to say about a milk winter for sure and that's that it's not cold enough long enough to kill off all the nasties.


Off topic, but truth be told, I feel like I haven't seen my husband in months! He's been gone all the time for one thing or another. I won't get in to why, the reasons are many.

We've been really enjoying the record temps here...spring has sprung really and I hope it sticks around.

We've had new babies born- 2 on Sunday and 3 yesterday (2 does and a very large handsome buck). Rachel's (hopefully) last dr's appointment for her leg was yesterday. They took final X-rays and gave her the all clear to run and jump as long as it didn't cause her any pain. We've been waiting on Apricot for what seems like 2 weeks with daily and nightly checks. All in her own time 2 days past her due date she had a kid on the ground by the time we got home. I hadn't planned to come home, I had planned to go take the kids right to school but as it happened, Rachel wore stained play clothes instead of school clothes so as fate would hate it, we got to see two of them enter the world.

Toddy had 2 flashy buck kids on Sunday. I won't talk about them too much as their fate is  pretty much sealed. One of them though I call "Bitchy Boy" because he just doesn't shut up. Or rather, he has spurts where out of nowhere he'll squawk, then stop...like, someone disrupts him or the wind hits him wrong or the sunlight isn't in the right position. The kids think it's mean to call him that. He was doing really well until yesterday, then it seems he didn't want to eat a whole lot. He knows where to get food and seems eager to go get it but looses enthusiasm. I tried to bottle him but he didn't want anything to do what that either. It may be that he's just a bit slower to get going than this brother who's now robust and doing all those fun goat baby things at only 3 days old. I gave him a little oral pick-me-up and we'll see how is today.

We expect rain much of next week. It's welcome! Our pond has standing water in it and I do hope that this drought does not continue.

I have been making and selling goat's milk soap. I find it rather fun. In fact, I have a new website for all goat/farm/soap relate stuff: www.marmaladehollow.wordpress.com Eventually I'll change it over to a "dot com" address but if you happen to want to check it out, be my guest. I'll continue with the blog here, but in trying to keep the farmy stuff separate of the family updates, I'd rather keep personal life, personal (even if the world is free to read here) so this one will remain as is.

We have our chicks ordered. Me and a couple of other families went in on a large order of 'pan fry' birds. We'll be raising about 25 of them strictly for butcher. They are all roosters and hefty discounts are given since, like most male species, the world doesn't need but a few. So, we should be putting some home grown chickens in the freezer in the fall.

I also ordered my layers as well- silver laced wyandottes. I don't know if I or Rachel (for those of you who talk to Rachel) told you the story or not, but last year when we were getting hay I heard Rachel screaming from across the yard. Course, we all thought it was funny that she was being chased by a rooster and there was a split second where I didn't realize she really thought she was running for her life. It was one of those "funny but not really all that funny" moments. After that split second I, of course, ran over to run the rooster off but after that she wanted nothing to do with chickens ever again. She still doesn't but in reading up on chicken breeds I found the SL wyandottes not only to be very attractive but also good layers, good dual purpose (meat and egg) and very cold hardy due to their small close comb. I ordered only pullets from the farm store. I had wanted some roos as well but I waited too lat to order online and the minimum order from the farm store is 25. I don't need 25 additional roos! So, I am hoping from this 'pan fry' order of 150 or whatever it is, there will be at least SL wyandotte in there so that I can have a roo for my females. Laying hens are VERY popular around here. Not that I intend to start selling layers, amongst all the other stuff I do, but eventually I will need to replenish the stock.

Never mind that we don't have our coup built yet! I'm hopeful at some point that happens.

As I sit here and white this in the dark, the cat is licking the bowl of cereal milk. Guess I won't be finishing that!