I can't believe April has already come and gone! The year is flying by, but we're getting into my favorite time on the farm. Spring and summer is when we get most of the big projects done on the farm, and we have a long list for this year. We've already finished a big one, and a few more big ones are in the works. I love watching this place transform!
Cats:
Floof is as cute and annoying as ever! He has to be right in the middle of everything! Michem is not nearly as annoying, until I go to sit on the couch; then she HAS to be cuddling me.
I was watching General Conference on a Saturday morning. I like to have a project while I listen, because it keeps me awake and more engaged. I decided to organize some of my scrapbook totes. Below is a video of how it went. 😒
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| He just made himself comfy! |
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| If I'm doing laundry, this is where Floof is. |
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| I was ironing a couple things and I opened the cabinets to get out the lint roller. It took me about 10 seconds to roll it over my shirt, and when I turned around to put it back, this is what I found. He thought he had just found the best fort ever! |
I'm not even exaggerating about him having to be involved with everything. If I'm vacuuming, he's front and center too!
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| Floof and Michem still love their evening visits from Cheddar and Stormy. I will never stop giving them snacks when they come to the back door and meow for a little treat. 😊 |
Mark has had to be out of town quite a bit the last couple months. That means I have to go out after dark and put the animals to bed, and get everything locked up. Mark always worries and wants me to text him once I'm back in the house and all locked in. I assure him that I have the best escorts, so there is no need for worry.
When we had a blizzard a couple years ago, that's when Stormy took shelter in our hay barn. Of course I fed her, left warm water out for her, and gave her a big stock of blankets. I could tell right off the bat that she knew I was trying to help her, and that she liked me. She was also very feral, and very guarded. She ate the food and used everything I left out there for her, and she meowed her thanks to me, but she would not let me get anywhere near her. I was patient and not pushy at all with her. I was slowly trying to build her trust. She eventually started following me around the farm when I did chores in the mornings. Then she would get closer and closer to me when I would feed her. I eventually reached out and touched her when I was feeding her. That slowly became me giving her one pet down her back. We just slowly progressed from there. It took me a year to even be able to touch her for the first time. Then it took a long time to make that touch into a pet. Now she comes running when I feed her to get her loves and scratches. It makes me so happy! We still have a lot of work to do. She'll only let me touch her when I'm feeding her. I'm trying to let her know she can approach me at random times, but that is still too much for her. I think Cheddar helps, because he is friendly as can be. He's the one that got Stormy to start coming to our back door. She used to take off running when I'd open the door to give Cheddar a treat. Now she waits and will take a treat herself. Still very guarded, but her walls are slowly coming down. There's something about an animal never having a home or love that tugs at my heart so much. I will always do what I can to give them a home here.
Chickens:
We've had beautiful weather, and the chickens are laying in full force. I've been selling a lot of eggs.
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| Every once in a while we get a tiny little egg. It looks like a bird snuck into the coop. Sometimes that can be caused by stress, but sometimes it's just a glitch in their normal egg production cycle. |
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| I was in cleaning the coop one day and Harriette was laying an egg. Lucy was acting as midwife, and it was the cutest thing. She never left Hariette's side until the egg was laid. I could hear Lucy purring the whole time! |
Turn the sound up and listen to Lucy purr. It's so cute! I just love chickens. I wish more people were like Lucy, and could support each other this way.
Good morning ladies!
Our cute little chicks aren't so little anymore. They grew out of their garden box brooder, so we had to put them in the stall with Tillie and Fern. Poor Tillie and Fern are wondering what happened to their quiet, chill life. They had no idea they were gonna be running a day care. 😆 They have been good sports about it and have been really nice to all the chicks. The chicks will probably be in there until the end of May, and then they will be big enough to introduce to the coop and the flock. Then there pecking order will reestablish itself. I HATE that part. Hopefully it goes smooth this time around.
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| Tillie and Fern are still good friends with Ginger, and they hang out while I do morning chores. 😊 |
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| I love having chickens! Look at those yolks! You don't get eggs that look like this from the grocery store. |
Goats:
As far as goats go, mine are pretty chill and easy to have around. Every once in a while their mischievous side comes out, and it makes me laugh.
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| Roxie having a nice nap in the kennel. |
Having a jog around the property with the goats is a sure way to boost my mood.
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| We've had beautiful sunny days in April, and the goats have been soaking up all the sunshine. |
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| Oh Ginger! 😅 |
We had never tried washing the goats. I had it in my mind that they would hate it. We decided to give it a try. We started with Dolly, because she's the most level headed of the three. She loved it! I could tell she was a little nervous at first, but she quickly realized how good it felt, and she was such a good girl! Now that shedding season is upon us, I can't wait to wash the rest of them.
The next video could possibly be my favorite of the month! 😂 I was gone for the evening and got this video sent to me from Mark. It made me crack up! The goats opened their corral gate and got out. The donkeys went into the goat corral, and the goats shut them in. So when Mark went out, the donkeys and Ginger were locked in the goat corral, and Dolly and Roxie were in the main big corral living it up. So funny! 😆
Cows:
The cows have officially graduated to living in the pasture until next winter. I was nervous to have them sleep outside because of mountain lions, but I can tell they love it. They are currently in the donkey's dry lot, but a cow pasture is in the works. Mark has been working hard on it, and the fence is finished. We are just killing off the last of the alfalfa and then they'll be able to use it. They will love to graze! We will build another run in shelter in their pasture. That's on the long list of projects for the summer. Stay tuned!
Ace acts as foreman when Mark works on the cow pasture. I guess he wants the job done right if he's the one that'll be living in it.
Bath time for this cute girl!
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| Mark was worried that he'd spend all this time building a run in shelter for the animals and then they wouldn't use it. Peep cute Opal inside. The cows love it. They take cove in it on windy days, they use it for shade, and they sleep in it. |
Gotta love my cute helpers. Not sure I'd be able to manage chores without them.
Donkeys:
Oh my cute donks! I just love them! I've had lots of farm tours lately, and the donkeys have been so good!
Here's a video of how the donkeys are when the treat lady is coming. Their little twitchy lips are the cutest! Willow trying to push Clover out of the way is pretty much on point. 😆
Opal loves Clover and Willow and still follows them around. Watch Clover's buck when she finds out Opal is quickly approaching. 😆
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| We got a new (to us) horse trailer! As cute as the old one was, it just wasn't practical anymore. We thought it would be a fun project for Mark to fix up, but in reality, we have a list of farm projects a mile long, and that just wasn't a priority. Plus I wanted something bigger in case we ever had to evacuate or something. We got a three horse, but since my animals are so tiny, we can easily fit the donkeys and cows in the back, and the goats in the tack room if we ever had to move them all at once. We sold the old one really fast and even made a couple hundred bucks. |
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| Willow hoped right in and gave it her stamp of approval! |
Clover and Willow turned three on April 9th! That officially makes them adult donkeys! 😭 I'm pretty sad about it. I tried to do a cute little photo shoot with their birthday hats, but they were having none of it! I guess now that they are adults, they feel the need to not cooperate with me. 😂
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😂😂😂
Here's one of my attempts at a cute birthday picture! |
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I'm dying! 😆
Willow was not amused by me. |
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| The donkeys have been loving their afternoon naps in the sunshine with the goats. |
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| A grooming session to get the donkeys ready for visitors. We had a big preschool group come to the farm. There were about 35 people with preschoolers, younger siblings, teachers, and parents. I was really worried if that would overwhelm the donkeys, but they loved it! Clover was in the midst of it all getting all the scratches and loves. She was right at home in the middle of the big crowd. Willow was her usually nosey self and went around getting in everyone's face, trying to eat their feet, etc. I'm so glad I've exposed my donkeys to so many people from such a young age. They really enjoy when they get visitors. This time they even exceeded my expectations. I was so proud of them! |
We were out of town for a weekend for Nora's 3rd birthday party. The donks were so glad to see us when we got back. It's nice to know we're loved. 😊
Random Stuff:
One of the big projects I alluded to earlier was getting our row of cottonwoods trimmed and cleaned up. When we bought our land these trees were a big selling point. We loved them! Our property was just an empty farm field when we bought it, so these trees are old, and had never been trimmed and maintained. The branches were out of control and some were dangerous. We didn't want them hanging over the pasture, corrals, chicken area, or garden. We got a bid to get them all cleaned up and it came back at $7500! After we picked our jaws up off the floor we decided to do it ourselves. We rented a lift for a day, bought a chainsaw that we needed to get anyways, and hired Sawyer for a days work. We got the job done for $1000! We literally saved $6500! It was a ton of work, but also lots of fun. Mark dropped some huge branches that shook the ground when they landed. Who wouldn't have fun doing that?!? The area looks so much better, and I'm worrying a lot less each time we get a wind storm. Each time we get a project done, I get so happy. Each time we do that project ourselves, it makes it a bigger labor of love, and I love it even more.
After we got the trees cleaned up, a woodpecker family immediately went to work building a home in one of the trees. I loved watching them and listening to them construct their home. We put up a feeder filled with woodpecker suet pellets, and I was so excited for them to find it. It didn't take them long, and I can already tell I'm gonna be buying lots of bird food this summer. 😁
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| In two weeks the feeder is already half empty. |
Dragging the dry lot to keep the spring weeds down.
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| This picture probably doesn't look like a big deal, but to us it's huge! We are finally ready to start flood watering our orchard. We got a trash pump, and Mark is in the process of getting it all figured out. It will make things so much easier around here! Stay tuned for the progress as soon as we get it more established. |
We have many other projects in the works right now, and many others to come. I wasn't kidding when I said we have a list a mile long. Some things we'll be working on in the coming months are the cow pasture, a big free range chicken area, some improvements to the inside of the barn, a shed, a big garden with a deer fence included, planting lots of trees, etc. Running was our focus last summer, and the farm is our focus this summer. We intend to get a ton accomplished, and we're already off to a big start. Stay tuned!
