Of calves and steers... part two

Well, here they are, the pictures I'd promised I post. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and totally manageable. She had 4 bulls if I remember and we could only do two because the other boys were......well..... endowed.

This is me holding one of the bulls; I love the look on the face of the other one...
Here we are getting down to business.

Again, holding the bull. Check out what she's got in her hand!

Getting down to business on the business end of a bull.

Another thing I never thought I'd do, but glad I had and took the opportunity to try it.

Meet the Cast - Hyacinth

Here's the newest addition to From the Country Farm, Hyacinth.
She's an angora cross, my friend thought it was Nigerian Dwarf. Before arriving at my friends home she had been in a place that had abused her, I don't know what happened, but my friend said it was quite a while before she could have anything in her hand and walk near the goat.

So she's here now and will not have anything but love here. Yes, it's possible to love a goat, they are awesome animals! I say that honestly, but with some partiality towards them; I have to, we have 5 now, and started with only two... (grinning like a fool.) I was warned though, I was told that you cannot have just one, as they are herd animals and they need to be with other animals, like kind is good, what I think they meant was you can't have just one because the are like potato chips and you'll need more.

The kids and I arrived home last night about 11:30 and before we even went into the house to pee we got the goat unloaded and into the stall. I decided not to put her in with the other goats last night as 1. she thinks she's a horse I'm told, 2. I wanted her to get settled from the 1 1/2 hour ride home in the crate to a new barn, people, animals, life etc... and 3. a period of quarantine is always a good idea. So we put her in the stall in the crate, gave her hay and water and figured she'd come out when she felt safe. I felt awful this morning when I went into the barn and she was still in the crate we brought her here in, horrified would be a more accurate term. Had she spent the entire night in there? Like I said, it was a tight squeeze but manageable. I had to have the kids help me get her out because I couldn't do it myself, the crate is very large and bulky, we managed to do it but it wasn't her favorite thing to do. Now that she's out she's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing, so far so good. Dakota, our llama looked over the stall wall this morning and liked what he saw. He's intact, for now...... but they'll be on the chopping block shortly. My vet likes them to be a bit older before she gelds them for the health of the animal. I'm good with that.

So there you have it, our newest addition, I'm sorry the picture is a bit blurry, I only took a few pictures, I didn't want to freak her out and this was the best one. Oh, I almost forgot, she (and Blackberry for that matter) is already starting to shed her wool! I'm excited about that for two reasons, 1. hopefully it means an early spring and 2. I get to spin it, an oooo-la-la is it soft. Now for the spinning wheel......

Just a note for future farming/homesteading reference... don't wear chapstick to the barn during shedding season.

Life is good!

Tonight I finally felt like a full fledged farmer! A friend of mine is moving and needs to downsize some of her animals and for one particular goat she thought of me, of course I accepted and went to pick her up tonight.



The kids and I took the tonneau cover off the back of my truck this morning, went to pick up my sisters large dog crate did our usual Thursday things and went to meet this friend face to face (it's amazing how well you can 'get' someone via email. I think this girl and I are twins separated at birth! Though we do not look a thing alike.....) and pick up the goat, did things to a couple of her bull calves I never thought I'd do... (I'll post pics later), unloaded the dog crate and she was convinced to follow me using a bit of grain, we got her loaded into the dog crate, which was a tight squeeze as she's an angora cross and has a TON of fiber! Lifted it onto the back of the truck and wrapped the crate with blanket and secured them with bungee cords. Shut the tailgate with the cha-klink sound of authenticity, of my farm truck; the one I bought specifically for this purpose and headed back up to the farmhouse to warm up. On the way home I realized that I felt like an actual farmer for the first time since I started this crazy path I've chosen. I was doing what I'd wanted to do for a while; odd as it may sound, I was transporting my livestock in my truck to my farm and realized I felt like a farmer! What an amazing feeling to feel like you're living your life according to the plan that was for you. Like you're doing what you were put on Earth to do even if it's just a piece of what you're supposed to be doing.

I've had a busy day and another long one tomorrow but I'll post pictures of the latest cast member later, that and the bulls....

A Needle Roll

Last night I was feeling both frustrated and creative; so I made a needle roll, for the knitting needles the kitten keeps knocking over. Hence the frustration.... well I can look on the bright side, at least she's not eating them like Harley did as a puppy, what a stupid dog! Metal knitting needles who-da-think, a tasty treat!

..............................fabric selection
................................deciding how I want it to look

...............decorative stitching added, because I can...

.............................top stitching to finish it

............needles all fit, that' a good thing since I just "winged it"

..............the result, it works, no needles all over the floor

hummm, I wonder what she'll find to play with now??

Of calves and steers...

Guess what?! A friend of mine asked me to come help her castrate her bull calves tomorrow night. I'm just going to hold them because I've never done it but I'm willing to learn and I'm SO excited about it! "It's gonna be a good day Tater!"

Sometimes a girl just needs some CHOCOLATE!!!!

These chocolate cookies are SO good I can't stand it. Yesterday, for reasons I won't get into I needed some chocolate. I could argue that I needed it like I needed a hole in the head but hey at least I'm honest. After dinner I decided that I'd bake a double batch of chocolate cookies; that way they'd last a bit longer. I'll admit I'm not much of a cook, but I do enjoy baking occasionally. Maybe that's why a career in Pampered Chef was not for me, though I love the baking stones!

Finished product, and they go great with a cup of Chai tea for breakfast too!

fiddlin' fools

Many years ago Faith saw a violin being played for the first time and said to me, "Mommy, I've never heard it's voice before!" With all the wonder and excitement of a child and it's a moment I'll never forget. To hear her describe it as having a voice reaffirmed to me she was a music lover! About a year ago a dear friend of our family gave Faith a violin as she knew Faith would put it to good use, mind you this violin is a treasured family heirloom not to mention over 250 years old. When I saw the date stamped inside I nearly choked! It's not replaceable!!! But Faith know all this and was told by the owner, use it and play it and she treats it with such respect. That Violin is just a bit too large for her to practice on right now but at the rate she's growing she'll have grown into and out if it shortly. So for now she's on a 1/2 size and graciously allowed me to try to learn on the older one. I did find a woman to teach her last year and she took lessons for a while; but it didn't work out for this year, for a variety of reasons. So we decided to give it a try on our own, she was given a book with cd and had many years of piano lessons to help guide us. So we're off, below are pictures of out first go at it, solo. We're each doing the first set of scales.