Rough Winter!

I don't remember a winter like this before.  Sure we have had the cold and the snow but not weeks on end of sub-zero temperatures like this.  Makes life on the farm very challenging.  Heat lamps and insulation can only do so much.

Unfortunately, this winter has taken its toll on my farm.  Friday I lost my sweet little Maggie

who was born last March.  She just couldn't handle the week long negative temperatures.  I am going to miss   you Girl!!!  Along with Maggie, I lost two chickens.

I have 4 pregnant goats that are due to give birth in the next week or two.  I just hope they don't have them during the middle of the night!  We have already made plans to bring all the babies into our heated garage.

Life on a goat farm!!

Winter Markets

Winter Markets are tough!  You sit there for 3 to 6 hours and make only $50.  Sometimes you are outside and it is cold - not just cold, but bitterly cold.  And you really wonder WHY you are doing this?

It is times like this that I really question my career choice.  So hard not to get discouraged.  And it doesn't help that your chickens aren't cooperating, either!  In the back of your mind, you keep thinking I need feed for my animals and soap supplies. etc.. etc. etc. and $50 just ain't going to cut it.  So you pray and somehow you get through it.  The soap supplies don't get bought until later and just hope that someone doesn't order that particular scent.

Life of a farmer. .

Families love to share!

One of the "joys" of being in a family is they love to share things, in particular, colds.  My husband "gave" me his cold from last week.  Oh well, it was predictable.  We do share the same bed

So now, I am coughing, wheezing and blowing my nose about a million times (or so it seems!).  BUT, still the animals need to be feed.  They don't care if you are sick or healthy - they're hungry - so feed me!!  I took care of them before I came back here and put back on my jammies, drugged myself up with the latest whatever from Vicks and climbed back into bed.

It is days like this that I miss my Mom the most.  She knew exactly what to do to make you feel better.  And she always had the coolest hands that she would put on your forehead and it would feel oh-so nice.  She would bring a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup and ALWAYS cinnamon toast!  There was alway cinnamon toast! (unless you were throwing up!).  So today I heated up a can of chicken noodle soup and made cinnamon toast.  Made me think of Mom.  Even though she has been gone some 25 years now, I still miss her terribly.  Anyway, it brought back some good memories (not getting sick is a good memory!! but good memories of a wonderful lady who was my Mom).

What are your plans for 2014?

Now that we are in Day #9 of the new year, have you given any thought of what you are going to do "different" in this new year?

What I would like to do in the new year is to become more self-sufficient.  Sounds good, doesn't it!  I am going to try to make more and more of the foods that we eat.

Yesterday I was at the feed store and picked up a bunch of seed packets. Hope to expand the gardens this year (and pray that the deers LEAVE MY GARDEN ALONE!!!!).  I given up on growing tomatoes.  Apparently, I just don't have a "red thumb" but I do have "friends" with plenty of  "red thumbs" and goat products "buy" can buy a lot of tomatoes!!

You think you can't grow a garden??? Container gardening - folks!!!  There are a lot of vegetables that can grow in containers - there is even a book on Container Gardening - check it out at your local library!!

Personally, I think we have a bunch of idiots in Washington who have their own agenda and don't really care anything about what the America public wants.  It's scary.  So I think we have to take care of Numero Ono!!  So why not start now!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!!

Yesterday the "high" was in the negative numbers which is great if you are a polar bear in Alaska BUT if you are a chicken or a goat living in New Richmond, OH . . . it's not so great!!  And today is not going to be much different.

My husband and I spent most of Sunday afternoon preparing the barns for the "deep freeze" of 2014 by putting up insulation in every possible opening or crack we could find in both the chicken and goat barns.  Several heat lamps were hung from the rafters.   Like Noah's Ark, everyone was herded into their respective barns and boarded up for the next two days.  Don't worry, I went out several times yesterday (and will do the same today) to make sure they had enough food and would let them out to get water if they wanted.

The chickens did want to go out, the goats looked out the open barn door and quickly retreated back into the barn (no way are we going out there!!!).  I did force a couple out last night and took them to the water trough.  Some did drink.

Days like this make working with livestock "challenging."  Fortunately, we have a big enough barn to house all our goats and chickens.  I don't know what the other farmers do with hundreds of cattle, goats, horses or pigs.  Just hope for the best I guess.  But, so far all our efforts to keep our animals safe and warm seem to be working - Thank you, God!!

NOW we get snow!!!

I spent most of yesterday taking down all the Christmas decorations.  So what happens today - we get SNOW!!!  Didn't get any on Christmas Day.  Mother Nature you are a week too late, my dear!!!  This would have looked so beautiful Christmas morning!

OK, I am one of those "wierd" people who love snow.  I don't like driving it - absolutely hate it!!  But love how my yard looks covered in snow.  Behind our house is a hillside covered with trees and the trees just look so pretty lined with snow.  And what is better than sitting beside a fire in the fireplace drinking hot chocolate or something stronger!!!

Of course, when I have to drudge through the snow to unfreeze frozen water buckets and feed various chickens and goats, the snow somehow loses its "charm"!  But, for right now, I shall enjoy the beautiful snow covered landscape that God has given me this morning.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!