Wow!! Has it really been months since I did a blog on this site? I know time is flying on the farm and I have been lazy! For those following our day to day on our facebook page you have been keeping up with us. For those who haven't, I apologize for not saying hello since December. I have updated pages and added recipes since then but I just haven't written anything here. So lets play catch up!!
So what is new on the stead you may ask? Well Babies.. lots and lots of babies!! It is spring after all and as some of you will remember we bred all of our Goats last fall. So lets start with a slide show of the babies...
So what is new on the stead you may ask? Well Babies.. lots and lots of babies!! It is spring after all and as some of you will remember we bred all of our Goats last fall. So lets start with a slide show of the babies...
And for other babies on the farm... we bought an incubator finally and tried to hatch out some chicks... Round one gave us 3 chicks after 21 days.. two are Black Copper Marans and the other is a barn yard mix. Round two was an epic fail and we had 0 of the 17 eggs hatch out :( We are not sure why but I think I may have cooked the eggs a bit at the beginning trying to get the temp correct in the incubator. We have a Little Giant brand one made from styrofoam and it is very hard to keep the temp correct as it has gaps along the sides. I would love a Brisnea but truth be told we just can't afford one right now. So I have two broody hens who are sitting on eggs at the moment so we shall see how they do.
California Dreaming... Chihuahua style!
So What else have we been up to? Well how about rescuing dogs from kill shelters in California? There is a major crisis of small breed dogs out West as the fad of having pocket sized pooches has ended. What this means is that breeds such as Chihuahuas are no longer in demand and people are discarding them as if they were yesterdays leftover lunch!! I know so sad as these are mostly young healthy dogs who are euthanized at alarming rates as there is no one who wants to adopt them and the shelters are over run with them. We are talking 1000s of small dogs are killed every day! I kid you not!! So when I heard of the desperate need of homes for these small pooches I began a 5 month long struggle to try to save at least one life.. In the end we saved 5 thanks to Erik and Kathy Hart who transported them to Maine on their return trip home from Arizona. Here is a slide show of their arrival day in Maine and the start of their new life with us...
In the end we kept 3 dogs.. and I actually became permitted with the state of Maine to rescue and adopt out more dogs if I can work out a reliable transport which is the most difficult task. So for now we are enjoying our new additions to our family and will work on saving more if we can very soon.
Another step closer to self sufficiency...
And last but not least on our blog entry is the arrival of our first pigs. We decided that with our food chain becoming more and more contaminated every day that we needed to take a more proactive roll in what we eat. So this year we are raising two piglets for the summer to turn into bacon, hams and roasts for our family for the fall and winter. I apologize in advance if this offends any of my vegan friends but this is life. At least I know where my meat is coming from and that these pigs will have a good life with us. My family will learn and know just where their food comes from - and no it isn't from the grocery store!!
So there you have it. Our life over the last 6 months in a few short paragraphs. Yes there is more such as finishing off and decorating the bedrooms and bathrooms. This you can find under "In the beginning" in the left hand column where we show you the transformation of Ariana's bedroom into a custom horse barn room or Abbie's room into a Mystical Fantasy Room. You can also visit our facebook page and scroll back to past months to see updated photos of the interior transformations we did.
Please visit any time and we hope you enjoy yourselves. We love to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment or message us if you have any questions or have information to share. Have a great weekend everyone and look for the next update soon!
So there you have it. Our life over the last 6 months in a few short paragraphs. Yes there is more such as finishing off and decorating the bedrooms and bathrooms. This you can find under "In the beginning" in the left hand column where we show you the transformation of Ariana's bedroom into a custom horse barn room or Abbie's room into a Mystical Fantasy Room. You can also visit our facebook page and scroll back to past months to see updated photos of the interior transformations we did.
Please visit any time and we hope you enjoy yourselves. We love to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment or message us if you have any questions or have information to share. Have a great weekend everyone and look for the next update soon!