Farm Update

Last week we we lost one of our bunnies to the dogs. Of course it could not be the unnamed meat rabbits, it had to be Elliot's pet bunny Penny. Luckily by the time I found her they had not torn her up, she was just dead. Elliot was very sad, but he asked if he could have a new bunny. We were in need of a buck breeder so we said sure. We got to pick him out, but he could be Elliot's bunny.

We placed some ads on Craigslist and a local pet shop responded us saying they had a 4 month old Flemish Giant. It was reasonably priced (and NO ONE around here has any bucks!) we went to go check him out.

When we got there the employee showed Leigh the rabbit (and after a rather uncomfortable moment to ensure that the rabbit was indeed a buck) Leigh asked how they knew he was a Flemish. The employee said "Oh, I looked on the internet and he looks like one." Ahhhh! Well, he does indeed look like a Flemish, and his feet are HUGE. He has a very bulky body. We believe he is part Flemish. We purchased him and let him lose with the ladies.

Meet Walter. 

He was very nervous about "colony living" at first. Having only lived in a cage free space to run around stressed him out. The does chased him all over every where. We left them out there for while and when we came back Walter was chasing them. I think he can get used to this kind of living. 

 We also had much mowing to do. The monsoons make all the grass grow out of control. This is our garden...somewhere under all that grass.

 We almost lost Quinn and Noah in it. 

There. Much better!

Then today we had a weird bee incident. When I got back from my run I saw tons of bees flying over the hives. We thought they were swarming. Once it had all calmed down Leigh went to go look for the swarm to capture it. Apparently they did not swarm...They bearded.

There are a lot of reasons why that could have happened, but we think it was not enough water. We filled up the water bucket near them again. We need to get out bee fountain up and going. But it was really cool to see so many of them at once. 

We Got a New Camera

I don't know what kind it is, but it is awesome! Leigh traded a shotgun for it. (Can I tell you how much I LOVE barter!) It is one of those cameras that you have to look through the viewfinder and it makes that novel little shutter sound when you take pictures. It also focuses on the stuff in the foreground. I love it!

This camera coincides with the "menfolk's" new hobby of bug collecting. Leigh has recently started collecting and pinning cool bugs from around here. The boys have jumped on board. We call it "Pinterest for Boys".

We have gotten some really good (albeit random) pictures with the camera. Enjoy!

The thing I love the most about this camera acquisition is that Leigh is all about taking pictures. I might start being in some of the blogs now!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Goat Diarrhea

And probably more!

So we are new at this whole livestock rearing. Unfortunately for our livestock there is a learning curve. We did well with the full grown chickens, but when it came time for chicks, we did not know that chicks cannot eat layer feed. We lost all but Shiny and Tiny. The chicks had diarrhea and vomiting, then they died. We learned from that experience. Chicks get grower feed and layers get layer feed. Pretty simple.

The pigs we did well with. Though there was a scare when the male pig got rectal prolapse. It was gross and bloody, but eventually popped back in. Yuck! We hear he was delicious none-the-less though!

The bunnies we have not done as well with. One of the bucks escaped never to be heard from again. I am waiting to see little Californian/cotton tail mixes running around the neighborhood. Then we had the remaining two bucks get in a fight and one of them ripped the other ones penis and intestines out of a hole in his thigh...that was lovely. It was on Father's Day too. So Leigh and I got to butcher our first rabbit on Father's Day. He will soon be rabbit sausage. The other buck we lost to the heat about 10 days ago. We did everything we could to keep him cool, but it just wasn't enough.

Now for May Jane. We did not know that chicken food will kill a goat. Mary Jane and Bailey both love it. When we let them out of the pen they would scrounge any they found on the ground. Yesterday we let both the goats out for their daily romp, but Phoebe had ripped the wire off the front of the chicken coop. (She was trying to get at some rib scraps we had given the chickens after Fourth of July.) I didn't think anything of Mary Jane going in the chicken coop. Apparently she ate a lot of chicken feed. 

This morning she was lethargic and had horrible diarrhea. We called Chrissy (who is on vacation, so I think we just got voted worst niece/nephew) and she informed us we made a terrible mistake. Apparently chicken feed can be lethal to goats. Luckily over the counter Maalox is safe to give a goat. Leigh went and bought a huge bottle of it. Then we had a debate over how much to give her. 

Leigh was telling me that we had to give her 2 grams. I was thinking there is no WAY that could be right. 5ml is 200mg. So that would mean we would have to give her 50ml which is 10 tsp. That is almost 1/4 cup! I had Leigh call Chrissy again because I didn't want to over dose her. All I heard Chrissy say was, "Ya. Its a lot!" Then she expounded on how we needed to make sure she was well hydrated and she stayed moving. 

So after syringing a crap load of Maalox down Mary Jane's throat, every hour we had to walked her over to the water tub and there she would drink and drink and drink and drink. Then we had to walk her around and massage her left side in attempt to keep her from getting bloat. Vets can fix bloat, but it is really pricey. 

Towards the evening she was looking much better. She stopped having diarrhea, but I haven't seen normal stool. She was also a little less active than normal, but over all, seemed much better. 

So today we learned a valuable lesson. Don't let your goats eat the chicken food. We also have a renewed gratitude that Chrissy completed vet school! Thanks! And sorry we disturbed you on vacation! 

The Monsoons are coming...

...slowly!

By this time last year we had had quite a few rain storms. We had already received 1/2 inch of rain. This year we have received .02 inches of rain. But at least we got some cloud cover and some cloud cover, thunder and a drop in temperatures.

Last year we got between 5 and 9 inches of rain (depending on where in Sierra Vista you are) last year. 

I'm ready for the real thing now! 

Anytime....

Farm Update!

I've been meaning to get these pictures taken for a while. I finally got around to it. Mary Jane is our new Nubian. She is 13 weeks old today. She will grow to be somewhere around 130 ponds. She is so much fun. She is so personable. She loves to get her head and back scratched. She would rather you not touch her ears though. I think she might be self-conscious about their size...

We let both goats out of the pen most days. They enjoy eating mesquite, weeds, but most of all they love to snack on my rose bush!

 The flowers on the top taste the best!

Bailey sticks to the bottom.

We let the dogs and the goats all run around together. Though we have it on good authority (and a little unfortunate experience) that goats are very susceptible to dog attack. Luckily the goats are a lot bigger than Seamus and Wilma, and are not afraid to stare them down. 

This was a good old-fashioned Mexican stand-off. It ended the same way it does every time: Bailey charged Wilma and Wilma ran and hid under the deck. 

We have never seen aggression from the dogs toward the goats. Mary Jane and Seamus we chasing each other around the yard a few days ago. It looked a lot like tag. 

The bees are doing well. (Well, except for the dead ones in this picture)

We have a rubber tub we keep filled with water by the spigot on the house so they too have fresh water. It is our goal to someday have a solar powered  fountain in the bee yard so they can have some running water. But that is quite far down the farm to-do list.

The garden is coming along nicely (in no small part due to the bees!) Every variety of plant we have this year is native to the region. We got our seeds at Native Seed Search. Oh ya...and we got them for free because Leigh is a registered Cherokee. We get ten packs of free seeds a year! They are all open pollinated so we will be trying out hand at seed-saving this year. 

Here is the pepper and tomato bed. We have 9 cherry tomato plants and 13 Del Arbol pepper plants. 

Even though the tomato plants are still tiny, one decided it was going to give us some tomatoes. Whatever little guy. Do what feels good! 

What our tomatoes and peppers lack in robustness, our cucumbers certainly make up for! 

I don't remember how many plants we planted, but they are all doing great. (There is also a volunteer tomato plant that we have NO idea what kind it is.)

We even have some cucumbers. I can't wait to make dill pickles, sweet pickle relish, jalapeno pickles and garlic pickles this year. 

This is our "What the heck were we thinking" bed. There are watermelon and cantaloupe plants (which we planted), as well as some more volunteer tomatoes. You can also see some random sunflowers. Leigh just chucked a handful of seeds in there and they seem to be doing quite well! 

In addition to this melon, we have another about the same size, 3 about golf ball size and a tom of grape sized ones. The kids are so excited!

Here we have corn and beans and sunflowers. The beans are stressing me out. I love fresh green beans but we have never had success with them in Arizona. I am panicked they are going to die. I just keep watering them and giving them pep talks.  

POTATOES! We tried potatoes two years ago, but Elliot dig them up. He is a lot better about not touching the plants. The ones on the left are purple potatoes, and the ones on the right are Yukon Gold. (So I guess I stand corrected. Not ALL the plants are native. Close enough!)

Quinnie is such a farm girl. She loves all the animals. I think Mary Jane is her favorite.

What do you think? 

And yes, I am well aware that an 18 month old should probably be wearing shoes and pants (or at least one of them) when out with the livestock. I'm not worried about it...though we should probably get her up to date on her tetanus...

We can't forget about the chickens. We had to start all over with out flock this spring because we ended up with some egg eaters. We decided on silver lace wing Wyandottes and Easter Eggers. 

Oh...and one Buff Orpington. 

This is Tuffy. Or maybe Toughy. I am not sure. I will have to ask Elliot when he finally learns to spell. 

We ended up with him/her (we have yet to determine) because I had to take Elliot with me on a million errands. The last one was to the feed store. He had been perfect the whole time and he asked if he could have a chick. They were roughly the same age as the chicks we had at home and they were only a few bucks so I didn't see the harm. And it absolutely made his day. 

He's still giddy about it! 

(He's not wearing shoes either)

This is one of the Lace Wings. He is a rooster. He has been trying out his morning crow. He gets started about 9 am, gives it two or three heart felt (though rather embarrassingly high pitched) tries. I'm sure he'll get better. I am not looking forward to that. 

What we like best about the Easter Eggers is that they have beards. We actually refer to them as the "bearded ladies". 

The last project we have been working on is the bunny colony. We have 4 does and 2 bucks. They live "free range" without a cage. We keep the bucks in a movable pen to control breeding, but they all live together. Penny loves her new digs...and I don't have a nasty bunny hutch in the house anymore! Everyone wins! 

We have some work to do to make this area more aesthetically pleasing. We need a few more bales of hay and want to plant some clover or other prolific ground cover to add some greenery and munchies for the bunnies. 

That's all that's new as of now. August will be another big month for us. We will be getting a La Mancha goat we plan on breeding with a friend of ours who has a boar goat. We will also be getting weaner pigs. (That's really what they are called!) That means more bacon and sausage in February! 

Well That Doesn't Happen Everyday

Tonight while preparing dinner I hear all the dogs in the neighborhood going crazy. It makes quite a disturbance because there I share a property line with ten dogs. Add in the five at my house and you have quite a cacophony. I went to the front yard to see what the issue was. As I opened the door I saw a donkey and miniature horse cone barreling down the street right into my yard.

In hot pursuit was a huge black truck. The driver jumped out with a rope. I asked him if he needed help. He said no, they would just run away again. So I did the neighborly thing: I plopped myself down on my porch, called my kids outside and we watched this couple try and catch their spooked horse and donkey.

It took them a good ten minutes, but it was quite entertaining.

Having had escaped livestock before, I know that those people were not having a good time at all. I've been there. Frustrated, out maneuvered by an animal that also out weighs you. You want to call its name and have it come, but alas, it does not know its name or it doesn't care.

I have to say though, it was a funny experience (mostly because it was not my livestock that was out) and tonight I am grateful to live in a place where we can watch a free, before dinner rodeo.

I Need a Vacation

You ever have one of those weeks where you try to be a super nice, caring, fun mom and all of your efforts are met with screaming, yelling, fighting and a barrage of verbal abuse that makes you rethink continuing to rear the demon spawn that seems to have replaced your children and are running wild in your house? No? Just me? Alright....

A lot has happened this week and pictures will be coming shortly, but tonight I just don't have it in me. 

We got a 10 week old Nubian goat on Thursday. Her name is Mary Jane. She is WONDERFUL. We all love her, especially Elliot. The first night she screamed well into the night. While I did not get video of her screaming this is a close approximation of what she sounded like...for HOURS. Luckily one of our neighbors work on diesel engines until three or four in the morning and the other one smoke copious amounts of weed, so no one is really going to complain about our goat screaming. She has done better every night since then. Though sometimes during the day I think that Quinnie is upstairs crying, but it's just the goat telling us she would like some attention. 

We plan on breeding her next spring. We have become fans of goat milk and we have always been fans of goat cheese. We are really excited about being self sufficient with our dairy! 

I also painted the girls room. (Pictures to come on that too.) It came out so cute. I have to hang the blinds and make the valances still but I will probably do that Monday. 

The one thing that has saved my sanity this week is something that Julia said to Leigh earlier in the week. Julia was staring at him and not saying anything. He looked at her then looked away. She continued to stare. He finally looked back at her and said, "What?"

"Are we having a staring contest? Because if we are, I think I'm winning."

If they didn't say off the wall stuff like this occasionally, I'm pretty sure I would have run away from home long ago.