The New Kid

This is a picture( from my iphone) of our new little buckling. We named him Popcorn. He is not even a week old yet and he is as tall as the month old babies! He's going to be a big boy!!!!

SFG, posted from iphone as a test.

No Photos For You!

I just wanted to start out saying that I haven't forgotten to take pictures of the rabbits. I also wanted to announce a new baby goat with a picture. But............. my new camera got broken. Let me tell you the story.

Last week I went out to feed the animals and I thought that it would be a good time to take pictures. The sun was out, the weather was warm, and the animals were just begging to have their pictures taken. Well, maybe not.  Anyway, I took my camera out with me when I went to feed. After I fed the goats, I tried to take some pictures only to find out that the batteries were dead in the camera. Oh well, I'll just get some more batteries from the house after I feed the rabbits and chickens. So I took the camera and laid it on the lawn chair. I didn't want to take it up to feed the chickens and rabbits if it didn't work. I don't want it broken......

So I got the rest of the animals fed and watered and came back down to the house. I walked right by the camera. It had completely gone from my mind. Skip a few hours later and Hubby comes home from work. He walks into the house and he has a weird look on his face. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"Where's the camera?" he asked.

My stomach hit the ground. I FORGOT IT OUTSIDE!!!!

He takes the camera out from behind his back. He had found it in the yard. The view screen was busted, and there were teeth marks all over it. Yep, Jack had him an expensive chew toy.  I FELT SICK.  

So now I'm without a camera (except my phone), and I have a lot of things that I want to take pictures of. Figures. hehehe

So to all of you photographers out there, what kind of camera do you use and why?

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, cameraless. Say that 5 times fast. lol 

Never Again

I am going to try my hardest never to own another female dog. That is unless she if fixed. Skeeter, my miniature wiener dog, is in heat. With her being so small, we've never had a problem with messes and we don't let her outside without supervision, so we didn't want to spend the money and have her fixed.  But still, she is a pain in the rear when she is in heat. Which isn't very often, thank goodness.

Last night at 3 a.m. I hear the high pitched whine that signals for me to let her out. Since she is 13 yrs I figure sometimes she can't help it and has to pee. So I get up, put on my house coat, and let her out. She runs right over to Jack.(our St Bernard)  She raises her little tail as an invitation. Seriously?!!!! She didn't have to pee. She was just horny.  I call her in and after a few more yells, she comes in.

 At 4:30 a.m. the alarm clock goes off and I lay there getting myself ready to get up. I hear the little high pitched whine again. Well, maybe she REALLY needs to go out this time. So I get up, put on my house coat and slippers, and go to the front door to let her out. I thought I had her figured out this time. I would make Jack stay away from her.  I yelled at Jack and he did stay away from her. He was confused, but he did it.

Skeeter walks down over the hill. Great, she's actually going to pee.  I wait a few minutes. Jack is still "chomping at the bit" to get to her. But, he doesn't, he's a good boy. I yell for Skeeter to come inside. Nothing. I yell again, nothing.  I go back inside to get a flashlight to see her better. I shine it around outside and yell for her again. Still nothing.  At this time, I'm getting kind of mad because I know she's ignoring me.  I walk down the small hill in front of our house still yelling for her. Where do I find her? Down on the pond dam! That is pretty far from our house. At least for her little legs.  I yell for her again.  "Skeeter!!!!"  She looks at me and goes the other way. Okay, I know she heard me, so I KNOW she is ignoring me. Now, I'm mad. I walk towards her. "Skeeter!!!!" I yell again.  She looks at me and then goes the other way AGAIN!  Now all this time I'm in my house coat and slippers. It's COLD and WINDY outside. I am not in a good mood by this time.  I start walking (stomping) towards her again yelling her name. She is about 30 yrds from me.  I yell for her again. She turns around to go away from me again.  I take the flashlight and throw it at her!  The flashlight goes out. Great. Now I'm down by the pond, with slippers on, and can't see where I'm going. I just know I'm going to step on or in something squishy.  I'm MAD.  I finally make it to where the flashlight was, picked it up, and turned it back on. It's a good thing it worked because I do believe, at this time if it didn't, I would have chucked it in the pond.

I looked around, no Skeeter. Now where has she gone. I looked and looked, calling(yelling) her name. I looked back at Jack, who by the way, was still up by the house where I told him to stay, he was looking towards the door of the house. In the small amount of time that it took me to go after the flashlight, Skeeter had made a bee line to the house.  I walk back up to the house in my muddy slippers and there she stands by the door wanting in.

I picked her up,(so she couldn't get away) and brought her inside.  I gave her a whippin with my muddy slipper. She knew what she had done. I wasn't going to have it. I put her in her dog cage and locked the door. I was not in a good mood. And  if I would have heard the high pitched whine at that time, I do believe I would have gotten the gun. ( Ok, maybe not. But then again, maybe.) She didn't make a sound until 10 a.m. this morning.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, Female Dog Hater(at this time)

P.s.  If anyone wants to complain about me whipping my dog and saying it's my fault for not having her fixed when she was a puppy, I have a muddy slipper for you too. I will hunt you down.  Good Day.  :)

Why I Like My Fainters

I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes. It's nice having so many friends in Blog Land.  It was a wonderful day. You know, one of those days that you count your blessings and realize just how blessed you really are.

And on another subject, (hehehe) it's time for us to sale our buck. He was a good one for us. Our first actual Myotonic (fainter)buck.

He's the one that started it all for us when it comes to Fainters. I'm gonna miss him but, we will be getting another one soon.

 We just love this breed. They have so many advantages to them. One good thing is they are physically unable to climb up on fences. Their back legs are made so that they can't straighten them all the way out. They are usually pretty docile too. Plus if it ever comes to the point when you have to catch them, and they don't want to come to you for some reason, just scare them. They will stiffen up and fall over! How easy could that be?! :) The "fainting" is not actually fainting. When the goat gets startled, their muscles tense up causing the freezing motion. If they are off balanced they will tip over. That's where they get "fainting."
The does make good mothers too. They have a good amount of milk for the babies and I've never had one reject their kids.

 The Myotonic goats don't gain weight as fast as the bigger Boer goats, but they have a larger meat to bone ratio. When crossed with the larger meat goats, they pass on their massive muscles. Then you have a fast growing goat with great muscles.

 That's what we do. We have full blooded Myotonics and crosses. And, we have a market for both. Next time you are thinking about getting a different type of goat, consider getting a fainter. If nothing else, you will be entertained by them.

I wasn't really expecting this post to be all about my fainting goats, but things just turned out that way. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, Fainter lover.

39 Years And 364 Days

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I turn 40. I know, to some of you, that's not that big of a deal. It's not really. But, it's the first time that I've been this old. :)  It's also a time to look back on one's life and wonder how it's going now.  Is this how I imagined it would be at 40 when I was 20?  Did I meet my "goals" that I had set for life? In some ways I have, in some ways I haven't.

When I was in my late teens, I wanted to work with horses. (What teenage girl doesn't?) I wanted to work with race horses. (Thanks to the Black Stallion books.) I did get to work with race horses for a summer. And yes, I loved it. It's a different world. I made $10 a day. It cost me $20 a day in gas to get to the track. But, I was happy. I met some good people there. I still like to go to the race track. I don't bet. I watch the horses, I watch the grooms, I watch the trainers.  I love the action in the stables, not at the betting booths. Anyways now, I would rather have an old, slow draft horse instead of the spirited Thoroughbreds.

Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be married to a farmer. I am.  We have a nice plot of land with 55 acres. We have cows, horses, chickens, goats, and rabbits. I'm not counting the dogs and cat because I could have had them in an apartment in town.  I am a farm girl. That is one thing that I have never wavered from. I wanted to live in the country on a farm.  I was lucky to find my wonderful husband. He inherited  this farm.  We have been married, this June, for 14 yrs. This part of my life is perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. (Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. Gag!)

We didn't have kids together. We are okay with that. We planned on not having kids. He has 2 from a previous marriage.  That's all the kids that I wanted. Now don't go and start giving me grief  about me not having kids. I'm more than okay with it. I was never a "baby" type person. Someone would bring a baby into the room and all the women would be, "Awwww! Look at the wittle baby!" I would be like, "Eh, it's a baby. I think it pooped."  But, if you would show me a baby goat, watch out!!!! I know for a fact that I was not suppose to have kids. Well, human kids anyway. lol.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like kids. Kids like me. I just didn't want any for myself. I'm okay with that.

A few years ago, my life turned in a direction that, looking back, was where I was meant to be. I became interested in homesteading.  I liked growing things. I loved animals. I liked "farmy" things. It was a perfect fit. It was a gradual thing. I didn't just wake up one morning and yawned and stretched and say, "I think I'll start homesteading today."  No, I started realizing what was going in our foods and thought that it would be better to grow our own food. So I did. Now, I don't grow all my food. I'm not that energetic....yet.  I want to though. It's a goal.  The more I looked into homesteading, the more I found interesting things, like spinning wool. I would love to do it more, I just keep putting it on the back burner. Oh well, I can't do it all and I'm okay with that.  I also want to make my own soap, make my own lard, and learn to smoke my own bacon and ham. Yummmmmmm......

One thing that I regret about my 40 years is gaining so much weight.(This is just after the sentence about wanting to make my own ham and bacon. LOL!!) I wish that my current self could go back and tell the 17 yr old self to not eat all that food, exercise more, and quit watching t.v. Maybe, I would have listened to myself. I sure didn't  listen to anyone else. LOL!  Now, my knees hurt, my back hurts, I have no energy and I kind of feel like I'm older than my 40 yrs.  If I keep going like I am, and don't make a change, I'll end up VERY "old" when I hit 50. I don't want that. I love my farm and I want to be able to farm it for many years to come.  I've got to keep reminding myself this. There is a reason behind this losing weight thing. lol. (Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a weight loss blog. There are plenty of them out there.)

Now, as I look into the future, I see LOTS of exciting new things coming my way. The rabbits are here! (I didn't forget to take pictures. We just haven't had very good "light" to take pictures of them yet. The pictures are coming.) I have a few people interested in them all ready. I have people lined up wanted my fainters. And, we are growing our cattle herd back up. (Already have a line of people wanting grass fed beef too!) I can't keep eggs around the house because people are always wanting to buy them. I feel like sometimes going out to squeeze the hens just to see if I could possibly get more eggs out of them. lol.

I also am kicking around getting into writing for magazines and possibly a book. That's one of the dreams that I've had since I was young. I still have a book that I've written when I was in the 6th grade. It's about a horse, of course, but it's actually not that bad, for a 6th grader. :)

So see, life can't be that bad after 40. I say bring it on!!!!!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, tomorrows birthday girl. I'm not above begging for presents. Hehehehehehe. :o)

 

I. Need. Sun.

Well, it snowed. Again. I'm done with it! Give me at least a peek of sun, please!!!! I'm starting to get desperate here!!!!! I'm to that point where all I want to do is sit on the couch and do nothing. That's not good. I have dishes that need done. I'll do them later. I have clothes that need washed and folded. I'll do it later. I have a house that needs swept. Eh, later. This is getting bad folks. I do believe I am solar powered and my batteries are getting very low. I need some sun to revive me!

What makes it worse is that I can't even sleep during the night. Since I'm not doing anything during the day my body isn't tired and it wants to stay awake all night long. I know this because it was 3:00 in the morning the last time I looked at the clock and I had to get Hubby up at 4:30 to get him off to work. Yes, I went back to sleep at 6:00. But, I woke back up around 8:00. I'm not one to function on 3 1/2 hrs sleep. I'm an 8 hr type girl.

I've had a lot of things on my mind lately too. Big bills coming due and no big money in sight. One of the perils of having a farm I guess. I normally don't worry about stuff like that, but last night it hit me. We have to come up with a lot of money and in just a little bit of time. Taxes, tags, and bills due to people that it was promised too. I don't like being in this position. I like all my bills paid.

I'm not telling you this so that you can feel sorry for me. I know we all have been in this place before. And, I'm sure we will be okay. I'm telling you this because I want you to know that it's not all bunnies and baby goats around here. There's a lot of work and stress that comes with owning a farm.  If you're planning on getting your own farm one day, make sure you are ready for these types of stress. It will be there. That and the sleepless nights that come with it. (Question: Why is it that on those sleepless nights the husband can rattle the windows with his snores? I mean, he was lucky he didn't get a pillow pulled tight over his face last night. I'm just saying. :-D  )

All in all, things are are going good here on the farm. We are all fat and sassy. (emphasis on the fat).  We should be having another kidding at anytime. This birth will be one that we've been waiting on. We want to see how these kids will look. Mom is one of our better muscled does. Dad was our normal buck that we have used.  We have a list of people wanting these babies. The thing is, if they are as nice looking, the way we want them to be, we'll want to keep them for our own herd.  It's another decision we'll have to make.  I'm voting on keeping them. hehehehe

Well, I've rambled enough to you today.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, tired.

It's Raining Rabbits!

It's raining cats and dogs. In a few hours it's going to be snowing penguins and polar bears. I'm ready for Spring. I'm holding out for this weekend when it's suppose to be sunny and in the 60's. Can I get a "All right!!!!!!"?

We are suppose to be getting our new meat rabbits. I got a great deal on some New Zealand Whites. A deal that I couldn't turn down.  So, I guess we will be getting into the meat rabbit business.  I grew up on a rabbit farm. We had 150 breeding rabbits at one time. They were all happy and in their own cages. Let's just say it took up the whole barn. lol.  Some people have asked me how I can eat those cute little fuzzy bunnies. I tell them that it's very easy. Just open your mouth and enjoy the flavor. Tame rabbit meat is one of the best meat out there! It's tender(if you butcher them at the right time.), it's high in protein, and  it taste REALLY good!!!!! It's one of the most healthy meats too.

Another thing that meat rabbits have going for them is that they are easy to raise. They don't need much room, they don't eat much feed, and they breed....Well, like rabbits. :)  A quick turn over is one of the main things they have going for them. It takes them one month to have the babies, one month to wean them, then one and a half months to grow, and then they are food. So in total, from breeding to table, you have all of 3 1/2 months. Not bad! Plus, they have more than one baby at a time. A good rabbit has around 8 to 10 babies. Some have less, some have more. It all depends on the rabbit.  Just imagine having all that meat just waiting for you. MMMMMMMMM!!!!

All of this talk about rabbit meat is making me hungry. I'll give you some more info on rabbits. If you have any questions please leave me a comment and I'll try and answer it for you.

So until next time,

 Small Farm Girl, rabbit farmer.