Welcome Spring!

We had a beautiful spring weekend, and took advantage of it! The new goat pasture is 100% complete! what a nice feeling. Now the goats can rotate OUT of my back yard! Chris also put the finishing touches on the boys fencing. He installed a large gate so we can get a tractor in to level the land and plant new grass. We moved Petunia and her girls, Anika and Annabelle out of the buck yard and in with the girls. They are not overly thrilled with the change but will get used to it eventually.

We lost a total of 2 chicks from our first hatch, one had leg problems and had a hard time getting around and the second just never grew. We called him peanut and he was like 1/4 the size of his siblings. He was one that I helped hatch, I feel like every time I help I get a runt who does not survive. I think I should just let the ones hatch that were meant to on their own! We have a total of 9 chicks and they are getting their adult feathers in nicely! I cannot wait until all their fuzz is gone! We also moved the youngest chickens outside in with the teenager chickens last night and will continue to do so until they get it on their own. The baby coop will be used for these new chicks when they are ready!

I transplanted all of my tomato seedlings into large containers. I have a total of 75 plants and 4 varieties. I am not planning on using all of the plants so will be selling the extras. I have also filled my tobacco flat with seeds. We have all kinds of good things planned for the garden this year. Now if I can only figure out where to put my corn this year.

We are beginning to sit down and discuss the location of the new barn and finalize plans for it. Hopefully construction will begin in a few weeks! This new barn will help make things so easy with more space for the animals and . . . STORAGE! Having on site hay storage will be wonderful and very convenient!

On a sad note, Chris needed to put down a doe last weekend. She was one of our rescues that was VERY sick. We did what we could to help her, but it was just too late for the little girl. Beth you will be missed, and I hope you enjoy your time on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

Hurray for Sunshine!

Had a busy weekend here on the farm! The sun was finally out and the temperature was great! So we grabbed our gloves and tools and got to work on another pasture for the goats. We were able to set posts, run fencing and hang the gates! There are some finishing touches that we need to take care of, but we should be open for grazing this week. Very exciting!

We discussed the plans for the new barn this weekend. Have two new ideas that we need to research and go over before we begin to break ground!

The chicks hatched this week, we ended up with 11 total, not a bad number. Boy are they little cuties! I have some more eggs setting now from a friend. They are buff orphingtons, and I look forward to them hatching.

Lela went to the vet this week and I was informed that at the age of 4.5 months she weighs in at 9 pounds and is healthy! The vet said that she will either be very small all her life (in which case, breeding would not be recommended) or she will take a long time to grow to her full size. I am relieved that there is nothing wrong with her and that she is just small!

The chickens are really getting on the ball with the eggs and we are slightly overwhelmed! We have experienced a great loss in chickens this winter so we are relieved that we are getting more than enough eggs for ourselves and our customers.

Oh, and I almost forgot . . . the gardening has begun! I planted 80 tomato seeds from 4 different types and have had most of them to sprout. I am very pleased with the results so far. I have also planted a bunch of strawberry seeds that have begun to sprout as well. I will soon be planting the remaining seeds so when the last frost happens I am ready to plant in the ground! I am planning on selling started plants this year since I cannot see wasting them.

Well the monkey bread is ready and I am hungry . . . off to dessert!