Happy Birthday Nanbert!!

This week has been a whirlwind.  On Monday one of my Brown Swiss heifers calved a beautiful heifer calf, and I've been learning how to milk (previously I've only milked goats) and she's learning too.  Actually she seems unconcerned with the process.  She has been a dream.  Stands without being tied and lets me fumble through the milking process without a flinch.  I'm 'sharing' her with her calf, and so far that's going well too.  I am keeping the calf with her at all times without any hold up issues.  

The other heifer is overdue, and looks to be getting close, so hopefully we'll have another calf on the ground by the weekend.

So without further ado, here she is:

Baby Brown Swiss heifer born on the farm Monday morning!!

I linked up with The Homestead Barn Hop.

Where I've been.

This past month has been a blur.  

I've been anxiously awaiting the birth of my heifers' calves (both of them are still heavy with calf, by the way).  This waiting period has entailed numerous trips to the barn each night to check and make sure they aren't in labor and needing my help.  I've not had more than a four hour span of sleep since the beginning of the month (the previous owners were rather vague about the possible calving dates).

My Brown Swiss Heifers
(soon to calve).

Another big event was my daughter's fourth birthday.  Seems like just yesterday I was gargantuanly pregnant and now I'm the mom to the coolest kid imaginable.

Taken with my iPhone--fog on Lake Lemon.
(I wish I would've had my camera).

And now it seems we've transitioned full-on into autumn.  I've got a lot of changes coming all at once.  My Uncles helped me buy a lot of art supplies at an auction that I'm looking forward to breaking into.  I've been researching digital cameras because mine is in need of an upgrade.  And I'm planning my new studio space (it's going to be HUGE, and that's super exciting).

I'll keep you updated.

Artistic Moment Of The Week: My Grandpa and a Brown Swiss.

A photo of my Grandpa and one of his Brown Swiss.  Via my Flickr.

The Bad Weather Theory.

--AKA--

The Worse the Weather, the More Trouble You'll Find.

Don't let the innocent look deceive you--she's obnoxious.

I had a funny episode out in the barnyard last night.  It was almost dark and I went out to feed.  Our heifer calf (she weighs about 650# now) was bawling and I spotted her in a pasture out behind the barn (she wasn't supposed to be there).  I trudged out into her pasture (where she was supposed to be) in muck boots and a maglite.  I couldn't find any place where she'd broken through and she was on the other side of the fence dancing and carrying on because she was so happy to see me.  I had to walk clear around into the horse lot (we've got two; a blind-in-one-eye gelding that spooks at everything and a mildly neurotic mare).  I shooed them out of the way because I was going to have to bring the heifer through their lot to get her back where she belonged.  It is officially really raining at this point, and dark.  I open the gate, in runs the heifer.  At the sight of the horses, the heifer became as giddy as a puppy thinking she'd found her long lost soul mates.  At the sight of the heifer, the horses thought she was the Angel of Death out to kill them both.  They snorted and took off running to the north side of the property with her chasing them (I thought great they'll go right through the fence), but no, the heifer stopped, noticed the light beam from my maglite, and turned toward me.  Apparently, she's part cat and she started bellering and jumping around me and "attacking" the light.  I couldn't get her to go into the barn for anything.  I finally went and got a bucket of feed and waded through foot deep mud to persuade her to follow me.  After almost an hour of this she went back to where she came from, the horses calmed down enough I could separate them and feed them, I took care of the rabbits and the barn cat and went back to the house.  After I got my pjs on, I realized I'd left the barn light on, so I made a fashion statement with my muck boots and cropped yoga pants to go turn it back off.  Never a dull moment.

It is a given though--thunderstorms, ice, blizzards.  These will be the chosen times your livestock will get loose, sick, or give birth.  It's scientifically proven.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Artistic Moment Of The Week: Happy New Year!

Man With New Year Twin Lambs, 1956.  Via Flickr Commons.

Craigslist Cravings: Hereford Piglets.

Via Craigslist.

My husband is 100% against any form of porcine coming onto our property.  I, on the other hand, would love to raise some pastured hogs some day.  Hereford hogs would be a part of my breeding program.  As with my goats, I'd create a cross-breed that would be perfectly bred to thrive on our land.  Now, to just convince my darling husband of how great of an idea it would be.

I Could Live in Croatia.

I hadn't had a chance to check out Virtual Paintout for a couple of months.  I participated a while back, and I hope to again soon.  Essentially, a part of the world is chosen, and using Google StreetView you explore the area, and find a composition to paint (it's a lot of fun).  They change destinations each month, so I'm going to wait until November to participate again.  October's destination is Croatia, so I thought I would explore a bit for the fun of it.  The abandoned farmhouses are pulling at my heartstrings something fierce.  They are beautiful.

This little shack might have been a shed, but I think it was a home.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

And this house is really interesting because part of the facing has fallen off and you can see how it was built.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

This building appears to have a house above, and barn space below.  Note the chickens and ramp up to the little doorway a la chicken coop style.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

A lot of the properties have fences that surround the house and barns, and gates at the road.  They have my perfect set up.  The rustic-ness of the architecture makes me swoon.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

I am going to continue to look around, but I'll quit this post here.  If I don't, I fear that this post may have fifty pictures before it's said and done.

Just Another Reason Why I Don't Like The News.

Get ready for a slight rant.

Last night, on the news, they proclaimed that rice has arsenic in it.  Let's make a population panic about something that occurs in nature.  It's not as if someone is out there sprinkling arsenic on bags of rice.  Just like last week, when they told us that organic produce has bacteria on it.  Well of course it does.  Every surface is covered in bacteria (some good and some bad), but that's what immune systems are for.  The week before that it was something about the dangers of meat.  I don't understand why the media wants to scare us away from anything that resembles real food.  Let's just avoid the produce, dairy, and meat counters all together.  Instead let's buy all the refined, preserved, artificial stuff that is barely recognizable as food.  Can you honestly tell me that any of that stuff is fit to eat?

I'll stick with my arsenic-rice and my bacteria-laden produce.  I just find it sad that our diets as a population are in the state that they are.  But no wonder, we're being scared out of eating real food and force-fed the thousand-ingredient junk food.  Not failing to mention, that convenience trumps healthy every time.  I'll just shake my head silently and keep making my foods from scratch.

What I find sad is that when I want to buy any seemingly simple food at the grocery store I have to read the ingredient panel to see what 'extras' they've put into it.  Grape juice isn't just grape juice--it has ten extra ingredients for who-knows what reason.  Your turkey breasts have caramel color added.  Why?

People may make fun of me for trying to raise all of our food here on the farm, but I figure it's better than trying to sort through the ingredient panels in the store.

Sigh, end of rant.

Nothing like a barnyard strip.

Holy cow, I was out opening a gate to let the horses out into the pasture this morning, and this horrible pain started radiating out of my upper thigh.  So what is a girl to do?  I kicked my boot off, undid my belt, and jerked my ever-loving leg out of the jeans.  There was a huge welt starting on my inner thigh from what I assume to be a wasp-sting.  Although the little darling was no where to be seen.

Two things:  (a) I'm very glad we don't have any neighbors, and that the barn was between me and the road.  (b) Wasp stings hurt more than any little tiny stinging insect should be able to inflict.

So please get a good laugh out of the image of my wasp-dance in the pasture this morning.

Craigslist Cravings:

Image via Craigslist Ad.

I love Craigslist with a passion.  You just never know what you're going to find.  This morning I'm wishing my husband didn't hate pigs because I do believe a couple of these gilts would start off my pastured hog project rather well.  They are part Red Wattle Hog and part Blue Butt (which is usually just a Hamp/York Cross).  So, they have the wattles, but have a red with black spotted rump.  Sigh, someday.  I figure when I have a bit more land (almost twenty acres isn't enough) I can put them in the farthest pastures without much of a qualm from my significant other.

I'm sure not everybody dreams of having pastured pigs, but this girl sure does.

Where I've Been.

Life got very busy here on the farm.  One of our goats kidded triplets (below are pictures of Joe with each one).

Joelee with White Lamancha Buckling.

Joe with Black and Brown Lamancha Buckling.

Joelee with Brown and Black Doeling.

 Then we had two litters of rabbit kits born within six hours of one another.  Their eyes are just starting to open this week.  They are so cute when they prick their ears up at the sound of your voice.

Rabbit kits from our young grey doe and red buck.

Then my husband surprises Joe and me with a little freemartin heifer calf for Easter.  She was a bottle calf that his buddy had, so she's as tame as a dog.

I had to run in to get my camera.  I came back out to see this.  Not everyone has a calf looking in their backdoor. 

So, we've got a farm full at the moment.  I've still got two more goats that will be kidding in May, so the cuteness isn't over just yet.

Between the goats, rabbits, chickens, and calf Joe has lots of playmates.

I've always hoped that my kid would have the opportunity to be raised around livestock like I was when I was younger.  It's very heartwarming to see her so very happy.  She loves being a farmgirl.

So, hopefully things will be calming down a bit, and I can be a better blogger once again.

More Baby Goats.

Yep, that's my little girl. I asked her to 'pose' and this is the face/body positioning she gave me. What a comedian. She's the best farmhand a mom could ask for. She loves her new puppy, and the baby goats are pretty neat too. Her favorite jungle gym at the moment is the mare when she sticks her head through the slats in the barn at the feed manger. It's pretty cute. She ducks under her neck and stomps down the length of the feed floor, turns around and does the same thing. She also hugs and loves on the horse's big old head like the biggest teddybear you've ever seen.These girls were born Tuesday morning. They are LaMancha/Boer cross. So far they are doing great, and they are adorable. They've got tiny little ears that add to the cuteness.
So, now I don't have to walk down to the barn at all hours of the night checking on the goats. Since I just had the two pregnant does, my kidding season is over. Next year I'll have five does to kid, so I imagine it will be lots of sleepless nights again.

Some Apartment Therapy Love.

If you haven't ever ventured over to Apartment Therapy, you've been missing so many greatthings I can't even begin to tell you. Quit reading this post immediately, click the link, ogle the wonderfulness for the rest of the day, and come back to read my blog tomorrow...that is, if you've stopped reading Apartment Therapy. They've got the main design blog, but also have a special food section (Kitchn), kids design section (Ohdeedoh), a green living section (Re-Nest), and a technology section (Unplggd).

Just wanted to show you a couple finds from this morning.

From Ohdeedoh is this neat observatory idea.

This image was for the leather headboard, but just look at that wallpaper...sigh.

So, yeah.

On a different note entirely, I moved the bucklings and their momma out of the birthing stall and into a stall where they can go in and out to the pasture. I thought the younger doeling would get along with them, but she was being a bit too rough, so she got relocated to the dog pen at the barn (the weeds were growing up in there anyway). The still-pregnant nanny got relocated to the birthing stall (I hope that puts her in the mood to push out some kids), so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

I've been having quite the entourage with me while I feed anymore (an almost two year old little girl, a ten year old stock dog, three or four barn cats, my mother-in-law's two geriatric mutts, a handful of hens hoping for some of the horses leftover grain, and the new puppy). Joe did a great job this morning keeping the puppy back so I could move my mare from her lot at the barn out to the east pasture. It was a win-win for me because it kept both of them out of harm's way. I just don't trust the mare very well. She proved my point this morning when she threw her head up and swung her back in around all willy-nilly when I pulled her from the lot. Then when I turned her loose at the pasture she proceeded to buck and kick all the way over the hill. She can really be obnoxious some days.

One of my best friends is coming to see me today for a belated birthday visit, so today is going to be GREAT!

Ooops. Aparently I was in such a hurry to get stuff done before my friend arrived I completely forgot to post links. It's fixed now. Enjoy.

New Puppy and a Birthday.

So, a few Fridays ago I went down to Dinky's which is an auction barn nearby. It was HOT out. So very hot that it wasn't fit to be about in, but I wanted to see what chick prices were at because I want to buy a few Americauna chicks before fall.

Anyway, I was walking around outside and there was a wire cage with two puppies sitting in the sun. They'd knocked their water over and the one wasn't doing so well. He was laying on his side, and I don't think he was going to make it much longer. I couldn't leave the other puppy there, so I scooped him up, gave him some water and brought him home with me. The top of the cage said FREE PUPPIES: Pointer mix. He looks like an English Pointer, and so

far has been an excellent pup. He can't be over six weeks old, but he's taken to farm life rather well. While I type this he's sound asleep at my feet. We're sitting out underneath a Maple tree in my front yard enjoying a lovely breeze while Joelee is taking a nap upstairs.

Isn't he a cutie?

On a different subject my birthday was last Thursday. I turned twenty-six. Funny irony last year on my birthday I was wearing my favorite pair of jeans and I ripped them wide open on a fan down at the barn. This year I was wearing a different favorite pair of jeans and dang if I didn't rip a hole in them too first thing. That morning my mom came down and picked up my daughter and me and she took us out for lunch at The Farmhouse Cafe in Bean Blossom, Indiana after I got a massage at a great place called Head to Toe Salon and Spa in Nineveh, Indiana. When we left the restaurant we drove past the dairy where I used to buy my Brown Swiss calves, so we stopped in to visit for a bit, and introduce them to my daughter.

After that we headed up to my Grandpa's and picked him up to go out for supper at Lotus Gardens where the waitress (May) hasn't seen me in about two years, but still can remember my order. Makes a girl feel really special.

My mom then took us to her house, where we were going to stay the night and then go to the State Fair the next morning to see how my photographs did. My sister stopped by to say "Hi." And while she was there my husband called. Now keep in mind, I've been waiting on my goats to give birth for over a month now. I wasn't exactly sure on their breeding date, but all signs were pointing toward them being ready to go any moment.

"The Alpine is in labor." Was the first line from his mouth. I honestly thought he was just picking on me. "Don't joke like that." Was my response.

However, he wasn't kidding. Sure enough she was having her kids on my birthday with me being about an hour and a half away. I got quite the play-by-play from my mother-in-law though which was entertaining to say the least. My husband had to help the first one out, but the second one came on it's own. So when I got home I had twin bucklings awaiting me.

Here's One of Them, and Maria (the Momma).

Before I came home though, we ran up to the State Fair, and I got to see my photographs up among a ton of other Professionals. Not to seem immodest, but I felt confident that mine held their own weight. I didn't place, but all three of mine were on the main photography floor which made me happy since there were over a thousand entries and only about a hundred were in that area (the rest they put up on the third floor). Being that it was my first year to enter, I was a bit nervous, but I'm very satisfied with the outcome. Who knows maybe next year I might even place?

So all-in-all it was a great birthday. I don't think anybody could say theirs was exactly like mine.

A Doula for Goats.

My girls are PREGNANT as they can be. They should be due any day, and they are miserable. They are also extremely moody. I go down to the barn multiple times during the day and night hoping that when I do there will be a goat laying down and pushing, but alas all I seem to find are two grumpy, uncomfortable goats. At lunchtime I went and sat in their pen (which is a common place to find me), and the LaMancha (pictured above) proceeded to use me as a human rubbing post. Her sides must itch because she all but crushes me as she goes by anymore leaning with her full weight against my legs or arms or back. Then she and the Alpine proceeded to fight over my attention, and I try to divide my scratchings equally, but neither wants me to touch the other one. Kind of makes a girl feel important.

I feel sorry for them being so uncomfortable (I've been there, I know), so I sit with them in the evenings (the LaMancha usually comes and lays down beside me), and I pet her and talk to her and watch the sun go down. It's really relaxing (for all of us I think). I even had a cottontail rabbit come within a foot of us a few nights ago.

So, just call me Doula until these girls give birth because I seem to be their favorite person these days, and hopefully I'll get to see their little ones come into this world. That would be really neat.

You just never know...

So, Joe was with me at the barn and was down in the goat pen with our LaMancha nanny. Well, the goat had just got done "pottying" and Joe came up behind her and pointed at the pellets on the ground. I explained that she'd "pottied" and that was what her's looked like. Well Joe was mesmerized. The best part was to come because Joe was standing right behind the poor girl and about five more pellets came out. Joe was smashed against the wall trying to avoid the manure, but at the same time her eyes were as big as saucers watching "where they were coming out of" if you know what I mean. Well now she's really interested and she followed the goat around for another five minutes pointing at her behind and saying "Poop?" I don't know if she was wanting the goat to go again or telling me that's where it came from. At any rate she learned a lot at the barn today, and I got a good laugh out of the whole ordeal.

Ah, life on the farm.

Name Game: Last Round.

For the last and final installment of "The Name Game" here on the farm, I have for you a buck rabbit. He is the father of the sister does and is a big softy. He's a dark dark gray with even darker points. He's very sweet and also very big. What should we call him?

On Saturday I'll announce the final names of all the animals and also announce the winners of free prints. Good luck.

An Already Named Creature.

This is my newest acquired animal. She's a little Alpine doeling that I drove two hours north of here to pick up. She's a doll. Kind of shy, but she seems to like people. I've named her Liddy which was the name of the woman I bought her off of, and I thought it was a pretty name. She'll join my other two does when she gets a bit bigger. I wouldn't mind finding another similarly sized doeling to put with her, but I haven't found anymore in my price range.What do you think? I think she's a keeper.

Good Barbecue, Odd Death.

I probably confuse a lot of people with my titles. It comes down to having a very busy day and only a single post to tell it.

Tonight for supper we had beef barbecue with homemade sauce and pita bread that I made on the stove top instead of an oven (it worked a lot better, it made it toasted and yummy). I will definitely be making this meal again.

However, on a sad note, when I went out to feed this evening I was coming back up to the house and stopped at the hutch nearest the house to check on my young does that are all housed together. Three came to the door to greet me, which left one unaccounted for. I found her on her side and dying behind a wooden box I have for them to play on. She was breathing very calmly, and her eyes looked clear, but she was obviously dying. I picked her up and she was limp, and had some viscous clear liquid around her genitals, but other than that she looked normal. I gave her to my husband who took her to the barn and put her down humanely and quickly so she wasn't suffering anymore. The more I think about it, I honestly think she may have broken her back. I've never seen an animal with clear eyes be so sick as to lay prone, and the other girls seem very healthy and fine, so I'm assuming that's what happened.

Name Game: First Round.

Here is the buckling goat. He's a LaMancha, blonde and white in color, he has wattles under his neck (you can see them in one of the pictures). He is very ornery, and loves to torment the dogs. He really needs a name (along with a bunch of my other livestock), so the plan is to have you help. I've decided anybody who submits a potential name will be included in a drawing for a free print from my shop. I'll have the drawing once all the livestock have been named. So, the buckling is the first to get named.

Thanks in advance for all the help. Have fun with it. Keep in mind I really like 'human' names for animals, and names with backgrounds (ie, from novels, movies, etc.), and names with variations to be used in future generations (ie, if his name was King, then I could name his daughter Princess someday, as a hypothetical example).

You can submit your suggestions via comments on this blog, commenting on facebook, email, phone call, etc. Happy Naming Everybody!

Sorry all of the photos are action shots, he doesn't like to sit still.

You can see his wattles in the image above.

He's got white markings on his face, and beautiful light colored eyes. He was supposed to be disbudded, but the horns are coming back in as scurs.