Tots Bots Easy Fit and Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefold Giveaway!

Jillian's Drawers in Ithica, NY is having another giveaway!!!!

Tots Bots Easy Fit and Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefold Giveaway!

You need to go over there and check it out .... and of course enter to win if you use cloth. If you don't cloth diaper maybe this is your chance to start or start a stash for someone else. GO CHECK IT OUT.

Two Year Ago Today

Wordless Wednesday

Where have I been.....?

I've been here, just not blogging.

Can't even remember everything that has happened since last June but one thing that happened that I haven't told you about is:

Keith Elliott

He was born February 9th, weighing 7lbs 4oz.

He is 9 weeks old today and is nearly 13 pounds and 22 inches long. Such a sweet baby boy

*Z* is 27 months old now and is as adorable and sweet as ever. Here is a picture of him from last week.

*Z* is so excited about his new baby pigs that we got a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking it is a good thing we decided to get two females as they will most likely stay and become brood sows instead of ham and bacon.



Yesterday the pigs got out of their pen and outside the barn. I tried for a while to get them to go back into the barn, I figured if I got them in the barn they would eventually go back in their pen and I could shutt them in. I had no luck with that plan. So decided just to leave them out and wait until *T* got home to help me, the boys were napping in the house so I didn't want to be outside too long. So I went back in and kept an eye on the pigs so I knew they hadn't run off somewhere. Most of the time they spent just wandering around the yard and rutting around in the puddles of water down behind the barn. When the boys woke up I took them out to feed the animals. While I was feeding the goats the pigs followed *Z* into the barn, so I closed the big door, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were back in the barn we'd figure out how to get them into their pen later. *Z* was following them around clapping his hands and jabbering at them when I went out to the other part of the barn to get feed for the chickens and when I came back the pigs were in their pen and *Z* was closing the gate. OMGosh, he is truely a farmer at heart. Here I had tried for a good half hour or forty five minutes to get them into the barn (let alone their pen) with no luck and *Z* is out there for a total of fifteen minutes and they were in the barn AND in their pen with the gate closed. All I could do was shake my head and tell him he did a great job. He was so excited too, the first thing he told his Dad when he got home was "pigs....pen.....gate!" nodding his head the whole time. He isn't talking much but he gets his point across.



Our evening visitor

I believe this is a Sandhill Crane, but why is he/she up here in Northern Pennsylvania? Is he/she just vacationing?

Wordless Wednesday

Chore time

I have never had such a diverse bunch of goats....




Casper -  registered Saanen Buck - White
J.T. -  Boer Buck - Black
Mimi - registered LaMancha Doe - Brown with white and black trim
Mimi's Un-named LaMancha kids 1 boy, 1 girl - both tan
Jeanie - Purebred Toggenburg Doe - Brown and White (I'm sure she is registered because she has the tattoos and scrapies tag but I got her at a livestock auction so I don't know her background)
Pipsqueak - LaMancha/Boer cross - Black with Brown trim

Each one has their own little quirks which I don't always take time to appreciate... but tonight I did.

Mimi - needs her regular grain ration, an Amish made mix, with a scoop of sunflower seeds on top to help her put on a little weight and keep up her milk production. She doesn't mind sharing her mix with her babies, before it is time for them to go to their own 'rooms' for the night.

In the mean time, I caught the barred rock hen who somehow escaped from the chicken pen and put her back in with everyone else. Checked for eggs... OMG there were 6 in the nest boxes.... a record so far. There are 8 hens in there (well only 7 today).
Fed and watered the rabbits.
Checked in on the two HUGE white hens (more about them at some point) that live in the pen way at the end of the barn and there was another egg IN the nest ... a first for these girls, as they have yet to lay the eggs anywhere buy in front of the door. I know there is no way they will be able to get up into a normal nest box so I fixed a nest on the floor for them, in an old tire. I was begining to think they couldn't even get in that on their own.... yea ... I was wrong!

Back to Mimi and her kids, who are still on the milk stand sharing their feed. Take the kids to their separate pens for the night. Put Mimi in her pen.

Getting Pipsqueak out to the milkstand is no easy task.... she doesn't lead well at all but I am working with her trying to get her ready for next year's milking season.... hopefully by then we will both know what to expect from the other.
As for right now when I get her up there she immediately sits...yes I said it ... she sits down on her butt, like a dog (I really need to get a picture of this),while eating her grain. She is such a nervous little thing I'm not even sure if she will make a good milker - but I will try. She is a yearly and lost a set of twins a month or so before they were due. I suspect it had something to do with the way the rest of the herd treats her.

While I was waiting for Pipsqueak to finish I fed and watered the Coonhound, who's Kennel has an entry into the barn. and gave all the goats their hay and water.

Once Pipsqueak is done I bring Jeanie out to the milk stand ... she is the only one I am currently milking twice a day. I have had her for almost two weeks and have yet to find a grain that she will eat. Tonight I bought a new kind (Blue Seal's Course 16). As soon as I put it in her dish she started nibbling at it but wasn't really eating much. Once I started milking she stopped eating... maybe she isn't used to getting grain on the milk stand... I don't know.... I just wish I could figure her out. But she did eat more of this new feed then she has of the feed I give to all the others so I took what she didn't eat and put in her pen with her for the night... maybe she will eat it later.

Casper and J.T don't even care what Kind of feed or hay they get ... they are such nice boys. They wait pretty patiently for me to get done fussing with the girls and feed them too.

Wordless Wednesday...almost... Banana Bread