Oh Babies!

The 2011 Calving Season is in the books and it was a SUCCESS! We ended up with 12 calves (out of 13 cows) and didn't lose a single one. We also didn't assist at all. We fretted about the the first one and a little about the second. But after that we knew they could take care of themselves. We ended up with 9 bulls, which was less than ideal since we are focused on growing the herd right now. We're still trying to decide when and how to castrate and whether or not to dehorn. It would be nice to not castrate and leave the horns on but it greatly increases our workload and the potential for injury. We'll see...

Here's Marty. He was the first calf born on our farm. He's about two months old now.

Here's Pepe (he has a white stripe down his back), he was the last calf born for the 2011 season. Note he is on the wrong side of the fence...

Here's a shot of some of the calves. They were trying to figure out what the creature was on the other side of the fence and why it kept running after that stick and bringing it back.

The Guinea Hogs are almost done with farrowing. Three of the four mommas have had their piglets but the biggest one of them all hasn't had any yet. And she doesn't look like she will in the next couple weeks. I'll probably give her a second chance either way but I sure hope she's going to have some piglets this go around. We are up to 16 so far but that's after we lost three. And I do mean lost. In the evening they are there but by morning one is gone with NO TRACE! Totally bizarre. I have my hunch as to what's happening to them and I don't think it's outside predators.

Momma pig with her piglets. She saw me coming and decided that nursing time was over and it was time (for her) to EAT!

It's exhausting being this cute

Curious Little Pigs

 A few sniffs and licks for good measure

One our newest residents, Nermal (the farm cat), who made the trip from Belvidere, NE (thanks Grandma) is pregnant AGAIN and should be having kittens in the next month or two. Poor Spunky was the only one to make it. But he is doing well, putting up with Max treating him like a play toy.

And of course, we're still waiting on THE most important arrival to the farm. But that's the way we want it. We hope she waits until December before she shows her pretty little face.

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Farm Report

First off, WE HAVE EGGS! Not exactly sure who's laying them but we've had about one every morning for the last four days. Of course, they are in the yard in front of the chicken coop rather than the nest boxes but we'll work on that...

Here's the view from our front porch. It was time to move the cattle off of the warm season grasses and back onto the cool season. So I moved them across the farm to start the next round of grazing. Of course, moving them across the farm turned into a five hour event - I had to trim and/or cut down cedar trees, pull up old barbwire and other junk, create a gate in my existing electric fence, put up posts and polywire to create an alley and then set up a water tank. All I need to do now is put up posts and hi-tensile wire and I will have a new permanent alley to move cattle around the farm.

I had to snap a pic to show our critters living together so well, with the ducks in the cow pen and the chickens in the pig pen.

I aspire to take pictures as great as Jamie's but, for now, they are a work in progress... I hope you can still enjoy them.

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It's been a busy week around the farm.

There's been lots of this...

And this...

Lots of wallpapering scraping and birthing of pigs.  Speaking of birthing pigs...see that Americauna chicken up at the top?  I call that the guardian chicken, because there is ALWAYS one near where the little piggies are.  For some reason they like to hang out with the pigs and eat when they do too.  Sometimes they even get a ride on the pigs backs!

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Things I've learned after six months of being on the farm.

1.  Do NOT every buy white sheets, towels, clothes...ANYTHING!  There is something about living out on a farm that equals dirt.  Those lovely white sheets that every home magazine has a bed clad in will not work on a farm.  You will curse your bleach, your Oxiclean and the sun, because nothing is getting the dirt and sweat out of those sheets. 

2.  My husband has managed to find a way to injure himself daily.  Some are big injuries and some are small.  Have I told you the one where he cut his leg with a chainsaw?  Another day....

3.  Good medical insurance is a must...see item 2 above.

4.  It's not the heat that will kill you, it's the humidity.

5.  Spray bottles and walking around in your underwear are key to surviving the humidity.  (Call before you come to the farm, please!)

6.  Cleaning has become my life.  I can sweep and sweep and vacuum, but there is going to be dirt somewhere.  And this is coming from a girl who used to sweep or Swiffer in town about once every 3 weeks.  That was usually when company was coming over.

7.  Vinegar is my new best friend.  Need to scrap off old wall paper?  Vinegar and water to the rescue?  Need a good fabric softener?  Vinegar again!  Need to clean a floor, vinegar and water and a good mop!  Want to kill little fruit flies?  Homemade cider vinegar trap is on its way!  Want to deodorize a room...vinegar....ahhh you get the point!

8.  Listening to a rooster try to imitate his rooster friend is enough to through you into a fit of giggles.  While the one rooster has got the Ra-ra-ra-ra-roooooooo sound going, the little rooster can only manage to croak out a few notes.  But darned if he doesn't try every single time!  Don't worry little buddy, every animal goes through puberty!

9.  Clotheslines make me very happy.

10.  Farming is hard work, but at the end of the day I'm so happy Jon and I decided to take this leap of faith.  And I can't wait to show our little Farm Girl the farming life! 

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Banana bread with chocolate chips...yum!

Man, I had a craving so bad for pumpkin bread with chocolate chips today!  I like to use fresh pumpkin so I'm holding off for a couple months.  The alternative was banana bread with chocolate chips..everything is better with choc chips, right?

Soooo yummy!

Anyone else have one of these?  If not, you should.  It's the best way to keep butter that I've found.  My friend, Liz had one at her house and I had to get one as soon as I saw it.  Just make sure to change out the water regularly.

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Meet my new little knitted friend...Elijah.

He's pretty darn cute, right?  I've been meaning to post about him for a little bit.  I saw this knit pattern on ravelry.com.  If you haven't been over there, it's a great place to look for patterns and see what other knitters are doing. 

About half way through the first trimester of pregnancy, I got the itch to knit.  I love knitting and had been too sick to do anything but lay on the couch.  So, I found this little guy.  At that time, I thought I was for sure having a boy, so of course the little guy would be blue!  My friend, Liz, actually made Elijah in hot pink for her little girl and it's super cute.  Since then we've found out we are having a girl, but I think it's still okay to have a light blue elephant for a girl. 

The pattern is from Ysolda patterns.  It's a pretty fast knit, although I did have to teach myself how to knit with five double point needles.  I've been avoiding learning that because I pretty much always knit with two circular needles if I need to make something round.  But it worked out! 

I love handmade toys for kids.  I think it just makes them a little bit more special than buying something plastic that requires batteries at the store.  Not that there is anything wrong with plastic toys, but I definitely prefer handmade, wooden or soft toys.  Just a personal preference!

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Cheesy zucchini....FAIL!

I've been on a quest lately to get more veggies in our diet.  I do great with fruit, I probably eat 1-2 pieces of fruit a day.  But veggies are a little harder.  Sure I can just heat up some frozen corn or green beans, but I'm looking for something more.  So, I decided to try a cheesy zucchini recipe from my fav cookbook.

This is one big zucchini! 

It looked so nice after being cut up and weighed.

Even the piggies liked the ends and the peels.  You should have heard that little babies squeal!

And what couldn't turn out right with this much cheese...right?

Looking good!

I had high hopes and they were dashed when I bit into one.  Too much garlic, the zucchini was too soft and the cheese did nothing for the zucchini.  The flavors just didn't meld together at all.  I was very disappointed and actually only ate a couple bites.  Oh well, you win some...you lose some!  Maybe I need to find a vegetarian cookbook for some good side dishes...

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