Laughing Duck Farm

Giveaway Winners

2012-01-13T09:10:00.000-06:00

It has been so lovely and Spring like here lately I have been out doors as much as possible doing garden prep work. I have gotten a little behind in blog land because of this but last night we dropped down to the 20's ,brrr! So,at least for the next couple of days,it will be indoors for me! I meant to have my soap drawing earlier this week but time just slipped away from me in my sunshiny bliss!

I want to say thank you to all of you that entered and posted about my soap. It really made my day to have so many entries! In a highly technical and professional way,because you know that is just how I operate,lol...I dumped all the entries on my bed and picked 4!

Dum-da-da-dumm....and the winners are..

Nancy...a Facebook friend

Just Me at The Back Forty

awitch247

Saun at Live by the Sun Love by the Moon

I will be getting in touch with you all to get you address,I hope you like my soap!

*****awitch247 I can not find a way to contact you so pleas leave me a comment with how to get in touch,thanks!*******

Look What I Did,Look What I Did!!!

2012-01-07T18:21:00.000-06:00

One of my goals for this year is to learn to dye yarn with natural dyes. I love the idea of being able to walk out in the woods and fields and gather a basket full of bark or mushrooms or flowers, the way our ancestors would have done, and bring it home and create a rainbow of yarns! Plus, I am all about living as naturally as I possibly can. So....today I started my journey! I did not gather plants for this. I ordered a small starter kit of natural dyes to help me get the feel of dying, but soon I will be picking things from nature and growing my own plants to do my dying. I actually got my kit before Christmas but have been searching for a big used pot. I found one yesterday at a local "treasure" shop! After I got it home I noticed it was stamped USN. It is an old galley pot from the Navy!

This is some chunky spun corriedale that I decided to use. Chunky yarn is interesting and knits up fast plus in the book, Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess, that I highly recommend if you are interested in natural dying, she dyes up a rainbow of chunky yarns and it just looks beautiful!

I used Logwood Purple for this. After reading about Logwood I probably won't use it in the future because it is not an easily sustainable dye and I can not gather it myself. It came in my little kit so of course I am going to use what I have but there are sooo many natural dye plants out there I see no reason to use one that is not abundant! I can see why it is in high demand though ,it is a beautiful color!

Here it is drying in the sun, Royal Purple!

I can't wait to see what it looks like dry and fluffed back up! If I am happy with it when it is dry it will go in my Etsy shop.
I also learned why they put rubber gloves in my kit that I ..umm...did not use...yikes!

Don't forget to enter my soap giveaway I will be having the drawing this week!

The Babies and A Senile Farm Women

2011-12-31T08:48:00.000-06:00

I thought I would show you all some new pictures of my Christmas presents! Even though Susie is still tiny she has visibly gotten bigger in the few weeks she has been here. She should be, she eats non stop it seems!

When we first brought her and Charlie home they weren't very playful like we have come to expect baby goats to be. Heck, ours start to try to Goatie-goat dance when they are just hours old! But you can see that has changed now! That is Bonnie and Clyde,the dirty donkeys,watching Susie's antics!

A good worming and good quality feed and all the alfalfa and horse hay they can eat plus fresh greens from the garden...oh and some probiotics have got them up to where we like them to be,high on the Happy Goat scale!

Right now little Susie is in her own pen with Minnie who is actually her half sister. Susie is too small to be in with the other goats with out a momma to protect her. We have a few who would try to pound her into the ground and she is just too small to take a pounding! Minnie is one of the gentlest goats we have and she has no horns so she was a good choice to be Susie's friend.
Charlie has been moved to the buck pens. He decided he needed to start trying out his buckly business on Susie so he had to go over to the bachelor side of the farm! Goats can actually successfully mate at a very young age and that would have been a bad thing for Susie.

Charlie is so lovely! I can just imaging how striking he will look when he is grown!

I hope all his kids have that wonderful wool! Charlie is not impressed with the buck pens. Mr.Tumnus ignores him and Charlie is a pineing for the ladies already! Several of the girls have not been bred yet and are in season regularly so the boys stay stirred up and spend their days staring and snorting and putting on their buckly perfume..whew! Of course, Charlie is just beginning all that but Mr.T is an old pro at wooing the ladies!

On to the senile farm woman part of this post. Am I the only one who will put eggs in the pocket of her coat then forget about them only to rediscover them smashed several days later????

Sadly, this is not the first time I have done this...or the second.....not that anyone is counting or that I could actually remember the number of times since I can't even remember I put the egg in there in the first place! At least this time it was just one egg.
Hope you all have a save and Happy New Year! I am off to scrape the egg out of my coat....

A Redneck Kinda Christmas

2011-12-26T08:30:00.000-06:00

Yes,we had a wonderful Christmas here at Laughing Duck Farm! Here are Hubby and The Boy trying to "out tall" each other by tip toeing and pulling each other down!

The Boy was waiting for me to hurry with the picture taking so he could open his gift. He picked it out so it is not a surprise...he just can't wait to get his hands on it!

Look at that smile! This was his favorite present this year! Makes his hillbilly momma proud!

A Mosin-Nagant rifle. It is an old Russian rifle. The Boys' passions are guns,old Ford trucks and video games that involve shooting. He got other presents, even a new computer but that paled in comparison. Oh, he got gift cards too, which he used for ....ammo!

Ahhh..nothing says redneck Christmas like the smell of cosmoline filling the house! The Boy happily spent the holiday cleaning his new prize possession! It was still in the original packaging, never used. When his Nanna asked him what he wanted for Christmas he said,and I quote,"ammo." His Christmas and birthday list for the next 3 years goes like this,gun,gun,old Ford truck,gun,gun,....! If you ask him what he is saving his money for he will say..you guessed it..a new gun! The Boy also did a little squirrel hunting. Not with that rifle, there would have been nothing left but tufts of fur! He went out with his .22. He would have been happy to have a mess of fried squirrel for Christmas dinner but I was already cooking a rib roast so they went in the freezer.

A little Christmas day target practice. You can see The Boy has passed up Hubby in the tall department!

Father and son bonding...makes me smile from ear to ear I tell ya!

From the sounds of gunshots around here I will say The Boy was not the only one who got a new gun for Christmas. Half the folks with in a 5 mile radius were trying out new guns! Hey,remember this is Texas folks!

I hope you all had Merry Christmases ....even if it may not have been a Redneck Christmas!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T07:09:00.003-06:00

Wishing all my friends a Merry Christmas ..

From all of us, human and critters, at Laughing Duck farm!

Soap Giveaway!!!

2011-12-21T09:58:00.000-06:00

I am having a giveaway to christen my new Etsy shop! I am going to be selling my soap,which I have been told is pretty good! I am going to giveaway 4 bars so there will be four winners. All you have to do to enter is go visit my shop and leave me a comment on which bar you would like to try. That's it! Easy Peasy! If you would be so kind as to do a post about my giveaway on your blog or Facebook leave me three more comments saying you did and I will give you three more chances to win!

Let me tell you all a little about my soap. I started making my soap out of desperation that only a mother can have. If The Boy had been a junior super hero he would have been "Rash Boy"! I tried every soap out there from so called mild to organic. No luck. He remained Rash Boy. After some research I discovered I could make my own soap and put nothing in it but skin nourishing oils. So I did. And Bamm! Rash Boy was defeated and became a regular boy once again! Two of the soaps I am offing right off have herbal infused oils,one calendula and the other peppermint. Oh,and a chamomile made with chamomile tea.There are no dyes or preservatives in my soaps or lard . Just skin healthy oils and fragrance. The color differences are from the herbs,oils and fragrances. All my soap is cold process,which means good old fashioned lye soap! Don't worry,there is no lye in it when you use it, they lye turns the oils to soap then it is gone. My soap is not drying and lathers well for homemade soap. I am not good at "tooting my own horn" so this is a little hard! I will just say we like it and everyone that has used it says it's great!

Straight Jackets for Your Chickens

2011-12-13T16:36:00.001-06:00

It was her or me and I wasn't going down with out a fight!

Chickens are stupid. Yes, I said it and if you have ever had chickens you know it is true. Don't get me wrong, I love having chickens,they are tasty. Plus they're also fun to watch, have cute babies, eat the bugs and ticks and make fertilizer.That chicken poop can grow some big tomatoes! But they are still some of the dumbest critters The Good Lord ever made. In my experience if they start a bad habit to get them to stop it is difficult. Sometimes penning them up so they can not do their bad habit for a few days will erase it from their tiny chicken brains, sometimes not. You all may be sensing a story here and you all would be right. Sadly, this is a true story.
I have this one very pretty little hen, she is a black and white bannie with a little bit of Polish chicken thrown in the mix. Basically a bannie with a top knot! She decided she would fly over the fence ever day upon leaving the coop into Mr.Tumnus' yard and stay there despite me clipping her wing. So I started leaving her in there a night with another wild chicken. Now, if this had been before the Great Coon Thinning of the last Spring they would have been a midnight buffet the first night. Well ...they have been roosting out there all summer and fall till a few nights ago and I woke up to chicken screams for help..yes,chickens sound like they are screaming "Help" when something starts eating on them and I can't say that I blame them for it either! Anyways,I jump out of bed and wake a very confused Hubby and 2 middle age people bumble around like Stooges looking for shoes and shot guns! It turns out not to be a coon but an owl and it has gotten the wild chicken. Of course we just watched the owl fly away. Now I am particularly fond of the surviving hen despite her above average chicken dumbness. Mainly because she is unique and pretty. So every evening I have been lumbering my middleage, out of shape..joints a poppin', asthmatic self out there and catch up Little Miss Dumb-Dumb and put her in the coop where first thing the next morning she walks right over the scratch I throw out and to the fence and flies her clipped wing self right over. You would thing that seeing her friend as a late night snack for an owl would have made her want to avoid that area all together. I will say it again...Chickens are stupid. Well...the first night or two she was easy to catch ...after that Little Miss Dumb-Dumb wised up. I know,surprising! Last night after a hearty game of round and round the goat pen I had had it! Wheezing, out of breath and joints a poppin' I called The Boy to come and help me. When I got my hands on Little Miss Dumb-Dumb I carried her to the shed and got some of that blue painters tape that comes off easy and taped her one wing to her chest! Yes,you heard me! I taped my chickens wing to her chest! But by golly, I had had enough and desperate times call for desperate measures! The Boy thought it was hilarious, making comments like,"You Might be a Redneck if you make a straight jacket for your chicken out of duct tape!""

But you know what? Little Miss Dumb-Dumb is still in the chicken yard! Who's smarter now!!!!

Yes I did it ! I made a crazy chicken straight jacket out of tape and I am not ashamed!!!! I will take her straight jacket off in a few days if it does not fall off on its own.

No chickens were harmed in the making of this story..well..except the one eaten by the owl.

Getting the Tree

2011-12-11T08:12:00.001-06:00

I have heard that many of the Christmas tree farms here in Texas were hit hard by the drought. Thankfully, the one we always visit had plenty of trees!

Mill Hollow farm is nestled in the pines, a beautiful little place .We went on a cloudy,crisp day. It was lovely!

We don't usually get Fall color until December. I was afraid with the crazy year weather wise we would not get any color but the last couple of weeks have been pretty nice.

This is and old home place on the edge of the woods. I love looking at places like that ,wondering..who lived there, what their lives were like...

Hubby is scouting for the perfect tree! Of course I am the final inspector!

Hubby and The Boy discuss the best way to fell this mighty cypress!

Hubby is strictly a supervisor for the cutting part!

Inspecting The Boy's work..

A job well done boys,a job well done!

Santa Dog

2011-12-08T08:04:00.001-06:00

As promised I got Rascal a Santa suit!

Please excuse the cluttery mess in the back round,we were putting up the tree. Actually there is cluttery mess in my living room a lot of the time! Oh well,we live here, it is not a museum after all! Rascal liked the suit but he was not fond of the hat ...we can't let a cute hat like that go to waste now can we...hmmmm..

Beans makes a pretty good Santa Dog too! Although...Rascal will probably demote her to Elf! Actually...Weenie,who hates to dreess up and will not look at a camera and is the Queen of all, will most likely demote them both to elf!

Beans says,"Walwrite, Beans wore the sillwe hat, now were's Bean's cookie??"

Who needs fancy electronics and dish TV ? We have plenty of dogs..err...things to entertain ourselves with here on the farm!

A Goatie Goatie Christmas for Me!

2011-12-05T16:20:00.001-06:00

My list to Santa never includes things like diamonds or a new car. Nope,those are not for me! I am just not that kind of gal! What makes me jump up and down like a 5 year old and squeal with glee?

Christmas goats,that's what!!! Today I was telling Hubby how the lady I had gotten my pygoras from had some babies and he ask me is that what I would like for Christmas..well you all know that it is! So me and The Boy loaded up and went for a drive.When we got home we had these little stocking stuffers...

Charlie,my new buck! That means I will have my own woolie babies next year!

He is actually champagne colored and has fabulous hair!

I can not wait to see what kind of kids he makes with my woolie girls! Of course, right now he is little and cuddly and not stinky!

Along with Charlie is little Susie! There were 3 little black girls there but The Boy fell in love with her and that meant she had to come home with us.

She is tiny with the sweetest face and floppy ears!

They have been hand raised so they are just the sweetest lovable little balls of fluff! They both have healthy appetites and haven't stopped eating since they got here!

Now I have 3 girls and a boy. That is the perfect makings for my own little herd of pygoras! Yep, it's a Goatie Goatie Christmas for me!

Why We Call Them...

2011-11-30T08:35:00.001-06:00

Dirty Donkeys!

We have finally started getting some rain and that means it is the season of the Dirty Donkeys! Donkeys love,love, love to roll in the dirt! Well, at least ours do so I am assuming all other donkeys do too. You all will have to excuse the glowing eyes,I forgot to turn off the flash. Bonnie and Clyde really are not zombie donkeys...honest!

Clyde is a nice bright white when he is clean. Now he is a lumpy ,clay pot gray! Bonnie does her share of rolling in the mud too, but it doesn't show up as bad on her spotted coat.

They share a feed pan always ,even though there are several out there they will always eat out of the same one. Bonnie and Clyde are very bonded and are never far from each other.

Donkey love..it is a sweet and dirty thing!

Fun

2011-11-26T09:06:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving! Hubby made it home just in time for ours and will be home through Christmas so we are really happy about that! I don't think he has ever been home for both holidays since he has been working overseas.
Yesterday we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival.We go every year but I can not get Hubby and the Boy to dress up for it! I think they would both look great in a kilt! This was the last weekend of the festival. I am glad we went yesterday because it is raining this morning. I thought I would share a few pictures with you...

This one needs no explaining...! There are so many shops at the festival you can find whatever type of medieval dress you want!

I love all the costumes! This is a group of faeries.

A Lord and Lady...

A Knight,a Lady and Maiden and possibly a pirate! Oh, can't forget my favorites, the Highlanders in the back round!

This is the band Wine and Alchemy...

They were very good!

I did not take these videos but found them on you tube.

This is the group Tartanic. They play the bagpipes and drums and are very funny and have a lot of energy!

This is one of the wedding chapels. Even with the heat and drought of summer it was still lovely.

Pirates and a barbarian...

A highlander and some friends...

There was even a storm trooper there wearing a kilt! I wish I had gotten a picture of that. There were so many great costumes and all kinds of performances! If you have never been and you live close enough to go you should ! I think next year I will make my self a costume even if the boys won't wear one...what do you think..a pirate..a lady..a barbarian....a fairy...What would you be?

Before and After

2011-11-18T12:29:00.001-06:00

Rascal is adorably all grown out and wild looking . He kind of reminds me of an Ewok from Star Wars. Yes my sci-fi nerdiness shines through again! I would happily leave him that way but,and it is a big but let me tell ya, he gets to smelling like I can only imagine Chewbacca might have smelt like after the dip in the garbage compactor! One day I may make him a little Ewok hoodie....Rascal would happily wear it too because he loves to be dressed up...

Since I am the only one who will bathe him I take him every so often to get all that hair shaved off! Because, let's face it, men and boys do not care if the house they dwell in smells like stinky dog! Let me set the scene if you will...

Man and boy sitting on the couch watching some show involving shooting and exploding. Woman walks in and states,"Ewww,it smells like dog in here!" Man and boy both sniff and say,"I don't smell anything..." Boy leans down to scratch nearest dog and lovingly says to said dog,"Don't listen to her,you don't stink." The Boy then shoots the woman a dirty look like she hurled the worst insult ever to said dog. Woman sighs,rolls eyes and walks away.

He is still cute and he gets a lot more scratchins from me when I don't have to hold my nose!

Plus, it cuts down on the baths and me and Rascal both enjoy that because for some reason I smell more like a dog than he does after a bath and I have never met a dog who liked a bath! They work hard at building up that stink and don't appreciate us washing it all off! Maybe I will get him a Santa coat.....till his hair grows back...just to amuse myself...besides Rascal really does like to wear clothes..honest!

Garden Dreaming

2011-11-15T11:07:00.001-06:00

It is still unseasonably warm here. This fact is driving me crazy because I did not plant a Fall garden! I just keep thinking how it would still be going strong! Of course....the only way to have broken the rock hard, baked to a brick soil that was once my garden would have been dynamite! I mentioned this in passing one day and you should have seen The Boy's eyes light up! He was suddenly all about gardening! Something about a new explosive he would like to try out...! I do have a few things in my raised beds. I always plant fall tomatoes but have never manage to get red ones before frost, this year I may actually get a red one or two. Well,if I will quit picking them green and frying them up!

This kale is Blue Curly Scotch and it has survive all summer through heat wave and drought with very little care! It has produced like crazy and is still going strong.

I have lots of green tomatoes on my plants.I did not start my own seedlings this time so these are not heirlooms.

I had planted some cabbages too but a rogue chicken decided to fly over the fence and eat them. That is OK ..I know who he is and soon it will be chicken killing time and he is marked for dumplings!

The bunching onions really bunched! They all died down this summer but as soon as it cooled just a bit they exploded! I have no idea what type these are,when they were given to me I was simply told they are bunching onions.

These onion seedlings are purple bunching onions and if they do as well as the white ones I will never be lacking for an onion!

It has been a tough gardening year no doubt. But when you have the need to grow things deep down in your soul you will find away! It may not be the garden that you dream of...it may just be a tomato in a pot but that is enough to keep you going till the next season...till you can sink your hands in the soil again. You gardeners know what I am talking about. My mind is full already of next years garden...seeds,compost..canning...sigh! I have seeds ordered...compost going...plans laid out and prayers ! Prayers for El Nino to go away..for Spring rains and normal temps...for lots of goat poop for the compost! So are you garden dreaming already or is it just me?

Clyde ask...

2011-11-08T19:13:00.000-06:00

Got a treat for a cute dirty donkey?

The Birds

2011-11-07T14:19:00.001-06:00

The flocks of Starlings love to visit the big oaks around the house....all day..everyday. They are noisy and they make the acorns rain down. It really sounds like hail hitting the roof of the shed and house! And,let me tell you,it hurts to be rained on by acorns! You can also hear at the end of the second one a Banshee screaming. It really is not the Banshee even though I think it is probably close to her horrible wailing. It is just Zippy in heat. Yes folks,that is the music of the barn yard these days,sounds of horror movies! I guess I am a day late and a dollar short for a Halloween post! Oh,I forgot to add the howling of the coyotes every night but I don't have any videos of those! So enjoy my real life version of The Birds....

Back on the Farm Again

2011-11-06T06:55:00.000-06:00

I am back! I had a wonderful trip with Texan! Since she already posted where and why we went I feel safe to say it too! We went to the beautiful Northwest corner of Arkansas. It was breath takingly beautiful as always! We timed it just right for autumns glory! As far as pictures go,this one is not even close to doing it justice!

When I got home I found I did not have a lot of scenic photos because we were taking pictures of properties we looked at up there mostly. Plus, we were having such a good time we really didn't think about taking pictures! Both of us lived in Arkansas as children,all you have to do is hear us talk to know that because that accent never leaves! Somehow, that place seems to be calling us home. I think if you ever make it to those mountains they will forever call you too.Texan described the feeling beautifully on her blog,she is more poetic that me!

You all know how it is,when you leave the farm it falls apart! While in the beautiful Ozark Mountains The boy calls to let me know my brand new dryer quit working! Then the next day,"ummm, Mom, the well pump stopped working." Gee wiz ! You have got to be kidding me! All I could think of was Drought=Dry well! The Boy can fix many things. Like the dryer which he got back running in no time after I got home. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with the water so I had him call out a well pump repairman.We can go without a dryer but we got to have water! Our little town has surprisingly a lot of things considering it is only about a population of 700. One of the things we do not have is a pump repairman. So we have to pay the extra for one to come out from about 45 minutes away. Well, this turned out to be not so bad! It was not the well sucked dry by this never ending drought! It was not the pump out either,even though it is about 60 years old. Nope,it was that the electrical line underground to the pump had broken somewhere. Considering it was installed 60 years ago...I can live with that! Mr. Repairman also confirmed that the well is around 300 feet deep and would have to have a 20 year drought to go dry and it was probably fed off the lake! Insert middle age woman doing the happy dance here. I am going to be watering freely now let me tell ya! So...if your life is feeling boring or you think you don't have any adventures..just by a farm! Your life will be full of adventure and if you want to take it up a notch,just leave the farm for a few days and let the really big adventures start!

Adventure Time

2011-10-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

I am planning a little adventure with my friend Texan in a day or two so I will be gone from blog land for a little while. Of course, I will sneak in and check my comments every so often because that is an addiction! Come on, you all know you are the same way! Pop-paw is coming to stay with The Boy and hold down the fort ...err..farm! The Boy is a big strapping young man and capable of running the farm himself but having Pop-paw here gives me peace of mind, I am very glad to have him!.. The only worry I have is Dolly Doodle.

See, I raised Dolly from a day old baby,I am her only momma and she has a few quirks.

I had to throw in some baby pictures,I couldn't help it! Wasn't she a cute baby!!!

Dolly is used to me "tucking her in" at night! When The Boy puts the goaties up at night they all run to their stalls for their supper. Not Doodle. She runs to the gate and cries for her Maaa to come and walk her to her bed, which of course,I do....every night. She also has to have me tell her good morning or she hollers all day looking for me. This may not sound like a big deal except the last time I went away and was not hear to tuck Ms.Dooldle in she had a goatie melt down. She was already worked up from not having her good morning time with her Maaa! By night time she refused to go in her stall and ran around like a crazy goat hollering and carrying on! It took The Boy quiet awhile to get her to bed! When he was done Pap-paw jokingly ask did she have rabies because she was so nutty!
So I am open for suggestions...I though about something with my scent maybe a shirt that I wore but I don't know..she likes to "see" me...Any ideas?

How to Talk to a Little Baby Goat

2011-10-24T22:16:00.000-05:00

I remember this song from when I was a kid! Now that the Boy has started saying my new name should be "Crazy Goat Lady" (teenagers,geesh!) I may take it as my theme song! So, to all my goatie loving friends,just click on the video for a guaranteed goatie smile!

Apparently Peanuts are like Crack Balls...

2011-10-20T22:48:00.000-05:00

to goats! I never would have guessed it but now I have seen it with my own eyes! Yes,I have read on other blogs that some goats like peanuts. So, on a whim, at one of the many,many trips I make to Tractor Supply I grabbed a bag of peanuts and threw them in the buggy. Plain peanuts.With the shells on. Plain. Not half priced experimental government mind control peanuts. Just plain. All it took was to open the bag out side the goat pen. The scent must have carried on the breeze. Every goat froze,lifted their heads and sniffed the peanut laced air....kind of like on the nature shows when a herd of some hoofed food animal catches whiff of a lion near by..eyes bugged and nostrils flared and a stampede of peanut crazed goats thundered towards me!

I was amazed! Did they have some genetic programming deep in there goatie DNA that turned them in to some kind of peanut craving zombie goats?

Hmmm...I am going to say yes,that must be what is going on!

Let me tell you, we quickly discovered these goats will do anything for a peanut! Of course, we used this newly acquired knowledge to totally entertain ourselves at the goats expense! Hey,it's not like they weren't getting paid with peanuts! We saw it as a win win situation!

Even the long battle for herd queen between Nibbles and Doodah will come to a stop and they will share a peanut! Unheard of I tell you! Usually the only thing these two come together on is a good t-boning or head butt!

Nibbles doesn't care if The Boy makes her look silly for a peanut...

dignity matters nothing when it comes to the delectable peanut!

See, just look at her! She would dance in circles in a tutu if it meant getting a peanut!

Then we have the poor lesser zombies...umm goats that circle around with eye bugging and nostrils flaring waiting for the alpha goats to be distracted long enough for them to sneak in to get their peanut fix! Sweet Minnie,of course you can have a peanut!

Dolly Doodle too! And let me tell you ..do not go in that pen wearing anything that might have had, at some time or another,peanuts in the pockets!

Apparently goats are like blood hounds when it come to sniffing out peanuts and will ,scouts honor, try to gnaw off your pocket to get to a little peanut dust! I am thinking it only takes one peanut to completely make an addict out of a goat. Just one.Who knew?

A Couple of Goofballs...

2011-10-11T16:41:00.001-05:00

This was at the Houston Aquarium, one of the places we went while Hubby was home. These two,I tell ya! They are always cutting up! Every picture of them together looks just like these..well minus the giant, fake, man eating white tiger!

They may be goofballs but they are my goofballs and I am glad I have them!

Apple Butter and Tattler Lids

2011-10-10T21:15:00.001-05:00

Apple season down here means apples are shipped in from more northerly places so I usually do not do any apple kind of things. Pears are what we have down here and you can really substitute them for apples in most things. I do make a batch of apple butter every year though,which you can make with pears if you need to but I will usually splurge and buy some nice organic apples. Besides,with the heatwave and drought, mostly the drought because pears can take the heat, we had no pears this year. Usually we are pear poor down here! Seriously, folks will abandon buckets of them on your doorsteps!
So, I made a batch of apple butter in the crock pot. I love the ole crock pot,it is the busy or lazy persons friend! I am both!

I also tried out the Tattler Lids for the first time. I had a perfect success with them! I like that they are BPA free and reusable!

The cost of regular lids just keep going up so I figure they will pay for them selves in no time. The BPA thing is getting to be such an issue I suspect Ball and the rest will soon be making their lids BPA free but that will probably be another excuse for them to raise the price! They are already advertising their freezer containers as BPA free. I don't figure I will ever collect up enough of the Tattler Lids to do all my canning unless the company has something like a thousand lid giveaway and I am lucky enough to win but still....I think I will just get a box here and there and who knows..like my jars I may get a closet full eventually! Maybe I will ask for Tattler Lids as Christmas gifts! The lids have a slightly different way to do them so read the instructions..no big deal, it just tells you when and how to tighten them. I like them and if you haven't tried them I do recommend them. The Tattler folks did not give me anything to say that, although if any of them are reading I would be happy to have some free ones!

I will give you my super easy and, we think, yummy recipe for crock pot apple butter.This is so simple a recipe it is a great thing to make if haven't canned before and wanted to try something!

5 1/2 lbs of apples I usually do half granny smith and half some other sweeter apple
4 C sugar I do half brown sugar because I like it that away
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

Peel,core and finely chop apples. Mix everything in your crock pot. Cover and cook 1 hr on high. Reduce to low and cook 9-11 hrs or until your desired thickness. We don't do smooth apple butter we like ours chunky so I usually get out the ole tater masher and just mash it up good. You can run it through a food mill or blender ,again what ever way you like it! BWB can it.

The Good,The Bad and The Ugly

2011-10-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...what it that trailer doing stuck up the side of that tree?

It was attached to this truck that is rolled over in the woods...

Yes, unfortunately, this is how Hubby's week at home ended. Don't worry he is fine! He just popped out the back window and started taking pictures...!

The Boy had his hopes on this truck when he turned 16....I had my doubts it would make it that long! Let's just say Hubby is not getting any good driving awards! Granted,he doesn't drive in China and when he is home I drive when we are together because well...his driving makes me a nervous wreck! So he is a little out of practice in the driving department.

I would like to be able to say he was run off the road by a crazy driver or swerved to miss a wandering deer or wild hog..or maybe a stray dog but...nope,he did this all by himself...

took a curve too fast and over corrected and the trailer took on a life of it's own and slung him around even more till he was upside down and in the woods...

The second blessing, besides Hubby walking away, was that The Boy was not with him. The Boy goes everywhere with his dad and by the grace of God did not leave with him that morning! The passenger side is a bit frightening.
Those who know my Hubby will not even be surprised by this little incident or that he walked away form it. He is one of those hyper folks who always seem to eventually find a mishap of one kind or the other but will usually walk away unscathed or relatively minor injuries compared to the event! He never lets it slow him down though. I do admit as he is hitting middle age these events are getting further apart,thank goodness! It has been about a year since his last incident of falling through some scaffolding on the oil rig he was building about 3 stories in the air,luckily he was able to catch hold of something! Limped away with a buggered up leg and didn't miss a beat... My friend Texan jokingly said he is why my hair went prematurely gray! I told Hubby I was going to start a business of charging folks $10 to rub on him for luck!

You all know my motto....Life is and adventure!

A Short Break

2011-10-03T07:29:00.000-05:00

I have a few minutes this morning to give a quick shout out to everyone, I will be an a short break. As a lot of you know my Hubby works back and forth in China. He has been gone 7 weeks this time and was supposed to get a month at home.Wellll....after about 3 days he got THE call and they need him back so he will end up with about 10 days home. It is hard to complain about it with so many folks out of work., we put it in perspective and count our blessings. So,we have to cram in the most important "Honey-Dos" balanced with some quality family time .We are busy, busy, busy! I told him he would be worn out and he said he could sleep on the plane! I will will catch up with everyone in a few days and have some post of what went on around here! One thing I,and most everyone else,am grateful for is it has finally cooled off some! We are having daytime temps in the 80's whooo-hooo! So,at least we are not burning up as we do all this running around! See you all soon....

Goats Make Good Drums

2011-09-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

Every evening me and The Boy try to spend time in the goat pen before it is time to give the goaties their supper and put them to bed. It is always great entertainment! Goats have BIG personalities and you never know what will go on out in their pen.When we first go out it is chaos! Everyone comes running in case of treats because well, often there are treats! Then they kind of settle down and take their turns getting attention. One of the things that happens on occasion is drumming. Tonight it was Nibbles who wanted to be musical....ummm..maybe I should say Nibbles wanted to be the musical instrument!

Nibbles was a bottle baby and is very close to The Boy.When she was a baby she lived in the house and slept in a clothes hamper next to The Boys bed. She wants to be close as possible to him all the time. She really tries to sit in his lap still but she is just too big! As she and The Boy sat together tonight he was patting on her like he was playing a goat drum!

You can see she was loving it...just sitting there chewing cud and enjoying all the patting!

Maybe I can take them to the fair to perform and people can put change in a can for them,lol! It could help with the goat feed fund!

Nibbles says,"Hey,I did not tell ya you could stop..."

Back to drumming...

"What was the Nibbles,...more drumming!?!?!"

... pat- pat- patta- pat- pat....my arms are getting tired.....

I am not sure who is actually in charge here,The Boy or Nibbles!

A boy and his goat..life is good!

A Project Done!

2011-09-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

You all may remember a while back I went to Navasota to the WC Mercantile and got myself stocked up on wool . I thought this merino and silk was beautiful and could not wait to spin it !

I was right, it was wonderful to spin! I think it turned out to be a lovely yarn!

I decided to make some hand warmers from this pattern, which seems to be quiet popular because I have seen it on several other blogs. Please ignore the terrible looking farm woman fingernails! I used a bigger needle size to accommodate my more"chunky " yarn and had shorten the amount of rows for the hand and thumb area which was no big deal. I am no perfectionist and have no problem adjusting what I have to make what I want,lol!

It just so happens I have enough yarn to make a cowl to go with these which I think will go great this fall with a denim jacket! It is still hot as heck here but hot weather is the time to be making your cool weather stuff. I usually always have something on my wheel and a knitting project and at least 1 or 2 sewing projects going at once! Yes, it takes longer to finish them but that seems to be the way I operate when it comes to projects!
We are suppose to cool off this weekend and by cooling I mean the 90's instead of the 100's! AND a possibility of rain ! It is almost too much for me to hope for...sigh.

So anyone else making winter goodies?

2011-08-25T18:52:00.000-05:00

I received this Versatile Blogger award from Chris over at Grow Fish Eat. He also has another blog where he is getting ready to start bee keeping, Bees Make Honey. They are both terrific blogs about ..well..pretty much what the titles say! Check him out and I bet you'll be glad you did!

I am always honored when someone gives me an award but I usually do not participate in them much any more. This time however, because Texas is just about fried off he face of the Earth and there is really not much to post about, unless you want to hear me endlessly whine and gripe about the heat and drought and how I cannot do anything I love pertaining to homesteading because of a fore mentioned baking heatwave and drought! No? Are you sure? Because I am getting reaaaally good at it!OK then...I guess I will just have to tell you 7 things about myself.

Sooo.....let's see...
1. I love watching the Beverly Hillbillies,to my son's horror!

2. My son weighed 10 lbs 4oz at birth and he was not over due. These are obviously going to be all over the place random!

3. I am a cold weather person. Love the cold. I really love the cold North Sea. When I think of a paradise it is never a warm tropical place,it is standing on a rocky cliff watching the cold, grey waves roll... biting, sea kissed wind blowing in my face....

4.Even though I was born in Texas and have lived here off and on over my life I do not consider myself a Texan,I have lived in many places and my heart lies elsewhere. I do however, love the Texas spirit and people...it is just to darned hot here for me,lol!

5.My eyes are dark brown.

6.My great great grandma was a Choctaw Indian and she was still alive when I was born.

7.I was born on a Good Friday. That is the Friday before Easter just in case anyone didn't know.

So there you have it ,7 totally random and boring facts about me! There is no way I can choose who to pass this along to because I have way too many blogging friends to try and pick just a few! So if you want to play along,consider the Versatile Blogger award yours!

Horns

2011-08-19T11:14:00.000-05:00

I thought I would show you all the varieties of goatie horns we have here on the farm since some of my friends said they did not know that goats could have different kinds of horns. I showed you all Sweet Pea with her straight horns and Mr.Tumnus with his big, curved horns last post so here is the rest of the gang!

This is Nibbles,who by the way, has established herself as herd queen. She looks like she is smiling!

She has one long straight horn and one that curves back! She is a mixed dwarf goat we bought as a bottle baby from some nice people here in town that had a herd of mixed dwarf goats. She was to be a friend for Butter Bean back when we had no idea that goats were addictive! She was the only goat there that had these color markings. Her daddy was amazing! He had the tallest,straight up horns I have ever seen on a goat and his horn on one side curved just like Nibbles'!

Of course there is the Original Goatie,Butter Bean!

His horns are curved back and slightly turned towards the outside. He is a Pygmy goat wether. Butter Bean does not realize he is a wether and has to stay in the buck pen with Mr. Tumnus because he has a one tracked mind when it comes to the ladies and pesters them to death! He is a good friend for Mr.Tumnus and they have a good time together playing! They run around their pen and jump and dance and chase each other over the goat houses, it is a fun sight to watch for sure! Mr.Tumnus is bigger but he is very gentle and never hurts or is too rough with Bean.

Then we have Doodah,who is a Nigerian Dwarf,she has perfect curved back horns...

Her daughter Lola's horns are starting to turnout to the outside more like her daddy,Mr.Tumnus. Her horns will not be huge like Mr.T's because the girl goats do not get those massive horns like the boys do! She is also full Nigerian...

Doodah's other daughter,Zippy..well,it it too soon to tell yet but the are curved back for sure....

Of course there is Dolly Doodle,who would never let me forget her! She is a mixed small goat and she has curved back horns too...

Oh, then we have the Woolie Girls! My Pygoras are a newish breed that are fiber goats,they are a cross of a Pygmy and Angora goat. First off, we have Sweet Minnie, possibly the sweetest goatie ever,who sadly has no horns. She was disbudded as a baby which means they burned around her horn buds with a hot iron to kill them so they would not grow. There are a lot of folks who swear all goats need to be dehorned, I am not one of them for many reasons. Please, if you are an advocate for dissbudding do not leave me comments trying to change my mind.You won't change it just like I won't change yours! I do think it is sad for hornless goaties because they need their horns to scratch with . Goats are genetically itchy according to The Boy! Plus they love to head butt each other and they need their horns for proper butting and protection! Getting a bloody head is no fun,even for a goat. Minnie often stays out of the herd and I think that is why.

Then we have Purl, my other Pygora. She had long straight horns but some how managed to break part of one off! I keep asking her how she did that but she won't tell me!

Purl's other horn curves forward on the tip! The Boys says it looks like she has a can opener horn!

There are a lot more different kinds of goats with different kinds of horns.We have a wide variety just in our little herd!

Just for kicks and too give you a idea of what a heat wave in Texas can do...here is a duck egg I cracked this morning! It had been out in the yard all day and it was cooked,literally!

I tell you I think all of us down here are feeling like this egg, cooked!

Growing Up Goatie Style

2011-08-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

Guess who is getting her big goatie horns?

Little Miss Daisy that's who! She has tiny little points showing up,little goats grow up fast and it won't be long before she is butting with the best of 'em!

So now we are wondering,whose horns will she get? Her daddy Mr.Tumnus' long curved back horns..

He is a handsome fellow....

Or will Daisy get her mama Sweet Pea's long straight horns?

Her horns are excellent for self goat scratchin'!

Daisy is pretty fond of goatie scratchins as you all can see here...

and here!

So who do you all think she will take after in the horn department? Will she have Mr.Tumnus curvy or Sweet Pea straight horns?

I think she is going to be pretty darn cute either way, don't you?

A Dolly Doodle Demonstration

2011-07-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

Dolly Doodle here,or as I like to be called these days Lumber Jack Dolly, to demonstrate the goatie way of getting rid of a tree!

I am the best in the goat yard at this job. You can see because I am the tallest goat and can stretch waaayy up to get the high bark . Now, you all may think I am just a snacking goatie but it is more than that! You see,this is the tree the lightening struck and I have decided it needs to be removed and what better way to remove it than by eating it!

I am very diligent in my work! I spend a lot of my day eating,..umm..working on this tree!

If you only knew how yummy my job was!

I munch all the way around,I never just work in one spot!

I really would...mmm...like to tell you all...more about my work...but I am really busy right now..

These are tough times,at least that is what the Maa says when she is looking at the feed bill,and every person and goatie has to pitch in and do their part! I do not mind at all being a career goatie as long as I can keep up my lumber jacking!

Now I have to get back to munching..errr..work!

Mamma Whirley Comb

2011-07-26T09:47:00.000-05:00

This is Whirley Comb and her chicks. She is the last of our original black and gold bannie girls. I do love these little chickens! I don't even know if she still lays any eggs but she loves to hatch babies! She will still go broody 3 times a year and hatch out a little family!

Whirley Comb is teaching her chicks how to find yummy chicky things to eat in the compost pile! She is giving me the "chicken eye"!

She hatched out 6 jumbo eggs! She never looses a chick either!

Our Orpingtons will go broody occasionally and if they do manage to hatch a chick or two they never manage to raise them,they disappear.

I rarely even bother to try eggs under my big hens any more. These little bannie mommas out do them by a chicken mile!

Whirley Comb says she has had enough of this paparazzi treatment! Can't a little black hen have her breakfast in peace! She takes her chicks and says,"Talk to the tail feathers lady!"

I know you all are probably needing a goatie fix! So... here is Butterbean ! He maaas everyone a big goatie hello!

Out and About

2011-07-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

First off I would like to say...We got some rain!!! I had almost forgotten what it was like! It was a good rain and 2 days in a row.

Folks around us got way more than us and that is good because that means there may be hay this fall to cut and we will all be needing hay! For some reason we have a weird lake effect here. Storms come right up to the lake and dissipate,then form right back up past us and keep going. It is enough to bring tears to drought dried eyes I tell ya!

I was thinking this morning,this blog has a wide variety of post. Farm animals,gardening and canning,homeschooling,sewing,spinning...crazy rants,lol! I really could divide it into more than one blog...but then I have trouble keeping up with just this one so I won't start another one just to neglect it too!
With it being so hot me and The Boy get to feeling a little, OK a lot, cooped up and house bound, both of us being cold weather kind of people! We tend to hide out in the summer in a darkened house, AC going full blast. So, I decided we needed a road trip! There is this store in Navasota, 1 1/2 hrs from here, that is a fiber store and I have been wanting to go see it. The store is called WC Mercantile. Now you know The Boy is desperate when he jumps at the opportunity to go to a fiber store! It is a nice easy drive, no traffic really.We have to go through Huntsville, but as long as you are not in going to work traffic it is an easy town to drive through. I will tell you all, I would rather drive 5 hours on Texas highways or any highways for that matter, than 1 hour down in Houston! Uggg! I think there may be a fiber store down in Houston but there is no way I am driving down there to go have a look! Anyways,The Mercantile had a lot of fiber I have not had the opportunity to spin and they have no problem letting you feel all the fiber,which I did! The big problem was deciding which ones I wanted to take home! The Boy,who was sitting on a couch, rolled his eyes and said,"your going to be awhile aren't you?" Well you know the answer to that was yes! Navasota is a lovely old Texas town.The downtown is made up of beautiful historic buildings and lots of antique shops. I think I will go back the next time my MIL is down, she is my junkin' buddy and we can spend the day there hitting the shops!

I ended up with 8oz of artisan dyed superfine merino in this lovely gold,it reminds me of Autumn leaves!

I also got 8oz of Fawn colored fine alpaca,which will be a first for me to spin. It is oh so soft!

Then I got 8oz of this merino and tussah silk blend. I ,like most spinners I think, love merino. I have seen a lot of this tussah silk on etsy and around but have never spun it myself so this will also be a first!

The girl that rang me up said she loved spinning this one,85% Blue Faced Leicester and 15% tussah silk. This, again, will be another first for me!

Then just for the heck of it a bag of sparklies to make some yarn extra special!

So this will keep me busy for a couple of months in the spinning department, like I need more projects! I have so many things going on! My friend Texan and I cause each other to have a lot of UFO's. That is crafter talk for unfinished objects! We inspire each other to constantly start new stuff! It is fun though, to have a buddy to do things with! We have been planning a new quilt project ,even though neither of us have finished our last project we started! This one is the cathedral windows quilt! I always have half a dozen thing going at once. I think it is a type of crafter's ADHD! I do eventually get them done. Something usually has to give though and that something is house work. I mean really,does it really matter that much if there are life sized balls of dog hair wafting around in the corners! If I keep the lights low any visitors will just assume it is another dog right? Another thing me and Texan have decided to do is make some of our own clothes! She has already got started on some super cute tops! It must be a 40's thing....I do not like a lot of the new styles and I am so never going to be ready for the "old lady" look! So I will just start making my own funky and to my own taste clothes!
Coming home through Huntsville,they have a quilt shop there in the downtown area that carries some of that wonderful vintage fabric from the 30's and 40's. I am soooo in love with that stuff and every time I go through there I have to stop and get a cut of one of them. I got this one this time.

I think this will make some great throw pillows! Well..one of these days...when I get done with plying the yarn I have on my wheel...and finishing that dust ruffle..and working on that quilt...and cutting out that top..and.....

2011-07-13T10:27:00.000-05:00

For those of you who may not know,this is Clyde. Clyde Hyde is his whole name,because most all our animals have 2 names!

Clyde likes to carry things off. He is always carrying off the rubber feed pans and just about anything he can get those big ole rubbery donkey lips around! We have to be careful what we leave lying around because it will disappear before we can blink twice! It is a sight to see this funny looking little white donkey running across the pasture with a big black rubber feed pan in his mouth! Of course,you all know he is not going to do it when I have a camera with me! So I decide I would try and distract him with one of those Jolly Balls they make for horses to play with.

As you can see,Clyde is unimpressed!

He nibbled at it a little but would not take it from The Boy..

Bon-Bon Bonnie and Sweetie came over to check it out too. Bonnie decided she would take it if Clyde didn't want it!

I have caught Clyde in the act of running off with stuff,but now I am thinking that he may have had an accomplice!

Bonnie sure seemed to know what she was doing with this ball!

Well, I am glad some donkey decided it was fun! Clyde says for now he will stick to getting scratchins from The Boy!

Canning and More Ducks

2011-07-11T15:30:00.000-05:00

No, not canning ducks just more ducks! But I would can ducks if we liked to eat ducks but we don't,so no canned ducks today! Just because the garden is mostly done does not mean there is no canning going on in my kitchen! When ever I find good deals on fruits and veggies I buy them up in bulk and can them.Yesterday they had a whole bunch of mushrooms marked down for quick sale. Now, you do have to inspect marked down mushrooms because sometimes they are...fuzzy! These looked really good so I bought them all,8 packages. Mushrooms are easy to can,but they shrink a lot so if you can only get one or two packs you may not feel it is worth getting out the canner for. They must be pressure canned but you have to do very little to them.Wash them, sliced them if you want and boil for 5 minutes pack in jars and process 45 minutes.

I always wash my mushrooms.Oh,I know those fancy chefs say just brush them off and never wash them.Well... I will tell you,as a gardener who has used that wonderful garden gold, mushroom compost, I am washing my mushrooms! I know what those little pieces of "dirt" really are! If you have never used mushroom compost let me tell you,it stinks so bad you can barely breath when it is fresh! Literally it smells as bad as an outhouse in the Texas summer time! And yes,I do know what and outhouse in the Texas summertime smells like! Some of you may be thinking port-a-potty. Nope, a port-a potty is like a golden throne compared to a real out house! When I was a girl my great grandparents still used an outhouse. I just know you all want to know what that was like,so I will tell you. First off all the grown ups tell you to watch for snakes and get a big stick to run around the hole in case of spiders! While you are holding you breath and watching for snakes poking the hole for spiders and still trying to hold your breath and sweating like crazy, Texas summer time remember, looking for these deadly creatures all the while trying not to glimpse down the hole that is withering and alive with, I don't know,a gazillion maggots and praying that if a snake or spider does get you you do not fall down the hole....ahhh child hood memories! Thank you tho who ever invented the indoor toilet! Gosh, see how easily I get sidetracked! Back to mushrooms! When ever I can mushrooms I also can the broth that was leftover after their 5 minute boil. It just smells too good to waste! It is very good when you are cooking meat in the crock pot,or to put in a soup or when you are making gravy.

I always try to save things I need to do that day in the kitchen for when I have to be in there watching the canner.

While my mushrooms were going I cut up some bananas and dipped them in coconut and put them in the dehydrator.

A terrific idea I got from my buddy TEXAN! I then cut up 2 fresh pineapples that will go in to the dehydrator after the bananas. Then I shredded 2 heads of cabbage and salted and seasoned it for Kraut. If you have never tried making your own kraut you should! It is sooo good and good for you because of the fermentation that has all those lovely good for you bacteria in it! Plus you can season it how you like. Put in some hot peppers...onions...what ever spice you like! I have tried several flavors but my favorite is with dill and celery seed. I love it in the hot summer time,cold and crisp and salty,yumm!

Now here is where the duck part comes in! Crazy Daisy Jr. hatched out yet another batch of babies! Crazy Daisy Jr. has got to be the most baby hatching duck we have ever had!

Anyone want some ducks?!?!

No Green but a Little Gray

2011-07-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

I have seen so many of you out there posting wonderful garden photos. Believe me,I wish I was posting them right along with you! You see, I have the heart of a gardener. I love to grow things,any things! Food for my family, flowers even cactus! I have nothing to post about gardening or anything green. First of all the drought has ended any hope of flowers this year.Oh,I keep the struggling plants alive by watering them but there are no masses of flowers.This time of year,even on a good year,there is not much that can take the heat here in South Texas in the ole veggie patch. Okra and purple hull peas make it but that is about it. Soon I will be starting some tomato seedlings for the Fall garden. Some of you may be thinking ,wow two gardens a year! It is not so "wow". First off to get a spring crop of tomatoes we start seedlings in December to have big enough plants at last frost to put out so that they will set fruit before it is too hot. Also, there is no succession planting. It just gets hot too quick. There is no harvesting green beans all Summer, I am grateful for the one picking I get. Same in the Fall. I have to get stuff planted as soon as it cools a little and hope it was soon enough for it to make before frost. It is challenging to say the least! So instead of green I will give you gray...in the form of Oscar Peterson!

This is his come hither look! Come hither and pet me ,which happens to be the only look he has! That is about all Oscar does,he has a very laid back personality!

In fact, he doesn't even break into a run at feeding time! He will follow us around, slowly mind you, and beg to be petted. Or if we are doing something he will plop down in the middle of it so we have to pet him! He loves a basket of wet laundry!

Mr.Peterson is a very small cat,the size of a big kitten. His momma was small and he was the runt of the litter! Oscar says, "Put that thing down and pet me!"

Yes,little Oscar really has only one passion in life! He wants to be petted 24-7! His second love would be napping. He only wakes up if he thinks there might be an opportunity to get some petting!

Mouse chasing..ummm no! No interest in mousing at all,darn cat! I kill more mice than he does! Once, I knocked out a mouse that was in the chicken coop and threw it too him he sat there and watched it come to and run off!

Oh well,I guess I can't hold his lack of mousing skills against him. After all, he makes up for it with sweetness!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

A Name and More Cuteness

2011-07-02T08:34:00.000-05:00

Thank all of you who made name suggestions, there were a lot of great ones in there! There seemed to be a theme of flower names and white names. Then there was Pez,suggested by Lin and if this kid had been a boy it assuredly would now and forever more be know as Pez! One of the few flowers The Boy has ever told me he likes is the white Shasta Daisy. So, in continuing with the flower and white themes she is now Daisy!

It has been so blazingly hot here she has been suffering from a little heat stress so little Daisy has been spending the heat of the day inside with us. She seemed to be able to tolerate it a little better yesterday and spent less time inside,I am hoping each day is a little better and she will be out all day soon. She was plenty frisky this morning! She had discovered the stump!

It is the goatie motto,all stumps must be conquered! Daisy gave it the little goat try!

Not quiet to the top,one more try!

Those little legs will have to grow a bit more! Little Daisy already knows there are other ways to conquer a stump.....eat it!

Or wait for The Boy to come and sit on it for some snuggle time!

Momma Sweet Pea says she is not fond of The Boy getting his smell all over her clean baby! Sweet pea is one of those over protective mothers! I am surprised Daisy is not bald from all the licking!

Goats all have different personalities. Some like Sweet Pea are over protective and some, like our Doodah, will just as readily fling her babies across the yard if they are in her way!

Daisy did not get her momma's wattles but she got everything else from her, she is very pretty just like her momma!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend!

The Midnight Express

2011-06-29T16:26:00.001-05:00

No,my friends,this is not a story of a train. It is however,a story of a goat. I know big surprise on this blog,lol! So...meet my own personal Midnight Express....Sweet Pea!

I know you are wondering why I am calling this tiny goat the Midnight Express.Well,let me tell you all the story!

Long about midnight,see the connection starting to form already,The Boy burst in to my room and says Sweet Pea is in labor.When I say burst I am not exaggerating,like to gave his ole Ma a heat attack! For one thing,The boy never gets in a hurry for anything.That is just his personality.I have rarely seen him get past a mosey along! His nick name in T-ball, years ago, was 90 Year Old grandma! He was the only kid that would walk the bases and then stop and yawn between second and third with everyone yelling the whole time for him to run! On the plus side,he has no temper.You can hardly make The Boy mad! Now see, I have gotten off track! My mind just bounces around like that! Back to the story of the Midnight Express...
So I get up and stumble out side grabbing an old towel from the box that I save them in just for goat birthing time. Soon as I open the door I hear Sweet Pea screaming like a freight train. See more connections with trains! Good grief she was hollering! That didn't sound well. She was due last Sunday and my long time readers will remember she is the money goat. I say the money goat because, in a matter of mental lapse according to my Hubby, I paid for her to have a goatie c-section when her first kid was so big it got stuck. She came to our farm bred so who knows what went on there. Any way...she was screaming and pushing and not making any progress. I could see she was having trouble.Waiting is hard in these situations. Finally a little hoof appeared! I felt around a little to make sure the kid was in the right position and thankfully it was! So I began to gently pull the legs....nothing..gentle tugging became more aggressive tugging. All the while Sweet Pea was licking my leg between screams like she knew I was helping and was thankful for it. Pea is not an affectionate goatie so this was a little surprising. Eventually and what seemed like forever but was in reality only a few minutes I was able to get the head out! She a a big baby girl! This is Harley's daughter who has gone to his new herd of 10 girls! So here is the Midnight Expresses delivery,Little Big Head! She will get a real name soon,but considering how her big head almost kept her out of this world Little Big Head seems to fit for now!

I was hoping she would have Harley's beautiful color but it was not to be. She has the longest hair of any kid we have had here though! Mother and daughter are doing well this morning! Just in case you didn't know baby goaties are one of the hardest things next to Big Foot to get a picture of! I took around 30 pictures and had about 5 that were not blurry! They just cannot be still!

She has no real name yet. It usually takes us a few days to pick out just the right name for our kids. Feel free to make suggestion if you want!

So the moral of today's story...screaming goats with over sized babies at midnight....oh heck, there is no moral! Except maybe,I will need a nap today for sure!

Ya just never know...

2011-06-25T17:35:00.000-05:00

That is one of my life mottos. It is usually spoken with a slow,country accent and a scratch to the head! That is how it was this morning.You all know how it is when you are going about your quiet routine and there is like a huge elephant in the room and you don't even notice it until you are standing nose to trunk with it? Meet my elephant!

No....I do not own any enormous Texas Longhorn steers or Belted Galloway cattle! It was so funny because I was out doing chores for several minutes before I noticed this little herd quietly munching away not a hundred feet from me. I blame it on weak morning coffee!

Sorry the pictures are a little hazy,South Texas humidity and all fogging up the lens! Well ,you can bet my heart skipped a beat,maybe two! That fence he is behind is meant to keep chickens in not steers out!Oh and that fence is over 5 foot tall in case you were wondering!

It only took a minute to figure out this was a gentle giant,someones pet. No, he did not push over the fence,the bighorn sheep we used to have back there did that.

I almost fell in love with these little "Oreo' cows which come to find out were a mix of Dexter and belted Galloway.Ummm..actually that one above is a bull!

The gate to this pasture was open,that's how they got in,so Hubby went and closed it so they would not get out in the road.Then he called the sheriff to report them and that we were keeping them up. At that time no one was missing them yet,but I knew someone would they were to tame and well fed to be just everyday range cows.

In just a few hours the owners came and got them. Because that pasture has not been grazed this year it has tall dead grass so that is why they came here. As everyone knows the state of Texas is about burnt off the face of the Earth so there is no grass anywhere. I am sure glad we sold our few cows last winter!
I was right ,these were pets and all had names and would come when called so it was easy for the owners to get them back home. I tell you all, I do not know why I ever start thinking life is getting boring!

2011-05-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

It is getting to be that time of year again,the time I love,canning time! I really can things year round,like chicken,broth,soup and things I find on sale at the grocery store, but I just love when the garden starts making! Oh, it is just a little bit right now but soon it will be lots! One thing I canned the other day for the very first time was spiced pickled beats from my garden!

I like to put things that only one person will eat in single serving jars. Only I eat beets. Ever heard the expression faster than greased lightening? Well that is how fast my boys run if you mention beets! I love beets,they have that nice dirt flavor and I love dirt! Not to eat it of course but I love the smell of it fresh turned,to sink my hands in it,to walk barefoot across the coolness of it....sigh....and the growing things in it too. I am just an earthy woman what can I say,lol! I guess the right way to say beets taste like dirt is to say they are earthy!
I have also frozen a gallon bag of sliced and battered yellow squash...because squash needs to be fried or it's just too healthy!

And canned 6 pints of green beans and frozen 2 gallon bags of turnip greens! Oh, the tomatoes are so close to getting ripe I can almost taste them!

Of course,in true southern fashion,the biggest ones have already been fried!

The peppers are starting to make...this one is a chili..

I thought I would show you my Clary sage in bloom. Isn't it lovely!

It is a very useful medicinal plant and easy to grow.If you would like to read more about it here in a link. So, are you canning anything yet?
.

Scooter

2011-04-28T20:17:00.001-05:00

I thought I would show you all some new and, of course, adorable pictures of Scooter! I think he is the prettiest of our spring kids! Just look at his face!

He is the sweetest too. Definitely a lap goatie! The Boy keeps hinting how he wishes he could keep Scooter. Every new batch of kids there is always going to be one he wants to keep! The goatie boys have been banded and I am happy to report that sweet Scooter and his brother Pedro,who is pretty sweet too, will be going to their new home next week! A wonderful home at a friends house. They will have 2 boys of their own to spoil them and will live with 2 mini horses! I just love when I know the people who take home our goaties!

Here is Scooter snacking on some yummy bark!

Just like a human boy, he is looking around and hoping his brother and sisters don't notice he has found something yummy!

Uh-Oh! Too late! Look who's coming!

It's sister Zippy! She can munch bark with the best of them!

I am linking up with Farm Friend Friday! I have missed it the last few weeks but I am making it this week! Go on over and check out all the great farm blogs,you'll be glad you did!

The Dolly Doodle Report

2011-04-26T13:56:00.001-05:00

It's me! The one and only Dolly Doodle here to give you an update on what has been going on around here!

I have been helping out my Maa a lot these last couple of days and it is hard work let me tell you! You see, when my Maa works around the farm she will take me with her. She puts on my harness and a leash and I go with her to help in what ever she is doing. Mostly the leash just drags behind me because I like to be with my Maa and follow her but my Maa says she feels safer if she can get a hold of me if she needs too. I go with my Maa all kinds of places except the garden. She never takes me there .....something about me being about as much use as a plague of locust out there! Well, I don't know what a plagues of locust are but they must be mighty useful if they are half as good as me!

I know you all are wondering what I have been helping with lately and I am going to tell you. Berry picking!

I am a very good goatie helper at berry picking! First I watch the house and when ever my Maa comes out I maaaaaaaa her name loudly and repeatedly so she knows I am ready to go to work! She says things I can not hear from where I am but eventually she says,"Alright Doodle!" Doodle, that is what she calls me! Then she comes and gets me and off we go! You may be wondering how I help pick berries.Well , I don't really pick the berries I don't like them at all. I help by eating all the leaves, poison ivy and devil weed so my Maaa can

get to her berries!

Maa says she has to get enough berries to make jelly for Daaad. I don't know what jelly is but if she will throw some poison ivy or devil weed in there I will help Daaad eat it!

I help my Maa by making sure I am always eating right where she is picking. So,I usually stand right between her legs and try to eat exactly where her fingers are so I can remove all the leaves that may be in her way....

This is my job right now. It is a very,very important job which makes me a very important goatie! I try to tell all the other goats how important I am and that they should butt me less and let me have more of the grain but they are just the unsophisticated kind of goats and don't understand the importance of my work! My Maa says one day when I am a big goatie I will be a milking Nanny but until then I can be her helper. I sure hope Daaad wants lots of jelly because I really love berry picking!

Happy Easter !!!

2011-04-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter to all my friends!

Adventures in the Money Pit

2011-04-19T15:06:00.002-05:00

I know a lot of you out there are just beginning your spring but it is almost over here. We are supposed to hit 90* in the next day or so. Oh, and don't forget to add in the severe drought and wind that won't stop blowing at what feels like 100 mph. I feel cheated....I want my springtime goodness! I want cool,wet mornings and abundant growth not dragging hoses in drenching humidity while every petal is blown from my wilted flowers by this relentless wind. Yes,I am whining! But seriously, Mother Nature,enough is enough!

For my newer friends who may not know, we live in a 104 year old dilapidated money pit. That is fine with me...I get to live a hermity life in the country and have my animals and garden and not care if an old bathtub sits in the yard or if the grass is mowed before I get a ticket. Plus, if I want to walk out to the shed naked there is no one to give hysterical blindness too! Not that I do that...not very often any how... When we first moved in I was on fire to get work done on the house...but after about a year I fizzled out. I decided I could live with a lot of ..hmm...imperfections, stained asbestos ceiling tiles don't really look all that bad after all right? Don't get in a panic..they are not really asbestos..I don't think. My Hubby is home for a decent amount of time from his adventuresome life of a globe trotting oil man so I decided it was time for a new home improvement project. The Boy's bathroom. So I go and buy the stuff...new sink,toilette, I will spare you the picture of what the inside of the this toilette looked like but I don't think dynamite could have blasted out what ever was stuck in there! I tried everything short of battery acid!

A new mirror,lights,flooring...you get the picture.
Let me add Hubby is never thrilled at the prospect of home improvement. I ask him why on Earth he bought this place when it needed so much work and he hates home improvement projects. He replied,"Looked fine to me." Men!
I may have forgot to mention the previous owners did some home improvements of their own....a lot of them made the old place go from old home to death trap! Just a few months ago the well quit working. We had the repair man out. He couldn't believe the tank hadn't exploded from the pressure! It was set up wrong and he said if it had exploded it could have torn through the house and for sure killed any one in it's path. Made me feel real good considering I had been out there beating around on it with a wrench! Come to think of it, every repair man who has ever come out has just shook their head and told us that what ever they were working on wasn't done right. I think this has a lot to do with Hubby's aversion to the home improvement projects, once he starts one he has double the work trying to fix the things done by folks before us. A lot of the previous folks problems, I believe, had something to do with the amount of beer cans everywhere and by everywhere I mean places like under the house,in the attic in the barns and sheds,under the chicken coop and well, you get the picture! I have nothing against responsible drinking. Heck I have been know to drink a bottle of wine now and again. In fact the government told me it was mandatory around PMS time for the good of mankind everywhere! BUT...there are some rules everyone should follow. Don't drive. Don't beat your kids. Don't have a case of Old Milwaukee and re wire the AC unit. What makes a person down a dozen beers and suddenly decide it is time to install that new ceiling fan or build on a bedroom?

What started me writing this was Hubby walking through the house mumbling under his breath something about he wouldn't care if it just burned down to the ground and where are the band aids! I found him the band aids but told him to hush! He knows what the wiring is like in this house!

At this rate The Boy may be "using" the woods till next winter!

Blast from the Past

2011-04-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

Well not the too far in the past...about 3 years I guess. But when those years are boy and goatie years... a lot of growing was done in that time! I was going through old files tonight and found some forgotten treasures...don't you just love it when that happens? A smile spreads across my face and my heart says...goodness that seems like yesterday, was it really that long ago..sigh? I found these photos of The Boy and Baby Butter Bean! We are in the truck going somewhere.We often took Butter Bean with us because he was a bottle baby,he did real good riding too, just like he expected us to drive him about town and it was no big deal!

This was at the end of The Boy's "little boy" years. He now has the face of a young man,a teenager. And Bean...well...you all know how he grew up! He is the diva of the goat yard, Little Buddy to Mr.Tumnus,eater of the most treats and forever the First Goatie, the one who started it all!!!

Just look at that face,would you have expected anything less????!!!???

How Does Your Garden Grow....

2011-04-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

Despite being in severe drought here in Southeast Texas my garden is growing. I am very thankful for having a very deep well! I even have a few apples on 2 of my apple trees I planted when we moved here 3 years ago.

Apples are The Boys favorite and he keeps a close eye on these and threatens any birds that dare to fly too close!

My tomatoes are doing really well! I have them mulched deep with hay and water about twice a week...

and they have begun to put on fruit! This year,despite the drought,I am getting fruit because we did not go directly into blazing heat! If you live in a more pleasant climate you might not know that tomatoes won't make if the night temps get out of the 60's.

Potatoes! I have two good rows of them! I am tickled pink by this because this is the first year here that I have gotten them to grow! Usually, our Springs are so wet they just rot...feast or famine with the rain here I tell ya!

I have also managed to get up some green beans ,purple hull peas,squashes,cucumber,cantaloupe,okra,butter beans,corn,watermelon, turnip greens and some kale!

This is one of my raised beds.It is full of all kinds of stuff...onions..horse radish...lettuce....

Peppers...chives...leeks..oregano..rhubarb...a grape vine growing on the fence..

I finally made my bottle tree! I used this post that one of my roses grows on!

This clematis also grows with the rose on the bottle tree pole.

Of course I have to put in a goatie picture or two! Butter Bean loves living next to the raised beds...

He knows I cannot resist his cute goatie face and will give him a snack of his favorite..beet leaves!

I mean really,could you resist that face?!?!???

Blogging for Pawpaw

2011-04-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

It has been busy around here and I have fallen out of blogging. You all know how easy it is to loose a few hours happily traveling through blog land! And when you type about as fast as an untrained chimpanzee like I do it takes a while to get out a post! But,I vow to do better for Papaw. He has been under the weather and I have it on good authority, and by good authority I mean Nana, that he enjoys reading about the farm. So here I go again,lol!

We lost Crazy Daisy the mallard duck. She decided to sit on a hidden nest again and instead of the nice safe hay pile she used last year she found another place that I could not find. Staying the night outside the coop here has a 0% survivability rate and sadly one of the oh ...I would say... thousands of pillaging and marauding coons that live in this National forest had her for supper.
The little blessings of life never cease to make me smile...the same morning I found Crazy Daisy's remains I found her nest full of green eggs hidden behind a bucket in one of the old goat houses! I almost cried at the sweetness of it. I carefully gathered them up and brought them inside and got out my incubator and got it set up. I had no idea if they would still hatch. But guess what,they did!

Crazy Daisy lives on through her babies!

Now that your moment of awwww has fully sunken in I would like to say,baby ducks are the stinkiest of all baby poultry! I just can not fathom how something so cute can be so dang smelly! They will be moved outside in another day or so. As we walk by and peer into their box a dozen times a day we all have the same reaction of ,"They are sooo cute.....dang these things stink!"

I know you all need a goatie fix because really how can one have a day without a goatie fix of some sort! So here is a goatie goat picture for you all today! This is Heidi, Nibbles' baby girl....

Don't let that sweet face fool you ,she is a piranha in a goat suit! She will attack you as soon as she sees you and commence to trying to eat all your clothes off! All Nibbles' babies have been like that,supper friendly but extremely bitey! Maybe they just want us all to be naked,lol! Yikes!

Mani-Pedi

2011-02-21T15:12:00.000-06:00

Or maybe it is just a pedi-pedi ! It was that time again, time for the farrier to come out and trim hooves. Of course no critter here likes to have their toes done. Nope,not one! I know...weird huh? Here is Hubby and Sweetie..you can see how thrilled Sweetie looks about her impending spa treatment...

Ole Sweets did pretty good though....it helps that our farrier has been obviously blessed with some kind of sainthood! Let me tell you, when we first got the horse and donkeys they were terrible! It took everyone of us to hold them still and Bonnie would just sit down! It takes a special kind of person to be able to work on animals like that and stay calm and patient...I have never seen him loose his cool no matter how difficult our animals have been. I guess none of our critters ever had their feet done much before they came to our farm...

Bonnie and Clyde are waiting their turn and looking none to pleased about it either! Bonnie thinks if she hides behind Clyde we won't notice her....

Clyde-Hyde did good too! I am so happy they are learning to act better since they will always have to have their feet done to stay healthy.

We were really prepared to do some Donkey wrestling this morning and believe me we were all thrilled not to have had to! Our donkeys are sweet ,they do not bite or kick but they will step on your feet before you can get out from under them! Yes, they are small donkeys but when they are on your foot they feel like elephants! Clyde did poop on our nice farrier and he had been eating a lot of that spring green grass which has an unpleasant laxative effect...luckily he was able to dodge most of it!

Bonnie has been our biggest trouble maker in the past but she did terrific ...well for Bonnie anyways! She didn't sit down and only lunged once. Oh, and she didn't poop on anyone so that gave her a few extra points! Next time she may act perfect. Well...we can hope anyways!

Baby Goat Names and Farm Friend Friday.

2011-02-18T07:40:00.001-06:00

Dumm-da-da-dumm! I now present to you... without further ado....

ZIPPY!!!

This is Doodah's girl ! She looks very much like her momma..

Next we have ......Scooter ....

He is a bouncy little fellow! Actually, they all are very bouncy as is the way with baby goats!

Scooter has some great markings,just look at that cute goatie face!

The third baby of Doodah's 3 Musketeers ...or maybe I should say..... goatie-keteers is Pedro..

Here is Hubby holding Pedro..... hmmmm...Pedro seems to be the one that gets goat-toted the most!

Now on to Nibble's baby! I wanted to call her Jethrene, after Jethro's sister on the Beverly Hillbillies because she is so much bigger than the other 3 but The Boy wouldn't have it! He said she is far to cute to be called Jethrene!

So, she will be called Heidi ,which is a pretty name for a pretty goat!

Well, I hope that was a big enough dose of cuteness to help you through your day! After all, you can never really see enough goat pictures can you?!?!?!?!

It is also Farm Friend Friday! Just click on the photo and go over and see all the cool blogs that are playing along and hey, you might want to play along too!

http://www.verdefarm.com/2011/02/farm-friend-friday_17.html

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T07:49:00.000-06:00

POLE CAT.........

Oh,Yeah I'll Take Another One...

2011-02-13T13:02:00.000-06:00

Another baby goat that is! Last night Nibbles had her baby, just one this time...

A cream and white little girl with her momma's ears! I noticed Nibbles was showing signs of labor early in the day and put her up in a clean stall and began watching.....

and watching...and watching! I last checked her at 10 before I went to bed and nothing, no signs what so ever that it would be soon! I asked The Boy to check her before he went to bed and at 11:30 The Boy sticks his head inside my door to tell me Nibbles had her baby and it was already dry and frisky!

I suspect she popped that baby out as soon as my back was turned! It was cold last night again so we had a heat lamp in the stall for her and everything and goatie was just fine. That is all the babies due around here for a while. Now, we get to just sit back and enjoy the antics!

Hey Hay Hey !

2011-02-12T17:57:00.000-06:00

Oh, I don't know....I think Hubby could have fit on another bale or two don't you!

Surprise!

2011-02-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

Nothing can snap me out of a blogging dry spell like some new baby goaties! Yep,Doodah had triplets again! This time there wasn't a red one like their daddy Mr.Tumnus, they are all pretty much variances of their momma...

Ole Doodah surprised me, I miscalculated her due date and thought I had at least a week or a little more. I got to the goat pen just in time for the second ones arrival and by the time I ran to the house to holler for The Boy and grab a towel she had had the third one!

They were all strong and up on their feet in what seemed like just a few minutes!
Two boys and one girl same as last time...sure was hoping for more girls this time around but the boys are mighty cute!

The Boy thinks this one below looks like a little burro and is begging to keep him! I told him he won't look like a donkey when he is big he will look like a goat and besides, Butter Bean is all the wether we need around here because, let me tell you, that goat is a diva! We often call Mr.Bean the Elton John of the goat world,lol!

Lucky for us, with this freaky weather, we have our new Laughing Duck farm custom made goat coats! My good friend Texan made these for us and she can make one for your kids too! Just pop on over to her place and check them out!

Being triplets,the little girl is just a tad small so I had to take her coat up a notch with a clothes pin! She won't need it in a day or so, these little goaties grow so fast ya know!

I though I would post a couple of videos so all you goat lovers who don't have a goat or two or twenty of your own could see the new mom and her babies...

And here is on of little Burro baby talking, in all his little new born goatie goat cuteness!

The Dolly Doodle Report

2011-01-19T21:03:00.001-06:00

Dolly Doodle here with an urgent cry for help!

I think something is wrong with my mom...her mind must be slipping or something because she keeps forgetting my bottle!

I diligently stand on my favorite stump and maaa as loud and long as I possibly can at the house to tell her she has forgotten to feed me my bottle but I guess she can't here me in there!

My Auntie Nibbles tells me I am on weaning and that The Mom will no longer be bringing me a nice, warm, milk filled bottle any more! I told Auntie Nibbles that weaning sounded like a horrible thing and I was far to cute for The Mom not to bring me a bottle and I might die of hunger! Auntie Nibbles assured me I would not die and that all goaties have to go through weaning...Well! I am not all goaties,I am the one and only Dolly Doodle for Pete's sake!

I mean eating hay and grain is OK to pass the time between bottles but who would want to do that all the time...not me I tell you!

When The Mom finally heard my weak cries of total starvation she came out to the goat pen...but she forgot my bottle again! I practically had to drag my poor, starving, wasted away to nothing, but still very cute mind you, goatie self over to her! I began frantically checking to see if she may have stuck my fix...er..umm...I mean bottle in her pocket and forgot...

I even checked her fingers! Hey...don't judge me! You don't know how horrible and desperate this weening can make a poor starving goatie! Besides... ..humans may just have milk in their fingers...how would I know I don't have fingers...

She just scratched me under my chin and told me I would have to learn to eat like a big goat if I was all that hungry!

Fine I will eat ...but I will be thinking of bottles the whole time I am gobbling down these yummy baby alfalfa pellets....

Any chance I might get a bottle to wash these down with?

My Yarn Balls....

2011-01-13T21:04:00.000-06:00

As you all know I got a spinning wheel for Christmas from my dear Hubby. He knew I had been wanting one for a long time now.Way out here there are no teachers...just me and the internet. Let me tell you all, not knowing how to do something has never stopped me before so there is know way I am not going to learn to spin! So I present to you my first two balls of yarn...

They are a little...rustic...and full of character! From what I saw on the good ole internet they are pretty typical of the first tries so I am very happy with them! The bobbin I last spun has turned out much better..thinner and smoother.

I can now feel the rhythm of it...I understand the feel of the fiber through my fingers...I have to say I am already getting lost in the peaceful turning of the wheel. Time just seems to melt away as I sit there...I can't wait to try new fibers! I really can't wait to have my own fiber from my Pygoras one day! I am keeping my fingers crossed for the farm I got the girls from to have a little buck soon...the sooner I can get a buck the sooner I will have my pygora babies. All you goat people know those little bucks don't have to be very old before the can....you know...preform their buckly duties! I guess I am just goatie goat day dreaming...but hey if a person is going to day dream about something raising goats is a pretty good subject in my book!

Win A Coat for Your Goat !!!

2011-01-10T19:23:00.002-06:00

Yep! You heard right! You can win a coat for your baby goat and not just any old coat!

No sir, this one will be monogrammed with the name of your farm.... or goat... or dog, because dogs can wear them too! All you have to do is go an over and visit my friend Texan and leave her a comment! She has a great blog so you will probably want to follow her too. I have two of these nifty little coats my self and can attest to their quality and cuteness, Texan is a cracker-jack seamstress! So just pop on over and visit her, you will be glad you did and you might even win!

ButerBean Says...

2011-01-05T16:13:00.000-06:00

Keep your ducks in a row!

I don't know if this blue duck pacing back and forth is the look out while the others sleep...

or maybe some kind of duck nap time enforcer?

I wonder.....what do ducks dream about anyhow?

Names and More

2010-12-30T19:21:00.000-06:00

I want to thank everyone for their suggestion for names, there were a lot of good ones and it was a hard choice. I had to spend some more time with the girls to see what name would fit them.

Dumm-da-da-dummmmm......With out further ado I present to you ......

Purl...

I just love that name!

And Little Red......

At first I was going with Knit because it was so cute, a future goatie will surely get that name, but it wouldn't stick. Then I wanted to call her Minnie and have Minnie and Purl...but that didn't seem to suit her just right either. Minnie will also be reserved for a future goatie! The Boy and I just kept calling her Little Red so I guess that is the name she is supposed to have!

They are supper sweet and since they are not real old and were bottle fed when I go out to feed Dolly Doodle they come looking for their bottle too! Actually the come up every time we go out there happy to have just some scratchins and oh, is it so nice to give then what they want! They are soooo soft and wonderful feeling!

I though I would show you all how big Miss Dolly Doodle has gotten! The only way to keep her sort of still enough to get a picture was to have the Boy hold her! He was happy to because he is usually toting her around every chance he gets anyways, although he is not smiling here because he is trying to hold on to Miss Squirmy Pants!

Speaking of being toted around... Oscar Peterson is pretty fond of it too!

It is no wonder The Boy is always toting around some critter like they don't have working legs...I did the same to him when he was little! I am surprised he ever learned to walk as he spend most of his time balanced on my hip as I went about my day until he got too heavy for me to tote him anymore! Seems like yesterday...it makes me smile to know even though he is all boy, rough and tough, he has a loving and tender heart and I am for sure our critters think he is pretty great too!

The Cliff Hanger...

2010-12-27T18:12:00.000-06:00

Today I went and got the start of the second part of my fiber dream...two Pygoras! Pygoras are a cross between a pygmy and an angora goat! They are a relatively new breed and have wonderful fiber! I got two young girls today, yet to be named! This chocolaty sweet girl....

And this little red sweetie who is just a little younger!

They went in with our other girls who checked them out thoroughly but were not mean to them at all.

This is Doodah, Lola and Sweet Pea trying to figure out these new fluffy goaties!

Nibbles is getting a little too personal with her inspection of Chocolate Girl! Chocolate Girl is like,"Hey, hey, hey watch it back there!"

I am very fond of red colored animals,I married one after all,lol! Hubby is a red head! I just had to take home this little cutie!

I knew for sure I wanted the red one but it was a hard choice to pick out the second one! These goats come in many colors and well ...they had a lot of colors there! I would like to get one more girl and I am on the list for a baby buck when they get one and then I will have my own little herd of Pygoras....sigh......

These girls have been hand raised and are just as sweet as they can be! I am just on cloud nine....Feel free to leave suggestions for names!

The Day After

2010-12-26T13:08:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had our Christmas early because Hubby had to go back to China which was OK because we were thinking he wouldn't get to come home at all! That is how we have always done,we celebrate each holiday when we are together, not necessarily by the date is falls on.

So ....being the day after Christmas and all I am sure everyone is showing what goodies they got ! My good friend Texan sent me some cast iron I needed for my collection! I am a cast iron junkie and I have enough to sink a ship! Cast iron, to me, is just one of those things you can never have enough of! She sent me this cornbread pan I had been wanting...

and this cute little pan of heats too!

Texan also sent me, even though she said it wasn't a Christmas present but a just because present, two customized baby goat coats with Laughing Duck farm embroidered on the back! Now, just how cool is that! If you would like one of these super little goat coats for your winter born kids she is taking orders and can make you one right up! This particular one is modeled on a stuffed possum because well ...

I don't have any new born kids and Dolly Doodle has grown too big for it! I tried to shove her in it,honestly I did but it was no use,she has just grown too much!

The Boy, who also knows of his mothers cast iron obsession got me this nifty combo..

a pot with a lit that doubles as a skillet! A very handy piece of cookware! The Boy informed me he was all for me getting gifts that enable me to cook more food for him! Then he said,"Mom, you just don't realize how hungry I am these days." The Boy is growing like a weed I tell you what! He is a full head taller than me...it seem strange to hug my "baby" and his chin rest on the top of my head and he is only 13! We may have to cut the door frames out just so he can walk through the house by the time he is grown! I won't even go in to the size of his shoes...but I will say if he were to walk barefoot in the woods the big foot hunters would be all over the place!

Hubby got me this box of wool..

You may be thinking that is a peculiar gift! It is not so puzzling if you see what is goes with!

My very own spinning wheel !

I have dreamed for years of learning to spin! I know,I know I have read it is not an easy skill to learn but I am so excited to start trying! My first attempts are not too bad..
.

I have done some more since this picture that looks even better, though still not professional looking yet...let's just say it a rustic yarn with a lot of character! I will work at it a while and tell myself I am done for the day but I will find myself right back at my wheel spinning some more. Have you ever started something and just felt right...like this is a thing you were meant to do? That is how I feel about spinning...sigh...

This is only the beginning of the story! I am going to leave you with a cliff hanger because tomorrow something else is happening to continue my fiber dreams! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will let you all know ,if it works out of course, what is going on! So until then I hope everyone is enjoying their after Christmas bliss of family,new toys and delicious leftovers!

Merry Christmas Everyone !

2010-12-24T06:53:00.000-06:00

I know,I know I have been gone lately,everything is fine and I will be back posting soon! I want to wish all my blogging friends a very, merry and safe Christmas!

Thanksgiving Babies and ...

2010-11-25T19:45:00.001-06:00

the last breath of Summer...

First thing Thanksgiving morning Weed Whacker,the sheep, had her babies..here is baby # 1 in all his gooey glory!

I couldn't help this picture, just look at the size of that bag!

As soon as Weed Whacker started talking to the little fellow the whole flock came over to see him!

They just stood there, greeting him..letting him know he is part of their little family!

Charger lamb sat baby # 1 as Mom took care of baby # 2 ...

Charger is a very good Dad!

Here are the new boys all dried off, one has short ears like Weed Whacker and one regular ears like Charger! Other than the ear thing they are almost identical!

Summer has breathed it last breath. A cold front has come in this afternoon! We were at 80* and high humidity ...uggg..so not the way this time of year is supposed to feel! It may freeze tonight but if it doesn't it will tomorrow for sure so I went out and got all my green tomatoes and the last of my peppers and a handful of purple hull peas.

I had a lot of green tomatoes! Too bad they didn't ripen but I won't let them go to waste,nope! There are lots of things to make with them the hard part is just going to be deciding what!

This is a picture of my one calendula plant, the flower almost doesn't look real it is so vivid

Happy Thanksgiving !

2010-11-25T06:16:00.000-06:00

Hello Dolly!

2010-11-20T11:27:00.002-06:00

Meet Dolly,she is our brand new farm baby! Just look at that face, total cuteness! Dolly came to us this morning from my friend Texan. You can read about Dolly's story here.

My friend Texan, did a great job taking care of her after her mom rejected her! She is strong and full of energy and already trying to do The Goatie Goat Dance! I think she is going to be an excellent Goatie Goat Dancer,don't you?

Of course we had to introduce her to Oscar Petterson...

Oscar gave her a few gentle touches to see what this strange critter was...

He was unsure and decided he would watch Dolly from the baby asparagus plants!

Me and the Boy went to sit on the red bench by the goat pen with Dolly and Oscar followed...Mr.Petterson had made up his mind! He was the farm baby and he did not like this new critter and as far as he was concerned he was a cheetah and Dolly was a zebra!

He kept trying to attack her! It may have had something to do with that cute little wagging tail of Dolly's!

I think Dolly has formed her opinion of Mr.Oscar Peterson too...phtzsttttsss!

So now we have a new farm adventure...another bottle baby! I can't help it...just have a soft spot for taking care of critter babies..even if it means middle of the night feedings! I mean really,who could resist that face!

For Your Turkey Viewing Pleasure....

2010-11-16T08:03:00.000-06:00

I present to you the following programs....

Veggies

2010-11-13T18:54:00.000-06:00

Fall is here so I though I would show you all what I have in the garden. I wish I had about ten times the amount that I have planted but maybe next year I will have more garden space...and what I mean by space is more raised beds with decent dirt!

Here are some nice sized green tomatoes! We had two nights of near misses with the temps dipping down to 33*! It warmed back up some so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will get some red ones! If not, everyone will be getting green tomato relish for Christmas!

This is tarragon blooming! I tell you, if this herb will grow in this flower bed it will grow anywhere! I have had very few things grow well in this patch of gumbo! I also think the lawn was heavily weed and feeded before we bought the place,the first couple of years I really had trouble establishing flowerbeds.

Under the tomatoes in this bed I have some cabbages.Once we have frost the tomatoes will be gone and the cabbages will have this bed all to themselves! I did the same out in the garden,I planted my cabbages between the tomatoes to protect them from our harsh sun and I didn't loose one single cabbage this Fall!

Here are some turnips, we raise them mostly for their green tops. Nothing like a big ole mess of turnip greens and a pan of cornbread! That is a southern comfort!

Carrots...I wish I had a lot more planted! This is the first time I have had any success with them. I think it is because they are in one of the raised beds!

The parsnips came up great this year too, both in the regular garden and the raised bed!

This is a baby white kohlrabi...I really like these strange veggies and have a lot of them planted around in different places!

Here are some leeks and beets! The beets need thinning. I can grow leeks really well but have trouble with regular onions. Well, I can grow the bunching onions but I can never, for some reason, grow a decent bulb onion! That's OK, leeks do just fine as a substitute for me!

These are collard greens...this is the first year I have grown them and they seem to be doing great!

Chives! Oh how we love our chives around here! The Boy will hardly eat mashed potatoes with out chives in them! I absolutely have to have them in my eggs in the mornings!

This is some oregano,it has really taken off in the cooler weather! I need to get some in the dehydrator soon...

I still have bell peppers and jalapenos making like crazy too! I am already thinking about spring seeds and what I want to plant next year! It is a sickness, I tell you all, this gardening fever! So....what are you growing this fall?

Sheep Baby

2010-11-10T18:47:00.000-06:00

I usually don't post much towards the end of the week because I am busy with Boy stuff. Well...come to think of it, I guess everyday is a day busy with Boy stuff, him being homeschooled and all, but the end of the week stuff requires me to drive forever! OK, not forever but it feels like forever! It leaves me with little spare time on those days! Then I wasn't in blog land earlier this week because The Boy, or as I have begun referring to him as, Typhoid Mary, gave me a nasty cold last weekend! A cold he swore he did not have! "No, Mom,it is just sinuses!" My mom senses were telling me other wise...sometimes being right is not all that great! Anyways....I am better now. So, where was I....Oh yeah....unless something exciting happens I am usually not in blog land much on the later half of the week. Yep, you guessed it, something exciting did happen! I have been watching this one particular sheep,Weed Whacker, who looks like she is going to explode any second, for signs of an impending birth! I am suspecting triplets...

Well...when we got home from the trip to the orthodontist today we go out and check all the critters like we always do and lo and behold we have this little fellow!

But to my surprise it did not explode out of Weed Whacker! He was born from a sheep I didn't think was close to being ready yet, Sea Salt! She usually has twins so she didn't really look big enough to be ready for birthing yet...I tell you,every time I think I am getting good at predicting births around here these animals prove me wrong!

This little fellow was already dry and prancing around when we found him! Yes, I managed to grab him up and it is a little boy!

Here is his proud Papa,Charger! The sheep are so sweet when one gives birth, they all come and greet the babies and are gentle with them and stand still and close so the babies can get to know them. Charger will watch over them closely and even baby sit while the moms graze!

Just look at that cute face!

Hopefully Weed Whacker will have 3 and make up for Sea Salt only having one. These sheep can often have triplets so we will just have to wait and see!

Another surprise I got today came in the mail. It was some wild garlic seeds from A Rural Journal. You should check her out if you haven't already! She has a great blog about living,learning and loving this country life so many of us have chosen!

Turkey on a Hot Tin Roof

2010-11-04T08:35:00.001-05:00

I looked out the kitchen window the other day and what did I see...

That's right,an escapee!

Mr. Young and Juicy thinks he is doing something big. Little does he know if he hits the ground in this yard he has about as much chance of escaping Weenie's bite-o-death as he does at making it past Thanksgiving!

Yes, I have a special rehabilitation program for trouble making poultry! Be it turkey,chicken or duck! I have named this program "Supper"!

For now Mr.Young and Juicy will get his wing clipped and put back in the Turkey yard...a sort of stay of execution!

Oscar Peterson loved the wing clippings!

Well, at first taste he kind of made a yak face....

But he was not going to let that stop him from thoroughly attacking those feathers!

Oscar is a mighty hunter in training! Farm kitties have to be ferocious after all!

Pole Fixin'

2010-11-03T08:42:00.000-05:00

If your pole looks like this.......

ya may need to get it fixed! That thing was leaning so bad the if a bird landed on the line to the house I think it would have snapped! So we called the electric people and the first man came and said,"Yep, your pole's leaning." He said he would send someone else to look at it and write up a work order. The second man shows up the next day and says,"Yep, your pole's leaning." He ties an orange plastic tie on it and says someone will call me on Monday. They called and said they would be out first thing Tuesday.

Sure enough ,first thing Tuesday morning a whole convoy of trucks show up at 8 o'clock sharp!

We did not get a new pole,those were for the next job.

They pulled up the old and might I add disturbingly short, anchor and drilled a new, deep, big anchor for our leaning pole.

Then that truck left and in came the bucket truck to attach the new cable...

Then they tightened up the new cable.The pole is not completely straight but it has plenty of slack now on the line to the house. I hope the new anchor holds. It is this dirt we have, black gumbo.When we are in drought, like we usually are every summer it seems, it shrinks until it has huge cracks in it...you can pull up cemented fence post if you wanted too! Then in the winter it is slick as owl poop and clings to your boots like lead weights. So now the pole is fixed...on to the next thing to worry about,lol!

Oh ! Here is a picture of one of Hubby's deranged dogs,Pork of Pork and Beans, absolutely begging to bite something.We had to chain them up since this was all going on in their yard. Poor Pork, he so badly wanted to bite a truck, loud engines enrage him! He once tried to bite a chain saw...would have ended badly for him I am sure! "Please Mom, can I bite just one truck or man...just one bite ...please..there are so many...."

Of course I had to say no....but I assured him he could bite any burglars that came into the yard or creepy monster like figures toting chainsaws!

I Did ! Did You?

2010-11-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

Quilty Projects with Texan

2010-11-01T10:03:00.001-05:00

My buddy Texan and I have started a sewing project together! She posted her progress yesterday so I figured I would show you all mine too! It is funny because the two of us think alike so much,she said she was thinking of the dredson plate pattern lately and I said"Me too!" Insert Twilight Zone music here! So we decided we should do one! Though we are doing the same pattern our quilts are not exactly the same. I decide I wanted to do mine in vintage 1940's fabrics and this is what I have so far....

Of course the plates have no center yet...and it will be a loooong time before I get it finished because I am hand sewing this project, I am not as handy with the sewing machine as Texan is especially when it comes to things like machine applique! Mine will be smaller as my bed is only a full size and hers is king! Maybe that will even the time a little !

The boy likes me to watch TV with him in the evenings so I usually sew or knit during this time.I don't usually make a lot of progress in one night but a little here and a little there and eventually I will get it done...if I don't get distracted by another project! Taking on this project with a buddy helps keep me motivated, we see each others progress and are inspired! Wish it worked that way for housework too,lol!

New Fence

2010-10-30T08:23:00.000-05:00

Here is the new fence The Boys were working on...

The Boy,at 13, is a pretty good welder! One of the many many skills his Daddy has taught him! We believe in teaching our son to be a man while he is growing...not waiting until he is 18 then expecting him to know how to be one! I almost feel a rant coming on here...I have noticed how few boys my sons age have any"manly" skills. They don't know how to do basics like maintenance on a vehicle or basic plumbing or electrical or basic manners like holding the door for older ladies or anything but facebooking or my-spaceing....grrrr! I guess we are just old fashioned in our beliefs but I think people are hindering their sons by not preparing them with basic manly life skills...OK, rant over!

I don't know how all this lovely grass grew in this field with hardly any rain...

The other side of this field dips into a sort of ravine and then has a lovely ridge on the other side. You can see how far it starts to drop off at the edge of the grass by noticing the white tips of the fence post sticking up!

The folks on the road behind us have a great view of this ridge..you can almost fool yourself in to thinking you live in the mountains! Unfortunately for us the only view we have is this one and you can only see it coming up the driveway! That is hardwood forest growing on the ridge so, if we get the right temps, we sometimes get lovely Fall color over there...well... good Fall color for Texas anyways!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T09:14:00.000-05:00

Father and son......

Duck Tales

2010-10-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

It is very dry here. It has been well over 30 days with out rain. To say we are in a drought is an understatement! The good thing is at least we are not a 100* plus like last years drought! That's life in Texas....sigh!
The garden is a good piece from the house and there is no water out there and if it is going to survive it has to have some water! Hubby say he is going to run water out there...Hubby has been saying that for 3 years! ( I can hear a collective mmmm-hhhmmmm from all you wives out there!) I ran my own water out there by using several water hoses connected together and this year one sprang a leak to the duck's delight! Now if you have ever had ducks you know if they have even a sprinkling of a muddy place they will work it with their little duck bills until it grows into a pond and that is what they have been working on all summer!

Those are Crazy Daisey's babies splashing around and Butterscotch the buff runner giving us the "duck eye"!

The ducks, I think, have unionized ! They worked hard at wallerin' out a little pond for them selves!

All summer long the quaking of orders and the loud duck "laughs" by the foreman duck to quit lolly gagging and get back to work! These ducks are floating...their mud hole may not be wide but it is deep!

Well...it is not exactly big enough for all the ducks at once...maybe it is a time share mud hole! Ducks! If they weren't so distracted by water they could rule the world... Bwaaahahaaha! OK, maybe not the whole world, maybe just the wet parts!

Goatie Goat Inn

2010-10-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

Yes ,yes I know it has been awhile since I have been in blog land ! I guess when you are a truly hermity person,like me, it sometimes even extends to blog land too! I have no other excuse for being away...I have just been over come by hermityness! My father-in-law has made a complaint that I haven't blogged so I decided I better get back with the program!

I had a wonderful visit with Texan! I tell you all, our visit was like we had know each other our whole lives! She made me feel so comfortable and at home, which is hard to do because I have that whole hermity thing and I have a lot of trouble feeling comfortable even around folks I have know for a while! Let me tell you all,we talked and talked and had one good time after another! We fabric shopped and she showed me how to machine quilt and shared all kinds of pointers on sewing .We checked out her pressure caner, that had no book, and made sure it was ready to go and there were a few comical moments but thankfully no explosive ones! We did some good old fashioned plant swapping and she sent me home loaded up with goodies she canned this summer which,by the way,I have polished off a few jars of already! I can't wait for us to visit again! Oh, and her home is like stepping into a magazine and she did so much of it herself! That girl has some talent for sure! I know you all are thinking where are the pictures..well......didn't even think about it! Just having too much fun I guess!

Now,on to the Goatie Goat Inn! The Boys worked on it while I was gone and here it is...

Not quiet finished but almost! I know you "up north" folks are probably a little shocked at it being all open and all but you have to remember where we are, Southeast Texas! We have maybe January and February of cold and the rest of the year is baking hot sooo...we will add some tin or ply board in those months and the rest of the year it will be much more comfortable for them like it is now.

Butter Bean and Mr.Tumnus have already been sleeping in here.Butter Bean is telling Nibbles to stay out of his new room!

SweetPea says she would like to have this one next to her love, Butter Bean. Yes, Butter Bean is now in love with Sweet Pea...he has abandoned Doodah,whom he used to be obsessed over! Goatie lives....more twist than a soap opera! Doodah could care less by the way, that relationship was rather one sided ! Maybe I should make up my own goatie show...Days of our Goaties...As the Goatie World Turns...hmmm what do you think?

The turkeys would like to move out of the turkey slum..umm...run down coop that they live in and live here! Don't worry turkeys,your coop is next on the list!

Hopefully I will be able to have some discipline and keep up with my post for awhile....if I don't I know Papaw will let me know!

On my way

2010-10-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

In the morning I am on my way to visit Texan! While I am away the Boys are going to work on a new goat barn!

We have been planning on this for awhile but thanks to Mr.Tumnus we are speeding up the project! He is our only goatie that hates the goat houses they stay in at night and has made it his personal goal to destroy them all! He better be careful or he will be on Craig's list if he doesn't straighten up!

Here is the kitten we kept,Oscar Peterson!

Isn't he cute...!

Hubby cut down the dead tree lightening struck a few years ago in the goat pen...it had one live scrawny branch and the goaties started munching on it as soon as the chain saw stopped!

This tree cutting was a pure red neck adventure for sure...I wish I had remembered to get my camera! It involved stuck chainsaws, compound bows, straps and an old tractor running along by itself and a huge crash in the end! You can just let your imagination fill in those blanks,LOL!

In the end it all turned out and the goaties got a good snack! See you in a few days....!

The Fallen

2010-10-07T11:02:00.001-05:00

As I drove to the post office this morning I saw the whole road through town was lined with flags and I began to weep.

This road lined with flags leads to the cemetery...

We have lost one of our own here in Coldspring...Sgt.1st Class Calvin B. Harrison. Just click on his name to read about this amazing man. I did not know him but it does not matter,I grieve for him like he was mine some how.

This afternoon my son, joined by his fellow scouts, will go to the cemetery to put out American flags to make ready the end of the journey for our fallen soldier.

Sgt. Harrison will come home forever tomorrow afternoon...

This all seems like so little for a man who gave his life for our country....may you forever have peace Sgt.Harrison.

Blogger's Bock

2010-10-06T18:01:00.000-05:00

Blogger's block...yep I have had it! I guess it is like writer's block only for bloggers, my creative mental juices have not been flowing! Would that be brain juice...hmmm. See my mind has just gone loopy! So let me see about some catch up for everyone.

I hatched 24 baby chicks in the incubator!

I was quiet impressed because I had used the incubator to hatch 3 batches of turkey eggs and had a very,very poor hatch rate.

The chicken eggs did great though!

We spent last Saturday morning at the feed store giving away kittens! They were all gone in 45 minutes! I do feel like all the people who wanted them will give them good homes. They all seemed nice and stayed and talked awhile before they left with their kittens,small towns ya know! The little one we kept is now named Oscar....Oscar Peterson. No, our last name is not Peterson, it's just Oscar's last name!

The in-laws made a surprise visit Sunday evening. Me and the MIL spent Monday at the antique shops,always fun!

I have been dehydrating bell peppers. I find I have developed some sort of need to be preserving some kind of food at all times! I used some of the dehydrated bell peppers the other day and I am very impressed at how well they worked out in my recipe! I pan seared a couple of steaks then added some beef broth, a little tomato sauce, some Worcestershire sauce,S&P and some of the dehydrated bell peppers and let it all simmer for awhile. Then when the meat was to my desired tenderness I thickened the sauce with a little starch...mmmmm, it was really good!

Hubby comes home tomorrow! He will come home to a much cooler Texas than when he left last month! We have had some unseasonably cool weather lately...I am not complaining,nope! I am cheering! I love the cold weather! It was 40* when I got up this morning! This is not good for my Fall garden if I expect to get any tomatoes...but..I am so happy to have cooler temps I don't mind missing out on the extra tomatoes!

Some more big news,I am planning a trip next week to visit my blogging sister Texan! I can't wait,we have loads of fun stuff planned! Whew,I hope we can fit it all in and she has a bunch of baby goaties right now and you all know how I love those baby goaties! Hubby will get to be the single parent farmer for a few days...hmmm...I am not going to think about it,lol! I hope the Boys won't get into too much mischief!

Parade Day

2010-09-25T16:34:00.001-05:00

It is that time of year again and being the county seat we host the county fair and parade! Now, if you consider we have a population of 600 and something that makes the fair and parade a big deal! Here in Coldspring that means we close down a state highway for an hour so our little parade can go through town!

(just a note...the Old San Jacinto County Jail is haunted and it has been documented by many paranormal investigators...maybe a visit and a post on that later!)

You may be wondering why it takes an hour for a small town parade..well...we have the Battle of the Bands!

OK,it is just a battle of 2 bands because that is all we have in this county! It was still a great band performance!

Sadly,our town lost but I prefere to think of it as we came in second!

Then came the ROTC....

I could have gotten closer to the parade for better pictures but I had me a piece of shade staked out and I wasn't about to give it up for the sake of better pictures! This is Texas folks,and it is still hot here!

Then there were many shiny trucks with pretty young girls,rodeo queens past and present and all the politicians wanting to be reelected and, of course, ya gotta have a firetruck!

Cute homemade floats full of cute kiddos!

And the FFA,every small towns favorite,well, after the football team!

Then my favorite ...the trail riders! I was particularly fond of all the mules! Don't ask me why because I don't know why...but I like mules! I would have me one if I could some how justify needing one....but, between you and me, I ain't plowing the garden with a mule no matter how cool I think they are!

I am pretty sure we had more folks on horses and in wagons than spectators!

Most of the riders had just come of a trail ride here in our beautiful Sam Houston National Forest area...

We had our one trick rider who did the whole parade standing on his horse!

Was he brave or just plum crazy...you decide!

So there you have it ,a glimpse into REALLY small town life !

Lightening Strikes Thrice

2010-09-18T11:14:00.000-05:00

Yes, it most certainly does ! Let me tell you all about my Thursday afternoon! I was sitting here on the computer when it begins to rain...not thunder and lightening ,just a nice gentle rain.Then out of nowhere ...BOOM!!!! It was so loud it took my mind a second to register what had happened! I ran to the back door in time to see smoke and debris floating down from the sky...lightening had struck one of the big trees ,the second closest to the house! It is about 30 or 40 feet from the house and in the goat and turkey pen! It is the one in the middle of the picture right past the well...

I ran out to check the goaties and everyone was OK, a little rattled but thankfully fine! You can see the stripe where it blew off the bark...

There was an outside light hung on this tree, it was blown to pieces!

This is the 3rd time in a little over 3 years that we have had lightening hit within a ..hmm..I'd guess about a 50 ft radius from the house! Right before we moved in lightening got another tree on the far side of the goat yard and after we had been here about a year it got the transformer on the pole about 20 feet from the house! This time it fried my internet router, actually just the power cord, even though everything is plugged in to surge protectors, the air conditioning unit and Hubby's dog's electric fence! Oh, and blew out a breaker that goes to Hubby's shop! The AC is going to be the whopper...sigh.It will be covered under our homeowners insurance but we have a big deductible. Plus we will loose another of our lovely big trees. That is the victim in the center of the picture...

Well, the good thing for the day was I finally was able to kill the chicken snake that had been getting all my eggs for the last week! I can't remember if this is 8 or 9 chicken snakes for this year... apparently I live on top of some sort of electrified snake pit!!!

Got Kittens?

2010-09-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well,we sure do! 6 little kitties to be exact!

I am a big ,big believer in spaying and neutering your pets! These little cuties momma, that I creatively named Kitty, was cruelly dumped off in the woods by our house and well...ya know how it goes!

Kitty will be making a trip to the vet in a few weeks and so will all these little fur balls when they are old enough.

All farms need cats right??! I will say kitty has taken care of our mice problem in the shed and to me she has already earned her keep in doing that!

The Boy has already claimed a favorite as his and named it Charcoal...I hope we can find homes for a few of them ...but if we can't ...oh well ...I guess they will just stay here on the farm and dine on shed mice!

2010-09-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

It is catch up time once again! I have been finding it difficult to post regular these days,so I will try and catch you all up on things around the farm! Hubby is back in China so I am single woman homesteading once again. School has started back for us and this includes Fridays at a home school co-op,a new thing for us.I have to say I find it tiresome standing around watching kids all day,next year I will definitely volunteer to teach or help with a class. I don't do real good with "down time"! I am used to being busy! I know so many of you are getting your first taste of Fall...LUCKY ! We are still in the lower to mid 90's, factor in the heat index and well... it stinks! I have been out every morning trying to get the Fall garden planted,it was only 70 degrees this morning when I got up,you are probably thinking that is lovely weather but the humidity was 99% ! No,that is not a type-o ,I said 99%... So far I have gotten the whole area tilled I intend to plant and the first rows I got planted are already up! 2 rows of Roma green beans and 2 rows of purple hull peas!

I side dressed them with compost provided by the ever pooping sheep! I have in 2 rows of contender green beans and 3 more rows of purple hull peas! I also have a few yellow squash I need to put out. That is it for the warm season crops,oh and the around 30 tomatoes!

I also have most of my cool season crop started in seed beds.Next month will probably be cool enough to get them out.These crops will grow all winter here,cabbage, kale, beets,collards and turnips,carrots,rutabagas, parsnips...I never have had any luck with broccoli or brussel sprouts but I may try them again any how!

A good size storm was brewing the other day,it didn't give us any rain but we got the thunder and cool wind which was nice,not as nice as if it had rained,but still nice.

This storm had an effect on the goatie girls let me tell you! They got in the mood to party! The were all running and leaping and butting heads and running and leaping some more! It was quiet a sight to behold! The pictures don't do the event justice.

They were all fluffed out with their hair all standing on end...eventually they got tired and I picked them some yummy leaves for a snack,I figured they might need a little snack after all that running around!

Lola wanted a few scratchins too!

They turkeys are always in the middle of things,here are the Boys. They had other names but I long ago took to calling them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb! For those of you who raise turkeys out there,I know you can understand how these names are perfect for the boys!

I am dreaming of Fall,I hope all you are getting a taste of it already are enjoying it! As much as I want to have the coolness I want those veggies from the garden first!!! So, I guess I will endure a little longer!

I won the Battle!

2010-09-08T08:30:00.000-05:00

It was a long hard fight....many times I despaired and thought I might not make it...but in the end I was victorious! My goodness, you may be asking, what was going on? Well,I will tell you ! I have been up to my elbows in pears once again! The first time I received pears it was about 10 gallons, this time it was 25 gallons of pears!!! A wonderful dilemma! The race was on to get all this wonderful bounty put up!

Texan has been canning pears too and she sent me some recipes she found.The first one I made was these whole spiced pickled pears....

I got 6 quarts of these...hmm...that didn't even make a dent in the pears! They are so pretty whole in the jar...something about them reminds me of Christmas...I don't know why.Then I made 14 quarts of pie filling!

Still got a ton of pears!!!! I made some spiced pickled pear chunks that are pictured above with the pie filling!

Oh yeah! The whole time I am running the dehydrator and dehydrating pear slices for snacks!

Then I get to the pear sauce...OH MY GOODNESS!!! I will never be able to eat apple sauce again with out comparing it to the pear sauce! It is so delicious! That's it, I decide, the rest of these babies are going to be made in to pear sauce,and that is just what I did! 3 and a half batches of pear sauce to finish them off! I put them all in various jelly jars because I thought that would make them the perfect snack sizes!

I did a dozen of these little jars too...by this time I was sticking pear sauce in any thing!!! I have 4 time the amount shown here put up!

Let me tell you all,I have a lot of jars and I ran out of jelly jars! Hubby and The Boy ran up to the store and got me 2 more boxes and I used every single jar and ended up having to put the last of it in 2 pint jars! I am thrilled to have been able to put up all this wonderful pear goodness! That being said....I am so glad to be done!!!! Days and days of peeling and canning pears.....I was even putting up pears in my sleep! Seriously, I was dreaming I was canning! I couldn't escape,those pears wanted to do me in! They just didn't know who they were up against, a woman who finds a way to can everything! I love to can,even though this was slightly exhausting, and if some one showed up at my door with another truck load of pears or anything else for that matter, I would gladly take them! Now....it is time for Fall gardening! No rest for me I tell you! Farmer's Almanac is predicting another cold wet winter for us.....got to think about getting ready for that too!

Here is you goatie goat picture for the day! It is Harley once again, he is looking for a treat of pear peelings!

How to Get it to Rain

2010-09-03T08:39:00.000-05:00

Rain is something we have been lacking in around here lately! If I had only know all I had to do was to try and set out my tomato plants I would have done it weeks ago!

I got about half way through and it began pouring!

Before the rain, the ground was so hard and dry I couldn't even till it up! Hubby had to do it for me! We got over an inch of much needed rain and it looks like more is on it's way today...sigh...and some cooler temps! I hope this means the worse is behind us...

I will hopefully be planting some green beans and peas out there soon and starting a few cool weather seeds in side to go out later. I already put out a little batch of turnip green I started in side just to get a jump start on things.The Boy loves a mess of turnip greens!

I have a lot of black gold, compost to all you non farmers out there, this year! I have been distributing in all the raised beds and will be able to give everything in the garden this fall a good layer!

Here are some kohlrabi just sprouting! I already set out one egg carton of them in one of the raised beds.

Here are some asparagus I started from seed last spring,they will go out next spring to the garden.They were super easy to grow from seed,they germinated very well!

Just because he is so cute,here is Harley standing on a log trying not to get his hooves wet!

Shouldn't every post have a goatie goat picture?!?!

Catch Up!

2010-08-29T15:59:00.000-05:00

I t has been a busy week so I have some catchin' up to do! The last several days I have been up to my elbows in pears! Pears are the hot climates apple! You can grow apples here but you won't get a bumper crop,pears on the other hand...well, one big tree will make more than you know what to do with! My pear tress are just tiny sticks but I am lucky enough to have a friend who gave me about 2 bushels!

Now, don't judge these pears by how they look! Like apples there are many different pears for different uses. These are caning pears and they are usually "ugly" and hard as brick bats! Perfect for caning! Let me tell you, peeling this many brick hard pears is hard on the hands but I persevered and got every single one put up! I have quarts of pear halves in syrup, bear butter,pear preserves and diced pears in syrup. Also, lots of happy critters because everyone from goaties to chickens loved the pear peelings!

On to farm happenings! We said good by to Sir Loin ...this picture is at a bad angle, he was much plumper ....

and all this springs sheep babies...

and hello to my new freezer! With these and the chickens and rabbits I am looking at not buying meat for a year! Plus our animals were totally grass feed and chemical free and if you were to put a price on that meat...well, it would be a considerable amount more that the stuff in the grocery store! I am really excited by how much we will save by not buying meat for a whole year! Now if I can get a decent fall garden I am estimating saving around $ 400 a month in groceries! I will still have to buy stuff like flour and sugar and oatmeal but for the most part we will be eating our own farm raised goodness!
We replaced Sir Loin,meet the new Sir Loin and his momma Sadie! Yes, he is alive,he is just napping!

They are both Dexter cattle. This will give us 3 cows,now we just need a bull and our herd will be complete. Their calves will give us meat and and extra to sell every year to make hay money if we need to buy some hay.

I haven't shown you the goaties in a while and Isobelle was asking about them so I took some pictures this morning while I was visiting them. Butter Bean is always looking for treats!

Look at his tongue sticking out trying to get a hold of my skirt! Crazy goat!

Here is Mr.Tumnus looking suave and debonair..

Sweet Pea is napping in her and Nibbles' favorite spot, it is an old ash pile where we burned some wood. For some reason they love to lay in it. Doesn't she look sweet....she looks like she is praying an a little light from heaven is shining down on her.

Doodah is ..well, Doodah!

Lola, Doodahs daughter, is getting big! She is a wild goat but she will still come up for some scratchins' if the mood hits her! I think she has crazy eyes and she chews cud at warp drive! Maybe she has goatie ADHD!

Her brother Harley is sweet,calm and gentle. He lives in the buck pen with his daddy and Butter Bean and him and Bean play all day long! I am hoping to sell him this fall when he is a little bigger. Someone will be lucky to get him as a herd sire because he has such a great disposition .We already sold his brother, Bo Diddly, and we didn't even advertise him for sale!

And I can never forget our Nibbles girl! She is by far our most beloved girl, just look at her sweet face! Her boys are long gone to a home together to be pets for 4 children.

Just for the heck of it I thought I would throw in one of Clyde! He is such a funny looking fellow,little skinny legs with a barrel body and big ole long skinny head! He is sweet as the day is long! You can let him "donkey lip" all over you and he will never bite.

Now you all have the whole week of the Laughing Duck farm catch up! Hope you enjoyed it!

Pickled Carrot Sticks

2010-08-25T08:43:00.000-05:00

I got a bee in my bonnet,so to speak, to make pickled carrot sticks! I just can't seem to get enough pickled stuff this year for some reason!

I looked up several recipes and ended up with my own combination of ingredients!

Of course,you all KNOW I had to put a jalapeno in every jar,lol!

And a clove of garlic because,really,what are pickles with out a little garlic! I just went the easy route with these,jalapenos ,garlic ,pickling spices and brine. Hot water bath 10 minutes. You can just make a jar and put it in the fridge if you don't want to can a batch. I don't know how these taste yet ,but the sure look pretty!