Completely Overwhelmed

I don't even know where to start...I guess with Miss Miley. Last week the dogs had to go out at midnight & they took off. I called them & called them, I actually fell asleep on the couch waiting for them. Finally, after 1/2 hour they came in. The next morning when Miley got up I noticed her limping, so I checked her feet (remember Carter cut his pad last month, happy to say he is completely healed).Found nothing & off she went, she was fine. 10  o'clock  that night K1 comes in our room & asked what happened to Miley. Well, apparently she cut her leg right near her shoulder, and she had licked it wide open- like peeled the skin back a good inch. She must have cut it on her midnight outing & then  made it worse. It was now a 24 hr cut - too late for stitches (or so I thought!).We got out the vet wrap,antibiotic ointment, and duct tape. We did that for a day 1/2 then her leg swelled. Friday am I called the vet as soon as they opened and they had one opening @ 2:00. Turns out they can stitch it, so we  had to leave her, they put her out , and we picked her up a few hours later. I won't even tell you what Marks face looked like when he got that bill! Miley was so pathetic, all drugged and sad with the cone. Now she is running into everything with her cone head, but that doesn't stop her!

We also found out K1's car will not pass inspection, due to a rotten frame. Now we have till May first to find a car. After 1/2 a day of car shopping (which we really didn't have time for) I got a new to me car & K1 has my car.

We successfully moved the meat chicks out to pasture & what an ordeal that was. First we moved the canopy & set up the fence-

Then we loaded the chicks in 2 loads to move them-

Happy Chicks-

We also moved the cows to the pasture @ the new barn. Mark says its sad when your whole herd fits in a two horse trailer.  The cows are very content in their new space. A big thanks to Leo & Arlene (best landlord ever!) for fixing the fence.

We have been plugging away at the barn, it's totally painted & ready to start building pens.

That's all for now - I gotta go to work (can't wait for school to be done!)

I'll leave you with a few signs of spring :)

My raspberry bushes ..

Goodbye vacation...

My week off was so nice..makes me & the girls long for summer. Only 8 more weeks of school to go. Some days the weather was nice (we hit 70 degrees one day!), other days were cold & windy (there was frost on the cars this morning).

I got lots done around the house, hung up my first load of laundry for the year, and even did a little work in the garden.I wish I had done some planting but I just trimmed the raspberries & cleaned up the flower bed. I was really excited to realize that my friend Peter's (Four Pillars Farm) veggie CSA starts in a few weeks & we traded shares since I won't have as much time to garden this summer & he doesn't raise any meat. I can't wait for fresh from the garden veggies. He brought us a sample of radishes & they were yummy!

We tried to get the leaves out of the bottom of the pool and we found a pair of pajama pants that must have blown in on the last day of fall that I hung up the clothes! I've washed them twice but can't get the see weedy smell out of them. Obviously, K3 has plenty of pants, since she didn't even know they were missing.

We grilled for the first time:

 I wanted to get a picture of them all cooked, but as soon as Mark put them on the table, everyone dove into them.

Work on the barn is going great! Party room & store are all sheet rocked, and almost ready to paint. Mark started spraying the ceiling in the barn. It's amazing how clean & fresh it looks with a coat of paint. It's awesome thinking about all the progress we made. It's all coming together just like we pictured it would, of course I have an amazing construction crew!

Raising the meat birds has been a challenge. On the warm days, they were overheating, so we stopped using the heat lamp. Well, Saturday night was in the 20's. Apparently, they were cold & clustered together. We lost ELEVEN! I am just blown away by how different these are then the egg layers. We made another pen, and divided them in half & gave them each a heat lamp. So far so good, all survived last night. They are now 3 weeks old.

and now it's Monday...back to the routine.

Vacation Week!

So, it's spring break from school. K1 so nicely shared her cold with me! I just have to say that I have had a rough few months. I got the flu which knocked me down for 4 days, terrible sinus cold that lasted a few days, 24 hour stomach bug, and now another cold with a nagging cough. UGH!...and I really don't have time to be sick! (not that anyone ever does!)

On a positive note I did finally get to cleaning the sap buckets, and the K's & I are on mission clean find our house. I have posted a list & everyone has to pick a job for the day.

Yesterday, was beautiful outside and my sister & I had a glass of wine on the deck. It's a tradition in memory of our Mother's death. Hard to believe it's been 10 years.

Today, I had lunch with my BFF from high school. Unfortunately, we only get together a few times a year. We only live 30 miles apart but jobs & family keep us busy. The best thing is that no matter how long it's been we just jump in where we left off, and we know that we will always be the best of friends.

Chicks are doing well. We've had a few bumps in the road, due to the crazy weather (warm/cold). We had a few warm days so we took out a heat light, than we had a cold night. We lost 3 due to crowding under the light to stay warm.

Mark & crew are doing a fab job on the barn, with any luck at all we will be painting this weekend. OPENING CELEBRATION on June 22!!!

Hoping for sunshine & getting lot's accomplished....

Spring chicks!

Meat birds arrived in the mail 106 of them!

  They lasted 2 days in my basement, then we could smell them throughout the house, so we moved them to the barn. It was a little chilly (When is it going to warm up???), but we had two heat lights & a small heater. Boy, solar would be great! I'm sure the electric bill will be up this month.They are a week old today & doing great. We only lost 3.They are really cute.

We moved our layers to a new spot in the field & they are very happily forging, giving us delicious, healthy eggs. Which we are getting 2 dozen a day, so we always have eggs for sale :)

I wish I could say we had all the sugaring equipment cleaned, but we still have 100 buckets to wash. My excuse has been it's been too cold, or I've been too busy. Defiantly, HAVE to clean them soon. I do have next week off, so hopefully I get lots done.  

Fed my 2 bottle lambs the last of the powdered milk. They still come running up to me crying & I feel bad, so i try to avoid them :(

I have finally launched my website, after many frustrating hours building it. www.triplekfarm.com. I would love your feedback!

Mark & crew have done lots of work on the barn (....there's still TONS to be done).It's looking GREAT!!! I am super excited about our grand opening on June 22. 

P.S. If you haven't already, like us on our Triple K Farm facebook page.