24/7

Farming is the only job that I can think of that is close to parenting. It is every day, No Holidays or Sick Days. Just like children our animals lives depend on us to take care of them. We've been criticized by some, because of how much time our "job" requires and events we've missed. Our animals need feeding at the same time every day, we can't change that fact. Not to mention how much depends on the weather. If the sap runs we have to gather & boil. If it's summer & we have 3 sunny days in a row, were going to be making hay. We have to, it's how we make money.

We were told it was our choice, and it is. Thankfully many people "choose" this job or we would all be hungry. Everyone knows No Farms No Food. The food in the grocery store comes from a farm somewhere. Most are more like factories than farms, but thankfully not ours. Our animals live a great life, not in a filthy feed lot or tiny cage. I know EXACTLY what is in my meat. Mark once said "you don't farm if you don't like animals, of course we care about them."

Here's a few examples of how much we care. I once saw Mark give mouth to mouth to a newborn lamb. This poor ewe had two enormous rams. We tried unsuccessfully to deliver them. K1 had just ran up to call the vet when one was finally born. It was alive, but stopped breathing. We cleared his nose, and hung him upside down which usually works, but he still wasn't breathing. Out of desperation Mark blew in his nose. It didn't work. I said " I can't believe you did that" he said "me either." We often joke about SheepPR. Anyone that knows me, knows that during lambing season it is nothing for me to set my alarm a few times a night to do a lamb check. A few weeks ago we were giving pre lambing shots to the ewes. Mark said "are you going to sleep in the barn during lambing?" I replied " I'm not ruling that out", again he laughed and said "me either!"

Is it worth it? We think so. We're happy. Most days, we Love what we do.

 Now, I'm going to go do my nightly chores, check on sheep (were going to have lambs any day!), then I'm going to gather sap (in the rain!) and hopefully boil late into the night! With any luck by the end of the weekend we'll have gallons of sweet maple syrup & a few adorable lambs.

P.S. We have meat & poultry CSA shares available, also healthy & delicious eggs.

Go Away Winter

I know that lot's of people are sick of winter. We had a little spring preview last Tuesday. It was beautiful, everything was melting. We tapped trees and I didn't even wear a jacket! Then on Wednesday we got TWO FEET OF SNOW! To make it even worse, we've had several below zero nights. UGH!

This just makes my life so much harder. For starters the ponies haven't been able to go out. The snow is up to their bellies. I tried but they could hardly move, so I brought them in. Not only do I feel bad for them, but that's extra cleaning for me. The cold is even worse. The chicken water freezes, so I have to bring out water twice a day. I always have one in the house defrosting, just what I want in my kitchen. We have to keep the 100 chicks warm. I can just see my electric bill this month. The chicks have 3 heat lights going around the clock. Not to mention the heater for the cows water. Oh...and we can't forget the sugar arch that can't freeze, so there's a heater running in there. Let's talk about heating the house, we've gone through all our wood, so we had to cut & split more. It's just so exhausting and discouraging.

On a positive note we've made about 10 gallons of maple syrup on the very few warm days we've had. Which, this time last year, we had made close to 50 gallons.Not sure if this means a short sugar season or just a late one. Which is worse? Make less syrup or a late spring. A late spring brings it's own headaches & problems. We have so much to do... Starting with getting 100 chicks in their mobile coop. I have no idea what we are going to do if the snow doesn't melt soon. We need to build fence, get the animals out to pasture, and  make our new garden. The petting barn opens May 3rd & our Spring Fling is the 10th...really hoping kid's won't have to wear their snowsuits (just kiddin').

That's enough complaining. It's time for me to go back to the barn. Think Spring!

P.S. Time to sign up for Summer Meat & Poultry Shares.

Mystery in the barn

A few weeks ago Mark noticed that one of the calves was missing the end of his tail. We had bought this calf a few weeks prior. We thought maybe it had gotten frostbite from the other barn or possibly another calf stepped on it. Than a few days later a different calf was missing part of his tail. This one looked awful with blood on his legs, it was gross. I was convinced that something was biting their tails. Mark didn't think so.

We borrowed a game camera. This camera takes a picture once a minute when it detects movement. You can imagine how fun it was to was to flip through 1000 picture of calves, because apparently they move all the time! We did get a good laugh from my 5 year old nephew. He didn't know we had a a camera set up. We got a full frontal picture of him going pee. He was so close, i'm surprised he didn't hit the camera!

After a few nights we got a picture of something. It was a dark rounded animal. It had it's head in a bucket, and we couldn't see it's tail. (I wish I hadn't erased the picture). I thought it could be a opossum, but Mark thought it had too dark of fur. We were telling Leo about it. He says someone told him they saw a wolverine near by. We had no idea what a wolverine was, so of course we googled it! It is the most vicious form of weasel.  Now, we really wanted to catch that on camera! We keep watching, morning & night.

Then we came into the barn & the calf that had the bloody tail a few days earlier, was bleeding again! It was back, and we couldn't get done chores quick enough. We were sure we were going to solve the mystery of the tail eating animal. You'll never guess, what it was....the other calves. They were sucking on each others tails until they were bleeding. Mark said he had told me nothing was eating their tails. I guess he was right, but we still had something getting into our barn.

We finally figured it out the next night.
First we saw this:

Can you see the dark creature in front of the calves?

Than we saw this:

See the little face in the bottom right corner.

I was right it was a opossum., I was right about something! Farming is so unpredictable. Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up!

Kick A** Weekend

Here's a run down of our kick a** weekend.

I made 2 batches of goat milk soap.

I am anxiously awaiting my goats to kid, so that I can have my own milk. I was super excited to find milk for sale on craigslist so I could start practicing, Here's Nala, she's due on Easter.

For the first time we made maple candy.

We cut two dump trailer loads of fire wood. I loaded most of the wood myself, while Mark cut. I even drove the loader tractor. I am women...hear me ROAR!

Mark, K3, and I  trimmed 13 ewes feet, gave them their pre lambing shots & worming, and built the lambing jugs. K3 even tried to trim her ewe. Our first ewe is due April first. We want to be ready because we are hoping to be busy sugaring soon. 

We made a trip to home depot so Mark could get supplies for a job and we decided to sneak in a dinner date. Mark was trying to get me to use salad dressing and I told him I didn't need the extra calories, since I have always eaten it without, that's how I like it. He told me that he thought I burned enough calories in a day that I didn't have to worry about it. 

Of course we also did chores morning & night, and our weekend routine. On Saturdays or Sundays we clean out the sheep & goat pens, sweep the whole barn, and spread the manure. This adds about an hour to our regular chores.

It was a good weekend, we even saw a little sunshine:)

Sensitive Boys

 Here is my favorite picture of Radar (& K3). When we first got him he was scared of Everything! Walking him to the pasture was a challenge. He is much stronger than he looks. The first time we led him, he dragged Mark. Now we can lead him easily. If there's something new like a tractor or puddle in his path, he will hesitate but go- no problem. On Sunday, K1 and Jakob went to get in Radar & Griz (the pony). They couldn't catch them. Typically, they come right up to Mark & I. K1 came back in the barn & Travis went out to help them. He caught Radar, but he took off and dragged Travis in the mud. So, I go out there. I try treats, talking to him, catch the pony, but nothing works. He's afraid. He will very hesitantly take the treat from my hand,but when I reach for his halter he runs away. We go back in the barn. Wait a few minutes & finish chores than Mark & I go out. Mark catches him. This is the normal routine (Mark takes him & I lead Griz) and what he is comfortable with. Note to self - no one else tries to catch Radar. This whole ordeal took about 1/2 hour extra time.

Then we gather sap & boil. We ended up making a gallon of Golden Delicate aka Fancy! We know it's going to be cold, so Mark wants to drain the pan in the morning. We go in the house & Mark tries his little water pump to see if it works. I open the door to let in the dogs, just as he tries the pump. Carter hears the noise & runs. Here's the deal with Carter.Several years ago we replaced our roof. The sound of the air compressor & the banging on the roof terrified him. Now,whenever the air compressor runs he hides, typically in a closet, under the desk, or in the barn if he is outside. Apparently, this sounded like the compressor. We take a shower & I try to call in Carter. Thinking it's been 1/2 an hour he should be ready. Nope! I ask K1 to go get him, since she is dressed. After 10 minutes I get dressed & go out. He is hiding under the sap tank at the sugar house. We try treats, if we grab his collar he frantically pulls away. I don't want to traumatize him, plus he's 90 pounds & that's a long way to drag him to the house. We use the other dogs as bait  "Miley your a good girl! " and feed her treats. Any other time we give the other dogs attention he run right over to steel some for himself. He always comes when called, except when he is scared. I finally start running around the wood pile, shaking the treats, and calling to Miley & Carter. This is 10 at night, I'm in my pj's, running around like an idiot.He follows us to the house. Miley & I run up the stairs & he runs back to the sugar shack. UGH! We give up & go to bed. Miley keeps pacing, she doesn't like Carter outside.  I wake up at midnight & go out to get him. He comes, when I call him, but hides under the steps. Well, at least were closer! I get a leftover piece of pizza. I feed him little pieces & lure him up the steps, than he turns around & hides underneath. I try several times. Finally, I wake up Mark. He grumbles, swears, and grumpily gets up and dressed. We go outside and he squats down & sweetly talks to Cater. Oh, I love this man and his big heart! I lure Carter up the stairs with the pizza, and when he gets to the top, I grab his collar. Mark is behind him and pushes him. We get him in the DOOR! He's fine,  lays down & doesn't go outside until noon on Monday. We will never run a pump in the house again!

Feels like spring

We tapped our trees on the sap line this week. It was kinda chilly. We brought the dogs who love the woods. JD had a blast running around until he got tired. He would dig in the snow, lay down, curl up tight in a ball, hide his nose, shiver, than jump up and try again. After a few minutes I told Mark we had to bring him home. The dogs cuddled up for a nap for the rest of the day...not us, we went back and finished tapping! We added on to the main line, so now we have about 140 taps on the line.

All three dogs in the truck

We did boil Friday and Saturday night, about 250 gallons of sap, but still no syrup. just sweetin' the pan.  It should be running today, it feels like spring out. Maybe syrup tonight? After today it's going to get cold again, for about a week.I guess this is just a little spring tease. After this cold spell we will tap our buckets and fingers crossed it will be officially sugaring season.

Here's Mark's babies...we have quite the collection of bull calves. They aren't worth any money when they are newborns, so Farmers keep calling Mark & giving him "free" calves. He can't say no...so we are buying lots of milk re placer and feeding the calves takes longer than taking care of all the other animals.

Joys of Farming

So we got some snow on Valentines day. The dogs like to play in it, but the chickens hate it! I am just done with winter, snow & cold. We've also had some below zero nights. YUCK! I want NEED Spring!

On Saturday, we realized the freezer part of the refrigerator in the store broke. Even though it's really small, we had it packed with meat = a $310 dollar loss. Not fun!

We are anxiously awaiting sugaring season. Today, we are were going to tap our lines, hoping to get the first run this week. Mark filled our gathering tank with water & hitched the trailer to his tractor, so K3 & I could clean the sap tank in the woods, while he and K3's boyfriend tapped the lines. We are all ready, dogs can't wait to run @ Grandpa's, and the tractor dies. Which means he is trying to fix it while we wait.The day is flying by, looking like we aren't going to tap today. These are just the joys hardships of farming.

Here's some pics from the week:

Poor Miley, her cone is like a shovel in the snow.

On chicken was brave.

This is 5 minutes after I mopped. Looks great, doesn't it?

JD is growing. This is his puppy sweater, looks like a cap on him now.
I had to buy him a new collar, because he outgrew the one I got him a month ago. His feet are giant. We can hear him coming in any room, just by the noise his big paws make.

Sheep are getting big with lambs!

K1 has been working with her horse. We had to sedate him to get him home when we bought him.Now he walks right on.