Goat Babies!

The farm is blooming with life this week! On the same day the Sheltie puppies were born, Avenger, my Nigerian dwarf goat, gave birth to two kids (from a pygmy buck). The mostly white one is bashful and always looks the other way, but the agouti one is very brave. It charges at me already!I was on the computer last night blogging about the Sheltie puppies when I heard the baby goats bleating. It took me awhile to figure out where the sound was coming from and what it was! Once I walked outside I immediately knew it was coming from the barn and I ran down there with a flashlight and moved Avenger and the babies to my camper, which I use as a birthing stall for goats and a chicken brooder.

Up until about a week ago, the camper was parked down by the barn, but I had Joe move it up close to the house so I had it close to outlets to plug in the chicken brooder lights. Moving Avenger up there was a real chore since she doesn't walk very well on a leash and I pretty much dragged her most of the way. My chicks aren't coming until next week, so by then I'll have somewhere outside to put Avenger and the kids outside.

I took a little walk around while I was outside with my camera and it didn't take long for the chickens and goats to realize I was outside. They came on the run hoping I was bringing them something good to eat. I took a couple pictures of them and then through them in some hay.

As I walked by my herb garden, I noticed some mint already growing like mad. Up near the front yard I checked on the rhubarb and sure enough, it is starting to pop out of the ground as well. I can't wait to make some rhubarb pie! It's been a couple years since I planted the rhubarb, so I will harvest it pretty heavily this year.

Then up by the mailbox I noticed my first flower of the year. This little yellow crocus was all by it's lonesome up there, though I noticed other bulbs starting to come up. It seems like spring is really starting to get going now. I am so happy that the grass is green again!

Farm Girl Heart

I haven't always been a farmgirl at heart; it's a fairly recent development. Five years ago, my husband and I decided we wanted to live in the country, neither one of us having ever lived in the country before. We found a little place in our price range with almost 6 acres of land and made it our home.

I have been an animal nut my entire life and it was my dream to have lots of animals, especially goats and chickens. I have now had chickens for a few years and I'm now spoiled when it comes to eggs. It's either my own free-range, farm-fresh eggs or nothing! I've got ducks now as well, so when I can find them I have duck eggs too.

As you can see, I'm such a bonafide farm girl, I don't really care if my eggs have manure on them! It just adds a little character.

The spot where I used to keep the chickens is going to be planted with Indian corn this year, so my chickens will have given me more than just eggs. That ground is very well fertilized! The Indian corn is for decoration at Thanksgiving and winter feed for the horses, goats, chickens, and ducks.

I am trying to grow as much of my own produce as I can this year. I have tons of seedlings started on my bookshelf in my bedroom. I packed away three shelves of books temporarily to have room for seed starting. My garden area is pretty weedy still from last year. It will be burnt as soon as we get a day that is calm. I also want to fence the garden in so I can keep ducks and chickens in the plot over the fall and winter for easy cleanup and fertilizer.

My husband and I are currently working on fencing a new dog pen with higher fencing this time. The drifts we had this winter were no match for 4 foot fence, so we are going with 5 foot this time. The grass inside the pen will be mowed completely by goat power.

And what farm girl would be without several farm cats? Not me!

To share with other farmgirls and to learn more about the farm girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

Around the Farm

I was out taking pictures around the farm the past few days. Above is Helga and her baby, Caliber, who was our first kid of the year, born in January. In the background you can see a group of my chickens roosting on a tire. The goats and chickens all like to lay together in front of the barn in the sunshine, but as soon as they see me, they come running, expecting food, so I never get a picture of it!

You can see behind Kassie and Whisper that there is still some drifted snow that's going to take awhile to melt. The pasture is very bare and muddy- one of my first projects this spring is to fence off more pasture and close this section off to regrow. I have another pasture, but it's small and I need to make it a whole lot bigger before I can let everyone into it.

There's a little bit of melting snow in front of the barn. The ducks will definitely miss the puddles, but no one else will. I only have 4 ducks left, since the dogs killed some of them earlier in the winter before I moved them to the barn. I have been watching the local farm store so I can get some more ducklings. My chickens will be arriving near the end of the month, so I want to get some ducklings around then as well.

This is one of my many mousers, Sheila. He is one of my favorites, but is sort of a big weenie. He used to be very wild, but one time he was gone for a week and came home running, soaking wet and ran right to me. He let me pet him then and ever since that day. In the picture he is eyeballing the farm dogs- he has no trust for them.

I was very excited to see buds on my lilacs. Spring really is here! The scent of lilacs is one of my favorite smells, along with peonies and roses. I have been noticing tons of birds- or "acksuppies" as Tate calls them. I have no idea where he got that!

Here We Go Again

Another winter storm is projected for Monday and Tuesday. Monday starts with rain and freezing rain turning to snow Monday night and Tuesday. We are in the 3-6" range- just what we need is more snow! The road crews are running out of places to put it! The drifts and pushed snow in the ditches is so high, road signs are barely sticking up. My husband took some pictures of the roads after the storm two weeks ago, we have since had a storm that dumped on us 1/2" of freezing rain and 6" of snow last week.

After the storm we had last week, it took 5 days for the roads to be cleared enough to leave our place in the car. Luckily, we have the Jeep, though it isn't very fun to have to put the kids in and isn't very warm. At least it's there in case of an emergency, and my husband can still usually get around, though he has gotten it stuck 4 times this winter and put it in the ditch once.

The horses don't seem to mind the snow too much, though the ice is a different story- that they will avoid at all costs. I saw them out laying in the snow in the sunshine today and they looked pretty comfortable. I've heard a lot of horses around here haven't been doing well and some even dying because of dehydration when their water freezes so quickly. We bought a stock tank heater this fall, which works very well and keeps our horses' and goats' water ice-free. To the left is Stetson, my stallion, also known as "Big Butt."

Above are Kassie and Cinders. Kassie is the white one and is broke to ride. To the right is Whisper. These three are all mares. Cinders is the oldest at 16, Kassie is 9, and Whisper and Stetson are both 2 years old. Kassie is always the first horse at the grain trough, though the others are never very far behind. If Kassie makes it to me before I have a chance to dump the bucket of grain in the trough, she sticks her head in and helps herself. Sometimes I have a heck of a time getting her head back out again, which allows a chance for the goats to stick their heads in as well. Then I'm in big trouble! If I see them coming, sometimes I am quick enough to hold the bucket on top of my head, which works very well when you have miniature horses and pygmy goats!

Then comes the fun of trying to dump a bucket of grain into a trough while 5 or 6 goats are standing in it, another 2 or 3 have their heads in the bucket, another has it's hooves in your arm, and the rest are standing by to maybe try and knock you down when you bend over. Then you will stumble, usually catching some part of your body on a pair of goat horns, and if you're lucky, a goat will be standing close by to break your fall. And if you're not lucky, you fall down in a pile of manure. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

Miserable Winter

What a cold, miserable winter it's been! With all the snowstorms we have been getting here in Iowa, the drifts have become huge! My dogs all escaped the backyard by walking over the fence and my 2 big farm dogs have been jumping in the chicken pen. They killed one chicken and one duck, plus 2 other ducks are missing. Needless to say, Corky and Annie are now being corralled in the barn for their misbehavior. The goats and the horses seem to be fine in this weather, but they have to be getting sick of it too!

That's Nellie in the foreground, she's always first to come running. She was my first goat and is very friendly. Almost more like a dog. My other goats names are Noah, Garry, Glory, Freedom, Liberty, Helga, Hester, Lester, Cookie, Intrepid, Caliber, Ram, Charger, and Avenger. Plus there's baby Magnum, who is still living in the house, trying to get over severe frostbite from the day he was born and being bottlefed. He probably won't ever want to live in the barn!

I raise chickens for meat and eggs for my family. My breeds include Rhode Island Reds, Delawares, Buff Brahmas, and Cochins. I want to try some other breeds this spring. Last year, I hatched a lot of my own eggs, which was really fun. Actually watching a chick break from its egg has got to be one of the most miraculous things to see.


Last night's lunar eclipse was really beautiful! It took me forever to get a few decent pictures of it, as one of my dogs was sniffing me and putting his paws on my back. Plus it was -5 outside and my fingers and ears were freezing. It was still worthwhile to watch for awhile, but I was glad to get back inside!