Randomness

So this post is going to be a bit random...because, frankly, my life is pretty random right now. I first want to talk about friends and family. I used to believe that simply because someone was "family", meaning a blood relative, that I was required to have that person in my life, thus giving them permission to affect my life. Several years ago, in 2006, my husband, youngest children and I decided to pack up and move from Ohio to Florida. During that time, we learned to rely on each other a bit stronger and realized that, from that point forward, we'd only allow people to affect our lives if their affects were more positive than negative. We understand that life isn't going to always be wine and roses - people argue, feelings get hurt, people misspeak etc. but then life balances out. However, if your scale is constantly tipped to the anxiety, sadness, frustration, getting spanked in the self esteem side of the scale...I've figured out that it is ok to let that person out of your life. I say it that way...letting the person out...because obviously if they are constantly in a state of WANTING to hurt you, make you feel bad, make you feel less than or not good enough...then they can't be happy in your relationship either. I'm talking about any relationship...this isn't just about a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend...this is about siblings, parents, aunts/uncles whomever is always making your life so challenging. So for those of you reading this, wondering if I'm talking about Mark...I am not. Mark and I do have our challenges - like all other couples; however, I hope that we will continue to grow old together and will be playing SkipBo and scrabble on the front porch, while our grandkids chase baby goats around the pasture :-)
That all being said - since I realized that it's ok to let those negative people out of my life, I also learned that just because someone isn't a blood relative, doesn't mean that they aren't family. There are a few women in my life that we have made the choice to be in eachother's lives for a long time. Some I've been friends with since high school or shortly thereafter and others I may lose touch with for a time and then we come back together and it was like we just saw each other yesterday. I love my friends. There are a couple people in this world that I can say just about anything to and they place no judgement on me. The love me for who I am, they love my children, they support my decisions (even when they don't understand them or wouldn't choose them for their selves)...I am so thankful for this group of women, friends who have become my family. The other day, was a little rough for me...I was having a bad self-esteem day. (for those of you that know me, may or not, know that I have some pretty bad self esteem issues - there are days that I just don't really like myself, don't worry, it'll be ok, it happens). But one of these wonderful women sent me an amazing gift...flowers...delivered to my home. Remember, we live out in the boondocks...this took a lot of planning to locate a florist near me that would actually deliver out this far and do such an amazing job. The flowers are still gorgeous and still put a smile on my face when I look at them...like just now, I looked over while typing and smiled. I'm thankful that I there are these awesome women out there that love me as much as I love them.

My lovely flowers

The weather FINALLY broke around here...just like my previous post mentioned - we finally started to get some warmer, sunnier and generally more beautiful weather than we've experienced through this very long, nightmarish winter. Our children have fixed up their bikes and watching them regularly cycle up and down our very long driveway (another thing I love about this house is that driveway - the kids can bike, scooter, do chalk art all around and never have to get close to the road. I love it. Below is Gage basking in the sun. He pulled the legs of his PJ pants all the way up and made shorty shorts out of them...God, I love my kids. They are all so funny.

As I mentioned last post, we had our Backyard Chicken class this past weekend at Meyer Hatchery (the place that is shipping our chicks) - we decided to make the weekend of it. The kids and I picked up Mark at work (he worked Spring Break at a place he worked for several years ago - a two-way radio sales and service shop...to make a little extra money), and then we drove a couple more hours to NE Ohio. We stopped to eat at one of Mark's favorite restaurants (a place that we don't have where we live, but it was right down the street from our apt. in Florida), Cheddars - YUM! By the time we go to the hotel, everyone was too tired to swim - we opted to get a good night of sleep and then swim after breakfast. Everyone grabbed a quick shower and off to chicken keeping class we went. I HIGHLY suggest this class. The teacher, Carrie (I don't know if she's a Kerry or Kari...we'll just call her Carrie), was relaxing and funny and extremely informative. She took us for a short tour of the hatchery and everything (BTW - VERY clean building, VERY wonderful and helpful staff, excellent customer service). After the class/tour - we decided to drive just a little bit farther to let the kids experience Amish country. We've been there in the past, but always find it so fascinating. We visited Lehmans and had lunch/dinner at Mrs. Yoders (DELICIOUS). We talked with a young Amish couple and then taught us a bit about Amish travel (horse drawn carriage) - it takes them about an hour and a half to visit her parents, that live just 15 miles away. Definitely a slower pace to life. Here are just a few pictures from our weekend...

Gage and Drake - hotel comfy!

A horse drawn carriage - you can see the horses feet from under the carriage. One thing I have learned is that you should never take a picture of an Amish person's face, it is against their beliefs. There is something so beautiful about the seeing the carriages - sometimes with a beautiful face peeking out at us. Gosh, I just love it.

This gentleman was pushing four horses - I believe he had some sort of farm equipment - the horses were ginormous.

Amish parking lot - near the restaurant that we ate at, they had a special area that the horses could be hitched to, while they ate dinner.

While we we driving through, we came upon a house that was a deer farm - how neat to see about 15 deer wandering through someone's front yard.

We stopped to turn around in a parking lot and this "little" guy peeked over the fence at us. Looking not amused lol.

Oh, did I fail to mention the turkeys. Hmmm...Well - while we were at the hatchery, they had turkeys for sale. Turkeys were not on the list for this year...they were a possibility for next year or the following - but since we were there and they had no minimum purchase, since we weren't shipping them, we decided to pick up four of them. Two blue slate and two red bourbon - they are cute and sweet and will hopefully make a delicious meal. We've decided that if, between the four of them, there is a mating pair, that is nice and we like, that we will keep them and slaughter the other two - then we'll breed the two for more turkeys. I guess holiday dinner is on us?

The Spring flowers are beginning to bloom.

 I thought I'd share a couple pictures of the pasture crew...

Jester and Steve (mostly) and Ethel is climbing up the balance beam.

Jester and Steve chowing down on hay.

Sweet little Fauna, hiding from all the craziness (don't let her fool you, she's a crazy maniac too...she was just needing a little break).

Sweet Pea - hard to believe that this little goofball had such a rough start.

Ahem, Steve REALLY enjoys his hay. LOL

Turkeys!

Turkey, turkey, turkey.

They are so cute now - don't get attached! They are dinner!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Strawberry Fields Forever

I wanted to share something with you...Ok, try not to UGHHHHH too loudly when you see that the high/low for today is only 47/27...But skip ahead to the Friday and Saturday...we are eeking into the mid-50's and even the 60's and not a speck of snow is on this entire forecast (...or even the 10-day!)!!!! Dare I say that Spring is Here?!?!?!

Well, at least my plants are starting to believe that it is Spring, and I trust my plants (mostly). Our seedlings that are still inside are popping through and reaching for the sun coming through the windows. Yesterday we got a kick out of turning our cauliflower sprouts away from the sun and coming back and hour or two later and finding that they had turned around and were reaching toward the sun again...smarty pants. I wish my tomatoes were doing better...I'm counting on them for our canning experience this year - so I'm hoping that they germinate and grow strong (last year we didn't grow a single tomato).
Our garlic has sprouted outside, I'm still waiting for any sign of life in the herb garden, but it just went in...so it'll be a little bit. I still have yet to get my potatoes in the ground! I wanted to get that done on St. Patrick's day...but the weather has just not been cooperating with us. I received an email notification yesterday that said our strawberry plants (50 of them) have been shipped and are scheduled to arrive at our house by end of day tomorrow. I guess that means that we have to build their home huh? Last night, we grabbed some wood and pulled out our saw, drill and some screws and made a three level tower for the strawberries. We still need to fill them with dirt (by dirt, I mean, peat, potting soil and...alpaca, goat, sheep and rabbit poo) and stack the tower up...so guess what I'm doing today/tonight. (...and since the kids are on spring break, I'm hoping to convince them to help me shoveling loads of "dirt" in for both the strawberries AND the potatoes...hmmm)
Our neighbor came over the night before last and tilled our garden in the back yard. Yesterday morning he came over and I thanked him profusely - he said he "ain't done yet", he just wanted to get it turned over to help it dry out a bit (from our VERY wet winter, snow and rain)...in about 2-3 weeks, he'll come back and till it again...which means that we have 2-3 weeks to spread out our compost onto the garden and he'll be able to mix the compost into the garden and give us beautiful, healthy, rich soil to transplant our seedlings and plant our seeds directly in to. LOVE!
Tomorrow night, we go to the beekeepers club for a special meeting about assembling your beehive. We've got our brooder boxes mostly put together (as I posted earlier) - we need to figure out how to make the frames stronger and learn about any tips that they have about the hives, how to keep them sturdy and where to put them. Then, on Friday we are heading toward Amish Country - we'll be staying at a hotel for the night (Mark, the kids and I are going - Kait and David will stay here to take care of the animals). On Saturday morning, we'll attend Backyard Chickens 101, at the hatchery and then we'll go to Lehmans and grab lunch and then head back home. Next week, the chicks will be here - peep peep peep.

Herbs

Tonight we planted an herb garden...ok, truth be told, they aren't ALL herbs (we threw in a bit of lettuce and spinach)...The shelves we built out of 2x4s, two sets about 6 1/2 feet long and tiered in height - something simple to fill this very underutilized space on our front porch. To give you perspective - in this first picture, if I were to look directly to the right, I'd see the "front door" that actually walks into our bedroom. If I look to the left, I would look out onto the rest of our front porch and the steps that go out into our yard.

We planted an herb garden...

I adore this shelf space...

Kait, David, Gage, Drake, Cora and I took terra cotta pots and decorated them with paint markers. I'm amazed at how cute these turned out to be.

More pots...

...and even more pots.

We have in here...
Sage
Basil
Dill
Parsley
Spearmint
Spinach
Lemon Balm
Chicory
Cumin
Thyme
Chives
Lettuce
Oregano

We also have four planters that are on either side of our steps that go from one tier of our land down to another and in two of those we planted Lavender and in the other two Chamomile.
Mark and I sat on the front porch tonight for just a bit before the sun finally set. Being able to have time to do these pots and sit together and feed/hay our animals BEFORE then sun in down is a definite sign that the days are longer...Which I LOVE...and there was sunshine...Which I LOVE...and there was Mark and Shelby time AND family time...Which I LOVE...AND it was Kait and David's turn to make dinner...Which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!! We don't have to plan, purchase, prepare or clean up after dinner on nights like this.
It's a good night.

Hives and Coffee

We had quite the eventful weekend. We attending our beekeeping school - something that we've both been looking so forward to, for a few reasons. We learned that we know more than we think we know, we learned more of what we didn't know and we feel more comfortable than we ever have about adding bees to the farm...and we picked up our hives! That's right - we picked up two full kits (with tops, inner covers, bases etc.), along with two additional brooder boxes and four honey supers - we should be all set in getting these bees settled in and producing honey. We've heard mixed opinions on a honey harvest - some people have said we can expect a small honey harvest this fall and others say we should leave the honey with the bees...I say, we let the bees guide us. No sense in stripping them of their food, just to spend the winter wondering if they have enough food - but if they go crazy gangbusters and have enough yummy goodness to share with us...then we will gladly take a bit of honey off the top. This past weekend, we were able to build the two main brooder boxes with all the necessary pieces to get our hives up and running - we'll build the additional pieces as we have time.

Drake, Master Carpenter

Hammering in the frame foundation.

Ratta tap tap...

More frame building.

Look at that beautiful completed frame - can't wait until these are covered with bee brood.

Fancy beewear!

Cora modeling my bee jacket lol.

Oh, wow - the living room was quite the mess.

Stuff was all over the place.

Cora is helping hammer a brooder box together.

Building our hives, lid and brooder boxes.

Mark and Drake putting together the boxes.

Proud father and son moment.

Look at that awesome completed hive! We have two just like this and will be adding additional brooder boxes and honey supers.

We are officially ready for our honey bees. We'll be getting two nucs in the middle of April.

In addition to becoming bee hive owners this past weekend, we also were surprised by (yet another) new baby!!! This one is a buck Oberhasli/Angora cross. His name is Coffee and he is Itty Bitty's baby. He is absolutely adorable. He and his Mama have figure out the whole nursing thing, all by theirselves. He is just as sweet as can be.

Mama Itty and Baby Coffee...I love his smirk in this photo.

Time to eat!

Coffee

Coffee!!!

Coffee!!!!!

Coffee!!!!!!!

Coffeeeeeeee!!!!!

Itty and apparently something I'm going to need more of around here...COFFEE!!! LOL

I'm going to knock on wood while I write this, but we've had four mamas give birth to six babies and everyone has done amazing. I'm so proud of all of my girls and their beautiful babies. Soon we'll be milking Mabel and Flora (once we wean the babies) and we'll be able to have milk and cheese (and soap?!) from our backyard. We'll also be shearing the fiber animals in about a month or so - before the hot weather rolls in.
Milk, soap, cheese, honey, fiber...soon chickens will be here for meat and eggs...this place...it grows on ya'

Beekeeper

You know what the day after tomorrow is?????

Beekeeping School!

We are SO excited - we'll be spending an entire day learning about beekeeping AND leave with all of our beehive supplies!  We decided to get unassembled hives for two reasons:

1) Cost

2) To touch every piece and gain a better understanding of how they all work together. 

One word :: TOTALLYFREAKINGEXCITEDCANTWAITTILSATURDAY

Flora :: A Birth Story

What an amazing experience...I've been present for the birth of my own children (obviously) and watched my best friend deliver her daughter, but I've never been present for the birth of an animal. All the goats have delivered at night or behind my back lol sneaky little ladies. But I had the most fortunate experience of being there for Flora's entire delivery.
Kait and I were in the barn doing a check on Flora - as we've been doing for the past week and a half or so...when Flora squatted down to pee, it appeared that her whoha opened pretty wide. Kait and I looked at eachother and questioned whether it was time. Kait ran to get Cora outside and by the time that they came running out, Flora had coughed out a bubble and a hoof! As soon as Kait got out with my cell phone, I started recording this video (warning :: graphic goat delivery video with a bit of a cliff hanger because my FREAKING CAMERA DIED JUST AS HER WATER BROKE!)!!!

At the end of the video, you see that her water had broken and there were two, quite large hooves sticking out of her. From that point, she was trying to deliver the baby goat and in so much pain. She kept throwing her head back and yelling in pain, pushing as hard as she could to get this baby out.

See the hooves and the little tongue sticking out - it kept wiggling during delivery.

It was obvious that she was getting tired out and was having a really hard time getting the baby out. I am usually hands off when it comes to stuff like this...but it was looking like she needed some intervention. I took a towel and wrapped it around the hooves that were sticking out. As she pushed (and ONLY when she pushed) I would give a GENTLE tug to the legs - helping pull, while she pushed...being cautious not to cause her any harm. Finally (after about 20 minutes of pushing) she pushed that little baby goat out of her. Kait, Cora and I watched the whole thing and David was able to join at about the point that the video ended - so he got to see the actual birth.

Newborn baby goat!!

Closeup on the newborn...

Flora, although exhausted, started cleaning off her baby and using her "Mommy voice" - a lower, very different Baa than her usual voice - SO cute. She kept looking at us like "look what I just did". I was so proud of her - my eyes were tearing up. I was just in amazement of what this goat accomplished. As she was trying to deliver her placenta, she squatted down again - we looked inside her whoha and SURPRISE!! Another baby was on her way out! There was ANOTHER BUBBLE with ANOTHER HOOF! I couldn't believe that little goat had TWO babies inside her. Thinking that it would take another 20 minutes or so to get the baby delivered, we hunkered down and watched. Within two minutes, baby number two was delivered!!! She was smaller than the first baby and I think the first baby made the path, she was just following along. So there was an exhausted Flora (yawning, yawning, yawning) trying to clean of these little (ok, they were actually pretty big) babies - we helped her along, toweling them down a bit. They got onto their very uneasy feet and tried to figure out the whole nursing thing. Flora, even though she's a first time mom, was standing there letting the babies try to figure it out...unlike Frankie who was doing everything in her power to get away from the baby. Maybe she was too tired to put up a fight - maybe she just knew what she was supposed to do from watching Mabel. Either way - Great job Flora!

Flora and her babies - a boy and a girl.

Flora and her babies.

Flora makes really beautiful babies - I'm incredibly proud of my girl. She finally did it - we have more photos and videos on other cameras and cell phones - I'll upload those when I can...but I thought I'd share our amazing experience.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

We've been doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that around here lately. Starting projects, planning, discussing and doing...

Animals ::
We are still waiting for Miss Flora to have her baby (babies?) - she seems to be fully dilated, lost her plug and having contractions - I think I need to call the vet today, just to make sure that all is good. She also seems to be having an issue with her leg (still) - I thought it was pregnancy related, but I worry that it is more.
The three other babies - Blanche, Ethel and Sweet Pea are doing great - they are like three peas in a pod...running around the barn yard like baby goats do. They are so fun to watch. They race up and down the play structure out there. I believe that we are going to keep all three of them (although, depending upon what babies Flora has, we may not be able to keep everyone). Decisions, Decisions.
Everyone else is doing really well - we'll be shearing soon too...I'm excited to see the fiber we pull off these guys and then to spin it and create something from it! YAY!

Garden ::

We've been planting seeds to start in our cellar and get them growing before we can actually get them in the ground outside, since, you know, it's only 28 degrees outside Brrrr...But seeing a few of those artichoke plants reaching up out of the compost is a wonderful thing - the little splash of green that I so desperately need. It's so dreary outside - (Ain't No Sunshine) - everything is gray and wet and muddy...ugh. But in good news...So far, we have planted artichokes, celery, asparagus...
On Sunday, we planted:
42 tomato plants (12 - Beefsteak, 12 - Heinz, 12 - Roma and 6 - Katinka Cherry)
3 - Jalapeno Peppers
6 - California Wonder Pepper
3 - Golden California Wonder Pepper
18 - Broccoli
18 - Cauliflower
18 - Brussels Sprouts
18 - Cabbage
Soon, hopefully in the next few days, we'll be planting the following (in pots) - Basil, Thyme, Sage, Oregano, Cumin, Spearmint, Chives, Chicory, Dill, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, and Lavender.
I'm hoping to have an area on our porch set up for the potted herb garden - just a simple two shelf system. I'd also love to add a few citrus fruits to the mix - Meyer Lemon, Lime and Clementine (I know that our winters are far too cold to have these fruits outside, I'd be willing to find space inside for them to overwinter.
We have peas, potatoes, onions, lettuce, spinach and beets ready to go in the ground now - but it is so cold, it's hard to find the time that we want to be outside...and miserably cold long enough to plant everything. With the first day of Spring tomorrow, I'm officially going to call the groundhog a liar...I took a look at the 10-day forecast and there's not a day where it gets much past the low 40's. 

Bees ::
We went to our beekeeping club this past Thursday - I love going there. A place with like minded people, when it comes to bees - so much knowledge in one room. We handed in the check for our two nucs (we'll be able to pick them up mid-April) BEES BEES BEES! On Friday, we placed our order for all of our supplies! This Saturday, is our official bee-school, in Loveland, Ohio - Mark and I are so excited - we'll be getting all of our goods and learning so much. By the time Saturday is over, we'll be ready. So ready.

Chickens ::
The hatchery where we are getting our chickens is hosting a Keeping Backyard Bees class the first weekend in April. I'm hoping that Mark, the kids and I will be able to do an overnight trip (the hatchery is about 3.5 hours from here) and attend the class, again, then we'd be ready for the chickens. So ready.

Location of bees and chickens ::
We are going to be keeping the chickens in our shed - but it needs a little revamping. On Sunday, Mark and I went to Lowes and picked up some lumber to be able to frame out their space and keep a storage area for feed and a separate area to wall off for chicks. As we have time, we'll be getting the updates made before the chicks arrive.
The bees will be going at the end of the pasture (past the fence to the animals can't get to them) - I'm not sure if we'll need to get concrete blocks to put them on, but I'd like to get something to go under them - pea gravel? So that when we have to mow, we don't have to go right up to the hives.

Compost Bin ::
Thus far, we've been tossing all of our compost items in a pile, in the back of the yard. I really hate the way it looks - not only do I want this to be a working mini-farm, but I want it to be cute too. Compost stretching across a large area like the does the look cute. We bought lumber and fencing to be able to construct an approx. 8ft x 8ft bin. We also bought a hard rake and a pitch fork - we'll be able to flip the top layers of compost into the bin and hopefully most of the bottom layers will be composted and we can put those out on our garden beds.

I know we have a lot of projects - but it's all good stuff, exciting stuff, feeling accomplished type stuff.