when your cow gets stuck in the Turkey coop

Our week started with a new adventure. Not completely new but new to this batch of babies and mommas. Milking. Sunday night I went into the barn to separate the does from t he babies. I put all the little guys into one pen and all the does stayed in their stalls. They were separated for the first time. Everyone did really well. 12 hours later, Monday morning, we went to the barn with out milk bucket. We let the babies out of their pen, to eat some hay. then one doe after the next jumped onto the milk stand and was milked. Three of the four were never milked before and all three of them stood very nicely and it was easy to get done. We got  a little over three litres every morning of the week. Then I found some lice on the little guys and we had to do something about that first before we could continue milking. Everyone got a needle today with Ivomectin, which I will have to repeat in 14 days. After the treatment we can not drink the milk for 14 days. So unfortunately there will be no milking for the next 4 weeks :( I was just getting used to my beloved goat cheese again ...

Pne thing I will look into during the next 4 weeks is a milk machine. My hands do not like the milking, they get really sore and tingle all day. I do not think that this is going to get better at some point. I will look for something that I can use on the goats as well as on the cow next year...

I love this time of the year when u can just go into the field behind the house and come home with the most beautiful wild flower bouquet. Aren't those pretty ??

We picked the first currents from the berry patch. It was not it wasn't much, just enough for a nice breakfast. Berries with jogurt and some oats. I love currents. the kids don't really care for them, I think they are a little too sour for them. SOOO I got them all :)

We build a new fence across the driveway so we can let some horeses, the cows and goats graze around the building in the farmyard without having them coming down the driveway and onto the road. The red shed is ... or used to be the Turkey house. The right side of it still has the geese in it. As u can see in the picture, when u look closely...CowCow decided to check out where the Turkeys live. The floor in the shed is very rotten and the cow went through the floor wherever she placed her foot.  And she froze...we tried everything, oats, treats, the calf that was calling her on the outside...nothing would move her. G. had to get the chainsaw and cut half the wall out of the shed. 

It was kinda funny to watch. All the horses and chickens and turkeys came to watch what was happening. Finally after a long long time of trying the boys finally got her out. 

Cowcow was happy to be out of the trap and wandered off to new adventures. We moved the Turkeys into a new barn. They were a little upset at first but after a few nights now they seem to like their new stall. They are free ranging around the farm all day and come running at night when I come with the food bucket. I really have to say that they impress me every day. They are so smart and curious ... such a fun bird. I will have to take some pictures of them and post them 

Daisy slowely but surely turns into a real farm dog. unfortunately includes that a daily bath in the cow poop puddle. She knows that she has to have a bath with the waterhose before she comes into the house at night ... and she is kinda looking forward to it in this heat. She loves all the animals, never bothers with the chickens or anything else that she could chase. She loves her ponies. She has been playing with thise guys since she was a puppy. It is very sweet to watch.

The heat continues and we take every minute that we can spare and spend it in the water. 

Yesterday I too the kids to the lake that is just across the highway from us. Eagle lake . I love it there and I always think we don't spent enough time in on and around the water. I think I see a little boat somewhere in our future. Waleye for supper is always a treat !!!

I can not believe the summer we are having. I can't remember a summer that has been so hot and constantly sunny for such a long stretch ... we desperately need rain. We get the odd shower and Thunderstorm but not enough. The grass is not growing, the hay harvest is very skim. 

I wonder what August will bring. The next two weeks don't look like anything major will change.

We finished our Sunday with a goose rescue. The geese had their first day outside today. It took them a long time to be brave enough to come out of their coop. We left them out of sight for a while and came back later to check on them. Of course they had found the first water hole that came across them. OUR MANURE PIT !!! Well they were happy and we have birds in there all the time, ducks and canada geese...so I guess it is a natural for them. At night thpo, when they wanted to come back into the coop, they couldn't find their way out of the pit. One was tangled up in the weeds and the other three couldn't get up the steep hill. So ... carefully Skyler climbed down , G holding on to him so he wouldn't sink into the manure...ewwww...

WE had to catch one by one and bring them back into their coop. 

I wonder if they will be smarter tomorrow. I will try to walk them down to our actual pond. And will let u know if I was successful ...

until then, take it easy and stay cool !!!

renovation project

                                      

This week my focus was mostly on ME !!! and MY new bedroom. Since Emmie came to us, almost three years ago I have been sharing a bedroom with her. She was always a bad sleeper, woke up often during the night and just to make it easier and to make sure noone else would wake up, I had her crib in my room ... we were roomies for the last three years. Now that little fire cracker is almost three and things are getting a little easier. She sleeps through the night, most of the times and she knows I am just in the next room if she needs me. G and I have never shared a bedroom. We both have trouble sleeping and we discovered quick that if we share a bedroom we will keep each other awake even more. Sp after three years I am back to having my own space. yay :) The two girls are now sharing a big bedroom and they love it. I took one of the smaller rooms ... and started renovations last weekend. The room had been green since we moved in here and even though I didn't like the colour much, I never changed it because it looked like it had just been painted.
But now the green had to go. I wanted a room that is me !!!

After I applied a primer to all walls, I panted three in a very light sand colour. The fourth wall was gonna be my colour wall. I picked orange, my favourite colour. The small window in the picture will be replaced by a patio door, I can't wait for that !!!!

My orange wall and my little helper. 

Emmie is one of those kids that sneaks off and gets into everything...whenever she gets the chance. Every time it seems to quiet in the house u can be sure Emmie is up to something.

She covered the whole bathroom in diaper cream one time, the other time she painted her feed with nail polish, she got into face paint and painted her whole body, she found a marker and drew on our couch, she emptied all toothpaste bottles all over the bathroom .... and she loved my orange wall !!!

So much that she snuck into my room when we were having summer, only to paint some scribbles onto the white wall with the orange paint. Now I can laugh about all those things but that moment ... I thought I was gonna lose it ... haha I had some left over paint and was able to cover it up quickly...phew

Next was the ugly carpets turn. IT was all glued down and a pain in the butt, literally, my back is still hurting, to get out.

I put playwood down for flooring. It was the quickest and cheapest fix. There is no budget for fancy flooring right now...and I like it actually, with a coat of paint, it turned out nice

Here we go !!! My new bedroom. The other side of the room has a little area for my desk, where I am sitting right now. I love it. I don't need to sneal around anymore, I can turn the light on, listen to music, read ... noone here I could wake up ;) There is a picture missing above the bed. I have one picked out, I just need to find a frame for it

I thinned out my beets the other day and we had beet greens for supper...I love them. Beets and their greens are my garden favourites every year

WE had a huge storm on Monday night. We had several big trees down, one hydro line broke, one hydro line was lose, trees fell on our fences and broke them. It was a mess and quite scary to be honest. We have lots of huge trees around the house and I am always worried that one will fall onto the house. No buildings were damaged but the hydro disaster was bad enough. 

And here my favourite picture of last week. A nest of little barn swallows. Aren't they just adorable how they sit there waiting for momma. They are nesting in the goats barn. I love the swallows. I love to watch them zoom through the air and I love the fact that they eat all the mosquitos in the goat barn. Lots of people complain about them, they build nests everywhere and of course they poop everywhere...but hey...I take some bird poop any time if that means I have a mosquito free zone.

WE got a brake from the heat today. Only 19c and it was cloudy and some rain all day. It was actually nice, it seemed like everyone including the critters was taking a deep breath. We will be back to sweltering heat by the weekend. 

Hope everyone stays cool and hydrated. 

til next time, take it easy 🐐 

Garden and other updates

It was another hot week. I don't think that the AC was turned off at all all week. We spent lots of time in the shade with the mosquitos ... thank goodness we have a screened in porch. The kids spent heat brakes in the house which seems like such a BAD thing to do in the summer, when u only have SO MUCH TIME to soak up all the sun you can get. BUT ... we all needed it !!! That and...

LOTS and lots of time in the pool. We decided in the spring to buy a big pool this year, knowing that we will probably not be going anywhere this summer. It was such a good investment. Such a nice way to cool off. Of course the kids have a pool every summer but not one that us adults could use as well. This one is comfortable for a nice dip to cool off ...

We are fencing in another piece of pasture, the cows will be coming back this week, the goats want to go out more and the ponies are running out of grass...fencing is no fun with all the bugs but it has to be done ... almost done !!!

The turkeys are free ranging now. They love to be out of the coop and are getting braver every day. They stuck around the coop for a couple of days but now we find them everywhere around the farm. In the chicken coop, the goat pen, just wandering around. They are fun to have around. At nighttime they get their food and go back into the pen.

Of course we spend lots of time in the goat pen every day. The mommas go out for some grass in the morning while the kids play with the kids ;) They are growing like weeds. Such cuties. All healthy, big and strong, which makes me very happy.
Tomorrow we will be starting to milk the ladies once a day. We moved our milk stand into the goat barn. Sky and Lily want to learn how to milk and I am all up for that. My hands don't like the milking much ... so I let the younger generation take over :)

Garden Update :

My flower boxes around the house are blooming beautifully. I didn't spend as much money as usual on annuals this year. Dont even know why. I wanted to focus on my garden, which then didn't even happen ... oh well...it's all good. I love what I have .

My perennials are also growing and blooming nicely. We are still working on the siding of the house so the flower beds around the house are a little neglected. It should be all done by next spring and then things will be prettied up again :)

The two garden boxes we did build this year, turned out to be awesome. I have one full of carrots and one full of beets. both are easy to weed and the veggies look very good.
This is the kind of box I want for the whole garden next year. Up high, I fill the box half with brush and leaves and the topsoil and compost. It works pretty good and is easy to work in. With my sciatica, it is a pain in the butt...literally, to garden in the ground or low boxes. Old lady issues...lol

The rest of the garden was planted in the backyard. We had a big spot picked out for our big veggy garden but then it was just too handy to throw the ponies into it, since it was all nicely fenced in.
Its all good tho. Grass for the critters is always a priority. I will start planting and moving bushes , berries , in the fall ... and next year I will have my big garden :)

We worked with what we have and everything is growing and thriving ... we had a slow start with cold nights into late june. After that ... no water, only from the hose and heat heat heat ...
I have no potatoes ... that kills me.

WE've been eating lettuce, kale and radishes from the garden for a couple weeks. The next things that will be ready to be picked will be the zuccini. Tomatoes are lots on the vine but nothing is turning colour yet. Carrots and beets are still too small. Peas and Beans are starting to bloom. Little cuces are starting to grow ... yum.
Every year the thing I look forward to the most is the greens of the beets. They are my favourite !!!

What is your favourite from the garden ??? And ... are you enjoying it yet ??

Til next week, stay cool and take it easy 🍹

another week of kidding

Sunday , the last day of an unbearable hot and humid week. Our temperatures was pretty much steady in the high 30th all week. I don't want to complain. I know, it is summer and soon enough it will be cold and white fluffy stuff will be falling from the sky. I don't actually mind the heat. If it was just heat, I could deal with it but the amount of mosquitos we have this year, makes the whole situation nerve wrecking. BUT ... we finally got some rain tonight and the air is a little cooler. I have the window open with a fan in front of it and the cool breeze that is coming in feels really nice.

I don't know but when I think back 20 years ... 40c didn't feel this hot, did it ???

I was born and raised in Germany and air conditioning is not as common over there as it is here. We never had AC in the house or in the car. The summers used to be hot and we often had temperatures around 40c ... is it just my age ? is it the humidity or is the sun really hotter ? I don't know...

I am glad anyway, that we spoiled the kids with a big pool this year...one that an adult can comfortable cool off in and even swim around in circles ;)

And in all this heat my poor ladies were still waddling around with their big bellies. But not for long. Darla started labour Monday afternoon. She is a first time momma and she was quite nervous during her pregnancy. When the two first kids were born she seemed curious but also not sure about those little things. I had a first time momma before that didn't want anything to do with her little one. I had to tie her up to make her stand for the baby to drink. It took a good week before she accepted her baby and took care of it. But it turned out, I dind't need to worry about Darla at all ....

Sky came running to the house in the afternoon, again we checked every two hours. During the day the kids like to take over the job. He was hollering down the driveway to the house...MOM, Darla is having her baby. We all went to the barn. The kids are always in awe when they get to watch a baby being born. It didn't take to long until we saw two little feet and a little head ...

Seeing that baby I so hoped for a little girl ... but, we got a healthy little buck, which of course is wonderful. I am not planning on keeping the babies but of course there is always the option to keep the little girls ... and of course we are all talking about it ... haha. Keeping one of the boys, would mean, we would have to get him castrated ... he would still be handsome but " useless" a terrible thing to say but it is reality. feeding goats is expensive and feeding a " useless" goat .... nah. I love my girls ... I was just always hoping for a black one. We will find him a good home where he can get his own little herd of ladies. 

Anyway ... a big, healthy, beautiful boy. 

Everybody was curious about the new little guy

And Darla turned out to be such a good momma. Even a week later, she doens't take her eyes off of him. Always makes sure he is close ... I call her the helicopter mom ;)

Here he is ... still wet. We called him Bandit. 

He looks like a little cow ... I love his markings

Handsome little Bandit and his proud human :)

The last one was Mable. Mable is the only one if the 4 that had a baby before. Darla, Bandits mom is Mable's first born. It was the same scenario. The kids came running down the driveway ... and we all went to the barn. It was a long long birth, very exhausting for the poor mom. It was so hot and she was so big. She was panting so bad ... I tried to keep her cool with cold water on her back and forehead. She was in pain ... and when she finally started pushing we quickly realised that something wasn't right. She did not want to lay down ... she pushed and we saw the feed and then they disappeared again ... again and again. When the water broke, we knew we couldn't wait too much longer or baby would suffocate in the birth canal. When she pushed the next time I held her and G. carefully checked the position of the baby. The feet came out again but the head was tilted upwards. 

He was able to position it properly and finally we had a baby .... and it was breathing ... and it got up and drank after momma had cleaned it off. A little girl !!!

Soon after number one was born Mable started contractions again ... Same scenario ... same problem. This time we didn't wait too long to help her. She was exhausted, in pain and had no more strength left. Again G. was able to get the head into the right position and a little buck was born 

And he was alive. It took him a while to get up onto his feed. But after he had a wabbly first drink, he got stronger and finally stood up by himself. Two beautiful little babies.

Mable was exhausted, she needed a good drink and some goat ration to get some strength back. She cleaned both babies off and made sure they both got a good drink. 

We were all exhausted as well, hot, thirsty but very happy that this all ended so well. 

This is little Gus, born second 

And little Rose, she was the first born of the two. Both smaller than all the other babies but healthy and happily jumping around like their, few days older cousins. 

The night we finally had all our babies in the barn we were spoiled with a beautiful sunset. This was the view from my kitchen window. 

Not much else has happened here this week. It was all about goat babies. All about staying cool and hydrated ... not just for us but also for all our furry friends. We brought some of the older horses into the barn during the day, away from the heat and the bugs. They get a rest and go out at night when it is cooler and the bugs are not so bad. 

We spoiled the chickens with frozen berry treats and they loved it. The geese get fresh cold water to splash around in several times a day and they love it. The dogs and cats lay, either in the cool house or somewhere in the shade. The cats prefer to be outside, while the dogs prefer the cool house. 

Our cows are not back yet ... They must be having too much fun with Mr Bull. 

I need to weed my garden badly and I am hoping that I will get to that now that we are suppose to get a little cooler temperatures for the next week. 

We will see and I will tell you next Sunday what we came up with to keep ourselves busy :)

I leave you with a picture of all the baby goats ... tamed by my 4 little wildies ;)

til next time, stay cool and take it easy !!!