triplets?!

Yeah, I know that got your attention.  I'm sorry it was misleading...kind of.

(The one in front with its back to you is Ivory, the one facing right in the back is Bianca, and the one under Ramie (the mama) is Topaz.  That is also the order in which they were born).

Our goat had triplets Sunday night.

They are all girls.
 

Babies are cute even if they are animals.

Until next time...


JenT

Nighthawk

 Nighthawk

I prance in mighty splendor here

A lion crouches down in fear.

I snort my awesome fiery rage

My name is written down on page.

Though saddled, sat on, I am king

No bridle can withhold my sting.

I rear and paw the ground in dance

My teeth are sharper than a lance.

I strike and run with slashing hoof

I need no shelter, have no roof.

My mane and tail fly like a flame

My wildness no man can tame.

I own the forest, field, and stream

The mountains echo with my scream.

My legs are fast, they are a blur

I cannot be captured, no fence, no lure.

I go so fast, I seem to fly

I skim the ground without a try.

My only supplement is grass

A human never calls me lass.

I swim through water like a fish

My legs move fast, the men do wish

That they had legs like mine.

I move not straight, without a line

I go where I ever please;

I run in the shade of the trees.

I mock the cows and tease the goat

I laugh at the horse that packs a tote.

My eyes are fire, my breath is smoke

I call the sun at the morning woke.

My muscles throb with energy

I trespass the town without a fee.

I gallop through as the wind does sigh

A mighty Friesian horse am I.

written by D.R.T (my second daughter)

Until next time...

 JenT

some updates

So some updates are due I suppose.

Pregnancy: going well. Nothing unusual. Starting to feel a little more awake now. :) Just finished the first trimester so it should pick up a little.

Moving? Ehh...not sure. Still looking of course. I must say that we have two possibilities and BOTH are in New Mexico. Quite a change, huh? Well, if that's where God wants us. But we are taking it slow.

Kids are healthy.

School is going well.

Animals are healthy and growing. Getting more chicks this week and next. If we do move far away, some friends are going to be benefiting from our farm. :) We won't be taking animals with us if we go too far.

So, that's it in a nutshell.



Until next time...

It's a Secret!!

The latest addition to our mini-farm.



Isn't she adorable?! Oh, and the baby goat is cute too. hahaha
Seriously, though, they are both adorable. I put this one on to show how small she is. That's my two year old daughter with her.


Now usually a goat will have twins and even sometimes more. A Nubian goat, which is what we have, is even known to have as many as four and five at one time!! Of course that means bottle feeding the ones that can't nurse. But for some reason, maybe because she is an older goat, ours only had one this time. We have her female kid from her last kidding, and she has a buck twin, but the previous owner sold him to someone else. So we know she is capable of having twins, she just didn't this time.

We named this one Secret, because it seemed to be a secret that Dignity (the nanny) was even going to have a kid. And of course, as my oldest daughter and I predicted, she had her Sunday morning while we were off to church.

So that's our big news.



Until next time...

growing

Our ducks and geese are growing. Losing the downy feathers and getting the older ones.


Until next time...

Ahhh...spring is here!

Busy, busy. That's what we've been lately. All this warm weather we've had makes us want to stay outside all day. Of course there are a few chores that stick us inside, but we manage to do as little as possible then escape. :)

We've been buying ducks, geese, and chicks.

Four black ducklings, 2 goslings.


The red chicks are Rhode Island Reds (the one with the green on his head is the rooster) and the two black ones are Sumatras. They belong to D.R., she's going to show them in the fair this fall.


Planting trees, berry bushes, and roses (with some still to plant).




The roses still to be planted:


Fishing as some friends' place.


One of the tiny fish they caught. I think they caught 10 total. We let them go back, though.

And just in general enjoying the spring weather.




Until next time...

just life

(Disclaimer: This picture has no bearing on this post. It's just a sample of how crazy we get around here).


Okay, I know, I've been really lax in the blogging department.

But the truth is...I'm dry.

I have no funny stories, no great giveaways, no exciting adventures to relate.

Just boring old life.

Laundry. School. Dishes. Scrapbook for a grandparent. (Almost finished - I've been working on this thing for 6 months!)

Laundry. School. Dishes. Sewing.

Laundry. School while running errands. (Gives all new meaning to the term "school bus"). Dishes. Diapers. Um...trying to make the switch to cloth. Hope to have a post on that soon.

Laundry...

You get the idea.

Oh well, there was this one thing. We went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago and one of the ladies asked me to make a couple of dresses for her granddaughters. I'm not the best seamstress, but I manage to make some simple jumpers for my girls to wear.

She liked, she asked, I said yes.

So, I've got a couple of little dresses to make. I found some really cute material at JoAnn, yesterday.

But so far...life is normal...laundry...

(Disclaimer: Another totally random picture. Yes, the goat was in the house...momentarily).


Until next time...

happy "winds"-day

The wind really blew here today!

In fact...


...yep, it blew over our goat barn. Completely. Over. It used to sit where those blocks are. It bent the fencing, knocked some over, snapped it apart. You get the idea.





Makes me so thankful we were all inside when it happened.


Until next time...

bee puke

How can something that sounds so gross be good for you? I'm talking about honey a.k.a. bee puke. Well, actually, I guess most people don't call it that. But, basically, that's what it is.



Have you ever watched anything on bees? We have a video from the Moody Science Classics Series: City of Bees. I highly recommend it. It's a very interesting video. (And at a great price, too).

So, back to honey being good for you. BTW...click here for more benefits of honey.

Our 5 year old complained of a sore throat last week. So that night and a few times the next day, he had a hot lemonade toddy, specifically designed for a sore throat.

2 tablespoons of honey
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (I've just been squeezing a whole lemon in the cup)
8 oz hot water



He likes it and it's good for his throat.

You've heard of hot tea with lemon and honey being good for a sore throat? This is just as good, but the kids, I think, like it without the tea taste.

So, next time someone complains of a sore throat, try it.

You'd be surprised at how much bee puke can be beneficial to you. And it tastes good, too. :)

For more information on honey and bees visit these sites:
Ford's Honey Farm
Sweet as Can Bee Honey Farm
Champlain Valley Honey
Bee Pure Honey

You can find many more by just using your search engine.

What a great homeschool idea! Do a study on bees and honey. And if your kids go to public school...who says they can't learn stuff at home, too? Go for it! I know my kids find it interesting and I'll bet all of yours would, too. :)


Until next time...

green sand and goat pens

If you remember, a while back I won some Crayola Play Sand from Mom of 2 Boys, Wife of 1.

The children love it!


Yes, some of it has escaped the confines of the sandbox my husband quickly put together.

******************************************************
Another project he has been working on the past week or so.


Our goat pen. So far we've been getting almost 4 cups a day from her. Last night and this morning gave us a total of almost 8 cups. We've been enjoying the fresh milk. Just a bit ago, I made a fruit smoothie with the milk, some fruit we had frozen late last week, and some honey. Yum! Sweet, cool, fruity goodness. I would have taken a picture, but it was gone before I thought of it. Maybe next time.

And here's the rabbit pen that is not yet complete.

When this is finished, work will begin on the chicken coop. Then we'll get the chickens.

Ahhh...adventure awaits!


Until next time...

goats and rabbits

We have new living creatures on our property. On purpose. Goats and rabbits.

Building the goat shed.

The goats; Joy (the nanny) and Jill (the kid).

Spot

Panther (she's actually darker than she looks here)

Spirit

These are our three does. We just need to get a buck. We had one, but he got scared in the night and broke his own neck. I did not know that rabbits could do that. He died this morning. His name was Peter. *pause* Observing a moment of silence.

So, we're starting a little farm around here. Yes, next is chickens.


Until next time...