It HAS been a while!
Sometimes farming is just hard and busy. One evening when Farmer man went to help put the goats in, there were a few missing. After sending a posse up the hill in the dark, (thank you Andrea, Bernie, David, and Jeremy) they found Belle, sick, and her babies with her. They got her down the hill and a full three weeks of sick goats and 3 times per day barn call began. Belle did recover, but our Livvy goat was not so lucky. Loss is a part of farming, we understand, we mourn, and we keep going.
With all the loss, it was nice to welcome a couple new babes to the farm! Though this would be politely termed a breeding accident, it sure produced some cute offspring!
Introducing Gracie! Gracie suddenly appeared in the neighborhood of the “big house” and seemed to like our front porch there. Great, except she never stayed put and was annoying the neighbors. The dog catchers came after her one day, and I decided to try her out at the farm. Here she is being introduced around!
So far, she is staying. She has an interesting idea of fun – sorry no photo – She likes to carry the ducks around in her mouth. They are not amused, but neither are they dead. So, for now, she is still a farm dog. She does enjoy the 30 acres and chasing deer. Hopefully the hunters won’t shoot her for interfering. We are trying to train her. I love her being at the farm – Farmer man, he’s still adjusting to dog beds in the living room.
We are working on a project that I think it too big and not completeable, but Farmer man has his ideas of what we can do – so he fusses around and works to get it done. I fuss around that he is always trying to get it done. But, there are good points – like water to my barn, and getting that big blue tank off the dining room table! If one is going to have ducks that trash the water troughs, it is nice to be able to clean buckets without having a three person team to get water up the hill. This is a major help and I am very thankful for it.
Notice the trough full of duck muck, but there is a nice frost proof that WORKS now!!
As the house is inhabited by men for several days at a time, I have been trying to make some headway towards making a home – since the plan is to move there full time. It is a struggle, but we are making some progress.
This beautiful, clean, fall decorated, living area lasted for about two days. Then we started at least three projects including removing the kitchen tile. So, it was a short lived celebration, but important to move toward a goal! This Elswick family apparently HAS to renovate EVERYTHING we ever live in! So the kitchen tile is up, we are walking on dusty leftover tile glue – but by golly at least the walls are painted! It’s a slippery slope I tell ya! We’ve never lived in a house that we haven’t wanted to move a wall – that project is swiftly approaching – but until it does – that wall will be painted and have pretty things hung on it!
The cows have gone to market, and Farmer man did better this year. We lost a little money, but it’s just money. They will have improved our fields and we are learning. No tears this year, so we are getting closer to being real farmers. Hehehe
There is much more story that will fit in the blog today! Thanksgiving and hunting season have given me much more to write about! Expect a new blog soon! Gotta love those grandkids!
brandnewfarmers 