Planting Strawberries

While my family was up from California last weekend we got outside in the sunshine and planted some of our strawberries. It was a great help and fun besides! There are still many more to plant!

Chicks Hatching

We hatched a batch of chicks from our eggs. It was fun and exciting to watch them hatch. We ended up with about 25 chicks.

Breaking Ground

We are expanding the garden this year, making a market garden. We had the opportunity to borrow a tractor to till the new areas. It is wonderful.

Visiting Hannah

Our goal is to be able to sell produce off our farm in the future. This year we have a big garden mostly for ourselves, but this past week we started selling a little to the neighbor. Well actually we are trading the veggies for some hay. It is a start though and we are excited about it!

Kitchen Projects

We all had fun in the kitchen while Melissa was here too. One day we made up a batch of raspberry jam and canned it. Another day we made some mozzerella cheese. I have a few more pictures to put on of the jam making but forgot to take any of making cheese.

Our New Puppy

We have also added a sweet collie puppy to our farm recently. She is so cute. When we first brought her home she was quite timid, but she has been adjusting. The poor cat is very jealous and not at all nice to her, so she avoids him if possible. She is also not too sure about the goat yet. The chickens were scary at first but now they are alot of fun to watch. We are having a hard time thinking of a good name for her. Any suggestions?

Hannah

We bought a milking doe last week. She is a Nubian/Alpine cross giving about half a gallon a day. She came with the name Hannah, I'm not sure if I will leave it or think of something new. She is very friendly and easy to milk. She only has one flaw. She has been very difficult to keep locked in. She escapes very well and runs right over to the window to look in.


Building a haybale barn for her.

Hannah

A jar of fresh milk.

Cows

We have three cows over here on our pasture now. Two of them are Andrew's brother Caleb's. and one is half ours and half his families. It will be nice to have the beef later this year.

Chickens

We raised 20 meat birds this year. Three of them died so we ended up with 17. Andrew has been quite sick ever since just after the wedding and I was having a hard time keeping up with everything. He is getting alot better now, it is such a relief. The chickens were all ready to butcher right during the worst of it but I had never done it before and couldn't do it by myself. So Andrews family came over and we got them all done. It was such a big help and it is nice to have them all in the freezer now.

The Setup

Who's Next?

Plucking

Gutting

Our Big Chickens

Our chickens are doing well and it is almost time to butcher them. Our layers are also doing good, although we lost a couple to a predator.

More Farm Projects

Planting the prune tree

The new chicken pen