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.

Huckleberries

Melissa and I had the chance to go pick huckleberries with Jennifer Watkins, her sister and a friend. It was fun to explore until we found the best patches. We picked until we got driven off the mountain by a thunder storm. Afterwards we went down to the river and had lunch. I didn't swim,(the water was cold and it was still cloudy though the storm had passed) but some people did.

When we got home I washed the berries and froze them. We also ate some of them on ice cream. One of these days I will have to make a huckleberrry pie.

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

Melissa Visits

Over the last week and a half we have enjoyed a visit from my sister Melissa, from California. She came up with Andrew's family from a family camp in Oregon, stayed with us for awhile, and yesterday we took her to the airport and she flew back to Oregon where my dad, who was up there for a music camp, picked her up.

We had such a fun time and kept pretty busy while she was here. Since Andrew has been doing so much better since just before she arrived we were able to go out to a few places. We even got a puppy and a milk goat while she was here!

She was also a big help around our place, milking the goat, gardening, doing dishes and much more.

The Garden Grows

The garden is growing well now. These are pictures taken over the last few weeks. We are also just starting to get ripe rasperries. Yum!


Fresh peas

Colorful carrots...

and radishes

Green tomatoes

Bush beans

Tomato blossom

Pumpkin

The corn patch

Potato blossoms

Lettuce

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.