Silvermoon Acres

Bucket veggies..

2011-07-29T14:18:00.002-04:00

Ok, so there are enough pics of the veggies that I figured it would be silly to list them each individually.. So instead I'm embedding a slide show.. Not sure if the descriptions for each pic is going to show up in the slide show.. But if you want to know details about a pic, you can always click on it and actually go to the album.. Enjoy!

Still here..

2011-07-27T15:02:00.003-04:00

We're still at our same house.. Money is really rough right now with my husband going to school and all.. Not sure if he'll have unemployment after this week so don't know what we're going to do after that.. He is almost done with the main part of his schooling.. His last day is August 2nd.. After that he'll go into avionics which is another 6 months of school.. But if he doesn't get the unemployment then he'll have to drop school and get some work.. He's going to North Carolina August 4th (I think its the 4th) for a job assessment sort of interview sort of thing.. But who knows how long that will take for them to decide who to hire.. But if he gets the job he won't have to finish avionics anyway.. I just don't know what we're going to do if he doesn't get the unemployment..

Anyway! On the up side, I've got a small garden going.. Two buckets for right now, one more soon.. I've got some zucchini, peas, and tomatoes growing and a swiss chard seedling just sprouted.. The peas aren't doing very well but the zucchini is growing big and already starting to grow buds.. The tomatoes are doing ok.. But sure taking their time growing.. I put them in more sun yesterday so hopefully that will help.. I'll do some updates soon with pics..

I'm down to one goat now, no rabbits and no chickens.. With money being really tight, less mouths to feed is better.. The one goat I have left is Prima, one of the original 3 I had.. I refuse to get rid of her because she's a sweetheart, she's a great milker, and gives lots of milk.. I also think her large teats will be helpful when breeding to pygmies which usually have very small teats..

Oh, also once my husband does get a job, it will probably be in Georgia, South Carolina, or North Carolina.. There are jobs in the aviation industry all over the US.. The industry is actually desperate for people.. But I have set down the ground rules that we won't move any farther than the three previously mentioned states.. I have many reasons for this which I won't go into right now.. But we'll see which of those we end up in..

No More Farm for Now

2010-05-14T13:03:00.002-04:00

Well, hubby has been out of work for 3 months and no signs of anything coming in.. So he is going to go back to school to become an aviation mechanic.. But for him to do that, we are going to need some major help from his parents.. But since their money is tied up in our house, we have to sell the house and move into something probably in a mobile home park.. So I'm not going to be able to keep my animals.. Except for the dogs and cats.. But they're all little..

The only bright part of this is once hubby gets done with school and gets a job (which is supposed to be in desperate need of new mechanics, a minimum of $50,000/year in the field, and the school helps with job placement) we'll be able to get an even bigger place and I'll be able to start my farm anew.. Almost 2 yrs for the school though.. But it's all for the best I guess..

Shelter Done, And Other Stuff

2010-03-07T16:15:00.005-05:00

Ok, shelter is done.. Here's the pic..

And these are my supervisors for the project.. The big one is Prima, the spotted one is Moira, and the other black one is Gavin..

Oh, and I also found a pic of shelter Mack-1.. This was before I put the wire on the sides though.. I also only used 10ft long pipes for the top and the shelter was only 4X8..

I thought I would also give the supply list and cost of making this shelter in case somebody would like to make their own.. Most of my supplies I get at Lowe's since its the closest to me.. The tarp is from U-Haul..

U-posts(6)- $4.45each
4X8 plywood(2)- $13.77each
1 1/2 two hole strap- package of two(9)- $.89each
12X3/4 wood screw- package of eight(5)- $1.18each
3/4in of 20ft long pvc pipe(3)- $3.38each
3/4in of 10ft long pvc pipe(1)- $1.72each
12X16 tarp(1)- $18.50each
size 4 sledge hammer to pound in the U-posts(1)- already had
foot long piece of 2X4 wood to hold over the top of the U-post so you don't bend the metal while pounding it in(1)- already had

And I think that's it.. Other than the drill used to screw in the screws.. The structure is 8ftX8ft and I'm not sure how tall.. Plenty of head room though.. I'll be doing this also for my hay and feed storage area..

Another project I'm slowly working on is getting paving stones for the back yard.. This is the area that I'm wanting to pave.. From the back of the house to the beginning of the goat yard.. All the way across from one end of the house to the other..

And this is the pattern I'm going to do.. There will be a set of these, then a wood border around them, then another set like those, and a wood border around it, etc.. I had the idea for the wood and pavers, but my brilliant husband had the idea to use the alternating colors..

And last, but not least, my beautiful blue orpington hens are finally laying on a regular basis.. We get two almost every day.. They seem to like to lay them just in a shallow depression on the ground..

And of course my super handsome blue orpington rooster watching over his hens as they eat.. I'll get pics of everybody else for another post..

New Goat Shelter

2010-03-06T19:52:00.005-05:00

Ok, I've tried this one before with light duty U-posts and wire for the sides.. Didn't work well because the goats bent the wire and posts.. So now I've done it with heavy duty U-posts and plywood sides.. We shall see if it can withstand the goats.. I thought I had pics of shelter Mark-1.. But apparently they were on our old camera that has disappeared.. So here is Mark-2..

This is the shelter with just the U-posts and pvc pipes.. The older female is me and I'm 5'9" for height reference.. The pvc pipes are 20ft long(technically 19ft and some odd inches..)

A close up of how the pipes fit into the posts..

After the boards were screwed in place..

The metal straps hold the board to the posts and the pvc pipe is kept in between..

Close up of the straps.. Don't know if you can tell, but I've stripped most of the poor screws.. Don't know if it's because I'm inept or because my drill is really old.. It doesn't even have a reverse..

I will also be adding a 10ft (technically 9ft and some odd inches) to the top to work as a backbone and then a large tarp over that.. Not sure about a door yet.. But I'll want to be able to close it when I need to..

Recent Happenings

2009-09-18T20:15:00.002-04:00

Actually, not much happening right now.. But couldn't think of a better title.. So there you have it.. But I do have a couple of pics to post and a possible happening..

The other day I was doing some things to the boys shelter.. Gavin, being a bottle baby, just had to be near me.. I sat down for a minute to rest and Gavin came up for some attention.. I had my cell phone with me and snapped this picture..

He was chewing his cud at the time and I caught him mid chew.. Unfortunately, cud stinks and he likes to have his face close to mine so I can kiss him on the nose and scratch his face.. Won't be able to kiss him on the nose much longer though when its breeding season and he becomes a stinky buck.. To get that lovely stinky smell, male goats pee on their faces.. Of course they also get it all over their front legs and anything else that happens to be near by.. I almost got peed on by a young buckling once because he liked to mark people.. As if they were his property.. Obstinate little pissant..

And speaking of stinky bucks, I may have found a registered pygmy buck for my kinder project.. His name is Gambler and he's 6 yrs old.. He's older than either of my girls but I think his "experience" will help with getting the girls bred.. The girls, after all, are probably taller than he is..

Isn't he a cutie? And the lady said he's a sweetie too.. Need to talk to hubby and pick a day to go see him.. I told our youngest, Kaitlyn, that we might get him and now she keeps asking when are we getting him.. I guess to her its already a done deal..

Anyway, that's pretty much it for now.. Chickens are huge.. No eggs yet but should be any day now.. Rabbits still haven't done the naughty.. Figures that I would end up with celibate rabbits..

My newest crochet projects

2009-07-15T21:56:00.004-04:00

Not much going on here.. Sold two of my older goat does.. Still have Prima, my milker.. Still have all the babies.. Hard to sell them right now with the economy the way it is..

Still no baby bunnies.. Nobody seems to be in the "mood".. I've been told that giving the girls wheat germ oil helps.. Will have to get some from the store tomorrow and try it out..

Chickens are getting bigger.. One of them crowed this morning.. If you want to call it a crow.. When I first heard it, I rushed to the back door because it sounded like a person trying to attract the chickens attention to nab them or something.. There are two that I'm sure are roos, and two I'm sure are hens.. The fifth one I'm still up in the air about.. Definitely more comb development then the two hens, but not as much as the two roos.. But I'm afraid that one is a roo because later I saw it and the two roos challenging each other.. The black roo is definitely the boss already.. The blue roo is the one that crowed.. The chicken in question is black also.. Then there is the blue hen and the splash hen.. The splash hen is definitely more curious then the others and seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order.. I really hope that one isn't a roo.. It'll through off my ratio so much..

Anyway, my crochet stuff..
First one is an amirugumi crochet mouse.. Like all my crochet things so far, I got it off of youtube..

My adorable husband sporting his new beanie.. It says #1 Dad.. Our 5 yr old, of course, had to be in the pic.. The beanie itself is the same pattern I've used for the other beanies which I got off youtube.. The lettering I also learned from a youtube video.. I definitely made the letters too big.. Will have to work on my lettering..

I learn all my crochet stuff from a woman who has tons of very informative videos on youtube.. She also has a blog.. http://crochet-mania.blogspot.com/

My next project I will sort of be designing on my own.. A doggie bed.. Part of it will be a tube which I learned how to make from one of her videos..

I made goat cheese!!!

2009-06-11T17:23:00.003-04:00

I finally took some of the extra milk I'm getting and made some cheese from it.. Haven't tasted it yet.. Its supposed to sit in the fridge a couple of days before you eat it.. This is the recipe I used.. I hope I did it right because it didn't have any measurements for the vinegar or the salt, and I only had regular iodized salt.. I really hope it turns out ok.. If anybody has any other thoughts or suggestions or different recipes, I'm all ears..

Another video of the chicks

2009-05-22T09:05:00.003-04:00

You can hear the goats in the background screaming to be fed.. Prima is the loudest one.. She's letting me know that she wants to be milked because she knows that food comes right afterwards.. Anyway, enjoy the chicks..

2009-05-20T07:33:00.002-04:00

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd posted.. Just have had so many things to do and so much on my mind that I haven't had the desire to sit down and say anything..

First off, the babies are doing well.. Bluebell had two boys and since they'll be meat goats, I let her keep them.. So I only had the four nubian babies to bottle feed.. They are growing fast and at about 2 months old now, they're eating hay, oats, and alfalfa pellets.. I've got them down to just one bottle a day.. Before that, I was going through so much milk.. It was crazy..

We've named and gotten everybody registered except for Bluebell's babies.. (No sense in registering a meat goat..) But I'll go by the pics in the previous posts.. Prima's black and brown boy is Gavin.. The spotted one is Euwyn.. I've already got a deposit on him.. Velvet's boy is Spoticus because of the big spot in the middle of his back.. The spotted little girl is Moira.. We're keeping her..

For the week, they lived in the house.. We kept them in a big dog crate except at feeding time.. Week two-four they lived outside in the pen while the other goats were closed off into the yard.. Since then they've been living with everybody else.. The mothers don't recognize them so they don't let the babies nurse.. The babies don't see them as a milk supply anyway so they don't try to nurse..

Anyway, here are some pics and video..

The babies supervising me as I make a raised bed of cinder blocks.. More on the raised bed later..

Euwyn after he got disbudded..

The babies playing in the yard..

A video of the babies playing and chasing me that I had to put on youtube because photobucket was being a pain in the butt..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXFCZC60PDQ

I also did another article for Gardengirltv's webzine so I made a short video to go along with it about bottle feeding baby goats..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdk_H2r_9Lo&feature=related

That's about it for the goats so let's go onto the rabbits..

Since Trixie had her babies, I've been looking for a buck to breed them to again.. Didn't have much luck until a guy on a forum I visit said he was getting out of his Florida Whites and that I could have his buck.. He just wanted them to go to a good home rather then him having to butcher them.. I get his two does also once they have their babies and they're weaned.. I've already got Dixie possibly bred but Trixie is being quite resistant.. I've taken to just leaving her in with the buck for a day and then taking her out, waiting a little while and then leaving her in again.. His name is George, but I haven't taken a picture of him since he's a white rabbit and pretty much looks exactly like the girls.. His ears are a little bigger..

Don't remember if I posted about the eggs hatching, but I got six to hatch.. My stupid chicken eating dog ate one of them so now I'm down to five.. But of those five I have one splash, and possibly two blue and two black.. A nice ratio.. Now to wait and see how many are roos and how many are hens..

This is them about a day or two old..

A video of them at about a week old I think..

Them now at about a month and a half old..

And a video..

Last, but not least, my raised cinder block bed.. My mom sent me some money for my birthday and my inlaws sent me a gift card.. So guess what I did.. I went and bought cinder blocks.. I was as giddy as some women are when they get a new purse or a new pair of shoes..

This is the pile when I brought them home.. 23 blocks.. I actually paid for 24 but apparently I miscounted when I was loading them and only got 23..

This is originally how I set them out.. But after watching a gardengirl video, I had to put the long side facing north since that's where I'll be putting all my vining crops..

The bed in its new position.. I've got cardboard boxes and feed bags layed out to smother weeds..

I haven't done anything else with it.. I don't really want to put dirt from the yard in it because of the weeds that will be in it.. And I don't have the money right now to buy bags of soil for it.. Besides, I've pretty much missed the beginning of the summer growing season anyway..

Ok, that's pretty much what's been going on here, farm-wise.. I will leave you with a pic of my boys with mohawks.. I let them keep it for the weekend of my birthday.. Then late Sunday afternoon off it came.. My daughter wanted a mohawk too.. But my husband would have killed me.. = )

Two More Babies!!!

2009-03-25T07:00:00.002-04:00

This time a boy and a girl.. These are Velvet's kids.. The boy will be sold and the girl will be kept.. They're eating good.. Sorry, maybe I'll have more details later.. I haven't quite woken up yet.. Here are pics.. Had to take two of the boy since he wouldn't stay still and insisted on getting his legs stuck in the cracks of the couch..

Our First Goat Kids!!!

2009-03-23T15:00:00.002-04:00

Prima had her babies today! Twin bucklings! I am so excited and so nervous at the same time.. I really needed girls for my kinder project, but I'm still really stoked about our first two healthy, happy babies.. I will be selling these boys so if you're interested, just email me.. I'm in central Florida.. Anyway, without further ado.....

Aren't they adorable?!!! I've already dipped their navels in iodine and they've both had about 3 oz of store bought milk with powdered colostrum in it.. Right now they're cuddled against me dozing..

Anyway, need to go check on mom and see if she's passed the placenta yet..

What I Did Today

2009-03-14T19:07:00.004-04:00

Most of the day we went to Dinosaur World for the younger son's bday.. But then I finished cleaning out the goats' shelter in preparation for the babies arrivals.. Bluebell is due a week from tomorrow.. I actually started it yesterday but then stopped to go to Pam and Hugh's to clean out a stall for them.. Hugh hurt his back cleaning out another stall and Pam was busy with her little girl and making goat harnasses and stuff.. You can check out her really neat goat gear here.. Speaking of which, tomorrow I'm going to take a pic of the halter and lead that she made for me.. Great products for great prices.. Anyway, here is a pic of the cleaned out goat shelter..

Before I even got done spreading out the shavings, Velvet came in and peed.. Reminds me of when the cat lived in the house and she'd stand there watching me, waiting for THE second I was done.. If I turned my back to get something before I was done, she'd go ahead anyway.. Velvet was also my main supervisor.. The other two only came in occasionally to take a look.. Prima peed on the bare cement.. I guess she didn't approve of how long I was taking or something.. I had left it only half done yesterday.. Tomorrow I'll take a so-so bail of hay and spread it over the shavings for more cushiness..

Now I have to finish cleaning off the rest of the pen (all cement).. I think the cement makes it a little easier to clean because I can just use a shovel to scrape it up and a broom to get up the rest.. But I think it also makes it necessary to clean it more often because the urine doesn't soak through into the ground..

With the rest of my day, I'm going to sit here and do nothing.. = D

It's Official! The Girls are Mine! And Other Stuff

2009-03-11T12:00:00.005-04:00

Got the new registration papers for the goats today, listing me as the owner.. You may now call me Farmer Kitti! Ok, maybe wait until the babies are born..

I am also starting my chicken project now, apparently.. Occasionally I bid on some blue orpington eggs on ebay, but I never get them because somebody always outbids me.. Well, last week I actually won an auction.. The eggs arrived today.. There are 12 blue orpington eggs, and three extra from other breeds.. You can see them in the middle to the left.. The two dark eggs I believe are welsummer eggs, another favorite breed of mine.. The egg in the middle of those two is labeled as a rock egg.. I don't really care for rocks myself.. A little too flighty.. But maybe it'll be a hen since rocks are great layers.. If not, we can always invite a young roo to dinner..

For the last couple of days I've been working to get an incubator put together.. I had all the ingredients already except for the cooler, the wire bottom, and the glass for the top.. (I had the other parts from building a similar incubator before..)

I'm really excited because I've wanted blue orpingtons for a long time.. I really hope I get a good hatch.. I'm not going to hold my breath too tightly because they did come all the way from Arizona.. Hopefully they passed through some gentle hands..

Last, but not least, I'd like to introduce my son Marcus' new bunny, Splotch.. He's been wanting a dutch rabbit for some time now.. So when I went to the feed store last week and saw that they had a couple dutch, I just had to get him one.. Splotch isn't a quality bred bunny.. As a matter of fact, my son named him Splotch because he has a big splotch of color in the white band on his back.. He's a cutey though.. That is also one of our dogs in the pic.. Bonnie.. She's a chihuahua/dachshund mix.. She's very smart and is a really good dog.. She treats any small creatures as her baby.. She loves Splotch..

Anyway, I think that's it for now.. Just waiting for the girls to kid.. Bluebell only has about a week and a half left.. I'm going to have to start keeping a very close eye on them now.. When I get up to check Kaitlyn's blood sugar, I'll be going out and checking on the girls.. Can't wait for the babies! I'm so excited.. That reminds me, I still need to test out my new double boiler to see if I can get it to hold 135 degrees for an hour so I can heat treat the colostrum..

Less Than a Month To Go!

2009-03-01T14:03:00.003-05:00

So, here are the goat girls, about 3 weeks away from kidding.. Getting a little fatter.. I think will only have one or two kids each.. Hope I get all does.. Velvet is developing an awesome udder for a first freshener.. Or I think so.. I'm no pro.. But looks pretty awesome to me.. Can't wait to see how her babies look..

Prima

Velvet

And then a video of them all..

The Kits Died

2009-02-20T22:20:00.002-05:00

Well, the kits didn't make it.. This being her first litter, I guess she just didn't know what to do.. She had them on the wire, didn't make a nest, only pulled a mouthful of fur, and I don't think she actually fed them.. She basically did everything wrong.. But like I said, it's not uncommon for the first time to go bad.. I'll just have to get her rebred and hope that next time it goes better.. Daisy still hasn't had hers yet.. Could be tonite.. Could be tomorrow.. Eagerly waiting..

Trixie Has Had Her Babies!!!

2009-02-19T22:21:00.003-05:00

She had them between 5pm and 9pm.. She started nesting behavior weeks ago and even pulled some fur.. But then she decided to eat all the hay I was putting in her nest box.. She ended up having the babies on the wire of the cage and I found one dead.. I put the others in the nest box and put some more hay in there and put some dryer lint on a suggestion from another rabbit person on a forum I frequent.. The dryer lint is to help keep them warm since she only pulled a tuft of fur.. Usually they make a cozy nest with their fur in the hay.. I'll check on them again later and see if she ends up having any more.. If not and if the babies feel chilly, I'll bring the nest box in the house for the nite..

Its not uncommon for a first time doe to have the babies on the bottom of the cage.. But since she'd starting nesting behavior early, I'd hoped she would do everything right the first time.. Well, at least the other four seem good and active.. Making funny little squeaking sounds.. Now we'll see how good of a mother she is.. A lot of does will make the mistake of having the kits on the cage bottom and then end up being excellent mothers once their instincts kick in fully.. We'll see how she does..

Now Daisy is due tomorrow so we'll see how she does..

Anyway, here's a pic I took real quick after I put them in the nest box but before I put in the dryer lint and cozyed them in real good..

They're also bigger than I thought they would be.. I guess I was expecting jelly bean size babies because of when I raised pet rats.. But rabbit babies are more like vienna sausage size, with legs and a head.. = )

The kids are already falling in love with them.. I've told them from the beginning that these are meat rabbits.. But now it's going to be really hard for them because they babies will be so cute.. But they have to learn that food is food.. We will keep a baby or two.. Will definitely have to keep a male so I can breed my does again.. But whichever litter I get him from, I might keep a doe from the second litter to slightly expand my breeding stock.. Let's get past the first couple of days though and see what kind of mother she is before we start making future plans.. Wish us luck..

Kittikity 1, Sweater 1

2009-02-11T14:57:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I forgot to post the pic of the second doggie sweater I made.. I'm really pleased with most of it.. Might make the neck a little wider and definitely need to make it a little longer.. But I don't know if I'll be making any more for the dogs.. When they scratch they tend to tear up the yarn with their toe nails.. Will definitely work for the goat kids though.. Anyway, here is Bonnie again modeling version 2..

I Wrote an Article About My Goats

2009-02-11T14:44:00.004-05:00

Patti Moreno at GardenGirlTV is one of my biggest inspirations with my mini farm.. It was her website and videos that showed me that I could raise my own food on my little plot of land.. She does it on a much smaller space in the middle of a big city..

Well, back in December (I think it was December, might have been November) she asked me to write an article about the goats.. I was delighted, of course.. Anyway, it came out in her ezine in January.. If you want to read it, follow the link below.. It's the only article about goats so you can't miss it.. Read the other articles too.. Always lots of useful and interesting information..

http://www.urbansustainableliving.com/index.html
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Finally Finished the Cage

2009-02-11T14:31:00.004-05:00

Ok, so finally finished one of the cages.. Actually, two if you count each section.. It's a two hole cage, meaning it has two section and two doors.. The whole thing is 5ft long.. The section on the left is 36w by 24d by 18 high.. The section on the right is 24w by 24d by 18h.. The wire on the bottom is 1x1/2 wire.. The wire on the top and sides is 1/2x1/2 hardware cloth.. Might go with 1x1 wire next time as the 1/2x1/2 was hard to work with.. Difficult to get the pliers in.. I used J-clip fasteners for everything, including as hinges for the doors which are on the top.. Each door space is 1ftx1ft.. I also made hay racks on each side.. I think I'm going to have to alter them a bit though because the hay doesn't stick through the 1/2x1/2 wire very well..

I don't really care for having the nest boxes on the inside as it takes up floorspace.. Want to figure out a way to put the nest boxes on the outside.. Maybe build a wooden section on the back with wire floors for ventilation and waste control..

Now to finish the other one.. I'm making two since the wire comes in 10ft lengths.. And so I can have more rabbits, of course..

Moving Forward

2009-01-31T19:36:00.003-05:00

Good news for the SA farm! We are getting a really good tax return so I am going to be able to accomplish some things around here.. For one, I'll be able to join the American Dairy Goat Association and transfer ownership of the girls over to my name.. Yes, I've had these goats for almost three months and I still haven't transferred them.. Costs money.. Enough said.. I'll also be able to register my herd/farm name.. Yay me!

And I'll also be able to get my red new zealand rabbits! Yay me again!

I also plan to get supplies to start my hydroponic seed starting setup.. We went by the farmers and flea market place today and there isn't anybody selling veggie or flower seedlings.. Or that I saw anyway.. It might be a bad time of year and somebody might be doing that later in the year.. We also got there kind of early and most people were just setting up.. But I still want to try it.. I also plan on trying the handmade items thing with the crocheting.. Knitting will come later if I ever really get the hang of it..

I can also finish the rabbit cages.. I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to do the doors.. I'm putting the doors in the top, that way it will be at least harder for them to escape.. It also leaves the sides free for feeder or water bottle space, or whatever else I might need the sides for.. But I want to make the door itself out of something more solid.. But don't know if I should use wood (chewable) or something else.. I've almost got one cage finished.. I just need to cut another opening for the other door, put in a divider (need more wire), and get some feeders to install on the sides.. Oh, and the door issue thing.. I still haven't figured out if I'm going to put the nest boxes inside the cage or cut a separate hole to hang them on the outside or underneath.. I'd love to put them underneath since rabbits naturally make burrows for their nests.. But no idea yet how I'd attach them or how I'd be able to check on the kits.. Still some brain storming to do..

The last thing I'd like to do (for now) is start my raised beds.. But we'll see how much money we have left after we catch up on the bills and I accomplish these other things.. I also agreed that hubby can get a Wii.. It was that or an Xbox 360.. I like the Wii better because it gets you off the couch and actually participating in the game.. Not just get cramps in your thumbs..

Anyway, enough talk about money.. We won't be getting it for 8-15 days anyway.. Past bedtime.. Nite nite..

What I've Been Up To

2009-01-29T11:08:00.003-05:00

Other than the usual stressing over bills, that is..

Cleaned off the goat's pen and put all the wasted hay and poo in an area that I had tried to make as a cement raised bed.. Found out cement is much more expensive than I thought and doesn't go quite as far as I thought it would.. Would end up taking A LOT of cement to complete that project.. So I never bothered finishing it..

Instead I'm using it as a compost pile..

Also working on making the cages for the new rabbits.. Still haven't completed those yet so don't have any pics to show..

Spent most of yesterday moving around the living room and giving it a really good cleaning.. Every once in a while I just have an urge to rearrange stuff for no reason.. Today I feel very apathetic and don't know if I'll accomplish anything.. Need to finish up a little left of the living room and probably do some laundry.. We'll see if it gets done or not..

First Harvest

2009-01-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

Well, here is what I was able to salvage from the ruined garden.. Some spinach leaves and three tiny pea pods..

Some of the spinach leaves were a bit frost bitten so I gave those to the rabbits along with the three pea pods.. They seemed to really enjoy them.. The rest I washed off and gave to hubby as a spinach salad.. He said it was good..

Now the rest of this winter I am going to either till up that spot again and add lots of the hay the goats waste, along with their poo and the rabbit poo, or I'm going to make a compost pile of it and see what I end up with in a couple months.. Hopefully by then our finances will be a little better and I'll be able to make the raised beds like I've been wanting forever.. But we shall see..

It's Cold!!!

2009-01-22T09:38:00.002-05:00

Last nite we had a really hard frost come through here.. We've lived in central Florida for 4 1/2 years now and I've never seen it this bad.. Well, maybe bad is the wrong term.. We have the heat on in the house, all the animals outside are fine.. Its already warming up.. But the water buckets do have a layer of ice on the top..

But my garden is really done for now..

I think the pictures say it all.. Its actually really neat to see.. For me anyway.. I come from south Florida where it never does stuff like this so this is a bit of a novelty to me..

Kittikity 0, Dog Sweater 1

2009-01-21T21:40:00.002-05:00

Ok, so this crochet project didn't go quite as well as the beanies had.. Of course, I couldn't find a dog sweater pattern exactly to my liking so I kind of made it up as I went along.. I wanted a pattern that I didn't have to make in sections and then have to piece together later.. I thought it was going well at first, then for some reason it started getting skinnier and skinner towards the back.. I can only assume I was doing something wrong that was maybe reducing the stitches.. Like accidentally skipping a stitch or something.. I also did some increases around the neck that ended up just making it look at bit poofy.. Might not be able to tell from the pics though because Bonnie wanted to roll over to have her belly scratched every time I reached for her..

Anyway, take a look.. If you have any suggestions about what I did wrong or how to fix it I'd love to hear them.. I'm starting another one and I'm going to do it slightly different.. I'll let yall know how that one goes too..

Front

Side-ish

Introducing Daisy and Trixie!

2009-01-21T13:41:00.004-05:00

We went and got our new rabbits yesterday! This is Daisy and Trixie.. Don't really know which is which, but I'm calling the one that's slightly more nervous Daisy and the calmer one Trixie.. Hubby helped me take pictures..

Daisy

Trixie

This is my 5 yr old daughter holding Trixie to give you an idea of their size.. They are 10 months old and might get a little bigger, but I think their max is 5 or 6 pounds..

Have them in small temporary cages right now.. Will make new cages when hubby gets paid again and then I'll take new pics of them in their new homes.. Then hopefully in a month we'll have baby bunnies, and 3 or 4 months after that we'll have rabbit stew.. Sorry if that offends anybody, but the point of my farm is to provide food for my family..

Speaking of food.. My garden is kaput.. We had a hard freeze last nite and the squash and corn plants (the ones that were doing the best) are now dead.. So I guess I'll be tilling up the whole thing and trying again.. But this time I'll add all the wasted hay from the goats, any goat poo pellets that is in it, and hopefully rabbit poo pellets soon also..

Oh, and the guy pointed out a name on the pedigrees that he got his breeding stock from.. He said that breeder was one of the top breeders of Florida whites in the state..

I'm Gonna Have Bunnies!!!

2009-01-19T19:52:00.004-05:00

I put a post on craigs list about needing some cheap meat rabbits.. But somebody contacted me with something better.. There's a man not far from here (same city that the lady lives that gave me the yarn) that has two Florida white rabbits that he's going to sell me for $10 each, with pedigree papers.. And he's even going to breed them for me.. Normally he sells them for twice that but he needs the cage space..

Florida whites were developed in Florida (of course) and are a medium sized meat rabbit.. Same body type as a new zealand, just a little smaller.. Supposed to be a very good percentage of meat while eating less then the bigger meat rabbits..

I guess I better make some cages tomorrow.. He's already got one bred today.. I'll post pics, of course, when I get them home..

Good News and Bad News

2009-01-16T14:44:00.002-05:00

Good news is that the lady called me back about the new zealand red rabbits.. Bad news is that I, of course, don't have the money for them.. But she did say that she or the rabbits aren't going anywhere anytime soon and that I can make payments.. Now the question is, can I talk hubby into letting me doing the payments? And will hubby's job hold out long enough for me to make those payments? Yes, there is doubt to that last part.. In this economy, there's always a doubt to that last part.. But I want those rabbits so bad.. They're absolutely beautiful..

I Am The Beanie Master!!!

2009-01-15T18:16:00.003-05:00

Beanie #3 is done.. Took me a little longer because I didn't dedicate as much time all at once to it like I did the other two.. But here it is.. That's my eldest child in the pic.. His hat..

Front

Side

Definitely time to try something new though.. Next crochet project, dog sweater!

The Girls, 2 1/2 Months Along

2009-01-15T09:37:00.005-05:00

So, the goat girls are about two and a half months along now.. They were bred in late October.. They're really starting to show.. (Either that or I'm feeding them too much..) Especially if you look at pics from when they first got here.. Check out this post for previous pics..

This is Velvet now.. She's the most noticeable since she has the more delicate frame of the three..
Top

Side

Prima is a second freshener.. Last year she had a single buckling, all black like her..
Top

Side

Now, the pics of Blue Bell on that previous post don't really look that different from what she looks like now.. She's a mixed breed of 1/2 nubian, 1/4 alpine, and 1/4 nigerian dwarf so she doesn't have as light of a frame as the other two.. But i do have one pic here that might show a better difference..

Before

Now, top

Now, side

Only 2 1/2 more months to go before babies!!!

Potato Cages

2009-01-14T21:59:00.002-05:00

On the right side of the veggie pic below, you can sort of see the extra chicken wire I have just laying there.. It's been laying there for a month or so now because I just didn't know what to do with it.. Then a video on growing potatoes reminded me of some people using trash cans to grow potatoes.. They would put soil in the bottom and then add straw or hay as the plants grew.. The potatoes grew in the straw areas of the trash can.. But I started thinking, "Does it have to be an enclosed thing like a garbage can?" So I just did a search for 'potato' and 'chicken wire'.. And sure enough, you can use chicken wire in just the same way..

So I guess that will be my next project.. I've already got the wire.. I'll look around here for something to use to support it.. If not then I'll have to get some cheap t-posts or something.. The white step in posts like I have around the veggie garden might work.. But I'd rather get some of the light duty metal ones.. I'll need those later on for my rabbit hutch anyway so this will give me a reason to go ahead and buy some.. Then all I'll need are some potatoes to start it off.. I'll probably just get some potatoes from the supermarket.. Not the best option but it seems like the easiest one right now.. Or maybe this will also give me a reason to go by the local farmers market.. I wonder if I can drag hubby there this weekend.. Doubt it, but I'll go by myself if I have to..

I Think I've Found a Solution to My Raised Bed Woes

2009-01-14T21:30:00.003-05:00

I was looking up trellis' on Lowes website and stumbled across a new product they're going to be getting in February.. They're composite boards made of wood fiber and recycled plastic! Now, the posts are a little over $30 so if you're going for a fence it might get pretty pricey.. But the rail boards themselves are 1 1/2" x 3 3/4" x 71 3/4" and cost about $12.. Yes, they cost a little more than regular wood would cost, but just imagine how long they'll last.. And they're made from recycled plastic.. I absolutely love products made from recycled plastics.. Anyway, come February I'll be making a weekly trip to Lowes to buy a board or two at a time.. Unfortunately that's all our budget might allow for now, buying the supplies a bit at a time..

If you want to look them up on the Lowes website, they're in the fencing section under wood fencing..

Since they're only about 6 foot long, I might have to do 4'x4' beds.. That's ok though because I can use the extra 2 foot leftovers on the inside of the bed to attach the top and bottom sections..

My Meager Veggie Garden

2009-01-14T16:39:00.006-05:00

Click the pic for a bigger view

This is my pitiful little garden.. I couldn't do a raised bed yet like I had wanted to, so I went ahead and planted in the ground.. My soil is rather thick.. Not quite thick like clay soil, but definitely some clay in it.. Also not much organic matter to give it optimal drainage.. We do get a little flooding right after a heavy rain, but it drains ok.. But I'm afraid with the summer rain it won't drain fast enough and the veggies will drown.. Also with this thick soil, I don't think the roots are getting enough air and the plants aren't growing well.. Not enough organic matter to enrich the soil and make things grow better..

I really need to get some rabbits.. I really think rabbit manure will help my garden a lot.. But getting hubby to agree to getting some rabbits now probably isn't going to happen.. "Do you really need them NOW?" is what I usually get.. Money is tight here and there's not much outlook on it getting better.. So rabbits seem like an extra expense to him.. I also don't have any cages built yet and that's more expense..

I feel so useless sitting here doing nothing.. Not able to accomplish any of my millions of projects rolling around in my head because of money.. Not being able to get a job because I'm at home with Kaitlyn.. Can't put her in daycare because I wouldn't be able to trust them to manage her diabetes.. I'm not saying daycares are incompetent.. But they wouldn't be able to keep a really close eye on her like I think she needs.. What if her blood sugar drops out of nowhere(its happened before) and they don't notice?

I love being home for the kids.. I think its important for the kids.. But I wish there was some way I could make some money from home to help pay bills and pay for my projects..

Ok, this was supposed to be a positive post about what 'is' growing and to show off my gardengirl t-shirt that I got for writing an article about the goats for the gardengirltv.com's ezine.. Very proud of my t-shirt.. I put it on right away, even over the clothes I already had on.. Of course, I took off my other shirt later.. But I've been wearing the gardengirl t-shirt all day.. I'll probably sleep in it..

Ok, so as to what 'is' growing.. I've got some summer squash and another kind of squash (can't remember the name at the moment), some corn, some beans, some peas, some cauliflower that aren't doing very well, one broccoli plant that isn't doing well either, and one cucumber plant that is only doing ok.. Oh, and some spinach in the front that isn't doing nearly as well as I'd hoped.. I was looking forward to a baby spinach leaf salad.. Also planted some tomato seeds but don't think those came up at all.. Oh, and some bell peppers that I don't think came up.. Yes, I need to weed the whole thing badly.. But at this point I'm a little discouraged at how poorly most of it is going.. The squash and corn is doing the best..

One of the projects I'd like to get accomplished before I plant again is a hydroponic seed starting system.. But, of course, that's going to take money.. I also want to get some raised beds made so I don't have to deal with this soil.. But that doesn't look like its going to happen anytime soon either.. I need to get rabbits for the manure.. *la sigh* So many projects, so little money.. I need a job.. But I can't.. It's an endless circle..

Anyway, admire my tiny veggies, admire my lovely shirt, ignore my ugly mug, and...... whatever pleases you afterwards.. = )

Feeding The Goats

2009-01-13T09:12:00.002-05:00

Here's a short video of me feeding the goats.. I give them two scoops of alfalfa pellets and one scoop of grain.. I then shake the bucket up or they would eat the grain first and might not bother with the alfalfa pellets.. They love their grain.. Unfortunately when I converted it to a flash movie, the quality went down on the video.. But its still plenty clear enough to see.. Also, sorry for the shakey cam.. Its not easy feeding three hungry goats and hold a digital camera at the same time.. Anyway, enjoy!

Our Future Livestock Guardian

2009-01-12T21:14:00.003-05:00

A little over a month ago, one of our dogs had puppies.. A total shock since we thought she was fixed and we never saw a male around at all.. She had one boy and 4 girls.. At first we were going to just give them all away.. When they were ready, of course.. But for some reason I knew the little boy was special.. I had wanted to use our two outside dogs as livestock guardians.. But Dixie (the mother) kills chickens and if I don't shut the goats pen, Chloe will run the goats off and eat their food.. I'm afraid of what Chloe might do to baby goats..

But I wanted a livestock guardian to protect them from some of my more unsavory neighbors, and for predator protection when I get chickens and rabbits.. As the little boy got older and started running around, I saw that he had a very calm and sweet disposition.. His sisters were more hyper than he was.. So I figured he would be perfect to have as a livestock guardian.. He's known the goats ever since he began to open his little eyes and seems very calm when they come near him.. The goats seem to take to him very well.. Yes, even at this early of an age.. Add to that his lovely dark red color and blue eyes, and he's definitely a winner..

I may be putting my own opinion on this, but I already think he's really smart.. He was sniffing at some food my daughter had and I gave him a light swat on the butt.. He didn't give that food a second look.. Instead he just curled up next to me and fell asleep.. With an open pizza box sitting on the other side of me..

My husband has already fallen in love with him.. When my husband went to bed, I had him hold the puppy so I could massage his feet.. (My husband's feet, not the puppy's...) The puppy curled up on my husband's chest and fell asleep..

We don't have a name for him yet.. I'm allowing my husband to pick the name and he's trying to find a really good one.. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated..

And without further ado, here is our new 6 week old border collie mix member of our family..

Beanie #2!!!

2009-01-12T20:05:00.005-05:00

This one is for my younger son.. He loves green so that's what I made.. Came out a lot more like the video described then my daughter's did.. I followed a different video though and I like this way of doing it much better.. This one is all single crochet with an H hook and then a J hook about half way through.. But I think my daughter's fits her well because it looks more decorative.. Works well for a girl's hat.. Already half way through an all black beanie for my older son.. They're super easy.. I can usually do one in about 2 days..

I'd also like to thank everyone for all the compliments.. Feel free to leave a comment any time..

Front

Side

My First Beanie!

2009-01-07T10:02:00.004-05:00

Actually, its for my daughter (that's her in the pics).. But I made it! It's crocheted in double stitch.. It's a little wonky looking because I guess I didn't realize how big her head was so had to widen it more.. I also am really not sure how I got that knob on the top.. Maybe too many single stitches at the beginning? Or I didn't start increasing soon enough? I also ran out of yarn (didn't realize just how much yarn it would take) so I had to add the maroon border around the bottom..

Front

Right side

Left side

It's also darker then it looks in the pic.. The camera flash kind of bled out the colors.. I wasn't even done with this one and my two boys are asking for their own beanie.. I'm definitely picking up on the crocheting more than I am on the knitting.. I think the fact that there's only one needle/hook to contend with.. But I'm still going to stick with the knitting too.. Anyway, let me know what you think of my first completed piece..

First Crochet Attempt

2009-01-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

I've started my first attempt at crocheting last nite.. I am definitely zooming along with it better than I was with the knitting.. Of course, I sort of learned how to crochet when I was younger but never actually made anything.. I'm sure my knitting will get just as good the more I do it.. Even though I am getting the crocheting pretty quickly, I still have lots of room for improvement.. Check out my first piece..

It was done with a chain to begin and then single stitches.. Not too bad, but still needs work..

First Hay Purchase, Strike One

2008-12-27T16:07:00.000-05:00

Well, went through the bale of hay that Hugh gave me when I picked up the goats.. So headed to the feed store.. What they had was less then spectacular.. Sort of green on the inside but rather yellow on the outside.. Didn't smell sweet like really fresh hay.. But didn't smell really rank either.. Didn't look moldy or excessively dusty so I guess it's ok.. The girls ate it fine but I think wasted most of the first flake..

Then we decided to check a tack store that is only a couple minutes away from us.. (The feed store is a good half an hour drive..) They had a tractor trailer with its doors open and the bales inside it looked nice and green.. So we went inside and bought a bale.. It was the same price as the bales at the feed store.. When we got outside the girl said the hay we bought (coastal) was around the back.. So apparently the hay we were looking at was something else and probably more expensive.. Turns out the coastal hay they had was brown, not even yellow, and a smaller bale then the one we got from the feed store.. It doesn't smell rank, but I'm sure if I open it, it's going to be dusty as all get out.. I figure I'll just use it for bedding in their shelter or something..

I hope this is just because of the time of the season.. Hugh always makes sure to get decent hay for his goats and I want to do the same.. Besides the fact that bad hay can really mess a goat up.. The bale he gave me was nice and green and sweet smelling.. That's what I'm looking for.. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time..

He Won!

2008-12-21T02:35:00.000-05:00

Well, he got layed off on a Friday, took his work shirts back Monday, got called Monday afternoon about some positions their parent company had, got an email Tuesday from the parent company wanting him to come in to fill out an application, did that Wednesday, took it back Thursday, and got a call Friday saying he starts orientation on the 29th.. So we will not be selling our house and all projects will be resuming after the first of the year..

As for projects, the veggie garden is growing but not quite like I'd hoped.. Knitting is going slowly at the moment because with him being home we've been play a lot of World of Warcraft.. Goats are doing well.. Everybody's poo is normal and they're eating away.. Slowly getting them used to eating alfalfa pellets.. I'd like to get them to a half a scoop of grain and a half of alfalfa pellets.. Almost there.. Prima will eat anything so she was the first to dig into them.. Need to do some repairs on the fence but luckily isn't just the part going from their pen to their yard.. Fed them some oak branches which they absolutely devoured.. Found out from Pam that those can be toxic and cause liver damage if fed too much.. So I'll have to find something else to feed them as treats.. They'll have plenty to eat in the spring when the willow trees in their yard sprout leaves again.. I'm also thinking of getting a bag of black oil sunflower seeds and plant a whole bunch of them.. They're supposed to be really good for a lot of livestock.. But in moderation because they are high in fat..

Oh, and our border collie mix dog had puppies.. We've had her for 2 years and she's never been pregnant.. I'd finally figured she'd been fixed before we got her.. Apparently not.. Something else to get done after the first of the year.. The puppies are about 3 weeks old now and starting to open their eyes and climb out of the dog house.. I'm thinking of putting the dog house in the goat yard.. I brought Dixie in there and she pretty much ignored the goats.. She might make a decent livestock guardian after all.. But I need to observe her some more first.. I can't have chickens around her though because she'll kill them.. I'd like to get a shock collar and train her to leave them alone.. Yes, I know they're kinda cruel, but I've heard of people having great results with training their dogs to leave livestock alone.. I don't know how else to get it through her thick head that chickens are not brought here for her personal snacking.. Besides, those shock collars are expensive..

Anyway, it's really late here and I need to get some sleep.. Yes, I know I tend to do most of my entries late at nite.. But its one of the few times that I have time to think.. lol

All Projects On Hold

2008-12-13T03:07:00.000-05:00

Hubby got layed off his job yesterday.. I don't really know what will happen from here.. Hopefully he'll be able to find a really fantastic job really fast.. Doubt it though.. Hopefully he at least finds something soon.. I should probably look for something too.. Whoever finds a full time job first wins?

My father inlaw said if it comes down to it we could sell the house.. Yes, he does have the authority to say that since they bought out our mortgage.. Bad idea in my opinion since our mortgage is essentially paid for, even though we do need to start paying them back some day.. But if we sell the house then we'd have to rent something and we were barely making ends meet with what he WAS making.. The trucking company has an unemployment package waiting for him, at least, when he goes to take in his work shirts.. And if things pick up they'll hire him back.. But that's an if we can't wait for..

Of course, if it does come down to selling the house, then the farm idea is over.. I'll have to take the goats back, of course.. I'm not going to be able to get the rabbits like planned, even though the breeder never gave me a call last month like she was supposed to, to let me know they'd been born.. The incubator certainly isn't going to be built..

Ironically, we're keeping in good humor.. Some shock and depression at first.. And probably not the last of it.. But we're keeping each other laughing, and that's a very good thing.. Kind of like laughing in the face of adversity..

I guess the only projects that will keep going right now are the knitting/crocheting and the veggie garden.. I have all the supplies I need for now with the knitting/crocheting.. And I've got seeds and soil for the veggie garden.. All I need else for that is sun and water.. Got several things sprouting in the veggies.. Hopefully he'll have a job before its time to harvest them.. Unemployment has a job assistance things I believe to help you get a job.. Hopefully he'll be able to get something that way at least.. Hopefully..

Ok, So Learning to Knit Isn't THAT Easy..

2008-12-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

But its not hard either..

Ok, so I put a post on the local freecycle that I was looking for knitting and crocheting supplies.. A lady responded saying she had some yarn.. I think ok, couple of skeins or something.. THIS is what she gave me..

I am absolutely blown away.. It is going to take me forever to use all of that.. And I love the colors even though some of them don't come through in the pic that well.. Apparently the lady crochets baby booties and sells them on ebay.. I'll pimp her link here since she was so absolutely generous with the yarn.. And I'm sure that's just probably her "extra".. And she said they just moved and haven't unpacked everything so she may have MORE!
Baby Bear Boutique
Really cute booties and blankets..

So after I pick up the big garbage bag of yarn, I head to the local Joann's.. I wasn't sure what size needles I should start with so I bought some assortment packages.. The knitting needles are sizes 6, 7, and 8.. The crochet hooks are D-K.. I also got a couple yarn needles and a cablestitch holder..

All needles and hooks are the metal ones since that's what the assortments came in..

And here is my first knitting attempt! (That yarn is actually yellow, not white..)

Not perfect, but I'm getting the hang of it.. I got the cast on pretty quickly.. Had a little trouble getting the first couple knit stitches but I'm doing better.. A note to anybody learning to knit, don't be stingy with that working yarn or you'll end up with really tight stitches and won't be able to work with them when you come back around to the first stitch again..

So far I've only done the cast on and the knit stitch.. Going to keep on with the knit stitch until I'm sure I've got it down good and then I'll try the purl stitch.. My hands are a little sore from trying to hold the needles and everything.. But my hands are a little stiff anyway from when I was a dog groomer..

I can't decide if I'm going to go to bed now or if I'm going to try some more stitches.. I think sleep is going to win out..

Ooooohhhh!!!! Now I REALLY Want to Knit.....

2008-12-07T17:13:00.000-05:00

And crochet.. This site listed below has some really neat knitted and crochet toy patterns.. I want to make them so badly.. They're so adorable! My plan would be to make them throughout the year and then give them to a church or something at the end of the year for kids without toys.. Of course, the first couple I make will get claimed by my own kids..
P.S. - Oops, forgot to include the link.. = )
Really Neat Toy Patterns

They're Home!!!

2008-12-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

I finally brought my girls home today! They are settling in well and are loving their new home.. I ended up bringing them home in my little hatchback.. Had to make two trips.. First Velvet and Prima, then Blue Bell with a bale of hay..

This is Blue Bell, the nubian/mini-alpine cross.. She's almost 3 yrs and a sweetheart..

Velvet, american nubian.. Almost 2yrs.. I love her markings around her legs and underbelly along with her overall color..

Prima, american nubian.. Almost 2 yrs.. She's the only one that has already freshened.. She had a beautiful single buckling last year.. This isn't the best pic of her since I was trying to take it before she moved..

Hanging out in their shelter..

Staring out at all the green to chew on..

Going for a stroll..

Meeting the locals..

Getting Crafty

2008-12-06T19:16:00.001-05:00

Well, I've been bitten again by the craft bug.. Before the craft was cross stitch.. But a little while ago somebody posted a pic of the sweaters they had made for their goat kids.. I was hooked! = )

Somebody on another site posted the link to http://www.knittinghelp.com/ .. A very nice site with videos on how to knit.. Now I'm very eager to do that too.. It looks so easy.. I've already got SO many ideas.. But since I'd have to buy supplies for those first, I am doing something else while I wait for the time and money to go to the craft store.. I'd gotten a latch rug kit a while ago and for some reason only hardly started it and then stopped.. So I'm doing the latch rug for now to satisfy the crafting itch..

This is what it's going to look like..

This is what I have so far.. What I'd done before with just a little more of the blue done..

While doing the rug, it was nice and sunny outside so I turned off the ceiling fan light and opened some windows.. When I took the blanket off the window in the living room (yes, I have a toddler blanket covering my window) this is what I saw..

It's a beautiful Cooper's hawk.. (I looked it up..) It was sitting on the post eating a little mouse or something it had caught.. The kids and I watched it until it finished its meal and flew off.. I also got a video of it but it's kind of shaky because I was leaning over the tv while we watched it..

Finished!

2008-12-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, now the goat shelter is really done! Shavings, food buckets, water bucket, makeshift hay rack.. Going to make a mineral feeder out of an old milk jug.. But the hardest part of that will be figuring out where to put it and how to attach it..

Kinder goats

2008-12-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

If you'd like to know more about kinder goats go to www.kindergoats.com.. Here is a good page to start with.. http://kindergoats.com/faq.htm

Goats

2008-12-02T07:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, now for the goats post.. I'd always had a passing interest with goats.. I mean, they're animals.. Of course I'm going to be interested.. My interest took on a new life when I realized I could do the mini farm thing.. I then started researching breeds and found the kinders which are a meat and milk breed.. There's the multipurpose thing I love so much..

Of course, I didn't have $300 for a really nice doe.. The kinder website suggests maybe leasing or borrowing a doe.. So on a whim I put on a local goat forum that I was looking to exchange the use of a doe for some farm work.. I'd never worked on a farm but figured this would be the perfect way to get some hands on experience which is the way I learn the best.. A lady about a half an hour responded saying she didn't have a doe I could use but she'd pay me for my work.. Good enough.. That would help pay some of the bills around here..

After a couple of weeks working there they offered me Blue Bell.. (Click on the pic for a bigger image..) She's half mini-nubian and half purebred nubian.. Wouldn't work for my kinder herd but would be a good start on providing milk for the family.. Only thing was that she'd never been bred before so they didn't know how well she'd milk.. But her mom had milked well and her dad had excellent milkers in his background so she should provide us with plenty of milk..

As the months went on and the economy got worse, they informed me that they could no longer pay me but offered me two american nubian does instead in exchange for my work.. Primadonna and Blue Velvet.. I was of course delighted.. Not only something to start my kinder herd with but my own does.. The only problem was that the two does are CAE positive and I really want to start my kinder herd without that.. So all three does have been bred to a couple of their spotted bucks that I'd admired.. And the two bucks are sweethearts so that's always a big plus.. Blue Bell was bred to Leprechaun and the other two were bred to Patrick.. Patrick and Leprechaun were born on St. Patrick's Day.. = )

So anyway, I'm going to have nubian babies to start with.. I'll bottle raise them on CAE free or pasturized or even cow's milk from the store.. Then I'll pick a couple of the nicest doelings out of Prima's and Velvet's babies (hopefully with spots) and sell or butcher the rest.. If I get a really really excellent buckling I might keep him too.. But that's a slim chance I'll get something that outstanding.. But Prima and Velvet are beautiful girls and the spotted bucks are awesome purebreds.. So you never know..

After the doelings I pick are big enough to breed, I'll find a nice pygmy buck (or two) to bring home.. Then the kinders start! The first 4 generations will be registered as a merit, which is recognizing them as the start of your kinder herd.. Then the fifth generation is actually registered as kinders.. I'll have to registered the kinders as mixed or experimental with the ADGA since they don't recognize kinders as an actual breed yet..

Anyway, after I worked off my girls, I worked there for another month and they paid me so I could get the fencing and stuff done.. Now everything is done and ready and we just need to get them home.. I plan on renting a Uhaul cargo van.. But of course money is stalling that.. Bills have to be paid first.. For now the fenced in goat yard is being used as an occasional dog run..

Here is what I started with for the goat shelter and yard.. Yes, very overgrown and used as a junk pile.. It took a lot of work to get that all cleaned up.. We just never had much use for it before except for the junk.. Of course, now that it is cleaned off the kids have been playing basketball and such on it.. If I'd known they would do that I would have cleaned it off long ago..

And here's a shot of the back yard after we moved in here.. The black willows didn't grow in until later.. We didn't plant them.. They just appeared on their own..

And here is the goat shelter and fenced area now..

But anyway(again), I guess that's it for now on the goats.. I was hoping to have pics of them in their new home by now.. But we'll get there eventually.. Even if I have to bring them home in my little Ford Festiva hatchback.. Can you just imagine three full grown does in a little hatchback? You wouldn't believe what I've transported in that car before.. The biggest thing would probably be a couch.. We've had some trouble with her, but for the most part she just keeps on going.. Much to be said about the little economy cars that are built to just be run to death..

I'm Baaaaaaaaack!!!!

2008-11-28T15:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm sure everyone is riveted.. Sorry, nothing to update though.. I was going to tell you about our family get together.. But you don't want to hear me complain about my relatives and it has nothing to do with the farm anyway.. Let's just say it was..... pleasant.. But I still felt like the white trash of the family.. But I don't care! I am me! Deal with it! = )

Somebody Slap the Piss Outta Me!!!

2008-11-27T03:50:00.000-05:00

I forgot Pam and Hugh.. I am so thankful for all the kindness, generosity, and help they've given me.. This farm idea would have never gotten anywhere if it wasn't for the time I spent working on their farm, learning, earning the beautiful does they offered me, all the supplies they gave me to help with the fencing, the last couple weeks they paid me to help me buy the fencing when they don't have a whole lot of money to spare, the milk filter and bucket Pam has waiting for me when I go to pick up my girls, the goats milk they gave us to try, the blackberry jelly they made themselves, etc etc etc.. Not to mention all the help I'm sure they'll give in the future.. They are my truly local friends and will be for many many years..

Somebody else I'd like to give personal thanks to are Michael and his wife Kelley.. I thank them for the gift cards and seeds they sent me to help get the veggie garden going.. For all the advice they gave with my younger son's behavioral problems in school.. And many other things I can't think of right now..

I will always be eternally grateful to these people for helping to make something very important to me to become a reality..

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T03:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope everybody has a good Thanksgiving.. The kids and I will be going down to south Florida to my mom's.. Well, actually we're going to a park down there for a family get together.. I'm going to see aunts, uncles, and cousins I haven't seen in a while.. That will be good and bad because there are some members missing from the family this year.. Every year we lose somebody else.. Old age and cancer suck.. But I do believe in God so I do believe they've gone on to a better place.. I'm thankful for that..

Speaking of being thankful, here I go.. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and great children.. I'm thankful for our family, his parents and my parents and everybody in between.. I'm thankful to have a home, food, electricity, water, etc on the other things we have to pay too much for.. I'm thankful to be able to be starting my farm.. I'm thankful for all our animals.. I'm thankful for my husband's job to be able to pay for most of that stuff.. It's not the best job in the world but it gets us by.. Hopefully now that he's trained in something else he'll be making better money.. I think that's all the major things I'm thankful for right now.. I'm sure there are other things but it's 3:30 a.m. so you'll have to give me a break if I can't remember more..

Oh crap! Forgot a big one! Please forgive me this one guys.. Hey, I could have just backspaced and nobody would have known.. But I'm just that honest.. I forgot to say I was thankful for all my online friends! And I really am.. Because honestly, you guys are my only friends.. I only have one local friend anymore and she isn't even really that local.. She's in south Florida.. But I hate saying my online friends and my real life friends because my online friends are real and alive.. Just because I've never met any of you in person doesn't make a difference to me.. Best thing about having online friends is that I don't have to clean my house when I talk to yall online.. :D

Anyway, better get back to sleep.. I will, of course, be taking my computer with me.. (I love my laptop..) But doubt I'll be online until I get back because for 1) I'll be at the park and doubt they have wifi, and 2) my mom's home network won't let me in and I ain't inclined to argue with it just to check my email.. What I need to do is get one of those broadband ethernet cards with the wireless service.. It's sort of like the wireless service for a cell phone, but its for a computer.. I can just open my computer and be online ANYWHERE!!!!!!! My next goal after that will be an IV with wifi.. Nite!!!

Hutch Design

2008-11-24T19:24:00.001-05:00

K, here's the basic layout of the hutch.. The grey stuff is the wire, of course, and the green stuff is the tposts.. Click on the image to see it bigger..

Rabbits

2008-11-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

K, so meat rabbits is one thing I plan on raising.. I'd also like to get my oldest son into 4-h with them but we'll have to see about that.. He wants dutch rabbits.. But we're going to start with the meat rabbits since they are useful as more than just cute pets.. I was going to start with a breed called American Chinchillas.. I'd posted my interest on a forum months back and a breeder in Ohio said she was going to come down to Florida in October and would bring me a trio for a very decent price.. We'll that fell through because her truck broke down and she had to fly down instead of drive and couldn't bring the rabbits with her.. So not sure when I'll get my hands on American Chinchillas.. They are a heritage breed since they were developed in the US and are on the endangered list since there are so few of them.. But we shall keep trying and I shall keep looking..

While I was waiting for October to come around I built this..

This is as far as I got because then hubby came home from his over-the-road truck driver training and he was out of work for about a month and a half.. If it weren't for his parents we would have been royally screwed.. But since then I've been concentrating on other projects so this one has kind of fallen to the wayside.. Besides, don't have any rabbits yet to need cages.. This one is also too small according to other rabbit people I've talked to.. A doe with kits needs at least 1/4 to 1/2 bigger.. Probably twice as big is even better..

Also while I waited for October, I admired a breed called red New Zealands.. New Zealand whites are a common meat breed.. But, of course, the red New Zealands are a lot harder to find.. When I found out the lady wouldn't be able to bring the rabbits from Ohio, I put out a feeler message on a New Zealand rabbit yahoo group.. I got a response almost right away.. A lady said she knew somebody that had red New Zealands and gave me her phone number.. Now, I prefer email because I always feel like such a dunce on the phone.. So I was hesitant to call the lady with the New Zealands.. But I really loved the color of the red New Zealands so I buckled down and made the call.. I call a voicemail so left a message.. The lady called me back later that day and we talked in length about rabbits and made plans to get them from north Florida to here in central Florida.. So in January I should have some lovely red New Zealands.. They'll be young and it'll be some months before I'll be able to breed them and have the first litter.. But I can't wait to get that part of my mini farm going..

I will probably finish that cage I was building and use it for an extra or quarantine cage or something.. But for the main cages I plan on getting some tposts that have sort of hooks up the front of them.. I'm going to use the tposts as legs and use whole rolls of wire to make a sort of hutch design.. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try some sort of temporary dividers so I can make the lengths of each cage changeable or not.. Or if I'm going to just make each cage a standard length.. I'll probably have to go with a standard length because of door and feeder locations.. Maybe make each cage 3X5' since most rolls of wire are 3X10'.. 3X5' should be plenty of space for all except the biggest breeds.. And I don't plan on getting anything bigger than the amchins and red nz's, so that shouldn't be a problem..

Anyway, I need to get some sleep.. I need to go into photoshop and make up a design for my wire hutch.. I like actually creating a design.. Helps me work out details.. My next project I'll discuss is the goats.. Don't bet on seeing that before Thanksgiving.. It's going to be a really long one since its also the one I've put the most work into so far.. But you never know.. Maybe I'll get really bored one day and I'll break down and tell you all about it.. You know, I used to be able to do blog entries in my personal blog almost every day.. But anymore I'm so occupied with actually life stuff that I just don't have the time or patience to do it anymore.. Hopefully this blog will help me to get back into it since its discussing the things I'm actually working on..

Anyway, see ya next post..

About Me

2008-11-23T14:46:00.000-05:00

I figure I should give a background story about me and why I'm starting a mini farm.. So here goes..

Every since I was little I've wanted my own land.. Whenever we'd go visit any relatives that were out in the country, I loved it.. We lived in North Carolina for a little while and I loved the quiet and open spaces.. My trouble is that I was born and (mostly) raised in south Florida which has no quiet and open spaces except for parks and other such public places..

After my husband got let go from his internet job in 2003, our lease on our rental house expired and we stayed with my parents for a little while until we found another place.. We wanted to buy a house because we were tired of renting but everything in south Florida was way out of our current price range.. Even rental places where too much.. So I expanded my search.. My mother wasn't happy I was looking at places out of south Florida but its not like we had a whole lot of choice..

With my desire for land in mind I included acreage in my searches.. Also at the same time we looked for a job for hubby in central Florida which seemed to be our best option to find a house.. We found a job for him at a 911 center and came up for an interview and look at the area.. He got the job so we really started looking harder at this area.. We finally found our house and it had 1.73 acres with it.. I was ecstatic, of course.. We moved up here the day after Hurricane Charley hit..

Being a city girl, I thought you had to have a lot of land to have a farm.. But I figured I could at least have chickens.. That brought me to a few forums.. Backyard Chickens, Homesteading Today, a couple others.. All fed my chicken addiction.. I was interested in what else people had but of course, most people that had more than that also had more land then I did.. Then I found the Urban Sustainable Living website and Patti Moreno.. This was a woman that had veggie gardens, goats, rabbits, and chickens in the middle of Boston.. I knew if she could make all of that work inside a city and without a big yard then I could make mine work too..

So I started researching.. And researching and researching and researching.. You get the point.. I did a lot of reading.. I asked a lot of questions on forums.. The only thing that held me back was money.. How to get this thing started without gobs of money.. I'll address each obstacle with each of the things I want to incorporate into my mini farm.. The first thing I'll talk about is the rabbits since that's what I tried first.. I already had some chickens, guineas, and ducks.. But they're all gone now and were before I actually got the farm thing realized.. I do plan on doing chickens etc again, but the rabbits, goats, and veggie garden are what I'm actually working on now.. I'll do the rabbit post later today or tomorrow.. Or the next day.. I get distracted with my projects and other things in life.. Like Thanksgiving coming up.. But I'll try to sit down and at least do that rabbits post soon..

First post.. duh!

2008-11-22T00:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I figured since a lot of my projects for my minifarm are starting to come together that I should document my triumphs and pitfalls.. It will also provide me a place to place my ideas without having to annoy a bunch of people on forums.. But right now its almost 1 am so I need to get back to sleep (yeah right).. I'll do a nice big entry later with lots of pics about what I've done so far..