Morning Friend

This has been a wonderful week. I have had the pleasure to have one of my friends here every morning at 6:30 am. She lost one of her goats a week ago. So she is short on milk. Since I am getting plenty for my family, I told her she could milk one of my girls once a day and keep the milk. It has been what I need to get my butt in gear.

It doesn't get light at my house until around 7. So, I had been waiting until then to go outside and do my feeding and milking. Now that I have a friend to share the morning with, I have been getting up at 6. This gives me extra time in the day to do what I need to get done, plus it makes the job of caring for the animals move faster.

My friend is someone I look up to. She is doing what I want to do. She is a homeschooling mother to her wonderful children. She is working on living a more natural life. I love learning new things from her and being able to share things I learn. It makes working for what I want easier when you have someone there that believes in what I am doing and wants to do it also. I am so thankful that I have a friend like her. I love the ways God works. He brings those that you need into your life. I feel that he has brought her into my life for a reason.

A busy farm life

I can not believe I haven't posted since July. So many things have changed since then. We have added two milking cows to the farm. Celine is a mid-sized miniature Jersey. Annabell is an Aryshire. They are both four years old. I love having all the extra milk.

With the extra milk, I have started to learn to make more milk products. I have became a pro at making butter. Our freezer is starting to fill up. I have just staryed making kefir. Next, I want to start making more cheeses. My goal is to start making hard cheese by next spring. I am hoping to have time this winter to practice.

When I first got the cows, I feed them grain. With more reading I decided to just feed them hay. It took a week of them protesting as they got milked, but they learned that eating hay was just as good as the grain. Having the cows takes up more of my time on the farm, but I really do enjoy them. They are very sweet and loving. I can't wait until next year when I will have some calves to play with.

Beautiful Morning

I am the first to say that I am not a morning person. I do not like getting up at 6 in the morning. I rather sleep at least until 7 or 8, but with a farm you can not do that often. My problem is that I am a night person. I like to go to bed at 11 or 12. I know it is from my years of working part time at a 2 shift job. I would not get home until around 2 in the morning.

This morning was one of those days that I didn't want to get up. I just wanted to stay in bed. My baby girl that is 5 months old did not sleep through the night. My 4 year old boy got up at 2 after he got sick in his bed. So, I got up with him changed the sheets and put him back to bed. Then I had to put all the bedding into the washer. For a non morning person, this was not a good way to start out in the early morning.

I got my butt out of bed this morning at 6:30. I went to the barn to feed the animals. As I was giving the goats and Rockie (mini horse) their hay, I saw Tiny Tot (a little 6 week old kitten from one of the barn cats) just running around and playing. He is the cutest tiny thing. You can not help but smile at him.

This made me stop and think about my life. I am so grateful that I have the life I have. I know I have said this before. It is the small things in life that make it worth it. I do not need to buy things to make me happy. I just need to be outside and look around at all the life around me. I want to be able to teach my children that they do not need all the toys and popular items to be happy. They just need to outside and enjoy what God has made for us. God is so wonderful.

Busy Past Week

It has been a busy week. Last Wednesday my mother cut her finger off and damage the other three with a saw, when she was working on a chicken coop. She had to be in the hospital until Sunday morning. She is home now and feelings pretty good. I wish she would take it easy, but my mother is always on the move. I am grateful that she is doing so well.

Friday was my son Matthew's 4th birthday. I can't believe he is four already. Time goes too fast. He is growing up. He isn't my baby boy anymore. He keeps telling me he is a big boy now. It is so sad. I wish I could make him stay a little boy.


Saturday was his birthday party. He had a great time. The best part about his birthday is the time of year it is. I love having a cookout and getting friends and family together. I wish we spent more time with our loved ones. It seems like older I get the busier I get. I know I need to make more time to spend with my family and friends, because time is always going buy.

I am so grateful for the life I have. I can't say that enough. I have a great husband. I love being able to stay home and raise our beautiful children. I love having the animals that provided us a better living. God is good. Having him in my life I know I can do anything.

The New Girls are Here

Sunday morning I packed up the truck and got Lillian, my four month old baby girl, ready to go. We had a very long trip in front of us. We were going to Missouri to pick up four 2ND generation Mini Nubian does from a wonderful breeder. My husband, who doesn't care much for all the animals, thought I was crazy. He kept asking me if I thought it was worth it. I know it was very worth it.

I only stopped for fuel and to feed Lillian. This was my first time driving this long and out of state. It was draining, but we made it there and home safely. I can not say enough how glad I am to be home. I don't think I will drive that far ever again in one day.

All four of the does are wonderful. I had to unload them in the rain. It was just starting to storm. I waited after the storm to milk the older ones. They both were excellent milkers. Even the yearlings were getting on the milking stand after I was done milking.

Monday I put the girls out with my other four girls. They are all doing great together. I could not be happier with all of my goats. It was well worth the trip.

It is raining. It is pouring.

I am so grateful to finally see the sun shining. It has been raining here nonstop. We haven't even got to cut our hay yet. It is hard to work on anything outside because everything is turning in to mud. The animals are as happy as I am to see the sun this evening.

I wanted to give an update on Patriot. He had his last round of medicine last night. He is still holding his head to the side, but not doing circles as much. He is happier today than he was yesterday, because he has a new friend. I went to a friend's house and picked up a 1st generation Mini Nubian buck, Domino. Domino is my 1st generation doe's buckling from this year. I am looking forward to breeding Domino to my Nubian does for kids next Spring.

I also have good news to past on. I am going Sunday to Missouri to pick up three 2ND generation Mini Nubian does. Two of them are in milk. I am looking to having more milk to make cheese with. A few of these does will be bred to Patriot. One doe has blue eyes, but her ears need some work. She is going to be bred to Domino. Well, that is the plan right now.

Well I have to go back to starting dinner. I have one very hungry boy. He thinks he is starving. A mother's job is never done.

Patriot is doing better.

I am happy to say that Patriot is doing a lot better. He is still by myself in the barn, which he is unhappy about. For the last two days, I have gave him a Thiamine shot each morning. This morning he is still holding his head to the side, but he isn't walking around in circles. I am grateful that he is getting better. I don't know what I would of done without him. He has became a member of our family.

Another exciting thing is being planned on the farm. I am making plans on driving to Missouri to get three 2ND generation Mini Nubian does. I am excited to be adding more goats to our farm. Hopefully, they will be here in a week or so. If all plans go well, we should have lots of Mini Nubian kids running around the farm.

Things are getting better.

Patriot is doing a lot better. He has his balance back. He is still holding his head to the side. He is eating and drinking great. I hope with time he will get back to normal. He does not like being by his self in the barn. Poor Maggie, 1st generation Mini Nubian, keeps calling out to her buddy.Hopefully, they will be back together very soon.

I talked to my vet this morning. She is going to give me another medicine to give to him. I just want him to be his self again. He is such a sweet baby. I am just glad he is already getting better. I can breath a little easier.

A stressful morning

I woke up this morning and went out to care for the animals. I always feed Patriot, our Mini Nubian buck, his bottle first. I called to him and he called back to me. I saw him get up and fall back over. My heart just sank. I opened the pen gate and ran to him. I picked him up and took him to the barn stall. He drank his bottle just fine. He was just having trouble with his balance.I took his temperature. It was fine. I gave him hay and water. He started eating the hay just fine. He is up walking around the stall and calling to me.

I called the vet. She said he might have bumped his head or have the start of a illness. She got some shots ready for me at the office. I am thankful to have a wonderful vet like her. I went to the house and got the kids up and ready for go to the office.

We did a few things that we had to do in town. I came home and went straight to check on him and give him the shots. He was acting a lot better. He walking is more straight. I am praying that the medicine will kick in and heal whatever is wrong with him. I have only had him a month, but he has been a great addition to my family. I don't know what I would do without him.

I am grateful for the life I have.

As I wake up each morning to go out and feed all the animals before the children wake up, I have at times stopped and thought is it all worth it. All I can say is YES. The animals are more than just pets. They are a huge part of my life. They provide me more than I could ever provide them. They provide a healthier lifestyle for my family. They also teach my children responsibly and respect for other living things.

I have always said that animals are what made me the way I am. As a child, my mother got us animals instead of toys. I can tell you all about the animals I had. I can tell you all about the great times I had riding my beloved horse Candy. She was a great horse but most of all she was one of my best friends. I want my children you have the same friendships with their animals as I did. Because of them, I became a responible adult.

So on days when I am feeling like I just want to give up and move to the city where I have less responiblies, I stop and think about what my children will be loosing. They will loose the chance to have a childhood playing outside with as many animals they want. They would never learn how it is to love something beside anothe human being.

I love my life and would never give it up. I am grateful for a husband that working so hard for me to be able to stay home with our children. So, I can give them a childhood that they can look back on a be grateful for.