Where Are You Spring?

Well, winter was long. And cold. And snowy. And still here. This photo was taken this morning.

We had more snow at Easter than we did at Christmas. But in all fairness, we did have a nice mild break in March. But it was just a teaser. Made us yearn for green grass and gravel driveways. But alas, April provided us with a famous late winter blast. Hopefully this will be the end. Warmer weather is bound to be just around the corner. Oh please, let warmer weather just be around the corner! My heating bills just can't tolerate it any longer. I want to spend hundreds of dollars on livestock, not oil! Or wood. We heated the house over winter mainly on wood but did have to fill the oil tank twice and are waiting on another fill as I type. When temps got below -20C, and I wasn't home to feed the fire, than I had no other choice but to buy oil. Which really spoiled me. Blessed warm heat with no labour involved!! I can officially say I'm sick of stacking wood. 

Speaking of livestock. We sold the pigs. Yay! We never ended up butchering them for ourselves. We had every intention, but both finances and means really didn't necessitate the cost. There would have been far too much meat left over that would never had gotten eaten and when you balance the cost of slaughtering and smoking and cutting, it just didn't pan out for us. So we sold them instead and chalked them up to experience.

One of our ewes had twins that were born stillborn just before Christmas. That was very upsetting. Both me and Farm Girl were at work and missed the birth. Not that I can guarantee we could have done anything to help, but it was another lesson we learned. Putting time aside for our livestock. But, in the new year, another ewe gave birth to a big healthy girl. That lived! Yay! First lamb born on the farm and to me since my separation.

But one lamb wasn't enough. I wanted more. Farm Girl kept texting me photos of lambs born at work and I was jealous. Especially when she texted me a photo of a set of quadruplets. I texted back and joked she buy a female off them. Having those genetics would be an awesome addition to our flock. Of course she laughed and said there would be no way, but lo and behold, I found an add for 3 bottle lambs that came from a set of quintuplets! I texted immediately and was successful in purchasing them (she had a LOT of interest).

Two ewes and one ram which we plan to raise for breeding. We love them and enjoy bottle feeding them so much that Farm Boy declared he wanted some bottle goat kids of his own to raise. So guess what? We now have two adorable little newborn bucks in the barn.  Man, I love babies!

Farm Boy then decided he wanted to raise goats so I bought him his first nanny.  She is part nubian and will make a good breeding doe but also a good milking doe. She's super friendly and easy to handle. Perfect for a 12 year old's first goat.

The little buck next to her is not hers but came from the same farm. We took him to finish him off and send him to market. Goats did very well at the auction over easter so we have our fingers crossed its a good year for goats all around.

So that's it in the barn that's new. In the equine department, we still have Chase, Farm Girl's horse, Pixie and Blossom. We sold Fantasia as I just didn't feel the connection with her. Our love for Pixie and Blossom is pretty tight that I think I just want to keep their babies and not bring in any others. I did buy a little project for us over the winter which I never got at.

However, in the spring for sure I'm going to hook Pixie up and teach her how to drive. I can't wait.

Meanwhile, we have gone to view some sheep and are hoping to bring them home within the next week or two. I'll try to remember to post some photos. That's it for now. I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos of our recent puppy litter. She reminds me so much of Quinn who we had to rehome after my husband cut me off support payments (will update later on that in a future post) without notice and we were forced to sell a bunch of items to help with finances until I got a job. And poor Quinn was one of our sacrifices.

We are not keeping this little cutie but she is going home to her grandpa's family. Sadly, he died back in November and they want to continue the line so bought one of Jewel's pups from us. Jewel is his daughter. Instead, we plan on keeping a pup from our other breeding dog, Jewel's mom, Emma who is at Oldest place getting bred to her stud who not only has a matching personality as Em, but is super gorgeous. We can't wait for their line.

November

It's November already and though we just finished a week long of beautiful weather, the cold northern wind is starting to blow in and I'm spending more time inside. It's been over a month since my last post. A lot has been going on that I really haven't found the time to blog. I'm now working on a chicken farm full-time to help with expenses.

My ex had cut me off support payments without notice. I had to scramble to make rent, selling most all my belongings to do so. But I'm back on track now and I've started legal action against ex. Farm Girl bought her first car.  Isn't it cute?

It's a Suzuki SX4 with a 4x4 option. Perfect for the approaching winter. Though rumour has it it is supposed to be a mild one. Fingers crossed it is.

In the livestock department, we haven't increased in number there yet, but we sold all our chickens after I got the job at the chicken farm as bio-security reasons demand no cross-contamination of birds. But that was okay, as they weren't laying anymore and were just another mouth to feed. Besides, I can get free eggs at work.

Our house was overrun with cluster flys.

The previous tenant hadn't bothered to get the house sprayed. Cluster flies are impossible to keep out of old farmhouses so it's important to get them sprayed every spring and fall. However, according to the exterminator who came and sprayed my house, the fall should be good enough to keep them at bay year round or at least the numbers down. Since I have a good landlord willing to pay for the spraying which can be costly at $300, I'll probably get it sprayed again in the spring.

The pigs are getting fatter. Especially Pork Chop, he's always been the biggest and the one we plan on eating ourselves. I'd estimate he weighs a good 150lbs. Won't be long now.

And I think that's it for now. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner just the three of us. Was planning on going out since it was just us but in the end, made a turkey so that we could have leftovers for lunches.

Halloween was wet as per usual but that didn't stop the boy from going out of course. He dressed up as Bane from the Dark Knight.

We are still hoping to get some more sheep in before winter, but not sure if that's going to happen. With winter comes heating bills and Christmas. I've secured a snow removal guy to do my laneway so no more worries about trying to find a snow plow for the truck. We decided after I got the job at the chicken farm that we would not accept any horse boarders. We just weren't ready for winter boarding and besides we wanted the space for sheep. So I guess since we've turned away boarders, we'll have to somehow find money to bring in the sheep or the space will go to waste.

Updates

Haven't posted in a while, so thought I'd write a blog with updates. First the pigs. I learned that I hate pigs. This is my one and only time I will ever raise them. That said, I've gotten more used to them than I did at the beginning.

Pigs are filthy, disgusting...well, pigs. I can't keep up with their pen. I took these photos right after I cleaned and laid a new layer of straw in their pen. If I didn't, I wouldn't get the chance to get a good clean photo again until I mucked out their pen once again.

My truck. I love my truck.

Cosmetically, he isn't the most handsome beast on the road, but man oh man, he's got power. I can feel his strength beneath me when I drive him and that makes me feel very happy. And safe.

Chase. Who is Chase you ask? Chase is my Farm Girl's horse. She had sold him to a family friend, then bought him back, then sold him again when we realized the previous farm was not an appropriate property to raise animals. She sold him to the same family friend so basically the horse has been handed back and forth over the past two years. Well now that we are on a great farm, Farm Girl bought him back once again.

She loves having the arena and working him almost nightly. She's been practicing her riding saddleless at a lope and both saddleless and bridleless at a walk.

Just this morning, Emma gave birth to a litter of eight puppies.

The three little lambs have merged nicely with the other sheep.

While the ram is being stalled permanently after he rammed Farm Girl pretty good in the pasture.

Christmas Ham

I know I've said that I've curved my impulse buying, and I have, really, but we brought home four piglets yesterday.

My farming practice is geared toward farming for profit but I have no intention of getting into pigs. We've thought often of buying and raising our own swine for self-consumption but I've always put it off because well, they're pigs. Not my favorite livestock. They're stinky, messy, and carry countless bacteria.

But then these four came up for sale at a really good price. Now, I don't need four pigs but in order to get the deal, I had to buy them in a group of four. I'll probably sell the extra's to someone or raise them myself and sell the meat. So, technically, it is a small money making scheme. Though I don't think much if any. But since pigs are a fast growing animal, I knew it would be a short time commitment. They should be ready for butcher right before Christmas. This year, we should have our very first home raised Christmas ham. Now that's exciting. Almost enough to make me tolerate their presence.