Christmas Cards

After shooting everyone else's Christmas photos in November, I did manage to get our own little shoot done in a timely manner...even managed to order my cards with time to mail them out.

But alas, I ran out of time to address them all until today and then realized I was 10 short.

So I ask you...Am I brave (crazy) enough to run into Walmart to pickup those last 10 cards on the last Saturday before Christmas with my 5yr old in tow? or do I make hubby do it and risk him being confused when they make him sign those pesky copyright forms lol

Blessings Kelsie

Goats make me smile....

Saturday will be one year ago since purchasing Boots and starting the adventure into goat ownership...It is amazing how many times a day I look out the window at this 22inches of crazy goat and chuckle at his antics....I love my little goats...

Blessings Kelsie

Little Goat Herder

How could I not grab my camera and capture this...the sun was getting low, the kid had dressed herself in a cute country dress and styled her own hair...LoVe country living!!!

Blessings Kelsie

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Lead Goat?

I am sure I have lots of news I should share but at the moment I am drawing a blank...So here are the two high lights that stand out in my very tired brain :)

Rocky might not be herd trained yet, but he works great as a "lead goat"...where-ever he goes, they follow...Please excuse quality...Phone camera + sunsetting does not = great quality photos.

The last 2 weeks I have been knee deep in editing photos from my Easter Photo Booth....We got blessed and found a 3 day old lamb to borrow for the day, lots of sweet adorable kids came and made my job soooooo easy...If you would like to see more adorable photos grab a spoon and CLICK HERE....Seriously...these kids are so cute you could just eat them up.

Blessings Kelsie

Rocky and the goats.

A little Rocky update for you...

For those who missed the earlier posts about Rocky.

He is a 2ish yr old Blue Heeler...(Australian Cattle Dog)...His mom and dad got divorced and he is(was) looking for a new family/home...

So far he has proved good with the chickens and allows them to eat his food, share his water and even wander in and out of his kennel.

Nardia hates him...Every time he sniffs at her or comes near her, she yelps and falls to the ground kicking her legs...Rather odd behavior I must say since usually she loves the opportunity to play with another dog...She is not speaking to any of us adult humans either and has taken to sleeping in the teenagers room lol...I guess at 13yrs old she is allowed to behave strangely and jealous.

Boots was uninterested in Rocky, like always he just wanted to know where the food was.

 So the big test was how he is with the goats...Though he was raised with goats, he has not been around any for 6 to 8 months, plus these are not the same goats he was bonded to as a puppy...He was not bad with ours and I am sure it was his herding instinct making him want to nip at their ankles...When there is a fence between them he will take his ball to the fence trying to get them to come out and play...but truly showed no aggression towards them.

Deenie was not happy with the intruder and actually worked very hard to keep him away from Boots as much as possible...She is going to be a good mummy one day.

But I would still not feel comfortable just yet leaving him alone with the goats, and really would prefer there is 2 of us in the pen when he is in there with them...He is young and new to us (and again not worked with goats for a good while), so will need a little work to get him where we need him and to respond immediately to our voice commands...

We are going to build a secondary pen next to the goat yard for him, and then we can rotate him and the goats so they can graze both pens...Right now we are forced to keep him on a runner which is not ideal, but better than where he was before...It also means more work for me since I have to take him and let him run in the goat yard each morning before I let the goats out of their smaller pen. Walk him on a lead because we do not have boundary fences up yet and he loses his head when he sees a cat...Another example of the work we need to do with him to turn him into a good working dog as he grows up...but all in all he is a good dog so far.

Blessings Kelsie

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Random Goat Cuteness

Blessings Kelsie

Lavender for Goat Lice?

As tends to happen when you have indoor/outdoor animals, we got invaded by fleas...They were pretty persistent on the dog, and it took a double dose of Advantage (2 weeks apart) and then finally the flea pill from the vet...

But in the meantime, the couch being the only soft furnishing in the living room, got infected (what does this have to do with the goat lice?...I am getting to that)...Well since we have a 3 yr old, I did not want to use harsh chemicals on the piece of furniture she loves to sleep on, so I started researching how to use Lavender on household furnishings to get rid of fleas...Well in my search I also discovered a method used to remove them from your dog...

Simply mix a few drops of lavender oil in a bottle or bowl of water...dip or spray the brush and deep groom you pet...It also mentioned it gets rid of ticks and lice...*light bulb moment*

Due to the winter break from Headstart, I was not able to use the store brought chemicals on the goats because I had a constant companion of our 3yr old, and hubby kept "forgetting" (don't even get me started)

So today I brushed the goats with a brush wet down with Lavender Oil and water....Boots tolerated the brushing and his coat looks gorgeous this afternoon, Deenie was not quiet as co-operative, but I think I managed to brush most of her....I will brush them again tomorrow...and see how the lice look over the next few days...I really hope this is successful and I can take the nasty chemical treatment back to the store for a refund since it is still unopened.

Blessings Kelsie 

Goin' on a Bug Hunt!!

Saturday we went ladybug hunting...

I guess Sara must have heard they like bright colors when she got dressed this morning...NOTE the gloves, I was told you need these incase you find frogs, "cause they is gicky" 

We looked under the front steps at the old house...Nope, no bugs...perhaps these chickens ate them all.

We checked at "Sara's Tree"...A gift from a neighbor while I was pregnant...NOPE no bugs there..

We found Diablo the stray cat that...yes we feed....was abandoned on our property a few months back....He might have bugs but I was not going to get close enough to find out.

After all the walkin' and huntin' we needed a break...So we sat on the back of daddy's 1958 Volvo to rest.

Nardia was like...That is enough 'laxin' let's go !!!

So we headed over to the veggie garden.

Hmmm...Something has been nibbling on the cabbages...I think it might have long ears and a fluffy tail.

It also bounded thru the Romaine lettuce and snapped them off...I think I would prefer to see them eaten than wasted.

Carrots are looking good...Thank goodness no bugs here.

Seems the cold snap (18F) two nights in a row has taken care of all the bugs...It also took care of the pepper plants as well...Our temp greenhouse did allow us to harvest another basket of fruit before this happened though.

Well if we can't find bugs...Let's go play in the goat playgound instead.

Boots says "Don't forget about me"

Maybe when it gets a little warmer we will see the Ladybugs at our house again.

Blessing Kelsie

Goat Playground

Today I moved a few things around in the goat pen hoping to create some interest in playing rather than eating...Deenie did seem pleased with the dog house move and explored inside and out.

 I enticed Boots on top with some oak leaves...Yes I know, kinda counter productive since it is supposed to give them something to do rather than eat 24/7.

Even with Boots showing the way, Deenie was less than impressed with the "balance beam"

Seems Boots will do about anything if you show him food, he crossed the beam a couple of times..

Now doesn't that all look like fun to you...I have a feeling Sara is going to be very excited by it after school today.

Blessings Kelsie

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Cow Sitting and other farmish stuff.

Christmas is finally over at our house, so I guess it is time for a farming related update.

This is Buddy the Bully Calf, he lives around the corner and I have been looking after him while his ppl family went camping for a couple of days...It really was no trouble, just make him a bucket of milk twice a day...He thinks he is a big puppy and is very sweet...Very good practice for when we branch out in this direction of meat raising...I tried to get more photos to share but he would not take his head out of the milk bucket.

Sadly Sally Chicken whom we have been Doctorin' since the 5th of Dec took a turn for the worst on the 28th and yesterday morning I knew she was not going to make it when I took her cat carrier outside and opened the door and she just sat there and looked at me...By 10am she was gone...We gave it our best shot and how many Chickens get to sleep inside for the last 24days of their life.

Happy chicken news...all three of my remaining Easter Eggers are now laying...It really is nice to look out the window and see so many happy hens and Bravo roaming around scratching in the dirt all day.

Goats are looking super fat again...We have had a couple of cold nights so I gave them extra bedding which they promptly ate by the time the sun came up...Silly goats.

The fall garden is looking good, the broccoli had tiny heads starting on it...Hope it continues to do well...The various lettuce and cabbages are showing signs of growth, I need to go and spread around some more cow pooh I think.

Not really farm related but still outside, my sweet inlaws brought us a load of rocks for Christmas...Actually Flagstones to do the path in front of the house...I just know it is going to look gorgeous.

Blessings Kelsie

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Mani-Pedi and a New Diet...

Well I did it......I trimmed the goats hooves for the first time ever...Just like the Youtube video showed me...

WELL maybe not quite JUST like the video...

First I don't have a milk stand.

Second my goats did not stand still.

Instead I tethered them to the fence with a dog lead and executed various wrestling moves on them as gently as I could until I could both pin them and access each hoof to trim and file it....

Took about 45minutes to do two little goats...They are surprisingly strong (and good wrestlers) for such small goats...I am exhausted and my legs were wobbly from the experience...BUT they have nice trimmed hooves...well maybe not quite as close a trim as other more experienced ppl might give them...but they are a big improvement on what they were....I will prob try a little touch up in a week or two and maybe they will get used to the idea over time and be more co-operative...

A nice lady from the goat forum suggested that I try handling their feet more when we go and play and pet the goats so they will be less nervous about having them touched...Also I think next time I will have hubby help hold them while I trim...Has got to be easier :)

This photo is over a month old, they are MUCH fatter now

Also turns out if you feed 2 little goats, this much oak leaves a day x2 (morning and night)...and a hay segment twice a day (morning and night) they will still be short goats but they will get rather wide...Boots was looking wider than tall...I should have tried to get a photo of it but well...I did not :(

As of 2 days ago they are on a diet...Just one segment of hay at night and a small oak branch to nibble on as a treat or an enticement to come back into the pen when we leave the gate open and they bolt (as fast as fat little goats can bolt that is) 2 feet outside their yard and nibble the fabled greener grass...

We hope soon the sorghum will be harvested at the back of our property and we will have room to fence another grazing area, then I will prob withdraw the evening hay on the days they are able to graze the new green grass in it.

Blessing Kelsie

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Farm or Zoo??...You tell me

Sally (the not so sick but still comes inside in a cat carrier at night) Chicken, bless her little chicken heart. We tried to put her back out with the flock yesterday but Bravo is just too rough and kept chasing her down, now she is limping again...I think she prefers the backyard...wonder how she would go living with the goats?

The others are laying pretty well for this time of year, we average 3 to 6 eggs a day and I have found ppl willing to buy said eggs...yay for Egg money...I might save up to buy me some new boots.

I finally tracked down some clippers and a rasping tool thingie, to do the goat hooves (3 stores and a week later) and today should hopefully be the day I will get them done...Also have to treat them for lice..ick...fortunately Goat Lice don't like ppl or anything other than goats and sheep...Does not stop my head from itching every time I think about it..*scratch scratch*

Talking of scratching, I have to bath the stinky dog today...no she is not really that stinky, well no more than a 13yr old dog stinks anyway...I was delighted to find out yesterday that I can attach a garden hose directly to the faucet in the utility room sink so at least Nardia will be getting a warm bath out side and not dirty up my bathroom this time.

Speaking of which, yesterday we got a little side tracked (hence why the dog did not get a bath even though I had the hose attached and ready to go) because we discovered the old fish pond at the old house had sprung a leak and 6 little fishes only had 2 inches of super muddy water to swim in...So we scooped them out and put them in an old paint can (as you do) and then spent the rest of our pre-pickup Sara time cleaning out the old bearded Dragon tank and praying it would hold water...cleaning old garden pond rocks that have been in a now broken plastic kitty litter bucket in the sun for 7yrs and a small water pump...and made them a home on my dinning room side board...I am starting to feel like I live in a zoo.

Talking of Zoos...and this is a little weird, but I did in fact see a monkey on the loose a couple of weeks back...It was sitting on the next neighbors fence (and by neighbor I mean the ppl 1/2mile down the road)..looking at me...I thought I was going crazy and from the tone of her voice when I called my neighbor at work, she thought I had lost my mind too...and being as we have spoken just once before at my mail box to exchange phone numbers this was a rather bizarre phone call to make to her at work...

It went like this.

Me - Sherri?
Her - Yes?
Me - Hi, this is Kelsie from down the road in the blue house...Do you have a pet monkey?
Her - Pardon?

Me - Do you have a pet monkey

Her - Ummm no??
Me (very quickly because I can tell from the tone of her voice she is verging on hanging up on this crazy woman from down the road)...I am out the front of you place and there is a monkey sitting on your fence.
Her - Really??...ummm did you call the sheriff??

Me - No..I wanted to make sure it did not belong to you.

Her - Can you? I am at work and have a class of kids right now.

hehe Can you imagine what was going thru her head at this time??...So turns out that I am not the first one to see this monkey in the area...and he has been sighted again since almost a mile away...or could it be we have a pack (do monkeys move in packs??) loose in the middle of no-where North Florida.

But there is more...Last week the sheriff was in the area door knocking, trying to find out if anyone owns the Llama that is running loose just down the road from me....Good golly grief...I hope the neighbors with the Lion and Tiger rescue farm (1 miles as the crow flies to the east of us) is keep their animals locked up tight.

Oh and of COURSE there is another bobcat in the area, has been sighted multipul times and stolen a few turkeys already this yr...

So much for the quiet country life

Blessings Kelsie

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Thankfully

The fall garden is growing...

Farmer Brown feed the goats their Oak branches this morning

We have cute 2 little goats to entertain and give us goatie snuggles.

We were able to put up a temp divider in the chicken coop.

The new chickens got to enjoy scratching around in the woods for the first time today.

And THANKFULLY they all came home to the coop to sleep tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving

Kelsie

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Goat Doctor

The goat equivalent to a Easter egg hunt....Foraging for acorns under the oak tree

I am excited, I think I have found a competent goat vet in my area...He answered all my question without pause, his advice lines up with everything I have been reading in my books, in the goat forum and on other blogs...He is all for minimal chemical use and fecal testing prior to treating for parasites...they offer both on farm visits and for less urgent needs more then happy to do in office visits by appointment for no call out charge.

Now the rest of my week is going to involve lots of poop.

Today I have to clean the goat pen and add fresh hay
Spreed the old hay (and goat poop) onto the herb garden so come spring I should have good nummy soil to plant in.

Tomorrow, spreading cow-compost in the Fall veggie garden.
And the Cockatiels are due for a deep cleaning of their cage.
Chicken house needs doing too.

And just for a change of pace at the end of the week I will be making big batches of fudge to take to our church Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday.

Blessings Kelsie

Dream Goats

Many years ago before Farmer Brown AKA Hubby and I were married, we talked about what the future would hold for us...We discussed all the usual things, children, career paths, our expectation of a future together, what country we would live in (he is American, myself Australian) and the logistics of the relocation etc....and of course GOATS....

Just like any other couple preparing to spend a life time together, right??

Of course our discussion about goats was about one day when we retire, it sure would be nice to own a little land and raise a few goats, sheep and potter about our garden enjoying the quiet country life style as we grew old and grey together...

Well seems this dream was closer than we could have ever possibly imagined back in 2000 when we tied the knot...Due to a series of events that started with 9/11 and the impact it had on the airline industry (my husband's chosen field) we found ourselves re-accessing, re-working and by 2004 relocating to a small parcel of land in FL that had been home to more than a few generations of my husband's family...(they homesteaded it in 1896)

Finally in Nov 2009 we had the opportunity to purchase the parcel of land for our very own and we began to build us a little blue house...We moved into the house on May 4th 2010 (Our 10th Wedding anniversary) and then started working on making our long shared dream come true..

This year we purchased our first 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats...and though we have a long way to go, each time I look out my back windows to see these funny little creatures (usually eating) I have to pinch myself....Because these 2 little goats are just the beginning of the dream...

They are our DREAM GOATS...

Blessings Kelsie

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Evening Chores

With the days growing shorter (and cooler) the evening chores need to be done earlier...and since hubby works till 7.30pm 2 nights a week it is now up to me and Lil Sara to see that they get done before the sun goes down on those days...

Poor lil poppet really wanted to pet one of the chickens but they were just not having it...She is really missing Leo chicken who loved to be petted and hand feed...I told her come spring we will get her some new chickens to raise up nice and friendly.

We picked the goats some Sorghum stalks to nibble on as their evening snack...We had to keep them penned up all day because the wind was coming in from the NE and littering their grazing area with Wild Cherry leaves...Boots thinks they are candy despite them being toxic to goats...I can't wait until all the leaves are done falling and I can quit worrying about it for the year.

Other news, Big Daughter has a second round job interview at Walmart today...Please pray for her, employment is super hard to find in our area...We are still trying to find a viable and affordable option for our internet, until we do I am still limited on usage...I miss joining the parties and visiting all your blogs...I also owe many of you replies...I was lucky enough to get Pink Eye last week and got behind with my emails....now I am playing catch up...Just know I appreciate each and every comment.

Blessings Kelsie