little song bird

This morning as I lay in bed, contemplating getting up and beginning the daily activities, I opened my window. Travus is not a fan of this because it is still very cold at 6am but just pulled the covers up over his shoulders more. Bless his heart. I could hear a few different birds singing good morning. I love the mourning doves. They come every year and give a low cooing call. The magpies were screeching as usual. They are so loud. We have some small finch that live in the tree in front. Mixed in with the normal morning going ons of the local bird community I could hear one song that was different. I had to look out the window to see who this new contributor was. I saw a somewhat plain little dark bird perched on the tree outside of my window. I watched her as she sang (I am guessing the bird was a she). Her call was short and beautiful. She would call the same tune over and over again, as if she was announcing her presence. She would start out tweeting and singing and as she got to the end of her little tune, she would call so loudly that she had to beat her wing several times in the air. It  seemed like she was trying so hard to get her melody out into the world. I read somewhere that some song bird have a repertoire of up to 2000 different songs, able to trill and tweet magnificent songs. My little bird only had one but she seemed proud and happy to give the world her singular song. It made me wonder if I could be like this little bird. Sometimes I think that because my song is different or not as pretty as others, I don't contribute. I let pride and shame stop me from sharing with the world what I have to offer. I want to be more like my little bird, to shout out who and what I am, what I believe and love with courage and confidence...without excuses. 

Amy the hen

This little sweetheart is the Houdini of the barnyard. I believe she wakes up each morning asking herself what she can do differently than the rest of the hens. She definitely squawks to the beat of a different drum. She is ALWAYS out of the chicken run. She will follow me inside the run but tricks me each time and slips in the barn when I enter. Yes, she is faster than I.  Maybe she is just a busybody and has to check on the cats, rabbits and goats. She loves visiting the goat pasture. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks the goats are better company than her fellow feathered fowl friends. When  not bedding down with the nanny goats, she is patrolling the yard for bugs. Who knows where she lays her eggs! It is like a daily Easter egg hunt! The day I shot this pictures, I caught her in the baby goats box right as she was laying her egg! I love her little crooked toes and the spunky attitude in life....just doing her own thing.

April Showers

The kids are off to 4H and Travus is helping with a ward service project. I am home alone, except for the animals. It is raining softly tonight, which doesn't happen too often here in Idaho (the "softly" part). It is still warm from the beautiful day. I just checked on the animals. The new teen ducks could not figure out how to get back in the chicken house and were huddled together in the run. I had to catch them and help them inside. There were still three or four hens out scratching and enjoying the rain. Both sets of pigs were snug in their bed and didn't even bother to move as I checked on them. The bunnies just stared at me when I looked in their stall but when I came up to my goats, who were paired off in their little groups sleeping I realized just how peaceful the barn is to be. The cats were laying on a straw bale, purring as they looked at me with curious eyes. I stood there, listening to the hens cackle and  fuss, the quacks from the duck and the soft rain falling outside and decided, life is good. I can't wait for May's flowers!

Goat Gone Wild!

I came home this morning from taking the kids to school and picking up my daily boxes of veggie from Albertson, to find the goat "hallway" fence had blown over and all of the goats were out! So here was the scene when I pulled in the driveway; All 8 goats were atop the four wheeler that was parked next to the garden. They were playing King of the Mountain...head butting each other and shoving to see who could stay on top the longest. As soon as I opened the door to the van, they ran over to me, much like a group of dogs would. They were so happy to see me. Their little tails were flagging and they were hopping all around me. What a wonderful welcome home. I began walking to the house to get help with the fence from Travus. This beautiful gaggle of girls followed me to the house, leaping and bounding over the front porch. I love their energy and happiness. I do have some goat poop to clean off the front porch but that is a small price to pay for such fun.

2011 Jan

So far, I am not doing a very good job chronicling my little farm life. Oh well, I get to start over again tomorrow. While we were gone to Seattle in December, Sundae, our Nigga doe had triplets...all girls. I love them. They are so fun and also a good reminder at what a miracle birth is....Sundae is doing well, she is a skinny thing now while she is nursing 3 little girls. I am going to give the girls a few more weeks on her then we will start to milk again. Ya!

This last week, we have had two litters of bunnies. One litter did not make it but....in the little wooden box, we have eight wiggly naked little bunnies. I can't wait to see what is next for us.

I have been doing a lot of research on beehives and have decided to (at some point) get a Warre Top Bar Beehive and then to try and capture a swarm of local bees! I guess in the meantime, I had better get going on growing enough flowers for the bees to pollinate!

The new mangers

After intense research and consulting many goat experts, I found what I thought would be the best solution to having an open manger for my girls. Goats are actually extremely picky eaters and often will not eat hay that is on the floor, even if said hay is there after falling out of their own mouths, hence very wasteful. The grand idea would be to cover the front of the manger with solid wood and cut out a "keyhole" shape for the goats head and a place for their necks down lower. To get their head out of the manger, requires the goats to lift their heads out of the lower part and then remove their head from the circle section....hoping that all the loose hay that would fall to the floor would fall back into the manger as they pull their head out. As you can see from this picture, Penny, my 6 month old nubian isn't shy about her eating habbits nor does she understand the whole "keyhole" principle
happy day to all!.

Starting my Blog

Okay, so have several crafty and smart sisters (and in laws) who blog and I really do enjoy seeing the pictures and reading the stories they post, so I have decided to enter into the word of blogging. This was not as easy as I thought. The "step by step" instructions didn't seem so easy for me. I ended up with 3 different blogs (all with different names)....and didn't know how to post anything of any of them.  *sigh. But I got it figured out and now I am on the yellow brick road of blogger heaven.
Today has been a beautiful day. I love these days, when it is a little cooler but still sunny. I spent my morning in the barn. which I think is my favorite way to start my day. I get to milk Sundae, our Nigerian doe, feed and water everybody and collect the eggs.I always have small little projects going on over there. I can lose have of my day before I remember the laundry piles waiting for me in the house.  I love feeling productive (it is not a feeling I get very often but it is so wonderful when I do). My goal is to be a homesteader. Which to me means that I am making the most of what I have. Bloom where one is planted. I hope to be able to do all that I can to help be productive for my little family. Right now, we are enjoying eggs and milk....what is next?