Rest In Peace Sweat Pea

I am sad to say that we have had our first death on our farm. Sweat Pea (what we were calling her until we named her) was found dead yesterday morning. I think she was sick when we got her. Stinky Butt (long story), her companion, is doing fine. She is putting on weight, loves to run and bound and eat anything in sight. Sweat Pea, on the other hand was not gaining weight, walked with stiff legs and had a ton of eye gunk. We assumed this was because she was little, but maybe it was because she was sick. Had we thought for a moment she was really sick, we would have had a vet look at her. I feel that it was our fault for not thinking it was something to be worried, but how were we to know? Hubby burried her in the woods yesterday, and marked her grave with a makeshift cross. Heres to Sweat Pea! Stinky Butt (named so because she had diarrhea the first day we got her and havent come up with an official name yet) is doing splendid. Hubby put up a new fenced area in the brush, and she is an eating machine! Ill post pictures later tonight. Hubby attached the fencing to the calf hutch so that she has plenty of covered space. We will move the fencing once she eats the brush in this area.

The Farm Count

Heres the farm count as of today- Dogs- 3 Cats- 2 Rabbits- 2 Finches- 4 Hens- 4 Roosters- 2 Goats- 2 Turtle- 1 Fish- too many

New Kids on the Block

Today we adopted two kids! Not human kids, but baby goats. They are 10 weeks old and as adorable as can be. I drove almost 2 hours to pick them up. The trip was well worth it. I went for one dairy goat, and came home with two babies. When I got to the sellers house, he introduced me to all the goats. I let him know what we were looking for, and he showed me what was available. My choices were between pregnant goats, currently milking goats, or the young babies. As much as I would love to have a pregnant goat, I didn't feel that hubby and I are ready for that quite yet. A milking goat would be nice. I concluded that two female kids would be the best fit for us. We could raise them from the bottle. They will be used to us. Then when they are old enough, we can "rent a stud" and breed them. Thus by buying the babies, we can have, in the future, pregnant goats and milking goats. That, and we dont have "real" fencing up yet. So I paid the man, shook his hands, gathered up my babes, and drove home. We had to make a stop at the tractor supply store to get feed. I walked out of the store, and heard my new babies bleeting in the bed of the truck. This will be fun... Once we were home, goats, housing and feed in store, I introduced them to hubby. The family was complete. Hubby, me and two kids... well not exactly...It was hard to leave them to go to work, but a goat has to eat, and feed costs money, so off to work I go... Ill update pictures when I get them off the camera and on the computer. Enjoy!

Victory Garden Farm

Hubby and I were so fortunate to buy our "farm" in July. At that time, the "farm" was a house, 5 acres, and 4 outbuildings, otherwise known as slave quarters. After living there for two months, we have transformed the house to our HOME. One of the outbuildings is a playhouse for the kids who will pass through this farm. Another outbuilding Hubby is in the process of making his workshop. Yet another outbuilding (was not safe and insurance said we had to take it down) is half torn down, half standing. The wood will become our chicken coop for our future meat chickens. And the fourth, biggest outbuilding will become the small barn. The backyard makeover will forever be in progress. Hubby has already cleared over 30 trees, ensuring we have firewood for next winter. This place, our HOME, we will call Victory Garden Farm. During World War II, American citizens were urged to grow victory gardens in their backyards so that the food from farms could be sent to the soldiers. Citizens pitched in to help out for the greater good. That is what we aim to do. We will plant a large garden in the back, grow our own meat and try to be as self sufficient as possible. We have become too dependent on fast food and getting things from others. I want to understand the whole process of what we are taking in. We feed the chickens, which fertilizes the soil for the garden, where we will plant seed and grow food, and the scraps will be given to back to the chickens to turn into fertilizer yet again. Its an amazing circle and I want to witness it all. By no means are we expecting this to be all fun and games. I understand that there will be death and heartache. But there will also be births and growth. There will be hardwork and payoffs. I am looking forward to eating the veggies from the garden next year. Right now the garden is not even plowed. What little of a garden that survived the move is in containers by the future barn. With hubby being in the army, and moving from Texas to Maryland, its nice to finally have a place of our own. A place thats ours. A place to belong. Home. We look forward to sharing our journey with you. So please, come along as we build our farm.