Changes on the farm

Yesterday brought much needed changes to the temporary living quarters for the chickens. Lon and I worked all day cleaning and re-working the pens, fencing and roosts for our flock of 62. Can't believe the number has grown so fast. Should of known when we kept having to go to the feed store for more food! They definitely have more scratching room here on the farm than before. Increased bug hunting should help with the feed bill. The biddies, all 14 of them were added to the free-ranging girls. They have grown so fast and we needed their play area for the 27 babies, who had bulged the sides of their pen beyond endurance. This group of Isa Browns and White Lace Wyanadottes were quite happy to run around and stretch their iddy biddy wings for the first time in their short lives. You would have thought it recess time on the playground for a bunch of kindergartners. Funny the biddies had been standing and looking out of the fenced in area at the hens and roosters out in the wide open world. But yesterday they stood and looked into their once enclosed area that the babies now occupied puzzled.

The building now looks more like a barn than before and all seem quite happy with their arrangements. Making the switches helped to make things easier for us to lock them up at night for their safety. Letting them out and serving breakfast each morning is a breeze too. Thanks dear one for all your hard work yesterday. The girls and I love it!

Amber and Sugar have continued to adjust and are getting use to our new surroundings and routine. Although they were determined to be where we were yesterday and pushed over the gate to their pen. Sitting at the table for lunch we decided that Amber's voice was being to easily heard. Only to be surprised a moment later to see her and Sugar's face pop up in the glass of our back doors. They love to be where ever we are and seem to think that they should be allowed indoors too. (Note to selves, re-enforce gate to goat pen.) They have discovered the plum tree in our yard and have scarfed up all the fallen fruit. Which has had me to scramble a few times to get the ones still good for our snacking. This morning Amber discovered that if she looked up there was plenty more of her sweet treats still hanging on the tree. Now I will have to go check the tree each morning before milking to gather in what is ready. At present we are gathering on the carport for our daily milking times between 7 and 7:30. Rain showers are not a good companion to successful milking. Though since moving the milking stand to it's new location we haven't had a shower to speak of. Uhmmm? I enjoyed milking her down in the pasture area under the shade trees. But staying dry was important too and now refrigerating her milk is a lot easier being closer to the house. Sugar spends her time tethered to a nearby tree with a pail of her own grains to munch on till we are done. Then all of us are off for our twice a day stroll around the property looking for the tasty leaves that they enjoy topping off their meals on. With so much space they have lots to pick from and with time we will be able to cut back, clear and open up even more browsing space for them. I know once we can get some permanent fencing in place and turn them out into their own space to play and nibble to heart's content, they will really begin to live the goat's life they were born for.

We do not have much to show in the way of producing our own food crops yet. As we had not moved in before planting time for a Spring garden. But we did put out 6 heritage tomato plants called 'Beefsteak" and two grape tomato plants that are looking good and already have small round orbs hanging amongst the yellow blooms. Six pepper plants have joined them on that side of the garden. An area that was broken up by a fellow fireman who came to do the much needed work on our driveway. Which is now void of humps and holes and is smooth to drive on. He even used his tractor to opened up the area next to it where the creek crosses under it. It looks so inviting, Thanks Mike!

Hopefully over the next hundred years we can remove the rock garden that occupies the space at present where we plan to plant a Fall garden. One thing for sure the sweet potato plants are growing strong and Lon says that I planted enough for the whole community of Woodland. If all 18 plants produce, I just might have. ;) Though one of my newly met neighbors up the road has a large field of corn. Mr. Palmer has already said I could get some of it when it comes in and I don't know for sure, but I would bet he would love to trade for some sweet potatoes too. I wish I had been able to capture a picture of him plowing his fields. It is a sight to see, as you don't find many who still work them with a hand plow and horse/mule power any more. Traveling back and forth to work on the house before moving we often saw him in the early or late light of the day working one row after another. I will have to keep my camera in the car and start driving by from time to time and to see if I can catch him in the fields for a snapshot. It's a priceless sight.

My to-do list continues to grow instead of dwindling as new projects are discovered now that we are living here. It still does not seem quite real, with each day bringing a new sense of peace to our lives. Hard work is not lacking around here, but it is satisfying work. Helping to flesh out a dream into reality for us. So much adventure to be discovered on our place, times to be shared and memories to be made. It is a joy to experience.

I have missed posting about our activities and had so much I wanted to share about the renovations on the house, funny happenings, set-backs and the challenges we faced. But busyness coupled with fatigue kept me off the computer. To try to go back and get caught up would be a HUGE undertaking for me. As I can I may sneak some before and after shots of the process if I can get the pics transferred to a usable file. So instead I have decided to let history be just that and share what is fresh and new in our lives here at Heartland Farm. It is no longer a farm lived out in our hearts and minds, but has become a farm lived on the land that was birthed in our hearts.

Enjoy your day. . . . . . I am,

Deborah