We bought the farm!

We finally closed on the house on Friday. Then as a bonus Craig took me to get a car because I left my van in Colorado with a friend. We got a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Even though technically it is mine, Craig will use it to commute to work to save on gas and to drive in the HOV lane. I love the new SUV but I will be using the truck during the day. I am the one who hauls stuff anyway. Speaking of which...Saturday I spent most of the day driving to pick up a bunch of bunnies.
    I got about 12 Californian Rabbits. Most of them are girls so I imagine in a month I could be swimming in Bun buns. I plan on selling the meat both as human and dried into Jerky as fancy dog treats. I will write and post pics later as i am so tired and i am heading to bed.

My Ike is home!

I have missed my dog Ike so much since I left Colorado. He is the sweetest dog ever. He is a Maremma or Italian sheepdog. He looks like a golden retriever but pure white. I was so worried he and Bella would have either forgotten me or get really mad at me for leaving them for a month. They were so happy to see me. Dogs are the most forgiving, grateful mammals on the planet. So all is good in the dog department.
    It was funny when ike got off the truck. First he kissed Bella (His Wife) for 10 minutes then he kissed me and got a belly rub.Then he went and peed on every bush and tree in the yard! I guess he owns the place now.

  In other news, I had to go to the title place and submit a ton of more paperwork and sign it all. I am going to have a permanent claw if I have to sign my name much more! Then I decided to be healthy and get my flu shot. I actually did it for the 10% off your entire purchase coupon that CVS has going. I definitely don't want the flu. No one takes care of the Mom when she gets sick.  I just realized I am exhausted. I also built a closet organizer for my son Mason's room and I moved a bunch of boxes out of the POD. If I go to bed now at 7:30 I wonder if the kids will take care of themselves for the rest of the night?

Duck Trouble

I got 10 baby ducks on Saturday and I made them a fenced shelter. As soon as I put them in they went right through the fence like it wasn't there. So My hubby and I doubled up the fence and then it was too dark to do anything else so we called it a night,
   This morning when I went to check I only counted 7 and I thought they got eaten by something or escaped. I heard quacking so I walked down to the neighbors pond and there was a duck swimming very happily. I didnt see the other 2 so i figured they were lost. A few hours later I counted 9 ducks and there was a different duck in the pond.
     So I went to the store and got a lot of small hole fencing and redid their entire enclosure. It looked great and I even put a baby pool in there so they had a pond. As I was finishing up I see the one swimming ducky coming through the grass. I grabbed him and put him in with the others. They all walked around catching bugs so I went in and got in the tub. I have a great window to look out of from the tub so I look out and what do I see?
All the frikin ducks in a single file leaving the yard!
    Soooo, tomorrow I will be hunting for all my duckies. I bet I find them in the darn pond again.


     In other news one of my doggies came home from Colorado. Bella is my female Maremma. She is pregnant from my other Maremma, Ike. He will be here in a day or so. He got sick on the way and had to stop off at the vet. She seems to really love the new house and yard. The puppies are due in a month or so. I can't wait now that I have a nice barn to whelp them in. The last time I had a litter of Ike puppies there were in my laundry room and after a few weeks having 8, 40lb puppies was a LOT of work. A barn will be better.

Rain Rain...Go away

Ok, as a farmer it seems very wrong to be tired of rain, especially coming from Colorado. But in the last week we have had over 8 inches of rain and it just rains all day without letting up. The good thing is that there doesn't seem to be any large areas of standing water. I have been in touch with a few goat and sheep breeders. I want to start raising Hair sheep like Dorpers, Katahdin, and possibly some other hair breeds. They don't need shearing and they are very meaty. As for meat Goats I think i will stick to Boers, Kikos, and Fainting Goats.The market for meat goats and sheep is very high and we have to import over 70% of them to America. I don't know how many I will get before winter. I really want to concentrate on getting the alpacas out here first. I am also getting a guinea hog. he is so cute. We will probably fall in love with the little porker and have to use him as a stud instead of eating him.

So Much to update!

I know suck at updating. A lot has happened in a short period of time so I will explain...No there is too much, let me sum up. Instead of moving to Colorado Springs as planned we ended up in Warrenton, VA. I was very against the move at first. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my farm partner Colleen. We are here now and I have to say it is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. It is so green and full of trees. I can not wait until fall to see the leaves.
   i do miss Colorado and my friends. I am trying to figure a way to get all my animals out here too. It is not easy to move 20+ alpacas and goats and dogs and ducks and everything else out here. I am also still unpacking. This is a smaller house than we had but twice the land and the barn is so nice. I will continue updating as I finish settling in and start my farm back up.