Down On The Crazy Farm

Goodbye Janurary

2012-01-31T00:30:00.000-05:00

Is it spring yet? I am not asking because I am weary of winter but because I have not seen winter so far. On one hand it is good because We don't have a furnace right now so having warm temps is a help but I love winter and snow and we haven't had much more than a dusting.

Maybe we will be able to get the $6k-8K for the new furnace and heat pump by late Spring. I can get along with no heat in winter but I can not handle no AC in Summer. I am not going to be able to work at the restaurant much longer. My shoulder is pretty messed up and now my neck and back are hurting trying to compensate for it. I hate the thought of quitting a job but I just can't take much more wear and tear on an already broken down body.
Still waiting to hear back on the mediation concerning the hospital. I can't say how much I hope this turns out well. I want this over with so I can get some closure. If I get a settlement I would like to pay off debt and go back to school.

At least we had a little bit of snow.

It's been awhile....

2012-01-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

It has been so long since I updated but I feel like I am just waking up after a long coma. Since the loss of my job and the attack of my animals I have been so depressed that I have been barely keeping up with the family and animal needs. Now that I am working again and pursuing legal action against both the Hospital for discrimination and the man who let his dog kill my animals I feel like I am getting better.
     I also went to the doctor and got some new medication for the constant pain I am in. I haven't been on it long but I am noticing it helps me to walk better. Any lessening of the pain is bonus. I am working weekends at Outback and still enjoying it.
    We have had a lot of upheaval this year. The squatters nearly ruined us financially but now we have great renters so that is good. The financial fun continues with both the fireplace and the furnace going kablooey at the same time. So for this winter we do not have a working heater. All is not lost, we do have space heaters and a pellet stove in the basement but if we lose electricity it is going to get quite chilly. The good news is it has been an amazingly mild winter but that is also a bummer because I love snow and cold but it might be bad to get hit by a big storm. I will probably get a kerosene heater for backup but I am terrified of them since we got carbon monoxide poisoning from one when I was a kid.
     The worse part of the depression has been my apathy for farming. It was what I was living for in Colorado. The feeling I would get when Colleen and I learned something new or made a meal out of something we grew or raised was amazing. Of course, having a friend that loved farming as much as I did made all the difference. I miss that the most. The weather was so bad from July to November that my joy in being outside was ruined. I am hoping so much that this spring and summer will be mild and we will have a real fall. It rained so bad during September that most of the leaves fell while still green. Very Disappointing.
   So things are starting to look up and I am trying to keep positive. Hopefully I will be in a farming mood by spring.

Middle of October...Wow!

2011-10-13T10:40:00.002-04:00

This month has fairly flown by. I have a new Job at the Outback. I love eating there and now I love working there. It is too bad I feel like my feet are crushed and on fire...that puts a damper on things. I feel like I have had the worst 6 months ever. There has been so many hard times and disappointments. My neighbors dog come on the property and in 1 week it killed 5 sheep and 3 alpacas. I do not know if I will see any compensation but I am out about 10k in expenses. I had panic attacks every time I had to go outside because I was afraid to see what else had happened. The animal control people got the dog so at least that is over.
We had non paying squatters in our house in Colorado so that has almost killed us financially. It is hard to believe people can stand themselves when they are such losers. We finally got their deadbeat butts out and now we have a great family, and our former neighbors, living there. They are great people and I am so happy they are there. Now that we will be getting rent again, and I have a job, I think things will start looking up soon.
I have been a mess since I was unfairly fired by the hospital for being disabled. I just can not believe they did that but I am now dealing with it. I like my serving job at Outback and I still love the food.
I am not sure what to do about the farm. I only have 1 sheep left and they don't do well alone. The rest of my alpacas are good so far but I am so discouraged that I am not sure I want to continue. Farming was so fun when I had Colleen. Farming without a partner, especially one who is a therapist, just doesn't feel the same. I will continue praying about this situation and see if this is something I should still do.

Septermber Already

2011-09-03T19:22:00.000-04:00

The kids are in school and I am looking forward to a long and colorful fall. I am not a fan of summer and this one has tried all my patience. September holds a lot of promise for me. It will get cooler, there will be a lot of veggies to learn to can, and I am a tiny bit embarrassed to admit but my favorite show, The Vampire Diaries, comes back on. There hasn't been a Show this interesting since Veronica Mars. I just ordered the second season of The Vampire Diaries and I am watching the first season again just to get into the continuity of the thing.
I have a ton of work to do and so little motivation to do it. The barn needs to be cleaned, the weeds pulled, an enormous amount of fencing, trim and weed the flowerbeds, throw away a lot of trash in the yard and lots more. That is not even counting the inside chores. I can see why Farmers have usually had a large family, so there are more hands to help.

This is my cat Gracie, she thinks she is my hat.

Summer is almost over...Thank Goodness!!

2011-08-25T20:03:00.000-04:00

I have been sort of floundering since I was fired last month. It had been hard to deal with giving 100% of yourself and it not being enough. I have filed a discrimination suite against the hospital under the Americans with Disabilities Act so hopefully that will work out in time. Meanwhile I can not figure out anything I can do for a job that I can do physically that I am also qualified for.
In the midst of all that one good thing happened, I had a very cute little alpaca boy born. Now I am waiting for 3 more to give birth. I hope for healthy first then female. I have way too many boys.

The baby's name is I like you a latte. The kids have started school. My high school son, Jack, is doing very well. He is very less than social but at least his grades are good. My 5th grader, Mason, had to go to a new school this year because of redistricting. So instead of going 3 miles to school now he has 15. It is NOT cool. But he seems to think the playground is better so I guess it makes it even??

It's Complicated

2011-07-25T12:04:00.000-04:00

I doubt this link will work, because I do not know what I am doing.

A Whole Ball Of Crap

2011-07-23T17:51:00.000-04:00

So in the last 2 weeks here is what has been going on...
I worked my regular schedule until Wednesday the 13th. On Wednesday I have my first employee update on how I am doing with My boss Leanne. She said I was doing well but I needed to focus a bit and not talk with the patients so much. She said she had plans for me to be the only phlebotomist on the shift soon and that freaked me out because I didn't think I was ready since I had only had 3 weeks on the job. She showed me a cheat sheet on some computer things and I practiced so I felt much better about that by Friday. I worked until 11 on friday and then when I came home I couldn't sleep. Around 3 am I finally got ready for bed and turned out the light. As soon as I did the hospital called and they begged me to work the 4-6 AM shift. So after no sleep, I came in so no one would be over swamped with work. It went really well and I went home tired but happy that I could help. Monday and Tuesday went fine at work but one of my alpacas died of heatstroke. I was very upset because she was a pregnant female so I spent the very hot morning burying her then I went to work. When I got to work I start doing some lab stuff and my boss asks to speak to me. Then she FIRES me! With no warning, no reprimands of any kind...just bye. I asked why and she said I was too slow. Since I didn't have any way of knowing how fast She wanted me to be I asked for more detail. She was quite vague and I reminded her that I was disabled with my poor feet and back,but she said she knew that and it didn't make any difference. I am pretty sure that goes against the Americans with Disability Act. So now I am looking for a lawyer and filing a discrimination charge on them. Hopefully it will work out. I gave that job my best and It was unfair that they fired me for no good reason,
The really annoying thing is they could have made accommodations for me. I could have worked night shifts because they are quieter, or I could have worked in Blood Draw where I wouldn't have to walk all over the hospital. i don't know why they didn't try to find something for me rather than just firing me and hiring and training someone new.
I will write more in a bit....

My Day Off

2011-06-30T18:33:00.000-04:00

I have been working the 4am to 1 pm shift at work and I am tired!! Today was my day off but I had to go to the hospital at 7:30 to get an ultrasound. I have been having stomach pain and gaining weight like I am mainlining Twinkies (but I am not) so I hope they can figure out whats wrong. I don't like being a patient, my entire family are terrible patients.
My Dad had to spend nearly a month in ICU and he thought he was in prison camp and kept trying to escape. if it weren't for my incredible brother Andy, I am pretty sure Dad would have been put in the Psych Ward. Even with Andy there, dad kept trying to get out of bed and pulling out tubes. Andy was so traumatized by the experience he went to Afghanistan for a break.


These guys have to start helping around the house!!

Since I am working, not much is getting done around the house. I am definitely going to write a chore list for the boys. I think they can do laundry and dishes. That would take a major load off me.

Sometimes Farming Sucks!

2011-06-26T22:28:00.000-04:00

I spent the last 3 weeks raising 50 meat chickens. I made sure they had food and water and even came home from work to check on them on my lunch hour. They finally got too big for their brooding pen so I moved them to a big portable coop so they could be on grass. They looked very happy scratching the grass and dirt and chasing bugs. I get up this morning and they were all gone, not one was left in the coop. I was just heartbroken. I try so hard and it is so frustrating when nothing comes of it.
During the day I was able to find a few of the chicks. They seemed to be popping out of bushes. The count is up to 8 now...pitiful but better than nothing. As I was raking grass and feeling very sorry for myself and thinking I should just stop farming (and having a panic attack at the very thought) I heard a peeping so I ran to the front yard and followed a peep as he was running out of my yard and towards the neighbor's pond. I caught the chick and then looked up and found myself in a thick overgrown raspberry patch. Yeah!!! I got my hubby and we picked the sweetest raspberries, a whole bucketful. we enjoyed them for dessert with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream. I am still very bummed about the loss of my chicks but I definitely feel a little better on my sugar high.

I Have a New Job

2011-06-20T21:01:00.001-04:00

I started my new job at the local hospital. I haven't worked drawing blood in 10 years. I hope I will get the hang of it as I used to be quite adept. So far the hospital and co workers both seem very nice so far. If you are wondering why I am working off farm after so long it is because I need some social interaction and the money will be very welcome since the renters will be leaving my Colorado house.

What a Week!

2011-06-17T11:42:00.000-04:00

I feel so Farmy! My prayers were answered with comfortable weather so on Monday I cleaned the barn, Tuesday I got all the alpacas in the barn so they would be easy to catch on shearing day, then I butchered 10 chickens.
This was my first time to butcher all by myself (I miss Colleen) and it went pretty well. I drove an hour to borrow a chicken plucker (so worth it!) then I set up my area. I had a fire burning under the scalding pot which turned out to be brilliant because the smell of the smoke covered the smell of chicken guts.
The plucker was an interesting experience. It took off the feathers so fast but i got covered with them (yuck!) and it took off a few wings so some of my chickens looked a little disabled. Still I finished 10 chickens in 4 hours...then another chicken came out of the bushes. I was too tired to care at that point so he got a stay of execution. I delivered them to the customer after the shearing on Wednesday and they were very pleased.

Shearing was dirty but went very fast. The guys managed 19 alpacas in 4 hours. I was way impressed. I had a bad eye allergy during the process and had to take benadryl after the shearers left and passed out until 6:30. Then I took the chickens to the buyers. It was a long day.


Before

After

It is so HOT!!!

2011-06-02T09:15:00.000-04:00

I feel so bad for not updating but it is always so busy. In the last month we have had to deal with excessive rain, excessive heat, excessive ants, taking pigs to butcher, raising meat chicks, driving to GA, having guests come here, school, work, and lots of chores.
I actually love this crazy farm life but it does get annoying when the sheep get out and eat your flowers or something gets into your meat chickens and eats them! Sometimes I think I should just give it up, especially when some people are not very supportive, but I know I live to farm. I really wouldn't function well without my animals.
We had all the lambs born healthy and female. That's

good news for breeding but now we don't have any to eat. I am looking for a ram to rent for a bit to get

the moms preggo again. I don't want to keep one on
farm, they are too much trouble.

So Tired of Rain!

2011-04-18T13:13:00.000-04:00

Back in Colorado I really appreciated the rain. It was so needed, that I usually sat outside on the porch and watched it. I loved the sound of the rain on the roof and the fresh smell of the dirt after it got wet. There was almost always a rainbow, too.

It never lasted long so it was always a treat. It is not the same in Virginia! It rains so much, and it lasts all day. I feel like I am walking on wet sponges. It is very green here and I love that but I feel like I am starved for sunshine. I know the bugs are going to suck though.

Another downside of the wetness is the amount of parasites. I have a lot of animals and many of them are for meat so I don't want to use toxic or even questionable medications on them. That makes it hard to control the bugs. I am using a rotational grazing system that I haven't done before so I don't have it down perfectly, yet.

It is spring break for the kiddos now. I love not having to wake up so early. I am waiting patienly, sort of, for my second sheep to give birth. I am not sure the sheep are worth keeping yet. They seem to eat a lot but they are also supposed to be good eating, too. We will see how selling them goes. I also only have females right now and they are for breeding not eating so I hope the next batch has a boy.

Birthdays and Planting

2011-03-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

We finally got some sun this last weekend so I got to work fixing my raised beds. They were covered with weeds. After I cleaned them up I dumped a ton of alpaca crap over them and then a bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil. When I was done they looked so full of potential.

I planted raspberries and hydrangeas and sugar snap peas. It is still a little chilly to plant much more but every week gets warmer. We should have a rainy wednesday then a few nice day. I have a lot of blueberry and blackberry plants to plant. I want to have a huge edible landscape.
Today we celebrated my Son's 15th and my husbands 41st birthday. It was fun. I can not believe how old my kid is!!

I can blog from my phone,now

2011-03-09T22:31:00.001-05:00

No good excuses for not updateing. I do love my electronics. My ipods and Droid keep me boredom free...boredom being an ADDers worst nightmare.

You Can't make This Stuff Up!

2011-03-06T19:57:00.000-05:00

Opposites Attract

Miss Daisey wants to drive herself.

So, my feet hurt pretty bad from Plantar Fasciaitis but lately My left foot has been feeling like it has been smashed with a hammer. It's getting so bad that my ankle and my knee is hurting because I am walking funny to avoid the pain.
   I finally went to the foot doc and he pissed me off so bad. He comes in, looks at my foot, says my problem is my back and then gives me a prescription and leaves. Doesn't explain a thing. So needless to say I won't be going back to him.
     I went to a urgent care place and they were so nice. I had to sit and fill out papers while 3 inbred kids with severe ADHD ran around the room like they were on crack. It was hard to concentrate but then I saw the Nurse Practitioner or the PA and she gave me a script for 2 medicines that I hope will help with the pain.
     I hate taking meds but I can't hardly do anything with this foot pain. I want a job but it's hard to do when you can't walk. I also want to exercise and can't do that either. I am waiting to see if I can find a incentive to get my prescription filled somewhere. Usually you can get a gift card or something.

I Hate Allergies

2011-02-22T19:01:00.000-05:00

I am high on Benadryl right now. I finally got my alpaca skirting table built. Skirting is when you go over a fleece and get rid of the yucky stuff. Anyway I went through about 100 lbs of fleece and all the dust and weeds and hay has made me so sick with allergies that I even had to use the inhaler. So I took a bath and now I feel much better but still woozy. I don't handle benadryl very well.
The sheep settled in pretty well. They are running all over the field like they own it. The alpacas didn't think it was a big deal to have new animals although there is a little more fighting over grain now. I met a really neat guy that I will explain about when I can think straight.

The Weather Man Lied!

2011-02-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

I got up this morning ready to fence but it was so cold that my hands wouldn't work and I can't fence in gloves...So not as much work got done. I did get to meet 2 very nice ladies who came to look at my last male puppy. They loved him, of course, so I am holding him until he can be moved to North Carolina. He will love running around the mountains,I am sure. I found a tick on one of the pups so I will need to treat them all.
I can not believe we have ticks this early. One of the cons of living here. Not many ticks back in my part of Colorado. I think this year will be quite a learning experience, I hope it won't be too hard on my animals. Luckily, I am meeting lots of knowledgeable people that are giving me good advice about farming here. Tomorrow should be actually warm so I will fence no matter what. My 2 Katahandin Ewes come on Tuesday. This will be my first sheep.
I also got in touch with a very nice 70 year old farmer who is looking to give his fainting goats away to someone who will not eat them. I told him I will take good care of them. He was a very interesting guy and I am hoping to meet him in person on Monday or Tuesday. I am heading to bed now. I'll be back soon, hopefully I will be unscathed after fencing but I am not betting on it. Fences and I do not get along.

Football is Over, Finally

2011-02-07T21:19:00.000-05:00

Since my broncos and hubby's Chargers flunked out it was no fun to watch the Superbowl, so I didn't. I was enjoying the 40 degree day. It has been rather cold so anything above 35 is appreciated. I let the pigs out today to stretch their little, stumpy legs and they scared the alpacas. It was funny the alpacas were all running in a herd like a wolf was after them and the pigs couldn't have cared less. They were way to busy digging up my yard. I am thinking of bacon every time I trip over a pig hole! I tried to get a good pic of Wilbur and Rocket J. Pig but they were too happy digging then they rushed me. They are funny and if it weren't for the digging i would probably not eat them...maybe.

It's the weekend!

2011-01-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

I love the weekend. I get to sleep in and on Saturday I get to eat anything I want. Hubby and I are doing a Slow Carb Diet. Essentially it is just eating eggs, meat, beans and veggies all week and anything you want one day a week. The Cheat Day helps you make it through the week and the food you are allowed to eat is very good and filling. I usually only miss eating fruit during the week. On Saturday I eat like 4 bananas and any other fruit I can get.

I was mad the other day because i finished a post and it just disappeared. I had to chase all the boy alpacas back into their field because they got in with the girls and craziness ensued. It all ended well but I was pooped after all that running and wrestling.

I need to make rabbit cages so I went to the Habitat for humanity Resell Store and got some really ugly cabinets for a few dollars. I am going to attach screens and feeders and make them into nice but cheap rabbit cages. I am better at adding to an existing project then starting from scratch. I am not what you would call an exact person. I am a strong believer in "good enough is good enough". I am married to a perfectionist though so I do try hard to make my projects not look like a junkyard. You can take the redneck girl out of the trailer but you can't change her!

Good Grief!

2011-01-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

DAMN IT! I just wrote 3 paragraphs and just lost it. Now I don't feel like rewriting it.UGH!

A good day for chores?

2011-01-17T00:24:00.000-05:00

Usually I do not believe that statement but amazingly the kids and the Hubby helped today so we got lot done. My alpacas got here the other day and it has been fun getting to hang out with them again. They are so cute and funny. The little alpaca to the left is Jericho, He is about 4 months old and so sweet. The white fluff ball is Tank, Now Sam, and he is 8 weeks old in that pic. He lives on a sheep farm now and seems very happy. The next white fluffy is Our alpaca boy, Israel. He and Jericho are best friends. I will be posting more pics If i can get them to go where I want.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T01:08:00.000-05:00

Well my biggest pup,Tank, went to his new home today. He is going to guard sheep. I traded him for 2 pregnant ewes that will come here in February. It is always sad to see the pups leave but I am happy he found a good working home. These guys along with Ike and Bella eat 40 lbs of dog food a week so The rest need to find their new homes soon too. I am mad that we missed the ball drop tonight...ugh.

The seed Catalogs are here!

2010-12-30T01:22:00.000-05:00

It is so cruel to send those beautiful seed catalogs full of colorful fruits and veggies...in winter! At least here I will be able to plant things a month or more earlier than in Colorado. You can't plant there until Mother's Day. I am hoping to get some cold hardy plants in the ground by late March. I am Taking one of the pups, the boy I call Tank, to his new owner Friday. He is trading me some Hair Sheep ewes for him. They are Dorper/Katahandin crosses and are supposed to be good meat sheep. I am trading another pup for some goats. Bartering is fun.

It's almost Christmas!

2010-12-19T00:49:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. We got a little bit of snow so I feel very festive. All the animals are doing well. I had a great Thanksgiving with my Best friend, Crystal and her family. The kids already got one of their presents. We adopted 3 shelter cats. They are making themselves right at home. the are total love bugs. Bella my Maremma had 6 puppies. They are 6 weeks old now. They will be going home soon. I am trading 2 of them for goats and sheep.They look like baby polar bears.

I have a ton of housework to do, I haven't made cookies, I haven't wrapped anything, I need to make more bunny cages and get some more rabbit pellets. My pigs got out of the pen and dug an amazing amount of holes in my yard. One got his tail bit off from the neighbors dog. I would normally be mad but since the pig was visiting her house I figured he deserved it. He is the one we are eating anyway but he recovered and didn't learn his lesson at all. I hope everyone has wonderful Christmas. Be back after the Holidays...or sooner, you never know.

Yucky Day

2010-11-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

In Colorado if it rained you were so excited because it was so rare. Here it is sort of annoying. Since last time I wrote My Maremma Dog Bella has had 6 puppies. They are so fat and fluffy. They will be 2 weeks old on Thursday and I hope their eyes open soon. I have 2 black guinea hogs. They are wilbur and Rocket J pig. They are a very rare and threatened breed so I hope to be able to breed my own next year. They are a perfect pig for small farms and homesteaders. Now I am trying to get my mind on thanksgiving and my best friend visiting.

We bought the farm!

2010-10-24T23:31:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-10-12T19:33:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-10T21:58:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-04T09:49:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-10-03T22:19:00.000-04:00

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.

Ah...June.

2010-06-22T14:48:00.000-04:00

It seemed that we went straight from winter into summer this year. When you go from 50's to 80's in a day it can be very shocking to your system. I prefer the cool weather but my farming partner loves the heat. Needless to say one of us is usually grumpy about the weather but not at the same time. I might not hate the heat as much as I detest the wind here. I lost the roof off my 2nd barn a month or so ago. I had to move all the alpacas over to Colleen's house so a certain nosy person in the neighborhood wouldn't call the humane society on me.
   We lived through shearing day, again. Ivan does a great job and it is actually fun but a ton of work. I had cut my hand up on fencing even before we started. An accident prone farmer is a scary thing. It went pretty smoothly and we finished up relatively unscathed. Now i have a lot of skinny, pipe cleaner looking animals. They look pretty hilarious!
    Since my brother's wedding in early april my family has been dealing with my dad being very sick. He has spent the last 2 months in and out of ICU and a rehab nursing home. He is only 57 and it is very hard to see him go through all this. He really isn't going to recover from all his medical issues but I don't want him to suffer. He seems relatively stable now and will prob go home until he falls and we have to take him back to the hospital again.
   Planting this year has really been a challenge because of the weather. I have put everything into pots this year so that if we move to a bigger place I can just bring them all with me. I hate the thought of leaving all my fruit trees I planted over the years but I guess it can't be helped. I have never lived anywhere this long, it will be 5 years in August. It will be hard to leave but I sure do want some more acreage for my critters to roam.

Why I have not written anything lately

2010-05-22T01:36:00.000-04:00

Well I got really mad because I had linked to Amazon as an affiliate but because of Colorado charging sales tax they wouldn't let me. Hopefully there will be other affiliates that won't mind the sales tax thing. I also just got back my Sony Vaio Laptop. I have had to have it fixed like 3 times in a year.It is really making me mad and if it breaks again I may just go with another laptop.
On the farming side, The weather has been terrible. I have not been able to plant because of the cold. I had all the seedlings in my window and the cats either ate most of them or layed on them until they were flat. Still, I am keeping up the hope that I will be able to plant this weekend. I have several seedlings left so maybe I will have some success. I am doing great with the animals. We still have a lot of beef left from Spot and eggs everyday and a lot of milk. Now if I can get a few tomatoes, lettuce, beans and cucumbers I will be a happy camper.

So much to do...

2010-03-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

   Well it has been a very productive day. I did not get more than 2 hours of sleep last night but after getting the kids off to school I got on my overalls and went to work. You know you are addicted to farming when standing ankle deep in soil and alpaca poo makes you happy. At least I was happy until I accidentally cut my headphones in half with my pruning shears! I did get my spring garden plowed up with fresh soil and compost and later today I plan to plant my cold weather veggies.
   In other news my new milk cow is in labor. I am praying for a safe delivery, she is a small cow and I am afraid this first calf will be hard for her. I am excited abut having the extra milk, both for our customers and for us. I want to make cheese and you need a good amount of milk to do that. I am very good at making 30 minute mozzarella. I am going to make some tonight and have it with tomatoes. I love Caprese salad.
   I have a fancy wedding to go to soon. This means no farm clothes plus I probably have to wear heels. Still it is my little brothers wedding so I am happy to go. I am having no luck finding a dress though. It will be good to see all my brothers. i have 4 of them and they are spread out, both in America and overseas so it is special whenever we can get together.
   Now that I have had lunch I think I am going to take a nap before I plant. No sleep is catching up with me.

Tattoo cont.

2010-03-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

I picked snowflakes for part of my tattoo because I adore watching snow fall. I am watching it right now actually. It makes me feel so cozy and calm. I added the black design to be a little bolder than just snowflakes. I will post a pic as soon as it heals. It is itching like Crazy!!! It hurt quite a bit but the last 10 minutes were plain torture. It took 2 hours total and it looks great according to Hubby.
We celebrated both My 14 yr old son, Jack and my Husband Craig's birthday on the 15th. Craig turned 40 so it was a big one. I made him a thanksgiving type dinner from one of our own farm turkeys and his sister Staci and her Husband Richard came up for a visit. It was fun but what did my extremely smart, hardworking husband want for his 40th birthday??? An Xbox and Modern Warfare 2 so he could play against our 8 yr old. He still can't beat him but he has spent MANY hours trying to. I am an X box widow. I have had a pretty bad cold for a few days now so I am just happy they are keeping busy and not bugging me.
We have a new cow named Coco. She is so cute and chocolate colored. She is way pregnant and we can't wait to add her to our dairy but she is a little skittish. We are feeding her lots of treats and petting her so hopefully she will be calmer after she has the baby and it is time to milk her. I have sold 3 milk goats this week so I am feeling rather like a farmer now. It is nice to see some money coming in instead of constantly going out. Still, farming isn't about money to Colleen and I. We just want good food to be available for our families and customers.

The Tattoo

2010-03-11T15:05:00.000-05:00

So my Co-Farmers daughter Kim just turned 16. A year ago she bought a feeder cow with her own money that she was planning to feed and keep for a year then sell for meat. Well she started getting attached to "Spot" and by the time she was done bottle feeding him she didn't want to eat him. Her mom and I plus farmers everywhere understand this predicament. six months later Kim was ok with selling him because she almost never saw him on a day to day basis but she still didn't want us eating him. Her mom made a deal with her that if she let us have spot without fussing Kim would be allowed to get a tattoo on her 16th birthday.
This Made me happy for 2 reasons. Fist when I met Kim 3 years ago I jokingly told her I would be the like the Aunt who took her to get her first tattoo. Her mom was very "Over My Dead Body". How far Colleen has come. I am very proud. Second I thought it would be a good time for me to get another tattoo. I haven't had one since I was 19 and I had that removed after I had 2 kids and it had expanded like a Lion Balloon then deflated. Ladies, Never get a tattoo on your stomach before you have kids.
My Hubby was actually excited and wanted me to get a Tramp Stamp. You know, that tattoo on the back right above the underwear. I wanted it where it would be covered up if I had to go be professional so the back was a good place. It was hard picking a design. I wanted something that represented me, like an alpaca or a pink tractor, not something trite like a butterfly. I finally picked the design and the big day was yesterday. I will give you the whole story in painful detail when I return.

Trash Day

2010-03-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

I really have a love/hate thing going with Tuesdays. On one hand I love getting all the trash out of the house. On the other I hate dragging all those heavy trash cans down my very long driveway and if I miss the garbage men (who come way to early) Then I have to wait a whole week to do it again.
I got into a big fight with Hubby last week over trash. I was already up so I took out all of the trash and let him sleep. Then fed all the animals and came in and made him coffee and breakfast. After all that he got mad at me because the kitchen was messy. I went off on him big time. I said if I am doing all his chores plus making him breakfast and getting the kids off to school, the least he could do is shut up and clean the kitchen. He actually realized he was wrong and took me out to cheer me up. It worked.

I Went Skiing!!!!

2010-03-08T17:07:00.000-05:00

I know that doesn't seem monumental but for me it is. My feet are so damaged from the army that for the last 3 years skiing has felt like my feet were being burned off. Yesterday I tried snowblading, with very short skiis, and wider boots and I was able to ski! It still hurt but like a 4 instead of an unbearable 12. That is on a scale of 10. I was able to ski with my almost 9 year old and that was so fun. He is amazing, just zooming down the mountain.He called me a slowpoke but i was skiing behind him to see how well he could ski. After i saw that he was fine I took off and passed him and he was so surprised! After the fun of that I came home to find out that my septic tank has backed up into my basement tub. Gross! I called the septic people and they will be out tomorrow. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. If it is between skiing and plumbing well it really is not as easy a decision as you might think.

This is a great book

2010-03-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

I recently met this author and I really liked him. He does a great job telling of the struggle Raw Milk Farmers are having with the Government and How we have to fight to have the right to choose what we want to eat. Read this and you will know how hard it is to do what Colleen and I do.

Old posts from website

2010-03-05T16:23:00.001-05:00

Feb 20, 2010
I am adding thses blogs from the past. They were on my website www.freespiritfarmcolorado.com. Enjoy!

Feb 19, 2010

You know how you never feel more like a parent than when your child is throwing up at 2 AM? Well you never feel more like a farmer than feeding triplet goat kids in the dark while it is snowing. I love it though and prefer freezing and being covered in milk and Who knows what else to any sort of paperwork. I feel called to farming in a way that I used to feel called to work in the pediatric ER. I got my new chicks or Peeps as I like to call them, on Tuesday. They were supposed to be delivered on Monday but it was a holiday so by the time I got them most were already dead. Thankfully Mcmurry Hatchery will replace the dead ones. They are a good company. I also ordered my Muscovy Ducks but they wont be ready until June. They are ugly as sin but they are good eating, less fatty than other ducks and they reproduce and lay eggs well. I also want some Sebastopol Geese but they are sooo expensive, but beautiful. All the rest of my animals are fine. I have 8 baby goats, and 3 fainting goats that I just added. I will be looking to get some boer goats soon for meat. We processed out meat cow a few weeks ago and I am thrilled with how it turned out. I recommend grass fed, clean processed beef for any meat eater out there. Our Milk cow rosie is having a small bout of mastitis in one of her quarters, so we are treating her for that and we won't be able to drink her milk for 4 days...UGH! Plastic milk is disgusting and we will just go without until Tuesday. I just got into the show Lost, so I am watching it on DVD. I am on season 2, it is very good, so I am going to go now.

Jan 21, 2010

Ah... A new year. Since I haven't updated since september here is a short recap. I have 4 wonderful alpaca babies. One girl, Gweniver, and 3 boys, Aston Martin, Ace and Jose Cuervo. They are adorable and I will post pics soon. Last night and today we had 5 baby goats. 4 boys and a girl. Mia is the last milk goat to kid. It will be very soon. We may have some pregnant boer goats but it is still hard to tell. We have 2 milk customers for the cow, so she is feeding 4 families. Not bad for 1 cow. Now that the goats are kidding we will be milking them soon. The alpaca breeding went well and I believe at least 3 are pregnant. Any other breedings will happen in early summer. We don't want any babies born during a blizzard if we can help it. I thought we might have to move to Virginia for my Hubby's job but he got a better offer in Co springs so we don't have to move! Hopefully the house will sell in Summer and we can look for our ranch. That will be so exciting. Christmas was wonderful because Not only was my Husband home from overseas but my youngest brother came home too. I hope neither one has to go back. We got the inside of the house painted and it looks great. Can't wait to get the rest of the things done around the house. It is so hard to look at all the snow here and know I am too injured to ski, so I am going to try to learn to ski in a special chair or on a bike. If I do not kill myself maybe I will be able to enjoy skiing again. My favorite show, Burn Notice, is on so I will update again soon.

September 21, 2009

So even though the leaves haven't turned colors and fell off the trees yet, I am actually looking at our first snow of the Fall/Winter. It is the earliest I have ever seen. It just tickles me to see it too, I love snow and snow days. I just don't expect them in September!
I have decided that October will be the month I write a diary and I will post it. I am horrible about updating so that will be a challenge. There isn't a lot to do in october either but I do want to get some food canned and make some jelly and cheese so I can at least document that. I did get some corn the other day and it was delicious. So this year I can add growing corn successfully and milking a cow to my list of new things. Craig seems to be doing well in Africa and has his own bathroom over there. That is a thrill to him because now there are no more midnight treks in the desert to answer nature's call.

September 8, 2009

Well Fall is almost here. I love fall. so what have we done since summer started? Well I got a few tomatoes, blueberries, cherries and apples this year. The birds stole the rest. That was nice to get something though. I may have some corn soon. I would be happy with an ear or two. I have planted a fall garden of brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and carrots. I plan on putting greenhouse panels on my barn frame so I will be able to grow in the fall and winter, I hope. I have planted over 20 trees including maple, cottonwood, willow and apple. I love red leaves in the fall. I have 4 new baby alpacas and a new girl. Belle has a very promising son from Axion Jaxion, Meg had a boy named Ace, Spirit had a boy named Aston Martin and Espy's girl is Gweniver. The little boys have a lot of potential and I can't wait to see them grow. All the girls will be bred in about a week, that should be a real hoot! Craig is heading to Africa for awhile. After that who knows where he will go? We had a good summer of goat milking and now we have bred them and drying them up. Our cow Rosie has us drowning in milk so no need to get any from the store. I have become very good at making Mozzarella cheese and butter. I want to make hard cheese but it takes so looong. I really want to move to more acreage with some good barns and outbuildings. I will have to get the house ready for selling and that should take about 6 months and over 10k. I do love this house but I want to have all my animals in one place. The boys have started school. Jack is in 8th and Mason is in 3rd. I can not believe my kids are getting so old, and they are dragging me with them! Tomorrow is My 14th anniversary. I am in shock, more because Craig is actually here. I think this is the 5th anniversay we have been together. We are going out to eat at a cool restaurant where you cook your food on a 1000 degree lava rock. Other than that we have both boys down with the flu so we won't be parting too hard. I will probably be writing soon but knowing me it may be awhile.

June 5, 2009

Well I suck at updating , I know but I have been busy. I went to farm school in Washington State and it was Awesome! Not only did I learn so much stuff like making cheese, jelly, grafting trees, and eating what I previously thought were weeds, but I met some of the Best people. We had a chef making all of our meals and I think I ate like 18 lbs of bread. It was soooo yummy. My alpaca, Espy, had a baby girl and both mom and baby are doing well. Our cow, Rosie, had a baby calf also a girl. Lucy is very cute. Rosie will be bred to a mini Jersey stud so we can eventually have mini Cows! I have been so busy in the garden. Farm school inspired me to come home and work like a dog. So I have planted all kinds of flowers and veggies. My fruit trees have been doing well until the long necked goats (alpacas) ate the dang leaves off most of them. UGH! hopefully I will still get some fruit. Milking has been going well. We joined the Raw Milk Association of colorado so we can sell our goat and cow milk raw. I have made a lot of goat mozzarella. it is so easy and very mild, not goaty. Can't wait to try making stuff out of the cow milk. We have had so much rain in the last 2 weeks. It is so green. I thought I was looking out the window at Dublin. My pastures are finally growing back so I will have some alpaca munchies by mid summer. Kids are out of school and Craig is headed back to afganistan again. I have the gardens and the animals to keep me busy though. I will write again in a few days...or weeks if I can remember Darn ADD I keep getting distracted by shiny things.

May 1, 2009

Well since the last updating we have had wet weather every weekend. I can not complain because we need the rain or snow, as the case may be, very much. I had 30 trees planted last thursday. Actually they were like big twigs. Well we were supposed to get rain the whole weekend but there was none friday or saturday. So since sunday was so sunny I loaded my van with containers of water and compost. Of course I spilled a ton of it in my van, but i got all 30 trees watered by hand. About 3 hours later it started raining and then we got 4 inches of snow! Oh well, At least the trees are really well watered. I have sold 6 puppies and I have 2 left. They all have gone to really good homes. I am happy about that but it is always sad to say goodbye to a puppy. Today started out good... craig and I took a puppy to his new home, the did some errands and went out to eat. then when we got home one of our sweet young alpacas was sick and laying down in the field. I couldn't get any vet on the phone because it was 5 PM on a saturday, and despite trying to revive her Karina died. We are all mourning. She had a lot of potential to be a great award winning animal and it is such a loss. On a good note though my little goaty, Leroy, found a great home with a nice lady named Dawn. I think he will be spoiled beyond belief over there. I am so glad when one of my animals can go to someone who will love them. Our Jersey cow will be here monday. Rosie will be having her calf in June then we will have some delicious milk and cheese and yogurt. I think between the cow and the goats we will have milk coming out our ears. If anyone out there needs some fresh, clean, beyond organic milk you know where to find me.

April 13, 2009

I seriously can not belive how fast time goes until I write the date here. Mason had his 8th birthday. He got a 4 wheeler and he is putting it together with my dad. It is really sweet. I think I will wrap him in bubble wrap when he rides it. 4 of the 8 pups have found their new homes. I can't wait to see them grow. I made everyone promise to email me pics as they get bigger. I have a bottle baby goat that is running around my house like a nut. He was a triplet but he is the only one who lived. At least I know next time to take the babies away and feed them because Mia didn't do so good at it. We are getting milk out our ears now so I guess we will join the raw milk association so we can share the joy of goat milk eith others. it really is good and sure tastes better than the soy I have been drinking for 10 years. I have had a long day and I have just been dissapointed by my favorite show HOUSE so I think I will call it a night.

March 28, 2009

I really need to update more and I am sorry. Since The last time I updated we have Had Jack's 13th birthday. Craig came home from another business trip, we finally got a good snowfall, The inlaws came to visit and we had an early 8th birthday for Mason. Oh and I crashed Craig's truck into the frikin' mailroom! I will post a pic as soon as I can. All the animals are doing well, except my new peeps did not make it. I do't know what happened there since I have been raising chicks for 3 years and I have never had them die like that. My replacements will be here this week so I will try harder this time. I am looking foward to spring really coming and getting some plants in the ground. I realy hope to get some fruit from my trees this year. We got some new neighbors, Quincy, Kelly and their kids. I sure hope they like animals. I think they will be a good addition to the neighborhood. They seem really friendly and they have a boy Jack's age so hopefully they can play together. Quincy even dug my dad out when he drove his SUV into the ditch after the snowstorm.Thats a nice way to meet a neighbor! Thank you Q! Colleen took the boy goats away from their mom's a few days ago and now my nubians are giving me twice as much milk or even 3 times. Those boys were stealing all my milk! from the size of them i will need to look up some good goat recipies in a few months. I will write again soon. Promise.

Jan 20, 2009

This has been a rough week for me. My poor mom got really sick tuesday morning and i made her go to the ER. It was a good thing she went because it turned out to be an abdominal aortic aneurysm. She had emergency surgery and spent 3 days in ICU. She is still in the hospital but doing much better. Thank You SKY RIDGE MEDICAL CENTER for taking such good care of my mom. As if that wasn't enough my dog had 8 puppies saturday morning. Thankfully all of the puppies are healthy and sooo cute. Lakota my Shiloh Shepherd turned out to be a good mom. Sunday Colleen and I took the kids to idaho Springs to pick up some brewers's grain to feed out animals. It will hopefully cut down on out feed expenses this year. Monday my Husband Craig had to go get a mole biopsy, but the doc said it was probably nothing. We will see. We have been having really nice warm weather so I really need to clean the pasture. There is always so much work to be done.

Jan 22, 2009

It is one thing after another here. The good stuff: I was able to get my mom out of the hospital. She was so doped up that she was hallucinating and it was soooo funny. Also, I had 3 baby goats born yesterday. I actually had a wierd day dream that they would be born that day, I am a psycho...I mean psychic. The bad news: my stupid van decided to die on me as I was taking my kids to school. So I had to have it towed back to my house and I have no idea what it will cost to get it fixed. I wanted to trade the darn thing in anyway for a SUV but I decided to wait until we had refinanced the house. So that plan has gone a bit south. Oh well God gives us the good and the bad and we roll with it. I am actually blessed beyond words.

Jan 26 2009

I had 2 more goats both girls. But then we had a pregnant goat and her babies die. It is always good with bad. I am so looking foward to getting some milk for us soon. The babies will get all of it for a week or two then we will start milking for the humans. Nubian milk is quite tasty and makes some darn good ice cream. we will be selling Milk shares in a week or so after we get the production up.

Jan 31, 2009

I did a ton of work today! I went to Idaho Springs wich is about 1.5 hours away and scooped a pick up truck full of beer grain. We use it to feed the animals. It is very heavy when it is wet. Then I came home and scooped alpaca poo for about 2 hours until it got dark. I can barely lift my arms but at least I won't feel guilty for eating a lot of superbowl snacks. I am not into football but I am all about the snacks. My puppies are 2 weeks old today. They have opened their eyes and are such little fat things. I will put up a pic tomorrow. At this point I can not imagine letting any of them go but if I kept them along with their mom and dad I would literally have a half ton of dogs! That's a little much. My total baby goats is 7, 4 girls and 3 boys. I gave one baby girl to colleen because she nursed it back to life after amost dying twice! Her name is flopsy and she is now a bottle baby and just Looooves Colleen. My last pregnant girl isn't due for awhile. In a month or so we will have baby goaties all over the place.

Feb 21, 2009

I haven't written in a while but i have been very busy. The Pups are 5 weeks old today! They are so cute and puffy and snuggly. I can't believe how fast they grew. I will be working on finding them good homes in the next 3 weeks. They were in the laundry room but after being up all night with with the yippers, I moved them to the garage with a nice cozy area and within hours it was all torn up and poopy. 8 puppies are way more messy that I thought. We have had some really nice weather lately so I moved all of them into the dog run so they could have some sun and dirt and some more room to move around. They really liked it. I took craig over to see the goaties today. he had never seen the babies and they loved him!

Craig with Flopsy

Is it Friday yet?

2010-03-05T02:39:00.000-05:00

I have been working my butt off this week. My farm partner had to go away for almost a week so I had to do all the milking myself. Thankfully one of our milk customers came over in the morning and helped me. I loaned Colleen's son Eric my car so he took my son to school and picked him up. That was a huge help. Saturday I went to a great Raw Milk Association of Colorado (RMAC) meeting with colleen. We got lots of information about the Colorado slow food movement and all kinds of healthy foods. I ate the best raisin bread I have ever tasted and got to hear a great author speak about investigating how the Government treats Raw milk farmers like crack dealers. It is very sad and anger inducing to read about. It sure was nice to be around other people who don't think you are some crazy hippie because you farm and drink raw milk. When you swap stories of how to process your own chickens, and how you milk your goats and cows and no one is looking at you funny it is a very freeing feeling. On the way home we stopped and picked up my new Maremma Puppy. Her name is Bella, NO, not from twilight but from Bellisima because she is an Italian Sheepdog. She is to be a friend for my Other Maremma, Ike. He is so happy to have a playmate. The cats don't really care for having their butts sniffed by a 100lb dog for some reason. My husband has been keeping me up waaay past my 11 pm bedtime. Normally I am the night owl but not that I get up at 5:30 am and work my butt off, I am pretty tired at night. We are watching a Lost marathon. I didn't want to watch it when it first came out but I am hooked now. I am off to bed.

Busy Day

2010-02-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

I got up at my regular time 5:30 am and got the grumpy 13yr old up and ready for school. Then I got the 8 yr old up and we had to make fresh juice because I promised him yesterday that we would. We made orange, pineapple, grape juice and it was very good. I love fresh juice. So I got him off to school then I had a terrible headache but I still had goats, cats, chicks, chickens, and a dog to feed. I set the coffee pot to start at 7 am and I forgot about it so as I was walking by it it started grinding the beans and scared the bejesus out of me. I went upstairs and geve hubby a cup of coffee and then slept until 11 am. I still felt crappy so Craif took me for a massage and a little lunch. That made me feel much better so I did all my evening chores,cleaned out the chick pen, milked the cow and goat with colleen then made a good dinner. Now I feel pretty good about myself. I always feel better when I do a lot of work.

Started slow but got better

2010-02-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

After staying up way too late because the hubby had to watch tv, I got up at 5:30 to get my oldest off to school. He very adamantly wanted a snow day but here we have to have like 6 inches or more to even consider it so no go on that. The poor guy has to ride an hour and a half each way to school but it is a therapeutic behavior school so he needs it. He can't seem to handle a large class so this school is very small, has constant supervision and is all on computers so it is the right fit for him. So I went back to sleep and had to drive my younger son, mason to school and it was snowy and icy and lets just say the drive didn't go well. Then I had to talk to the principal about how many absences Jack has had. Its been a lot. I was relieved to have that part over so I calmed down while browsing my favorite ranch store Big R. Got some chick equiptment then went to the post offie and picked up my 40 replacement chicks. I ordered 50 a week ago but they came on Presidents day and I couldn't get them so most of them died. I got them home and fed and watered then fed my triplet baby goats and got eggs. I just now got a nice hot shower and I think I will relax for a few minutes until I have to go pick up mason from school. Then I have to get started on my Evening chores.

Getting the hang of it

2010-02-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I posted a link on my website www.freespiritfarmcolorado.com so my friends and family can find this blog. So to get started for real I will explain more about me, the farm projects I am doing and several other topics including how the USDA hates small farms and it adamant against people drinking raw milk. I am also going to put the previous posts I added to my website just so they can all be in one place. I am deeply interested in small farming practices. The buzz word these days is "green" Living (Which although I support the word is just annoying and overused). I prefer the word "Sustainable". That is what I want for my farm and family. I want to be able to produce most of my food, and eventually have as much alternative energy sources. Living in Colorado I should have no problem with using solar and wind, which we have plenty of. Most of this stuff in new to me so I am learning as I go. Most of the time I mess up and have to redo everything but it is funny sometimes and tragic other times. Farming is hard as I am sure most people know but it is also so rewarding that I can not imagine not doing it. I feel called to farm and to provide healthy food for my family and then to the public. Thankfully I have met my farming soul mate in my neighbor Colleen. I met her one day while walking my dog and she was pulling all these multicolored kids out of her van, like a clown car. I asked her if they were all hers and she told me some were fosters, some biological and one adopted. That really struck a chord with me as I have always wanted to adopt a child. I made cookies for her family and then she made some for mine and then we became great friends. It really rocks that she is also a Psychologist because my entire family including me is nuts! I have saved a ton of money because of all the free therapy she gives me. Must take a break then I will get back to the story.

I still don't get it

2010-02-20T18:34:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I have a blog on my website www.freespiritfarmcolorado.com. I don't think I am doing it right so I started a new one. That one has the longest name ever and it is not on my website so I don't think I am doing that right either. My super genius husband can fix a network and a ton of other computer things but has no clue about blogs. So I will be looking around the internet for help then if I don't figure it out I will call Godaddy and ask them. I hate not knowing how to do something. Eventually I will figure this out and I will be able to blog about all the nutty things that go on as I try to run a farm.

I guess it was just me...

2009-04-13T08:42:00.001-04:00

I thought I had lost this blog. Now that I have my own website I will have to figure out how to add this. I am no computer genuis so I get excited whenever anything I try to do works out.

Wow, it's Feb already!

2007-02-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

Craig has been gone to Afganistan for a month now. Lakota is 5 months old today. I finally had the huge knots taken out of my hair. I had to take a Zanax to face that torture.
I know i have an appt or something tomorrow but I can't remember so i have to check my calender. I definitly need to take the dogs to the vet esp lakota. Iy has been warm thankfully so much of the snow is melting. that means the road is a mud hole. I was slipping and sliding all over the place.
The basement guys started work 3 days ago. so far the have the framing of the walls done and today the drilled huge holes in all the concrete to lay pipes. It should really be cool when it is finished. I am enjoying all the boxes that come in the mail but there really isn't anywhere to put them right now. I am really looking foward to taking a tubby as soon as I can.
I was trying to talk Karen into getting a retired therapy horse. It really would have been for me but I just don't have the space. I have to devote my small farm to animals that will pay forthemselves. I will be getting Chickens soon, Hopefully these wont die so fast. I have to go get my schedule written down. Adios.

Its been Awhile

2007-01-21T12:09:00.000-05:00

Well I have been a busy girl but I should have posted. I went skiing in vail with my neighbor Karen on Dec 13-15th, That was awesome. Unfortunatly I seemed to have such bad pain in my feet that it made skiing torture. It felt like i had 1000 charlie horses in my feet. The pain literally took my breath away. I had to stop every 5 or 10 minutes to lay down in the snow until the pain subsided enough to get back up. Thankfully every night We went to the hottub and I went to the spa and got a foot massage and that was so good I was able to walk without limping. Because not skiing is not an option I am going to see Ortho and get something done with my feet. I have put it off for 10 years but now it is interfering with my skiing and that is serious! While I was at the hotel I got to see the movie "the Holiday" with Jude Law. He is too yummy! Good movie, can't wait for the dvd.
So then it was back home and back to reality. We had a great Christmas with Craig home and his parents came too. We went to church with matt and simona and her girls and Karen. We went a little overboard this Christmas too but how often do you really get to do that?
We have been getting so much snow this year. I have had to have my driveway bulldozed like 6 times. Today we are having another blizzard. As long as we have power I am a happy camper. I hope all this snow will be good for the fruit trees I have. We have been having a drought but maybe all this snow will take care of that. Well i am off to do some chores and feed the kiddos.

All I do is drive!

2006-12-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

I am exausted I have driven so much in the last few days. I have been running around like a nut. This is my first blog and I am doing it so Tina Barber will have one less Shiloh Lover to "remind" to start one. I have a lot to tell but I am pooped, so much so that I don't even think I can make it downstairs to get a glass of Bailey's. Oh well,I am going to rest now and watch "The Class", "Heroes" and "Studio 60" and then sleep, Hopefully. Tomorrow I will post more about life with my New puppy, Lakota and the rest of the menagerie I have managed to collect since I moved to Colorado. Darn! "The Class" is a rerun. Ugh, at least Heroes isn't. Good night all.