Sunday January 7, I will start today by saying Happy New Year!!! I know a little late but if you are like us, the holiday season is a constant go, go, go time. It went by like a blur. They kids had a blast and it was good catching up with family that you don’t see throughout the year. We are excited to get back to a normal routine and to slow down and take a breath. Well slow down with the family get togethers anyway. It is time to start prepping for the spring growing season.
Alright, let’s catch up on the farm activities. Here we go:
- Just before Christmas we had a bull calf born. We named him Nicholas.
- The chickens are still working hard on preparing the garden spot.
- Ice has been our enemy these past couple weeks.
- Carrying buckets of water every morning and and having to break ice off the waterers throughout the day.
- Swapping the Rabbit waters out at night and the water nipples throughout the day.
- And dumping out all the water buckets out at night so they are not big ice cubes in the morning.
- The good news is the bad cold snap is on its way out.
- Our daily cattle ration is going well. We are continuing to roll a bale of hay out each day on the new spot.
- Daisy’s bull calf Poppy decided to get out and go on some day field trips to see the other cows for a few days in a row. We seem to have him under control now but he definitely gave me a cardio workout.
- Today our sow decided to take a field trip in the morning. Penelope had pushed a her hay on the electric line which allowed her to get out and visit the other animals.
Well, till next time. Get in the Dirt & Get Growing!!!
Kyle – a bearded farmer
Monday December 18, today is Nehemiah’s birthday. He is turning 8 years old and is becoming an incredible young man. Happy birthday Nehemiah!!!
Moved chickens to garden area to do some prep. Our hope is they will till up our permanent beds a little then we will cover them to kill of the remaining weeds. Then they will move to where we will be spreading wood chips to have them help spread
Saturday November 11th started off nice cool and crisp morning. Daisy was happy to see me as I came to get her for the morning milking. The thought crossed my mind of how people go to the store for milk, I am blessed to get to go to the freshest market everyday. After the milking was done, it was time to get the normal chores out of the way. Let the chickens out/feed them, feed Penelope, check the cows and rabbits. 
Once back to the house it was time to plan out the big cattle move latter in the afternoon. I wanted the dew to get off the grass before heading out in the field (actually for the sun to warm it up a bit to be honest). We had a family visit the farm. The family was in the area and wanted to stop by to see the farm since they found us online. They are planning on getting their own chickens(dual purpose meat/egg). It was a very nice and refreshing visit. 
We had the beef cows in the back paddock and we used up the last day and it was time to move them to the front SW paddock. We had to layout a new lane to the pond for the cows to be able to get a drink of fresh water. We put the fence so the cows can get their head to the water but are not able to go for a swim that way the water stays fresh. We decide to cut the paddock in half then to cut that in half. We then have a checkerboard so to say of cattle moves. This has made it easier for us to keep up a daily rotation. One side of the temporary paddocks or set but we have one side we move at will. This makes it where we can set up for multiple paddocks ahead of time but keep just enough flexibility that if we see they need more or less grass we can accommodate easily. 
