Nice Fall Day

Here is Sarah under the oak in our front yard excited about the sunshine. It's been cold here, brrrrr.....
Our Thanksgiving baby with his mama. So cute!
Maddie just hanging out.
Maddie and the goats in the background. Such a nice day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had quite an interesting Thanksgiving here on the homestead. We were half kidding (what a good pun) when we told my brother-in-law Rich that he would need to wear grubby clothes and bring his own rubber gloves for a goat birthing. Well, he did bring his grubby clothes and was a great helper as an assistant goat midwife. And of course like I predicted she kidded between 1 and 2 right when the turkey came out of the bbq. She had a big boy and we named him Pilgrim. So cute!
Oh and Jen got video footage of the whole birth. We'll have to save that for little Devin to watch when he gets older. Hehe! This is what daddy has helped with when on the farm with Aunt Cathy. ; )

Our Pumpkin Crop for This Year

It's a small crop of pumpkins this year, but hopefully we will have lots more this next year. I think I will do a whole row and have lots to share and sell for Halloween.

Some small pumpkins and butternut squash that we picked today.

The Barn is Up!

The Shell
Finished!

Our new chickies

We got 5 Ameracauna (the colored ones that lay colored eggs) and 20 Buff Orpingtons one of which is a rooster.
Here they all are.

Harvesting in the garden

We got lots of good stuff today while it was much cooler. Mid-seventies, so nice. James tried to help by trying to eat the bag. LOL! Anybody need any okra. We have lots.

Close-up of the amaranth. Pretty huh? Very soft too.
James and I picked flowers this morning. I think I'm definately going to incorporate this type of beautiful amaranth in my bouquets next year.

Sunflowers in the Garden

My mom took these today. Aren't they pretty?

Shelley

May she rest in peace. She was the best dog in my world. She loved and will be loved for the rest of my life. We had a good 12years. She will be missed sorely. I love you Shell. http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm I imagine her playing with Merle and Tango. All good dogs who passed this week.

Angora's

Here's my boy Tobias. He has gotten big since last year. He was just sheared the beginning of the month. His horns have gotten huge also. He is a sweety though.

Above is Felicite She is a red Angora. She is Krystal and Tobias's kid.

This is Felicite's brother. His name is now Kiwi. Such a cute name.

Sophie and Honeydew

Here is Sophie. Isn't she getting big compared to her mama? She's about 4 1/2 months also.

If you would like to see pics of baby James go to http://www.steckfamily.blogspot.com/

More baby goats

Jessica our other Togg dairy goat who was pregnant had her babies yesterday. Two little white bucks who look just like Sophie. Except these guys have wattles on thier neck like mama. I was hoping someone would have babies with wattles. So cute.

Planting Party Update

So, we thought we'd be able to be ready for the 3rd weekend in April to plant. Ha! The weather showed us I tell ya. So, I'm thinking early May sometime. I guess I can hope. I just ordered and recieved all my seeds for planting this year. I just wish I had some help starting some seeds then maybe I could get a little ahead. I just need someone to fill up my pony packs with compost ; ) Maybe I can get Rog to do it on Monday or Tuesday if the baby hasn't come yet. I feel like the little guy could stay in there for awhile. : ) Baby is enjoying it's swimming pool I guess.

Hope we get some more Spring weather like were having today soon. I can do with a little break from the rain and clouds every few days. It does look like it will clear up hopefully by Tuesday for awhile. Yeah!

Sophie and Mama

Sophie is getting so big!

Proud Papa!

Here's daddy just hanging out with everyone else since it's a such a nice non-rainy day to do so.

Here is another picture of them. Just click on the picture and you can see it better. Jasmine is in front just relaxing since it's such a nice day compared to all the rainy days we've seen.

My Angora Mama's and Thier Babies

If this is too small click on it and it will show you a bigger one. It was hard to get any closer without them all moving. These are my Angora mama's and thier sweet little ones. They love being out together again. Minna is a good mama, but baby keeps trying to nurse on the dog every once in a while since the dog started cleaning baby off before mom had the chance when he was born. ;) Can't beat feeling like you have two moms though. Even if one is a dog.

Isn't he cute?

Proud mama. She wasn't sure what to do at first, but was very good at holding still and letting him nurse. We were hoping she wouldn't come in to heat this year, but she only had one small baby. I'm thinking about keeping him over Krystals boy for using his fiber since he is brown and not a red like the others and Minna seems to have a really nice ringlets so hopefully she passed that on to him.

Here's the new baby. He was born yesterday morning. He was our wake-up call at 7am. We put a shirt on him because he was shivering a little bit. He is more brown then the other two Krystal had. They are more red like her. Well, I didn't get my black one yet. Will have to wait. Somebody will give me my black baby boy someday. That is one color I would really like to have.

New pic of Sophie. She is one month old and a whole lot of fun. She's getting big.

New baby Angora's are here!

New baby Angora's came one day after the first goat kidded. Yeah! Except that it was a nice day and I didn't think she was going to have them that day and let them all out to the pasture to graze. That was a bad idea! She had them under a pine tree out in the pasture. It all worked out though so that was good. Everybody seems to be just fine. We have a boy and girl dark reddish brown pure bred Angora's. So cute! Thinking about keeping the boy if he stays dark and have him as a fiber goat.


The little girl. The little boy.

More pictures. Aren't they cute!

More Sophie Pictures

She was trying to stick her head through to see the other babies. She is so ready to play with them. Maybe after these storms pass over this next week.

The First Baby Goat Has Arrived!

Eight and half pounds and pure white little baby girl has finally arrived! Yes I only said one baby! I figured she was going to have 3 or 4 little guys. Boy was I wrong. It took her an hour to push this little girl out. That is the longest I've seen one of our goats push. She is such a cutie pie!

Mama cleaning up the baby.

Isn't she a cutie?

Worried Onlookers

Maddie was trying figure out what was going on. She was very nervous when mama was pushing and making lots of noise. I will have to get Maddie used to the new baby before we let them out with everyone else in a week or two.

Keep an eye out for new pics of baby goats. They should arrive any day now. ; )

I'm getting close to getting the front of my quilt all pieced together, Yeah! I't's going to be really nice and huge. It's a king size for our bed. I better get sewing!

Here is a close-up. Sorry it's upside down, but you get the point.

A Beautiful Winter Walk on the Homestead

Today was a beautiful winter day, so we took advantage of it and went for a walk. So nice.