Here she is! Such a beauty too! We had a wild time with her though. After Cyndi brought her, we were getting her pen set up with food, water, etc.. Jason was at the back fence talking to our neighbor and I was putting a bucket of water into her pen. As I reached over and unlatched the gate to come out, I heard a noice and turned just in time to see June bolt towards the gate. Before I could even take a breath, she hit that gate with her horns and was gone! We hadn’t closed the front gates yet, so she just shot out into the neighborhood. She’d been there for maybe 30 minutes and already was on the loose. I raced to the front, my runner husband past me up very quickly and hopped in the van. He went off down the street to see if he could see her. It was just about dusk, so we didn’t have alot of time before the sun would be all the way down. Our neighbors ran off towards the woods and soon I heard Brent yelling that he’d found her. Jason came back up the street and I pointed him in the right direction. After that the girls and I waited.

I felt really badly for the girls. They were so scared that she’d be gone forever. Alot of tears and poor little Xiola, who claimed June as her own, kept hanging on the fence sobbing, “Come home June..” If you’ve ever seen a 2 year old truly sad, it is heart-breaking. So I had the girls come in and started their shower. I told them that Jason would be back with June before they could even get done bathing. Lola was really sad, she thought it was her fault because she was trying to put the lock back on the gate when it all happened. I explained that she was no way to blame, that there was nothing anyone could have done to stop June. About that time I thought I heard our car so went out to check. It was almost dark and I just kept hoping that Jason would be back soon. It was him! He had her safely in the van. Whew! We got her back in the pen, after closing ALL the gates before getting her out of the van. Then Jason went in and told the girls the good news. Xiola leaped out of the shower and wanted to go see June right then and there! So we did..:)

Jason said that Brent had corralled her in a neighbor’s yard and kept up with her when she got out and ran further down the road. He, his friends and Jason all ended up running her into the slough where she couldn’t get out. Jason put the leash on her and lifted her carefully out and into the van. She was pretty tired when she got back, the whole adventure was about 40 minutes so could have been worse. It really taught the girls about keeping the gates closed at all times though! Jason said that when he was talking to our neighbor, another friend showed up at Brent’s with a dog and the dog spooked June. That’s when she bolted. I couldn’t have stopped her. All was well and we really did learn about what great neighbors we have! Jason took a bunch of beer down there for them and I’m baking some fresh bread today to give them. We are also going to give a couple jars of pickles to the neighbor’s whose yards the guys just ran straight through. I guess they took a few of them by surprise! HAHA But we don’t have to announce to the neighbor’s that we have a goat now! HAHA

Certainly learned a valuable lesson last night. Today June is fine. Let the kids pet her through the fence and seems fairly content in her new surroundings. Once she’s used to it and happy here, we can let her out into the general yard while we are out there. We’ll give her a couple weeks though!

Her babies are due in about 6-8 weeks. She’s slightly taller than the average Nigerian Dwarf Goat. I guess her brother is pretty tall as well. Cyndi told us if she gets too lonely before the babies arrive, then she’ll let us hold onto June’s bro for company. So far she seems fine. Is really interested in the kids actually. Also, another fact we learned but didn’t know: Cyndi explained to us that these goats are strict vegetarians. Will not eat anything that is a meat product, including eggs! She said if we run out of feed, she will not eat cat food but will eat chicken food. HA! I’m sure we’ll be learning even more as time goes on! Oh the adventures we are going to have!

I’ll post pics after she gets here, but I just got off the phone with the goat lady and she’ll be delivering our new family member today. We are really excited! 🙂

So we are now getting 2 eggs a day..:) Our other older gal should start laying anytime, and the rest have a couple more weeks to go. Jason wants more pullets as we are having to pass on our last rooster. He’s just too protective and I’m afraid he will hurt one of the kids to be honest. Such a beauty, but not for our little parcel of land. So Jason wants 4 more pullets to finish out the flock. We’ll see how that goes..;)

We are almost done with the goat yard and have found out we are getting a pregnant doe named June. 🙂 She is due next month and we’ll be bringing her home this weekend we are hoping! It’s really very exciting! Jason finished the gate yesterday, I think he’ll be hanging it tonight. Then all we have left to do is run smaller hog-wire along the existing fence and get an XL dog house for June to shelter in while we build her permanent shed. I can’t wait! I’m so excited about it all! 🙂

I’ll get some more pictures up in awhile, just wanted to check in and say hey to everyone! Oh, we pulled all the cukes and cantaloupes – bugs! But I did get a dozen jars of pickles out of it so all was not lost. 🙂 Jason should have plenty of Bread and Butter pickles to last the winter…hahah

Peace!

Yep, the girls are starting to lay…finally! The first egg is always exciting. 🙂 Now that they are beginning to lay, we can start letting them completely free range again. we’d kept them in their coop and run for the last couple weeks so when they’d start laying they’d learn to keep them in the nesting boxes…;) Once we get our goat in a week or so, the rest can free range in the goat pen, but for now only the older girls will be allowed out because they can’t get through the fence…hehehe

Some facts on truly free range eggs from Mother Earth News:

Tests of eggs from four free-range flocks found that, compared to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for eggs from confinement production systems, the eggs from chickens raised on free range were much more nutritious — up to twice as rich in vitamin E, up to six times richer in beta carotene (a form of vitamin A) and four times richer in essential omega-3 fatty acids. And, the free-range eggs averaged only half as much cholesterol as the USDA data indicates for confinement-system eggs.

yum!!

Where did the time go?!

but can’t help showing off our little princesses at the wedding..:) Enjoy! (The little boy sitting next to Lola is her cousin, and the top picture is Xiola of course, and my legs…HAHA).

Just have been swamped. Family wedding, kids, colds and all that good stuff. HAHA But we are still here, still farming and still working towards our goal. Cucumbers are doing fabulous, will have enough to can again in a few days. And we are getting ready to fully commit to the Fall garden, so will be planting in the next week. We also decided to try hydroponics with our tomatoes! Any suggestions? 😉

On a sad note, we are going to have to give up our kingpin roo, Brownie. He’s turned mean and has attacked me a number of times while trying to feed and water, clean coop, etc.. 🙁 I’m sad about it because he’s so beautiful. But at the same time, with the little kids running around, I don’t want to risk him getting out and attacking one of them. He is a very big bird, and could actually do alot of damage – espeically to our littlest who is tiny for her age anyway. We are giving him to the gal who owns the feed store. She always finds good homes for roos, so that’s a comfort. And our gals haven’t started laying yet, but the weather is finally cooling off so I think it’s any day now.

Anyway, just wanted to pop up and let everyone know all is well and I’ll be back to regular posting soon! Have to catch up on all your blogs as well! 🙂 Peace!

Jason worked very hard this weekend and built this super cool retaining wall above one of our garden sections. It also holds another gardening section on top! I’m going plant some of our Fall stuff in there as well as other places in the yard. Eventually that will be filled in with Black Bamboo and other plants that will trail over the wall. It is so exciting seeing another project nearing completion. Also, that dirt on top is from our compost…;)

Some more garden pics:

Guatamalan Black Pepper

I see you!

We were the feature for the day on the blog, One A Day from chickenflicker.com! Check out their site! 🙂

Things are good here, terribly busy! I’ve added one more child to my childcare days. 🙂 So we are always busy with the 6 kids – 2 are mine. 😉

I’ll have more “farm” related things to add in a bit! Thanks for hanging out and keeping up with our little world. Peace!

We are starting to see hope for our cucumbers! We replanted awhile ago and they are looking great now! Our original crop got fried in the heat when the weather changed abruptly, and we are a family who loves our cucumber slices. 🙂 So the above pic is one of the patches.

Cantaloupe is also going crazy!

Some lovely cucumber blossoms.

Sadly, our pumpkins were infected, once again with SVB’s. Gotta come up with a new plan for them next year. Someone on another blog commented that they planted some in raised beds along with their fall/winter squash and seem to be successful. Karl, was that you? 🙂 Hope it’s still going well!

We are trying to get ready for our fall garden. We have all the seeds we need, now just have to get them in the ground! I think we are going to attempt to grow our tomatoes hydroponically too. I ordered a ton of heirloom seeds, so would hate to see those lost to the dreaded blight! We are learning fast, but sure are enjoying it!

Our chickens are doing great! No eggs yet, but I think it’s just been too hot for them. The new ones are adapting. We had to separate a couple of them, the Leghorn and the Faverolle, because they were getting too beat up but they seem to be fine. The Leghorn got out for several days and explored the neighbor’s yard, but I was able to finally catch her and get her back with the flock. Once she is less skittish, we’ll allow her to free range once again..;) We found a home for the last rooster too, so are down to 2 roos and 8 gals. 🙂 Can’t wait for the eggs!!!!

This is Brownie, our kingpin roo.

A group shot.

Oh! And we are getting our goat next month! We decided on a Nigerian Dwarf, and will be purchasing a pregnant doe and keeping the babies. 🙂 We are so excited! Need to get to work on the goat pen now! 🙂 Hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far!