It blows here.

Playing in the snow.

2012-01-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

We finally got some snow.

Not enough to do more than one snow family with, but it was enough to do that.

So they did.

Grateful.

2011-12-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

For fields to go on walks in.

And irresistible chubby baby cheeks.

Different place.

2011-11-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

Same wind.

Moving 15 miles didn't cut it.

Grayson taking pictures.

2011-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Gray discovered the camera a few weeks ago and has been unstoppable since.

He loves having me take pictures of the two of us together.

You see that hair of mine? That's hair-monster-baby-on-my-back hair.

Back to Gray. Last night his series of photos was especially cute.

I present: "What Gray Cares About."

Cookies.
And Zander.

That last one may be one of my favorite Zan pictures.

Construction!

2011-11-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

We got a chance to play on construction equipment the other day.

Gray, especially, was in heaven.

Glad to know those reflective strips work.

#4 - First snow!

2011-11-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

The kids stayed out in it until it melted.

And we got our first snow angel. I love the bare feet leading up to it.

#3 - The ponies

2011-11-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

We moved to a new place recently that doesn't have a lot of room for animals, so we've been 'redistributing'. The goats are at another farm getting bred, the cows and horses are at Poppa's house, and the ponies went to a friend near here that has kids that will love to play with them.

Prince is as big as his momma. It would be interesting to know who his daddy is.

#2

2011-11-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

Made it to #2!

The kids got to climb in a fire truck last weekend. The girls were more excited than I thought they'd be, Grayson was less excited than I thought he'd be.

15 Days of Photos - again.

2011-11-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

So I started 15 days of photos to get me back into blogging and then ... we moved the next day and we lost our internet connection for awhile. Then we got it back but lost my aunt, so we went to a funeral. Now I'm back and ...

think I can do it? We'll see.

Day 1. Again.

What my bed looks like when my partner is working the night shift.

That's what it looks like without me - I have to squeeze in there between any other kids and Zander. It's tight.

#1

2011-10-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

15 straight days of pictures to get me back in the blogging habit.

Handmade thread bangles.

2011-08-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hannah and I saw some really cute thick thread bracelets at a store the other day, but they were so expensive. Right beside them were some much cheaper thick rubber bracelets. We bought them and went home to play.

The orange bracelet is what we started out with.

We did some basic ones to get the hang of it.

Then some fun ones. A rainbow one.

A multi-colored one.

I tried adding hearts to the side of one.

Still need to practice with that...

I tried a technique I remembered from making friendship bracelets when I was little.

I love it, the girls don't.

I'm wanting to try other friendship bracelet patterns now. Oh, and attaching beads to the outside. Sweet!

Submitted to Saturday's Artist at OLM

Boating.

2011-08-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

When we visited my dad and my grandma last weekend, my dad took us out on the lake on a little fishing boat. Everybody but Zander and Bella got a turn steering the boat.

Zander slept through most of it - he seemed lulled by the motor.

I really like this picture of Matt and Gray.

Ainsley was a speed demon!

And Bella and my father bonded.

Ainsley and Gray both did a lot of this - dreaming and running their hands in the water.

Gray thought this was so much fun - let the boat go to the end of the rope, haul it back in, repeat.

Beautiful day.

Some images from the past few weeks.

2011-08-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Summer's always a busy time for us with guests. We *love* having people come and stay with us and Hannah loves it more than anyone else.

The horses are always a big draw.

Some like it more than others. Some don't really want to be anywhere near the horses.

I always end up with more pictures of the kids around the horses because the other stuff they do is not so different for the visitors.

The horses only take up early morning and late evening time when it's not so hot. The rest of the day is spent playing in the pool, dressing up, playing in the pool, having picnics, playing in the pool, playing in the hammock, dancing, and playing in the pool.

With school back in session for almost everybody, our days of having overnight guests are coming to an end for the summer. Poor Hannah's gotten so used to it that she's upset about that. I'll have to step up my game in other areas for that social girl.

ACRES Magazine

2011-08-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Do any of you read ACRES Magazine?

I had a subscription which I've now cancelled since our life seems to be heading in another direction for right now. Would anyone like the 14 magazines that I have?

2009 - May/September/December
2010 - August - December
2011 - January/March - July

Email me at unprocessedfamily at gmail dot com if you want them! The decluttering bug has hit and I want them gone. :)

Ladybug crackers!

2011-08-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

How cute are these?

My friend and I made these today. So simple.

Mix 2 oz of cream cheese with 2 tbsp of sour cream. Pull out a bit of that, mix with black food coloring and put in a baggie. Mix garlic salt and chives into remaining mixture and spread onto crackers. Slice up tomatoes and arrange on crackers with olives. Cut tip of baggie and use black mixture for dots. You could use fresh chives in the olive hole for antennae.

Stand back.

Grayson at the beach with his truck.

2011-08-04T00:06:00.000-07:00

Process:

Fill truck with sand.*

Push it into the water until it is completely covered. Dump sand.**

Return to beach.

Repeat for over one hour without pausing.

* I realize that in this picture the truck has no sand in it.

** In this picture also - no sand. He would see me coming with the camera and dump the sand. Don't know why. But the baffling yet hilarious process still stands as blog-worthy.

County Fair time!

2011-08-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

We met up with some friends tonight at our county fair. It was 'free concert night' and we were excited. Last year was the first time we went to the free concert at our fair and it was really fun. This year? Not the best band. You see the singer walking away there? That's about as much movement as we got out of them that night. *sigh*

But the kids had fun, so it was worth it.

They had even more fun walking around and looking at the animals. Cattle and pigs and ponies, oh my!

This pony saw the girls coming and sidled his butt right up to the fence so he could be scratched. Smart pony.

But then Ains and Gray, in the midst of a roaring game of freeze tag, collided. Gray came away with a sore chest and Ains with a swollen cheek. It should be colorful tomorrow, poor girl.

Dress up.

2011-08-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

I'm selling my wedding dress, so what else could we do but try it on?

Well, them. Not me.

That was ten years ago. I couldn't fit in it now.

But aren't they sweet?

You know these pictures are just begging for a mash-up when the girls are older and get their wedding pictures taken.

Helping the farrier.

2011-07-30T00:53:00.000-07:00

There are two people who, once you've found the right ones, you never want to lose - hair stylists and farriers. We've been through our fair share of farriers in the last five years - seven, I think. There was one who got mad and jabbed my horse in the ribs with her clippers - for leaning on her. There was another who wanted to drug every horse he touched, for his own safety - even though we work very hard to have calm, easy-to-shoe horses. There was the one who was habitually two DAYS late, two who just did really crap jobs.

So when we tried this farrier last summer, and he was so wonderful, I tattooed his number on my arm for safe-keeping. Not really. But I did put it in my phone, in my husband's phone, and on my computer. Oh, and on a paper hung in our tack room. And tattooed on my arm.

He's calm, confident, moves quietly around the horses, expects fidgeting when there are flies, does a fantastic job on their feet, will work with even tiny Cookie ... But this last time, he went above and beyond. Hannah asked to help and he gave her the all-important job of picking up the nail ends with his long-handled magnet.
And he answered every question the girls had while he worked.
I've always kept them away while he worked before, but this time it was just the one horse, so it was more safe, and he really seemed to enjoy their chatter and questions - and blatant admiration. When I tried to move them away, he said "No, don't. They're listening when I tell them where to be to stay safe and I like their questions." So I left them.

Ainsley got distracted because, well, she's four years old.

But the farrier's dog never got distracted.
She's trained never to leave the truck at a client's home, but that doesn't mean she can't keep a close eye on the cats. Once that kitten laid down there, just laughing at the dog, the dog never moved. Just stood there and stared.

Ainsley's post.

2011-07-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ainsley wanted me to put up some pictures that she took, so here they are. Enjoy 'Ten Minutes Through the Eyes of a 4-year-old'.

Awesome.

The beauty of a well-made Cookie.

2011-07-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

When we got Cookie, we envisioned her being a good pony for Ainsley and then Grayson. Hannah's pony Princess died from Cushing's disease complicated by old age this spring, so we were needing a new kid's pony. I'm using the word 'need' loosely. But we wanted one and were lucky to find Cookie. So far she's been wonderful with the kids - gentle, calm, easy-going, slow. Pregnant. She's not too fond of adults - our size intimidates her, I think. She tolerates us, but likes the kids.

But her size doesn't intimidate the littles - and that's what counts.

Gray likes to sit on her. He can get off by himself if he gets worried and he likes that.

It doesn't hurt that her baby is the perfect size also. He's getting lots of gentling attention.

While Gray isn't up to riding by himself yet, Ainsley is.

She can get on and off by herself, which she does frequently - I think just to prove to herself and Cookie that she can.

It's sweet watching her hold her own with the big girls ...

or chat with her sister about the merits of salt blocks.

I'm looking forward to when Grayson has enough interest and confidence to ride her by himself. Right now he's good with playing on the bales while others ride.

**Cookie's baby seems to have a name now. After short stints as Chocolate Chip, Brownie, and Popcorn, Ainsley seems to have settled on Prince. Which is a nice tribute to Hannah's Princess pony.

Grayson's Dora shorts.

2011-07-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

Grayson loves Dora and Diego. I decided to make him some Dora shorts and some Diego pants. The Diego pants were a big fat FAIL. I'll post those later. But the Dora shorts turned out cute. (Sidenote: Do you have any idea how hard it is to find non-pink Dora fabric?)

I used Simplicity's 2907 toddler shorts pattern. Easy, cute, has a pocket for him to stuff full. Scratch that - it has THREE pockets for him to stuff full.

They look a bit like board shorts. Very cute.

Speaking of cute ...

Consequences, schmonsequences.

2011-07-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

"My, she's a fat pony!" has been pretty much everyone's reaction on meeting our sweet Cookie.

(picture taken two days ago - may she forgive us our ignorance)

It was certainly my reaction when I met her three months ago. "Yeah," laughed the guy that sold her to us, "We've only owned her a few months, but she's too slow for our boy." Sold. We like slow in a pony.

What possible consequence could there be for buying a fat pony?

Ah.

That one.

There is much incredulous rejoicing here today.

Now Ainsley needs to figure out a name for that little man. And Cookie? She's positively svelte now!

Cookie and strawberries.

2011-06-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

We recently froze a *lot* of strawberries. The girls were so excited to see if their horse and pony liked the strawberry tops.

They didn't. Cookie literally spat them back out, Dakota wouldn't even put them in her mouth.

Ainsley told Cookie she loved her anyway.

And Hannah went off to feed the strawberry tops to the goats who appreciated them much more.

When the pivot for the corn field next to us comes around, they leave the 'head gun' running. It's the most powerful sprinkler you'll ever see. It shoots clear to our roof and the girls love to try to stay out of its range - but not quite.

Grayson thinks it's the devil.

BATMAN!

2011-06-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

My girls love their superheroes. Ainsley is particularly fond of Batman. So when I found this fabric and had a coupon, I knew it was meant to be.

It's just a basic circle skirt pattern - I used Simplicity 2356.

I appliqued bats onto the pockets.

Very easy, very fast pattern. I finished it in one afternoon, even with the bat pockets and the homemade bias tape.

She adores it. She says it will be easy to chase down villains in it because it doesn't tangle her legs. So that's good.

Zander's birth story.

2011-06-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

(cross-posted on The Napping House)

You know what you’re getting into, reading a birth story, right? Good. You know that it can get long, right? With lots of pictures (trust me, they're safe)? Good. Read on, then.

The average length of a human pregnancy is 40 weeks. This means that you can give birth anytime from 37 – 42 weeks. I’m one of those who skews the average to the (very) long side. This picture was taken at 40 weeks – well before I gave birth.

On Sunday, May 29, about 6:30 in the evening, I felt a contraction. It wasn’t bad and I’d gone through a two day period two weeks before with steady contractions that were stronger, so I didn’t get excited. Two hours later, with the contractions coming ten minutes apart I still wasn’t convinced they meant anything. I went out to milk the goats and the contractions stopped. When I came back in, Matt had dinner ready and as I stood at the kitchen counter making a taco I was in the middle of saying something along the lines of “Oh, well. Another false start.” when my water broke. THEN I started feeling the contractions. You forget what a cushion that water is for the contractions until it’s not there anymore.

Throughout the last four months of my pregnancy, I’d been talking to the girls about labor and delivery and what to expect if they were awake for it. Both of them very much wanted to be there and I didn’t want the experience to freak either of them out. For Hannah I was worried about the emotional aspect – Mother groaning, maybe crying. For Ainsley I was worried about the physical aspect – the baby comes out of *where*on Mommy? Still, I must have missed explaining how long it could take because when my water broke and I looked up with a shocked laugh and said “My water just broke!”, Hannah started jumping up and down yelling “The baby’s coming NOW! The baby’s coming NOW!” and Ainsley came running over, put her hands in a catching position between my legs with her body in a full baseball catcher position and said in a very excited but serious I-got-this-covered voice “I’ll catch the baby! I’ll catch it.” That may be the hardest that child has ever made me laugh, and that’s saying something folks.

Then labor got started in earnest. The girls were so excited to be awake for it.

We hadn’t planned on calling the midwives until I’d been laboring for a few hours, but it felt right to call them right away, so we did and they said they’d be there in a few hours. Then I called my doula.

My doula showed up about 30 minutes after I called her – fast for how far out we live – and people, if I can give you one piece of advice to make labor easier it is this – find a good doula that you mesh well with. This was my best labor and I feel confident in saying that it is mostly due to this woman - not just what she did for me in labor, but for the influence she was on all of us.

How did we not get a better picture of her? Oh, yeah – she was the one taking most of the pictures.

We’re friends, but we’d met before the birth to discuss her job as doula and what we each expected. I’ve always thought of a doula as a ‘mini midwife’ and wondered what the point was. The point - at least it worked this way for me - is that you have somebody at your birth who is focused on you and what you need – it sounds selfish, but is so, so nice in labor, and what better time to be selfish than in labor? The midwives (or doctors) are focused on safety and health. Your partner may or may not be focused completely on you. In my experience, my partner wasn’t sure what to do to help me, so he pretty much just did what the midwives told him they needed him to do and I was left to labor alone. I thought I preferred that because it’s been my reality for the last three labors, so I asked Alicia to basically keep the midwives away from me unless it was something that absolutely necessary and to make sure that nothing scary was discussed around me – I had had a not-so-pleasant experience with the midwife’s assistant and Matt discussing a worst case scenario right beside me when I was in transition with Grayson and I didn’t want a repeat of that. She said that her job was to be ‘the most helpful ghost’. I liked the sound of that.

We went over the list of visualizations that I had ready. We laughed about the fact that I had included a visualization that wasn’t helpful to me at all – it had annoyed me to no end in my last two labors and irritated me when I wasn’t in labor – but every time I deleted it from my list, I’d find myself typing it back on. My doula’s job was going to be to suggest different visualizations if I appeared to need them. In the past, if I’d had to switch visualizations, I’d have a hard contraction as I either tried to wrack my brain for a good one or broke concentration to look at my list. She was ok with not focusing on me being ‘in control’ as my midwives pushed, but flowing with the contractions.

It was a bonus that she is very experienced with essential oils and massage in case I ended up with back labor. I walked away from our meeting feeling like the last piece had fallen into place and I was ready to give birth.

All of that to tell you … Oh, it was so worth it, having her there – for all of us. She walked in as I was still getting into the groove of labor. Wandering around, pausing for a contraction, wandering a bit more. Within ten minutes of her arriving, I’d found my ‘place’, right beside the desk, and I wasn’t comfortable laboring anywhere else. She set about making it more comfortable for me between contractions - arranging chairs for balance and for resting on - and being there for me in contractions. Funny how labor can be different than you expected. I thought I wouldn’t want to be touched at all – and had prepared my Hannah for that possibility – but found that I flowed into the contractions and out of them much easier if my hand was resting in somebody else’s hand. Between Matt, Ainsley, Hannah and Alicia, I had a hand to hold in every contraction for the next four hours.

Alicia also kept reminding me to relax muscles that she could see me tensing up – my face, my hands, she even caught me out on tensing my toes one time, I think – and that made the contractions easier. She would suggest different visualizations when I needed it. I still don't know how she knew when I needed it. Physical clues? Intuition? Whatever it was, her timing was impeccable and guess what visualization carried me through labor? The one that annoyed me terribly the last two labors. The one that I couldn't seem to delete from my paper.

While I was busy laboring and Alicia was busy keeping me comfortable and focused, Hannah was busy keeping me hydrated (I think Matt counted 9 cups of juice and water with straws in them scattered around the living room the next morning – Hannah did a very good job), and Matt and Ainsley were busy filling the birth pool.

Oh, she was so proud to be given a real job that she knew was important.

When the midwives showed up, labor was clipping along really well, with contractions long and close together, but I was convinced I was still a long way off from delivery because I was able to laugh and communicate coherently between contractions.

Not long after they got there, it got even faster. Several contractions right on top of each other. A sudden hatred of clothes. An intense need to be in the birth pool. Then out. Then in. Then never wanting to leave it.

This was when Matt said he realized how grateful he was to have Alicia there. The midwives appropriated him for little things they needed, the girls needed help with things, and he didn’t have to worry about me. I heard him checking on things with Alicia and then going back to helping others which is a good thing for a man to be doing in labor. I vaguely remember her running interference with the midwives also - making sure my labor was uninterrupted, making sure the water was high enough and the right temperature.

It was 12:30 in the morning by this point and the girls were fading. Ainsley distracted herself by cutting and taping paper into projects and making ‘cafes’ (special fancy drinks that the girls make) for everybody. Hannah would come help me through a contraction and then curl up on the couch for awhile begging anyone who would listen not to let her fall asleep.

That girl is a born nurturer.

I was moving well into transition by this point, but could tell only by the need to focus on resting between contractions. All of the sudden, I wanted to hold only Matt’s hand in contractions and I wouldn’t let him go between. I noticed a few flashes sometimes, but couldn’t process what they meant because I was so deep inside myself. The next day, I was looking through the pictures on the camera and came across this one.

This picture stopped my heart. Alicia captured such a perfect ‘labor moment’. Right between contractions, completely in laborland, leaning on my main support.

Not long after this picture was taken, I hit the contraction that tells every woman she’s almost there. I said, through the first tears of the night, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m scared.” And was met with “You ARE doing this. You’re almost there.” from Matt and “You are so, so strong.” from Alicia and I had my focus back for the next contraction. Two contractions later, I was pushing. Three or four after that, and his head was out.

Have I mentioned on this blog how much this baby moved while inside me? More than all three of my other babies put together. It was nearly constant it seemed. He’d wake me up in the middle of the night kicking. Baby movement is my favorite part of being pregnant, so I felt so lucky that this last child was giving me so much of it. He was moving throughout labor, even with all of the work he was doing in there. You’d think that when he was actually halfway out, he’d take a rest, but he didn’t.

In between pushes, with his head out and his body in, that baby kicked me so hard that I burst into laughter and said The baby just KICKED me!” It was ridiculously funny to me at the time because it seemed that the baby was saying “Why did we stop!? We were almost there! Get me out!” One more push and he was out.

And I cried for the second time that night. Hannah says that I kept saying "We did it, baby, we did it!"

We had told the girls that if they were up for the birth, they would get to tell us if it was a boy or a girl, that not even the midwives would see before them. I wasn’t sure the midwives would listen to me, so I’d told Alicia to please make sure that the baby got its genitals covered as it was pulled out of the water and sure enough, she did. I heard her say ‘oh, just a minute’ as the midwives were pulling him out but before they could see, and putting the towel corner over him. Hannah looked and then Ainsley did and they told us we had a boy. We were *so* surprised. We expected a girl!

One of the things that Matt loves about homebirths is that we get to pick when anybody else gets to hold our baby, they don’t tell us when we’re able to or when the baby needs to be taken away to be weighed and measured and everything else that takes precedence in the hospital.

Ainsley was our first homebirth and the experience of being handed the baby immediately and getting to hold her for so long was so great that he says he can’t imagine doing it any other way as long as we’re lucky enough to have healthy pregnancies and labors.

I was so happy that the girls were able to stay up until 1:30 to see him born. I was also happy that they were prepared for the birth so that it didn’t freak them out but was exciting. And they got to hold him before they went to sleep.

Which for Ainsley, was about five minutes after she held him. Hannah lasted until the placenta was birthed, looked at it, then went to sleep.

Then I curled up on the bed, they laid the baby beside me, and we went to sleep.

We woke up thirty minutes later because he was hungry and I remember thinking “I am so glad that I did this at home.” I was able to wander downstairs and get something to eat. A few hours later, when the afterpains hit, I was able to soak in the tub. A few hours later, I was able to introduce him to Grayson when Gray woke up and his sisters were able to hold him when they woke up many many hours later. I am sold on homebirth for our family. Bliss.

So that's Zander's birth story. I can say that his labor and delivery wasn't painful for me. It was hard work, don't get me wrong, but the focus and visualizations kept me moving through the contractions and not losing myself in physical sensation. The amount of support I had in this birth, from my partner, my children, my doula, my midwives, from the invisible-but-oh-so-tangible group of women around the world who knew I was in labor and were sending me strength, made it such an amazing experience.

Which I won't be repeating anytime soon.

Current Inspirations

2011-06-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

My newest favorite country blog find. Window on the Prairie.

Linnaeus' flower clock. How cool of an idea is this?

10 weird and gross ingredients in processed food. I especially liked the crushed bugs as red food coloring.

Sunny days.

2011-06-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, how we love sunny days.

Horse-riding days.

Pony-riding days.

Yum.

And double Yum.

And then there were four.

2011-05-31T22:27:00.001-07:00

He's here!

His name is Zander to most of us, Peanut to Ainsley. She's still frustrated that that isn't on his birth certificate.

He was born at 1:30 am on Memorial Day - all of 8 lbs, 7 oz. He's beautiful and squishy and kissable.

We're all in love.

Ahh........

2011-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Lovely spring day.

And then ten more cold spring days.

It's been the cycle we've been going through this year.

See how happy I am about it?

We're still a family of five. I think this baby, smart as it is, is waiting until summer to join us.

When is the first day of summer?

Aw, crap.

On the good days, we're never inside.

2011-05-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Grayson has been declared Ainsley's 'cowboy hero'. He keeps the chickens away from her when we're in the garden.

That way she can eat her rhubarb in peace.

The girls didn't get any rhubarb last year because we'd just transplanted it. They aren't getting much this year, but it's more than none.

We did get lots of daffodils this year. We're finding bouquets everywhere, which I'm loving. This one has a signature Hannah note on it. The 'H' and 'D' on the top are to say it's from Hannah and it's for her Daddy. 'I love you'.

Bella keeps trying to figure out what I'm digging for when I pull out all of those dandelions.

My starts are doing well this year.

All except for my tray of basil that the cat tried to turn into a litter box. She's on my crap list right now. Pun intended.

And my kids? They just want to go camping.

Easter shirts.

2011-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Stash busting again.

I've had this bunny fabric since two Easters ago. I had to get it used up before it got too young for Hannah. I wasn't up to making dresses in the two days I had, but I told them I'd make them Easter shirts. That they couldn't wear because of the @*#&$#@ weather.

(For example, this was Gray going out to milk with me this morning. He was not overdressed in the slightest.)

But back to happier thoughts - the Easter shirts. One for each girl.

Gray didn't get one because I haven't figured out buttonholes yet. It's on my list of stuff to learn this year. That, and how to install zippers without swearing.

For Hannah's shirt, I used McCall's 5797. I didn't have enough of the fabric to make it into a dress, though that would have been easy enough - it's just a longer cut than the shirt with this pattern. The pattern itself is beyond easy - a similar (nearly identical) front and back, a tie. Sew the sides, hem the bottom, finish the armholes, make a tie casing, make the tie, you're done.

As I said, I was worried about the yellow bunny fabric being too 'young' for her, so I tried to age it a bit with some gorgeous, but never used, green fabric in my stash. I used the green fabric for the tie at the top.

It's a really big bow. She's undecided on whether or not to make that smaller.

I made bias tape from the green and added a strip around the bottom - aged the outfit and didn't have to hem. Woo hoo!

We also added pockets. We didn't use their pocket templates - she wanted to try some cute, gathered pockets she'd seen on an outfit, so we winged that and then added some flower buttons I've had in my stash for ages.

Both of us really liked the way the shirt turned out.

Ainsley's shirt was made using the Oliver + S Ruffled Halter free pattern.

I thought it would be a pain putting together the pattern pieces, but they were very clear and it went together really quickly.

The shirt itself was also *so* easy. And so cute finished. She got layers of blue bunnies and pink flowers. The pink flower material is from a flour sack. Seriously. We have a lot of Hispanics in this area who prefer to buy their flour in cotton flour sacks, so I grabbed one a year or so ago, washed the fabric after we'd used the flour and it's been sitting there, waiting for something. It looks really darling with the blue fabric.

I didn't realize from the pictures on their website, but this shirt has elastic on the back to help it fit better - that's a nice touch.

I used pink cotton from the stash for underneath the front where it's not often seen - didn't need to use up cute bunny fabric there.

The only thing I don't like about this shirt is that I have to tie it for her each time. That's a pain for her, but she loves it so much that she doesn't mind it as much as I thought she would.

Four more fabrics used - and some buttons! Stash busting success.

Should I mention that my husband came with me to the fabric store last week when I was picking up diaper fabric and the girls walked away with SIX new fabrics? They know when to ask for stuff. Stash busting fail.

Two skirts for Ainsley.

2011-04-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

I made these two skirts for Ains awhile back but she's only recently started wearing either of them. The other night she grabbed them and said "Let's take pictures. You hold the camera and I'll tell you what kind of picture to take."

"Graceful."

"Sweet."

"Surprised."
That skirt was made from a sweater of mine that I never wear anymore. I just eyeballed the lines when I cut it, using the bottom of the sweater as the hem of the skirt so that I wouldn't have to hem it. I only put elastic around the back so that it wouldn't show in the front where the belt wouldn't meet. That was a mistake because the sweater fabric stretches, so I ended up adding elastic in a fabric casing to the front. Now it fits ok, but fits much better with cute pants underneath - which is just as well in this weather.

She didn't like it too well until I added the embellishments on the front - little iron-ons that I had picked up awhile back on super-duper clearance.

Then we moved on to the next skirt.

"Pretty."

"Dancer."

"No. Wait. This is the dancer."
This skirt was made from the Can Can pattern by MADE. It was a beast of a skirt to make the ruffles on. Two 80 foot lengths of a fabric that I'd had for the last 4 years and loved but had no use for. I borrowed my sister's serger, made the strips, turned them, ironed them, and sewed them on.

Turning them was less of a bother than you'd think because I did it on a day with a small breeze so the 80 foot fabric tube was billowing across the driveway pad and the kids were playing in it "like it was a fairy strip".

I made it as her birthday skirt, and it turned out so cute. This is the original iteration of it.

The problem was, it was too heavy so she never wore it. That sucks.

In February, she pulled it back out and tried it on, but it barely covered her bum, so I took out the elastic waist, added on a larger muslin waistpiece and put the elastic back on that. Now she wears it all the time. That doesn't suck. :)

Teaching the kids to milk.

2011-04-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Each of the kids get their own goat when they show interest and are helping with the animals daily. Hannah got hers two years ago and has had escalating duties each year - this year she was to start helping process the milk but wanted to also start milking. Ainsley got her goat last year and was supposed to help with the grain and taming the babies this year. She wanted to do that but also wanted to be milking.

I taught them how and we've been working on it, but their hands are not up to it yet, so they get frustrated. We didn't want them to quit, and we also wanted to have an option available for me to leave the farm (I have several goats this year without babies, so they need to be milked daily, even if I want to go on vacations) so we bought a Henry Milker. This milker is not electric, but hand-powered, so Ains' hand still gets a bit tired pumping, but she can make it through one teat.

It is wonderful! I taught the girls about the pumping, about the pressure, and now they're milking. It's not as fast as hand milking, but it's much easier for them. We're thinking of getting another one so they can each milk one teat on the same goat while I milk another goat.

They are so proud of themselves to be milking the entire bag out instead of just 10 or so squirts before they get too tired.

They even come running out in the middle of playing inside if they hear I'm milking.

Then they're off again, playing.

Which is perfect.

Kid pictures.

2011-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

I asked Matt to take the camera with him when he fed the animals so that he could get some pictures of the new arrival. This is what he came back with.

I'm thinking he left the camera in the truck. Yep, there he goes.

Now he's closer to the action, but the camera isn't.

Ah, here we are. Closer anyway.

Can we move around her?

Isn't she sweet? She's already been named, even though she's not ours. Rosalina.

Even though we've been telling Ains for months that this baby wouldn't be ours, she was still in tears this morning when she looked at the real thing and was told again. It's easy to say "Pssh. I don't care." when it's a big horse tummy, but when it's a gangly baby filly bouncing around? Oh, it's got to be yours.

But we have her until she's weaned. That should be fun.

I have accepted it.

2011-04-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Spring is not a mini-summer. Spring is a mini-winter.

Yesterday was another cold, rainy, windy day of winter blowing out, so we spent our day staying busy inside. I worked on cutting out fabric for diapers. This was my view.

What we're doing these days.

2011-04-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Helping Mother in the garden starts room.

I want to call it my greenhouse, but sadly can't.

Giving the humans mournful looks because the snow keeps coming.

Showing some serious farm style.

Talking Daddy into things.

Serious Stashbusting - #6

2011-03-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Alternate blog post title - "I don't want to sew another pair of pants until fall, m'kay?"

15 pairs of pants in the last month. I can now sew kids elastic waist pants in my sleep.

First up was this cute pair of pants for Gray.

It's a reversible pair of pants for toddlers from Anna Marie Horner's Handmade Beginnings book.

He was out of pants that fit, I have a huge stash of fabric, this pattern is reversible! One pair of pants serves as two! I can make him four pairs of pants and he'll really get EIGHT! Sweet!

Reality check : When sewing reversible pants, one pair of pants does not equal two. It takes two pair of pants sewn to equal one pair of reversible pants. So if I want him to get eight pairs of pants, I get to sew eight pairs of pants. It was a lot of pants.

It was fun to mix and match fabrics and try to use up scraps I had that weren't getting used. Some of the pants I was sure were going to be camping-only pants, but they turned out better than I thought.

Pair #1:
One side:

And the other:

Pair #2:
One side:

And the other:

On two of the pairs of pants I used flannel on one side for warmth.

Pair #3:
Cotton side:
Flannel side:
Pair #4:
Cotton side:
Flannel side:
I also learned to follow my instincts when something doesn't look right in a pattern. The pattern says to use 1/4" elastic. With an active child (read: with any child) 1/4" elastic isn't the best for holding up pants. I should have used 1/2" elastic.

I also accidentally cut these right with the pattern instead of making the legs a few inches longer as I knew I should, so he will grow out of these fairly quickly. Have you heard of road blindness, where you are driving for so long that you kind of don't really see the road in front of you, so you have the chance of hitting a car parked alongside the interstate because your mind assumes it's a moving car and by the time you realize you're going to hit it, you don't have time to move? I get pattern blindness. I have to make a whole new pattern or mark on the fabric, or I'll just cut right around it, totally forgetting the adjustments I need to make until the fabric's already cut.

After I got done with these, Ainsley needed a pair of pajama pants, so I made her a pair. Then I made Hannah a pair.

By the way, do you have any cute ideas for this fabric? For some unfathomable reason, once upon a time I bought over 3 yards of it. Three. Yards.

When the girls saw Gray's reversible flannel pants, they wanted a pair, so we made them some. I used the pajama pants patterns I'd just made for them, lengthened the legs, and used the same technique to make them reversible. I didn't use 1/4" elastic.

So that was four more pants done. And oh my goodness, are they cute!

The last pair was a pair of church pants for Gray. We had to go to a family gathering that involved church and I wasn't about to spend $10-$15 on a pair of pants he would wear one time, so I used a 50% coupon to buy 1 yard of $7 fabric to make him a pair of church-y pants. $3.50 is much better than $10-$15.

Look what I found.

2011-03-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Sitting in my 'draft' pile of posts from back in August.

Oh, it's a good thing to come across when spring is being .... spring-y. Cold, windy, and snowy.

Fresh picked raspberries and currants and blackberries.

Little kids bundled up, not against cold, but against sun and brambles.

Short, short haircuts.
Mornings in the mountains when you are grateful for the coolness.

And, wow - short, short hair!

It's good to run across something like this - reminds me that warmth is inevitable.

And that their hair really is growing.

Trying to keep up with MamaTea.

2011-03-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Jones' just aren't as interesting. I don't need to keep up with them.

The other day, MamaTea posted pictures of her swamped Minnesota area. Mine really can't keep up, but I thought I'd show you what spring is bringing to our neck of the ... desert.

See that lake out there? That's pasture.

And that? That's a road.

Terribly fun to drive through. Lots of squeals. The kids liked it too.

This picture doesn't show what I wanted it to show - those big snow chunks? They're rushing by faster than I can run. That water is *moving*.

But then again, I can't run that fast right now. I *am* only 6 or so weeks away from having a baby.

OK, I'm back. Had to go breathe into a paper bag.

And, as Mama Tea had happen, we just got more snow on top of that! As they say in this area - "We are thankful for the moisture."

After all, spring means mud and anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you seeds.

What's in your sink?

2011-03-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

My sink has a cold baby goat in it. My daughter's super-power is saving lives.

ETA: He made it. He's nursing now and is very strong.

What spring looks like on this small homestead.

2011-03-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

Bringing new kids into the kid pen.
*squee!*

A little girl *so* excited that her very own goat had a baby. His name is Jack. She's named all of the little boys Jack.

Another girl who is taking a much bigger part in goat care this year, as is appropriate for her age.

Watering cans and shovels in hand. Pushing Mother Nature along.

Wild swans passing through. So beautiful.

That's as close as I could get to them. You stop the car and they move away very quickly.

I don't know why I have no pictures of Gray to include. He's there - moving rocks from one place to another in the driveway. Pushing tires around. Chasing the cat with a stick.

Spring is coming.

2011-03-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

Spring is coming.

(I made the above photo here. My favorite optimism picture is here.)

Spring is coming.

Spring is coming.

Spring is coming.

Spring is coming.

Spring is coming.

It has to be.

Hannah's Pants - Stashbusting #5

2011-03-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

I made Hannah a pair of pants from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love. It's a book with fantastically outrageous fabric choices and embellishments used for all of their clothes. Hannah loves looking through it.

She asked me to make her a pair of the Dortje Trousers. The patterns in this book offer so many variations, so I walked her through them and when she'd decided what she wanted, I told her to pick out a fabric.

"A fabric? Just one? But I need different colors for the pockets! And for the starfish!"

The starfish?

"Yeah, the starfish. And the notes. I'll need a fabric for those too."

My eyes can go goggly. I found that out.

I also found out that I need to add a hem allowance along with a seam allowance to these patterns. I thought they were a bit short, but she didn't - she loves the length. They come down to her feet, I think I just like them a bit longer so she could have some growth room.

Look at that fabric! I bought it years ago - at least four - to use for art smocks. There was barely enough for the pants, especially as tall as she's getting. I'm avoiding thinking about the fact that she's getting so tall.

Here's the starfish she wanted. It's a 'hidden pocket'. I have to remember to check it when I do laundry.

The waistband fabric matches the fabric on the hem. She said it 'pulls it together'. What 6-year-old says that? She also wanted to use rick-rack that I had in my trim drawer. I don't know why I had it since I'm not a big rick-rack fan, but I'm glad she used it. It's really cute.

Then there are the music notes that start at the back pocket ...

and wrap themselves around her leg. Those were hand-stitched (blanket stitch) on - easy and fast.

These pants were not at all what I would have made for her myself. I wouldn't have chosen these fabrics. I wouldn't have chosen these embellishments. But she did. And she looks darling in them. And she loves them.

And she wears them. Which, if you make clothes for your kids you know is the best response they could have.

What I've been doing. Stashbusting #4 - Library bags.

2011-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Sewing. Lots and lots of sewing. It has done its job. I was distracted, I was creative. I busted a lot less of my stash than I wanted to, but every little bit counts.

Thank you so much for your kind words after my last post. I treasured every one - don't think I mean that lightly.

Today I'm going to show you a project I finished - library bags for the girls with matching wallets.

Hannah has had her own card for a few years now but has never been interested in carrying it herself. Ainsley, however, is a different story. She practiced and practiced until she could spell her name by herself. All for the express purpose of getting her very own library card. And once she had it, well, it was hers. She wanted to carry it. Which was at odds with me wanting to make sure it didn't get lost so she could use it.

(By the way, there is not much cuter than a little 4-year-old carefully signing her name on the card in front of the librarian. God bless librarians who treat such moments with the proper amount of gravity.)

We compromised - she got to carry it. That's actually not much of a compromise is it? She got to carry it, in a grown-up wallet that was attached to her library bag. So she got a library bag out of the deal too. She was thrilled about it, as was Hannah who got her own bag and wallet.

I aimed them at my stash and had them pick out fabrics they wanted to use. The fabric they chose has made skirts and hats before. I don't know why I bought so much - and I still have a bit more of each. *gulp*

I used a Green Pepper pattern - Market Tote and Produce Bags - for the bag. I used the small height and the medium width (picture books can run wide).

It was so simple to put together. I was a bit stressed about the straps going on straight, but it went together beautifully.

For the wallets, I drew out what I needed - just a simple wallet with one pocket for the card - and the card had to fit in snugly - with a velcro attachment that would close the wallet tightly. The wallet also had to have a strap so that I could attach it to the bag.

It took more planning than you'd think, making sure that everything went together in the right order (there's a layer of interfacing to make it more solid) at the right time.

My measurements turned out to be right on. Once the edge-stitching was in place, the cards fit in the wallets perfectly.

I'm rather ridiculously pleased with how they turned out.

And the girls love them too. They were so excited to pull their cards out of their grown-up wallets to hand them to the librarian (once again, thank goodness for awesome, know-when-to-be-amazed-at-such-grown-up-girls librarians) and carry their own books out of the library. I carried the other three bags of their books.

Let the healing begin.

2011-01-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

Last Monday I had a post in mind - all written up about Meg and how well she was doing. Potty training? Totally on track. Bonding with family? Better than I could have hoped.

Instinct? Coming in right on track.

Recall? Dang good for a 4-month old puppy. I was especially proud of this.

For the record, hubris sucks.

So does the universe interpreting 'Getting this puppy is a declaration of healing' in a completely different way than I intended. For most of last week, my attitude was 'Bite me, universe.'

You see, on Monday evening I put the Bella and Meg out to go to the bathroom. Meg saw Cygnus chasing a vole in the driveway and went running over to start herding him. I was enjoying watching her because, like I said, her instinct was coming in right on track.

Then I saw my husband pulling into the driveway, on the phone, not paying attention. This has always been a fear of mine that drives him crazy - that he'll be so distracted that he'll accidentally hit one of the kids. Because I have this fear, I started calling Meg - I knew Cygnus would be paying attention and move, but she was only four months old. Her recall that was so good in training and when we were doing chores? Yeah, it was right on track for a four month old puppy with one thing on her mind - which means not so good when her instinct is running the show.

I had to watch as my husband ran over her and I couldn't get there in time to get his attention to stop him. This is what could be called a 'rough patch' in a marriage.

For the first three days after it happened, I was in an emotional no-man's land. I was dry-eyed as I washed and put away her kennel, mixed her food in with Cygnus' food, and moved her toys over into the 'all-dog' basket. Then I got flowers from my sister saying 'I'm so sorry for your loss.' and I cried so hard.

See, I meant it when I said that this dog was a declaration of healing for me. I was healing and I was planning to keep on healing. I had plans for this dog and me. For the partnership we were going to have, for her presence making me focus more on the 'me' part of myself instead of being 100% on the 'mommy' part, and for the fun we were going to have herding and training. I sold half of my goats to purchase her. Her kennel and toys were my Christmas present. She herself was so good for all of our family. So her loss wasn't just the loss of a dog. It was also my plans for the future.

I meant for her to be the culmination of my healing. I didn't think that I would need to heal *from* her.

It's amazing how much of an impact she had in a month.

And now I need to recalibrate.

I'll be posting mainly fluff stuff for awhile. Anything to keep me busy. After all, I have a baby to get ready for.

Garden objectives for next year.

2011-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

We've put ourselves on a strict garden budget this year, so going through seeds and catalogs without having a firm plan in place was an exercise in frustration. Yesterday I sat down and tried to write down exactly what I wanted to accomplish this year.

1 - Grow all of the common vegetables that we use in the summer. Because it's a bit ridiculous to buy bell peppers in the store when you can grow them for pennies.
2 - Grow the amount of vegetables and herbs necessary to make own salsa, tomato sauce, and bottled peppers. Then actually make them.
3 - Grow root vegetables for goats. Convince them that they want to eat them.
4 - Grow comfrey for chickens. If I can find a source.
5 - Grow enough cabbage for slaw, kraut, and kimchi. Not lose it and call my sister in tears if cows break into the garden and eat all 70 healthy transplants like they did last year.
6 - Grow edamame beans for girls. Such a hit last year and soooo easy to grow. I love it when easy meets happy.
7 - Grow peas. Because I have never been able to.
8 - Grow basil for pesto. Not lose it and call my sister in tears if cows eat all 140 healthy transplants like they did last year. Not plant 140 basil transplants. Moderation, moderation.
9 - Grow popcorn? (questionable based on weather) We're in as good of a place as we can be (surrounded by desert and organic farms) to grow corn not tainted by GMOs.
10 - Grow radishes and carrots for fresh eating. Because I'm truly dependent on fresh radishes and baguettes to make my spring feel right.
11 - Grow flowers for my soul. Not swear so loudly if my husband rototills in exactly the spot that I just told him not to rototill, destroying all of my coveted lilac zinnias. Not even think about committing physical assault when he says in a truly baffled voice "But they're just flowers."
12 - (Matt) Start berry patch. Again. My goal is to make sure my goats don't get in it and destroy it in 10 minutes flat. That's just greedy - they need to take at least 20 minutes next time.

Is that too much? Not enough? Still not sure ... But it does give me a more set finish point to base my starting point on. Now to not let the catalogs sway me. Oh, but they do sway me.

On today's list -

2011-01-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

starting my pattern organization.

Notice I said *starting*.

Yeah.

I figured I had to do *something* on my to-do list today, so I picked this one.

Today I got 'Dogs', 'Toys', 'Doll Clothes', 'Bags', and 'Home Furnishings' done. I'm out of plastic sheets for right now.

After going through the patterns, I realized a few things.

A) I have a disproportionate number of Simplicity patterns. I don't know whether this is because Simplicity has more patterns I'm interested in than the other big companies or whether it's because they go on the 99 cents per pattern sale more often.

B) I have a depressingly small number of patterns for myself. I'm going to work on that.

C) I have no idea why I have this pattern.

Quilted purses aren't really my thing.

Measurement Chart

Winter doesn't slow us down!

2011-01-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it does, really. At least the outside stuff. I took that when the kids asked to go for a walk outside. It was 9 degrees - they lasted halfway down the driveway.

But pony-riding is still happening.

I'm so grateful she has a daddy who's up for taking her on freezing rides.

I'm also grateful she has a mommy who runs outside and snaps pictures for posterity before running back inside. That's almost as important, I'm sure of it.

It's really not that funny.

2011-01-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

It's really not.

I mean, it's just a cat turd, frozen in snowman style.

I really shouldn't think it's as funny as I did.

She's obviously not amused.

I've been living out here too long.

Stashbusting #3 - or not?

2010-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Is it considered 'stashbusting' when it doesn't exactly bust your stash?

very small squares of flannel for violin wipes

Or when you're using it for what you originally bought it for?

reusable produce bags made of mosquito netting

Oh, well. My current project is very much busting my stash.

And it's making my eyes hurt a little bit.

Blackberry Pie.

2010-12-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

It starts in the fall with the picking.

It ends in the winter with the eating.

Pie this time. Smoothies frequently. Well worth the thorns.

Stashbusting #2 - Ainsley's Apple Pants

2010-12-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Ainsley needed new pants, so I found corduroy fabric and said "This?", she squealed and found me a cute pattern in my pattern stash and these were born.

They're from Butterick 4277, a now out-of-print pattern.
I read up on the pattern at PatternReview, a website that my sister has me hooked on. I'm so glad I did. It gave me the confidence to go with the size that I thought I should (size 2 instead of size 4 - this pattern runs BIG) and I added a bit more flare to the bottom as several reviewers said that there wasn't as much flare as the pattern showed.

I'm really glad I made both of those choices. These pants fit her perfectly - both physically and personality-wise.

She chose to add falling apples, and they turned out really cute. All three were supposed to be falling separately, but this is the project in which Sarah learns the value of adding interfacing to the back of the applique. (I put a hole through the pants appliqueing the first apple and had to cover that hole with a second apple.)

I love these - and she loves them. I really want to make another pair, but am unsure if the hang would work with a cotton fabric. They're so fantastic in corduroy! What do you think?

New pants perfect for farm kids.

2010-12-16T08:06:00.001-08:00

On the recommendation of lots of other bloggers I got a book called Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa, a Japanese designer.

It's a pattern book and while the clothes were cute, they were (A) not my kids style - everything was white! and (B) scary. Don't ask me why using patterns from a book is so much scarier than using patterns from a store-bought pattern, but there you have it - it intimidated me.

Luckily, I have sisters that push me. One who taught me that I really can play with recipes and I probably won't ruin them - I may even end up with something much better than the original! And another who's taught me over the last year that I really can play with patterns and fabrics and I will probably end up with something better suited to me than the original. Damned if they both haven't been right.

It's funny that when I look at patterns with my girls, I take it for granted that at their ages I have to remind them that we can make the outfit shown in any color they want, yet I, at 33 years old, couldn't look at these white outfits in the book and think "Those could be *really* colorful to hide .... farm stains." When I did, oh, the options I had!

I picked the pants with legwarmers to start out with because they are perfect for chilly fall and spring days when regular skirts and shorts aren't enough but snow clothes are overkill. So the book became Carefree Clothes for Girls - and a Boy.

We grabbed some sweatshirt fabric that was on sale and picked some chunky yarn also on sale to match - this was not a stashbuster project.

Then I did something I've never done on my own before - I traced the pattern onto pattern paper and cut it out. And then I did it again, this time with seam allowances. They don't add seam allowances onto Japanese patterns.

The pants came together really fast - it was pretty much a pajama pant pattern. I was scared about following the sparse directions - one page of written and two pages of diagrams.

But it was easy - easier than many store-bought patterns I've used.

The designer wanted the pants to have a drawstring waist. When Hannah tried hers on, the first thing I did after I took them off was change the waists on all of them to elastic waists. Of course. No need to follow the recipe if it's not working. ;)

The legwarmers came together really fast and were easy to attach. I wasn't sure if the ribbing should go on the top or the bottom - the bottom, around the ankle made sense to me, but the picture seemed to show more structure just below the knee, though it was unclear because of the dark color of the legwarmers. I went searching around the internet, but nobody's blogged about making these yet. I *did* find a fantastic sew-along project - when they do the pants, I think I'll post these. I got some beautiful inspiration for more colorful versions of the other projects in the book from the sew-along.

I ended up sewing the ribbing onto the bottom of the pants instead of having it at the ankles and it's a fantastic design.

So now all three are done, and they really are perfect for the kids. One of the adjustments that I made to all the kids legwarmers was using a piece of yarn to gather up the back of the legwarmers so they weren't dragging on the ground.

I left the front long to cover their feet or shoes. It makes the kids more likely to wear them around the house since they won't be walking on them.

Hannah chose a starry night with yellow legwarmers.

I really liked the drawstring look on the front, so I braided a yarn strip, tied it in a bow and attached it.

Hannah always tweaks her clothes slightly to fit her style (she doesn't have the hangups I do), so she added little bows to the front of her legwarmers. I thought it would be too little-girly, but it *really* suits her, it's not too young at all.

Ainsley picked bright hearts and stars with pink legwarmers.

She's a pretty basic girl, though she's starting to get into embellishments, so she kept these plain but pretty.
Grayson got red with slate gray legwarmers.

And you get five pictures of him. He learned that he loves posing. :)

For Gray, I added pockets because he loves putting his hands in his pockets. I didn't do in-set pockets, I just sewed them on with an embroidery running stitch.

I didn't bother machine stitching it because he doesn't load his pockets full of stuff, so they didn't need to be *that* sturdy and I'm glad I didn't. I think that the running stitch looks nice with the embroidered car I added to one of the pockets.

And he loves them as much as I hoped he would.

So that's one pair of pants down for all of the kids. So cute and so useful.

Meet my new baby.

2010-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

It's been two years since I lost the best dog I've ever owned. That loss, combined with the loss of my childhood best friend a month later, affected me in ways that I had no way of foreseeing then but am just now overcoming. So this puppy, accepting her into my life, is a declaration of healing of sorts.

I've been looking for a border collie for the last 8 months or so. None that I've seen or met have clicked with me until I met this one. Just look at her.

(Ains took that picture unexpectedly, but I love it.)

It wasn't just her - I met her father and mother and her breeders. Her father was very much like Dan temperament wise, but bigger and hairier physically. A total sweetheart with a good working drive. Her mother was young with lots of energy and lots of working instinct. Her breeders work a large ranch in Nevada and answered all of my questions in just the right way for me.

I was so hooked on this puppy that I weeded through my goat herd and sold four of my goats to be able to afford her and the kennel she'd need. I was grateful to the owners that they kept her for me until I could get her.

I'd forgotten how much I am in love with this breed of dog. The way they look at you, the way they move around the farm, the way they pick one person and become *that person's dog*.

If I sit down, I have a puppy chin on my foot within 30 seconds. She's like a 3 month old ball of fur and love.

And she's learning how to play with the kids nicely.

She's fun but needs to be reminded not to jump up on the littler ones.

Cygnus and Bella are reacting predictably to her. She is an energetic puppy after all. Cygnus is being extra (and so-annoyingly) protective of his bones but is tolerating her otherwise. Bella is tolerating her as long as she doesn't try to play with her - then she gets cranky, but I can see her wearing down. The other day when we were going to feed the chickens, Bella started playing with the puppy when she didn't think anyone was looking.

So now we have a dilemma. I can't keep calling her 'The Puppy.' She needs a name. Because she is going to be a working dog, her name does have some restrictions on it. The name she's called when working has to be one syllable and needs to start with a hard sound like 'Ned' or 'Dan'.

We've come up with several, but we're stuck. Can you help? (Or suggest anymore to mire me even deeper in indecision?)

- Meg
- Niamh (Irish name I love that's pronounced 'Neve')
- Ang (short for Angelina Ballerina, natch)
- Mist

Vote vote vote! She needs a name.

I've hit my 3 dog limit now and am so grateful to an ever-patient husband who has a 0 dog limit but has put that aside for his family members.

Goat meat tamales to die for.

2010-12-01T10:40:00.003-08:00

Remember when I waxed poetic about the first goat meat tamales I made. They were so. good. My computer's running too slow to go find the post for you, so you'll just have to pretend you remember. The only thing wrong with them (according to my husband) was that they were A) goat meat and B) not juicy enough. I pulled out another recipe to try to fix the juicy and went for it with all of my remaining goat meat.

Tamale making is an all-day ordeal.

Seriously.

Nothing else got done yesterday - including Christmas presents that need to be mailed off.

Just making these tamales that smelled so amazingly good. I didn't have time to eat one in between batches because I was too busy making the next batch.

I really should have taken that time.

When they were all done, I sat down to eat some, and people, they were to die for. Seriously. You'd die if you ate them. So incredibly ... GROSS. So, so bad. All 80 of them.

*sigh*

Hannah's new coat.

2010-11-30T07:34:00.000-08:00

Apologies in advance for what will be a sewing-heavy few stuck-inside-winter-months-worth of posts.

Hannah was the only one who needed a new coat this year, but she wanted a 'stylish' coat. I told her she could pick out a pattern and I'd make her one. I've never made a coat before and thought it would be good experience. Now that I'm done, I have to say ... a pox on experience!

It wasn't really that bad, but I did tear out more seams than I have in a very long time.

She chose Simplicity 2778 for her pattern. (If you watch the sales, you can get Simplicity patterns for 99 cents at JoAnns and Hancocks - the fabric chain stores in this area)

This uses a faux shearling fabric and is built with some seams inside out. That caused a few headaches for me. The first inside out seam I tore out three times. Three. Times. I am so used to sewing with right sides together, that sewing with the wrong sides together took a bit of getting used to. Then, as soon as I was used to it, they'd have me sew a 'right sides together' seam.

The coat came together really easily other than that, and she loves it. It's perfect for her and her growing-up style.

It has a detachable hood and a matching scarf.

Another thing that I messed up on was the seam markings. I learned a few years ago to use snips in the seam allowance instead of notches on the markings where seams meet up. That doesn't work so well on seams that are on the outside.

The coat has a natural bell shape on the bottom - more from the hang of the fabric used - which kind of bugged me, but Hannah loves it and like she says "It's perfect for when I wear poofy dresses." Now she needs a poofy dress.

I made a matching coat and hat for her chihuahua. I think that dog loves to dress up almost as much as Hannah. She sat at my feet the whole time I was sewing her coat and got excited every time I reached down to test the fit.

Not a great pattern for the dog, but I learned some and think it wouldn't be hard to just make my own pattern for this style of coat for her.

It's not the best chore coat - too fancy.

But for playing in the snow, it's perfect.

It used a bit less than 4 yards of fabric that I had an awesome coupon for, so this coat - and Bella's - only cost me $27. Not bad for such a stylish little girl - and her little dog, too.

Stash busting. #1

2010-11-29T07:01:00.001-08:00

I have too much fabric. Not as much as some, but a lot more than others. It isn't a problem on the same level as my book problem, but it's a bit ridiculous. Fabrics that I still remember the original project I had in mind for, fabrics that were on sale and just too cute to pass up, fabrics that I have no idea what to do with ...

So a few months ago, I decided to start stash busting. Going through my fabrics and using them up. We'll see how it goes.

This is one of the first ones I did.

Since Hannah was one year old, I've been planning on making a puppet theater. Not a fancy one, mind you, just a simple piece of fabric on a tension rod. Two seams to sew. For the last five years I've been planning this. About three weeks ago, I finally did it.

I was pushed more by the need to get our toy room organized than by a desire to finally get it done. The basket of puppets sits down in the toy room and when I clean the room, I am inevitably picking up all of the puppets which have been used as projectiles.

I stopped in the middle of picking them up one day, walked into the craft room, dug through my fabric stash, cut some fabric the right length, sewed a hem on one end and a tube on the other for the tension rod, put it on the rod (which I've had in the craft room *for this very purpose* for three years), and put it on the stairs. Then I went back to the toy room, threw all of the puppets in the tub and hauled it upstairs also. Within 30 seconds, I had two big kids upstairs using the theater - and puppets - as it was meant to be used.

Finally, after FIVE YEARS, we had a puppet theater in use.

I also had one 2 1/2 year old using them as projectiles *over* the theater. (Notice the flying lion)

Now the toy room is more organized because the puppets are not adding to the mess anymore and the puppets get played with at least once a day because their basket is upstairs in the game area in plain sight. An added bonus is that they get picked up almost immediately because if they don't, they're right in the way.

So glad to have this yard and a half piece of fabric out of my stash and in use!

First snows always melt fast.

2010-11-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

That's the way it's always been. Mother Nature is breaking tradition this year.

Five days since this snowfall and the snow has been falling or blowing steadily since then and looks like it will be here at *least* another week, if not more.

The goats are in their hutch, the calves are in their straw bale house, the chickens are in their coop - and they're not coming out.

It seems nearly the entire state of Idaho was shut down yesterday. The wind and snow was so bad that there was a burrowing owl hunkered down in my daughter's bedroom window.

He was curious about us first.
Then he got scared and mad and started hissing.

So I backed out of the room and shut the door to keep him comfortable. Strange to see a burrowing owl up close like that.

More snow fun pictures on my other blog.

Halloween in the country.

2010-11-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

It's not so exciting. It takes an hour to go to four houses since you have to drive there, do the polite chit chat for ten minutes or more (while the kids either moan about boredom or disappear with the kids there and get upset about leaving), and then drive to the next house. This year, we opted to go into the nearest 'big town' for parties and trick or treating.

The kids were all superheroes this year.

If you care about the sewing details - which likely only my sister does - you can read about them on my other blog.

An excellent addition to the kid's garden.

2010-09-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

New seeds are always a crap shoot. Will they grow? Will they be a hit?

Last year's carrots and lettuces in the kid's garden weren't a hit at all. The tomatoes and chives were. This year I added pink radishes and a different type of carrot - the Tonda Di Parigi. The radishes were a huge hit (they *were* pink after all). But the carrots? Surprisingly, they were a hit also! The perfect size for little hands to dig out, even when there wasn't a shovel around, and the perfect size for a fast nibble - and so sweet.

If we can nab some of these next year, we will.

Fall weather.

2010-09-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

It means it's seed collecting time.

I'll have enough to share this year!

Another batch of calendula petals drying.

Somehow we only have lavender zinnias right at this moment. Strange.

(and they're not lavender, I'm told. "THEY"RE PINK!" Okey-dokey.)

It's chilly enough to dress for it.

Well, sometimes.

First freeze of the year.

2010-09-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday evening. It was so cold. Ains and I were alone for the Labor Day weekend and we picked up my niece to stay with us for a week. It was this cold ...

Chores were done fast. My niece was frustrated that it looked like she was in for a week of freezing, windy, cold weather - not good for horse riding.

The next morning I walked through my garden and mourned my squash plants.

But it was a warm, non-windy day. Perfect for horse-riding.

We've had two hard freezes since then. Our last freeze of the 'spring' was a month past average and our first freeze was two weeks before average. Short summer.

Remember those flowers I pressed?

2010-08-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a sampling of the finished product.

On this page are sweet peas (still so very fragrant), bachelor buttons, wild flowers, love-in-a-mist (that's the one in the upper right hand corner), blanket flower, calendula, and zinnias.

On this page are snapdragons and love-in-a-mist.

Those love-in-a mist are divine fresh and just as pretty dried. Not much smell that I noticed, but beautiful.

I wanted to show you how I store these - my little sister taught me this.

I put them in a little photo book. Ingenious, non?

She's brilliant.

County Fair Blast From the Past

2010-08-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

When we went to our county fair, I walked through the antiques building and saw these photos.

Little 3 year old Jay in 1939 getting on his horse.

I need to take pictures of how Ains gets on her horse.

It makes me smile to think that that little boy is now 74 years old.

This is Betty and Shirley milking Blossom.

I want a Blossom.

And my favorite - 'The Eastwoods - Plowing Garden'.

Folks, not many of us these days have that in us.

Sunflower House

2010-08-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

It worked this year!

Last year it didn't work out so well. Not planted thickly enough, not protected well enough from the goats.

This year, I marked the walls and then poured on the seed that I'd saved from last year instead of planting one seed per foot.

It's perfect. Started a bit late, due to the cold spring, but perfect. The bantam chickens love it too.

What do these books have in common?

2010-08-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Yale Shakespeare. The Horse Industry Handbook.

The Small Ruminant - Production Medicine and Management. Walking with Dinosaurs. James Herriot's Treasury for Children.

The Cake Bible. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds.

Any guesses?

They're all big, heavy ...

Perfect for pressing flowers.

Lemon queen.

2010-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

A new addition to the garden this year.

Lemon Queen from Baker Creek. Striking soft yellow color - unique for a sunflower.

What do you think?

Will you look at that.

2010-08-17T22:45:00.003-07:00

No, not those insanely cute kids. Look behind them.

Do you see that?

She's riding by herself!

Let me repeat.

SHE'S RIDING BY HERSELF!!!

No more long rides with me holding onto the lead rope. Overnight that girl's confidence kicked in and now that pony can't get away with anything.

Her chihuahua seems just as proud of her.

Rides every single day - sometimes morning *and* night - are the order of the day now.

Her new ability is infectious - her sister's right behind her, I can tell, chomping at the bit (heh) to ride by herself also and her little brother is now riding steady in the middle instead of leaning to one side or the other.

Though sometimes Ains gets tired of sharing her saddle and he goes up on my shoulders for the rest of the way home.

'Tis the life.

Color in the Butterfly Garden

2010-08-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

The Butterfly Garden was started last year when we first moved to this house to help Hannah make the transition more smoothly. We didn't get much last year besides calendula, flax, zinnias, and sunflowers, but we got a lot of all of those and some big butterflies also!

This year ... well, this year we had a cleaner garden (no big piles of rocks to move), more time (we've been here for the entire spring), and more variety. We just don't have a lot more flowers. We had a cold, cold, *cold* and loooong spring which made for frustrated flowers. Finally, in the last few weeks, we've gotten some eye-popping color. And we're glad of it.

We put in four rose bushes. Two yellow ones transplanted from my cousin's garden. They don't look like they made it, but I'm being optimistic and leaving them in until next year. A pink rosebush for Ains, and a blue one for Hannah. Hannah's is covered in green, but Ains' got several beautiful blooms! I had to fight her off of them until I got a picture. It was only a two minute fight, but don't think that that made it any easier - she wanted those roses.

Remember the calendula I had last year? I didn't collect all of the seeds like I thought I did.

So happy to see those back - they put a smile on my face every time I pass the garden.

It's hard to see these because they're so delicate. Lilac Pompom Poppies. They're not striking, but they're passively pretty. I'll use them again next year because they mound nicely to fill in empty spots and don't detract from flowers around them.

Flemish Antique Poppy. Delicate. Beautiful.

The zinnia patch. So tall and full and lush last year. *sigh* Poor things are doing what they can with what they were given this year.

A few sweet peas by the main garden fence. I love the look of this so much that I'm planting lots more next year, if I can afford it. Is it hard to collect sweet pea seeds? This variety is Late Spencer Choice Mix.

LOTS of sweet peas in the garden this year. I'll put a fence up next year for them to climb - no money for that this year, so they're mounding, and they're beautiful. This variety is Blanche Ferry.

This one (my favorite) is Beaujolais.

And this one is Dolly Varden, I think.

Our first hollyhock of the season. Don't have any idea what this variety is, but it's got a lot more petals than hollyhocks that I'm familiar with. Pretty, though.

Can't even remember what these are - got them at a huge nursery sale. But they're pretty and the girls love to pick them.

Nicotiana (afternoon blooming) and blue bachelor's buttons. I also have pink bachelor's buttons in another part of the garden.

Then there's the wildflower and flax patch around the calendula and the shasta daisy patch. Both of these patches are naturally reseeding and naturalizing which I want in this garden. The more perennials and reseeders I can get in here, the better.

And we have enough sweet peas that I can bring some in for my desk. They smell oh so good.

(The notecard on the wall is from one of my favorite artists, Katie Berggren)

It doesn't work that way.

2010-07-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

I was a city girl when I married my husband. Didn't want to be a city girl, but that was what I was.

I've put up with a lot of embarrassment over the years as I've learned the basics of living in the country and caring for animals, so you can imagine my (quiet) (okay, not so quiet) (okay, I may have laughed like a hyena) satisfaction when the following conversation happened between my husband and me.

Me: "Guess what? I found out that one of my hens is a setter! All of those eggs that we've been missing? She's been hiding them. She was sitting on a big pile of them when I found her and had the setting posture down and even hissed at me a bit - and she's such a sweet hen!"

Matt: "What did you do with the eggs?"

Me: "Well I didn't know how old they were, so I had to chuck all of them. I felt bad too, because she'd been hoarding them for at least five days."

Matt: "Why didn't you let her stay on them and hatch them out?"

Me: *blink* *blink* "Um.... " *blink* "We don't have a rooster."

Matt: "Oh. That would make hatching them out harder."

Yes it would.

Maggie's progress.

2010-07-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Who is Maggie? Maggie is our female bottle calf. She got her name because one day when I was feeding her, she popped the nipple off the bottle and sucked on it by itself for awhile like a pacifier before dropping it - hence, Maggie. My husband's a big fan of the Simpsons.

When I found out that my husband had gotten a beef heifer, I started making big plans. Big, four to five-year plans.

First step: Tame calf. Train to walk on lead. Gentle and get her used to being touched all over.

Enter a niece and nephew who came and stayed for a week. Their job was to take a heifer who didn't like to be touched and give me back a heifer who was friendly and could walk nicely on a lead.
That picture was taken after a week of working with her. The first day was not so pretty. Little calves are amazingly strong and that calf dragged my niece from one side of the pasture to the other. It was fun to watch the two teenagers work with her and never lose their temper and, as asked to, hand me back a gentled, trusting calf at the end of the week.
So step one has been completed.

Step two: Keep her gentled as she gets older. Breed her to a dairy bull when she's old enough.

Step three: Milk her with her calf on her side. Here is where my plan could take longer - if she has a bull calf, I'll breed her back to the dairy bull again and pray for a heifer. If she has a heifer calf, I'll work with the heifer calf like I'm working with Maggie now to gentle her.

Step four: When the heifer calf is old enough, I'll breed her.

Step five: Heifer calf has baby, becomes my 1/2 beef/ 1/2 dairy milk cow. Maggie becomes a friendly pasture cow.

It's a good plan. I think. It's a loooong plan.

And I'm not terribly attached to it, either. If our situation changes, I'll sell Maggie. If she doesn't end up gentle enough for a milk cow, I won't be too upset about it. If she keeps having bull calves, well, I'll get a new bull. ;-)

So that's Maggie, and that's her progress. She just spent two weeks with our cows and their calves which she really enjoyed (and it helped calm the cows down also, watching her come to us every morning and night to eat). Now that they've been taken to pasture in Wyoming, she's back in the goat pasture with her 'brothers' and getting walked every day again.

This plan is long, much longer than my normal garden/farm plans. I keep thinking I should make five- and ten-year plans, but to be honest, we don't have any idea where we'll be in that long - hopefully not here still. How far out do you plan on your farm/homestead/city yard?

Today's Color.

2010-07-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

The girls have a Rainbow Garden. It's made out of an old tractor tire that we rolled home on our walk down the 'farm road' one night. It was big and heavy and unwieldy and the girls thought I was a superhero for getting it all the way home. I kinda am.

We went to a nursery and let them wander and pick whatever flowers they wanted that were in our price range. They decided to make a 'Rainbow Garden' and walked around saying 'we have Red Butler, now we need Canary Yellow' and 'we can't find Buddy Blue!'. Eventually they found all the colors - even some white - and we all agreed that blue flowers *are* hard to find while green flowers really aren't necessary. And I've found that I really, really like verbena (the red, purple, and blue in the front of the picture).

We've even gotten a few strawberries out of the deal. It's so nice to look out the window and see a huge mound of color - especially since our flower garden is having a hard time with the cold weather we've had all spring and summer.

And it's princess approved.

June 15th.

2010-06-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Is kind of our last frost date this year. It's supposed to be May 15th, but this year is throwing all 'averages' out the window. We're expecting a light frost tomorrow night.

Yesterday we had our first harvest of the season.

It was so late due to several things - the weather, the garden area taking a lot of work to get ready (I'm converting a feedlot), children harvesting shoots or stomping on the plants ...

We've lost an animal in the last few weeks and I haven't felt up to talking about it until now. Almost a month ago now, we left in the morning to go to gymnastics. The red setter that had visited our chicken coop once before had become a regular visitor because he (much to his owner's extreme annoyance) and Butterfly were great friends. Since they were playing and I couldn't catch him to put him outside the gate, I left the driveway gate open for him so that he could leave. When we came home, both Butterfly and the setter were gone, which was unusual since Butterfly never ran off. The next day, the owner of the red setter came by and said he had found Butterfly hit by a truck. We buried him - it took a loader to dig a hole big enough. I tried to tell myself that he had a longer life than he would have if I'd have left him running in the pack, but it still hurt all of us to lose him. The red setter hasn't been back.

We've gained a few animals also. I have 64 chicks. Hopefully at least 25 of them are females for my egg-laying flock. It would be cheaper to order only as many females as I need, but I order straight-run so that I am not responsible for males being sent through the grinder. It's a small thing, industry wise, but it's a big thing for me.

We also have three little bottle beef calves.

If you are reading this and live in the city, this is something you need to be aware of. When you buy beef at the store, you are contributing to the feedlot industry. There are so many reasons that the feedlot industry is horrid and needs to be reformed - this is one that I wasn't aware of until last week and it made me ill when I found out about it.

The modern dairy practice of removing calves from their mothers at birth - most of the time before it's gotten colostrum or even been washed off - has always horrified me and there is not much sadder than watching these little calves, some just a few hours old being pushed through auction barns, terrified, confused, and looking for a mama and food.

A large feedlot in our area buys 'open cows' that ranches and small producers get rid of. These are supposed to be cows that didn't get pregnant , so are a financial drain for the producer until the next year, but some are simply cows that didn't get pregnant fast enough, so their babies will be 'off schedule'. When these come into the feedlot, they may or may not be allowed to carry their baby to term. If they are, the babies are left on them for 12-24 hours and then are pulled off and sold and the mamas are sent to slaughter. For some reason, this horrifies me even more than the dairy practice.

My husband just barely found out about this and bought three of these beef calves - two males and a female - for us to bottle feed. We have access to free organic raw milk to feed them, so that's been good for them (and us).

Our weather has been warmer, but still not warm enough for us to play outside after it gets dark. We have gotten to enjoy some beautiful sunsets ...

and some star-watching.

And laughing. Even the cats are laughing.

Have you ever been so tired ...

2010-06-02T00:05:00.001-07:00

that even though you have good intentions...
after you've eaten you just can't help it...

you can't stay awake?

I know exactly how she feels.

This one's mostly moaning.

2010-05-26T22:31:00.001-07:00

We've been busy around here this spring, but everything I do seems to be tempered by this incessant, infuriating, exasperating WIND. It's not just that it blows my two-year-old over as he helps me with my chores.

It's that the wind is as strong two miles up as it is here on the ground, so the sun rarely gets a chance to peek through the clouds it keeps blowing in. It's not good for my health. Really.

We do what we can to work with it - like kite flying when it's not too strong -

and squeeze every last second out of the minutes that it dies down and the sun comes out.

I've been gardening every chance I get, but sometimes I have too much help, like this little one who is convinced that after I rototill a row, he needs to plow it with his tractor.

He's cute.

And I am finding lots of these little patches of sunflowers sprouting up, thanks to my sunflower house last year.

I'm busy with the animals too. I'm freezing all of my milk in anticipation of soap making, but I haven't even ordered the lye for it yet. The 'lye damage' pictures terrify me. I'll order it tomorrow. I promise.

In the meantime, Cygnus keeps offering to let me milk him if I'll just let him clean up the goat's grain. I haven't taken him up on it yet.

I just let him have the grain.

And those baby chicks that I kept going back and forth on getting came. Lots of them.

My daughter made her first goat milk cheese. (I don't have the energy to go look for the pictures.) It was so successful that she started experimenting with flavors. Some weren't very good (the lemon juice/soy sauce/sesame seed/paprika variety comes to mind), but some were delicious (her fresh chives and garlic one is divine). She also baked her first loaf of bread. Now she wants to sell bread and cheese at the farmer's market. I'm not sure why, since she already has her chihuahua.

The Little Girl With Responsibilities. - A short story.

2010-05-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hannah wrote this story and said she didn't mind if I shared it. For some reason, the illustrations are off-limits, but she seemed kind of tickled to have the words 'published'. It rambles in a very 6-year-old way and is inspired (she says) by her life on the farm - which is why the ending surprised me so much.

The Little Girl With Responsibilities.

One day a little girl went out to fetch some eggs but there were no eggs. She didn't realize that the eggs were hiding behind the milk tank, because they let their chickens run free.

She went to milk the cow and found the eggs, but there weren't as many as usual. They only got six or seven eggs. They didn't know winter was coming back. "Why is it snowing?" she asked, "It's supposed to be spring."

The brother came, who had been looking at the news, and he told her that there were going to be more storms. "There will be ten big winds tonight," he said. The brother was taking the dog on a walk and eating a piece of jerky. According to the research, it was a little dog, a tiny chihuahua.

When the girl realized that each cow only had two drops of milk, the mother said "Where is the milk and the eggs, darling? The cat's scratching the couch and the dog's eating the jerky." The kid did not want to go out, but she had to, to get her cat pepper, and her brother's chihuahua, who was biting at snow.

The girl finally realized that it wasn't winter that was taking all of the milk and eggs. It was the zombies.

The end.

About Mothers.

2010-05-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

We're home. I have lots of chores, unpacking, and blogging to do and I realized that today's Mother's Day.

For the past few months, I have wanted to do a lovely, stirring, heartfelt post on this day about the women who have been important in my life, but I have neither the time nor the energy for that.

I'll have to save the post for another time. I wanted to talk about the influence for good that all of my aunts and grandmother had in my life, even though they only saw me once a year for a few days. I wanted to talk about my sisters and the source of strength they've been to me as we've all grown out of our childhood and the mother we had and into the mothers that we want to be. I will, in a future post, talk about a cousin who became a close friend and a motherhood mentor -though she likely doesn't know it - and, randomly, another cousin's wife who has - though she definitely doesn't know it - been one of the best examples for me of a calm and loving mother. I can't forget the midwife who was there when Ains and Gray came into this world and who treated birth like it was a normal, natural part of life and not necessarily a medical event. Then there are those who I've never *really* met - the close group of online friends who were a source of support and information and laughter in this mothering journey, especially when Gray went into the hospital. And all of you, who I've met through blogging (including the two of you who I *have* been lucky enough to meet), who have given me ideas and who let me see the kind of supportive, struggling, empowering, and really fun mothers you are.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, in the States or outside of the States. Thank you for being a part of my life, and maybe I'll get around to writing that post next year.

Right now I need to be in my garden.

Crossposted on The Napping House.

Family Vacation

2010-05-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

We're on vacation right now - heading toward the west coast. I've posted our first day here.

We have a friend taking care of the two big dogs for us and they're also coming by our house to take care of the chickens and my garden starts and keep an eye on the goats, calves, and horses.

I can't believe May is here already.

They're the same age.

2010-04-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

The vet told me so.

Despite the fact that she's as big as his head.

They're within a month of each other, at the most. Crazy.

A bit of mad, a bit of glad, and another egg in a pan picture.

2010-04-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we found our first double-yolked egg.

Funny, these were so very common at the university poultry set-up that I worked at in college. One out of every ten eggs was a double yolk. This is our first double-yolk in two years. They had about one-hundred chickens, ours have fluctuated between nine and seventeen. Proportionally, that still doesn't make sense. I wonder what else affects double-yolk production.

You want the glad or the mad first? I'll do mad. Let's end the post glad.

We live about 3/4 of a mile from the desert. Just past the farms, with their rock piles, is the desert that has defied farming so far. Out on this desert, sheep ranchers bring thousands of sheep and dump them there for the winter and early spring. These sheep don't get the kind of care that sheep do when moved to summer camps. After all, there are not a lot of predators out there (and losing a few out of a thousand doesn't seem to bother them) and where are they going to go?

Looking for water, that's where. It can be a pain in the butt to go out and check the water tanks as often as is needed, I guess, and what's a day or two without water going to do to them? Send them out across the desert in a desperate search. And they're pregnant. I have very strong feelings about their owners. Those feelings got much stronger yesterday.

Yesterday, Matt saw three ewes staggering off the desert and onto the road, barely standing. One had just given birth to triplets about 100 yards into the desert and none of them had made it. Another had twins. The last had triplets who were no more than an hour old and very weak, forced to stumble along after their mother as she looked for water.

Matt came to get us to help him and we went to get them. The momma with the twins was gone. Matt searched for her for two hours that afternoon and never found her again. The other two were panting and staggering. I caught the three lambs and we took them down the road really slowly until we got to our goat pasture. We led them to the watering trough and then backed off until a few hours later when I went out to get these pictures.

The three babies belong to the big ewe. The little ewe - who we haven't mouthed yet, so we don't know for sure, doesn't look more than a year old.

The bigger ewe looked strange to me, and I finally figured out what it was. This is her left profile.

This is her right profile.

No eye. Just a red, raw hole.

Watch. In a few weeks, when coming to pick up their ewes, the owners will drive by our property, see those sheep and come with a trailer.

Now on to the glad.

I experienced something that was very similar to deja vu. I was walking Physion from the milking stand back to the pasture and it hit me. The earthy, rainy smell, the heavy air pressure, my neighbor's rock wall,

the cool temperature, my wellies, the rock driveway, the green pastures...

If I had been leading a horse instead of a goat, I could have been back in Ireland, working at the stable. It was a good, good feeling. I just closed my eyes and let it soak in for a minute. Then Physion got impatient and pulled me on.

It's a steady, soft rain that's been going since late last night. My plants are loving it.

The combination of the cooler temperatures and the steady moisture is making them perk up more than my hose watering was accomplishing.

This is rhubarb that I transplanted from our other property.

And I have some hope that finally, after three years of trying, I might - just might - have fresh, home-grown strawberries to eat this year.

That makes me very glad indeed.

Today the planting began.

2010-04-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

The outside planting, that is. I've got tons of starts going in the garage, but outside I did my first real planting today.

We've had upwards of two weeks of windy, cold weather now. We've had to put all outside projects on hold. The arbor, the flower garden, the food garden. Today we had warmish weather and Matt took Gray on a work trip with him, so it was just the girls and me.

I planted 75 strawberry plants, 13 pounds of potatoes, and got most of my garden marked off. I've planted strawberries for three years now and have never gotten more than two or three berries. Maybe here, with more sun, I'll have better luck. Potatoes always grow and I always get a fair amount, but not last year - last year the Colorado Potato Beetles got them. This year I'll be on the lookout for those.

While I did that, the girls took advantage of the warm weather to play.

This long rock pile sits between part of our property and the field behind us. The farmland in this area is so rocky. These were pulled from the ground and stacked in a pile along the edge of the field.

There's something about a long pile of rocks like this. It's made for playing and exploring on.

You can have so many adventures on that. Today my girls were pirates mostly.

Thought I'd show you this - this is our view to the south. Still lots of snow on those mountains.

Tomorrow I get to plant peas. If the weather holds.

Standing at attention.

2010-04-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

I've never seen any factory-produced eggs do this.

The picture doesn't do it justice. Those egg yolks weren't flattening out or breaking easily, and they weren't a pale, insipid yellow. These farm eggs, especially the spring ones, are bright orange and sturdy. I love it.

And with spring here, the girls (mostly Ainsley) can't be kept off of the horses.

Ainsley mostly rides Daisy, while Hannah rides Princess the pony. Halfway through one of the rides, Hannah talked Ains into trading mounts and after riding for a few seconds, Ains exclaimed "You is on a big horse, Hannah!" It had apparently never occurred to her while she was riding Daisy that Daisy was a big horse.

Spring means snow.

2010-04-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

At least it does here, and I've come to expect it. Usually, though, the snow comes and is gone within one day - maybe two. We got snow last Friday night.

We ended up having our Easter egg hunt inside on Sunday because it was still hanging around. Here it is Tuesday and it's *still* here. We even had hail yesterday, but that's just piled on top of the snow. It looks like it's here to stay until at least this weekend.

Butterfly is loving it. He doesn't look happy in this picture, but he's in his element. He won't come in the house at all anymore. He sleeps in the middle of the yard in the deepest snow he can find. He's constantly bugging Cygnus to play with him. It's adorable.

So now we just wait for the sun to come back.

The painting has begun.

2010-03-24T08:55:00.001-07:00

We're working on a project for the garden. We are going to turn this

into an arbor with a bench in it.

It is going to have lattice on the sides, back and top to support climbing plants. I don't really like the look of lattice in a lot of situations, but for what we're doing, and the amount of time we have to get it done, it is the best option.

I was planning on a simple brown arbor, but my husband told me that it would need to be painted to protect it. Instead of a simple sealant - what do you call that? - that would weatherproof it and let the wood shine through, he wanted to let the girls pick colors for it and help paint it. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and agreed. It wasn't the color I didn't want, it was the painting it at all that I didn't want.

So yesterday, the first really nice day since we got the wood, we started painting. This was good because Hannah has been wanting to paint since we picked it up. This was bad because I don't enjoy painting. Or to put a finer point on it, I dread the thought of painting. The mess, the time, the mess, running kids and dogs, the mess, kids with paintbrushes, the mess. And ... it wasn't so bad. We spread a tarp out, anchored it down (because you have to anchor everything down around here including small children), put some lattice on it, and cracked open the pink paint. Grayson was taking a nap, so it was just the three of us girls and a big dog who ended up with pink pads. (The little dog was too busy chewing on new bones I'd given them just to keep them from getting pink pads.)

Ains worked really hard - on the same section - for almost ten minutes before she started dancing and riding her bike and playing with Butterfly.

Hannah lasted for the entire bucket of paint - which wasn't near enough to cover all of the lattice. We'll need to get some more.

Today we start with the purple. I'm much more optimistic about it after our experience yesterday.

Getting the ground ready for berries.

2010-03-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

And a trip to town for lumber. That's what we did yesterday.

This looks like a lot of compost doesn't it?

When it's distributed, it really doesn't look like a lot. My husband disagrees, but he's the one who did the spreading while I moved the truck for him. This was my view.

And this.

I like my view.

The kids did a lot of this.

And playing with the horn, and the radio, and the lights, and the dogs.

Who ended up doing a lot of this.

It was a long day.

And before you think I'm a sucker about this dog, let me tell you this - my sister, who is most definitely *not* a dog person may or may not be - after one three hour visit at my house - be petitioning her husband to get this dog to go live with her. He's that awesome.

New beginnings.

2010-03-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago - right at the end of our trip to Arizona - Hannah's goat Beauty had a baby boy. Hannah named him Diamond and is torn on whether to be sad because he's a boy so he has a less obvious place in our operation or whether to be thrilled because he's a boy so she can sell him and add the money to her chihuahua fund.

Here he is with his momma. If you have the head for keeping track of these things, Beauty is Tiffany's daughter (Tiffany is the white goat with triplet babies). Last year Beauty had her first babies, a male and a female. Hannah sold me the male because he was a stellar specimen (he's my current buck) and kept the female who she named Rose, so she has two females in her herd.

Since I don't milk heavily - if at all - on a first time momma, Hannah's main responsibilities with her goat last year were helping feed and helping keep them tame. This year, with Beauty in milk production, we talked about what her new duties would include. She helps me separate the mommas and babies at night, watch her siblings while I milk, help put the goats back together after milking, strain the milk, and help make cheese. It's a lot, but it is part of owning the animals.

Ainsley showed interest in owning a goat for the first time this year, so I gave her Delta. Delta's Tiffany's long-eared baby. I named her twin sister Dawn. Don't hate on me.

Right now her only job is to love on that baby and she is amazing at her job.

I was going to have Hannah pass her first female baby on to Ainsley as a 'Pay It Forward' type move, and she was willing, but little kids just don't get excited about getting a year-old-baby. They need a baby-baby, so Hannah got to keep Rose and Ains got my Delta.

My last big momma to give birth did so three days ago. These are Physion's little boys.

Such cuties, aren't they? So bummed that they're boys.

It makes me try to think of turning them into cart goats or something to keep them. They're awfully sweet and very pretty. No more long ears, though. In fact one of them has the tiniest ear buds I've seen on any of my LaManchas.

I've got three goats in milk instead of four this year, but that's more than enough milk for what I'm planning. Perfecting cheese, drinking milk (it is so satisfying to have your daughter ask for "Goat milk, if you have it."), and making a tentative foray into soap.

Butterfly, Guard Dog (and "Why I love blogging.")

2010-03-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all of your comments on my last post about this dog. They were so much fun to read.

One comment, in particular, was very helpful. Jody, who blogs at The PawPaw Patch, said "He looks like a pure bred Leonberger to me. Fairly rare. My inlaws had a Leo, he was beautiful, very gentle for his size and I would do just about anything to be in your shoes right now! They do have a very heavy winter undercoat that needs brushed out in the spring." Unfortunately, Jody's in Maryland. She has a beautiful property that he would love.

But her comment gave me something to go on. I contacted all of the Leo breeders near us ("near" being a relative term since there are none in Idaho) and none have sold dogs that would be his age, but they all agree that he is, indeed, a Leonberger, which brings me to "Why I love blogging".

I've never heard of Leonbergers. I assumed he was a mutt, a cross between a St. Bernard type and, well, probably a labrador. Everything's a cross with a labrador out here. Now, not only do I know what he is, what his behaviors are likely to be, and what his strengths are, I have breeders looking for a good home for him. So, Jody, thank you very much!

About where we stand with him now...

He's decided that this is his home. For now, until we find him a new home, his name is Butterfly. You know, because he's so tiny and graceful.

But Ains was insistent. I pushed for a more suitable name like Orion or Hercules.

He's a lovely dog - very much a puppy still - and has started some guarding behaviors. First he decided that he needed to guard us against our goats. That led to a lot of barking that we were unable to stop until we were able to convince him that they belonged here. Now he barks if anything gets near their pen. I really like that.

Then he decided that he needed to guard against the cats. Big no-no. Those cats do more around this place then almost any of our animals and they are protected by me, thankyouverymuch. He got the message fast, but his original behavior led to a problem I hadn't expected - apparently our cocker spaniel is a classic bully. When he was a puppy, he tried the pounce-and-play with the cats and got a claw to the nose. Ever since then, he's been deferential to the cats - until now.

All of the sudden, I have a nasty little dog who thinks he has backup in the form of a huge dog. He'll go after the cats when they're laying on the patio chair or walking across the lawn or even playing near the kids, and by 'go after them', I mean that he actually tries to bite them. I am dealing with that behavior now.

So back to Butterfly.
He's quickly worming his way into hearts here.

But having him stay here messes up some plans. I don't want more than three dogs. If he stays, and my daughter gets the chihuahua she's been saving up for (Danni was right about that), that's three dogs. Because this one,

he's going to be around for awhile.

So that means no border collie for me. And I'm missing having a border collie very much.

So we're having Leo breeders look for a home for him and we're taking care of him until them. And training him. One chewed library book and one roast pulled off the counter ("Your horse for a dog doesn't even have to jump up, he just walked by and pulled it off!" said my husband who had cooked it.) is enough. So training has been happening. And trying to find something for him to chew that he likes - so far books are the only thing, and I don't want him chewing books - what dog doesn't like bones?

I can be patient.

2010-03-10T08:23:00.000-08:00

I took a much-needed vacation with my kids a few weeks ago. We went to Arizona to see the sun (and my sister's family, of course). We had so much fun with both and when I came home I was dreading, a bit, stepping back into cold, windy, wintery weather.

When we were a few miles from our house, we saw the first rainbow of the year. When I stepped out of the car, I was greeted by crisp, earthy-smelling air, a light breeze, and flock after flock of geese flying over, calling out their springtime call. And my chickens had started laying.

It was the best "Welcome Home" I could have gotten.

For the next few days, we settled into disappearing snow, open windows, outside play, and the long-absent egg-drop soup.

Tuesday morning I woke up to this.

In Hannah's words, "It's turned from nice weather to crap weather."

But it's ok. I've had a taste of summer sun in Arizona and a taste of spring here. I can hold on another few weeks until spring starts in earnest.

So we're doing 'inside stuff'. Crafts, starting seeds, and working on a hammock.

Again with the dogs.

2010-03-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

When you live in a rural area with a portion of the population being transient, one of the issues you have to deal with is packs of dogs.

We can hear coyotes howling around us at night - they really set our cocker spaniel off - and we even saw a coyote running right past our sheep pen at our last property, so we're cautious about them, but not fearful. If we get a coyote 'problem', it will start small - one goat lost, at the most two - and then we'll increase precautions beyond what we already do.

If we get a dog pack problem, though, it doesn't start small. You can lose your entire herd in as little as ten minutes with dogs killing for fun and bloodlust. The nearest dairy has had serious issues with dog packs and has had to take lethal action to stop them. Even when they know the owners and contact them, the owners don't take better care of them and they'll be back the next day. If the dairy can catch them, they take them to the shelter, if they can't catch them, they have to shoot them. The two nastiest breeds they've had to deal with are pit bulls (we live in an area with a lot of dog fighting) and - wait for it - - - chihuahuas. The chihuahuas run the baby calves right through fences where their necks get broken.

All of this to say, we may have a dog pack problem soon. Two days ago I looked out the window and saw two pit bulls and another huge dog pacing past our chicken coop. I ran out to yell at them and the pit bulls, obviously experienced trespassers, took off with their tails tucked in. The big dog, however, turned and looked at me, wagging its tail. Realizing that he was clearly new to running with a pack, I changed my tactics and started sweet talking him, hoping that I could find his owner and keep him from getting hooked on a life of crime.

He came running over, very excited to see a friendly face, but he had no collar and no tag. And he was big.

And he is a puppy.

Very sweet boy, very lazy, very friendly.

I tied him to the porch and called my husband to have him ask around and see if anyone was missing a St. Bernard type dog. A few hours later he called back saying that no-one knew who the dog belonged to. Oh, and "Don't feed it. That will make it stick around." I told him that I was not about to keep a dog who didn't have an owner coming to get it tied up without any food. When he got home from work, I took off for a doctor's appointment. When I got home from work I found a big puppy laying down in the middle of our living room. "Ainsley's good at asking," was all my husband said.

Now I ask you, as impartial readers, which is more likely to make a dog stick around - giving it a bowl of food or letting it in your home? Hmm?

Want to know what dairy your milk comes from?

2010-03-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

If you buy your milk from the store and want to know what dairy it comes from, you're in luck - kind of. Our Report Card posted a link today to a page created by students from Brigham Young University that claims to tell you where your milk comes from. "Yeah, yeah, it probably comes from cows, but where do the cows come from?" is the tagline on their website.

The process is simple - find a certain code on your carton and match it up on this page to a dairy. By the way, the website says that this works with most dairy items - sour cream, some ice creams, cheeses, yogurts, etc.

But when you look closer, it's not that simple. These aren't necessarily dairies they're linking to, but collection points. Katherine (at Our Report Card) noticed this too. I had bounced over to the link before I finished reading her post, so I noticed it when I realized that my father-in-law's small dairy in Wyoming wasn't listed. Then I looked again at the list for Idaho, and realized that of course it was too short to list all of the dairies (we have a *lot* of dairies in this area) around here. A few of the places listed in the Idaho section (which I've copied below) are dairies, but they are very large dairies with their own large tanks.

So all of these collection points are pooling together the milk of thousands of cows and you still don't know where your milk is coming from. I think it shows a huge disconnect from the source of your food when you don't realize (as I didn't for 20-odd years) that the carton of milk in your fridge could easily contain the milk from hundreds of cows. To me, that has the same 'ick' factor as finding out years ago that the burgers you eat at McDonald's could easily contain the ground up meat of hundreds of different cows (from many different countries, even).

So this is an interesting - and even useful in some ways - list, but it certainly doesn't tell you where the cows your milk comes from are from. I know that some of these collection points collect milk from different states. But it's a start, and what's more, it's an acknowledgment that the general public is starting to wake from a deep, apathetic sleep when it comes to their food. And that, my friends, is good news indeed, don't you think? It makes me hopeful.

I've copied the list here for Idaho, just in case it gets taken down for some reason.

Idaho - 16

Plt Code	Name	City
16-345	Best Whey Coop	Firth
16-24	Brewster West Llc	Rupert
16-04	Darigold Inc	Boise
16-16	Darigold Inc	Caldwell
16-50	Darigold Inc	Jerome
16-371	Dairy Farmers Of America - Eastern Idaho	Salt Lake City, Ut
16-351	Dairy Farmers Of America - Magic Valley - Idaho	Salt Lake City, Ut
16-342	Dairy Farmers Of America - Treasure Valley	Salt Lake City, Ut
16-357	Glanbia Foods Inc	Twin Falls
16-366	Gossner Foods Inc	Logan, Ut
16-365	Gossner Foods Inc	Logan, Ut
16-40	Gossner Foods - Magic Valley	Heyburn
16-45	High Desert Milk Inc	Burley
16-381	High Desert Milk Inc	Burley
16-09	Horizon Organic Dairy (Idaho Farm)	Paul
16-380	Horizon Organic Dairy (Idaho Farm)	Paul
16-25	Idaho Milk Products	Jerome
16-348	Independent Milk Producers Llc	Twin Falls
16-11	Jerome Cheese Co	Jerome
16-340	Jerome Cheese Co	Jerome
16-361	Ken Hall Dairies	Terreton
16-354	Magic Valley Quality Milk Producers	Jerome
16-05	Meadow Gold Dairies	Boise
16-321	Northwest Dairy Assn.	Seattle, Wa
16-352	Northwest Dairy Assn. (Bulk Tank Unit) - Magic Valley	Seattle, Wa
16-341	Northwest Dairy Assn. - Treasure Valley	Seattle, Wa
16-350	Reed's Dairy Farm Inc	Idaho Falls
16-33	Sartori Foods	Blackfoot
16-360	Snake River Dymen's Association	Pocatello
16-03	Sorrento Lactalis	Nampa
16-344	Sorrento Lactalis	Nampa
16-193	Stoker Dairy	Burley

Finding local food in Arizona.

2010-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

I wussed out on our Idaho winter and came down to Arizona for a week. I've been staying with my sister in a town near Phoenix. She recently watched Food, Inc. and decided that she wanted to change where she bought her meat. Fantastic! I was so thrilled because she is the demographic that the local food movement should be targeting. She's an educated, suburban woman. She had the same issues with making the changes that everyone of our generation does. Where do you find the kind of food you're wanting to buy? (Here, here, and here are good places to start.) How do I know what to ask them? How do I know I can trust them? And once you find the source, you then have to learn how to plan meals differently, maybe even learn different recipes. It can be an overwhelming jump to make.

We went to a mini-market the other day. It was small, but fun.

We found a good option for eggs - I'm trying to convince her that chicken meat and eggs should be on her list of foods to change - and information about a weekly market in her area that has a vendor who sells locally produced beef that she can buy single cuts of meat from. That way she doesn't have to jump right into buying a whole or half steer.

I also found out something about Arizona jams. They all have peppers in them.

Habanero Mango. Jalapeno Pepper Jam. Habanero Pineapple Jam.

Raspberry Jalapeno Jam. Chipotle Plum Jam.

Chipotle Raspberry Jam. Chipotle Tomato Jam.

I spent all my money on some homemade barbecue spices for my husband to try or I would have grabbed a jar of that Chipotle Raspberry Jam. Looked intriguing.

That is NOT a chicken.

2010-02-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Look who I found running around and howling in my chicken coop this morning.

Poor thing had gotten himself in but couldn't figure out how to get out.

I was sure when I went in there, I'd find chicken bodies everywhere, but they were all alive and well. I called the owner listed on his tag and let the girls play with him until the owner got here to pick him up. He was a young Irish Setter - only four or five months old - and very friendly, but kind of skittish. When his owner got here, he yelled at him to come and then hit him. The girls were horrified (of course) and we got to have a talk about training dogs and cruelty. Fun stuff.

Garden planning season is upon us.

2010-02-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here we go...

Oh, yeah.

Spring fever is hitting now. After over two months with only a few days of bright sun, we have had three days of sun in the last week and a half.

Even Ainsley decided to spend a few minutes outside.

(In case you're wondering how big of a deal that was, I'll share this with you - upon stepping outside she said in a shocked voice "There SNOW out here!" My little girl who wouldn't go inside in the summer, won't go outside in the winter.)

Even the animals are unabashedly enjoying it.

It ain't the east coast.

2010-02-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

But it's something.

To be honest, that's one *season* of snowfall, not one evening.

Also, a lot of that is from the field beside us. 'Tis the benefit of living in windy country - the snow drifts something fierce.

This drift in the chicken yard is almost four feet tall, while the field behind it is almost bare. I think it looks kind of like a curling wave ...

She's doing fine. (Thank you)

2010-02-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you all how much your comments and emails meant to me. This one hit me hard and I debated about posting it. I'm glad I did, because having the support and suggestions and ideas was just what I needed.

Tamari's my favorite goat. I had big plans for these babies and that's put off for another year. I've also had to run the gamut of 'What now' questions. If you've had something go wrong with animals, I know you've done it. I watched Matron go through this when things didn't quite go right with Della, but I wasn't prepared for the constant back and forth in your mind when it happens to you. It was like watching the volleys on a tennis court.

"So they didn't make it, now I have a doe with no babies and lots of milk. Do I milk her? If I milk her, it has to be regimented two times a day, no excuses, for her own health. But I don't want to be tied down like that. I know, I know, then I shouldn't have a milking animal. But if I milk her, then I'll have a lot of milk to start experimenting with soap making this year - and she gives a lot of milk. But if I milk her, it will take more time for her to breed back, and I really want some babies out of her. But do I want her to breed back soon? If she does, that will put her babies in .... September, October .... Do I want to raise babies in the fall? Do I want to milk through the winter? I really don't. But do I want to have a doe who is not being milked and isn't pregnant all the way through the spring, summer, and fall? I really don't, but that's probably due to being married to a man who is always thinking in terms of production."

And on and on it goes.

I've decided to dry her off. I'm not in a place health-wise to be tied down to milking at set times. I have not decided whether to allow the buck to breed her again soon. Still thinking on that.

On another note, no more weird mice outbreaks. The best theory we could come up with is that the night before it happens, it rains and then freezes which forces the mice out of their holes. I also think - even considering the mice in the chicken coop - that they aren't coming up to the porch on their own, but are being brought there by Aradia (the calico).

I tried to get testing done, but it was over $100 at the local vets or has to be overnighted to a college that will test them - and I have to pay for that too. Since they weren't hurting my cats and dog when they ate them, I didn't think it was necessary to have that done - and neither did the vets I talked to - although I am very curious (and so were the vets).

Kid news - Yesterday I disbudded the two females that Tiffany had. That's never a pleasant job, but in our operation, it is necessary for those I'm going to keep. I'm getting better - less hesitant - so it's much faster and less painful for them now. The male isn't being kept by us, so he wasn't disbudded, and he's not likely to be castrated either. There are a lot of Hispanic families around here that eat goat, and they eat them young enough that the testosterone hasn't affected the meat yet, so I see no reason to put him through that.

Word heavy, today - no pictures!

Again, thank you for your advice and support with the Tamari situation. I appreciated it more than I thought I could.

It is a wonderful thing to have experience.

2010-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

It can be a horrible thing, gaining that experience.

The cute picture of the cat is for those who come to me by the 'Blogger Follower' route - didn't want you to see the following pictures in your reader this morning.

WARNING - possibly disturbing pictures to follow.

Tamari, my favorite goat, lost her babies this morning. When we got out there, she'd just given birth and there they were, all lined up in a row, still warm from her body but with no warmth of their own. Stillborn, never even breathed. They're nearly full-size, but still two weeks away from being developed enough to survive.

Well, the biggest two were two weeks away. The smallest one died awhile ago. About 3 weeks ago, Tamari went from a healthy looking doe to ... not so much. There are no vets around here who know *anything* about goats, but I asked anyway. No, they didn't know what could be going wrong. A slightly elevated temperature, her stomach didn't look right, she was hanging away from the other goats, and her hair got dry and brittle. I did what I could with grain and oil and babied her. Yesterday she was hanging by herself even more, but was still two weeks away from her due date.

This morning, there they were. It appears that one of the babies died three weeks ago (my husband things it was a week longer than that) and her body held onto it, trying to get the other two to term. It couldn't do it, so it voided all of them. The littlest one was so small - and it had long ears.

One of the big ones also had long ears. My buck (who is Tiffany's grandson - so maybe 1/8 or 1/16 Nubian) is obviously carrying that gene.

So I gave her a bucket of warm water and molasses and milked her out. My husband says that it will help her contract her uterus faster, which makes sense. My husband also says that I couldn't have saved them even if I'd been there. He says that it takes a long time to learn that sometimes there's just nothing you can do. He says that even after having learned that, it still sucks when it happens.

He has experience, I'm gaining it. I'll be glad to have it, I hate getting it.

First babies of the year!

2010-01-21T18:00:00.001-08:00

And no, they aren't hordes of tiny mice babies. (Although I did get the funniest email with the suggestion that the recent mouse incidents may have been an Idahoan Desperaux-type stirring up the masses.)

One of my favorite goats, Tiffani, surprised me tonight by giving birth to triplets. It wasn't the triplets that were the suprise - she usually births triplets - it was the timing. She was due at the beginning of February and Tamari was due any day now. I think I mixed them up when I wrote down the breeding dates.

So here they are - (sorry about the picture quality - camera/daylight/always-moving-kids conspired against me)

The single male.
One of the females - she's a beauty.

And the other female - she's also a beauty.

Her buff coloring is striking. But look closely.

Do you see something ... different about her?

If you haven't caught it yet, don't feel bad. I actually had to point it out to my husband who let out an uncharacteristic exclamation when he realized. How about a clue? Here's her mom (this picture was taken at our old place right after we got her).*

Here's her mom with a bunch of other goats that we have.

All of our goats are LaMancha goats. It's a breed trademark that "LaManchas have tiny ears which come in two types: "gopher ears", which are little "sweet rolls"; and "elf ears", which are little hooked ears less than 2 inches long."

Now look at her again.

Yeah.

Isn't she darling??? That noise you hear is me squee-ing. I adore my LaManchas and their teeny tiny no-ears. To have this little girl on the place as the odd-girl-out is going to be fun! Though my daughter is already stressing that the other goats are going to make fun of her.

Now they've been moved to the strawed-down maternity suite. I have a tough decision to make now. Do I leave all three goats on her or 'bum' one. I'm already planning on 'bumming' any females my Tamari goat has (it will be the first time I've taken any babies away from a momma and raised them myself, though it's common dairy practice), and I expect Tamari to have at least one female. If I bummed one of these and Tamari only had one female, it wouldn't be lonely - to be alone is a cruel fate for a goat, especially a baby - and removing one of the three might affect Tiffani's milk yield for the better. Though it might affect it for the worse. (Is that even grammatically correct?) I wish I had more knowledge of these things (grammar and milk production).

So we've got babies on the farm! Even that couldn't tempt Ainsley outside, but that's a subject for another post on another blog.

*Full-disclosure: Her mother is not purebred LaMancha. She does have a smidgen of Nubian in her (notice her gorgeous Roman Nose that my other LaManchas don't have) and I'm assuming that that's where these airplane ears come from.

My cat needs a hobby.

2010-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

It happened again. This time the number was much smaller, around thirty, and they were all in the same place, smack dab against the door, not spread all the way around the porch.

The only similarity we could find between the two occurrences was that it rained the night before.

I gathered about five in a small freezer bag and bagged that bag into a larger freezer bag - and didn't tell my husband it was in the freezer. It's not like he'll accidentally mistake it for meat if he does find it (unlike that time that he held up a frozen placenta from my daughter's birth and asked "Is this goat meat?"). I'm asking around to see if any veterinarians in the area will look at them for me. Hopefully before my husband finds them.

The whole time I was gathering, my 3-year-old was standing inside the door saying "Get dat one! Oh, get da baby one. Oh, he so cooooote! Can it be my pet?" Um, no, sweetie, they're going to live in the freezer.

As soon as I could manage it, I ran out to the chicken coop to see if there were any losses there. I only saw one dead mouse, too far back behind the old water tank for me to reach. I did find my Great Calico Huntress, though, curled up in the straw, sound asleep. She's never been one to run around with the chickens - they're beneath her - so that surprised me. It also probably accounts for why there was only one dead mouse.

So, hopefully we'll get an autopsy that will help us narrow down the likely causes, but my husband's pretty sure it's weather related.

A few extra items of note:

- I don't know what caused the confusion, but some people think that my cats and dogs won't eat these suicidal mice. Maybe it was me saying that my cats have never bothered the chickens and something was lost in translation? I don't know. The truth is, the cats and dogs eat them up like candy. Candy mice.

- Don't know if this is related, but it's creepy enough to report. A few nights ago, we were coming back from town after dark and in the last mile before we hit our house, we easily ran over more than a hundred mice. Thousands of them were running across the road, and they weren't just running in one direction, they were running in both directions. Really strange, really creepy, I had my feet up on my seat, and my husband was rolling his eyes. For the record, I'm not scared of mice, I don't squeal, but that was just wrong.

Discuss.

How it started. (the pictures that started it all)

The first update.

Making friends.

2009-12-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

On Solstice, we made treats for our local birds and put them out.

I've been saving these sunflower seed heads for months just for this purpose.

I like the way they look, but am not sure if the birds will brave the cats to explore them.

It's been blowing 50 - 60 mph here for the last three days, and it's been a steady wind. This morning dawned clear and still and the animals, both wild and domestic, are celebrating. It might be cold, but it's cold without wind. Oh, that makes a difference.

The snow is hard. The girls can walk on it without it breaking, and it even holds my weight most of the time.

Happy Holidays, readers. I hope you have a wonderful time with family.