Freezing Temperatures

WOW. It is supposed to be super cold tonight. The weather report is saying it could get down to -15 with the wind chill. That's super cold.

We bought a couple of bales of straw to add bedding to the pigs, goats, chickens, and rabbits. We also added some pieces of plywood to the pallet-framed sides of the goat shed. I had stapled several plastic feed bags in a patchwork wind break, but the plywood works better.

J stuffed the inside pallets with straw and we screwed a pallet onto half of the front opening for some more wind protection. Of course, Tumbleweed thought it was a great new toy and managed to push it over before the evening began.

The pigs have burrowed into their nest. Hammy Fae is quite the nest builder, although Kevin doesn't help much. She will bring mouth fulls of straw into certain places, building up a nice wall, and Kevin will come burrowing through it. They seem to agree in the end...because we always see them snuggled up together, pink ears peeking out over the mounds of straw.

The chickens have a heat lamp in the coop and with the new smaller pop door, they should be warm enough - if they stay inside. They are not the sharpest tools in the shed and I will see them out first thing in the morning, trying to keep their feet warm by standing on one leg. They could easily stay inside, but that would be sensible. One thing chickens don't seem to be is sensible.

K's Science Fair

(Pictured: J testing the electromagnet)

We went to K's science fair tonight. I was particularly excited about this event because it means that I get my dinig table back. For the last three weeks we have had car batteries, copper pipe, a variety of tools, and of course, carbon scattered all over the table.

The Science Fair had a really good turn out. And the projects were all very interesting. I have to say that while I know I am biased, K's project stood out above the others. I was very proud of him and his ability to explain how the arc light and electromagnet works.

Well done, my son.

Tractor Sledding

(Pictured: J, Z, M, K)

We have more than enough snow outside to sled, but we are sorely lacking hillsides. So J has hooked the kids up to the tractor so that they can sled behind it. He's pulling them out in the field this morning.

I think the kids will last much longer than Daddy will. It's pretty chilly. I'm enjoying the show from the warmth of inside.

Bridget the Horse is Dead

(Pictured: Bridget)

Bridget, our horse, died today. We rescued her from a home that had not fed her well. She was 350 pounds underweight on May 31st when we brought her home. We managed to get her almost up to 1100 pounds before winter hit.

She was a sweet, well-trained horse. The few times that I was able to ride her, she was a gift to have. She could neck rein, side pass, and do hind quarter turns. She had obviously been well-trained.

Bridget never did fully recover...and as winter got longer, she started to lose some of the weight that she had regained. We gave her all that we could, but it was a hard winter.

One day, she slipped and fell on some of the rocks in the back of the pasture. She landed with her legs pointing uphill and a rock behind her shoulders. She couldn't roll uphill, and she couldn't roll down. I'm sure that she fought for awhile, but by the time we got to her, the fight was gone. We managed to roll her over and cover her with blankets before she let go forever.

Bridget was a wonderful horse. We are all saddened by her death. The realities of farm life don't seem to apply to horses as easily as they apply to other livestock.

J dragged her out into the field with the DitchWitch and covered her with snow. We had to wait several days before a friend could come over with a backhoe. He and J dug a large, deep hole in the far southwest corner of the property and buried her.

May she run in fields of clover forever.

Butchering and Breeding

(Pictured: Hammy Fae and Kevin Bacon)

Spent the morning planning the butchering and breeding schedule for animals on the farm. It's funny how some people are so unwilling to accept the reality of a farm. I posted this on Facebook and one of my friends wrote back that she was upset and thought the animals were all pets.

My view is this...I love my animals. I don't love the idea of killing them, but it is a part of their purpose. Every morning I go out to feed, I take the time to give belly rubs and ear scratches. I sit in the pens with my creatures and talk with them...or listen to them. We have a friendship, a personal relationship. And I truly love them. I would grieve if they died. But there is a difference between death and butcher.

Kevin is scheduled to go to Butcher Boys the week of the 21st. I'm sure that I will be sad to say goodbye, but I will say goodbye and I will not grieve. I know that he has had the best possible care and attention that I could give him in his life. It is now his turn to fulfill his purpose.

I explained this to my friend like this. The pork chops that she buys at the store were most likely from a pig that grew up on a feed lot. The pig wasn't special. It wasn't named. It had to belly rubs or ear scratches. It was just a pig. My pig is loved. He will still be pork chops, but it seems like a better life than a feed lot.

Snow Day

There was so much snow last night that the schools are actually closed today. This is amazing! The boys have been outside and inside at least ten times already...I think they will drive me crazy by the end of the day.

We had about 7 inches of snow last night...wet snow. It's wreaking havoc with the power. We keep getting surges as the power lines buckle under the weight and touch.

Animals all look good, although the chickens don't seem to enjoy having to wade through the snow. If they would stay in the coop...

New Wood Stove

We have been hoping to get a wood stove to heat the house for a long time. The fireplace is beautiful and BIG, but it eats wood and doesn't put out much heat. So, when we found out that M's teacher's hubby installs stoves for a living, we asked about a trade.

J and Chris installed the stove today. It was SUPER windy, but they braved the 50 mph winds to get the pipe into the chimney.

The stove looks great! And boy is it efficient. We put a couple of logs in this morning and it's still going. The whole house feels warm! Hurry.

Goat Feeder

(Pictured: Tumbleweed)

I love trying to make things out of recycled junk around the yard. We have so much "stuff" to work with, I am sure we really never need to buy another building supply again.

Today we built a goat feeder. I used two smaller sized pallets, some plywood, some old hinges, some 2x4 scraps, a 4inch pvc pipe, and some 1x4 trim.

I pulled off every other board from the pallets, leaving enough room for the goats to get their heads through. I put a solid lid and two solid end caps on it. I built it about 18inches off the ground. I added two grain troughs on the ends (pvc pipe cut lengthwise in half)

It seems to work ok. The only thing I might try to change is to add a catch basin around the bottom. The goats spill a lot of grain and hay onto the ground. It's a waste. Otherwise, it works like a charm.

Kids and Kids

(Pictured: Tumbleweed and M)

The boys are getting to know our new goats.

Lilo (not pictured) is a 1/4 Alpine, 1/4 Boar, 1/2 Nubian. She is about 2 years old and is due to kid in the middle of March.

Tumbleweed is almost 100% Boar. She is only 9 months old. We met her when she was just 24 hours old. Our friend, Sarah, brought Tumbleweed to our house for a few days when she and her daughter had a horse conference in Redmond.

We will keep these girls as our breeding stock. We will breed them to a Boar buck in the fall and sell the babies as butcher babies. My goal is to have babies ready to sell by Easter so that we can capitalize on the Hispanic community's desire for goat meat for Easter.

Drove to PDX for Goats

(Pictured: Big Red, Tumbleweed, and Lilo)

We drove to PDX to pick up the goats from Sarah this weekend. We left on Sunday morning and returned on Monday night. We borrowed a trailer from Tom so that we didn't have to put the goats into the back of the Expedition...although I had planned to do that if we couldn't get a trailer. It's about a five hour drive from Sarah's house to ours.

It got a little more complicated when J had to fly to LA Sunday night. He returned Monday afternoon. That meant I drove the trailer across town to Sarah's...not a pretty picture. We made it to her house, unloaded some hay for her, and loaded up the three goats in time for J to arrive and drive us home.

We had to take Santiam Pass because 26 was requiring chains and we forgot them in the van at home. It was windy and slippery, and the trailer was heavy...but we made it. We left the goats in the trailer over night and put them into their new pen this morning. They seem happy enough to be here.