Holes In My Jeans
Monday, March 7, 2022
From 16 to 35 animals in a very short time (not sure if that number is accurate)
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Losing our matriarch, Pessa
The last time I blogged here was 2 months ago when we lost our herd queen, Luti. This morning when I went out to tend to the animals I found Pessa lying in her final sleep in the hay. It was the way we hope all our animals will pass, in their sleep. She and Luti were half sisters and I brought them here together 12 or 13 years ago. They couldn't have been more different. Luti was bold and demanding of attention. Pessa was no nonsense, independent and an extremely easy keeper. One thing they did have in common was that they were great mothers, milkers and wonderful goats to have trained me as a goat farmer. In the photo above Pessa is the one on the left and Luti on the right.
Pessa had a wide girth and everyone always thought she was pregnant. She never needed any assistance kidding. Babies practically fell out of her. When all the other mothers left their babies to go out to graze Pessa hovered near hers and wouldn't let them out of her sight. As a matter of fact, all the babies stayed by her. They climbed on her and she never complained. She was everyone's laidback babysitter. She never fought me when it was time to be milked. She came in, ate, gave milk and left. Done. Same with having her hooves trimmed. No complaining. Just give me my feed and do what you need to do. I don't remember her ever being sick either. She was sturdy in every sense of the word. She asked for very little.
Well, that's how she left this world. She didn't need me to pass on either. She was shivering 2 days before in the cold and I worried about her, but then yesterday she was out eating with the rest and all seemed well. While Luti was the herd queen, Pessa was the matriarch. She was the mother of our Breezy, grandmother of Delphi and great grandmother of Sally and Mander. The herd feels very different without these old girls.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
My Girl, Luti
Today I said goodbye to one of the first 5 goats I began with. Luti was one and a half years old when I got her in 2009. I can say with confidence she was the smartest goat I've ever owned, hence, she was the herd queen and everyone respected her. She was also my best milker. As a matter-of-fact, even though she hasn't kidded in 3 years, she still had milk in her udder this morning when the vet was checking her over.
We don't know exactly what was wrong with her but she went downhill really fast overnight and had very little energy this morning and I could tell she was in pain. The vets ultrasounded her abdomen and had a very hard time understanding what they were seeing, but it appeared she had fluid in her abdomen and her bladder didn't look right. After I made the decision to put her down they asked if it would be ok if they did a necropsy on her so they might learn something. I said yes. They called me later this afternoon to say we did the right thing. She was in bad shape and probably wouldn't have lasted much longer. In some ways, I felt really good about that. She had a very good life and I'm glad I owned her for most of it.
Here's a photo of her in her younger years. What a sweet face.
Monday, June 7, 2021
Thunder BRidge, Our New Adventure
I was going to begin a whole new blog for this, but I didn't have the energy tonight, so thought I'd just write about our new adventure here in Holes In My Jeans. We're getting many holes in our jeans these days so I suppose it's fitting to include it here.
Many of our friends and family know we've been embarking on this crazy undertaking, but many of you may not. More than 7 months ago we made an offer on a piece of property 2 miles south of our home. After the long wait, today we are the proud owners of almost 100 acres and more than 30 buildings, first built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the '30s, and more recently it was the Natural Bridge Juvenile Correction Center and also a Big Brothers/Big Sisters camp, which closed their doors in 2009. More about that in another blog possibly.
I'll try not to be too long winded about this because I could go on forever. For now, I'll tell you what our initial plans are for the property, though we have many dreams that may or may not come to fruition. First I'll say, the property is absolutely beautiful and the buildings on it and the work that needs to be done is overwhelming. It consists of 35 developed acres and 64 wooded acres bordering the Jefferson National Forest. Any pictures I post on here will not do it justice.
I won't tell you the hoops we had to jump through to get to this point, but I feel like it will all be worth it one day. The first thing we plan to do is to set up a very small, primitive campground, where folks can experience camping like James and I remember doing when we were kids. We want campers to have space to enjoy the outdoors without being bombarded by close camp neighbors, loud generators and TVs, etc. In the wooded part of the property, where most of the campsites will be, are also 2 log cabins, 3 screened shelters and a pavilion with a bath house. We do have plans to have 10 RV sites in the clearing. At this point an RV could not maneuver in the woods. The tree cover is too low and the roads aren't wide enough.
Our son, Adam, will be hosting the campground and will live in one of the houses on the front part of the property. There are a handful of livable, albeit outdated, structures, along with a full gymnasium, commercial kitchen, auto shop, maintenance shop, ball fields, an obstacle course, a barn, barracks, sheds and on and on.
James and I have already chosen the buildings that will be our art studios, which is pretty exciting. It will be nice to unclutter our home, which has become a dumping ground for canvases, art materials and to put it plainly, a general mess.
Here are a few aerial views of the property.
I have lots more photos of buildings and interiors but I'll save them for another post because it's getting late and this is getting longer than I had planned it to be. I just wanted to start somewhere so when we start taking videos and moving forward you'll know what I'm talking about.
Way more to come.
Monday, May 17, 2021
Baxter, he's a mess, but he's loved
I'll have to go back through my blog to see when it was that Baxter came to live with us. He was a stray that had been at the SPCA for 3 months before we adopted him. He's not pretty, he snores, he runs away and pretends he's deaf when I call for him. BUT, it's impossible not to like him. Here he is looking like a demon, taken today after he returned from his adventure.
We usually don't let him out unsupervised, but lately he's been so obsessed with a groundhog living under our barn, I'd come to trust he'd stay in the yard. That was a mistake. I'm a VERY slow learner. He and my son's dog, Maia, ran off the moment we turned our backs. They were gone maybe an hour and a half and we looked all over for them. Well, it seemed like we looked all over.
I went to the street across the creek from us because that's where Baxter always goes when he escapes. It's the only way I know some of those neighbors. There are 3 neighbors, in particular, that he visits. They all know to call me or bring him back home if he shows up. It's embarrassing and a relief when they call.
Well, today was no different. I drove to their houses to see if they'd seen him. They actually seem happy to see me and say, "oh, how is Baxter? I haven't seen him in a while". They promised to call if they saw him. It was unusual for him not to show up at their houses.
Well, the dogs came home without anyone having to bring them back. The funny thing is, around dinnertime I got a call from one of those neighbors, whose name I don't even know. She wanted to be sure Baxter made it home ok and that she was worried it was getting dark. I assured her he was ok. During dinner there was a knock at our door. It was a man asking if we'd found Baxter. He said he was a dog lover and wanted to be sure Baxter was safe. Again, we don't know this man's name and he doesn't know ours. BUT, everyone knows Baxter's name. No one complains that he shows up there. He loves people and wags his tail and some of them let him in their house.
He frustrates us to no end, but we love him and I'm glad others love him too. He's sound asleep right now It was a big day.
Friday, May 14, 2021
Teamwork
I love days like today. First of all, the weather was great for working outdoors, which all 3 of us did. James was planting in the garden for several hours. I'm not sure what he planted, but I'm sure it will be on our plates this summer. His spring garden is doing really well.
When he was done in the garden he glazed windows.
A large portion of one of our sugar maples fell during one of our recent windy days, so Adam spent the day cutting it up, a job neither James nor I would want to do, nor have the strength for (at least I don't).
I spent my time building a grate for a fire pit. It's made from parts of an old gate, a wood stove, and other random pieces found here and there. Don't look closely at the welds. They're not pretty, but they're strong and once it blackens from a fire you'll never notice my amateur welding job.
I plan to make more grates for a project I'll tell you about in a future blog. They'll all be made out of scraps we already have. Can you say, "cheap"?
Maia and Baxter did their part by protecting us from the groundhog that lives under the barn. They're obsessed with it and determined to catch it.
All-in-all, it was a very productive day. Now we're beat.
Friday, January 1, 2021
I Got The Farming Blues
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Hoping Rory Is Bred (Artificial Insemination)
Friday, September 18, 2020
Rex wants to show you his home.
You can't see me in this next picture because I'm probably hidden in all the goldenrod that has taken over
This is Butter. She came to live with us almost 2 years ago. She's a good girl and never bothers anyone.
I'm pretty much the boss here, after my mom, but occasionally Raisa shoves me when I'm in her way. Most of the time I like her and Rory. We haven't had a baby cow since Rory was born here 2 years ago. Maybe next year.
These guys can be headaches. They try to steal my food and they lie too close to me when it's hot. A lot of people think the pigs are cute and give them a lot of attention and that makes me jealous. I don't think they're all that cute, though I have to admit, I did really like the babies when they were little.
Behind me is my partner, Mayday. She and I are the very best of friends and play all the time. She lets the pigs steal her food. She's a much faster runner than I, but I bet I'm stronger.
I've never visited this campsite, but I can see it from my fence. I love having the campsite because it means people come visit me all the time. They feed me people food and bring kids. Mayday and I love kids and when they come in the fence we stay close by their sides.
More company this weekend. Hooray! I better take a nap now so I'm ready for them.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
My 2020 Chickens
Sticking with the 70's TV theme, my surprise rooster, a Silver Spangled Hamburg, is named Davey Jones, because he's small and cute.
The last rooster is a Blue Cochin and I'm calling him George, for no reason whatsoever, but the name George popped into my head. He's a pretty boy.
None of them have crowed yet and they all get along well. I hope that continues. We'll see what happens once they all mature.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Piglets - not what I had hoped for
Last night I went to the barn to check on them to be sure no more were crushed. There I saw Junebug nursing 4 piglets. I kept trying to get her to stand up so I could see under her. I finally had to bribe her with food to make her move. There was no dead piglet. I looked everywhere but couldn't find the missing boy. Neither Rex nor Mayday told me where he was either, so I'm assuming a hawk or something carried him off. They only weigh between a pound or 2. They're super tiny. When they were first born I was saying how I wished they'd stay tiny. Now I'm wishing they'd grow fast so I didn't have to worry about them so much. Rex and Mayday also seem on edge since they were born. They bark and tear around constantly like they're always on guard.
The goats, cows and dogs are all fascinated with the piglets. Even more so than with goat kids. Maybe it's because they're so tiny and they make cute little grunting noises.
So this post doesn't end on a depressing note, here's a funny picture of Rory trying to nurse off Junebug. Junebug didn't mind Rory's rough tongue, but I worried about her stepping on the babies. Most of the day the cows are far from the babies. It's only at feeding time all the animals crowd into the barn.
Our 19 chicks have moved into their new coop. I could only keep them in their Rubbermaid tub in the basement for a week before they outgrew it. The cute single chick in the 2 photos is Izzy. She's my favorite and the only one I've named so far. She flies/runs to me to be held and makes sweet little noises. The rest of them are mostly afraid of me. I should mention, I haven't named the piglets yet. I'm afraid I'll get too attached and they'll disappear. I'll wait another week.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Life With Pets - Growing a painting
Making up a painting can be fun and frustrating. It's fun because there's no photo or person, dog, etc, to compare it to. When a painting isn't realistic there's not as much pressure to make things accurate. It's frustrating because I have no idea about proportion, shadows, perspective, etc. When I paint silly paintings like this it doesn't matter so much if my Australian Shepard is bigger than the woman, or a cat couldn't hold a box of popcorn, or a dog dressed like the master of ceremonies has arms more like a human, or a standard poodle would never sit still this long, or.........
Beginning the painting was hard for me. I had an idea, but didn't know how to express it, so I started gathering pictures. I needed to know what a human body would look like in this position so I asked Adam to pose for me. As you can see, he wasn't wearing a bikini like the woman in the painting, and he's a bit bigger. See what I put my family through?
Here are a few other photos I used for reference.
At first I thought there would be a crowd of other animals sitting in the stands behind them, but that seemed intimidating and didn't go well.
It probably came off my easel for a long time at this point. It stared at me from the floor and I'd pick it up again, not able to let it go. A few days ago I decided I needed to either finish it, or paint over it so I didn't have to look at it anymore. I'm calling it done and ready to move on to something less silly - or not. I feel like maybe I should be painting fun things while the world is dealing with a health crisis.
What are you doing sitting here reading this? Don't you hear your dog scratching to the to be let out?