Fridays (Saturday) on the Farm

The chicks are here!!  100 more broilers have arrived...they will be ready for you some time in January.  You will be able to reserve your chickens, and we will have our discounts as well...all that coming soon!

The piggies are here too!!!  We have been anticipating this for awhile!!  We went with an American Yorshire-Duroc cross.  We're not too conerned about the breed really...raising them right is what we're after here on our farmstead!  The big one is 12 weeks old, then we have 2 sisters that are 10 weeks old, and a little wee one that is 8 weeks old.

We will keep one to breed with a friend's hog, and the other 3 will be butchered sometime in May-June.  Can't wait for a freezer full of bacon and sausages!!  Keep your eye out for our pre-order on pork.

Pigs being pigs...rooting!!  They are in a holding pen for now for protection, but once they are big enough to fend for themselves we will move them around our acreage monthly to allow them to freely root and graze like pigs are created to do.  This will be done using the Salatin model...with a simple line of electric fencing about 12 inches or so off the ground to keep predators out and pigs in.  Understand, yes, a coyote or fox could jump the line of electric fence if it really wanted to get to the pigs, but the pigs will be large enough nothing will mess with them!

Caitlin decided the eggmobile needed a facelift!! (it used to be white) I LOVE it red!  And I love even more seeing Cait take the initiative to fix something up without being asked to!  I'm sure the laying hens appreciate it as well :)

And we've had our first injury to one of our goats...our baby Jesse.  Cait noticed a big bloody gash right above her hoof.  So we cleaned it up, gave it a good bandage and put her back in the pen.  We will keep an eye on it for the next few weeks.

Graycie and Ellie planted some sunflowers a few months back....they have been faithfully watering, weeding and composting them.  As you can tell, they are very tall!  And....

....Don't they look beautiful??!!  I was afraid we planted them too late and weren't going to see their beauty, but here they are!  Our honey bees are all over them constantly...we planted them right next to the hives.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Happy Birthday to our Ellie Bellie!!  2 years has flown by!  You are such a joy to us all!!

Goats & Market Stand Preparations

Well, it's been a month since we added our Alpine goats to our farmstead....

We have kept our horned goats separate from the Alpines since they don't have any horns.  Goats are like any other creature...when new ones are introduced there is a battle for who will be the dominant leader.  We didn't want anything getting messy since one "leader" has horns and the other doesn't.  They have now been around eachother long enough, and we believe they are used to eachother...even though it's only been through a fence.  (Plus, I want my garden back!!)  Time to make them one, big, happy family!!

You can see here, Mocha, the horned leader, shying away from the Alpine leader (who we still haven't named!)...look at the hair raised on their backs!!  I was sure Mocha would win and be the dominant one, but I was proved wrong!  The Alpine must be older, or I'm guessing since she is a leader of 6 others she knows she is best fit for the position...she didn't back down once and by the end of the day, it was obvious who was in charge!!

I'm just glad they're all getting along and no one has gotten hurt.

We are working diligently on preparing for The Grain Loft Store Anniversary Celebration!!  Very excited for our friends, Pat & Jacque, who run the store...it's already been a year since they opened their doors!!  We have been invited to have a stand at the celebration, selling our pastured chickens and handmade goods.  

 Can't wait to hang these fun signs!  

Sewing like a maniac!  Lots of market totes, burlap buckets, cup cozies and a new item we just came up with...table place settings made from burlap to hold silverware!

All our sewn items are made from materials we are repurposing...coffee bean burlap sacks, vintage sheets and wool & cotton sweaters!!  Be sure to come visit The Grain Loft's Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, October 19th!!  See you then!! 

 Oh, and we finally designed a logo and had a banner and shirts made.  Thank you MonkeyDeez!!

First Day of Autumn!

All the boys headed to Virginia last night for a father-son retreat so the girls and I spent the first official day of Autumn yard saling and picking apples!  It was quite overcast, but we still had a good time together.  Hard to believe it's already this time of the year, but so thankful for it!!

Ellie seemed to be the one to capture the camera today....I think it's the curls!!!

Going to make daddy and the boys an apple pie for their return home tomorrow :)  Happy Fall y'all!!