After the Blizzard

 It was a real "rip snorter". The forecast got it right for our region: 40 hours of snow with gusting winds of up to 55 MPH causing dangerous white outs and the accumulation of upwards of 2 feet of snow. Check. Check. Checkity-Check. Safe inside home and barn, we weathered the storm with nary a hitch. We were prepared for losing power, but surprisingly, that didn't happen. Not even a blip. The worst part for us (read that Sean) was braving the cold to bring food and water to the critters in the barn and coop. For our family, the Blizzard of '15 was a day spent laughing, relaxing, and eating homemade french onion soap.

The turkeys we worried over awoke confused about their new surroundings, but then in laid-back turkey-style accepted it and set about checking out their new digs. They will be housed in the barn for the remainder of the winter. It makes caring for them easier and for that reason alone, it makes sense. What they will lose in fresh air and yard to roam, they will make up for in dry, secure, warm shelter. Sean captured this image for us. It is a great shot showing the lovely iridescent feathers of Aquila, our Red Breasted Bronze tom next to the more muted tones of Priscilla, his hen. Lazarus is the big tom on the left. His hen, Martha, is facing away from the camera, looking around their new home.

"What did You do?" the bucklings seem to ask. 

It is easy to see that the bucklings were not pleased with the howling winds; tails tucked and eyes wide. Poor lads!

In extreme weather, such as that which we were having, we keep the barn doors closed tight and latched. We go in as little as possible because every time we open the door, heat escapes and a freezing blast of air and snow blow in. Despite the wind pummeling the building and against the metal roof, the goats, Jasmine, Ebony, barn guineas and chicks all rode it out well. I imagine they are going to be a little stir crazy by the time we get the doors to the pasture shoveled out and clear to open, but we'll bring them extra yummy treats to placate them in the meantime.

Sean took this image of Molly. I love her nose and head covered in snow. :) Silly puppy! 

Molly, in contrast, was just loving the new development of snow. That silly puppy whined at the door to go outside repeatedly. She was the image of pure joy, swimming through snow drifts and making a complete mess of herself. We let her play as long as we thought it prudent and then, called for her to come back inside, but she couldn't hear us over the wind- or more likely, ignored our calls in favor of running through another mound of snow. Wet, cold, and shivering Molly raced inside to plop down in front of the fire or onto the unsuspecting lap of whoever was sitting most conveniently accessible to her. With a mighty shake, snow was dislodged and strewn across the room followed by shrieks of "Molly!" An hour's rest and Molly was back at the door to be let outside again.

So how much snow was there really?

3 pm Sean shoveled off the steps to make checking barn less hazardous. 

3 pm Snow drifts up to my waist in spots. Sean shoveled a path to the barn.

4:30 am. Still snowing, but it was time for Sean and I to shovel out the van so
our working people could get to their jobs. An hour and a half later, we finished. 

Some perspective. 

We have a path to the outside water supply, but the front steps will have to
wait a bit longer. I am thinking, Spring thaw. ;)

When the wind died down, the morning snow was sort of pretty floating from the sky. 

The chicken yard was one huge snow drift, but the path shoveled to remained
semi-clear for the most part. 

By noon, the snow had stopped. We certainly have our work cut out in
shoveling off the front steps. 

Sean came home of lunch and we decided to open the door for the geese and ducks. Our coop and it's attached ell has plenty of room for the chickens to roost, but so many birds in close quarters makes for unhappy, grumpy birds. The chickens chose to stay near the door. The geese and ducks eagerly swam through the snow in a flurry of quacks and honks and played until the sun began to set.

With another smaller storm expected to hit on Friday into Saturday, it seems that winter is finally here. We really can't complain, we are at the end of January already. Realistically, it has been a fairly mild winter. Still, I am hoping for an early spring. :)

Thanks for checking in with us today, friends. I am glad you came.

~Sean and Sonja ♥

Just an Average Saturday

Sean and I were so looking forward to a few days off together- four of them- all in a row. We had a list of things to do and (finally!!!) the time to tackle some of them. Mother Nature had vastly different ideas.

It rained hard on Friday and our girls were off with friends, so we took the opportunity to spend some time with each other. We spent almost the entire day doing nothing special. We watched a movie on Netflix, even!

We woke Saturday morning to more rain. Despite this, we drove to our local Tractor Supply Company for our 2 week load of grains. Miss Meaghan was home and went with us. With so many vendors braving the rain that was beginning to be a recurring theme to these "Farm Swaps", we had it in mind to search for a pair of unrelated, baby angora bunnies with which to begin our breeding stock. Meaghan is in charge of this venture. She'll be breeding her pair twice a year and selling the kits, in addition to learning how to spin fiber into usable angora yarns.

Ironically, we purchased a handsome, 12 week old, English
Angora buck, at the swap, from a neighbor who used to occasionally supply us with round bales of hay last year and lives about 5 minutes from us. And, in a handy turn of events, she is going to be able to breed us a tawny English Angora doe for him. We'll purchase her in about 3 months. We spent the ride home deciding on names. I was hoping for Abraham and Sarah, but Meaghan vetoed them immediately. She spent several hours debating the merits of the names Boaz and Zechariah, finally choosing to use them both. Boaz Zechariah Sanders does not exactly flow off the tongue, but since we all call him Bo, I suppose it will do. Meg's doe is going to be named Ruth.

Kristen has been asking for a mini lop-eared bunny for months. When we saw a friendly, young buck for only $15.00, we bought him for her. She named him Leo. Though he is not earning his keep monetarily, he is making Kristen very happy with his company. And, thankfully, bunnies are fairly inexpensive to keep.






On Sunday, unsatisfied with the previous nine consecutive days of hard rain, Mother Nature continued her deluge. Frustration compounded and frayed all our nerves. So much to do and the hours passing void of anything resembling accomplishment. A week's worth of clothing sat dirty and waiting. We washed one load during the week, but it was still damp days later. There is no point in washing laundry when it cannot be dried efficiently. The stalls were a sodden mess and both chickens and goats waited miserably in them, casting accusatory eyes at us when we ventured in to replace hay or collect eggs. In the face of unrelenting rain, there was really nothing that can be done other than to try to make everyone as comfortable as possible and pray it for it to pass.

On Monday morning, we woke to a welcomed sight. The SUN! We snapped into action and attempted to fit four days worth of work into one. We set to milking and then moved the goats to the back yard, where they cheerfully spent the day grazing in the brush or napping in the sun. While I processed and recorded the milk and then fed the piggies, Jasmine, and the chickens in the main coop yard and tractors, Sean filled all the water buckets and then, fiddled with the riding mower in an effort to coax it back to life after its winter rest. Within minutes, the rider roared to a start and I was able to mow for the first time. Mowing is one of my favorite chores. There is almost nothing I like better (work wise) than to stick in my ear buds and spend a couple hours riding in circles, creating neat piles of grass clippings to rake up. I set to work immediately.

We have been wanting and NEEDING to move the big geese from the duck yard. Ever since Caitlin ruined a perfectly good nest, her days were numbered. Sean took a couple hours to sink 9-10 metal posts around the edge of where the lower part of the front lawn was holding over a foot of water. He engineered it so that the geese have a place to settle in the grass and also a place to paddle about. We still plan to have a proper pond dug for them at some point in the future, but in light of all the rain, it was a good time to move them.


That project complete, it was time to move on to adding more soil to our garden beds and to begin to transplant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and watermelon into them. It feels so good to see the garden we planned on paper come to life with the plants we grew from seeds. I can only imagine how it will feel when they are all producing. To prepare the area where the raised beds will live, we staked a 30 foot square blue utility tarp on the ground. Then, we screwed the 2x6's in place. Sean cut out the tarp from the inside area of the beds. I laid a good layer of newspaper to cover the ground and we covered it with good garden soil. In some of the beds, we used cardboard instead of newspaper. Both will decay nicely in time and serve the purpose of being a great weed barrier now.


We took the baby geese and our lone duckling to the front "pond" to splash about, too. They took to it like, well, ducks to water. At this age, they have to be watched carefully since the oils that will allow them to be buoyant and float as adults have not been distributed properly, yet. We watched them play, catch and eat little water bugs and instinctively preen themselves.

It took me all week to find the time to sit and catch you all up with what is happening around here. I am hoping to write more frequently, but I fear that finding the time to do so, will be hard. I am taking lots of pictures so that when I can sit for a bit, I'll have them ready. Please, bear with us as summer gears up and we get used to our schedule change.

We appreciate your taking the time to visit with us tonight. We're sure glad you're here.
Sean & Sonja ♥

Bath Time for Geese

As self-serving as it is, one of the things I love the most about our pair of China Buff geese is that they still like to be with me. When the weather cooperates, which has not been frequently, I can loose them from their yard. Dutifully, they follow me to the flooded part of the lawn to get their "bath". (We are hopeful to have the money to have a proper pond dug for them in later summer or early in the fall.) Not as friendly as the goats or chickens, our geese will stay in close proximity to me. They like me to be within 10-15 feet of where they are. When I get further than that, they begin honking and tag along to wherever I am heading. If I want them to follow me, I just begin walking away. I can get close enough to touch them, but they prefer if I merely keep them company and keep my hands to myself. They tolerate my picking them up, but they certainly do not like it.

 

 At bath time, our geese dunk their heads to wet them. They slosh water down over their backs, wetting their feathers. Then, it is time to preen each feather into place. Once preening is complete to their satisfaction, they open their wings and flap madly to dry themselves.

It is a little sad that our geese do not know they can fly. They have never really tried to and we have never clipped their wings. Once last summer, Caitlin took off running towards me, caught some lift and managed what amounted to a very long leap across the back yard. She managed to get about 5 feet into the air. She looked as startled as I did. We watched to see would they continue, but flight was abandoned for policing the other yard occupants.

 

Can you tell them apart? Justin's bill has a bright, orange nub on the top of his. Caitlin's bill is smaller and colored black. Justin is slightly heavier than Caitlin, too. Caitlin's more vocal of the two. If there is any doubt who is who, Justin will be the one with his neck straight out, hissing, and charging towards Sean or any unsuspecting stranger nearing his nesting site.

Which do you think is which?

Thanks for visiting us tonight.
Sean and Sonja ♥

Also shared with: Black Fox Homestead: The homeacre-hop