Sunshine

The Sun made an appearance here in N. Idaho today. It was most welcome. It was a lovely gift on this Easter weekend. The long slumbering farm is re-awakening. The goats will soon be giving birth. The chickens are producing an ever increasing number of eggs. Piglets will be coming on Friday. Baby turkeys will be coming soon too.

Usually at this time of year we start corralling the chickens too keep them out of the garden area. Unfortunately that cannot happen right now due to septic construction. Therefore, the garden will be late going in. Sigh. We've planted some new cherry and apple trees though. Along with some raspberries. I'll be putting in an asparagus patch soon too.

Life is mighty fine here on the farm. We are truly blessed. I'd love to be planting more, but it will happen soon enough. By next weekend the construction on the septic will be done and we will be in a whirlwind of gardening activity. I hope your gardens and critters are all coming along. Whatever vegetables and animals we end up with will be a gift. God bless.

Late night on the farm

Sorry about the lack of pictures lately. It's been so darn cold outside I haven't wanted to spend an extra moment out there. The pipes on the washing machine froze the other day. Thankfully, the rest of the pipes are still clear. I fell asleep early on the couch last night, so of course I am now awake in the middle of the night. Well, early, early morning I guess.

I was going to make sausage, but the meat is still frozen. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm over booked tomorrow already. Teaching, phone calls, cleaning the chicken coop (ugh!). I suppose I will find time.

The goats are happy despite the cold. Carissima is back from "goat camp" and hopefully is pregnant. I'll do a test in a couple of weeks. I will be bringing Whisper up to get bred soon too. There could be a lot of goats around here this spring! I was debating whether to breed Whisper this year, as she is a little small, but Jenny is moving in with her three boys and the extra milk would be wonderful. Whisper has also hit a growth spurt in the last month, so I think she is big enough now. That could mean anywhere from 4-8 new goat kids. 95% of the time goat births happen without any trouble at all. I'm not so confident of being able to handle a troublesome birth, so I hope it doesn't come to that. Jenny seems more confident than I that we would be able to handle the situation.

The thought of having Jenny and the three boys move in is amazing. The boys sound excited about baby chicks, piglets, and goat kids. We are planning to raise heritage breed pigs this year. It will be a little more expensive for the weaner pigs, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. The meat is supposed to be amazing. We are looking at two breeds. Pure bred Berkshires or a breed called the Red Wattle. Either one sounds great. The Red Wattle is a threatened breed, so it would be nice to encourage the continued viability of the breed. We'll just have to see how it pans out with the breeders.

I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow and get something more interesting posted than my musings. Have a blessed day.

Seasons changing

It's steel head season. Especially now that I've filled the freezer with a deer. I'm still waterfowl hunting as often as possible too though. In fact, it won't be long until the geese and mallards will be flying over my hay field. At that point in the season I just hunt in the back of the house. It's not quite as exciting as going up to the lakes, but it's a whole lot easier.

We are having a huge blizzard right now. The highway is closed and I am snowed in. I managed to get out to town to go to the hardware store this afternoon and the roads were pretty bad. I'm not surprised that they closed it.

I nailed up some plywood over the old windows in the barn to keep the worst of the wind out from where the goats are. They seem to be keeping warm enough by curling up together. In fact, the barn cats were sleeping with the goats when I went out to check on them last night. I'm just feeding them lots and keeping them out of the wind. I've been going out every couple of hours to break up the ice in the water trough. There is no power out at the barn to hook up a heating element for the trough. If anybody knows of a solar powered heating element for a watering trough let me know.

I'm going to have to haul hot water in 7.5 gallon jugs out to the barn in the morning in the tractor. The water trough will be frozen solid by then. That will not be a fun chore in -20 windchill weather. The chickens usually do OK, although I haven't checked them since this afternoon. I may put a heat lamp in their coop tomorrow when the temperature really dips.

I have been blessed to meet a wonderful woman. She is such a gift in my life. She, and all my other great friends, are such a blessing in my life. Stay warm everybody. Winter is here.

Love never fails

"There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13

I realized that I hadn't posted very many pictures of Maggie the princess. She is queen of all she surveys.

I had a splendid day yesterday with a new friend. We walked around the mountain artist community of Joseph, Oregon. Had a leisurely lunch and hiked to a waterfall in the first snow of the year. It was stunning. I am filled with hope, and faith, and love. Hopeful that our friendship will continue to grow and flower. Full of faith that God will guide us. I am feeling so truly, truly blessed. I am filled with gratitude for all the love and grace that I have received. What a truly wonderful day. Have a blessed Sunday.

Fall in the barnyard

After what seems like a whole week of clouds and rain, the sun came out. The barn cats were out and playing. The chickens looked less forlorn. The goats seemed pleased with the change. And I was loving it. I'd rather it was either sunny and hot or cold and snowy. Cold and rainy is just not my favorite.

I cleaned out the goat barn today. I always let the goats wander around the farm while I clean. They don't seem to get into too much trouble. They climb on the tractor, eat evergreen trees, chase the cats... They just act like curious goats on a new adventure. Carissima has been getting out occasionally, but she doesn't go far. She is just there waiting to get her treats and get put to bed in the evening when I go out to do chores.

Colleen is going to come over and sight in her rifle to go deer hunting Sunday night on the property. It will be nice to see both Colleen and Luna. I haven't seen them much lately. I plan on going duck hunting on Monday unless I am up late skinning Colleen's deer.

I spent a relaxing day working on the farm today. Just puttering around going from one task to the next. I picked up some windows to put on the goat's side of the barn. They'll need them come winter. Which is probably right around the corner. Tomorrow will be a busy day with Mass, meeting with friends, more farm work, then hunting with Colleen. I am so blessed.

More horribly adorable goat pictures

We got the goats home from the breeders with only the usual hectic adventures. We couldn't figure out what to do with Luna, our puppy, so she rode in the cab of my truck. We had a 6-7 hour round trip in weather that ranged from beaming sunshine to torrential downpour. Carissima, the mother, road in the back of my truck in the canopy. The two kids rode in the back of Colleen's car contained by the dog gate.

They settled comfortably into their new home without any problems. Of course, there are a few things we forgot to buy and a few more we didn't get finished. Carissima doesn't like climbing the big step up into the barn with that big udder. The milking stand could be a couple of inches shorter too.

My first milking was going so well I was beginning to think, "hey I've got this nailed." That's when Carissma took a big step with her poopy hoof right into the milk bucket. Oh well, feed it to the chickens and try to get it right tomorrow.

Of course we've been worrying over every little thing. Are the kids nursing. Is Carissima drinking enough water. Do we have the hay and grains right. Is the barn tight against coyotes. The coyotes were, in fact, howling and yipping near the house last night. Colleen said, "well, you could go sleep out in the barn with a shotgun and a flashlight."

Despite the fact that I felt like I spent my whole morning feeding goats, chickens, dogs, and cats, I am enjoying myself immensely. We are truly blessed.

Built a goat milking stand!

I had a long week teaching. Boy am I ready for summer. Friday is here and I started the long weekend by building a goat milking stand. I am not much of a carpenter, but thanks to the excellent plans from Fiasco Farms I got it done. It was actually kind of fun to do some rewarding work that was outside of my comfort zone.

We also got some milking supplies in the mail today. Teat cleaning supplies and a filter/funnel that fits into a wide mouth mason jar. Surprisingly, the local farm and feed stores don't stock everything we need.

Our entire weekend will be spent on the farm. Working on getting the barn ready and putting in as much of the garden as we can. The ground is a little more moist than I would like as far as planting goes.

As soon as the sun comes out though the veggies will pop. I'll post some garden pictures soon.

Well, time to take Luna out to chase bunnies out of the lettuce patch.

Little Hunter

Luna and her favorite toy. A mallard wing saved from hunting season. We went out for a long walk, long for a small puppy, and saw a rabbit. I took a shot with the .22 but missed. I probably would have got it with the 20 gauge, but I think the noise might be too much for her. The breeder got her used to a .22 starter pistol, so she had no problem ignoring the .22. She didn't notice the rabbit at all. It was a ways away. That'll come later I'm sure.
She is a wild ball of furry, snapping, growling, teeth. Teething puppies, Oh my! She's getting a little better about fingers and toes, but she'll chew anything in her path. All of our seed catalogs have been torn to shreds. The best time to pet her is when she's half asleep. We really do love her. She's going to be a great hunter and a great addition to our animal menagerie.

The puppy, Luna, is home

Luna, our puppy, is home. We drove down to Southern Idaho to pick her up. We hit a couple of snow storms on the way. On Whitebird grade a semi got stuck going up and we almost ended up stuck behind it when we lost momentum.


Luna slept all day in the car, so she had a frieghtening amount of energy when we got home. Lab puppies have a well deserved reputation it seems and she set out to destroy everything in her path. Chew toys, cat toys, shoes, toes, fingers, and even the living room carpeting.
After the initial burst of energy when we got home, she has settled some. She goes nuts for a half an hour then falls fast asleep.
The breeder had already introduced her to gunfire and real birds, so we got to see her retrieve a real bird while the breeder fired a starter pistol. We have a rabbit living in our strawberry patch and can't wait to put her to work chasing it out. She is a beautiful dog. We are truly blessed.

Baby Goats!

We we to a goat breeder's farm today to look at baby goats. This is a yearling we might get. She would be "in milk" when we got her. It would be less complex for us to get a milking doe after she gave birth than to get one that was pregnant and deliver kids ourselves. It seems like our ideas for the barn will work just fine. We're still worried about all the moldy old hay that's piled up in the center, but we can either figure out a way to empty it or simply block it off from the goats. Getting the old hay out will be a major undertaking and may even require cutting a new door into the side of the barn.


These are some of the young goat kids. They are so amazingly cute. I was amazed at how they could be in the chilly barn with the door open at such a young age. We got to see a kid and momma that was only an hour old. The circle of life. Birth and growth in Spring.

Colleen got to hold one of the baby goats. Aren't they both adorable together? We are going to get a couple of Saanan dairy goats this Spring. It will be a major life change for us. Well I guess all of this farming will be a major life change. I've been traveling and playing my whole life. It is getting very different to be tied down to a home and to animals in one place.
"Tied down" is really the wrong phrase though. Grounded, more like. Lightness and weight. Lightness seems like freedom, but weight gives meaning. The more I put down roots and dig deep to one place and a life there, the more significant my life becomes.

We are hashing out the final details and hope to have made a decision about the goat venture in a day or two. We are truly blessed with the opportunity to do this.

Our new huntress, Luna

The geese are starting to fly over the Palouse and over our land again. The warming temperatures have brought them up from the Clearwater and Snake Rivers to feed on waste grain.



We went down to Boise to visit the newest hunter in our family. A three week old black lab who we have decided to name Luna. She will be trained as a hunting dog and cherished as a new family member. She is just about the most adorable little creature I have ever seen.

She squirmed around and cried for a few minutes then fell asleep in my arms.

Here is Luna with her mom and dad.

Here is Luna walking and crawling on the carpeting.

Colleen and Luna, two of the most beautiful girls in the world.

Barn tour

Here are some pictures of the interior and exterior of our barn. We are going to be re-furbishing it as best we can to use it for goats and pigs. The first order of business will be closing the hay door. The cables and pulleys that used to pull it closed have broken leaving it open to the winter wind.
We also have a little foundation work to do. The foundation is made of field stone and has crumbled in a ten foot section. The rest of the foundation looks pretty secure though.
The barn siding needs some patching, and the glass is missing from every window there is. To start with we will be patching the worst holes and replacing windows with old mismatched windows from a construction junkyard in town.

And now for the good news! The area where will be keeping the goats is already snug and secure. All it needs is one window and two doors. The doors will be easy enough to make, even with our limited skills.
There are also three good solid cattle milking stalls that we can easily use for goat milking. All of the gates and boards are in usable condition.
It is a daunting task, but after long thought it seems much more reasonable to slowly invest in the barn. It is structurally sound, the roof has very few holes in it, the planks in the walls can be replaced, and the windows can be covered. We are pleased with our re-assessment with the barn. Originally we had almost written it off. It is one of the most beautiful assets on our property.

Princess and the Pea

This is Daddy's little Princess. We have a thick, fluffy down comforter on the couch in the living room and she likes to burrow down and sleep nestled in it.

The geese and ducks have not been flying over the Palouse in the same patterns as they have the last few years. We keep journals of our hunting and fishing, gardening, livestock, and outdoor adventures. In the past the geese have flown by the hundreds in small flocks low over the hills looking for grain. This year they are flying high and just passing through. They have no interest in coming in for a look at my decoys. We've seen no geese feeding on the ground. Oh well, give it a few days, maybe it'll change.

Puppy Pictures! The hunting puppy is born.

Puppy Pictures! Here are pictures from the breeder of our newborn puppy. We are so excited for a new addition to our animal menagerie. She will receive some initial hunting related training at the breeder, but most of the training will fall to us when we bring her home. She comes from great hunting lines, and labs are easier to train than some other hunting breeds. The earliest we could get her hunting would be the grouse season in September, but she may be able to help out with the rabbit control hunting I do on the property. There will plenty of training to be done before September. She looks like a beautiful dog. We are first on the list for a female and only one was born. So contingent on vet approval and our inspection, this may be her. We are blessed. I've never had it so good.

hunting dog

Just found out the breeder's dog is pregnant. We'll be the proud parents of a hunting puppy in December. A new addition to the animal menagerie.