A Morning's View From the Bathroom Window

Of course I had to sneak outside with my camera:

Baby Season- A New Calf

We're adding babies left and right. We welcomed a little (well, kinda little) 88 pound calf to our farm family on May 1. 

All went well. The hooves were sticking out when Nate left for work and the calf was born when I checked an hour later.

Brielle and I got to watch as the calf flopped around and eventually took some steps. She made her way to Clydette's bursting udder and figured out the self serve system in a jiffy!

Brielle watched quietly from her perch on the 5 gallon pail. 

Clydette gladly guzzled down a pail of warm molasses water. We didn't milk her on Day 1, but did a little bit on Day 2, and gradually increased it to full milking by Day 4. 

We were prepared for milk fever (which is more common in the Jersey/Guernsey breed), and sure enough, she did get a little wobbly. The man we bought her from came out and shoved a calcium pill the size of a calk gun down her throat and she got over it with flying colors. He's been SO helpful in guiding us in the milk cow journey. We feel very lucky to have his support.

We let the calf be with her Momma for the first few days, and then started separating them for 8 hours during the day. This way the calf gets tame and Clydette is more willing to come in for evening milking.

Clydette is very gentle during milking. She never kicks the pail and usually just stands calmly and chews her cud. We've settled into a routine. I do the morning milking while Nate is getting ready for work, and Nate does the evening milking. It's so peaceful. We both enjoy it more than we anticipated!

We turned the downstairs bathroom into our milk room. Thanks goodness the calf takes her fair share because we have PLENTY of milk to go around!! The average lately is two gallons a day for us.

Our first try at making butter. YUM

Rhya almost always accompanies her daddy at evening milking time. She knows to sit on the stoop and wait for her turn to milk. She gets some squirts out but they usually go flying in random directions! 

How's this for a cheese press? The real ones are over 200 bucks...

Goats!!

We decided to let Clydette share our pasture with three frolicking Boer cross goats. We found them an hour away on Craigslist.  We made it a Saturday family outing and loaded up the dog crate into our all purpose minivan (love that thing), and headed up to meet our babies.

The poor babies had a big day, as they were only 12 weeks old and never been away from their mommas. We bought two white bucks and one brown doe. 

They were friendly, but afraid to come out of the crate.

Fred decided to show us how he was truly a goat.

Alice, Peter, and Fred, front to back. This pen is handy for keeping goats in!! We put them in here at first while they were getting to know us.

I can't let this video go unwatched! Blogs seems to make lives look picturesque and perfect, so this video is a check of reality. Enjoy, haha (btw this was the climax)

Birthday Party

Birthday parties are a HUGE highlight in the eyes of a four year old! Rhya had so much fun talking about being four, who was coming to her party, what kind of cake she'd have, etc..
The day finally came and Rhya was wondering WHEN people were going to come. It took an eternity for her to wait for the first car to pull in.

The girls are SO lucky to have cousins to celebrate with! We ate cheeseburger soup, cornbread, fruit, and salad. The funny thing about the eating arrangement was the the other kids finished up long before Brielle, but she didn't care. She sat at the table all by herself for at least 15 min. longer, happily munching away!

 Great Gpa Wayne, Great Gpa George, Gpa Mark, Auntie Shanda, Gma Mo, Daddy, Gpa, Uncle Travis

Present time equals lots of excited kids! The girls were greatly spoiled with lots of fun toys and gifts!

The cards were a big deal to Brielle. She loved to look at each one very carefully. It would have been fun to sit back and watch her open each one at her own pace, but somehow the clock ticks very fast during birthday parties!

Camping theme cake. Rhya had campsite number 4 on her cake and Brielle had campsite number 2.

Gotta love Brielle's finger going up to her mouth to feel her teeth just to be sure she was smiling.

All decked out in her dr suit. The kids had a blast fixing everyone up!

Brielle went STRONG and was super happy the whole party. She knew she was was wiped, though, and before the last guests left she crawled to the back of the play tent (that we had set up to go along with the camping theme) and fell fast asleep. She napped for over two hours!

Great Gpa Elmer stayed a bit longer than the rest. Rhya thought he might like to see her new birthday panties! HA! We sure missed Gma Jane this year. She used to be so involved in making the girls' day extra special.

Rhya and Brielle are SO lucky to have so much loving family close by!! Thanks to everyone who came and made their day special.