baby groats round one

New baby goats have arrived. We have scotch and butter. They are 2 cute little girls born last week to Brie brie. While Brie is not a great mother she is starting to let them nurse some.  We supplement their nursing with a bottle a couple times a day. They are adorable. Check um out.

Bed room

Yesterday I took an in progress shot of the addition and at that I took it right after getting out of bed. Here are a few more pictures. This time with the bed made and everything. 

Addition numéro 3

Sorry for the delay in posts. The mix of cold and loads of work has coupled to reduce my posting. We have pushed forward with a bedroom addition on the main floor. The wood floor is laid and we have some wall coverings up. The local saw mill had a decent amount of already seasoned/ dried cherry that we bought for the walls. I like the look. The last photo is looking up from the room at the high ceiling and the little loft. The loft allows us to access our upstairs area via Donnelly's work room. 

Rail

Though we opted for an open floor plan in the house ( easy when one floor is two hundred square feet), we determined the porch needed some delineating features. Enter the rail. We utilized spare wood left from another intended project that was never realized and created a picket rail to the poarch. Concerned that the pickets would block our view down into the lower pasture we opted to use galvanized suspension cabling on the East rail. The cabling keeps the view open while keeping dogs, children, and me from flying off the poarch. Two months back I took a nasty spill off the porch and landed on my neck. The rock that caught me was less than forgiving. I have now retired my Eno hammock, age 3. With no ripes, tears, or flaws it split open down the middle with me in it resulting in the spill. Lucky for us we now have a rail to keep me in and I will not be trusting our second Eno, located in a the bottom of a deep box. We are loving the new rail though not as much as kitty. She has taken up semi preeminent napping residence on the rail and really loves the addition the he porch. 

Farm dinner

Well one of the hens would not go in the pen and as such volunteered to come to dinner. 3 pumps with the BB gun at 13 yards and a little time helping her get cleaned up for dinner. Should be a great meal. 

Rural fix it razor

This evening my wife's razor handle broke. Solution: find something that will fit the razor slot and avoid a 20 minute drive to town. Mission accomplished. Considering razors are for cutting hair I thought I would look in my tool box tray designated for cutting. Tin snips were too bulky. Sissors were too slim. But the saw blade now that was just right. And so in about 5 minutes we saved a hour of driving to town and back, $10 for a razor handle (saved for today but probably buying soon) and the gas money a town trip would entail. Net win if you ask me. Plus I can still use the saw blade when she is done. 

Addition

We are making progress on the addition. It is dry inside with a roof in and tar paper wrapping the sides. We have part of the floor down with insulation to boot. We even ran some pex in the floor in case we ever want to plumb in radiant flooring. Today the big project was purlins on the side of the house in preperation for metal siding ( turns out metal siding is less expensive than wood per square foot, oh and less maintenance) 

Though house building has replaced old hobbies such  as rock climbing the skills still come in handy. This would be lead bolting bolt 2 if we were climbing rock but as it is the house it is just purlin mounting. 

Dc low voltage lights

Amidst the darkness of Winter we have found a light. No more need for kerosene and candles. Thanks to Lowes we now have indoor lighting in our little house. $30 for 3 lights with a solar charger is not too bad a deal. For the amount we paid monthly on kerosene we had 1/2 the new system paid for. It is a simple and basic set up. Thousands of folks have this little set up in their front yards. We have it on our ceiling. More thoughts on this set up and the logic of dc low voltage lighting independent of main house power is to come. 

Pink eye

Iris, the good goat, did not take well to the addition of more goats to the herd. Like an aboriginal exposed to European flu she feel victim to illness. Iris spent 2 weeks blind in both eyes due to pink eye brought into the herd by a new goat. She endured a vet visit, both eyes stitched shut with med, and 2 weeks cloistered away in her own barn stall. she has regained most of her sight in one eye though the other seems to have failed her. This has made her all the more clingy     

New goats

We added to the herd. We now have 3 does and one buck. While bucks are nasty creatures the does are nice though skidish. I still have to say Iris is my favorite as she will come right over and lay her head on my shoulder when I crouch down. She also lets small children ride her around the pasture. All in all a real nice goat. 

Growth update

The high tunnel we installed this late Summer is yielding returns. We have several rows of Winter greens thriving in the cover of the tunnel. I am real happy with how it is performing. 

Greenhouse.

Well, this will be the 3rd greenhouse here at the farm the 1st two both were taken away by large storms. This one will, Lord willing, weather better. Lowes was discarding old used greenhouse panels and we were Blessed enough to get some. Bent over and supported these little 6x23 ft panels make a nice greenhouse set up. 

Dry wood

A month or so back we built a little wood shed. After 2 Winters of wet wood, FYI wet wood does not burn well and thus does not heat the house well, we built a wood shed. Nothing huge but 100% larger than what we had. 

Addition número 2

The time has come for the tiny house to yet again grow. This time we will be adding a little indoor bathroom set up, bedroom, and creative studio. Three days into the build and the roof is on. The hour after we finished, the rain started. It has been a relaxing project as I have been off work for Winter break. The downstairs will be 10x12. Upstairs our door to nowhere now leads to 10x6 studio space for Donnelly. 

Peppers

Pimento never tasted so good. My friend grows these babies for their seed but I like them roasted over an open fire. Try growing some next year. Check out baker creek heirloom seeds to buy them. They as worth the effort to grow and roast. Mmmmmm

Thatcher

It's true we now have a tractor and the little machine is now named thatcher.  It is a fine little machine that prefers to mow down hill in short grass though finds our farm to have many up hills and hip high grass. Also he prefers not to mow over trees larger than my wrist.  Goes on strike immediately if there is any question about a tree being to large.  

Gold

The honey is floral and tasty straight from the comb. 

I accidentally bumped the hive trying to loosen the first honey frame from the box. Oh boy, there was a swarm of commentary they flew up in my face for that. Several little honey makers found their way into my net and jacket. I did a special dance to let them know I did not appreciate having them in my clothes. After all the commotion every one settled down and I got the 2 frames I was intending to harvest before the Winter temps  set in this week. 

New pastures

We have expanded the fence and added new graze to the goat/geese area. An afternoon fencing with my wife, what a life. 

Oh we also bought another goat her name is Che. She is a little shy but warming up to our demands to cuddle her and rub her belly. She is a full blood nubian and has promise to be a wonderful milk producer. Mmmmm hard Che che cheese? I hope so. 

Living room

The living room is coming together. A little more trim, insulation, and a nice wood ceiling to go. 

Patio

Yup. We got a patio. Thanks to Justin Burd for the mixer. We finished this up by the light of the full moon this Thursday. It is nice to have the patio all poured.