Still here

So I guess I'm not what you would call a consistent blogger. It probably has a lot to do with the weather outside. Anyway, a quick update on our whirlwind days and weekends. Being the "do it yourself" freaks we are, we have about a gazillion projects going on - rocking the house, landscaping, sprinklers, grass, fencing the pasture, replanting the pasture, tilling a garden spot, building garden boxes, planting the garden, painting my kitchen, drywalling, caring for all the new farm creatures (just to name a handful).
Here's some picts of the temporary coop we built and one of my experimental square foot gardens (built with 100% girl power). Hopefully it will be a lush garden in a few weeks.

See my blog post "everything I need to know I learned from my garden" for more info

Yes, the animals are doing well. The ducks are sure stinkier than I expected, but very cute. It's quite a stress reliever to watch them waddle around. One of our baby chicks got pecked to death by a hen and another had a huge hole pecked in her back (but she's a champ and is pulling through). I quickly learned that you don't mix chicks and grown hens - I cried about it all night. Our goats are sure friendly and sweet and are more pleasant than we expected...man, can they jump! However, the poor things are ALWAYS getting their horns stuck in the fence so they're scheduled for a dehorning at the vet.

Anyways, I'll be in and out over the next little while. Check in from time to time to read up on our latest adventures.

Funny Forwards

Sometimes I get some funny forwards. I thought this one was pretty interesting...

Cna yuo raed tihs?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid. Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i'st hrad to blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghi t pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Duckies & Chicks

The duckies and chicks are here! I know I always blog too much info about all this stuff, but how else are all you city folk going to get a country education? Some bloggers oooh and aaah over their kids, but I choose to take a bit of a different route - education of the masses :) I'm proof that anyone can raise an animal thanks to the info provided via the internet.

So we've had the chicks for a week now and I'm amazed at how fast they are growing. They were all fuzz last week, and already they're growing their "big girl" feathers. We have Rhode Island Red hens which will lay a brown egg, and two Araucanas which are known as the "Easter Egg Chicken" because they lay blue/green tinted eggs. Chicks are cute, but I'm really looking forward to when they're hens and can run around my yard (so picturesque!).

The ducklings came today and are much cuter than I expected! One of my neighbors has the same type of duck (Indian Runner) and can't say enough good things about it. They are awesome at eating bugs and are loyal to humans when raised by them (according to her). These Indian Runner ducks are pretty amusing to watch too, they look a bit like a penguin on speed when they run around. I will have to post a video when they get bigger.

FYI: Dust Bowl

Where we live, there's a saying that goes something like "we have 2 seasons: summer and wind." To give you some idea - when we framed our house, we had to put hurricane straps on our roof. Also, it's not uncommon for my BIG 90 gallon trash can to be picked up by the wind, and carried 1/4 mile into the next field. No joke, the picture to the right is what it looks like outside my window as I'm typing this.

This fall, winter, and spring have been exceptionally gusty so I thought it might be fun to make an FYI blog out of it. See, here's the problem. Usually the winter snow holds down the dirt, but this year we didn't get much snow so the dirt from all the empty farm fields was redeposited elsewhere. Around my neighborhood we didn't have snow drifts, we had dirt drifts. My poor friends had their lawn buried by inches of dirt and had to rip it all up and replant grass. We planted pasture grass last fall and are pretty sure that most of it has blown away by the scarce spouting that is now taking place.

Anyway, enough with the sob stories. This got me thinking about the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Here's a link to read up on some interesting history and see some more crazy pictures:

wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us/.../the_dust_bowl.htm

They survived, and so will we. Just be grateful for the trees, grass, and all that other stuff that holds the dirt down. Have fun - I hope you learn something.

Goat Ropin'

"Goat Roper" is a nickname for a wannabee. Sometimes its used to describe someone who dresses like a cowboy, but is essentially a suburban person who wouldn't know one end of a horse from another (like Garth Brooks?). Well, how appropriate that I am the proud parent of two new goats! I have to apologize to my father-in-law for bringing shame upon our last name, and thank my husband for being such a good sport about the whole thing.

Now a little bit about the goats. Yes, like you I used to wonder what the ugly creatures were even good for. I too thought they ate tin cans and garbage. Goat milk?....eeeeww! How could people even drink that stuff?! Well, on a trip to Boulder, Colorado last spring my eyes were opened. Boulder is an organic, natural town and although a little eccentric, it's very interesting and health oriented. I tasted some goat's milk at a farmer's market and really liked the stuff. It's good for me too, so they said. The gears in my head started turning and within the hour I knew I had to get me some goats!

The poor creatures are SO misunderstood. In the year since my first taste of goat milk I have done a lot of research on goats, goat's milk, and I have even pestered the goat owners at all the county fairs we visited. Here are some facts for those who are interested: 1. Goat's milk is lactose free, so those with cow milk allergies can drink it just fine 2. Babies can drink goat's milk because the make up of goat's milk is so close to human milk 3. Goat's milk is very healthy and has slightly less cholesterol than other milk (although I'm still loyal to cow's milk because it's what we make our living on) 4. Goats are much smaller and cheaper to feed than cows which means that those of you who want to teach your kids responsibility by milking an animal morning and night can do it with less worry - our little girl can help with chores without me worrying about her getting trampled by a big cow 5. I agree that their eyes look a little demon-like, but they are so friendly and cute (especially the babies) that after awhile you forget about the creepy eyes 6. If you have a certain breed of goat, the milk tastes just like cow milk. If you have tasted nasty goat milk before, it was probably from a breed NOT made for milking.

I could go on and on, but I will leave it for later posts. Here are some picts of the girls...

We also got two chickens and they have laid a brown and blue egg each day so far. Here are our hens.

Stay tuned for adventures in building a chicken coop, and the baby chicks and ducks - they should be arriving soon.

American Idol Poll

So I'm a little surprised and sort of embarrassed that I am the only one that votes like crazy for my favorite American Idols! As of today, I am the only one of 19 voters that calls in regularly and one of 5 that even votes at all.

Does everyone DVR the show or something? Maybe I'm the only one without a real life so I spend 15 minutes after I put the kids to bed hitting redial over and over. Seriously, I hope all you blog stalkers don't demonstrate the same apathy in the presidential vote this November!

I should explain that where I live we only get 3 stations on our antennae, and Fox is the only channel that comes in without fuzzies. I am anti-cable in order to protect myself from becoming a tv-junkie, so we don't see a lot of interesting stuff on tv. Maybe the fact that there aren't too many other shows on is what prompts me to vote each week? I guess AI is kind of like my little indulgence. Here's my opinion since I have already revealed how pathetic I can be:



If I had only one vote, it would go to David Archuleta. I can't see him changing too much if he does win and I like how he seems gets uncomfortable with all the hype. I like his humility and I love his voice. His style reminds me a bit of Josh Groban and he gives hope that there are still good kids our there that want to make a difference and not just make a million. Overall he's got the talent AND is worthy to represent as an "idol".

Carly Smithson has the best female voice (or as my daughter calls her, the girl with ink on her arm that won't wash off). When the season started I didn't get what the hype was about her but now I'm won over and think she has the greatest "diva" voice. I think with some more experience she can give Celine a run for her money. With that said, I am a little sick of divas after watching for 6 seasons, which leads me to...


Brooke White. I think she should have been cast for the movie, Enchanted. Can't you picture her singing something sweet, then all the little birds and animals come out onto stage and land in her arms? People fault her for being too nice, but phooey to all of them. I like her because her style is different - she might not have the vocals (yo dawg) that Carly does, but what she lacks in range she makes up for in creative performance. She's more of a real artist than most of the contestants on the show, which is fun to see.

With all that said, WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE?
I invite ALL OF YOU blog stalkers to leave a comment and let us know who gets your vote.

Everything I need to know I learned from my garden

There is something magical about gardening. Maybe it's just that way for me, but there seems to be so many parallels between life and growing things. I think every person should grow SOMETHING, even if its a little pot of seeds in the windowsill. Hard work, determination, patience, appreciation, health, science...all fruits of a garden.

If you want to attempt a garden this year, check out this book. Some of Mel's methods may sound tedious now, but TRUST ME it will pay off in the long run. Even if you only adapt some of the ideas in this book, it will make your garden experience a happy one.


My interest in growing things started when I had a roommate in college that grew plants in our apartment. I thought "that's pretty nifty, I wonder how she does that?" At the time the whole concept of caring for a living organism seemed so overwhelming I thought I'd never be able figure it out and didn't make an attempt until after I was married. So I know what its like to think "I could never get something to grow!" The thing that's cool about gardening is that you learn what not to do each time you kill something off.

While we moved around so much I had to beg other people to let me do free labor in their gardens in return for experience (I usually didn't have to beg too hard). Last year we finally had our own place and I had my OWN garden. Being the big naive dreamer I am, I planted a spot 100 feet by 150 feet (15,000 square feet for those w/o a calculator). I didn't realize it at the time but that is larger than the city lot I grew up on! I knew I'd have to get creative when it came time to do weeding.

To sum up the summer, I had a great time and learned a bunch from the success AND failures that I had. I learned that when you can't keep up with 15,000 square feet of weeds, a lawnmower makes a creative weeding tool! Just MOW down those rows and you don't need to invest all that money in a roto-tiller. Seriously though, that is something that I won't be doing again! I also learned that 47 tomato plants should give you boat loads of tomatoes (see photo), but that's not exactly what happens when you spray weed killer on a windy day..oops! What I'm trying to say is don't let your fear of failing keep you from giving it a go. Plant something this year!