Hi folks!
We've just been in a whirlwind of activity the past month or so and I am falling desperately behind on posting about our home renovations. Progress is being made and I'm excited to share pictures with you. I'm hoping to get a few posts up this week regarding the hearth pad and the dining room especially. But as I still need to upload some pictures I won't be able to get to those topics today. Instead, I just want to make quick introduction.
Blog friends and family, we are pleased to announce our newest addition to the farm, one that will enable us to keep pushing forward in our dreams of becoming self-sufficient.
This, my dear friends, is NC PromisedLand Jokers Wild, who has come to us from our favorite Nigerian Dwarf Goat breeder, Sharon at Willow Moon Farm. Joker is the first male to be welcomed to our farm on a permanent basis- he'll be servicing our does in the months to come. As our girls are not quite ready to be bred, the younger ones especially, we're keeping this sweet little guy up at my Mom's house with her eight wethers where he has plenty of company and generally stays out of trouble. Once we have our buck house built and a buckling born on the farm we'll be able officially welcome him home.
Isn't he just the cutest? Ok, so he'll be one big stud muffin in a couple more months but until then I'm going to call him "cute". This little guy will enable us to breed all our girls later this fall and winter so we'll be milking five does next year. This should provide our family with plenty of milk and I hope to start dabbling in cheese making and bit of goat's milk soap.
But this is just the start, stay tuned for all the excitement to come!
Our lives need a little drama here and there. It keeps things interesting. Without the drama we might not appreciate the little moments of peace that we are graced with every so often. But sometimes those drama-filled moments are enough to make us sit, place our faces in our hands and just take a moment to breathe and pray for a positive outcome.
Friday afternoon, a couple hours before I got home from work, Kyle was outside checking on the pigs. We had moved them back under the trees so they could tear up the ground a bit before the meat processor comes to get them next Friday. While he was outside he heard a scream from the barn and ran to see what it was. Apparently, Juniper had jumped up on the top of the manger, got her left front foot stuck between a couple boards and then tried to jump down. We had plywood on top of the manger to try to keep chicken droppings from getting down into the hay, we never thought much about the tiny gap at one end, but these girls' feet are so tiny, they can fit in just about anything. Needless to say, the manger has been moved, and a new, safer cover has been attached.
But the damage was done. Kyle thought that maybe it was just sprained because she seemed to be moving around relatively well. Her adrenaline must have been running because any time we'd go out to try to catch her to take a better look she'd just run. I didn't want to aggrevate the condition so we decided to leave it until Saturday morning when we fed them breakfast. Sure enough, Saturday morning brought us the truth. Her leg was very swollen and obviously broken. We ran to Johnson Farm and Garden to pick up some rolls of Vet Wrap and a couple wooden paint stirrers.
When we got home I gave Juniper a baby asprin and started icing her leg to try to help the swelling go down a bit. Then, while Kyle held her, I felt her leg and carefully pulled on her hoof and fetlock to be sure all the bones were straight and where they should be. Using a clean, old sock, I padded one side of each of the paint stirrers and made sure they were just long enough to extend just a little past her hoof. With one paint stirrer on the inside of her leg, and the other on the outside I carefully wrapped all the way up her leg with a few lengths of the Vet Wrap. Once I was finished with the splint we held her up to the higher branches of the surrounding trees so she could get some of the leaves as a treat.
After a few minutes of greedily eating leaves, we set Juniper down to see how she fared with the splint. She's still working on three legs, but she can put her other foot down when she wants and it won't put any weight on the broken leg. If not for the leg she looks fine; her eyes are bright, she eats and drinks with as much energy and enthusiasm that we are used to seeing in her, her rumen is working well, and her digestive system is working fine. It is a relief.
We've had to re-wrap the bandage a couple times already, it kept getting pulled down a little too far, I think its because she drags it when she goes to lay down. But last night I used a piece of the wrap over the top of her shoulders which I think should eliminate the problem. She seems to be doing well, though, she can even run around again and climb on things, which is good to see. We gave her a baby asprin each day for a few days, just to help with any pain or swelling. But even when we re-wrapped her leg on Sunday the swelling was completely gone. So I'm confident that as long as we are diligent at being sure her wrap is in place, things will heal well.
I just feel horrible that the cause of her injury was something that we neglected to recognize as a possible danger. Sometimes it takes some drama to get you looking at things in a different way. But if you ask me, I'm ready for some drama-free days now, thankyouverymuch.
I have fond memories of my childhood. It was a great time, I had the best parents ever (still do, in fact). I remember hanging out at home when I was really little eating a peanut butter and fluff sandwich with some chicken noodle soup while watching The Price is Right. Rubbing my little toes into the shag carpet (ok, not sure if it was really shag, but you know, it was that beautiful, shag-like, orange carpet) I'd munch away on some serious comfort food.
I don't watch The Price is Right anymore; it just isn't the same without Bob Barker (no offense Drew). But anytime I hear the theme music or any reference to it I have an instant craving for a PB & fluff sandwich with chicken noodle soup. To me, peanut butter is the key to some seriously hearty, easy meals and snacks: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter and honey on toast, peanut sauce and noodles, peanut butter cookies, buckeyes (peanut butter balls covered in chocolate), peanut butter on a spoon. Yum.
Peanut butter is right up there with eggs as being a super-food. Full of great stuff like protein, fiber, vitamin E, iron, calcium, and potassium (though not as great a source as bananas, still pretty darned good), it's my favorite thing to bring on a day hike or bike ride up here in the mountains of Northern Vermont.
If you buy what I call 'traditional' peanut butter, you could be outweighing these healthy aspects with negative things like additional trans-fatty acids and carcinogenic mold. So, buy all-natural, organic peanut butter. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
I have to say that I am one lucky gal that we've got a local company that makes up their very own peanut butter (as well as almond butter). The Vermont Peanut Butter Company is situated right in the heart of Stowe, Vermont. You can get everything from plain creamy or chunky peanut butter to my favorite: Champlain Cherry, which is a combination almond butter with chocolate and dried cherries mixed in. Just thinking about it makes me drool all over my keyboard. The Vermont Peanut Butter Company very well could be the biggest VT thing to hit the globe since Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Although, currently, they're not nearly as large-scale as B & J's that is one of the things that is most important. The Vermont Peanut Butter Company isn't owned by any big corporations (like Ben and Jerry's Unilever), run from a distance by people in business suits in a highrise(*Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream who, I hear, is going fully Fair Trade!*). It is owned and operated by a handful of local folks (one of which happens to be a very dear friend of mine) who you could easily happen upon during an outing here in the Green Mountains.
Now, you can't find their peanut butter just anywhere. No, they don't supply the big chain stores like Price Chopper and Hannafords (trust me, I've looked) but you can get your very own jar of delicious goodness (or Karma, or Harvest) shipped straight to your house. "How?" might you ask. Well, my dear friends, they've got a nice little website where you can check out their story and maybe pick up a jar or two of anything that strikes your fancy. I'll make a suggestion: get at least two jars. Kyle and I went through a jar of Champlain Cherry in a week.
**I should note that I have not been paid or otherwise compensated for this endorsement- I'm just a girl loving her locally-produced products.**
Ok, I just can't stand it anymore. I mean, I love winter, the snow is gorgeous, it helps keep the house warmer, and it's fun. But seriously, I can't stand the cold anymore. Kyle's truck has died and we've spent too much time freezing in the sub-zero wind gusts trying to figure out why (more than likely something related to the cold). We've lost too many eggs to the frigid temperatures and I'm sick of having to supplement feed with so much grain. Our kids need grass. I am ready for Spring!!!!!!
I know today is Groundhog Day...and Phil has officially proclaimed six more weeks of winter...but I've got a news flash: I DON'T CARE!! Mwah ha haaa (maniacal laugh inserted here)! Spring never comes early up here so even if he had forecast an early spring, it wouldn't apply to us folks up here in Northern VT anyways. Best case scenario: we won't really see Spring until May, we need get through mud-season first. Regardless, I'm determined to hurry this season along. It was a welcomed guest, but its time to show it the door.
This past weekend, Kyle and I made a run to Gardener's Supply Company, an awesome, employee-owned, local gardening supply store. We thought we'd grab some house plants (they're having a sale: buy two, get one free) and while we were there we picked up a handful of seed packets to start inside the house. I was planning on just doing one big order on High Mowing Seeds website, but I just couldn't wait any longer. I'll order the rest of our seeds online, probably later this month, but I wanted something in-hand to start right off. We came home with paste tomatoes, Ring-of-Fire hot peppers, basil, parsley, rosemary, and lavender. We also grabbed some Provider bush beans, Chamomile and Echinacea that we'll start later next month.
I'm planning the garden alot more than I did last year. I'm reading more about companion planting and non-tilling, non-weeding options. The garden was the biggest disappointment of last year. I make no claims that I am a good gardener- I'm actually pretty terrible at it. I'm more interested in animal husbandry and I think it shows: my livestock is thriving. But it also shows in the garden: it's always overrun by weeds and I don't harvest what little there is to harvest in time so some things end up going to seed (which I don't realize until things start sprouting after we've turned everything under for the year).
We've also spent quite a bit of time working on our pig shelter. Its relatively large, too big really for the size the pigs will be when we buy them. So unless we really pack it with mulch hay these little piggies will probably spend the first month or two in the barn where it will be a little warmer. We're planning on picking up the new additions to the farm this Saturday. I'm pretty excited about it. I know they're going to be meat for our table, but until then they can till our garden and enjoy the dappled sunshine in the little grove behind our house. They will be happy, which makes me happy.
This is going to be a big, busy year. It will be the first time keeping bees and raising turkeys and pigs. It will be the first time our goats will kid, so it will be the first time bottle-feeding babies and milking goats. I've worked at a dairy before, so I've done the twice-a-day milking, but never in conjunction with raising so many other animals, gardening, and beekeeping. And of course, on top of that we're still renovating our house and working full time jobs.
Do I feel overwelmed? Nope. Well, not yet, give it some time. Spring is rejuvenating after waking up from a long winter slumber. I'm ready to wake up. How about you?
New years eve, Kyle and I had a lovely evening of bonfires, margeritas, hors d'oeuvres and Alfred Hitchcock movies. Standing around the fire, being dusted by snowflakes, we played fetch with Ollie until he could no longer find the frisbee in the dark and the snow. The girls were warm in their barn, watching the festivities from the comfort of their window seat. The new year was rung in without bells or whistles. No ball drop, party hats, crowds, or bar bills. Just us kids down here on the farm, standing around a fire in our muck boots, drinking frozen drinks out of authentic German steins in the crisp winter air. In hindsight it probably would have been a little more pleasant if we were drinking hot drinks- like mulled cider...oh well! We've got plenty of winter left for that.
We were gifted a beautiful, homemade, cedar storage bench that Mom made herself. It is taking up residence at the foot of our bed and it is just absolutely beautiful.
The rest of the weekend was spent snowblowing (both with the john deere and the wind), shoveling, and staying cozy in the house when we could. We brought our tree out to May and Chutney on Sunday but that was about as ambitious as we got. The wind and the snow made spending time outside a little less than lovely. I had grand plans of working on the guest bedroom but settled for making some awesome breakfast burritos, spicy homefries, and mamosas before spending the rest of the day in sweats with Kyle, watching Psycho and back episodes of Lost online at Netflix.
I did start shopping for our seeds for this year's garden. We're going to be buying them from High Mowing Organic Seeds just a few towns over from us in Wolcott. They're a great local company that sells organic seeds at fair prices- we like them. Now my only challenge is going to be to wait to start the seeds once they arrive...I'm ready but if we start them now we might have a full-fledged garden in our house before Spring even shows its lovely face- not a good idea when you've got cats and dogs just dying to find something new to dig in. Although, maybe I'll start some herbs and hot peppers just to get my gardening fix...good idea, I think I'll spend my break shopping.
Our busy day turned into a busy weekend. Saturday afternoon, after a lovely visit from my Mom, Kyle and I got ambitious and decided to tackle the last major project in our guest room (which, then, overflowed into our Sunday).
So, as soon as Mom pulled out of the drive on Saturday, we grabbed the ventilator masks, and headed upstairs. Pulling down my beautifully-painted plaster wall took no time at all, the lath came right off with a little help from the crowbar, and as it was an interior wall there was no old insulation to deal with! Yippy skippy! We threw the lath out the window- we'll burn it later- and swept up all the plaster. I tried to snap a few photos but with all the dust floating in the air they didn't come out all that great, but you get the idea.
Now, we had to take down the lath on the other side of the wall- but how to do it without leaving a huge mess to clean up on the stairs? Kyle was brilliant enough to grab a tarp and lay it over our too-low railing and across the floor. Then, using a reciprocating saw, he cut out a square from the wall. With just a little shimmy and a shove we pulled the wall down where we could remove the plaster and lath without sending stuff flying out into the hallway. We're pretty smart cookies, huh? Well, you try dusting every surface of your house twice a day just to have it covered again the next morning, trust me, you learn fast. A little prevention goes a long way when it comes to home renovations (and it goes twice for demolition).
We needed to finish removing the old insulation from the closet and install a light. After removing the rest of the plaster and lath from the walls we found a few spaces that were letting daylight in! Yikers- of course we had to run out to buy more cans of that spray-foam to seal all that up. We bought seven cans this time, we're not fooling around anymore. When we returned from the hardware store I got to work sealing all the little gaps and cracks while Kyle ran electrical wire around the closet. After an hour or so we had successfully stopped all the major air leaks in the closet, installed an outlet, a switch, and (drumroll please) a light! Woo hoo! Ok ok, so we didn't happen to have a wall sconce for the light so we've just put up a temporary light for now, but it will make working in there alot easier. Working in the closet with headlamps is a little fun when you first start out but it definitely gets a little old.
Build wall
Finish insulating closet
Finish putting up sheetrock
Mud/tape sheetrock
Build shelves in closet and install rod for hanging clothes
Prime and paint
Install light fixtures (one for the closet, and the new one I got for the bedroom)
Fill gaps between floorboards with wood caulk
Install baseboard trim and trim around windows
Put up curtains and blinds
I wasn't too awfully optimistic this morning about what we might be able to get accomplished. My honey was sounding a little less than ambitious and mentioned fixing the window (we had missed the spacers on the second window that we installed in the guest bedroom so it was a solid two inches deeper into the sill compared to he first one) but he didn't think he'd really want to do much else. Kyle is definitely not a lazy guy, but with his final for his class coming up this Tuesday night he's been studying during his free time to be sure all goes well.
After enjoying some morning tea (or coffee in Kyle's case) and crocheting my new basket for collecting eggs (more on that later) we started work on the window. It wasn't terribly warm out today- nineteen degrees without the windchill- but in the front of the house we were blessed with some bold sunshine which helped keep things warmer. Kyle cut the wood for the spacers and then we unscrewed and removed the window. After ten minutes or so we had all the wood spacers in and were ready to re-install the window. Putting in a window has never been so easy, and it really feels good knowing that after a bit of experience we are confident and fairly adept at getting it done.
Right as I was filling around the window with canned spray foam my Mom showed up to take Kyle and I out to lunch. We loaded into the Jeep and headed into the neighboring town of Morrsville to The Bee's Knees- an awesome restaurant that serves food made from local, organic dairy, meat and produce- where we got some food and some great local beer (Switchback is our favorite microbrew here in Vermont). The Bee's Knees is one of my favorite restaurants around here- anyone who supports the local community is A-OK in my book. Not to mention that they have live music, great food, WiFi, and a huge picture window you can sit in front of on a chilly day here in Northern Vermont. You can go there and order a beer, tea, or coffee and just sit and enjoy the local atmosphere- absolutely wonderful. It just happens to be my Mom's favorite place to eat here as well- so it works out.
When we got back home we headed out to the barn. I wanted to shut the barn door as the wind was really blowing and since the girls weren't taking advantage of the sun I might as well shut the door to the barn to keep them a little warmer. We caught eleven eggs today, so gladly handed off a dozen each to my dear Mom and our neighbor's daughter, Jennifer. We have consistently been getting around 10-12 eggs a day so we were more than happy to unload some on some willing folks.
We'll be heading into Jeffersonville shortly to hit The Tavern for some drinks and darts with some friends so you can be sure we'll be handing off another couple cartons of eggs before the night is through. So, as its time to head out, I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to write about our demolition that we undertook this afternoon.
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