Friday, June 6, 2008

Animals, Animals, and more Animals

We discovered Oreo likes bread after the kids dropped a slice when they were headed to the pond to feed the ducks.


As you can see the goats are abused and neglected....not!


We went to a presentation at Leah's school last night, she "published" a book along with all the other kindergartener's. All the kids in the class except 2 either wrote about their families or their cat. One child made a cook book and my unique little muffin wrote about Spring. She did a great job presenting, she has no fear of crowds. At the end of reading her book she read about the author as follows: "Leah is 6 years old. She lives with her mom, her dad and her brother. She has 1 dog, 3 cats, 100 outside birds, 2 chinchillas, 2 goats, and 10 house birds." The audience all had quite a laugh at that one and probably thought what a bunch of crazies. For the record Leah's hair is wet, not greasy. John gave me grief for posting this picture.

Here is the accurate animal count as of today, it seems to change regularly: 31 laying hens, 1 rooster, 18 partridge, 3 quail , 6 bantam hens, 2 ducks, 4 turkeys, 24 meat birds, 2 goats, 2 chinchillas, 3 cats, 1 dog, 1 parakeet = 101 if I added correctly.. ok yes maybe we are nuts!

Our only rooster. Leah named him "Bob". We have not named the hens because there are too many. We've yet to hear him cock-a-doodle-do.


Finally, a little more room to roam. We plan on making a bigger run for them but this works for now. John is going to make some nesting boxes tomorrow because these gals should be laying by July...just in time for our farm stand.
We have 8 more Barred Rocks but they are in another pen because they are a little younger.




One of the turkeys


Annie


These are the kids catch and release tanks. Top one is for frogs and the bottom one is for snakes.


Quail egg count is up to 3
look how tiny


chicken egg, bantam egg, quail egg



Below are a few pictures from a field trip Leah's class went on today. One more field trip to go and 1 1/2 weeks left of school...the count down is on. I look forward to the kids being home and not having to have a stringent schedule of wake-ups, kid pick ups, bath & bed times. I enjoy the casual times of summer but usually by August we are all ready for school again.


I learned today that the red flap under the beak of a rooster is called a wattle. This obviously is not a rooster but I thought it was cool because this was the cows stall this hen was nesting in.


I want a couple cows grazing in our field! Maybe next year when we have more cash & time to put up fencing. Our to do list before winter is very long.




Some people drink sheep milk, I did not know that either.



I'll end the note with a simple recipe. Last night I marinated some deer steak in this and John cooked it up tonight. I will use again and it will be easiest to find if I have it on my blog and maybe you all might like to try.



Teriyaki Marinade

10 comments:

Amy said...

I feel better about being the "crazy chicken lady" now. You have waaaay more animals! But I don't think you're nuts, I think it's wonderful having all kinds of animals around. I wish I had a goat to cuddle like Luke! How sweet!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Quite an assortment of critters you have there. In his later years, my father turned his rural, 40-acre farmette into a licensed game farm and acquired a large number of animals for it, some as pets, and many to sell their offspring. He had several kinds of pea fowl, pheasants, some quail, Scottish 4-horned sheep, Sicilian Donkeys, buffalo, Emus, Ostrich, and of course, the llamas -which I believe he loved the best. We used to love taking our kids out there, as they had such a good time at "Pa's" farm. I think you are doing a great thing for your children, having animals!

Don said...

What a great life you are giving yourself and your children. Just looking at your photos shows what memories your children have that most American children will only read about. How many kids have cuddled with a goat? How many have watched their dad cut and roll sod and then get to stand on it like the king of his domain?

I have 25 meat birds and I am ready for them to go to the freezer. I have about three more weeks. Do you do the butchering?, or do you have someone else do it? I am planning on doing it with my dad. Any tips are most welcome!

Anonymous said...

Look at you guys grow Kim! OREO is too cute for words:)
Great job on the grazing area! I know the list is long for you guys but it's fun to see the finished products right? How's the pool coming! I bet you could have used that today huh?
Great recipe too! I will use it as we love Teriyaki. Have a good night

More than Survival said...

What FUN!!!!!!! You are a blessed family! I would like to invite you to post your link on "Tour Tuesday" on my blog. You take such GREAT pictures! Just give us a "tour" (any pictures of things in your life)! Have a great day... enjoy all those critters! (and people think I'm crazy with our 40 chickens, 3 pigs, 7 barn cats and 2 dogs!)

Katy said...

i love all your animals!!! How totally fun! We have chickens, an outside cat and 3 dogs! LOL I wanted a goat or two..just for fun but hubby says they are a pain! LOL What do you think? Do you enjoy having goats?

Country Girl said...

Thanks Amy, nice to know I am not alone.
Coastrat, sounds like your dad had quite a set-up. I'd like to have a donkey but I know John wouldn't hear of it. He likes animals that give back, like chickens, etc.
Thanks Don, we feel fortunate to be living this life and the kids are living a unique lifestyle compared to their friends. I look forward to our meat birds heading into the freezer but now that they are out of the barn I am not in such a rush. They are stinky little buggers. John is not sure if he is going to do the dirty deed or bring them to the butcher. I will be surprised if he brings them in??
Regina, the pool is coming slowly. John is meticulous with the ground work so I am hopeful that we will have it up by the end of next week. It would have been nice today!
More than Survival, I swear I am game for tour Tuesday. I took a couple pics today thinking I'd use them for that...stay tuned.
Lastly, Katy goats are great! Honestly, they are my favorite pet.
I plan on breading my doe than milking her so that is how I talked my hubby into them and I used the "it would be good for the kids" line and he caved...he had no choice!
Thanks for all you comments, keep them coming! Good night, Kim

YD, sometimes with ♥June and ♥Angel Samantha said...

Oreo, I love that name for the cute little goat!
I think 2 dogs are enough for me. I would like to get some chickens but I just can't stand chicken poop. So I guess that's out of the question.

Paula said...

Hey Kim! I just love all your pictures, but the one of Luke and Oreo is my favorite. That is just too cute!

Anonymous said...

Hi, nice blog and wonderful pictures you have. I love farming and did it long time ago. Yeahhh, some people drinks goat or sheep milk for "jaundice" treatment.