The Weekend

Todays' post will include all of the things that have happened in our barn from Friday through last night, Sunday. I will post again tonight for today. Allright, here goes. On Friday we added to our brood by bringing home 16 chicks. We have a mixed flock of Dominiques, which are a heritage breed and are prolific brown egg layers; Aracaunas, which are beautiful as adults and look like chipmunks as chicks and which lay green and blue eggs, sometimes even pink; and a mixed breed bird of which I can't remember even one breed, that is a good winter layer and also a good meat bird. I am not sure we will turn any of them into dinner, but I can't wait for them to start providing us with breakfast. In the meantime, they are being loved fully by the two older children. T will poke at them with one finger and one finger only. He absolutely does not want to touch or even see their feet. He mostly enjoys looking at them from our bedroom window. We set them up in a big rubber trough with chicken wire over the top in the stall directly under our window. That way we can keep watch over them. I was afraid the barn cats might think we had brought them home a very special treat. Which proved to be correct. While curiousity might have killed the cat, it has not, as of yet, helped the cat kill any chickies.

 Our other big addition on Friday was one that I have been dreaming of for years. We are now the proud owners of three Nubian Goats! We adopted Roxy and her twin girls from a local farm/CSA, Zephyros. http://www.zephyrosfarmandgarden.com/ The baby girls are now named Nelly and Luna. They are 6 weeks old and Mama Roxy is four. We are going to keep the girls on Roxy for another week and a half and then we will start bottle feeding them and milking her. Fresh, raw goat milk and chevre (cheese) will soon grace our table. The addition of goats to our barn has already brought much joy and amusement. Baby goats are hilarious. I love that our barn is now home to more than dogs and cats.

M and Luna

Roxy



Roxy, Luna and Nelly



Nelly

Friday also brought the long awaited visit of my big Sister, her Mister and their sweet pooch, Cosette.

Cosette wearing a very special crown made by M.

 While not necessarily being country people, they at least know how to enjoy it. Friday night we had a potluck with them, our folks and Hubbys' folks. Saturday they were able to feed the cows, ride the mule and tractor, eat out at our towns best restaurant (which is and isn't saying a lot...), and to meet and love on our whole crew. The Sandhill Cranes gave us a spectacular show on Sunday morning. They spiralled upwards directly over the barn. The noise and sight is something to remember. My sister and I have always lived close by each other, if not actually in the same house, which has happened twice as adults. There was one short period of time when we lived in Colorado and she still lived in Arizona. Living five hours away from each other is a hard thing to do. But I am so grateful for the time that we do get to spend together.

I don't know why the only picture I managed to take
 of them this weekend was when we were out to eat. 

I think that about sums up our weekend.