For those of you not personally acquainted with us, we have three children (all girls) and four grandchildren (all girls).  Three of those four grandgirls are sisters who live within driving distance.  I refer to them as the Three Sisters.  This weekend, we were fortunate to have them come play with us here at the farm. 

The girls were able to do all of their favorite things!  They drove the golf cart, and drove the golf cart, and drove the golf cart… You get the picture!  Good thing they got that out of the way on Saturday because by Sunday, it was muddy……. again.

They ate their favorite foods, both at our house and at the Dairy Queen!  They went to the Farmersville feed store with Papa Ken, and to Atwoods with me where they got to play with (more) baby rabbits and hold the baby chicks.

Papa Ken and I started putting together the dog kennel (although the rain and the tangled arrangement of the chain link prevented us from finishing it).  This will be handy to keep Buddha and MudBud from going on unauthorized adventures outside the fence when we have workmen coming in and out.  The Welder is going to be starting a fence for me soon to make a place for the alpaca herd that will be increasing in size substantially this summer, and then he’ll be helping me build some new goat shelters.

I had to just shake my head at my poor dirty goats.  I think these animals roll in the dirt just for fun!

The girls and I also had some fun in the Bunny Barn.  It was a bunny free-for-all while I cleaned cages.  First we let all the girls out to run around; then we let all the boys out!

Finally, once it stopped raining on Sunday, we put away 30 bales of hay that we hope will get us through the rest of the winter. There was no prayer of getting Randy’s truck and trailer into the back pasture where our hay storage barn is, so we ended up loading it into our livestock trailer which we have parked in front of the house. Not much use having a building for hay storage when you can’t get to it, an issue we still have to work out!

All in all, I think the girls had a fun weekend in the country.  They took home a dozen fresh eggs they had gathered from the chickens, and a bag of rabbit poo for Ms. Patti’s garden. Mostly, they ran in the fields, tromped in the mud, played with the animals, ate lots of favorite foods, and provided lots of joy for their grandparents!

If there is one thing that I have learned in the last 6 months, it is that Mother Nature can be a tough old broad! As my friend and mentor Cindy likes to say, raising animals is not for sissies! We learned that first hand during the first couple of weeks of this month.

Despite our best efforts, 8 of the 9 baby rabbits (“kits”) born to Cassie on January 3rd died. No amount of goats milk, kitten replacer, warmth, petting, love, or the manipulating of mama bunny was enough. Still Mother Nature left us cause to celebrate: our little Hercules!

Hercules was a little porker from the beginning.  It was clear that he didn’t have any trouble at all figuring out why mama had jumped in the nest box. He grew, while all the other babies stayed small. He never needed to be fed with a syringe for sure! But even feeding supplements weren’t enough for his brothers and sisters. One by one, Mother Nature took them back.

Hercules is 3 weeks old now. Perhaps a more practiced eye could figure out whether he is really a boy. The sex change fairy often comes to visit much later, however, and we are prepared. If Hercules turns out to be a girl, she’ll be rechristened Xena, warrior princess!!

Sometimes it’s not Mother Nature taking lives, however.

Sometimes, it’s me.

Today was a work day on our urban farm. The weather was finally pleasant. In fact it was downright beautiful. Brisk. Too warm for sweats, at least while I was working.

#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } Mr. Man Cat oversees the work Daisy visiting the chickens One of the Ameracaunas Ken scratching Blue’s belly as she rolls in the dirt! Chickens in the compost pile Carlos & Coffee Cassie, Cocoa & Jessica’s rabbit

The baby rabbits are all in cages away from Mom now, and Mom’s cage needed cleaning in a big way! So Mom got to go visit with the babies for a brief bit while we emptied her litter, carried her cage out to what is left of our backyard lawn (not much!) and hosed it down. Carter’s cage got the same treatment while Carter had to wait it out in a temporary cage. The babies’ cages weren’t so bad; all they needed was the hay raked out and added to the compost and their boxes changed.

While I was cleaning out the Bunny Barn, Ken went back and forth between dumping rabbit litter into the compost pile and cleaning out the Chicken Coop. No eggs yet. He gave the chickens a stern talking to and told them they better get busy! Truthfully we don’t expect any eggs until the days get longer. Ken accomplished his last chore, adding some leaves and turning the compost over and took off for the house before I gave him something else to do.

I had one more thing to do, though. Carter had starting shedding, leaving wisps of white fur on his cage. When that happens, if I don’t get his coat off of him it turns into a matted mess. So, cold weather or not, Carter got a haircut. I thought about waiting until I could pluck him, but his fur was nice and long down his back. I got about half of him done; the rest can wait until tomorrow.

We only live in the city on the front half of the property!

Coming up: planting potatoes, and wishing for 50 degree nights so we can get our native grasses in!  Enjoy the pictures!