Kids!

We are bad bloggers, nothing since Labor Day.  But we have been busy!  Laurel Haven 57 Shevy kidded this morning with a buckling and a doeling - the buckling is black and white, the doeling is black with a white poll (forehead).

Just a little behind...

We started our blog thinking it won't be hard to post a little something every week - really, it just takes 10 or 15 minutes.   But the last 1 1/2 months or so have been pretty busy - helping family move, picking up new goats (twice), meeting to exchange a goat (once), the project you can see in the background in this photo - the new fence (which was a BIG project - thank you Tony and Nicole!).  Then add in swim lessons in Anderson, work, weekends on call and you have the perfect recipe for very little free time.  So I plead guilty to reading instead of blogging - I enjoyed it ;)

 Some of what we have missed blogging is the loss of a lot of chickens - 14 were taken in 2 days over a month ago just as all the pullets were starting to lay.  A neighbors livestock guardian dog killed a fox shortly after, so we assume foxes are responsible.  The poor chickens have been up in their coop and run since the 2nd hit.  We hope to take care of the fox problem so we can let them back out.  In the meantime we have acquired some beautiful Americauna chickens as well as Speckled Sussex so Ben has been working on a coop up by the house for the Americaunas.  And over the weekend we have hatched 28 chicks from our existing flock.  Now if we can just keep them from getting eaten before they all lay!

The goats are all doing great - we introduced Shevy but have since acquired Annabelle and Replica.  Our new girls are very sweet - Replica is glued to us when we are in the pasture - still adjusting to the big change but they all are enjoying the amenities - lots of grass and good hay.

This beautiful girl is Lone Palmetto TG Replica - she is 8 months old and came to us last weekend as a result of our new fence - Ben traded the old fencing and we got her in return!

This little sweetheart is SGM Annabelle - she is 1 1/2 years old but tiny, and she is a real love too.  We got her earlier in August in a trade for one of our doelings, Binder Ridge Moonstone.  We heard another family visited Ashley at SweetGumMinis with her young daughters last week and they fell in love with Moonstone and took her home.  Now she lives in Westminster. 

So this is just a little of what we have been up to - I hope to post more this week, but it's a start!

Our newest herd member

We would like to introduce our newest herd member, Laurel Haven 57 Shevy.  Shevy comes to us from Paula Crowe at Crowes Nest in Rosman, NC.  She has been bred to Fairlea Jean Luc Picard for a late fall kidding, should be around November 20th if she took.  Shevy is 1 1/2 years old but she is still a pretty tiny girl - not nearly as big as Rhinestone.  She is still shy and a little stressed from her trip yesterday to her new home but we think she will settle in fine within a few days.  She certainly doesn't let the other goats push her around at feeding time!

This is a gratuitous photo of my boys walking down to the barn last night.  Love them - Kristi

Eggs!

So I have been spending a lot of time around the chickens lately, picking blueberries.  And I noticed that the rooster (who is about 4 months old but starting to take his job seriously, if you get my drift) is doing his job rather frequently.  With the young Buff Orpingtons.  Over the past 1 1/2 weeks I have seen him paying particular attention to the hens several times while I have been picking blueberries.  He tends to chase them down around the blueberry bushes to "have his way with them".  It's kind of hard not to notice:)  And I have starting getting excited because surely this means eggs are coming from these new hens.  And this week we have been rewarded!  I know at least 2 of the young hens have started to lay, and at least one of them is an Araucana.  Love those blue eggs.  So those of you who have felt a little deprived as our layers were reduced, the flood is coming.  Hope you like eggs - there are 14 young hens.  Did I hear you say quiche?

Happy 4th of July from Binder Ridge Farm

Happy 4th of July.

Purple Martins vs Hawk

Well this morning little man and I went down to do our daily morning chores - feeding and checking on everyone. As we were walking up to the chicken coop I noticed a Hawk flying very low coming towards the pin. I started clapping real loud to scare it off and then realized it was being chased by the Purple Martins. It was a sight to see ;-) They chased the hawk around the pasture and then it flew up towards the house and they were still going after it. So besides taking care of mosquitos apparently they take care of hawks as well. Luckily the Purple Martin houses are close enough to the chicken coop that they can keep a watch on our flock. The chickens were smart they were hiding in the shed when the air show was taking place. Smart chickens ;-0)

One more pix. of Rhinestone & the kids on the Boulder Mountain - Playground

Pix. of Black Pearl enjoying the view from a top of the Boulder Playground

"Rock" playground

Here's a picture of a Rock playground that our neighbor Joe helped me build. The small boulders were in the hill side by the barn. I first pulled them out with the truck using a loggingchain and then dragged them into the pasture. Most of the rocks we moved around by hand the top one we pulled with the chain once again - up a ramp and then pushed it to it's final resting spot.

The goats love it sometimes they even use it as a spring board to see who can jump the farthest.

shelter construction

The post were old guardrail post weighing about 100 pounds. Once I got them in their holes they didn't budge. The Shingles were laying behind the tractor shed and the wooden floor were from used pallets that I got from a local carpet store.

Shade Shelter aka The Lazy Shelter ;-)

For the past couple of weeks we have been working on a Shade Shelter for the goats. The roof is roughly 8'x9' and about 5' high. It has a deck to keep them off of the ground. The nice thing is all the material was reused so nothing is going to waste. The post were actually old highway guardrail post.

The goats like it so much and use it throughout the day maybe it should be called the "Lazy Shelter"

The Legacy

This is unusual for us - blueberries in the early part of June.  Normally they start ripening close to the 4th of July.  These are from blueberry bushes that Dad planted 12 years ago or more.  Ben and our neighbor Joe have been working on them since last fall, clearing out privet, honeysuckle vines and thornbushes.  They fertilized them this spring and put out some compost around the base.  This is our reward.  The first berries were picked a few days ago - we have one bush that is ripening far ahead of the others.  I filled my pocket with fresh berries and we ate them while we stood in the pasture watching the goats.  This is what we want - to be good stewards of the legacy Dad left behind, to enjoy the land the way he did, and to use it the way it should be.  We will pick berries, freeze some, bake with some, eat some fresh, and make jam with more.  It looks like it will be a bumper crop this year.  I picked up some books on canning and supplies last year - I made freezer jam with part of last years harvest.  I hope to can some this year in a hot water bath.  We'll see - it may be the freezer again.  But there's no doubt we will enjoy them....

Life on the farm

We have decided to start a blog to keep family, friends, and those interested in our animals (and family) up to date on what is happening around our little farm.  We have been keeping free range chickens for several years now and currently have a flock of Silver Laced Wyandottes, Araucanas, and Buff Orpingtons.  We hatched out some chicks of our own this year for the first time.  We have started a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, looking to produce milk for home and family.  Our first doe freshened with triplet doelings this April - we felt like we hit the lottery!  Our next project is to finish the goat playground and upgrade the fencing in their pasture so the little ones cannot slip through - right now they are only allowed out when we can watch over them.  We will update you as things progress...  Kristi, Ben and Max