The farm becomes like a child......

As I prepared to make a trip to Nashville to see my sons Alex and Adam this week I felt like I was leaving a fourth child, the farm. Rick, my husband, will be taking care of things while I am gone for 5 days. Rick helps out and does some of the daily feeding on the farm already but as he works full time plus lots of OT, it is normal for him to go long stretches without interacting with the animals and frequently I have made feeding changes he is unaware of, so getting him up to speed and leaving him with all of it was a bit stressful for both of us.

I am an admitted control freak. Many years ago I came to understand that just because two people don't do something exactly the same, neither is doing it wrong. This is a very powerful concept for a control freak. As I left the farm today I had to let go and know in my heart that it will still be there when I come home.

How do you handle it when you take time away from your farms, families etc?

Mathias Joins the Family

We have a 100+ pound new addition to the family. Mathias Bear is a year old Golden Retriever / Rottweiler cross. He came to us from the local pound. If his training goes well he will be a working farm dog and possibly livestock guardian.  He is not of the typical guardian breeds but his personality is that of a very mellow watchful guardian. He has only been with us for 24 hours but so far is amazing me with his manners and all he knows.

Instead of relying on commercial dog food we will be making homemade food for Mathias. Although the ingredients change we make a diet high in protein, with added fruits and vegetables and minimal grains. Todays batch had a base of chicken livers, hearts and necks with grated squash, pears and a handful of stale Kashi Heart to Heart cereal added in. For added convenience we cook up a tags batch and freeze it in individual servings for convenience. Making your own dog food allows you to make good use of farm surplus, save money and provide a healthy diet for your hard working canines.

Our First Babies Graduate.....

Our first litter of rabbits weened and graduated to a pasture Hare Pen today. All of our breeding stock were purchased as babies and raised up to breeding age so today's first litter weened is a major mile stone for our little rabbitry. We have two more litters 4 weeks behind these and more on the way. We also have more purchased breeding stock and broilers growing out in hare pens. We started with a variety of weened stock from various sources and grew them out so we could be picky about breeding stock and cull the rest as broilers.