That's a Cat for You!

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:24,25

I was working on my sketch yesterday afternoon and my cat Sandie was obviously making a statement.

 When I moved to a different area, she did too...right on top of it, even stretching out her paws so I couldn't even sketch there. 

I guess I've starved her for attention because after all I NEVER pet her. EVER. Who pets their cat? Especially not me!

Liberty Blessings Farm Website

"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." Deuteronomy 8:18


I have a new website for my goat herd!  Go check it out and let me know what you think!  http://libertyblessingsfarm.weebly.com/

Little Miss Ambitious

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10

Keets did it again!

 Monday morning, she brought out her brood of eleven adorable chicks.

Belle Kidded!

"And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up." Exodus 19:20


On Friday, I noticed Belle's udder had filled rather quickly.  I figured she would kid within three days. When I went out the next morning, I knew she was in labor. I had to run a few errands and attend a conference for my signing language class. I really hoped that she would wait for me!

I arrived home around 1PM and sat out in the barn with her. After about a half hour, I noticed that she was giving little pushes. 

 I quickly called some friends who wanted to see the birth. Shortly after they had arrived, Belle kidded two handsome bucks.

Short story: several days before Belle kidded, I had a dream that she had kidded.  Her first kid was all black with a little white. I checked and it was a boy! In my dream, I called him Elkanah.  After that, I greatly anticipated Belle's kids coming.  Sure enough, her first kid was all black with a little white.  And it was a boy!! I named him Elkanah which means God has created.

  I wanted to name the second boy Bullseye but no one seemed to get the reference so I prayed and asked the Lord what I should name him.  I was sitting out in the barn (again : P ) and the name Sinai popped up.  It means "out of the clay desert" which I thought was rather fitting for him but I also liked it because that is one of the places where God spoke to His people. Thus Belle's boys are Elkanah and Sinai. I think they're perfect. Don't you?

Cattle Show & Horses

"He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth." Psalm 104:14

Had a fun day with friends  yesterday!

 Watched one of them show his calf...

 and took some photos of the horses in the nearby pasture.

 Afterwards, we headed to their aunt and uncles who own a horse rescue.  I was so excited to get to help feed the horses.  After lunch, we got to ride a pretty mare named Crimson.

Yellow Bellied Racer

"And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." Isaiah 11:8

Look what I found!

It's a juvenile Eastern Yellow Bellied Racer. I hadn't seen one for a couple of years and was afraid they were all gone.

 I'm so happy to have this guy on our place!

Tana

"I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire." Genesis 30:32

I'm so excited about this girl! With super soft teats and open orifices, she's a dream to milk. Out of all the other Nigerian Dwarfs that have freshened here, Tana's is by far the most promising. I finally have a goat with an udder that I can drool over on the farm!! Will be clipping her soon to get a better look!

Broody Hens

 "The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house." Psalm 104:16,17

We have another broody hen! That makes three now! Honeysuckle's eggs will hopefully hatch in another week or two.

 And, thanks to a friend of mine, Suri got seven eggs (plus two of mine which may or may not be fertile ) which should hatch three weeks from now!

 

New Chicks

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Psalm 91:4

It's that time of year again! Every two years, Mom and I go out to the feed store and pick out a nice selection of chicks to replace the older layers.  We purchased six from Tractor Supply and five from our local feed store.  The TSC chick breeds are as follows: two white Leghorns, one Red Star, one Black Star, and two Easter Eggers [EEs].  My guesses for the feed store chicks are Cochin, Brahma, Brown Leghorn, Welsummer or Speckled Sussex, and Buff Orpington. It feels so good to have little chicks to take care of again.  I know in a few weeks that I will want to pick up some more.

Keets

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matthew 23:37

Yesterday, Keets (thus named because she was hatched by our guinea Polo) brought out her brood of fifteen chicks. She broke the record for our farm in the regards that we have never had a chicken hatch so many before.  I'm so thankful to the Lord for all these adorable blessings and that we get to have chicks after all this spring.

Merrigold

"I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." Psalm 104:33

I woke up Sunday morning and peeked out my window, something I like to do when I get up. I heard a ruckus going and directed my attention to the Big Coop.   Finally, the bantam rooster, had flown into the Big Coop and was fighting with Rhett, the handicapped rooster. I rushed outside in my pjs to break up the fight, then checked on the Banty Coop to make sure everyone was there since the coops had not been locked up overnight.  To my dismay, I saw more feathers than usual in the bantam coop.  I quickly checked to see who was missing. Finally, of course was there, and so was Ebony and Honeysuckle. But no Merrigold.  She was gone. My guess is that a coyote took her because just the other day my brother found most of someone's pet dog gone and we'd spotted coyotes up on the hill down the street in the past.

 

A friend of ours gave Merrigold to us in the summer or fall of 2010.  She was about three to four months old.   

She came with a bunch of other game bird crosses.  Out of that group, we picked four birds and then gave the rest of them to our neighbor.  We named the other three birds Buttercup, Clover, and Poppy. 

As you can see, we named them all after flowers but we spelled Merrigold's name differently because she sounded so happy when she talked.

   I called her our singing bird.

 Merrigold got along pretty well with all of the other chickens including the other games.  There were a few times she and some other hen would really get at it though.

When we had our first group of guineas, all hens, she hung out with them.

There was a time we kept her in the Big Coop but,eventually, when she was a little older and not laying very much, we moved her to the bantam coop.

 I enjoyed having Merrigold around. She was such a happy, pleasant chicken.  I loved to hear her sing.

 In the past few months, she and Ebony could just about always be seen with each other; dust bathing, hanging around the back porch, walking around the yard, they were constantly side by side. I know that Ebony misses her.

 I miss her too. I'm so thankful that we had Merrigold for as long as we did.  I only wish I had checked the coops that night; otherwise, she would still be with us today. She was a blessing to our flock. 

They're Pregnant!

"The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field." Proverbs 27:26

        I wanted to send in a blood test to see if our two does, Belle and Tana, were pregnant.  Mom already thought Belle was because she has been looking bigger (This is not an accurate test for all does. We have a better idea with Belle because we've had her for so long). I had two reasons for testing instead of the usual wait-and-see if they're pregnant. My first was that Gus had never been bred to any of our does before; he has kids on the ground with his previous owner but I just wanted to make sure we weren't going to be waiting in vain for the does to kid.  In addition, I'm planning to take Gus to the vet to get him dehorned because I like his genetics and the potential he can add to our herd. Now that I know, I won't have to wait till April or May to get him dehorned. Hopefully, we'll get him to the vet in March but I digress.

        With the help of my folks holding the does and the Lord for helping me get the blood on the first and second tries, I drew the blood Saturday and sent it to Integrated Dairy Services on Tuesday.  This morning,  I received the results. They're both pregnant! I'm thrilled! I can hardly wait to see what Gus brings to our herd.

Chickens & Cupcakes

 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." James 1:17a

 A couple of days ago, I had given our flock leftover cupcakes from Valentine's Day.  Every last one was devoured in minutes.  Later, I wished I had taken photos so I could write a post on how much they enjoyed their treat. Well, our neighbor gave us some leftover cupcakes today so I snapped a few photos of the chickens feasting on their new favorite treat. While I took a photo of this pretty cupcake, the chickens wondered why I was taking so long to give it to them.

 

Eema lunged for a bite as soon as I put it within reach.

 

                            Rhett, our Big Coop rooster, very much enjoyed the cupcakes too. 

 

They didn't like the chocolate cupcakes so much.  Here, Iris wonders, "What in the world is this? Where's my vanilla cupcake?" 

 

 The banties loved their vanilla cupcake too.  They didn't care for the chocolate icing though. 

             Sweet Ebony gently pecked pieces of cupcake off when it was her turn.