Guardian Dog SHEBA

As may know, I have been going back and forth on whether or not to get a Livestock Guardian Dog after losing several chickens to predators.                 Well, we did it!!

Meet Sheba!! My grand-daughter LOVES her to pieces. We were totally blessed as she has done a GREAT job!! She does bark a lot at night, but I have been told that may reduce once she knows which noises are acceptable at night.

WE LOVE HER!! She is doing a wonderful job!!

I can SMELL Spring!!

So if you're not going to give me snow to play in ... GIVE ME SPRING!
I am so excited to get my gardens started again.
I am going to be making some changes this year. ALL of my garden will be RAISED BEDS!
I had 4 raised beds last year but it was not enough... WEEDING was out of control.
I'm also going to be moving my herb garden closer to the house and will be adding
medicinal herbs to the mix. SO EXCITED!

I am preparing by getting all my tools sharpened (thanks honey) and
purchasing in increments the 2x6's I need to make additional raised beds.
I have pages dog eared of what I am buying and I already have a bunch of seeds
just ready to be planted!

News on the goat front:
Oh my goodness ... the Lord has blessed me with some BEAUTIFUL kids this year.
My favorite so far is a buckling ... yes a buckling! He is blue eyed and polled and just has amazing colors.

We have been blessed.

To free range ... or not to free range

Public Enemy #1 ... a cute but ferocious black cat. It has killed 2 of my sweet hens this week.

Country folk out here say ... "well you gotta kill'em"!!
In my mind I know this to be true, but my compassionate animal loving side side says 'how can I possibly kill a cat'? Between my dogs, the cat, and other bizarre crazy happenings, I have lost 15 chickens this year.

I have to do something.

So I looked on Craigslist and found a LGD (Large Guardian Dog) but sigh ... yet another mouth to feed. But this would solve my cat problem and other wild animal problems.
I think this is the way to go.

So for all you wanna be homesteaders, here is another helpful hint from this city girl turned homesteader:
- Keep your 'do nothing but sleep and eat' pets to a minimum.
- Decide if you want your chickens to be happy free ranging or cooped up ... but safe
- Decide if you want to invest in a LGD
- Decide if you are able to pull the trigger on a cat that is killing your hens :(

Country life is hard for the animal lover ...
I have roosters I should have killed and cooked up months ago... I just couldn't do it :(
I know I should ... sigh

Homesteading is a lifestyle ... Nothing should go to waste ... Still learning ... Still growing ...

Winterizing the Farm

Well it is that time of year when we should be taking steps to winterize the farm.
The honey-do-list is long, but we have been knocking it out over the past few weekends.

* Add lights and heating lamps to the chicken coop. We did this last weekend and have already seen an increase in egg production.

* Add heating lamps for the girl goats and an extra layer of straw. We also added an extra tarp to the boys house and stacked up the straw inside nice and thick for them too.

* We will be checking for drafty areas in our stall and patching them up. Chickens DON'T like to be cold.

* Got out the water de-icers.

* Wash horse blanket and goat sweaters

* Stock up on hay and straw while it is still relatively inexpensive.

Side not from winterizing: The chickens are rummaging through our compost pile. I will have to build some sort of enclosure for it because they are eating all the worms :(

Our goal this year is to have a Greenhouse built and ready for plants by February. I would really like to increase our growing season.

Newbie Chicken Owners:

I have to be the worst blogger known to the blogging world.
I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and blog.
Well I could just blog ... but trying to make it entertaining takes ... well, see there ... I got nuttin.
I feel the pressure of finding time to read my bible, cook, clean, exercise, take care of the animals, be a mom, be a Noni, be a daughter, a wife ... SEE, my life is exhausting. And yet, so many do it!!
I don't even play WWF any longer because it was stressing me out trying to find time to play.
Anyway, the reason for this post is important ... SEE BELOW!

IMPORTANT TIP FOR NEWBIE HOMESTEADERS WITH CHICKENS:
So my beautiful flock was doing so well, we were up to about 6-7 eggs a day when all of a sudden
they come down with some sort of respiratory infection :'O .
I write my friend who knows bunches about chickens and she says you have to kill them all.WHAT :O -
I of course said NO, I must have another option. So I began treating them all with antibiotics. She said the 6 chickens I rescued/purchased from a yucky farm must have been infected and then infected the rest of my flock... EPIC FAIL ...

1. NEVER EVER EVER buy chickens from yucky places -
2. If you do buy chickens from yucky places because they are in horrible conditions and are nothing but feathers and bones ... ISOLATE them for at LEAST 3 weeks.
3. Go back and kick those YUCKY PEOPLES butt for selling contagious birds.
4. Kick yourself in the butt for not knowing better.

Symptoms of sick birds:
Not eating -
Yuckiness around beak -
Wheezing -
Goopy eye -
Major drop in egg production -

Currently, not all my birds are sick. And the ones I have treated seem to be responding to treatment well.
I could have spiked their water with antibiotics, but doing them individually insures they are all being treated.
My brilliant idea of marking them was HOT PINK finger nail polish on the tips of their beaks. Genius right!

So, I hope my newbie mistake saves someone else from this mistake.

There ... I blogged ... Whew ...

Ain't she purdy!!

The Homestead ...

Well it is really starting to look like a little homestead around here.
The garden is in full swing.
The goats are done having babies until next year. (Is this really making us $$) that is for another post... And the chickens are growing and getting ready hopefully in 8-10 weeks laying eggs for me.


The question of the week is?
Do you know what Chocolate Gravy is?
I was born in Texas and raised in Florida and had no idea what it was, so my "southerness" was called into question. So, I made some. First I drizzled it over homemade 'from scratch' slightly dense (overworked them) biscuits.

Then next with some fruit...

I gotta say it was pretty darn good. I am now officially a southerner :) Yay for me. Can you say the same?


I still haven't figured out how to add a "pin it" link to this blog, but I am absolutely addicted to pinterest.
Hook up with me there for the recipe.


On this Memorial Day a heartfelt thank you to the men and women that have so bravely sacrificed for my freedoms ... THANK YOU and may God always bless you and your family.

My Goat Stand - YAY

I have been wanting to build or should I say waiting on my husband to build me a Stanchion for ... well about a year. So I decide to enlist the help of a friend and build it myself.

AND IT IS WONDERFUL.... See:

I have the directions on how to make this ... just message me if you want them.
It took my friend Allison and I 2.5 hours to make it.