Hoofing It

The other day a friend came by to give a hoof trimming lesson to my neighbor. She raises champion goats and offered to show us how to trim goat hooves. The auction goats had neglected feet and needed serious trimming. They must have been confined for a long time to get at this level of neglect. So after a goat holder was made the trimming lesson began.

The auction goats poor feet. They caused her to walk poorly and not be able to forage since walking hurts.

The hoof wall has folded under the hoof. Careful trimming with very sharp trimmers.

My husband on the left, Cathy and Rick on the right. Goat audience around the show.

Left hoof is after and the right hoof is before.

The goat thinks about all this.

Serious fold over on the second older female goat. After the trimming both goats walked better.

Zilla Chair

This is my husbands deck chair and Zilla has taken it over. She can nap and see her domain all without moving. I never had a dog this young take to a chair before. We hardly ever use the chair so I guess it goes to the dogs.

Coffin Finished

I friend asked me to upholster his oak handmade coffin. He bought it with a simple muslin interior and wanted to make it nicer looking. The coffin has been in my care for several months and worked off and on by myself and another crafter. The coffins owner has not been in the best of health and wanted me to finish his handmade coffin. So this week I got it done and he picked it up. We agreed on a trade, chicken food and corn in exchange for materials used. It took almost 4 people to move his empty coffin into his truck. Coffins take up a lot of space in a house. And they are very heavy. After working on this coffin I realized getting cremated is the best way to go. No heavy lifting of a big box and no big hole in the ground. And as ashes my remains can be spread upon a rose bush doing some good for the plant.

Ivory satin pillow case, pad and drape sewn and stapled in.

I used saddle pads to protect the coffin and my floor.

Billy Talk

My neighbor has a nice small  herd of Boer goats. He recently added two billy goats or males.

They make unusual noises like sneezes and belches combined. It is all about the sounds and the smells with boy goats.

Young buck talking to a doe.

Eating your farm

Now that we have a farm we raise livestock that we can eat. We raise poultry and our neighbors raise, pigs, goats and cows. Our poultry provides eggs and meat when needed. Poultry is traded for other goods when needed. I do not name my poultry as they will end up on the dinner table at some point. I care for them, feed them, mend their wounds, but do not become attached. Just like I care for my cabbage and tomatoes. No one cares nor gets upset when I eat a cabbage I raise, but if I eat my livestock I get the bleeding hearts.

This is so pointless. No one cries over supermarket beef, pig  or chicken, but if you raise it yourself, "Oh.. how could you!" I hear this a lot from non farmers. This attitude is what is wrong with our way of life these days. Our ancestors ate and lived with the animals they raised . Modern man eats the animals some factory raises. This removes us from what we eat. I raise very happy healthy animals and not drugged up factory animals. And when it is their time, yes I am sad. But I am happy I raised animals that can feed me without all the extra stuff factory farms use.

And I get to live with an animal from birth to death, a gift non farmers never experience. I get to see how the animals grows and lives its life on my farm. I respect the animals and its welfare in my hands. And when the end comes for it, I say a prayer of thanksgiving and rejoice in the gift of its tasty life. 

mmm ... bacon

mmmm cabbage.

Soup stock, so tasty.

Raccoon Tree

On the drive home we spotted these young ones in the road. They saw us and ran up the tree. Their mom was in the field watching us.

So cute to see during the day. However, they are thirsty, hungry and are nocturnal. All the animals are acting out of character in this drought. Food and water are hard to find even in these woods. We have deer, turkey, and snakes all visiting our ponds at all hours of the day and night.

We hope we get more rain to take care of these wild ones for the fall and winter.

Maive Quilt

I was invited to a baby shower and needed to make a nice heirloom for the family. Since it is the end of summer and will soon be getting cooler in the Ozarks. I chose summer colors with oranges and yellows for fall. The mommy wanted pinks and yellows for her baby's room.

 This quilt is lap sized with a flannel backing. The center blocks were donated by 

another crafter's UFO (Un Finished Object).

I added a matching strip for the boarders.

Closeup of my machine quilting

I added the orange binding to finish off the quilt edges. 

New Boer Goats

New female Boer

Two year old Boer billy

 My neighbor and I went to a livestock auction to look at Boer goats. He has three and wants to expand his herd with some billy goats. Even in this heat it as a full house of sellers and buyers for sheep and goats. He got to bid for what he was looking for. He bought two billy goats, a wither (gelded male) and two older does. The billy are adding a lot of entertainment to the herd dynamic. With the billy goats in the herd means the does should give birth around Easter time. Boer goats are a hardy breed that can thrive in drought conditions we are having here. And they can eat just about anything and live off that.

Close up of the older billy

Two new goats, my husband, Opal the donkey and Rick the goat owner.

Four month old billy with the darker brown head.

The older billy

Young billy on the left and young wither on the right are from the same litter.

Older billy never stops moving and eating.

Younger billy is doing his job on the farm, making more goats.

Opal rushes in and breaks up the party.

The group is having fun as one giant herd.

Older billy close up with his auction tags still on.

Older billy, young billy, wither and Foxy Lady a young doe.

Drought Living

So again we have another month beginning with no rain in the Ozarks. I water only my garden and important trees and the livestock. I have no pasture just dry dust for my horses and have to start feeding them my winter hay. But before I begin that, I am feeding them corn stalks from my neighbors cornfield. I cut a truck load and brought it to feed my horses. Next, I will feed them my corn stalks that did not make corn this year. We are pricing hay at $100 a round bale out here in the Ozarks. We need about 30 to make it through the winter. Last year we paid $45 for a round bale. Next I have to grain my horses and chickens. There are no bugs to feed my chickens. Corn and Oats have doubled in price due to demand, shortages and drought. We are lucky to be able to feed our animals, most people are selling their animals for very little. If you can't feed them you have to sell them.
My poor garden as provided me some food to can and save for the winter. My bitter cucumbers are now pickles. I was able to harvest 5 small pumpkins that survived in my neighbors garden. I was hoping for a huge crop, but no amount of watering can save a plant in 100 degrees and no rain for 3 months. I was able to save many tomatoes. And I was able to share them with neighbors who also can. I hope my fall crops get some rain. Living in a drought is very hard when you have livestock that depends on you. Pray for rain and lots of it soon.

Zilla Grows

Zilla on the move

Looking at squirrels

Zilla and Osa tracking home

Rain?

All clouds no rain and heat drying out our ponds.

 Our pasture is now grey and dirt.

Our young rooster is looking for bugs to eat in the dry thatch of lawn. There are no bugs since there is nothing for the bugs to eat. No bugs for the poultry to eat and no grass for the horses. Things are very bleak looking for our farm unless we get a ton of rain soon. No rain is predicted this week and 100+ temperatures remain the norm. We have trees that are now dying in our forest areas. And August has just started here in the Ozarks.

House Blessing

Our Priest Fr. Ernie feeding the farm flock.

Osa, Alan and Father at our pond.

Last week we invited our priest, Father Ernie to come over for dinner and a horse riding trip. Instead, he decided to relax enjoy the farm and have a long dinner at our house. He got to feed our flock of turkey, ducks and chickens and pet our horses. He even got to pet Osa, our shepherd, who is afraid of most men.

After a big dinner Fr. Ernie asked if he could bless our house. We were thrilled to have this done. It was a very nice visit with our really nice and hard working priest of our parish.

Here Be a ZILLA

We settled on naming our giant pony sized puppy, Zilla. She looks small in this photo but those are green trees she is laying on. She grew overnight and is an easy keeper. She can gain weight by inhaling, like her mom. Zilla loves food and will eat anything. Our poor turkeys are no longer getting any extra chow thanks to Zilla eating the bowl clean. Our other shepherd, Osa now eats fast to keep Zilla from seconds. Osa used to walk away from her bowl and let the poultry have her breakfast, no more since Zilla came to town. Now we need to get our two barn cats used to Zilla around the place.

Poppy, the barn cat.