Let it rain … into my barrel

I had Wednesday off so HB suggested I head over to the market for Green Market Wednesday and the afternoon’s scheduled rain barrel workshop.  So I did. The first part of the workshop presented a lecture on rain gardens.  Rain gardens are planned depressions in the ground that allow storm water to runoff and collect [...]

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In which I attempt to cover a month of events

Wow, there is so much to say with the latest events over the past few weeks since the last post.  Forgive me, dear readers (hello?  anyone?), but let me indulge you in the latest from Spring Mill. Chicken: It’s What’s for Dinner Two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, we processed our old laying hens. [...]

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a work in progress

For the past several weeks we’ve been working on the goat shed whenever we get a chance.  I’ll be honest:  HB has put in the most work, then my father in law, then me.  Partially because I’m a chicken about standing on top of that horse trailer to help, partially because I’m a weakling and [...]

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Thanks Mom and Dad

When we visited my family for Christmas, there was a very large box with our names on it.  We quizzed each other about what it could be. Imagine our surprise when we opened it and found the most thoughtful gift!  A cold frame! And then the snow came.  And it really overstayed its welcome.  But [...]

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one of those days…

Monday of this week was absolutely gorgeous.  Highs in the low 50′s, the sun shining brightly.  Despite the fact that I screwed up and went into work on my day off (and subsequently spent half my day off working as a receptionist to earn a little extra money), the animals and I took advantage of [...]

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whirl wind weekend

Haven’t been on the farm much this weekend – I got the opportunity to take my horse down to vet in NC to have him check for ulcers on the cheap ($70 sedation cost for a $500+ procedure) and before I knew it, he was loaded on the trailer and we were on the road. [...]

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Build It! Hay Manger for Goats!

For Christmas we made the boys a hay manger.   We liked the design of it so much that the first thing we did when we brought the girls home was go directly to the lumber store and buy supplies to make a second one! Now that we’ve been to several goat farms, I really like [...]

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Build It! Milking Stanchion

If you’re going to have dairy goats, one crucial piece of equipment is a milking stand.  In it’s simplest form, a milking stand is an elevated platform that the doe stands upon while the handler milks her.  There are many different designs of stands – some have locking head pieces so that the doe cannot [...]

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What do you get a goat for Christmas?

A hay manger!  That holds an entire bale! Apparently this Christmas we took on hay wastage.  I got Huckleberry a NibbleNet for his present. For a month now HB and I have been researching various hay mangers to use for the goats.  We’ve scoured the internet, researched in books, and finally decided on this model, [...]

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In the making…

Details coming soon!

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