Well, my cousin and her man has headed back home to alberta and that is the last of our company for a good while, today is the first day back on the farm, I am behind on emails, and the blog, thankfully, we kept up on the farm with a little farm helper help and the fact that our vistors understood that we needed a couple hours each morning and evening to make this happen! (thank you for that!)

We got some great photos with both sets of vistors, and I am going to get some made into 5 by 7 to send to family out west, as its rare to get together photo of Dh and I, as normally one of us is behind the camera.

So on with the farm news,

The keets are doing very well, they are fast and they are fearless, they can pop out between the chain link fencing at this point and I am worried about them getting eaten by one of the farm cats, they are to be staying in the fully inclosed safety baby pen but they really roam, unlike the chicks that stay pretty close till they are bigger then keets just go anywhere they please.. they are growing very quickly. the other hen that is sitting now has a roof over her head, and a fully fenced in yard with a gate so we can bring her food and water, we are hoping that having done this means that with careful tracking we will be able to keep her safe where she is nesting and as it gets close, we will slip the one big 16 square foot steel moveable pen over her, so that when she hatches, she and the chicks can’t leave till we can round them up and move them to safety.

My one sitting hen hatched out two little ones yesterday, we left the farm for a brunch and last visit with cousin, and was so sad to see that when we came home the pretty black an yellow chick had passed away, no idea why, but I made the choice and dh helped put it into plan, to move her, the clutch and the living chick to a different spot, there was no way to get the chick food and water in the place it was, we made a new nest, moved the eggs and chick and the hen, didn’t approve of the nest but she carefully rolled her whole nest over and under her and made her own, she is eat/drinking well and so is the chick this morning, and she is still sitting tight, but didn’t see any pips, but I will let her sit as long as she wants to, as long as the living chick is eating, drinking and snuggled under momma.

Brandy is has been on the mend since her run in with the buggy and she is feeling just fine, so that is good and I am looking forward to her going riding a couple times this week, think I will have her saddle up for when Dh comes home at some point this week, otherwise, we are going to be going back to working for one hour per day for this week, its booked on the schedule and I am looking forward it.

Girl is doing excellent, I have finally seemed to find a excellent balance in rations to keep her at a weight that we are both happy with, I would like her to have bit more flesh, I hate to see her hip bones at all, but she appears to milk off there, and the rest of her looks great, so you have to give at some point and let her find her natural place in how she looks as a milking cow.. Glenda is awesome, she is getting more brave and friendly with age, perhaps a bit to friendly with her rubs and playfulness, she will be getting some manner lessions this week, what is cute now, will be dangerous when she is a eight month old calf, and we can’t have that.. the difference in a momma raised calf vs a bucket calf has never been more clear to me, the joy and pleasure of having a share calf/cow is also a dream come true, I get all the fresh milk I want, but if you want time off, you just let the calf stay momma, would not work of course for a dairy that wants max production but for our little farm and family, this is just ideal!

The rabbits, o my the rabbits, I did loss one little one in one litter but the other 22 are growing by leaps and bounds, I have some very pretty buns in there, I appear to have a lilac, never had that before.. ever single one that I have liked and considered keeping has turned out to be buck(of course)

The garden, o my, the garden.. where the heck do I start.. well lets see, the main area is being overrun and planned weeding is on the list each day for a good while, and things are starting to come in, which is great, some crops are just rocking along.. others not so much.. (bad pepper year so far)

The newly planted in the past two weeks for a fall garden harvest is coming along well, mainly root veggies and beans, its just bursting out between the rains and the mild heat we are having, the golden child of the gardens this year is the squash beds, the cucmbers are now producing, the zucchini is doing its thing and the winter squashs are overflowing, they are huge, and producing like a house on fire.. love it!

Well, I had better get back to my day, I need to make a new batch of laundry soap, and I need to get busy on making soap for a swap and I have new little flower molds that I want to try out, plus, plus, plus LOL