We have Triplets...

  My doe Bella has been really putting the worry lines on my face lately. I knew the babies were due no later then March 15-18th. Well as that date came and went and Bella would pace,paw and pant I was concerned we would have one large baby. As this is Bella's first freshening this scared me.
  I had a vet out on the 20th, because Bella had been panting for hours then would paw and pace. Now most of my does have been pretty verbal about the birthing process. I did have a feeling she would not!The vet felt she would need a c-section. Now this came from only one physical palpation of her! I did not agree. I felt nature would take its course. So...
  I have a baby monitor in my barn, this allows me to know what my does are doing. Every time I would go and check her, she would be silent but still laying down in a birthing position panting. My concern was growing. But I knew she could do this. I was also certain as was my second opinion vet that she was having multiples and this was just her bodies way of getting these kids un tangled and ready in the birth canal.
  As I was arriving home from work on the 22nd in the late afternoon., I seen my husband and oldest
[she is pregnant too] heading for the barn. I knew they were checking on Bella as my Daughter doesn't get home much. So I honked and waved and pulled in by the garage.+
   As I was carrying in all my stuff through the garage and into the house my phone is ringing. I looked at it to see it was my daughter. I answered ready to give her a little funning about calling me as she was right out in the barn! Well it was my husband on my daughters phone yelling we had kids on the ground. Now mind you my Hubby is my fence, maintenance and supportive guy. But he has never been present for a kidding. It has always been me and my girls. And as my Kids get older and are now moving out, getting families and lives of their own, I knew it was time for him to step up and learn this. But that will have to be later.
  So here I am in my dress shirt, running through my house, I threw my stuff on the couch, grabbed a barn shirt out of my laundry basket I had just washed and dried the day before. I was still pulling this shirt down and wearing my black dress pants as I exited the back of the house. Not finding my barn shoes by the door I just ran out barefoot. I got to the barn just as the third kid hit the ground. The first kid, a doe was cleaned and dry, the second kid a buckling was in my daughters hands and she held him upside down clearing air ways, so I grabbed kid number three a cute little buckling. Now he was smaller and weaker but alive and trying to breath. I hung him upside down and rubbed his ribs as he struggled. He finally did come around and after a little dose of Bo-se he is doing great.
Here is a picture of the family just hours after birth.

Well, help my in welcoming my new kids! 

Flat Stanley

I received the most wonderful gift last week. Now I had never heard of this before. Maybe it is because my kids are older, well grown even. It all started when my friend text-ed me and asked if I would be ok is her sent her "son" for a week. At first I was shocked. See I have a lot of really close friends, friends I have only meet once. We have been chatting on the internet for years! But did I know her well enough to take care of her son. I would never have refused. I love all my friends and would be there for them always. I was just not sure about the timing. We are busy here. This is kidding season. I want to learn to make goat soap and of course since I am raising Nigerians I have some I have not breed yet and am breeding my does this year so I can be in milk all year.
 So I soon learned that Flat Stanley was a paper boy. A boy traveling to teach kids all about other areas, other cultures and other ways of living.
I received my young flat friend last weekend. Since then I have been taking pictures of Flat Stanley in my barns and in my house. I also was chatting about his arrival on a private Facebook page, with several of my long distant friends. Now all of them are jumping at Flat Stanley's arrival! We are all going to write a bit about our area and our lives, each of us sending the information straight to the class but forwarding Flat Stanley on to the next family! How exciting is this, Flat Stanley is going to visit all of us, maybe even link us all together!

Here are some photos of Flat Stanley's visit.

Life is ever changing...

When we first starting having kids, we had decided that I would be the one to stay at home and be the major care giver. I was happy at this job. And when it later turned to full time school teacher, I was excited! I loved being with my kids. As the kids began to grow we decided I would find a career after the kids were done with school and began leaving home. That time came up on us pretty quickly!

 I went to some classes and got my Real Estate License. I love Real Estate, and seem to understand it easily. Well after 2 years of trying to hold on to the high cost of such a dream; I sadly left the Real Estate world.

I love my little farm so much more! I also love my home, my family and caring for them both. I would rather hold onto my little farm and work side jobs that pay little. So as we speak I am looking for a "real" job and expanding my market for my milk, eggs and produce.
Maybe God meant for me to be a Farmgirl and wife!

Well good day to you all and God Bless you!

Winter NOW...

Our weather here in North East Indiana has been mild, until now! It has been a true blessing to have such a mild winter. No frozen waters, no drifts against the barn no ice or slippery pastures. Mother nature was not going to remain quiet much longer. And that is ok. I was beginning to notice that our trees and bushes were confused. We had buds on our trees and lilac bushes. I was concerned an even still am, Is this going to make it hard for them to get buds again? I know mother nature knows what she is doing and God is in control, but I still wonder what this years weather is going to hold. 

Well I will continue to pray for our weather,nature and nation. 

My elderly animlas...

We are approaching a time that we will be saying good bye to several of our loved animals.
Let me introduce you....

This is our little jack Russel mix we have had since my very soon to be seventeen year old daughter was four.

She would camp with us when our kids were young. In fact she was our tent protector. She would sleep in the kids' tents and not allow anybody to come near at night!

When we got her, the animal shelter had no idea how old she was. The vet said she could be one, she could be as old as four. Well it has been 12 years since she came to live her. So she is a nice old lady with failing vision,joints and hearing. She is still my daughters best friend and will leave her so sad.


Here is my old man...

This is Harley. He has been here since 1999!!
I adopted him from a South Bend police officer. He was taken from the breeders due to abuse. When he came to live here he was 6 weeks old. He had been away from his Mom for two weeks. So he needed a lot of training and I used clicker training to train him. He has always gone camping with us. He has gone on lots of long hikes. He is a wonderful loving dog. He even counts the chicks when they are inside. He is a wonderful, loving gentle giant. My hear breaks to know I will not have him this fall. He has end stage cancer. It is everywhere. Life is just about comfort for him now. And it is my privilege to make him as comfortable as I can.

Here is Ginger ...



















I do not ask him to move often, i do not clip his nails as holding him down causes pain. He is the love of my life.

She came here with my MIL. She is 16 and suffers from neurological issues. She is now falling,losing hair and just sleeps. She is a quite, gentle cat. She has made my oldest a happy young lady. I will be sorry to let her go.

Thank you all for taking a moment to look at all my elderly animals.

Say a prayer for them, as we will be saying good bye to them all soon.

Real Estate ...

I have moved to a new brokerage for my real estate business. I am very excited about my move. It will allow me to better serve the community I live in. I have been with this new company for only a couple of weeks and the difference is incredible. I have been showing properties more, working more and can see the potential for my business to boom!
I wanted to share my companies website with you all...http://www.alwaysrealestateonline.com/
I hope you all can  take a moment and check it out. I appreciate all of you that follow me and if you ever give my name out for goats or real estate I appreciate the referral.

Enjoy the beautiful day!

What a hot day it is...

The humidity is really effecting everything, even us humans. I am afraid it is gonna be a really hot and humid summer. I need to get to shaving the llama and goats. It will make all this heat much easier on them.
I have gotten most of my planting done. Here is some of my gardens...

 Here is my small herb/flower garden, it is around our well head. I have some rhubarb,oregano, and then a butterfly bush and two other flowering bush.

Here is my large herb garden. I have lavender,peppermint,spearmint,basil,cilantro,lemon balm,dill seeds and parsley seeds planted. I also planted some daisy bushes in here for more color.

 Here are my two rows of tomatoes with marigolds in between each. I planted 36 tomato plants.

Here is a pic of my raised flower bed. I have a lot of flowers in here. Tiger Lilly's,a rose bush,snap dragons,dianthisis, and many more.

Here is a picture of my cauliflower,broccoli and cabbage. You can also see my rows of pas and beans and the un planted area. I will use this un planted area for sweet potatoes and more beans and peas later.

I had my daughter take some great pictures of some of the animals. so here is a little tour of our "farm".

    Here is Dillan. He is just over 8 weeks old. He is one of the two withers.

 Here is June. She is just over 1. She will be breed soon for some fall babies.

Here is Bella and Ruth. Bella is just over 1 and Ruth is 8weeks. Ruth was my only doeling born and will be retained. Bella will be breed for some fall babies too.

Here is Fawn. She is the only horned doe I have. She is just over one. She will also be breed for some fall babies.

Here is some of my chickens. You can see my turkin rooster.

Here[above] is Cotton. She was freshened for the first time this year. She had twins. A doe, Ruth and a Buck, Daniel.

 Here is my young bucks and withers. In this pic. is Daniel [brown and white buck] , Dillan he was also pictured above, and Eclipse he is another buckling.









 Here is the same pen. In this picture you can see Dillan again,Eclipse and Twilight.Twilight is one of my withers. He and Eclipse were from a set of triplets to another one of my does, Twinkle. I sold her other wither, O'Ryan.







 Here is Morocco. He is one of my new bucks. He is as sweet as they come. He will make a great addition to this farm. I am excited to see what he throws. He did a good job over at Fairland Farms.








 Her is our sweet llama, Ruby. She has been with us for three years. I love her dearly.










Here is Festus. He came to us a buck. He is not what I want from a buck so he was withered.









Here is Carmel. He was the buck that bred all of this years does. He is a good buck. He is smart, gentle and always does his job!

Here is Daisy. She is my moms horse. She will soon join the other farm we have and will be with the cows. There is just not enough land for horses here. I want to have mainly goats here.

 The is my horse Ruby. She is an Arab. I love her. She does not ride that well, but is a good companion.










 Here is Tango and Twinkle. Tango is a great milker and is a great mom.She had twin buckling's. One of her buckling was Dillan.
 Twinkle is the doe that had the triplets.She is learning to be a good milker. She has a nice pedigree and is a really good doe. Just needs to get better with handling.








I hope you all enjoyed a look at my place. I will post some pics of my baby chicks and turkeys and more of the goats later.
Good day to you all!