I first needed to fully understand.. what exactly is a farm? Before moving here, I never really put much thought into that question. I thought of the cliche farms have... ya know... farm stuff. Tractors, pigs, crops, overalls, and chickens. The pages of every children's farm book I've ever read runs through my mind. I hum the tunes of 'Old McDonald, The Farmer & the Dell, B-I-N-G-O..' you get the drift. I didn't need to put any thought into what a farm was. I didn't really care. what a farm was. Until. I found myself living on one.
Now what?
When we bought the farm, it came complete with a horse and a donkey. We're in it for real now! Livestock? Check. There's a barn, complete with a loft...So, place to put random stuff? Check. We have another outside building, featuring eight indoor/outdoor divided pens for animals. Home for farm animals? Check. Nine acres of land to do something with? Check. Purchase a riding lawnmower because trying to use a push mower for this much land is HORRID?!?! ...CHECK.
No, but seriously.. what now?
Jon & I find ourselves staring at each other, wondering where to start. What kind of animals should we get? That seemed easy. MORE HORSES!! Our Juliana has wanted a horse since she was old enough to say "HORSE'. They're pretty to look at, grateful and loving when they get treats, and we have plenty of room! We searched for a baby horse (what I used to call a 'pony'.. only to realize that my entire life has been a lie. A baby horse is called a foal..unless it's a boy, then it's called a colt). We were lucky enough to find a colt and his mother (a mare-keep up with me) for a decent price. Horses? Check.
....If you're not experienced with horses...they're really not a ton of fun. Colts hurt when they bite. Mares hurt when they kick. If they're not 'broke to ride', they get quite agitated when a human tries to sit on them. They can have attitude problems and can be quite the drama queens. And. They poop. A lot. In fact, there's no shame in their poopin' game! They'll poop anywhere-anytime. They're still beautiful, mystical creatures to look at. Just not so great when you have no idea what you're doing with them.
One evening (after the newness of the horses wore off) my mother & oldest daughter convinced me to watch this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg Fabulous-right?!? We were on the search for fainting goats! We've got plenty of room and they seem to be hilarious! After searching for a few weeks, we found our two male goats (called 'bucks'. I've learned that each farm animal has an entirely new language that needs to be learned). My girls and I hopped into the minivan and drove the hour and a half ride to pick up our new...men.
Spots & Horns
Goats are hilarious. They're playful, sneaky, loving, and embarrassing! When we first adopted our two bucks, they decided they'd like to get to know our...county...better. They would NOT stay in their designated home. I'd found them trotting down the street together, had several neighbors call or drive over to say they saw our goats or caught our goats and held them hostage until we could retrieve them. And..yes. There was the time they decided to visit a neighbor who wasn't too fond of goats. I found them on her front porch while she was trapped inside..calling for local law enforcement. Heh. It was QUITE the scene, watching me try to load these two boys into my van (all while my three daughters were laughing hysterically at me). Thankfully, they've since decided they like living on our farm and stay around home (for the most part). A few months after we bought our boys, we adopted "Belle" our sweet Pygmy nanny (goat lingo: nanny=female) goat who was...pregnant. Belle delivered "Gizmo" our little buck. If you're keeping track, we've got three horses, four goats, and a donkey.
Remember that outdoor building I mentioned earlier? The one with the individual pens? The building perfect for... chickens! According to the internet and the semi-knowledgeable guy who works at Tractor Supply, chickens should be easy to care for. We purchased the 'chicken starter kit' (I can't make this kind of thing up-they actually have starter kits for chickens) and set everything up 24 hours before we could actually bring our chicks home. The next afternoon, we loaded the kids up and headed to buy our birds. In our great state of Georgia, it's illegal to purchase any fewer than six chickens at a time from a distributor. Why? I have no idea.. but who would only buy six when you can buy ten! Yes. We got caught up in all of the baby chick cuteness and we were in over our heads. Again. We don't learn. I realize this is a problem. We brought the animals home and THEN realized that newly-hatched chickens have to be kept very warm, in a draft-free environment. Our outbuilding is not draft-free, nor is it heated (with the exception of the heat lamp we purchased when Gizmo was born).
What to do? I couldn't let these birds die in the ridiculously-unusually-Jesus-must-be-coming-soon-cold we've been having this winter. Our only option was...no judging here... to bring the chickens inside of our house (insert face-palm here..it's ok. I did it too). Y'all. I haven't mentioned our three dogs and two cats. They're like stalkers. They are natural hunting animals (not that we hunt..but we will. I promise..baby farming/country steps). As much as our animals would love to feast on chicks, my daughters would be devastated. So. We put them in a box with little-chick bedding, attached the heat lamp to a chair, and keep them closed off. I should have just bought another goat. Once the weather warms up, they're leaving my house FOREVER and staying in the pen Jon is going to fix for them.
Sadly, as animals on a farm go (or so I hear).. they sometimes die. We lost one chicken within the first few days of their arrival. The poor chicken (Bella's favorite-"Sunshine") was one of the smallest ones. A few days later, we lost another chick "Curious". My girls were pretty much hysterical when they learned their beloved chicks passed away. It's tough teaching children that some animals live and some die. It's a tough lesson to learn and even harder one to teach. They weren't so sad that they refused a good dinner at Zaxby's though. Just sayin'. Cluck, cluck.
Which brings me to.. raising farm animals that produce food. The chickens will (hopefully) lay eggs on a daily basis (so says Google) and our lovely Belle goat can provide us milk...Yes. My goat is Belle and my child is Bella. To my credit, I only named my child..the goat was already named. Let it go, people...We drink milk all of the time. It's an absolute necessity in my house since Kraft Macaroni & Cheese calls for 1/4 cup per box and Oreo's just aren't the same without a big glass of milk. For some reason, the thought of drinking goat milk grubs me out. I realize milk comes from cows.. and I realize goats milk is supposedly sweeter and some argue the milk from a goat is even better than cows milk. I guess I'll have to try to milk her.. as long as Gizmo doesn't protest too much (he's quite loud for such a little buck). I shouldn't knock it til I've tried it.. right?
We've discovered goats love to feast on greenery. The greener and more expensive a plant is, the better it must taste. Contrary to what some say, goats don't eat everything. They do enjoy clothing (like plants, the more expensive the better.. Horns has a fondness for jeans-as long as they're physically on a person's body), they consider children's chalk an exquisite cuisine, and they love to eat last night's leftovers. We're building a goat pen to keep those maaaaaaaaaarvelous animals contained and away from the vegetable garden I'm determined to start. I figure; I live on a farm. It's required I grow veggies. Now, to buy the book 'Vegetable Growing for Dummies.'
Jon & I decided that three horses, one donkey, four goats, three dogs, two cats, and
If you want to visit, you're welcome to come. Just remember these few things: Wear your boots (horses poop), put on your old jeans (Horns loves Levi's), if you want goat milk, you may have to milk her yourself as I'll probably gag, and bring a carton for eggs (that I pray our chickens grow old enough to lay).
