Chores

Oh the chores never stop. I think they actually grow when it starts to thaw.
Grass seed thrown, seeds for the garden started, feet trimmed, pens cleaned.....
If your curious about just how many that is (which considering we are a small farm it's not that bad) we have
four pig pens
The rabbit cage (we had a whole pen of them but that's another story)
The goats pen
The chicken coop
The geese pen (ever try to get an egg from geese? Its not fun.)

We will be moving our three girls to the back pasture so they can run and play and just be happy pigs. We are moving the boars next to each other so that way they can talk as pigs do.

We have a hay barn to build, as much snow that we got this winter was not planned for. We made that mistake and now we won't make it again.

Fruit trees to plant and a garden to move. Flower beds to finish. Fencing to finish. We want to get the property completely finished fenced in this year. I want to get the gates up and my sign hung.

We have a milking parlor to build and a milker to buy.

We've been pricing sheds so we can start the farm store. That's what I really want to do and I'm getting excited about it.

The boys will be teenagers this year. So their daddy and I made a deal with them that we will get them a project to work on but they have to do extra chores to earn the money to put into it.

Oh come on already....

This snow has got to STOP. I mean really here we are almost the middle of April and its still going.

Snowy (the goose) had a nice little clutch of duck and geese eggs, but sense the snow hit the other night she gave up on them. So sad to sense she was about halfway through the whole thing. We did decided last night to pull her and ethels (the duck) eggs until this weather would be more reasonable. Meaning it would stop snowing every night.
Yes, we woke up to snow again. So much for having the things we need done before the heat hits. Running fence in the sun sucks but it will be done. Good thing we are getting so good at it.
I was able to hide some strawberries from the kids so I could try my hand at a strawberry tea bread recipe. I'll share it with you as soon as it gets made. With Easter in just a couple of days its the perfect time to try. Well on to boiling some eggs for the annual Easter egg hunt if I get it done now its one less thing to worry about. 😊

Blessings from Dusty Rose Homestead.

Spring.

What's that old saying?
Spring has sprung.
Well sort of. The tulips are poping up and the grass is getting green, but the snow can go away now. It snows then it melts and turns into a yucky mud.  We all have wellies thank goodness, but I'm so tired of the moisture. So tired of snow. We moved to Oregon to have different seasons and I'm ready for spring.
On another note ladybug had a birthday a few weekend's ago and got some money. She spent it in baby chicks. So we have six new babies chirping away at all hours, morning and night. They are cute though and she is happy with what she got so far. She was even nice enough to buy her boys some chicks that they wanted.
We spent alot of time on my honeys last day off planning things out. Sense our family is growing, not more just bigger. We need to move and expand the garden. We also looked at fruit trees so we could get an orchard going. I took on a side job to help get the things that will be extra and fruit trees is something on that list.

We got the boy piglets neutered finally. They were finally big enough. Our awesome vet didn't want to stress them any more when they were babies because their mama had died so we waited. That was an experiance. I never realized their wibblets were so BIG. Sorry just still in shock about that. They are healing nicely and have forgiven us. Treats helped with that. They are die hard green apple fans. Good thing we stocked up before this happened.
Everyone seems to be doing really well considering the weather being retarded. Even the kids are able to go out for a little while and play or do some of the projects they need or want to do.

Be blessed!
Dusty Rose Homestead

Piglets

So Annabelle's four little babies that I worked my booty off to make sure they made it are growing like crazy. We have three little boys that will be heading into the freezer when they get big enough but the last one.... She is a cute furry little bundle of fire she has been named baby Annabelle after her momma. We are keeping her. They are spoiled rotten. All the work that was put into keeping them alive was worth every last sleepless night up worrying, promising my husband and children I would keep them alive. I did it and I'm proud of all the hard work that has sense gone into them. The boys and lady bug work hard taking care of the animals on the homestead. On another note we will have some new faces on the homestead in a few weeks so keep your eyes peeled for a new note.

Blessings from Dusty Rose Homestead.

The life of a pig

Yesterday was a day. You know those ones that wish you could have never had happened day?
Annabelle, our big and loved pig gave up on us yesterday three days after she had her babies. Our amazing vet was on his way out to see what else he could do for her that we already hadnt done while on the phone with me she died. She did leave us some little miracles that I am doing everything I can to save. Four little piglets, two girls and two boys. Annabelle gave her all to make sure they got the best chance at living and I will not let that go in vain. I will fight for them to survive.

She was a fantastic mother. She loved her babies so much. She had built them their own "playpen" so she wouldn't squish them. It was truly something that tugs at the heart strings to see this enormous pig lovingly taking care of babies the size of cats.

She will be much missed and was very much loved.

Disappointment and pride

Today one of the does here at the homestead kidded to early. She wasn't due until Friday, I had to take a trip into town to take the van into the shop sense someone backed into me in the parking lot of the local Coastal while I was picking up some goslings that my sister in law had gotten me.

When I had gotten back her beautiful baby boy and girl were dead. This was my first time expecting baby goats. I was so excited about it.

Luckily for me I have another doe that is close to her due date. So I will still get to experience that feeling.

We did get our doe up on the stand and started milking her. My honey made me a milker out of a canning jar. Just Google canning jar goat milker and you will get tons of directions if your interested in trying it yourself, or just contact me on Facebook and order one from us.

Just Natural is back....

Just Natural is officially back up and running. Sense I have decided that my time is better spent at home then working I have decided to start just natural back up. I make candles and other goodies for your mind and body to unwind. I have lots of new ideas to try out and as always need some test subjects. If your interested Facebook me on the Dusty Rose Homestead page.