Though I wasn't ready for a DROP in temps like has happened here in Indiana lately, I DO love the Fall. We love the changing leaves and apples, apple cider, apple crisp, caramel apples, well pretty much anything apple... We are also getting ready for a trip "Up North". You will hear more about that next week!
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| It's beginning to look a lot like Fall! |
But for now, things have slowed down on the Homestead.
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| Sophie munching on some food... |
I have stopped milking Sophie. She wasn't giving a great deal of milk (as the seller had told me) when we purchased her, and her milk continued to decrease to the point where it wasn't worth my time to go out there and milk her daily! So, after I give her a good "worming" (nothing crazy- just giving her an "organic herb" wormer from Fias Co. Farm and
Molly's Herbals.), hopefully she will be ready to breed! Then end of February beginning of March we should have our first batch of babies on the Farm! :) Don't worry, we have a nice warm place to be at that time! :)
Speaking of goats,we will be not only taking Sophie to be bred in the next week, but also having our new goat (maybe 2!) bred as well. The new goat's name is Iris, and we were going to go and pick her up but figured since we have to take her back in a few weeks, we should just leave her there and have her bred early... And my son also might be purchasing a goat to breed for 4H... I will let you know! :)
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| Here are the boys! Goats and sheep! |
We have been having a time with our layers... trying to get them to lay eggs. But I think I found a pretty good recipe for them to try out... I will let you know if it works! It is INSTEAD of the commercial bags of feed...
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| Waiting to bust out! |
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| Chow time! |
Our bulls are getting bigger! So far as I can tell anyways... Looking to butcher them sometime next year!
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| It's tough being a bull... |
We will be looking to breed our little Jacob ladies in mid-October! So we could expect babies from them any where from the end of March to beginning of April! Can't wait! These guys are the CUTEST when they are born! We also got them a new little "hut" (as well as the boys, in their pasture). So far they just haven't figured out what it's for! They may just think that is where I drop off treats for them! :)
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| Our little Charlotte born this Spring. |
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| Our female Jacobs and their new home... |
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| Puck... he's a big boy! |
Like I said the seasons are changing quickly around here, and before we know it, it's gonna do the "S" word.... (
snow) I'm NOT ready for THAT!
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| Changing colors! |
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| Pond is still dry.. |
Ah, hot apple cider while I "work"...
What's happening on YOUR homestead?
6 comments:
Sarah, I was just wondering why your chickens aren't laying. This is the second time you've mentioned it. I thought they laid all the time?
Our homestead is small, but we do what we can with what we've been given. We're tryingto figure out how to keep our hens laying in the coop instead of anywhere else while free-ranging. I know some keep theirs locked up later in the day, but I hate to lose all that free-range time. At least we know where to usually find them. Other than that, my garden was a bust this year here in WA state. Really bums me out, but just trying to focus on next year. Sorry to ramble! :). Fun to share.
Anonymous- NO! I WISH they were laying all of the time! I'm not sure if it is the birds we got or what. Last year was their first year (we got them in the Spring) and they didn't lay until like November, and there wasn't even that many laying. We had some older layers that we got rid of at that time, THINKING these new birds were going to pick up! Then this year they didn't pick back up either! The most we have had out of 30 layers is 10 eggs! Now we have some babies that are starting to lay for us, so far there are 3 of the 1st year ones laying for us... Hopefully more will join the ranks... I am putting in an order in the next few days for more layers. Hopefully they will be mature and ready to lay in the Spring then! We have changed their feed SEVERAL times trying to get more out of them, and I think they MAY not be getting enough protein from the commercial feeds were are giving them, so I am getting together a new batch of my own "mix" to see if that will work!
Not only do we need and LOVE our eggs but we have MANY people who love to get our free- ranged natural and healthy eggs!
Sonja- Sorry about your garden! Mine didn't do like I would have liked to and my tomatoes were a bust.... But we can always look forward to next year! And OH! the plans! I'm already looking forward to it! :)
Fall is here in OH too. Ugh! Not ready for winter. We still want chickens, so I think we are going to build a coop this winter with the plan to order chicks in Feb. We are finding more and more people who have chickens in our town, which thrills me! We already have our site picked out and can't wait to start building the coop. I love all of your pictures. How many animals do you have on the farm now?
You MUST share your recipe when you get settled on one. PROMISE!!
We just bred our Nubian/Boer cross with a Nigerian Dwarf buck. I'm hoping for a smaller version of her, that I can milk. :)
Just got the goats and chickens settled into a situation I like for winter.
Love your fall pics! Good luck with the goats/chickens. Fall will turn into that season that I am not looking forward to, looks like you are ready on the homestead!
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