Week

I couldnt think of anything interesting to write about this morning. Until the chickens start to lay and we get goat babies/milk or butcher rabbits it just seems rather uneventful. Then I got to thinking about what we have planned to do this week. Besides working, I work from home and DH has a job at a Warehouse which supports our farmy life, and the usual family stuff...which is probably much like everyone else. Where we differ though from others is the chores, and this doesnt mean dishes/cleaning/laundry, etc. We still have the farm to take care of. Friday my husband will leave from work to get a load of hay. We can usually squeeze 30 or so bales into the bed of the truck. Once he gets home then they need to be taken out of the truck and stacked in the barn. This is what I do every morning and it has to be done every single morning...rain/sleet/snow/illness the animals depend on us for their food and water and just to check on them. I get up at a little before 5am...give myself some time to wake up, check my email and do some work. I make custom clothing for horseshows. Monday-Friday I get our son up and ready for school. Do some laundry and dishes while he is getting ready. He gets on the bus at 7:30ish to head to school then I go out and do chores. I let the chickens/ducks out so the can chase bugs around the yard and eat some greens. The rabbits I check their water, the younger bunnies that are being raised for meat purposes get free choice food (all they can eat basically) so I make sure that they have food and some hay. The horses get turned out to pasture and I check and make sure that their water tank is full. Goats I walk out and make sure all is well with them, check their water, minerals and baking soda. Also check for any signs of kidding. We do have a doe that we are unsure if she is due or not so we are keeping a close eye on her. During the winter time the goats and horses will be fed hay...or once the grass dies back. Evening chores are pretty much the same except chickens need to go back in their coop with food/water. All of the rabbits are fed and given clean water. The horses are taken out of the pasture and put in their dry lot. Goats, basically the same as in the morning. We need to pick up a load of feed this week too, rabbit feed, chicken feed, corn and goat feed. Also something else that we had planned for this week was to go through and decide which roosters we want to keep. They arent of much use besides breeding purposes, a couple might have enough meat to put them in the freezer and there really is no need to feed all of them through the winter. I think that we will keep a couple but any more than that need to go. Also there is an auction on Wednesday night that we want to go to...that is for fun though. I have been searching all over for a dairy goat and have had no luck at all. Well besides the "Filth Farm" that I wrote about last week but I wouldnt buy from there if that was the only place to buy from. No need to invite all of the possible disease onto our farm. I also need to get out and get some things done in the garden, remove some zucchini plants that are no longer producing and go through my seeds and see what I can plant for a fall harvest...although I might be cutting it short here, but its worth a try since I have the seeds and do have plans to try and get a cold frame built. Beets, spinach, lettuce, carrots and probably some other things that I cant remember right now like the cool weather. I might be able to get another row of peas put in if I get the cucumbers out.