just a regular ol' 'what's happening on the homestead' post

We have this really goofy rooster. His fantastically original & creative name is "Brown Rooster". We have somewhere around 50 birds that call the coop home. During our awesome snowfall we had recently, we barely spotted one bird outside of the cozy coop. Except for this weirdo. He wandered all around & hung out just outside the windows of our house like he always does. The snow reached his chest at times but he just trudged through it. He crowed and acted like all was well while the rest of the birds (chickens & guineas) cowered in fear inside their coop.

The snow flew. It was so pretty!





Grendel had a grand time pulling the kids in the snow. I've read that Leonbergers are used for rescue in the snow. They're cold hardy and have webbed toes to keep them up on the snow.











My Husband has been working on learning how to tan sheep hides...

and gathering wild apples for canning...

and building feeders for the animals...

and taking pretty pictures of the guineas at dusk...

and adding nest boxes to the chicken coop (which these hens appreciate)...

and bringing home goats! Actually he's only brought one home so far, but you just never can tell with that man. You never know what he'll bring home next. This was a goat he found on Craigslist for a low price. He's a whether ("neutered") and is a nice little goat. He is part of our plan to never have to purchase meat from the store anymore. But he's so cute! Goats are so great because they look like they're smiling. Look at him, doesn't he look like he's smiling? I hate eating cute things that smile!!






Here is Little Miss Grumpsy Flumpsy in her favorite position with her big brother. She likes to take walks all around the house like this & see the sights.

Here is what my kitchen sink looks like on cheesemaking days. Which are very frequent. :p The jars are what the milk came out of. The big silver pails are my milking pails, and there's cheesecloth being soaked in the pan in the foreground. They say you can wash & dry it, but I have a hard time believing that it would last half as long going through the washer & dryer constantly. So I just hand wash it. That plant there is my one & only houseplant left! I had over 50 houseplants for many, many years. And then I had a bunch of kids. And then they played in them like a sand box. And then I vacuumed A LOT. And then I went through my ruthless decluttering stage. And I actually got rid of all my beloved plants & trees! Ten years ago I wouldn't have believed I'd ever do such a terrible thing, I loved my houseplants & pretty indoor trees so. But then I decided I loved having bunches of kids more.

We have something new on our kitchen counter:

Here's what's inside. We'll let you know how this little incubation experiment goes. :)

Look at this crazy-huge egg! Every now & then we find these behemoths under our hens.

The guineas are growing. And they're loud! It's neat, you can tell which ones are female because they yelp this weird noise that sounds like "buck-wheat! buck-wheat!" while the boys just make single syllable sounds.

Here is a hilarious sight I saw in a front yard in our area:

Another hilarious sight - Edgar. He thinks I am his sheepie-mama. He clings to my legs & follows me around.



"Pay attention to me, sheepie-mommy!!"





The kids & I recently visited some new friends. It was a great time had with great people!

How gorgeous is this spread?! Our hosts had put this together out in the grassy field near their home. We had tea and wonderful homemade snacks.



We were just over this hill and it was so neat because you could barely see any sign of civilization in any direction. It was just us, the grass, hot black tea, and the forest. SooOooo pretty.



Some of the older girls pulled all the little kids behind the ATV in this sled. They had a lot of fun. I just adore moments like this one was. It fills me with all kinds of warm fuzzy joy to see my kids having such fun in ways we never would have in our suburbia home. And how super cool to meet families like this family. My husband & I have laughed about how weird we are, but how we actually aren't that weird here! There's a lot of other weirdos in Idaho! I think we might actually fit in! I knew it was the right place for us. ;)

And back to the farm... ;)

Here is a rooster and his women. He is the manly black & white one in front. We call him "The Man" or "King Rooster". He waltzed right in here & became king of the land. The other roosters run in fear when he struts up. He doesn't like sharing hens & will chase the other roosters away from them. It's all very fun to watch. I love Chicken TV. ;)

"Mmm. chocolate graham cracker for me?"

"Hmm, looks intriguing but I am too manly for chocolate graham crackers."

In the brooder these days we have some Jersey Giants & Buff Orpingtons that are 6 weeks old now, and some Leghorns & Americanas that are about 2 weeks old.We're going to experiment with offering pullets on Craigslist in the spring. They'll just be reaching egg laying age in early spring.

So since I'm washing our own cloth diapers now, I figured I might as well start washing my own wipes as well! I've used cloth with all my children but always disposable baby wipes. I cute up a few flannel receiving blankets & put them in the old disposable wipes boxes. Some people get all fancy with tea tree oil & soap & such but I just get the wipes wet with water. Not so much water that they leak all over my bed when the kids toss the box there I learned the hard way. They work wonderfully. And believe it or not, I think I finally managed to figure out how the heck to wash my diapers! What a pain & a challenge that was. Apparently my homemade laundry soap is no good for cloth diaps. The kids got rashes almost instantly after peeing and the diapers  smelled awful. I tried all sorts of different ways & products searching for what wouldn't burn the kids' skin & took that terrible smell away. It was like wet dog drowning in ammonia odor. But anyway, cool rinse, then hot wash with Country Save detergent & Sun oxygen cleaner, then a warm rinse with 2 cups of vinegar. Whew. Finally got it.

 



And last but not least, here is what our chair looks like after my husband sits in it. HAHA. I went to sit down to use the computer but had to get the camera instead. Straw & feathers. I must be married to some kind of farmer.