Tufted Titmouse My wife knows how much I enjoy watching the birds on our property, so it was an easy choice to give me an intelligent bird feeder for my birthday. If you haven't seen them before, they are pretty impressive since they take a short video of every bird that lands on the feeder and keep a record of those birds. It can also email an alert of those birds landing. (I did turn that feature off [...]
Mo, Our New Puppy My family's story reminds me of a book published in 1948 titled 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' which was made into several movies of the same name about the lovely chaotic family of twelve.  I have lost count of the number of animals we have, so when a friend in the sheep business let us know she had one puppy left from a litter of Bernese Mountain Dogs, we couldn't say no since one more [...]
Bottle Lamb in Kitchen Sheep and Chickens The next best thing to seeing our children grow up has been watching our animals grow. Just like human kids, their personalities change and they continue to endear themselves to us. I have assembled a few before and afters like I do with our architectural projects. These are at least as surprising as some of our major renovations. Chloe as a Kitten Practicing Her Mouse Catching Moves [...]
One of Many Chicks Our mini farm has been the perfect place to be during the lockdown. We have plenty of fresh eggs, vegetables from the garden and the company of all our animals. Even though our older chickens are still producing plenty of eggs, over time they slow down production and we keep them as pets. Every so often we order chicks from McMurry Hatchery which arrive in a box full of very cute and loud peepers. [...]
Poppy My brother-in-law, Raymond, was doing his family farm chores, picking up hay when he came upon a starving kitten in a barn who had been abandoned. We didn't think she would make it but after weeks of bottle feeding-mostly by my wife, Alicia, she is now our newest family member. After bottle feeding lambs, feeding a kitten is easy. I have taken time during the apocalypse to do some things that I have wanted to do for [...]
Lambs Getting Bigger One of the true joys of spending so much time at home besides family time is animal time. Our animals have been giving back more to us than they can ever imagine. We have always had a close relationship with them, but when we are anxious, there is nothing like hugging a border collie, cuddling with a big bunny, or spending quality time with the lambs. Every morning as I drink my coffee and check [...]
Mary's Lamb We waited a long time for our ewes, Mary and Lucrecia to give birth, and they did not disappoint. Mary had the one ewe lamb while my wife was away visiting colleges with our daughter. My son and I filled in for her with him taking the lead, being a seasoned 4-H member. We had to wait a couple of weeks for Lucrecia to finally give birth and she surprised us with one ewe lamb and [...]
Bunny Under the Piano We have been waiting for two ewes to have lambs, but they are taking their sweet time, and have missed my blog deadline for this month. They are very uncomfortable and ready to give birth. I am almost certain we will have lambs on the coldest day of the year while my wife is out of town taking our daughter to college visits. My 13-year-old son and I can handle it, I hope. Speaking [...]
Chicken and Sheep Enjoying a Bite Together Photo by Alicia Crisp All is well on our micro-farm. Everyone is getting along and we have had no major drama with any of our animals. Our vegetable garden is winding down with the exception of the giant rogue squash plant which has taken over the sheep fence. We are hoping to get one crop of yellow squash before the first hard frost. It is going to be a squeaker. [...]
Grover Growing Up Grover is growing like a weed. Of course, the April showers have made everyone's wool a mess, not to mention our mud room. Our flock has grown to 11 sheep with one pregnant ewe and a yet unknown number of lambs. The chickens almost stopped laying eggs this winter, but now that spring is here I am happily getting a nest full most mornings. Chloe, Rosie, and Oliver are happy spring has finally arrived. [...]
