Somebody should have slapped me!

6 months ago when my daughter said " I want to take 4 animal projects to the fair this year" why didn't somebody slap me silly?!? Rebecca was seriously stressed out about getting everyone down there and Chris and I did not handle her nerves well at all. We got through it, just not very smoothly. It took us 3 hours last night to get our animals checked in and settled. That doesn't even count the hours our friend spent getting the dairy cows in. I used to think the dairy, beef, goat and rabbit barns were pretty close together, but last night they seemed to be miles apart!

Tucker weighed in at 736#. Probably a little small for this competition- there are some really big steaks here this year. Rebecca handled him through the whole process and got him tied up in his spot. The vet told Rebecca how glad he was to see her in leather boots. he said it was so much better than the tennis shoes and sandals other 4Hers were wearing. I asked him if he had time to clean them before the show since she would be working in them right up until show time! She decided not to show her junior calf- he just wasn't ready to behave the way she wants. In addition, he was banded to make him a steer and our fair requires castration. Another rule we learned a little late.

Our wether weighed in at 55#. Again, small for all the Boer competition, but Rebecca is not at all about winning. She just wants to make sure her animals are comfortable and wants to have fun herself. Poor Nicholas got the job of keeping an eye on the goats while we helped Rebecca check in the steer and rabbits. The pen was not nearly tall enough so he spent almost an hour pushing them off the gates. Another member did not show up so we moved them to a pen with taller gates, but Chris is still worried it won't keep them in.

The rabbits were very easy to settle. We were two short on bowls so I have to remember to take those today. Our Silver Fox weighed more than we expected. The male had to be bumped up from junior to intermediate since he weighs a solid 10 pounds!

Today is the dairy show. Chris dropped Rebecca off at 630am to do rounds on her own animals before she starts on the dairy she is showing. Luckily the weather is cooler and a little overcast. We are packing coolers and doing chores here before we head down just before showtime. I should have pictures tonight!

Babies,babies, babies!!

I have been breeding Holland Lops for a couple of years. This is my most successful series ever! I have learned several lessons along the way. Number one: Always breed multiple does at the same time in case you need to foster some babies to another mom. Number two: Don't give up- it is not as easy as everyone thinks! So here are my babies. I bred 5 Hollands and have 3 litters- one more has pulled fur for the nest but still no babies. I also 2 Netherland Dwarfs and have 1 litter- the other one has pulled a little fur but no kits yet.

This litter of 3 Hollands looks like a solid tort, a broken tort, and a broken tort that might be a peanut (which would be ok even though peanuts don't usually make it because it tells me both parents are true dwarfs)


This litter of 4 Hollands are 2 blacks and 2 black otters.


This is the Holland litter I am most excited about- a black and a blue, which tells me both parents carry dilute- a great thing if you like lots of colors. And they are so nicely fed- see how filled out they are?


This is a litter of 3 Netherlands- Rebecca found the littlest one on the wire instead of in the box so she and Chris worked to get it warmed up and back with mom- it's still doing well tonight, so we'll just keep an eye on it. I'm not so sure about the colors here.

Tomorrow we load everyone up and head to the fair. Rebecca's first show is Friday so I will try to get results on here as soon as I can!

Grains and sweetness

Chris found about a neighbor of ours who was offering a cooking class dedicated to helping people learn to use grains and natural sweeteners. We have decided since are trying to get other people to care about the use of chemicals and to recognize wholesome food we should probably change some (a LOT!) of our own practices. This sounded like the perfect opportunity to get us started. Rebecca and I went last night to a beautiful new bed and breakfast in Albion called The Brick Arc Inn. The Inn was hosting the cooking class but they haven't even had their grand opening yet. We joined a few other ladies and learned about how to use Stevia, Rapidura, maple syrup and honey in foods instead of refined sugar. We also learned about arrowroot powder for thickening instead of cornstarch. We learned how to soak grains and whole grain flours overnight to increase their nutritional value. And we cooked! We made an oatmeal like you have never tasted before! We used leftover oatmeal to make wonderful all natural and organic chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. We made healthy pancakes and a black raspberry syrup that was really great. We also met some really nice people who will be terrific resources on our journey. So we are ready for our transition to food that has more nutritional value.Next time we learn about lacto-fermentation and then how to make yogurts and kefirs! A whole new adventure.

New chicks!

In order to have time off for the fair (without losing any pay!) I am working 11 days straight! Poor Chris and the kids are trying to get everything ready at home. In addition to the usual chores 100 Cornish Cross chicks arrived yesterday.

We had placed 3 Pekin ducklings that we had hatched into a brooder in the barn to see how it would work before the chicks arrived. We set up a puppy exercise pen inside the goat pen with lots of wood shavings on the dirt floor. We have two cats that are here all the time and a tomcat that only comes home when he is hungry. I was sure those ducklings would never make it with the cats, but they didn't bother them a bit! When we first put them out there the cats would sit and watch them but they never went any closer. I still can not believe it. So we decided it would be safe for the chicks, too. Evidently Cornish Cross chicks are a lot smaller than the ducklings, because Chris said when he put them down they ran everywhere! Right through the puppy pen and then over the board at the bottom of the goat pen and out into the barn! I wish I could have seen the three of them scrambling around trying to catch theese chicks and make the pen secure. By the time I got home the chicks were happily eating and drinking a running from one side to the other. They like to follow the ducklings who are just a few days older than the chicks but much taller. These will be our meat chickens and should be ready to process in 7 weeks.

We also have 3 kittens that were born about a month ago. Their mother, Socks, decided to have them in the landscaping right next to the front door. I tried to move them to a nice cozy spot in the barn but within 7 minutes Socks was carrying them back to her spot in the irises. So my irises and day lillies are getting trampled but the kittens are so cute.

Keeping on top of "it"

About all we're doing this week is trying to keep up! We touched up the goats shave jobs on Tuesday- no one told me that "shave everything in front of the tail" really means everything! Can you tell me how to shave a goat's face and nose? If you can I would love to know! We did the best we could and are hoping someone will take pity on us at the fair and help. The goats go in on Thursday but don't actually show until Monday.

Rebecca has been walking steers and needs to get them each bathed once this week. The large steer has warts on his face we need to remove. We didn't know they were unacceptable for fair until yesterday! They went to Schwartz Harness and Tack this afternoon to get her showstick and neckties for the steers. She has all her books ready to turn in, they are due tomorrow.

The rabbits toenails are trimmed, that's about all they need.
Nicholas still needs to finish up his scrapbooks for Mini4H, I think I'll help him with those!

So the animals are almost ready with 6 days to go!

Holiday Weekend

We started the holiday by heading to New Castle to gather with my family and watch my brother-in-law race go karts. Turns out it is one of the premier tracks in the nation! His engine wasn't quite fast enough this weekend, but I am sure they will be back. We had a great visit and a wonderful Italian dinner together. Here is David with his pit crew.

On Saturday Rebecca worked with her big steer. We think he's looking pretty good, we'll have to see what the competition looks like when we get to fair. This is Tucker. The hole in his ear is from the first 4H tag, which he ripped out. The second one is placed much deeper in his ear and has held so far.


Saturday night we went to a friends annual Fourth of July party. Always great food and a good time. The rain stopped just long enough for them to get the fireworks off.

Sunday was scheduled to be goat preparation day. To show the goats they need to be slick shaved 10 - 14 days before the fair. We have little clippers that we use for the dogs but we really needed the large animal clippers for the goats. Luckily, our friend who has dairy cows had a pair he was willing to let us borrow for a day. So while Chris built the goat stand Rebecca and I got to work washing the goats so they would be dry when the stand was ready. It worked beautifully! Isn't Chris' stand nice! I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything went. Chris used the big clippers because in addition to being borrowed they were heavy and very expensive! Rebecca used the dog clippers on their legs, bellies, necks and facs. She also trimmed their hooves herself, which is great because I really dislike trimming hooves. She worked hard all day and it shows. The goats look beautiful. I just realized I don't have a finished photo, so you'll have to wait for fair photos to see the final product!

Lobball 2009

Nicholas had his last lobball game tonight. he has played so well this year is has been so much fun to watch. Next year he moves up to the minors- plays on dirt with real umpires! Here are some of my favorite pictures of our serious player.