Photos from the Farm #27

Welcome back!

Did you have a busy week? I hope you learned something new!

I have a new sewing machine and I've been learning a lot about it. It's exciting, and sometimes it is hard. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering which button does what, but I keep trying and asking questions. One day I will know everything about my new sewing machine!

Bryon got something new a few weeks ago. It's a special grill that uses smoke and heat to cook food. He has been learning how to use it and our whole family enjoys the food!

Our new smoker grill.

 Matt thought the grill looked fun, too. He's been learning how to cook on it by looking up recipes and trying them out. Our family has loved what he has cooked, too!

Matt's pizza. He cooked this on the new smoker grill.

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Did you know that chickens like to take baths? They do!

They don't take a bath in water like you do. They don't use soap, either. They don't take a bath to get clean.

They use dust!

Chicken taking a dust bath.
She dug a shallow hole in dry dirt.
Then she snuggles down into the dirt and flaps her wings to get the dust onto her back and through all her feathers.

How does that clean the chicken?

Once they are done getting all dusty, they shake their feathers and all the dust and dirt comes out. The dust also prevents bugs from living in the chicken feathers. That is why the chickens take a dust bath.

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Misty decided to take a rest inside the dogloo.
She squeezed herself inside. She doesn't fit very well, she can't fit her head inside the dogloo.
Don't worry, she got herself out without any trouble when she got hungry for dinner.

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Look at how big Annie is getting!
She is still pregnant.
We'll post pictures when she has her babies.
If we see her having her babies, we'll take a video and let you watch it!

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Look at the tiny egg that one of our chickens laid!

This week I collected a lot of eggs.

• On Monday I collected 6 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs. I made bread and used 1 duck egg.
• On Tuesday I collected 13 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs. I made cookies and used 4 duck eggs.
• On Wednesday I collected 7 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs.  I ate scrambled eggs for lunch. I used 3 chicken eggs.
• On Thursday I collected 9 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs. I ate scrambled eggs for dinner. I used 3 chicken eggs.
• On Friday I collected 8 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs. 

How many eggs do I have to bake with this weekend?

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Three more clues to what we are building!

Straight metal poles.

Straight PVC pipes, and a big roll of plastic in the back of the old green truck. One of the boxes that all the pieces came in is behind the truck.

Long, curved metal poles.

Do you have any guesses?

Have a great week!

Mountain Monday * 23 March 2015

South of the barn.
22 March 2015

East over the barn.
22 March 2015

North over the barn.
22 March 2015

Photos from the Farm #26

Welcome back!

I hope you had a good week. We've been busy, but not very busy on the farm. We all have jobs outside the home, and we have a farm.

Matt took some photos for me to post. Thank you, Matt!

Cows like to play. Sometimes they play with their water bucket.
That's not a good idea when it is warm outside.

Remi is very thirsty!

Matthew checked on the animals when he got home from work.
He noticed that they were thirsty and filled up their bucket.

Thank you, Matt!

Clover peeked around the barn. She was looking for Matthew.

The bucks wanted to say, "Hi!" Zeek is on the left, Curly is on the right. Can you name some things that are different between Curly and Zeek? Can you name some things that are the same?

I thought you might like to see a photo of Charlie. He's a nice looking rooster!

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Now I have a guessing game for you!

What are we building?

Bryon is sinking some stakes deep into the ground.

When the stake is deep enough into the ground he has to pull out the post he used.

He is also screwing some big metal poles together. Some of poles are curved at the top, but you can't see that in the video.

What do you think we are building?

I'll post more clues in the next few posts. I hope you can come up with some good guesses!

Have a great week!

Mountain Monday * 16 March 2015

South of the barn.
15 March 2015

East over the barn.
15 March 2015

North of the barn.
15 March 2015

Photos from the Farm #25

Welcome back!

Did you look at the Mountain Monday photos? Did you notice the work that we did last weekend? We moved the metal pole structure to the barn driveway. We had help from friends to move it. A bunch of big boys and men each held onto one leg and moved it for us. Bryon also used the tiller and tilled all the weeds in front of the barn. Next he planted grass seeds, but you can't see those in the photos.

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Thank you again for your questions!

We have three ducks. A few weeks ago our white duck died. We were sad. He was about 10 years old. That is very old for a duck!

Here is a video so you can count how many hens we have.

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That is a great question! It's a question that farmers use math to solve. I think you are starting to work on story problems now. This is a story problem!

I don't think this is a math problem that you can do in first grade, but I want you to see the math problem anyway. One day you'll be able to do this problem!

A goat eats about 4.5% of it's body weight in hay (or grass) each day. Annie weighs about 230 pounds. 4.5% x 230 pounds = 10.35 pounds of hay each day.

A horse eats about 20 pounds of hay each day.

A mini-cow eats about 12 pounds of hay each day.

Who eats more food each day, a horse, a goat, or a mini-cow?

How many pounds will Annie eat in one month?
10.35 pounds of hay x 30 days = 310.5 pounds of hay.

Misty is eating her grain in front of the big bale of hay.
See how big the bale is!

Each of our bales of hay weighs about 800 pounds. If Annie was our only goat she would eat a little bit more than one big bale each month!

Our goats eat a little bit less because I also feed them some grain each morning. Do you remember the grain I sent for you to look at?

This is the grain the goats eat for breakfast each morning.
Does your cereal look like this?

We have 2 cows, 2 pregnant goats, 1 goat that gives milk each day, 1 old goat, and 2 bucks (boy goats). They go through about two 800 pounds of hay each month. That is a lot of hay!

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Our cows love to run when it's time for breakfast!

Echo saw the bucket full of grain and she came running right away!

Remi takes a little longer to realize there is breakfast in the bucket.

They don't mind sharing.

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Information for this post was taken from eHow: How many bales of hay does a goat need for winter?
Feeding Mini-Cows,  How much hay does one horse need per day?

Mountain Monday * 9 March 2015

South of the barn.
8 March 2015

East over the barn.
8 March 2015

North of the barn.
8 March 2015

If you look closely you can see some differences between last week's photos and this week's photos. Did you see how much work we did last week?

Photos from the Farm #24

Welcome back!

Did you enjoy the snow earlier this week? We did! We are very grateful for all the water it brings to the mountains! We have a big puddle on our driveway, too! The birds are coming to get drinks from the puddle, and the ducks visit it in the morning for a little bath.

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Here are the photos and little stories for this week.

Do you remember our barn cat, Midnight?

She likes Clover's coat, too!

We have seen her ride Clover a few times. Midnight only rides Clover when she is wearing a coat.
Matt was finally able to get a photo of her! What a funny cat and goat!

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Matt works at Timpanogos Animal Hospital in Pleasant Grove. He gets to help the techs and the vet do different things.

Last month you learned a lot about teeth. Dogs need to get their teeth cleaned just like people do. Dogs should get their teeth brushed, too. Most people don't brush their dog's teeth because dogs don't like to have their teeth brushed. Dogs don't care if their teeth are clean or dirty.

Do you like to brush your teeth to keep them clean?

This dog has dirty teeth. Some of his teeth are infected and broken. Dogs don't take good care of their teeth. Do you see all the yellow stuff near the dog's gums? He also has a broken tooth on his top jaw near the red plastic tie.

Are you wondering what the tube is? It goes down his throat towards his lungs and carries a special gas that keeps the dog asleep. Dogs don't like getting their teeth cleaned. People can sit in a chair and have a hygienist clean their teeth, but a dog won't do that.

 

Here is the other side of his mouth. Can you see the teeth that are flat towards the back of his mouth? They shouldn't be flat. Sometimes dogs chew on rocks. If one tooth breaks other teeth wear down. All the brown and yellow need to be polished off his teeth.

All clean! Can you see the spot on the right side of the photo that is missing teeth? How many teeth are missing? Check the photo right before this one.
If you look closely you can see stitches where the teeth used to be.
Those teeth were infected and needed to come out.

All clean on this side, too!

The next thing that happens is that the tube comes out of his mouth and then the put the dog someplace comfortable while he wakes up.

Thank you Matt and Timpanogos Animal Hospital for taking photos for us!

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Questions!

We don't have any new animals right now.
We'll have new animals when the goats have their kids. Annie and Penny will have kids this year.
Do you think it's funny that baby goats are called kids?

We don't get any milk from the cows yet. Echo will give milk next year after she has a calf. Remi will never give milk because he is a boy.

Thank you for your questions!

I hope you have a great week!

Mountain Monday * 2 March 2015

1 March 2015
South of the barn.

1 March 2015
East over the barn.

1 March 2015
North of the barn.