Teaching Sadie to Drink From a Bucket

Before I show you how I'm teaching Sadie how to drink from a bucket I thought you would like to see a cozy cat.

It's been cold and rainy and everyone, even the cats, want to snuggle up somewhere warm and take a nap.

I love looking at cats who are taking a nap.
It makes me feel so peaceful!

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Babies often drink from bottles. Calves do, too!

After a while it's a good idea to teach children how to drink from a cup, and calves to drink from a bucket.

It's easier for me if Sadie drinks from a bucket because I don't have to clean the bottle and I don't have to hold the bottle for her.

It's kind of a mess while she's learning, but that's ok. Once she learns it will be so much easier! She'll also know how to drink water from a bucket.

First I wet 2 fingers with milk from the bucket. Sadie knows what milk smells like and tastes like. As soon as she starts sucking the milk off my fingers I lower my hand into the bucket of milk. 

She keeps sucking my fingers and she's sucking in milk at the same time. I pull one finger out of her mouth so she gets more milk.

I pull the other finger out of her mouth and she still sucks briefly and then pulls her head out of the bucket because she doesn't know how to drink the milk yet without sucking on something.

I'll do this for a day or two and she'll figure it out. Then no more bottle for Sadie!

Echo had to learn how to drink out of an automatic waterer. She knew how to drink out of a bucket. This new contraption was a little confusing at first! She has to push the lever down with her chin so the water flows into the bowl.

BarBarA Automatic Waterer

I'll show you how we put in the waterer next week. We had to dig a big trench, lay pipe, and get the water hooked up properly so it would work. It took all day!

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I bet you use hand sanitizer at home and school. We use something a little different in the barn.

Once I'm done milking the animals I use something called a 'teat dip' It's usually iodine. Iodine kills bacteria that cause infection. It's also used to clean wounds on animals, and it's used on people in the hospital before and after surgery to keep their wounds free from infection.



After I'm done in the morning, I head in from the barn. Of course the dogs are ready to follow me anywhere. They follow me around while I'm doing chores, except when I'm milking Echo. Mishka loves to roam around the barnyard and explore while I'm milking.

It's a mess right now with all the rain!

JJ and Scout manage to keep clean, but not the puppy!

She comes in looking like a muddy mess!

We love her anyway! She's been a very fun puppy and she's learning so much!

The Big Turkey and the Little Calf

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you get to be around your family and friends? We did! It was so much fun!

Everyone was here for at least a little while. And we had a few visitors, too. We ate lots of food and had lots of fun conversations.

I'm very grateful that my children all close by and that we get to spend time together often. I'm grateful that there is enough room at our table for people who would like to come spend Thanksgiving with us.

Our turkey was 44 pounds!
How much do you weigh?
An average 2nd grader weighs about 50 pound
so our turkey weighed almost as much as you do!

We cooked our turkey outside on the smoker
because the turkey was too big to fit into the oven!

It took two people to put it on the smoker,
and two people to bring it into the house.

Look at the size of that turkey leg!

It was too big to fit on the roaster so we had to do something a little different this year. We spatchcocked the turkey. What a funny word! You can see how to spatchcock a turkey here.

We had 6 bags of leftover turkey. That's a lot of leftovers!

Did you have leftovers, too?

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Sadie was born around noon on Friday, November 22.
It was a bit chilly outside so we dried her off with some towels.

Echo cleaned her off, too.


We moved her into the stall where it was out of the wind.
Calves learn how to walk right after they are born,
but they are a little wobbly.

Here's Sadie all dried off and resting under the heat lamp to keep her warm.

Can you believe that Sadie is running around like this the day after she was born?

It's been cold so we got her a coat. She'll grow faster and stay healthier with a coat on.

Her coat is a bit big, but she'll grow so quickly that it will fit her just right in a few weeks.

Calves are so cute! Sadie is so sweet! I feed her with a big bottle every day. She gets four feedings of 1/2 gallon of milk. That's 2 gallons of milk every day!

Wow! That's a lot of milk!

Have a great week! Try new things! Learn new things!

What Do Animals Eat?

Are you excited for Thanksgiving vacation next week?

Since you are thinking about all the yummy food you will be eating next week I thought it would be interesting for you to see what types of food the animals on our farm eat.

Nutrition is a big word. It means the way animals, plants, and humans take nutrients from food and use them for energy and growth.

If animals, plants, and humans (that's you!) have food that is good for them they grow strong and are healthy. They are able to perform well. That means they are able to do what they were meant to do. 

A milk goat that is given the right nutrition (food, vitamins, and minerals) is healthy and strong. She can give between 1/2 - 1 gallon of milk each time I milk her.

A calf that is given the right nutrition is healthy and can grow into a big, strong steer or milk cow. 

Chicks that are given the right nutrition are healthy and can grow into hens that will produce eggs. 

Chickens that are given the right nutrition are healthy and can produce eggs for our family.

Dogs that are healthy can run and play and learn new tricks. They have energy and can help us with the animals on the farm. 

Animals that have the right amount of food and water can stay warm in the winter.

Children that eat the right foods are usually healthy and grow properly. They can learn and do well in school. They can run and play at recess. Now you know why your mother tells you that you need to eat fruits and vegetables every day. That's why she tells you not to eat too many sweets.

People eat different foods to get proper nutrition and stay healthy. Animals need to eat the same things every day to get the proper nutrition and stay healthy. They don't need to eat different foods every day. Most animals will get sick if you change their food every day.

You will have many different types of food for Thanksgiving Dinner. The animals on our farm will have the same food they eat every day.

That may sound boring to you, but it is what is best for the animals. We like to do what will keep our animals healthy and strong! 

This is cat food. 
You might know what cat food looks like if you have a cat. 
Cats need to have the same food every day or they may get sick.

This is dog food.
Some dogs eat too much food and get too fat! They are not healthy if they are fat.
Our dogs get fed about 1 cup of food for breakfast and 1 cup of food for dinner.
We measure their food everyday to make sure they are getting enough, but not too much.
That is all they need to stay strong and healthy, so that is all they get.

This is called a 'grain blend.' 
If you look closely you can see different types of grain and some pellets in the food.
This is what we feed to the milk goats and Echo, and Miss E.
We never feed this type of feed to the bucks (boy goats). It isn't good for them.
We can feed a little bit of this to the chickens, ducks, and turkeys.

This is wild bird food. 
We have bird feeders on our farm. 

These are alfalfa pellets. 
They are made from alfalfa hay. We feed a little bit of this to the milk goats, Chuck, and Echo. We don't feed them very much of this because we also feed them hay. Just like the dog food, we measure out how much feed the animals get.
We don't feed this to the bucks (boy goats).

These are Timothy hay pellets. This is what we feed to the bucks!
They don't get very much of this because we also give them hay.

This is called "Calf Manna."
If you guessed that we give this to calves, you are right!
We give it to any animal that needs more protein.
You probably eat meat and beans for protein. Protein helps you grow properly. 
Our animals don't eat meat but they need protein just like you do.
We feed Calf Manna to the milk goats and Echo.
Milk goats need protein and fat to make milk.

These are called lay pellets.
We feed them to the chickens and the turkeys. Lay pellets have protein, too!
Chickens need protein to stay warm and to make eggs.
Some people like to feed chickens 'mash.' It is made up of the same things that pellets are made of, but it looks like corn meal. It looks like the chick starter in the next photo, too.
We like pellets because it doesn't get wasted like the mash does. Chickens can make a mess. If their food is small it can get lost in the dirt when they peck it out of their feeder. Then it's wasted!

This is chick starter. 
It has the right nutrition for chicks to grow into chickens.
It also is small enough for the chicks to eat.
They can't eat pellets like adult chickens can because their beaks aren't big enough yet.

This is oat hay and alfalfa hay.
We feed this to the milk goats, the bucks, and Echo. 
These animals also eat grass in the pasture.
In the winter there isn't any good grass on the pasture so we make sure they have
plenty of hay to eat.Can you see the seeds in the hay? Those are oat seeds!

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Every few days we move Midnight's food because the chicken and the neighbor's kittens eat it.
Today we put it on the top of the hay stack.

When we have a calf, we feed it with a bottle
Her bottle doesn't look very big when I'm letting her drink from it.

This is Quin when he was 4 years old.
He's holding a calf bottle.
When you see a little kid holding a calf bottle, you can see how big it is!

Here's another photo of a calf bottle on the right.
A calf bottle holds 1/2 gallon of milk.
That's the same amount of milk that's in the middle container.
 The gallon container on the left is the same size container that
you probably find in your fridge.
That container holds a whole gallon.

Can you imagine drinking an entire half-gallon of milk in about 3 minutes? Whoa! That's a lot of milk! We feed new calves that much milk every morning for breakfast.

Calves also eat hay, pellets, and grain during the day when they are a few weeks old. All that good food helps her to grow big and strong, and stay healthy and warm through the winter.

It's amazing all the different kinds of food I have in the barn to feed the animals.

Next week I will show you what the animal feeders look like. We have a big feeder for the chickens. The goats eat their hay out of a special feeder, so do the cows.

When you eat Thanksgiving Dinner this week look at the different types of dishes and bowls that the food is served in. Each dish is made to hold a different type of food. Bowls hold soup and liquids. Different size plates hold different types of foods.

Animals have feeders that hold their food just like you have bowls and dishes to hold your food!

I'm sure there are a lot of things you can do to be nice and helpful as your family gets ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. 

Getting Ready for Winter

Misty enjoying the sunshine.

We've been working hard on the farm. Every spare moment is spent getting the livestock pens, stalls, and flower beds ready for winter.

We are really enjoying the nice weather! It's so nice to have weather around 60's in the daytime because it's the perfect weather for working outside.

I cleaned out Echo's pen. I moved 2-3 wheelbarrows full of manure every day.
A little bit every day really adds up!

The weather this fall has been wonderful! I was able to clean out the
flower bed in the front yard, plant some daffodils and tulips that will
bloom in the spring, and cover the whole flower bed with mulch. 

What's mulch? That's a funny word!

Its dirt that used to be manure, leaves, bark, and chipped trees. It covers the ground keeping the weeds from growing, and it is good 'nutrition' for the soil. It's like fertilizer that helps the plants to grow next year.

The chickens are getting ready for winter, too.
They lost all their old, summer feathers and have
grown new feathers that will keep them warm for the winter.

Lucy is the little chicken with the curly feathers.
She's so pretty when all her feathers grow back.

The weather is still dry so the chickens have a few places that they like to take their dust bath. They love to get the dirt in their feathers! They love flapping their wings and digging with their feet.

It doesn't make sense to have a person take a dust bath, but the fine dirt helps keep the chickens' feathers clean, and it keeps the mites (small bugs) from living in their feathers.

I wouldn't want mites, either!

Sometimes the ducks are resting inside the stall,
sometimes they rest outside in the sunshine.

Mishka will not behave. She won't leave her cast alone. She needs to wear a cone. She likes this soft cone much better than the big, plastic one she was wearing last week.

I won't let her go out to the barn with me, either. She still runs too much for a puppy with a cast. She expresses her frustration by whining and making funny noises at the back gate when I head out to do the chores.

River expresses how much she loves me!
Every morning she gives me little goat kisses after I finish milking her!

I love autumn. It's my favorite time of year. I love the weather, I love the outside work, I love the smell outside, I love watching the leaves change colors, I love getting ready for winter and Christmas.

I love this poem about autumn.

A Child's Calendar: November
by John Updike

The stripped and shapely
Maple grieves
The ghosts of her
Departed leaves.

The ground is hard,
As hard as stone.
The year is old,
The birds are flown.

And yet the world,
In its distress,
Displays a certain
Loveliness---

What do you think of John Updike's word choice? Does it help you picture autumn in your mind? Do you like the words that rhyme? 

We have a few more big projects to work on this weekend. Hopefully we will get everything done before the snow starts falling. Drink in all the sunshine and outside you can this week!

Wonders 2nd Grade Unit 2 Week 5

Slow Down, Puppy!

Mishka.

We love her.

She has so much energy!

And she loves to climb and jump!

She's been an energetic, sweet, and fun puppy!

She likes to sit on my sewing counter to see what's going on in the rest of the room.
What projects are you working on?

She climbs up on the table to sneak into the garage window.
If she's sneaky enough, and I don't catch her...
 she eats the cat food sitting on the shelf.

She loves to jump, too!

She's one of our "Three Musketeers!" 

They all work together and play together!
Scout and JJ, the two adult dogs, get along very well with Mishka, the puppy.

She's a sweet puppy, but she is not always careful.

Monday night when the dogs and I went out to the barn to do the chores, Mishka started yelping!

We didn't know what she did, so Tim took her to the veterinarian at Utah Veterinary Hospital on Tuesday.  

Oooops!

All that running and jumping caused 2 fractures in her leg.

One fracture on top of the growth plate on her tibia.

One fracture below the growth plate on her tibia.

Mammals have growth plates. Growth plates are at the end of long bones, like legs and arms. That is the spot where your bones grow longer, which means you can grow taller. If you fracture (break) a growth plate you have to be very careful that it heals correctly or your bones might not be the same length when you are an adult.

Neither fracture is giant. We'll let the vet take another x-ray in a few weeks to see if it's healing properly. If it isn't, then she'll need surgery.

Mishka gets extra calcium every day to help her bone heal properly.

She's also wearing a cast.

She isn't allowed on the stairs inside while she's wearing a cast. She goes up stairs easily, but we don't want her to slip and fall down the stairs until she's healed.

Yesterday she learned to jump with her cast on. I settled her down pretty fast because that could make her injury worse.

It's exciting being a puppy or a child and being alive! Puppies, kid goats, calves, and offspring of most mammals love to play rough and have fun! Playing rough also helps them, and you, grow strong and healthy.

Mishka's cast hasn't slowed her down much.

Tommy has been adventurous this week, too! This is his first time climbing a ladder. He's an adult, so he's a little smarter and a little more careful than Mishka. 

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Our grass still has lots of leaves on it. The dogs love to roll around in them. It's so much fun!

Their fur coats are covered in grass and leaves! 

I haven't had time to groom Scout today. I often brush them when I'm done in the barn in the morning. If I groom them a little bit every day I have a lot less mess in the house.

I hope you run and play and have a lot of fun this week! If you get hurt, I hope you don't let it get you down.

Wonders 2nd Grade Unit 2, week 4

Fall Camping

It can be tricky to leave the farm. Who can we trust to take care of the farm while we're gone? We have remarkable neighbors. The girl who helped take care of the farm while we were gone is only 14. She is responsible and trustworthy. She does exactly what needs to be done while we're gone.

She knows that animals need proper care or they may get sick, or they may die. She has helped me before while I'm home and learned her farm lessons well.

We had fall break last weekend. It was wonderful! We visited Little Grand Canyon and San Rafael Swell. I've never seen petroglyphs before so it was really interesting.

The Little Grand Canyon is still very big!

These photos were taken from right outside our camper.

It was hard to believe that people between 1,000 years ago and 2,000 years ago left pictures on canyon walls. That is so long ago! There are so many stories in the pictures. We don't know the stories they were trying to tell, so we have to figure out what they were thinking. It's not easy.

You can make up your own stories using the petroglyph pictures. That might be fun!

There are so many petroglyphs on this rock that it might be a very long story.
There are so many people in this picture, maybe they are having a feast!

What story would you write about this picture?

I think I would wright a story about a ram and a squirrel for this picture.
What do these pictures remind you of?

We also got to see a dinosaur footprint. It was remarkable!
I should have put someone's foot next to the dinosaur footprint so you could see the size. 

Imagine that! A dinosaur that left a footprint here thousands and thousands of years ago. That footprint was there long before the people painted on canyon walls.



It was really fun to watch Nathan fly his drone. He is so good with it that he can tell it to land and he can snatch it right out of the air!

I love going camping! I love being outdoors and seeing so many beautiful and interesting sights. I have fond memories of camping with my children when they were younger. We used to go to the same places every year.

Now we're making new memories by visiting lots of new places and seeing more wonderful sights.

Sometimes we have trouble before we leave, or while we're camping. Sometimes things break that we don't expect, and sometimes things don't go as planned.

Before we left the cable on the camper that holds up the roof came unhooked.

Thankfully we have an awesome camper repair man that can come out the same day and fix it!

This pole holds up the tent pull-out on our camper.
It wasn't in great shape when I left, but a windstorm the first night made it unusable.

Until Nate cut a piece of wood and taped it inside the curve of the support.
Now it's stronger than when it was new!

I love it when we have challenges and we can work together to figure out a way to get things solved.

Another think I love about camping is that the food is delicious! I love eating outside. I love the smell of fresh air. I love looking at the trees, canyons, mountains, and streams. Where ever we camp, it is beautiful.

Coming home is wonderful, too. Some of our family can sleep anywhere, but some of our family is more comfortable in their own bed at home instead of in a camper.

It's always nice to come home and see our pets and our farm again.


Did you know you can teach some cats to do tricks? Tommy can do a fist-bump for treats!

We love camping and seeing wonderful sights. We love being home, too.

We live a wonderful life

because

we believe we do.

Wonders 2nd Grade Unit 2 Week 2