Flood Zone

We don't really live in a flood zone, unless a pipe breaks.

I went out to the barn to do the chores last night. It was dark because I was heading out a little later than usual. There was a really big puddle in front of the barn door and my first thought was that I forgot to turn the hose off in the morning.

The hose was definitely not running.



Chuck and Teancum must have been playing around in the pasture and broken the pipe. I think the water must have been running for about 4 hours to fill the pasture with enough water that it started draining into the west side of the barn.

The water had soaked into the grassy parts of the pasture by this morning.

There are still a few muddy spots and puddles left where there is only dirt.

Good thing its autumn and it's not hot right now! A few days with no water on the pasture won't cause any trouble.

The pipe needs to be fixed, but we can do that on Saturday. There's no rush to get it done today.

It's still pretty muddy by the fence!
I don't care if it's muddy because I have cute boots for the barnyard this fall!

The cow shed and the hay barn are up on small hills so the animals had a dry place to sleep, and we didn't loose any hay. That would have been a little frustrating since we just unloaded 100 bales of hay in the dark on Monday night.

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I keep any eye out for things that are a little unusual in the barnyard. That's how I noticed the flood.

It's also how I figured out where the sneaky chickens are laying their eggs!

If you look really, really closely you can see some feathers poking out of the top of the hay stack.

Feathers belonging to some chickens....

who have been hiding their eggs in the little spot between bales!

I've been noticing fewer eggs for the last few days. I wasn't sure if it was because the chickens are molting (loosing their summer feathers) or because they found a new hiding spot for their eggs.

If you like Easter Egg hunts, then you might like living on a farm because it's like an Easter Egg Hunt almost every day! I was really excited to finally figure out where they were hiding them!

The chickens aren't really sneaky, they just want to find a safe spot to hide their eggs. That's really pretty smart.

Chickens roam and wander all over the barn yard and pasture to look for bugs. Sometimes they end up in the neighbor's pasture, too. But they usually lay their eggs in a protected spot like nesting boxes or hiding places in the hay stacks.

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It's almost time to press cider!

We're so excited!

The orchard we got to pick apples in is wild!

It hasn't been taken care of for a few years.

We don't care how wild it is!
We were allowed to pick the apples!

What an awesome family! Every year we've been able to find trees to pick some apples from to make cider.

Yes, Echo is Pregnant!

Yes! Echo is pregnant!

She also is disease free. We knew that, but sometimes it's nice to have the veterinarian check just to make sure that she is healthy.

Echo's calf is due November 26

Sometimes cows deliver their calf right on time, sometimes they are a day or two late. Echo is due right before Thanksgiving. We'll see if she has her calf right on time or if she has a calf on Thanksgiving! Cooking Thanksgiving dinner and taking care of a new calf would be a lot of work on one day!

I let her sleep in the stall last night because it was raining and wet. I didn't want her sleeping in the mud. Cows are fine if they sleep in the mud, but they get really dirty. I don't want to spend the extra time cleaning her off before I milk her, so I let her into the stall when the weather is bad.

She's a sweet, gentle cow and so I spoil her a little.


See how nicely she comes in when it's time to be milked!

Most of the animals on the farm are nice. We have lots of visitors who aren't used to being around farm animals. Sometimes people are scared of the goats and the cow so I make sure our animals are friendly and easy-going.

Every farm is different so make sure you check with the farmer to see if their animals are friendly before you visit.

One morning I walked in and saw.... 

None of the animals are afraid of coming into the barn. Once in a while I forget to latch the stall door. What a mess! In come the goats when I leave. When I come back they come running up to me because they are so happy to see me!

But I'm not really happy to see them inside the barn because that's a big mess to clean up! Food and poo everywhere! Buckets tipped over, and feed on the floor! One glance told me I was going to have extra work this morning!

I love the way Annie just stares at me from the stall door. She knows she's not supposed to be in the barn. Too bad she can't help me clean up the mess!

Sometimes the farm is messy because of the rain.

This puddle doesn't cause any trouble.
It's out of the way so I decided to leave it alone.

I have to walk through this puddle to feed Chuck so I decided to dig a ditch and drain some of the water. This little drainage stream will be a good way for the little pine tree to get water when it rains.

It took me extra time to dig the ditch this morning, but it will save me time later because I won't have to water the pine tree as much. It will also leave less mud in the pen where I feed Chuck, Side Kick, and Teancum.

Some mornings turn out a little different than I expect. Sometimes I have to clean a mess I don't expect to find, or fix something, or dig a drainage stream. I wouldn't trade the unexpected work for anything! I love being on the farm!



This is one thing that I've been working on lately. Scout and JJ are very good at waiting, but Mishka is just learning to wait.

Dogs need to learn how to behave properly or they won't be a good fit for a family or a farm. You're learning how to do the proper things at the right time, too!

If you have any questions you can write me a note, or leave a question in the comment box and I'll answer you!

Storytelling Festival Stay-cation

I hope you had a great week! We were at Timpanogos Storytelling Festival at Thanksgiving Point last week. 

The flowers were beautiful!

The stories were wonderful!
So many people were having fun just like us!

I had so much fun looking at the fish by the Monet Gardens.

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One of the fun things about the storytelling festival I don't need to find anyone to take care of the farm, and we get to sleep in our own beds instead of a hotel.

I still get to see Chuck's silly face when he's waiting for breakfast.

I get to see Side Kick every day.
I think he's a beautiful sheep.

Can you tell the difference between sheep and goats? Look at their ears.

Sheep have ears that point out to the side.

Goats have ears that hang down like a dog, OR they have ears that point up.

Lilly is being silly.
She loves to stand up on top of the dog-gloo to see who is in the barn.

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We have a black hen who really, really wants to hatch out some chicks!

She has been sitting on a nest in the corner for about a month. I take away the eggs every evening, but she keeps sitting on the nest.

I decided to leave some eggs for her to hatch out.

I have to mark every egg that she's sitting on because the other hens will still lay eggs on her nest. I want to know which ones to leave with mother hen and which eggs to take into the house each night.

These eggs should hatch in 21 days. Not all the eggs will hatch. I let her start sitting on the eggs on September 11. What day will it be 21 days from September 11?

Sometimes I'm really lucky and I can watch one of the eggs hatch out! I always take a video if I do. I know that you like watching those things, too.

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When we have our Storytelling Festival Stay-cation, we don't have to find someone to watch the dogs, either.

Mishka always has energy in the morning!
She loves to run and jump and play.

Someone still takes her for a walk at night because she has so much energy.

Mishka is tired after her 3 mile walk.

No worries! She'll be full of energy and 'zoomies' in the morning just like you!

I hope you tried to do something that you weren't sure you could do this week. I wasn't sure I was going to get all the chores done and get all my other work done because we had so much to do! I did my best and all the important things got done!

Is Echo, the Cow, Pregnant?

We've had an interesting week! Things didn't go as planned. The refrigerator in the garage that cools the milk needed to be fixed. The garage door needed to be fixed. And Echo needed a visit from the vet.

Do you have weeks like that, too?

We still have to get all the chores done, even though things don't go as planned. It all turned out fine, just like it always does!

Mishka is still small enough to go in and out of the barn by going
under the big garage door.
She's so cute!

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A few weeks ago someone dropped off a turkey at our farm because we have turkeys. They thought she must have escaped from our house.

She didn't escape from our farm. 

She must have escaped from someone else's farm.

She seems happy here so we let her stay. She's very friendly!

A cub scout pack came to the farm for Pack Meeting so they could see all the animals. Brownie sat up on the fence and talked to everyone like she was in charge.

She scared a few people because they weren't used to a turkey making noises and acting friendly. Once they realized she wasn't going to hurt them they thought she was fun!

The new turkey has a boring name.
I call her Brownie because she's brown.

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We have an awesome veterinarian. She comes to the farm! I bet you have to take your cat or dog to the vet. We are very happy to have the vet come to us.

It's not easy to load the big animals in a trailer and bring them to a vet clinic. A lot of people do, but it takes a lot of time and trouble to load a cow.

Dr. Tracy is so good with our animals and she's very nice. She always explains what she's doing and what she thinks is best for the animals.

I asked her to come this week because we are pretty sure Echo will have a baby in November, but we aren't positive. I also wanted Echo checked for a disease called Johne's Disease (pronounced YO-knees). We drink Echo's milk and we wanted to make sure she doesn't have anything that will make us sick.

Dr. Tracy is going to take some blood out of Echo's tail.
That's the best place to take blood from a cow.

 You or your parent's may have gone to the doctor and had 'blood work' done. They usually take blood from a person's arm.

Animals are different than people. A vet will take blood from different spots on different animals.

Echo was pretty good as long as I held a bucket of grain for her to eat.

Dr. Tracy is so good that she can take a photo while she's holding the syringe!
Hannah is great at holding Echo's tail.

Hannah doesn't really like cows. I think it's because they are usually big, smelly, and hard to handle. I think Echo is a good cow because she's usually easy for me to handle.

Last spring I had to take a hook out of her eye and she didn't fight while people were holding her.  Dr. Tracy couldn't come that day so she helped me by answering my questions on the phone. Sometimes Dr. Cate helps me, too! They are both wonderful veterinarians.

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