It's Been BUSY!

Wow - I just realized (with the help of my wonderful wife) that I haven't made any updates to the blog in almost two months! Here's a quick recap of what's been happening since August: - we have started enjoying the wonderfully fresh eggs from our small flock of chickens - as of this morning we're averaging about 30 eggs a day. If you know of anyone that wants some - we'd be happy to sell some of these wonderful eggs - for a price far LESS than they get for brown eggs at the grocery store. - we've added two dairy goats to the "zoo." "Clara" and "Endora" are LaMancha/Nubian cross goats - both born in the spring of 2005. They're about 50-60 lbs each now - we're hoping to get them to 70 lbs by December so we can breed them to a LaMancha buck and then expect kids late spring! - we've added three more cats and another dog to the farm. A co-worker of my wifes was looking for a good home for his cats and dog so that he and his wife could enjoy the "empty nest" portion of their lives. We're thrilled to have added the "Nana" the dog along with "Esau," "Naomi," and "Beeri " the cats to our fold. - we're learning that we have too many male ducks . . . and not nearly enough duck eggs For what ever reason the ducks only provide us with a few eggs a week (in a good week). We butchered two of our ducks recently and had our first duck dinner. Although I need to learn some better ways to prepare duck, the first dinner was pretty decent - I'm planning on taking a few more males this fall and adding them to the freezer; hopefully the females will begin adding their eggs to our bounty soon! - The house is now in place and we're more or less moved in. We had our final inspections the other day and have a few things to fix - thankfully nothing major - a few weeks and all the "problems" should be resolved. Also we're hoping to get electricity in the pole barn in the next week or so. Overall - we're overjoyed and feel totally blessed to have our small hobby farm. Chores do take some getting used to yet we find them to be very theraputic most days! I'll be posting some more pictures shortly - including those of the contractors setting our modular home (double wide) on the basement. The process was quite intriguing - and we're all thrilled with how "solid" the house feels. Thanks to all the sub-contractors who have helped make our dream of a hobby farm on a few acres a reality - we're ALMOST THERE. Most importantly we want to give thanks to God for providing us with this life and home. Thank you Lord!!!