Life is never slow here on the homestead. There is always an animal needing their hoofs trimmed, needing brushed, sheared or just wanting some attention. This year it seems like there were always new babies being born – goats, chickens or rabbits.
Mornings consist of watering everyone, giving grain to the poulty, does (female goats) and Beauty, while everyone else gets hay. The process begins again every evening, rain, shine, sleet or snow. Even on the days when the barn door freezes shut, we have to get in to take care of the animals.
Right now we are heating our house with wood. We have a wood stove in my office and another one in the greenhouse. Due to Jerry’s chainsaw breaking late in the summer, he is using an axe to chop up the wood then using a sledge hammer to break it into pieces small enough to fit in the wood burner. The average temperature in our house is 60 degrees F, which is much colder than what I like. With wood floors, getting up at night with bare feet can be downright bone chilling.
Many things have changed here over the last few months. For one, I found out I had a granddaughter, Trinity. She came to stay with us for a few days.
Her parents came here for Thanksgiving which was nice, as well as my longtime friend Alice.
We ate in the dining room under the kerosene chandelier.
We had turkey filled with creole butter, two kinds of stuffing – bread and cornbread, turkey gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, brussles sprouts, salad, pumpkin pie and cherry pie. It was a feast fit for a king and the best Thanksgiving I have had in several years.
Little Trinity enjoyed stuffing herself until she couldn’t eat another bite. Then it was off to take a bath, get dressed in one of the fleece sleepers Grandma bought her and off to bed where I am sure she spent the night dreaming of her first Thanksgiving and the adventures she had.
We have not put up the Christmas tree yet. Things are changing here again. With Trinity gone life has gone back to normal – no diaper changes, no late night bottle feedings, no baby clothes or blankets to wash. I can come and go as I please now, but something is missing. She is missing. It is funny how a baby can change your life in a short amount of time.
In a way, baby animals change your life too. You watch them be born, you watch them grow, then you watch them go off to their new home. Odd. When we were trimming the baby goat hooves for the last time, I thought I heard them say “mom, mom, mom” as they tried to get back to their mothers. The two mama goats jumped up, looked over the wall at their babies and gave a gentle “nay” as if to say “it is time you went on to your new home, but remember I love you.”
Filed under About Us, Homestead Happenings, Miscellanous by on Dec 8th, 2009. 2 Comments. 
Our granddaughter Trinity came for her first visit yesterday. Of course, no visit to a farm is complete without seeing the animals.
Sarah, my daughter and her mother, had not been home in some time, so her first question was, where’s Beauty? I told her we would go out to the barn in a moment. It was raining so hard today that all of the animals were in the barn. The ground in the pasture gets so soft that Beauty often falls if we let her out after a hard rain, so it is best to keep her in. Goats get pneumonia pretty easily so we keep them in when it is raining as well so they stay dry.
Trinity got lots of hugs and kisses from grandma first, while mom took lots of photos of the first visit. Then we began the journey to the barn. Getting to the barn meant going through the greenhouse. The Thanksgiving cactus was in full bloom and those fuschia colored blooms attracted Trinity’s attention immediately. Being curious, as all babies are, I held her up so she could touch the flowers. Hmmm, I do wonder if we have a budding botantist on our hands?
Then we proceeded on to the barn. Sarah, of course, went to visit Beauty first. She was amazed at how much weight Beauty has gained since the last time she saw her. I took this photo with my smart phone three days ago when Beauty was in the pasture. She has a fairly thick winter coat on as you can see.
I took Trinity in to see the goats first. The baby goats were curious about Trinity. They cautiously came forward, sniffing her. Faith, the baby goat above, looked at her mama Darla as if to say “I have never seen a tiny person like this before. Is it ok mama?” LOL!
Darla, being a cautious mama goat, stretched out her long neck to check Trinity out before gently naying to her babies that they could go up to her and get pets.
The other mama goats, Sugar, Spice and Tulip were not so interested in Trinity. They preferred to stand back and take the situation in as if they did not know what to make of it. Nutmeg, the ever curious baby goat, who loves to nibble on everyone was quite interested in Trinity. While he was checking her out, he reached up to her face and gave her a quick kiss. It was so cute.
The next stop was the sheep stall. Johnny and Pearl did not know what to think. Their fleece this time of year is full of lanolin and Trinity did not seem as interested in them as she did the goats. As you can see, Johnny above, wanted to stand back and look at her while Trinity wanted to look for her mommy.
The last stop in the barn was a visit to Leonardo, our angora buck. He had been jumping up on the side of his stall the entire time looking to see what was going on. We did not go inside the stall this time because he is in rut this time of year. Trinity was interested in him and he allowed her to give him a pet. He is such a gentle boy most of the time, but can get pushy this time of year so being on the outside of the stall was in everyone’s best interest.
From there we came back inside so momma could clean Trinity up. She spent some time playing with Blueberry Muffin, a doll my Grandma King crocheted many years ago when I was a child. It is nice to know that hand made toys, made with love and care, can last three generations of children and still be in great shape.
Trinity seemed to love being here today. Could this be the start of another generation of women homesteaders in our family?
Filed under Homestead Happenings by on Nov 18th, 2009. 2 Comments.
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