Sunday, February 14, 2010

Around the farm.......


*Guineas keeping their feet warm*

We have been plagued with colds and flu for the last ten days. It seems one person gets over it and someone else comes down with it. With one person building schools, one in college and one in high school, it's no wonder these things keep getting passed around. The dry, hacking cough seems to take weeks to really go away. I've been very fortunate and haven't picked up these colds/flu. I've had a couple of severe migraines and have been to the DR twice. Hopefully changes in meds will diminish the severity of them and I won't have them so often. They sure can interfere with my job here.

Despite winter maladies, farming progresses. We had a first time heifer bred to a nice, red angus bull. I'm hoping she settled first time and if so, we should get a nice calf in November. I will re-breed our milk cow next month with the same bull we have used the last four years. That will give us another December calf. Coal continues to grow well. He was castrated last week and has gotten over missing his Mother. That being said, he really, really looks forward to his bottle :)

Our pygora goats are starting to build milk bags and have large, round bellies. Kidding should start around the first of March. We have three bred does this year. These gals have always kidded with ease so I don't expect any problems. It will be fun to have kids again. They have such fun personalities :)


We are slowly putting together our seed order. We have decided to order exclusively from Johnny's seeds this year. They are a local company. They field test right here in Maine. They have a terrific web site, face book page and a great staff who are always willing to answer questions or discuss anything about their products. The are competitively priced and I can pick up my order if I have the time. It doesn't get much better than that. For me, seed ordering is like pouring through a Christmas catalog. It takes awhile :)

~Wishing everyone a productive, healthy week ~

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Good to see your posts again but sorry to hear about the illnesses. I have had one heck of a cold the past few day also. Regardless of illness, the animals must get fed so I plug along also...I am getting ready to order some seeds also....its like the light at the end of the tunnel for me right now:) Can't wait to see more kid photos!

lisa said...

I sure hope you don't catch it! I also hope the meds work for you migraines! I love guineas, i hope to get a couple sometime this summer or spring, we shall see. We have been getting the itch for seeds also. You take care.

Nicolezmomma said...

Don't know how often you get migraines, but I used to get them every 5 days. Turned out I was allergic to aspartame. It was in the diet coke I had every day for lunch. Now no aspartame, no migraines. I am also very sensitive to MSG, which is now in everything these days.

Hope you are feeling better.

Kara said...

Uggg! I have had that cough for 6 weeks!!!!!! I am sure me being an asthmatic doesn't help matters.

Joanne said...

I hope everybody feels better soon! I hadn't dropped by your blog in a while and loved the 'farm visit.' Nice to catch up on the animals and life over at your house. When you get a chance, ask Sherri W. about her migraines...she has struggled with them and may have some useful experiences to pass along. How nice to have a friend in common! :)

Callie Brady said...

Sorry to hear about the migraine problem. I remember one of my doctors telling me that migraines have a trigger that can be set off by stress, foods, etc. or the trigger can go off for no reason at all. I always felt like I was playing Russian Roulette. Hope the new medicines can solve the problem. And I hope you stay healthy and the rest get well quickly. It will be fun to see some photos of the kids.

DayPhoto said...

I'm so sorry that you have been ill. But like you say farming never stops illness or not.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Gayle said...

My husband was interested in ordering frm Johnny's (as I looked through Burpee's and Harris Seeds), but it seems this year will be a no-go. We just can't afford the more expensive seed and will settle with the cheap store seed we've used the last three years. :( good luck...can't wait to see photos of all the things you will grow.