update 2

two goat babies!
i'm still waiting to hear more details. i'll let you know.

update

a new baby goat has been born at the farm. it is allegedly the cutest thing ever. and i missed it. bah.

so much for that.

we loaded the car right up to the roof yesterday and headed out to the farm. it is 82 km away. that's 50 miles. we listened to and out come the wolves as we drove. that's one of my all time favourite albums.
we got there and put up the HUGE tent. here it is, with views from inside.just beyond that line of trees is the river. there were fly fishermen out enjoying the day. it was
seriously perfect. not too hot but definitley not cold, no bugs, a light breeze... it was heaven.


this is pippin. she's the ideal farmdog. friendly, well-trained, big... the boy was obsessed with her and spent as much time with her as possible.


these are twiggy, toots and tagalong. they are alpine goats.
twiggy has gender identification issues - she is technically a she, but doesn't get pregnant, has a beard, is more aggressive than a typical female goat, a bit taller...
toots is my favourite. she's more reticent than twiggy, but friendly and loves a good scratch behind the ears. she's pregnant and due in about two weeks.
tagalong is pregnant, too, due at the same time as toots. she's shy so i didn't really spend time with her.
i spent lots of time feeding the goats, scratching the goats, talking to the goats, showing my kids how to treat goats... the goats eventually got bored of me and started ignoring me. and it turns out that they don't really like rice bread. or peanut butter on rice cakes. they just aren't into gluten-free food, i guess.


the boy and pippin checking out the chicken tractor. according to wikipedia,

A chicken tractor is basically a movable chicken cage without a floor. It is usually of light construction so one person can drag it around the yard, it may have a couple of wheels at one end to make this job easier.

The chicken tractor has a number of advantages over fixed cages: The chickens always have fresh ground to scratch at and grass to eat. The cage never needs cleaning; when the enclosed area starts to look worn or patchy, the cage is simple dragged to a new location, the droppings left behind help to fertilize the soil.

i didn't get any pictures of the chickens themselves, but most of them looked just like this. there was one rooster, also black. his feathers had a beautiful sheen to them. the boy spent hours looking at the chickens, feeding the chickens, talking to the chickens, traumatizing the chickens... he seems to be as attracted to chickens as i am to goats.

that night it got cold. really cold. really, really cold. down to freezing. and believe me, we were freezing. we had stacks of blankets but i still lay awake for most of the night, shivering. breastfeeding when there is frost on the ground is really no fun. it was awful.

i was too tired and couldn't cope with the thought of another night like that, so in the morning i decided to come back to the city.

we spent the morning doing a little bit of weeding and lots of enjoying the sun and the animals. my dude mowed a section of the lawn with the ride-on mower. i spent a good amount of time sitting on the grass with tracy, the chick who lives there. her daughter is the same age as my baby, and the two of them adore one another. they are collectively the fattest, cutest, doolingest things on the farm.

so here i am, back home. i'm disappointed that i couldn't stay for the week, but it was not to be. i'll get back out there in a couple of weeks.

going away

the boy has been purely evil for a week straight. i suspect he's bored. previous to this week we'd been outside lots, doing stuff. but it's been rainy so we've been cooped up and he's making me want to kill him.
tomorrow i'm going out to the farm for a week. i'll still be alone with the babes, but with more to do. and the family that lives out there will be around. we'll be living in a tent, but the kid can wear himself out chasing chickens and goats.
so tonight i'm prepping a week worth of meals for while we're gone. seven breakfasts, seven lunches and seven dinners, plus snacks. and clothes. and diapers.
i really hope this works out.
i'll keep a journal and take lots of pictures so you'll get a super duper post upon my return. mark your calendars.

a message from your friendly neighbourhood potential co-farmer

we have friends who have about 100 acres an hour or two from the city. they're still thinking about what they want to do with all this land, and looking for people to do something with them. we have been gazing longingly at farms online and dreaming of getting away from the city. it's incredible, how our hopes and dreams fit together so neatly.
we aren't about to sell the house and jump headlong into cofarming. what if we end up not getting along? what if it turns out that we hate rural life? so we're going to spend half the summer in a tent or trailer or something, on the farm. they have goats, chickens and a huge garden. we're discussing alpacas, bison, and hemp.
so right now i'm figuring out the logistics of where we sleep, what we eat, what we plant... this is all very exciting. i'll keep you posted.