Category Archives: Good Stuff of Life

Our Flock of Guineas is Growing

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A long while back we found a nest of guinea eggs out by the stock tank where we keep the pigs. At the time we found it, there were maybe five or six eggs in it. Each day we’d go out there, the number of eggs would increase. Normally we gather them and eat them just like we do chicken eggs, but not knowing how long they’d been there, we left them. We planned to throw them away but never got around to it.

I don’t remember how long it was, but it seemed like a couple weeks later, a guinea hen went broody and started sitting on the nest. We weren’t really too sure the eggs would hatch because most of them had been lying in that open nest for what seemed like a long time. But we left her there anyway, just in case a few would.
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Happy First Day of Summer!

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Lately things have been a little busy around here… actually more like a lot busy. There have been lots of things happening and I have so much to write about but I’ve just been lacking the time to get it all done. This week things should calm down so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get caught up here. Look for new posts to come soon!

One thing for sure, aside from it being busy here, is it’s finally summer!!!

YAY!

As cool as it’s been I didn’t know if summer would ever come.

But it did.

And I’m so glad.

It just puts you in such a happy mood you just have to kick up your heels and celebrate!

Happy first day of summer!

Our Turkeys Arrived!

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This year, for some reason, turkeys have been hard to find. None of the feed stores in our town are carrying them, and stores in surrounding towns don’t have them either. We considered not getting any this year since the chicks we got a couple months ago are almost grown up and the thought of having to start over with a brooder and heat lamp in the house, when it’s warm outside isn’t very appealing. But after thinking about it, we decided that we might regret not getting any. Turkeys are the first animal we grew and butchered on our own. It’s been a tradition every year since we’ve been here to raise two turkeys for the holidays. While it’s not really necessary we do it, it’s something we enjoy. Summer just wouldn’t be the same around here without hearing the sounds of turkey chatter and gobbles while watching the turkeys graze and chase bugs as we sit outside in the evenings.
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One GOAT of A Day!

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Goats… where do I begin? They’re cute. They’re entertaining. They’re fun and they make good pets, especially for kids. I do love them. But let me tell you, they’re very good at testing people’s patience, especially mine.

Back before we got goats, I remember asking my husband if we could get a couple. Right off the bat he said no. I asked him why and he said that goats were nothing but trouble and pains in the you-know-what. I didn’t believe him; I mean how could any thing this adorable….

be such a pain? Just look at that cute little face, right? Continue reading →

Grandma’s Tulip

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We have one little tulip in the middle of our yard that comes up every year. My mom says that it’s one my grandma planted many years ago and it marks the corner of where her garden used to be. We don’t know exactly when it was planted but it has to be more than 25 years old. I don’t know a lot about tulips, so I did a little research. From what I read, older heirloom tulips come back more often year after year for longer periods of time than the modern day varieties do. I couldn’t really find much information on how old tulips can get, so I’m still wondering if it’s unusual for a tulip like this to be coming back all these years or not. Do you know?

If this tulip could see, just think of all the memories there would be, and if those memories were made into photos just think of all the albums there would be. Even though this tulip is out a couple weeks each spring, and its point of view is the same every day, the photos would all be different because each day isn’t the same.
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Cute Surprise in the Compost!

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You’re probably wondering what kind of cute surprise would be in our compost pile. Normally if there’s any type of surprise in the compost pile, it’s most likely something that doesn’t smell too good, or something unrecognizable… or even something you really don’t even really want to know what it is. Finding a cute surprise in the compost very rarely ever happens… but last weekend was an exception. When we were adding compost to the garden, Michael scooped up some compost and out tumbled 3 cute little baby cottontail bunnies… poor things! We picked them up and put them in a box to keep them safe from the cats and dog, and also so we wouldn’t run over them with the tractor.


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No Rest, All Play!

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Last Saturday was so beautiful! It was sunny, warm, very little wind… just perfect! It was one of those days where you wanted to just spend the entire day outside just resting, relaxing and soaking up the sun. Of course, around here, there’s always something to do or something that needs to be done that it’s hard to go outside and just do nothing. And Saturday was definitely one of those days! We all headed out with plans of just sitting but we found plenty of things to do to keep us busy…


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We Did It, We Survived the Winter!

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Summer before last we decided that we needed to get a fish or two to keep in the stock tank. I remember putting a few goldfish in a stock tank when I was a kid and enjoyed watching them grow big. I figured my kids would enjoy that too. So one day after chores were done, we headed out of town for a day of fun. On our way home, we stopped by the pet shop and the kids picked out a couple of koi. We brought them home and added them to the stock tank by the barn. One did really well and the other didn’t survive the summer for some reason.

The following winter was a tough one; there were endless days of freezing temps and more snowfall than normal. We were feeding a couple pigs that winter, so we got two de-icers, one for the tank out by the pigs and one for the tank by the barn where the goats stayed. The wiring in our barn is really old, and so the breakers couldn’t handle the amount of electricity both de-icers used. We had to move the goats out to the shelter by the pigs so they could all use the one tank. Unfortunately that meant the tank that had our little fish in it froze over. There was a period of several weeks where the temps were so cold and the ice froze so thick that it was impossible to break it. We all worried about our little fish and hoped he’d make it even though it seemed his chances weren’t good.
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