Once a Mom .......

Once a Mom, always a Mom.  Spice, our Australian Shepherd is now retired.  In her youth she was an awesome stockdog.  In our busiest years, when we were calving out 800 cows and heifers, she was my best right hand man.  She worked tirelessly moving cows, guarding gates and doing my every bidding.  Now that we have sheep and goats, she doesn't get as much work.  Which is good, because she is eleven, and her old body is worn out.  She still comes out to do chores everyday and keeps everyone in line at the barn.  However, she is softening in her old age.  She never liked the cats around her, and still chases them away from the dog food dishes.  Yesterday morning I caught her enjoying some early morning sun in the barn doorway, cuddling a barn kitten.  She was letting it crawl over her and play with her just like she used to let her puppies do to her.

Grandkids

The grandkids made it on the front cover of the Whitewood Herald this week.  Don't you agree that they are the cutest kids ever?

Predatory Goats

We shipped the bucklings on Friday along with a load of lambs and cull ewes to the Yorkton auction.  The 3/4 ton truck and trailer were loaded down with animals and 5 large wool sacks.  I wasn't at the sale so I have wait to get the cheque in the mail to see how we did for price. 

The goats have decided that they can push the steer off his grain when he's eating.  I can't wait until we have the goat pen done to lock up these pushy does.  They are sneaky.  They watch you until you turn your back, then they slide in and take whatever they want.  I don't think I've ever met a smarter animal.  So, anyways, I have to stand over the steer and guard him so he can eat in peace.  Those goats can hear the chop bin open from 500 yards away, so I'm going to have to get creative.

Wally is smiling

Lyle's Dad Wally is smiling down on us today.  He loved having the grandkids helping in the garden when we were harvesting potatoes and carrots.  Today we picked the pumpkins and squashes as it's going to freeze tonight.  Jenn and the kids helped Lyle and I pick the pumpkins.  The pictures below show about 1/3 of the pumpkins we grew. 

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Visit from the nursing home

Today we had a visit from some of the residents of the Whitewood nursing home.  Bandit was a big hit as was Reggie the deer.  There were happy people with big smiles all around.  Bandit went from person to person, putting her head on laps, looking up sorrowfully, asking to be petted.  For such a large dog she is surprisingly gentle.  She has been invited to visit the nursing home as a therapy dog.  We might just take them up on their offer.  Rebecca and Julia brought a lamb, a chicken  and the goats for a visit as well.  After the animals left we all had cookies and hot chocolate.  The residents left happy and contented with a healthy glow to their cheeks.

Grinding Pig Feed

The chop bin is empty so Lyle had to grind a load of barley for the pigs and chickens  He redid the motor on this tractor last year and this is the first work that she's done since then.  She just purred along.

FIrst Day of School

The kids went back to school last Tuesday, and as I have done every year, I take a first day of school picture.  Three more years of pictures and then they're all gone.

Fallen Apples

I got these fallen apples from a friend and all the animals enjoyed them.

Mabel and the rest of the goats

Java and Hannah's two minis

feeder pigs

and the breeding pigs.

With this many mouths to feed, not much goes to waste!

Roadside Stand

I now have the roadside stand up and running, and while business has not been brisk, it has been fairly busy.  The push is on now to pick and sell as much as we can before frost.

These were my first browsers the other morning.  Just checking my stand out to see what we have on offer.

Red Barn

We're finally done the Red Barn for the year.  It was a good year, but I'm tired, so it's a good thing that we're done for the year. We made more new customers for which I am very happy about. So now we"re at Yorkton on Thursdays, Whitewood on Fridays and the farm stand is open every other day.

Cucumbers!

We have been picking cucumbers every day and this is the normal picking  I have never had them produce that way.  Everything has sold so far ( except for the uglies that go to the pigs) but now it's time for me to start doing pickles for us.  Hopefully the frost holds off for a few weeks.  We had a warning two nights ago but nothing materialized.  Keeping fingers crossed, we need to make up for the late start this spring!

Last Saturday my friend Delores took me cranberry picking.  I had no idea there were any around here, but in a bog 6 miles from Whitewood we picked 10 gallons in about 2 hours.  Going to juice them today and start making jelly.