This was overhead around 3.00 today.
Arun finished the horse stall and the milking stall has its main door on and an outer wall on top of the inner wall. This is great!
We lost poor Blackfoot, the last of our named chickens. The poor old girl was with us from our last house, and this winter was very hard for her. We’ll miss you, Blackfoot. The remaining chickens are free ranging-it while the big animals take over the far fields to stretch their legs after the long rainy/snowy month behind us.
The barn continues, even as the snow does. We have three llamas, two alpacas, seven chickens and a horse sharing this space. This week, we’ll put doors on the stalls and work out a schedule for the animals. The changes are amazing.
A lot of barn work was comleted during the snow. We have only one stall pannel, the doors, and line of bars to install at this point. Each bar has to be individually installed exactly at the right length and width from the next bar, so it takes a bit to get them in.
Because of the snow, we had our wheel barrows stuck. They were full, and the llamas didn’t care. They just kept using the waste pile. Poor Arun filled the back of the truck cleaning out that barn and getting the bad hay off the ground. The truck was litterally on the bumpstops. Not a job we envy.
Arun made it out yesterday after about an hour and a half of work. The truck looks pretty covered this morning, but everyone has groceries now. Read more…
We’ve been snowed in the past day or two, so there’s been plenty of time to work on the barn. Walls went up, animals were locked in for the night, and there was even a cabinet placed in the feed area. This project is not only coming together, it’s looking great!
Nala has come to live with us. She’s about three years old and of the heavy wool llama variety. She will make a great companion for a horse or camelid in any field.
We’ve added another llama to the menagerie as a favor to a neighbor. And to the right is Brody, the gelding. So the barn progress must continue apace. Last week Arun got most of the horse stall done, and finished up the stall that will allow goats access to the near field. We’ll be using that stall as a chicken coop temporarily. Poor goats.
As this is being typed, there is work going on in the barn. No, not fireworks, but more stall partitions are going up. This is so exciting!
We’ve been busier than usual on the hillside here. We thought that we had seen the last of our castrations, but Brody proved us wrong.
Wood gathering continues, as does the barn renovation. There is no time to rake up the leaves, and apples will wait on the ground this year. It’s all for the best!!! We have to keep busy to be accomplished…We have to feel accopmlished to rest this winter. It’s better than a vicious cycle, it’s a rainbow with a pot of gold.
Mariah lets the chickens sit on her. Most people don’t bleive that she is like this, but she is a protector. She also let the baby alpacas sit on her when she was watching over them. As you can see, we are about to do the barn remodel.
Working hard to get everything together before it is cold and wet. Ray put a drainage ditch around the barn. Combined with last year’s new gutters, this should work out well to controll some of the flooding we experience each year. Kari pulled the fencing from inside the barn. We now have a large open space again. The plan is to use that lumber to make some stalls and put everything together to move some goats in. The alpacas and llamas are not surprised by the changes, but are very glad that they have more venues to watch food preperation. The chickens have no idea what’s up. This is not unusual. Read more…
We have to start brining in the llamas to the paddock at night. It’s wet and cold. The Pacific Northwest Winter is just getting started.
Stocking up for the winter in more than one way these days.
Today we had the last castration this farm will see for quite a while. Is that a milestone? Read more…