This week around the homestead in pics

Mother's Day Project

A couple of weeks ago we saw an ad on Facebook for a free deck. A friend of ours dismantled it and dropped it off to us.
Today, we were able to make 5 raised beds out of it and put a small deck on the front of the house. We used the deck boards over our pallet one we had temporarily put up. I forgot to take a pic of the deck in progress but will add one later on.

The last one shows the raised beds by my garden area. We started to till the garden but our new tiller sounds like it has carborator issues.
One great surprise were the chives growing in my garden!!

I was able to find the last flowers for my memory garden!

I planted these for my Great-Grammie Lyons as her name was Viola.
Also as my Mother's Day gift is a blueberry bush and some strawberry plants which we will be planting in the small raised bed.
Dom's girlfriend Sarina brought over a Mother's Day gift for me. It is the sweetest cookie jar!

Flower Beds

Today we finished putting mulch on the flower beds. The flower bed in front of the living room window im not sure what im doing yet. I have the Rhodendrun planted there but is also has something that looks like Ivy through it. I need to find some shady perennials to put in there.
Here are the 2 flower beds.

Here's the lilac we just planted.

Farm Update

So our newest addition Coconut passed away a few weeks ago.  He died unexpectedly and we were all heart broken over it. Eventually we will get a couple more sheep once we,ve added onto the barn.

This past week we purchased 3 ducklings. We have not named them yet but here they are.

I noticed this morning one of them has a boo boo on their eye. Can anyone tell me how to help this? I washed it out and put a warm compress on it.

I finally put up a nesting box in the chicken coop and we built a run out of pool frame.
The girls laid most of the eggs in the nesting box and there were 3 in the bottom of the coop.

I absolutely love gathering eggs with the apron my Aunt Ginny crocheted.

This week we will be tilling the garden. We planted a purple rose bush and a pink rose bush in one of the flower beds put front.
We also planted a lilac bush that i am going to put a tomato cage around so the boys do not crush it.
My garlic is starting to grow that I planted.

If you have facebook, I have a page where I post pics. Http://www.facebook.com/wylddreamfarm

New Addition to the Homestead

I would like to introduce everyone to Coconut. We bought him from the same farmer where we bought Cecilia.
We put him in the barn with the goats and am hoping Oreo adjusts to him.
 Cecilia and Oreo were already in bed for the night when we put Coconut in the barn with them. When I checked on them an hour later it was quiet in there. Cecilia was with Coconut before so they will be fine.
 We are going to seperate their fencing for now, to give Oreo time to adjust during the day.
I am impressed with how soft Coconut is as this is my first time really petting a sheep. Tomorrow I need to go get a comb for him.
Here he is!

Farming is NOT always cuteness and fun

This past week has been a VERY hard week here at the homestead. I have learned no matter how hard you try saving an animal's life, sometimes saving them means putting them down. I learned my area has NO vet that cares for livestock but I am very thankful for Exeter Vet for calling me back and explaining how to try and save a life over the phone.
I'm also thankful for Melissa Kearns and her husband Jimmy. Melissa help for 6 hours with Milkshake and her husband Jimmy put Milkshake down for me when we were unsuccessful in helping her.
My goat Milkshake had delivered a baby Thursday morning.  She was still in labor during the day so I had kept checking on her. I had noticed the new baby girl wasnt up moving around much so i brought her inside thinking maybe it's too chilly for a kid. Around 3 I went back outside with one of my boys to check on Milkshake. This time i noticed only 1 hoof was out so I knew something must be wrong. I thought maybe the kid was breach. I washed up and tried finding the other hoof and couldnt. I called Melissa and asked her to come help Milkshakr seemed under distress. We phoned A LOT of vets and found out I have 2 options Exeter Vet (which I had called and was waiting for a call back) as well as Foxcroft Vet. Meanwhile, the new kid was not doing well so Mel and I drove to Blue Seal to get Colostrum supplement and a bottle. The Vet had called and explained tobus how to try and get the kid out that he knew had already died.
Earlier I had phoned my cousin and even video chatted with her on Messenger and she told me it didnt look good and what she thought was wrong. The kid's head was all the way back and not facing forward. The vet had the same conclusion.
I even had a nice woman from Louisiana talking Mel and I through how to get this kid out and save Milkshake.
In the process we figured out there were 2 kids in there and they were tangled together. At 10:30 thursday night I decided to have Mel's husband Jimmy put Milkshake down. That has to be the hardest decision I have ever made. Milkshake typically wasnt the type to let you get too close but Thursday I held her in my arms and said goodbye to her. We all did everything we could to save her.
For 2 days Oreo was completly lost without his girl. He would not stay in the barn. He kept kicking the door open to stay in the fence and cried. I think I cried as much as he did.
Friday and Saturday i searched like crazy for a new friend for Oreo. I was going to get a wether for him but there were mixed reviews how he would do with another male. The females I found were 2 - 2 1/2 hours away from me. I messaged one of my aunts and she out me in touch with one of my Great Uncle's relatives in Kingman and we found a new wife for Oreo. My friend Hannah was sweet enough to drive me to Kingman to the Lancaster's farm. I gave her the honor of naming our new gal and her name is Cecilia. Oreo is one happy gent and Cecilia is adjusting well here. So far she enjoys watching traffic go by on Stillwater Ave and if a bird is singing loudly or fly over Cecilia is sure to talk to them.
Below is the pic of the baby that didnt make it and my last photo of Milkshake and her new baby. Also you will see Cecilia with Oreo.

Cute Pics