New kittens!

Mama kitty had 4 kittens today (I think she's done). She had 3 this morning and then 1 in the late afternoon. From left to right: black and white, the first one born; all black; orange and white, the last one born; and tan.

Look at those horns!

We've learned, and observed, that the horns on the males grow forward and the horns on the females grow up. The males use their horns for fighting so it makes sense that when they put their heads down, their horns are ready for gorging. Luckily, there's no cause for battle (perhaps a little rough housing) on the farm and they all use their horns for scratching themselves and each other.

Mixing the herd

We moved 7 of the holsteins in with the scottish highlander's this past weekend. Last summer/fall they lived in the same pasture separated by a fence but now there are no boundaries. You can see 2 of them checking each other out, but, on the whole it was pretty uneventful and they choose not to co-mingle.

Are you my mother?

That was one of my girls' favorite childrens books. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this picture. We have our first batch of chicks keeping warm under heat lamps.

Merriweather

When Merriweather arrived on the farm, she had 3 small spots. Now look at her back...she's covered! She just pulled her head out of the feeding trough for this picture...her nose is covered in grain.

The three litte pigs

Yes, we finally have pigs! Paul and Erin went to Cheney's farm a couple of weeks ago and brought home these adorable babies. Because we thought they were all girls, Sarah named them after the 3 fairy godmother's in Sleeping Beauty - Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather. However, we soon found out that one pig didn't pee like the rest, so now they are Florian (a boy), Fuana, and Merriweather. They are slowly becoming more friendly and curious. Merriweather is the only one with spots. They will be eating a lot of eggs!

Happy Anniversary!

The Egg Man suprised the Egg Woman with this beautiful bouquet of flowers on Wednesday. It was our 19th wedding anniversary (but we've known each other for 27 years). Gerber daisies are my favorite!

Hens on the run

The hens love this warm weather. They are all over...in the front yard, in the back yard, in the pine trees, in my in-laws yard, down the drive way, in the garden, and around the barn. Hens, hens, hens, everywhere you look. Their favorite thing to do is to find a spot of dirt (like a flower bed) where they can scratch and roll. They use their wings to throw dirt up onto their backs. They remind me of Pig Pen from Charlie Brown. We bought some poultry netting to put up around their coop to keep them somewhat contained. You can imagine all the presents 100+ hens leave behind. Not good.

June chickens are sold out

Mark the weekend of June 5th to pickup your fresh chickens.

Please use the order form on our website at www.theeggmanstore.com to place your orders for July - October.

If there are any fellow runners out there, I just signed up myself, Sarah and Erin to run in the Chicago Rock-n-Roll half marathon on August 1st. I'm learning ChiRunning which is helping me tremendously! Rock on!!

Another lazy day...

From left to right: Knickerbocker, mini-Knickerbocker, and Lenny.

Knickerbocker and mini-Knickerbocker are brothers but not from the same litter. Lenny is a cousin. Lenny is my favorite cat. He doesn't like to be held but he's very affectionate. He likes to lick toes which is why the girls don't like him. We named him Lenny after the character in 'Of mice and men'. Lenny seems a bit slow but I think that makes him even more endearing.

Time to order chickens

We are taking orders for June chickens. Please fill out the order form on our website to place your order (www.theeggmanstore.com). We are almost sold out for June so don't procrastinate! You can also place your orders for July-October. We will post the June pick-up day soon. We ask (beg!) that you pick up your chickens on the day they are processed because we don't have the freezer room to store them.

...your worst nightmare was staring at you

This poor chipmunk was trapped in this crab apple tree for hours today. Garfield, the cat in the tree, kept a close vigil at the base of the tree after we chased him down. It was a windy day so the chipmunk was swaying on that branch holding on for dear life...back and forth. And Garfield wasn't the only one watching...there were at least 3 other cats and Lily (the dog). It had a happy ending though, the chipmunk finally did escape.

You would look like this too if....

Signs of spring...

Strawberry shoot (and last years weeds)

Lilac buds

Moo is looking for a home

Poor Moo kitty. He was born here but adopted as a kitten. After living indoors for many months his owner moved to a new apartment that didn't accept pets. Moo is an outsider, he has not been welcomed home with open paws. He sleeps by himself, eats by himself on a ledge, and he spends hours sitting on a windowsill looking in the house. He hasn't been neutered yet and I don't know if he has had any shots. We've brought him in the house to visit and he jumps on counters when no one is looking so he needs some manners. But he is litter box trained and very affectionate. We all feel so sad for him and hope that he can find a new owner where he can be indoors again. Please tell all your friends about Moo kitty. Thank you!

Who let the cows out?

Lesson learned: Do not go to an all-day volleyball tournament before feeding the cattle...they will break out of their fence in search of food. We had to get up at 6am for the tournament. Who wants to get up at 5am to feed the cows? Obviously, not us. Oops. We were about 10 miles from home saturday afternoon when we got a call from Paul's mother asking if our cows should be in her backyard. Hmmm...no. Then we got a call from Paul's sister-in-law telling us that our cows were in the road. Hmmm...not good. Luckily it was just the holsteins and not the highlanders. In the time it took us to get home, Larry and Debbie had the cows back in our barn (advantage of living next to fellow farmers). Thanks neighbors!!

Knickerbocker

Knickerbocker was from our first litter of kittens last summer (2009). He became a favorite right away and was never put up for adoption. He's the alpha male cat on the farm, though he was recently neutered so I expect to see a decline in his dominating demeanor. He's very curious and always keeping a close eye on any outdoor activity. In this picture, he was watching the girls play in the snow.

I'M BACK!!

Yes, it has been awhile! Ever since my daughter lost our digital camera last summer I have felt speechless without photographs. We still haven't replaced the camera (she is slowly saving to buy us a new one) but I'm ready to resume my blogging.
I left you last July, in the heat of the summer, before the burst of the garden and the arrival of the turkeys. We lost most of our tomates to some kind of rot. Truly, it was a relief not to have to pick and can them all. We were burned out by harvest time. We raised about 500 meat chickens last summer...that was more than double the year before. We are going to try a new approach this summer and raise smaller batches. We also have to raise our price because we barely broke even and there's way too much work involved to do it for free!
I'm happy to say the turkeys didn't leave me in tears last Thanksgiving. I kept my distance, emotionally, and we had them processed by a USDA facility. This year we hope to put up a pasture for the turkeys so they have more room and so we don't have to move them every day.
I hope you'll stick around as we begin our third season on the farm. We're hoping to make a profit this year!