New Farm Hand

We have hired a new farm hand to help Emily out with all the animals.  Wyatt Henry was born at 7:32 am on Wednesday, June 1, 2011.  He weighed 7 lbs and 11 oz and was 21 inches long.  He is doing fabulous!!

Moooo

Finally got around to getting pictures of the cows...we have some nice fat black Angus.  Emily actually has a calf now so whenever the heifer is old enough Em can either show her calves or sell them and put it in her savings for  whatever may come up in the future.

WW: Horses, Horses, Horses

Ding-a-ling-a-lang...o.k., most of you probably won't get that but it is from a movie.  These are our horses that are patiently waiting for me to have this baby and get back in the saddle.

New Additions

This past week Hank went up to Morehead State University and bought five little pigs.  We had been discussing further diversification of the farm and he finally talked me into hogs.  Why did I give in so easy?  I have no clue but here we go.  Sheep, cattle and now hogs.  We actually bought four while Emily bought one for herself using her egg money.  We are already trying to teach her how to manage animals as well as money and if we are really lucky her savings account will be big enough that when she is ready she will be about to buy her first car, pay for college and maybe a good down payment on her first home! LOL  Well one can dream right?  So when Hank came home with the pigs we asked Emily which one she wanted and sure enough the child picked the best one of the bunch...a nice black Hampshire that she promptly named Pinkie.

Now those are some pigs....well I think they are nice even though I wasn't too sure about them to begin with.

Finally

We finally had enough good days in a row to get our garden out.  Emily had a blast helping Daddy and me get the garden planted.  She had to go barefooted which doesn't bother me one bit...till bath time. LOL  But what real country girl wears shoes to walk through and plant potatoes?  Here are some of the shots that I took....

First things first is that you need to measure out your rows.

Then after a little instruction Emily set to planting the onions.

Then good old Dad cut up some taters to plant...There is something wonderful about a farmer's hands.

Planting some more...

So far we have onions, potatoes, green beans, cabbage and tomatoes.  It has started raining again so as soon as it stops we are gonna try to get some watermelon and cantaloupe as well as some corn and another few rows of green beans.

WW: Real Farm Girls

Don't wear shoes!!

Mother's Day

I never really thought too hard about this day before, got my Mom a card and all that, but never really put a whole lot of thought about it for myself.  My sister last week reminded me what people believe Mother's should feel about Mother's Day.  She asked me if it was this weekend and I thought real hard and said, "Ya know, I have no idea when Mother's Day is."  Her response to that was, "How do you NOT know when Mother's Day is...You are a Mother?!"  To tell you the truth I just never think about it.  I do what I do because I absolutely adore my kids.  Yes, I said kids.  The one I have given birth too, the one that was given to me through marriage and the one that has yet to be born (about three weeks to go).

A beautiful mother and farmer's wife put it very well how most, I believe, of us farmer's wives feel.  Emily from Confessions of a Farm Wife talks about how this is one of the most inconvenient times for farmers to have to stop everything they are doing that effects our livelihood in order to celebrate some of these particular holidays and how we have a tendency to rain-check them.

This Mother's Day weekend I have been helping my farmer clean and build hog pens in preparation of some little piggies coming in next week.  I don't feel that I am being slighted in any way.  I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing as a mother, preparing a better life for my children.  I also hope to show my kids that I didn't have them so they could recognize how wonderful I am once a year.  Even the not so great Mom's get a mother's day card.  All I want his healthy, happy, and productive children which I guess makes me low maintenance in some people's eyes but I like it that way.  I don't need jewelry or a day away from my kids...on the contrary I don't enjoy time away from my kids and I would much rather be working on the farm as a family then sitting at a spa getting a massage and facial.

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Sunday was a fabulous day.  The sun was shining and the lambs were bouncing around in the field...so over all a perfect spring day!

i ♥ faces Shadows

It seems so mundane because it is something we do every day but when looking at it like this I think it is kinda neat.  Hank's shadow as he fills the water troughs for the sheep.

Timmy

This is Emily's favorite lamb and she has named him Timmy. I believe that she may show him this year. It will be her first time showing and I would like her to just get used to walking the lambs around with other people watching.  She has been a little shy since she was born and I would like her to come out of her shell. We will see if this works....

WW: Hee Haw

Meet the donkeys...Ester is looking at ya and Hester is in the background. We actually have a third donk named Sally but she was being a little camera shy that day.

Farming While Pregnant

I think this should be forbidden! LOL  This is a fairly new experience for me because I somehow got out of everything when pregnant with Emily.  How different people think when you are on your second calf.  It is funny that now-a-days people think it is a sin to move or basically do any manual labor while pregnant when not too many years ago women would work in the fields right up to when that kid popped out.  The past few weeks we have been really busy...cleaning up after a storm, having lambs and mending fences.  There was a point after walking up a hill for maybe the millionth time with a 2 year old tagging along that I thought, do people really do this anymore?  I would venture a guess and say there are very few of us.

i ♥ faces Slice of Life

Emily's Wish List

Yesterday Hank and Emily went over to Shelbyville to pay for some repairs that needed to be made to the tractor.  They were so happy to see each other....

And while there, Hank Emily made a little wish list!

I believe that I can safely say that the big new cab tractor will not happen any time soon. (Well, maybe if Hank wins the lottery)

The Triplets!

The Madness Has Begun...

Well, it is that time of year again....lambing season.  Let me tell you that Emily is straight up having the time of her life!!  So many bouncy little things to play with!

So far we have had two singles, four sets of twins and a set of triplets.

We are so proud of our 185% lamb crop with a 100% survival rate! Yay

They are all doing well so far (knock on wood) and seem to be pretty hardy and healthy.  Having to put up with Emily hugging all over them they are doing very well.

After they are born we weigh them, tag them, band their tails and if they are a boy we band them...lets just say "elsewhere".

You can see our biggest lamb, Timmy, peeking out of the bucket that is hung from a scale so we can get a fairly accurate reading on their birth weight. 

He is actually our biggest so far weighing in at a whopping 18 lbs.

After getting everyone settled in Emily and Hank climbed up into the hay to through some down for the ol girls.

And how else would a two year old get down?

But to take a flying leap off the bales into Uncle Nick's waiting arms.

Thank goodness he is a good catch! LOL

All is well and everyone is happy here on the farm.  More pictures and updates to come as more of our ewes lamb out.