Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Starting the Garden


This past weekend, we got started on our garden for this year. We use these cool growing boxes called an EarthBox for some of our vegetables. Because of the way these boxes allow the soil to wick water from the contained reservoir, the vegetables can thrive in small spaces.

So far, we have started broccoli, strawberries, and two kinds of lettuce. Soon, we plan to plant several kinds of squash, beans, melons, tomatoes, and maybe corn.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Off They Go

2008 Heifers
On Saturday, our last three calves from the 2008 season left the ranch to go to their new home in New Mexico. We are thrilled that they will have a loving home with McNeese family!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Night of Storms

Like much of Texas and Oklahoma, our area was hit by fierce storms last night. As the storm neared and the weather radio began to issue warnings, we headed outside to make sure everything and everyone was secured. The storm came on in a fury!

As we walked out the door, a sudden increase in wind nearly pulled us off the porch. We raced to the kidding pen to move Seven Up and baby Lady Hawk into the safety of our livestock trailer. Just as we got them relocated, along with their food and water, the wind and driving rain hit full force.

The winds, reportedly gusting near 60 mph, collapsed the cover on the chicken pen - right on top of the roosting chickens! We were able to hold up the fallen cover long enough to get all the chickens off the perch so they could get to safety. Then, as the hail started, we were able to catch and safely relocate all the chickens into the hen house.

We are happy to report all of our animals are fine this morning. At dawn, we worked quickly to reconstruct the covers on both the large chicken coop and on the kidding pen. Seven Up and Lady Hawk are now happily basking in the sun in the kidding pen. The chickens are once again roaming the ranch like nothing much happened. All is well. Thank the Lord!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

First Kid of 2009

Lady Hawk
Just as the sun was going down and the full moon was rising, one of our young Nubian does, Seven Up, decided to deliver us our first kid of the year. Her baby is a beautiful, spotted doe with long frosted ears and the sweetest little face! In tribute to her father, White Hawk (of Four Mile Farm), we have named this little girl "Lady Hawk".

Keep an eye on the "Our Babies" page of our website for more pictures and updates on new kids sure to be arriving soon.