2008 - A Year In Review

Last year held many blessings, and many challenges for us. Overall, 2008 was really a good year!

Several new beginnings happened here, starting with the addition of our flock of chickens. We started with a few dozen hens last January, and added several more chickens to our flock throughout the year. Just for fun, three roosters joined our flock this summer - two Cuckoo Maran brothers named "Luke" and "Duke", and one handsome Blue Maran boy named "Nike". In November, we boldly added 50 new Red Sexlink chicks to our flock; we look forward to them starting to lay eggs this coming April. As of December 31, 2008, our little flock had grown to 86 chickens!

In the Summer of 2008, we were adopted by a white dove we named "Dovey". One day, while helping a neighbor next door, a white dove flew up to us. He was obviously a flight-raised bird that had lost his way and was seeking help from us (white doves do not survive well in the wild). When we were not able to locate his originating home, we took Dovey in as part of our family. Dovey has now been gallantly outfitted with a large walk-in flight in our backyard and a new "family" of over 20 other doves to keep him company. We truly enjoy these beautiful birds and their soothing sounds.

As the year progressed, we were joined by three more Nubian dairy goats from our friends at Four Mile Farm - Ashlee, Glory, and Seven Up. With the addition of Glory who was already "in milk", we started milking (by hand) regularly in late summer and were able to store up enough milk to keep us happy thru the winter. In December, we bought three more Nubian girls from our new friends at Fat Bottom Farm - Raggedy Anne, Solstice, and Frosty. We are blessed to have a beautiful herd of Nubian goats which now includes 12 does and 3 bucks. We are expecting kids from 10 of our does in the Spring!

Speaking of kids - yes, we had babies in 2008. We had 8 goat kids, 3 llama crias, and 4 Scottish Highland calves in addition to several small hatches of ducklings during the Summer. We were also blessed to have multiple litters of Great Pyrenees puppies - including a miraculous litter from our matriarch guardian dog, Trina. We met a lot of really great people who chose to give our kids, cria and pups homes! We have made some wonderful new friends this year. :)

The past year was not without challenges! We had the range of "normal" issues facing most ranches with fence and equipment repairs, rising feed and hay prices, and various livestock concerns.

One of our most noteworthy memories was when our trusty old ranch truck, Big Red, took its final drive in May. While we were en route to pick up our bull, Casper, from the collection center in Taylor, Big Red (with trailer in tow) gave up the ghost and blew a head gasket. We were truly lucky that Big Red's demise occurred right in front of a Ford dealership. Thanks to the generosity of the dealership, we were able to borrow a truck to get our trailer home and to go on to complete our ranch business that weekend. Even better, they ended up having just the right used truck sitting on the back lot just waiting for us! We are now the very happy owners of "The Great White Titan", a 2000 Ford F-250 Triton with much needed 4-wheel drive!

Once again, we faced a very dry year with our area remaining in severe drought. There was little to no grass in the pasture, no water in the creek, hay prices on the rise, and dirt from our very dry pastures blowing away in the hot breezes. At the end of the year, our records showed a total rainfall on our ranch of approximately 7 inches; that is less than half of what the neighboring Austin-area got and markedly below the average for this area. We continue to pray for some timely rainfall in the new year. We remain very thankful for our faithful hay providers!

There is obviously much remaining unsaid about the many events of 2008. It is time to look forward now to the new year ahead! We have so much to be truly thankful for, and we look forward to the opportunities and challenges the new year is destined to bring.