March 20th -April 9th

So I had this brilliant idea last month to just come and make a bulleted point list of the main events of each day. Well this plan stopped much sooner than planned because Renee (whose fast computer I was using) left, plus farm life gets crazy and busy. So this is just the bulleted day by day agenda. I'm sorry if it a tad dull..... and a month late.
Sunday 20th : Renee, Nichole and I went to the Valley of Fire (pictures are on my last post) It was a lot of fun! We went off the beaten trail and just climbed other rocks and posed and had a blast. My favorite part about the Valley of Fire (especially Mouse's Tank trail) is the hollows in the rocks that you can fit in and are just such a perfect frame for people.
When we got back around 5:30 pm we were in time to see a Bee Swarm. Bees will swarm when they feel the hive is getting to crowded. So they have a rebellion and 1/2 fly off with the new queen. (picture of this is also on last blog.... maybe it isn't on the blog but it is in the link.) Since they were all just clustered on the tree Monte decided to create a new hive before he lost them. So we got to help. He gave us each a bee suite...(Bees can sting through this on occasion) well Nichole's suite was really only 1/2 a suite . None of us got stung. We then sprayed or misted the bees with water. This made them fall off the tree and into the new bee box Monte had placed under the tree.
Monday 21st: We had some chilly windy rainy weather. The wind blew over our chick coop....(a car-port tent kind of thing that has been turned into the chick coop.)... and scattered our chicks all over the place. Then it rained on them. Chicks have to be kept a certain temperature or else they will catch hypothermia and die. We lost almost 1/2. So I pulled out my blow-dryer to try to dry more of them off quicker. Blow-dryers are amazing inventions. Who would ever have thunk that it is really a farm tool? We also weeded a whole high tunnel (the one the most full of weeds.) We also did some rabbit processing, or at least Monte did. I just watched. That night I got to taste my first rabbit. SO YUMMY!
Tuesday 22nd: Missy had a rotting baby. The baby had been inside her for a week. She smelled pretty nasty. Missy always looks like she is pregnant when she's not; so when she is pregnant she looks more like Noah's Ark. Because she is always so big the baby didn't feel like it was cramped enough to come out.
Wednesday 23rd: Harvest day. I caught a bit of a cold. Chewy had a little baby we named Snowball.
Thursday 24th: Pulled up 3 rows of cabbage and accidentally some radish plants.
Friday 25th: pulled big weeds around Grape vines.... getting ready for Shareholder breakfast
www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Events/quail-hollow-farm-csa-pictures/16357080_KM983#1234274760_JoeFQ
Saturday 26th: Shareholder Breakfast! Snowball died
Sunday 27th: Had to burn the horns off of the baby girls... and banding the boys (they will not be bred goats.) :(

Monday 28th: 7 rows of tilled and planted with tomatoes... I saw Mystere again this time with Nicole and Renee, sat in sound booth.

Tuesday 29th: carrots, shade cover, water high tunnles, emptied 3 more rows and got all of A tilled.
Wednesday 30th: Harvest Day
Thursday 31st: Planted 3 more rows of tomatoes
Friday 1st: April Fools.... supposed to be a light day of work ended up WEEDING ALL DAY! sore. 3 blisters. Exhausted
Saturday 2nd: General Conference.. Went shooting after the first session, shot a 22 riffle and 22 pistol. Britches had 5 babies. Missy had another rotting baby.
Sunday 3rd: went to Cedar city Zina had 2 babies

Monday 4th: Harvested Carrots, Asparagus, drip lines.

Tuesday 5th: set up area for fair display, picked 4 green bins of spinach, washed and bagged carrots.
Wednesday 6th: Harvest Day
Thursday 7th: First day of the Clark County FAIR!! I had heard so much about it and there wasn't anything that special about it. Us Interns manned the booth in the Small animal pavilion all day. All of Overton and Logandale shut down completely when it's fair time.
Friday 8th: Manned the fair booth again for 1/2 the day.
Saturday 9th: Renee left for good. :( I took the A.C.T. :-/ We got Hail, wind, and rain, so all hands were called on deck to man the booth since tons of people had flooded into the building to get out of the weather. Saw the rodeo that night. I don't think I'm much of a rodeo person.
We have sold all but 4 of the 13 baby goats. We are only keeping Nellie, Mimi, Beth, and Pierre (Zina's baby is all white except for his head which is black. He has floppy ears that are black in the center then fade into gray. He also has a white streak down his nose. He will be dinner is a couple of months most likely.)

Pictures of my baby goats!

Renee (has put these same pictures on flickr. The link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/60936261@N08/5548717492/in/set-72157626197065217/ So to see everything you'll have to check out this link. Renee is AWESOME by the way. And is being generous with her Mac computer. )


This is my chicken coop that I painted. It has a little lella-farmer boy and girl, two chickens, and a pig. (I tell you this on the slight chance that you can't figure out what they are.) I was painting this the Saturday that our first baby goats were born. I believe I mentioned this in my last blog post.

These are my babies crowding around to get the bottle. The names of the babies from left to right are Lambie (has the bottle) Mimi or Poopie ( I can't tell because it's head is down but I think it is Mimi.) Beth and then Nellie (standing up with front legs on mine.) Aren't they adorable?






These two are my babies because these were the ones I witnessed the births.The one giving me the kiss is Poopie (my favorite) and then the other is Mimi.








This is Nellie giving me a kiss.




This is Beth. Wickam looks just like her.
This last Sunday afternoon us interns and wwoofer went to the Valley of Fire (Mouses Tank trail.... way off the beaten trail and explored the surrounding rocks.) This is just one picture of the Valley of Fire adventure. I will write more about this weeks adventures a little later.

6 Wonderful New Things

Guess what I was able to witness last Saturday..... having a hard time guessing?

I'll give you a clue. It's something I have been looking forward to since I arrived last year. Still can't guess?

Clue #2.... it is one of my FAVORITE aspects of the farm. Nothing coming to mind?

Clue #3... this thing that I witnessed breathes, jumps, and makes noise when it's hungry.

BABY GOATS being born!!!!!!! I saw two little babies... the whole process. It was amazing. Mother goats know what they need to do and are able to do it.

To make this story even more impressive (not that it really needs more added to be so) Laura and Monte were gone. It was just me and Renee Johnston (the new wwoofer). We had been left with a number that we could call if there was issues with the birth. We didn't need to. These two that I saw born are super cute White and black babies. One boy and one girl. The boy has floppy ears and the girls are straight up the way Monte likes them. I was a little worried about the little boy when he was being born. Because Sweetie (his mother) tried having him on the fence. I pulled her away and all went well. He came out and she started licking the sack off of him. After he was sufficiently clean, she began going into labor with the second one... and she rolled on top of her first baby twice.... accidentally. Me and Renee were super worried about him because he wasn't standing as soon as he should have. The second one kept trying to stand while her mother was still licking the sack off. Now don't fret both babies are now doing just fine and running and jumping. The little girl is named Mimi, and the little boy has been named Poopie. The story of his name will follow later.

That same night after I had finished evening chores I noticed that Missy was starting to go in to labor, however she wasn't making any noise like Sweetie had been so I went up to filter the milk. The next morning we came down and she had had a floppy eared fawn colored little boy. We've named him Lambie because he looks a lot like a little lamb...plus it's kind of funny having a goat with that name. Renee named him.

While I was at church on Sunday Lizzie had triplets. One boy and two girls. Two of them are all white, and the last is mostly white with a little bit of grayish brownish coloring on her back, she also has black around her eyes and is super pretty. I named her Nellie. Her sister is Beth or Bethie, and the other one I named Wickam (this is because his mother's name is Lizzy and I was wanting to name him Darcy, but then Monte said "Oh good then we can process him all the sooner." So I decided he couldn't be Darcy.)

So now we have 6 babies that we feed every morning and evening. They are as cute as can be. And we are expecting at least 3 or 4 more goats to kid sometime this week.

Well now you are probably wondering what is the story behind Poopie's name. Well last sunday I was holding him and talking with Monte. All of a sudden I looked down and realized that I was covered in baby goat poop. And since his little digestive system wasn't fully in gear yet, it was not the usual round firm goat poop it was more like diarrhea. Super NASTY! Monte just started laughing because I just looked at. I didn't scream or really react at all (I was in a little shock). He then said "Living the life... you're a true farm girl now." I don't mind being called a true farm girl but I wish the circumstances had been a little different. Ever since that moment the little floppy eared black and white goat has been called Poopie.

There are two other girls here right now. You already know of Renee Johnston (the wwoofer)...she is from Northern Nevada, is 23 and is super nice.

My roommate is Nicole Ball (a good friend from Idaho.) She is 20 and is amazing.

On Thursday the 10th we also planted 178 tomato plants this week with a lot of help from Renee and Nicole. There is a long story to go with this... so sit down and prepare to enjoy the tale. Laura and Monte were making deliveries in Vegas and we were given the instructions to hoe all the weeds in these two rows which are in one of the high tunnels, after hoeing we were to loosen all the earth so that it would be plant-able with a rake. The high tunnels become more like a sweat house and are unbearable to work in. So we decided it would be torture to rake the earth until it would be loose enough to plant in. So we went and looked at the hand tiller (Nicole was able to identify each lever and stick thing.... thanks to working on a farm forever.) We called Monte and asked if we could use it. He said we could if we could keep it in control and make straight rows, and not poke holes in the plastic, He also said that he sometimes had a hard time keeping it in control, and he wasn't sure we could handle it. But we did. I kept it straight in the front and Nicole moved the little levers and walked behind it. We did a good job too. then we planted all those tomatoes that I mentioned earlier.

Friday the 11th we painted all of the chicken coops (4) red and white. All except for one side of one of the coops which I painted on Saturday with a leladelle farmer and wife with chickens and a pig. I will post a picture eventually.

This week....

We planted another high tunnel of tomatoes. I didn't count this time. It was however 3 rows.

On Thursday... us interns and wwoofer went into Cedar City. Nicole and I went and listened to a lecture at George Wythe University that was AMAZING!!!!!! I don't have the time right now to go into details about it. I also was able to visit with my sister and read her senior paper that tied so well with the lecture I had heard before. Her paper is super good.. and just what I needed to read.

On Saturday we made sauerkraut and goat's milk soap.

Today we went to The Valley Of Fire and took lots of pictures that I will post as soon as I get them. I can't really remember any other details of this week and I have to get to bed soon.

Good night

ttfn