Happy Samhain

The end of harvest and the beginning of winter is upon us. But I haven't posted here since the end of August!

We had lots of critter sightings.

My trailer has lots of fun bumper stickers!

And then I got all dressed up to go to a job interview!  (Part of why posting has been infrequent)

Taking advantage of the sun to dry some diapers.

Pony face who lost her fly mask.

HUGE grasshopper!

Boop!

Kaylee started school!

Velociraptor doesn't run away like he should.

Ponyface is good with my babies.

We throw up our heels too.

I did some organization in the barn in preparation for winter. Now all of my blankets have a place to hang up!

Smartpak sells these awesome over the edge bottle holders which are perfect for off the shelf fly spray and show sheen.

And I added more places to hang up pitchforks and my shovel.

Then we tackled the arena.  It was in a sorry state with plants growing everywhere. It was a mini Alder Tree nursery. 

But we got it churned up good!

Then dragged.

Next we'll be salting it periodically to prevent plant growth.

In October we did a few shows!

We even got a ribbon!

With minimal plants in the arena, it was a fun time to pretend to be a ghost.

And love on the donkeys in your life.

Taking naps is fun.

And we decorated for Halloween.

Fall colors and rain.

And it's starting to get cold. Ice in the water trough in the mornings.

And frost.

And our first snowfall! It barely stuck and melted nearly immediately. It was mixed with rain so was a generally cruddy day.

This past weekend we made a trip to Home Depot to make shelves and cavaletti. It was a warm day!

Someone can finally sit on her own and got to sit in the grass!

Handy husband.

Halloween trick or treating!

And naps!

Life on the Farm

Gwyn's nose was getting sunburnt, so we purchased some new stuff!

Hazel is really enjoying her swing in the evening! 

Kaylee is getting better at riding her bike.

Saffron is doing well.

We've got a chair on the front porch so this can be my view sometimes. I love it.

Saffron is the best donkey I could have hoped to get for free. She is gentle and tolerant and I'm so happy we have her.

Gwyn's new fly mask.

It even covers her snozz.

Sometimes dinosaurs need flowers.

We've also got this bike contraption for longer rides! I think this weekend we're going to try a family outing on the Polly Ann Trail. These two will be on the bike, and I'll wear Hazel and maybe even bring Gwyn along for a walk.

New Equipment!

Eric and I have been mulling over this one for some time now. In an ideal world, I would have time to train Gwyn to do a lot of the heavy lifting around the property. But this isn't an ideal world and we have a 10 week old to care for, as well as a rambunctious 4 year old (!!). And an arena that needs to be dragged, straw that needs to be moved out of the barn and manure to spread on a resting pasture. Plus rock that will be moved into a dry riverbed we're creating in one of the pastures to control the water runoff.  Lots of work to be done.

So we bought a 4 wheeler and a tow behind dump cart. It's a green Honda Rancher with electronic shifting. I was down for the pedal shifting (like on a motorcycle) but it really felt like the guy was talking down regarding my ability to use one, so that sucked but I didn't care enough to push it.

I also ordered a picketing system to teach Gwyn how to hi-tie. That came the other day and I got it set up in the pasture where I had cleared branches off of two adjacent trees.  I can't wait to test it out.

And we put everything to work today, much to the kid's delight.  On our to-do list is the purchase of helmets for safety. 

So all of the straw has been moved out of the barn, some to the new compost pile as walls and some for bale gardening. I've cleaned out the old straw and the next line item is to shift the hay more interior to the barn and make a spot for the ATV to park. 

Organic Lawnmowers

Sunset a few days ago

The pasture they've been in has been eaten down pretty well. Meanwhile, the rest of the property looks like we're growing hay. More specifically, we wanted to trim up the seasonal stream. It hadn't been dry enough to mow so it was grown up pretty far.

I had my step-in t-posts from last year still, plus my hot tape so I decided to make use of our organic mowers and put them to work. I set up an enclosure that opens off of the barn and includes all of the seasonal stream that runs through the back yard. I had the perfect amount!

Gwyn is enjoying not needing to put her head all the way to the ground in order to eat. The tops of all the high grasses have been eaten off, it's hilarious. And then, the first night I fed them grain, she willingly walked over the foot bridge behind me without any urging on my part. I was rather surprised. But bridges have never been a huge deal for her.

It's by no means an incredibly secure fence... but it's not like they need to leave. It is electrified though.

Naughty Kaylee out barefoot. Thankfully Gwyn is careful-ish.

"You're gonna feed us, right?"

Once they trim down the seasonal stream I'll move them to the other summer pasture. I'm hoping we'll be finished redigging the stream through there to reduce the standing water and flooding that we get. My parents are coming for the first week of July so our plan is to really get a ton of work done while they're here and can help manage the kids.  In the meantime, they've got good shelter and plenty of grass.

The farm's namesake! A firefly!

Aquaponics Progress

Doing a test of the pump system, so we need to refill and rinse the hydroton again.

Our grow light is hung up as well.