Backyard Farmgals

How many of you have heard about a chicken tractor?  If you are not in the know, it is a marvelous idea: a mobile home for chickens that you can move around a yard (large or small), giving your chickens opportunity to range without wandering far off.    We have seventy chickens at the farm.  With so many girls, we occasionally get an injured or picked on bird.  These girls need a sanctuary away from the pecking order that can become vicious and eventually deadly for a chicken that isn't quite normal.  These girls that need a little extra TLC end up in my backyard.  If they can rehabilitate they are eventually moved back to the farm.  We have a few that can't go back, and they become permanent residents.  We have a blind chicken named Helen and a chick with hip dysplasia named Dot.  These two girls will stay here forever.  I have a small yard, 0.25-acre, and these rehab girls make a marvelous mess of my little plot.  We als...

I found Larry, my favorite cat, curled tightly in a little patch of sunshine this afternoon.  He looked so warm.  I want to be this warm... and sleepy... and undisturbed.  Complete and total relaxation; how would that feel?  I can only imagine. I had a wicked thought while watching Larry sleep.  It goes like this: "Soft kitty, warm kitty," "Little ball of fur." "Happy kitty, sleepy kitty," "Purr, purr, purr." Now that I've got Sheldon out of my head, we can continue.  Of course he woke up, his darn human kept snapping pictures of him...  This lead to a series of rolling around half awake cat yoga stretches.  I think in my next life I will ask to be a cat.  Where else can you sleep in the sun all day, do yoga for 30 minutes when you wake up, get a massage from your human, and slowly sachet off to the next nap and repeat the whole process?

It was 8ºF at the farm this morning.  I don't think that I need to tell you that is cold, certainly not as cold as other places, but it really can be a challenge to keep all the outside animals warm and healthy when the temperatures drop so low.  There are a few things that we do to help the animals stay toasty. 1.  SHELTER.  Make sure that your outside animals have a dry place for when the storms are raging.  This is huge.  If animals can stay dry, they stay so much warmer.  Our chickens have the barn of barns, the rabbits have their hutches, but the horse is not so lucky.  We are saving up to build him a barn (barns are expensive!), for now he has a temporary shelter.  We made him a large dry area by spanning his run with 2 x 4's and covering them with plywood and tarps.  He is able to stay out of the weather, and to make it all a little more cozy, he has a lean-to to bed down in and to protect him from the wind and weather. ...

I put the two pugs out for a little private time this morning in the snow.  They couldn't wait to get back inside, fair weather dogs, no doubt. Zeus (the old one below on the right), my super dog, pretty much refuses to go outside unless it's sunny and 70ºF.  You have to pry him out of his bed, and he goes limp, like you have killed him by removing him from his cocoon.  He gives this look like he's saying, "You know, I can hold it for daaaaayyys!  What are you thinking sending me out?  You are so cold... I will shiver... my toes will be frost bit." Hercules, (below on the left) is the wild one.  He likes the snow initially.  Yesterday he made tunnels through the foot of snow we received.  He's like some wild, snorting groundhog tearing his way through the snow.  Children have been known to cry when they see this terrifying sight tunneling towards them.  It's kind of one of those "Turner and Hooch" moments, like the muffin scene ... ...

I thought it would be fun to introduce you to the cats that run the farm!  There are six of them, all with different jobs and personalities.  Some are inside cats, others wouldn't come in the house if you laid out a cat food smorgasbord for them to dine on.  They are a peculiar bunch, but they bring a lot of great energy to the farm.  There is something about the energy of a cat that is indescribable.  They have an uncanny ability to take the negative away and replace it with a calm reassurance that everything will be okay.  It's true, with a cat on my lap, I have a peaceful feeling that cannot be found anywhere else.  I know that there will be some dissenting feelings about the cat love, and that's okay.  Some love cats, others dogs, some love hedgehogs...to each their own.  I happen to love them all, and that is okay too! GEORGE: From a surprise batch of kittens at the house next door, he was the only one that stayed, the rest sad...

Animals have always been a huge part of our lives. My Will and Woobie (he died a few years ago...I still miss him) six years ago. I thought that with not much planting going on in the garden, now would be a great time to reintroduce some of the animals on the farm.  Each has their own personality and their own story to share.  Each one has a different kind of love to give.  That's the best part about having so many animals is I feel like I am constantly surrounded by love.  Animals have this great ability to love unconditionally; they don't care if you have make-up on, or if you did your hair, they don't mind if the scale said that the ice cream you ate was a bad idea, or if you are disappointed or sad.  They have an uncanny ability to cheer me up, even on the hardest days...and there have been hard days, days where I want to cry until there are no more tears...and there have been great days where I want to shout from the mountain tops and share my joy. ...