O Tannenbaum...

I almost didn't cut myself a Christmas tree... but now I'm glad I did.  It makes me smile.  :) 

If anyone local to me is looking for a church that has a Christmas Eve service, contact me for directions.  Ours is at 6:30 tomorrow evening.

Merry Christmas from Butterscotch Farm! 

Hay!!

As of today, I am the proud new owner of 81 bales of hay, lol. 

The goats are averaging 2-4 days per bale, so that should hopefully get them through the winter.

They fit perfectly on a little 8x10 deck that a friend gave me:

It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and wet hay is no good... so I am also now the proud owner of an improvised mini hay barn, built (aka cobbled together) by yours truly.

It has a tarp on it now, but a) it was too dark to take a picture when I finished, and b) it's kind of ugly, lol.  So you don't get to see the end result.  I might spiff the building up a bit later, but for now it will do.  

I'm grateful to God for giving me the strength, energy, and finances for this project - it's awesome to now have a stock of hay on hand!!

Happy Monday!  

Maybe I Should Buy a Canoe??

Lol, today is a "tuck your jeans into your rubber boots and carry on" kind of day, apparently.

And yes, this settles things in my mind... I will DEFINITELY be moving the goat pen to higher ground in the spring.  🙄

I hasten to add that the goats are fine... they waste so much hay that they probably have a 12" bed of hay on the ground in their pen, so the water only comes in the front a little bit.  Here they are enjoying their morning ration of sweet grain:

Maybe that area would be a good spot to dig a little pond someday!  😂

Anyway, happy Saturday!!  

Evening Routine

Chores have definitely turned into a routine for the most part by now, with only the occasional unusual event, lol.  I'm grateful that I don't have a ton of livestock yet for this first winter.

Most days, it's dark when I get home.  I say hi to the Collies, wrestle open the gate, and unlock the door, all while juggling whatever I've lugged home that day.  

Often I dump my stuff and start a fire first thing... the insulation has helped a LOT, but I'm often gone for 12-14 hours, and the temperature will drop to anywhere between 35-50 F, depending on what the day was like.

Then, while the fire is doing its thing, I switch from my work shoes to my rubber boots, grab a flashlight, and head out the door to check on the critters.

First stop is usually the chicken coop.  I peek in to see whether Floofle has decided to roost with his friends, or whether he's a despondent huddle of feathers on the floor.  The latter has been happening a lot lately, so I go inside, pick Floofle up, and put him next to the other chickens so he can stay warmer.  Here he is looking slightly resentful after I've relocated him: 

Next I head down to the goat pen, usually with a gallon of water.  I was using a big bucket that could go a few days without needing to be refilled, but it kept freezing, so now I just refill a small bucket twice a day.  I check to make sure the goats have plenty of hay, then say goodnight and tie their gate shut for the night.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture of the goats in their pen, but here is a nighttime view of their field and the trees behind it.

I head back up to the dome after that, and bring in a few armloads of firewood.  I give the dogs more kibble if they ate what was in the bowl, and put away groceries and other supplies.

Finally, if I didn't work a late shift, I can fix some tea and relax with a good book and with two Collies at my feet (or periodically trying to crawl into my lap, in Nala's case, lol).  :P

Happy Thursday!!!

Calling In the Cavalry

I had to call in the cavalry again this morning... the roof of my goat pen blew off last night!!

I knew it had to be fixed today, because we have some weather coming in tomorrow.  I didn't have enough tools and screws on hand, though, and handling those 15 foot long sheets of metal roofing by myself would be pretty challenging... so I texted Dad, and he and my brother Timothy came out to help.  This was extra sacrificial, because Dad has a bad cold, and Saturdays are Timothy's only real day off from work.  

They pitched in with a will, though, and after a couple hours' work, the goat pen was much better than it was before!  It's now nicely winterized, and should be pretty cozy.  :) 

Here's an in-progress shot, with the roof taken off: 

Timothy working on the roof:

And the finished product:

It's buttoned up quite nicely right now, with only the front partially open for ventilation.  You can't seal the pen TOO tightly, or moisture could become an issue.  As long as the goats can get out of the wind, and are acclimated to the weather, they're able to stay nice and toasty even with one side open.

So I'm grateful once again for the wonderful, loving family God has given me!  ♥️

I'm not sure that the goats are grateful, though...they generally seem pretty smug no matter what, lol.  

Happy Saturday!!

The Gingerbread Dome

My brother Timothy spent all day Tuesday helping me insulate the dome... I would say it's about 90% done now.  There are a bunch of little gaps I need to fill in, because fastening rectangular batts of insulation to a spherical surface doesn't exactly work, lol.  

I already notice a big difference, though, even with the gaps - yay!!

I decided to go with Rockwool batts, which were recommended by my friend Scott, who is a contractor.  This kind of insulation is way healthier to work with than fiberglass, and is moisture and flame resistant.

We wired it to the struts - "we" meaning mostly Timothy, as we only had one tall ladder, and we pretty quickly reached a height where the ladder was a necessity.  Thanks, Timothy!!

The only bummer is that this stuff is wicked ugly, lol.  I want to find some way to cover it (with sheets, maybe??), but until then, it looks kind of like I'm living in a spherical gingerbread house.

Ah well... better to be warm, and have ugly walls, than to come home to 15 degrees Fahrenheit inside!!  :P

Happy Thursday!

Monday

This is actually mostly about last Monday, lol.  It's just been busy, and I was still processing some emotions - it was a rather tumultuous day.  If you follow me on Facebook, you know that Thea finally found a new home with a very nice couple about 1.5 hours from me.  They drove up Monday morning and left with Thea early that afternoon.  And then I proceeded to cry off and on for the next couple of hours.  :P 

Eventually I went out to run a bunch of errands because we were going to be getting a snowstorm in the late afternoon and evening.  I got back to the dome and was cooking supper when Thea's new owner called and said, "Sarah, we lost the dog."

They had literally just arrived home, and were taking her on a potty walk, when the wife tripped and fell, dropping the leash.  And of course, Thea does not like strangers, and since she didn't know those people yet, she took off running when they called for her.

I reassured the husband that this could have happened to anyone, and asked him to let me know if she was still missing in the morning so I could go help look for her.  (I couldn't go out in the storm that night because my truck needs new tires.) And then I hung up the phone and cried a bunch more while messaging my Mom and some friends to say that Thea was missing.  Lol, I went through a lot of tissues last Monday!

In the end, Dad and Mom graciously offered to drive me all the way down to Thea's new home in Dad's car, which has good tires.  So I carefully drove the 20 minutes to their house, and we headed out together into the snow with a prayer for our safety and that we would be able to find Thea.  I brought Thane along in case we needed his help sniffing Thea out.

We were headed south, and eventually drove out of the snowstorm.  By the time we got to the area where Thea was lost, there was no snow at all.  

We stopped the car a couple houses down from Thea's new home, rolled down the windows, and hollered for her.  

And... she came right to us!!

I opened my door and pulled her up into my lap.  She was wet and trembling, and her paws were a little raw... but she was okay, and SO happy to see us and Thane.

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done to walk up to her new owners' door with her - I wanted to just take her home and never let her go.  But their joy and relief at seeing her was heartwarming.  

I guess they searched for her for 3 hours that afternoon, walking 10 miles, and calling the police, the local vets, the animal shelters...  And they had planned to stay up all night in case she came back.  That level of dedication comforted me as I left Thea behind with them... though I did cry again as we drove away.  

I'm incredibly grateful to God for my parents, sacrificially driving me down there, and for protecting us and Thea.  It truly felt like a miracle when she just ran right up to us.

I got an update today...it sounds like she is settling in very well.  She sleeps on her new owners' bed at night, and has already trained them to give her tummy rubs every morning, lol.

I still miss her... I'm sure that will take a while to get better... but I'm so grateful that God has provided this wonderful new home for her. ❤️

In other Domestead news, Nala has joined me and Thane on the bed (I crated her at night before because 3 dogs on the bed was way too many!).  

I made a bit of progress insulating, and hope to finish the project tomorrow with my brother's help.  In the meantime, I've discovered that I can warm a couple bricks on top of the woodstove and then wrap them in towels and take them to bed with me.  :D

Dad finished getting my solar panel hooked up; that will run my composting toilet (it has a fan, I guess?!?), and will supply the necessary power to tell my fridge to run off the propane, LOL.  And hopefully there will be enough juice left over to charge my phone and laptop.

Oh, and Rhode came back last Monday... she should be due on April 8th!  :) Unless my chickens get busy before then, hers will be the first baby animals born on Butterscotch Farm.

And not specifically Domestead news, but a HUGE praise for a true miracle- a beloved aunt of mine got an amazing new prognosis, and it looks like we get to have her around for a while longer.  ❤️❤️❤️

So life goes on.  Some days are fun, and some days you want to buy stock in Kleenex... but God is always good.

Happy Monday!!

Quick Check-in

Things are going well... hopefully I will be posting in a couple days letting you guys know that the dome is insulated, lol.

In the meantime, I just wanted to tell people that I got some pages up for my future breeding program...if you're on a computer, you should see them at the top of the page next to the "Home" button.  If you're on a phone, there should be a drop down menu in the top corner of the screen where you can find the pages.  

Of course, all of you know my dogs, but I thought you might enjoy reading the pages.  :) 

And here's a random photo, because there can't be a blog post without a picture!!  

Scenes from a Frosty Morning

We're definitely well into autumn here in Maine, with daytime temperatures in the 50s, and overnight temperatures regularly dipping below 30.  I'm making a fire almost every night now, and I'm doing well if I can get the temperature inside the dome up to 40.  Dad and I are planning to start insulating soon - we're going to cut triangles of rigid foam and press them in between the struts.

Anyway, here are some pictures from this morning...lol, the frost makes for a photographer's paradise. :P

Frost inside my little greenhouse:

Lol, I had to use warm water to get my pump going this morning:

A cricket... just chilling... ;)

Frosty acorn:

Two of my crazies goofing off... the other one was obsessing over the chickens.

Neat little frost clusters...

The Domestead....

Little ice pillars in the sand:

Random frosty grass...

Random frosty leaves...

Even a t-post can be decorative with frost on it!  :P

Oh, yeah, this is exciting...Dad and Timothy came out on Saturday and started working on my solar array.  They also built a little shed for my generator.  If they get a chance to work on it some more this week, I could have power in just a few days!  Mind you, it won't be a ton of power, but it will be greatly appreciated.   As you can see, they left room for the addition of a couple more panels, in case I need more in the future.

Rhode will be going on a grand adventure today...her breeder is picking her up and taking her to meet a handsome buck.  If everything goes according to plan, next April, there will be one or two bouncy little baby goats on Butterscotch Farm!  :D

Anyway, I'd better get busy... happy Monday!!

A Mystery Afoot...or Ahoof...

So I just got home a little while ago, and started lugging a bale of hay down to the goat pen.  I had left the goats penned this morning because I left for work super early, and I knew they would have finished the bale of hay that was in there.

I was carrying the bale of hay on my back (NOTE - this should only be done while wearing a hooded jacket with the hood up, or you will get itchy hay down the back of your shirt!!), so I was walking kind of bent over, with my eyes on the ground.  I was about halfway to the pen when I noticed something...a small, cloven hoof print, and fresh goat droppings (AKA tiny Tootsie Rolls, if you ask the dogs).  

I thought, "Uh oh..." and suddenly forgot that the hay was heavy as I booked it over to the goat pen.  

I dumped the hay and peered into the pen...empty.  Botheration!!

The issue is that there is a bunch of hay built up on the floor of the pen.... I've left it because I figure it makes pretty good bedding.  But my pallet gate doesn't always close all the way unless I kick the hay out of the way.  And looks like I didn't kick it away well enough last night, and the goats were able to squeeze through the gap.  And because the gate is a part of the fence when it's open, they were then able to waltz right outside the fence.  

Sigh.

So I looked around at the big empty field, and decided I might as well see if the goats were in hearing range.  So I hollered, "Goats, goats, goats!!!" And then tried baa-ing...it was a pretty awful attempt, and I hope my neighbors didn't hear it.  :P 

Then - o happy day!! - I heard rustling from the other side of the pen... and four little faces peered around the corner at me.  Hooray!  I'm very glad I didn't have to go wandering through the trees looking for them!  

The boys came right over when they saw I had fresh hay, but Rhode decided to be a princess and had to be convinced to step over the little puddle outside the pen.  

So my four little explorers no doubt had a grand day, but I'm happy to report that they're now tucked safely back into their pen with a fresh bale of hay.  :P 

And I've learned a lesson about making sure I properly secure the gate!!!

Two Blessings

Two exciting things happened this week...

One, my amazing, wonderful church family gave me a basket full of housewarming gifts on Sunday...mostly gift cards to the local grocery store and to Paris Farmer's Union, but also the promise of a cord of firewood, a nifty little butane stove, and some canned goods.  I was totally blown away with their generosity - it's so amazing how God provides!

The second exciting thing can be viewed in the picture below:

If you've been following my blog, you know what a miraculous photo this is.  All three dogs... loose... together.

Yes, you heard that right... I had Nala and Thea loose together yesterday and today... and there were no fights. 

That is HUGE.

Things still look a little tense occasionally, especially during chase games, so I'm keeping a close eye on the girls... but I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to not be terrified of a face to face encounter between Thea and Nala, but to be able to just let them run loose together.

In other news, I'm greatly enjoying my cook stove...lol, I've made two different recipes involving fettuccine and shrimp.  Both were delicious.  ;)

And I'm still working on general organization inside the dome, as well as in my lean-to.  I have a potential plan for hay storage, and am working on finding a source that can sell me the 100-120 bales I think I need to make it through the winter.

Anyway, good night, and happy Wednesday!!

Soup's On!!

The cook stove is up and running!!  :D 

Sadly, the fridge does require a small amount of electricity to run... so I guess I will be figuring out how to set up my solar panel and all the related parts... send help, lol!!  

In the meantime, after I finish my hot soup, I think I will go pick up some cookie dough to bake...  ;) 

An Autumn Day at the Domestead

I had a nice, puttering kind of day...I got a fair bit of random stuff done, but also got to sit and enjoy the glorious weather for a few minutes here and there.  :)  

Here are a few random pictures from the day:

Nala...today I worked on keeping her from pacing obsessively around the outside of the chicken pen, lol.  I think it'll take a while to break the habit, and even longer to get her safe around the chickens when I start letting them free range, but I'm hopeful that she can be chicken-proofed eventually.

Part of the view from my porch.  We're definitely past peak foliage time, but there are still plenty of colorful patches.

My big rooster...who I've heard crowing a LOT since his buddies disappeared from the coop early Saturday morning, lol!!

Oh, and an interesting update on Little Miss Floofle...I've been keeping an eye on my special needs chick, and today I posted some pictures of Miss Floofle on the Icelandic Chickens Facebook group to ask whether they were seeing the same thing I was seeing...and they all agree - she is actually a HE!  I'm not sure Little Mister Floofle has quite the same ring to it....  ;P  

The goats are doing well:

Here's a view of the domestead from the goat pen.  I've given some thought to trying to move the goat pen closer to the dome so that I don't have to lug water as far in the winter, but we'll see if there are enough time and resources for that project.

Thea...all I have to do is point at an object and say "hop up," and she jumps up.  She's SO athletic!

Need acorns?  I've got about a million in my driveway!!

Got the greenhouse just about done...we'll see if this helps keep the water from freezing in the pump in the middle of winter!

Can't leave out handsome Thane...lol, I tried letting the chickens out of their pen for the first time today, and poor Thane was a wreck.  I think he was genuinely worried about them being out of their normal area, and would not rest until they were all back in the pen!  

Happy Monday!!

Four Little Packages

I went to visit my friends Terri and Mark at 4 Ewe Farm today; they have the equipment to process chickens, and had offered to help me with my four extra roosters.  It was definitely sad to see the boys go, but in my mind, this is a necessary part of working toward having a self-sustaining homestead.  The deed was done efficiently, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that the chickens were raised humanely.  I'm looking forward to my first taste of homegrown, heritage breed chicken - I've heard it's VERY different from what you buy in the grocery store!

Eventually I would like to have a separate pen for young roosters so I can let them grow a little bigger before butchering them, but that's a project for another year.

So now I have ten hens, and one rooster.  I wonder how this guy feels about waking up and suddenly being King of the Coop?  :P

I was also excited to visit Mark and Terri because they have 3 Scotch Collies.  I felt like I was meeting celebrities, because I've seen Terri's dogs on one of the Facebook groups I've followed for 3 years now, so it was awesome to meet them in person.  They're all gorgeous and wonderful dogs, each with his or her own personality:

Jack, old but still the dignified Farm Manager.  He's pretty much the epitome of an old-fashioned farm Collie.  

Vega, a busy, bossy blue merle girl who reminds me a lot of Thea.  She's wicked smart, and loves her job of making sure the other dogs don't get too close to the chicken butchering area, lol.  

And the youngster, Quid, who is goofy and easy going, and supremely handsome:

So it was a good day.  I'll let you know in a few days how the chicken tastes!  :) 

Happy Saturday!!