Moooorrry Chriistmas...(slightly late)!!

Well after all the hubbub of Christmas died down, to what my wondering eyes should appear...but a little calf out of Gingers rear...wait no that's not how that goes!! At any rate Ginger is a proud mommy




It took a while but finally found the sweet spot for his mommas goodies...





After all that effort it was time for a nap...and momma Ginger made sure he was nice and clean...





Look at that face...





Little Kobe...



Not too bad a reason to stay home from work today!! Thanks Ginger!

This little Piggy..

Well, it was just a matter of time I suppose before...you guessed it..we got pigs! I, of course, ignored everything that is logical and picked the cutest (and smallest) piggies they had...

Meet Bacon...

And Pork Chop...

To pigs in a pod....

Wait...Pigs in a blanket...?

Anyway, they are our new pigs!! Newest additions to the Farm... Eee Eye Eee Eye Ohhhhh..

Moving and Shaking

Well I have been remiss updating but that doesn't mean life has been dull at our farm! We have chickens hatched, chicken tractors and goat lovin!

Here is the new chicken tractor that Scott built (and I helped finish)...for the youngsters that will be for meat...

And here are the happy chicks in their new abode. They even have grass to eat! And when they are done with that, we roll them forward onto new grass...hence the tractor!

Goat lovin you say?? Yes, I did...Little Bucky is growing up, and as boys do, he's feeling his wheaties...now in full rut (which is not fun for anyone else...boy is he STINKY!!)...and both Sedonia and Mocha have had their own "dates" and no...no pictures...this is a G-rated blog!! OK, maybe PG-13...

Got feeder?

Well the cows were tired of having those dull black tubs to eat out of, and Scott and I were tired of picking them up all over the place, so voila! Scott built them a nice wood feeder so they can all eat together and even have a solid itchy scratching post...

Kinda makes you wish you were a cow huh? OK maybe not...:)

Counting Chickens

Well, it may be hot outside, but its perfect inside the incubator for hatching chicks! Like clockwork, the incubated eggs started hatching right at the 21 day mark. From the eggs laid on 7/18/12, we got our first chick...black with white spots...we think its from one of the Americana's...

After a day...look how big it is already...! Moved into the big(ger) chick coop...

Then the 7/19/12 eggs started pecking through...and soon enough...2 more new friends!!

They grow up so fast, this morning they got to move in to meet their big sister (or brother). He/She can show them the ropes of eating and drinking...

Bucky's new abode

Well Scott worked hard in the sun (and now truly IS a REDneck) and got Bucky's new pen all wired. He even built him a shelter out of the pallets left over from the shop. So now little Buck Owens has room to stretch his legs and grow (hopefully not TOO much) and a shelter from the sun and more importantly to him...the rain...whenever THAT happens...

AND..if that wasn't cool enough...he baked banana bread and chocolate chip scones AND harvested in the garden for our dinner - salad (with lettuce, carrots and eggs from the farm) and garlic bread with home-made pesto, 85% of the meal was from our Farm! What a joy to eat!

Farm Dailies

OK...so its been a while since my last update..so brace yourself...here goes!

The garden has been flourishing! Through trial and error and research we have harvested oodles of lettuce, cucumbers, basil, potato and chamomile and various others to please our pallets. Just about every meal we have something from our garden which is nice! As a side note...cucumbers don't always have to be dark green to be good...

The chickens are all together now, and although Stewie and the others still aren't sleeping in the coop, they have intermingled with the big girls pretty darn well. Rooster Bob's days may be numbered as he continues to grow...well...more rooster-like. He's a little TOO full of himself and, well, we are tired of his shenanigans...but for now, he struts along thinking he's king of the coop...

Oh! And the chickens like to share in the morning hay feeding...here Bob and one of the Red's are waiting for their handful...

Our bovine friends are doing well also...Shorty patiently awaits his feed and calmly munches...

The "ladies" on the other hand...are a little more aggressive about their feed (hard to believe, I know...females being SERIOUS about their food!). Although they all have separate feed tubs, they seem to think the grass is always greener...in the other one's feed tub...

And then...there are the goats...

We bought a shiny green feed trough for Sedonia and Mocha, here they are trying to get every last morsel...

And then there is little Bucky..Buckster...Buck Owens...Buck Wild... Although a bit of a noisy bugger, he's pretty darn fun...he comes out to help us feed in the evenings (not much help but entertaining nonetheless)...Although I can't wait until he grows up enough to be able to breed with the girls, I kinda hope he stays this cute as long as possible...

What's the happs?

Well the Farm continues growing and renovating...
The cows are doing well. Little Ginger's bump is getting smaller, and she and Jewel are now BFF's and Rosie is rooming with her future betrothed (Shorty). Sedonia and Mocha have a pretty green feeder that makes it much nicer for feeding, and Scott and I keep learning every day about the ins and outs of farm life.

My (not-so) little Stewie and the girls have graduated to be out with the big girls (and Bob). They are still learning how to take their knocks and their place in the pecking order. The Spice Girls (Barred Rocks) are happy because they finally have someone THEY can pick on! Rooster Bob continues to rule the roost but hasn't figured out that the pecking order puts US at the top...not him...hopefully he figures it out soon or it's Bob stew!!

Bucky is growing up and finally getting quieter. He goes out on walks with Scott and I and heels better than Bomber and Moxy! He's pretty cute...

Here he is playing with Scott...too funny with those floppy ears!

We went to the Farmer's Market this weekend too and got some more plants and learned more new harvesting ideas...Scott made pesto with the basil Marcy harvested and it was mmm mmm good!! It's great living off the land!!

Bucky the Kid?

Well, after our evening walks seeing the cute little Lamancha kids down the block from us..we figured we need to get our girls bred so they can have some kids!! So...Scott went down to Mojave Farms in Campo, CA to pick up a buck for our girls...Here he is getting ready for the ride home...

He's 3 months old, so he will be cute for a little while still and Sedonia and Mocha can train him to be a good boy. Pretty cute little guy with his white stripe...Should we call him Jack White?

Hmmm....thinking of a name...

Green eggs, "Thickening" the herd and Big little chicks...

Friday was Easter for Scott...One of the Americauna's decided to finally lay an egg...a GREEN egg! It's a bit smaller than the white leghorn eggs (which is a little odd since they are bigger than the white leghorns), but we will cut  them some slack since they just started laying, and we are just happy they started!!

Since green is my favorite color, I got the privilege of cooking up the green egg...and no, it was not green inside! Looks like and egg, and tastes like it too! Yummy!


So...Saturday morning off we went to pick up "Short but Mighty", aka "Shorty". It was a nice drive to Fred and Patti's beautiful home. We loaded him up with minimal coaxing (mostly just showing him some hay, and he ran right in...good eater that he is) and off we went to take the little guy to his new home. We hit some traffic but made it home before dark. The girls admittedly were slightly more interested in their dinner than a new one to share it with, but took him in as part of the gang.

The next morning of course we jumped up first thing to go see how everyone was fairing, and of course they were doing well (and mooing for their breakfast once they saw us). Here is a closeup of the mini man with one of his betrothed, Ginger, (when he's old enough of course) in the background....

What a cutie!! The girls should be so lucky! And here he is taking a nap, and that's Scott's arm petting him while he rest, with Jewel standing guard and Rosie watching over from a distance...

Sunday we were tuckered out from Saturday's drive so we decided to relax (kinda like Shorty above) and we chilled with the chicks..which were fascinated with our feet...They are getting so BIG!! Pretty soon they are going to be going out with the big girls!!

And of course my little Stewie...photogenic as ever...

Sunday evening we feasted on salad from the garden and Marcy made stir fry...and Scott made some home-made chocolate ice cream for dessert! A good ending to a good weekend...

Time to pick up the little man!!

Looking forward to this weekend! Finally time to pick up our little bull...Short But Mighty! Heading out tomorrow to pick up little "Shorty" in Paso Robles...look out girls...your "man" is hours away!!

Had Greg & Company out this week working on leveling out the yard by the barn...ended up doing the whole property! He said it would look like a million bucks...he was RIGHT!! Thanks Greg!! Our property looks amazing!! Looks like we gained an acre! Will get some pics uploaded ASAP.

Also rearranging some fencing to give the cows more room and possibly bring in a "man" for Sedonia and Mocha...!!

New Digs

Well the natives (chicks) were getting restless so Scott came up with yet another one of his good ideas to build them their own playpen. Using the pallets, we made them a larger space to roam around in and so we can have easier access to play with them. We liked the area so much we decided to make it their new home.




We can both sit in it with them and play with them and get them used to us. Here we are just kickin it with the chicks...












Yes of course that's my little Stewie...photogenic as ever...

They are growing up so fast! They are getting their feathers and losing their fluffiness...

Gopher Assault and Conquering of the Squirrel

Well our gardens and doing very well, so well that the earwigs and the gophers want their piece of the "pie"! The squirrels, however, have not had so good a fate at the Lindquist Family Farm...Scott purchased the SQUIRRELINATOR which has definitely lived up to its name! Now on to the Gopheranator!

The little chicks are growing FAST and are getting their feathers.

The Little Brahmas are definitely big girls...

and my little Stewie practically comes when SHE is called...

Ah kids...they grow up so fast...

The Goings On...

Well, we had a pretty low-key weekend, but celebrated Mother's Day with Marcy by visiting the Farmer's Market Sunday morning and getting some fresh strawberries, more yummy hummus and pita bread, some peppermint and spearmint to add to our garden, and other fresh veggies and fruits. Marcy decided she wanted to cook a roast chicken (no, not one of ours yet, they live on....although, if those Americana's don't start popping out some eggs, we may have to roast one of them!), so we stuffed ourselves with chicken and stuffing as well as lettuce cut from our garden, and Scott made some biscuits from scratch! Cal was Top Chef Desserts and made us strawberry shortcake topped with farmers market fresh strawberries, ice cream and dripping with chocolate sauce! I won't need to eat for a week! I felt like I was the one who was stuffed, not the chicken! What a wonderful meal...

The little chicks are getting bigger every day. They are growing out of their cute fuzzy stage and getting lankier and now are starting to get their feathers. The Little Brahma's even have tail feathers already, and boy do they live up to their name, they stand head and shoulders (do chickens have shoulders??) above the rest, even though they are actually slightly younger...We pick them all up daily and they are getting braver. So, they may be the next to be roosting on Scott's head when they get to get out in the Chicken Palace Gardens..!

Sedonia and Mocha are comfy in their humble abode, and apparently we have foiled Sedonia's escape plans for the time being, but we have seen Shawshank Redemption, we know...she's probably just biding her time to make her great escape!

The Three Amigas (Jewel, Rosie and Ginger) thanked Cal for dragging the arena so they could have a nice and smooth napping area...Saturday Ginger was in the middle of the arena just lounging away. But don't worry Cal, Ben and I rode in it and enjoyed it as well, adding our footprints as well.

Little DP is at the vet's, its his time to "lose his masculinity"...we are keeping our fingers crossed all goes well and he can be back with his old friend Rio in no time...Rio, you better eat up now! Champ and Ben have become good buddies too, I think it's the first time I have seen Champ give up controlling interest of the hay! He and Ben have a mutual understanding I guess, which makes me happy...as long as I don't see any new bite marks, we are happy campers!

Renovations Continued

Well the painting continued and the Palace is completed...

What chicken wouldn't want to live in this the finely colored establishment? Rooster Bob does...see him peeking out of the doorway...? He gives his "cockadoodledoo" of approval!!

And for the up and coming chicks, they have their matching apartment in progress...

And, as Scott the Painter transformed back to Farmer and then again to Baker...he made some delicious home-made chocolate chip cookies out of our farm fresh eggs....!!

What a talented guy! How lucky am I?

And there is some bad news...at least for the peach tree....Sedonia the little escape artist broke into the chicken pen and took the peach tree down...at least we know it tasted good to somebody! Silly Sedonia, we think we have her foiled for now at least on getting back in, but haven't decided what kind of tree to put in to replace the poor peach tree...Carpenter Scott is working on a solution to our little Houdini's escape plans from her pen too...we will see who outsmarts who!

Blooming Gardens and Painting Palaces

Well apparently the Farmer Team Lindquist of Scott, Cal & Marcy have quite the Green Thumb..the gardens are blooming well and look taller and greener than ever...And they are multiplying!! We have little planters and gardens everywhere! I didn't know gardens could be like rabbits! They grow up so fast...

Garden Spawn...

And, the chickens thought that their home could use some pizazz, so Cal and the gang played Tom Sawyer and started painting the fence...errr.....Chicken Palace...

Here is Tom...I mean Cal...

Or is Tom the one taking the picture...watching the others paint the fence??? Hmmmm