Spring!

It's spring-finally. Thermometer said 75 degrees yesterday! PTL!! Looking at my yard, I see another sign of spring-where's that lawnmower? My favorite sign of spring is the new life on the farm. While my goats aren't bred, we still have calves being born, turkey eggs in the incubator ready to hatch in about a week, chicks arriving in the mail tomorrow, baby Angora bunnies, and one old bantam hen dutifully hatching a batch in the barn.

This is Sugar. Her momma didn't make it after the birth, but Sugar is a big, healthy heifer who loves to eat. Not sure what to do with her. She may end up on Craig's list because my honey and I are both working and she needs to be fed at least three times a day. I need to get the brooders ready for the chicks and turkey poults. I have two apple trees to put in the ground. The soil is too wet to start my garden, yet. Slightly frustrating, but I don't have control over the weather. I'll post pictures of more of the babies later today or tomorrow after the chicks come in. (I like pictures.) Go with God. From Glory Farm

Roo the Day

Roo-verb-Process of removing fleece by hand plucking * This is how I prefer to get the fiber off of my Angora rabbits. I only have four, so it isn't a full time job. Today was Charlie's turn to get a grooming. He gives so much fiber that it's amazing there's anything left of him. Here is Charlie after I pulled most of his fur.

And here's the pile of fiber-

My son said the pile is bigger than the rabbit! Good bunny. :)

Cooling Off With Chicken Broth

I thought the title might catch someone's attention.  We have a heat advisory here in northern Minnesota.  In the 90s for the next three days-okay only 88 on Tuesday.  Not our typical weather.

My poor Angora bunnies are hot.  I sheared three of them, but the rest still have some pretty heavy duty coats.  I should have put some containers of water in the freezer last night to place in their cages.  I checked the freezer to see what I did have that might cool them off and I found some jars of chicken broth.  So they did get to cool off with chicken broth.

A Different Hope

When facing stress and sorrow some people eat, some drink, I adopt new animals.  My honey is slightly amused which is why he lets me do this.

So...introducing our newest addition-

I've named her Hope.  She's an angora doe.  I don't have any black angoras and am excited to have her and my other doe bred next spring. 

Next....a puppy!  :) ???

Effie

So, today was the day that I picked up the new addition to our farm. This little girl lived 90 miles from here in a place called Effie and the drive was a long one. Effie is very remote and is at the end of the "Edge of the Wilderness Highway".
A very pretty drive-

This old barn sits off the road.

The welcome sign.  Notice how big the mosquitoes are here!

This sculpture stands near the welcome sign.  Effie is best known for their rodeo.  It's a big deal up  here.

So here is a picture of the little girl I picked up.

She's an Angora and I hope to breed her with our Angora buck.  She's only two months old right now.  I named her Toofer because my honey said "That's just too fer to go for a rabbit".
Oh, and last night I harvested my garlic.  It's done a bit early this year and the bulbs aren't as large as they were last year.  Still, it wasn't a bad harvest.

I save about half for next year's seed and make garlic powder out of the smaller bulbs.

I hope you enjoyed the trip to Effie.  I may have to go back because Toofer's previous owner has some wonderful Shetland sheep.  ;o)

Angora Rabbits-Post 2

I guess when you make up your mind to do something-Just do it-is a good phrase.  Upon deciding to get rabbits, we went and got them.  Two Angoras, brother and sister.  These are French/Satin Angoras.  Bred especially for their fiber.

This is Cordelia, the girl.  My daughter was busy brushing her out this morning.

And this is Edwards.  He got a good brushing too.
Now we're going to get them set up in the barn, in a temporay cage, until we get the hutch from my grandparents house.
These guys are so soft.  I can't wait to spin this fiber.

Angora Rabbits

I like to try new things.  So here we go...we've agreed to let our daughter get Angora rabbits.  We've been reading up on them and the lady we're getting them from is knowledgable.  We have Angora goats and Icelandic sheep for fiber, so we're adding a new fiber to the mix.  I hope this works.  It sounds like a lot of grooming, but my daughter wants to give it a try.

There are a lot of sites that have information on Angoras.  This one seems to have good information on all types of fibers and spinning.  So----anyone have some good advice?  Or just come along and learn with  us.