Morning chores....

Little Bear has gotten in the habit of checking for treats all the time!  John's doing....

Look at this beautiful new chick - bowtie silkie - our first colored one!

Little bear :)

Does this hay bag make me look fat?

me, me!  I need the next treat!

double trouble

nice hair!

nice hare!

yeah, I know I look good!

Wolfie is always by our side waiting for attention :)  He is the best!

Where is our breakfast?!

This is where the jack-o-lanterns will end up!

They just got the cage cleaned so they need to quick make a mess!

baby showgirls sleeping together in the heat

nice bald spot!

My nesting hens taking a break to snack

The turkeys are starting to gobble!

so tiny!

Ozzy watching over his hens

Buttercup is the head goat and she's looking good on the move!

YUM - breakfast!

YUM!

snacking!

Finally, my breakfast!

A life in a day on the farm

There is NO order to these photos as the document my day - although not nearly all of it!

We are raising 14 holiday turkeys in a turkey tractor made from an old broken cover-it and some fencing.  The turkeys eat regular blueseal feed and all the kitchen scraps I put together!

I made 2 apple pie stroodles for an impromtu party or friends/family/nieghbors (they are all 3)

SysNoodle trying to eat my ipod - she is bitecurious about EVERYTHING!

Wolfie waiting for me to walk them all into the field

My apple corer peeler is the BEST and only cost $20 at the hardware store - makes pies and drying fruit soooo easy!

John trying NOT to share his coffee!

We've  now hatched 10 baby chicks successfully!  3 have gone to other homes and 7 wait for adoption!

This is how I start my day, every day.  The animals know I will not discuss feeding or walking until I've drank my first cup!

My friend Kevin helped me trim all 28 goat hooves!  PHEW!

cuppy waiting to get milked!

frying up onions for tonights fun dinner with friends - beef stew with all the veggies in me and my sister's houses!

John checking the nest with the silkies running around looking for treats!

My English Angora need a harecut!

Pottery I made at the hebron fair is ready to be glazed!

Kids stopping by to be crazy and run around and make silly videos

when I asked Kevin for help I did not know he was afraid of goats! he is cured now!

Morning milking - sooooo cold now!

Stroodles ready for the oven!

The silkies have an outdoor pen, a sun room, and a nesting room

Eight loaves of bread waiting for the oven - yes, we ate them ALL!

We milked 2 times a day 12 horus apart

Doesn't she look like she's smiling?

I dried 1/2 gallon of apples - YUM!  my favorite winter treat!

I finished waxing the bottoms of the pottery for glazing!

Lamancha and the babies going back for some hay

Goat fear - cured!

John telling Cuppy that the coffee is NOT for her!

turkey treats after getting ready to make 2 pies and 1/2 gallon of apple leathers!

little chicks looking for homes!  $5 each!

There is nothing like homemade bread!

getting ready to clean apples

before the onions, there was the butter - YUM!

making dough

The goats are always curious!

Testing my new iPod and apps

I'm trying to see if having an iPod will help me post pictures and videos and stories more often. I have 14 days to test the theory. You can see here that Roxi is thrilled!

Upcoming Events!

Its been a long time.  Sorry about that!  You all have been so wonderful we've been too busy!  We  have a few upcoming events to talk about.

September 6-9th we will be at the Hebron Fair this year.  I will be in the local arts tent doing pottery demonstrations and selling pots right from the kiln!  We'll also have other fun stuff we've put together from beeswax like lotion bars and lip balms!

September 15th and 29th we will be sponsoring 2 homesteading days:
EventTitle: Getting Your Goat Homesteading Day
Sponsors: Connecticut Country Store of Coventry & Simple Kitchen of Willington
Join us for a fun day of homesteading adventures! Learn about goat care, milking, cheese making, using a cook stove, and how to have lots of fun! We will start at 5pm with a welcome and introduction to goat care, at 6pm we will have a milking demonstration with our girl Cupcake, we will follow this with some basic farmer's cheese making and some baking in the cook stove! We will end the day with some wrap up and Q&A around the fire pit ending at 9pm. Space is limited to 6 participants!  Email us at ohn@ConnecticutCountryStore.com to sign up!

You can read more at http://www.motherearthnews.com/homestead-education/registration.aspx?id=2147500297&listing=event&location=CT#ixzz2598uLGDE

Upcoming Events!

We've got so much going on and its been such an incredibly busy season! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

We are sponsoring the Coventry Farmers Market today from 11-2pm - please come stop by and say hello! We will have our lotion bars and some lip lotions to share as well as brochures and posters and some of our fun products!

We now have all the local fruits and vegetables come in! fresh corn, peaches, zucchini, squash, raspberries, blueberries and more new food every week!

We have over 100 vendors that work with us from small family farms to growing businesses - almost all in New England - most in Connecticut! 

In August we will start displaying our newest products - WOODSTOVES and COOKSTOVES!!!! Also, lots of accessories, come see how awesome it can be! Heat your home and cook your food using only wood!

In September we will be at the Hebron Harvest Fair from the 6th to the 9th! We will also be teaming up with Simple Kitchen to host 2 homesteading days where you can learn about milking, making cheese, and baking in a cookstove!  More information to come!

In October we will be hosting another day at the Coventry Farmers market!

November and December are your gift shopping days - get unique gifts presented from over 100 local vendors.

There is so much here you will want to return again and again!

Goat Kidding at Arrowhead Farm

That is the name of our farm, in case you didn't know!  I finally put together a goat kidding slideshow!  Check it out (a little graphic)!  Buttercup and Cupcake and all the kids are doing well after a week of adventure in milking and bottle feeding and hanging out at the store in a playpen!  This has been a rough week for John and I went it comes to sleeping with regular kid feeding.  I am happy to say that the kids officially move into the barn tonight!  They are too big for thier playpen already and its time to move up and out already!  We will still do one night feeding for another week.  After that both Cupcake's kids and Lamancha's kids will go in thier own stall at night.  I will start milking Buttercup and Cupcake in the mornings and then just Cupcake at night so Buttercup's kids still get thier milk.

I have been blessed to have a new AWESOME friend, Tricia!  She grew up with goats and has been helping me milk, giving me tips, and giving me a lot of sanity :)  She also adopted all 4 of the baby goats I fostered this year.  Thank goodness for friends and family!

Be well!