Shadowfax Farm's puppies are ready to go to their new homes!  We will be picking ours up sometime soon, and we are so excited!  They are each 150$, and they are turning two months old on March 6th.  1/4 Pyrenees, and 3/4 Anatolian.   Very nice looking pups, don't forget to grab yours.

https://www.facebook.com/ShadowfaxFarm

  The past few months have not been very eggy... in Winter, the hens don't lay like usual.  We were getting about 4 eggs a day, which is certainly not normal!  And then... BOOM.  We got hit by Mother Earth right smack dab in the face, with a boatload of eggs!  So, as you can see in the far left picture, the hens are definitely getting back on schedule. 

  We are a family of five, and most of us are not even that fond of eggs (!!!), so 21 chickens is just not needed.  We decided to sell our Buff Orpington hens.  We are partial to the Barred Rocks, and are not very attached to Orpingtons.  They are not friendly, but are not mean in any way... wellll... we will talk about their broody hen stages another day. ;)   We have 8 of them.  All are for sale, 10$ a bird.  They *obviously* lay well, and they are only 2 years old. One has hatched chicks herself, but I am not sure which one.  Please contact us if you are interested!

I was skipping through HomesteadingToday forums, and found the cutest little story.  The thread was about how she didn't know if her goat was pregnant to her Nubian buck... whether to let her have the babies, etc.  Then, she found out that her small buck had bred her, so it was not a problem.  Anyway, here is what was in her last post:

Original Poster: grandma12703
  "I went out sat. morning and she had delivered two babies. A doeling and a buckling. The buckling was able to push some wire and get into the pen with all of the old ewes(at 1 day old) and when I went out I was terrified because I couldn't find him. He then hopped up into the shed (it's a little step up) with our pyrenees right behind him, almost pushing him. I went around because you can't go straight through and picked him up but when I reached down to get him the pyrenees put his paw lightly on him and didn't want to let me have him. I love this dog. He was keeping everyone away from the little guy(named Houdini). Now he lays right outside of their pen against the pen and the two babies are always laying right against the pen on their side. It is awesome."

That is so cute!  I hope our guard dog, Silas, will be like that someday.  Right now he is just going to be breathing puppy breath in our faces.  Oh well. 

I am proud to announce that we are getting a puppy next week!  YAY!  I love puppies... but then again, doesn't everyone?  He is 1/4 Pyrenees and 3/4 Anatolian.  He will already be dewormed and will have his first shots.  They should all be weaned on the 3rd of March, which is in... 7 days!  I am so excited!  There are two things that I am looking forward to this Spring: Getting puppies, and lambing. 

We will be getting a female to breed with him, and then we should have our own puppies.  The person we are getting this one from is in Kansas, and still has several to sell.  I am pretty sure all of them are 150$, but here is the link for you to see.  Oh, and we are getting another 1 foot of snow tonight, so wish us luck with all the animals! ;)

I have to admit, it is not usually "delicious", but you just can't get a foot of snow and NOT make snow ice cream.  So, that is what I did! 

In the past few years, I have watched cooking shows, and a lot of them.  So, when I searched snow ice cream in the search bar and Paula Deen's recipe came up, I figured it would be smart to try her's.  If you know one, just one thing about Paula Deen it is probably that everything she makes is either SUPER sweet or buttery!  So why not?  I decided to try it.

Snow Ice Cream by Paula Deen

8 cups of soft snow
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Gather the snow in a bowl, and pour remaining ingredients on top of it; stir. 

Viola! It was so easy, and tastes wonderful!  I was very surprised, because usually that stuff is like 2 cups of sugar, 3 teaspoons of vanilla, and 4 cups of snow.  I am not very fond of it.  Now, sweetened condensed milk, I am VERY fond of that stuff!  It tastes delicious, which is what made that ice cream so good.  Anyway, it tastes just like store-bought vanilla ice cream, so you should try it!

Merry February everyone!

Isn't that the truth! 


SO.  The weather channel was not wrong... at all.  We have a foot (!!!) of snow on the ground right now!  That is a lot, and it is much more than the inch of snow we have gotten every once in awhile in the past several months. 

Anyway, so we are trudging through the snow, trying to feed the animals as fast as we can, and of course, we see that three adolescent guineas have found a whole in the netting and gotten out of their enclosure.  Here is a picture to show you what they got through: 

Now, you might think they are somewhat smart at this young age, but they are NOT.  When you want them to go into a place, they will walk back and forth across the fence and gate like there is no place to enter into it... really?  So even with that, they somehow figure out how to get through the one little hole in the netting.  Grrrr... Well, anyway, they flew up into the trees, way above our reach, just to frustrate us even more.  It is below freezing, we have super deep snow, my sister is having fun hitting me with snowballs in my face, and we are trying throw rocks at guineas.  What. A. Night.  We never did get two guineas in, so right now we are hoping for the best.  The other one hopped back in.  So, at least we have 8 left...

Also, while I was sitting here looking at stuff, my mom mentioned, "What if Beady got pregnant the first time she was bred?  I felt her udder the other day, and it was getting softer, that means she might be due now."  Oh great!  I was actually excited at the thought of having lambs so soon, but it couldn't be that Nigel would breed her again if she was already pregnant.  Or could it?  Well, I don't know, so I suppose I will just have to sleep on it.

Goodnight Everyone!

Grace

Well, I don't know if this is what it is like to be a parent, but my babies are growing up so fast!!  One day they are these tiny pink alien creatures, then you turn around and they are already fuzzy!  I am such a proud bunny owner.  Even with the "ups and downs", I try to realize how lucky I am to still have these two to go out and check on, worry about, and for goodness sake, just stare at and enjoy!   Most first-time bunny litters are a TOTAL loss (which I learned about 5 days before she kindled... great.), so I was pretty worried when the numbers of kits left just kept decreasing.  I am sure I have said this before, but going out and finding little frozen, dead, still, adorable bunnies is absolutely heart breaking!  Just to realize that I held them the day before and they were as happy, wiggly, and warm as could be, and BOOM.  They are without any helpful creatures, warmth, or just a fluffy sibling to wiggle over to.  Blind, with no way to hear anything.  Freezing!  So sad!  But, there are always sad moments, and the happy ones usually outweigh them.  Like mentioned above, I am just very grateful that we have at least two!  I would certainly be sad if we had only one, because then it would probably freeze to death.  So, I am hoping for the best! 

Anyway, the kits opened their eyes on day twelve, as expected.  I'd imagine their ears are un-sealed now, so they have a MUCH better chance of surviving here.  I think we may have the runt and the tnur (reverse-runt) left now.  The smallest one is certainly not overly skinny or late to reach milestones, just smaller. They seem to greatly enjoy each other, and each one is getting fed, so I am not worried about it. 

They are certainly getting bigger and cuter each day!

I have taken to adding some extra things to the nest for them, because it felt like 17 degrees (!!!) out side today, with what was supposed to be a foot of snow.  How wonderful!  Well, it was VERY pretty, but I was a bit worried about them.  I kept checking on them and they have stayed warm, so I am not very worried anymore.  Well, tomorrow it is supposed to know and sleet ALL day, so I will be cooped up in the house, probably writing more.  So I have spent a good part of this day writing, I hope you all liked it!

Grace

It has been so long since I last wrote on here, sorry about that!  I have been pretty busy with things.  Here is the list of stuff I did from the 13th to the 17th:

1. The morning after I wrote my last post we had a kit die.  I am almost positive he froze to death, he was in the corner in a crawling position.  VERY heart-breaking.  Only two babies left, and they are getting so big and adorable!  Rest In Peace little bunnies... 

2. My friend came over for the weekend.  We spent 2 days together, driving the mule, petting chickens, sleeping with our dog, but mostly holding the bunnies.

3. I found out Beady really is pregnant!  I reached down by her udder, pushed up a bit, and felt a little baby inside there!  Not sure exactly what I felt, but I think I felt a nose and a hoof.  I am so happy!  We should have little East Friesian/Shropshire lambs in April!

4. Well, my friend, Cece, went home today, but I got a bunch of pictures! Just for you... ;)  The kits are growing so fast it is crazy!  A Beady was the star of the show... the start of it anyway.

Well, it is a late Sunday night, and I just wanted to squeeze a little post in tonight, so goodnight!  By the way, I hope you all had a happy Valentines Day!

The three kits all seem to be doing very well!  They have GIANT bellies...

Which only means they are being well-fed.  Right?

I have realized that with ANY, and I mean any, baby animal, there are always enough things to clutter, worry, and haunt your mind.   Everything I read and think about, there is always something that says "Oh, your animal is going to die soon.  For sure.", and I just can't take it.  I already have tendency to worry about anything available to worry about, so with people having this kind of mind-set, telling people they are destined for the worst, does NOT help me out at all.  I checked on the kits today, and I noticed that their bellies were quite full, so I thought "I wonder if baby bunnies can get bloated...", and of course, there was a link online titled "Rabbit kits dying - 1 already dead!  HELP!" and the picture on that link showed what my rabbits looked liked.  Big, round, stretched bellies.  I figured it was normal, but I guess not.  I want to check on the babies, but I am kind of hesitant to do so. What if I find dead babies?  D: