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At first this was mostly going to be an update on our chickens and the various, beautiful birds that we have been blessed with on our farm. But then the warm weather set in and updates just keep on coming! And so, this one is for the birds and some other stuff!

Our new chickens babies are living outside full time now. They grew so quickly. All of the sudden we were in a mad dash to get their living quarters finalized and ready for their move in. They now happily roam freely in the pasture with our goats. I tried to expose the chickens and goats to each other pretty early on, so they could happily co-exist in the same pastures. So far, that has worked wonderfully. The biggest issue is that Boots the goat, is still small enough that he can squeeze himself into the chicken house doorway. That has required some special blockading on my part, but we are making it work.

In addition to being outside chickens now, we are starting to get a good idea of what we have in our new flock, and it seems we have primarily roosters. Yes. Out of eleven chickens, it appears that AT LEAST five of them are roosters, with one or two still being rather suspect. Now, it is possible to keep a number of roosters in a flock with enough space and enough hens. I feel pretty good about space, but we do not have nearly enough hens to keep the status quo. In order to balance out the numbers we would need to get about sixty or seventy more hens. Yeah. I don’t think that will be happening this year. So that leaves me with two options. The first would be to get rid of some of my roosters. For anyone who knows me, you already know I can’t do it. While regular, sane people do exactly that, I have never claimed to be sane. I raised them all from babies and I am ridiculously attached. There it is. So, I am left with one option that I sincerely hope will work. That is, to separate the roosters from the hens, and keep them in their own bachelor flock. Supposedly, this is possible. People have done it successfully. I hope to be one of them. Being that they were all raised together, the chances of success are higher. I hope that by giving them free roam on their own section of the farm, we will be able to have a happy flock of roosters! I’ll let you know how it goes!

As for the very base of the farm itself, the world out there on those rolling acres has transformed with all the warm weather and rain. It turns out that we have some spectacular hay fields! Additionally, by a great blessing we have come into a set of free hay equipment(let me tell you, that stuff is not cheap), and are planning to begin cutting out own hay. I don’t know that our first go-round will be our best hay season, but hopefully we will learn a great deal this year through trial and error, and hopefully we can begin too produce some top quality hay here on the farm. That would be a huge savings for us, and it would be extra great if we could sell some. I don’t have any illusions about getting rich off our farm. I know this is a hobby, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if we brought in a little cash here and there.

We do have a few new faces here at Gentle Breeze. First, Beatrix and Parsley. They are two lovely little rabbits who came to me as a surprise birthday gift. Certainly not expected, but immediately loved. They enjoy afternoon outings to their playpen in the grass where they munch clover and shoots of fresh grass. I have never kept rabbits as an adult so I am still learning the best practices for ideal care, but so far the vet says they appear to be the picture of health. Fortunately, rabbit poo is an excellent plant fertilizer without even being composted, so they are even pulling their weight around here!

Next up, we have Mavis. She is our very first milk goat. I will tell you, she is rather chunky. Only time will tell if this is because she is expecting some little goats, or if that is just her naturally round little body type. Based on when she arrived with us, by October we should know one way or the other. Until then, she will be out frolicking with her two goat companions.

Well folks, thanks for checking in! It is time for me to get back to work.

Have a lovely Wednesday.

I am fascinated by critters. Always have been, and I hope I always will be. I don’t really have one particular animals that I am interested more than others. I just can’t help but be amazed by the intricate and special way that each one was perfectly created to be what it is.

One of the creatures I so hoped would be here, was barn swallows. With the time of year we arrived, I couldn’t quite tell if we had them or not. I looked in the rafters of the barn and saw many nests, but I saw a lot of other birds flying in and out of them. It wasn’t until the last few weeks as spring has really come into its own that we really started to see them in all their beauty. We have TONS of barn swallows. They swoop around all day flashing their blue and orange plumage as they catch bugs and do their part to offer some relief from the insects that are emerging.

Not only have I been thrilled to find our barn swallow population so encouraging, but we have discovered Purple Martins actually nesting in a Martin house we have here on the farm. That might seem obvious, but with all the other birds we have around, it wasn’t really a guarantee that there would actually be Purple Martins in the Martin house. But, surprise! There are! They have a beautiful song and I have so enjoyed getting to observe them up close.

Another nifty resident I recently became aware of is quail! I thought I had heard them out in the fields, but I hadn’t yet spotted one, so I thought I must be mistaken. Nay, nay! A couple weeks ago, we did in fact spot one quail. It hurried off as soon as it knew it had been discovered, but now I know and I smile every time I hear their signature “bob white” call.

With the warmer weather and longer days slowly getting established, we are getting more and more in the swing of living the farm life. We are moving cattle and pushing them back where they are supposed to be when they cleverly escape. We are rotating pastures to even out grazing and trying to remember to stop and take it all in, every once in a while. Time is flying here, and it is so easy to get swept up in it all. Have to try to remember to slow it all down from time to time.

Wishing you all a lovely May.

Well, here we are at the last day of March. The calendar says it is spring, so I suppose it’s safe to officially declare it.

A lot going on here and I haven’t been as great about updates I would really like to be, but here I am getting one in before March is over.

Bundle is doing well. He has grown tremendously. Since we intend to keep him, unfortunately, he had to go from being a bull to a steer and he still hasn’t forgiven us for that. He doesn’t trust us the way he did, but hopefully that will change. For now, I can tell you he seems very happy running and playing napping out in the fields. That can be enough.

There are more chicks in my life now. I didn’t know I was going to get them, but they left the feed store with me one day. There were twelve, but right away one already looked to be sick. Sure enough, the little one didn’t make it more than a day. I named him Terrence before we buried him. That was the first chick I lost and it was depressing. You want to see them grow and become what they are. The remaining eleven are doing really well, and growing fast. They were an unknown bunch, so only time will tell what we have, but I’m sure well know soon enough. Until they are closer to grown, Terrence will be the only one named.

We have also added two little goats. They’re funny little things. Curious and playful. Devilish little creatures really. Boots and Buffalo are their names.

And in other news, I managed to set a field on fire. I’m nothing if I’m not trouble. It all turned out fine. The fire department came and put it out. But it certainly was frightening. All that burned was dried up scrub grass and now it’s all coming back in greener than ever. Which is good, since it wasn’t my property…

I hope everyone has a beautiful April.

It’s the big one, folks! The news I have been waiting to share! Last night beautiful Charlotte had her calf! What an incredible experience. This whole time there have been two cows here and they have been so much fun to get to know. We knew Charlotte was expecting a calf, but we couldn’t see it and we had never had cows before, so it all seemed unreal. But now the little darling is here and both mom and baby are doing well.

Naturally, the big event started without me. I was thirty minutes away from ending my shift at the part-time job I work in town and my husband was tending to the farm chores in my absence. I got the text…. “Birth!!! Can’t talk!!!”. I couldn’t believe it. Did I mention, years ago, our chickens laid their first egg while I was away and Marcus was home? It’s a thing. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to hear the news and rushed myself home as quickly as I could. About 40 minutes later I huffed and puffed as I ran through the pasture to the barn and arrived just in time to see a fresh, steaming calf laying on the ground taking those first few breaths. I had missed the actual birth by about thirty seconds, but most importantly, everyone looked okay when I arrived , so what more could I ask for?

Standing by, watching this brand new little cow experience the world for the very first time, were my husband and our neighbor down the road. Just the night before we had been at his farm watching one of his goats have two brand new kids, so when my husband saw the moment was upon us, he put a call in to Jeff.
So, the story goes, Marcus went to go put out a fresh bale of hay for the horses and just happened to think he should peek at the cows while he was out. As he approached the barn he heard first one moo, and then another. Uh, oh! Sure enough, when he looked in, there were some hooves starting to appear below Charlotte’s tail! The problem was, so far there was no sign of a snout. From what we had learned so far, that could mean one of three things. The snout hadn’t come out yet, the calf was backward, or its head was turned. Neither of the last two are good things, so after sending me his initial text, Marcus made his calls for help.

Bu the time backup had arrived, the snout had appear and things were looking good, but Charlotte had already been pushing for about half an hour, so Jeff said it was time to pull the calf. That’s right. Pull. I am now counting this as Marcus’s official farmer initiation. You don’t get much more “in it” than a good ole calf pull. So, Jeff and Marcus tied a rope to that baby and set to help with arrival. It turns out what you don’t want is for the sac to break, because once it does, you have to move. Time is of the essence. What do you think happened on the first tug? The sac broke. Yep. So they hustled and pulled that baby out! Flop! That baby cow hit the ground and huff and puff, I arrived.

Everything was pretty tense when I ran up. I’m sure Jeff was calm as can be, having done this a hundred times, but to Marcus and I, it looked like the calf wasn’t breathing. How long was it supposed to take for those first breaths to come? Charlotte was standing still facing away, undoubtedly exhausted. We could see the pulsing of the tiny heartbeat beneath the new baby’s black fur. Jeff said, “Ya got some towels? You can start rubbing on it and get it’s blood moving.” Thank the Lord for someone with experience. Sure enough, we started rubbing that little cow and it started moving, which seemed to prompt Charlotte to snap into action. She turned and started licking the little steaming blob of a calf. And here it is folks, the big reveal. I lifted the little wet tail and confirmed we had a little bull on our hands!
About then, as Charlotte licked, her little boy took his first real good breaths and we all relaxed a bit. Things were all coming together. Now, we had dreamed of having a cow long before we had our farm. We had actually picked out our cow’s name before we ever had an animal to attach it to. When we got Charlotte and Rosie, they were already named, so our chosen name would go to the calf when he arrived. Well, the time had come and we christened the little bull, Bundle.

For the next four hours, we all stood around staring at little Bundle. Charlotte was wonderful about letting us be near. She kept a watchful eye and didn’t let little Bundle out of her sight, but as long as we moved slow and respectfully, she didn’t mind us letting him or her.
It took about an hour for Bundle to fully figure out his legs and get those first, real solid steps. He would stand and wobble and plop back down. But being no quitter, he would try again, until finally he seemed to start getting control of those lanky limbs. Unfortunately, once Bundle started to move around Rosie our heifer, found him to be VERY interesting and wanted to play. So we had to put the poor playful girl out to make sure she didn’t accidentally injure the baby.

The last milestone you have to hit to ensure the calf’s health is on track, is to make sure he knows how to feed. The good news was, Bundle seemed plenty motivated, he just needed some time to get it right. We watched for another few hours as he stumbled around investigating his world, and trying to figure out where exactly milk would come from. He started out licking his mom’s face. Nope, not it. He tried her leg. Not that either. But eventually, much to our joy, he got it right. It was then we knew he was going to be just great. Bundle was walking around, eating and looking full of life. So, after watching just a bit more because we could hardly tear ourselves away, we finally turned in for the night and let Charlotte and Bundle enjoy some time alone.

This morning, I was a little nervous going out to the barn to check how he did overnight. That little calf was just cute as could be and bouncing around like he was just pleased as could be.

That was without a doubt an incredible experience and quite possibly one of our biggest farm adventures so far. I am thankful the Lord surrounded us with some wonderful, helpful and experienced people and put Marcus in the right place at just the right moment and allowed us to have this unique farm experience. It was amazing. What a day!

Thanks for checking in and come back for more updates on out newest member! Have a beautiful day!

Hello, February! About the time I start hearing people talk about how mild the winter has been this year, is also about the time when we usually receive the coldest blast yet. No straying from the formula this year. These last few days, I have heard stories of some beautiful snows in nearby areas. Thick, fluffy drifts that are just perfect for snow angels and snowball fights. Not here. It seems, we have been designated as the ice zone. No snowball fights here. Not unless you intend to actually kill your opponent, which I do not recommend.

However, while we may not be sledding over powdery drifts here at Gentle Breeze Farm, we certainly aren’t being left out of the magic. From yesterday afternoon through the night, we received a steady stream of freezing rain and this morning when I stepped out the doors, everything I laid eyes on, was covered in a smooth, glassy shell. As I stood there in the morning quiet, as the sky was just starting to lighten, I could hear the trees crackling as the breeze worked its way through their crystalized limbs. A rare and beautiful occasion.

When things really started to come down yesterday, I wanted to go check on the horses and just make sure they were handling it all okay. Two out of three have well adapted, curly, winter coats and I really don’t worry about them. But the third and newest member of our herd is a little different. A little less hardy perhaps, and coming back from a few injuries. Mostly, I wanted to see with my own eyes that he knew there was a shelter present and stocked with fresh hay. My intention was to catch Toby and walk him to the shelter for good measure. Whether he stayed there or not, was up to him, but at least I would know he had experienced the lack of ice pelting him as he stood in it, and the existence of dry hay. I don’t know what it is, but something about the cold weather and the blowing wind, has a way of making horses extra goofy. At least mine. Smokey, my biggest and certainly goofiest horse, was feeling downright wild. As soon as I would get near Toby, Smokey felt the need to chase him off. I spent over an hour out there chasing those beasts. In the end, I determined I would catch the trouble maker and lead him to the shelter, with the expectation that the other horses would follow us. When it came down to it, I led Smokey all the way up, only to find the other hoses hadn’t followed a single step and seemed not to care one bit that Smokey had left the bunch(something I am sure he is in denial about). When I finally trudged back into my house, all I can really say I accomplished was a good bit of cardio and a new hairstyle, I like to call “the icicle”. Even so, I can say I am glad for the experience as a whole. Being able to look back on that ordeal as one of the things I can say I have done, is totally worth it. Of course this morning, I had to go straight out and confirm everyone survived the night. And as you might have guessed, they were all just fine. The Lord took perfectly good care of them without my meddling.

My morning horse check, also yielded some unexpected fun. I found a set of coyote tracks along my walk and when I looked up ahead, there was the animal itself. I had the rare opportunity to follow it a while and be able to see it clearly up ahead in the distance before it realized I was there. Eventually, it caught sight of me and made haste to the nearest stand of trees. One icy morning I won’t soon forget.

Wherever you are, I hope you stay warm and cozy and safe, but bundle up now and again to take in the magic of this frigid, winter world.

Howdy folks! And wow, how did I let so much time get by without checking in here? Really, I have no excuse and I can’t really tell you one thing exactly that has been hogging my focus. It’s a shame we don’t have any hogs, or I could have made a really clever farm joke there. Bummer.

But seriously, winter is a busy time of year. Normal tasks take more time simply because it is cold. We move slower, the ground is harder and everything is stiff and more difficult to maneuver. But no matter. With the right clothing, it is still really very pleasant. The experience is still worth having. The winter air is fresh in an entirely different way than any other season, and although it is cold and biting, it would be a shame to miss out on it.

We do have a few updates. No new calf has arrived yet. We successfully left town for a week and made it back before the arrival, so that is good. We do have four horses now… Well, three that we own and one that is boarded, so four present on the farm altogether. You might ask how two horses turned into four. Well, I ask myself the same question. It was less than two years ago that I was dreaming of of getting my very own first horse ever. And then, BAM! We have three. Turns out, when you have property, horses have a way of multiplying. The second horse, was a rescue that showed up on our radar by way of some friends. She was sweet as pie and we both fell in love with her. We figured at some point, the boarded mare would return to her owner’s home and at that point, our gelding would need a new herd-mate anyway. So we brought home Ruth. And then a few weeks later, we heard about Toby. It seemed he had tried a couple homes before ours, but wasn’t quite the right fit in either, so third one’s a charm, right? So far he is doing really well. Definitely low man on the totem pole, but he is the newest and youngest, so that is to be expected. They are all figuring out their place.

The new additions have added some changes to my general list of tasks, though. Originally, Smokey and Holly had a pretty good routine. They new when they came up to the barn in the morning, I would give them feed. And Smokey is VERY food motivated, so I could pretty much guarantee he would make his way up every morning, and Holly would follow. Not so now. Something has changed ever since we added the new additions. They are all perfectly content to stay all the way out at the very edge of the property. Especially, in the places I can’t see them without walking all the way out. I even walked halfway out until I saw Smokey tracking me with his gaze. I shook a bucket of feed at them and that goofball, Smokey, shook his head and turned and galloped the opposite direction with all three other horses following! Seriously? I haven’t decided what I think the mentality is behind this. I mean there is so much grass still they aren’t hungry I know, but that has never stopped any horse I know from getting excited about feed. So, I can’t decide if they are just having such a great time together they have no interest in coming in, or if Smokey thinks he is a wild horse now and I have just presented him with his very own herd to run. I’ll be interested to see how their behaviors continue to shift. But for the time being, I go on my daily “horse hunt” to check on them all up close and catch them for some riding.

The journeys out to find the horses are also great opportunities to check out critter activity too. Especially, when there is some snow. Today, for example, I found myself examining a line of prints that I couldn’t quite figure out. There were a number of them overlapping each other and making them hard to isolate. As I was studying them and following the trail, I looked up at the tree they seemed to be leading to and there was a raccoon! Hey, not exactly a rare find, I know, but somehow it is the little things like that, that amuse me the most.

In other news, two of our fifteen outdoor cats have found new homes! The beautiful Siamese, who we named Alfred, wandered up to me last week with a terrible facial wound. While that may initially seem depressing, it proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to capture him and work with a local organization to get him all fixed up and officially placed in a wonderful foster home. Score! The other cat, was an aging gray tabby with an old eye wound that rendered him blind on that side. He also got a new indoor home, which coincidentally, also happens to be our home….. I know, I know! But I am only so strong. He is older, one eyed, clearly not fit for life on the streets. What could I do? Really, though. It has been pitiful. Since November, he has followed me around everywhere, wanting to be held. He got under the horses feet a number of times, even followed me all the way out to the back 40, which I feared would eventually end badly. And every time I opened a door in the house, he tried to cram himself through it. Since we officially let him in, he basically just sleeps. Completely uninterested in our other cats. He wants to be held and sleep. What’s one more cat anyway?

Okay, friends. I should probably go haul in another load of wood to keep this stove going. I hope January has been treating you all kindly, and I’ll do my best not to be so silent in February.

Happy Friday!

Really, it is. I can’t believe how quickly time passes. As I talk to people here and there I tell them we have been on our new farm for about a month now, but as I pondered this morning, I realized that I have now been telling folks that for about a month itself! Which does in fact mean, that we are actually just a few days away from TWO months here at Gentle Breeze Farm! Golly, how did that even happen? I suppose one day it will start to feel real. This will all start to feel like real life. We made such a ginormous change in such a small space of time, that to be honest, it still feels like we are just on some “farm-experience” vacation. At least to me. My husband still works the same job and still drives all over the same tri-state area, so maybe it doesn’t feel so different to him. But for me, moving on from on-site horse care to having my very own farm in a different state, is like starting a whole new life. Pretty mind-blowing. So it will be interesting to look back and see at what point, this all becomes ordinary. If it ever does. Who knows!?

I could also note that we embarked on this journey, at perhaps the most turbulent time of year possible. We moved at the very start of the holiday season during the part of the year when the coldest weather will be arriving. The days are short, store hours are weird and festivities are cropping up all over the place. What exactly is “normal” during the last three months of the year? So, since we have already breezed through two months, I’d say if we can simply make it through the next two (most likely colder) months, things should start settling in and smoothing out. Not that it has been that much of a struggle so far (well, aside from the house), but it has certainly been a whirlwind! And I would like to make sure I am enjoying each moment. The first signs of spring always bring such promise, and I am looking forward to seeing this place in full bloom. I just know it is going to be amazing. Plus there are a number of family and friends that we are so excited to have out, but let’s face it. Most people would much prefer to enjoy the outdoors when it is 70 degrees as opposed to 20. I don’t blame them.

So for the rest of this year, I will keep busting the ice off the tops of the waterers each morning and sometimes in the afternoon, and hopefully one day soon after the next two months have flown by, we will have guests with us picking fresh flowers and petting new calves, here on Gentle Breeze Farm.

Howdy folks! Well, anyone who has kept up with this blog for any period of time, has probably come across mention of our beautiful cows, one of which I also mentioned is expected to have a calf. Considering that we were expecting the calf’s arrival to be somewhere around two or three weeks ago, some of you may be wondering what gives. Seeing as how our lovely Charlotte was not showing any of the tell-tale signs of approaching calving, we decided to have a vet out. As much as I love a good surprise, I was ready to know what was going on and I was also starting to get a little worried. Maybe something had gone wrong or maybe we just had a really chunky cow.

I can tell you, we do have an official answer. Drum roll please……… Charlotte IS in fact pregnant and everything seems to be absolutely fine. The only thing is, the vet predicts she isn’t actually due until more like February or March. Sooooo, the folks who had her previously, were a little bit off on the time, but as long as everything seems okay, we can live with that. Truth be told, I am actually very relieved about how the calving date is falling. As time went on, I was worried that we might end up with a calf mid-January, in the bitter cold and during the one week we plan to be away from the farm. With February or March as the new arrival window, I feel confident that we will be home and the temperatures will hopefully be trending toward warmer, not colder. It was really interesting to see the vet checking her out, too. The only way to check the status of a cows pregnancy out on the farm, is apparently from the inside. That means a rope, a really long glove and a very patient vet, who actually knows what she is supposed to be feeling “in there”. I have a lot of respect for that vet. I mean, gloved hand aside, standing behind and animal that size while it swings its back end around in protest is a pretty courageous thing in my book.

Also, in our world of cows, Rosie is warming up to us nicely. That is a pretty big deal for us. When we first took over the care of these ladies, we came in knowing that Charlotte was bottle fed as a calf and super friendly, but Rosie on the other hand, was very stand-offish. She is much younger than Charlotte and presumably pretty unhandled. In the past month and a half, we have gone from her turning tail and running if we so much as looked at her, to her happily accepting pettings all over. We really looked forward to that moment, because she has super soft fluffy fur and we were dying to pet it. Don’t get me wrong, she is still pretty goofy, but I would say at this point, it is more a matter of her being young and playful than being fearful of us. She is a hoot to watch when she gets jazzed up. She runs and hops around and kicks up her hooves. She’s like a puppy. Only cow sized, so we do have to be a little more careful. Even as a young, small cow, she has a good deal of weight on me or my husband so we keep an eye on her especially when she is feeling frisky. But all in all, as this year draws to a close, that ranks pretty high on our list of accomplishments. So, instead of dwelling on the not as pleasant parts of this past year, I think here at Gentle Breeze Farm, we shall deem it the year of the cows. That seems happier to me. 🙂

Happy New Year everyone!