Friends with benifits

the zacheries all the way from THe Bay to OR!! thanks guys, Maia Mesurin' and Maia helpin' Brian tie up his panchetta : )



Maia Relaxin' with Clementine and using a sawzaw... damn that girl is multi talented!!

Brian putting Kev to work schlepping hay digging ditches and Splitting wood ...
I'll just say this guy earned his supper : )




On Wednesday Kevin and Maia arrived it was a much anticipated visit and they are still here it's been really amazing!!! they arrived with zacheries pizza and so far have built a pig pen, started the chicken coop, installed a kev's sculpture, schlepped water, built a goat house in the rain, dug ditches, drew schematics of ditch and drive, split wood ("unsplittable" wood at that), cooked a stunning "eggs kevin" breakfast which involved homemade muffins topped with Kevin's special holindaze sauce, fixed our stove... humm these guys should come more often ... it's been an amazing visit full and relaxing at the same time.. .more to come on that when I can just sit back and re-count... oh and and killed a lot of wine : )

Ty and Dara and the boys

We had a super nice visit from ty and the boys last weekend! Sam got to drive the tractor with uncle Brian and let's just say that made him VERY happy... so hapy that when it came time to be changed he insisted on being changed in the front loader of his new tractor... it was a ton of fun... thanks for coming guys!

moving water tanks and goats

this photo should give an idea of scale of a 10,000 gallon tank ... it's the green that goes all the way up to the rafters...

If you had asked my on monday morning which is easier moving a 12 foot in diamter 2000 lb water tank up hill by putting your shoulder to it with your husband (the tractor apparently was not suited for this job) OR moving the pasture for the goats I would have chosen the goats hands down... WRONG!!! once you have goats out grazing with no pen to catch them... it's pretty tough .. but not as hard as trying to catch a llama.. which is darn near impossible the woman who did sell him to me mentioned a holding pen to catch him... should have listened a little better... we did manage to coral the animals and get the hot fence moved but not after a LOT of DISCUSSION and several hours... jeeze that was exhausting ... we did also manage to role the water tank up to the barn and "store" it there for now till we can figure out how to get something that big 1/4 mile up a very steep hill... hummm : ) it was much bigger than I had anticipated ... it's 10,000 gallons.. .the hope is to hook up a solar pump from the spring (after we fix the cistern.. details details...) and pump up to the tank for a gravity system.... now the next time the power goes out we will have plenty of water...

new contenders... Perry and Plattus

I had to post this post... despite it's being ehemmm VERY irreverent : ) but I didn't write it Johnny did I'm just "publishing" it ... humm

Brian and My Friend Johnny has added to the pig naming... for those of you who are rowing geeks you will find this amusing : )

Hey Clare and Brian-
Great to hear from you. I've enjoyed your blog site a lot. Anyway, our mutual friend Perry Plattus is the only cop we know. I'd suggest you name one of your pigs Perry and the other one Plattus in honor of him. Going with Ham and Bacon or whatever is a bit cliche, even for rednecks down home on the farm. My two cents anyway.

thanks johnny http://www.beatsgriffracing.blogspot.com/

Proscuitto and Pancetta!

Porter re-named the pigs I love the new names : )

Oink Oink...

Patunia and Pattty.. but Brian would like to call them ham and bacon...

We got our newly waened pigs today!!

Brian brought them home in the dog crate in the hybrid true yuppy style : )

... they are VERY cute but they DO smell I must admit ... and I'm hoping the car recovers... (I think a trip to the professional car washer is in order.. next time the pick up may be the better choice) l
then into the wheel barrow to get them up to the barn we really didn't think it would have been wise to pull them out of the crate and "walk" them up to the barn.. I'm thinking we would have been chasing pigs all afternoon had we tried that.. so into the pen with the crate and they can out when they felt a little more relaxed...

We put them in the stall I built for the goats (who are now happily browsing full time)

we will keep them in the stall there for about a week then the plan is to set up a low electric fence where our garden will go and put them in there to act like rototillers!! : ) we'll see if it works in the mean time they are rooting up the stall I put them in and generally doing what pigs do ... I now understand why people put pigs on cement...

here they are : )

Now It's official

The search has ended we bought our tractor yesterday and it arrived today!!!

It's a Massy Fergeson 45 Hp with a front loader and a scraper

we bought it used from great guy close by he's re-built it from the ground up and we felt really good about the tractor and the price! Now all we need is ... a disc, tiller, post pounder, wood chipper, wood splitter and fork attachments ... humm : ) just the beginning...

here she is...

Edward the "guard lama"

Lots to report in the last week... we have 5 new additions to the farm...



Lots to report in the last week... we have 5 new additions to the farm...


Edward the "guard lama" has come to the old Williams farm to live he will be the herd protector for our new herd of goats we have 4 so far and are hoping for a few more... Edward came from this super breeder http://www.hiddenoaksllamaranch.com/

Ed ward lives with Romeo and Juliette who he came with and his new friends flops and scooter... Flops is I think my new favorite I have to admit she is sooo incredibly sweet.. but Edward is a pretty fine animal his own self......

The goats and their body guard are living at the moment in a "stall" holding pen I build last Friday it was a bit of an adventure as I don't usually use skill saws and impact drivers etc. unattended by my husbands skill and advise... but he was totally busy with work and basically said if you want to bring home this menagerie this week you'll have to figure it out... it was a good learning process I usually build stuff with him and he figures everything out this time it was just me in the raw space with 5 animals coming in 24 hours some tools and a big scrap pile of wood...I kind of surprised my self it went really well... but I have a greater understanding now when I say to Brian we you can "just build that" now I realize it's work figurin' cutting measuring laying it out ... running into snafoos and making sure the batteries are charged on your tools... so their fencing comes today or tomorrow and hoping to get 'em all out munching tomorrow...

in other news we got some buds on the trees I planted and the daffodils are just about to bust open!!! I've gotten all the seeds ready for our garden and my fabulous welding husband has build yet another handy thing for me : ) it's so I can keep the seeds warm near the woods stove as they germinate.. :
)

so that's this weeks report from the farm...

I also learned if you get men drunk enough they go out and split your wood pile after dinner .. thanks dave and alex I hope you weren't as sorry as I was this morning... : )