Piglets, ponies, and poop

Here in the Pacific Northwest we're on track for our wettest February on record. So. Much. Rain.

Our two mama pigs, who normally farrow in the forest were unable to keep their litters of pigs alive so we were forced to pull the surviving piglets. It's not ideal, one of the things I love about our farm is how our pigs are managed with very little input from us. Unfortunately, this also means they're not used to being told what to do. So, when we tried to bribe and cajole them into their farrowing huts they were not interested. We packed fresh, dry bedding out to them in the forest, but even that proved to be futile. There was just so.much.cold.rain.

When Matthew came inside with an armful of cold piglets I did what any other farmer would do. I got the heating pad out, drank a beer, unthawed some breast milk, and turned my empty beer into a bottle for them.

The piglets have finally moved off the bottles and are drinking from a pan (thank goodness, the middle of the night bottle feeding was not fun when paired with middle of the night Banzai nursing). And, now, happily, our Spring Break campers will get to be up close and personal with these pigs since they're being raised up closer to the house.

We still don't have baby goats, but.

BUT!

We finally did it.

We bought a horse.

I don't even care that she's miniature. She fills the horse sized hole in my heart that has been aching to be filled since I was Giz's age.

Giz named her Noomi. When I asked her what that name meant she said, "It means 'she farts', because ponies fart."

You see, we're not raising your typical girl over here.

The other day Giz said to me, "Mommy what do you love about yourself?"

I said, "Oh! What a fun question. I love that I'm a hard worker, that I always look at the bright side, and that I'm your mommy. What do you love about yourself?"

Giz: "I love pooping, and farting, and peeing, and farting."

This kid. Over the weekend we cleaned the dairy while Banzai napped to get it ready for the start of the 2017 season. Giz scrubbed for over an hour, while we sang songs from "The Sound of Music," and talked about the things that make us happy. The night before that we spent two hours in the garden getting the beds ready for planting and hunting for worms (one of her favorite past-times). She thrived in both situations. This little three and half year old kid has a better work ethic than the majority of adults I've met in my life.

Not only is she unphased by work, she seems to thrive on it.

Which is good, because, soon, soon! we'll be up to our elbows in placenta, milk, and poop.

Giz can hardly wait :)

A few more notes:

• If you haven't signed up for our goat class yet, you might want to consider it! The handouts alone will be great but the hands on training you'll receive to draw blood, give shots and trim hooves will be priceless. Plus it's a chance to interact with other current and future goat people in our community! You can sign up at Brown Paper Tickets >>

• As soon as we have enough goats in milk to start making cheeses we'll have an open farm day and you can come meet all the babies first hand! But fair warning, those piglets have teeth and squeal like the dickens when you pick them up.

• Spring Break Camp still has openings! You can sign up your camper online >>