New Additions

Hey Everybody,

Guess what, we have some new animals on the farm. First came kittens, Socks had a litter of 7 kittens pictured below. Last week we got 25 meat birds. Then a few days ago we purchased 2 goats, one female and one male. They are Nigerien Dwarf crossed with Pygmy, so they are pretty small. Last night (or very early this morning) our other cat, Sally had 6 kittens (no pics yet I don’t want to scare her) so we are now up to 17 cats and kittens! And to top it all off we are expecting chicks and turkeys tomorrow or the day after!

The guys building the back porch.

Socks and her new litter of 7 kittens. L to R: Olaf, Bandit, Mittens, Toodles, Chlo, Tom and Pixie.

The grass in the back field is definitely ready for the first haying.

Putting our new goats in their pen (she is heavier than she looks).

Our new goats, Frank and Lucy (the white one is Lucy and the brown one is Frank).

Daniel in his firefighter’s dress uniform.

Socks’ new kittens.                                                                                                                                                   I hope you enjoyed this post, Grace. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my lovely readers!
I hope y’alls holiday is splendid 🙂

Just a quick update …
We’ve been really busy. Working on the barn, tending animals, and celebrating Abigail’s birthday.

Have a lovely day!
~ Amy

Barn part 1

Our barn site is officially excavated. It is behind and to the left of our house.
I would post an aerial photo but, as we haven’t sold enough eggs to pay for a helicopter, we don’t have one.

Prior to excavation…The gravel you see in the picture is the top of our driveway.

During excavation

Finished excavation…Complete with drainage swale. (A special formation of the dirt to direct rain water away from the barn.)

Dumping gravel…We got 6 dump truck loads of rock total.

Finished dumping gravel…The white spot near the top of the picture is the barn foundation, made from very fine rock. (Called screenings)…And isn’t the sky lovely!?

Breathtaking sunset!

And so my post has people pictures in it, here’s a recent shot of Samuel and Daddy driving our tractor:

Check back soon for a post regarding the newest inhabitants of Rehoboth Ranch!

~Amy

Lady Sheep

A few days ago, we purchased 4 Kathadin ewes, (female sheep), from a local farmer. We got 3 ewe lambs, (born this past spring), and one proven ewe, which means she is about 3 years old and has already had a couple of seasons of lambing. Lord willing, we’ll have 4-8 more lambs this coming spring. Every year, we’re naming our new batch of sheep after a certain theme, chosen by Mum. This year it’s herbs. Being that there’s 4 girls and 4 new sheep. We each got to chose an herb name.

The sheep in our horse trailer.
The largest sheep, in the back of the picture is the 3 year old, who I named Cicely. The black one was named Tansy by Grace has the brown one with the dark legs was named Ginger by Faith, and the biggest brown one was named Jasmine by Abigail.

The boys hefting Cicely over the fence

Cicely meeting Churchill

Daniel carrying Tansy

Ginger and Jasmine

Daddy watching the sheep to see how they like there new home.

The front of the sheep shelter during construction

The rear of the shelter.

Lastly, here’s a random picture of Samuel. Just because he’s cute *smile*

~ Amy

Daffodils

What else have we been doing?
Well, we planted 180 daffodil bunches!
Some friends of ours had an overabundance of daffodil plants on their property,  and as one of them is highly allergic to daffodils, they were eager to get rid of them. We were more than happy to take them off their hands!

Everyone had fun helping to put them in the ground!

We put some on either side of our driveway entrance and the rest up at the top of the drive.

The rocks were Josh’s idea. It does look lovely don’t you think?

I am so thankful that God made such pretty flowers!

~Amy

Little Birdies

Look what we got!  *grin*

Yep! Chicks! 50 to be exact.
(We actually started with 52 but 2 died.)
48 of them are Rhode Island Reds, 1 is a Grey Leghorn, and 1 is an Ameraucana.

The Grey Leghorn belongs to Grace. She named it Star. It ‘s what you might call a traditional chick. (A bright yellow ball of fluff.)

The Ameraucana belongs to Faith and was promptly dubbed Phoebe.

Samuel had alot of fun helping to put the chicks into their home sweet home!

Here’s one more picture:

Aren’t they cute?

~Amy

Snow!?

Well… It’s supposed to be spring here. Despite that fact, we got about a foot of snow over the past couple of days. No matter what season it is, the snow is a terrific representation of how Christ’s death on the cross washed our sin stains as white as snow. What a wonderful reminder as we approach Good Friday, a time when we remember Christ’s death to pay for our sins. And even more glorious, Easter, when we celebrate His glorious resurrection! I pray that He will show Himself to you in an whole new way this Easter season! ~Amy

Painting Part 1

The entire main floor of our home came from the factory primed for painting. We painted the entire main floor Antique Buff by Valspar, (a neutral beige), with a few exceptions.

1. The kitchen was painted Butter by Olympic
2. One wall in Mum and Daddy’s room was painted Yacht Harbor by Behr

Also, I just wanted to extend a huge thanks to all our friends who came to help with painting. It was an enormous blessing!

Our paint! (A total of 48 gallons)

The pod hallway. The first door at the end of the hall goes into the garage, the first doorway on the right is the bathroom, the second is the laundry room, and the third (not visible in this picture), is the pantry. The door on the left will open onto the front porch. Lockers will eventually be built by Josh and Daniel onto the left-hand wall.

The hallway after paint.

The hall-bath before paint.

The hall-bath after paint (The truest color in this picture is the narrow wall beside the shower)

The laundry room prior to painting. (The washer and dryer along with an upright freezer will go on the left wall and a bank of cabinets will eventually be built on the right wall for folding clothes/sewing. Also note that the boxes stacked up are the laminate flooring for the upstairs.)

The laundry room after painting.

A little woodpecker on a hickory tree near the house.

Remember, the big move is this Saturday!!

~ Amy

Water!

We hired a local drilling company to drill our water well and our HVAC wells. Overall, we were very happy with their work!

The drilling rig and pipe truck.

Drilling (The gray sludge is silt)

River of sludge (yuck!)

When he was done drilling the well he took the cap off causing the built up pressure to release creating a geyser.

The water pressure was amazing!

Sunshine!

Telephone poles and a lovely sunset on the way home

 

~ Amy

Drywall Part 2

After all the drywall went up we hired a mudder to finish the walls and get them ready for paint.

The boys’ room all mudded

Another view of the boys’ room (The silver pipe is the chimney pipe from our wood stove. There will be a drywalled box around it eventually.)

The boys’ bathroom drywalled and mudded (The drywall in the bathrooms was green because it is a water-resistant drywall.)

The main dormer all mudded

Another view

Getting ready to mud the girls’ room. (The black things in the window are the mudders stilts. He mudded around the top of each room first wearing his stilts to avoid the need for a ladder.)

The outside wall of the girls’ room

Another breathtaking sunset!

Each day I am awed by God’s majesty as displayed in a microcosm thru the phenomenal sunsets every evening!

(A panoramic view)

~ Amy