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. 

Status Update

Hello, everyone!

I’m dreadfully sorry it has been so very long since my last post. Our life has been quite hectic these last months. But God is faithful!

I’ll give you a quick snapshot of where we’re at right now…

Our animal headcount is:

• 2 dogs – an 18 month old Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd cross guard dog and an 11 month black lab/golden retriever cross, who belongs to me 🙂
• 4 cats, one of which is quite pregnant
• 5 Rouen ducks (3 hens and 2 drakes)
• 3 Hampshire pigs, one boar and two pregnant gilts
• 41 laying hens – 22 Rhode Island Reds, 18 Black Ostrolorps, and 1 Grey Leghorn
• 1, six month old Jersey/Angus beef calf

The dogs are primarily mine and Dad’s responsibility. The ducks belong to Faith, the cats to Samuel, the red hens to Grace, and the black ones to Abigail.

The exterior of our barn is nearly done, with just a few more battens to nail up.

Our house continues to be a work in progress, but we are at least making progress 🙂

And now about the blog: I’m in my junior year of high school this year and also preparing for a mission trip this summer so am quite busy. Grace has been honing her photography and writing skills and will be taking over the posting here on the blog.

Stay tuned for some awesome photos from Grace and drop us a comment with any questions that I wasn’t able to answer here.

~Amy

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

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

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

Insulation!

Hello everyone!

To ease our budget, we chose to insulate the upper story of our home ourselves. In order to do that we had to measure everything and cut it to fit in between each 2×4, 2×6, etc. Also, we were using fiberglass insulation so there was constantly risk of fiberglass splinters so we had to wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves, respirators, and goggles to avoid ‘unnecessary exposure.’ (I think most of us still managed to get splinters!)

We used three main types of insulation: faced batts for the ceilings, unfaced batts for the rafters, and faced rolls for the walls.

Samuel rolling in insulation

He was very happy to get a ‘big boy’ job!

Batts of faced insulation all stacked up in Daddy and Mum’s bedroom

Rolls stacked in Mum’s closet

Insulation out the wazoo! Unfaced batts stacked in Daddy’s closet.

Faith dressed for putting up fiberglass insulation

Mr S—- helping to cut insulation

Grace and Mr S—- putting up insulation in the girls’ bathroom

The boys’ room dormer completely insulated

Daddy and I stapling baffles in the back of the girls’ room closet.

Baffles, (or rafter vents), are stapled beneath the insulation to allow air flow and prevent condensation buildup.

Mum and Daniel stapling insulation in the girls’ room dormer

Insulation scraps stacked in the schoolroom, ready for use

Baffles almost done in the boys’ room closet

Daniel stapling insulation in the boys’ dormer. (Notice the baffles. . . The hardware store was out of the pink ones so we had to get these for the rest. Same thing different color/style)

Daniel and Josh still working in the boys’ dormer

Me working on stapling the insulation in the back of the boys’ closet.

Daddy helping Abigail to staple insulation in the main dormer. (It was all she could do to squeeze that staple gun shut!)

~ Amy