After much prayer and discussion, we decided to send Frosty back to the rescue. We just didn't feel comfortable keeping him as we weren't sure if he would be difficult to handle on the ground. I was originally going to just do ground work with him and do halter, showmanship and ground driving, but his neck is so stiff! He has either never been trained, or he's got some serious bad habits that he's learned over the years. We also decided that we really need something that's rideable. With our limited pasture, it's not feasible to keep a horse that pretty much unusable. I've talked with several people and the consensus seems to be that we won't be able to have more than 4-5 horses on our current property.
So, Frosty went back on Wednesday, but on Tuesday we looked at a wonderful horse right up the road from us. This one is a 12-year-old Appaloosa mare named Natalie. She stands between 15 and 16 hands and is very stocky. She's white like Frosty, but instead of black spots on her undercoat like him, she's got black freckles on her muzzle. She's a BTDT (been there, done that) horse with a quiet disposition. She's been jumped before and would also be good for a beginner. She's in our price range and the trainer said she's almost positive the owners wouldn't mind letting us have her on trial here on our property. She's currently fully pastured and that's the only problem I see with her, barring a vet-check. I plan to bring her in and stall her at night and she might be our only horse for a bit. I'm not sure how she'll respond to either the stall or being by herself. The trainer did mention (and I'm not sure if she was serious) that she has a lame horse that she'd lend us if we needed a pasture buddy.
So, we'll see. We're not rushing things this time. Hopefully this time we'll make a fully informed decision and will get a keeper horse.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Chicken Treats
I've recently started experimenting with "treats" for the girls. I've found that they love cracked corn and will eagerly crowd around me when I go into their yard and cluck at them. They also love watermelon, but are iffy on tomatoes and plums.
I gave them a treat today by spreading out some wheat straw that I bought in their yard for them to peck through. I was going to use it in my garden for mulch, but it was too full of seed heads. Hopefully they love it and will get all the seed heads out. If not, at least the seeds will have fallen to the ground and I'll be able to rake up the actual straw.
On another note, they have officially moved up to grower ration and love it. I have to fill their feeder roughly once a week now. It could just be because they are growing so quickly, though.
I gave them a treat today by spreading out some wheat straw that I bought in their yard for them to peck through. I was going to use it in my garden for mulch, but it was too full of seed heads. Hopefully they love it and will get all the seed heads out. If not, at least the seeds will have fallen to the ground and I'll be able to rake up the actual straw.
On another note, they have officially moved up to grower ration and love it. I have to fill their feeder roughly once a week now. It could just be because they are growing so quickly, though.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Horse Fall
We had quite the scare last weekend. We adopted an 18-year-old Tennessee Walker named Frosty and were planning to keep him as a companion/light rider. We were told he wasn't for a beginner, but would need an experienced rider. We figured Samantha could ride him and get him to the point that I could ride him. She had her first, and last, lesson on him last Sunday. We decided to use the trainer from the rescue organization since she was not only familiar with him personally, but has worked with gaited horses and rescue horses.
Frosty had trouble during the lesson staying focused and kept wanting to take Samantha back to the barn gate. She was able to redirect him and gave him plenty of rest time at a spot in the farthest corner from the barn. On her last lap around the pasture, however, Frosty decided to break into a full-blown gallop. Samantha has never galloped a horse, let alone a horse that isn't responding to leg or rein commands. As they headed towards the barn gate Samantha tried to steer him right to go past the fence post. Frosty decided to go left at the last minute, and unfortunately, Samantha continued right. She fell off and slammed into the fence post, which just happened to be a square one and the only one sticking out into the pasture.
We called for an ambulance because she was coughing up blood and already has serious bruises on her back. After being rushed to the trauma center with sirens on (25 miles away), we were told everything was fine and Samantha was released within two hours. We are so thankful that she wasn't seriously hurt. She doesn't ever want to ride Frosty again, which I completely understand, but still loves him.
Our quandary now is, do we keep him as a companion only, keep him and try to train him, or send him back and get something rideable? He's very sweet on the ground and we've grown quite attached to him.
Frosty had trouble during the lesson staying focused and kept wanting to take Samantha back to the barn gate. She was able to redirect him and gave him plenty of rest time at a spot in the farthest corner from the barn. On her last lap around the pasture, however, Frosty decided to break into a full-blown gallop. Samantha has never galloped a horse, let alone a horse that isn't responding to leg or rein commands. As they headed towards the barn gate Samantha tried to steer him right to go past the fence post. Frosty decided to go left at the last minute, and unfortunately, Samantha continued right. She fell off and slammed into the fence post, which just happened to be a square one and the only one sticking out into the pasture.
We called for an ambulance because she was coughing up blood and already has serious bruises on her back. After being rushed to the trauma center with sirens on (25 miles away), we were told everything was fine and Samantha was released within two hours. We are so thankful that she wasn't seriously hurt. She doesn't ever want to ride Frosty again, which I completely understand, but still loves him.
Our quandary now is, do we keep him as a companion only, keep him and try to train him, or send him back and get something rideable? He's very sweet on the ground and we've grown quite attached to him.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Horses!
Oh, my goodness! Where to start? Well, we finally got the front pasture refenced with electric braided rope, sprayed for weeds and the majority of the unused stalls cleared of their bedding. We transferred all of the bedding into one stall and will pull from there until it's gone. Each stall had roughly four inches of bedding on top of rubber matting. We are able to use the bedding that was inside the barn, but the bedding that was outside was unusable. Jeremy hooked up the manure spreader and spread it lightly on the back pasture and we used some of it in the compost bins and as footing in the garden walkways. So, we figure now we're ready for horses and our journey begins.
Monday afternoon we went to a local rescue shelter, Diamonds in the Rough, with our neighbor to see if we could find a companion/light rider for me. They had roughly 30 adoptable horses, but we only looked closely at three. One was a mare named Zoey, the second was another mare named Lady and the third was a gelding named Frosty. We all fell in love with Frosty. He's a Tennessee Walker, 17 years old, and about 15 hands. My neighbor loves him because he's gaited. He has at least four gaits, and possibly five. He's ridable and only has some minor issues that can be fixed with consistent riding and work. I called yesterday to set up a time to go back to ride him and was told that 1)someone else was coming to look at him on Saturday and 2)the trainer was going to be there at 1pm. I quickly called the neighbor and we headed out to see him again and ride him.
We quickly decided he was the one and put the deposit down on him. He's getting his feet done on Friday and will be delivered to our house Saturday. We can't wait! We have a 30-day trial on him and if he works out we'll pay the remainder of the adoption fee and he will be ours. This rescue facility is well respected in our area and has already had him checked by a vet, his feet done every six weeks, teeth floated and he's up-to-date on all his shots. They have an open-book policy and we'll be able to see all of their records for him, including anything that was passed along from the previous owners.
To top it all off, we possibly found a great horse for Samantha as well. The rescue shelter also has a regular boarding barn and they have a ten-year-old Thoroughbred mare whose owner doesn't have time for her any more. They are contacting her now to see if she would be willing to either sell her outright or give us a free lease on her with the option to purchase at a set price. This would be so perfect. She has a ton of potential and normally would cost us a ton of money. We're praying it works out. If so, we'll have two horses delivered on Saturday.
Samantha and I spent last night cleaning the tack room and utility room and setting up the stalls we chose for our horses. We still have some work to do, but it's coming along. We're going to spend this morning visiting the different tack shops in the area to get our necessary supplies.
Monday afternoon we went to a local rescue shelter, Diamonds in the Rough, with our neighbor to see if we could find a companion/light rider for me. They had roughly 30 adoptable horses, but we only looked closely at three. One was a mare named Zoey, the second was another mare named Lady and the third was a gelding named Frosty. We all fell in love with Frosty. He's a Tennessee Walker, 17 years old, and about 15 hands. My neighbor loves him because he's gaited. He has at least four gaits, and possibly five. He's ridable and only has some minor issues that can be fixed with consistent riding and work. I called yesterday to set up a time to go back to ride him and was told that 1)someone else was coming to look at him on Saturday and 2)the trainer was going to be there at 1pm. I quickly called the neighbor and we headed out to see him again and ride him.
We quickly decided he was the one and put the deposit down on him. He's getting his feet done on Friday and will be delivered to our house Saturday. We can't wait! We have a 30-day trial on him and if he works out we'll pay the remainder of the adoption fee and he will be ours. This rescue facility is well respected in our area and has already had him checked by a vet, his feet done every six weeks, teeth floated and he's up-to-date on all his shots. They have an open-book policy and we'll be able to see all of their records for him, including anything that was passed along from the previous owners.
To top it all off, we possibly found a great horse for Samantha as well. The rescue shelter also has a regular boarding barn and they have a ten-year-old Thoroughbred mare whose owner doesn't have time for her any more. They are contacting her now to see if she would be willing to either sell her outright or give us a free lease on her with the option to purchase at a set price. This would be so perfect. She has a ton of potential and normally would cost us a ton of money. We're praying it works out. If so, we'll have two horses delivered on Saturday.
Samantha and I spent last night cleaning the tack room and utility room and setting up the stalls we chose for our horses. We still have some work to do, but it's coming along. We're going to spend this morning visiting the different tack shops in the area to get our necessary supplies.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Garden Start
Our gardening experience has officially begun! I started by trying to kill the grass in a 30'x30' patch of yard that had previously been used as a garden. Unfortunately, the previous owner reseeded the garden every year with grass, so it was covered pretty completely. I wet the grass down and laid clear plastic edge to edge, overlapping pieces to fit. I held them down with boards, which were then weighted down with large rocks. The wind is so bad here that I had to redo a section twice because it kept getting blown away.
This partially killed the grass and would have worked eventually, but we needed the grass to be taken care of sooner. Luckily, my neighbor has a plow and he offered to come over when we were ready and plow the entire area. We had to wait for the ground to dry up first because it keeps raining every couple of days. He finally made it over and not only plowed up the garden, but ran his disc over it too! I love my new neighbors!
It was beautiful! I made the comment that the newly turned up earth looked like dark chocolate brownies.
We had some pretty hefty roots down there. We're not sure if they are from an existing tree or one that fell down several years ago.
When he was finished we brought the dogs out and they had a ball running over the bumpy ground.
More pictures coming soon of the raised beds and the beginning of planting.
This partially killed the grass and would have worked eventually, but we needed the grass to be taken care of sooner. Luckily, my neighbor has a plow and he offered to come over when we were ready and plow the entire area. We had to wait for the ground to dry up first because it keeps raining every couple of days. He finally made it over and not only plowed up the garden, but ran his disc over it too! I love my new neighbors!
It was beautiful! I made the comment that the newly turned up earth looked like dark chocolate brownies.
We had some pretty hefty roots down there. We're not sure if they are from an existing tree or one that fell down several years ago.
When he was finished we brought the dogs out and they had a ball running over the bumpy ground.
More pictures coming soon of the raised beds and the beginning of planting.
Chicken Coop
Wow! The guys worked their hind ends off and got the coop pretty much finished in one week. We started with a series of pictures I found on the internet from someone else's coop http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/coop-build and they took it from there. Our coop is very similar, with only minor adjustments.
The beginning of the coop with the floor and walls framed. The total inside dimensions are 4'x8'.
View of the inside with the nesting boxes on the side. We are looking through the people door which has a window in the middle. The other window is on the opposite side and they are situated on the north and south ends of the coop.
Jeremy putting the heavy-duty axle and tires on the back end to make it easier to move. He was so excited to hook it onto the tractor and pull it out on the road to get it into the round pen.
The dogs thought the coop was pretty cool.
Grandma and Samantha putting the chicken wire on the round pen fencing. It doesn't look too difficult, but boy, was it tiring. My fingers are still hurting a week later.
The coop is finally in place and ready to be moved into.
Here are the girls checking out their new digs. They really like the spacious interior and all of the yummy things to eat in the grass. They have already figured out how to go inside by themselves at night. We just go out at dusk and latch all of the hooks to keep varmints out.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
New Additions
We moved in on the 26th and our household goods were delivered on the 28th. We spent the first few days putting the inside together and mowing the front lawn. Then we got down to business. Hubby spent three days cleaning out the workshop and an entire day mowing the pastures. I purchased our first chicks, six Rhode Island Reds and six Barred Rocks. I made them a brooder out of a wardrobe box and they are quite happy unless I need to change the water or add food or bedding. Then they freak out quite a bit, but hopefully they'll get used to us handling them. We try to pick up a few chicks each day. Only three of them have names because we aren't able to tell them apart. They are Pip, Pepper and Ginger.
I ordered all of my seeds from Southern Exposure and they arrived within two days! My potatoes and sweet potatoes will come separately, but at least I can get started with this bounty. I got the following:
Snap Beans, Beets, Dent Corn, Sweet Corn, Pickling Cucumber, Slicing Cucumber, Butterhead Lettuce, Looseleaf Lettuce (Drunken Woman), Romaine Lettuce, Shelling Peas, Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Pie Pumpkins, Radishes, Spinach, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Dwarf Sunflower, Swiss Chard (for the chickens), Chamomile, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, and Dill.
We'll be purchasing tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower as transplants, along with seeds for nasturtium and marigolds. We've decided to use the garden spot that the previous owner used, so once I kill the grass by solarizing it, we'll till it under and get busy. I can't wait to get started.
We made our first major purchase today for the farm, not including the chainsaw. We went to Agri Supply and bought a 3-point sprayer to apply weed control and fertilizer to the fields. A really nice hay grower from the local area stopped by last weekend to look over our fields and tell us what to do with them. He said we have good pastures with good grass coverage, but need to get the weeds taken care of. Luckily, nothing is poisonous! We decided to purchase the sprayer since we'll be using it roughly three times per year. Hubby is going to give the tractor and riding mower a spring tune-up tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to spray this weekend.
Next projects: chicken coop, compost bins and getting the garden in
In case you were wondering about our name...the previous owners told us we can keep the existing name, so the name of our farm is Seven Pines Farm. We have seven pine trees on the front lawn and they are even planted in the shape of a seven.
I ordered all of my seeds from Southern Exposure and they arrived within two days! My potatoes and sweet potatoes will come separately, but at least I can get started with this bounty. I got the following:
Snap Beans, Beets, Dent Corn, Sweet Corn, Pickling Cucumber, Slicing Cucumber, Butterhead Lettuce, Looseleaf Lettuce (Drunken Woman), Romaine Lettuce, Shelling Peas, Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Pie Pumpkins, Radishes, Spinach, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Dwarf Sunflower, Swiss Chard (for the chickens), Chamomile, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, and Dill.
We'll be purchasing tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower as transplants, along with seeds for nasturtium and marigolds. We've decided to use the garden spot that the previous owner used, so once I kill the grass by solarizing it, we'll till it under and get busy. I can't wait to get started.
We made our first major purchase today for the farm, not including the chainsaw. We went to Agri Supply and bought a 3-point sprayer to apply weed control and fertilizer to the fields. A really nice hay grower from the local area stopped by last weekend to look over our fields and tell us what to do with them. He said we have good pastures with good grass coverage, but need to get the weeds taken care of. Luckily, nothing is poisonous! We decided to purchase the sprayer since we'll be using it roughly three times per year. Hubby is going to give the tractor and riding mower a spring tune-up tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to spray this weekend.
Next projects: chicken coop, compost bins and getting the garden in
In case you were wondering about our name...the previous owners told us we can keep the existing name, so the name of our farm is Seven Pines Farm. We have seven pine trees on the front lawn and they are even planted in the shape of a seven.
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