We Got The Farm!!

Well it has been awhile since i have posted anything. Between my digital camera dying and my phone camera not working very well i have not had any new pictures of anything to put up but a lot has been going on since my last post.

First off......

We got the farm!!

This is a picture we took of the farm when we were still just dreaming last spring.

Greg and I fell in love with a 20 acre farm with a huge 1930s barn. The barn is so gorgeous though it needs a lot of repair work it is in very good shape for its age and neglect. The property has a lot of interesting stories to go with it, for starters it used to be called "The old Bank" because the owners last name was Bank.

This barn was also completely rebuild in the early 1930's (1932-1934) because lightning hit the original barn and burned it to the ground. The only thing left in the morning was some of the foundation.

Luckily insurance or the bank we are not sure which paid to have a new barn built. The new barn was built identical to the old barn with a few "modern" improvements. It took 2 years to build the barn, 1 entire year was spent on shaping and bending the roof trusses for the top of the barn, year 2 was spent on building the entire rest of the barn. Hopefully i can get a camera and get some pictures of the inside of the barn for you guys cause it is really beautiful.

Next up to discuss.... we got a few suffolk sheep and the older suffolk ewe is due to drop a lamb any time now. We have several goats also ready to kid in the next month or two.

We are also very excited because we now have PIGS!!!! We have two gilts(females) and a boar(male) and one barrow(castrated male) for my mom for a meat pig. We have been working really hard on making them friendly pigs and they now come up for pets or scratches when we are in their pen. Pigs are by far the cleanest farm animal i have ever seen...yes they love mud but given a choice they will not wallow in their own feces. The pigs in their pen have picked one corner to use as a bathroom and the rest of the stall stays clean, so clean in fact we only have to change their bedding once every two weeks...compared to the sheep that need their bedding changed  about every 5-7 days even with deep bedding and only two sheep in a huge 8ftx12ft stall.

All the rest of the farm animals are doing fine, we have had our losses of course due to predators, weather, and old age.