Making Everything Work Together

It was straight up bribery and it worked!  I told BG if she would be good when we were moving I’d get her a kitten (read mouser).  She was amazing and so since things have started settling down and it was her birthday this week, I delivered; two for one.

Please, help me welcome the newest additions to H.S.H. (Home Sweet Home). The grey stripes is Velcro and the grey calico is Hellcat.  Yep!  That’s her name and they both earned them.  I understand that they look sweet and innocent in this picture.  Appearances are deceptive, watch your… well, everything!

That being said the old man who had them said their mother was a great mouser and that she’d already started feeding them fresh meat if you get my meaning.  For now they are living in the house, but when they get a little older, we’ll transition them into being indoor/outdoor kitties.

The other project that is moving up on the time-table is chickens.  We want to make sure that kittens grow up knowing that the chickens are part of the farm and not to be messed with, so CC and I are diligently working on putting together our chicken welcoming mat.

We’re also working on cleaning the place up and trying to get all the paperwork squared away with the bank.  I hate banks!

It all seems to be very slow going so far.  A lot of that has to do with the fact that we left the city at least partially because of health.  Some days a whole lot just isn’t going to happen, but those days are becoming fewer it seems.

A lot of our friends think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, but *shrugs* we’re still enjoying the flavor!

 

Getting Started

So we’re finally at the stage where we can begin in earnest.  CC has been demolishing bramble thickets and trimming trees like a madman!  With all the tree limbs, we decided to go ahead and purchase two young goats to help clean up.  Please welcome the newest members of the H.S.H. (Home Sweet Home) homestead.

Chili and Ice Cream are both Nubian/Sanaan crosses.  They have both been exposed to multiple bucks and we think both are going to give us goat babies in a few months (they have all the food they can eat and the only thing that gets bigger is their rather low hanging bellies).  Downside is: we don’t know what kind of buck they have been exposed to, so these first babies probably won’t be sticking around.  We went with Nubian’s because they have the highest milk fat content, while Sanaans are known for their production numbers.  Ice Cream’s mother consistently gives 1.5 gallons!  That’s a lot of milk, butter, yogurt, keifer, and of course… Ice Cream!  LOL

We got them for a good price, but again there was a downside to the bargain.  Neither one of them had been handled, so they were both fairly wild.  We are slowly winning them over with treats and scratches.  Chili in particular cries for treats every time she sees us.

It is amazing to me how quickly animals respond to positive reinforcement.