What's happenin farm-style

Savage 

Levi, yeah, he's that guy. He's a savage. The cool guy. Don't try to put a leash on him, uh uh. He gets free range here and has proven himself worthy of all things Head Guard Dog.
What's he do? He's busy tryin to keep Marley and Lucy in line. Now, he does keep his distance and at the same time, has an eye on them. He's king, no question about it.

Levi and Sugar

How did we get so fortunate to have him? He's a prime example of someone else not wanting him, then wound up with us (as he "came with the property" when we bought it 4 years ago). He's been magical from Day 1. Kind and good to everyone (except predators!) and is esp partial to children. He meets most children at eye level and he's a salad dodger at 120 lbs. I can't imagine life without him.

Whisper (left) and Levi (right)
Always watching

Classy

Not every chicken can be classy. Veronica is one of the few that can. Sounds like fowl play, but it's not. She's the real deal all things classy.

Veronica

Kind, gentle, sweet and polite. Never causes a stir, always being good to others, befriends everyone and never gossips. Always looking good, takes care of herself, and minds her own business. As a bantem, she's smaller in stature yet makes up for it with her style.

Who else can do that with their tail feathers

She could be the pageant winner of the flock but would never boast about it. She never brags about the feathers on her feet. She quietly goes about her way in life. One of a kind classy hen.

In comparison, she's a tad smaller

Boujee

Now Belle is boujee my friends. Spoilt from the minute I picked her up at the feed store at one day old. My first lamb. My first sheep. It was a bottle palooza for her, and she was all things my 10 year self wanted and needed.

This is what I looked like at 10 years old.
Belle, 1 day old and trying to survive a 10 year old caring for her.

She lived inside for far too long, helped with chores, hung out with the dogs and turned out to be our gateway farm animal.

Always a friend

Always a helper

Belle was our reason to try-on other farm animals. Friends please, she would say in her sweet Baa-ing way. We bought her friends. Fresh alfalfa hay, while at the store please. All while little hearts are shooting from her eyes, with her slow blink and calm nature. She wins everyone over with her friendly self, and will forever be my girl. She has no idea the power she has over me. She has no desire to lead the flock, as she'd prefer to do her own thing. "You do you" is her mantra. I'll be over here, grazing, if anyone needs me.

3 years later, I'm still her lamb mama.

Yes, you. You boujee farm style.

Ratchet

Dora. Period. There's no one else I can pin the word ratchet on, well except maybe Smokey The Cat. He gets honorable mention.

My legs aren't this short, it's just the angle.
(I'm a manx with no tail)

Dora puts up with no ones $hit (kind of like Smokey, hum). If she could talk she'd say to anyone listening: Look, I'm blind in one eye, but I'm still a badmare. I mix things up around here. If I wanna kick, I'll kick. If I wanna let you pet me, I will. I have my own stall with my name on the wall. Those other mares can't go in there neither. Booyah (do rappers even say that word?)

Yet, as sarcastic as she can be, everyone still loves her.

I even get a shark hanging on my stall wall.

I don't bleach this blonde mane. It's all part of my ratchet-ness.

This is my good eye. 

Dora, you our girl. Our unique no-one-else-is-like-you-ratchet girl.





Sassy


Sassy pups for sure, Maybe and Sugar (aka Sassafrass) tie this category. Random barks. Crazy eyes. Attitude. Fussy. Sassy.

Those eyes scream sassyness

Extra sassy when riding in the cart

Can't forget this one, Sassy-Pants Maybe

That's my girl

Petunia, Chia and Dottie
Honorable Mention

The goats seem more fitting for the Fiesty category, but it was a close decision. Sassy belongs to Maybe and Sugar, who have become masters of their craft.

Can't imagine why you might be sassy

Moody


If anyone were to board the crazy train around here, it'd be Grace. Moody is an understatement. Sweet. Then aggressive because there might be food involved. Loving. Then wildly upset because there's no food involved. Gentle. The running towards what might be food. 'Cause she's hot and she's cold,  she's yes and she's no, she's in and she's out, and she's up and she's down.

Grace, who looks so much like her
daddy, Sam The Ram.

Grace has even allowed Cricket to nurse off her, along with her twins Shane and Brooklyn. Then, she won't. Then, she will. Yes, no, repeat. She'll run to you to be loved, then no thanks, changed my mind.

This moody wonder was a bottle baby years ago. This in turn makes her a very friendly sheep. Yet, this changes in the blink of a sheep's eye. She's never harmful, don't get me wrong. Just moody, baby. I am too, sometimes, Grace, I am too.

Gracie only days old

Nasty

Bo-Skeeter for the win. His original name was Bo. Skeeter was added as a name addition for a reason I'm unable to recall at the moment. Recent lamb-son of Belle, he grew far quicker than all the other lambs and seemed as if an adult by the time he was 6 weeks old. Kind of like that guy in high school that you'd swear was really a 34 year old? Full beard, man-features and yet not a teacher but a student. That kind of nasty.

He's that guy

Bo Skeeter is already sold and slotted to be picked up on Aug 22. In the meantime, he tries to get-it-on with whoever is standing near him. He shows his dominance with anyone he sees fit. Girl, boy, you name it. He's already butting my legs, and I can't sell him fast enough. Nasty.

Seeming close to full grown at
less than 3 months old.......geeeezz

Bo also happens to be the most handsome of them all. I think he knows it too. His stance, his build, his confidence. He's never scared, and always the first to show up at get-togethers. Reminds me of "that" frat guy whose had one too many drinks. You know the one. Gotta keep your eye out on Bo. He'll surprise you and not in a good way.




Actin Stupid

Isn't life great, now that we can do things like this.



Whats happenin


Lots going around 'round these parts. Lucy and Marley (new guard pups who are doing wonderful) now have an underground electric fence to keep them in the section of the pasture we'd like them in. The training for that was hard to watch and hard to do. But we got it done, and now they know the rules. They have both bonded with their sheep herd and are officially in charge down by the pond. Whisper and Levi can still sneak under the fence as "back up". But just know that Levi and Whisper put in their official notice to us that they are semi-retired now. Okay, notice taken.

Levi's superhero sidekick, July (guard cat)
They look retired, don't they

They are approx 8 years old and deserve to take a step back in life. They still watch the property no doubt, and primarily the chickens and barn cats. We would not be able to keep the chickens alive from predators without them. That's what I know for sure.

Losses: We lost a duck last week. After a round of storms rolled through in the middle of the night, one of the ducks was attacked by something we might have thought would be either Marley or Lucy. Yet, since then, no duck issues. So far, so good on the duck front. We still don't know what happened to the duck that was attacked.......was it a skunk? A raccoon? All I know is that it was awful.

We also lost Sweet Pea to her auto immune disease. The ulcers that were attacking her mouth got the best of her. It was a disease we could not cure. We also lost Ginger to old age, and another chicken who somehow broke her leg and showed up irreversibly harmed. Chicken math tells me it's time to do a chicken count. So last night, while everyone was tucked in tight in their roost, I counted 47 chickens total. We have 5 silkies that are sold, so really our number here will be 42 once they are picked up.

That's the thing about a farm. Loss. And it gets me every time. Sometimes I wonder if my heart is strong enough for the losses. I get the jim-jams after a loss. Luckily, it comes in spurts and then we can go for a period of time on autopilot without any incidents. Then loss happens. It's part of the price of having farm animals. Doesn't mean I like that though, but I move through it as best as possible each time.


Whats happenin (they say it twice in the song)

The mini horses are doing great, and I'm able to halter all three now - and groom them. Next time the farrier comes to give them their pedicure, I'll have them ready to go - and looking good. That will be new. And the best part is, I think we all love spending time together. I hate to speak for them, but I'm pretty sure they feel that way too.......right Hope and Faith?

The goats are happy and healthy. Chia's twins (Petunia and Dottie) are now almost as big as she is. Chia still protects them, but they now have the visual look of being a small herd of goats. They live on the side pasture with the mini horses and are all doing well together.

Our cycle of chickens is still nsync. From nursery to guest house to big girl coop and roosting area, all is well. We collect eggs each day, and are selling them (giving them away to family and friends as well). Chickens just make me happy.

The sheep are up in the front pasture with Marley and Lucy watching over them. We are down to 13 ducks up there, and collect the duck eggs when Marley and Lucy aren't eating them.  The pups love duck eggs as treats (as long as they don't have the ducks for their treats). We've decided to keep Belle, Grace and Lulu along with their girl-lambs of Brooklyn, Willow and Cricket. We'll be selling Bo-Skeeter, Shane, Oliver and yes, Bandit. We've decided to keep it an All-Girl thang around here. Another lambing event won't happen until they are closer to a year old. I'm all about having more sheep. Watch out Lamb Dad.

The donkeys have two pasture areas they rotate back and forth to, all while eating the grass there. It decreases the mowing needed in both the areas. Now that's my favorite kind of pasture management. They are still the sweetest donkeys ever ever.

Lastly, sassy Maybe and Sugar are living their best lives. They run with me most every time I go out for a run, and being in the (running) cart is their favorite thing. They ride and they run. Most recently, we completed a virtual half marathon together.



Before and after pics - we had a lot of fun, and actually ran into other people that morning out running virtual races too. I said I wouldn't pay for what I can run for free. I was wrong. I really enjoyed the "race" and the fact that Maybe and Sugar were in it too was something that's usually not allowed. Yet, on the backroads of Gunter and Celina it is. Maybe ran a total of almost 5 of the miles, while Sugar did more around 3.5 miles - both at a faster pace than usual, and was a PR for us all together.

That's what's happenin round here. It's vacation week for David and I, and we are spending the week having a Farmcation, a BBQcation, a canningcation (canning pickles and much more!),  and a healthcation as we (I) am incorporating doctor visits as well.




Thanks for dropping by for a little farm rap-up,

Cyndi

Whether I'm thinking of my sheep, with Lauren, or with David - I also feel a little savage, classy, bougie, then a little ratchet, sassy and moody. Just ask them! And I'm working on my TikTok dance.