Hello!
It’s been a while since I have blogged. It has also been a while since I have been on the farm. The last time I was here was for my school’s Winter Break. A lot of things have changed.
Firstly, my high school has been canceled until (at earliest) April 5th, but now they are considering keeping it closed until my Sophmore year! This is all due to the semi-recent outbreak of COVID-19. I have no idea how long I am going to stay here.
Secondly, my dad has been making frequent trips up here every week or a couple of weeks for a few days. He has not dedicated much of his limited time towards prettying things up here, though I can assure you that seems to be the least of his concerns. I can’t help myself when I say that the place looks sort of run down. With all the wind, snow, and rain, our homesite has taken a toll and could use a lot of help getting back to good shape.
I am also extremely sad to say that one of our goats (Jewel) has disappeared. My dad does not know where to, or exactly when, but she has been missing for a couple of weeks now. I would like to hope that she is somewhere okay and will come back around, but there are a lot of dangers outside of our eight-foot fence.
Shortly after Jewel made her absence, my dad brought two Kunekune pigs to the farm. He came up with the names Hairy and Sowie ([When Hairy Met Sowie] he’s very proud of his cunning). Hairy is about the same size as the goats, just a little shorter and fatter. Sowie is tiny! She’s the smallest pig I have ever laid eyes on. They are both adorable. If you rub Hairy on his side, he will collapse onto the grass and let your rub his belly for hours. My dad says that Sowie will do the same, but she is a little more standoffish.
Other crazy things my dad did while by himself here:
He put up these really awesome vertical planters in front of the house
He bought one huge pile of mulch and one huge pile of rocks
He started laying out bricks (from where the gazebo was [the gazebo did not work out]) in the back of the house
He assisted Shamrock and Daisy as they gave birth to their kids!!!
Yes, both Shamrock and Daisy had kids while I was absent!! Shamrock had three. One is a boy and the other two are girls. Daisy had four. When she gave birth, it was a really cold and rainy day. Two of them were refusing milk. My dad did his best to swaddle them in towels, but they passed away. The other two are really strong now. One is pretty big compared to the rest. Both of Daisy’s are girls.
So what have I gotten done today? I attached flyscreen to these vents outside of our house that have proved as doorways for flies to come to haunt us with their incessant buzzing. Hopefully, we will see a decrease in swarms now. I also spent a great deal of time scratching Harry’s belly this morning after feeding the goats. Jared worked on filling in a ditch with rocks in the driveway.
As I said, there are many issues begging for attention. With all the time I am to spend here, I aim to get a good bulk of them fixed while being as helpful as I can.
Vertical planters
Hairy