It’s been a while y’all, but we’re back…and bigger than ever!
Our farm family has grown by 2 dogs and 3 (likely pregnant) goats! I’ll introduce you to our new furry friends in just a moment, but first, I want to highlight all the great work AC has done to get us to this point. I’ve been busy with a big project at work so AC single-handedly built the goat barn. The structure has 3 sections: one for the dogs, one for the goats, and one for storage/milking. She built the whole thing with repurposed materials (with the exception of a few 2x4x10s that we purchased for rafters) and it looks awesome!
Oh, and we trapped and re-homed two opossums that were sneaking into the garden shed and helping themselves to B’s food. All in a (homestead) day, right?!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We drove to Louisiana for a few days to see AC’s sister, nieces, and nephews. We stole the kiddos away for a fun afternoon at a Christmas-tree-farm-meets-multi-acre-playground. It was a good time for everyone! Next, we flew to New Mexico for a week to spend the holiday with AC’s parents, her brother and his family. I took the whole week off and it was quite relaxing! Then we flew back to Louisiana and spent some quality time with our good friend, Lindsey. AC got to finally see her “nephew” (Lindsey’s son), Parker, play basketball. The trip was a whirlwind, but also quite nice to step away from work for a while.
When we got back, we started making moves on our new four-legged friends. So, without further ado, let me introduce you!
First up, we have our new puppy, Meeko! He’s a Border Collie/Pyrenees mix so he’ll pull double duty as a friendly farm dog and a guardian for our goats. We got to meet Mom, a full-blooded Great Pyrenees, when we picked Meeko out. Mom is very sweet and gentle, and was already teaching her pups how to walk the fence and monitor the perimeter of their yard. No one – not Mom, not puppies, not even other dogs in the yard – made a peep while were there so we’re feeling pretty good that Meeko won’t be a noisy one (unless he’s fending off predators).
Once Meeko gets a little bigger, he will live in the goat yard with his new auntie, Bella! We’re not entirely sure what breed Bella is, but she looks like a Pyrenees/Anatolian mix – pure livestock guardian. Bella came with her own herd of 3 goats (who we’ll get to in a sec) so she’s already used to those, as well as cats, chickens, other dogs, and people, including children. Her previous owner told us that the only time she’s ever “wandered off” was when one of her lambs escaped the yard and Bella stuck by him until they were found. We think she’ll be a great teacher and protector for our new additions.
Speaking of new additions, we’ve also added 3 new goats, possibly all soon-to-be mothers; we think they are due around the start of the new year! We have 2 Nigerian Dwarf Goats and 1 Mini Nubian, which tracks with our plan for small breeds. The timeline, however, doesn’t quite track with our plans – we didn’t plan on getting goats until spring, and winter births are not ideal, but when the universe drops an opportunity like this in your lap, it’s hard to say “no” so we’ll build this plane as we fly it and make adjustments in the future. By the way, these smaller breeds usually have multiple kids…anyone need a cute baby goat or two?
Props if you picked up on the Disney references. We are going the sidekick route:
- Bagheera, our cat, is from the Jungle Book.
- Meeko is the raccoon from Pocahontas.
- Bella, well she came with that name and she already answers to it. But that hasn’t kept us from playing off “Bella and the 7 dwarfs” since she came with dwarf goats.
- Bashful is the mini Nubian and she is a bit skiddish.
- Doc is a Nigerian Dwarf Goat and seems to be the leader of the pack.
- Then we have Feisty. You’re right, that’s not one of the 7 dwarfs, but she’s got a little spice in her so we took some artistic liberties and tweaked the name to fit her better.
That’s *probably* all that we’ll add to the farm…until spring.
Ok, now for a little business: we need your help choosing a logo. Shoutout to my sister, who turned AC’s idea into a great base design! We added some flare and now we need votes on which version to use. Whatcha think? Let us know in the comments on this post, or on our Instagram: @tillingourstory.
Until next time,
Charli
What a busy fulfilling life you are living! I vote for option 4-love the balance. May your holidays be filled with love, joy, peace and happiness !!
Love option#4
I think I like option 3.
Glad yall were able to spend time with family and friends. Everything looks great. Enjoy the animals.