Rethinking Living Accommodations

Since the warm weather has finally come our way and everyone keeps on growing, it has become necessary to relocate a few friends to some more size-appropriate living accommodations here on the farm.

Our wee ducklings are not so wee any longer.  They have tripled in size!

After only a week they have outgrown their brooder and are ready to move to the refurbished baby chick coop outside.  They are loving their new home.  Likely because it comes complete with a pool (when the lifeguard (me) is on duty, of course) and a snack bar featuring fresh grass.  These ducklings are living the good life, that's for sure!

Our green friends also underwent a re-homing today - from the living room to the front porch.  It is time to start hardening off our seedlings for planting.  Hardening off means to slowly acclimatize the baby plants to outside.  Really, it is mostly about not killing the seedlings I have been babying for months now.  So, we started slow with a fan blowing on them in the living room.  Phase 2 is getting them used to some real wind and the cooler outdoor temperatures by living on the covered front porch.  Next, is exposure to some spring rain and natural sunlight on an overcast day.  Lastly, is exposure to direct sunlight for a few hours at a time until they are ready for a full day of brilliant sunshine.  Then it is off to the garden for them!

There are perks to having relocated both the ducklings and the seedlings.  We now have to cope only with "turkey stink" in the garage where the brooder is located instead of both duck and turkey stink.  As for the seedlings, I have temporarily reclaimed some of my living room real estate - at least until I re-pot my next iteration of seedlings.

A Squeal from the Depths of Hell

Another day on the farm, another adventure.

Ham Solo is such a ham. 
This is the face he gave me when I told him to say, "Cheese!"

Our daily dose of shenanigans started bright and early this morning.  When feeding Gloria and Solo, I noticed that Gloria's left ear was even more lumpy than it was last night and her left eye was now swollen shut.  "No problem," I thought to myself, "I am getting quite proficient at animal healing."  Famous last words.

As I picked up Gloria, cooing to her soothingly about how I would make her eye feel better, she went bonkers.  Her ear piercing squeal was the stuff of nightmares.  I have never heard such a horrifying sound in all my years.  I am sure that our neighbours must have thought I was torturing her when, in fact, I was rubbing her belly and ever so gently cleansing her sore eye with a warm washcloth.   And if her squeal from the depths of Hell was not adequate to thoroughly unnerve me, she then proceeded to spray the most foul smelling piglet diarrhea all down my front.  It took all my will power not to gag; I did not want to offend her further.  I did manage to clean her eye but then hastily retreated from the pen and headed directly into the shower.

It seems that all was forgiven by supper time.

Gloria's eye looks a bit more open, though her ear is still very swollen.  We followed up with their previous farmer and he said that it is likely a haematoma resulting from some sort of trauma; she might have gotten into a fight or been picked on before coming to live with us.  Apparently the swelling should resolve by itself in a couple of weeks.  Gloria seems to be eating and drinking just fine so we will continue to keep an eye on things - from a distance...a good safe distance - out of range of spraying diarrhea and so as not to give the piglets any reason whatsoever to emit such a terrifying noise again.

So much for my dreams of sweet piglet snuggles.  I guess I will have to save those for the lambs!

Going Hog Wild

We really went wild today at Gael Glen Farm and added two hogs to our menagerie.  Meet Ham Solo (left) and Gloria Swinem (right).  They are two months old, about thirty pounds each, and are beyond adorable.  Pig snouts are so weird and real life oinks sound nothing like "oink".

Not to be outdone by a pair of piglets, Seamus also went hog wild today...with the scissors.  After I noticed some curls not attached to his head, a brief interrogation yielded the fact that they were "in [his] eyes" and "now they are not".  Sounds logical enough to me.

Seamus had clearly decided it was time for a change and so now we have a brand new Seamus sporting "rock star hair" (like the rock star in Paw Patrol, apparently).  He is beyond thrilled with his homemade hair cut. 

New funky hairdos and a soundtrack of snuffly pig snorts - we sure know how go wild here on Gael Glen Farm.

Gael Glen Forest School: Fiddlehead Edition

You know the days when you wish you had had that interview for the perfect job or had, at least, bought a lottery ticket?  It does not happen often but, once in a while, our day runs like clockwork.  

With the house clean, the laundry and dishes done, bread dough made and rising, dinner prepped and in the slow cooker, the animal chores done, everyone's school work completed by noon, two long walks, and a three-way concurrent afternoon nap - it has been a shockingly smooth - almost perfect - day.

This left me with the time and energy to teach Liam about foraging for fiddleheads.

My effort was rewarded with a sincere "Gee Mom, you sure know a lot about forest plants."  High praise from my six going on sixteen year old who thinks he knows more than boring old Mom about just about everything!

And the added bonus - a delicious side dish to our pulled venison dinner. 

We did not win the lottery (is the lottery even running during the pandemic?!) but a truly great day is a windfall of good fortune all on its own.

A Happy Mama

As a mama of three humans, one donkey, seven goats, six sheep, three dogs, two turkeys, eighteen ducks, fourteen hens, one rooster, 56 chick fetuses, approximately 30,000 honey bees, and four fish, I must say that all my dependants made me feel extra special today.

Everyone contributed somehow: a special breakfast, homemade cards and gifts, having a long morning nap, easy bedtimes, extra good behaviour, and allowing me the longest sleep-in in two years (thank you Ian and ear plugs in equal parts for this)!

I may still have done several loads of laundry, a few loads of dishes, made some meals, milked some goats, cleaned some wounds, changed some poopy diapers, bandaged some booboos, and doled out a few "evil eyes"...but this is a small price to pay to be surrounded by the love of so many precious creatures.

Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow mamas out there.  I hope you felt especially appreciated today for all the hard work you do for your children (human and animal) all year long.  I am sending love and positive vibes your way on this very special day.

"Magically" Appearing Eggs

What a freezing cold day!  We woke up to a frozen duck pond, endured some hail during morning chores, and ended up with 56 multicoloured chicken eggs in the incubator by supper.  How did that happen?!  Wink. Wink.

Charlotte has once again taken up her post as resident hatchling guard dog.
If she wants to protect them or eat them, we are not really sure. 🙄

Spring Fever = Bad Behaviour

We are happy to hear and see that our ducklings are settling in to their new homes.  Both sets seem to have adjusted quickly to their new digs and, in the case of Uncle Matt and Auntie Skyla's place, their new brooder mates.

The remaining ducklings are also happy and have been expressing their joie de vivre by splashing around in their water dish.  I know ducks are messy but this is ridiculous.  

The ducklings managed to thoroughly soak the baby turkeys which made for some very unhappy turkeys.  We had to bring the shivering turkeys back inside to dry off and warm up before putting them back outside again, this time in their own sectioned off part of the brooder.  Having their own side should keep the turkeys' bedding and feathers dry even if the crazy ducks decide to have another pool party (and another and another...soon they will be asking for a diving board - I just know it!)

A while ago I saw a meme that said something like: the biggest part of being a farmer is wandering around your property telling your barn animals to stop acting like jerks.  This pretty much sums up my week.  From prize fighter Ava, to the pool partying ducklings, to the many animal shenanigans that I did not even have the energy to blog about...geesh!  I have already nursed both Violet the sheep and the two remaining turkeys back to health (Unlucky Lucy passed away this afternoon) on account of other animals' nutty antics.  Everyone needs to calm down!  

Maybe I can chalk this week's craziness up to a bad case of Spring Fever?  The snow this morning certainly did not help anyone's mood.  Seamus was so unhappy to see it snowing that he decided to shovel it all away.  I was not about to argue!  Come on Mother Nature - you can do it.