We Bought a Farm: A Whole Lot of Everything

Soooo much has been going on around here in the last few days. I feel it nearly impossible to keep everyone appraised of all the things that are going on. But I will try, via videos. I am going to give you a look into a very typical week in our lives, by doing a bunch of videos:

Friday, May 1

John gets to start the first of an ENTIRE week off. We are so blessed by this. He has really felt the stress in his world and the ER lately, so it was time for a lot of resting and snuggles and outdoor time on the farm. 

Saturday, May 2

We buy a new woodchipper and John and I go on a date down the street to pick it up. (Big trucks won't come to our farm because of the narrow roads that lead up to our home.)

Sunday, May 3

The puppies have been opening their eyes and getting to come in the house some for short snuggle-sessions. Man are puppies fun. But the HAY that comes into the house from their little whelping box drives me bonkers. Here are some photos I have taken recently: 

Gabe with his little Bronco

Aunt Hannah holding "Nightshade"

Little "Dragon" taking a nap on Sidge. 

"Thanos" chilling with Hannah.

Big Daddy Ritter after a brushing. This is not trick photography. 

Monday, May 4

The older girls (Ana, Kari, and Abigail) have been doing a lot of artwork during the quarantine. Here is a time-lapse video they did of one of their projects.

In the meantime, Baby Theo continues to grow and thrive here in our little quarantine. Oh are we falling in love with him!

Tuesday, May 5

We have been getting a TON of work done on the farm right now. Well, I say we but my job is mostly inside or with kiddos. John and our two wwoofers (and sometimes Grampa is popping in) have been getting our garden in tip-top shape.

Wednesday, May 6

We have a policy at our farm: don't intervene with Mama and babies. Everyone has a different philosophy. But we generally have a very hands-off approach. If we have a Mama that disowns a baby, we process baby and Mama later. We don't want that in our breeding pool. However, we have one sheep -- Snowball -- who is like a pet to us, and we love her immensely. That means we can't get rid of her even though two years in a row she has had twins and only accepted one of them. Last year, Anni adopted her son. And this year, Snowball did the same thing with a daughter. I decided to pull the sheep and bottle feed it. Anni is going to adopt this one too. We have named her "May". Here's a video of Hannah and a video of Sidge hanging out with May. (May is short for "Maytag" which is a reminder to Anni that she will process her for food when she is old enough.) 

Here is Anni with her new girl:

Thursday, May 7

Ballet at home is going well for our big girls. But the little girls have a bit more trouble taking it seriously. Here is a short video of Hannah and Genevieve doing their ballet thang. 

Meet Annika, our overly-friendly goat who can't help but get in your business when you are out doing work with the sheep. Jacob is holding a male down and waiting for someone to help him carry it to the four-wheeler for processing. 

This was also the day we celebrated Isaac's birthday which I wrote about here.

Friday, May 8

We needed to load up rams to go to the processor. Here I share what my job is during this process. The goat I talk about in the video, passed away the next day which was super sad. :(

Saturday, May 9

Abigail isn't sure she'll get to do her competition dance this summer, but she is attempting to work on it at home just the same despite a desperate attempt to find enough space.