Maynard May Mayhem

May 11, 2015 Anna

As always, spring is in full swing and we are hustlin’ and a bustlin’ around Maynard’s Farm.

After almost three straight weeks of rain – we got our garden planted. Yep, muddy, bare-footed and everything.

It has caused a lot of late night planting and watering by flashlight (seriously) but our onions, green beans, peppers (all kinds!), cucumbers, okra, squash and tomatoes are all planted!

Our goat kids, the ones we are keeping, are growing like weeds. They are gorgeous little girls. I have named one Hermione and Justin has yet to name his.

I love this time of year – it is not too hot (yet) and everything is green. But I love it the most because of how fun and energetic all of the animals are.

Spring also means – BABIES! We have more kids due at the end of this month and I am so excited. We have baby chicks growing out to be slaughtered in another 8 weeks. Justin built a HUGE brooder for them this weekend.

Hercules LOVES baby anything so he was excited when the babies were put in the new brooder. As you can see above he guarded them very well!

This new brooder is giant. That is TWENTY chickens back there. TWENTY. And a 5 gallon waterer.

We also have kits now! (Baby rabbits) They will move into the brooder after the chicks.

We are so busy there’s hardly time to be tired – ha!

Speaking of tired…did I mention my dryer broke? The repairman has been fixing it…for TWO months.

What can I say? Poor folks got poor ways!

But really, we are so blessed and have so much going on I can hardly count my blessings.

Speaking of, my 27th birthday was last week! Woo-hoo!

Tonight we are going to pick up some turkey pullets to add to our ever growing farm and possibly try our hand at guinea keets again (last year ours up and ran away 😀 ).

Until next time!

When God Made Goats

March 10, 2015 Anna

I have to tell you… I love God.

Seriously.

I cannot even begin to fathom His greatness. Every day something reminds me of His glory, of His power, and of His awe inspiring imagination.

Just reading Genesis 1 I literally stand amazed at His genius.

²⁰And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds^[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

He made this in all of it’s mighty glory:

He made him. Every cell, every muscle, every hair He formed. This mighty and majestic creature was formed by the Creator of the Universe. Wow.

This wily creature who can scale the flat side of our barn:

God made Him too. Every claw, tooth, tissue, and purr He knows.

But when God made goats…

I think he laughed.

And no, I don’t think he just let out a little chuckle. I think it was a big, all consuming, shoulder’s heaving, belly-aching laugh.

How can this crazy dance not make you want to get up and praise our Creator?

How can these sweet girls learning to walk not make you laugh until you cry?

And how can this video of a baby being born not just leave you in awe? (and laughing a little) (WARNING GRAPHIC)

When it shakes it’s tiny head … I just died. Y’all God is incredible.

I hope these videos helped you remember to praise our Savior today! I know I am.

Southern Snowapocalypse

February 27, 2015 Anna

I know everyone makes fun of Southerners for how we react to snow. I get it. These people have snow 1/2 of the year long. They think it’s ridiculous. But what I don’t think that they understand is for us snow is like rain in the middle of the Sahara desert. Seriously, it’s like being from the red and orange land of Arizona and seeing the blues and greens of the Mississippi for the first time (or second time). Real snow – the kind that STICKS and you can PLAY in – is so rare.

Just for today, I want you to put all of your judging aside 🙂 and see this Snowapocalypse through a Southern point of view. (Seriously, we got like 8 inches. That’s kinda a big deal.)

I’ve never seen snow come down so fast and hard. My hair literally froze.

We played well into the night with friends and family. We had pool floats, plastic sleds, and a John Deere Gator – you can only imagine 🙂

You must admit – there is something magical about it all.

The next morning we decided to play with the animals – in the snow, of course!

And by play I mean – we even took the puppies sledding 🙂

Here is a video of Justin sledding with my sisters Pyrenees, Zeus. He is from our first litter and 8 months old.

Here are two videos of the puppies sledding 🙂

Kadi tried all by herself:

Maybe we are easily entertained… or maybe we just know how to have fun 🙂

Either way I would say everyone on Maynard’s Farm has enjoyed our Snowapocalypse!

Until next time!

Hello World!

February 20, 2015 Anna

Kidding season 2015 began on this blistery morning. Lil Bit O’Time chose (ha!) the coldest day of the year so far to kid. At 7 AM two beautiful girls feet hit the oh so cold ground! WOO HOO! We are so so excited. Neither are named yet. Traditionally their names are supposed to correlate with their mother’s. I have had lots of awesome suggestions from Lil Bit O’Honey to Lil Bit O’ Luck (My Fair Lady – you know I’m a big fan :D) to Lil Bit O’ Frostbite and Lil Bit O’ Snow. We will be thinking and will let you know names soon. With no further adieu …. here are our girls:

One Girl:

Both Girls:

Second Girl (with a bit of a milk mustache 😉 ) :

I had to bring them into work this morning -not because of the cold but because this is DAY ONE of their lives and that requires making sure bottle feeding happens. (Yes, we bottle raise not dam raise.)

I hope y’all have a great weekend – try not to freeze – and I cannot wait to share pictures of the other babies due in the coming weeks!

A Month In Review

February 17, 2015 Anna

This has been a busy month around Maynard’s Farm.

We had puppies born:

They have gotten so much bigger now and will be going to their new homes soon:

We bought female rabbits for our males only to learn we had females originally…luckily we met some new (awesome) friends who gave us a buck(not pictured):

Some great friends gave us a house for our rabbits aka “The Taj-Mahare”…And we added on to it:

We are swimming in eggs and it isn’t even spring yet:

We also took some losses this past month – I told you about Julie & her kids not pulling through in the last blog – well we lost our inside dog, Darlin this past month:

Things seem to happen in threes so I am hoping our bad luck is over because the end of this week/beginning of next week starts …(drum roll please)… KIDDING SEASON!!! We are so excited. I cannot wait to post pictures.

Until next time!

A Flannel Christmas and a Hoppin’ New Year!

January 7, 2015 Anna

The past two Christmases have had a running theme when it comes to presents. Any guesses what that may be? I’ll give you a hint: anything farm related. Ha! I must say I love it. This Christmas across the board was farm themed – whether from the hubs, my parents, my aunt, or my in-laws family – everything was farm related.

For instance, my mother went flannel overboard this year for everyone. I know that sounds like a negative thing but it was awesome. Everyone has been decked out in flannel since Christmas around here!

The hubs got me a great pair of coveralls I can thrown on over my clothes at feeding time and stop having to get everything I own muddy and torn all the time!

My cousins on my husbands side got me cool chicken themed gifts! And my cousin Katie got me an awesome tote that says “totes ma goats” with 3 goat silhouettes! Sadly, I have no pictures.

And last but certainly not least….drum roll please…my awesome aunt made an egg gathering apron for me. She is the bomb. Justin is really going to look good wearing this… 😉

I realize people can take things overboard but I love that all my gifts were so thought out! They were practical (to an extent) and all for or about the thing(s) I love…my farm!

Christmas should never be about the gifts but it’s so nice to know that friends and family pay attention to the things you want and need.

While our Christmas was filled with flannel we will be hoppin’ into the New Year.

(See what I did there?)

This big boy is Goliath. We just picked his girlfriend, Sheba, up last night.

And this is Thumper. We picked up his girlfriend last night too. Her name is Flower.

We are going to start raising meat rabbits. We have been wanting a pig for some time but they just take up so much room and make SUCH a mess. Rabbits are much smaller, much less mess, and procreate quickly. I cannot wait to make dumplings.

I hate to end on bad news but the past week has been a rough one around here. On Wednesday Julie, one of our Obers, went into labor a week and a half early. Both kids were stillborn. (Goats cannot survive that early) Julie was doing great and then we got off work Thursday and she was down. After a lot of tireless hours filled with antibiotic shots, syringing water, and finally a trip to the vets….Julie died. At this time we do not know why. All of our animals are disease tested before coming to the farm and then tested yearly here. We are sending off tissue samples of the babies and a blood sample for Julie to rule out any disease we may have missed. Hopefully it was just from natural causes/infection and is not something that can spread to our other does.

It’s times like these when I am reminded of the Ram truck commercial about when God made the farmer. I try to mainly focus on the fun, wacky things that happen to us but farming is also filled with losses. And this past week we lost a lot.

I hope to have pictures of our new does Sheba and Flower up for y’all to see soon!

Until next time!

Merry Christmas from the Maynards.

December 15, 2014 Anna

It’s been awhile…

I’ve been getting my priorities in line lately and have fallen behind on here. As far as blogging goes my other blog has taken priority.

Luckily, you have not missed too much on Maynard’s farm.

Hercules and Hebe’s puppies all went to loving homes and our Oberhasli girls are bred. Everyone is due in February except Julie, who is due at the end of this month.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from our farm to yours. I will resume blogging soon.

Until then … Enjoy:

Taking pictures with animals is almost like having children 🙂

There we go. Christmas card perfect!

A boy and his dog.

I love Hercules, I do. (and he loves me too)

Wishing you the merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year from the Maynard’s.

A Morning Stroll Around Maynard’s Farm

July 10, 2014 Anna

I decided to take a few (or maybe a few hundred) pictures to show you what I see every morning. I hope you enjoy.

Food coma’s are rough:

My favorite part of every afternoon:

These babies have doubled in size!

The runt is the first to open an eye!

Journey:

A view from my porch.

Another view from my porch:

My favorite tree:

Gypsy:

Hercules:

Herc again:

Bundles of sleeping happiness:

Nox? Nero? Who knows…:

They really want to catch a guinea:

So much sweetness:

It’s a rough life being a pup:

These are just a few of my favorite things 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the tour-in-pictures of Maynard’s Farm.

Surprise!

July 8, 2014 Anna

It is ironic that my last post was of “new additions” because I thought we were through with our “new additions” for the year. Oh, was I wrong.

Justin and I have been looking for two things the past few months: Cornish Game Hens and Guineas. Well, we finally found some guineas and they were $5.50 a chick. A CHICK, people. Umm no. But man did Justin want them. (Oh, and they were lavender! So cute!)

So, I came home from work a week ago and heard a strange chirping noise. I thought maybe it was the barn swallows. I was almost finished with my nightly chores when I looked at the empty brooder…except it wasn’t empty. These darlings were in there:

Yep, they’re lavender, teeny tiny bundles of cuteness.

Before I move on to the BIG, HUGE (did I mention GIANORMOUS?!) surprise addition this week here are a few happenings from the last week:

Meet Broody McBroodster. She is crazy. Legit.

We go through the same routine every afternoon as we remove her from the laying boxes to get eggs. She makes the strangest noises and goes bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Hercules blew his winter coat and now looks like a baby! It’s crazy.

Our male gold star hybrid has a gorgeous purple wing. I wish I could get a better picture.

Friday was one of my favorite holidays! And to quote one of my favorites:

“I love the freedoms we got in this country, I appreciate your freedom to burn your flag if you want to, but I really appreciate my right to bear arms so I can shoot you if you try to burn mine.”

“The Native Americans, The Black, Yellow and White
All shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes….”

From “Ragged Old Flag” on The Great Lost Performance

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

‘Murica

Justin’s family.

Now, on to the insane surprise.

I noticed on a Tuesday that Hebe looked like she was getting a little fat and may have grown nipples. On Thursday Dr. Benson came over and did an ultrasound. Y’all, the tiny heartbeats that showed up on that monitor were ADORABLE. Not only was she pregnant she was due…soon.

Only, we didn’t know HOW soon.

When we went out to the barn Friday morning to start our chores…this is what greeted us:

Have you ever seen such tiny cuteness?

I’m in love. 12 babies were born…10 are still here and doing great a week and a half later. They have literally doubled in size this past week!

Hebe is being a fantastic mom and despite her usual stand-offish nature she has gotten so friendly.

I don’t know if I will get to post again before Africa. If not, keep us in your prayers, and please pray for an uneventful 10 days on the farm while we are gone!

Until next time!

New Additions and Big, Bad Predators.

June 23, 2014 Anna

We have added a few new additions to the farm. In May we received an order of Murray McMurray chicks. My favorite is an Ameraucana I named Rose. I think she thinks I’m crazy. I like to carry her around and well…. she likes to run away from me. Basically she thinks I’m a stalker.

Meet Rose.

Isn’t she cute?

Meet Rose’s stalker.

Oh wait, that’s me.

We also have two cats now. They’re just barn cats but they are adorable.

Say hello to Nox and Nero.

While I milk Little they stand behind me and wait for me to pour them some fresh goat milk. They also like to do chores with Justin.

We’ve also had a house chicken for the last two weeks.

Meet Pip.

She was picked at by the other chicks. When we went out to the brooder there was blood everywhere and the poor thing was in pitiful shape. A little blue-kote and a lot of love later and she is doing much better. She has watched TV with us and even been introduced to the inside dogs. Click on the link because Chloe was not so sure about Pip. It made us laugh..a lot.

The sweet thing has finally been moved to the grow-out pen with the others and so far all is well.

Now, onto the final update…the ducks.

We have moved them out to the pond with the Ancona’s.

They are happy as can be. However, we were supposed to have two new babies:

And unfortunately due to a predator problem…they are no more.

So, are you ready to see our BIG, BAD, predator problem?

Pretty right?

Not so pretty anymore, huh? Ok, so this isn’t my picture. It’s this guys.

BUT given that my precious babies and BOTH of my nests…over 40 eggs… are gone and these guys are to blame, I imagine this is what it looked like.

This nest:

Was ONE week from hatching.

This momma is one mad hen. (Well I’m not a hen but who cares about the technicalities?)

We are working on building the ducks houses to lay in…but I don’t know if they will keep the heron’s away or not. 🙁

Our bees are doing PHENOMENAL. We may even have honey this year. We definitely did not expect any this year but our hive is working like crazy. They filled up their super in NO time and we have already had to put on a small super (where we will rob honey) and they’ve got half of it full.

This was a few weeks ago:

Talk about busy bees!

That’s about all that’s going on around here (it’s been crazy). We leave in less than a month for Africa!

Don’t forget to check out our blog that is chronicling that journey!

https://carryingthegospel.wordpress.com/

You can learn all about us here!

Until next time!

Maynard's Farm

Seeds & Souls

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Category: American Farm