First Big Freeze

I got up this morning and the computer said it was 25*.. Not sure that i wanted to hear that. I did put bedding out for all of the goats last night and as soon as I did the goats were nesting down for the night. I was worried about the 4 day old kits. The wind was blowing so hard, but their mother had them well covered in a bed of soft rabbit fur. When i went to go check on them they were all warm and wiggling, Thank God . This is a picture of the bunnie nest the day after they were born, today when i looked in on them, there was more hair but basically the same

UPDATED Picture Below

Having faith is like being a pumpkin...

God picks you from the patch and washes all the dirt off of you. He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate & greed. He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see. This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass on to the pumpkins in your patch 

Favorite Books that I recommend

    












These are some of my favorite books!! My first one is the Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats: Breeds, Care, Dairying I keep it close to me still even after 4 years of experience. Alot of really good insight for newbie goat owners..then the second one I really love is Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle It has a wonderful goat section, but also covers all of the animals i raise on my farm.. and i just picked up How to Raise Goats but by far this is the best so far..some really nice charts to get a list of things in a hurry, like what to put in a kidding kit, a show going kit, how to tell if they are sick etc etc.. a really well put together book

Love is in the Air

And boy does it stink !! It is breeding season here at PlayRite Farm. I have 9 intact bucks and they are all peeing on themselves in hopes that their smell attracts the does..I plan to breed 31 does this year. Why so many? Mostly because I leased a dozen does from a friend and the payment for taking care of these does is the kids that will be born here.. This i the most i've ever bred in one season and i probably need my head examined. To help myself better manage this i have to be careful and limit myself to only 6 does every 2 weeks until all are bred. I will have enough warm kidding pens to hold 6 does comfortably during the cold wether of early March and into April. I hope to be finished kidding by the end of April.. So Anyone ready this and are interested in more information about my breeding schedule please visit my web site's kidding schedule http://playritefarm.webs.com/kiddingschedule.htm then contact me to reserve 2011 kids.. I am also breeding does that I've decided to sell so this is a good time to add new blood get a good deal or start your own herd. Be sure to check our the sale page http://playritefarm.webs.com/forsale.htm to see what i have to offer.

 If your a new time goat owner/breeder please be sure you  are prepared Goat Breeding & Kid Rearing DVD  and get yourself a mentor, to guide you through your first kidding

Another Community Recycling Project

That will benefit the farm, many of us have gardens and don't need the help of our community. But for those of us that didn't get a garden in or those that don't like to garden or those that just don't have a green thumb. Put an ad in your local paper letting people know that you will take their pumpkins that are left over from Halloween. The Goats love pumpkins and the goats & chickens etc love the seeds. You may need to peel the skin off if they have been painted but the nutritional value way out weigh this hassel ..  and the seeds act as a natural wormer amongst other things. Some of the benefits are :

• Calcium - 37 mg
• Carbohydrate - 12 gm
• Dietary Fiber - 3 gm
• Folate - 21 mcg
• Iron - 1.4 mg
• Magnesium - 22 mg
• Niacin - 1 mg
• Potassium - 564 mg
• Protein - 2 grams
• Selenium - 0.50 mg
• Vitamin A - 2650 IU
• Vitamin C - 12 mg
• Vitamin E - 3 mg
• Zinc - 1 mg
• Calories - 49 

Keep the best ones for the kitchen (heehee) 

Carla 

Sunday Nite Ladies Bible Study

So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us is the book we are working on. With Beth Moore's Talented way of writing we are learning more about our insecurities. She has us in stitches during our time together, which allows us to become more comfortable with each other as a group. We are enjoying ourselves as we learn what insecurities are. To recognize that we all have them and to recognize where are insecurities are in our personal lives. I can't wait until next week as we begin to learn how to turn to God with our insecurities, and ultimately overcoming them.

Recycled Animal Bedding

One of my most favorite things to do is to come up with ideas to save money, or better yet to just not spend any money.  So homesteaders are constantly coming up with ideas, some good some bad. However this one is a good one and I've done this in the past,  this year will be the first year that I will go a step further and GO GREEN with my project. I am running an ad in our local paper offering the service of recycling mulched bagged leaf litter. This time of year it is easy to come by especially after Halloween as most people stuff them big jack o lantern trash bags full of leaves for yard decorations. So i will bring them home and use them as animal house bedding especially for my chickens, I like to have a floor at least 4"  thick of bedding and mulched leaves make wonderful smelling dry bedding that you know is safe.  And the best part is you get to do a service for your community and provide excellent low/no cost bedding for your animals, would make a great kids community project !

Gleaning the Feilds

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. Ruth 2:23
During the time the judges governed ancient Israel, there was a famine in the land. Elimelech, a man who lived in Bethlehem, decided to take his wife, Naomi, and his two sons to the land of Moab, where they would have enough food to eat. (See Ruth 1:12.)
After Elimelech died, Naomi stayed in Moab with her two sons, who married two Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. After 10 years Naomi's sons died. Because the famine was over in Israel, Naomi decided to return to her people in Bethlehem. (See Ruth 1:36.)

My granddaughter Sammy

Naomi's daughters-in-law started on the journey with her, but Naomi told them to go back to their own families (see Ruth 1:78). Both of the younger women wanted to go with Naomi, but she finally convinced Orpah to return to Moab. Ruth, however, would not leave. She pleaded with Naomi to let her go with her to Bethlehem: "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16). Naomi returned to Bethlehem with Ruth at her side.
It was harvesttime when the women arrived in Bethlehem. During the harvest men gathered the grain into small bunches. As they worked, some stalks fell to the ground. Poor people were allowed to gather, or glean, the stalks left behind. Because they had no food, Ruth offered to glean the fields to get grain for Naomi and herself (see Ruth 2:2).
Ruth worked in the fields of a righteous relative of Elimelech named Boaz. Boaz was impressed with Ruth's kindness to Naomi and said, "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel" (Ruth 2:12). Boaz was kind to Ruth and told her she could always glean from his fields. He even instructed his harvesters to leave grain behind for her to gather. (See Ruth 2:816.)
Naomi wanted Ruth to marry and have children. So she taught Ruth about the customs of the Israelites and told her to go to Boaz and ask to be his wife. Ruth did what Naomi said to do, and Boaz, knowing that Ruth was a virtuous and kind woman, married her. (See Ruth 3:14:12.)
After they married, Ruth and Boaz had a son, whom they named Obed. Obed grew up and had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of David. (See Ruth 4:1317.) David became the king of Israel, and it was through this line that Jesus Christ was born.

Enjoying A Lovely Summer Afternoon

Delila and 5 of her chicks

New Pens

For many it means harvesting and food canning and drying. Butchering and storing. Not for us this year, unfortunately i haven't gotten a garden put in for 4 years, every since my husband's amputation. Hopefully that will be an accomplished goal for next year.. We are however concentrating on goat and animal housing.  Cleaning and mending and creating pens and shelters before winter gains an ugly grip.We are nearly done, still need to clean and mend one pen, then add bedding to all pens...but the bulk of the work is now finished

Each pen will hold about 10 goats a piece. here we have metal hog sheds as shelters..There are 4 good sized pens in a row with a section built to be dog kennels, there are 3 decent sized dog kennels that we hope to use either for bonding pens, buck pen, or a safe place for my LGD while in season.

 

Here is a view of one of my new walk through gates. This is a real THUMPS UP for us as we've been here near 10 years and this is the first year that all of our gates work like they are supposed to. No More heavy lugging and it is a good thing because they were really getting heavy if you know what i mean.

Here is an up close view of the dog kennel/bonding pen. Since we wont need a dog kennel but maybe 12 days twice a year, the rest of the time it can be used for bottle babies or for a doe with kids as a bonding pen, this particular pen has been re in forced both floor and ceiling with the attempts to keep my LGD female in. It always amazes me how easily she climbs an 8ft. fence.   

WE RAISE A VARIETY OF ANIMALS

PlayRite DeeDee 

With the primary focus is on my small Registered Quality Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. I am happy to announce that we just started our 4th year raising these amazing little goats for both milk and show.  With a herd of close to 50 I find myself always learning something new..and coming up with penny pinching ideas to make my farm run smoothly.

4yr old granddaughter

We really love the milk so raising goats that put the milk in the pan is a must.  I milk about 10 at a time all by hand. I do not pasteurize but handle and store the milk as quickly as possible. I am still in the learning stage of how to use the milk, so far vinegar cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, and ice cream have totally blown us away by the superior taste and quality of our home grown product.

Of course the dog like personalities of these amazing little animals 

speak for themselves. 

Welcome to my blog

I am very new at this blogging..but really want to explore the idea..I would love to have people give me tips on making my blogg worthwhile to read. I have a blog on my farm website but it basically limits my thoughts to the animals that i am trying to market on that site. Here i hope to be able to express my self with life on a farm.. We are very financially limited so most things are "make do or do without" it is amazing to me how God gives us ideas to survive each year. But i am Grateful. Hopefully the posts that will fallow will be exciting, entertaining, and maybe you'll learn something too..