Goat Candy!

Do you know what this is? 

This is what we call goat candy on our farm.  Most other folks around these parts call them briars.  Some like them because they produce berries that make some of the best cobbler.  My grandma introduced me to her cobbler at a young age and I must say it was very good!  Of course to pick the berries for the cobbler, you must encounter a few thorns.  Those are not fun!  No matter how hard I tried, I always managed to get scratched by the thorns and even carried a few home underneath my skin.  It seemed the biggest juiciest berries tend to hide out deep into the thorny vines.  This would cause me to try to steadily ease my hand into the thick of thorns to grab those good berries, only to pull back a few thorns in my hand.  Me and steady  don't belong in the same sentence these days!  I'm one of the clumsiest folks you will ever meet :)

Anyway, these briars are like candy to the goats.  The first time I saw them attack a patch of them, I stood there with my mouth wide open in amazement.  I couldn't believe they were able to eat those prickly things! If you can tear your eyes away from that gigantic pink wrinkly hand, you will notice the prickly thorns on the plant.

It still amazes me that they love this!  It is one of the many benefits of having goats around the place.  If the briars get too thick, I just imagine snakes hiding out under them.  I DO NOT like snakes!  So not only do the goats clean up the briars, but they also cause the snakes to go hide somewhere else.....far away from here.  I can only hope :)

This is  also "free" clover that is beside our hay barn outside our pastures.  I has been transplanted from the pastures to this area naturally.  Yet another goat candy.  They love the clover!  This spot will be fenced in with the portable electric net fencing to let the goats have a treat in the near future.  So glad we can provide them with their favorite forages!

Spring has Sprung

Our trees are starting to bloom everywhere! This photo is the blooms on our Bradford Pear tree.

I've heard this tree called a Royal Empress Tree.   I looked it up and also noticed it called the Princess Tree.  Click on this link if you would like to know a little history of the tree.

Most people don't like these trees because they are considered an invasive tree.  My uncle told us of how hard it was for him to eradicate these trees around his place.  I believe Shane's grandpa intentionally planted these trees to shade the old chicken house because they grow so quickly.  I can tell you that if you allow the goats after them, they will kill them for sure.  There's something about the bark of this tree that they love. They've killed all but a few left around the end of the barn.  They will eat the leaves, the seeds, and the bark.  It's like candy to them. 

I wish you could smell the sweet fragrance in the air put off from the blooms of this tree.  Reminds me of honeysuckles. 

With everything blooming and filling the air with a sweet aroma, it's also filling the air with pollen.  It seems like this spring we've had a pollenstorm!  Everything around here is covered with a yellow dust.  I even noticed our calves had powdered their noses with it.

It was looking like a promising spring about 2 weeks ago.  Warm temperatures, flowers blooming, gentle warm breezes......but I walked out my door this morning to find the temps being 29 degrees.  Hard to believe it's freezing like this in the deep south at the end of March. 

frosty

I hope this means that the spring-like temperatures will last longer into June since the winter-like temperatures have been sticking around so late.  I'm not going to hold my breath for that, though!  It will be hot and humid before we know it, so I  guess I should enjoy the cooler temps. I've always said that in the colder weather you can wear many layers of clothing to keep warm, but in the summer there are only so many layers of clothing you can remove before you will get arrested!  

Trying To Catch Up

It has been brought to my attention on several occasions that I've not written a blog post since March 8.  While I try to catch up on a little blogging, I thought I'd share some photos of some of our 2013 kids.  I do share photos on our facebook page, feel free to stop by and check us out sometime. 

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doeling about 20 minutes after being born

I woke him up from his nap, so he had to stretch

Meet McFlurry.  She's the first to be named.  Her mother's name is Milkshake. 

This last photo is of a doeling that is our children's favorite kid.  She is spotted all over.  The name McFlurry is after the ice cream dessert from McDonald's. Our two kids, the human ones, are pretty good at coming up with unique names.   

Kids Are Finally Arriving

2 kids

We finally had our first kids of 2013!  We came home late yesterday afternoon to find that we had 2 does that had kidded.  Woo Hoo!  Let the kidding begin!

Weekend Ramblings

I have been playing around with a photo editing site called Ribbett. I read about it on The Real Farmwives of America sometime over the past couple of weeks.  I've tried it out and I love it!  The edition I've used so far is free.  It has so many options to use for editing a photo. I've always wanted to get Photoshop, but it's not in the budget for me, so this is just what I needed.   

 I just wanted to share the photo that I just took this morning, which I happened to have edited with Ribbett. The cow on the left is a cross between a Limousin and Black Angus.  The red cow to the right is her 3 year old daughter, out of a Red Brangus bull.  We have several other daughters that we've kept from her, but these two happened to be standing by the protein tub this morning.  It's nice to look out at your herd and see several generations of great cows. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot.....My friend Lana from Indiana over at Walking the Off-Beaten Path interviewed me about a month ago about my life here on our Mississippi farm.  It was featured on The Real Farmwives of America website for their "Farmer Friday".  To read about it, click here. It was such an honor to be chosen to share our story. 

No Kids....Yet

Today is the day we planned on kids starting to make their arrivals. So far this morning, none have made their grand appearance. There are several does that have "the look". I don't think we will have any today though. The fun is just around the corner. It's like looking for Easter eggs when they start being born. I can't wait!


Oh yeah, this is yet another post made from the pasture on my phone ;) crazy, huh?