Ways to make my farm feed our family

I have been looking for ways for our farm to feed our family.  I recently got 2 min-milk goats.  They are nigerian dwarfs.  They are two pregnant does.  They are due June 17th.  I am so excited!  Their names are Nessie (the brown one) and Oreo (black and white-duh).  They are very friendly, alot like dogs.  They want their food and attention, in that order.  I have a steep learning curve to go from no goats to pregnant ones, but I can't wait!

 These pics are not very good because they wouldn't get back far enough to take them!  They were all over me and wondering what the camera was! LOL  We hope to milk them after the babies are weaned.  I plan to make goat cheese and butter, if possible.  Milk products are so expensive these days!

Then I had the idea to raise lamb for meat.  I have heard they are relatively easy to raise.  You just put them on pasture and of course, give them water, then they grow and in the fall you butcher them.  So I bought 3 little lambs.  They are all girls and all black.  They will grow horns.  They are in a small temporary pen right now until we fence off the pasture for the goats and sheep to share.  Hopefully they will provide about 50 lbs of meat each in the fall.

Of course there are some chickens in with them too. =}  It was quite the experience bringing them home in my van.  The goats just laid down and stayed calm, but the lambs were climbing on seats, bouncing off of the sides etc.  They were wild and crazy!  Next time they will be hog tied or something. te he

Izzie is growing up!

Do you all remember my little gosling named Izzie?  Well she is getting really big and starting to look like a sebbie goose!  Here she is;

She is definitely a pet.  She thinks I am her mama.  She wants to go where ever I go.  She is making this funny noise because she is starting to get her big voice in.  She kinda does this squeaky honk when she is looking for me. What a cutie!

Mille Fleur banty Cochins

I think these birds are my new favorite breed!  They are so pretty and friendly too!  I bought 2 trios, so I put one roo with the 4 girls and then put the other roo with my 3 mottled cochins in the garden.  We ended up having to put down David's bird, Pee Wee.  He broke his leg somehow and couldn't walk on it. Here are some pics of my new favs.  They are one year old so they already laying, and 3 of them have already gone broody.  =} 

They are a fairly new coloring of banty cochins.  The coloring is from the mille fleur d'uccles.  I love them!  I have already hatched their first egg laid here.

Here is the other roo with his mottled girls in the garden.

Frizzled Polish-Dr Suess birds!

When I went to the BYC Oregon swap about 1 month ago, I bought some very unusual birds.  They are frizzled polish.  They are so weird looking, they look like something from a Dr. Suess book!  They are blue, black and splash colored.  I have one that is smooth feathered too.  Here are some pics;

Aren't those a kick in the pants?  I hope to make a blue/black/splash frizzled polish pen.  Try to say that 3 times fast! LOL