We Are Still Here!!

So sorry! If you actually still follow along with us on this blog you probably think we have packed up and left town!. No, just very busy and trying to get things straight on the farm! Stay tuned though, there are lots of things coming up including a new grandbaby, and one coming along any day now!  For now, I will leave you with a few pictures of things that have happened around the farm!

Beautiful sunsets!

 A bunch of ducks!

 Chickens!

 New calf! Here is T Bone having some breakfast!

Pud'nin made me a coat rack. And also some breakfast, well, lots of breakfasts! Every day if I want! lol Such a sweetie!

 Virginia Grandbabies came for a nice long visit!

 Grandgirls enjoying some girl time!

 We even managed to get a picture of ALL the grandbabies. Even the latest, Baby Luke!

Well, except for the grandbaby that is making us wait! Come on out Brayden! Grandma and Grandpa are ready to meet (spoil) you!!

Well, that is not much of an update, but stay tuned, I promise that I will get busy and post something interesting! Thanks for anyone still sticking with me! I will return!!

What A Winter!

Hey! I haven't forgotten the blog! I know I have been slacking, and part of my 101 list is to blog consistently, and I am already failing! Boo! But, in my defense, things have been so crazy around here and with our oldest son Joshua moving to Virginia, 12 hours away, with two of the grandbabies I am having a hard time finding my emotional center. We do wish them well, but here on the Backwards Homestead we are feeling the loss to the core.
Also, I am afraid that there may be huge changes here on the backwards Homestead this summer.  Hard decisions are never fun, but things are getting to be more than we can handle. As much as I love all that this farm has to offer, letting go of some of the animals may be in the cards. I cannot keep on letting my passion make things harder on those who are in this with me. This last winter was exhausting both emotionally and financially. We are in this to live simpler and it has become a much different venture than our original plans. Do not get me wrong, I love every part of this farm. Every animal is loved and it will break my heart if it comes to that at some point. But numbers do not lie, and no matter what, it has to be fulfilling for everyone for this lifestyle to work!
On a positive note, we have had some awesome things happen in spite of a brutal winter. Flossie had her calf, and Charlotte also blessed us with six little oinkers! Although, getting to this point was rough, the weather was not kind, and milk fever reared its ugly head here on the homestead for the very first time. Many days we were unsure if we were going to make it to the end of winter with all the animal residents still here and healthy.
First off I will give a short update here, and later I will go more in detail later in separate posts.  Here we go!
Flossie had a little bull on February 3, 2015. He is quite the fireball! We named him Elmer, Awwww!

Such a good Mama!

Slurp Slurp!

Missed a spot!

Elmer now!

Here he is now, at a mere 7 weeks old. Yea, he's got a little something dangling for the nose area...darn straw!
Flossie had a very hard time after the birth. She had milk fever, (low calcium) and we thought we might lose her. We had to raise her up with a hip lift several times a day as she was just DONE. Even though she SHOULD get up, she was tired, felt bad, and was just a bit depressed. That lift, was awful. But she would have died if we had not forced her to stand. Sometimes we do what we have to do here on the farm, but Lord knows I cried many tears here in the barn over this cow. We prayed so hard, and thankfully the prayers were answered and Flossie did stand, and she is doing much better. yay!

Poor Mama!

Shout out to Mineral Wells Animal Clinic AGAIN for being the best as usual. Dr. Chad and Cody were awesome and went above and beyond. I am not sure what we would do if we did not have such a close relationship with everyone in the practice. They are always willing to answer questions, and do what it takes to make sure our animals get the best care possible.More on the exciting birth and Flossies struggle in another post. Stay tuned!
Ok, Charlotte. Where do I start?! She decided to have her babies the night of the worst snowstorm with subzero temps that we have had in years. Her pen is too far from the barn to even have a light for warmth. With a lot of hard work, and Gods grace, we managed to get her hut covered with anything and everything we could find to hold heat. We filled it with straw, and prayed for the best. She initially had 10 babies, then we counted 8, then 6...Then For days, we had no clue as the temps were still bitterly cold. THEN we had yet another snow storm. Finally, we get a peek and we still have SIX little wiggly piglets. Whew!!

Cuteness!

Charlottes little fortress, lol

Peeking out for some supper!

Aren't they tiny! I tell you, Charlotte is an amazing Mommy! Stuck in her hut, with her babies, and she was still so very careful not to squish them even in total darkness. Go Charlotte!

Out and about!

Charlotte!

So Cute!

Here is one of the last litter! WOW! So big!

Last but not least. Thanks and much love to my Pud'nin. He has never failed to be by my side through all our animal/personal drama. Letting me cry, kick, flail and flap like the emotional mess that I am. Without all his support, I would surely be wearing a straight jacket by now singing Ladybug Picnic at the top of my lungs...I love you Pud'nin! You are indeed a strong man..
 Well, that is a quick peek, a sort of overview. More later, I promise. I just need to get myself together and focus, focus focus! Feel free to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by! I love reading comments! Ok, Till next time, may you be blessed in all that you do. :)

We Have Piggies!

When we first brought Charlotte home we could only dream of the clitter clatter of little hooves. Especially since she has lost her first litter right after she came to us, probably from the extreme winter that we had last year. After all, there is not many instances of sows having an immaculate conception.
So having NO boar, we were in a pickle! But as luck would have it, a few months after bringing her home I noticed that her love Wilbur was also for sale! I was SO excited! So I quickly got in touch with Dawne, and a day was set to go pick him up and have the two lovebirds reunited.

Wilbur who?

At first, Charlotte was having NONE of that business! She wanted to know just where he had been!? What he had been doing these last few months! Had he been seeing any of the other sows back at Dawnes farm? As much as Wilbur tried to convince her that he had been a good pig, she was cold as ice! She was one biting sow!

And STAY OUT!

 But then her heart melted and we noticed that they were spending more and more time cuddling, they were nustling together in their hut. Then we knew, Charlotte had buns in her oven! We were so excited! Now we just had to wait. Three months, Three weeks, and three days! It seemed like forever! But them one day I went out to check on the every expanding mama and it was time! I could not believe the day was finally here, and we were gona have babies!

Of course I had to get the family rounded up to witness the event, and there we sat, in lawn chairs, squinting into the sun hoping to see a baby born in the dark piggy hut! We decided, we were going in!

Up and running in no time at all!

And before we knew it there were babies! Cute, wiggly squealing babies. Charlotte is an awesome mother. She shifts and checks every time one of her little bundles makes a noise.I keep worrying that she will lay on one, and she may, but I can say that she tries so hard to make sure that each little oinker is safe and sound at all times.
So far, it has been two days and she still has all eight babies. I called the vet today and they recommended an iron shot and also an antibiotic just to make sure that they stay healthy. It seems that there are quite a few things going around that are fatal for pigs these days. One is Parvo, yea, like for dogs. But his is for pigs! Not to mention the flu (PEDV) that has been killing so many little piglets. I was not sure if we had been having these issues in Tennessee, but the vet assured me that we were actually seeing both diseases, which is scary! If you wonder what PEDV is, and how it is effecting the piglets and the price of pork here is a link explaining the disease.( PEDV)
We went out to check at lunch and they are all having a blast rooting in the dirt and climbing all over their mother. It is hard not to stay out there way too much just watching them root around and be cute! Here are a few pictures I took today.

So much dirt! Must Root, but SO tired!

There's always those two that just will not listen!

Just grab one and HANG ON!

Trina checking on Charlotte and the babies

And, for your viewing pleasure, and so you can HEAR the cuteness, here is a video of the little  ones getting lunch!

Well, I am sure everyone is just sick to death of hearing about piggies! But I will say, they are so darn cute and it is so hard to leave them alone, lol But just in case you are still wanting more "pignews", I will keep you updated as they grow so that you can follow along with all the fun! Feel free to leave a word or two on here to let me know what you think about these little cuties!

My Wabbits Have Been Vewy Vewy Sneaky!

We have 3 rabbits, that all stay in separate cages. We have them in separate cages because, well, bunnies are known for their ability to turn themselves into more bunnies, very quickly! We were really not looking to have MORE bunnies, three was the perfect number!
First an introduction. We have Kera, Cayces bunny, who has turned into quite the diva! She growls every time you try to pet her, and will jump like a rabid dog to try and bite you..Not a nice bunny sometimes!

Cayce with Kera back when she was a snuggle bunny!

Kera today. She is giving me the eye!

Then we have Fred. We have had Fred for years, and I do mean YEARS! He was actually born here on the farm when we had lots of bunnies. We kept him and he was actually Paytons bunny for a while. He is old and slow, with long grandpa toenails. He is sweet though, and will let you rub his head gently. Just don't try to pick him up. He can use those scraggly geezer toe nails to fillet anyone who tries to lift his old booty off the wire..

Fred

Then we have Bun Bun. She is Trina and Joys bunny that actually stayed in the house a while until she became a RockBand killer and a serial cord chewer. She is quite huge! Her neck fat is so huge she can use it as a pillow. She is also not so sweet. A bit skittish and will retreat to her hut whenever you try to pet her.

Bun Bun

Ok, now you have met the players, and now to present the mystery!
When I went out to do the morning feeding I looked in each bunny cage to see if they needed feed, water ect. Also we check on each bunny to make sure they are not dead. Sounds like an odd thing, but I can assure you, dead bunnies look alot like living bunnies when they are sleeping in their hut, which has a small opening, and you can barely see them. At least to a person hurrying to get chores done! I am not saying how I know this little bit of information. Hmm. nope, not telling the story of the person who fed a dead bunny for a week...
Anywho. As I said,our bunnies each have their own cage. Bun Bun and Fred have a wooden house attached to the back of their cages and they each have their own apartment. SEPARATED by a wall...a wooden wall. Never ONCE have I seen anyrabbbit in any other cage/hut than their own.
But, as I go out to look at them I see a massive amount of hair literally filling Bun Buns hut. Hair everywhere! IN her hut, spilling out into her cage...Which if you know bunnies, they pull hair when they are about to give BIRTH! Birth, as in after pregnancy, which only happens after "two bunnies who love each other very much lay really close and share a very special hug". Which cannot happen from separate cages..can it?

What the HAIR!?

After standing there staring at the offending pile of hair, then at Bun Bun, then at Fred. Who I must say never even twitched a whisker. Even when I asked him if he knew ANYTHING about this pile of hair! Nothing, he was totally silent.

I know nothing!

Bun Bun just looked at me...looking much skinnier than before, and bald...

What hair? I don't see any hair?!

 I grab Cayce, and we stare at the fur together. Hmm. Since all the other animals are still waiting for breakfast, and we can't stand staring at the fur forever, we have to forge ahead. Cayce did bring up the fact that Bun Bun and Fred were separated by mere wood...but Fred is old for heavens sakes! He barely moves! I thought hmmm, we should look into that, But, the mystery was still unsolved since duty called!
When we finish with morning chores we get Trina and Joy up to check on their funny bunny. After all, if this has been some sort of immaculate rabbit conception, we are gona need witnesses! Plus, Bun Bun is a scratcher too, and she IS their bunny! We also bring a flashlight, to shine on stuff.
We shine the flashlight in the hut, just hair. We shine the flashlight on the rabbits..still rabbits. Then, as we are shining the light IN Freds hut, we see light in Bun Buns hut. Hmm, pesky rabbits!
It seems, that they have gnawed a hole in the wall that separated them, and managed to have that special moment. Great. Wonderful. *sigh*

See, back in the corner, in all that HAIR! It is a HOLE!

 So, Fred, who looks like a old bag of rabbit skin, like a pee stained bunny slipper, is a ladies man after all. Now I know why he looked so tired all the time! It was all that chewing! It was like the Shawshank Redemption of bunnydom! No telling how long he sat in there, nibble nibble nibble! Packing the shavings out in his mouth, so nobody was the wiser!
 As of today, we are still unsure of whether we have babies, or not. Bun Bun is not willing to let us into her boudoir. We have shined the light, peered with total intent, and even tried to sit under the cage to see if she looks like she has been nursing babies. So, one mystery solved, while the rest of the story is still waiting to unfold!