Basil

Meet Basil being held by grandson Harvey. Basil was born to Lil Vicki this afternoon but since Lil Vicki is the spoiled goat of the family she doesn't want anything to do with Basil except let him nurse. We put a sweater on Basil to keep him warm tonight and have already been out to make sure he nursed  again before falling asleep. Rosemary and Sage think he should be up playing with them. Soon I hope.

We Have Babies!!

Mammy decided to wait for a nice sunny morning to deliver her twins, a buckling and doeling. Meet Rosemary and Sage. Mom and kids are healthy, happy, and resting in the sunshine.First kids of 2013! Kidding season has officially started here at Hidden Haven.

Passing On A Little Kindness

Wednesday afternoon my daughter Maggie's father in law was killed in a car crash. He was leaving work and heading to a meeting in what he thought was a normal day. Leaving a wife,4 sons, grandchildren, daughter in laws, his parents, lots and lots of friends. Not one of them got a chance to say goodbye or how much he meant to them, thank him for what he had done for them. We need to bury the hatchet, not hold grudges, let go of the anger, forgive each other because we never know as we go about our normal day if its our last or the last of a loved one. Even thought you don't know Robert Duncan personally I would like to ask you to do something in his memory. Pass an act of kindness on to someone. Give someone looking sad a smile. Buy a coffee and sandwich for a homeless person. Go to a nursing home and ask to visit someone that doesn't have anyone visiting them. At church give a visitor a hug and welcome. You get the idea. Robert always helped others, even strangers and I can't think of a better way to honor his memory then to pass his kindness on.

Facebook Give Away

I have a Hidden Haven facebook page that I recently started. As a thank you for everyone liking my page I am giving away 3 bars of my homemade goat milk soaps. If you would like to enter just go to my page: Hidden Haven Homestead Too 
and leave a comment. If you share on your blog or facebook page let me know and I will enter your name again. One for facebook sharing and one for blog sharing. Thank you again for getting my page off the ground!

Still Checking Goats

It has been a nice weekend. Couple inches of snow, lots of cold, windy, weather, and a visit from Williams daughter Lisa and her older son Will. They came down to visit her younger son Harvey. Harvey is staying with us for awhile and mom was missing her baby. We are enjoying spoiling him and his help gathering eggs and feeding the animals.

 Did lots of cooking and eating (diet starts again tomorrow) and also got more seedlings started.

 And of course there is still the goat check. We have 3 goats that are pregnant. One is due any day, one in a week, and one middle of March. The one due now is really teasing me. She lost her ligaments, has a full udder, dilated about 3 and just knew she would kid today. Go out tonight and she is no longer dilated. She is sleeping peacefully next to her daddy. He gave me the evil eye as if to say if I woke up his baby to check her backside I would be seeing his bad side. Decided to come back in the house and check again before bed. I have the monitor on and all is quiet out there. I guess I need to make plans to go somewhere for a few hours. Once I leave I bet Lil Vickie will jump up and pop that baby/babies out and make me miss the whole thing. Such is kidding season around Hidden Haven. I think when I go out before bed I will take her a nice warm oat muffin and promise her more if she will just stop teasing me and have her baby!

Mystic Mud Give away

 Head over to Mystic Mud and enter her give away! She is giving a awesome first aid kit away. All you have to do is leave a comment... hurry, what are you waiting for? Oh, I bet you are waiting on me to win it so I can keep it at the barn for all my boo boos. That's okay. I don't mind you entering cause I feel lucky!

Wednesday's Wonderful Blog Neighbor

Still tracking out several times a night with my handy dandy flashlight checking the goats. Mammy looks really close to kidding but no baby goats yet. Meanwhile its Wednesday and time to share one of my blog neighbors with you. I think I have some pretty awesome ones and would love for you to check them out. You don't have to leave a comment (though it would be nice) and you don't have to follow them. Just a neighbor I enjoy in blog land and think you might too.

Today's blog neighbor is Sue from Our New Life in the Country.

She has a great sense of humor and you all know how I love that! She gardens, shares awesome recipes, shares her beautiful home and  decluttering ideas. Love reading about her animals and her life in the country. I think if you stop by and read some of her posts you will think she is a pretty awesome blog neighbor. When you stop by take a few moments to read several of her posts and if you have the time tell her I said hi.

It's That Time Of Year

The time where I am making many middle of the night trips to check goat behinds.Going out in my PJ's and carrying a flashlight so I can get a good view. The girls just look up at me chewing their cud hoping I will be quick. They don't even get up when they see me coming. The baby monitor is on and turned up all the time. Labor and Delivery pen is all set up and waiting. Birthing cabinet is stock and waiting. All we need are the girls to go into labor and give us baby goats. They are due in the next few days and though their udders are filling up nicely the girls have decided to just relax and take their time. So I will just have to keep trudging out in my PJ's carrying my handy, dandy flashlight in hopes of finding one of them ready for my labor and delivery service.

Wednesday's Wonderful Blog Neighbor

Because I think I have the most awesome blog neighbors I wanted to share some with you. Each Wednesday I will post one of my blog neighbors and hope you will drop by their blog for a visit. You don't have to follow them or even leave a comment (though that would be nice). Just stop by and check them out. Who knows you might like them so much they become your neighbor too!

Meet Crystal from Homemaking on the Homestead.  Mom to 8 and grandma to 4 doesn't take up too much time because she cooks everything from scratch, grows a big garden from which she cans,dehydrates, and freezes to feed her family. This lady does it all and always seems to have time even more. I am always in awe of what she accomplishes without breaking a sweat. So hop on over and visit Crystal. I think you will enjoy meeting her and will probably want her for a blog neighbor too.

Some Days Are A Pain

Most days around the homestead are good. In fact they are mostly enjoyable as its hard not to smile and be a in a good mood with our family of animals. The goats are always looking over the gate watching for us. The ducks, chickens, geese, and turkey all have their own special sounds when they see us coming out of the house. Honey Bunny (free roaming rabbit) runs right up to us and stands on her hind leg waiting to eat out of our hand or for us to give her a slice of wheat bread to nibble. It just brings a smile to your face to see how each animal greets you in the morning. Then there are days like today when you have had no sleep because Bella kept wanting to go outside every 20 minutes and while she was outside every single puppy cried till she came back in. You overdid the day before and your back is hurting so bad you can barely stand up straight and you find grandson went to sleep without going to bathroom first and wet the bed. Then made up the bed without telling you it was wet. The 10lb of olives you are canning turns into 15lbs and that means more standing long periods in the kitchen as well as lifting heavy pots. You can't catch the laundry up because you have to keep changing Bella and the puppies bedding. Your plans for today is repair the wire around all the chicken pens and gates but you only end up having time to repair 3 of them. Your butt is dragging from lack of sleep and you still have afternoon feeding and watering when all you want to do is have a nice long nap on a heating pad. Yes, there are days like today when I just want to nap,read, relax, and not think about the never ending to do list but they are far and few between. The good days far outweigh those that are a pain. Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully there will be a good sleep tonight and I will start tomorrow with all the animal family greeting me and putting a smile on my face.

Monday At Hidden Haven

Was blessed with a big bunch of carrots yesterday so today found me in the kitchen canning them.

 While there I thought I might as well clean out the animal med cabinet. I have one inside and two outside. The inside one is mostly for meds that can't take cold or hot temps and things I might need to fix before going out to care for animals. It also holds a basket of lightbulbs.

 After cleaning out that cabinet the shelves below looked like they wanted to be cleaned.

 That led to cleaning the microwave,

 which led to cleaning the coffeemaker.

Since I seemed to be spending the morning in the kitchen I might as well cook up and freeze some dog food,

  put some field peas in the crockpot, get meat out of the freezer for supper, and geez its lunchtime!

After lunch I tackled the laundry and burnt some of the brush in the firepit before doing afternoon feeding and watering. I waited what seemed like forever for Bella and the puppies to wake up

  so I could change their bedding. Try to change it twice a day so that means I never catch up on laundry. After fixing supper ( crab cakes, potato cakes, field peas, corn on cob, honey wheat rye bread) I am now canning some Greek olives that have been cured and given to me. I have over 10lbs so need to can to keep them. While waiting on the canner I am having a late night snack on a Polish pottery set sent to me by Kuma's mommy. I just love pottery and this set is beautiful!

Just a peek into a day at Hidden Haven. The one thing I can say besides all the blessings that come my way is that it is never boring around here! Have a blessed night and don't forget to count your blessings.

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