The children have done very well this year in 4-H.  My daughter finished her final year of Clover Buds, her project for the June General Projects show was a blue bird house.  It’s currently home to a wren family!

Our little girl & her woodworking project!

My son really REALLY loves birds so this year he took on a rather ambitious project.  After one false start (thanks to me forgetting to return the bones on their drying trays to the oven after cooking supper – the cats ate the first try) he was very pleased with the final result and his project was selected to go on the the Illinois State Fair!

Our son with his Chicken Skeleton for the 4-H Poultry project.

Then the last week of July we attended the County Fair. Before bringing animals to show they have to be nice and clean, ready to put their best foot forward!

The children working together to bathe the Silkies before the Fair.

Our son showed 2 of his Splash Silkies, a pullet and a cockerel.  The cockerel took home the Fancy & Bantam Class Champion ribbon!  We are all very proud of the kids for doing such a great job caring for their birds…

Our Son & his Champion splash Silkie cockerel

Sadly, this week has brought an uninvited guest.  A weasel killed 4 pullets, two of our youngest farm yard crosses, one sweet buff silkie, and to our great disappointment, the pretty splash pullet who showed so well for our son at the fair.  So for the past 2 nights I’ve been up checking every hour or so with the dogs helping to patrol.  We are hoping to permanently rehome the offender.  Behind the Pearly Gates.

I hope everyone is taking a moment to enjoy the waning days of summer.  They simply slip by too quick.

I’m trying to remember the beautiful days we had over the last week.  Sadly, I’ve been pretty sick & wasn’t really able to enjoy them as I might otherwise have.  Today I’m feeling the best I have in days and we’ve got howling winds, cloudy skies & thunderstorms looming (last night I dreamt we were hit by a tornado because of the wind screaming around the house).

So.  I’m thinking about the beautiful days past.  My children were very excited on Saturday & Sunday because the toads were out calling and breeding in the giant, permanent puddle across the road.  By Monday the puddle was filled with strands of eggs, waiting to hatch into little tadpoles.  What a happy, sunny scene to focus on during such a dreary day.

One of the toads looking for love in the giant puddle across the road.

In goat related news, I received a call from a woman who had brought home a 4 day old goat kid who’d been abandoned by her momma (the owner was going to put down if no one took her).  She’d developed scours on the milk replacer & she wanted to know if I could sell her some milk from my girls to feed the kid.

I was happy to help. It’ll get Pepper accustomed to milking and I hope & pray it will help the little boer kid improve.  I sent her home with the milk, our vet’s number & some advice.  I’ll be seeing her again soon & hopefully the news on their bottle kid will be better with each passing day!

We’ve updated the Poultry & For Sale pages of the Brown Fox Farm website with photos of the Silkie chicks we have available.

Silkies are Sweeties!

We’ve updated our website and hope you’ll visit to see the new Mini Nubian kid photos from this gorgeous weekend.  We had quite the photo session.  All the kids were so curious about the camera it was difficult to get pictures of anything more than “Extreme Nostril Close-ups”  but we managed to get a few nice ones.

So stop by our Goat Page and see what’s growing at Brown Fox Farm!

"O'Seamus" letting the world know what he thinks of holding still for pictures! (You'll notice his sisters, Sara & Little Em, are paying no attention whatsoever)

There is a recipe I always turn to when I want to make a warm, filling, but not too fancy breakfast. I found it in Cook’s Country magazine a couple of years ago and I’ve loved it ever since. Moist but fluffy cake full of juicy, sweet blueberries & topped with a fine cinnamon sugar “crust.”

Blueberry Boy Bait

If you are looking for something simple to whip together before the family wakes up or to take to a brunch or potluck try this recipe out. It is soooo good!  The recipe says it’ll keep for 3 days…  we’ve never gotten to test that, ours never lasts till sundown!

Every spring, for the last three or four years, the garter snakes swarm up out of their winter dens and sunbathe in our yard. Getting warmed up and ready for mating. As the days get progressively warmer, the number of snakes grows. Usually up to 15 – 20 writhing around & slithering in and out of holes in the ground.

Today, the first snake day this spring, we saw six. But they only stayed close together in groups of 2-4… The largest two (probably females) were less interested in hanging out with the rest. So here are the photos I managed to get…

Two Garter snakes peering out of their hole - Has spring finally arrived at Brown Fox Farm?

Three Garter snakes checking to see if the coast is clear for some serious sunbathing after the long cold winter.

These three seem to have decided to come on out and enjoy the sunshine!

I know lots of folks dislike snakes - but they pick up where the barn cats leave off & I'm greatful for their help!

Uno the house chick?

Well… House chick for now.  It’s amazing the speed at which such a little critter imprints on people.  He (maybe she, but for some reason “he” is the first thing out of my mouth) really seems to enjoy being held in my son & daughter’s warm little hands.  SO cute – way cuter now that he’s ditched the shell and fluffed up!

I LOVE country livin’!

The girls are STILL holding on to their kids.  Really, it’s no surprise with Magil – I have her due date marked as March 15th.  But Pepper is killing me!  I’m getting very little sleep between these girls and my Husband & Daughter’s birthday present…

Obie & his little girl.

This weekend we had two birthdays!  My husband’s on Saturday & my daughter’s on Sunday.  Busy busy!  And as you can see, the big birthday gift is VERY much loved.

Although he is really my husband’s dog (he’s been talking about wanting a lab for hunting for years) I’m the one at home all day and so I do all the house training.  And because my husband has to get up very early for work I’m also the one up in the night when he needs to potty & again first thing when the alarm goes off I’m taking him out again as I check on the goats while Cole gets ready to go to work. It really is very similar to when my own children were babies.

So sleep has once again become a rare element in my daily life.  But it is SO worth it!