COLD on the way

Hearing a lot about the weather today. Supposed to be very cold. I have to make sure all the animals are as warm as they can be. I will put extra blankets out for the cats and young cats. I have hay for the horses. I will have to feed extra corn to the chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guennies, who ever else flies by. I have my bird feeders full. I love watching the wild birds feed. I give extra corn when it is very cold becasue corn creates warmth in birds or what ever else eats it. It is a carb and turn into surger I think. I an not too good at the break down I just learned working at the feed store --more corn in winter to keep them warm.

Here you see my friend, Celine Young, she came to visit the farm. She loves the animals. She is dressed warm with her ear muffs on. When it is Summer time she comes by a lot and plays with the kittens that live here. Celine is a very special friend of ours. We like her visits.

Faqncy the horse in the picture is going to have a baby in April. She is a very kind and gentle horse. She is easy to get a long with. She has her moments though. She was a baby when she came to live in TN two years ago. She is three now. She will be a great mom.

We are all just going to try to stay warm as we can. We will get another round bale and maybe an additional one making it three here at the farm. What ever we can do.

More about the barn

Here is Summer and her baby Diliah and Ruby my dog. Ruby is curious as to who the new face is at the farm. Diliah is not a bit worried about Ruby because her mother takes care of her and would not let anything happen to her. You can see the gate to the stall in the barn open for Summer and Diliah to go in when they want to.

I just love the barn. It just says so much and has so much personality. My barn sits on a hill and it is an eye catcher for anyone coming up the road. You can see Lad grazing on the green grass there by the road that leads to the barn. I use the road to drive on to take bags of feed, hay and other things to the barn.
I store my 4-wheeler in the barn. I use the 4-wheeler for quick trips around the pasture to check for damage to the fence after a storm. Sometimes if all the horses do not come up to the barn to eat I take the 4-wheeler to go and find them, It is handy to have one of these on the farm. I always drive very slow because I do not want to scare the horses or make one of them hurt themselves. I do not want to get hurt either. I have to store the 4-wheeler away from the horses. Horses are naturally curious. They get into a lot of things and some things they should not. Here you see Lad at the 4-wheeler. I be he wants to take it for a spin...no way Lad. I love you but it's not happening!!

From this view you can see two of my flower gardens and the barn in the background. It is a lot of work on a farm to keep everything looking nice, I like it that way. Everything looks like it all belongs together. I like that!!! It is like one big flowing work in progress all the time.

The Barn

The barn is the largest building on my farm. Yes, it is bigger than my house. It would be nice to make the barn into a house. The barn is very important because it is a place to store things used on the farm. Some of the tools stored are for my garden and yard work. I also store my saddles and tack there. Tack is what I use on and for the horses. I have a room just for tack and feed. I have my saddles, bits, heas stalls, halters and all sorts of things I may use with the horses. In the "tack room' I have two feed barrels for the horses grain and other containers for chicken, geese , duck and guennie food. They all enjoy corn. In the winter the corn helps them keep warm. Corn produces sugar and carbohydrates and in turn keeps their body heat up. The chickens lay fewer eggs in the winter. The days are shorter as they require a certain amount of sunlight for laying eggs. The ducks do not seem to care if the days are shorter. I found a nest of duck eggs in the horse stall. I have stalls to keep horses in. Sometimes I may put another kind of animal in one if the need arises. Right now I have the two baby horses each in their own stall. They are in there to be out of the harsh weather we have been having. It has been colder than usual. Right now it is snowing. It is really cold. If kept in a stall they are assured of getting the proper amount of feed they need for growth. They are growing like weeds. I brush and work with the babies in the stalls and in that confined area makes it much easier. One time Delaney my riding mare got her hooves trimmed and it was cut too close. Much like trimming your fingernails. Anyhow she could hardly walk so I bought large bags of pine shavings to make a thick layer on the floor of her stall so she would not put pressuer on the sore hoof. I worked out just fine. She got well in a few days and was back out in the pasture like new again. In the barn I hand up old tools used in the barn over 50 years ago. The barn was used to store hay. At other times it had tobacco hanging in the rafters to dry. In the spring when I do not have hay in the loft I have it set up like a living room with a couch and rockers. It is a great place to be in the spring or any time of year. I do a lof of self expression in my barn. I am a patrotic person as well.

I brought in one of my female goats when she was about to have a baby and put her in a small stall. I kept food, water and hay for her. There is a certain sound a goat makes when she has a baby. I know it when I hear it. I have helped deliver many goats and love being there to help the baby come into the world. Here is Julie with Cesar right after he was born. When he got bigger he went into the pasture with his mom and other goats.
Here I am in the loft of my barn. You can see the may bales of hay in here. It is very important to buy good hay. Bad hay can make your animals sick or kill them. Horses are very sentive to hay and any mold that may be there. I use my old hay for bedding for other animals in the winter. Sometimes I put the hay in my garden for keeping weeks down and keeping moisture in.

At the holidays I put a tree in the barn with lights on it. Last year I hung the icecicle lights in the barn too. It is a pretty scene at night and the people who drive up my road like seeing the lighted tree at night. I was at the fruit market and was talking to a lady there and another lady spoke up and said "you are the lady with the tree lit up in the barn" I said yes. She told me how she and her grandchildren loved seeing it. That makes me very happy.

Here you see Delaney with her head over the gate when she had to stay in here becaue of her hooves. She did not like it but she had to recover so she would be able to walk on her sore hoof.

She got well and was out in not time at all.

Snow at my farm

Snow Pictures Dec 01,08

I just love the way the snow settles on the limbs.

These girls know how to have fun. We had a blast today just being kids--all of us.

Cannot forget our furry friends. They had a lot of fun too. Here are Lucy(black), Napolean(Lucys son-Sorrel) and Marshmallow.

This is a very cool picture. I have it as my screen saver. It is just a different angle.

Yes I had a great time. I got smacked right in the face with a snowball and loved every minute of it.

My Favorite Things...

One of my most favorite songs this time of year is "My Favorite Things" I just get this feeling of being a child again. Well today when I woke up at 4am I turned on the holiday music and came to the computer to check out what was going on in the world. In the mean time my coffee was perkin and the dogs were having their breakfast. I grabbed my cup of coffee with "peppermint" creamer --this is awesome!! I got started with my first blog for my new site. Miss Jonis Farm is going to be a on going activity for me.
My day well started and the weather seemed a bit different and snow was predicted. Then I saw them, tiny, itty bitty in the breeze, SNOW FLAKES!! About that time I got a call from my friend Niki Realin on the mountain and she told me they had snow and LOTS of it and to come up. I was off to do chores before leaving. I was at the barn feeding chickens and horses and geese, ducks and my dog Rebecca. (for those of you who know her she loves it out there. She nests in the hay when it is cold and gets warm as toast. She is not bothered by the little dogs at the house either. She is very HAPPY) The snow was a whippin up here in the barn yard and I was just happy as a lark, smiling from ear to ear and knowing I was heading for "Snow Country". I told the kids at the barn to keep snug and I loaded up with Lucy and headed out. I knew to be very careful on the road. I have heard of "black Ice" and it is very dangerous. It is water frozen on the road. Well going up I had little problems I only slid twice. That was my first time driving in the snow. So for me that was excellent. When I got to the Realin's house Jade told me that they were concerned of my driving cause I am accident prone. It is true just ask my mom!!
Well me and Jade,Gerilyn, and Abigail had a wonderful time in the snow. We had a snow ball fight and I got smacked right in the face and it was all good. I laughed and laughed. We went around taking pictures of all the neat things we could see. There are enough pictures to publish a small book--hummmmm. We ate snow too. It tastes great I told the girls it was straight from Heaven, I have heard that snow flakes are "Angel kisses" They blow them right down to us.
Yes Joni was the loudest and funniest of all the kids in the yard, well in my age group. Well except for maybe Abbie she had so much fun just rolling in the snow and knocking snow off limbs of trees.
I have to say I love the winters up here. They are amazing. They bring out a part of me I love about me. There have been many time I have not really loved myself in my life. I made big changes up here. I set out to feel free to be me. I like me. I am learing that it is okay for me to laugh out loud and just be me. I feel I am taken back to a place where all children should be in their childhoods-- right in the middle of the snow.
I am so ever grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with my farm and friends up here who love me and know I love snow. I am thankful for all my friends every where who do not complain about all the pictures I send them--love all of you.
All in all it was a most fabulous day. In my heart of hearts I hear a small childs prayer...

Dear Lord,
please send many more Angel kisses when you can. We love them
In Jesus Name

SNOW today

I just love snow. It is supposed to snow today and I keep checking out the front door for the white stuff. I am not sure if the horses like it but I have seen them last year with snow blankets on them. They get a thick furry coat of hair for the winter to keep them warm. Sometimes they run around the pasture to keep warm. If there were to be an ice storm or other bad event of weather besides snow I would put the babies in the stall and find a safe place for the adults. I have two babies now. They are about 6 months old. They are learning to lead, back and stop on command. They are really cute and sweet. One is a Paint named Diliah Grace she is sorrel and white. She is turning black or dark chestnut on her legs. Horses change color especially when young. Even some adult horses change color with the seasons. The other baby I have it an Appaloosa her name is Jokers Gypsy Star. She is black and white. She was black when she was born -- solid black. Then she turned to sorrel and now black and white. I am so excited to have her. As a child I had an Appaloosa Mare that was Sorrel and white and she had babies and I never got to keep them. I have a tiny statue of a Appaloosa baby that is black and white. God answered my long ago prayers to have a baby like Gypsy...she is extra special because of waiting so long for her. I believe that God knows our hearts and he knew from my childhood that I wanted a baby like that. He answered my prayer 30 some years later. Remember God answers prayers when He knows it is time, not our time. So patients is needed but it is often hard. Just trust in God and Jesus Christ. They know your heart.