My little secret.....

I have slowly been coming around to an OLD idea. When I get my land I want a bit of a farm. I LOVE fresh eggs, I love taking care of critters and I am really becoming a 'greeny'. I think our grand and great grandparents had a thing or two (or a million) right. I think things like milk and eggs don't need to be shipped to us from FAR AWAY and that chickens deserve to be running about while they are alive...even if they are to be eaten. Even as a young Animal Science Student my area of interest was animal welfare. They have proven that animals who are 'cared for and content' grow/produce better quality/quantity food.

If you have NEVER eaten an egg a few hours old you don't know what you have missed. So, Monday I travel an hour away to pick up my girls. I intend to get three and am still waffling between getting all of one breed or a mix (including that breed).
The following picture is of a Buff Orpington Pullet (young girl chicken) and this is what my girls will look like. They are going to have to live in a small enclosure here for a few weeks until we get our new cottage/homestead. I hope soon that I will be showing you goodies cooked with food from my own home.

I have also been toying with the idea of a milk goat. Okay, now you KNOW I am crazy...right...well, it sort of 'morphed' in my mind from Duncan wanting a goat and me not wanting to buy hay/grain for an animal that I can't ride, or sleep on my feet at night like the dogs. So, I needed a USE for a goat and started reading. I am amazed at the different people who raise dairy goats and what all they do with the products. Goat milk, goat cheese and goat milk soap to name a few.

So here is a pic of a Toggenburg dairy goat. The one I may be getting is long haired and currently named "Lori" (for now). She is pregnant and not currently in milk, but she has been in the past, so she is an experienced girl. Her owners are only a few miles from the new place and are willing to help me get started.

When she kids (Gives birth) she is likely to have twins and they occassionally have triplets. The kids sire is a Nubian goat. They are very cute little mixes and if I get any girls I will keep one and if they are both boys, sell them to a 4Her.

So I may have to get a second blog....about my growing menagerie.

So my secret is out...I am becoming a 'homesteader' and my love of my home and taking care of my family is blooming into making it a TRUE home where we grow our veggies, eggs and milk. While I am not against raising meat animals, I become too attatched and could not 'do the deed' unless we were unable to get food elsewhere.