where are the flowers?

can't believe it's may already. i thought april showers brought mayflowers and pilgrams. but apparenlty it has brought more rain. tornadoes. winds of 70+ miles an hour. turning my newly planted garden into a swimming pool. i have not given up. i will rebuild, reseed, replant. i'm fairly certain the potatoes will be fine. you should have seen the eyes on them when they went into the ground. crazy long.

along with rain, april has brought more sadness to the rook farm. the loss of our dear sweet goat, bernadett. we are still mourning her absence. especially with the front yard fenced in and every goat getting fat on fresh grass. she would have loved it. she would have also loved being so close to happy joes (the kitchen).

in addition to losing bernadett, we lost our sweet little female piglette, delilah. both her and samson came down with pneumonia shortly after their arrival here. we suspect they contracted it when they were taken to the state university to be examined (this was required by law) in order to be registered. we fought with their breeder against having them registered. we are not planning on breeding them for sale. but their breeder wanted to comply with all the rules and regulations. unfortunately, little delilah wasn't strong enough to fight. despite an intense regimine of antibiotics and immune boosters, she died within a week. samson still has a bit of a cough. and we continue to medicate him as needed. incidently, his registered name was "too big to fail". foreshadowing, perhaps.

and then the worst of all happened, jason's father had a stroke. he has been in the ICU for past two weeks. he's a private man, and wouldn't want to be in the spotlight, so i won't say much. except that all prayers, good thoughts, positive energy and well wishes are greatly appreciated. if it weren't for my father in law, i wouldn't know what a beagle was. i would not have my treasured dog, porkchop (whom my FIL rescued when porkchop was orphaned). and i wouldn't have my partner in crime, my anchor, my heart, my dear husband jason.

on a brighter note, yesterday was mother's day. and my mom paid a visit to the farm. we decided to take the day off. and just relax. ate some omelets (courtesy of our hens). watched a dvd. and spent the rest of the time meandering the fields, feeding the goats and pups, playing with the chickens, and being heckled by the peanut-gallery (donks, horse & llama).

it's me, grandma.

baby snakes giving a mother's day kiss.

albert the mighty little.

bernadett, beloved.

it is with great sadness that i am writing these words. bernadett passed away this morning in my arms. she held on. she fought hard. she was so beautiful. i know it's not fair to the other goats, but she was my favorite. she talked to me all the time. and had such personality. she was a selfless mother. and this farm is so empty without her.

sunday, i feared we would lose her. she seemed "gone". she couldn't stand up at all. we had a surprise snow storm come out of nowhere. and i think the temperature change was too much. after the sun came out and melted most of the snow, i carried her out to the field and just sat with her all afternoon. when i thought she was getting close to giving up, i would tell her it was ok. just to close her eyes and go to sleep and that she would be free. she could run and eat bean pods and crackers and bread and butterscotch treats to her heart's content. but everytime i would say this, her eyes would get really big and she'd yell at me. like she was saying, "hey, i'm not dead yet! i just need to rest!" and by the end of the day she was sitting up eating grass, looking at me and proving me wrong.

yesterday was a really good day. the sun was out. it was warm. she spend the entire day in our yard on a blanket having a dandylion and grass picnic. she'd talk to me when i walked by doing my chores. she'd beg for more dandylions or for some clover. i'd scout the field for just the right tasty leaves. and she'd eat 'em up. she even did some grazing her self. she stayed outside until the sun set. and when the sun was down, i brought her in and she had a late night snack and went to sleep.

but this morning she couldn't even sit nor hold up her head. she refused food. so i brought her into the office with me (my computer room) and i talked to her while i had my coffee. i did a few chores. came back and she tried to talk to me. i knelt down and held her head. she said "goodbye."

we can second guess everything. maybe it was the dogs. maybe a parasite. maybe a fatal disease. we have investigated all possiblities. she gets vaccines. preventative medicine. and she received appropriate treatment for her latest conditions. but i truly believe the truth of the matter is that she was an elderly goat. her body was just getting tired. one of the first signs of old age is a goat's inabilty to stand. she had been falling sporadically for months. actually she has had leg troubles since we got her last year. mother nature is both cruel and gracious. she took bernie from us but left us with her angelic daughter, bianka. and we will always grateful for this gift.

bernie smiles

bernie and her bean pod tree

bianka & bernadett

bernie makes a friend.

bernadett was hanging out by the house again today when this lone white leghorn hen decided to befriend her. i'm sure the gossip was tasty.

bernadett update.

bernadett seems to be recovering well. she's been in an isolated pen for about a week now. but i still don't think she's healed enough to join the herd. so, since it was such a nice day, i figured a little sunshine and fresh grass would do her good. i set up a lead by the house and let her chow down. i think she remembers happy joe's. she keeps coming to the kitchen door and begging for treats.

she is getting tons of pampering and extra food. i've been treating her wounds with udder balm. and she no longer needs to wear her bandage.she's not out of the woods yet. i am still praying that she will continue to heal and hopefully be her beautiful strong self once more.

positive thinking.

wish i had something good to post. but things have been not so pretty on the farm. stressful is more like it. winter has been rough. most of the problems revolve around the GLOPs (our guardian dogs). their goat hair-pulling escalated into physical harm on our older goat, bernadett. it breaks my heart to see bernie in pain. but i'm hoping and praying and doing everything possible to rehabilitate her. she spent the night in the house (and i babied her by giving her lots of wheat bread, alfalfa hay, and vitamin water). we gave her a shot of penicillin, some aspirin, and a dose of probiotics and wrapped up her wounds. today i moved her to an isolated kidding pen in the barn. she seems more comfortable outside. and tonight, i'll probably put her daughter bianka in the pen with her to keep her company and warm.

so, what do we do about the dogs? we are going to have to keep them separate from the goats during the day. their chewing on the goats is actually common behavior for livestock guardian dogs of their age. and most people don't allow young dogs 24 hour access to goats. we gave it our best shot, and it didn't work. so this weekend we are going to begin fencing in our front yard (which is over an acre). the GLOPs will be in the front yard during the day, and sleep with the goats at night. fencing the yard was something we wanted to do anyways so that our indoor dogs could be outside off-lead.

in the meantime, i have to keep lil'ann on a lead during the day. she is the instigator. she seems to have an irresistible desire to "play" with the goats. she's not very pleased about being in "time-out" but it's better than the alternative (giving her up or her accidentally killing a goat).

i love bernadett so much. she has so much personality. i need positive thoughts right now to help get her through this tough time. we need her here.

bernadett

now playing on goat tv...

and yes, there are two dogs piled in with the goats.

sorry the picture ain't the greatest. i didn't subscribe to the new fangled digitial transfer. i'm a rebel. and a hippie. and a borderline hermit.

the bianka bernadett guinevere flower pin.

my latest creation is the bianka bernadett guinevere flower pin which was commissioned by a good friend of mine and fellow blogger ann. the center is pure angora rabbit (guinevere), the petals are kid mohair (bianka from her first shear) and the petal tips are made of mohair from the rook farm matriarch, bernadett.

sold!

my first mohair item, the bernadett beret, sold today on etsy !!!! i am currently working on a mohair/angora flower pin. i'll be offering more hats, scarves, and pins soon. and maybe mittens. if anyone has any requests, let me know.

bernie is oh so pleased!

bernadett hat for sale!

i have my first hand spun and crocheted creation available for sale! check out my new etsy store for more items coming soon.

it don't look like much...

but yesterday was a huge milestone. we've been spending the last 9 months cleaning out the barn. the previous farm owners had stockpiled the barn up to the hay loft with layers upon layers of trash. big trash, small trash, heavy trash, nasty trash, rusty trash... you name it. endless junk. and during our first months here, it seemed like an impossible task. we started by cleaning the smaller rooms and stalls. setting up the pig pen, the goat stalls, cleaning out the hospital. and little by little, pile by pile we whittled it down to the dirt floor. yesterday we finally opened up the main room of the barn. our animals are free to go in and out as they like and they have tons of space.

stella's grand entrance

barn opening day appetizers

"there used to be a wall here."

milestones.

the lettuce in above pictured salad was grown by me! from seeds! the first clippings were taken from plants today and used as the basis for this delicious salad.

guess who else had first clippings this week? bernadett & bianka. poor things. they look so tiny without fur coats. but they are much cooler and comfortable.

freedom.

today was a milestone at the rook farm. with the cross fence finished and electrified, all animals safely stepped foot on green open pasture. some, for the first time in their whole little lives. goats ate grass. pigs dug in the dirt. chickens did whatever chickens do. and the sun shined for the first time in days, if only for a few hours. it's back to rain now. thunderous rain. and muddy puppies.

daisy

bianka & bernadette

cocoa

chickens

muddy puppy feet

meet bernadett & bianka.

yesterday was a busy day on the farm. it marked the arrival of our two female angora goats, bernadett & bianka (mother & daughter). it also marked the opening of our newly built barnyard. if only the rain would stop. still raining today.

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