happy father's day!

dad! even though you live so far away, you are always in my heart. looking forward to your next visit. and so is baby snakes! have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love, larissa

where the wild things are...

apparently wild things grow inside trees!

alexander the baby (who i suppose has been promoted to "alexander the toddler" but i like the sound of baby so we'll stick with that) visited the farm this weekend. the animals still love him and he still loves animals. if not even more that before. seeing the looks on children's faces really makes all the hard work here worthwhile. such pure wonder and amazement is contageous!

baby alexander greets the geese

and the baby chicks

he catches a pig's kiss with his fist

"gimme five, babysnakes"

kids love kids (and llamas too).

we had a tiny visitor yesterday. delaney (jason's cousin ron's daughter) flew in all the way from sunny california to visit family (and more importantly, goats). she loves them. especially tito. but was very concerned about tito's negligent mommy (842).

welcoming committe member baby snakes greets ron and delaney

and offers kisses

while tito and his big sis little bit crash from all the excitement

shearing day.

saturday was shearing day at the rook farm. herschel, bianka, and patrik all got their summer cuts. things went smoothly. patrik (who had never been sheared - since his kid coat fell out on it's own) didn't care for the fuss. we had to lay him down for the shear. but bonky and hersch did great and stood up the whole time. and i have tons of fiber to keep me busy all year long. next up.... baby snakes!

patrik

bianka

herschel

misty morning.

woke up to fog everywhere. rolling in over the hills. i dreamt i was on the british moors during lambing season on my way to town for tea and pudding. but then i spotted baby snakes and reality set in.

baby snakes

donkeys in the mist

jeliza-rose

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.

a word from the GLOPS.

hewwo. dis is wil'ann. i was given puhmishun to make an announcement. furst off, GWOPS wuv snow. it's twoo. we do. it doesn't bodder us at awl. secondwy, our twin pygmy goats viowet & daisy just turned one yeewrs ode dis week. happy burfday cwackah goats. we awso hurd dat some baby chickuns waz hatched. i tink wike sevunteen of 'em or someting.

dat's my sistah jahwiza-woses finding out how many chickuns waz borned.

awso newswuthy... owiver da beagle waz adopted by a nice wady named patty. he moved to da city wast night to wiv at hiz new fowevah home. and finawy, we haven't escaped in monfs. da new ewectric fence is a weel doozy. oh, and baby snakes stinks.

stinks!

visit from ohio.

my dad stopped by the rook farm this weekend. he brought copies of porkchop's new books hot off the presses. porkchop did an impromptu book signing. del ray was outfitted with john deere apparel. and baby snakes made a new friend.

meet guido.

stella finally had her baby yesterday morning! she snuck off to the cedar trees in the fog around dawn and gave birth to a healthy four-legged big-eared little jack named guido. baby snakes and little jim handed out cigars. while the GLOPs vowed to be the best aunties ever.

baby snakes & little jim in the maternity ward waiting room

"we're aunties now!"

friday was...

figuring out that my ball of yarn doesn't go very far. i started crocheting a scarf. didn't even make a full two rows. so i hit the cards again and started spinning more. hopefully, i'll have enough by the time snow rolls into town this winter.

whilst i was busy spinning, i heard a clatter in the kitchen. looks like del ray has figured out how to climb/jump/fly? he was on top of the kitchen table rearranging things.

spent some time with the chickens. they haven't been laying eggs for a week or so. we had to call in reinforcement last week. we moved in 20 baby female chickens. i had a talk with the older hens. explained the situation. i think we came to an understanding.

checked on stella (still pregnant). since i moved stella to the cow field, baby snakes has latched onto her like a parasitic twin. they are inseparable. for better or worse.

tended my garden. picked my first batch of sweet red peppers. looks like i'll be having grilled peppers for dinner.

sweeeeeet!

future egg-layer of america

i've got a llama on my back!

i'm melting.

i'm sitting here typing this post, drenching with sweat. it's just too hot. might have to spring for a window a/c unit. thought i could tough it out. i am really enjoying the next-to-nothing electric bills. i am cheap. but i don't know. today, i got nothing done. it was just too darn hot. and it's hard to get work done when there is no refuge.

i only managed the minimum today. fed the pups. picked some tomatoes. and checked stella's milk sack. i think we may be getting close. her nipples are engorged. praying it's soon. she looks miserable. and i'm tired of feeling up my donkey!

meanwhile, i've joined yet another on-line farm animal support group. i know, i know, i need to get out more, right? but where else does one go to find out why their goofy llama keeps pooping in her pond? yes, baby snakes has taken to relieving herself in the cow pond. it's not natural. it's where she drinks! what's wrong with her?

don't do it, baby!

oh, and i did snap a pic of our new rooster, little jim. no eggs today, though. perhaps the honeymoon is over?

little jim making his move

giant steps for baby snakes.

somebody likes baby goats. likes them so much she entered the barn for the very first time. you've come a long way, baby!

farm of fools.

happy april fools day from washington county, MO!!!! can't believe it's april already. i have officially been a farm girl for 6 months. my how time flies when you are knee deep in mud. so... what did i do on this fine day, you ask?

i was entertained by our new twin acrobats, violet and daisy (named after the famous sideshow twins) while their giant puppy sisters watched in awe...

listened to dagmar & cocoa declare, "mud, what mud?"...

and told baby snakes the old joke about 3 cows and a bucket of feed which she found hillarious. all in all, a pretty good day.

another sad day on the farm....

baby snakes

i haven't posted in a while yet again. i'm afraid my my voodoo didn't work exactly as planned. we were able to rescue baby snakes, but not edwin.

edwin developed berserk (or aberrant) behavior syndrome. you see, we were misinformed by his previous owner. we were told he was a 4 year old gelded (neutered) male. and that baby snakes was a 13 month gelded male as well. turns out edwin was not gelded. he was intact. and much older than 4 (judging by his teeth probably around 10yrs). and baby snakes was not a gelded male either. in fact, SHE is not a male at all. two male llamas are a good combination and a valuable asset to a farm. but a male and female llama are a dangerous combination. especially when the male is intact. this explains why they would not stay put.

edwin could not be contained. he was leading baby snakes back and forth across the highway during traffic. almost caused several accidents. he was also keeping her from eating. he was endangering both her, himself, and our neighbors.

once llamas develop this syndrome it is almost impossible to rehabilitate them. we built an 8 foot cage and he still managed to escape. and when he escaped...baby snakes would follow.

it breaks my heart that we had put him down. he was such a beautiful beast. i feel like a failure. we should have researched llama behavior much more. and we should have double checked to see if they were intact, etc.. instead of just taking a stranger's word.

i vow never to make a mistake like this in the future.

but some good has come from this... baby snakes is safe. and she acts like a new animal. she stays inside our fences. she is friendly. she eats (a lot!). and she is slowly learning to tolerate the other farm animals. she really is a sweet girl. and we are glad she is now home to stay.

baby snakes lectures the pups

rest in peace, edwin.

snips & snails & puppy dog tails...

it's been a while since i've done a farm post. but frankly, i've been too pre-occupied wrangling llamas. apparently, the llamas we adopted are some freak rogue breed that will not be contained by natural means. we've tried everything. even building a pen laced with barbed wire. but they laugh in the face of containment and escape with such slithering ease it makes our blood curl. today i resort to supernatural aid. i will take broken pieces of High John the Conqueror root seeped in almond oil & cedarwood and sprinkle it around the perimeter of the barn. i will sing "hootchie coochie man" seven times while walking backwards thru the fields dressed in the fur of one alpaca. and will, inevitably, end the day with a relaxing glass of merlot to either celebrate a successful capture or drown my wretched sorrows.

on the bright side of life.... we got puppies and pigs. see attached photos for a brighter smile and an all around warm feeling of peace.

Lil'Ann & Jeliza-Rose
(our Great Pyrenees Mix barn-protector pups)

Cocoa & Dagmar (in the shadows)
Our Chester White Shoats

meet edwin & baby snakes.

edwin

edwin is 4 years old and was named after his kind benefactor, edward doczy.
when he speaks, he bears an uncanny resemblance to john cleese.

baby snakes

baby snakes is only 13 months old. he does anything that edwin tells him to do. he sounds more like a LOLcat or RedDog when he talks. but that might just be due to his age.
he loves frank zappa.