Thursday, February 26, 2015

Gotta love the Snow!

Cranberry Acre in the snow!


Cranberry Acre woke this morning to 8 inches of snow and this time it's the fun snow. The past few snows we have had were not fun ones. Either too cold to be outside or it was not packing snow, but still we had fun.
On a few of those snow storms the kids were able to go sled riding. On this day Ms. Lady Hawk got to join in the fun. It was very cute to see this bird hanging out with her kids. Lady Hawk had fun! 

After her sled riding she was invited into the house to enjoy a warm fire and a snack of some scratch, while the kids had cocoa.
On those negative degree days we had our first ordeal with a frozen pipe. Now we have had cold days but nothing like this. I believe on the frozen pipe day it was -13 with the wind chill and our tub drain froze. Now we were lucky that it wasn't a busted pipe and no water but still it was a all day process of boiling hot water in the tub and a plunger, plus a hairdryer. 

Dingo tried his best to help daddy but seemed to have gotten more in the way then truly helping, but he tried.

I have been working on the new Harvest Apron during the snow storms and am starting a new kitchen apron for this years collection. I will say I haven't been in there as much as I would like, but with all the driveway clearing and entertaining kids, there hasn't been as much time as I thought!

This snow storm today was pretty.
Kids and the dog are having a blast. Now everyone else was waiting for me to shovel out paths so they could come out and play.

When the goats finally came out this morning and we went out to feed everyone. We were greeted by a lame goat.
Since we did not get the edition up for the barn I still do not have any stalls, so what we called the nursery for the chickens we rearranged to make it a stall for Luther to keep him confined. This morning before a cup of coffee was able to be finished was moving cages and cleaning stalls. We soaked his foot with Epsom salts and then trimmed the hooves to see if there was a problem with any of them. No punctures but his ankle was a little warm so we shot him in the bum with some penicillin and have him in his own day spa. You would think he would be happy but he is not. The only happiness was the fact he got an extra amount of grain.
His mother JoJo, came out earlier this morning before I got to shovel and seemed to enjoy the peace. I know her feeling, kids have been out of school now for almost 2 weeks, peace is nice.

The Barn Yard Bullies, Bella and Sparkles refused to come out until I shoveled them a path. Can we say spoiled?

Ms. Chocolate came out and she actually didn't mind the snow at all. The rest of the flock has taken refuge in the hayloft.
Ms. Coal, was having a great morning until she decided to take on a snow pile and got herself stuck. She then paraded herself back into the barn and under a heat lamp. I have not seen her come out yet.

Mr. Dingo and his girl, Ayla. I can't tell you how sweet of a friendship they have, but hopefully this picture shows you just a little. This little dog has been a great addition to our family. Even if Mr. Bayne is crossing his toes that we change our minds.

I will leave you with one very upset duck! Ms. Lovey is not happy, her night, night pen now has a goat in it. She hates the snow and proceeded to have an argument with the goat, but he had nothing to say to her, so she went in the hay loft. I am going to set her up with a new comfy spot tonight with the chickens, but I know she will try to argue with me about this also.
Everyone stay warm and stay safe. Spring will be here soon and I will be able to share the new design of the garden as Cranberry Acre is ever changing to make things improved from the lessons we have learned from last year!

















Thursday, February 12, 2015

Happiness

A Blind Duck in a Tub

I haven't been on here in weeks. The farm is at a slow point of just trying to maintain and survive the cold. I believe everyone is doing that right now. I spend my Winter months catching up on projects in the sewing room and getting new designs ready for the new season. I took a moment today to make a critter on the farm very happy. Ms. Lovey duck the past few days has been not as happy, so I decided to cheer her up a little. Her Spring during the Winter becomes a mud pit and I do not want to disturb the mud, because we have a lot of salamanders Wintering in it. What do you do to make a blind duck happy? Well kill to birds with one stone!

You give a duck a bath and clean your bathroom at the same time!

She had gotten so dirty playing in the mud and looked so pitiful, so I decided a detail cleaning of the bathroom was in order and the duck was going in the tub.

She has turned the bathroom into a mess, but what a happy duck!


She has been swimming now for about a half an hour and is just loving it. The little things in life give us the best rewards. If a duck could smile I think she would.