a bit of history

Good morning ya'll The mid april snowstorm has stopped.  The horses love the snow but at this point they are longing for fresh  luscious grass.  Just the other day the wind was so bad the barn door flew open and when we woke up to do barn chores the horses were out our bedroom window eating the little bit of fresh grass that has grown since the winter.  it was a huge rush trying to get 4,000 pounds of excited horse galloping like thunder back into their fenced in field.

Yesterday i left off at our two babies Booboo and Leroy.  We love to trail ride.  There is 18 km of cut trails through the farm where we ride.  We also hike, quad and snowmobile on the trails.  We had to sell Char because she was not able to enjoy the ruggedness of the terrain with her injury.  It was very difficult to lose the "Charming" part of the farm but the lady that bought her just wanted her dream horse to love.  Scottie was the only horse we were able to ride so we had a few different horses in so we could continue our trail rides  Before I add some pics I have to introduce you to Cujo.  He is the farm's guardian.  When we moved in to the farm in August of 2006, we wanted a dog.  My good friend Diane's daughter Sarah was living down south and a german shepherd/husky puppy would wander on the farm from time to time.  He needed a home so Cujo arrived in September.  When Sarah let him out of the car he too was home. It was like he was born here.  He took up his duties immediately rounding up the horses to the barn at dinner time,keeping them away from the fences and keeping every other animal that didn't belong on the farm off.  He has fought bears, coyotes porcupines (the worst), and chased moose and deer away.

Cujo







Trail rides continued but the horses that came in temporarily just didn't cut it.  I longed to ride my Booboo.  We began by taking him for walks on the trail.  We put a saddle on him and then one day my husband said "Get on him"  and I did!!  I was the first one to ride my Booboo.

In 2010 when Booboo was 2 we had a trainer come in to get Booboo trail broke.  Because of all the conditioning I did when Booboo was a baby, Cliff was in the saddle the very first day.  Booboo was such a good boy.

In the fall of 2010 we started regular trail rides with Scottie and Booboo it was a great year.  the winter was mild and we were able to ride through the winter and into the spring.  We even celebrated our 25th anniversary on a trail ride.

That summer Booboo began some negative behaviours (teenagers!!) and with a few injuries with other horses I became fearful for the first time and the trail riding began to dwindle. 

Working in the school system, I have the luxury of taking the summers off.  My garden grows larger every year alot of work but i love working in the dirt and growing my own spices, salads and vegetables.  There was still something missing.  I wanted more animals, I wanted a hobby farm.  Back to our roots my dad always had rabbits in the backyard, Pops had sheep and goats and i wanted to be able to raise and harvest healthy food for my family.  One day we were at the feed store and the hobby farm began.  We rescued two female and male rabbits, two female goats and a baby buck from an abandoned farm.

Espresso female

Mochacino male

Cappucino female and yes I love my coffee

Dove, Prayer and Pepper with their babysitter Cujo

Another love affair began.  Raising my own animals.  Both of our dads have passed away but remembering what we learned from them, talking to family members and googling on the internet we tried to learn as much as possible and began to breed.  31 days later we got our first two kits of bunnies.



I had never been so excited.  The mommies and the daddy were small so Espresso gave us two babies and Cappuccino 3. When I went to the bunny coop.  One of Cappucino's babies was out of the nest and struggling i picked it up warmed it in my hands and began to breathe on it.  It began to perk up and i put it back into the nest hoping that when i returned from work it would still be alive.  Sure enough my special needs bunny survived and grew nicely.  They all did.

Now please remember this is a farm and as my good friend Leslie told her son on a visit to the farm, animals serve two purposes to produce food or to be food.  In August of 2011 my eldest son Kristofer got engaged to the love of his life Lesley and as hard as it was we harvested our first rabbits to serve as part of their engagement dinner.  Raised with love, fresh cut clover twice a day and hormone free they serve their purpose (Sorry) but they were delicious.  We have since acquired a Giant Flemish male and an English spot Female.  Breeds that are large meat rabbits.  Cappucino's first kit with Big Daddy produced 10 beautiful strong bunnies.







My favourite pic Cappucino and her brood  eating fresh cut clover
'Bunny buffet"

Ronnie our English Spot that we acquired at Christmas just gave us our first kit of 5 bunnies 3 weeks ago.  This is the first kit with both mommy and daddy being large breeds and the babies are much larger than the babies that Cappucino and Big Daddy produce.Just Thursday Cappucino delivered another kit.  I haven't investigated fully because I don't like manipulating the nest when they are just born but my first peek i counted at least 7.  FYI baby bunnies are born hairless blind and deaf.  They are very fragile when they are born but by two weeks they are hopping around eating grain drinking water and eating hay grasses and grain.  Only close family and friends get to enjoy the luxury of fresh organic rabbit meat.

I also wanted fresh eggs so we ordered 6 egg layers and proud to say that my eggs are delicious.  It has been almost a year and every day it is still exciting to enter the chicken coop and collect 6 beautiful brown eggs a day.



And yes the bunny/chicken coop is decorated!!