New Baby bunnies

Good morning ya'll.  The horses are frisky this morning.  When I woke up they were running and playing.  It is has been almost 6 years on the farm and it is still such a joy to look out and see them in the morning.  I finally was able to see Cappuccino's babies.  She had a bucketload this time.  When i Went in to feed them she had been nursing and the nest was uncovered and this is what i saw.

As I mentioned earlier baby bunnies are born hairless, blind and deaf.  They are not the cutest when they are first born but just wait a week and they become adorable.  I couldn't count them properly but my guesstimate 10.  Cappucino started making her nest on Wednesday and it was quite deep.  She is such a small doe but has turned out to be a great mom.  The first time she had babies she didn't even make a nest and 2 of her babies did not survive but she has it down pat now.

This is Ronnie and her 5 week old babies.  They were born during the March break when Sergio and i were in Cuba.  Yes we were able to take a well deserved holiday this year.  Thank-you to all my children for pitching in.  I am so pleased that the family pulls together.  The children were not pleased when we made the decision to move to the country.  They were 18,16 and 13 with full city lives and friends.  There were alot of things to work out at first and it took them a while to transition to being farther away but they have finally come around and enjoy the farm.  While on our trip Kris and Lesley moved in for the week and followed the 5 page routine I wrote for them to a tee.  Kaytlin fed the baby goats for the lunch feeding and on the week-end when Kris and Lesley went out of town Mykel moved in to do the week end. 

Lesley doing the morning feeding

Kaytlin

Mykel

March was a great month the weather got warm and all the animals were taken out to romp around the farm.  On March 23 though I received yet another surprise that would take the farm to a new level.  Sergio was going to North Bay for a meeting and he discovered a dairy goat farmer.  So decided to pick up 18 litres of goat milk so we could learn how to make cheese.  When I came home from work that day thinking that cheese making would be exciting enough, I was sent to the barn.  When I opened the barn doors I heard a very different sound.  I looked in the stall and I can't even explain the emotion I felt when I saw a 2 day old jersey calf.   He was soooooo adorable.  I always wanted a cow to complete the farm but was told they were too hard to keep but there he was in my barn.  It was the best surprise EVER.  Sergio knows me sooo well.  No diamonds or pearls for this chick, a cow  was a perfect gift.

Welcome to Charming Shadows MooMoo

He needed to be bottle fed as well.  It took me a few days to get him eating since he too

was abandoned at birth but 2 days later MooMoo was guzzling 2 litres of milk 4 times a

day.  He is growing stronger and bigger every day and another joy to have around the

farm.  Here are some pics I took of all the animals romping around the farm.

The easter babies

Mamma and her babies





I got so excited about the cow I forgot to tell ya'll bout the cheese making.  Pops used to make cheese all the time with sheep and goats milk.  My mother-in-law still had the pot, the forms and the homemade whisk he used to use.  So this adventure began. We tried to be as traditional as possible.  Pops used to make his cheese on an open fire with all natural renit (dried up milk from the stomach of a baby goat--sorry again but that's what it is)  We used synthetic renit we bought at Grande Cheese in Woodbridge.  We bought a propane burner and did it outside.  We put 14 litres of milk in Pops' pot and turned the heat on.  When the milk was 115 degrees we added the renit and then turned the heat off and waited a half hour.  During this time the renit curdled the milk.  We took Pop's homemade whisk and slowly turned the curds and turned the heat back on.  With clean hands I reached in and to my delight there was masses of cheese at the bottom of the pot.  I gathered all the cheese in a ball then removed it and placed it in Pop's form. 

After the cheese was removed we added a litre of whole goat milk back into the pot, turned the heat on and waited till it began to boil.  What came next was two containers of ricotta cheese.  We were so proud of ourselves and so were our moms.  The rest of the milk was skim goat milk that I used for our milk and gave some to Kristofer who is lactose intolerant.  Goat milk has no lactose so he is able to drink it.  He was one of the reasons I wanted goats in the first place so he could have milk and cheese.We have made cheese 3 times already and were pleased to serve it on Easter Sunday. 

Last week we received a call from the dairy goat farmer.  He had two baby girls that needed bottle feeding and asked if we were interested.  One was a triplet, the runt that didn't get enough milk and one was abandoned by her mom.  Because they were girls were excited to get them because this meant that we could get our herd started.  We would be able to breed them and then I would have 3 goats to milk which would be enough to provide us with milk and enough to make cheese from our own milk.

Fiona and Nina and yes they are wearing pink rhinestone collars thanks Katie

We are now back to bottle feeding two baby goats and I love it.  They were a challenge to feed at the beginning they would not suck at the first but a week later they are drinking a bottle and a half each.  They are going on a trip this afternoon.  We are going back to the farm where they were born to have their horns burned.  This may sound horrible but for our safety and theirs they will be better off without horns.  While we are in Sturgeon Falls we will pick up more milk to make more cheese.  Have a good Sunday everyone.  Barn chores are waiting for me.