Our first ever Little Farm Pets #goatyoga was a success! We had a full class and full hearts. I cannot express how wonderful it was to bring my passion for my goats with Miki Blanchard’s passion for yoga! Huge thank you to everyone who attended and please check the website to register for open classes. #namaste
Our chickens have moved many times in the 4 years we’ve been at our home. From the original two chickens we started with in a tiny coop, to a free-range life in our animal pen, to our 4×8 shed-style coop, to our repurposed kids playground coop, to our 4×8 dog run. The latest (and hopefully final) coop is an expansion of the very nice custom built coop given to us by a friend. We brought over their 3×8 coop + run in 2022 and battled rodents and predators when letting the chickens out during the day. In need of a fortress, we enclosed the run-side of the coop to make it a full 3×8 interior, and added a large walk-in 8×8 run. There are cinderblocks dug into the ground with 2 feet of wire underneath so nothing is digging under. The wire mesh walls are secured on both front and back. And the custom door we built event fits perfectly in the doorway with no gaps… A few weeks in and all our chickens are loving their new space.
Today I woke up to these sweet babies. Matilda a first time mom had given birth to two healthy beautiful mini Nubians. The lighter one is a girl and the darker one is a boy.
We named the girl Ms. Honey and the boy Bruce Bogtrotter, characters from their mom’s movie namesake “Matilda”.
While our youngest son was in Kindergarten, we brought 2 goats and chickens to school near the end of the school year to teach his class about our little farm animals. The kids got to pet the goats, see the chickens and we brought a few the different colored light and dark brown, blue and cream colored eggs that they lay. We talked about how we take care of the animals. We also shared how we use the goat milk in our daily diet and how it is an ingredient in our homemade soap that we also use at home.
I’ve been wanting to expand our farm to include another animal type, and had looked into pigs for a few months. I learned about the Kunekune pig breed from New Zealand, as a smaller sized, friendly breed that would fit in with our property and animals.
We bought two Kunekunes, about 8 months old, one male and one female and brought them home just before Christmas. Their names are now Gronk (Gronkowski, go Pats) and Tinkerbell with the intention of breeding them in 2021. We soon added one more female, about 3 months old and named her Piggy Smalls.
Having the pigs is a blast. They are very sweet, love to roll over for belly rubs, and eat up all of our food waste that we don’t compost. Their little noises are hilarious especially when it’s feeding time. And as an added bonus, they help keep the goat pen clean by taking up lots of the goat droppings.
Our first farm pets were two chickens that we got while living in the suburbs in Carmel Mountain. They had a small coop and would walk around our tiny side yard kicking bark from our planter all over the place. But we enjoyed having them, getting a few eggs and starting to get a feel for caring for farm animals.
After we moved and had lots more space, we quickly grew our flock to a dozen hens and they were due for a proper coop. We built this 4′ x 8′ coop connected to the chickens run and have used it over the years as a coop, a shed, and a place for the goats to shelter during our biggest storms.
Our house is set back on our half acre property leaving most of our outdoor space in the front yard. Right outside of the house used to be a concrete patio with small border wall and a tree right in the middle which made the entrance to he house very dark and messy as the tree would drop leaves and twigs all over.
So while getting some of our other trees trimmed, we removed this patio tree and replaced it with a wood burning fire pit. We also recapped the walls with stone instead of thin broken tiles and stained and cemented in some wooden posts. Along the posts we strung lights controllable by a remote, and added some seating around the fire pit. We now use this space year round for hanging out, roasting marshmallows, listening to music and having drinks while the kids run around the front yard.
Next plan is to extend this patio area farther into the front yard, move the firepit to the extended patio, and put a teak table and chairs where the firepit now resides.
