And, I just realized, you need more. Check out the eyes on this little one!

She's the only brown one of the bunch:

Check out her eyes - Neisa claimed this one.

We have decided that we're keeping one. I just couldn't let him go. Meet Phinneas:

More pics later - there are 4 more puppies!

Chickenpile on the puppies!! Wait, what?

So our dog Maggie unexpectedly had puppies six weeks ago. (Well, to be honest, it wasn't completely unexpected - she was getting huge.) I had (mistakenly) been under the impression that a female dog would not go into heat until she was a year old. Oops. Anywho, as you know, we have 24 free range chickens running about the place. They were sticking to the woods, but now they have decided that the backyard, and everything in it, is theirs as well. As the puppies are in the backyard, in a pen that is kept open during the day, this has made for some interesting moments. Like this one:

Oh, or this one:

Yup... I love pseudo-farm life. :)

So, faithful reader, since last you saw me, I have done many things and failed to do even more. Since I am living in Maine, and we have had nothing but rain for the past two months, my garden (with the exception of the one vegetable - or is it a fruit? - that will grow during the nuclear winter - zucchini) is pathetically yellow and wilting.

We do have 24 happy, healthy chickens in the coop that my dad and my husband made out of our old shed. They eat our leftovers, and in return, also eat bugs. As the mosquitos' favorite food, I am happy about this. lol They're a lot of fun to watch - I was actually really surprised.

We have decided that we are going to take our time getting started, so this year, we're concentrating on our chickens, and getting used to them. Next year, it'll be chickens, angora rabbits and the garden, the year after that, maybe a few sheep and pigs. Ultimately, I want a fiber farm, although I will probably have food animals, too.

An Introduction

Hi! My name is Tara. I live in a double-wide on 5 acres of land in Western Maine. I have 4 kids: a 10 year old boy, a 9 year old girl, a 7 year old girl, and a 4 year old boy. Next year we will begin homeschooling them. Wish me luck. :)

My husband works at a golf course three seasons out of the year. I work at a small pizza shop two nights a week. We have 3 dogs (Snuffy, Lady and Maggie), 7 cats (Oreo, Runt, Voldemort, Kahlua, Vengie, Bast and Stormy), and 2 hamsters (Jake and Elwood) which have miraculously survived the cats. We plan on having more animals around this year - we will be raising chickens for meat and eggs, pigs for meat, and bunnies for fiber.

Our property needs some work before we can really get started. We need to build one of our sheds into a chicken coop, build a pigpen and some bunny hutches, and clear out about two acres of saplings for a) materials for the pigpen, b) fireplace wood, c) wood for the smoker, and d) more garden space.

Right now, being, well, February in Maine, I am in the planning stages. Come the end of March or so, we should be well under way, at least with the building. Here's hoping...