All ponies boarded out here in Georgia are home! This occurred on Saturday, when Casey and Molly arrived from Molly’s previous owner’s place. The moment Casey stepped off the trailer and I took his lead, the last bit of stress and anxiety in my body left. My life is complete with him home, where I can see him every time I look out the window and can touch him often.
With the arrival of the ponies, my point about the builder’s paddock being too small for 4 horses really came home. Bad Pants and I spent several hours on Sunday and Monday expanding it, so now they have the better part of 2 acres to move about on. I am happier and they are happier.
Now that there is more space, the horses seem to be working out the last of their herd dynamic issues and have joined up into a lovely little band. Peace reigns within the herd. No drama. Just happy, munching horses!
I’ve found decent hay for a reasonable price really close to us. In addition, we met a local farmer who will disc the cleared area for us when we’re ready, and who can give us basic advise while we learn about farming in a climate still fairly new to us.
I’ve stacked a lot of hay in the cottage and started some general cleaning of it. In the next few weeks I’ll get a sheet of plywood so Bad Pants can re-side the open side where the cottage caught on fire. While we have plans to move the cottage later, I might as well make it function for my needs now, right? Right! That starts with bird proofing it asap.
Next up, we will begin to prepare for the arrival of a flock of chicks at the end of the month! The peeps will live in the garage where I can monitor them closely for the first few weFeeks. No pets, pests, or critters will be able to harm them there. And, I should be able to hear any distress peeps that come out of them in the middle of the night as the master is right above.
February will see me starting cool crop seeds indoors and really prepping the garden. If it stays mild as it has been, I will likely take the chance to start the garden earlier than our zone would suggest, but will have row covers on hand if necessary.
Later in the spring we will be adding guineas, turkeys and goats to our farm. I want guineas because they’re great at eating ticks and garden bugs while leaving the produce alone. And, well, turkeys are just awesome in general. I’m hoping we’ll be adding at least two dwarf goats (breed undetermined at this time) to our farm with hopes of producing some of our own dairy later on. I’ll have to see what comes available when we’re closer to ready.
That’s about it for now. What are your plans for the coming spring?
Adventures of Life 
Oh, the picture you create in my mind of your little farm is LOVELY. Thanks! It is/will be!
This spring my husband and I are going to renovate the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms, which are sorely abused after over ten years of teenaged occupancy. I’ll finally have my own office/studio!
Yay for your own office/studio! Yay for your own space! We have plans to do something similar for me here in the guest room. Only, we’ll put in a Murphy bed. And renovations will be fun, right? I have lots of little, inside things to do and didn’t list them. They’re inside things and I’ll get to them when I get to them. Except I do need to tile the laundry room sooner rather than later.
Spring is still far away for us…at LEAST 8 weeks…but I’m ready in my heart and mind!
Linda
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It is for us too, but the weather has been in the 60s for the most part this winter, which has me thinking about spring!
Sounds exciting! So glad for you that most of the horses are home! Me too! I love being able to look out the window and see them.
I always smile when I hear people are getting guineas – my hubby’s family had them when they were kids and always got a laugh out of them. Apparently they make noise when visitors arrive – my FIL referred to his as his guard dogs! 🙂
I have heard the same, and I’m totally down with that! Especially since the dogs don’t bark when people ring the door bell. I’d like a little more warning than that! Oh, and they’ll be good to alert to predators at night too!
Sounds fantastic!!
We’ll be getting some chicks this spring (probably around May) and I’ve been contemplating guineas.
Guineas became a must have after learning that they’ll eat only the bugs in the garden and leave the produce alone AND that they eat ticks. Very important, the tick eating! I’d never seen a tick until I moved to the South. *shudder*
Are you commited to goat dairy or is that due to the size of your land? Milking Dexters don’t take up a lot of space, they are excellent small farm cattle. And even just one gives a decent amount of milk.
We want both goats and a cow, eventually. Probably not a Dexter, even though I like them, because it’s easier to find a Jersey locally. And, well, both sides of my family were dairymen and we had Jerseys and Guernseys. I’d like to have that in common with my grandparents and great-grandparents.
Really, it’s about what we can feasibly do right now. And I have a lot of scrub here still that goats will chow down on, not so much in pasture. Fully half my pasture is currently still scrub or a mud pit waiting to be disc’ed and seeded. I also don’t have a barn, at all. It’s easier to build a goat shed than it is to build the barn right now. That also makes a difference. Plus, I have to ease BP into “new” ideas, or he’ll get overwhelmed. Goats he can handle. We had them before. Chickens are cool. Guineas are new and his idea. I’d best stop there for right now. 🙂
Did your rescue mare get moved too? I know she had trouble loading.
Yes, Sugar made the trip too. She loads, but is confused by a slant load and doesn’t tie. Apparently they didn’t believe me, tried tying her and destroyed the halter I’d just bought her. So, Ms. Sugar is the proud owner of brand new halter #3 in less than 6 months!
When are we getting photos!!!??? sounds wonderful!
When the Rift returns my battery charger for my camera. It’s probably wherever the fence testers (yes, plural) are, as BP tested the hot tape with his hand, TWICE this time, even though Casey told him not to.
Sounds like you are settling right in! Can’t wait to see pictures!
Do you know where my battery charger is? Because I don’t. And I’d have tons of pics if I could just find it and charge the battery…
Enjoy the guineas, they are quite the critters and EXCELLENT watchdogs- NOTHING gets by them. And, they make such interesting noises, we’ve never had any but we know folks who have and they claim they do a better job alerting to suspicious things than their dogs do!
Oh, I believe it! I’ve heard geese make awesome watch dogs too. Only, I don’t want to be chased by them or have them kill my chickens (they can be territorial). So, it’s guineas for us. And if they’re too annoying, I’ll sell them!
Saw your comment on my blog- Pinterest is AWESOME but don’t blame me if you get addicted. There are so many creative projects on there! If you do happen to sign up, look me up!
I requested an invite, so I’m waiting. I’ll let you know when I’m “in”.
So glad you and the ponies are all settled in! Life sounds good! And you’ve got a good plan. I plan to do as much driving with my guys as I can, and showing! I’ve got a horse, a mini, and a tandem set of minis, as well as the hackney all to keep worked, and shown. Going to be a busy year, but I’m looking forward to it!
Have you seen the movie, Murphy’s Romance, with Sally Fields and James Garner (love him)? Reading this post reminded me of Sally Fields’ character whipping her place up to her liking and boarding/training other people’s horses. I think you would like it, if you haven’t already seen it.
I haven’t seen it, at least not that I remember. I totally want to see it now! Thanks for the recommendation!
Greatttt!!! Such heart warming events all! Baby , I can’t wait to see photos. A garden is what we have in common for spring…Freyda passing,helped us really clear where it’ll be. A series of raised beds.
Do post about how you begin yours . I’ll glean!
There is already a 25×50 garden here that I’ll be using this year. It’s in an awkward place and will have to go, but is perfectly serviceable while I prep another space for the permanent garden later. We will just have to learn together as we go along! I will post about it. I’ve been thinking of re-opening my Down on the Farm blog just for all the farming that will be happening.
I sure hope I did not help fuel the satin- mood the other day. I was not myself and hastily wrote . I DO want to help, If I can.
Oh, KK! No worries! I’m in a holding pattern when it comes to my filly. It may be a month or two until we can move her.
There seems to have been a lot of “not myself” going around. Again, no worries! You are my dear friend and I know if the chips are down, you’ll have an idea of what to do.
I was not myself for more than a year after losing Freya. It really is alright, it will be alright, and it will get better. Promise. 🙂
I think you’ll really like it…James Garner is fantastic in it. And so is Sally Fields. I’ve lost track of how many times I watched it.
We have put it in the Netflix Queue. It should be coming soon.