Category Archives: Bunnies & rabbits

our bunnies have now helped the wildlife rabbit population turn from basic brown to spots of black and white!

Back To Normal? HA!

Now that I’m feeling almost ‘normal’….my animals have decided to be themselves again and show me just how ‘normal’ it is around here. So far…today…. Bouncer chased one of the baby chicks, it ran to the trees where both mama hens were sitting with the other peepers. Both chickens FLEW out of those bushes and went after Bouncer, wings flapping, loudly squawking! Bouncer ran the other way and they FOLLOWED him attacking! Dillon the stupid goat, worked the fence to get himself on the other side where Stormy our boy Llama was and got himself stuck there. He trotted back & forth BAAAAAING trying to get back to where our mountain goat was. I went over, lifted the fence up as far as I could with my back and right leg, to let him come back to his side of the pasture. I looked like a weight lifter! He stood there staring at me, so I took my left arm, went under as far as I could, grabbed his collar, trying to force him under and back over to me! He gets half way under and does his famous stiff front legs out, digging into the grass trick, letting me know that ‘he aint going nowhere’! It looks like me and the goat are playing Twister! Right at that moment, a young mom with her little girl drive up, get out, asking me from afar if I have eggs for sale! Do I look like I can go check?? After threats, grunting and pulling, he gets on his side of the field and runs to Sierra. The black mama hen and her 7 fluffy chicks found their way outside the fence in the farthest back pasture, staring at me trying to get back inside, I can’t get at them, I need Super Farmer to help me, so there they stand, the 8 of them, lined up along the fence, clucking to get back in!!
After about an hours rest, LeAnna, Isaac and I, decided to do some Goodwill shopping. She accidently left the gate open and I just happened to look up to see Lincoln across the street in our neighbors yard, munching away at their bushes. Sammie is in the driveway a few steps from joining him! I yell at LeAnna, “HELP ME”! We run out to where the escapees are, they look up, spot us running toward them which makes them take off galloping down the street! Now, I have a truck coming towards them and a car coming up behind us, both vehicles stopped to let the circus perform. We are running as we zig zag with outstretched arms., I tell her, “herd them back my way’!!. LeAnna isn’t familiar with farm talk, she looks at me funny, so I say,, “bring them back my way”…she then looks at me bewildered! I yell, ‘just help them to come back towards our yard”, she understands and starts to herd those animals. I run in front of the bushes to keep Lincoln from going around them and back into the street. The lady in the stopped car, has her window down. I smile as I say running past her, “never a dull moment”! Her mouth is open and she stares with an amused, yet concerned look at this crazy lady running down the street behind two llamas with her arms frantically waving as another young woman with an ‘oh no’ look, follows in a nice dress and shoes!! Lincoln sprints through the open gate and I tell LeAnna, ‘just wait, Sammie will follow’…he did. We both grab for the gate, slamming it behind both animals that are now running to the back yard as the others join them. Stormy is watching all the excitement which makes him agitated cause the boys are a few feet away from him enjoying some freedom. He screeches out his alarm call as he runs along the fence trying to find a way over it so he can fight!
When I came back home, my chairs were knocked over from the donkey, they forced my bird feeders off their stands, eating ALL the birdseed, pushed over Isaac pup tent which is now laying in a heap, the trash can was on its side again and the goats ate my flowers. Yep, back to “NORMAL”.
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An Alpaca chasing what?

I need to strap a camera around my neck every time I go outside.  My animals never fail to amuse or surprise me! Lincoln our Alpaca was munching away in the back yard with Sammy one of the lamas. I decided to let my two Chihuahua’s out in the back with me while I fed the bunnies and chased the ducks back into their own pen.  Out of the corner of my eye, I  could see a blurry movement of a large brown animal, head bent low to the ground chasing a tiny tan thing. I looked up and what crazy sight did I see on this bright sunny day?  An Alpaca chasing the smallest animal on the farm, Chippie my 5lb Chihuahua! They ran from the very back of the yard all the way up to the door where I was standing.  Chippie yelping in fear as Lincoln tried to head butt him all the way to the house! Oh where was my camera? I quickly grabbed Chippie who wiggled  under my shirt as I scolded Lincoln (with a suppressed smile) about how we don’t chase our family members. Lincoln blinked at me with disappointment in his huge soft eyes, he  turned  around trotting back to where Sammy was feasting on the fresh spring grass! I coaxed Chippie out  from under my shirt, examined his shivering little body, then winked at him…he was not amused. So far on the farm I have seen out of place images such as…cats chasing goats, horses chasing chickens, bunnies chasing ducks, llamas chasing dogs and Dunkay the donkey chasing his tail!

Super Farmer VS Mr Possum or 4!

yep, Super Farmer and his possums! He sets out traps and catches hens, eggs, various small animals and lots of air! He plotted and schemed! Setting up the sneaky trap under hay bales, behind piles of lumber, on top of the kitty condo, next to a rubber tire (where we found 3 dead bunnies that the possums killed), on top of the straw, behind boxes….you name it he hid the cage there! He caught chickens, bunnies, an egg and lots of teasing from his loving wife! He stalked those possums all winter! He tells the tale of when he walked in the barn one night and caught daddy Poss munching away on their favorite meal…’Meow Mix’ on top of the feline gym! ‘Mr P’ looked up at Super Farmer, blinked a couple of times and purposely fell backwards like he had a heart attack and just died. Chad cashed him yelling out the ‘war cry’ all the way to the wood pile but he got away! That’s when the serious battle began…Super Farmer VS the possum family!! The animals won all winter as the humans grew more frustrated and set up wire traps all over the barn, garage and yard! Then he brought out the big guns….CANNED CAT FOOD! Chad drew a map of the barn trying to figure out where a family of dangerous and out witting possums could hide and what their next move would be! He had canned cat food everywhere, we were buying it by the case! Unfortunately, chickens LOVE turkey giblets as much as possums do! Super Farmer would set a cage with greasy delicious food, put it next to the wood pile only to trap a hen or rooster! The possums ate the chicken food, cat kibbles, goat grain, an occasional bunny, hay and lots of farm fresh eggs! They had access to clean water and got to play a good game of hide and seek with the humans! They loved their cozy home and refused to leave….heck, I think they invited granny, gramps and every cousin within a 10 mile radius to share their warm nesting place complete with flowing non
stop cat food! Chad kept up the brave battle and is now winning! So far in the last month, we have caught 3 possums and 1 sort of died. That’s 4 that out lasted us this winter! We will win!
Super Farmer intelligent human! Possum…he dumb animal!

Goat Chasing Bunnies!!

Just when I thought I’ve seen it all, my animals surprise me with something else to shake my head at. I was in my office working when I looked out the window to see what the naughty’s were up to. Seemed normal, not much going on in below 0 weather.  I had left the barn door open just enough to let them go outside in case they needed a break from each other.  I saw two bunnies run out as fast as they could, following close behind was our goat Sierra. She chased those bunnies with her head bent low an inch or three behind a bunny butt all the way to the trees! She then walked back to the barn satisfied that her personal pile of hay was safe from un-wanted dinner guest!

Starting The Farm

When Chad and I started our little farm almost 5 years ago, we were as green as green gets! Chad did have a few years growing up on a farm when he was a boy. My dad was born and raised on 48 acres raising dairy cows in Kansas. Every summer my folks would pack up us kids and we would spend 14 fun filled hours in a car driving to KS to visit relatives and get some farm experience! Well, even thou my father hated farm life, it must have rubbed off on me because as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of having horses and other critters! Unfortunately, life does a detour forcing your dreams to take a back seat until the time is right. My time came when the Lord opened a door for us to live on a llama farm that was already well established in Laporte. Our first 2 Llamas were given to us by dear friends, I had our horses, Laci & Sparky on ‘lay-away’ until I could pay them off (yes you really can put a horse on lay-away!). Chad and I started this adventure together even thou some family members objected. We both felt like it was God’s will for us to start our own little farm, making it a blessing for young family’s with little ones. Our herd has grown from 2 llamas and 2 horses up to 4 llamas, 1 alpaca, a donkey, 2 goats, our original horses, various chickens, 3 quackers and too many barn kitties, not to mention the escaped bunnies who are now helping the wild rabbit population go from basic brown to funny spots and droopy ears! We talk quite a bit about how different things could have been for us when the kids were growing up if we had the farm 14 years ago with all of Gods creatures, big and small a few feet away. I am so blessed to be here and I try not to take what God has given us for granted. I’m looking forward to sharing all this with many grandchildren. We hope to be the fun grandparent’s that are considered cool and have the ‘must-go-to’ place in the eyes of a child! A home where the next generation will always be safe, happy and drama free! We both desire that the days with Baba and G-pa, imprint sweet memories in the hearts of all our grandkids for years to come!

The One Eyed Bunny

We  have a brown bunny who has one eye and he lives in the barn with the other animals.  He lived with us on our other farm and is around 3 years old. He is very friendly, not afraid of humans or the big animals that daily step around him or back away from the ‘one eye’!  He hops to us when we enter the barn and he will sit on top of a hay bale not moving if you walk up to him.  We let him live in the barn free, enjoying bunny life. Today ‘one eye’ as he is  named, was eating a carrot that I brought to him in the middle of the barn where we trapped the unhappy ducks. One eye was so excited about his treat that he chased loose chickens away from it (who also like carrots, of course they like everything that isn’t theirs!) and let the ducks waddle over him multiple times which didn’t faze him at all, he just sat there nibbling away. So today I had a one eyed bunny kicking his back legs at chickens to protect his carrot as the 3 ducks jumped over and on top of him reaching for their own food.  The quackers  were also pecking hens away from their corn bites! Poor chickens, they had to eat their own food today, the kitties, ducks and bunny refused to share!!

FARM EXERCISE!

If you are a true farm woman, it is impossible to get fat! I was out in the barn, field and yard today for an hour and a half, climbing hay stacks, moving bales, filling up animal water bins inside the barn. I did my grain dance with the circling goats and horses.  I then emptied out the turtle shaped sand box that the quackers use for a pool, rinsing it out as my impatient ducks flapped and squawked at me the whole time. I climbed over a bunny fence, taking part of it down to make their pen bigger. I swept, then hosed off the back porch from duck poop. I searched for eggs with Dunkay (only found 5..dang hens are getting sneaky again). I chased Llamas out of their pen into the back pasture so I could close it up and let chickens out to enjoy some fresh air and peck at the brown grass. I carried 2 large arm loads of hay to put out for the Llamas and the best exercise of all….I saw Dillon running towards the garage so I sprinted from the middle of the yard to beat him there.  I just fed the kitties and left the door open because I wasn’t done with my cat chores when I saw him do a bee-line for the opening! Ha!  I beat him!  I got there 2 seconds before he did and I loudly said to him, “I win, you lose, no kitty food for you!!” He grunted at me and walked away to see if he could get into the bunny pen for rabbit pellets. Tonight, I’m going to be lazy and herd everybody back into the barn with my Jeep, window down yelling “YEE HAAAW!!..ROLLEN ROLLEN ROLLEN KEEP THEM DOGGIES ROLLEN, RAW HIDE!!”

Bunny lives with chickens (Nov 20th)

We have a black bunny who has decided to live with the chickens.  Everyday I go in, I can see her sitting out in the open with them (I guess she likes cluck cluck food!). The chickens don’t seem to mind, they just strut past her & will peck at her if she gets in their way.  Well, I think she is spending way too much time with them cause on Saturday, after she hoped away from the nesting boxes, that is when I noticed that she had been sitting on an egg. The rabbits are now taking turns with the hens to hatch chicks. I wonder if she thinks that is how bunnies are born??  Okay then!

Winter

Ah the joy of winter…lots of snow with high winds that make the below freezing weather feel like the North Pole on a warm day! Then there is the morn, afternoon and evening ritual. I put on my pink Carhart jacket with matching pants, hat and gloves, pink rubber boots that go up to my knees with the little brown horse’s on them, a scarf to wrap around my face 4 times and a prayer on my lips. I fight my way to the barn as the biting wind slams tiny ice particles onto my exposed face I couldn’t cover. On the way to the barn I repeat to myself, “I love these animals, they are worth the effort, it’s good exercise”. I then proceed to push a horse or a donkey (usually both) away from the barn door so I can get in without slipping on the ice. My favorite word is now being heard by all…”NO” or “stop it”.  The animals are now circling the feed bag, some grunting, some stomping and a few nips at each other! Then there is little ol  me, in the middle trying to formulate an escape plan in case they go to war. I hand out food rations which is never enough, I sneak to the hay bale before Dunkay gets there and throw little piles of hay everywhere so they all think they have their own food that nobody else can see! I let out a huge sigh of relief because I just survived another feeding. Now it’s time for the chickens and the black bunny who lives with them, helping to keep the eggs warm. And the ducks? They are in the yard quacking making hundreds of snow trails from the back porch to their shelter waiting for me to fight my way to them,unhappy because I didn’t feed them first.