Today we went to visit Sarah and her family on a beautiful farm outside of Portland. She is the woman who gave Scrappy and Freckles a new home, and she graciously invited us to come and spend an afternoon on their farm. Always up for time in the country, we jumped at the offer. Her land is so wonderful, and we had such a great day out there. They have goats, Alpacas, chickens, pigs, a big garden and lots of fruit trees. Its pretty darn close to my dream land, and spending time out there made me that much more determined to have it one day. I wish my kids were growing up somewhere like that!!
We were all really excited to go see Scrappy and Freckles and walked down towards the chicken area:
That's the way chickens should be kept - they had so much room to roam around! Sarah said they mostly stay in their enclosure, but are free to hop the fence and wander as they like. There were a couple goats mixed in with them, some Alpacas in the back and more goats on the side. To the right of the chickens were a couple adorable piglets. Scrappy and Freckles looked so happy and healthy!!
Scrappy has filled out a lot, and looks like she finally caught up in size to Freckles;
There were 3 or 4 roosters too, along with a huge variety of chickens. Sarah was able to look at one and immediately name the breed which I thought was pretty cool - she had some beautiful birds. I loved this little tiny rooster! I cant remember what kind he is, but that's as big as he gets. I wonder if he has a complex living with all the bigger roosters!
We also saw a mama chicken and her baby. The baby was so cute, and the mama very protective of it - she was squawking anytime other chickens would come near, and hustling her baby all around the yard. They were really fun to watch:
Killian spent some one on one time with Scrappy and Freckles, and I swear they remembered him! Sarah said that Scrappy will never let her kids hold her, but Killian walked right up to her and she was content and still in his arms. I was a little sad thinking about how much my kids were missing out on, now that they don't get to see the girls every day. But they seemed okay about it, and were happy to see the girls again. Killian much more than Rowan, she spent most of the time up on the playground instead of with the animals! I guess at age 3 its out of sight, out of mind with stuff like this.
Here is Killian with Scrappy:
And Freckles:
We walked up towards the house were there are more goat pens, and oh my goodness. We got to hold baby goats. You just have never seen cute until you have seen baby goats - look at these little guys:
They were so precious, I wanted to stick one in my pocket and take it home! They were so soft and sweet, we spent a lot of time in there playing with them. Then Sarah surprised me and said she had left a goat out of her morning milking routine so that I could try milking it! I was so excited, I have never milked anything before. She got the goat up on her station, and showed me what to do.
Its way harder than it looks, but Sarah was really kind and encouraging. Its probably one of those things that you just get better and better at when you have practice, Sarah said she can milk her whole herd by hand in 30 minutes - it took me 5 to finish one side! But look, I got milk!
I also managed to get it all over my hand, the table and get the goat to almost stand in the bucket on accident! Killian took a brief turn at it too:
The kids played around for a while longer before we had to head for home. Sarah sent us home with some wonderful fresh eggs, and lots of great memories. I cant wait till we can do this ourselves someday!!
We were all really excited to go see Scrappy and Freckles and walked down towards the chicken area:
That's the way chickens should be kept - they had so much room to roam around! Sarah said they mostly stay in their enclosure, but are free to hop the fence and wander as they like. There were a couple goats mixed in with them, some Alpacas in the back and more goats on the side. To the right of the chickens were a couple adorable piglets. Scrappy and Freckles looked so happy and healthy!!
Scrappy has filled out a lot, and looks like she finally caught up in size to Freckles;
There were 3 or 4 roosters too, along with a huge variety of chickens. Sarah was able to look at one and immediately name the breed which I thought was pretty cool - she had some beautiful birds. I loved this little tiny rooster! I cant remember what kind he is, but that's as big as he gets. I wonder if he has a complex living with all the bigger roosters!
We also saw a mama chicken and her baby. The baby was so cute, and the mama very protective of it - she was squawking anytime other chickens would come near, and hustling her baby all around the yard. They were really fun to watch:
Killian spent some one on one time with Scrappy and Freckles, and I swear they remembered him! Sarah said that Scrappy will never let her kids hold her, but Killian walked right up to her and she was content and still in his arms. I was a little sad thinking about how much my kids were missing out on, now that they don't get to see the girls every day. But they seemed okay about it, and were happy to see the girls again. Killian much more than Rowan, she spent most of the time up on the playground instead of with the animals! I guess at age 3 its out of sight, out of mind with stuff like this.
Here is Killian with Scrappy:
And Freckles:
We walked up towards the house were there are more goat pens, and oh my goodness. We got to hold baby goats. You just have never seen cute until you have seen baby goats - look at these little guys:
They were so precious, I wanted to stick one in my pocket and take it home! They were so soft and sweet, we spent a lot of time in there playing with them. Then Sarah surprised me and said she had left a goat out of her morning milking routine so that I could try milking it! I was so excited, I have never milked anything before. She got the goat up on her station, and showed me what to do.
Its way harder than it looks, but Sarah was really kind and encouraging. Its probably one of those things that you just get better and better at when you have practice, Sarah said she can milk her whole herd by hand in 30 minutes - it took me 5 to finish one side! But look, I got milk!
I also managed to get it all over my hand, the table and get the goat to almost stand in the bucket on accident! Killian took a brief turn at it too:
The kids played around for a while longer before we had to head for home. Sarah sent us home with some wonderful fresh eggs, and lots of great memories. I cant wait till we can do this ourselves someday!!