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Farm Life

You Will NOT Believe What Happened!

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Friday night started out just as every Friday night does. I had just gotten off work and picked up Oakley.  The three of us hung out for a while and talked about our days.  Andrew decided he was going to go outside and work on our garden area before it got dark.  He said he was just going to mess with the fence around it.  So, I went about my day and played with Oakley.  My cousin called on her way home from work when all of a sudden Andrew came running into the house and was scrambling to change out of his muck boots and into his works boots…  I said, “What are you doing?”  Andrew’s response was, “Well, it’s not a big deal, but I had to call the fire department” and ran out the door.

Uhhhh you called the fire department?! I ran to the back window to see what looked like little fires all throughout our back field as I told my cousin, “Andrew lit our back pasture on fire!”  She didn’t know what to say and I think was trying not to laugh. I told her I’d call her back.  I called Andrew and asked if I need to take Oakley and leave but he said we were fine.  While we were waiting for the fire department to show up, I kept watching Andrew out the window trying to put the fires out and driving back and forth on his side by side. Let me remind you, we live outside of town so the fire department that shows up are all volunteer firefighters that are on call.  I called my cousin back and sure enough, here come the red and blue lights with sirens wailing.  The first guy to show up was in a Durango and came flying down our driveway and into the back field.  He and Andrew just stood there and watched it until the rest of the guys showed up in their trucks and two fire trucks. The fire trucks looked like regular trucks with toolboxes on the back and on the sides.  They all came speeding down our driveway and into the back field.  Two guys got on the back of the trucks with water hoses spraying the fires as the trucks drove through the field.

Meanwhile, I’m watching through the window holding Oakley in one arm and giving my cousin a play by play over the phone. I just kept thinking to myself, “Is this real life?”  The whole situation seemed a lot longer than it actually was, but they got the fire put out in 5 minutes then stood around and talked to Andrew for about ten to fifteen minutes.  Andrew came inside once they all left and I guess they asked him where the hot dogs were when they got there lol.  They told him he should have waited until it got to the woods because then it would have burnt more of our field haha.  They also tried to recruit him to join the fire department.  He said they were all nice and they weren’t mad at all they had to come to our house for a bonfire that got out of control.  Overall, I was super impressed by the rural fire department and how quickly they showed up.

What are Seasons? I Grew up in Southern California

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This is what Fall looks like in Arkansas!

I never really understood seasons because I grew up in Southern California where it seems like the weather is 70 degrees year-round.  There were plenty of Christmases where I wore shorts and a tank top or a summer dress. The first day that the weather drops to seventy degrees, Californians go nuts and declare it “sweater weather.”   My social media feeds become plastered with pictures of Pumpkin Spice lattes, even if it will warm up to 85 degrees by the middle of the day.  The one good thing about the weather being stable year-round is you can buy clearance items and not have to wait a year to wear them. Target anyone? I loved buying cute tank tops on sale and wearing them with a sweater or a jean jacket. I will forever miss living close to a Target and occasionally the nice, 70 degree weather.

Here’s Winter in Arkansas

Arkansas has all four seasons which has been a little bit of a learning curve for me.  I’ve had to learn how to keep my feet warm in the snow or learn not to pour water on my windshield when it’s freezing because it will just add to the ice, not get rid of it. Can I still blame this on pregnancy brain?  Everyone back home always asks how I like the weather.  “Can you deal with the freezing cold?”  “How about the humidity?” The truth is yes, I am loving getting to experience all of the seasons and here’s why.  Living somewhere that gets four different seasons gives you something to look forward to.  By the end of every season, you’re ready for the next.  For instance, “I’m over the cold, I can’t wait for Spring.” Or, “I’m over the heat, bring on Fall!”  What’s great about this is, there’s always something that helps hold you over until the next change.  Snow is one of them!  Once Christmas is over, I get bored with Winter.  It’s usually too cold to do anything outside and all of the trees are bare, but then it snows and all of a sudden, I find myself wishing Winter would stay around a little longer.

Summer in Arkansas!

Summer’s always been my favorite time of year. I love the sun and swimming and all that comes along with Summer. Time off from work or school, being barefoot, swimming, and the list goes on.  It’s still my favorite even living in Arkansas because everything is so green, but I am learning to enjoy all of the seasons because each one of them has something great to offer.  Right now, I can’t wait for Spring so we can plant our garden, get baby chicks, and who knows what else.  Spring seems like a new start, just like the first of the year.  Maybe Spring is the farmer’s New Year?  We’re looking forward to our first Spring on our farm!

Spring in Arkansas!

A Snowy Day on the Farm

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We woke up on Sunday morning to a nice surprise!  It snowed for the first time since we bought our house!  Unfortunately, Oakley’s been sick so we didn’t bring her outside, but it was so fun to see everything covered in snow.  Snow always seems to come just at the right time.  When you’re over Winter and ready for Spring, it snows and maybe you can stand Winter a little longer.  It was fun to see how all the animals acted in the snow. The dogs went crazy! They really didn’t know what to think.  Even Charlie was excited, which was surprising because she does not like her paws to get wet.  Abigail and Colt obviously went nuts and Abigail did her excited hop all around the backyard.  The chickens didn’t seem to mind and were out doing their thing as usual.  The cats even came out of their house and walked around.  Our friends on Facebook posted pictures of their kids playing in the snow, and it made me so excited for Oakley to play in the snow one day!

Here’s our orange and white cat, Garth! He was born on Easter last year.  It cracks me up that the cats are friends with the chickens.

Can you spot our big, fluffy cat that thinks he’s a dog?

This is one of my favorite pictures. They look like they’re taking a walk together in the snow.

Here’s our shop that we plan to paint pretty soon! (stay tuned)

This is our barn!

Meet Maggie May

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Maggie May was born at the end of September but we didn’t get her until November.  Her last owners had construction going on at their house and they think the construction workers left one of the gates open, which let all of the cows out.  Maggie May’s mom got out and they think she swallowed a screw or a nail because her and a couple of other cows died.  This obviously left Maggie May without a mom, so she was nursing off of another cow.  However, the cow was nursing two other calves and the owner needed to find her a home, which is where we come into the picture!

Originally, Andrew wanted to surprise me with Maggie, but if you know Andrew then you know he hates surprises.  He cannot stand surprises and always ends up telling me lol.  I will give it to him though, I didn’t know until the day of.  He called me and said, “I’m going to get a bottle calf today. I was going to just show up with it tonight, but I couldn’t wait to tell you.”  Typical Andrew lol.  I think he also thought I would notice that one of our dog crates was missing.

That night he brought Maggie home in the back of his truck in Abigail and Colt’s dog crates.  That ended up not being the smartest idea because she kicked a hole in it, but how would we have known.  It took her about 3 days before she realized she liked the bottle and we both started to get a little panicky.  By the third or fourth day, she was taking the bottle no problem and would suck it right out of your hands if you weren’t careful.  Now, Maggie is still a little hesitant when people come up to her and she has no idea what to think about Oakley’s stroller haha. She sure does love her bottles and will continue to suck even after it’s gone if you let her. The chickens always go in her pen and try to eat her grain but she doesn’t seem to mind them at all.

The number one question people ask us about Maggie is, “What are you going to do with her?” I think we are both on the same page that if we raise a bottle fed animal, we will not harvest it.  We think you get too attached, so we plan on breeding Maggie when she’s old enough.  If the calf is a heifer, we’ll keep it.  If the calf is a steer, we’ll raise it until selling weight.  Can’t wait to see what else is in store for our Maggie May!

Chicken Coop Tips

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In California, all of our friends thought we were crazy because we built a chicken coop in the backyard.  Let me remind you, we are talking about the suburbs of California where your house feels like it’s only ten feet from your neighbors.  Those four chickens quickly turned into ten and all of our family and friends loved getting fresh eggs.  Between building a chicken coop, going to school for Livestock Production and Management, and buying a pig (we’ll save that story for another post), Andrew’s dream of owning a farm started.  I, of course, was on board right away.

Getting chickens for the first time was a lot of trial and error, but it became our hobby.  Once Andrew got off work, he was always out there doing something to the coop.  At one point, the neighbors called it the chicken palace.  What we found out was, it will always be trial and error, so hopefully some of our errors will save you from making the same mistakes.

  1. Do not put your coop too close to your house and by too close I mean put it as far away as possible.  Not really, but you get my point.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is once they get older, they are noisy, especially if you have a rooster.  They will wake you and the baby up in the morning.  You also don’t want your coop too close to your house because if they are free range like ours, then they will poop ALL OVER your front porch.  We battled with this for a week.  Every day my husband would hose of the porch and sure enough, the next day it was covered again. You don’t want this and you definitely don’t want chicken poop tracked in your house.  You also want to make sure your coop is close enough to an electrical outlet that way you can plug in heating lamps.  This is really important depending on where you live and while your chickens are small.
  2. Make sure it is on a flat area or on a hill. The first coop we made we didn’t realize that the ground was sloped a little bit.  The first and only big rain we got in Southern California that year flooded our chicken coop.  With that being said, you also want a pitched roof that way the water doesn’t sit on top of it or run off where you don’t want it to run off.
  3. Make sure you have plenty of roosts for your chickens. Chickens love to roost, especially at night and this is so important for their safety.  By getting up high they are safer than if they were on the ground.  A decent sized branch from a tree will work perfectly for a roost.
  4. Don’t go crazy with the nesting boxes. Once your chickens start laying, you will notice that they all like to lay in the same nesting box or maybe the same two nesting boxes.  It isn’t like it is in the movies where each chicken has its own nesting box.
  5. The best waterer you can get is a five gallon bucket and poultry nipples. Hang the five gallon bucket from the top of your coop and drill holes in the bottom.  Then, place the poultry nipples in the bottom.  You want to have a couple that way more than one chicken can drink at a time.  If you are going to have quite a few chickens, we recommend getting a few five gallon buckets.  You will be surprised how fast they drink water!

Abigail Buck Wild Witt

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This is Abigail, the fan favorite! Seriously though, everyone that comes to visit loooooves Abigail.  She’s so cuddly and will cuddle with anyone that will give her attention.  You have to be careful though… before you know it, you’ll have a 105 pound chocolate lab sitting on your lap.  She is definitely the biggest fan of Oakley and has been from the beginning. She used to lay with her head right by my belly. Now, she loves to be next to her and come up and sniff her and lick her occasionally lol.

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Andrew picked her out and instantly fell in love, but it wasn’t long until Colt became attached to Andrew and Abigail became attached to me.  When she was a puppy, she would put her head on my pillow and cry when I went to work.  She used to be pretty rambunctious but has calmed down a lot and is now 105 pounds of pure love lol.  Despite her size, she can keep up with Colt and I’ve actually seen her jump off the side of a hill, roll two times, get up, and start running again.  When she was younger she was known for her “crazy eyes.”  She’s calmed down a lot over the past year.  Now when she gets excited, her front paws come a couple inches off the ground and looks like she’s hopping.  Although she is a great dog, she is not the best farm dog.  She thinks our chickens are chew toys and they haven’t all figured out not to go in the backyard yet. Abigail loves the water! You have to drag her out of the bath tub because she thinks it’s so fun!  She gets really excited for a bath and does her little excited hop.

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Colt, the Gentle Giant

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I have always loved boy dogs because that’s what I grew up with. I always wanted a huge lab and Colt was the second biggest in his litter.  He was the biggest chocolate chunk and he was so cuddly.  He slept in my arms and was the best snuggler.  I was so sad leaving there knowing that in a couple of weeks we would be going back to see Abigail but another family would be playing with Colt.  Luckily, we agreed to get both of them because they are the cutest chocolate lab twins that cuddle all the time.  They really are the best of friends.

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Now, Colt is long and lengthy.  For some reason during winter time he loses weight, the opposite of most animals and people haha.  He keeps himself busy. I’ve always wanted to put a fit bit around one of his paws and see how much he runs a day.  He constantly paces our backyard as if he’s always on patrol.  He is the most handsome boy and has the sweetest eyes.  He still loves Andrew and one of his favorite things is to chase the side by side around the yard. He could do that all day long and not get bored.

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One of the best Colt stories is when we took them hiking and went to a friend’s pond that was filled with real ducks and duck decoys.  Colt would swim and swim chasing after the ducks but every time he got close, the ducks would fly over to the other side of the pond.  This went on for FOREVER.  Finally, Colt had enough and decided to go after one of the decoys. He grabbed the decoy and Andrew kept yelling at him to let go. He let go and went after the real ducks again.  Andrew had to go into the water to get him to stop swimming around because we literally thought he was going to swim himself to death.

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Charlie Girl

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Little Charlie girl, where do I even begin?  We got Charlie a year after we got Abigail and Colt.  We had the hardest time deciding whether or not we wanted a black lab or a yellow lab, so we looked around until we knew we had found the perfect one.  When I found Charlie’s picture she was laying there with her front two paws crossed, still one of her signature poses.  Charlie is such a cute dog with a fun personality. She’s such a light yellow that she’s almost white and has a black nose. She’s our little polar bear.

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Charlie was born in Arkansas unlike Abigail and Colt who were born in California. When we went to pick her up, she was pretty little and she cried most of the way home. We wrapped her in a blanket and I held her and squeezed her tight the whole way home.  Come to find out, I started something that day because Charlie is obsessed with her blanket!  She always has to have her blanket and carries it around in her mouth all day long.  If her blanket is in her crate and she can’t get to it or it’s in the wash, she better have an extra otherwise she will freak out.  One of her favorite things is to parade around the house with her blanket in her mouth and show it off to everyone that comes over.  To this day, she still loves to be squeezed.  She actually prefers that over being petted.  She also loved to sleep right by my head when she was a puppy.  She is definitely a daddy’s girl even though he doesn’t find her blanket as cute.  He thinks it’s dirty and can’t stand when she wants to put it in his face lol!  Charlie can be sneaky when it comes to her blankets.  We taught her from the beginning that her blankets are not allowed outside, but if someone is visiting like a grandparent, she will get them to let her outside and bring her blanket with her!

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It took Charlie a while to figure out where she would fit in with Abigail and Colt. They weren’t too sure about her for a while either because it was just the two of them for a year.  Charlie always wanted to get right in the action and play with them but they play so rough, she’s never been able to figure out how to get involved. I think she’s also been a little scared haha.  Now, they will play with her but not as rough as they play with each other.   Charlie hates the water and despises bath time.  She doesn’t care to even step in the water, which is so weird for a lab and the opposite of Abigail and Colt.  Abigail and Colt are fixed but we didn’t fix Charlie. We hope to have puppies one day, just waiting for the right time and wanted to wait until she was at least 2 years old.  Hopefully, there will be more to come about this!

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The Story of Colt and Abigail

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Andrew grew up with a yellow lab named Libby and I grew up with a black lab named Mikey, which is why we decided to get a chocolate lab.  I remember we looked for weeks looking for the perfect lab. When we saw Abigail and Colt’s litter we knew they were the ones.  We drove about 2 hours to pick them out.  On our way there, we stopped at Starbucks.  My name is Courtney but when I got my drink the name on the cup said Carly.  Carly is the name of Andrew’s sister that passed away when they were young.  We both looked at each other and smiled knowing that Carly approved of us getting a chocolate lab puppy.

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Originally, we went to pick out one but once we got there, Andrew fell in love with Abigail and I fell in love with Colt. Their names were Chocolate Balloon and Cinderella haha.  The breeders had a five year old son that named all of the puppies.  Colt was the second biggest puppy and Abigail was perfectly proportioned.  Abigail was protective over Andrew instantly.  She sat on his lap and wouldn’t let any of the other puppies on his lap, so of course he was sold.  Colt was more of this big chunk that wanted to sleep in my arms the whole time.  The whole way home I couldn’t stop thinking about Colt so we figured we would sleep on it and see how we felt the next day.  The next day, I called Andrew at work and we both agreed we needed both of them.  A couple of weeks later we drove back to see them, which was the first time they went outside.   A few weeks later, we met the owners halfway and picked them up. We were soo excited!  We brought them home a week or two before Christmas and thought they were the best Christmas and birthday presents we could ever give each other.

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The deal was Andrew could get ONE dog if he moved out of the house.  His dad was pretty shocked when we walked through the door with two puppies, not one. It wasn’t long after we brought them home that they picked favorites. Colt quickly became attached to Andrew and I quickly became Abigail’s favorite.  Colt never left Andrew’s side and Abigail would cry in my pillow when I went to work.  To this day, Abigail and Colt always cuddle.  We have two big dog crates and they prefer to share one because neither of them like to sleep with Charlie.  They are great dogs and have mellowed out a lot.  I think labs have a puppy stage of about 2 to 2 ½ years.  The only down side is they think our chickens are chew toys.  They both love the water and will lay in water troughs during the summer.  One of their favorite things is to swim whether its at the beach or in freezing cold water in Big Bear Lake.  They are definitely water dogs!

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Hiking in Big Bear, CA!Abigail and Colt 5

First week in Arkansas!Abigail and Colt 3

On the way to Arkansas!Abigail and Colt 2

First Christmas in Arkansas!abigail and colt 1

Abigail and Colt

You Bought a Pig?!

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Yes, we bought a pig and kept it in the backyard in Southern California along with our chicken coop.  For our one year anniversary, Andrew and I went to San Diego for the weekend.  We saw Blake Shelton in concert, hung out in San Diego, and bought a pig.  Before we went home that Sunday morning, we drove to a little farm in the outskirts of San Diego.  When we got there, we were expecting to find these tiny little pigs that you could hold.  At least I was.  Andrew might tell you differently.  Anyway, the lady brought us to where the pigs were kept and said, “Well, you might have a hard time catching them.  We haven’t really handled them at all, so they aren’t tame.” Uhhh how were we supposed to respond to this?  Andrew immediately said, “No problem.” While I was over there thinking, “No problem?! Are you out of your mind?!” Next thing I know, Andrew is in the pen chasing the piglets around.  By the time he finally caught the one we wanted, his jeans and t-shirt were covered in mud.  I could not stop laughing standing there watching him “mud wrestle” these pigs.  Clearly, I wasn’t going to be able to cuddle him the whole way home like I had planned, so the lady let us have a milk crate to put him in and we drove home.

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When we got home, Andrew’s dad thought we were absolutely nuts.  First chickens and now a pig in the backyard of a home in the suburbs of Southern California. If our friends didn’t think we were nuts after the chickens, they for sure thought we were insane now, especially because he wasn’t tame!  We bought a wild pig that would not even let you pet it.  The first mistake we made was not building the pig pen before we brought him home.  Andrew quickly built a makeshift pig pen and we sat out there for hours trying to get Duke to warm up to us.

Andrew is a lot better with animals than I am. He is patient and can read them.  If they let me pet them, then I instantly want to pick them up and we’re quickly back at square one.  Sooo naturally, Duke warmed up to Andrew a lot quicker than he did to me.  One of our favorite things was to feed him bananas because he was so cute when he ate.   Before too long, Duke loved to be petted and would follow Andrew around the backyard.  He also tried to befriend the chickens but they didn’t want anything to do with him.

Since the chickens didn’t want anything to do with him, Andrew and I started to think maybe he was lonely.  One day, we went to the feed store to pick up some chicken feed and we started talking to the lady working there about Duke.  The lady behind us in line quickly chimed in and asked if we were looking for another one.  We said, “Well we do think our pig might be a little lonely.”  She told us that she had this mini pig that weighed 30 pounds, he was really friendly, and needed a home because she didn’t have the time.  Oh and did I mention it was supposedly from the same breeder as Kim Kardashian’s pig.  We decided to go pick up Sampson and get Duke a friend.

When we got to this lady’s house and saw Sampson he was not even close to a mini pig.  He was an 80lb wart hog.  She also told us that he had no problem being walked on a leash.  That hog dragged me around the yard until we finally got him in the truck.  When we got him home, he squealed way louder than Duke ever did.  His squeals were blood curdling.  Andrew’s dad  came out of the house in a panic.  He was not a fan of Sampson and did not believe for one second he was a mini pig.  When we introduced him to Duke, he instantly started bullying him and tried to bite him a couple of times.  Duke was young and cute and just wanted to be friends and here was this massive wart hog that did not want anything to do with him.  So, we ended up putting him back in the truck fifteen minutes later and bringing him back to his home, but this time he was in a crate and we were not going to try to put him back on the leash.  His crate was so heavy we had to put it in a wheel barrow to bring him back to his pen.  When we got back to the house, we went to tell Andrew’s dad that we returned Sampson.  We found him sitting in his room in the dark with the tv and lights off, still traumatized by the hog.

Obviously, we decided it would be best if Duke didn’t have a friend and it all worked out because not too long after that we decided we were going to get married and move to Arkansas, which meant we had to find a new home for Duke.  We were really sad but knew that we would have to rent when we first moved out there and it was already hard enough trying to find a rental that would except two hundred pound labs.  Luckily, this family in the town next to us adopted Duke and he became best friends with their bulldog.  Latest we’ve heard is he has become the neighborhood ham.

Moral of the story: Just like people don’t just give away good dogs, they don’t give away good pigs, unless his name is Duke and they can’t take him with them when they move.

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