We greatly appreciate the feedback from friends and family.  I've struggled a little because I've wondered if  the way I present things would make one think it is so easy, almost magical, like raising a herd of unicorns that poop butterflies.  Unfortunately, there are all kinds of challenges, here are a few...

The septic failed.  Don't worry, typically there isn't an audience.

Flies, thousands of them (maybe tens of thousands). You want to arrange animals so that one will mitigate or eliminate the effects from another. Our problem is that we've got rabbits against the back of the house but no animal to scratch their poop.  If we spent some time re-arranging things we could have chickens eating the larvae flies are laying in the rabbit poop (they make the poop look like it's alive, hard to explain and I won't post a pic).  Sammy: "I hate fwies, time for a paci bweak."

Surprises (well, shouldn't have been a surprise). Feed bin empties on a Sunday and Monday is a holiday.  We buy from the Mennonites ("Are they going to be open tomorrow?  Do they recognized the same holidays we do?  Maybe not, I know they're exempt from things like the Socialist inSecurity tax.  I would love not to pay that uncon stitutoinal ponzi scheme theft.  Are there Reformed Presbyterian Mennonites I could join?")

The incredibly trustworthy Toyota tractor broke down. Turns out it is the starter which is low to the ground, I think it failed from too many water crossings.

Liberty got a nice mayonnaise hair treatment thanks to lice a few of us got when we brought a goat into the house after a cold night to revive him.

Thankfully the van helps us recover some problems. The Lord cuases all things to happen for good (Rom 8:28), can't forget that.

The van is used a lot (oops).

One way to relieve stress is to handle wild animals (Blaise cornered a wild rabbit).

And use them as air guitar props (or trying and communicate telepathically to them).

Or study this new breed of pig.

That reminds me, the other ones need water.

So for others who are thinking about doing this here are some initial lessons learned to reduce stress and help accommodate challenges:
-Fencing is paramount, have enough paddocks in place before collecting animals.
-Start slow, perfect your techniques for producing meat, milk, produce, etc. before ramping up.
-Learn from the mistakes of others, seek out other farmers to learn from before making major investments.
-Study an animal you are interested in before purchase, you could be buying someone else's problems (and quarantine them before introducing them to your herd).
-Eat lots of bacon, fat is actually good for you, the food pyramid is a lie (seriously).
-Farm raised pork chops are delicious.

We're trying something new...

...a pollen collector on the Italian hive,

and here is the pollen after it's stripped off of the legs of bees as they enter the collector.  This is amazing stuff, it is packed with nutrition (protein, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, the list goes on and I bet it even has bits of chocolate).  Some claim it has cured them of allergies.  It has a very pleasant sweet taste and it's becoming the 2nd most sought after household treat.  (2nd is not a trivial ranking, standards are high, number one is German dark chocolate).

Off on a mission.... to do chores.

Picking up sawdust.

The chicks are brooded in the trailer in the background (that's where the sawdust is used).  This pic was taken after a long day of home schooling. I'm sure the girls probably learned something about Roman soldiers and asked Blaise if he'd help them with a small experiment.

This is how the new chicks show up.

I'm not taking a snuggle break.  If I let go this lamb will scram and it could take hours to catch her again. Sometimes animals that are new to a farm need to acclimate to the surroundings and people before becoming more controllable.

Nope, ain't gonna pull it, wheels keep breaking lose... ok, let's move on to something else.

Un-rolling giant hay bails over the garden to kill weeds, this also puts nutrients back into the soil. Another one of those farm tasks that makes a gym membership useless.

Building frames for honey boxes with my trusty assistant.

Another really nice morning to wake up to.

I've had another revelation... older sisters don't beat you up or irritate you (one of my hobbies was bugging my little sister), they just dress you up in girls clothes.

Here is a cheap red-neck water park attraction.  We live near a highway that has billboards and we've discovered that billboard wraps make an excellent slip and slide.  We plan on upgrading to a 60 foot wrap.  (Note how big sisters have no mercy, these girls are relentless.  If you click on the pic you'll notice that Fabio is dressed in a girls swim suit over a diaper that's holding about two gallons of water, good thing he's not old enough to know what he's wearing).

What should this post be about?

Keena: "I know, the meet ball bath tub!"  Liberty: "That's silly, how about bottle feeding baby wabbits?"

Here are 203 Cornish crosses placed in a cattle trough for transport to their new home in the pasture.

One of the wabbits had 15 kits.  The doe died and the kids tried bottle syringe feeding for days but unfortunately the extra kits we couldn't place with other does eventually died. We later lost five more to the recent cold so we currently have 30 being raised for meat.

Close-up of the babies.

Cornish crosses have only two things on their todo list every day: eat and poop.  Some kind of bedding is needed or else disease will spread and ammonia vapors will form.  We collected sawdust from a local pallet company but we needed to dry it before storage (bedding is used before they go out to pasture).

In pasture the crosses are placed in pens that are moved every morning.  They'll spend 3-4 weeks in here before being butchered.

Go karts are a lot of fun, that's also a problem because you drive them hard and get more mechanical failures.  TJ took a turn so hard that the rear tires lifted off the ground and when they landed the mechanism that adjusts the chain tension broke.

Early morning chores, getting breakfast for the crosses (you can tell the difference between bad feed and good feed by tasting it.  Cheap feed makes you want to spit it out, the stuff in this pic is expensive, I've caught TJ eating a handful.  He needs to bring milk, a bowl and a spoon next time.)

An example of some of the rules that have been established to keep the peace (well, they're more of what you'd call guidelines than actual rules).

And more new kids on the block, they just keep coming.  Giving birth is always a tense time for me so while I smoke a cigar to take the edge off Sammy reached for a pacifier (Sammy: "Whooowhie, dat goat just pooped out two goats... I'm gwad dats over.")

See, it's crazy, this one showed up last night.  Since it was so cold outside Calvin decided to give his teddy bear a rest and make room for this new kid.