Chicken Scraps Blog

It is with mixed feelings I write this blog post; partly I know we are making the right decision for our farm, but partly I will miss Blossom when she leaves.  Yes, it's time for old Blossy to find a new home.  She has been a great milk cow for almost nine years, but I want to keep her daughter from last year in addition to Buttercup (her daughter from 2012), so someone needed to go. AJCA Registered (grade) Jersey Milk Cow, exposed to to A2/A2, polled Jersey bull Asking $1,000 Video at bottom of page.   Blossom is an excellent example of the old-fashioned Jersey cow.  She is well-built, medium sized, and has a perfectly even, very strong udder.  Her feet are (and always have been) excellent.  Temperament is fairly calm and steady, though she is the top cow in the herd and will put the others in their place if necessary.  Usually very easy to handle; always submits to people.  Stands perfectly for milking.  Has nice long...

Fiona is our latest addition to the farm.  She is a gorgeous chocolate (or red) merle, ABCA Border Collie puppy from Hill Top Farm in IL.

We have PUPPIES!!! For pricing, more pictures, puppy contract, and other details, please visit Sandspur Ranch Border Collies I am ecstatic, excited, overjoyed, delighted and thrilled to introduce our first litter of purebred Border collie puppies!  Sorry for the crossed out list of adjectives...  They all came to mind when making this announcement.  :)

Ever since we got our first dog, Mama has periodically wished for a cat which would like dogs.  I used to have a hard time believing all she said about how her cats and dogs loved each other because my only experiences in that line involved excited Schnauzers, my stressed out, deaf kitty, and (later on) our whip-thin black cat, Flavia, who hates dogs, and Kep, who loves chasing cats. Then Flavia retired from working and the rats (which are always more or less present on a farm) began multiplying way  too fast, so we finally got two young kittens.  They were six week old brothers from Shepherd's Hill Farm and are the most wonderful cats.  They are sweet to each other and people, and I think they will be great ratters.  (BTW, there is one kitten left from this litter who needs a home!  Contact me if you are interested in adopting him.) Dickon (left) and Chauncey (right) The first time one of the dogs (Flossy, I think) walked up and sniffed the ...

Antique Lafter Rose I am happy to announce that I am now offering live Lemongrass and antique rose plants on my Etsy shop!  Currently I only have a couple of Lafter roses available, but I am going to try to get around to rooting some Thousand Beauties (a light pink climbing rose) and Rev d'Or (a light yellow climber); possibly also some Old Blush.  These are all antique roses, which means they are old, hardy varieties which are disease resistant and grow on their own roots. I also hope to add mint in the near future. Visit my shop to purchase or for more information! CCShop Live Plants

     So, you have a young heifer, or a cow which has never been milked before, and want her to be your family milk cow. You grab a bucket and head out to the barn to do some milking, and, lo and behold! she kicks you over and tries to break out of the stanchion the second you touch her udder.  What went wrong?

Well...  here I am making apologies again.  You can tell when I am staying busy farming, and when I am just writing about being busy, because when I'm truly busy, I don't post on my blogs!  Anyway, thankfully I usually have my phone on me and take lots of pictures, so these will give some idea of what we've been up to.  Enjoy! March and April were filled with: Trying to get good advertising pictures of Buttercup (so we could sell her heifer.) Spending time with younger siblings.