Cows

Okay I know. We are seriously farm geeks. So we got cows. Not for milking. We got meat cows. So in the cow world: castrated cows are called steer. And the ones that still have their manhood, those are the bulls...the mean bulls! Female cows are literally called heifers. HAHAHA! Seriously, so when someone calls you a heifer, they are literally calling you a cow. HA.

We got 2 baby Holstein Steer. There are many different breeds of cows. Holstein is just a random breed well known for backyard farming and being generally easy to raise.

Cows are usually sold at $1.00 or $1.50 / lb. These cows are 5 months old and are around 300 lbs each. We bought them from a guy that just kind of needed to sell them so we got them for a good price. A full grown cow that is ready to go to slaughter is usually around 1200 lbs. And they are usually about a year and a half. So we will raise these guys for about a year....hopefully we don't get too attached!
Hank meeting the cows for the first time. He's our official animal checker.



They have about an acre and a half fenced off to roam freely right now. Eventually, we are going to fence off this 5 acre area in our yard and have the cows there. Then we will put the goats where the cows are now. We love that we can have happy roaming animals!

Frizzles!!

Well we have quite a collection of chickens now. 18 total. 15 of those are hens, and 3 are roosters. Aparently you can have roosters together from all different breeds. They just take a few days to figure out who's boss. Seriously, when we added another full grown rooster to our pack, the two roosters duked it out for a couple days. Now they are all fine. Anyway, the reason for the post: we got theee cutest fuzzy little chicks! They are called frizzles, and they are totally full grown! Its just everything about them is tiny! They are tiny, their eggs are tiny, and here's the kicker: one of these frizzles is a rooster! And he is just the tiniest little thing, and he is full grown. AND he has a TINY LITTLE CROW!!! It is so cute! So here are a few pics of the frizzles, and the last one is a video of the rooster frizzle crowing...enjoy! (And I don't know why this is all underlined, I am a retard and I won't even try to figure it out.)




They are just little tiny fur balls!


And here is the video...prepare for cuteness!

Snow in Anza!

Wow! So we were told that February in Anza is true winter. We're enjoying the changes in weather here. So far, its been a sunny, pretty warm winter. Then suddenly we get clouds rolling in. This is what it looked like last night when it started...so pretty!

It kept snowing through the night, so it called for some serious snow play the next morning...



Look at the Chickens! They are hanging out under their coop, the only place with no snow.



It was sunny though throughout the day today and a lot of it melted. Next week will probably go back to being 70's and sunny!

The Boys

Colt and Charley are buds. And especially out here, they have to be. Here are just a few pics of them doing all the things together that they do...


They fall asleep on the big stuffed chair together...



This is the one tiny week a while back where we thought Charley was ready to ditch the diapers. No such luck. But here's Colt right after he gave Charley a hug and said, "Charley, I'm so proud of you! You can wear underwear now!" So, they encourage each other...


They get dirty together! "Mom! The rain made the driveway all muddy...can we play in it!?"



They watch toons together..


Yes, Charley's there too. They zone out in imaginary play together...



They play with chickies together...



Take huge bubble baths...

Colt is our sensitive caring boy. He has always watched out for Charley and Colt is very in tune with mama'a feelings too. If I'm having a bad morning or am a little pissy, Colt asks me if I'm okay. Then he goes through the list of things that I might be mad about. "Are you mad because there are so many dishes? Are you made because Hank is in the way? Are you made because we woke up so early..." Haha.
Charley is just this little person and everything he does is a little version of a big person. He is really chill and goes along with just about any plans. He is very stubborn. And I've heard other moms always say that about one child or another. I always thought it was just an excuse. Like oh okay, your child is stubborn so just leave it at that? YEAH, just leave it at that! Everything that Colt did relatively easy, Charley puts up a fight. Its funny to see the difference. But they are my dudes and we have a blast together. And yes, the boys do have their moments where they fight. So they enjoy time apart too!

Uncharted territory

So obviously we are not using all of our ten acres. Every couple days me and the boys will go 'exploring' where we just start roaming the property! Well last Saturday we found the jackpot. This huge area in the back (or front?) corner where we hardly ever go. And it was Lush with well grown thick green grass. Most of our property is patches of shrubs, bushes, grass, leaves, kind of everything. But this, this was something to take note of. It was definately a family affair. So I told Nathan to get the goats and we all just hung out. Literally just hanging out having fun being together in this big ole patch of lush tall grass. I love the simple moments...

Charley throwing big clumps

Yes, wherever we are, Hank will be too.

Colt took this picture of us.

Well, now I've seen it all...I thought dirt angles at the park were pretty out there, but now we can add grass angels to our list.

Hank thinks he's a goat.

Where's Charley?

Look out for them horns!

Peggy, do you have a baby in that belly of yours!?

This white goat is Sweet Pea. We inherited her from somebody that couldn't have her anymore. She has overgrown hooves, got pink eye in both eyes the first week we had her and bucks our other goats...More like Not so sweet pea.

Our fire pit area

We build a fire a couple times a week, usually right around sunset. So here we are with cocoa motion. No, we're not camping somewhere far away, this is just some random spot in our yard.

Riding Horses!

Last week, Colt and Charley got to ride horses for the first time! We met Pam through our old neighbor here. Pam has 2 older, very calm horses and she wanted for the boys to come over! We had a great time. Thank you Pam! By the way, the black horse is named Thunder and the white horse is named CHARLEY! Isn't that adorable! Charley is riding Charley! Oh my goodness, who doesn't like a Charley!? Too bad Colt isn't riding a baby horse. Then Colt would be riding a Colt! hahaha..