Another crazy couple of weeks have gone by on the FunnyFarm. For the first time in a while, it actually feels like spring is finally starting to poke its head out.
We’ve had temperatures as high as 19 degrees Celsius, which felt amazing after the winter we’ve had. Most of the snow has melted now, although there are still a few stubborn snowbanks hanging on in the shady parts of the woods. With the snow level shrinking, we can finally access our trail through the forest again. That’s been really nice. After months of snow, ice, mud, and feeling a little trapped to the immediate yard and animal areas, it feels good to be able to wander around the property again without needing snow boots or risking your life on hidden ice patches. Spring might still be taking its sweet time… but it’s definitely starting to show up.
Another really great thing about the warmer temperatures is that we finally got to pull the hose over and hook it back up. Honestly, being able to use the hose again is a total game-changer. Every summer, I try not to take it for granted, because after months of hauling water buckets from the kitchen, having running water outside again feels luxurious. Not only does it save time filling buckets inside, but it also makes chores outside so much faster because we can just bring the water exactly where we need it.
One of the first things I tackled was cleaning out the duck pool, which had basically sunk into their muddy swamp over the winter. I rinsed it out, filled it with fresh water right to the top, and the ducks absolutely lost their minds. It immediately turned into a pool party. But of course, the goose was the first one in. He bathed and splashed and dunked himself over and over again until the water level dropped enough that I had to top it back up. That’s no problem now… because we have the hose back.
Another thing I was finally able to accomplish with the warmer weather was digging out the ducky bunky. Over the winter, the bedding had built up to well over a foot deep, and with everything frozen solid for so long, there was really no point trying to tackle it earlier. With the thaw finally here, I cleaned the whole thing right out — all the way down to the linoleum floor underneath. Then I sprinkled down some diatomaceous earth — or DE, as all the homesteaders call it — and filled the bunky back up with a nice fresh layer of straw, probably about five inches deep. So the ducks got a nice little spring reset! That made me feel very accomplished. Happy ducks, more duck eggs! WIN. There’s just something satisfying about finally getting winter buildup cleaned out and freshened up again after months of simply trying to survive the cold.
Okay, now maybe this is the update everybody’s actually been waiting for…
Did we have any more baby goats? The answer is YES!
On the very day that the last blog post went live, Tessie gave birth to a huge singleton — a little doeling that we named Heidi. And when I say huge, I mean huge. Looking at Tessy, we thought for sure there were two in there. She didn’t need a ton of assistance, but I was there for the labour and got to really watch the process this time. It was a good experience to see what actual goat labour looked like. Though like people, everyone is different. This time of year, when we think a doe may be close (whether it’s due to a due date or they are showing signs), we’ve been doing the classic “wake up in the middle of the night and check on them, shining a flashlight at the goats” routine, only to have them stare back at us like:
“Why are you bothering me?” Meanwhile, absolutely nothing is happening. But this time, Tessie was clearly in labour. Very considerate of her to do it in the daytime when temperatures were above 0!
I don’t think the active labour portion was very long, although she may have been in early labour most of the day before. Once she finally decided to lie down, and her body said, “Okay, it’s time,” things moved fast. I called for Addy to grab the kidding bag, and by the time he ran up with it, little feet and a nose were already sticking out. Thankfully, everything went perfectly. Healthy little girl. Healthy mama. Now, if I’m being honest, I was a little disappointed there was only one baby in there. Tessie was enormous, and I was fully convinced she was carrying twins. Twins are kind of the ideal scenario for goats — two babies, two teats, everybody’s happy. But no, just one very healthy, very adorable little white doeling with tiny waddles and blue eyes. And we have been absolutely loving her. Her personality is a lot shyer than Missy’s two kids. She’s quieter and more cautious, not nearly as bold and outgoing, but she’s been amazing. That all happened the same day the last blog post went up.
Now, to continue the goat update, we have to jump almost two weeks ahead.
This Tuesday — April 21st — was incredibly busy for me work-wise. Tuesdays can be just as chaotic as Mondays around here, even though I work from home. We did chores together in the morning, and I did my usual quick check on the remaining pregnant goats. Nobody seemed overly uncomfortable, nobody was acting suspicious, so I figured we probably still had time. So I went back inside, started work, and got completely buried in it. The next time I actually left my desk was around 6 p.m. I went outside to do evening chores and noticed Meg — short for Megara — hadn’t come out for hay.
So of course I looked around the corner… and there she was. Making tiny little mama noises while standing over two tiny baby goats. Twins!!! That was an amazing surprise.
And the craziest part?
This was Meg’s first freshening — her very first babies — and she handled everything completely by herself like an absolute professional. The babies were already dry; they both had full little milk bellies, and Meg was calmly standing there being a fantastic mom. I was so impressed. And these babies?
They are basically copy-paste versions of Meg. Addy and I were staring at them, trying to figure out how to tell them apart. Eventually, we realized the little boy had some extra black markings above where his eyebrows would be, so that’s how we know which one is which. The little girl looks almost identical to her mom. I don’t think they’ll have blue eyes, though. It’s still early, but I think they might end up with more of a light gold colour. Right now, we’ve got Meg and the babies set up together in their own stall so she can have some quiet bonding time with them since she’s a first-time mom. So far, she’s feeding them well, everybody looks healthy, and things are going really smoothly. Literally the best case scenario!
We haven’t named the twins yet, though — so if anybody has suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments because we are absolutely open to ideas.
As you might imagine, we’ve been spending quite a bit more time out in the goat run area lately, especially now that the weather has finally started warming up and well, babies! This next part, when I say “we,” I mostly mean Addy. For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been out there almost every day, slowly chipping away at winter — literally. He’s been scooping out layers of old bedding opening the areas up to help it melt down faster so we can eventually find the actual ground again.
Because over the winter, what happens is this:
It snows.
We put hay out for the girls.
The girls waste half the hay.
That becomes a layer.
Then it snows again.
Repeat that process all winter long.
So now the goat run is basically a giant lasagna made out of hay, poo, snow, and ice.
And as everything melts, it’s becoming very obvious just how much winter accumulated out there.
Now, according to all the locals, apparently this winter “wasn’t even that bad.”
Which honestly makes both of us a little nervous, because none of the winters since we moved here have supposedly been “real winters.”
So… gulp.
But in our very inexperienced opinion, it has felt long. We were seeing snow as early as October, and even now — with warmer temperatures finally arriving — there’s still snow showing up in the forecast from time to time.
So yes, the cleanup process has officially begun.
Addy has been tackling it a little bit at a time because it’s a huge job. Same with the stalls — we’ve been slowly cleaning those out where we can and starting piles of what we jokingly call “garden bedding.”
Which is really just compostable goat bedding and manure.
The nice thing about goat poo is that it’s considered a cold fertilizer, so none of it really goes to waste. We’ll use it in the bottoms of our new garden beds, mix some into compost, and probably use some as mulch too.
The plants love it.
So while the cleanup itself isn’t exactly glamorous… it does feel nice knowing that all of that winter buildup eventually turns into something useful again.
Okay, a little rabbit update for you.
Luke Skyhopper has officially been rehomed.
My niece Bella came up over the weekend to pick him up, and we decided it was probably the best choice for everyone. As cute as he is, he had quite a few opportunities to make more rabbits… and unfortunately, nothing ever happened.
So we don’t think he was really doing his job.
Now he gets to go live the good life as a very spoiled pet rabbit with Bella, who already has rabbits and lots of experience with them. So honestly, we feel really good about where he ended up.
But we’re still not giving up on our dream of becoming a little more self-sufficient with rabbit meat.
So naturally… we found another buck.
And funny enough, he actually looks a lot like Luke. He’s what’s called a “broken” buck, which basically just means he has spotty markings. Bella calls them “cow bunnies,” which honestly feels accurate.
He’s about six months old, and unlike Luke… this guy immediately seemed ready to do his job.
We drove about an hour to pick him up, brought him home, and let him settle in overnight. The very next day, we introduced him to the girls.
And the girls seemed to really like him.
After he figured out which end was the correct end — the business end — he actually did a very good job.
Very enthusiastic.
So now we officially have new due dates for Mara and Jade as part of the troubleshooting process we talked about in the last blog.
Mara is due May 15th, and Jade is due the day before.
We’ve got reminders marked in our phone calendars for when to put the nest boxes back in, and hopefully this time around we’ll have much better results.
Oh — and before I forget.
We named the new buck Moe.
M-O-E.
Because he’s hopefully going to give us moe bunnies.
And honestly, I thought that was hilarious.
Marigold also got a little haircut and bath over the weekend.
And by “little haircut,” I mean… a full-day grooming event.
She’s really been slowing down lately. Marigold is a poodle crossed with a Wheaten Terrier, so her fur is incredibly soft and mats very easily. And for whatever reason — maybe because of her age, maybe because her skin is more sensitive now — she absolutely does not enjoy being groomed anymore.
So the whole process was a bit of a struggle.
I took it really slowly and gave her lots of breaks because she would start panting when she got too stressed or overwhelmed. By the end of it, she had a very rough-looking haircut… but at least there are no mats left.
Honestly, at this point, comfort matters more than style.
And yes, before anyone asks, the little orangey-yellow patch on her forehead is from iodine, not from me accidentally cutting her. She somehow managed to give herself a little boo-boo, so I cleaned it up and treated it, and thankfully it seems to be healing well.
Marigold is about fourteen and a half now — she’ll be fifteen in September.
She can still go upstairs, but for some reason, coming back down has become confusing for her. She’s definitely slowing down.
So these days we’re just helping her where she needs it. Helping her outside sometimes, making sure she’s comfortable, giving her lots of treats whenever she wants them.
She’s still eating and drinking really well though — in fact, dinner time is still probably her favorite part of the day.
And because the mornings are still chilly and she’s basically naked now after the haircut, I dug out the only sweater I could immediately find for her… which happened to be a Christmas sweater that says “Ho Ho Ho.”
So yes, our elderly half-naked dog has been wandering around the house dressed like festive grandma year-round.
Honestly, it suits her.
At this point, we’re really just trying to make this stage of her life as comfortable, cozy, and spoiled as possible.
But yes — she got a haircut.
One of the Fridays over the last couple of weeks turned into a homemade pizza night.
I made the basic white pizza dough recipe from Martha Stewart’s website, and honestly, it turned out really well.
For the sauce, I used frozen tomato paste from our garden stash and turned it into a quick homemade pizza sauce by adding garlic and the usual seasonings. Although instead of Italian seasoning, I used a sweet herb and garlic spice mix because it sounded good at the time.
And thankfully… it was.
I let the sauce simmer down a little bit on the stove to thicken up, and it worked perfectly.
For toppings, we kept it pretty classic — ham, peppers, caramelized onions — and then topped everything with marble cheddar cheese before baking them in our oven that still works again.
Which I am still unbelievably grateful for.
Honestly, the whole thing only took about an hour and a half from start to finish.
And considering where we live, even if pizza delivery did exist out here, there’s absolutely no way it would arrive hot and in less time than that anyway.
So honestly?
I think we’ll just stick to making our own pizza.
Another big win over the last couple of weeks was finally finding more hay.
This time of year is always a little stressful for livestock owners because nobody is really making hay yet. The fields are only just starting to green up, so whatever hay is left over from the previous season becomes very valuable.
And buying hay from the co-op farm store gets expensive fast.
So we’re always keeping an eye out for local farmers selling extra bales.
Thankfully, we found some.
About twenty bales, actually.
Addy and I drove out to pick them up, and thankfully the farm was only about fifteen minutes away, which is a huge bonus because sometimes you end up driving forever for hay.
The weather was nice, all the bales fit in the truck bed, tied down perfectly, and the people we bought them from were incredibly nice.
I even got to pet a horse, so honestly, that made the trip even better.
We stood around chatting for a bit, loaded up the hay, and headed home feeling pretty accomplished.
And it’s really nice hay too — quality horse hay.
Now, whether or not the goats appreciate that is another story.
Apparently, according to our goats, the best parts are the little weedy bits and seed heads. Meanwhile, they leave half the stems on the ground like tiny spoiled toddlers.
Which is mildly frustrating because horse hay is supposed to be the good stuff specifically because horses are picky.
But clearly nobody explained that to the goats.
Okay, I sound negative.
There is positivity here.
We have hay. The animals are fed. And at least for the next little while, we don’t have to stress about trying to track more down.
So honestly?
That feels like a pretty big win.
So that’s life lately on the Funny Farm — warmer weather slowly arriving, muddy cleanup projects, fresh bedding, pool parties for the ducks, homemade pizza nights, and of course… even more baby goats.
It feels like we’ve finally crossed over from simply surviving winter into actually starting to enjoy spring again. The hose is hooked up, the trails are open, the goats are thriving, and even though there’s still the occasional snowflake in the forecast, things are definitely starting to feel greener and more alive around here.
We’ve had some little wins, some ongoing projects, a few troubleshooting moments, and lots of time spent outside trying to reclaim the farm from months of snow, hay, mud, and ice.
And honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you made it all the way to the bottom of this update, thank you so much for following along with our little homestead adventures. It truly means a lot that people take the time to read about our lives, our animals, and all the chaos in between.
Next blog, I promise we’ll finally dive into some garden updates and planting plans because things are about to get very busy around here in the best possible way.
Until next time! 🌱🐐