And it's a go! We've settled the deal for three of her horses and I'll travel up there Thursday. I have a friend in KC who's agreed to put me up for the evening if I need to travel over several days or make two trips. These are young horses that still need a lot of work but one has been saddled and walked so within a year we should have him ready to ride.

Our small silver pygmy goat is pregnant and I think she's bagging up. Talulah is just a doll, although she's never quite warmed to people other than taking food from our hands - haven't ever got her comfortable enough to pet her. Hopefully, she'll kid soon and we'll have an adorable tiny little pygmy. They are just so cute!

Ed noticed that the blurb for Kansas in USA Today mentioned the severe drought last year causing a serious hay shortage - that aint no lie. It's getting more difficult to find hay and we're so thankful we had the hay exchange for harvest with our farmer to get us through the winter. With horses to feed though, we'll be searching to buy more just like everyone else. Hopefully our neighbor to the south will have some small bales to sell soon. Although I enjoy being able to work with them myself and they stack nice, they are nearly three times the price for the quantity that's in a large round bale. The sooner the grass comes in, the sooner we can cut back hay feeding and I'm anxious for that.

Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to do a detox with my hens. When I took hay to the horse this morning I found two eggs in her hay trough. Unacceptable. They are to lay only in the barn or the coop so I may have to lock them up for a week to get them back into the habit of laying in the coop nests. Poor girls, they won't like that.

I thought yesterday about the cycle of the farm as I watched the chickens follow the cow. They know to watch where she grazes and about two days after she's done her business they go through her manure, pick through it, and neatly spread it out on the ground where it dries quickly and turns into great compost right on the spot. I can usually count the large cow patties surrounding the house and our walking areas on one hand because the chickens make quick work of this cleanup. Between the dogs and cats (meat eaters), the goats and cow (greens and grains), and the chickens (everything else) we have virtually no food waste on the farm. The only exception is coffee grounds and they'll go into the compost pile when we get the garden ready.

Entertainment comes cheap on a farm as well. Toss out a full head of lettuce or cauliflower and you'll get a full circus of animals arguing over it and chasing one another. A large bonfire with the tree top that fell will be a nice background for a family gathering here soon. And there's always a long walk to see the tracks of wild animals through the property and even dens from something that had it's babies. Nothing can be sweeter or more calming than a long stretch of petting and scratching with the livestock either.

Yesterday I had about 6 leftover biscuits and knowing these are the most favored treat of crazy cows, I took the sack out to find Moo. She was in the milo pasture close to the road with her back to me and upwind so she couldn't hear me hollering. The goats noticed the sack and all 12 ran towards me just screaming for their share and following me. I walked through the pasture to Moo and she finally noticed me, right as a neighbor was coming up the road. Moo took off at a full rodeo run straight for me to get her treats before the goats got them and I saw the neighbor start to point and slow down, probably thinking this was dangerous. Never fear, Moo stopped dead in her tracks about 2" in front of me and immediately stuck her tongue out so I could hand feed the biscuits in. The she happily followed me back to house. I'm sure this exhibition made quite an impression on the neighbors.

Today will be spend doing the grocery shopping and picking up halters for the new horses that way Ed can have the van tomorrow to balance my tires and change the oil. I'll pick up some extra hours as well tonight and tomorrow evening to make up for missing two days this week.