in a blackberry vibe

Where I'm from, blackberries are berries that grow on vines/bushes. Mike and I visited with Gabbi, Pansy, and O'Pea at their Mountain City, TN home today. Here they are pictured with their Mama, Donna. The goats are nibbling on her blackberry vines.

Pansy talking to her Daddy, Greg.

Donna shows me how large her blackberries are, and they're good too.

Mike eating the blackberries.

Mike holding down a branch so the goats can eat the leaves.

Pansy's dark black has turned to a chocolate color. Pansy has her own blog:
http://pansysponderings.blogspot.com/

Gabbi is due with Bordeaux babies on Sept 17th. She is already exhibiting a very nice udder.

Maggie and O'Pea

Gabbi checking out the horses stall.

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Also, Rodney Underwood is trying to start a Farmers Market on his property in Zionsville, NC. He built this playset for his 3 sons.

and built this chicken coop for his chickens.

Rodney is pictured in the middle, he does this type of woodworking for a living. http://www.rodneyunderwood.com/ 

We bought a blackberry cake from a vendor that bought a pair of our wethers last year, Clarence and Grits. Tonight, Rodney is gonna show a movie on the side of his barn.

Sunday Sights From Home

Hope you had a beautiful weather day like we did.

We've got a MommieBird with two newborn chicks. I dearly love the interaction of animal Mommies and their babies.

We took a walk around on our land this morning. The Irish Terriers are leashed because we don't trust them around poultry.

The apple trees have produced well this summer.

http://boonedockswilcox.weebly.com/    web

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

Back at the barn, Tulip and 3 of her kids.

On June 17 2011, Tulip had quads but we sold Pansy to my friend, Donna. Check out:
http://pansysponderings.blogspot.com/

Although Tulip's 3 kids are still nursing her, once a day, we bottle-feed the kids - 1) this gives Tulip a break, and 2) it tames the kids so they're easy for us to handle.

Use Pritchard Nipples.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/calf-feeders-nursing/nipples-pritchard-2-per-pack-2229252

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Upitty decided to take on (wethered) Bruno in a game of head butting.

Later, we noticed that Upitty wasn't putting weight on his right-rear leg. :-( We hope it will heal after some rest.

Jack conquers the hill

Can ya tell Jack is proud of himself?

We had 2 loads of gravel delivered this morning, we had one big pile of it at the barn, Jack and BarbaraJean played "King-of-the-Hill" for awhile, and Jack finally won.

We never expected to enjoy these Great Pyrs so much, they've got lots of personality, and Jack does a great job at protecting.

Nephew Demetre showed up with the tractor, and helped to smooth out the gravel. Jack's "hill" is now gone.

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Rule #1 - If you have a pretty-hanging-strawberry basket, and goats, DO NOT set the basket where the goats can get to it.

pickin' apples and coolin' off

We have several apple trees on our property. In fact, on Tuesday evening, I saw a coyote eating an apple. Tonight, we collected a couple of buckets of apples, however,  we kept topping off the buckets as the goats and Great Pyrs kept stealing the apples and eating them.

Jack is 6 months old now and already an exceptional livestock-guardian dog. Jury is still out on 5-month old BarbaraJean, she likes to be goofy.

Sure wish I had a better camera, I'm reallying missing my Panasonic Lumix.

That trough is placed next to the barn, to catch rain water from the tin roof, to be drinking water for the animals, not there for big lugs to lay in and get the water dirty. The temps are in the high 80's this week which is quite warm for our area. For those of you with Great Pyrs, do they love the water like mine do?

We parted with some goats this week.

We had to say goodbye to some of our sweet Nigerian goats this week, always sad to see our babies go.

Wednesday: Pixie, AppalPie, and Lucy were sold to Lisa in Winston-Salem, NC. Lisa says the girls are fitting in well with her Nigerian herd.

Saturday: Gabbi, Pansy, O'Pea, Beau, and Moon Fire "Pappy" were sold to our new friends at SpruceyLaneFarm, Donna and Greg, in Mountain City, TN.

Donna and Pansy. Pansy is only  5 weeks old but Donna will continue to bottle feed Pansy for several weeks.

Maggie, Donna's Great Pyr, has been needing a job so Maggie is being introduced to her new responsibilities. Gabbi in the background, is due to have "Bordy" babies on Sept 17th.

O'Pea and Gabbi are SweetPea babies.

Donna let me know that the goats now have a nightlight, a fan, and a radio in the barn.

Donna also has a couple of horses.

Donna, Pansy, and Mike.

Maggie

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Back at BooneDocksWilcox, Gypsy Moon Merlot

Daughter Peach and SweetPea is her mother

Peach

Up-N-Up like his "ba-ba." Jack looks on.

Up-N-Up

Cali doesn't like goat shows so we haven't pushed the issue. Twice she has been bred to Cahoot but no doeling yet, just boys. She's the mother of Bordeaux.

Looking at the chicken coop, in the rear of the barn, we're catching rain water in the trough.

Gypsy Moon Persian Ghost "Moose"