It's Fall Y'all! Fall on the farm

Alright y'all it's been a long time since I wrote a post, I wish I had a good excuse but I don't. Sorry! The weather has cooled down and the leaves have started to change since the last time we talked. Let me just tell you that I LOVE FALL! I love everything about it. Sweaters, cider, crisp breezes in the morning, you name it, I love it. Well come to find out the animals love fall too! I spent some time today just walking around watching all the animals enjoy the cooler fall weather.

Alpacas + Fall = bliss

Just layin' around

The alpacas especially love the fall. The low hum from their fan has finally turned off and they can rest a little cooler each day. They have been spending lots of time around their area basking in the warm sun.

The cooler weather also means that the boys are getting extra fluffy! Their fleece is growing thick to get them ready for winter. They look much different than they did when they came to us in April. I just want to squeeze them!

Oink, Oink, Yawn...

I have learned that pigs get cold easily. At night I find our piggys snuggled in their little hut. They burrow themselves in hay. Burrowing to the point that one day I thought they escaped because they were hiding so well. Melvin and Sherman can be found lazing the fall days rooting around in the cool dirt and laying in the sun.

I caught Melvin mid- yawn just after his 6th nap of the day. The pigs love fall too.

Cluck, peck, scratch

I have happy hens on the farm right now. They are loving scratching through the fallen leaves and finding hidden bugs everywhere.

The ladies on a lovely fall day.

I could watch the animals all day. I am so glad they love the fall as much as I do.

I promised Raoul I would put his close-up on the blog. :)



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Old Fashioned Friday

Letter detective: On a hunt to learn

School is back in full swing by now for everyone I am sure. Being a former teacher I love back to school time. I still want to go into Walmart and buy school supplies in bulk. With back to school comes back to homework and studying. I wanted to share an activity I did with "Batman" that could be adapted to study just about anything.

Although "Batman" doesn't have any homework from preschool we are still working on letter identification and sounds. I made him an official letter detective and off we went to hunt letters! We have a letter tree in the playroom where we put the letters that we have learned to make them visible.

I told "Batman" that the letters had escaped and we had to go and track all of them down. This helped him review letters that he knew and I also added a few new ones.

Let the letter hunt begin!

He found H outside on the porch. He used his spy phone to call H and ask it what sound it made. We took H and put it in a bag so that we could return it to the letter tree in the playroom.

We continues our hunt...

Those letters were really hiding!

Nicholas was excited to learn about the letter A for alpaca!

P for pig!

Once we found all of our letters we headed back inside to put the letters back on our tree and told them not to run away again.

I hope you can go on your own hunt for letters, sight words, math problems, vocabulary words or what ever your little one is learning. Have fun learning!

When the people are away the pigs will play.

Going out to do morning farm chores is one of my favorite things to do. I love greeting the animals in the morning and getting everyone what they need for the day. Well.... we got a surprise when we went out to the pig pen today.

Yep, they started breakfast without us. I assume Melvin was the strength behind this operation but I wouldn't be surprised if Sherman was the idea man here. I suppose we should have figured that this may be a possibility if we stored their feed inside their pen. We just thought that the metal can with a 50 lb bag of feed in it would keep them out, I guess we were wrong.

"Hurry, they see us!"

Well Melvin and Sherman I guess we learned our lesson and moved the food container. Mischief managed.

Love at lunch: My take on lunch notes.

Before I packed "Batman's" first lunch for lunch bunch day at school tomorrow I decided to hop on the computer to see if I could find any cute lunch notes to include. As I was scrolling through countless super cute notes that I could print out it dawned on me that I was getting lunch notes before lunch notes were a thing. 

My mom would include a special I love you note every so often in my lunch. I don't know the story behind how it started but the message is a picture rather than words. I have to assume this is because she started giving me these notes before I could even read just like I am doing for "Batman." I never really stopped to think about how special those notes were until today in the midst of my internet lunch note search. This got me thinking, would I remember those notes so well if it was just a cute printed off picture? I don't know. 

A recent I love you note from my mom, just like when I was little

This special note appeared in my lunch when I was little but followed me through my life as a sign of encouragement. On my birthdays she would scroll Happy Birthday in lipstick across my mirror and then sign it with her signature I love you. When I went to college she would send care packages and include her special I love you. Even now when she sends something in the mail for me or the kids I can expect to see that special I love you. 

There is something about someone's handwriting that is magical. It almost makes you feel like they are there with you. Try looking at a loved one's card they have signed or a note they have written. I bet you will feel something in your heart when you do. 

So tomorrow in "Batman's" lunch I am not going to print off the cute Yoda note that I had originally thought about. I am going to write him an I love you note picture style. I hope this note can some day become as special to him as it is to me. 

"Batman's" first I love you lunch note

A change of the guard: There's a new rooster in town

Frodo Baggins was my first rooster. I love him. A lot. He is the scrappiest looking silkie I have ever seen which naturally makes him adorable.

Frodo has been in charge for a quite a while and his reign over the flock is finally over.

Meet Mrs. Frizzle. The new rooster in charge.

Yes I did say MRS. Frizzle. We named him before we figured out he was a boy and it kind of stuck. Anyway... He is small but he packs a lot of punch. He is the head rooster now. I am not sure how the dynamics of a chicken flock work but every now and again a new rooster heads to the top. The ladies accept that he is now in charge and listen to his special signals but all of the hens still love their Frodo.

The piggies settle into the farm.

Pigsy Hollow

Melvin and Sherman have already started to settle in and get comfortable at the farm. We spent all of the day after we got the boys building their new pig pen, Pigsy Hollow. One of the first things we added was a pig pool. Pig fact: pigs can't sweat so they need cool water or mud to roll in.

One hoof at a time

"Come on in, the water's great!"

Melvin seems very happy about his pig pool. Sherman however hasn't been able to get in the pool because Melvin has been hogging the pool, pun intended!

Piggy snack time!
In order to get our piggies comfortable with us we have been offering them pig safe snacks. So far we know they love cucumbers and popcorn. These pigs can put down some popcorn!

"Popcorn, where have you been all my life?"

"Thanks for the popcorn, I love my new people!"

With an oink oink here: New pigs on the farm.

Everyday on the farm is exciting in some way but when new animals arrive it is exciting in a special way. Everyone is alert. Chickens crowed around the fence, and the alpacas stand on high alert to find out what's up. 

Please let me introduce you to the latest members on the farm. Drum roll please......

"Where are we?" " I don't know, looks like a nice place."

Please meet Sherman (small black pig) and Melvin (big pig with spots). These two cuddly little oinkers are potbelly pigs that moved to the Yankee Belle Farm today. 

This seems pretty cozy

They even got a comfy ride in the new minivan. 

"Cheese!"

Melvin settled in with a little rooting and a nice nap. 

" Just a little deeper."

Sherman stuck with rooting for quite a while. 

We are so excited to have our new pig friends here and can't wait to see what sort of pig adventures Sherman and Melvin will have together.