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The Living Without Series

This is a series of posts that I wrote back in 2006 on living with less stuff. Check them out: liv011Living #2liv031liv04

Coal Creek Farm on Facebook

The Chicken Doctor

April

The Architect

Clay

Salt of the Earth

Salt

This is Salt.  My kids found her and another kitten abandoned in our barn when they were about 3 weeks old.  I very reluctantly agreed to nurse them.  Her brother’s name was Pepper because he was all black, but sadly Pepper didn’t make it.   So now we have a little fluff ball named Salt and she has all six of us wrapped around her little tiny paw.

She’s proven to be quite useful.  She spent one Saturday helping Clay build the brick path.  She supervised his every move.

She helped hammer in the big nail things that hold the bricks in place.

She measured all the rocks to make certain they were the right size.

She held the landscaping mat so Clay could cut it and made certain it was straight.

Then she posed for some photos so everyone would know how pretty she is….just in case they forgot.

October 17th, 2011 | Category: In The Barn | 53 comments

Hog Heaven and Preacher

This spring I enlisted my three boys and hired two more boys to tear down our old pig pen which was built out of reused materials we found around our farm.

Clay and I decided we wanted to raise more pigs and that meant we needed a larger pen for them.  We salvaged what we could reuse from the old pen and moved it to where the new pen was being built.

Clay first started with the cross braces on the outside of the pen, but then he realized that was going to be a pain when it came to mowing so he wisely relocated them inside the pen where the pigs now used them as scratching posts.  We used the old posts and purchased hog panels.   The pigs now have plenty of room to play and grow.

This is the site of our old pen which is located next to our orchard.  I’d like to plant some more fruit trees and bushes here in the future.  I’d also like to cut down that tree on the end before it falls and kills a hay bale.

It bothers me that the posts aren’t even, but I can’t complain, because the pen is built and the pigs have a nice new home.  Preacher, Head of Farm Security, loves this pen.  He hops over the gate to make his daily rounds.  I’ll let him give you the rest of the tour.

Ah-loh, my leetle pink freends!  Welcome to the Coal Creek Farm.  My name is Preesher, I am de Boss.  You will call me, Mr. Preesher.  Scuze me?  Are you hearing my words?

Okay, jees, I see you are a tiny baby, but could chou pleeze stop sucking on my collar?

I tink I might be a leetle out numbered by thees leetle pink piggies.  Why do dey like my shiny rrrrrabies tag so much?

Come over here chou leetle piggies.  Lookie at what is on de other side of de fence.

No! No!  Geet off my shiny leetle tag!  Pleeze, I beg you, leeve it alone!  Lego me tag piggies!  Look!  Look you leetle pink piggy heads, look down at the leetle kitty cat.

Oh, dees little pink piggies are goin’ to be a lot of work fer me.

 

July 6th, 2011 | Category: In The Barn, Preacher, The Pigs | 25 comments

Never Name a Barn Cat

Four years ago we drove a U-Haul into the driveway of Coal Creek Farm to start our lives on this little farm.  Sitting on the back porch step ready to welcome us were three kittens.  I thought I would take them to the Human Society because we already had two cats and certainly didn’t need three more.  But, I have four children and before I had time to say, “Find the cat carrier!” they had scooped up the kitties, fed them some treats and the worst part….they named them.  So, we welcomed Tiger, Ashes and Sophia into our family.

Those three kitties lived happily in the barn and have kept us supplied with barn cats, which I now realize are essential to having a rodent-free house and barn.

Personally, I like the barn cats that slink around the barn and hide when they see me.  They hunt at night and sleep during the day. I hardly know they exist.  However, we have one barn cat that lives on my porch and tears up my wicker furniture.  She is very needy for human interaction and is completely useless as a mouser.  Guess who had the kittens this year?  Yep, Miss Needy.  And her kittens are just as friendly as she is.  So now I have three cats that really want to be house cats and sit on a lap all day.  These are the cats that should go live somewhere else.  Except, my children….they named them.

This is Cuter the kitten.  I used to think it was a stupid name. It makes more sense when you know that the17yo  girl in my house named him, right?  Now, I call him Cuter without thinking twice.

“Who’s the Cuter Kitty?  You’re the Cuter Kitty!”

 

 

“I just love you so much, you little Cuter kitty,kitty, kitty.”

“Cuter, Cuter, Cuter!  You are my sweet baby kitty cat!”

 

If you think this is bad, you should see my giant 15yo son talk to Cuter.  It goes a bit like this when he sees him, “Oh! There’s Cuter!  Hi Cuter Kitty.  How’s the Cuter today?  Come here little Cuter.  Do you need some love, sweet little fella.  Ahhh, Cuter, Cuter, Cuter. You’re such a cute little Cuter, yes you are.  Sweet kitty.  Cuter, Cuter, Cuter “  And now you know why I have completely useless barn cats.  Never ever, ever, not, no, don’t , cant’ shouldn’t ever name a BARN CAT!

June 7th, 2011 | Category: In The Barn, Uncategorized | 35 comments
 
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