Finished the coop, and the house continues to move along

Well, my 2nd full time farming stent came to an end on 9/28 when I started commuting into Atlanta again on a 3 month contract at WellStar.  So it's been a pretty hectic 4 weeks and I'm just now getting around to doing another blog post.

The good thing about it is the house seems to be exploding with progress.  The trim is up, the walls are painted, and probably the coolest part of all is that the huge front porch and back deck are up.

We also finished the newest chicken coop project and have been struggling to get the upstairs chickens to make the move into their new coop.  Fred and Darla and the Americaunas always head right back up to the upstairs coop when we let them free range downstairs.

Well, here's the pics from the past month or 2:

Norman enjoying some strawberries

Working tirelessly to finish up the coop

View of the house

The goats "working" to clear some land for us

Ezra carries some scratch to the chickens

That's a gang o'chickens!  

Ezra found a big ole mushroom

The house is green!

Ezra checks out the fireplace in the new house

Jason and Ezra do some mowing

We finally got the coop secured

Dot was the first chicken to figure out the fancy nipple bucket waterer I made for the new coop

We finish the goat shelter and they got some good use out of it

Enjoying some hay

Jason cut down a couple of dead trees

 A couple of chickens were really eager to try out the nesting boxes in the new coop, before we could even get hay in there

Our doors in the new house - I think they're awesome!

The hardwood floors got installed

That's the kitchen

We had some stumps ground a couple of months ago, and we laid down some fescue seed in early September.  The grass is starting to grow and should be ready for the animals to graze in May or June.

I noticed Opal's milk sack filling up, so we moved her and Ruby back into the fence to keep and eye out for goat kids.  Still waiting...

Ezra letting Mama Llama get somebody else's food.  Dot tries to get some too.

Animal feeding apprentice

We moved the gang o' upstairs chickens down into the new coop.

Jason digging more holes for the fence in the front of the land

The front porch begins...

Now we can sit on the front porch!

More hole digging up near the front of the land

Enjoying the front porch :)

Another view of the chickens in the new coop

Columns and bricks were added last week.  Fans also installed on the front porch.

Ezra's room

Upstairs guest room.  Same color as the master bedroom and bath - it turned out nice.

Looking good!

Set something free, and it just might come back to you

Over the past month, a lot of progress has been made on the house.  The septic tank has been installed.  We have made it to the sheet rock process.  It also got painted green today!

We've also been working endlessly on a new chicken coop.  Hopefully we will have it done in the next couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago, we were sad to discover that Norman the tortoise had gotten out of his garden enclosure.  After searching for him throughout the big fenced-in area and outside the perimeter, we assumed he was long gone.  But alas, he returned today and I find it nothing short of a miracle.

Here's some pics from the past few weeks:

Mama Llama and Dolly

The quad of goats

Mama Llama

Siding for the house was delivered

Major progress - we got a fridge out at the farm shortly after the electricity was established.  It is stocked with beer and milk :)

Ezra and the llamas

Ezra pushing the wagon and toolbox

Working on the coop

Jason hard at work

This is sure to win us the parents of the year award

Ezra and his daddy pulling wagons

Ezra on the Gator with Big Beyonce stealing the spotlight

He's becoming quite the farmhand

Coop progress

I used my lack of painting skills to paint the goats

And the llamas

Coop is coming along

Ezra's excuse for being whiny - he's two...  I wish I had an excuse :)

I put hooks on all the watering stands to hang the brushes we use for cleaning the chicken waterers

Ezra thought the brushes looked better on the ground...

Big Blue and a lady friend - new house in the background

Fred lookin fine

Siding got put on the house

Darla and Fred

Coop continues to come along

Stevie B wanted to check out the progress

Ezra enjoyed a rainy day at the farm

Cousin Eli came to visit

Bran and Ash came too

Ezra and Eli had fun petting Stevie B

Goats and a house

Checking out the gate

Ezra sporting some dirt and a fly farm hat

We did some burning - long overdue

Scott tried out the goat milking stand

All the animals check out the fire

Sheetrock got delivered

Look at that gang o' chickens

The house is green!!!

Yes, it's freakin awesome

Got the tub/showers installed

And last, but certainly not least, Norman showed up today by the Gator!!

We are thrilled to have him back.  I'm going to pick up some fluorescent fingernail polish tomorrow to paint his shell so we can find him more easily if he decides to wander again.