New on the homestead: Nigerian Dwarf kids

3 days ago the (human) kids and I brought home two beautiful little babies.  They are both Nigerian Dwarf doelings with blue eyes. They're so tiny!

The older and larger one is named Danuwa (dah-noo-wah), which means "close friend".  The little one is Folasade (click for pronunciation), which means crowned with wealth/honor.  I really wanted them to have Nigerian Yoruba names to reflect where their ancestors came from.

It was not easy to find mini does, so I'm glad I found Neverest!  I think I found their site by searching through a breeder list on a mini goat registry website.   After a few emails back and forth with Desirae I sent off a deposit to hold two babies that hadn't even been born yet.  When kidding season kicked in and it was my turn on the waiting list to choose my babies, I picked these little girls.

Danuwa was born on March 18th and Folasade was born on March 24th.

Wyatt got to hold them while we made the 2 hour drive home with our babies in tow.  He fell in love... hard.  We all did!

When we got them home we gave them their lunch and proceeded to give them the grand tour of Blazing Bear Homestead.  They checked out each room of the house, spent some time in the playset turned goat run, tested out the bridge the kids made for them, met Carson and the horses.  It went very smoothly and they took it all in stride.

We're so glad to have them home.  They are so much fun to watch: goat parkour!  They're also very snuggly and affectionate, and they both have their own personalities.  Danuwa is fearless and smart, definitely a go-getter.  Little Sade is observant and more careful, and definitely more vocal.

I've already taken a million pictures of them because they're always doing something cute!  Videos will come soon.  Welcome home babies!

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Just a picture of the catkins on a fallen Birch

 

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Shop Update: Birch Bark

 

Our brand new, little tiny baby Etsy shop has started making sales!  In the last week my favorite curly Birch branch and a whole bunch of bark have gone out the door to their new homes.  It's so exciting to see that there are other people who see the beauty in these things that Mother Nature has provided.  

Crossing fingers the buyers will share what they create with them. My mind races with all the crafty possibilities!

I got a few more listings put up yesterday, check those out here.  There's a pile of materials I picked up this Winter that I still need to go through, photography, and list; so keep checking back if you need some beautiful, natural materials.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

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CBD and Stinging Nettle Leaf Tincture is a win

 For my first tincture I knew I wanted CBD for all its wonderful attributes, and I decided to combine it with nettle to assist with inflammation and those wonderful antioxidants.  Plus, they're what I had handy!

Here she is on day one, just after shaking it all up.  It's been about 7 weeks so I ordered some dropper bottles for this green goodness to be filtered into.  I'll be back to share those when they're done.

I can't wait to test it out!  The finished tincture will be up for sale in our Etsy shop.

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Carson the Rescue Dog- A Day in the Snow

 A photographic ode to our little dude, Carson.  We adopted him from Happily Ever After, whom we highly recommend working with.  They got him from the humane society in Madison after he was on the loose for a couple of weeks, and was brought in by a lady that found him sitting in the back of her car; ready to go for a ride.  

Happily Ever After had him for almost a year, and we just can't figure out how he got passed up for that long.  He's amazing!  Sure he has a few quirks, but he has many many MANY more awesome qualities.  

He's about 10 years old and full of life.  Besides being so irresistibly cute and derpy, he reminds me to let go of the past and live in the moment!

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when we had gorgeous fluffy snow clinging to every bough and beam.  Carson is in doggie heaven sniffing around in the woods and playing with sticks!

"Let's see what there is to smell today"

"I LOVE THIS STICK!"

"There's critters in there, Mom"

"Look it's right there!"

"So fast... faster than a bunny"

"Maybe if I LEAP into the snow"

"Dang... lost 'em"

"Not sure if it's easier to sniff around with all this snow"

"I wonder what she means by 'handsome'"

"Lucy!  Check out this big stick I caught!"

" Okay, Mrs. Mother Bear... time to go in!"

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Clearing our overgrown forest with horses

{VIDEO} Coda the Mustang on opening day of the forest enclosure, he tries to plow right through it!

Mr. Honeybear and I moved to our little piece of paradise at the end of September 2020 and we are just madly in love with this place.  We loved it from the first time we saw it.  It's a peaceful haven away from the pollution and population of the city and presents so much potential, we went to working on it right away!  

We have nearly 3 acres and about 2 of those are entirely overgrown forest and scrub.  Now we actually love this about our homestead because it feels so private and wild, but we need some of the space the scrub is taking up for other things.  In Fall and early Winter we worked on clearing the brush and small trees from around the horse shelter and cutting an ATV trail through the woods.  We reinforced the horse shelter, which wasn't a horse shelter at all when we started working on it (more on that in another post in the future), mulched tons of saplings and scrub, created our first compost pile, went over and over the new horse pasture area with magnets, put fencing up, stacked hay, picked up lots of random trash, and learned how expensive natural gas is. :)

At first we had a pretty small area of the yard fenced off for the horses, which was fine.  But they weren't really earning their keep and we just can't possibly clear out a big section of the woods with our puny human hands over the Winter.  So what can we do to speed up the process?  What could the horses be doing to help?  How do I give them more space to roam?  Inspiration struck so I went to the internet to see if I could find these ideas in action.  This is what I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF5EtXnNuWk  

If you take a look at that video you'll see Pa Mac clearing his forests with the help of his animal friends.  He has goats, pigs, and cows... but I'm going to do this with my two horses over the winter, and add goats this Spring.  

Look at those two cuties!  Coda and Sassy love to help take the hay off the 4-wheeler.

Early days of the project, it's getting easier to see the horses through the trees.

I'm pretty sure the horses are going to have a complex about bird nests from now on... but I like to get the hay up off the ground and slow them down from eating it too fast by spreading small handfuls ALL over the place.  As they trampl trails and clear space I keep pushing further into the woods.  I'll drive the 4-wheeler as far as I can, sometimes using my handy folding saw to cut down some small saplings, spread the hay, and repeat the following day.  Nick comes out to cut down larger dead trees every other week or so.

I'm hoping that the hay that is left on the ground and the horse manure will help the ground become a more enriched environment.  Hopefully we can get some grass and ground covers to grow in there.

This machine sure makes life a whole lot easier!

Coda having his (very small) lunch.

Carson the Rescue Dog is trying to do his part.  :)

The days are getting warmer and the snow is slowly melting away... the sun is poking out and warming us up.  We can't wait to see how things will have changed when Spring is in full swing!  And gosh dang if I'm not SUPER excited to get some goats on the homestead!

I'll be moving a corner of the fencing back soon to prepare for the start of a small food forest, and expanding in another area to clear another section of forest.  Hopefully this works!

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Wordless Wednesday

 

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It's only February but we are starting seeds in Wisconsin

 Hello internet!  I hope you will welcome Blazing Bear Homestead into the world, just as we're welcoming our first brave seedlings.  

Mr. Honey Bear and I are taking steps to build a homestead that is as sustainable and off-grid as we can get it.  My current focus is learning how to get plants to grow!

Check out this short clip we made to show off some of our new plant babies:

Is anyone else growing food, herbs, and flowers right in their house?  I need some ideas on how to make them all fit.  You can't have just one- ya know?

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Wordless Wednesday

 

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