As you saw in a previous post Jason started construction on new housing for the World’s Cutest Fainting Goats a couple of weeks ago. Jason made sure the engineering was top notch and proudly told me as he was showing me the finished product that it could stand up to a hurricane. I told him that was great. What I didn’t say was that we don’t get hurricanes in Tennessee but I figured why ruin the moment. You may remember this conversation from that previous post as I attempted

It has been awhile since I posted any pictures of Jason looking miserable while dealing with a plumbing problem. Those pictures are always so charming, usually involving Jason standing in muddy water looking distinctly unhappy. A few days ago I had an opportunity to update my folder of pictures where Jason is standing in muddy water while repairing a plumbing issue. This picture is so deja vue – Jason in his rubber boots standing in muddy water Jason was most unhappy when I

I’m not sure if I even want to know what our goats think of these days. To say that we have had some interesting interactions with them would be an understatement. More accurately I should say that Jason has had some interesting interactions with the goats. In the last several weeks we have more rain than I ever remember us having in the months of July and August. Some days we only had a couple of light rain showers. Other days we had rain showers that would best be described

This past weekend was very wet. The skies opened up on Friday night and by Sunday we had accumulated nearly five inches of rain across the area. As a result the ground on Monday was far too wet to accomplish anything productive in the fields although there is plenty of work to do. What I did to fill my “spare” time between chores on Monday was go equipment shopping. Like a good husband I told Melissa what I was doing before I went, too. Even better, I took Carter with me for

Jason asked if he could have the camera for awhile today. I handed it to him thinking two things. My first thought was how nice it was of him to help me take some pictures of the horses for the blog. That is a daunting task to keep up with and I was really appreciative of the help. My second thought, which I verbalized to him, was that the lens on the camera was not retracting correctly when the camera was turned off. I told him to expect it and not to be surprised when the l

Jason has enjoyed being back to work the last week and a half. Yesterday he was on the tractor working away at turning and spreading compost piles. Things were moving along and the work was getting done until suddenly . . . it wasn’t. Jason said he didn’t quite know what happened but he had a serious “WTF” moment as he pressed down on the clutch and nothing happened. What should have happened was the tractor should have stopped. Instead the tractor just kept going full st

Whenever I am compelled by necessity to touch Melissa’s computer, no matter how easy or simple the task may be I somehow manage to screw it up beyond reason. Yesterday Melissa asked me to do the payroll. Since we have a grand total of two employees completing the required forms should have taken no more than a few minutes. It took me the better part of six hours (Melissa here – and about a bazillion phone calls to me as well). About midway through yesterday’s operation the co

I that is the mare’s run-in shed in the background and another load being dumped in the spreader George and Asterik Lighty, Alex, Darby and B-Rad Silver and Faune Rocky, Toledo and Kennedy I had to really study this for a minute before I knew who this was – Romeo Thomas and Grand Stormy and Clayton #jason #sillyfarmstories

We had another beautiful day today. After the rain we had on Wednesday the ground and soil conditions were perfect for spreading and harrowing in grass seed. Nothing could have made Jason happier. The entire time he was on the tractor he looked as happy as a kid in a toy store. When he would take a break to refill with grass seed he was happily babbling on about the perfect soil conditions and the smells of spring. “Do you smell the soil? Doesn’t it smell perfect?” He

In my opinion, a good farmer needs a junk pile and some old broken down equipment in exactly the same way that a politician needs an audience. But Melissa didn’t agree with me, at least until recently. A few years ago, I brought home a 6 ton V-box grain wagon on an extremely old and worn out running gear. The tires were so old and so flat that they actually flaked away entirely over the mile I towed it along behind my truck. What little rubber was left made some really nice p

Jason has put in more than his fair share of hours on the tractor the last few days. He was complaining about the uncomfortable seat on the tractor (I will admit it does need to be replaced) and that he was tired of bouncing around on it through the fields. We had to make a run to the co-op for a few supplies so we went into the nearest store to see if they might have any seat cushions. The nearest store happened to be a Dollar General. I have to admit I’ve never been in a Do

(post by Jason) In a lot of ways we run a pretty unique horse boarding operation. Unlike most barns, we make much of our own hay and we feed several hundred round bales during our short winter. There are as many thoughts on feeding hay as there are on making it and believe me when I say that many books have been written on this topic. Below are a few thoughts of my own on tending grass and making hay. 1. Grasses and legumes are mostly water when they are very young. For a few

(post by Jason) Melissa and I have been doing a bunch of thinking about what the next barn at the new farm needs to look like and be able to do. As most of you know, we’ve already built one fully functional horse barn at the new farm. The question at this point is do we need another fully functional horse barn, just like the one we already built, or would another type of structure suit our purposes better ? In many ways that count, I like our horse barn. It was designed to ma

As I was sitting here uploading pictures and wondering what I would write for this blog post, my thoughts wandered in a very non-horse related direction. I started musing about life with Jason, and I came to the conclusion that life would be very boring without him. This afternoon I found him happily Tony, Levendi, Homer and Baby Chimano and Silver often like to “horse around” while they wait for breakfast #jason #offthefarm

(post by Jason) Actually, no, not so much. If there is one statement that we regularly run across in our business that is likely to set either Melissa or me off on an unexpectedly long winded tirade, it the the title statement to this post. I don’t mind answering the question when the asker doesn’t have the background to know what they are saying, but surprisingly to me I occasionally hear this comment from someone in the business. To everyone else, please believe me when I s

Our wonderful vet from Tennessee Equine Hospital was at the farm today. He was looking around and commenting, as he often does, that when he thinks of the perfect life for a horse our set up is what he thinks of. It is always nice to hear these things from your vet! As he continued looking around and enjoying the view he noticed a broken fence board. This is pretty out of character for us so he commented on it. The broken board was in a section of fenceline that separates a p

Everybody please join me in wishing Jason a happy birthday! Today he is another year older and (at least in theory) wiser. Happy Birthday Jason!! After a birthday dinner at Ruth’s Chris we went to Barnes & Noble so I could purchase Jason’s birthday present – a Tiny and Johnny Toledo and Rocky #jason #miracle

It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and again I have a truly bright idea, and today was such a day. It’s been my experience that the right thing to do when such an idea pops into my head is act on it right away, so I threw the schedule out the window and stopped by Gigi’s Cupcakes on my way home from our Lynnville farm to pick up a half dozen treats for Melissa. For those who are unfamiliar with the cupcake store concept, Gigi’s is a *very* feminine place; everything

To continue on with our Calm, Forward, Straight – a fun blog about a re-rider learning dressage with her off the track thoroughbred Boyd & Silva Martin – Boyd Martin is an eventer who represented the United States at the World Equestrian Games and his wife Silva is a Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer The Jumping Percheron – another self explanatory blog title! Saddle Fitting – The Inside Journey – great blog with self explanatory title Sinead Halpin – another internationa

Since Jason doesn’t have enough Faune, Asterik, Winston and Sebastian Tony was staring hard at something #goats #jason