Zip A De Do Da

THE BARN

This is the barn...I have many interesting stories of all the animals we have raised and tended to. It was a truly amazing time in my life.

Adopt a Kitty

No barn would be complete without its barn cats. This is Midnight. She is seven years old. She is one of a long line of barn cats, which were living in the barn long before we moved into our house. The cats are an integral part of the barn family as they are needed to keep mice and rats out of the barn, especially out of the hay and straw lofts and the feed barrels. Most of our cats have either been all black or all grey.

The First Animal

We moved to a little farm in a small town in south central PA in August of 1981, a month before our daughter, Melissa's, first birthday. We had a large party, inviting family, friends, and new neighbors. While enjoying the festivities, the man who lived in the farm across the road, said, "If you can catch that wild pony, it can be your daughter's." So, my husband and four other men, went off to the field after this little, brown, swift colt. The rest of us sat on the lawn in front of our new house and watched the chase. And a chase it was! We laughed and we roared and cheered. After about an hour, the men succeeded. The pony came home to our barn, becoming its first resident. Melissa's maternal grandmother named the pony, the same as that of President Kennedy's daughter, Caroline. We called it...Macaroni!

Company for Macaroni

The next couple of animals we purchased were horses for the adults. An old quarter horse by the name of Cheyenne was a great old guy for all to ride. His color was chocolate brown. He was very gentle and easy to manage and always came to you. We also purchased an Appaloosa, named Nikki. She was so beautiful and also gentle with children. She was mostly white with the spots on her hind quarters. She required a more experienced rider. Family and friends came every weekend to ride and or be led around on the horses or pony.

Cattle

A hereford steer which we named Mac-a-mire and a black angus heifer which we named Molly were purchased at an auction in a nearby town just south of the mason dixon line. They were just two little calves when we brought them home to the barn. They required much care. They needed to be bottle fed. The best way for this to succeed is to get the bottle where they can suck from it and still not buck the bottle into your body. Must be something natural for the calf to do. But it hurts if you do not have the bottle anchored in a place where they cannot jam the bottle into you! Mixing the formula was fun as was feeding them. Family and friends loved to bottle feed the calves. As they got bigger, they were allowed to venture outside into the paddock and later on they had the entire pasture with pond to their disposal. Calves love to suck your fingers. They have long rough tongues. Their coat is neither soft nor rough, it is sort of corse and smooth. When you first take them from their mother, they moo and moo all night long. They wag their tails like a dog, except they can swat flies on their back with their tails! They were great additions to our growing barn family. Molly was rather fiesty and down right crazy at times. She was very high strung, which seems to be indicative of the breed. Mac-a-mire on the other hand was so gentle and loveable.

From The Faerie Festival

Pigs

Shortly after our son was born, a neighboring farmer started giving us runt piglets. These piglets were the smallest born in the litter and usually didn't make it. They would stay in the house during the first couple of weeks. They stayed in boxes with straw in them. They would nestle up to our toddlers and sleep with them. It was such a cute site to see the little piglets laying across the wee ones tummies. Well my husband nursed two of them to become full-grown animals. The first had broken hind quarters. I remember he felt the mother probably stepped on it or rolled over on it. This is very common during the births. He made splints for the little girl. Everyday he would exercise with her like a therapist would. He patiently and gently stood her up and would move the hind legs for her. A little more and more every day he did this with the piglet. Eventually the tiny soft pink-colored animal could walk on her own. Melissa named her "Porky". And pigs do not oink they grunt a nasally deep sound, sorta like one snore two times in succession. And they have hair on their bodies, short and bristley, like a brush. Our pigs were pink in color. They were Yorkshires. The ears are distinctive on pigs. And yes they are very intelligent clean animals. They do not like to wallow in filth. The second little piglet to survive was named Oscar. He was blind in one eye. He was so cute and cuddly. He would always run around with his head cocked to one side. He and Porky made the barn a happier place to be with yet another sound to add to the music of our barn!

SUNNY-SIDE-UP

Chickens

An old farm house down the road from us was reposessed by the bank. The family who lived there for a short time...truly lived there for a short time. The moved out during the night. They left the animals to fend for themselves. A neighbor and I contacted the bank and we took the abandoned animals. My neighbor took the turkey and guinea pigs. I took ownership of the chickens. It was hilarious trying to capture these feathered beauties who were so hungry and thirsty. The rooster was black with beautiful long tail feathers. The hens were various colors and markings. My husband set up the feeder which hung and still does like a pendulum in the center of the coop. The feeder is round. He fastened tightly the nesting boxes to the wall. These little homes are where the hens set to lay their eggs. My husband also set up a water source for them. The chickens were strange to this city girl. They were very noisy creatures with all their cackling and scratching. The rooster was the best of all. Every morning like clock work he crows. It is a lot of fun to try to immitate the chickens sound. I have always found the coop to be a great place to sit and think. The chickens hate to love the color red. Bulls really do not see color. But chickens recognize and peck at the color red. The rooster will flog you, that is he will fly right into your thighs. And the bird is strong. It hurts. So it is usually a good idea not to have red nail polish on your toes or finger nails when entering a chicken house or for that matter red anything!. And the rooster does become possessive of his hens. A rule of thumb would be to always keep your good eye on him! Collecting eggs is a joy of a chore. Cleaning them is another story....and not as much fun. The chickens are friendly birds. Their legs are long and their knees bend backwards. My father purchased a chicken for us a fancy chicken or a Polish as it is known...the bird has a black pompadore on its head and black and gold feathers in a diamond pattern. It also has blue legs and it grows horns. My daddy named it after my husband. Needless to say, as lady luck would have it, Mario turned out to be a Maria! Many chickens have come and gone. To this day, we still have fresh brown and white eggs and the familiar sound of the cackling hen!

Ducks

With the land came the ducks. We had white ducks who seemed to have adopted our barn and pond. They were so dear and would waddle around the house and the land to and from the barn and pond. They enjoyed their freedom and were fun to watch as they glided across the water and dove for food. Every year we have mallards which come to our pond and nest somewhere in our field in the tall grasses. They have their young and are gone till next time. They too are fun to watch as they lead the little ducklings to the water to teach them how to survive. The white ducks seem to attract the fox. And he is a sly one.

Goats

Our son was allergic to cow's milk, so we decided to purchase a goat. Goat's milk is easier to digest. We picked Rosemere up on a Friday evening. She was a Nubian. The breed has long floppy ears. She was chocolate brown in color with gray highlights around the ears and face. My husband received a call later that night, he was needed to work Saturday. So guess who got the priviledge of milking the goat for the first time? You guessed it...me! Well I had to remember all I was told about this farm chore, being born and raised in two big cities this was not an everyday experience for me. I tied the goat up outside the barn. I put a little stool behind her where I sat to begin my task. I placed a medium sized bucket under her udders. I began to milk her, stroking the udder down, relaxing the goat for the process or could it have been me. After this warming up effect, I began to squeeze the tit, rolling each finger into a forming of a fist in order to begin the squeeze which would eventually release the milk from the udder. After several over the shoulder looks from Rosemere, the milk began to flow. I was really nervous and the goat sensed this. Every time I would get about an inch of milk in the bucket she would kick it over. She would then turn around and look at me with those big brown eyes with the knowledge that she had gotten the better of me again. Well I remember what my hubby had said about what to do this a stubborn or unco-operative animal. I hauled off and whacked her on her hind quarter. We came at that moment to a mutual understanding. I won and I milked my first goat, walking away with a full bucket of milk. Rosemere and I became good friends. She enjoyed coffee as much as I do in the mornings. I used to bring her out a cup so I could drink mine in peace. Within a week, we had company for our new barn family member. Another all white female "maa maa" sounding goat, whom we named Snowball, for she was all white! Both females went on to have kids. Rosemere had triplets. I got to help our vet deliver them. What a chore birthing is.... Snowball had only one kid. Richard by the following spring when the goats were born could walk. He made the fatal mistake of running into the pen to chase Snowball's newborn and she bucked him clear across the stall. Both mothers and kids survived. But, our son at an early age learned to watch your back around the barn animals, for their actions are not always expected.

Rabbits

During the summer we attended many area carnivals. The children and grandparents alike enjoyed this new founded activity. Pop-Pop purchased his grandaughter her first bunny, whom he named Patches. I truly do believe sales persons see my father coming....for Patches was to be a male....not only was Patches not a male but within one week, Patches had a litter. We had five more bunnies. Quickly the old farm boy, my husband made a shoe box type of nesting area for the rabbit and her young My husband then proceed to build little stalls with the stall so once they were old enough, each could have his or her own home. We had many rabbits for years to come, many shapes sizes colors and breeds. Lopped-eared bunnies were are favorites. BB Bunny just recently passed away. He was a red lop-eared bunny. My daughter raised him. And we all took care of him well into her teen years. He lived a very long life for a rabbit:

The Next Generations THE HORSES: Nikki was bread and had a foal, a filly. We purchased another pony, a Shetland, whom we named Strawberry Shortcake. We purchased another, a stalion. We had him gelded. He was a great horse to ride. During a bad winter storm, my husband could not get home. I had to tend to the animals in the barn. I failed to remember that horses spook easily. I was putting the hose into his stall to give him fresh water and as I squeezed the trigger, he reared up and caught the side of my face with his head. I saw stars and now know what the expression means. He cracked my cheek bone. Another pony was purchased as the children began to ride on their own and jump. This was a Welsh pony, her name was Annie. We had a cart, which the Shetland could pull and take us all for a ride!
THE CATTLE: Our herd grew. We next purchased a pure bred hereferd, which we named Effie. She was a delightful heifer. Next we bought (from an farm auction) a cow and her calf. We called them Rosie and Josie! Well as fate would have it Effie produced three more and Rosie as well and Josie one. At one given time we had 9 in our herd. Every two years we buy two calves to raise for butcher. The births of the calves has been most memorable to me. Some were born out in the pasture, others in our barn with the help of my husband and neighboring farmers. Not all births are easy. One in particular comes to mind. Her name was Backwards, for she was a breech birth. It took 3 grown men and a pulley to bring her into this world. I can still hear myself at all the barn births exclaiming "push"! When they are born calves are enveloped in this goo type film. The mother licks them to their feet, literally. It is amazing to watch. We all love to watch them snuggle and nurse, whether it is for the first time or the 50th. It is a nice secure farm thing!
The springtime is wonderful in the spring...all the newborn animals in the fields and in the barn! Makes for a nice country drive on a weekend.
THE PIGS: Porky went on to have 11 piglets, 9 of whom survived the birth. It took over 24 hours for all the piglets to be born. In the stall in the back part of the barn, centered between the chicken pen and the cattle pen was were the little ones came into the world. The whole barn was buzzing with activity, for all knew something special was going to happen. And it did! We placed our own little ones under the heat lamp along with the newborn piglets as they came out. Pigs are born in a manner simmiliar to popcorn coming out of a machine, only the popcorn takes several minutes and the piglets take many, many hours. After birth they struggle to their feet to make it to the mothers teet to nurse. At this time you have to take special care to make sure the mother does not roll over on one or step on one with her foot. It was so precious to see Porky's babies with our own under the heat lamp in the corner of the stall.
THE DUCKS: We have had many a flock of ducks not to mention geese over the years. They sorta come and go and change with the seasons. Our favortie duck just appeared one year and kept coming back and back till he finally stayed. His name was Pretty Boy! And he could catch bread in his beak like a dog, even better. He was a clever male duck. He could also eat right out of your hand, but his beak was sharp. He brought a spotted one home with him one year. We named him Freckles. Our old dog Whiskers protected the ducks from the fox. When he passed away two Christmas ago, the fox came in and the ducks were gone in a matter of weeks. But the Mallards still come every spring.....
THE RABBITS: My daughter with help from a neighbor lady, went on to raise rabbits for awhile. They would sell them after they reached a certain age and weight. The male rabbit we kept for breeding, was a character. He used to make the whole barn family stand up and take notice with his scream of passion. Studly, as we called him was a sweet but rather noisy bunny. One never thinks of a rabbit uttering a sound.
THE GOATS: We continued on with our goats till Richard's system could learn to tolerate cow's milk, which it did. We had several years of fun with our goats and milking them. After you milk a goat you bring the bucket into the house and strain it through a cloth into a bottle or milk jug for drinking to rid it of hair or debris. The goats were so friendly, family and friends loved our goats.
THE CHICKENS: We still have chickens today! They are our only barn animal now except for the cats. The chickens have been moved to the front of the barn. And we no longer have a rooster. The last one was so mean. We sold him and never got another. We still gather our eggs daily and enjoy the sounds of our feathered friends. One winter our chickens had a new rather funny looking roommate. He was a turkey, a wild turkey. My husband found him starving to death at a quarry where he was working at the time. He, the turkey was hiding in the Uke a large piece of construction equipment. He was scared and hungry. My husband locked him in the Uke and threw a sack over him and brought him home. A new sound to the barn. You should hear the strange sound like a fan or a motor starting up that this animal can produce when fear is within them. They have a magnificent tail, which they vainly open. I like the beard. To hunters, the size of the beard is a prize like the rack of a deer. The beard is located on the chest below its long neck. My husband gave the turkey to a farm which raises them for the wild.

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"All Animals are Equal But some animals are more equal than others."--George Orwell

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