New Postcards

We received two postcards in the mail today. One from Iowa and one from Pennsylvania and both state map cards.


The third litter of Chinchilla rabbit kits are finally leaving the nest box to eat pellets.  They are very cute.  There are 6 Chinchilla colored ones and 2 black frosted ones like their mother.  I have offered one kit from this litter as the raffle prize for the 4-H event this coming Saturday.

Today I also did the Ivomec injections on the alpaca girls.

Kids and Chicks

Went down to the feed store this morning to pick up new day old chicks.  They get thier chicks straight run (which means they are unsexed) and all the breeds in one big pen.  I picked up 16 chicks in hopes that at least 50% will be hens for future egg layers.  I think I have 2 Barred Rocks, 3 Rhode Island Reds, 10 Americana (Easter Eggers) and one unkown (could be an odd colored RIR or maybe a plain looking Americana).

McKayla just loves babies and must hold them!

Had a great family stop by tonight to see our Nigerian Dwarf goat kids. They visited with the kids and decided to take our doeling and one of the bucklings as a whether.

I will be disbudding them this weekend and will then get them started on bottle feeding. The new owners will be picking them up next weekend.

New Postcard

Got a postcard today from Maine... my home state!

Taylor had her 16 month well check exam at the doctor's this afternoon. She is growing well.

Postcard Trading

The kids and I have started something new lately. We are trading postcards to learn about other parts of the world. We are trading within the US for State map cards, state bird, flag, flower, animal, scenic views and more. We are also wanting to trade internationally to learn about other countries too.

So far we have received state map cards from New Hampshire and Arizona. We also have a Washington State card of the World's Longest Beach.

Some of the places we have found to trade cards are:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/postcardkids/
http://www.postcrossing.com/
http://www.swap-bot.com/

If you would like to trade cards with us just leave me a comment! We have several different cards we can trade from North Carolina.

Southern Shrimp and Grits

I made a new recipe today... Southern Shrimp and Grits.

Neil often orders this when he is eating out when at work.  I wanted to offer him the same experience here at home.  He told me that he really likes the version he has had at Fatz Cafe.  Fatz is a true Southern restuarant chain.  I searched online and happily found their Edisto Shrimp and Grits recipe online.  This came out so good!  I will be making this again for sure.

Edisto Shrimp:

30 pieces jumbo shrimp
12 oz. popcorn shrimp
12 oz. Parmesan cheese
6 oz. bacon bits (warm)

Burgundy Gravy:
¾ cup sliced mushrooms
½ oz. lemon juice
1 oz. diced yellow onions
2 oz. Golden Award or other liquid butter (I used melted butter)
4 oz. Burgundy wine
2 oz. Trio Brown Gravy dry mix (I used beef boulion paste)
drop of garlic-seasoned olive oil
dash of salt
dash of cayenne pepper

Stone-Ground Cheese Grits:
2 cups white stone-ground grits
1 quart water
1 quart milk
2 Tbsp. chicken base
1½ cups mixed Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheese (I used all cheddar)
1⁄8 cup butter blend

For stone-ground cheese grits: Bring water and milk to a boil. Add grits, mixed cheese and chicken base. Simmer for 30 minutes. After 20 minutes of simmering, add butter and stir well. Cook for remaining 10 minutes.

For Burgundy gravy: In a pot add Golden Award (liquid butter), onions, mushrooms, wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add salt, garlic and cayenne; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. In separate pot, mix dry brown gravy mix and hot water according to instructions on package. Add gravy mix to mushroom-wine mixture and cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes.

For Edisto Shrimp: Lightly sprinkle jumbo and popcorn shrimp with blackening seasonings and cook on a flat top. (Follow proper blackening procedures.) Place 8 oz. cooked stone-ground cheese grits into bowl; place 5 jumbo shrimp in a circle along outer rim and 2 oz. popcorn shrimp down middle. Add about 3 oz. of gravy, drizzling over entire dish. Sprinkle 1 oz. bacon bits on top and garnish with 2 oz. Parmesan cheese.

Annual Alpaca Shearing

Today was the day we had our alpacas sheared. For the third year in a row we have hired the same professional shearers. And the for third year in a row we worked together with two other local alpaca farms to get all of our animals done in one day.

We started at 7 am at David Rosin's farm in Timberlake, NC with 15 alpacas. Next we came to our farm to shear our 12 alpaca and our llama. Finally, we ended up around 4 pm at David St.Laurent's farm in Virgilina, VA where we did 19 alpaca. 47 total in all!

Here are a few start to finish photos....

This entire process takes less then 4-5 minutes per animal! These guys are good and fast!

First 4-H Club Meeting

I have been waiting for a long time for McKayla to turn 5 years old so both older kids would be old enough to participate in 4-H Club. It has taken a while to get connected to a club here in Person County but we finally did. Tonight was the first meeting since we got assigned to the Ellette Rangers 4-H Club.

Most of the meeting was discussion on an event coming up next week, "Family-A-Fair", that the club will be hosting a information table at. The kids and I promised some baked goods and crafts to sell as fundraising at the event. We also donated one of our chinchila rabbit kits for an auction prize.