It's official.....

We are farm owners! As long as a farm can be just land and animals, and in my world, it can be.

Last week we finalized the purchase of 108 lovely, rolling, potential-filled acres in Greenwood, South Carolina. As part of the closing, we also acquired 7 goats of unknown origin and sex, 2 donkeys and one very protective mule. Here's a picture of the mule with my children, Colin (9) and Annaliese (5).






After one week of visiting the farm, it is obvious that my animal-innocent children are going to get
quite an education. The first time our mule, Licorice, proudly displayed his very long male appendage, my children literally fell on the ground laughing. Truth be told, it did unexpectedly appear out of nowhere. Thankfully Annaliese has a brother and is a somewhat familiar with what a boy has in his private area, but the shock was evident on all of our faces. Who knew??? I sure didn't. Licorice did clear up however whether he was a boy or a girl. Definitely a boy. One down...nine to go.




Here are our two adorable donkeys. The white-faced boy is Cookie (yes, another boy.. not quite as impressive as the mule but don't tell him I said that!) and the brown girl behind him (Licorice just will not let her come to the fence) is Brownie. We never knew how sweet-faced donkeys are or how much they resemble reindeer. Next year's Christmas card picture is beginning to formulate in my farm-focused mind.... Hopefully by next holiday season, one of them will let us close enough to put antlers on them.




Ahhh... now here are a few of the goats. We have seven of them which, of course, led to their names: Grumpy, Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful and Doc. What else do you name seven goats? That's Grumpy in the middle of the picture. Grumpy is the dominant one for sure and, along with Doc, rules that pasture. My husband, Farmer Cole, used his extensive "veterinary" knowledge to diagnose Grumpy as pregnant. After searching on the internet and having the online Goat Lady send me pictures of what a male and female goat looks like from the back, sadly I am still not sure if these are boys or girls. The pictures didn't look all that different from each other despite her assurances that "it will be easy to see" which is which. I beg to differ, Goat Lady. The boy has a big, round sac back there and the girl has a big, round sac back there. None of them have let me close enough to actually examine for teats, udders or the unmentionables of the male. So, we have seven goats, some boys and some girls. With more to come if Dr. Cole is correct.

We invite you to join us on our farm journey. Over the next year we will be building our home, getting a barn, and making a lot of mistakes. My hope is that we will also make a lot of memories. And if you are in the area, come see us at Sugar Hill Farm.