Category Archives: Animal Husbandry

March 10, 2015 · 7:00 am

A Day in the Life in La Yacata

Welcome to the March 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Day in the Life This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have given us a special glimpse into their everyday. ***

Our life has a regular rhythm that often depends on the seasons or current employment status. In the rainy season, our life revolved around planting, while in the dry season it centers around the harvest. The employment status of my husband, myself and 12-year-old son, also varies. When there is work available, we work, when there isn’t, well, we make do.

Sunday afternoon

Sunday activities are the most consistent year-round and little affected by our work schedules. I often get asked about what we do living off-grid in the middle of nowhere in central Mexico. I have to say, there is never a dull moment around here! We get up with the sun on Sunday morning and have our coffee. Right now, we have a plethora of little chivitos (kids) that are enjoying our organic raw goat’s milk, so we take the coffee black more often than not. (See Birth and Death).

Helping Princess stay still so that littler Princess can chow down.

After breakfast, the animals are attended to. (See Old MacDonald’s Farm) Our current collection of horses, chickens, rabbits, cats, goats, turkeys, sheep, donkey, cow and dog are fed and watered, and any issues that need to be addressed are done so at this time. For example, this Saturday our youngest goat, Princess, had her first baby. She has been having a bit of a problem adjusting to her new role as a mother when just on Friday she was a carefree youngster. So we have been assisting with her learning curve a bit. Princess gets a little extra corn to increase milk production and a little help in remembering to stay put so her littler princess can have some breakfast. We expect to only have to assist a day or so more.

Doing the wash at the community laundry mat.

After that, we gather the laundry together and head to Quirahoyo to do the wash. (See After Ecstasy the Laundry) Many hands make the work light, so we each set up at our own washboard. This Sunday, a local elderly woman was there with her broom and rake, clearing up the place. She was complaining about the amount of trash, which was considerable. As we leave no trash, our consciences were clean in that regard. My husband gave her a hand with the raking. In gratitude, she lit the pile of trash with her cigarette before we had finished washing, and we finished up with smoke in our eyes and a cough in our throats.

No electricity = no dryer

We headed home to hang the clothes for drying. About this time, we start to get a little hungry. Sometimes we go for a plate of birriria ( goat broth) or head to Cerano for some carnitas de res (fried beef) (See Failing at your own business–Tianguis) but this last Sunday we stayed home and had leftovers. Remember, no refrigeration means food is eaten promptly. Of course, with a pre-teen in the house, leftovers are not much of a problem.

Attending to the needs of property owners in La Yacata.

Just as we finished, we had visitors. A couple that owned lots in La Yacata came to see if we could help them locate the lots and if we knew anyone who would be interested in buying them. My husband went with them to mark the lots with cal (chalk). Even though we tried to pass our positions in the mesa directiva (community group) last November (See Trying to Bow Out of the Yacata Revolution) colonos (residents) still come to us when there is an issue with their lot.

Goalie boy!

Then it’s time for our son’s soccer game. He has become quite the enthusiast, even playing goalie on two teams right now with a third school team in the works. Today’s game was close, 6 to 5, but they came out victorious which puts this team in the semi-finals.

Enchilada ingredients

We stopped for an ice cream treat and picked up tortillas, vegetables, and cheese for enchiladas. While my husband prepared them, he is, after all, the authentic Mexican around here, my son and I did some general straightening up around the house. During the week, we often are pressed for time, and things can get disordered if we don’t stay on top of things.

Enchiladas!

After we had eaten, it was time to take the goats and horses out for their daily romp. There isn’t much in the way of food during the dry season for the animals, but they enjoy their time out and about anyway. We are only taking the adults out right now, at least until this mob of babies is just a little bit older. The kids don’t mind the unsupervised recess time either and frolic about like, well, kids in the enclosed space set aside for them.

Everybody enjoys grazing time!

This afternoon, since there was a wee bit of rain last night, my husband harnessed Fiona up to test the soil. It turned out to be still too dry, so she and the horses spent the afternoon grazing in the field instead.

Taking a turn at the plow.

After everybody is back in, it’s siesta time. My son and I often use this time to read. My husband likes to use this time to dream with or about the animals. He builds his stables in the air so to speak while listening to the radio outside. It’s a quiet time of day.

Feeding time

Once the heat of the day has passed, we start with the evening chores. The animals need to be fed and watered. The clothes need to be brought in and put away. Things need to be readied up for Monday morning and the work week. We eat dinner or have snacks if we like. Once it is dark, we plug our DVD player into the AC/DC adapter in the truck and watch a movie, a nice reward for our long day. Morning comes early after all!

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

A Day as Mama and Data Manager — Becca at The Earthling’s Handbook explains what she actually does as data manager of a social science research study, as well as Mama to a baby and a fourth-grader.
Pictures of a Day — A photo montage of a typical day in the life of Life Breath Present! You can see how she wakes up and spends her time in quiet, to Baby Boy sleeping at dinner, making natural products, and so much more!
Escaping a Mekong cityscape for a slice of rural life — It’s often necessary for Nathalie of Kampuchea Crossings to escape the heady concrete jungle that Phnom Penh is rapidly becoming, for the calmer environment of rural life.
Community-schooling — Dionna at Code Name: Mama and her family don’t *home*school, they *community* school!
A day in the Life in La Yacata — Read how Survivor and her family at Surviving Mexico Adventures and Disasters spend their Sundays off-grid in rural central Mexico.
Day in the Life of the Cole Family — Stoneageparent details the everyday life of her family through twelve photos taken over twelve hours
The Days Are Just Packed — Holly at Leaves of Lavender talks about the beauty and simplicity of daily life with a toddler.
A Day In The Life of a Heavily Pregnant Naturally Parenting Mama — At 37 weeks pregnant, Sam Vickery of Love Parenting shares her current reality as she naturally parents her four-year-old and awaits her sweet baby.
My Life in Pictures on a Random Day — Donna at Eco-Mothering captures a random winter day in Rhode Island through a series of snapshots. What seemed boring at first made her smile in the end.
How One Book Inspired Our Whole Day: A Day in the Life — How to plan the whole day with a toddler after reading one book together from Rachael at B is for Bookworm.
A day in the life of an unschooling, work-at-home family — Lauren at Hobo Mama shares a picture journey through a typical day with three little homeschooling boys.
Day in the Life of a Toddler — From mess making to cleaning up to trying new things, All Natural Katie shows the life of a toddler.
Things I have done today (and every other day for the past seven years) — Marija Smits shares what a ‘normal’ day looks like in her crazy world of kids, writing, creativity and household chores!
Just Another Wednesday — Lactating Girl at The Adventures of Lactating Girl shares a glimpse into a typical Wednesday in her family’s life.
Day in the Life — Dr Sarah at Good Enough Mum gives us glimpses of her life as a British GP and mum.
Our days, these days — Dietary restrictions and health issues take a lot of time for Jessica Claire at Crunchy-Chewy Mama, but she still follows her passions and tries to show up for her kids.
A (Typical) Day in Our Life — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings describes a typical day with two kids, eight cats and two dogs.

33 Comments

Filed under Animal Husbandry, Carnival posts

Tagged as Animal Husbandry, daily life in rural mexico, laundry in mexico, living off-grid

September 9, 2014 · 6:54 am

Building a dream–constructing a life

Welcome to the September 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Home Tour

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have opened up their doors and given us a photo-rich glimpse into how they arrange their living spaces.

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The first of the home building supplies arrive!

Once we established ownership of our two little lots in La Yacata (See Buying a Piece of Heaven –part 1) we decided to start building our castle in the desert.

My husband is a builder by trade, but not an architect, so our house and adjacent animal area have undergone several remodels in the 8 years we have lived here. Our home isn’t finished, not by a long shot. However, we determined that we wouldn’t get into debt during construction, so only do what we can afford when we can afford it.

Our home has been built with love rather than skill!

We began with a kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, garage and back porch. We enclosed the back porch about a year later and added the laundry room upstairs. We are currently in the process of adding a bathroom and studio apartment, complete with fireplace, on the second floor. The idea is for our home to function as a multi-generational home when the grandkids arrive. As our son is 12, we think we’ll have time to finish it before then.

Our finished kitchen

Our bathroom door!

Our partially tiled floor

Our toasty fireplace

The aljibe

Our second-floor laundry area, complete with hand pump connected to the ajibe (dry well).

We had to make allowances for the fact that we have no running water, electricity or sewer system in our neck of the desert and no idea when those things might be installed. (See The beginning of the revolution). Therefore, we designed our home with plenty of natural light, a centrally located fireplace, the aljibe (water storage area) and means to recycle our gray water.

Working on the second floor!

We used brick made in a little town nearby and stone from our own backyard for our lovely fireplace. Wood is dear here, so we weren’t able to put doors on the rooms until recently, and we still don’t have a bedroom door, but at least now the bathroom has one. We have also been able to tile the kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms and hope this year to finish at least the downstairs. As a special treat for me this year, my husband and son made me a bookcase. I can now boast of having the first library in La Yacata!

My library

As our animals are an integral part of our life here, as much attention as we have given our home has gone into their sheltering. Miss Piggy had her own bungalow, Mr. & Mrs. Muscovy and family had their own swimming pool, the chickens have their own swing, the goats their own corral, and the horses their own stalls. Kitty is the queen of the backyard and Chokis the puppy is king of the barn. Right now, only poor Fiona the donkey is left without a proper space to call her own, a situation which we are trying hard to rectify.

The chicken “swing.”

Goat area

Duck pond

Horse area

The bungalow

Our backyard also has undergone some changes. When our son was smaller, he had a clubhouse/swingset. When he was quite done with it, we removed it and planted more fruit trees as part of our quest for self-sufficiency. As a growing pre-teen, he enjoys the “free food” as much as he did the swing!

Clubhouse

One of our ever producing fruit trees

Building our own home has not been easy, but it has its own rewards. We built this house as a family, we constructed our new lives in Mexico as a family, and we continue to remodel both our home and our lifestyle as we try to get it right. And if we never get it finished, well, it’s the journey, not the destination after all.

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated by afternoon September 9 with all the carnival links.)

Being Barlow Home Tour — Follow along as Jessica at Being Barlow gives you the tour of her family’s home.
Dreaming of a Sisters Room — Bianca, The Pierogie Mama, dreams, schemes and pins ideas for when her younger daughter is ready to move out of the family bed and share a room with her older sister.
Building a life — Constructing a dream — Survivor at Surviving Mexico-Adventures and Disasters shows you a glimpse inside the home her family built and talks about adaptions they made in constructing their lives in Mexico.
Why I’m Sleeping in the Dining Room — Becca at The Earthling’s Handbook welcomed a new baby but didn’t have a spare bedroom. She explains how her family rearranged the house to create Lydia’s nursing nest and changing room in spaces they already had.
Our Home in the Forest — Tara from Up the Dempster gives you a peek into life lived off-grid in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
natural bedding for kids — Emma at Your Fonder Heart shows you how her family of 3 (soon to be 4) manages to keep their two cotton & wool beds clean and dry (plus a little on the end of cosleeping — for now).
I love our home — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings explains how lucky she feels to have the home she does, and why she strives so hard to keep it tidy.
Not-So-Extreme Makeover: Sunshine and Rainbows Edition — Dionna at Code Name: Mama was tired of her dark, outdated house, so she brightened it up and added some color.
Our little outdoor space — Tat at Mum in search invites you to visit her balcony, where her children make friends with wildlife.
Our Funky, Bright, Eclectic, Montessori Home — Rachel at Bread and Roses shows you her family’s newly renovated home and how it’s set up with Montessori principles in mind for her 15-month-old to have independence.
Beach cottage in progress — Ever tried to turn a 1980s condo into a 1920s beach bungalow? Lauren at Hobo Mama is giving it a try!
Conjuring home: intention in renovation — Jessica at Crunchy-Chewy Mama explains why she and her husband took on a huge renovation with two little kids and shares the downsides and the ups, too.
Learning At Home — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling helps us to re-imagine the ordinary spaces of our homes to ignite natural learning.
My Dining Room Table — Kellie at Our Mindful Life loves her dining room table — and everything surrounding it!
Sight words and life lessons — The room that seemed to fit the least in Laura from Pug in the Kitchen‘s life is now host to her family’s homeschool adventures and a room they couldn’t imagine life without!
A Tour of Our Church — Garry at Postilius invites you virtually visit him in the 19th-century, one-room church where he lives with his spouse and two kids.
Preparing a Montessori Baby-Toddler Space at Home — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares the Montessori baby-toddler space she’s created in the main living area of her home along with a variety of resources for creating a Montessori-friendly home.
The Old Bailey House — Come peek through the window of The Old Bailey House where Erica at ChildOrganics resides with her little ones.
My New House Not-Monday: The Stairs — Claire at The Adventures of Lactating Girl shows you her new laminate stairs in her not-so-new-anymore house.
To Minimalist and Back Again — Jorje of Momma Jorje shares how she went to the extreme as a minimalist and bounced right back. Read how she finds it difficult to maintain the minimalist lifestyle when upsizing living space.
Our Life As Modern-Day Nomads — This family of five lives in 194 square feet of space — with the whole of North America as a back yard. Paige of Our Road Less Traveled guest posts at Natural Parents Network.

17 Comments

Filed under Animal Husbandry, Carnival posts, Construction, Water issues

Tagged as animal shelters, building in Mexico, buying property in Mexico, construction in mexico, home design, homesteading, living off-grid, min-ranching, remodeling, rural mexico

August 29, 2014 · 7:10 am

Joey el potrillo

Beauty and Joey

The last few weeks, my husband has been calculating and recalculating Beauty’s due date and examining her girth for clues as to the gender of the expected foal. He estimated that since Shadow was born August 28 last year and he echó el caballo (brought the horse for stud service) 3 times the week after delivery, the last day being September 9, to take advantage of the “foal heat”, the new potrillo (foal) should be born July 7 since horse gestation is 11 months. And he also took the odds that since the last 2 foals were girls, certainly, this time it should be a boy.

However, this weekend, Beauty seemed quite ready to give birth, dates or no dates. We decided to place a friendly family wager on the birth date. I picked Tuesday. My husband picked Sunday the 6th since he had done his calculations, by golly. And my son went with the middle ground by choosing Friday.

Much to my husband’s astonishment, had Beauty waited just 3 hours more, I would have won the bet. Just as we were finishing up dinner on Monday, Chokis started barking and barking. We thought he and Chivo Pestoso (Stinky Goat) were having yet another manly contest. Chivo hits the door, and Chokis barks him down, which angers Chivo, and he hits the door again, which…well you get the idea. But then we heard Beauty chuff, and we were out the door running.

My husband went out the front door and my son and I out the back. I coaxed Chokis into the back yard and closed the door to keep him from more agitated barking and upsetting Beauty during delivery. My husband was yelling for the flashlight, which I had in my hand. I arrived seconds later to perform my vital role of lamppost.

My son’s job was to distract an agitated Shadow in the next stall. He threw some paca (alfalfa bale) in her dish with a mix of corn pieces and tied her next to her trough. She didn’t even lift her head from her meal until the corn ran out.

My husband had planned to modify Beauty’s stall for delivery but thought he had a few more days. Beauty is a big horse, and although her stall is a good size, a laboring horse needs room to lie down and get up as she needs. By the time we arrived, she had already lain down to deliver, and there was no moving her into the open.

The foal’s head and forefeet had already presented, but as Beauty took up so much space, the baby was squashed against the wall and unable to get the placenta off its nose. My husband dove in and tore the sac off its face, trying to convince Beauty to move just a little bit so the baby could come free.

His pleas must have worked because suddenly Beauty stood up and as my husband had hold of the front legs, out popped this incredibly long legged foal. He shouted for a knife to cut the cord, but it had already detached when the colt fell out.

My husband immediately slid the baby out from under Beauty’s hooves and checked the gender. ALL RIGHTY! It was a boy. He checked again just to make sure and did a little happy dance.

Joey at 12 hours old

This was the first birth we were present at with Beauty (See Beauty’s Babies), and it wasn’t anything compared to goat births. The placenta was so thick it seemed like a white plastic bag, and there was so much of it. My son said he felt a little woozy, although there was very little blood. But he manfully sucked it up and wouldn’t leave the area for any little stomach flutters. I reassured my son saying that his dad was woozy at his birth too, so it was ok.

We were concerned that the foal seemed weak. We stayed with mother and baby while she cleaned and bonded with her new son and watched his first attempts to stand. Again, the cramped quarters were a problem. The foal’s legs were so long (so much longer than Spirit or Shadow’s had been) that he didn’t seem to have the room or coordination to untangle them in order to get up. We waited about 40 minutes, but he wasn’t able to stand.

We thought perhaps we should give him some more time and went inside to finish dinner. My husband went out again and stayed with the pair until after midnight, making sure the foal did get up to nurse before he came back in.

We were all out at the crack of dawn to get a good look at our new addition and debate a name. Two of his hooves were white, one was black, and one was half and half like painted fingernails much like Shadow has. Spirit had 3 white “socks” instead. He had a star on his head about the size of mark Spirit has and bigger than Shadow’s mark. My husband was puzzled at these coloring anomalies because the father had none of these marks. I suspect these are genetic markings from Beauty since all 3 babies had them. The foal’s fur was a dark brown, but the edges of his tail and around his mouth he was almost yellow. We think that eventually, his fur will be more yellow than brown since the father was a mustard color. None of these physical characteristics helped us decide on a name, though.

Curious about the world around him.

So we tried looking for signs of his character. Spirit was incorrigible from the get-go and we had no trouble naming her. The foal still seemed weak and wobbly in the morning. He wasn’t much into whinnying either. He stayed very close to Beauty, although he was curious about his surroundings, especially when we brought the pair out of the corral to pasture. He liked being outdoors so much that he refused to come back in, much to Beauty’s consternation. We finally decided that his name would be Joey, from the movie,. War Horse We kept an eye on both Beauty and Joey. Beauty seemed exhausted and would lay down and get up like she couldn’t get comfortable. Joey was definitely eating but still seemed so thin. My husband was positive that the thinness was because he was more than a week early according to his calculations. I countered that with the size of him, especially his incredibly long legs, there just wasn’t room in the womb for him to wait another week, dates or no dates.

Curious fellows

In the late afternoon, we took them out again, along with Shadow and the goats. Chivo Pestoso was very curious as to the nature of Joey but decided he wasn’t a threat and went to eat. Shadow wanted to be right next to her mother just like Joey, but Beauty wasn’t having any of that. She chased Shadow away, and we had to finally tie Shadow so that none of the horses would be accidentally hurt.

Shadow, Beauty, and Joey

The scene reminded me of the day Spirit, who doesn’t live with us, but does live near us, escaped from her enclosure and came for a visit. Beauty recognized Spirit as she didn’t kick up a fuss when Spirit came right to the gate. The mother and daughter touched noses. Then Beauty turned her head to look at Shadow, then back at Spirit. She turned completely around and kicked the gate, basically telling Spirit to move on, which she did.

Joey being a boy will eventually be an issue for us. We are already cramped for space. Shadow has her own stall and Beauty is sharing with Joey for now, but poor Fiona the donkey doesn’t have a place to call her own and is more often than not tied under the mesquite tree for the night. With 2 female horses and 1 female donkey all capable of going into heat, Joey will have to have a stall apart. It would have been just the thing had we been able to purchase that lot next door to adequately house our larger animals. (See Buying a piece of Heaven) Sigh! Well, we just will see what happens down the road.

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