Briarwood Cottage Nigerian Dwarf Goats

06/19/2026

The bucks were really enjoying foraging in the woods.

06/18/2026

Show me the last photo in your camera roll! No explanation needed, just drop the picture. 📸 🤳😁
I'll start ⬇️

06/18/2026

Hope everyone has a peaceful night!

06/17/2026

Violet taking her ducklings foraging last summer with her friends.

06/17/2026

Yesterday was a sad day for us. Late Monday afternoon, right before VBS, a fox got one of our ducks, Violet, while they were out foraging. Late that night, my son found her outside by the duck pond, she was holding her neck funny and wet, but she had made it back home. He brought her inside and we put her in a dog crate with some electrolytes and food, and kept her in the house in a quiet and dark room. I thought she was going to make it. Then on Tuesday, when I was looking her over more carefully to clean any wounds she might have, I discovered she had flystrike. The wounds did not look deep or serious, but I know flystrike definitely is. I tried to flush them out with saline solution and gave her repeated baths to remove them, but right before VBS she passed away. It looked like I had gotten the worms off her, so I'm not sure if it was from the flystrike or shock. She was the duck who had hatched out a huge clutch of eggs last summer and was such a good mama duck. I know this is part of homesteading and raising animals, but it never gets any easier, and I will miss Violet's greeting when I go outside.

06/17/2026

It's Wacky Wednesday!
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The best Father's Day gift is...

06/16/2026

Napoleon and his hens were more interested in scavenging for bugs than in the watermelon and cantaloupe rinds.

06/16/2026

The fishing's been good this summer! 🎣

06/14/2026

06/13/2026

Now that I've started learning the benefits of all the weeds in our yard, it makes it hard to get rid of them. I now officially have a plantain garden beside the duck pond:)