Gray Acres Homestead

05/31/2026

Got an awesome deal at a garage sale.

The lady was retired from having an in-home daycare. She was getting rid of so much stuff.

These are the older good duplo legos.

Do you sanitize toys from garage sales? I do. Even a quick wipe with a disinfectant wipe in the car will work.

I also got the most amazing thing from another sale.... will share in a different post.

05/28/2026

Front yard... not hay

I will be able to mow it sooner, the back yard takes ages to drain. There are still puddles back there.

This is absolutely the worst this yard has looked since we moved here. It is embarrassing.

05/28/2026

Watched this, this morning.

Crazy how the news spins things.

I am guilty of being fear mongered. I told hubby this morning, we fell for the scam in 2019/20 ... we feel like idiots now. We are not falling for the new scary thing.

Now lil spider things are all in the news and people are making money of videos cause of the hysteria. I told him, we are not falling for the reprogramming again! There are actually people pumping themselves full of antibiotics for every bite they get. Talk about weakening your immune system.

Don't let the new scary thing the news is trying to distract you with make you lose your common sense.

What happens when the biggest raw dairy farm in America goes head-t...

05/27/2026

Rains finally stopped.

Hay is chest height (4ft high)

Supposed to be dry til mid next week.

Weather guessers... will they be correct?

05/27/2026

Whew!

Didn't have any rain yeaterday.

Thought it would be hay cuttin time soon.

Nope, woke to a good shower coming down.. everything is soaked again.

05/25/2026

Finally some sun.

I THINK we are dry this whole week, with the highest chance of rain being 24%.

Maebkeeps making me think she is about to have this calf. Stringy mucus ALL day today. Breathing hard when she is laying down.

Her udder is tight, but still has a lil room to grow. Kinda worried about one of her teats... it is huge compared to the other 3.

If she freshens tomorrow.. it has to have a Memorial Day name.

05/24/2026

Not what I wanted.

Yesterday, I decided to try to put Ronald (Georgia's calf born last April), and her together yesterday.

Last time I did that was in January, he had been weaned almost 3 months, there was a blizzard and sub zero temps. So wanted to put them all together to stay warm. He nursed Georgia and caused her to get frost bite on her teats. It was terrible for her and I vowed to not put them back together until she was dry.

Fast fwd to yesterday. They've been separate since January, I dried her a little over a month ago. Figued all is good!

Put them together, and within 5 min he was nursing her floppy emoty udder. Ahhhhhhh... after 10 min of chasing, she ended up with Maebelle and he is in the lower pasture alone.

Maebelle seems happy her momma is with her. When I see signs of active labor, I will have separate them two. I really don't know what Maebelle will be like as a mom, and I don't want GA to step on the calf.

05/23/2026

My walking path

Can't mow it

Maybe mid week I can mow it.

On the bright side, the hay looks awesome.

05/23/2026

Good morning friends.

It poured all afternoon, all night, and still going now.

Yesterday afternoon watching Maebelle just stand in the deepest mud, I decided to make the executive decision to get her into the barn and keep her in there.

There is a "gate" so the door stays open. She can see out and get fresh air. Even though it is still raining this morning, I did open the gate so IF she wants to, she can go outside today. She chose to lay in her stall instead. I'll have to grab her a new square bale from the trailer when the rain breaks today and clean up the hay in the stall. Gotta keep it clean. That is the downside of keeping her in the barn... a lot more cleaning needs done.

05/22/2026

Vultures all over this barn 😬

Something in the barn?

Something just outside the barn?