This ain't exactly a lawn where I live. It used to be a cow field. We just built houses and started mowing. This ground is good and solid. I mow it with a 1949 8N tractor (with ag-bar tires) and a finish mower. Having cows walk all over it is the least of my worries. No chickens except what he has in a pen up at his barn. He keeps about 5 chickens just for the eggs everyday. If I fence off the area of fruit trees that leaves about an acre for the cows. And it still leaves up plenty of yard space. If it were entirely up to me I would fence the whole place off and let the cows have the run of the whole lot. Front yard and all. The cows sometimes manage to get out of the ditch and up into the yard. They are not any trouble, but we live on a sometimes busy road. The fence is only to keep them in the yard and out of the road. There would only be 6 to 8 cows at a time at the most. Maybe I'm just blind to the flys. I don't encounter then when I'm near the cows. And to me they don't smell. And the fields don't smell. Or maybe I'm just so used to it I don't pay attention to it. We're gonna discuss it more today with the cow man. Thanks for the advice. Keep it coming. Pooh Bear

We will be getting a calf in the spring for 4-H. They call it Prospect Beef, has to be under 500# by Fair. You sell them to folks wanting a meat animal for next year. DD had one last summer, he was pretty nice and she made money on him at Fair Auction. Not sure if she will be doing Market Lambs for 4-H again or not. She is looking for a job, getting ready for College expenses. May not have enough time for everything. You have to handle your animals a lot, so they show well, walk them to get conditioned for meat production. That is it for new animals, and these would only be staying for the summer. We have a recently purchaed 3yr old horse, who will be getting worked with under saddle. She has about 30 days on her this summer, so she needs a lot more time to develop her "power steering". She will be 4 next summer, more ready to learn by then. She seems quite nice, just very immature yet. Talking of doing some camping and trail riding with DD and all the young horses. Nothing like a long day under saddle to take out the silliness! Glad to stop and stand for a while, no dancing along, walk is easier. All about learning to work. Horses do sleep hard at night after going 10-15 miles, just like the kids!!

Mary, are you saying that they make you mow the lawn on Mother's Day!? LOL Of course not. That would be cruel and unusual punishment. The Govenator finally declared a state of emergency for some counties south of here in Cali due to the rain. Luckily, most of the danger has been in agricultural areas and not residential...so far. I thought it was bad back in January... ...when this fisherman along the Sacramento River fell asleep while on sturgeon patrol. LOL Notice the toppled chair on the roof? That was probably from his wife high-tailing it out of there, like normal people tend to do. (BTW, no one was harmed in the taking of this picture.) Sorry to all of your allergy sufferers, though! :( Brenda

Hi Spiderwoman and Bulldinkie, Thanks for responding to my post. I was wondering whether to send you each an individual e-mail but figured I would post on the main forum first. The place that we bought is in Aspers right near the orchard areas and is a farmhouse with need of major TLC. We are trying to get the plumbing to work properly at the moment in the bathrooms. Incredible amounts of water damage! Once we have either external spigots to attach a hose to (None! Can you imagine???) or a second well dug, I plan on putting in both a farm garden and flower gardens in spots. We'd also like to fix up a shed and have some chickens again. I note one of you had standard cochins--nice birds. I also like the mini cochins and silkies for setting purposes. We also have a huge "barn"--sort of a one story affair with a roof over the old bank barn that burned years ago--but it isn't ready for anything except clean out. We have what used to be a meadow, but is overgrown with trees and needs clearing. Much work ahead in other words. What on-line resources do you use where people advertise their goods and services? What do you like/dislike about Adams County and Gettysburg?