After a long and grueling road Rose Shadow Ranch has a new home in Holly Michigan!!

Let me take you on a journey from the beginning. For several years Rose Shadow Ranch resided in the city! That’s right, the city! It all started almost 8 years ago when a friend and fellow alpaca breeder taught us about the wonderful world of alpacas (this is also the same friend who got us involved in raising Norwegian Buhunds). My husband and I both have always set out to work for ourselves as much as possible, so raising alpacas was almost a no brainer for us. We took out a home equity loan to purchase our first animal at the tune of almost $19,000! We purchased her from that same friend who taught us everything we know about alpacas. She was a beautiful 5 year old girl named “Buffy.” Buffy was also confirmed pregnant so we kind of got a 2 for 1 deal. We arranged boarding with our friend since, after all, we live in the city! We then planned on buying a farm within 2-5 years thinking alpacas were going to be our new business adventure.

Buffy went on to give birth to a beautiful rose grey boy we named “Storm.” We were lucky enough to sell Storm by the time he was weaned from his mother and made half our original investment back! Now that we had our first alpacas and sale we thought we were well on our way to having our plans work in our favor so we purchased another pregnant girl from a farm in Ohio. It wasn’t long after our second alpaca purchase that our economy started to take a nose dive. Our animals started to lose value, we started to lose money and it was downhill from there for several years! Our dream to buy a farm was becoming farther and farther out of our reach. To make a long story short, we sold off our herd of 6 alpacas, all except Buffy, who we continued to breed and sell her babies (crias) just trying to keep “our foot in the door” hoping that things would go back up again and soon! No such luck. However, Buffy is still a resident of Rose Shadow Ranch today and still resides on our friend’s farm where we board her.

From the time I was a little girl, I just loved the country! I knew I wanted a country life at some point in my life, whether it was a summer cottage or a permanent residence, I knew I ultimately wanted to live on a farm! For 1 reason or another, leaving the city was proving to be very challenging! So I decided to make the most of what I had. I learned our city allowed backyard chickens so 2 1/2 years ago I went out and got me some chickens! A couple backyard chickens opened up a whole new world for me! The idea of raising our own food inspired me so much! A couple chickens led me to making friendships with other people who were doing the same thing! Those couple chickens quickly turned into a bigger backyard farming experience. Within a year, I had 10 chickens, 2 ducks and a flock of Coturnix Quail along side a rather large garden. Then I decided to take it 1 step further by planting a couple of fruit trees and bushes, and start making my own anything I could from laundry soap to bread to learning how to preserve food through canning and dehydrating and then some! All of this on a quarter acre! As you can imagine, we were running out of room and quickly! I realized that a self sufficient lifestyle suited me and ultimately, it’s what I want for my family. The cost of living in the city is ridiculously high here! I’m sick to death with struggling to stretch every dollar made and still not come out on top! Things needed to change!

After a long and challenging road of a bad economy, job loss and a debt crisis, we made the decision to sell our city home, a home that I have known my entire life because the house has been in my family since it was built in 1952. My Dad grew up in this house and now, we are raising our kids in that same house. It had so much sentimental value to me! It was very bittersweet to sell my families home but the reality is, I couldn’t let a building keep me from what I wanted to do with my life. Plus, we simply can not afford to continue to live here with a mortgage over $1000 and a water bill that always was over $250 every 3 months not to mention the other monthly bills! I get to take all the memories with me and in the end, it’s the memories that I cherish! So up for sale it went in September 2013. It wasn’t long after we listed it that we got our first offer! At first we turned it down, but in the end it was that first offer that we did end up accepting. By Thanksgiving, the house was sold! Now, the home we once owned, we now are renting! During this whole process we found our farm! 10 gorgeous acres 45 minutes north from our city life in Holly MI. It was another long and grueling road to get it to the point of being ours but on January 7, 2014 we closed on our farm and officially it was ours!

Now that you have a re-cap of our lives over the last 10 years and a visual of how we got to this place right here, right now, in our lives, tune in regularly for a day by day play on how we go from backyard city farming to self sufficient homesteading. It should be an interesting road and we do hope you will join us in our journey!

Ok so this isn’t farm related but can be categorized under natural living.

My son was complaining about the bottom of his foot being a little tender in 1 spot, so after taking a look at it, I discovered he had a plantar wart. I once had 1 that was so big (although it didn’t look big to look at) that it had to be cut out and treated with acid and it was an extensive process to get rid of not to mention painful. Thinking my son was in for the same treatment, I took him to the pediatrician.  Now, before I tell you her amazing treatment I should tell you that even though we like to live as organically and naturally as possible, we still see a regular M.D. when needed even though I always turn down their prescribed pharmaceuticals. My kids’ pediatrician knows this about me and respects it! She knows I don’t want her man made drugs to fix what ails us, so she’s always excited to tell me her methods of “natural” treatment and this one was no exception! She says to me, “you’re going to love this, but you may also think I’m a little crazy.” She said no freezing or cutting or treatment with acid is needed! Yep, I thought, “what the heck are you thinking!” She said to soak his foot in just some warm water for 15 minutes, then after thoroughly drying, place a strip of duct tape over the wart and sleep with it on over night. Take off in the morning and repeat every night until the wart is gone! She said this could take a few weeks but scientific studies have shown this method to be more effective then the wart removers, freezing, cutting or being treated with acid! I was floored!! I guess it’s true what they say about duct tape, that it’s a “fix all” for everything! I bet you’re wondering how duct tape can cure a plantar wart right? Here’s how: plantar warts are a virus. To effectively treat it, it has to be “killed.” The duct tape actually suffocates the virus hence destroying the wart killing the virus! How cool is that! If only we could do use this method for every type of virus we become infected with!

Now, you will have to check back in a few weeks to see if it really did work, but so far so good, I am seeing changes!

Whoever said puppies were a lot of work, probably never tried raising 2 at once because saying they’re a lot of work is an understatement! We have raised a few pups in our days, but last night we had a first. While petting and snuggling our sweet Mo, I noticed he had a “dingleberry” hanging from his backside. I grabbed a piece of paper towel to pull it off for him and realized that it was connected to a really long piece of hair (I have really long hair so this happens sometimes.) I quickly discovered it wasn’t hanging from a hair, it was hanging from a piece of dental floss!! So I pulled and then he started to yip, so it was time for good ole google. My husband googled this and we learned that dental floss is extremely dangerous to dogs! YIKES, I thought we were in for a long night at the emergency vet, not to mention this wouldn’t be cheap! Come to find out, the dental floss can get tangled around their intestines and cause a mountain of problems that could result in death! Poor Mo Mo! I wasn’t panicked…..yet anyway, I figured since it was already hanging out of his backside then it must be working itself out and he will pass it the next time he goes poo. We decided to wait that out before we take a trip to doggie E.R. Sure enough, not long after he went poo. So now here’s visual for you, I went outside equipped with a flashlight and some paper towel. Searched and quickly found his steaming pile o’ poo. I brought it inside to dissect it! I’m sure you have a good visual now, and it’s a good thing there is no scratch and sniff button! Luckily, he passed the whole wad of floss! Puppies are such a handful!!

Ok, so it’s been a longggg time since I’ve posted. My sincere apologies. We have busier then usual here. We have sold our home and are in the process of buying a new farm. We will be relocating to Holly MI on 10 acres by the end of December and we are so excited!! Stay tuned for more on this.

The Buhunds are all doing wonderful! Cherokee is now fully recovered from her huge litter of 8 puppies back in July and all 8 puppies are doing excellent in their new homes!

Stormie just turned 2 years old November 8th and passed both her eye (CERF) test and her hip (OFA) test! We are waiting for her to go in heat and then we will breed our black beauty. Should be any time now. Stay tuned for announcements on expected puppies.

Alpaca news: Buffy has been ultrasounded and is expecting her cria in May! Cinnamon, her last cria, was just sold and will soon be leaving for her new home.

So many plans are being made for the new farm and I am looking forward to sharing all of them with you as they happen. Stay tuned for new arrivals on the farm both from our current animals and those to come.

Hello Friends! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it has been crazy busy around here! As you may know by now, we are preparing to make a big move! We have sold our current home and are in the process of buying a new homestead. The new homestead will put us on 10 acres about 45 minutes north of where we are now.  I’m native to the area we live in now, so this will be a big change for me, but one I am hugely excited about.

Other than moving, we have, as always, been busy with the animals.  The vet was out last week to pregnancy check “Buffy” and we learned she is indeed pregnant, so we are expecting another sweet alpaca baby (cria) in May.  Her last baby “Cinnamon” just sold and soon will be going to her new home, we will miss her.

Cherokee is still recovering from her uterine infection she contracted shortly after giving birth to her litter of pups.  It’s been a long road with that and she’s not out of the woods yet.

Stormie is quickly approaching her 2nd birthday on November 8th.  We already have her scheduled for her hip and eye exams, so upon passing, she will be ready for breeding! It has been 6 months since her last heat cycle, so I’m hoping she holds off until after her birthday.  We are searching for a suitable mate for her and once we find him, she’ll be all set.  If all goes as planned, we’ll have another litter of Buhunds available mid winter who will be ready to go to their homes just in time for Spring.

So that’s the latest and greatest around here.  Stay tuned for more exciting news coming soon!

WOW, it’s been a very crazy last couple of months around here, even more so, the last 3 weeks or so.  Rose Shadow Ranch is looking to move to a bigger piece of property and it has us spiraling out of control with busyness! I actually don’t have time to go to work, but since the bills still need to be paid……

Ok, so we’re moving and selling our current home and finding a new one has been on the top of our list of priorities but we still have our little farm here that needs tending to, so here is an update on the animals.

The dogs, all 4 of them, are doing good with all things considered. Poor Momma Cherokee ended up with a uterine infection that thankfully, we think we caught in time. The vet doesn’t think we will need to spay her (Thank you God) but does have her on some hefty antibiotics for a month before she will re-evaluate her to determine if a longer period of antibiotics are necessary. The bad news is, this will more than likely happen to her again.

Cherokee

Stormie is quickly approaching her second birthday which means we will have her eyes and hips checked and certified for breeding. We’ve already had preliminaries done so we know she’ll be good to go once she reaches 2 years old. We hope she’ll hold off her next heat cycle until after her birthday so we can get her bred. Stay tuned for news on her and her expected litter.

Stormie

Lakota and Geronimo our super sweet 10 week old puppies are getting so big already! Lakota is a little jumper and climbs out of her puppy pen every night! Although it can get very frustrating, she’s actually doing it because she’s telling me she needs to go outside! She’s very smart, very reserved, yet very capable of standing her ground and taking care of herself. We just love her to pieces! Geronimo is a very active, very sweet, likes to bite everything, bundle of energy! He’s also very smart and will do anything for food! Both puppies are a perfect match for our “pack” and our family!

“Geronimo” aka “Mo”

Lakota Rose

The chickens: The chickens are, well, chickens!  We’ve lost a few this summer for reasons unknown.  Both our lavender Ameraucanas were the first 2 that left us. They were sisters from the same clutch of eggs hatched together and they died with the same symptoms 3 days apart. No one else got sick.  I’ve also lost a few young chicks which is always to be expected I’ve come to realize.  We finally took our meat birds to the butcher and have enjoyed having the fresh organic meat. I also set a bunch of meat bird eggs in hopes of raising up another 10 and got 19! Yikes! Unfortunately we lost 1 so we are down to 18.

Treat time!

The ducks: are doing alright. Our Pekin male had a cough a few weeks back which I treated and is now gone and no one else got sick.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for my kids wanting to keep them, I would get rid of them. They make the chicken run a muddy nightmare which of course leads to sickness, so of course I can’t wait to get to our new place so they free range more.

The quail: pretty boring. Thinking about giving up the flock. Their eggs are delicious but I don’t have the time or the patience to deal with them and they are too much work to slaughter and eat. We’ll see what happens once we move.

Quail chick 2 days old

The Alpacas: Cinnamon is still for sale and we’ll be showing her off this weekend at Zodiac Ranch for “farm days.” Visit www.zodiacranch.com for details and come on out and say Hi.

The gardens: are dying off and unfortunately I don’t have time to process it all, so I’ve froze most of it and hope to get to it this winter.

Cinnamon

That about wraps it up! We hope to make our big move before the holidays so stay tuned for the exciting announcement and introduction!

Now that puppy rush is over and all the puppies have gone to their new homes, well….almost all, We would like to introduce you to our newest family members! “Rose Shadow’s Geronimo” aka “Mo” was the last of the boys from Cherokee’s litter, we had no intention to keep this little guy, but once his brothers and sisters starting going to their new homes, this guy started really tugging on my heart strings and he’s cute to boot! So, as a family we all agreed, he must stay! After so many good-bye tears, especially from our human kids, it was nice to say, “Yes we can keep him!”

“Geronimo” aka “Mo”

Now, for the surprise (facebook followers) that I’ve been keeping secret! Early on in the puppy adventure, I put “feelers” out on a facebook group page to see if any other breeders would be interested in trading puppies. We wanted to add a different bloodline to our breeding program and hoped someone else wanted to do the same. As luck would have it, a kennel out of Oregon (Hundehaven) was up for the trade off.! With that said, We would like to introduce you to “Hundehaven’s Lakota Rose” we call her “Lakota.”

Lakota, just getting out of her crate at the airport, our first meeting.

Lakota Rose

“Lakota” is the sweetest little thing and she fit right in to our “pack” beautifully! Like she had been here all along. She demonstrates great standard Buhund traits with a personality that matches. We are very pleased with her and already, we just love her pieces!

So now that you’ve met our 2 newest additions, if you’re a follower on our facebook page, you may have heard me talk once or twice about 2 other puppies from Cherokee’s litter, a boy (black collar) and a girl (white collar), these 2 beauties we now co-own with a couple folks out in California. These are their first Buhunds and the first 2 in their Buhund breeding program and I can not wait to see what the future holds for these 2 darlings! Stay tuned for more info on them!

Here is a whole bunch of video clips of Norwegian Buhund puppies at one day less than seven weeks old. At this age they are very active and love to play! You’ll notice we refer to them by colors, these colors are their collar colors. Enjoy!

Here is Teal Girl http://youtu.be/Wlvg62jyd-8

Red Boy and Black Boy http://youtu.be/4TWX_oCxtUM

Red Boy http://youtu.be/28A330t3XOY

Purple Girl and Teal Girl http://youtu.be/7kmBcnrmwf4