Cross Country Cruzin: Wintering In Georgia

A few days before Thanksgiving we arrived at our winter workamping position in GA. For those who may not know, workamping involves working part-time for a place in exchange for a full hook up for an RV - water, elec and sewer. We are on a small homestead farm owned by the "C" family. They have 3 1/2 horses (the 1/2 is a pony named Kasper), about 35 egg layer chickens and a very friendly pot bellied pig named Buddy. These are all pets. However, they do raise meat chickens occasionally and would like to add a cow and several pigs to the farm for meat and milk.

Buddy

Our duties include installing and repairing fence, grounds keeping, building and/or repairing farm structures and occasional farm sitting. Also, one of the reasons they chose us out of their many applicants for the position, is because we have a good amount of farm/animal experience. They many times ask advice based on our experiences of raising different types of farm animals and what would be best for their situation. One of the decisions they're making is whether a cow or goat would be best for milk. As much as I love goats, and as much as it hurt me to say, I recommended a cow for their particular situation. After giving them the pros and cons for each animal, in my opinion anyway, they decided a cow would be better for them.

We arrived here just before Thanksgiving and were planning to visit Jim's daughter in SC, about a 4 hour trip from here, but her oldest son was just recovering from being sick so we decided not to go. The C's invited us to Thanksgiving dinner with them. It was the usual fare which was all very good, but the best was Mrs. C's homemade cheesecake! The best I've ever tasted! Apparently it was an old family recipe and it was outstanding!

Right now, I'm involved with rebuilding their existing chicken coup which they had built when they had just a few chickens. It's not adequate for the 35 they now have. It was just a fenced in shed with a small enclosure inside. They all crammed in there at night and most had to sleep on the floor of that because there weren't enough roosts. Given the fact that the whole thing seemed like it would blow over in a stiff wind, it certainly needed a major overhaul. I'll post before and after pics when I'm done.

Saturday the city hosted their annual Christmas parade. The C's daughter, "L" spent days outfitting the pony cart with lights and decorations. The parade was the usual - the high school's marching band, floats, trucks and cars adorned with lights, Santa on a fire truck. But I think the pony cart was the biggest hit of all. Notice the chicken sitting in her lap. That's Vivian, who is a Cornish Cross meat bird that was somehow spared from her scheduled trip to freezer camp. She's about 3 years old and weighs almost 20 lbs! When I'm working on the new coop she's often right by my side giving suggestions and critiquing my work.