Whistling Wind Farm

We have keets!

2011-05-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Our female guinea has been sitting on a nest for about a month now. She has about 10 eggs under her but I haven't gotten a good count because she is scary protective of the nest. She hisses and arches up and pecks if you get near it. This morning I was going down to throw some food at her and saw some broken eggs outside of the nest and then this little guy poked it's head out! She actually managed to hatch some eggs! This is a big deal for a guinea as they are notoriously bad at actually hatching eggs.

We have at least 2 keets that I've seen. And there are still some unhatched eggs under her, so I'm hoping for more. I still haven't gotten a good look at what is in the nest. I guess I'll need to drive her off the nest at some point just to see.

So we're debating, do we let her raise the keets or bring them in the house and raise them ourselves? Now that some have hatched I'd hate for them to die, but it seems rude to grab her babies after she did all that work to hatch them. We're thinking about seeing how many there are tonight and maybe taking half of them into the house and letting her keep the other half. Luckily, it is warm and sunny this week so we don't have to worry about them drowning or freezing.

These are the first eggs of any kind that have hatched on the farm so we're very excited!

Update: She's moved the keets off the nest and into a tall patch of grass. There are 2 eggs that didn't hatch, so I guess they won't. It appears there are 6 or 7 keets, but I can't get close enough to get a good count. When I tried, she flew from 10 feet away and slammed into my chest! I'm going to let her raise them....

Today in Georgia

2011-03-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

For those that live where it is still snowy, a preview of spring for you.

Farm update of sorts

2011-02-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

Illoura asked me for an update on the farm and my goals for 2010. She specifically wanted me to talk about whether I had come up with a focus for the farm. She also mentioned wanting to get a farm herself and wondered whether she was romanticizing the farm life. So here goes.

Update for 2010 – we had our first babies born on the farm, 2 female Nigerian dwarf goats. We kept one of them, our sweet Callisto. We sold the sheep; I didn’t enjoy them and didn’t see that they were adding anything to the farm. We greatly increased our number of hens, through the great chicken swap and my friend Sandy. Unfortunately, most of the hens are of unknown age and don’t lay on a regular basis. We will be getting more hens this spring. We also got an angora doe so we can start breeding nigora goats. She will be bred in May when I breed the rest of the goats. We will have October babies this year. I wanted spring babies, but December was a terrible month for me health wise and I couldn’t get things set up to bring a buck here. The garden was a complete failure. I’m still learning on that front.

As for a focus for the farm, I really still haven’t come up with that. I know Mark would like the farm to make money, but I’m just not willing to put that much work into it. I’ve been scaling back for the last year because I was totally overwhelmed with the work load. So, I think the focus is mostly a hobby farm. We’ll raise hens for eggs and we do sell them when they are laying enough. And I’ll raise Nigerian dwarf and Nigora goats to sell. My goal is to make enough off of the animals to pay for their feed. So far, that hasn’t happened but hopefully someday. I think that is honestly all I can handle.

As for romanticizing farm life, most likely you are. I think we all do. I had helped a friend on her farm and thought I understood what it would entail but it is so much more than I thought it would be. When I pictured living on the farm, I pictured beautiful spring days working in the garden or sitting out in the pasture petting the goats. And I do get those days, but they aren’t the majority. What I didn’t picture was taking buckets of warm water outside 4 times a day when it is snowing so the goats have unfrozen water. I didn’t picture going out in the morning and finding the carcass of my favorite hen because the hawk got her. I didn’t picture it raining for a week straight and losing my whole garden to weeds. Or it not raining for a month when it is in the 90s every day and having all my plants die because I can’t keep up with watering 3 times a day. I didn’t picture going out to care for the animals everyday even in the rain or cold or when I’m sick or injured.

And I mostly didn’t picture the obligation. Because we have coyotes and hawks, I have to go out at night and lock the animals up which then means I have to go out every morning to let them all out. Twice a day, every day, no matter what. There is never a break. I can’t be lazy one day and not do it. I can’t be too tired. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to find a farm sitter. I love to travel and the only times I’ve left the farm since moving here has been to visit family. I love my family but that isn’t travel. I haven’t had a vacation since I moved here. I can’t even go for an overnight trip unless Mark is willing to stay here to take care of the animals. I’ve missed a lot of overnight activities with the family because I had to stay here for the animals while Mark and Logan got to go do fun stuff. There are times I feel like I’m a prisoner of the farm.

So my advice is make sure you really know yourself before you take on the farm life. I think it helps to be a homebody if you are going to have a farm. It turns out I have a really restless spirit. I don’t like staying in one place; I get bored doing the same thing every day. I sort of knew this about myself before I moved here, but being here has really brought it home.
I realize this post sounds like I’m unhappy here and really I’m not. I love my animals and I love having land and living in the country. But there are times I think about selling all the animals and taking off traveling for a month, or frankly even a week.

My focus for this year is to find a good farm sitter and figure out a way to not have to lock the animals up every night. If they only needed care once a day, I could go on some of these overnight trips and it would be easier to find someone to come once a day instead of twice a day. I don’t know if I’m going to get a guardian animal or fence one area extra strong and then just lock them in that area when I want to be gone for a night. Most days I don’t mind the twice a day care, I’d just like to have the option to not have to do it every day. I’d love any suggestions or input on what has worked for you.

Shiny snow

2011-01-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday night we got about 4 inches of snow, then Monday we got freezing rain. This created an ice layer on top of the snow. It is very slippery and a bear walking out to the goats 3 times a day carrying 2 buckets of warm water. It is however very beautiful! It is shiny and smooth.

Nothing has been open for 3 days. I'm hoping we can get back to normal activities tomorrow. I'm going a little stir crazy. On the upside, Logan got to go hilly billy sledding yesterday. The neighbors pulled him around on an inner tube attached to their ATV. They also sledded on a dumpster lid. Logan has a real sled and the neighbors were very impressed by it!

Luckily, we've kept power so it's been nice and warm in the house. It's been highs of 27 or 28 and windy for the last few days. Not pleasant for anything living. The goats are miserable and I feel so bad for them.

For those that live where it snows a lot, what do you give the goats to eat in the winter? They really miss their grass, they are used to being able to eat it all the time. I've been giving them hay twice a day and their normal grain ration at night. Does this seem like enough? It looks like this snow will be around for at least another week.

A few recipes

2011-01-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

I had some requests for a few of my recipes on Facebook. I decided since I typed them up, I might as well post them here. We got about 4 inches of snow, and now it is freezing rain.

Sesame noodles
This dish is great for picnics because nothing can go bad while it sits out.

Sesame oil
sesame seeds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup low sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
cayenne pepper
16 ounces whole wheat fettucini
Chopped scallions (green onions)

Coat skillet with sesame oil. Brown sesame seed lightly (burn easily). Shut off heat and cool down. Add sugar and tamari and whisk over heat. Let get bubbly while stirring. Pour over cooked noodles in a 8X8 glass pan (use 9X13 if you are doubling the recipe). Add cayenne pepper to taste. Stir well. Let sit overnight in fridge, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle scallions and extra sesame seeds on top before serving.

Can also be served warm immediately after making. The flavors wont' be as strong

Spicy Mac and Cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni (I use whole wheat)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2/3 of a block of pepper jack cheese cut into small cubes
4 oz can chopped green chilis
1 cup frozen corn
3/4 cup cream
2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
Pepper

Boil pasta until al dente. In a skillet heat olive oil, add garlic, chilis and corn. Cook until corn is done. Drain pasta, add back to pot. Dump contents of skillet into pot. Add cream and cheese. Stir well over low heat until all the cheese is melted (you can shred the cheese to make it melt faster but that is too much work for me). Add butter. Add pepper to taste. Stir well.

Chicken and Dumplings
Whole chicken or chicken parts (I like to use drumsticks because they are usually cheaper)
Potatoes cut into the size pieces you like
Carrots same as potatoes
Bisquick
Milk
Thyme
Pepper

Boil chicken in enough water to cover it, if you use parts you will need to use more water than just what is necessary to cover it. Boil until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken from pot into colander. rinse with cold water, shred into pieces
Add carrots and potatoes to water, boil until they are soft. Add thyme and pepper to taste
Add chicken back to pot
Make dumplings according to Bisquick directions, drop into boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes. Add more water if you want it more liquidy.
I'm very loosy goosy with this recipe so the thickness of it varies everytime. Sometimes like a soup, sometimes more like a casserole. I like it a bit soupy better.

Goats don't like white Christmases.

2011-01-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

I think I missed my blogaversary this year. I'll try to do some post for that soon. They are predicting 6-12 inches of snow for us here tonight. Last time we got that much snow we lost power for 3 days, so I thought I'd do a post now while I have electricity!

We had a white Christmas here in GA. The goats were less than thrilled. They seem to blame me whenever they aren't happy with the weather.

We were able to get them out in the snow with the promise of sledding however.

Following Logan down the sledding hill. I think they are hoping for a ride back up.

Jump on quick Io!

Mommy make this stuff go away! (Notice my cool new pink quilted overalls. I've been loving them this year!)

Callisto has grown a lot.

Buddy boy really wants a treat of some sort to make up for having to put up with the cold white stuff.

The goats are getting bored with sledding.

Can we go in now?!

Ursa was the only one that seemed to like the snow. How odd that the goats from Africa wouldn't like snow.

Finally! Time to go in.

Meet Gannett

2010-12-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

We were shopping at Walmart about a month ago and were loading stuff into the car. I heard a small meow. Logan and I hunted it down and found a kitten up in the engine of a nearby car. We managed to get him out of the engine and brought him home. His name is Gannett.

He is the sweetest little guy! He loves to cuddle and purrs louder than any other cat I've ever known. He's going to live in the house into the spring then the plan is for him to go out and be a barn cat.

Blacksmithing

2010-11-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

Logan got to do blacksmithing at Foxfire. He really enjoyed it.

He started out by flattening a huge nail.

He then curled it to make a rat tail.

Then curved it into a J shape.

He had to cool it off when he was done shaping it.

He made a hook!

Trip to Foxfire

2010-11-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to Foxfire with some friends. Foxfire is a pretty interesting place, it is a village showing how people lived 100 years ago in this area. If you are familiar with the Foxfire books, it's the same place and it's only an hour from us!

Because there were only 2 kids in our group, Logan got to do a lot of things. He had a really good time.

He got to play on stilts and was able to take 8 steps before he fell over.

He made rope.

Played with old time toys.

He did some weaving.

And some wood working.

The highlight of the day was the blacksmithing. Logan actually got to shape metal into a hook. But that will be it's own post.

Is it a boy or a goat?

2010-11-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over 2 months since my last update. Geez. My work schedule should be getting easier now so hopefully I can post more often.

We had our first freeze last night so I thought it would be fun to post some pictures from the summer. I'm really not ready for cold yet.

Sometimes I think Logan takes his job as a goat owner a little too seriously.

Where have I been?

2010-08-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve been seriously MIA lately. This has been a little bit of a tough summer for me. I’ve been extremely restless. I haven’t traveled beyond visiting family since I moved here almost 2 years old. I’ve been feeling a strong need to travel for the last few months. I’ve also been feeling restless about my future. Logan is almost 11 and once he moves out (which I know is still 8 years away), I’m going back to work full-time. If I’m going back to work full time at 48, I’m going to do something I want to do. I’m just not sure what that is. The college I’m teaching for will let me get a degree for free if I teach for them for another year after I finish my degree. I’ve spent a few months trying to figure out if I want to pursue a degree, if I want to commit to this job for the next 4 years, and if I do what do I want to get a degree in. I know I need to be more than I am now, but deciding the direction of that is tough!

This restlessness had lead to a very short attention span over the last few months. I honestly don’t have the focus to read other people’s blogs. I’ve gotten really into Facebook because it fits the attention span I have now. I’ve even had to start reading kids books because I can finish those before I lose interest. On the upside, I’ve found a really good kid’s series. But this short attention span has me worried about possibly going back to school. I’m not sure I’ll have the patience to do all the reading and write the papers.

I’ve also been feeling like a homesteading failure. My garden amounted to nothing again this summer. The weeds got up to my shoulders before Mark weed wacked them for me. I got a handful of green beans and that is it. I also gave up on milking the goat after struggling with her to get a few ounces of milk each day. At least I don’t have to worry about the egg recall. This is why I haven’t been updating my blog. I feel like I have nothing worthwhile to share.

So, enough of my excuses. Here are some good things going on around here:

Ursa Bear's hair grew back. She looks cute again. She's also become my friendliest goat. She head butts me for petting.

She has also learned to play! Callisto is very happy about that.

Callisto has grown a ton! She can jump up onto the top of the chicken houses.

And will be as big as her mom soon.

Eris is now our biggest goat and just so cute.

Asparagus is still doing good!

Grandpa plays with the goats

2010-08-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

You behave yourself now.

Another one for the freaky egg file

2010-08-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Garden update

2010-07-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an update with lots of pretty pictures of beautiful produce, this is not the update for you. If however you've been struggling with your garden this year and want to feel better, keep reading. I almost named this post I hate my garden.

Hopefully TEOTWAWKI won't happen anytime soon or my family will starve!

Strawberries - all eaten by the birds before they got ripe, plants are now totally overtaken with grass. I can't even find the plants anymore. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, either til them all under or take the time to separate each plant from the grass.

Peas - got a handful before the plants died due to heat

Tomatoes - had a ton of green tomatoes, the chickens ate them all before they could ripen

Green beans - harvested enough for 3 dinners, the grasshoppers have now eaten all the leaves, planted more seeds about a month ago, none germinated or were eaten as soon as they did

Brocolli - never got any heads

Potatoes - never grew

Corn - improvement from last year. Last year the plants only got waist high and I never got any ears. This year the plants got head high and I got ears! However, this is how they all look:

I guess I didn't get good fertilization.

Sweet potatoes - hanging in there, I'm hopeful for a good harvest

Okra - still hasn't germinated, but it's only been a week since I planted them

Asparagus - the one thing that is doing really good, won't be ready to harvest for at least another year

Weeds - doing great! Although even they are starting to die from lack of rain

I spent a couple of weeks wallowing in self pity (it's how I work). Now I'm ready to cowgirl up and make it work. I think I'm going to build 4 or 5 more raised beds, they seem to do the best here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Poor Ursa Bear

2010-07-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being so MIA on this blog and everyone elses. I'll be amazed if I have any readers anymore. Summer is so busy!

Ursa Bear's hair was getting really long and she was so hot. So we decided to give her a haircut. We used a pair of spring scissors.

Here she is pre-haircut.

We took her up to the house to do the haircut. She met the cats for the first time.

We locked her into the milkstand with a bowl of food for some of the haircut, then Logan held her for the rest.

Poor girl, I am not a hairdresser! She looks silly.

"What did that woman do to me?"

Don't worry Ursa, it'll grow back. She is much cooler now though.

Random pictures from around the farm

2010-06-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Pictures don't always fit into their own posts, so here are some random ones from the last few weeks.

We have a few too many of these around.

I know what is getting the guinea eggs.

Yes, that is a house being built right next door. Even in the country neighbors feel the need to build too close.

Feeding time at the zoo.

In other news, I found a nest of 11 chicken eggs. I have no idea how long they've been there (I think less than a week) and it's been in the 90s so those are all wasted. At least I know a new place to look now. If they would just stick to one spot! I also stopped milking the goat, it wasn't worth the frustration. Everyone is doing well and I'll post newer pictures of Callisto soon. She's getting really big!

A farmer's lament

2010-06-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Warning, much whining ahead. I'm not really feeling the farm love lately.

I have 12 laying hens, 1 is sitting on a nest of eggs right now so she's excused. But the other 11 are only managing to lay an average of 4 eggs a day. I thought maybe they were hiding them so I kept them locked in the coop the last 2 days. I got 5 eggs one day, and only 1 yesterday! I'm going crazy trying to figure out what is going on. I have people that want eggs and not nearly enough eggs for them. All I can figure is their eating them?

Then I have my bratty milk goat, and bratty is putting it nicely! It takes me 5 minutes to drag her to the milk stand each morning. She then lets me milk her for about 3 minutes before she decides she's done. And when she's done, she isn't kidding. She kicks, stomps, sits down, dances, everything she can think of to make me stop. She spills the milk every 3 days or so. I'm starting to really dislike this goat. She's also a bully to the other goats. Her only saving grace is she's a good mom. I'm seriously considering giving up milking. It isn't worth the daily fight for 4 ounces of milk. I dread getting up in the morning because I know what is coming.

And if that wasn't enough, the guineas are making nests in the hardest to find places. I've found a few of them recently with many eggs in them. One had 16! I have no idea how old the eggs are so I just mark them and keep checking the nest to see if we get new ones. Not only do we not get new ones but over the next few days all the old ones disappear. This has happened a few times now. We haven't had a guinea egg in well over a month.

On top of all that, the goats have discovered that good stuff is growing in the garden and they are now getting out every day and eating the garden. I thought I had all the places they could get out sealed up, but apparently not. I've long suspected that they could escape whenever they want and just stay where I want them out of kindness. The lure of the garden is too much for them to resist right now. I'm trying to seal any spot I find.

And speaking of the garden, it has rained everyday for the last week. Which is great, except the weeds are now so big I can't find my plants! Of course, the goats can, they don't eat the weeds, just the stuff I want. It finally isn't raining today but it's in the 90s out there. I have no idea when weeding may occur.

And Mark wonders why I'm not in the mood to make dinner at night!

Ursa Bear

2010-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

I guess you guys are tired of Callisto videos based on the lack of response to my last post...

Many of you probably forgot that we got a little angora doeling a few days before Callisto was born. Ursa Bear has been neglected on this blog, but don't worry, not in real life.

When we got her she was very shy and scared of us. After Callisto was born, part of my morning routine started including sitting on the ground so Callisto could climb all over me, eat my hair, and fall asleep in my lap. Ursa watched from a distance for the first week then slowly started coming over to me. I guess she figured if the little baby trusted me enough to fall asleep in my lap then she probably didn't need to be scared of me.

Now she comes over every morning as soon as I sit down. Callisto jumps on me and acts like a baby goat, while Ursa stands quietly in front of me and lets me pet her. She is so calm and gentle, I never knew a goat could be calm and gentle. In case you can't tell, I adore this little girl.

She and Callisto have become pretty close. For those of you with angoras, do they ever play or jump on things? Callisto has been jumping on the big spools for over a week, but Ursa has never gotten on any of the spools. She also never plays head butting games even though Callisto tries to get her too. I just want to make sure she is ok.

Cute video of Callisto and Logan

2010-05-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

This video is from last week. I have another cute one to share tomorrow. Then I need recent videos taken this week!

I'm too busy playing with her cuteness to video tape her.

A friend visits the farm

2010-05-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

We had a friend over today that has a 10 year old boy too. The boys had a great time!

She did a better post than I'd ever do, so here is the link:

http://waiting4news99.blogspot.com/2010/05/visit-to-friends-farm.html?spref=fb

A question about predators

2010-05-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

I went out this morning and found 7 or 8 guinea eggs spread about the pen. They were broken perfectly in half, not shattered. The insides were gone but the shells were in good shape, just open. What could have done this?

I think I have a guinea that has gone broody and that whatever broke open the eggs must have chased her off the nest last night. I will move her to a safe location today. Just wondering what may have gotten the eggs and if I need to worry about it getting the chickens.

Logan and Callisto

2010-05-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

Videos of the babies

2010-05-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

2 videos from last week. The babies were only a day old here. I'll get new videos of Callisto today. She's much more active now. She jumps and hops and runs. It is very cute!

The flood in Nashville

2010-05-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all heard about the flood in Nashville. What you may not know is that my sister lives there. Her house flooded within feet of the roof! She lost everything.

I went there this weekend to help her out. Her house is now totally gutted. All the drywall, flooring, duct work and siding is off the house. It is going to be a VERY long rebuilding process.

Here are some pictures of the flood. I'll have more pictures in a few days of my visit there.

Her house is under the water somewhere in this picture.

Another picture where you can't see the houses that are there.

Her house once she was able to get back to it.
Inside the kitchen
The water line on her house!
The debris piles on her street the day they were able to get back in. The piles are now taller than a person and continuous down the whole street!
The inside of the house after the gutting began. That is my sister in this picture.
It was an incredible weekend. The community support has been amazing. There has been a constant stream of volunteers since Tuesday. They are helping gut houses, delivering food and water, and offering people places to stay. We never lacked for food, water or help. My sister has the best friends ever! They've been there non-stop since this happened doing whatever needed to be done.

She will start rebuilding in a few weeks hopefully. If anyone is near Nashville and would like to help out with construction when we get started let me know. We'll need all the help we can get!

I'm also collecting donations on my paypal account, it is going to cost a lot to rebuild. She is a single woman, working and going to college to get her nursing degree. She doesn't have any money for rebuilding. If you'd like to help out my account is moneal@pobox.com

No amount is too small.

The baby is doing great and just as cute as can be! Logan took great care of her while I was gone.

Meet Callisto

2010-05-07T09:59:00.001-07:00

Wanda came and got her baby Thursday evening, so we were able to name our baby. Meet Callisto! We think she is very beautiful. She loves to hop and climb on us. She's very friendly already and doing great.

See, they are smaller than the chickens! I am amazed by how small they are.

At least than 24 hours old she was already trying to climb on things!

All goats love kisses.

We are beyond thrilled with our little girl. Io is being the best mom in the world. I have some videos I'll try to post soon.

We have babies!!!

2010-05-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Whistling Wind Farm had it's first babies yesterday afternoon. Io had 2 baby girls around 3 pm. The births both went really well and Logan and I were there to witness both of them. The babies are nursing and playing and cute as can be! They are smaller than the chickens! I'll get some scale pictures today.

Baby #1 fresh out of momma. Less than 30 seconds old at this point.

Io cleaning baby #1

More cleaning of baby #1

#1 trying to stand up.

Baby #2 is here. We were busy with #1 and didn't get many pictures of #2 right after birth.

#2 about 20 minutes after birth.
Logan holding #1
Io cleaning #2
The babies love to cuddle up in the dogloo.

The woman we got Io from is coming to get one of the girls tomorrow, it was part of the deal of getting Io. So, we don't know which girl we are keeping yet, but one of them will have a permanent home here.

It was an amazing and scary experience! I shook for about an hour afterwards. It is incredible how quickly they stand up and are nursing, within minutes of being born. They are already climbing all over us and trying to jump on things. Baby goats are amazing.

Meet Ursa

2010-04-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

We drove 2 hours each way today to Dogwood Farm in South Carolina to get an angora doeling. She is 8 weeks old and very sweet.

The other goats are adjusting to her really well. Eris is picking on her a little, but Eris is the lowest goat here now so she's just trying to be above someone. The rest of the goats are being nice to her. Things are so much more peaceful here without the sheep.

Our plan for Ursa is to breed her to a nigerian buck and get nigoras. Carol at Dogwood Farms had a few nigoras and they are precious! They have the nigerian personality, the angora coat and really great coloring. I'm excited to see the babies we get out of her when she gets older.

Shearing the sheep

2010-04-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, after Logan's black belt test, my friend Tina came over to shear the sheep. Thanks Tina! I owe you big time.

Sweet Pea was pretty cooperative.

She looks funny with half her fleece gone.

Almost done.
Hey Honey! That weird dog with the horns is back!
Nebula was a lot less cooperative. We had to push and drag for a good 5 minutes to get her on the stand.
Once up there, she was pretty good though. She had a thick fleece!

We got a late start and it was after dark before we finished, but they both got sheared and their hooves trimmed.

This will be our last sheep shearing here at Whistling Wind Farm. Someone is coming to get the sheep tomorrow. I've been thinking about selling them for 4 months or so. And decided after the shearing it was time to. I haven't really enjoyed the sheep. I can't catch Nebula without help. And Sweet Pea can be rough on the goats. The goats we have now know how to avoid her, but with babies coming in a few weeks, I didn't want to take any chances. I'm a little sad to see them go, especially Sweet Pea. She really is a nice sheep. But I know in the long run it will be best for everyone.

Black belt test

2010-04-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

OK, not back to farming yet. Logan tested for his first degree black belt Saturday and I thought I'd share some pictures and a video

Here he is doing a jump spinning hook kick.

Love his intensity when he's doing forms.

Choking his partner while doing one step sparring.
Getting ready to break the board with his elbow.

Just broke the board with a spinning side kick.
All done with his test.

A video of him doing his 3 breaks at the test.

I'll be posting more videos and pictures to Facebook, so if we aren't friends yet and you want to see them, send me a friend request.

A sad anniversary

2010-04-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

On this anniversary of the shooting at Virginia Tech, I want to re-post the post I made after visiting the campus a few days after the shooting. I can't figure out an easy way to re-post it, so here is the link:

Our visit to Virginia Tech

We'll be back to farming soon.

Guinea eggs

2010-04-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting guinea eggs! Or they are finally laying where I can find them, not sure which.

They are very different from chicken eggs. They are speckled and have a very pointy end. They are a little bit bigger than bantam eggs.

They also have a very thick shell. I had to really hit it hard to get it to open.

They have a nice orange yolk and have an eggier taste than chicken eggs.

Sorry for my absence from your blogs. Things have been crazy here! But the garden is getting in slowly and the other work is getting done.

Garden report

2010-04-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working in the garden for the last week. I had to revamp all my raised beds. I had filled them last year with top soil from the local hardware store and it was crappy soil! 2 of the beds had gotten rock hard, I mean I literally could not get a shovel into them.

So I used my cool new mini-tiller to break up the beds, then I shoveled half the dirt out of each one and filled it back in with compost and manure. I then used my cool new tiller to till the compost in and I planted them. I have 5 raised beds, 3 will be seasonal and 2 are permanent plantings.

Brocolli

Peas

Strawberries (one of the permanent beds)
Asparagus, it still needs more compost worked in before I plant it.
Beans, oops looks like this one could have used a bit more compost.

The neighbor came and tilled the big garden. I've been working compost into it with the tiller. The dirt was rock hard and in big clumps so I wasn't having a lot of success, but it rained today so the ground will be softer and I should be able to really work it in a few days. Then I'll plant it with corn, tomatoes and more beans for now. Other things will follow as the season progresses.

The big garden is going to get broken into 2 halves, if you read my blog last year, you'll remember I had a good half and a bad half. The good half is the half I'm working compost into and will get my vegetables. The bad half is going to get permanent plantings. It will be all the berries and a few fruit trees. That way I can just mulch it really well and leave it be from now on. I still have to put in all those plantings.

The butterfly garden needs 2 more plants and it is done. I just haven't been able to find the plants yet.

I think I'm on track to have all my planting done in the next 2-3 weeks. Then I'll just have the fun of watering!

Chicken pictures

2010-03-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

We spent a couple of hours outside with the animals today. I decided to get some pictures of chickens.

Lily
Chamomile and Yarrow.
Crocus and Snowdrop
Lotus
Chamomile and Yarrow
Chamomile
Yarrow

That still leaves about 10 to get pictures of. Chickens are hard to get good pictures of!

Midget egg

2010-03-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

After getting the biggest egg I've ever seen on Saturday, I got the smallest egg I've ever seen yesterday.

It is so small it fits in the cartoon sideways. The one above it is a bantam egg.

Comparing it to an average egg.

Isn't it cute? We haven't cracked it yet so I don't know if it has a yolk or not. I'm guessing not.

Here are some weights for those that like numbers:

Midget egg - 0.75 ounces

Average bantam egg - 1.2 ounces

Average standard egg - 2 ounces

Large egg - 2. 4 ounces

Massive egg from Saturday - at least 3 ounces!

Life is never boring on a farm.

Massive egg

2010-03-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

We got this whopper on Saturday. It's the biggest egg I've ever seen. It filled Logan's full hand. It was only a double yolker, I thought for sure it would have 3. We've had double yolks in the past and they weren't nearly this big. I should have weighed it.

Visiting with Sandy's babies

2010-03-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Sandy had 2 baby goats born in the last 2 weeks. Logan and I went over to visit with them Sunday. They are precious! She has a little girl (the white one) named Annie, and a little boy named Chaz. I have a cute video I'll share in another post.

I love the flying ear!

Messing with Sasquatch

2010-03-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Actually Orion. We had friends come over earlier this week and they fell in love with Orion, as everyone does.

Marilyn and Logan had a lot of fun sitting on the garden cart with Orion between them. They spent at least 30 minutes playing with him and this bowl. Orion hit them both in the head with it a few times. It was really funny.

I love having visitors to the farm and can't wait until it is warm consistently so we can have more people out.

3 day emergency kit giveaway

2010-03-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Preparedness Pantry is having a giveaway of a 3 day emergency kit. They are advertising it as an earthquake emergency kit, but it is a basic 3 day kit that will work for any emergency.

Go here to enter:

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/2010/03/earthquake-preparedness-giveaway.html

Digging a new plot

2010-03-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

We've had great weather the past few days, so I decided to get some gardening work done. Logan wants to put in a butterfly garden, so I found a good spot and got to work busting up the ground.

We still don't own a tiller (we are "debating" what type to get, it isn't go well), so I had to dig the plot by hand. The ground is too hard for a shovel to break into, so I got to use my handy pick-axe. If you're going to live where there is hard clay, you MUST own a pick-axe. It took about 3 hours to get the spot broken up and I'm sore!

Here is the plot after I've dug it up. It still needs more work before it will be ready to plant, but the initial work is done.

Here is a video Logan took of me digging part of the area. It is a little shaky, but I think it gives you an idea of how hard to ground is.

We still need to get the big garden tilled. I'm hoping the neighbor can do it with the tractor, but we're expecting rain off and on for the next 2 weeks, so I think it is going to be awhile.

Egg Fart

2010-03-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

We had our first weird egg yesterday. It had no shell. It was very disconcerting to reach into the nest box and feel something squishy.

Logan had a lot of fun playing with it.

We cut it open and it was normal on the inside, but we didn't eat it. See the cool membrane that was surrounding it.

What country folk do for fun

2010-02-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was perfect, 60s and sunny (don't be too jealous, it got cold again). So, we spend most of the weekend outside. We went to the Botanical Gardens, watched our alma mater lose a softball game, and hung out with the animals a lot. We also finally tried out Logan's Christmas present.

It worked way better than we thought it would! And it was LOUD. We had a great time shooting potatoes into the neighbor's pasture. Don't worry, no potatoes were harmed in the making of this video, at least no good potatoes. We got them out of the dumpster we share with our neighbor.

A blast from the past

2010-02-22T08:33:00.001-08:00

Our sweet boy when he was little.

Scenes from a farm in the snow

2010-02-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

A guinea on the roof of the house. Trying to escape the snow? No one knows what goes through the mind of a guinea.

Just beautiful!

The coop with the freshly painted red door while it was snowing.

While it was snowing.

Sheep in the snow are pretty.

I'm going to get sentimental for a bit. We've been here over a year and I still can't believe this is my home and my land. There are times I resent having to go out in the cold and rain and wind to take care of the animals. But deep inside I am in awe of this place. It is truly the most amazing place to me. The beauty of the land takes my breath away almost daily. I am at peace here.

Goats go sledding

2010-02-14T17:38:00.001-08:00

In most of the country, the first robin means spring is just around the corner. In Georgia, the first robin seems to mean that snow is imminent. Last year I saw the first robin and it snowed 5 inches that day! This year I saw the first robin and we got 4 inches the next day.

Anyway, this is the first year we had goats when it snowed. They took a real interest in sledding.

What is this thing? It looks fun.

We should give it a try.

Can I take a turn Logan?

Whee! This is great.

More snow pictures in the days to come. The farm is beautiful in the snow.

Help has arrived!

2010-02-12T10:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I was whining on Facebook about how no one helps me around here and I'm tired of doing everything myself.

When I was doing my morning chores today, I realized I have lots of help and just haven't appreciated it.

For example, yesterday I painted the door to the chicken coop. The goats were more than happy to lend a hand. They have the red noses to prove it! Orion even climbed the ladder so I didn't have to.

Today Sweat Pea helped me clean the stall. She was by my side the whole time, even as I went back and forth between the stall and the poopy hay pile. That is until I hit her with the rake. I'm sorry Sweat Pea, it was an accident!

And the chickens, can't forget the chickens. They help with the previously mentioned poopy hay pile. They help take the high compact pile and spread it out so it is about an inch thick over a wide area.

I realized today that many people would be thankful to have the help I have. I promise to appreciate my helpers more.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get the guineas to do the dishes.

Cute calf

2010-02-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor had this cutey born recently. She was only a day or 2 old in these pictures.

I love having cows as neighbors.

Aerogarden week 4

2010-02-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

This is a week late, but what this looked like after 4 weeks. We've started harvesting and have had salad 3 times now.

The great chicken swap

2010-02-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

If you read Sandy's blog, you know she recently got a bunch of chickens, about half of which were Americanas. We've been wanting more Americanas and had 2 silver laced wyandottes we wanted to sell (they are bullies). So, Sandy came up with the idea for the great chicken swap. She got our 2 wyandottes and we got 3 Americanas. This was a good trade because our wyandottes are less than a year old and laying everyday and the 3 Americanas are of unknown age and unknown laying potential.

Here is one of the girls we got rid of.

One of our new girls, Lily

This is Crocus

This is Snowdrop. Logan has been wanting an all white Americana for awhile. He's excited about Snowdrop.

I think one of our new girls laid today.

Sweet Pea

2010-01-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

Our sheep Sweet Pea is a crazy sheep. She is affectionate! Who ever heard of an affectionate sheep? Especially when she is in heat, she becomes Velcro Sheep. She is particularly into Logan when she is in heat.

There's that anti-social goat again.

Aerogarden week 3 update

2010-01-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

We harvested some tonight and each had a salad. Let me just say YUM. The lettuce was tender and crisp. This was good stuff. I harvested less than 1/3 of each pod, according to the directions I should be able to harvest for a few weeks as long as I don't take too much each time. This is the best free toy I've ever gotten!

Aerogarden week 3

2010-01-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

I think we are about ready to start harvesting. I can't believe how fast they are growing! Hydroponics is pretty cool.

Not our favorite

2010-01-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

We don't play favorites on our farm. And if we did, the worthless wether certainly wouldn't be our favorite ;)

Logan playing push with Orion.

Oh no, Orion got caught in Logan's rear naked choke. Tuck your chin Orion!

Orion managed the escape but is now in Logan's guard.

He's tired of grappling and wants to eat my shoe laces.

Lucky for him he's cute.

Brocolli and ground covers

2010-01-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

I finally harvested some brocolli yesterday! I've planted brocolli 4 or 5 times but never gotten to harvest any. It has either gotten eaten, not made heads, or gone to seed before I could harvest it. I guess I've always planted it too late in the spring. So, this time I planted it in late fall. The plants grew well, nothing ate them, and they made heads. Being cold, they never did go to seed. We ate the brocolli last night. I think I waited too long to harvest it. It was stringy and a bit bitter. I was the only one that would eat it. But after growing it, I was darn sure going to eat it! So, I'm still trying to have success at brocolli. One day I will get it right. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Do any of you know anything about ground covers? I have a steep slope in full sun behind the chicken coop. When it rains, the dirt washes into the coop. I want to stop the erosion. Any recommendations for a good, fast growing ground cover I could use?

Cute little eggs

2010-01-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

My beautiful little Mille Fleur Chamomile has started laying.

She has the cutest little eggs! Her egg is the tiny one in the middle. We haven't tried one yet, I'm sure they are delicious.

Aerogarden update 1

2010-01-19T09:23:00.001-08:00

This is 2 weeks after planting. Things are coming along nicely.

I had to add more water and nutrients on Saturday. It has blinking lights to tell you when to add things. After adding them you are supposed to push the reset button to make the lights stop blinking. I pushed the button 4 times and the lights didn't stop blinking. I hoped the lights would stop blinking overnight but the next morning they were still blinking. I pushed the button 4 more times and still nothing. Getting frustrated, I called Logan over to give it a try. He pushed the button once and all the lights stopped blinking! I have this same problem with touch screens, they never work for me but Logan can always get them to work the first try. I think my body temperature is too low or something. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really alive ;)!

A warm day

2010-01-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

After over a week of highs that were less than freezing, we got 2 nice days last week. Logan and I decided to spend some much needed time with the goats.

I got a couple more videos that I'll try to post over the next few days. Sorry for the big gap in posting. I find it very hard to function when it is so cold. Even the normal chores are hard, and I had to bring warm water out to the animals 3 times a day. I've been feeling overwhelmed with having to do everything inside and out with very little help. Somehow, it all seems easier when it is warm. I'm so glad we moved south.

Aerogarden

2010-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone has seen ads for these things. I wasn't going to get one, but my Step-mom did and never used it. So, when I was up there visiting for Christmas, she gave it to me. Thanks Marilyn. I figured why not give it a try, especially since it is so bleeping cold out there.

Logan and I started the pods last Saturday. It is really easy to set up. You fill the bottom with water, it takes about a gallon, add 2 nutrient pellets and put the pods into the holes. You then push the button for what you are growing and it does the rest. It takes care of the lights and tell you when to add water and nutrients.

This is what it looked like right after we started it.

2 days later we had germination.

4 days later.
Today, 1 week after starting.

I'll keep you posted on how things go. Oh, we're growing salad greens. The pods are a bit expensive, but the ones I'm using were given to me with the Aerogarden. I'm not sure I'll buy more, but I guess we will see what our harvest is like.

Public Service Announcement

2010-01-05T09:34:00.001-08:00

This is just a friendly, neighborhood public service announcement. This is the time of year to check your bug out bags.

Replace any expired food
Change out the water
Check any clothes to make sure they still fit, especially if you have kids
Update any copies of documents you have
Review the contents and make sure there isn't anything you want to remove or add

Don't have a bug out bag you say. Why not?! This is the perfect time of year to prepare one. You never know when something may happen, even if you are just bugging out to your basement during a storm. It is always good to be prepared.

If you don't have a bug out bag yet, here is the post I wrote 2 years ago about what is in our bag:

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2007/12/bug-out-bag.html

I've made a few changes since then. I've added these for food:
http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_FM%20R240_A_name_E_MAINSTAY™%202,400%20Calorie%20Food%20Bar

And these for water: http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_WS%20P100_A_name_E_Datrex%20Water%20Pouches%20-%204.2%20ounce%20Pouch%20(purchased%20in%20case%20of%2064)

I figured this way I wouldn't have to change everything out as often.

If you are just putting your bag together, here is a good chart showing what is included in kits you can buy: http://beprepared.com/article.asp_Q_ai_E_518_A_name_E_Kit%20Contents$20Chart

It is also a good idea to have a smaller kit in your car. How many times do we hear stories of people getting stranded in remote areas in their car? I've got supplies in case I have to spend 2 nights in the car with Logan. Let's hope I never have to use any of it!

3 Year Anniversary

2010-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe I’ve had this blog for 3 years! This blog has seen me through a lot of changes. I also can’t believe that some of you have been with me from the beginning. Are you gluttons for punishment or what?! You saw me through the beginning of the dream, when living on a farm was just a wild idea. You saw me through the year of trying to convince Mark I was serious. You saw me through the awful year of trying to sell the house and get moved. The times when I literally felt like I was sufficating living in suburban hell. You were there when it almost all fell apart and we almost had to move back to Delaware. And you’ve been there for my first year on the farm, all the ups and downs. I owe so much to you guys. You helped me stay strong during the bad times and you’ve helped me celebrate the good times. I honestly think without you I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Just for fun, here is the first picture I ever posted. It was in a post about nature deficit disorder.

I was feeling nostalgic and starting looking back through old posts and I realized a few things. I used to really wax philosophical on this blog! I feel like now I just do drive by posts; "here’s a few pictures of the animals, we are fine, bye." I kind of miss that old, philosophical me. I also realized I’ve let a lot of things go that I used to do. Things like sewing, crochet, baking, writing, painting, and photography. . Between the farm, Logan’s activities, and my online teaching job I feel there is little time for me anymore. In the evenings, by the time we get home from Logan’s activities, I take care of the animals, make dinner, and do the dishes, it is usually 9. I then still have an hour or more of work for my classes. I need to get better about doing more during the day, and doing my work during Logan’s activities. I’d like to free up that time from 9-11 in the evenings.

In the spirit of nostalgia, I thought it would be fun to revisit some old posts. Give my new friends a chance to know me as more than just the woman with the funny goats and a hawk problem. Here are a few of my favorite posts from the last 3 years. Some of these are favorites not because of what I wrote, but because of the discussion in the comments.

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-ishmael.html

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2007/04/unschooling-answer-to-comment.html

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2008/02/in-defense-of-food.html

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2008/11/we-got-chickens.html

http://farmdreams-christy.blogspot.com/2009/04/boy-and-his-goat.html

I hope you all will still be here next year when we celebrate number 4!

Goals for 2010

2010-01-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

I need to write my goals down for the coming year. I’ve been unfocused and goal-less for the last 2 or 3 months. It has made me restless and irritable. I’m the type of person that needs to be working towards something.

Personal:
• Sign up for an exercise class - either dance or Tai Chi
• Explore Buddhism more fully
• Learn Small Circle Jujitsu
• Crochet a sweater
• Find people to help me with my goals, I’m tired of going it alone most of the time
• Make new friends and strengthen my current friendships
• Help Logan with his goals anyway I can (even if it means going outside my comfort zone)
• Get back into photography
• Volunteer with Logan again (I miss doing this)

Farm:
• Figure out my overall focus for the farm (this will be a future post)
• Expand goat herd – I’d still like a couple of pygoras
• Plant more berry bushes
• Plant more fruit trees
• Improve garden soil
• Research and decide if I want to do bees
• Plant medicinal herbs and learn to make more herbal remedies
• Do something with Sweet Pea’s fleece
• Have more success in the garden this year

Prep:
• Expand food storage
• Build and use more efficient solar oven
• Become more confident with my rifle
• Learn to shoot a pistol
• Set up another water cistern
• Explore alternative energy sources
• Start canning again (I didn’t do any in 2009)
• Start sewing again (Again, didn’t do any in 2009)
• Learn to pressure can

I really neglected my prepping in 2009, getting the farm established was the focus. I’m glad I learned so many of the prepping skills in the 2 years before we moved here!

Logan wanted to share his goals too.

• Learn to do a 540
• Beat an established grappler in a fair match, maybe at a tournament
• Learn to do a round off, back hand spring
• Win a sparring match at a tournament
• Learn to do a num-chuk routine
• Compete in another combat robot competition
• Learn pressure points
• Finish weaving place mat
• Learn Bollywood dancing
• Learn to do a flip turn
• Learn to do back stroke
• Milk the goat

My first trip away from the farm

2009-12-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't been away from the farm overnight since we moved here over a year ago. Mark and Logan have, but I haven't wanted to leave the animals. I decided I wanted to go to Virginia to see family for the holidays. My grandparents are still alive but their health is starting to suffer, so I wanted to see them. I arranged for a neighbor to come in the mornings and Sandy to come in the evenings. I divided up the chores between the 2 times so no one had more than about 10 minutes worth of stuff to do.

After a great trip, we arrived home yesterday evening. I told Sandy not to come yesterday so I could do the evening chores and check on everyone when I got home. I went down to put everyone to bed and everyone seemed fine. But I noticed all the waters were empty. Not good. The neighbor doing the morning was in charge of filling waters. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he filled them the morning before and decided there was enough water left yesterday morning to get them through the day. I decided I'd take care of the water in the morning since it was already after 9 and all the animals were asleep.

This morning, the neighbor must have been confused about when we were coming back because he came by before we got up and let the animals out. I thought good, I won't have to fill all the waters and can concentrate on cleaning the extremely dirty stall and the coops. When I got down there, all the waters will still empty and the chicken's food hadn't been filled! The chickens are locked in the new coop and can't get out to forage for food. They are reliant on us to feed them. When I went into the coop to feed them, they attacked me! They were clearly very hungry. Now I'm wondering if the neighbor ever filled the food or water. Luckily, I got big water containers and filled them to the top before I left, so at most they should only have gone a day or 2 without water. But the chickens could have gone the whole time without food.

I appreciate that he was willing to help out, but you need to be able to rely on people to do what they say they are going to do. Especially when animals are involved! I'm the type of person that takes responsibility very seriously. If you ask me to do something I will do beyond what you asked. If you wanted me to feed and water your animals, you'd probably come home and find I cleaned the barn too ;). It is just how I am. It is really hard to learn that others don't take their word seriously.

Luckily, it is winter and not summer. They could have died without water for 2 days in the summer. I was planning on going to my family reunion in July, it is every other year and family from all over the world go. I don't want to miss it, but I can't put my animals in danger either. I will be looking for a new morning person and setting up a redundancy system where waters get filled twice a day. I hope I can find someone I feel comfortable trusting to take care of my animals. I trust Sandy but don't want to ask her to come twice a day, that seems like it is asking too much of someone. Thanks Sandy! The animals appreciate the care you gave them.

Update: Sandy filled the food and water for the chickens in the coop when she came in the evenings. It is clear the neighbor never did the whole time. Thank goodness I had Sandy coming in the evening!!! Thank you again Sandy. I really owe you!

The best Christmas present ever!

2009-12-25T10:04:00.000-08:00

Turns out Lisa was right. The hawk did come back a couple of weeks ago. This time it got my sweet, wonderful Calendula! We were upset about Dusty because he was fun and roamed the street. Even all the neighbors liked him because he would visit them. But he wasn't friendly. When I found Calendula's feathers, I was seriously pissed! She was MY chicken. She was devoted to me. I nursed her back to health. I picked maggots out of her 6 or 7 times. She ran to me whenever I went outside and rode around on my shoulder.

I decided right then that I wouldn't lose anymore chickens. Mark talked to the neighbor that day about building us a coop on the side of the run-in. He built our house and the run-in originally so he seemed like an obvious choice.

The coop got done Tuesday and it is beautiful! We had it built in a way that if we want in the future, we can wall it in and have another stall. The chickens are all safely tucked in. They aren't thrilled with being locked up, but they are safe. I let them out when I am out with them.

This coop is my Christmas present from everyone. They are all donating money towards it. It is the best Christmas present ever, but my rifle last year is a close second.

Pumpkin Cider Bread

2009-12-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I've posted a recipe. I've really missed baking. I'm looking forward to the slower times of winter so I can bake more. The neighbors will love me! I like giving my baking away so we don't eat it all ourselves.

I was trying to think of what to make the neighbors for the holidays. We had apple cider sitting around that needed to be used up, so I kind of made up a recipe. It turned out really good! It is moist and spicy. I made 5 mini loaves. It would make at least 2 full size loaves.

Pumpkin Cider Bread

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (I did use store bought, my pumpkins never grew)
• 4 eggs (collected that day if possible)
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup apple sauce (I used my home made cinnamon apple sauce)
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 2 cups white sugar (pure cane of course, don’t want any genetically modified sugar in my bread)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare pans
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, apple sauce, cider, and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

I also made brownie bites today. Man are those good! I'm not sure if I ever shared that recipe or not.

Target Practice

2009-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

No self respecting farm blog would be complete without the occasional gun post. Over Thanksgiving, my dad and sister came to visit and we pulled out the pellet guns for a little target practice in the front yard.

Mark took a turn.
My sister, Maile took a turn.
Logan took a turn, he prefers the pistol to the rifle.
Nice shot! Thanks for the targets Grandpa Joe.
Time to re-load, this was my job most of the time.
Logan got his sling shot out to try. The gun is much easier.
Maile doing her Sarah Palin impression.
Me doing my Sarah Palin impression.
Logan showing Grandpa how to use the gun.
Grandpa takes a turn.
I took a few turns too, but you guys have already seen pictures of me shooting. Pellets guns are a lot of fun to practice with.

We have a friend who wants to come over and do some target practice. We're exciting about this because they have better guns than we do. We're thinking about getting a pistol someday but would love to try a couple out first. Hopefully, we can find a time to have our friend over.

Cute animal pictures coming soon.

A beautiful foggy day

2009-12-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we extremely foggy. The farm was earning it's second name Foggy Bottom Farm.

Here is the normal view of our neighbor's barn.

Here was yesterday's view. This was the thickest fog we've had since we moved here.
Aurora on a spool.
The house from the road.
Our neighbor's cows.

The amazing thing is these pictures were taken at 3 in the afternoon. The fog was like this all day.

Another nasty rumor

2009-12-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

There is another nasty rumor going around about me. I don't know how these things keep getting started but I have to put an end to it! The latest one is that I was giving the goats rides in the wheelbarrow this morning. That is ridiculous! Who would do something like that? I even heard people are saying the goats were waiting in line for their rides. Please....

Now, I was using the wheelbarrow this morning. I have to move 6 months worth of waste hay and goat poop so we can have another stall built on the run-in Monday. It is a huge pile! I worked for an hour this morning and I didn't even make a dent in it. Mark is hiking so it is up to me to get it moved. Sometimes I think this is not the lifestyle for a small woman. And as goats like to do, they were helping me move the pile. But come on, this rumor is crazy!

In case you've been hearing other rumors about me and missed the last time I had to debunk them, go here.

Rain

2009-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last week we got alot of rain. Our creek and the neighbor's creek flooded. Logan and I decided to go down during the height of the store to see how it all looked. We got very wet. Maybe not our smartest decision ever, but it was fun.

Here is the neighbor's creek. Usually you can't see the water from this point in our pasture. This day the water was about 1/4 of the way up his pasture.

I had a creek in my garden. That isn't normal

Our creek, way over it's banks. It is up into the pasture and everything around the creek is under water. In the summer, our creek went totally dry so this is a lot of water!

I have some videos we took of our creek during the rain, I'll post them tomorrow probably. Today, the rain finally stopped, but the farm is earning it's name! The wind is insane out there.

Lastly, I want to apologize for not reading anyone's blog for the last week or so. I'm feeling overwhelmed right now with work and just don't have time to read blogs. I'm not ignoring you all! I'm having to work during all of Logan's activities just to keep caught up. I'm not done most nights until 10 and then I have time to pop onto Facebook and that is about it. Classes end next week, so things will calm down again then.

Funny animals

2009-12-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

This morning I went down to do morning chores as usual but the animals were being funny. First Calendula jumped on my shoulder and just rode around. Sweet Pea the sheep is in heat, so she was glued to my leg, we call her velcro sheep when she is in heat. Because she is the leader and spent the morning stuck to my leg, the rest of the animals also hung around instead of going down on pasture. So, I'm trying to clean the stall and fill water buckets with a chicken on my shoulder, a sheep on my leg and the goats chewing on my pants. Nebula, the sheep that is scared of us, was also hanging around in the stall while I tried to clean it. I literally couldn't turn around without tripping over an animal, and every time I turned around and tripped, the chicken on my shoulder had to flap her wings to keep her balance. It was an interesting morning in the stall! The chores did get done, although they took longer than usual. As I was walking back up to the house Sweet Pea was crying at me the whole time. I felt terrible about coming in but I can't spend all day out there, I have papers to grade.

To top it all off, all the girls who are laying decided instead of laying in their normal, individual spots, that they all wanted to lay in Buttercup's spot. I'm not sure how Buttercup feels about this. It does make collecting eggs easier for me though. I'm not sure why everyone is acting funny today, maybe the change in the weather?

Green eggs and ham

2009-12-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

We have green eggs! Dr. Suess would be proud. (Ignore the dirty window sill, that is embarrassing)!

Our beautiful girl Sweet Cecily has started laying. Being an Americana, she lays colored eggs. Her color is this pale green.

We still have another Americana that isn't laying yet. Logan is hoping for pink eggs from her. 5 of our 8 girls are now laying. Soon, we will be rolling in eggs and begging people to take them. I never meant to have this many layers, but the chickens just seem to find their way here.

Even more cute goat pictures

2009-11-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Goats love kisses

And shiny things

Everyone look over here for the Christmas card picture.
Perfect!

Spool fun

2009-11-17T09:17:00.001-08:00

Our neighbor brought some spools home from work and said we could have them! You know how much goats love spools.

Their favorite thing to do is push each other off. Here is Aurora pushing IO off the middle spool.

They also like to pose and show how cute they are. Aren't we cute?

Aurora thinks she is cuter than Orion and is going to prove it. "I'm cuter!"
Aurora wins, she is cuter.

Logan, who thinks he is a goat, doesn't want to miss out on the pushing fun. He also thinks he is pretty cute.
Aurora still can't get IO to admit she is cuter.
Orion and Eris battle for big spool supremacy.
Eris wishes she could claim this victory, but Orion fell off all on his own.

Thanks neighbor!

Good news and bad news

2009-11-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

First the good news. Look who is out with the rest of the flock! Yes, it's Calendula. They've accepted her with no problems. She loves being out and follows us around everywhere when we are out there. She also likes being petted and held. She is a sweet girl and quickly becoming a favorite.

Here is Calendula with her boyfriend Dusty Miller, our beautiful roo that we just adore. Now the bad news, even though this picture was taken yesterday, Dusty Miller is not longer with us. He got eaten this morning (not by us).

We are heartbroken! It seems silly to be this upset about the death of your free exotic chick, but he was a really special boy. He followed me everywhere when I was outside. He spent a lot of time out front. He loved to explore the neighbor's pasture and we knew it was just a matter of time before something got him. He refused to stay home! We will miss him and his wandering ways. No more "where you going Dusty Miller"

A year already?

2009-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the day we moved to our farm! I can't believe it has already been a year, it seems like no time at all. Being that it is an anniversary it is time to look back and reflect.

We currently have:
4 miniature goats (3 nigerian dwarfs and 1 mini nubian)
2 sheep
16 chickens (what? really? how did I get so many chickens?)
5 guineas
2 inside cats

Animals sold or given away in the last year:
5 meat birds
1 duck named Thyme
1 sheep named Andromeda
1 rooster named Spike

Fatalities on the farm:
1 duck named Sage
Scissor Beak (my sweet deformed meat bird)
Kudzu (boy do we miss her)
5 meat chickens I butchered that are now in the freezer

Crops that did well:
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti squash

Structures built:
2 stalls in the run-in
A goat climbing structure
A small chicken run for the Mille Fleurs
4 raised beds

For one year, I'm happy with the progress on the farm. I'm less happy with my progress in getting established in the community. If you are my friend on Facebook, you read my post about being lonely and not having many friends that I can get together with. I will need to make a bigger effort to become more established in the community in the next year.

Fall on the farm

2009-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Calendula update

2009-11-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

A few people have asked how Calendula is doing, so I thought I'd post an update. She is doing great. Her feathers are growing back in and she is a normal chicken in her behavior. She is still living in the house, but has been spending her days outside in a puppy playpen I have.

Here she is before I put a roof over the pen.
She has a boyfriend! Our beautiful Dusty Miller has decided Calendula is his girl. He hangs out by her most of the day. They talk through the bars but haven't been out together yet. Yarrow won't let Dusty have any of the other girls.

We are moving Calendula out to the run-in today. She will be staying in her pen out there for at least 4 more days while the other chickens get to know her. She should be joining the flock this time next week.

So excited!

2009-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted some Mille Fleur cochins, I love their coloring. Then Nancy got a bunch and I've been drooling over her pictures and I decided I had to have some. I checked Craigslist and found a local couple that had a few for sale, so I got a breeding trio! (Turns out mine aren't cochin, they are D'Uccle. I didn't know there was a difference. I guess I have some more research to do).

This is Coriander.

This is my beautiful girl, Chamomile.
And their man, Chicory.

I can't wait to get an incubator and start trying to hatch out eggs from these beauties.

They spent their first night in the bathroom because it was raining but they are now outside in a temporary pen while I build their permanent pen. They won't be free ranging with the rest.

Raw milk petition

2009-10-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Go here to sign a petition supporting Ron Paul's bill to make it legal for individuals to buy raw milk and transport it across state lines:

http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum987.php

Copies of your personal message will be sent to your representatives, so be sure to write a personal message.

Raw Milk Update

2009-10-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Here is an update from Eric, the organizer of Locally Grown (can I just say again how much I love Ron Paul?, please contact your legislatures about the bill he has proposed, you'll read more about it below):

Now, what’s happened since last Sunday…

As you recall, on Thursday, October 15, state inspectors from the meat division of the Georgia Department of Agriculture came to our pickup site, looking for illegal meat. Of course they found none (all of our growers are fully licensed for all of their products), but they did discover our load of raw milk many of you had ordered from Cows R Us dairy in South Carolina and seized the entire load on orders from Peggy Gates, director of the dairy division of the state Ag Department. Instead of taking it away themselves, they left it on my truck and told us they’d be at my house the following Monday to destroy it all.

I spent the next few days trying to prevent the milk’s waste by arranging to get it donated to Nature’s Harmony Farm, who could have used it to feed to their pigs, but Peggy wanted to be personally present when the milk was destroyed and she was not available any sooner than Monday morning.

So, I invited to my home everyone who had milk on the truck, along with a few other interested parties. Several dozen people did come out, but at five to nine, Peggy’s secretary called to say they she had been “held up at another inspection” and wouldn’t be arriving until 1:30. Some people had to leave, but the delay also allowed several more people who couldn’t come in the morning to come after all. Among those present was a cameraman for the documentary project “Farmageddon” (http://www.ftcldf.org/kudos/canty2.html), and several of us had our own cameras running the entire time as well. Peggy Gates came with Marybeth Willis, an agent with the FDA out of their Atlanta office (http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/MilkSafety/FederalStatePrograms/InterstateMilkShippersList/ucm114736.htm), and one of the meat inspectors that had originally impounded the milk. They wasted no time in wasting the milk, and from the time they gave us the orders to dump it all (they wouldn’t do it themselves) to the time they left took twenty minutes. The whole thing is up on YouTube in two parts, and I invite you to watch it and share the links with anyone who may be interested. Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMfQXxVAPgk and Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPey52Ybp0U. Thanks to our very nice Rubbermaid coolers and the record cold weekend temperatures, the milk was still cold and fresh to drink. Except for the two gallons that were passed around, it all ended up pour out in the grass at my house.

Unfortunately, they gave us no wiggle room at all for allowing the South Carolina dairies to offer their milk in the future. Marybeth from the FDA declared it a federal crime to bring milk across state lines for any reason. She specifically said that if you go to the dairy yourself, buy a gallon for your own use, and bring it back to your own home in Georgia, you would be a federal criminal. It doesn’t matter how it’s labelled, even if specifically as “POISON — DO NOT DRINK”. They handed out copies of the FDA rule in question, 21 CFR 1240.61 (PDF here: http://www.ftcldf.org/docs/21_CFR_1240.61_pasteurization.pdf), but this may be the first time they have enforced such an absolute interpretation of that rule. With that interpretation, there is no way to have South Carolina raw milk offered through Athens Locally Grown.

So, how can we get that changed? There are two way: through legislation and through court action. Both are being worked on. Ron Paul earlier this year introduced HR 778 (http://ftcldf.org/federal_bills-HR778.htm) that would specifically allow what we’re doing while keeping in place the ban on bulk shipments and other practices that caused the ban to be put into place in the first place. It seems there’s little likelihood of it passing, but its important to let our legislators know that we want this sort of legislation just the same. On the other end, a federal judge could rule that the enforcement of the rule as it has been done against people like us is unconstitutional, and could also allow direct-to-consumer purchases cross state lines while keeping the other bans in place. I have signed the paperwork to become a plaintiff in a federal suit to try for this result. I can’t say more yet, but I will keep you informed when the suit is filed, hopefully very soon.

(The federal raw milk rule aside, the fact remains that our truck was searched without a search warrant, and the milk was impounded and destroyed without due process. We’re as yet undecided about what action to take about that. Both state and federal agents were involved.)

Another avenue is finding legal Georgia raw milk. Georgia actually does allow the sale, so long as the dairy is registered as a “pet food” producer and the containers are labelled as such. THe trouble is a) there is no testing of the final product, b) anyone can get a license by just paying $75, regardless of the cleanliness of their dairy, and c) there aren’t any near Athens. In contrast, South Carolina has established a strict testing regimen that ensures milk being sold raw has bacterial levels below that required of pasteurized milk. If Georgia were to adopt laws similar to South Carolina, it would take time for the raw milk to enter the market.

So, in the meantime, only milk from Johnston Family Farm will be available through Athens Locally Grown. I’m not knocking their milk in any way — it’s of the highest quality and the best milk you can buy in Georgia, from anyone. But for those who want and need clean raw milk, it’s just not the same.

Also, we’re not able to regularly drive to Split Creek Farm or to Fred’s Bread (both near Anderson, South Carolina) anymore, without significantly raising the “delivery fee” portion of the final price to cover our cost of going out there. However, we will go out there on the 19th of November, so you can buy cheeses, fudge, bread, and other items for your Thanksgiving table. I know I was planning on having some of it on mine.

And finally, thanks to your generosity, our tip jar was overflowing this past Thursday. Cows R Us did get paid for all of the milk that was wasted, and our shared cash box was filled back up to cover the expense on our end. Thank you so much for that. I can’t begin to tell you how stressful this last week has been, but you have given your support in every way possible, and that was wonderful beyond belief. Thank you.

Here are some news links from the past week. The news spread nationwide, partly due to the new strict interpretation and enforcement of the FDA rule, but here is some local coverage:

ABH News: “Some sour as state grabs raw milk” http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/101709/new_505698081.shtml
ABH News: “Unpasteurized drinkers cry foul over spilled milk” http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102009/new_506640054.shtml
ABH Editorial: “Raw milk advocates should work within system” http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102109/opi_507140444.shtml
ABH Commentary: “Raw milk is danger to public health” http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102509/opi_508629389.shtml
NewsTalk 1340 Interview (10/22/09) http://feeds.1340wgau.com/NewsmakersWithTimBryant
Raw video of the milk dumping: Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMfQXxVAPgk and Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPey52Ybp0U

Here are the products we have available at http://athens.locallygrown.net:

Sweet Potatoes and eggs

2009-10-21T07:22:00.001-07:00

We got a frost Monday night and when I went outside yesterday, all my sweet potato plants had turned black. I decided to dig them up and see if we got anything before planting our winter cover crop in it's place. I didn't expect to get anything because I planted them in clay. Mostly, I planted them to break up the clay, I've heard sweet potatoes are good for that.

So, Logan and I started digging and Logan found a few sweet potatoes under one of the plants. It was very exciting! So, we kept digging and finding more and more potatoes! I was really shocked.

Here are just 2 of the plants we dug up.

Here is our final sweet potato harvest. 20 pounds! (They are all piled up here, so it is hard to see how many it really is. I guess I should have spread them out for the picture.)

And to add to all the excitement, a couple of our new girls have started laying. You can see their eggs here with Buttercup's eggs. I forgot how small first eggs are. They are so cute!

This is unreal!

2009-10-16T07:34:00.001-07:00

Anyone who believes we have true freedom in this country is fooling themselves!

I belong to an organization called Locally Grown, where we place orders on the internet with farmers around the state and SC, the farmers deliver the ordered goods to a central location and we pick up our orders at a specified time. I get all my meat, my produce and milk and eggs (when my animals aren't producing) there. It is the only source of raw milk in GA since it is illegal to sell raw milk in GA. The milk comes from SC and is picked up by a volunteer and brought to our pick up location. We buy the milk directly from the farmer in SC.

Anyway, yesterday at the the pickup time, representatives from the state of GA seized all the milk! They said it was illegal for us to have it in GA (which it is not). They entered the truck that contained the milk without a warrant and taped all the coolers shut.

I dried up my goat last week so my milk was part of the confiscated load. Now I will have to buy milk at the grocery store or try to find someone with a goat in milk that will give me some milk. I'm glad I have milk goats and can produce my own raw milk, at least most of the time.

Part of me finds this funny coming from the state behind the whole Peanut Corporation of America fiasco. Sure, FDA inspected and approved facilities are perfectly safe, but not those local farmers. Right.

Needless to say I'm angry and think this is ridiculous! Whose business is it if I want to drink raw milk? This is why I'm a Libertarian.

Here is the email that was sent from the organizer of Locally Grown:

Hello! It’s late and I’m exhausted, but I wanted you all to know what happened today at our Athens Locally Grown pickup.

When we arrived, we were greeted by three badged inspectors from the Georgia Department of Agriculture who were there waiting for us. “We read about you on the internet,” they told me.

I explained to them what Athens Locally Grown is, how we work, discussed that I’ve been diligent to make sure all of the growers who sell through the market have the appropriate licenses when needed, and so forth. The inspectors were very friendly during this time and everything that followed — I do not fault them in any way.

They talked to the growers as they arrived. They were particularly interested in the meat, and indeed found all of that to be legal.

When my wife arrived with the raw milk ordered by ALG members directly from the Cows R Us dairy in South Carolina (A USDA Grade A dairy fully licensed to sell raw milk), the inspectors entered our truck and began opening our coolers.

To be clear, I did not give them permission to enter or search my truck, and they did not have a warrant to do so. When they discovered the coolers to be full of clearly labelled raw milk, they immediately began calling their supervisors. They chain of calls made their way up to Peggy Gates, the director of the Dairy Division of the Consumer Protection Division of the State Department of Agriculture. She immediately gave orders to seize the entire load of milk.

I did try to explain to her all of the very strict rules that we follow to keep things legal. She was very gruff with me and was not at ll interested in hearing what we do. “I know exactly what you’re doing” she told me. She told me what we were doing is a Federal offense (it is not, and of course she has no jurisdiction over FEderal statute). In the end she declared all 100 gallons an “imminent health hazard” and ordered it seized.

Oddly enough, the inspectors could not seize it themselves, as they only had several small sedans. So, it was impounded in place on my truck, and I was ordered not to disturb the milk in any way, or else I “would be guilty of a felony”.

The inspectors and director Peggy Gates herself personally will be coming to my house Monday morning to witness my “destruction” of the milk. I am hoping they will not be also coming to arrest me, but they do have that power.

Let me reiterate that I believe we have not violated any laws whatsoever. What we are doing is also being done by thousands of groups and individuals throughout the country, and I have been extremely careful that we are doing what has legal precendent. Namely:

•You order via the website directly from the dairy
•The dairy receives the orders without any intervention from me. They have a name for every carton of milk
•We pick up, on your behalf, exactly the cartons that have been pre-ordered. We have a name for every carton of milk
•You meet us at the pickup location and get your milk.
•We do not store it beyond the pre-established pickup time.
Given those steps that are followed to the letter (and those of you who ask me every single week “can’t you just bring an extra gallon or two with you?” can attest that they are), I do not believe that the Georgia Department of Agriculture has any authority over those cartons of milk. We are not violating federal law. We are not violating state law.

So where do we stand? Right now, raw milk can no longer be offered through Athens Locally Grown. I have 110 gallons of milk sitting on my truck until Monday morning, when a team of officials will be coming to my house to witness its destruction (and hopefully nothing more). Until Peggy Gates changes her mind (which seems unlikely), that is that. It may well take a court order to change things. I know our membership includes a fair number of lawyers, and if any of you wish to help in this, please let me know. I really don’t know where to even begin.

I’ve taken a big financial hit today too, so please forgive our putting out a tip jar next week. I paid the dairy $440 for the milk on the customers’ behalf (and yes, I’m a customer too. I’ve got two gallons of my own sitting on the truck) and since the market operates on a break even basis (during the best of times), I don’t have that sitting in the bank.

I’ll keep you all informed. I’m surprised it took so long for them to harass us, and I’m also surprised by how unsympathetic they turned out to be. And by “they”, I really mean director Peggy Gates, who issued the order. Her website address is http://agr.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0,2094,38902732_125874866,00.html and her office’s phone number is (404) 656-3625. Please don’t harass her, but it may help if they do hear your stories., why you order raw milk, and why you are a member of Athens Locally Grown.

I know many of you were relying on your milk delivery today, especially since our truck’s engine problems kept us from bringing a full load last week. I’m sorry. Hopefully something will happen soon to make them loosen their grip and allow us to once again bring your milk that you ordered directly from the dairy to you.

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you see fit.

-eric

The chicks

2009-10-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've posted any pictures of the chicks. A friend gave us 3 chicks a month or 2 ago because she thought they were all boys. She looked at the feathers or something. Turns out her sexing wasn't very accurate, because 1 is a boy and the other 2 are girls. They are Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn crosses and really cute. They are white with red spots here and there.

They are their own little flock. It is cute to see them run around together. They even have their own level in the coop to themselves. Calendula will be bunking with them when she finally goes outside, since they probably won't pick on her.

They don't have names yet. We name all poultry after plants. So if anyone has any suggestions of 3 plant names that kind of go together, I'd love to hear them. We already had ducks named Sage and Thyme, so I'm not sure I want to go that direction.

Foggy Bottom Farm

2009-10-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is why we almost named it Foggy Bottom Farm.

New chicken

2009-10-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

We went to visit a new friend's farm over the weekend. She had a chicken that had been attacked by something and was in bad shape. She gave the chicken to us since we're home during the day and could spend more time nursing her. Her wounds were pretty bad and covered in maggots. Yuck!

The first day we picked the maggots out with tweezers and used hydrogen peroxide on her. It seemed like we had gotten most of them but by the next day she was covered again. I picked maggots out of her wounds 6 times over 2 days. We finally ended up getting some screw worm spray and put it on her. That stuff really works! The maggots were all gone within an hour.

She is now recovering in the bathroom. She is eating a little and drinking a lot. We've been putting calendula spray on her wounds and have decided to name her calendula. I know she isn't out of the woods yet, but I'm hopeful. She has been maggot free for 4 days.

A perfect morning

2009-09-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Today was a perfect morning. It was in the low 60s, no wind, crystal blue skies. I decided to sit with the goats and pet them for a bit. My sweet boy Orion climbed into my lap like he used to do when he was little. We cuddled for 10 minutes. All I could hear was the birds singing, the chickens cooing, and Orion chewing his cud. It was perfect! I am so lucky to get to live here.

Then the peace was broken by a cacophony of excited clucking from many chickens. Further investigation showed that Buttercup had finally laid the long awaited egg! Woo Hoo! We have eggs again. I know the new girls are going to lay soon too.

Life is good in Northern Georgia.

Morning Routine

2009-09-23T08:13:00.001-07:00

Broody chicken prison works!

2009-09-18T08:27:00.001-07:00

Using the advice from the link Linda put in the comments of the last post, I set up a broody chicken prison for Buttercup. It is a dog cage raised off the ground so she can't sit comfortably. I put mine on my garden cart. She was really unhappy at first but calmed down after a few hours. I left her in prison for 2 days and 2 nights.

She had a lot of visitors and was never lonely, unlike when she was in the coop.

When I let her out in the morning, she instantly started acting like a normal chicken! She took a dust bath, and pecked around for bugs and explored with the other chickens. That was yesterday. So far today, she is still out with the other chickens and acting normal. It is so nice to see her happy again!

No eggs yet, I imagine it will take a few days to lay again. The chicks are getting close to laying. A few of them have become REALLY friendly and we know what that means.

Quick question

2009-09-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have a quick question about broody chickens. Will Buttercup eventually snap out of it on her own? Or does she have to hatch out chicks to snap out of it? I found someone selling hatching eggs that I can put under her. But she's already been broody for 4 weeks. If she is going to snap out of it soon, I don't want to put eggs under her. However, if that is what it will take, I'll do it.

I had to buy eggs this week! 1 month without eggs is not cool!!!!

Advice needed!

Orion visits Buttercup

2009-09-09T11:07:00.001-07:00

Thank you!

2009-09-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for the encouragement. It was late last night and I was feeling down about everything, particularly the meat birds. You are all right, I took on too much and am disappointed everything didn't work. The garden really has me down. Not having a tiller is killing me. I need to save up for one.

There is no one to process the meat birds. I checked. None of the meat processors do chickens. I put an add on Craigslist to see if I could find someone to do them, no luck. The laws regarding chicken processing in GA are very strict. I know a few people in GA that bring their chickens to SC to get them processed. But the place in SC has a minimum number they will do. It looks like raising meat birds and getting someone else to process them isn't an option here. I've decided I will gladly pay the $11 a bird for already processed, pasture raised chickens. I will just get a lot better at stretching the meat. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the 7 that are left. I put an add on Craigslist, but nothing. I guess I will lower the price or offer to trade for laying hens.

To counter yesterday's negativity, I thought I'd write some things that have been successes.

I got lots of zucchini and tomatoes! We have tons in the freezer. I'll be making sauce when it cools off.

I did get some peas this spring. I planted more for a fall crop but the meat birds ate all the seeds I planted.

I'm still milking my goat 6 months later. It is easy and just part of our routine.

The goats are all healthy and happy.

I raised 19 chicks to adulthood with only 1 death and that was Scissor Beak.

I raised 5 guinea keets to adulthood with no deaths.

I have a great food storage area!

For awhile I was providing the neighbors with eggs, thereby building community and my place in it.

Logan is happy and thriving.

I've learned A LOT! That will be another post.

Feeling like a failure

2009-09-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling like a failure as a farmer lately.

My garden produced nothing but zuccini and tomatoes this year. I planted a lot more than that!

I planted 2 apple trees and a cherry tree, they all died.

I planted 6 blackberries, they all died.

I planted 3 blueberries, they all died.

My laying hen hasn't laid in a month. She is showing no signs of giving up on being broody. My other laying hen got eaten by a hawk.

My goat is giving barely enough milk for us to drink each day. We aren't getting any extra to freeze or make cheese.

My garden is now lawn. Seriously, you can no longer tell where it was except a small part I manage to keep cleared.

My garlic bed got totally overtaken by weeds. I can't even find the bed anymore!

I have 10 meat birds ready to process. I've managed to process 3 of them and I hate it! I don't know what I'm doing. It takes forever and seems unsanitary to me. I dread doing the last 7 and am honestly not sure I can do it. I now need to figure out what to do with these 7 birds. And the thought of eating the meat I did get makes me ill.

My family would starve if feeding them was up to me. To make matters worse, I've been buying more convenience foods lately because I'm stressed and busy.

I feel like we've invested all this money for no return.

Some farmer I've turned out to be.

My awesome boy!

2009-09-01T08:52:00.001-07:00

Look what my boy made me! He's the best.

Pantry pictures

2009-08-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Mark made some shelves for my food storage room and I've been able to get everything organized. I love it! It really appeals to the side of me that likes organization.

Here is one set of shelves where we keep our main staples.

This bookcase has been converted to our can storage.

The little bookcase is our empty jar storage.

Here is the other set of shelves on the other side of the room. It has our baking goods and other assorted food stuff.

As you can see we only have 5 gallons of water stored so far. I need to make that my next priority.

In other news, all the chickens are fine. No more signs of the hawks. And next week is meat bird processing week. I looked around a little to see if I could find anyone to do it for me, but no luck. I'm not really looking forward to it, but I know I can do it.

The hawk returned

2009-08-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, Logan and I were sitting in the pasture with the goats and sheep. Our beautiful free rare chick, Dusty Miller was out there with us.

The chicks (who aren't really chicks anym0re) love to come out on pasture with us because we stir up all the little grasshoppers and they eat them. Dusty Miller was following the sheep around, when out of nowhere a hawk swooped in and grabbed Dusty Miller! Right in front of us. Dusty Miller put up a fight, the hawk dropped him and moved in to grab him again. By then Logan and I were both up and running over to Dusty, while yelling at the hawk. The hawk dropped him again and flew off.

Dusty Miller was freaked out, but ok. I couldn't believe the hawk grabbed him not 20 feet from us! I think it was a different hawk than the one that got Kudzu, it seemed smaller. I hadn't heard any hawks for about a month and had let me guard down. I guess they are still around.

If I can get Buttercup to snap out of her broodiness, will she start laying again? Or do we have to wait out the whole 21 days before she will lay again? Not having any eggs at all is a pain! My new girls should start laying in about a month. Then we will be swimming in eggs.

Buttercup is acting weird.

2009-08-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

My laying hen Buttercup isn't acting right. She's been on her nest for a week acting broody. She won't leave the nest and makes terrible noises at us if we try to get her out. However, she hasn't laid in a week either. Why would she be acting broody if she isn't laying? I got her out of the coop and checked her vent. I didn't see an egg or anything. If she is egg bound would I see the egg, or do I need to feel inside to see? There are no signs of broken eggs anywhere. I just think she isn't laying.

Any ideas what could be going on and what I could do to help?

Trip to the creek

2009-08-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

While my sister was visiting, we all went to the creek. The animals love to run down the hill to the creek. You can see the people do too.
The people get tired before the animals do.
The sheep always lag behind and have to run even faster to catch up.
Once at the creek, eating is the order of the day. We pull the branches down so the animals can reach the good leaves. Here we've recruited my sister's boyfriend to help.
The goats will use each other to balance off of to try to get the high leaves.
Crossing the creek on logs is fun too! Especially if you play king of the hill and knock someone into the creek.

More hanging with the animals

2009-08-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

My sister came again this weekend. It is always great to see her! And she always gets great pictures. Here are a few of them. I'll have lots more this week.

Pictures for Grandma

2009-08-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

My Grandma requested more critter pictures. Who can say no to Grandma?

Sorry for the long time between posts. I teach for Kaplan University Online and one term ended so I had to do all the grading and get grades submitted. Then the next term started, which takes a lot of set up time. And my dad visited over the weekend.

My cute boy. He's grown so much!

The guineas are doing great. I'm not sure I've even posted about them yet. We got them when they were about a week old. They are so much fun to watch! The run in a pack and make a racket.
Nebula
IO
Some of the goaties.

I'm way behind on reading blogs, but trying to catch up.

Hanging with the animals

2009-07-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Chicks

2009-07-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

Now that the chicks are older, we've named them and want to introduce them to everyone.

This is Echinacea, one of our Americanas.This is Sweet Cecily, our other Americana.

Lotus, one of our speckled sussex.
Multiflora Rose, one of our silver laced Wyandottes. We have another named Japanese Honeysuckle. We can't tell them apart yet, so one picture will do.
Sweet Gum, our other speckled sussex. She is our sweet, friendly girl. She even put herself to bed in the coop last night! They all want to sleep in the run-in and I have to move them every night.
Dusty Miller, our special, rare bird. It is a silver spangled hamburg. We think it may be a boy. As long as it gets along with Yarrow and doesn't wake me up too early in the morning he can stay. Hopefully, we are wrong and it is a girl, but signs don't look good.
2 of the meat birds. We have 10 of them.
Their names are:

Green curry chicken
Red curry chicken
Peanut chicken
Thai basil chicken
Chicken and vegetable stir fry
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken noodle soup
Fried chicken
Barbeque chicken
Sesame pasta with chicken

Damn good cheese!

2009-07-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

We made cheese earlier this week and it is amazingly good! I'm really impressed. I've made cheese a few other times and they were ok but not great. This one is great. Logan and I have been eating a ton of it over the last few days. It is a spreadable cheese and we've been eating it on crackers.

It is a good recipe because it only used 1 quart of milk instead of the gallon that most recipes call for.

Recipe:

1 quart milk (we used fresh, raw goat's milk of course)

1 cup buttermilk (I used cow's from the store, I plan to make my own soon)

1.5 tsp lemon juice

3/4 tsp salt

Heat the milk over low heat to 175 degrees F

Add buttermilk

Turn off heat

Add lemon juice

Stir well until curds form

Let sit for 10 minutes undisturbed

Drain through cheese cloth, let sit for 5 minutes

Gather up corners and let hang for 30 minutes

Stir in salt and any seasonings or herbs you want (we used minced garlic and black pepper YUM!)

Pack into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit overnight in fridge

The next day it will be smooth and spreadable

It was really easy and wonderful. I think I'll make more tomorrow and try freezing it. I know what people are getting for Christmas this year!