A Tiny Homestead

Honoring our dreams

2011-09-10T00:32:00.000-04:00

Pumpkins from last years garden

The summer has flown by and as is so often the case, time does indeed heal all wounds. Or at least it dulls the pain. I've missed my little homestead and it's been a painful loss. I've avoided thinking about it as much as possible. No gardens, no animals, no daily chores outdoors mending fences or building housing. No babies to fuss over and enjoy. No cheese to make or harvesting to keep up with. I've hated driving by farms with goats because it just made me miss my girls. I wasn't even able to respond to the many kind emails encouraging me to hang in there. I hope you all forgive me....I just couldn't talk about it.

Today, when I was out driving, I went by a farm I've loved and then hated and realized I didn't dread seeing it. And then I knew I would have my homestead again. The urge or need I have to grow things has been with me all my life. It's been a difficult year but one bad year can't end a lifetime of dreams. This dream has been with me since my age was a single digit.

So today I have started the mental process of planning for next spring. I learned so much the few years I had the animals. I know what's stressful to me and what's just plain too much for me. I know I need to take things easier than I did before. But geez, what a great place to be...it's Sept. and I have 4 - 6 months to plan it all out this time. I have a mini barn already set up, an almost completed greenhouse, all the goat panels and electric fencing I need. And mostly, the knowledge I didn't have before.

So with a notebook, all my Hobby Farm and Mother Earth magazines, homesteading books, pictures from when we did have the animals and gardens and the property survey I'm going to plan it out. I think it's going to be a fun project. One day at a time.

Letting Go

2011-04-13T21:22:00.000-04:00

Whenever I go to blogs that were well kept up for a time and then suddenly stop I can't help but wonder what happened. Did they get tired of blogging?   Did something happen to the blogger? So I decided even though it's been a while and I'm unsure of the future of the blog or the direction things in my life will go from here I would post and share what's gone on this winter as much as possible.

The goats...my goats, are gone. The pigs are gone. No gardens are planted or planned. And I am sad.   I loved the homestead and this life in general and I miss it.   This winter brought both health concerns and family concerns that left me feeling the only realistic thing to do was to find homes for as many animals as possible and stay flexible with as much of the rest as I could. Letting go of it all is and has been an ongoing process. It's been depressing and the sense of loss at times has been overwhelming. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

Having said all that, spring is here. The leaves are emerging and bulbs are in bloom. And with all that sunshine and new growth I find my mind wandering around the edges of possibility. I am already finding myself trying to think up a way to keep or get back some of what I lost these past months. At this point I would be happy with a small vegetable garden. Certainly animals are not a possibility this year but perhaps next year I can start over with that too. Perhaps not, but for today even the hope of it eases the loss.

I had considered ending the blog when things started coming undone but didn't and now I've have decided not to. Hopefully I'll have things to add every now and then even if I don't have enough going on to post like I did last year.   And a very heartfelt thanks to the folks that have emailed to check on me or let me know you've missed me or the posts or both.   It's meant a lot.

Hoping your all having a wonderful and productive spring.

Elizabeth

It's a different kind of life

2010-12-22T17:04:00.000-05:00

Sweet Potato Pie's with Streusel Topping

I've been busy baking the past few days. So far I've made and frozen dough for 18 pizza's, baked and frozen 8 loaves of bread, a cake, a few pies, and frosting enough for a few more cakes or many many cupcakes. That was all there was room for in the freezer. While all that dough was rising and things were baking in the oven I was spring cleaning. I cleaned every closet, cupboard and shelf in this house. I got rid of much and reorganized and cleaned what was left. All the while thinking it had to be done now because if it was put off until spring when everyone else does theirs, it wouldn't get done. Spring is about outdoors, gardens and baby animals here. No time to be inside cleaning a house. And this whole exercise got me to thinking about how different our lives and calendars are as homesteaders, from those around us that still do spring cleaning in the spring.

A few weeks ago, someone in my family asked me why it's been so long since I visited them 1500 miles away and I realized how different our lifestyles and schedules are from many of those around us including our families. In many cases it's even different from what we, ourselves have lived before getting into homesteading. For many years, I had a job in a large city with a 3 week vacation each and every year, 2 days off a week in the fall and winter and at least one day off in spring and summer...being a horticulturist had it's own set of demands. When I didn't have to be at my job I could go out in the evening shopping, to dinner and a movie or on weekends I could go off camping or skiing, spend the night and think nothing of it as long as I was back in time for work on Monday. Now I'm lucky to fit a trip to town for necessities into my schedule a few times a month and the place I visit the most frequently is the feed store with a quick stop at Lowe's on the way back only because I go right by it.

When I lived my other, more conventional life, I too probably would have had difficulty understanding the complexities of a homesteading lifestyle. And perhaps if I had understood how different everything would be I wouldn't have jumped into it with both feet the way I did. I may have decided the price was too high; no time for idleness anymore, no time for things that used to be important to me, no time period. Now, every moment demanding attention in one way or another. Homesteaders, right after mothers, must have been the original multitaskers, long before it was a trendy word with the mantra being "so much to do and so little time.

Still, most days I love it and wouldn't consider going back to the other way of life. I love how the busyness seems so purposeful. I love the animals that tie me here every day. I love that it's all connected, nature, the land, the food we eat, the animals we raise. I love the values it's teaching the 10 year old that shares this life with me. And I hope when she is older she will look back and love that she got the opportunity to experience this life, whether she decides to stay on this path or move to another more conventional one.

Elizabeth

First snow

2010-12-16T11:43:00.001-05:00

Weatherman says 2 - 5 " expected.

Last night got down to 14 degree's here. They weren't sure if the snow would start late last night or this morning so I dutifully got up a few times in the night to be sure it wasn't snowing yet. The barn doesn't have a center support in it yet and isn't able to handle a snow load so if it had been snowing I would have to go out occasionally and give it shake to get the snow off before it bent the cattle panels. At 5 am I looked out and all the lights were out... no glow. I wasn't sure what had gone wrong with the lights and really didn't feel like going out to check it out but bundled up to go check anyway. I checked the thermometer on the front porch first and it was indeed still 14 degrees. The outlet from Premier is suppose to come on at 35 and turn off at 45 so at 14 degrees outside my mind said it certainly should have been on still inside their little barn. Just as I was heading out the door all unhappily bundled up the heat lamps came back on. The outlet was working fine. It was just that warm in there. I really love those Premier heat lamps. Needless to say no one comes out much. Just a head now and again to see if it's still snowing. And as a bonus, no frozen waters. Still no baby pigs though.

Elizabeth

More on the cattle panel barn

2010-12-08T22:18:00.001-05:00

As promised, more on building a cattle panel barn.

After deciding where I wanted it I had to cut down some small caliper tree's to clear a place. My entire property is on a slope and this postage stamp sized piece is no different. You just learn to compensate.

I wanted it 16' long and 10' wide. This would mean 6 cattle panels; 1 for each side and then 4 for the top. Notice the watering can in the picture? If your ground is dry when pounding in T posts take a watering can with you. Start your hole. Pull the post out and fill the hole with water a few times. It will go in much easier after that.

With the two sides in place I put a board in front to see how off level it really was. Over a foot.

Next you attach the 4 top pieces. It's pretty easy if there are 2 of you but because it's just me and a 10 yr old here I have to be creative sometimes. I'm going to show you in detail how I did it so if any of you want to build one but think you can't because you don't have help, now you will know how.

First I put 2 - 2 x 4's across resting in the first square of each side to hold the cattle panel as I feed it across. Then I use a T I made to raise it.

Once it's standing up like this go to the first side and using a double end snap or some other similar type clip and clip the top cattle panel to the side panel in a couple of places. Then go to the other side and do the same thing. It doesn't matter if it's even or not at this point. You just want it attached on both sides somewhere. After that you can start going from side to side raising it to the desired height. Mine is overlapping two squares on each side. This means it's 22' from the ground on one side to the ground on the other and it's approximately 8' high. Remember I'm on a slope. Then do the same thing for the next 3 panels.

Next using zip ties attach the panels to each other and to the sides. I use a bunch...their cheap and worth it. I did also use end caps on the T posts. When you have all on you want, cut off the ends. Next I started to level up the front with 4" x 4" ties.

About this time it was getting late and the forcast was for rain so I stopped working on the outside and cut the plastic for the top. I used 6 mil clear plastic from Lowes. I buy the rolls that are 20' wide by 100' so I just cut 2 pieces 24' long to go over it making the top 12 mil. Once the two pieces were over it I took a 2" x 6" x 16' board and put it up against each side to hold the plastic in place on the ground. I added 2 pieces of 4' x 8' 1/2" styrofoam floor inlay between the panel and the plastic with the reflective side to the animals and then hammered 5 or 6 pieces of 24" rebar into the ground tightly against the board to hold the board in place on both sides against the cattle panel.

Next I started on the inside. I cut some panels up to make a divider in the center to separate the pigs and goats with a gate in the middle. I did the same for the front and the back so they could be locked in. I laid a bunch of hay with the majority going on the low side so I will eventually have a really deep bed there for them. I added animals and declared myself done for that night.

The rain started just as I finished up and everyone got tucked into their new home. I didn't even have the fencing around it yet so I just locked them in. With the rain, they didn't mind that at all.

Later I added plastic to the front and back for warmth and wind protection. I still need to finish the ties in the front and back and I will also add some to the middle so the divider is level. If your doing this on level ground you won't have to do that although I like the look of the ties. I will add a proper doorway like in the greenhouse just wider and a few shelves and a milk stand. This structure would also be great for hay storage. I will probably do a smaller one for that when I get this one done. In the summer the ends can come back off and it's a run in. In fall and spring you can have them partially open.

I have also done these in smaller versions with just 3 arched cattle panels. If you do it that way and you have goats, unless you add the styrofoam to the sides the goats, especially kids, will climb them. The one I have now with the extra panels on the sides makes that impossible for them to do.

You can see he's already bending this one.

Here's a bad picture of an older goat hut I had made of cattle panels. It was small and the dark tarps made it cold even when the sun was out. I used alligator clips to hold a tarp folded in half on the front. I used two tarps for the back with a piece of foam sandwiched between them for warmth and wind protection. I only had the foam go up the back 1/2 way so I could fold the top of the back down 1/2 way on good days to air it out more and let sun in.

All in all I like the big one I just put up best so far. I will really like it when I'm done. The two other ones are too small for a milk stand so we just clipped them to the fence or a cattle panel on the inside to milk but I really want to have a milk stand in there. The extra height is good. The good part about all of these cattle panel structures is that they are so easy to put up you can try many versions over the years till you have just exactly what you want. For me, I also like being able to move them around so no one area gets too over grazed.

Elizabeth

Keeping everyone warm

2010-12-08T02:13:00.000-05:00

It's rather surreal looking out at night to see this golden dome in the yard. I purchased 4 heat lamps from Premier 1 this year. There are 2 inside there being used now with 250 watt bulbs. We have piglets due and it's been so cold I hooked them up for the first time. I keep them on the pigs side so the ever so curious goats can't get a hold of them. Many of you have seen these heat lamps, I am sure, in the Premier catalog but I have to say until you've seen them in person the catalog just doesn't do them justice. I was taken aback when they arrived by the sheer size of them. Very substantial and well made. It took me a bit of time to figure out how to open them to put the bulb in. They seem to have thought of everything when making them and they are about as animal proof as any heat lamp could be. I would never put a regular heat lamp out like this but these seem pretty safe.

I have been using them with a thermostatically controlled plug that turns them on when the temperature drops to 35 degree's and off when it gets up to 45 degree's. It works wonderfully. With the reflective insulation on the sides of the structure too it stays fairly warm inside considering how cold it's been.

Although it's been in the 20's a night the goats spend part of the night outside and if they are inside one of them usually is in the doorway with her head out. The pigs rarely leave the little cattle panel barn these days.

I also borrow the high / low thermometer I use in my incubutor at this time of year just to get an idea of how cold it is in their little home at night.

Elizabeth

Cattle Panel Barn

2010-12-05T12:02:00.001-05:00

This is what we have been working on this weekend. It's really quite spacious for a cattle panel structure. It's 10' wide, 9'high and 16' deep. It's divided in 2 on the inside and can be closed up to keep the animals inside if need be. The sides are insulated mostly for protection from wind chill but it also helps hold temperatures up too. It stays about 10 degree's warmer than outside at this point. Sometimes cattle panel structures covered with plastic can have a condensation problem but were not having a problem with this.

I'm making clips to replace all the alligator clips.

I've taken a bunch of pictures of it as it went up and of the inside and will post completely how we did it when I finish it. There is much more I want to do to it but it could stay as is for the winter and be a fine shelter with no additions to it. It's nice having the pigs in the back which opens to their own fenced area in the back and the goats in the front opening into their own area but they are sharing body heat and it's one location for us to care for all rather than 2. We already have a base of 8 -18" of hay in there. The variance is due to the slope it's on. I want to add a small raised area in there for the chickens too.

More later about it. I do love those cattle panels!

Elizabeth

This & That

2010-12-03T22:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I went to look at a little French Alpine buck that a friend has visiting her girls. His owner is selling him and I may buy him. I love his markings but couldn't tell too much about his structure with him scrunched up between the feeder and the fence. It was mealtime when we arrived and there was much butting and pushing going on and I didn't have time to stay too long to get a better look or picture. He was holding his own with the full sized does at the feeder though.

Before Dill came back to breed my two does this fall I had brought another little buck of my friends over to see if he was up to the task and my two girls were so mean to him I took him back a day later. I was truly afraid they would hurt him butting him. He was so sweet and so very passive. Therefor I really appreciated this little guys ability to stand up for himself.

All you goat folks..... We knicknamed Dill - Elvis because he had this bunch of curly hair on his forehead just like this little goat has. I've not seen that on other goats and Dill and this little goat aren't related. Has anyone else seen this? Is this common for goats / bucks? Dill's owner and I just scratch our heads about it. Maybe it's more common than I realize but because most goats on the Internet are shown shaved I don't see it???? Anyone???

Dill aka Elvis New little buck

After leaving my friends house I spent the rest of yesterday returning electric fence pieces and parts I had purchased and didn't need. After all the fencing issues I had a month ago or so, even though the electric fence still isn't up we seem to have gotten the existing fence issue straightened out and there have been no more wandering pigs. I also realized that now isn't the time to give them the run of the place by extending their fencing. Many people confine their pigs somewhat for the winter when there isn't any grow going on so they don't tear up pasture or land looking for food. They just get hay and feed in a smaller area till spring growth starts again. Since I'm so behind with projects this was a good and timely revelation.

With the fencing issue not looming over my head and my outside chores done yesterday, I had a day to spend in the kitchen. This is something I've not had time for lately and very much missed. First on the list - a Devils Food layer cake with Buttercream frosting.

I didn't have much to decorate with so threw a few semi sweet chocolate pieces in the blender and sprinkled the processed bits on. I then toasted a bit of coconut and added that as well.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Crisco shortening

1/2 cup margarine

4 - 6 tablespoons cream, half and half or milk

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp of almond extract

2 tsp vanilla

5 cups of confectioners sugar sifted

In a large bowl using an electric mixer at medium speed beat together the shortening, margarine, cream or milk, salt, almond and vanilla extract until smooth ( about 2 - 3 minutes).

Add in sifted confectioners sugar starting with 4-1/2 cups beat well until smooth and fluffy, adding more sugar or cream/milk until you achieve desired consistency.

I used a double recipe of this to frost the cake above.

I also made a carrot cake but didn't get the frosting done. I started some chicken soup as well and have some jalapeno corn bread in the oven to go with it. Tomorrow I plan to make enough bread to last a couple of months and the same with pizza dough.

Stay warm everyone!

Elizabeth

Poll results for 12/3/10

2010-12-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

We have:

Horses                   3    (23%)
Donkeys                 0    (0%)
Llamas / Alpacas     2    (15%)
Goats                     12 (92%)
Sheep                      5   (38%)
Pigs                        2   (15%)
Chickens               12   (92%)
Turkeys                  2   (15%)
Ducks                      1   (7%)
Geese                      0   (0%)
Dogs                      11 (84%)
Cats                       13   (100%)

Votes 13

Elizabeth

A visitor comes a calling

2010-12-01T16:49:00.002-05:00

Beware!

If you've ever...

had to bring a sick hen in the house to nurse it...

they keep coming back!

Elizabeth

Getting the cream out of goats milk without a cream separator

2010-11-29T15:25:00.001-05:00

I love cream and use it regularly in my cooking. Getting cream from the goats milk isn't as easy as it is from cow's milk. You can us a cream separator but they are expensive; upwards of $400. Much more than I want to spend although I have considered it at times. Reading further about them though made it seem as if the clean up is probably more trouble than it's worth.

This is what I do. If you are a purist about your milk you may not want to do this but for me it works. As I said in an earlier post, I pasteurize my milk for yogurt. Drinking milk is used raw. So when I want goats cream I try to combine chores yogurt making and cream separating and pasteurize that milk. I then let it sit for about 4 or 5 days. The jar in the picture had been sitting in the fridge for 5 days. You can see clearly the place where the cream and the milk has separated.

I then skim it off the top with a spoon that's been bent to fit inside the mouth of my jar. Of course you can save the milk and skim it 5 days later without pasteurizing it first but most people think by then the milk has acquired a "bucky" flavor not suitable for things like whipped cream. It will still work in savory recipes though.

Elizabeth

New steps for the front porch

2010-11-28T18:09:00.001-05:00

Finally got a picture today of the new landing steps I finished earlier this week. Nice to strike one thing off the to-do list.

Elizabeth

My Gratitude List

2010-11-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

I'm grateful for all the people in my life.

I'm grateful to have a warm home with a full freezer and cupboards.

I'm grateful I'm able to live the life I have chosen in a country that supports my freedoms and rights.

I'm grateful for the occasional adversity because it makes me stronger and also allows me to see how blessed my life really is and has been.

I'm grateful I no longer feel the need for the trappings that were so alluring when I was younger.

I'm grateful that as I've gotten older I've learned to listen to and trust myself and my decisions.

I am grateful I've had a better life than my parents had and my children can have a better life than I've had.

I'm grateful for this holiday that gives me the opportunity to slow down from my busy life of homesteading long enough to reflect on how much I truly have to be thankful for each and every day of the year.

I wish all of you the very happiest of Thanksgiving's and thank you for each and all of your visits here. They keep me coming back.

Elizabeth

Poll results for 11/25/10

2010-11-25T12:09:00.002-05:00

I am:

Homesteading in the country 5 (55%)
Homesteading in an urban area 1 (11%)
Not homesteading yet but planning on it 3 (33%)
Not planning on homesteading but like to read about others doing it 0 (0%)

Votes: 9

Elizabeth

Electric Fencing

2010-11-22T19:09:00.001-05:00

This was from day one of electric fence shopping. I had started at Southern States as I needed hay and theirs is the best for small quantities. The sales man, after listening to me tell him what I was trying to accomplish thought a solar unit would fit the bill with 3 8' ground rods and lots of various insulators. He thought the poly twine rather than wire would be a good choice. I bought it all.

Next I went to Tractor Supply because I needed to get sweet feed for the goats and pig food and I usually get it there. A sales guy came over as I was looking over their electric fence supplies and as we talked he suggested I get the thin poly tape because it would be more visible. I, being totally befuddled by all of it at that point, agreed and bought 2 rolls of tape. I then bought 20 black poly step in posts to use as line posts between t posts. And I bought a tester, more insulators, splicing and coupling pieces, parts to make a gate and a spool of wire.

I read the literature that came with th fence charger that night and then got online and talked to more knowledgeable pig people than myself about the charger I had chosen. I was concerned there would be too much juice for the pigs and not enough for the goats and since I wanted to be able to use the same charger for both I wanted to make sure I had made a good choice. Mostly the consensus was that solar wasn't reliable enough for what I wanted. I would lose a lot of charge with tape and poly twine and it may not be strong enough. Evidently solar loses juice fast and would really be better for a simple short fence

The next day I had to go to Richmond so I stopped at Tractor Supply again bought a plug in 6 joule 100 mile model.... for my little 3 acres...Yikes!

It really sounds like a lot and maybe it is but the more I learn about electric fences the more I think I will like this charger and that it's the right model for what I want. I learned you can make many small area's of fencing plus do an entire perimeter and also run just one wire or two low wires like at nose level for the pigs or high like at nose level for a goat in hard fenced pens and do it all with one charger if you get the right one and plan it out. And it's pretty portable compared to woven wire with it's many deeply driven wooden posts.

I also stopped at Southern States again while in Richmond to get some white step in posts. I had looked through the Premier 1 fencing catalog and decided to get some for area's close to the house because I liked the aesthetics's of the white posts with the white tape and white poly twine. Premier catalog is great with all the pictures in it for helping with design and to see how all the various parts should come together.

This is the charger I'm keeping. I am going to build it a little box to hang it in made from exterior grade plywood. I'll then hang the box in the greenhouse which will be right in the area where the fence will start.

So, since I wanted the charger in the greenhouse I decided I needed to get the bracing up and the ends on it first. It was dusk by this time so the pictures aren't great but I got 2 - 2 x 4's screwed together and placed above the door in the front and the back running the whole length of it to brace the top to handle a good snow load in the winter. It made it very tight and solid. There is very little shake in it.

Tomorrow I'll get the rest of the framing on it and then I can cover the ends, make doors and hang my charger.

Elizabeth

Art Day - Just for fun

2010-11-22T16:07:00.001-05:00

Colored pencil drawing

A few years ago I took Malia to a fiber class at a local farm for homeschooled kids. They had goats and sheep and taught the kids about animal care as well as how to process wool, card, etc. While I was waiting for her I took pictures and visited the animals through the fences. I loved the guy below. This little class was so enjoyed by both of us we decided to get our first goats. Over the past few years I've occasionally pulled out those pictures and done drawings from them just for fun and relaxation. Thought I'ld share this one. I would love to have one of these guys just as a subject to draw. I find their horns so fascinating.

Elizabeth

Got milk?

2010-11-19T15:24:00.005-05:00

When we got our first goat, a Nigerian dwarf doe with her 4 day old doeling, I wasn't thinking too much about what to actually do with the milk. I had dreams of making cheeses and yogurts and having fresh drinking milk of course but I hadn't given too much thought to how to treat the fresh milk right from the animal. How to strain it, should I pasteurize it, what special equipment did I need, how to cool it etc. I was more concerned with how to get the milk out of her at that point. She fought me about being milked, she didn't seem to have much and what she had didn't taste good. In reality, I didn't know what I was doing. It was a steep learning curve. I had never had any kind of livestock before and I was learning about fences, hay, grain, shelters, predators, parasites and the list went on.

None the less I loved having a goat. I did want more milk than the mere cup or two I was getting though so within a month with a little help from some kind person on the Internet dairy goat group I was on I found a French Alpine in milk for sale locally. I went from a pittance to over a gallon a day. At that point I got earnest about milk.

So here is what I wish someone had shared with me that first year of milking. This is all my opinion only. I'm sure every dairy goat owner has their own list as well as their own opinions but here is mine.

How to take care of fresh goats milk

Don't expect to be able to drink your milk right away when your goat first kids. It doesn't taste good for a few weeks. Initially it's the colostrum and then slowly it becomes something more palatable to humans. We try ours about 3 weeks in and if it's still not great we give it another week.

How you treat your milk will be a big factor in taste and how safe your milk is to drink after that first few weeks. Cleaning off your doe correctly prior to milking is a good start for both your sake. I use baby wipes both before and after milking. I also use Fight Bac after to help seal up the teat.

I milk into a stainless steel container. I pay attention to the first few squirts from each teat, checking for off color or anything else unusual in it. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer bowl at first but finally broke down and got a real milking bucket with a lid. The lid is nice for when your done milking but still need to do one or two things before you take the milk in. That said, the sooner you get your milk in the house the better.

Next you'll need to strain your milk. Straining your milk will get out any hairs or anything else that may have inadvertently gotten into it outside. You can buy items from Hoeggers specifically for this or you can use things you may already have on hand. I store my milk in 1/2 gallon ball jars I get from Ace Hardware (they'll order them for you if they don't have them on hand) so I like to strain right into them.

I use a wide mouth stainless steel funnel for canning with a small stainless steel strainer with the handle removed inside it to strain my milk right into the ball jars. I use a coffee filter inside the strainer but some people use clean hankies or pieces of sheet cut up dedicated for this purpose only. I like the convenience of coffee filters and they are pretty inexpensive. When done I use the white plastic lids made by ball to cap the jars. Because I don't usually pasteurize my milk I date it. I put a small piece of clear duct tape on my lids to write on with a sharpie.

To pasteurize or not to pasteurize ....that is the question.

Raw milk is a controversial topic to be sure and there are very strict laws about it. Because there are those laws we know there is a reason to be careful about it. Being careful about our milk is a good thing. Being paranoid, in my opinion is not. The one thing I was actually concerned with when I bought my first goat in terms of the milk was if it was safe to drink without it being pasteurized first. I had a few weeks before she came home, while I was waiting for her to freshen, to mull this over and do a bit of research on the subject.

Depending on which side of the fence you sat, raw milk was either a gift from the gods or something that would, or at least could, make you very very sick. I read as much as I could about the dangers of raw milk and hygiene seem to be a huge factor in whether or not it was safe to drink it raw. If your clean about your self, about your goats udders, about the utensils you use (hence the reason for so much stainless steel), about cooling your milk down rapidly after straining etc. then you are probably going to be fine. The other big factor was whether or not your goats are healthy. If you bought healthy goats from a reputable breeder, you are probably going to be fine. My Alpines have been purchased from reputable herds that sell their goat cheese. Was that a guarantee their milk couldn't make me sick? No, but the odds are pretty darn good. I didn't feel as confident about my Nigerian goat but soon after getting her I had her tested for TB which is a free test in Virginia for goats. She too was clean.

A bit of common sense went a long way here too. People drank milk for eons without pasteurization and the majority of them were fine. And of the ones that did get sick poor hygiene was most likely a factor in the majority of those cases. Sick or diseased animals was on the short list. And even there, if your buying healthy animals from like minded people that are drinking their own milk raw, the odds are pretty minuscule of you getting sick if your being clean about your milk practices. And if there is a question about your animals health have them tested. This was my process for me in making this decision. I would say to anyone else pondering this question, do your research and look at all the factors in your situation and in your animals and within yourself. If your going to be uncomfortable drinking it raw don't do it. It's too much work to not enjoy the fruits of your labor to the fullest.

So when do I pasteurize? I do for yogurt making because of the long incubation time at elevated temperatures although I am reading that it is not necessary here either. Still, I'm not ready to give it a try yet. I also pasteurize in the summer if I start having problems with my soft goat cheeses. It rarely happens now that I have a reliable recipe that works for me consistently. On the few occasions it has I have problems pasteurizing has helped.

The other difference pasteurizing makes is your milk will last longer for drinking. This is why I date my milk. Although goats milk lasts quite some time in the fridge it does begin to acquire a taste most people describe as "bucky" after just a few days in the fridge. I just use that older milk for making cheeses and in recipes saving the freshest for drinking. Dating it helps me rotate it more efficiently in the fridge in those times milk quantity gets ahead of my time to do something with it.

So here, milk gets cooled right after straining. The faster you cool it the longer it will last in the fridge both for drinking and for cheese making. Initially I would put the container in the freezer for 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour to cool it down but I learned putting the jar into a container of very cold or icy water brings the temperature down faster. I will give it a stir 1/2 way through to get the warm milk in the center of the jar out to the sides and in contact with the glass to help it cool faster if convenient. I've also not had time to do that and just put the whole thing in the fridge when done straining.

Happy milking.

Elizabeth

Clicker Training a Goat

2010-11-18T02:56:00.008-05:00

I love clicker training. I use it to train all my dogs and puppies. It's an amazing tool, but I have to admit I've never considered using it to train my goats. At least not until I saw this video.

Hang in there with this video until 2 min. If you've ever trained a dog you'll appreciate this.

I've had such amazing success with dogs using a clicker that I don't have to be sold on it's value as a training tool.  It's what they use at places like Sea World to train the marine animals and was introduced to dog trainers by a former Sea World trainer, Karen Pryor.   She has a number of books out on the subject and I've seen her speak at an Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference.   Most dog trainers are using clicker or some variation of positive reinforcement training methods these days and I've heard it said a good dog trainer should be able to train another species other than dogs using clicker if their worth their salt.   But it just never entered my mind to try training the goats.

I can see this being a great tool to teach proper milk stand behavior or to teach a young goat to walk on lead.   With puppies, they get it so quickly. I would imagine it would be the same with a kid. They're like little sponges. I've wanted to do some packing with my goats and this could be a wonderful tool for that as well.

I can't wait to try it.   So what did you think?

     Elizabeth

Favorite things - Diffuser

2010-11-16T14:09:00.000-05:00

With goats I find I am constantly heating milk. I heat it to pasteurize for yogurt only but most cheeses require milk to be heated as well. I have very large stainless steel pots with heavy bottoms for larger batches of cheese but for smaller amounts I love my smaller Pyrex pot but the glass bottom requires me to use very low heat or stir constantly so as not to scorch the milk. I found a diffuser a couple of years ago that makes heating milk and many other things that easily stick to the bottom of a pan so much easier. I find I use it for all kinds of things now

Boy Goats

2010-11-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

Meet Dill - the visiting beau for the girls

If you've been reading awhile you'll remember that Dill came last year too. We nicknamed him Elvis last year because of the patch of curly hair he has just above his eyes. It's not really visible in this picture though. This will be Dill's last visit here. I made the difficult decision to purchase our own buck and after much shopping around and reviewing pedigree's etc. I mailed off my deposit on a buck to be born next spring. He'll be a purebred French Alpine and now that I've made the leap I'll be anxious to meet him next spring. The dam is due 3/12 and should she not produce a buck we've chosen another doe in hopes she will have a buck. It's possible of course neither will have a buck but not likely. I chose to get a buck from Munchin Hill in West Virgina. It's where Passion came from too.

Getting a buck with only a couple of does is not what most people choose to do but for me I think it's the right decision. Both my does are French Alpines and finding a buck to breed them to in the fall has been difficult. The first year I had both Nigerian Dwarf goats and Tina, my alpine. I ended up breeding Tina to a Nigerian which produces kids elegible to be registered as miniature alpines with the The Miniature Goat Association. But little goats are hard for me to milk so I didn't keep the kids. Then last year I found Dill and his owner was happy to let him come visit for a month. He didn't get Passion pregnant but Tina gave us 2 kids in May. This year he's managed to get both girls pregnant I think. Time will tell. I'll watch to see if they cycle into heat again later this month. Since he's not a purebred but an American Alpine the kids won't be registered as French which was ok. At this point I was just grateful to have the girls bred.

Full sized does of any breed only come into heat in the fall and if not bred then they will be dry the next year unless you decide to milk them through till the following year. Not all does are able to do this though and even if they can it commits you to milking twice every day rain or shine, hot or cold, sick or well, busy or not. We've dried our girls off in the winter and it's a nice break.

I don't want to have to go through this each year..... the search for a buck. Even with my veterinarian's help we've not been able to locate a French buck for the girls to breed. I did find one person on Craigslist but she wasn't willing to test her recently purchased buck for the diseases commonly tested for before purchasing a new goat or breeding goats. My girls have been tested and are healthy and I'm not willing to chance their health by breeding them to a goat that is untested from a farm I know nothing about.

So next year will be our first year with a resident buck. Hmmmm. I think I need to make a list of all the reasons I am doing this. Not tonight though.

How to get kids to eat turnips

2010-11-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

Tell them no, they can not pick them. They are planted for the goats and the pigs.

Pigs, Pigs, Pigs

2010-10-30T10:16:00.001-04:00

We've been having a problem for the last month with the pigs escaping. And it's been getting progressively worse daily. We are using hog, goat and combination panels to keep them in a wooded area about 75' x 75'. We've used panels since we got the pigs without a problem until this past month when the piglets realized they could get under them in places. Then the adults started following suit. We used logs against the fence at first without much success. Then we started hanging cinder blocks. That worked better but only for a while.

It seemed they really wanted to get to the acorns so we collected them and threw them in. Then we tried feeding them earlier in the morning. Then we tried feeding them more. Finally we decided we just needed to move the whole thing and reinforce it all with rebar attached to the panels to hold them down. That would make it more work to move it so we would make it small and move it frequently to new ground for them to forage.

A few days ago we hauled the hog panels up from the other location and my helper here started pounding in rebar. That bright smile was, in part, in anticipation of actually being able to contain the pigs again and not have to chase and herd pigs twice daily any more.

All settled in their decided smaller digs. Yaaaa! There are tons of acorns in there with them. It's right under a large oak. And given that it is such a small area they would only be here a few days.

Flash forward to the next morning. The dogs woke me barking at the pigs that were no longer in their pen but had broken out yet again. Malia's out in the rain helping to reinforce the pen. We got them back in and they were out again within a half hour. OK.... I get it. We absolutely need electric fencing or at the very least a strand low. I'm working on it.

Building a permanent greenhouse with cattle panels - part 1

2010-10-26T02:50:00.002-04:00

The greenhouse today - still a lot to do

Last year I decided I wanted to build a small greenhouse. I wanted to have a place to start seedlings and be able to pot things in the spring out of the weather and then let them grow on till weather allowed them to go outside. Since then I've also done a lot of reading about 4 season growing and decided I would like to incorporate an area in the greenhouse to do that too. I wanted to do it as inexpensively as possible so decided cattle panels would be the way to go. For anyone that doesn't know what they are, a cattle panel is fencing for livestock you can purchase in sections at Tractor Supply or a feed store. It's comes in 16' lengths 52" tall. They run about $20 each. It's rigid and can be arched to make a structure 8' wide and any length depending on how many you use. I wanted it 8' x 12'.

Last summer I started the base. It was hard for me to figure out because it was going to be located on a slope and I wanted a dirt floor without having to do ground work to level the area. I also wanted to make the back end of it to be a place I could put the chickens for the winter so I lined the floor with hardware cloth so it would be predator proof.

This was what I got done last year.

I added 3 cattle panels

To get the cattle panels on, I start by clamping a 1" x 4" board to the base. I drilled pilot holes along the bottom of the board and then added 2" hex screws.

I left the hex screws out about a 1/2" to 3/4" so there was a gap between the base and the board so I could then slide the end of the cattle panel into the space. The screws kept it from going all the way through to the ground. When I got all three panels into the boards on both sides I added some hex screws above so the cattle panels can't be raised.

Then I tightened them all using a socket wrench which makes it fairly fast compared to using a regular wrench.

The cattle panels were older and not as rigid as new ones are so they ended up leaning some. I cut out a door way and then added a brace to straighten it out till I got permanent bracing in. Then I added a doorway in front and in the back.

I added the tarp to keep my tools dry in case of rain while I am working on it. When both the front and back doorways are in I can add the bracing to the top by adding 2 - 12' 2 x 4's to the top of the doorways to make it strong enough to handle a snow load. Right now the back door is only clamped.

I did the back doorway differently. You can also see a bit of the hardware cloth that is lining the bottom of the greenhouse.

Hope to get time later this week to finish the front and back but the pigs have been escaping daily so need to redo their situation first.

Goats and their greens

2010-10-22T21:29:00.002-04:00

My Alpines love their greens and browse but because they have the potential to wipe out an area of all greenery in short order they aren't allowed unlimited access to the woods. Instead, I get it for them.

To do this, Ijust go for a short walk through the woods with their blue container stopping to stripping a limb here and a limb there of the leaves they so love. It really takes no time at al to fill the container this way. Next I hit the garden. I trim the turnips, collards and rutabaga's and cut some fresh orchard grass. Mix it all together and viola! Goat salad to for 2 hungry alpines.

I clip the container to their hay container so it doesn't get tipped over and lunch is served. They are quite funny when they see me in the woods. They start baaaaing and calling to me and run to the gate to greet me when I get there with their full container. Mind you, they always have hay and alfalfa pellets available and they also get some grain daily but they truly do love the container of fresh greens best of all.

Looking back on this season

2010-10-18T13:15:00.002-04:00

A bouquet from Malia's trip to the mailbox

Malia is home again after a month of public school. Yea!!!!! I had no idea how much help she is to me. Well I did but sometimes we need a reminder. I need to do a whole post on homeschooling versus public school one of these days. Both last year and this year she's gone back for the first month to give it a try. Next year that isn't an option for her. She would be going to middle school and this grandmother isn't up for the transition from homeschooling to public school in those challenging middle school years. The good part of her short stints in school like this is we both get to measure her progress with her age group academically and socially. She's doing well. I wish more parents were able to do this. I feel blessed I am in a position to do this. I know this isn't the case for everyone.

The veggie garden this year was successful in some ways and not in others. The squash bugs certainly took their toll. Only one lone Hubbard pulled through. It was from a new shoot grown after the battle was semi won. The tomatoes mostly did well. Roma's best, Better boys next with Beef master coming in last. The peppers were terrible this year for a variety of reasons. I had bought only 3 varieties; bell, ancho's and jalapenos. I wanted habeneros too but couldn't find them. My bells ended up being 1/2 bell and 1/2 cherry. I have no idea what to do with the cherries so I threw most of them out until later in the season when I decided to freeze them whole until I could figure something out to do with them. I'm still working on that. The bell's really didn't produce all that well but the jalapenos did great. The ancho's were practically tree's getting over 4' tall. They would have done better had I gotten them in earlier and watered more. They had lots of peppers but they were small.

The butternut squash did outstandingly well. As advertised, they held up well to the squash bugs and kept on producing through it all. These are just a couple of the ones that are still out there ripening. I have picked quite a few. I now need to find recipes to use them all. Mostly I love it boiled like potatoes and mashed. I've never been a fan of it halved and baked although it is much easier than peeling it and boiling it.

The pea's Malia planted were ridiculous. I believe the variety was Layton. I wrote it down and will look later but they never got taller than 6 - 8 " tall.

They've got these tiny little 1 1/2" pods on them with one or two pea's in them. Yikes. I would need an acre for just her and I at that rate. The field pea's in my green manure are coming up normally and are about 2 - 2 1/2" tall now so it's the variety, not the soil.

The turnips I threw out into the squash patch in early August are doing well. They were planted for their greens for the goats and pigs. There is also crimson clover, field pea's and orchard grass in there. Later the pigs will be housed here for winter and can root it all up.

This one has a bit of room around it so actually has some substance to it. Most of them are much closer together because they weren't really being grown for their roots.

Most of the roots look more like this one.

The cool moister weather has given us another blooming time from the Clematis plant and the variegated miscanthus is now blooming as well.

In Aug. I cut this back to the ground because I was going to divide it and move it so I could better enjoy the Harry Lauder Walking Stick behind it. I didn't get it moved but I learned something from the exercise none the less. I always cut this back in the spring and then let it grow all season. By this time of year though a rain will split it leaving it rather disheveled looking because it's so tall. I've tried tying it up to hold it together with limited success. Cutting it back in Aug though it's still very attractive now with plenty of blooms and because it's shorter it holds up to the rain. I will always cut it back in Aug. from now on.

The goats and the pigs need to be moved to their winter area's in the next few days which means building new housing for them. Tina's still giving us 5 quarts of milk a day. The pigs are enjoying all the acorns. We have an abudance of them too due to the dry summer. Mother natures way of ensuring the tree's. Dry weather = more fruit. Works with your tomatoes too.

Fresh Chevre

2010-09-26T16:43:00.001-04:00

Fresh chevre hanging to drain

Making cheese seems to be dominating my schedule these days. We usually stop milking our doe in Dec. or January when it's really cold out. Having some frozen milk and much frozen cheese helps ease the loss until she kids again later in the spring. What's hanging now is from 4 gallons of milk and won't lose enough liquid to make it smaller but it will make it drier. I put it into individual sandwich size baggies and freeze when it's the consistency I like I drilled a hole in the bottom of the top shelf on this cart and added an eye bolt for when I am draining cheeses.

For anyone thinking about getting a goat for milk, chevre is really easy to make and so much can be done with it. In addition to chevre plain or with flavoring it can also be used in making cream cheese icing, cheesecakes, as a substitue for sour cream (just add a little milk to it and mix) to name but a few. I use the recipe from "Goats Produce Too!"

5 Qts. whole goat milk

1/2 cup cultured buttermilk

2 tbsp dilutd rennet

dilution = 3 drops liquid rennet in 1/3 cup cool water

Warm milk to 80 degrees.

A good thermometer and rennet can be bought at Hoeggers

Stir in buttermilk and mix well. Add 2 tbsp diluted rennet mix. Stir well again. Cover and let set at room temperature for 8 - 12 hours. When the milk looks like thickened yogurt it's ready to drain.

I lable or pour the milk into a colander lined with cheesecloth set inside a larger bowl to catch the whey. I use these alligator clips to hold the cheesecloth in place when I'm first pouring. After I pour it through the colander I tie the corners together and hang it for a day usually.

Separate it into package sizes you want and freeze what your not going to use in the next week. I package unflavored.

Yield 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. 1 lb. of cheese = 2 cups.

I've had much better luck using cultured buttermilk from the store than with starters. I also reculture the buttermilk so I only have to buy on occasion.

Jalapeno Lime Yogurt Cheese

2010-09-15T23:51:00.000-04:00

Yogurt

Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime

Chopped Jalepeno

Salt

Drain your yogurt until it reaches the consistency you want it. Add the rest of the ingredients to taste. For 1 cup of yogurt cheese, I used about a teaspoon of Mrs. Dash, 2 or 3 heaping tablespoons of fresh jalepeno peppers chopped and a few sprinkles of salt. I use fresh goats milk yogurt but any plain yogurt will do. The yogurt cheese has just the right amount of tangyness for these stronger flavors. Mrs. Dash is very limey which was perfect but it isn't at all hot so I added the peppers. I also like the texture of the peppers in it. I liked it so much I am draining/ straining more yogurt to make some more yogurt cheese. I will probably add some cilantro the next time too.

Put the yogurt in a colander lined with cheesecloth that's sitting inside a bowl to catch the liquid that drains from it. I leave it in the fridge to drain overnight. Making yogurt cheese from plain yogurt is that simple. It can be used to replace sour cream or cream cheese plain or flavored.

Fresh goat's milk yogurt & yogurt cheese

2010-09-11T16:37:00.000-04:00

Wild black cherry yogurt . Couldn't wait to freeze in the ice cream maker before trying it.

After a summer of gardening I am ready for kitchen time again. Normally by this time of year I've got a number of pounds of cheese frozen and ready for the winter. This year I'm starting late but ready to make up for lost time. Last night I made a gallon of yogurt. I wanted some for frozen wild black cherry yogurt, some for just plain yogurt and some for yogurt cheese.

Yogurt cheese ready to use or add flavorings - Yummy

Bliss

2010-09-08T21:23:00.000-04:00

That is sooo good

Ya, right there. That's the spot

Awwwww..... just don't stop

Hey.... what about me? I want some too!

Thank you.

Hey Pa, how come they get all the good stuff and we just get treated like we're...... I don't know....like we're a couple of pigs or something?

I don't know son, that's just our lot in life I guess.

Drought conditions and feeding animals

2010-09-07T22:25:00.002-04:00

A big bowl of broken cubes, misted with syrup flavored water to soften and make more appetizing. Goats can be picky eaters. These actually smell good when moistened just a tad.

We have been having the driest weather here I can remember.   Hay is getting increasingly difficult to get.   My hay man sold all his hay early on thinking he would just make more later for his own animals and is now looking to buy some for himself.  Hay that I was able to buy from a different source was so bad my goats won't even touch it. I am having to buy a poor quality that I would not  have considered feeding my animals before.   The end result of this is that for the first time since getting goats I am having to feed them exclusively alfalfa pellets and cubes for their roughage.   They still get a small amount of sweet feed each day but they have no hay available to them at all.

The cubes have to be broken for them which can be a tedious task at best.  I do it while watching a movie at night. After they are broken up I mist them a bit with water flavored lightly with Kings syrup or molasses.  They seem to love them. Previous years they've turned their little noses up at them, flavored or not. I guess they are realizing this is as good as it gets this year. Of course this isn't a very practical solution f you have more goats than a few. I only have the two does so it works for me.

I am on a mailing list from the University of Md. Extension Service Called the Shepherd's Notebook. They have goat and sheep related workshops on occasion and some things that are just online so if your not local you could still benefit from them.

Today I got the email below from them and thought I would share it. It's about a handbook for feeding your livestock in drought conditions. I've only looked at the table of contents so far but it looks as if it has some good info in it. It's a free pdf file, 79 pages long I believe and the link to it is below.

Shepherd's Notebook

Some parts of Maryland and surrounding states have experienced their worst drought conditions in years. University of Maryland Extension has compiled a publication to help producers deal with the 2010 drought.

The handbook is for animal and forage producers. The original handbook was developed in 2007 by Craig Yohn from West Virginia University. The handbook was adapted to Maryland conditions.

A drought handbook for grain producers has also been developed.

Out & about in the garden

2010-09-07T16:23:00.000-04:00

Variegated Liriope starting to bloom. I love that they persist into fall.

Tiny pea plants Malia planted ready to start blooming already. They can't be more than 6 - 8" tall.

A Jarradale pumpkin that has survived the squash bugs. This variety of pumpkins along with the Butternut squashes seem to have a resistance to them. Jarradales also will keep up to2 years if properly stored and produce quite a few more per vine than other varieties of pumpkin / winter squash.

A variegated Miscanthus getting divided and moved. It was cut back about a month ago. I then took a long ditch shovel and cut the root ball all the way around and let it sit. Cutting all around the root ball severed the roots which then encourages new feeder roots to develop prior to it being pulled all the way from the ground. This way you have less shock when you bring it above ground to divide and transplant since new roots have already been formed. It's more like transplanting from a pot this way. The shrub behind it is a Harry Lauder Walking Stick and when the Miscanthus get tall it hides it so am glad to be moving this.

Moon and Stars watermelon that didn't get planted until July. How do you know when to harvest them? Anyone? I have never grown watermelons before.

The only surviving blue Hubbard. The rest succumbed to the squash bug invasion. I learned a lot this year about how to outsmart them and next year will be better prepared. I am disappointed that I panicked and used pesticides and will be better prepared next year. My goal is to not use any thing next year that isn't considered organic including fertilizers.

Why do we do what we do?

2010-09-06T16:58:00.001-04:00

Our boots, always at ready by the door.

The past couple of weeks I've found myself asking "why I am homesteading". Why am I caring for all these animals when it would be far easier and truthfully far less expensive to go to the grocery store and buy my dairy products, eggs and meat. And the same goes for having a large vegetable garden. What an immense amount of work without guaranteed results. Diseases and insects see to that. In all truthfulness, I can totally understand why today, for the first time in history, more people live in cities than in the country and why there are so few farmers left. Quite simply - it's a ton of work.  And it's work most of us don't need to do in order to survive in this world of Walmart's and Sam's Clubs. So why am I doing this?

I've been asking myself that a lot here lately. I've finally got my little place in the country, acquired the animals (driving all the way from Virginia to Tennessee in one case for just the right animal ) and worked at the skills to care for them properly. I've done all the backbreaking work to start the gardens and make them productive.   Yet, this past couple of weeks I've considered selling all the animals including the goats I so dearly love. The gardens have lost their appeal to me and have felt more like a burden than a blessing. And I've not even been able to bring myself to post on the blog I've so enjoy writing.

All of us that choose this life do it for different reasons. Some for survival, some for the ethical and humane treatment of the animal we use for food, some for the health benefits of knowing where our food comes from, some for the health of the planet and some for all of the above. For me and many others it is also about family.   I do it for most of the above but much of my motivation is about family.   And about the values it instills.

Right now family is just Malia, 10, and I.   I've home schooled her for years and 2 weeks ago she started public school again.   She missed kids and was getting bored here and starting to hate it all.   I made the decision to let her go back against all my fears. Fears of malls becoming more important than the local Tractor Supply Store with it's aisle of farm books she had so loved. Fears of clothing becoming more important than the person wearing them.   Fear of Steak-um's from the school cafeteria becoming more desirable than healthy foods. Fear that the other kids mothers who wore the latest fashions with matching nail polish with every hair in place and drove clean and shiny mini vans would seem more to her liking than me. After all my outfits never match, my hair is always in a ponytail with stray hair everywhere and our vehicle looks every bit the farm vehicle it is. The fears were many.   And giving all my fears credence was the fact that she had declared even before her first school bus ride that she wasn't sure she wanted Basil, Rosemary & Thyme, her 3 beloved pigs, anymore and thought maybe I should look for a new home for them as well while I was selling the piglets.

So for 2 weeks while she was at school I did it all and wondered why. We are lucky; we don't need to do this for survival.  It's a choice for us. So was I making the right choice? This lifestyle requires a huge amount of time each day and was this how I wanted to spend my time? After all, time is a currency even more precious than dollars and should always be spent wisely for once spent it's gone forever.

I finally came to a decision.   I decided that yes, I wanted to do this regardless of her involvement. Maybe I would scale it down a notch or two. It is a lot for one person to do alone. Maybe her pigs would go but my beloved goats would stay.   Perhaps the garden would be a tad smaller next year and maybe all our bread didn't need to be homemade after all.  Maybe instead of the eco friendly push mower I would invest in a gas powered mower. There were many small changes that could be made rather than giving up the whole dream. It didn't need to be all or nothing.

So with that resolve and my couple of weeks of doubt and depression behind me Malia and I headed to the local Tractor Supply Store yesterday where she announced she had changed her mind and definetely did not want me to sell her pigs. I, with a smile in my heart, asked if she was sure. She was. It seems we both learned something these past weeks.

Cool mornings = thoughts of winter feedings

2010-08-20T09:38:00.003-04:00

Blue Hubbard Squashes

The Blue Hubbard's I fretted over so much this summer are loaded with squashes. More than I will use for the 2 of us for sure. I also planted Jarradale pumpkins and Butternut squashes in the same area so everything could just vine out and mix together without shading out less aggressive plants. Anything we don't use can certainly be used as food for the goats, pigs and chickens over the winter.

A blue Jarradale pumpkin and a volunteer melon in back. The melon plant, one orange pumpkin plant and a tomato plant were volunteers from things we fed to the pigs over the winter, who were housed here. Either the seeds passed through their system undigested or they weren't eaten and just laid dormant till this spring.

With the mornings getting a bit cooler it seems the foliage in this patch of squashes and pumpkins is starting to die back just a bit in the center and you can see ground where you couldn't a month ago. My intent is to put the pigs back in there after I've harvested everything we humans can use and let them go to it at that point. To maximize the amount of food for them I sowed some Purple Top Turnips in there a few days ago. I just threw seed througout the enter patch. As the big leaves of the squashes die back the turnips will take over. I don't think the plants will actually make the turnip bulbs because the soil is too hard in places there but still the abundant foliage will be a welcome addition to their diet.

Turnip seedling planted Mon. already spouting amongst the pumpkins and squashes. A bag of seeds from my local hardware store of common Purple Top Turnips was under $3 for a 4 ounce bag. Some will get stepped on and trampled as I harvest in there but almost anything I get will make the tiny effort of scattering seeds worth the effort. If you do it just before it rains you don't even have to water them in. Mother nature can do that for you.

Turnips I sowed last summer growing throughout the pumpkin and squash plants this year.

The barren area of this bed was planted this week with collard greens and kale for the goats for some much appreciated greens for winter feeding. They love both. The collards provide large leaves which means extra bang for the buck and the kale should stay going all winter so even in the coldest weather they will get the occasional addition of greens to their meals. The bed looks smaller in this photo than it is. I think it's about a 15' x 15' area.

Enjoying the bounty

2010-08-12T21:15:00.001-04:00

Skillet of potatoes, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and jalapeno's cooked in olive oil with a bit of garlic

This is my favorite time of year where food is concerned. I love going out to the garden to just start picking for an impromptu meal. Browned potatoes with carmelized onions and peppers is always a favorite. It reminds me of mornings on camping trips.

Same as above with a yellow squash in it and few less tomatoes

These potato and veggie skillets always pair well with fresh scrambled eggs compliments of the girls

Making precious childhood memories in the garden

2010-08-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

Malia planting pea's.... her favorite veggie and the first thing she's planted by herself.

By the standards most of the people of the world live by today we live a pretty slow and simple life here on this tiny homestead. Malia and I are 50 yrs apart in age. I'll be 60 this year and she just turned 10. It's just her and I here. We have no family locally and I homeschool her. She''s been with me since Thanksgiving day 8 yrs ago. We don't have tv most of the year because we're too rural for the local channels and if we have satellite we watch too much so I have it turned off a lot. At 10 she's read a lot of the classics...Black Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, The Yearling and a number of others. We talk of her going back to school so she has more contact with other children and more than likely she'll be in 4H this year, homeschooled or not.

Some people would think it's a great way to raise a kid in today's world and others might consider it child abuse....no tv or video and only books, the woods and life for fun. Either way, it's our life. We have the animals...the pigs, goats, chickens, dogs and cats. And that's great and can, at times be very exciting, like at baby time. But I know in my heart some of her very best memories will be of our garden time.

Every day we start out the same. She gets the chickens out while I head out to the garden with a cup of coffee. She joins me and we walk and look. We talk about what's bigger or what's not bigger; what bugs there are, what flowers are blooming and in plants like the squash or pumpkins, if it's the male or female flowers doing the blooming. Sometimes we stop and pick something. We talk of the great meals we will have this winter with what we are growing. We watch the bee's do their busy work and walk somemore holding hands taking it all in. It's a routine that is quietly solid. She never fails to tell me " We sure have a great garden Grandma". And I know these moments more than any others we share daily will stay in her heart and memory all her life as a time every day of love.

A treasure found

Who knew lawn clippings could be such a treat?

2010-08-08T01:48:00.001-04:00

It almost makes mowing pleasurable knowing these guys all enjoy this treat so much.

Me???

I'll take that ripe juicy tomato I picked today.

Wild Black Cherry Jelly

2010-08-07T10:34:00.001-04:00

Black cherry (Prunus serotina)

I usually look at these tree's as a nuisance because the leaves when wilted will poison animals that eat them. I have to cut them down in area's the pigs or goats will be in before I can let the animals go free to graze there or fence around them. This one is on the edge of my driveway and was scheduled to be cut down but my tree guy has been hard to coordinate with and it was a bit larger than I wanted to do with my hand saw. Little did I know I would be so happy it didn't meet it's demise this spring. The tree is loaded with ripe cherries. Their small but plentiful.

Absolutely delicious. It has the richest cherry flavor. The same fruit used for the jelly can also be used again by reheating and adding sugar to make a great syrup for pancakes or ice cream.

Almost wordless Wednesday

2010-08-04T10:24:00.003-04:00

A tiny front porch with melons, variagated trumpet vine and hyacinth beans climbing the trellis

Boots at ready, boot scraper and kitty houses or chicken nest boxes depending on the time of day it is.

In the basket of rocks on the porch

So, whatcha been up to? or The evolution of a homestead

2010-08-01T06:49:00.001-04:00

Morning cart loaded with food and milking equipment for the for the goats and food and dishes for the pigs.

So whatcha been up to?   Nothin much.... Same thing as everyday.   That's my answer to that question.  It's a question much like the one I get from my family in the mid west...."When you coming to see us?"   Ahhh.... probably not anytime soon guys. Maybe you could come see me????   Usually - not always - but usually, when I get asked those questions it's as if the person asking is waving a red flag that says they have absolutely no understanding what our life is like. You can tell them and on a intellectual level they may get it but at gut level they really don't.

We have a small kennel. We raise and occasionally show Tibetan Terriers. We used to show the dogs more but when you have a lot of animals it is hard to go anywhere. Then, because we were limited in being able to leave anyway, I decided why not get those goat's I had always wanted. I had been hesitant to get goats because of the twice a day milking and how that would really tie us to the house but what the heck we already were tied down because of the dogs.   After a couple of years with the goats the decision was made to get the pigs my 10 year old wanted to help use the milk and produce some of our own meat.   Now we are at a point that getting to the feed store is an event.   Add the garden and all it's chores to that and home has become a lifestyle called homesteading.

I have to check in with myself on occasion to see why the heck I'm doing this, like on the day we moved all those cattle and goat panels when it was 100 degree's out.   Or tonight, when after doing all the day's chores and fitting in a trip to the feed store, I get home in time to get ready for the evening chores but realize, it's gonna rain tonight and momma pig hasn''t got that litter of piglets out of the woods yet and up to the pig house so I need to figure out how to either move them or somehow keep them dry where they lie.   I decided to haul a 9' picnic umbrella and heavy duty stand and some hay out to the woods to keep them covered and up somewhat off the ground on the hay.   We'll see.   Then I get to start the nights chores which are an abbreviated version of the morning chores.

Load the cart, haul it to the goat area, tether the goats so they don't eat each others food,

Check out the udder on Tina (on the right). That's about a gallon of milk in there. With her two kids gone this week to their new home it's all ours...oh yeah, and the pigs.

Goats sweet feed mix with extra corn, sunflower seeds for extra protein and 2 overgrown summer squashes cut up in it - Yummy!

Now on to the pigs. They hear the yellow wagon and me feeding the goats and know their next...momma even left her babies in the woods to come wait at the fence. I throw them some hay over the fence first to distract them so I can get the food in there. They don't always take the bait though.

Pig bucket... soaked corn, pig pellets with sunflower seeds, summer squash and milk. Now the trick is to get it into their enclosure. Yikes! Let the squealing begin! I ALWAYS wear my knee high Welly's for this job.

The adults don't look much better. What little pigs they are about their food! And isn't that Tina and Passion I hear letting me know they are done eating...come untether them? I need to milk anyway now that all have been fed.

Let see, do I have everything? Udderly easy milker and it's inserts, wipes to clean her, udder spray for when I'm done, insect repellent for her, a Pepsi for me, milking bucket and my stool. Oh and I better check baking soda before I leave and I think I'll do her hooves while I"m here. Most goats can go 3 - 6 months on hooves but not my Tina.

These were done at kidding time. The kids are 10 weeks old now. Should have done them a month ago.

OK, that's better. Not perfect but I'll do a little more tomorrow. Now I need to go do the kennels, check the gardens, pick up the house, get some food on before I go to the the feed store so I can get home in time for evening chores.

And I love it and am so very very grateful that I have this as my life.

Well it's getting light out now so I think I'll go see how those baby pigs made out last night in the woods.

There here!

2010-07-28T11:40:00.001-04:00

Thyme went off into the woods early this morning and had 6 baby piglets.

3 gilts and 3 boars

Luckily for one litte piglet a childs eyes spotted it about 75' from it's mother off in the woods. How it got separated we'll never know but it was reunited with it's mama.

Less than an hour old.

Trusting the process

2010-07-26T11:38:00.001-04:00

Blue hubbard squash patch

For the first time ever I tried to grow blue hubbard squash. We love winter squash and usually grow butternuts but this year I wanted to grow those huge 20 - 40 pounders too. In early May I made a big mound that had been enriched with lots of compost, rich with aged goat and chicken manure. I watered dutifully and waited for the seedlings to pop their little heads from the soil. After the seeds germinated they grew like weeds with these huge beautiful leaves. And they continued to grew until they over an took area, far larger than I hd anticipated. But that was ok....I wanted those huge squash and it evidently takes a huge area to produce them.

In the meantime, I had to wait on the butternuts to go in because we had a tree coming down that needed to be felled right where they were going. The tree man wasn't able to get here for a month so the butternuts were way behind the hubbards going in. The butternut came up and they too and did very well as they always do. Lots and lots of flowers on both. Then I got the little baby fruits on the hubbard. They would get no bigger than a ping pong ball and turn yellow and shrivel up. I wondered if there were enough bee's around and if they were getting pollinated. I still watered, nurtured and waited. Then the butternuts started getting little baby squashes too. But those were being pollinated because they were going on to be squashes. Hummm....Still I watered and watched.

Butternut squash

We walked through daily and squashed all the squash bugs we could find. We turned leaves over for eggs and smooshed them too. Still, I thought maybe there are no squashes because it's a bigger plant and it was going to take longer. I went and looked in the Johnny seed catalog to see what it said about growing blue hubbard. I only had the current catalog and the seeds had been from the year before but had not been planted until this year. Johnny's catalog said "Sorry, no seed available this year". Ok...they must have had a crop failure and that would have been the same seed I'm not getting to fruit and I'm not going to get any squashes from these plants either this year.

I was disappointed. I considered pulling the whole thing out because I could use that area for pea's instead of wasting it on this massive vine that wasn't going to do anything. But I didn't. And then we saw a fruit that didn't turn yellow. Yay...we were going to get at least one. But there were even more. It's got at least a half dozen squashes!

Blue Hubbard squash

So why do I do this to myself every time I grow something new? It starts out so optimistic but somewhere along the line I forget to trust the process. I think I and my influence is more important than it is and that I hold the key to life and death for this plant. I forget that nature isn't quite that fragile and that if I am doing things even half way right nature will take care of the rest. I just need to remember to relax and trust the process. Oh, if I could just remember this next time.

Any time now

2010-07-25T09:55:00.001-04:00

Thyme looks as if she's about to touch the ground her belly is getting so big.

We've spent the past 2 days hauling cattle panels and goat panels through the woods to give the pigs and goats new wooded area's to browse and root. Exhausting work with temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's. What was I think when I decided to do this project now?

Anyway, it's an area that's never been open to the animals and rarely have we even walked in that area. We had to snake our way through the tree's, over downed wood and poison ivy carrying them one by one and then holding them up till we could get them attatched to the one before. I'm sure in the next few weeks we'll have at least a few spots of poison ivy on us. I think we went through a bag full of banana flavored popsicles in the process trying to cool off. We have a rule to never venture into the woods without our Wellie's on because we have on occasion spotted copperheads back there so that added rubber -to -the- knee's only made us even hotter.

Cattle panels for anyone not familiar with them are 16' long pieces of metal fencing 4' tall. The goat panels are the same but much heavier because for goats the holes are 4" x 4" and the cattle panels have 6" holes meaning less wire. They are great for temporary fencing that is fairly easily moved. In grassy area's it's not too bad a job but hauling them through thick wooded area's is a job. We had enough to do about an acre. We used both the types of panels together to make one big area the pigs and goats can share. The baby pigs can get through either fencing easily right now but have no intention of being away from their momma so aren't going to go anywhere. When they start to deplete it we'll move it again to new ground. It keeps the worm load down on both goats and pigs and keeps them in fresh greens while allowing the previous area to recuperated before it's destroyed.

Last year we would take the goats for walks in the woods so they could eat the browse. Or we would cut and bring it to them weaving the long branches into the fencing for them to eat. It will be nice having them get their own this year.

Where Rosemary goes her babies follow. We took these yesterday just before putting them in their new wooded area. They are getting big fast. It's cooler in the woods for them and they have a great wallow back there to laze the days away in when not out exploring and foraging.

Favorite things - Johnny Seeds

2010-07-22T10:00:00.005-04:00

After spending the past week catching up on all the garden chores I sat down last night to put together an order of things I will need soon. I pulled out my stack of catalogs and immediately opened Johnny's first. I am always drawn to Johnny's first. I love Johnny Seeds. I mostly love there catalog. It has so much info on growing each seed / plant they offer, it rivals many gardening books. For vegetable gardening I've relied for 20 plus years on Crockett's Victory Garden's first edition. It's served me well over the years. But Johnny's catalog has so much great info in it I find myself going to it now instead of my old stand-by.

If your not familiar with their catalog, it offers all kinds of veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers. It also has green manures, various cover crops and pasture mixes for different animals. It has some great tools and all kinds of supplies.

On the top of my shopping list is agribon row cover for this fall / winter. I'm going to do some low tunnels for extended season growing. I am also going to get the pipe bender to bend galvinized conduit pipe to hold the agribon and poly up. After last years snowy winter I want to make sure my tunnels can stand up to the weight of a snow load. Johnny's is located in Maine so they know snow.

The only other things I need are some seeds. I'll get pea's to get in now, onion seeds to sow now for spring harvest and garlics. I may try a few new lettuces too.

Johnny's also has a number of video's on their website. I watched the one on their pipe bender yesterday. BTW... I am not compensated for this review. I just really like them.

http://johnnyseeds.com/

Almost wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T14:27:00.003-04:00

Hubbard Squash Flower

Cucumber teepee, Jalepeno's & tomato plant in mixed garden border bed

The day's pickin's

My new power equipment

2010-07-20T21:22:00.001-04:00

Powered by me that is. Stll, it feels good to know it's going to start every time. No trips for gas. No regular visits for tune-ups. And those little piggies LOVE to see me coming with that green bag! And surprisingly, that mower really does a good job.

And then there were 3

2010-07-18T10:27:00.009-04:00

Nugget - Splash Orpington Rooster

It's been a rough year to be a chicken around here. We started out with 8 chickens - 5 adults; a blue orp rooster, a buff orp hen, a blue orp hen, a lavendar orp hen and a Jersey Giant hen plus the 3 chicks we hatched in early spring. We're now down to 3 of those and it's only July. And one of those is injured so maybe it's closer to 2 1/2 ???

First the coop was left open one night - gone - my handsome rooster and one of the hens. I never could keep straight which of my hens was blue and which was lavendar but one of them, Lilly, was gone. (Side note: Don't give the closing up of the coop at night as a chore to a kid with ADD. Bad idea.) Then on separate occasions 2 of the hatchlings got into the dog yard and that was that. What the dogs didn't consume the pigs did later than night although the pigs have never gone after a live chick and don't kill for sport the way dogs will. At least mine don't.

Sky - either a blue or lavendar Orpington

Next on the "oh no, my poor chickens" list, one of my adult hens, either the blue or lavendar hen...which ever she is that survived the spring coop mayhem, got mauled - twice....not once mind you, but twice by a dog. She hadn't fully gotten over the first attack and was nailed again. This time the dog dug into the chicken yard. Sky's been in a crate now for 2 weeks and she's just starting to be able to stand again. I thought for awhile, I would have to finish what the dog started but alas thankfully, she's on the mend. The dog on the other hand is now in need of a new home. I can forgive them for their instinctual behavior when the chickens are going to them but not so much when they are digging into the chickens yard.

Gwen - Jersey Giant

Then there's Gwen. Gwen has been here the longest along with Bonnie, the buff orp. I got them in my first Murry McMurry order a few years back. Gwen being a Jersey Giant can not move fast. This is a breed of chicken I would never get again. She can't even get up a couple of steps without great difficulty. And it takes her twice as long to get anywhere as it does the rest of the chickens. Her body is just too big for those legs. I had read about this when getting them but didn't fully understand how that would translate to life in general. Lets just say it's not an easy life being a Jersey Giant. They would make great meat birds but I only wanted layers.

Nugget, the lone survivor of the three hatchlings from spring, wasn't a kind and nurturing rooster to his girls. He was ruthless. He was young though and he may have learned as he matured to be the kind of rooster I'm used to; friendly, self sacrifing, nurturing and concerned for his girls. Poor Gwen got the brunt of his ruthlessness. In the photo above she's missing a bunch of back feathers...normal when you have limited hens and a rooster, but her comb is gone in the back and she's always got these sores on her head from him tearing pieces off along with any feathers in close proximity. She tries to get away but can't. He he's like a kid with a new toy... just can't put it down or stop himself. Bonnie is agile and got lots of attitude to boot so she would just chased Nugget off but poor Gwen couldn't. Bonnie would even try to help out Gwen and chase him from her too when she was close by. In the end though I had to intervine and say bye to Nugget. He was sent off to a new home to help them spread that blue gene of his. Hopefully for those hens he'll learn to be a kinder rooster.

And then there were 3.

Taking time to see the flowers

2010-07-13T20:31:00.010-04:00

Black Knight butterfly bush

As the name implies, this butterfly bushes flowers are a very dark purple when they first come out. They lighten up as they open more but the color initially is a gorgeous rich deep purple. Today it was full of butterflies.

Summer Snowfall Trumpet Vine

This variagated trumpet vine was planted 3 years ago and it's the first time it's bloomed. It's still pretty sparse and spindly but getting there. This year it's sharing a piece of trellis with a melon plant.

Sometimes it seems we get so busy with all the chores around here seeing the beautiful parts of this endeavor goes by the wayside and what a shame that is. I need to put on my to-do list - stop and SEE the beauty every day!

On the not so bright side of the gardens today... my goat chewed tomato. It was getting pretty tall. Tall enough evidently for the goat to reach over the fence and chew the top right off. She got two of them.

Back to the good stuff...jalepeno's will be ready shortly. Wish I had been able to find some habenaro plants but couldn't and it was way too late to start seeds. Next year!

The zucchini's are doing well. Of course they usually do, but this plant is in partial shade so I wasn't sure it would do well at all. I planted it in the flower bed in front of my house. Most of my veggies are intermingled with flowers in flower beds. Behind the zucchini is a Bugbane - Cimicifuga Atropurpurea that does very well so it's certainly got a good bit of shade there.

A pig tilled garden

2010-07-12T10:19:00.002-04:00

Our front yard, planted, after our American Guinea hogs tilled up the grass for us over the winter

Last fall when we got our trio of hogs we put hog panels up in the front yard where there was grass we wanted gone, added a small shelter for them inside and let them go to it. We moved them this spring to a new pen in the back wooded area of our property and planted the front. Right now it's rapidly filling up with pumpkins, squash and beans. Later this month I'll put in a fall crop of turnips in to supplement the pigs and goats food this winter in any spots that are still bare. An added benefit of has been a few volunteers we got from the scraps we gave the pigs over the winter in there. It's like a little present each time a veggie plant pops up you didn't plant. And you can always just pull it up and feed it to the pigs or goats if you don't want it there. We got a pumpkin, a cantaloupe and tomoto plant as voluteers this year.

The plan is to move them back there again this winter to re-till it again as well as to clean up all the vegetation from this years garden.

A volunteer pumpkin

American Guinea Hog babies!

2010-07-11T19:04:00.001-04:00

I love AGH's! I love that they are so easy and so smart. 2 of our new piglets, 2 days old, with their papa.

We are still pretty new to pigs and 2 weeks ago we didn't even know piglets were coming. I hear that's common in this breed if the females are housed with a boar. One day you look out and see the mother pigs teats enlarging and soon after you have a litter of adorable little piglets running around. I had thought that my 2 gilts (females that have never had piglets before) were overweight and would need to be slimmed down before they would be able to have babies. If a gilt or sow gets overweight the fat around their ovaries can sometimes interfere with their abiity to concieve. Not only was Rosemary able to concieve, her sister, Thyme, is expecting too. Rosemary gave us 3 little boars and 2 little gilts.

AGH's are smaller pigs often mistaken for pot belly pigs because they too have a bit of a pot belly. AGH's size is wonderful for homesteads like mine without much land. They are a favorite in many zoo's childrens petting area's because they are so friendly. They love to graze and only root when everything they can graze is gone. I leave them in my fenced backyard many nights to graze on my grass. They go back in their pen in the woods behind our yard during the day. I think it's cooler back there for them amongst the tree's and their wallow is back there too. They spend a lot of their days in cooling off in that wallow.

The other 3 babies sleeping in their house

We gave Rosemary plenty of space and were very resectful of her the morning we found she had had her babies. We co-house her with her sister and the boar, Basil, but wanted to make sure she could have the house to herself in case it rained so made an quick shelter for the other 2. It did rain that nigh, they did use it and now she's out with all the piglets in tow using it as well. Coming from a dog backround rather than farm animals, I was surprised she was so OK with them and us being with her babies so soon. She came out the second day followed by all her babies, laid down and rolled over to be scratched while nursing. She clearly trusts us.

Even more surprising to me was how patient and gentle the boar was with the piglets when they got a bit confused and attempted to get him to nurse them. He just rolled over and let them till they gave up.

Got milk???? No kids, Papa's do not have milk.

The hogs were initially purchased as weanlings because my 10 y.o. wanted pigs and since then she has been responsible for much of their day to day care. Growing up with her as their primary care giver they've enjoyed much attention and become very people friendly.

Momma in the foreground with Papa back by the wallow. Our 2 females are short nosed and our boar is long nosed. Some short nosed AGH tend to put on weight easier than the long nosed hog do so I'm told. It's certainly true in this family. I can already see difference in the noses of some of the piglets.

A very pregnant Thyme is enjoying getting cooled off in her wallow

We are members of the AGHA and encourage you to visit their site or the ALBCA site if your interested in more info about American Guinea Hogs.

American Guinea Association

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

The AGHA is in the process of updating their site so check back with them again too as their new site promises to be even more informative.

A broken leg waiting to happen

2010-06-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

Baby Goats love to climb on anything and everything. This little guy and his sister are no exception to this basic baby goat rule. Actually adults like to climb too but like humans, the kids have no sense of fear. The siblings are usually together on top of this temporary shade structure made of cattle panels and a tarp.

In back of the hut are a number of goat panels (fencing) standing up against the regular fencing. It's great to use for a moveable fence. Today we found they had learned to climb to the top of them and walk along them....definetely a broken leg that just hasn't happened yet. We'll be moving those tomorrow.

New Baby Goats

2010-05-20T20:17:00.001-04:00

Tawny - a doeling

Clover - a buckling

Our French Alpine, Tina, gave us 2 beautiful little kids on Mon. but not without a little drama. It took her all day...12 + hours before she had the doeling and then only with the help of our large animal vet.

In the meantime our buckling was unintentionally turned into a bottle baby. My, how fast that can happen. I had no idea. With his mom preoccupied all day and wanting no part of him while she was attempting to birth the next kid I attempted to give him a bottle as well as dry him off from both his birthing experience and the rain and in the process he bonded with me and yes, I with him.

So here we are. His mother no longer recognized him or his smell and he felt the same about her. I left him with her and his sister that night anyway but found him hiding in the corner in the morning with a decidedly thinner tummy. So back into the house to bottle feed again and then back out to the goats. And so it went until I realized he was afraid of her and wasn't going to attempt to nurse and she most likely by that time wouldn't have allowed it anyway.

So a bottle baby/future pack goat was born.

Moving day for the pigs

2010-04-26T21:19:00.003-04:00

Guinea hogs grazing out back

After having the pigs in the front yard for the past few months it was an exciting day for all of us to get them moved out back. They certainly did their job out front rototilling the new garden area but it was time for them to fade into the background a bit. I think they enjoyed the move as much as I did. I have to say I found myself over explaining the pigs in the front yard thing. One moment I felt like this enlightened, environmentally responsible person and the next like I was this ridiculous person straight out of that silly sitcom Green Acres sans the denim overalls. So with all that ambiguity going on in my head about pigs in the front yard it's a good thing they aren't there anymore.

I am moving them into the wooded area at the back of my property but they can also have limited access to the grassy area between the woods and the house now which is where they were today. I had heard they weren't really rooters but they did quite a good job of rooting out front for me. But in the larger area of grass today they never rooted at all which is great because I didn't want that area torn up. They just grazed . I must say I enjoy having the pigs much more than I ever thought I would. They are so friendly and I love the idea that even my weeds don't go to waste anymore. And their size couldn't be anymore perfect for my little property.

Goats & chickens

2010-04-22T22:28:00.002-04:00

Gwen, the Jersey Giant in a crate in my kitchen recuperating

Chicken coops only work if you close them up at night. Gwen was one of the lucky ones last night. I had my 9 yr. old close them in last night but somehow it didn't happen.

When we found Gwen all the feathering on the back of her neck was gone and she couldn't walk at all. On closer inspection under her feathers back by her tail she had an open wound about the size of a quarter. I brought her in and put her in a dog crate in my kitchen. I put some water treated with an antibiotic in with her. I wasn't sure she would make it through the day and kept checking to see if she was still breathing. Bless her....she laid an egg within an hour although she still looks to be touch and go at this point. She's had a little water and some cheese I put in there so maybe she'll make it.

Bonnie and the other hen must have made it out because they both were fine. Rudy will be greatly missed as will Lilly. Two of the new chicks have turned out to be roosters and the light blue one is out of Rudy and Lilly so at least I still have that line. What I went through to get Rudy and Lilly is a story for another day.

Tomorrow is the goats day for shots, worming, supplements and a hoof trim. Tina is starting to bag up and I should have done this a couple of weeks ago but better late than never If you have goats and you have a dremel but have never used it to do the finish on their hooves you are missing out on a great use for this little tool. My first year of goat keeping I didn't do feet. I finally hired someone to come out and do them. They did such a poor job I knew I had to bite the bullet and learn to do this.

I bought the required orange handled trimmers all goat keepers must have. I also bought a pick/brush combo, a long handled plane from Hoeggers, a left handed hoof trimmer from Hoeggers, a right handed trimmer from Hoeggers and a sanding block and lots of sand paper from Lowes. The only things I now use are the orange trimmers and the dremel. On occasion I use the pick but mostly I use the end of the orange trimmers for picking out dirt and manure. The dremel, I didn't buy for the goat. I already had it to trim my dogs nails, but like all the things I bought and found useless for goats feet the dremel was useless for the dogs nails. But, oh boy, is that thing great on hooves.

If you have goats you can imagine how bad their feet were after a year of not being trimmed. I've read if they get that bad you may never get them back to the way they should be. But I have to say, with some effort and a dremel, I've almost got them back to the way they should be. And I don't hate it! I actually don't mind a bit doing them now. If I had my choice of doing my dogs nails now or doing goats feet, I'ld take goats feet any day. I'll take pictures tomorrow when I am trimming them up.

Baby Chicks first day out hiding in the tools

2010-04-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

Pigs an asset to the garden? You Bet!

2010-03-21T17:42:00.004-04:00

Pigs penned in front yard to help convert a lawn area to a garden

I live in central Virginia were the soil is hard and rocky. Not just a little hard or a little rocky either. I mean very hard and very rocky. Wheel barrow after wheel barrow full of rocks have been pulled from every bed I've planted here. I lived and gardened in Denver most of my life and I thought the clay there was bad but this soil makes that look looming by comparison.

I've tilled and dug and dug and tilled every year and still more rocks and back aches and now its been pointed out to us that tilling every year isn't the right thing to do if we want to keep what little topsoil is left. So I am going to no-till beds now. I am using all the spent hay from the goats, chickens and pigs, for mulch and planting medium on top of my soil. Along with compost and a base layer of newspaper, I've been assured this will give me an easier, more productive, earth friendly environment to grow anything I want. (More on this no-till method in another post)

On to the pigs... before I put down the the newspaper, hay, compost and anything else organic I may want to add, I am giving it over to the pigs. With their powerful noses they are amazing little tillers. They eat the weeds and grasses and then root down 12" - 18" leaving me an area to start with. The difference is you only need to do it once before you start your no-till beds and pigs don't grind the soil to a dust the way a tiller does so it either erodes or blows away. It is broken up into clods so roots of the plants you deem worthy of planting there can get in easily and deeply. It also feeds the pigs. Once an area is broken up I move them to another spot. I do this by using hog panels for their pen. You can get them at Tractor supply or feed stores. There easy to move and make rotating the pigs fairly easy. Or you can use electric netting which is also easy to move.

We have American Guinea Hogs which are a small homestead pig that aren't known for their rooting ability but are doing a great job none the less. These guys are smaller than most pigs and very friendly. They are a rare breed and on the endangered breed list of the American Livestock Breed Conservancy.

Night time shananigans

2010-03-20T21:56:00.003-04:00

Last night - chicks and child asleep on the floor

Chicks today

Things are different when you buy 25 day old chicks from a hatchery. Even when you hatch your own in larger numbers things are different. We've done it all ways, bought the required 25- 1 day olds, hatched in large numbers and hatched just a few at a time and found when you hatch just a few they bond to you. And like last night, when they are large enough to come visit that's exactly what they want to do. They call to you just like the big chickens do, when they call to you and to each other and they want to be near you.

They'll be outdoors in another couple of weeks.

Walking onions

2010-03-19T14:01:00.001-04:00

Walking Onions

My walking onion plants arrived in the mail today wrapped loosely in a plastic grocery bag with damp peat moss tucked all around the roots, then placed into box which had been priority mailed to me. I had been wanting these for sometime now and am thrilled to not just have found some but to have actually gotten them already rooted and growing.

Walking onions or Egyptian onions grow like a regular onion but when they get large they produce onions on the end of the stalk something like a spider plant grows new plants. You can just harvest the top growing ones as small onions or green onions or you can start new plants from the top onions. Mother nature will do it for you if you if you just let them go. As the top gets heavy it bends over allowing the onion on top to make contact with the soil so it can then root itself. You can also harvest the onions on the bottom but if you don't they will just keep growing as any perennial does. They like moist looming soil and since they are a perennial I want to plant them in the right place the first time so mine are going into a clay pot until I find just the right spot for them. Cool huh?

Baby Chicks, Gardens and Goats

2010-03-12T01:08:00.005-05:00

Chicks hatched this morning

This morning we were blessed to have 3 baby chicks hatch. We had started with 8 eggs so it wasn't a great hatch but we were pleased none the less. Last year I purchased hatching eggs so this was the first year we've hatched from our own chickens. A couple weren't fertile to begin with when I candled them. Don't know what happened to the others. The ones that hatched were really pretty. I was blown away with the coloring of the 2 darker ones. This was a cross with a blue Orpington rooster and a buff Orpington hen. One looks almost orange and the other chocolate. The silver one is between two blues.

Chicks are so much fun. They haven't learned to be afraid and come right to you. I think they are looking for a mother and you qualify if you bring them food and water. They are so curious and so very chicken already. They peck at each other and the smallest speck on your hand or a dish. We cleaned out the incubator and added another 8 eggs to it.

I started planting vegetables today. I got pea's, spinach, lettuce, radishes and collards in. Last year I missed most of the planting season so it was great to be on top of it this year. I've been using the old hay from the goat house for mulch and also in the compost bin. I am doing a few area's of no till beds using hay as well. I need to get pictures as it progresses. I am hopefully optimistic about using this method as it's just so much easier and better for the soil structure as well. And it's a great use for all the wasted hay from bedding etc. Goats are notorious about wasting hay so it feels much more tolerable knowing it's helping improve the soil.

I tend some years to get carried away with trying too many new vegetables that I don't use in the end so this year I decided to stick for the most part with the things I use regularly... tomatoes, peppers of all varieties, onions, pea's, beans, pototoes, celery, spinach, cucumbers and eggplants. I think that's about it. I also have an area out by the road I'm preparing as a no till bed. I am going to use that area this year for lots of squashes and pumpkins. I must have seeds of 4 or 5 varieties of winter squashes and 5 or 6 different pumpkins so it will be great to have a large area to just let them roam. I did bid on some walking onions on ebay tonight. I've never tried them but they sound great and low maintenance to boot. I'll post a picture if I win for any one that hasn't seen them before.

Then next problem to contend with is the chickens in the garden. I think they will have to go into the goat yard until the seeds sown have germinated and become established. Last year the few things I did get planted the chickens pulled up the same day or the next day. I love having them free range but they can really wreck havoc on a new garden.

After planting I went to work on the goat house. I put down both lime and dry stall for the ammonia smell from urine and laid new hay on top. I smelled so much better; cleaner. While I was doing it I looked at Passion who I was sure wasn't pregnant and I am now not so sure. She wasn't having any part of Elvis while he was here but I think that may just have been while we were watching because she looks like she's getting bigger. I won't know for another month but I do believe we'll be having two does kidding instead of just one. I had been thinking I may sell her as soon as Tina kidded and just yesterday I said I might put her on Craigslist now instead of waiting until Tina kidded. I am really delighted and hope she is in fact pregnant. Time will tell.

Getting ready for spring

2010-02-23T14:21:00.002-05:00

Tina is pregnant

It appears Elvis did a good job with Tina. She's certainly pregnant and due around the first of May. I would guess she'll at least have twins from how large she is this far out. Last year she gave us triplets. From the looks of it he wasn't able to breed Passion. This isn't all bad since last year we had much more mik than we needed. The first 2 months after kidding Tina alone was giving us 2 gallons a day. She tapered off until in Dec. she was only giving us about a 1/2 gal a day. We stopped milking her then to give her a rest, I am hoping for does from her which I will keep if we are lucky enough to get them.

Genesis incubator with 8 eggs

Hopefully we'll get a good hatch from these. Last year we bought hatching eggs but this year we are using our own eggs. I put them in last Thursday and I'll candle them this weekend to see how many are viable. I wanted to get a few in early so they'll be laying for me by the end of the summer. I think I'll just keep adding any extra eggs we get from here on out although I've been doing a lot of cooking and haven't had many extra's. With only 4 hens and 1 of those still isn't laying, there really haven't been that many eggs.

Rudy is a very handsome and gentle rooster and I'm anxious to see what we get. I separated and marked the eggs so maybe I will know who's who when they hatch. Of course that's if I'm there when they do.

I'll also be starting some seeds this week. I need to go through and see what I have. I didn't get much of a garden in last year but I had bought a ton of seeds. Most will still be viable this year so it wasn't a total loss. I also hope to get a large area in for winter food for the goats and pigs. Turnips, mangles, collards and sweet potato's. Maybe some sunflowers and jerusalem artichokes.

Chickens

2010-01-17T23:29:00.001-05:00

Rudy

This is Rudy the rooster. We got him as an egg last year from a breeder in W.V. He's a Blue Orpington. Orpington's are more commonly buff colored but I really liked the blue. Problem was you can't just buy Blue Orpington's so we found a breeder and bought some hatching eggs last year. Rudy was one of the ones that hatched. He's very gentle, crows just enough to make me smile and is very protective of "his girls".

Bonnie

This is Bonnie. She's a buff Orpington. She came to us as a day old chick from McMurray's hatchery the year before. Bonnie thinks she's my friend and whenever I go outside for whatever reason she follows me around like a dog. I go to the road for mail and Bonnie comes along. If I've been gone, shopping or whatever, she comes running when I get home and meets me at the car, then walks me to the house. If I have gardening to do she stays with me scratching and pecking at whatever, but always close at hand.

Lily and Sky

Lily and Sky were both hatched out last spring with Rudy. One is a blue Orpington and the other is a lilac Orpington. I can't tell which is which. Either way I love their coloring. One of them has been laying all winter and is sitting on an egg now which she refuses to get off of. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see. We also have one Jersey Giant hen but I don't have a good picture of her. She came from McMurray's the year before with Bonnie.

I am going to start collecting the eggs and when I get 4 or 5 I'm going to incubate them. There's only one laying now and it's either Lily or Sky so I want to hatch a few now before all the girls start laying again so I know I'll get the blue or lavendar.

On bean soup and being frugal

2010-01-09T01:38:00.004-05:00

Mixed beans soaking to make soup

There is a part of me that loves that the economy has made us look at our spending and reassess how we are spending and to try and be more self sufficient. I have always hated spending on things I knew I could get cheaper if I bought in a less trendy fashion. I love looking for a bargain when I do need something and am just about at my most happiest when I have figured out a way to make what I have work without going to the store at all. I love that doing this is somewhat trendy now instead of being afraid to let my more spendthrifty friends see that side of me. What was almost an embarrassing quirk about myself is now acceptable. I hope to pass these values on to my now 9 yr. old child. What to value and give our life's energy to and what's a true waste of our life's energy. Easier said then done with children sometimes.

This week we went shopping. Some things needed to be new and were costly and to not spend money on them would end up costing us more in the long run. Other things were determined to be unnecessary and still others were things we wanted but we were able to find a less costly way to get them.

I have for years gone to Goodwill to buy old comforters for my dogs beds. I used them in their crates or doghouses. I still use mats for smaller crates but all the larger ones and the dog houses get the old spreads and comforters I've collected over time at various Goodwill shops. My dogs, especially my puppies eventually de-stuff them and new ones are needed. This week my 9 yr. old and I stopped at a Goodwill to check for comforters and spreads (they are getting harder to find now) and while we were there she started looking at clothes. We have for years gone to Goodwill to drop things off but never to buy clothing for her. We ended up getting her a bunch of new- to- her, clothes, a much needed lamp for her room and a few books.

I found a vinyl swivel rocker for the kennel for both the dogs and myself and a glider with a gliding ottoman that I put in the living room. I had always wanted one but could not make myself spend $300 -$500 for one. I got this one for under $30. We both joked about how we would be fighting about who would get to sit in it.

Our new glider chair and ottoman

My favorite "saying pillow"

She commented on the way out how much she liked this going to Goodwill thing. I wrestled with the guilt for about a minute. The wanting for her to have the best of everything. But letting her learn the value of money is the best thing for her.

Later I had to stop at the grocery store. I was looking for italian sausage for flavoring for my marina sauce and saw meat for $10 a lb. $10 a lb! Yikes. And in a way I was glad it was so high. With those prices many people truly can't afford it. And that means less cattle for meat will be raised. And less cattle means less havoc on the environment on a multitude of levels. And that's a good thing. And so is bean soup. I still will add a bit of meat for flavoring but that pot will last a good while, was by far friendlier to the environment as well as to my wallet and makes me glad I am happy where I'm at. Bloom where your planted and remember - inner piece comes not from getting what you want but from being happy with what you already have.

More cheesemaking

2010-01-05T20:52:00.002-05:00

I made mozzerella cheese this weekend. The dinner plate above was full when I got done but I made two pizza's right away. The plate full of cheese took 4 gallons of milk to make. The pigs love the left over whey or you can make ricotta cheese with the whey if you want. You can also use it in bread recipes. I sometimes use it for ricotta but mostly give it to the animals. My dogs adore it but it can give them loose stools so they only get it in summer when they are out more.

We've been using tons of mozzerella since I learned to make it. We make lasagna, eggplant parmesan substituting 1/2 the parm for mozz. I use it in penne pasta and marinara by mixing it in with the pasta and sauce. I also make lots of garlic bread with mozzerella. We dip it in sauce sometimes and other times just eat it just as cheese garlic bread. Tonight I made pizza yet again. I love onions and peppers on mine but my 9 yr. old likes black olives so that's what I made. I told her she'll be the only kid around saying....do we have to have pizza again?.

I also made lots of extra pizza dough. Each of those balls of dough make two 12" pizza crusts. You can freeze it so it makes a quick easy dinner.

Happy New Year and more this & that

2010-01-03T12:37:00.006-05:00

This is Elvis. His real name is Dill but the other day my 9 yr old came in and said "he looks like a goaty version of Elvis with that bunch of curls on his head and it stuck. He's an American Alpine and he's here visiting the girls and will be going home in a few weeks. None to soon I tell you. He's into everything and could give goats everywhere a bad name with his antics! He escapes every chance he gets, stinks to the high heavens and is tormenting the girls. I wonder if his absence will make us think better of him?

Nope.

Christmas & this and that

2009-12-28T02:14:00.001-05:00

This was my view from my living room on Christmas. I love watching the birds and we get such a diverse showing especially when it snows and food is scarce. I put warm water and scattered some scratch on the railing as well. Great, inexpensive entertainment. My 9 yr. old loves to see how many she can identify.

Christmas was hectic. We still have a visiting buck we call Elvis because he has the craziest hairdo. I really must post a picture of him. Just above his eyes and back to his ears he has a bunch of curly locks. It's silly looking or charming depending on my mood when I look at him. Either way it's unique.

The goats, pigs and chickens all got carrots for their Christmas treat. Shredded for the chickens and sliced for the pigs and goats. I swept / shoveled a place for the pigs to come out of their house but the goats were having no part of that. They stayed in their warm house and just peeked out for a 5 days. I didn't even offer the outdoors to the chickens until today. I give them all warm water both morning and night. I hang a flashlight in the chicken house above their food when I do their water at night and even though we had one night down to 10 degree's I have one little blue Orpington hen that lays me an egg. All 3 of the other girls have quit till spring I guess. Just that little bit of light from the flashlight made all the difference as she wasn't laying until I added the light. I use rechargeable batteries or it would be rather expensive.

I'm still a bit unsure of my feeding with the pigs. They are going through a 50 lb bag in 4 days which seems like too much since they aren't full grown and even when they are full grown they are smaller than most pigs so I'm thinking I may be over feeding them. I would like to get them on hay and milk only but I think they will protest strongly at this point if I were to try. It being so cold at night I really don't want to try just yet.

I ran out of time with my Christmas wrapping for my little one this year and decided to make almost everything a stocking item since we don't wrap stocking items in our house. Her stocking clearly wasn't large enough for everything to fit into so I got creative with a flannel PJ bottom with doggies and santa's on them much to her delight.

Hope you and yours had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

2009-12-19T03:51:00.002-05:00

I've lived in Virginia for over 10 yrs now and this is the first time it reminded me of my years in Colorado.   We've gotten over a foot of snow so far and it's suppose to snow all day tomorrow too.   While I was in Colorado I didn't have all the animals I have now and lots of snow meant great ski conditions, not wondering how I'm going to get all the critters taken care of.

I have 2 hoop houses so I've gone out every couple of hours and sweep the snow off because it was accumulating so fast.   I have a buck visiting for a while to romance the girls. They wanted no part of letting him in their shelter so I had to make separate area's in there so they wouldn't be able to keep throwing him out into the cold and wet.   Luckily I did that before it started snowing in ernest.   The pigs and the chickens are all snuggled up in their little houses and it feels good to know all the animals are warm and dry.

The only thing I've yet to figure out is how to get all the dogs out to potty. I've been sweeping the steps and trying to sweep an area just off the porch for them to potty in. Right now the snow is mid way up their bellies if they venture any farther than where I've swept.    I'll have to take pictures tomorrow when it's light. It's actually quite beautiful out and will no doubt be a white christmas.

For all my musing about missing Colorado and the snow this has been a reality check. With all these animals I wouldn't want to do this on a regular basis.   I don't know how people in Alaska or any of the northern states do it every winter all winter with many animals. My hats off to them.

Saying thanks to my goats today

2009-12-17T22:19:00.002-05:00

All spring, summer and fall we've been milking our 2 goats. I made yogurt, ice cream, chevre, ricotta and mozzerella. I froze most of the cheese and dreamed of using it in the winter when I had more time to make things like homemade pizza or goat cheese cheesecakes. I haven't yet tried the cheesecake but we finally had homemade pizza this week and it was wonderful. I haven't mastered making a round crust but kind of like the more rustic look of an irregular shaped pizza anyway. This was made using 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat.

Pizza crust

I got this recipe from the Recipe Zaar

3/4 tablespoon yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil
4 cups flour (we prefer half white, half wheat)

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water (I add a pinch of sugar) and allow to set until it begins to foam, about 5 minutes.

Stir in salt, oil and half of flour. Gradually add remaining flour, mixing well.

Knead 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl and let rise until double (1/2-1 hour) Punch down and let rise again until double. Punch down and divide. Pat out on two pizza pans.

Top with pizza sauce & toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Pizza Sauce: Mix all ingredients together, blending well. (You can also add a few sprinkles of garlic powder if you want).

Makes enough for two 12 inch pizzas or one 16 inch pizza.
Top with meats, cheese and other toppings.

To freeze, prepared pizza method: double wrap and freeze the prepared pizza (without baking it) on the pizza pan. Unwrap and bake the frozen pizza at 400°F for about 22 minutes.

Alternative freezing method: after first punch down of dough, divide dough and place in a zip-loc bag and place in the freezer. To prepare, remove from freezer and place in a greased bowl. The dough will take about 8-10 hours to thaw and raise slightly. Pat out on grease pizza pan and proceed as directed above. I also freeze half the sauce in a small container for future use.

Goats

2009-12-07T00:50:00.002-05:00

Our first sad looking goats... Caruna & Sparkles

We got our first 2 goats last year. We had bought a registered Nigerian Dwarf doe and her 3 day old doeling. I loved the temperaments. And having a kid that young was just plain fun. But, we wanted them for milk and rapidly realized this wasn't a good match for me to milk size wise. I bought an Udderly Ez Milker but that didn't help either. Perhaps she had not been milked previously because she hated it. She was 5 yrs old and had kidded before but she wanted no part of my milking her by hand or any other means.

I went out a month or so later and bought my first Alpine as a first freshener, in milk. I went from less than a cup per milking to over a gallon a day. And she stood to be milked like a dream. She really was a great first milker. I loved having all that milk too and was quickly making my first cheeses, yogurt and ice cream. I also loved the elegance of the Alpines. They somehow seeemed like real dairy goats to me too instead of pets.

Tina , our first Alpine

Iron-Rod STG Sustina

Then when we decided to get the pigs, we knew we wanted to add milk to their diet so added our second Alpine.

Our second doe - Passion

Munchin Hill Passion

We have since placed our Nigerians and only have the 2 big girls. I still thought a smaller goat would be more appropriate for this sized homestead so I made arrangements to breed the girls to a Nigerian buck. They could be registered in the Miniature Dairy Goat Assc. as long as both parents are registered and the kids would be somewhere in size between the parents. I've read the mini's generally give about 2/3 the milk and are 1/2 the size. Sounded perfect.

Passion came in season this week. We got her to the buck but it just didn't happen. I guess I have heard so much about keeping bucklings away from all does including their mothers after 8 weeks that I just didn't think too much about them actually not being able to "fit" because of the size difference. We stayed with them for a while as it was suppose to be a "driveway breeding" but after being there for over an hour trying to get the job done we decided maybe a sleep over would help. It didn't. I picked her up sat. in the rain and slush and brought her home. She was exhausted and slept all the way home. I have luckily found a French Alpine buck and will be breeding her and my other doe to him next go round. Although I had hoped to downsize a bit from the big goats, the logistics of breeding two different sized goats is too much for me for this year.

Food Inc. the movie

2009-11-27T23:37:00.002-05:00

I tried to see this movie this summer but it was either sold out or not available in my area. I finally rented it from Netflex when it came out this month. Whenever a movie like this comes out I get such an affirmation by watching it to continue with my dreams of becoming less and less dependant on the large chain grocery stores.

Some of the facts and interesting tidbits in the movie :

There are on average 47,000 products in the typical grocery store but much of that is corn based so although it seems like great variety it is, in fact, not.
McDonalds is the largest purchaser of pototoes.
Tyson is the biggest meat packing company in the history of the world.
It's 48 days to slaughter for chickens factory farmed in which time they never see sunlight.
One of the biggest predictors of obesity is a low income level.
One in three American people born after 2000 will develop early onset diabeties

Polyface Farm was in a segment of the movie. I've known about Polyface for sometime but I haven't been one of their customers. I certainly live close enough....about 40 miles away and they have buying clubs in the town right next to mine that they deliver to regularly. I finally bit the bullet and put my frugal side in my pocket and joined the ranks of being a Polyface customer. It has been hard to accept paying the price they are getting and I might add they deserve, when you can buy what they are selling so much less expensively in a large chain grocery store but I feel it's well worth it now. And in fact it's really not the same product either. Not all beef is created equally. I can't produce it all right now on my little 3 acres. Maybe I can get close in time. It is certainly my goal. For now I will spend the additional money for honest food that I am not yet able to produce at home.

Rent the movie if you can. It's worth watching.

American Guinea Hogs

2009-11-23T19:44:00.002-05:00

Friday I drove from Virginia to Alabama to pick up our new GH boar piglet. We named him Basil. We got our 2 gilts (girls for those that don't know) a few weeks ago in Maryland. We called the girls Rosemary and Thyme. We thought a trio would be good for us.

American Guinea Hogs are listed as an endangered breed of pig by the Rare Breed Livestock Conservancy which means there are less than 200 of them. They are much smaller than other pigs, about the size of pot bellied pigs. They are normally docile and friendly and tasty so I hear. We have named them so I am sure we won't eat them but they make great little rototillers and in this horrid, rocky, spent soil I need all the help I can get.

These guys have been such fun. They are all about 3 months old. The boar is 2 weeks younger than the gilts and since he got here 2 weeks later than the girls he's low man on the totem pole for the time being. I had read they may be territorial initially with him and not let him eat near them or sleep with them but he wasn't having any part of that. He is a bit intimidated by the girls but not so much that he was going to sleep alone or miss a meal. Soon he'll be bigger than they are and smell, to the girls at least, like a boar and the hierachy will change.