Fridays on the Farm

We have started our fall seeds. The summer garden is done and we've actually got our 3 female goats in the garden space to clear it all out!  We're going to try and grow peas, more beans, spaghetti squash, turnips, spinach, cabbage and a lettuce mix.

Our farm is growing again!  Meet our 7 French Alpine purebred goats...all females!  Aren't they pretty?!  4 of them are over a year old, and 3 are babies.  You can see in this picture who the Alpha is...she wouldn't let any of them near us until she checked everything out...good momma.

They all came from the same homestead...a veterinarian who kept them for milk, but has decided he's too old to carry the workload anymore.  They warmed up to us fairly quickly and are so gentle!  I'm glad they are hornless.

We separated our 3 goats because they have horns, and that could get messy when they're trying to prove who's in charge.  You can see Mocha up on her shelter...she has been there all day, I think, to prove she's in charge.  I hope they can all get along, and eventually we will have them all in one pen.

 Making acquaintances.

More animals, of course, means more labor for us, but we don't mind!  We are SO BLESSED to have all that we have...the work that comes with it is a joy!  Nate was busy building another feeder to put the hay in...he has become quite the carpenter!  Pajamas and an axe...classic Christian!

More time spent milking for Caitlin and me...but that's one of the benefits of having milking goats!  We were going to let the goats get used to their new home and give them a few days before we milked them, but 2 of them looked engorged to me.  They were having a hard time walking because they were so full!  So we decided to at least relieve that for them.  (As a nursing mom 7 times myself I know just how uncomfortable that is!!)

This first goat (we still have to name them all!) didn't even have to be held down.  She was so cooperative...I think she was thankful we were getting all that milk out!

 Cait LOVES living on a farm!

 3 full cups from one goat!!  Got the same from the next we milked, and we still have to milk our Mocha!!  The milk is flowin'!

Our beagle had puppies 3 weeks ago...6 of them.  2 girls and 4 boys and they are all adorable!  I will take better pictures soon!  They will be for sale in October if you're local and want one!

Fridays on the Farm

Yes, it's Saturday, I know...I'm a day behind!  

We decided to let our goats into the garden area because it is so overrun with weeds.  They are thrilled to be in there!!  Here they're munching on our okra...good thing Graycie and I went in and picked all the okra off the plants before we let them in!

Our cinnomon queen laying hens are growing in their colored feathers!!  Aren't they pretty?  They are 7 weeks old now.

The broilers are growing like weeds as well.  Hard to believe we will be butchering these little guys in 5 weeks!!  If you want to preorder, check out our Facebook page HERE

Our bee colony on the Left in this picture is very strong...as you can see we have added another honey super!  The second box down is FULL of honey, but that is for them to get through the winter.  Now, anything made in the box on top we can take if we want :)  We will give it time to allow the bees to fill it up and probably wait until the Spring to take any, just incase they need it.

We are still working on fencing in our property.  It is a lot of work, and slow going with all the rain we've been getting.  But, we're making progress and that's what counts!

We are still enjoying the fruits of our labor from the garden...you just have to hunt for the food amongst all the weeds!!  We are now planning our Fall garden and getting ready to start those seeds :)

 Made some sourkraut with all our cabbage.

Drying seeds from our tigger melons.  It's an easy process once you read how to do it.  We took a super ripe melon that had great taste and put all the seeds in a glass jar with water.  Let it sit for a few days.  Then shake it up, drain the water, add new water.  Shake it up again, drain the water, add new water.  The seeds that float are bad...discard them.  The seeds that sink are good...put them on cardboard to dry for 12-15 days.  That's it!!  Now we have our tigger melon seeds for next year, and as you can see we have plenty!  So if you live nearby, please, ask for some!

We have been busy making more products for our farmhouse market.  More salves and a hard lotion scented with orange essential oil!  And a new soap!  Goat milk, olive oil and coconut oil, scented with lemongrass essential oil...it smells and looks so pretty everyone thinks its fudge!!  Interested?  Order HERE

Have a restful Sunday!

Fridays on the Farm

Thought it would be fun to share on Fridays some happenings on our homestead.  Ellie loves to help make banana bread!

Our laying hens have been put behind bars!  Since we bought our farm in December, we have lost 21 hens and 2 roosters...21 of them to a sly fox, and 2 have been hit by cars.  We are tired of losing precious eggs!!  So portable, electric fencing is the fix.  No fox problem anymore!  The fencing is easily moved along with the eggmobile so the hens get fresh greens and bugs all the time :)

Our handsome billygoats are growing!  Jack is on the left and Woody is on the right.  We have separated them from the nannies because they are already old enough to mate, even though they're only 6 months!  Jason and the boys built them a shelter, and Nate surprised us all one afternoon with a feeder for them made from free pallets and an old baby crib railing!!  

 Shy Pongo is starting to warm up to us :)

 This is Jill, our very first goat born on our farm.  She is super soft and gentle with the kids.

 Mocha and girls enjoying their morning hay.

These are our new laying hens...25 of them!  We needed to replace the ones that have been killed.  We are trying a different breed this time to keep track of egg laying.  Since our barred rocks are now over a year old, they will stop laying much sooner than these newbies.  So going with a different breed will help us determine who has stopped laying when the time comes to turn them into roasting hens.  These are called cinnamon queens.  They will be red and they lay 350+ eggs EACH per year!  They are already a month old and will start to lay eggs in January.

Our fig trees are producing a lot of fruit for us, so much so that we're giving some to the chickens!  We've had fun eating them different ways, and one is making preserves.  Very easy...just cut the stems off, cut them in half, cook on low with some honey, lemon juice and cinnamon.  Then give the jars a water bath for 10 minutes...that's it!

We are on our third round of broilers...this meets our goal of 300 this year.  They will be ready to butcher some time in September.  We will have a pre-order discount this time.  Be sure to look for the info on that!

Both of our bee colonies lost their queens!  I have no idea how.  But these creatures are AMAZING.  See the peanut looking casing towards the middle bottom of the picture?  That is a queen cell.  The worker bees are raising up a new queen.  This picture was a month ago.  Last week when I checked both hives they had queens!!  I even saw one of them, and both hives had larve all over the place!

And look at all that yummy honey!!  But we won't take any for ourselves until next summer.  This honey will sustain the colony through the winter months.

Ben actually killed this snake, right by the house.  We've seen several of these in our yard...one even got in the house!  Yes, I know, it's a snake we should keep around, but no thanks.  Not where the babies play!

An evening walk around the farm to check on all the animals before calling it a night has become one of my favorite things to do.

 Ellie loves her goats

 Have a beautiful weekend!!

Tigger Melons!

Look what came out of our garden today!  Aren't these babies beautiful?!!  I have never seen anything like them!  It's amazing the variety of foods there are to grow when you can choose for yourself what you want to grow!  We are so used to what is sold in the stores, and even CSA's are fairly similar.  I'm glad we tried these!

They are called Tigger Melons and are heirlooms, which means we will be saving seed from one of them, drying the seeds out and storing them until next planting season!  We will never have to buy seeds to grow these beautiful melons again!  If you want to buy some seeds you can find them HERE. 

They are on the small side for a melon...about the size of a grapefruit or softball.  They start out green, but you know they are ready to pick when they turn these bright red and yellow colors.  Some are solid yellow as well.  They are bursting with a sweet aroma and are mild in taste.  We love them!!

We are already planning on doing a much larger patch for these melons in our garden next year so we can sell them at the market along with our broilers and eggs.  I think they will be a hit since most people have probably never seen them or tasted them :)