Goat Update...

I will start out by apologizing for not taking any pictures specifically for this update, but we will find a way to make do without them, I’m sure. So, onward with the update; we bought the four goats today, adding to our heard of six… One of the pregnant goats we got today is due anytime now (she may even pop them out tonight). I say them because she is big enough to be carrying twins (fingers crossed). I really wish I had taken some picture for this post because the little Billy (for now) that we got today (the son of the only French Alpine in the bunch) is only six weeks old, and is cute as hell.

                I am hoping that I will be able to find time tomorrow to do another photo update… That is something I am thinking about turning into a Sunday ritual type thing if you guys are interested. There will be a lot to update on; that is for sure. We have all the goats and their shenanigans, we are going to be planting four more rows of raspberries tomorrow (future wine… mmmm), and also extending the grape vines by about forty feet. There is a lot to get done around here, and I’m not even sure how I am finding time to blog about it all (late at night with a glass of whiskey in my hand). Check back sometime tomorrow night for the weekly photo update.

Goats, Goats, and More Goats...

It’s not supposed to dip below freezing for at least another week (if you believe the meteorologist…), so the busy factor on the farm has picked back up. This morning I raked the straw covering off of my salad garden/raised bed, and the radishes are thriving along with the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, but still no sign of the spinach.

                We are getting ready to drive over to the middle of the state to look at some milking goats. I forgot to tell you guys that we bought six goats last Monday, and they have already made themselves at home here on the farm…

But none of them are old enough to breed just yet, so we won’t be getting any milk from them until at least next year. So we would like to buy some already breed, ready to burst, goats so that we will be able to start milking A.S.A.P and start turning that liquid gold into some high quality cheese. I will write more later today and let you all know in more specifics what is going on around here… It’s just a tad bit busy at the moment, and I must be going. Come back later for the update.

The Weather Matters...

I grew up on a farm (just in case that wasn’t obvious), but I never understood why the weather was always of such interest, and therefore, the main topic of pretty much every conversation I ever heard adults having. After graduating high school I ran off and joined the Navy. I spent the next eight years working outside in rain or shine. When it came to fixing all-weather fighter jets, whether or not it was raining was never a question “Maintenance Control” ever asked when telling us to go fix something. So, my blissful ignorance to the significance of weather patterns remained intact for a few more years. Now that I am back on the family farm I understand why the weather was of such importance to the adults all those years ago. Today, there has been a lot of deep heavy thunder… and it is snowing.

                So, more about this weather…. Two weeks ago it was eighty degrees and sunny; last week it dipped into the teens (with wind chill) at night. All of our fruit trees had started to blossom (I posted some pictures), and all of our perennial vegetables (who cares about the flowers) had started to peek their heads out of the ground. The unseasonably warm March, followed by two wicked cold snaps in a row, has pretty much guarantied we will harvest absolutely no fruit from the trees this year. This is a bit of a side thought, just in case you were wondering why it is in all italics… We have two cherry trees, two plum trees, two crab apple trees, one pear tree, and an apple tree… just in case you wanted to know. So, yeah, the weather, it turns out, is rather important to a farmer… apparently, it plays a rather significant role in whether or not we eat… hmmm.

Awesome Day...

Today was a great day! I know that the clock says it is around two in the morning on Monday, but I am talking about Sunday, technically. We had a great day around here. It started off with the weather being nice enough to get some of the lawn mowed… (Never mind that the mower soon after snapped a belt and is now down for maintenance…) The grass was green, the breeze was warm, and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon splitting wood. If I’m not careful that last sentence could come off as oxymoronic… What happened was we had cut and hauled enough wood up to the house from the wooded area out back that we had an oversupply for this mild winter, and we are now back-logged in the splitting portion of the task.

While I was splitting wood out back, I also had some baked beans cooking in the oven. I noticed the other day that we were running low on store bought (cough-complete shit-cough)  baked beans, and I decided right then and there that we would never buy something that we could easily make ourselves (for way cheaper) again. The recipe that I tried out today was straight from the blue ball canning book, and the reason we decided to go with that recipe is because that is what my grandma said she used for years (before commercial canned goods became the norm). The beans I made, and pressure canned, today turned out pretty good. A little simple for my taste, but I like things wild and spicy… with a little heat and maybe some whiskey… The point being, I now know for a fact I will never purchase store processed baked beans again; this wonderful adventure of a day was simply too awesome for that!

Photo Update...

The weather has provided me with an opportunity to blog mid-day today, instead of trying to fit it in between the night cap micro-brew and passing out from exhaustion. It rained a bit last night, and the radar shows it hitting us off and on again all day today and most of tomorrow. Not that I’m complaining (actually I am; there is shit I need to do).

I walked around the farm this morning collecting some photos in order to update you all on what I have been attempting to accomplish around here. I couldn’t even begin to list the number of ways in which I am behind schedule, but that is, I think, the very definition of homesteading.

One update I don’t have a photo for is I finally got around to ordering all the birds for the farm this year. I have twenty Bourbon Red turkeys coming next Monday! That is like the highlight of my spring so far. There is something about raising a heritage breed farm animal that makes me feel like I’m doing the world a solid. Of course, this means I now have even more shit to do before they arrive next week. I also ordered about forty more chickens… we didn’t need them; we already have about sixty or seventy (who’s counting) chickens running around the farm. We are already collecting over a dozen eggs a day and spring has just barely begun. But, my mom wanted more of the exotic rare breads that lay the tinted eggs, so we ordered twenty-five Salmon Faverolles that lay greenish-blue eggs, and about fifteen Cuckoo Marans, which lay a very dark brown egg. They will all arrive two weeks after the turkeys get here. Finally, we ordered about thirty Pearl Guinea. I will be splitting half of that order with my grandmother who lives down the road. We pretty much only bought them for insect control, but they won’t arrive until late June, so we will have to fend for ourselves until then.   

And now for the show and tell…

First the garlic which has brought its sexy self to the party…

Then the cherry trees are in blossom already…

Here is one of the cleaned out raised beds… this is where I planted the salad garden the other day. You can see the grape vines in the background….

Oh, and this one made me so excited! The rhubarb is already out and about…

This last picture is of some flower or whatnot that we saved from a run-a-way grape vine that some bird must have shat a few years back. It was a healthy enough grape vine, so I just attacked it with a shovel and transplanted it into the herb bed for the time being until we can expand the actual grape vine area.... which will involve moving some raspberry rows. Yet again, just more shit to add to the to do list. But, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Life is good at the moment!