Spring is a time of renewal and change. Most of the people I know have already had goat kids. Here at Exotic Gardening Farms however we are still waiting – and waiting – and darn it goats, I want some milk, so have some babies!
I cannot believe not one of my does have udders. Not one. I have been running Leonardo the angora buck with them since August. I thought I would have had goat kids (and milk) by now. Alice says the goats are too fat to get pregnant. Who ever heard of a goat being too fat?
I am not expecting lambs until June, if at all this year. Johnny the ram was just born last June so he may have been too young to breed Pearl. Since I don’t intend to do anything other than make a bit of sheep milk soap and some sheep cheese it doesn’t really matter if she kids or not this year.
In the garden, change is abound. I moved lilacs today. I never realized how much they multiply. Wow. Once you have one, you will have some starts to sell before too long. My dad helped me dig them up and replant them. Then he suggested I take some of the privet hedge starts and put them in front of my picket fence for privacy. What a great idea! I am sure thinking about it.
Two days ago strong winds came through the area and trashed one of my coldframes so my dad helped put it back together and put self tapping screws into the metal frame so at least I won’t be searching the farm for pieces of the frame anymore. We did not get the plastic on but hopefully soon.
I bought some conduit at Lowe’s which I intend to use this weekend to make hoops for coldframes. Most of the garden is tilled and I am getting anxious to plant. The greenhosue is filled to overflowing and seedlings are taking over my office, laundry room and kitchen. You would think since this happens every year either I would quit growing so much or end up with a greenhouse large enough to hold all the seedlings I grow.
Filed under Homestead Happenings by on Dec 20th, 2009. Comment. 
It has been a busy spring here at Exotic Gardening Farms and Wildlife Habitat. New gardens were tilled to make more room for planting vegetables. The need for Plant-A-Row for the Hungry gardens is great this year and we want to contribute as much food as possible to our local food bank. The goal is still 1,600 pounds from our farm. So far we have been able to donate close to 800 pounds. Hopefully this year we will come closer to the goal.
Cutting gardens were installed this year to help boost the farm income. The Zinnia are just beginning to flower. The Sunflowers are not far behind. In addition to these two mainstays we will offer roses, delphinium, aster, old fashion sweet william and an array of other specialty cut flowers.
The tomatoes I planted in hoop houses the beginning of April are blooming and beginning to set fruit. It will be nice to have early tomatoes this year. Now that we know this method will work we will get busy sooner next year and plan to plant more under hoops.
The roses are doing great this year. I cannot believe how beautiful and fragrant they are. In fact the entire garden looks really great compared to previous years. Currently in bloom is the zinnias, oak leaf hydrangea, pussy toes, buddelia (butterfly bush), poppies, catnip, flax, allium, dame’s rocket, marigold, gaillardia, hosta, roses, geraniums, sweet william, dianthus, lilies, daylilies, clematis, red hot poker, delphinium, daisies, cornflower, salvia, veronica, honeysuckle, coreopsis, verbena, yarrow, petunia, malva, meconopsis, larkspur, hydrangea, milkweed, astrantia, penstemon, heuchera, begonia, St. John’s Wort, alyssum, lobelia, campanula, lamb’s ear, hedyotis, astilbe, foxglove, liatris, Russian sage, grasses, snapdragon, silene, bee balm, cupflower, twinspur, evening primrose (pink and yellow), thailicum, bleeding heart, codonopsis, comfrey, laminum and amorphophallus.
The animals are being born now. Ginger and Gizmo had two baby bunnies in April. I have a black male and a white albino female. The female looks just like Gizmo and they both look like they took the fiber gene. Time will tell.
This morning Jerry went to the chicken coop and found five baby chicks sitting with a momma hen. I had to go out and check. They are doing fine. I moved them to a better nest box and added fresh water and chicken starter. The momma hen had the babies sitting in the feed dish and they were eating. The other eleven baby chicks that I hatched are doing fine. I have one Polish crested, an auraucana, and some unknowns. The two white breasted turkeys are also doing fine so far.
The goats teats are rapidly growing. We should have goat kids any day now. I can’t wait. We have the video up and running so we can see and hear everything that happens.
We put the hummingbird houses up this past weekend and are waiting on new arrivals. I have only seen two Monarch butterflies so far this year. I hope to see more. I did see a Baltimore Oriole at a hummingbird feeder earlier in the year. There seems to be a flurry of bee activity here which is great. I have also seen some grey squirrels with white tails and a few toads.
Life on the farm is one adventure after another – from unexpected wildlife to new arrivals. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, even though it is a lot of hard work! Knowing the produce you grow keeps you supplied in food most of the year is very satisfying. Knowing you can grow enough to share with others who may be less fortunate makes it all worthwhile.
Filed under Homestead Happenings, Miscellanous by on Dec 12th, 2009. Comment.
The decision to go back to the land, to do it all yourself is one that you should give careful consideration to. It is the ideal way to live for many people and full of satisfaction. However, there are always two sides to every story.
On one of the groups I belong to someone wrote that they were giving up their dream of homesteading because – gasp! – they found out it was hard work! WOW! Imagine that!
What did they think it was going to be? A romantic, back to land vacation. Hmm, where did that idea come from? Oh yea, Hollywood.
We’ve been working on the dream for five years and let me emphasize the word WORK. There has been fencing to run – and of course, some animals just seem to know where to find the weak spots, stalls to build, land to till, weeds to pull, stalls to clean – shall I go on?
There is nothing quite like chasing an escaped animal through traffic or going into a neighbor’s yard to retrieve your chicken, especially when that neighbor hates animals. We have been lucky that we have only had a couple incidents, early on, of escaping animals. We found that by tying metal conduit to the top and bottom of the chain link fencing the animals would not challenge the fence. This may not work in every case, but in our case, it did.
Is homesteading worth it? Every minute is an adventure. Do I get sick of this life? Yeah, sometimes, a vacation would be really nice, but who would take care of the plants and animals? Finding someone you can trust your livelihood too is not an easy task.
It is time to get Beauty the horses’ hooves trimmed again. That is a task I just do not look forward to. We have a great Ferrier and Beauty, once caught, does well when he trims her, but scheduling can be an issue with so much going on here.
Angora goats are cute but the hair can get tangled or caught easily. I look forward to getting two batches of mohair from Leonardo per year. I am planning to spin it so it will be ready to use when I find a suitable project I wish to use it on.
Come spring I will need to get the Leicester Longwool Sheep, Pearl and Johnny sheared. Their wool is so curly and thick. Underneath it is shiny and oh so soft. This year I am thinking I may hire someone with electric shears. Last year I used scissors and did it by hand. It took several weeks to get everyone sheared, not to mention the fact that I had sores on my fingers from the scissors.
Spring will bring many changes here at the farm as well. Two of the goats, Sugar and Spice, will – hopefully – give birth to babies. I will be so happy to have fresh milk again and be able to make cheese and butter! I did not breed Darla or Tulip this year. I may have baby lambs if Johnny and Pearl breed. We have not had lambs yet, so that will be a new experience.
There are plans underway to put in more raised beds. Some of the herbs and strawberries have already been moved into raised beds. I like growing plants in raised beds because it makes it easier to cultivate the soil. The fruit trees will be another year older and that should mean more fruit.
The goal is to grow all of our own herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables as well as raise some of our own meat. The less money I have to spend at the grocery store, the happier I am.
Soon February will be rolling around again and it will be time to tap the maple trees. We tapped the trees last year but did not get the maple sap boiled down. I really hope this year we accomplish this goal. I would love to have my own maple syrup.
Spring will also bring the birth of new chickens. The hens we have now have figured out how to hide the eggs. They hatched a couple bunches of baby chicks this past year. They were so cute. Not all of them survived, but sometimes that happens.
Would I do this again? YOU BET! Is this the right decision for you? That depends on your outlook on life and how hard you want to work to acheive your dreams.
Filed under About Us by on Dec 8th, 2009. 11 Comments.
Life is never slow here on the homestead. There is always an animal needing their hoofs trimmed, needing brushed, sheared or just wanting some attention. This year it seems like there were always new babies being born – goats, chickens or rabbits.
Mornings consist of watering everyone, giving grain to the poulty, does (female goats) and Beauty, while everyone else gets hay. The process begins again every evening, rain, shine, sleet or snow. Even on the days when the barn door freezes shut, we have to get in to take care of the animals.
Right now we are heating our house with wood. We have a wood stove in my office and another one in the greenhouse. Due to Jerry’s chainsaw breaking late in the summer, he is using an axe to chop up the wood then using a sledge hammer to break it into pieces small enough to fit in the wood burner. The average temperature in our house is 60 degrees F, which is much colder than what I like. With wood floors, getting up at night with bare feet can be downright bone chilling.
Many things have changed here over the last few months. For one, I found out I had a granddaughter, Trinity. She came to stay with us for a few days.
Her parents came here for Thanksgiving which was nice, as well as my longtime friend Alice.
We ate in the dining room under the kerosene chandelier.
We had turkey filled with creole butter, two kinds of stuffing – bread and cornbread, turkey gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, brussles sprouts, salad, pumpkin pie and cherry pie. It was a feast fit for a king and the best Thanksgiving I have had in several years.
Little Trinity enjoyed stuffing herself until she couldn’t eat another bite. Then it was off to take a bath, get dressed in one of the fleece sleepers Grandma bought her and off to bed where I am sure she spent the night dreaming of her first Thanksgiving and the adventures she had.
We have not put up the Christmas tree yet. Things are changing here again. With Trinity gone life has gone back to normal – no diaper changes, no late night bottle feedings, no baby clothes or blankets to wash. I can come and go as I please now, but something is missing. She is missing. It is funny how a baby can change your life in a short amount of time.
In a way, baby animals change your life too. You watch them be born, you watch them grow, then you watch them go off to their new home. Odd. When we were trimming the baby goat hooves for the last time, I thought I heard them say “mom, mom, mom” as they tried to get back to their mothers. The two mama goats jumped up, looked over the wall at their babies and gave a gentle “nay” as if to say “it is time you went on to your new home, but remember I love you.”
Filed under About Us, Homestead Happenings, Miscellanous by on Dec 8th, 2009. 2 Comments.
Our granddaughter Trinity came for her first visit yesterday. Of course, no visit to a farm is complete without seeing the animals.
Sarah, my daughter and her mother, had not been home in some time, so her first question was, where’s Beauty? I told her we would go out to the barn in a moment. It was raining so hard today that all of the animals were in the barn. The ground in the pasture gets so soft that Beauty often falls if we let her out after a hard rain, so it is best to keep her in. Goats get pneumonia pretty easily so we keep them in when it is raining as well so they stay dry.
Trinity got lots of hugs and kisses from grandma first, while mom took lots of photos of the first visit. Then we began the journey to the barn. Getting to the barn meant going through the greenhouse. The Thanksgiving cactus was in full bloom and those fuschia colored blooms attracted Trinity’s attention immediately. Being curious, as all babies are, I held her up so she could touch the flowers. Hmmm, I do wonder if we have a budding botantist on our hands?
Then we proceeded on to the barn. Sarah, of course, went to visit Beauty first. She was amazed at how much weight Beauty has gained since the last time she saw her. I took this photo with my smart phone three days ago when Beauty was in the pasture. She has a fairly thick winter coat on as you can see.
I took Trinity in to see the goats first. The baby goats were curious about Trinity. They cautiously came forward, sniffing her. Faith, the baby goat above, looked at her mama Darla as if to say “I have never seen a tiny person like this before. Is it ok mama?” LOL!
Darla, being a cautious mama goat, stretched out her long neck to check Trinity out before gently naying to her babies that they could go up to her and get pets.
The other mama goats, Sugar, Spice and Tulip were not so interested in Trinity. They preferred to stand back and take the situation in as if they did not know what to make of it. Nutmeg, the ever curious baby goat, who loves to nibble on everyone was quite interested in Trinity. While he was checking her out, he reached up to her face and gave her a quick kiss. It was so cute.
The next stop was the sheep stall. Johnny and Pearl did not know what to think. Their fleece this time of year is full of lanolin and Trinity did not seem as interested in them as she did the goats. As you can see, Johnny above, wanted to stand back and look at her while Trinity wanted to look for her mommy.
The last stop in the barn was a visit to Leonardo, our angora buck. He had been jumping up on the side of his stall the entire time looking to see what was going on. We did not go inside the stall this time because he is in rut this time of year. Trinity was interested in him and he allowed her to give him a pet. He is such a gentle boy most of the time, but can get pushy this time of year so being on the outside of the stall was in everyone’s best interest.
From there we came back inside so momma could clean Trinity up. She spent some time playing with Blueberry Muffin, a doll my Grandma King crocheted many years ago when I was a child. It is nice to know that hand made toys, made with love and care, can last three generations of children and still be in great shape.
Trinity seemed to love being here today. Could this be the start of another generation of women homesteaders in our family?
Filed under Homestead Happenings by on Nov 18th, 2009. 2 Comments.
It has been a busy past few weeks on the homestead. The baby goats are growing like weeds. We are still milking so even though breeding season is here, it isn’t happening just yet.
The goat milk is being turned into cheese, soap, butter, ice cream and of course, some is being frozen for winter use.
The chest freezer finally was moved into the kitchen, a task I had wanted done for several years. The hoops are in place in the garden and seedlings are started. It will simply be a matter of covering the hoops with plastic when the time comes then walking outside to harvest fresh lettuce, carrots, radish, broccoli and cabbage during the winter months.
The past few weeks have been spent dehydrating tomatoes, peppers, garlic, herbs and whatever else I have come across. I have been canning, mostly tomato products such as sauces and soups.
Last year I canned lots of grape juice with the intention of making wine. The year came and went without that happening. However I am happy to report that the grape juice has finally been turned into wine. I have four gallons of grape wine in the carboy fermenting now. It is a beautiful burgundy color.
Speaking of making things to drink, I made four gallons of cola as well. I chose to sweeten it with half clover honey and half regular sugar. Although it was flat when I bottled it, it did taste good. In a few weeks the carbonation will be complete and we will open our first bottles of homemade cola.
Besides making lye soap recently, I have been making hydrosols, essential oils and spinning wool into yarn. Winter is certainly not far off and whatever is not used up of summers bounty will be lost. I have produced a number of hydrosols and essential oils. To date I have distilled chocolate mint, orange mint, spearmint and black stem peppermint.
I have some new lye soap creations I am excited about. I milled the soap so I could add spearmint hydrosol and goat milk to it. The new scents are Snowman Soap, a rich blend of spearmint, juniper berry and pine; Lavender Bliss, a relaxing and invigorating aroma made up of spearmint and lavender; Nature Soap, a mix of clove bud, spearmint and rose geranium and Peachy Dreams, a cool soap scented with lemongrass, clary sage and vanilla.
If that were not enough, I am finally finding some time to spin. I started with Johnny’s lamb’s wool. Johnny is white, so on the spinning wheel I have almost a full bobbin of white yarn, single strand. I decided a little color wouldn’t hurt, so tonight I dyed some of his wool neon purple. It is a gorgeous color. Of course I will not know what the finished color will look like until it dries and I wash it, card it and spin it into yarn. Besides spinning wool alone I have been coming up with other pleasing combinations of fiber. I have rolags made of a black alpaca/llama fiber; rolags of black wool from Pearl, silk noir and white angora from Gizmo; rolags of mohair dyed with walnut shells, silk noir and white angora from Gizmo and rolags of alpaca and cashmere from Tulip. These mixes of fiber should make some pretty interesting yarn.
Other current projects include making homemade noodles to put into the freezer for winter use and making beef jerkey to snack on. I also have plans to make some corn chips to keep on hand for late night snack binges. There are pears on the tree, the last batch, that need picked. Then it will just be a matter of waiting on the first frost to pick the persimmons.
Winter is indeed just around the corner, but our little homestead will be ready.
Filed under Homestead Happenings by on Oct 30th, 2009. Comment.
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