2013 Goat Babies for Sale

It's kidding season! That wonderful time of year with new life, frolicking kids with springs on their hooves and high-pitched baaaas. And time to make the hard decisions about which goats/kids to keep and which to sell. Below are the ones up for sale (all are purebred Nigerian Dwarf):

Daisy x Diego
Daisy is Mamma x Katmandu 2012 doe. I am selling Daisy -- a one-year old, first freshener in milk -- together with her buckling, born February 27th. I am in the process of getting her registered with ADGA. The sire of the bucklings is registered, so they will be eligible for registration as well. She is a good mother and good with people/human kids. $350 for Daisy alone; $150 for her buckling alone; $450 for both.

Daisy and her two bucklings -- SOLD

Daisy's Buckling #1 - SOLD

Daisy's Buckling #2 -- SOLD

Mamma x Katmandu
I am selling Mamma's kids born February 27th, 2 doelings, 2 bucklings. All but one of the kids I have retained in the past are Mamma's, because she is such a fabulous goat. But I need to diversify my bloodlines so I am selling all her kids this year. I am working on getting Mamma registered by ADGA. The sire is registered, so her kids will be able to be registered as well. Doelings $250, bucklings $150

Mamma's doeling #1 "Patches" - SOLD

Mamma's doeling #2 - SOLD

Mamma's buckling #1

 

Mamma's buckling #2 -- Pending Sale

Bella x Katmandu
Bella had 3 doelings, 1 buckling born March 2nd. Bella is Mamma's daughter by an unregistered, but purebred sire. Doelings $150, bucklings $75. Bella's #3 doeling "Peanut" SOLD. Surprise Koral! :)

Bella's doeling #1 -- Pending sale

 

Bella's buckling - SOLD

Bella's doeling #2 - SOLD

 

Sandy x Diego

Sandy is a 2012 doe of Mamma x Katmandu. She delivered a buckling and doeling on February 25th. Her buckling will be eligible for registration. $150

Sandy's buckling - SOLD

This doeling (pictured with her dam Sandy) may be retained.

Sandy's doeling - RETAINED

AnnaBelle x Katmandu

AnnaBelle delivered 3 doelings March 8th. More pics soon. These will be unregistered, $150 each.

AnnaBelle and her 3 doelings - SOLD

 

call/text 919-418-4109 or email amelia@uddermostfarm.com. Thanks 

More Wild Bunnies

4 more baby bunnies growing in my garden!

I just had to post this picture. I found this nest of bunnies (a burrow?) when weeding a row in the garden between the potatoes and tomatoes. Oh my, we are going to be overrun with bunnies. But they are so cute!

Chick Lessons

Mother Hen teaching the chicks to perch

Homestead life is full of joy and serendipity. Each week brings a new Mother Hen story that surprises me about nature and animal instinct. As if she has a curriculum to follow, Mother Hen is teaching her chicks the ropes ... how to return to the nest each evening, how to scratch for food, how to hide from predators, how to flap your wings while running to get there faster. Today's lesson was how to perch. Less than 3 weeks old, these chicks are perching. (It took my chicks, bought from the hatchery without a mom to show them, over 2 months to perch.) When I went out this morning, there the chicks were -- one on the lower rung of the rocker and the other on the arm of the rocker, under foot of her watchful mom. That started my day with a smile.

Onions and Garlic

My onion harvest

My garlic harvest

You might say there has been a learning curve to my gardening ... a big one! Before starting to homestead, my notion of growing food was limited to what I saw as a child -- plant in April/May after the danger of frost was over. Then tend, water, harvest and eat throughout the summer. Once September rolled around, the work was done until the next spring.

So the idea of planting in the fall for a spring harvest was definitely thinking outside the box for me. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but I had faith that if the garden centers were selling onion sets in October, it must be the way to do it. So I planted 3 rows of onions and 2 rows of garlic last fall. The green tops stayed healty during the winter. Go figure. And then the question arose -- what next? Here is a photo guide of what I learned:

Harvest onions when they start to show and the tops fall over

Harvest garlic when the leaves begin to yellow and the bulb is a good size

Support the bottom of the plant as you pull it out

Garlic roots are deeper and stronger than onion roots

Dust off the dirt and dry in the sun before storing in a cool, dark place

Berries by the Month

Raspberries in May

Yummy raspberries! Our two bushes are producing an abundant supply for sprinkling on breakfast cereal or stirring into homemade goats' milk yogurt, and just plain eating. It has become my daily ritual to go back out after milking and harvest a bowl full of this delicious, juicy fruit. It's important to wait until the berry turns from red to crimson before plucking. The picture shows the difference in color between ripened perfection and not quite ready. Another way to tell: a ripe berry will fall into your hand when gently pulled. If it continues to hold to the stem, give it another day.

Raspberries are very perishable and only keep a day or two in the refrigerator. They can be stored for up to a year frozen. (Place unwashed, dry berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once hard, place in an airtight container and return to the freezer.) Here is a copycat recipe from Food.com for Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. I substitute my goat cheese for the cream cheese -- ounce for ounce. Can't wait to try this recipe.

I am surprised the birds have left us so many berries. It seems robins spend their day either on the ground next to the bushes or on the wire strung for support. Maybe they are leaving the raspberries because they are too full from eating my blackberries. I did get to pop one blackberry drupelet into my mouth yesterday ... it was delicious!

Our little homestead is providing a different fresh berry each month. Reminds me of those catalogs where you can purchase the fruit of the month to be sent to you fresh. Only this is way better! I've already blogged about strawberries. We enjoyed them in April this year. (Due to the warm winter and early spring, everything is early.)

Next up are the blueberries. They have tiny, unripe berries.

Blueberries in June

After that, the elderberries should be ready. They are in full bloom right now.

Elderberries in July

Hay Day May 2012

My goats are gonna love this!

Having grown up in dairy country, my husband spent many summers as a hired hand "buckin' bales". A city girl myself, I had to create mental pictures from scratch as he told me about those times. But now, thanks to my sister on her 20-acre farm in Hurdle Mills, I have participated in the celebration of bringing in the hay. And I say celebration because we have gone the last month without a supply of hay. I have meagerly doled out $18-a-bale alfalfa to my goats, waiting for this day when the hay barn is once again full.

Here is how it works:
1. after planting, watering and lovingly tending the grass to maturity, watch the weather report for the best time to cut
2. email your helpers to be on alert for hay day
3. cut it and allow it to lie in the field to dry
4. pray for the weather to stay sunny and dry
5. email your helpers with a specific date and time
6. keep praying for the weather to stay sunny and dry
7. when the time comes, get everything and everybody set. Have plenty of water on hand. Gas up the equipment and line up the trailers. Position the hay elevator to the barn loft.
8. pray for good weather. We had a glorius day! Temp in the 70's, a wonderful breeze. Couldn't have been better!
9. fluff the hay into rows

Fluffing the hay into rows

10. set the baler to the desired weight and tension. Start making bales.

Makin' bales

11. assign jobs - driver, buckers, stackers. An art and a rhythm are needed for things to go smoothly and safely.

Be sure to wear gloves

12. ride back to the barn with a trailer full of hay to unload

My sister and her daughter heading back to the barn with a trailer load

13. unload in the hay loft and stack (cut side up) loosely to promote curing

14. end the day with satisfaction of a job well done and a barn full of hay. We brought in about 400 bales on Saturday. Praise the Lord!

15. go home, give the girls some hay, watch them enjoy it. Then fall into bed and sleep like a baby. And hope you can still move in the morning when it's time to get up! :)

Carolina Fiber Fest

Got To Be NC - Carolina Fiber Fest, Raleigh My 20-22

Visit the Carolina Fiber Fest at the Got To Be NC Festival this weekend at the fairgrounds in Raleigh. Oh, my! What a treat. I went yesterday afternoon and spent a couple of hours walking around looking at all the yarn and needle crafts, touching the various fibers, enjoying the banners with farm names and locations (Ewephoric Farms was my favorite), and watching spinners turn sheep, rabbit, goat and even buffalo fiber into yarn. But my favorite part was talking with the vendors about what they do.

First, the animals. Such as Sandy Anderson from Cozy Rabbit Farms who has 75 rabbits. 75! Fiber is her full time job and she sells most of her products at festivals like this one. I didn't think to ask her who cares for the animals while she is on the road. She must have a husband who loves her very much! She inspired me because she said she taught herself to spin. It took two frustrating weeks, but she persevered and now she is an expert. She also encouraged me by explaining that there is no such thing as perfect yarn. Some people like it fat, some thin. Some like it lumpy, some smooth. The most important thing seems to be that it doesn't break while knitting/crocheting.

Next, I enjoyed talking about the fiber itself. I discovered that rabbit fiber is much easier overall than large animal wool, like sheep or buffalo. Dawn dish washing liquid seemed to be the favored mild detergent for cleaning the fiber before spinning. And I got tips on carding the fiber prior to spinning.

Spinning wheels

Then, I asked lots of questions about choice of spinning wheels and tips for newbies wanting to learn to spin. The vendors were so willing to answer my questions and even demonstrated what they were saying as they spun. The spinning wheel shown here in the upper left corner is the only one I saw the spinners using. Apparently it is a space-saver and easiest to transport. Most spinners said the choice of wheel is a personal preference, but that they would recommend this type. There were several wheels for sale, the least expensive being $350. Yikes!

One other vendor I really enjoyed speaking with was Dru Pettibone of petite bones. She shared her experience that fiber is profitable. Angora/wool sells for $7 per ounce and yarn can sell for $35-50 an ounce. She sells her products on etsy both as yarn and needle crafts. She doesn't dye her yarns, saying her customers like a more rustic and natural product. I did watch one vendor dyeing her wares, a silk scarf. That doesn't look like something I would enjoy doing, at least not at first.

I didn't get a chance to talk with Elaina Kenyon of Avillion Farm in Efland, NC. Apparently she is the go-to girl for anything fiber in this area. She was busy with other people ... paying customers ... so I didn't interrupt her.

Now the question is ... was this field trip sufficient to get me spinning? It seems like a great past time, once the initial expense of a wheel and frustration of learning are behind me. This is something I can do on hot summer afternoons or on cold winter days by the fire. And, most importantly, something I can keep doing the older I get. Only time will tell.