Fresh Eggs Farm Update 7.8.12



Beautiful flowers from my husband. Take note gentlemen - you don't have to spend money to make your partner happy - sometimes, happiness is taking the time to cut flowers from the yard and put them in a vase and set them on your wife's table. <3



Our newest inside kitty, Bella - she came from Captain's litter (Captian, our outside kitty had a litter of five of the most beautiful kittens - with black fur, but it is smoky as you get close to her skin).

Huge storms hit our area last week - I was working an event for my job. This is what our tent looked like when we were able to go back to it.

Another view of our tent - the stacks of lightbulbs we nicely arranged and the table on the right was upright when we left. In the background, you can see Verizon's tent - it flew down here from two tents away and wrapped around that vintage military vehicle. It literally bent the 4" poles that held it up. I couldn't imagine if we didn't get away when we did.

Looks like a disaster! This is the Verizon tent - our tent is two more down. Their displays are trashed.

Finished first attempt at Chicken Pot Pie - DELICIOUS!

Chicken Pot Pie - before we put the tops on.

Cora and Daddy rolling out the crust for pot pie.

Josie and Blossom - working on their tans!

Gage won tickets for getting good grades! It was a great time! The Reds won!!!! And since there were 11+ strike outs, everyone got free LaRosa's pizza and free UDF ice cream!!!! DELICIOUS!!!

A picture from our seats...those tiny little ants down there...those are baseball players!!!

Feeding time! I think they know LOL

Itty and her poor little broken leg :-(

Our first attempt at Goat's Milk CHEESE!!!!

Oh hell yeah! It was awesome - who would have ever imagined we'd be able to milk a goat, in our back yard and create something this amazing!?!?!

Our cheese - after it has been drained. Isn't it gorgeous!?!

Our cheese while it drains.

Our pea harvest - peas on the left, shells on the right. They were so delicious. Now, my kids love peas :-) Even raw!

Cora loves peas - look how many she got in just one pod!

Like two...or wait three...no more like four...oh, I guess it's like eight peas in a pod.

Peas!

Thanks Mabel!

Who is that handsome man straining our milk?!

Harvest! On the left, leftover pea pods, so we have seeds for next year! In the middle - yummy onions! On the right, our potato harvest...so delicious.

I feel like the pictures are so random, but honestly, that is kinda how our life is....so...very...random. As I mentioned in my last post...my husband and I are going through a bit of a rough patch. I'm not sure what the future holds for us, but  I hope that it holds amazing mornings of coffee on the porch, watching our children...and their children running around after animals in our front yard, long talks about our hopes and dreams...and love. A good step to assuring that will happen is to do very simple things that lets your partner know that you are thinking of them. One morning, my husband woke up before I did and went out to our gardens our front and cut some of our beautiful flowers. He arranged them and put them in a vase, so when I woke up, the flowers were sitting on the table next to my favorite chair. Simple things like that help me remember our oh so good times and help ease the pain of the bad times. I'm thankful he is making an effort to make things right.
We've added a few more members to our family...Captain, one of our outside kitties, surprisingly had a litter of five kittens and decided to raise them in our garage. We found homes for two of the kittens (thanks to our daughter Kait and one of Drake's friends) and one of the sweet kitties found her way into our home. We still have two little boys left outside. We are feeding and caring for them and hopefully they will be good mousers and mole killers for the property.
Last weekend, we had an event at Wright Patt Field - around the time that the gates were supposed to enter, patrol came around and said that they were not letting people onto the field and that they were encouraging people to have a "Weather Plan B" - after watching the clouds roll in a bit, we decided that we should stack all of our event stuff in the middle table of our tent and make our way to our vehicles, temporarily. We started to walk toward our van, did I mention that Mark and Gage had gone for ice and we didn't know where they were? So that left me, one of my co-workers, Drake and Cora to get to a safe place. Right about the time that we were at the security tent, a huge gust of wind hit and the tent went up in the air. Military men and women were yelling and trying to grab the poles so we could get away from the structure. We ran the other direction - realizing that we needed to get to a safe place, but not really sure where that place was. As we were trying to make our way out of another gate area, an Air Force member came and said we needed to get off the base and offered to carry Cora - he scooped her up and took off running. We followed along - running as fast as we could...the wind blowing hard enough that it nearly pushed me over, and would have certainly knocked Cora to the ground if the Air Force Service Member hadn't helped us out. Still afraid because I couldn't find Mark and Gage and scared that this was getting ready to get really bad...we ran into a gas station and the first faces I saw were Mark and Gage...thankful. The next little bit was pretty terrifying. But thankfully, we all made it through the ordeal safe and sound. The pictures above don't really give a good idea of the devastation that the storm did...but it was really bad.
We made homemade chicken pot pie and it was delicious. We used homegrown peas, onions and potatoes and used Nana's "Never Fail" Pie Crust for the top and bottom. I'm hoping that next year, we'll also have carrots and chicken grown and raised right here at Fresh Eggs.
Our animals are silly - Josie and Blossom are loving this hot weather we've been having. We took the hose out and tried to hose everyone down, since you know...it hit 103 degrees here! But the only animals who really enjoyed the spray down were Josie and Blossom. Josie would put her face right into the hose spray. It was really funny to watch how excited they got. All of the animals will try to fit in the small hallway that we runs the center of the barn - they know when it's feeding time. I'm going to try to get a video of the sounds they make when they hear our voices - every time it makes my heart feel warm and I laugh. I love having these goofballs here.
Gage won tickets for a Cincinnati Reds game - our tickets were in the nose bleed area - but it was still a great time! Plus the kids got to see the city. In fact, I was asked to work in the office in Cincinnati for two days this week. During that time, my company put me up in a hotel and I had Mark and the kids join me. While I was at work, Mark took the kids to explore the city and in the evenings we were able to listen to sounds and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city. Gage, my city boy, needs to have that balance in his life - and honestly, I think it is good for all of us to get out of the country from time to time to remember the pros and cons of city living.
WE MADE CHEESE! Cheese!!! From milk...from a goat...from our back yard. It was amazing. I cannot wait to make more. It is delicious...and it makes me proud that we were able to accomplish this. Can't wait to learn how to make other kinds - the one we made was a simple Chevre, which is essentially like a cream cheese type texture.
Our large garden is growing - I'm hoping that we still get a nice harvest from it. Although, we've been suffering from a drought this year, as much of the US has been...so maybe not as much of a harvest as we could have. Fingers crossed, we will be able to get some fresh cucumbers (perhaps a couple batches of pickles), some zucchini, maybe corn and some other yummies. Our early raised beds did well - we got a basket load of potatoes, onions and peas and were able to dry some of the pea pods for next year's planting.
Again, I feel like this blog has been all over the place, without a real "theme" - but there is always so much going on around here. I'm glad I've been keeping up with my goal of taking more pictures. I think pictures just add so much to the experience of what goes on here. Maybe next time we do cheese, I can do a how-to walk through on what we did.
Well, right now, I need to go so that I can have a few minutes to sit on our front porch and then Mark and I are going to a Barenaked Ladies/Blues Traveler show...BTW, did you know that Blues Traveler was the very first concert that Mark and I went to when we were first dating...and now we are going to see them again approximately 16 1/2 years later...and we are getting ready to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary on July 23rd...fate? Maybe...

Exhausted

Exhausted. These days, it seems that we are in a constant state of exhaustion. Mark and the kids have been home for the summer, but I'm still working. The benefit to my job is that, for the most part, I can work from home. My job is flexible and I do a lot of computer work (unfortunately, my computer was out of commission for a few days) - so I've been playing catch up with all of my work stuff. I had an event this past weekend at the Dayton Dragon's Stadium - we handed out CFL bulbs (also part of my job) to all the fans as they left the stadium. We have another event that will take most of the day and night on Friday. Did I mention that we are expecting 90-100 degree heat over the next couple days?! Better be prepared with lots of water.
Around the farm...it's been about settling in and doctoring. Steve and Jester, our new CVM sheep are adjusting well. They made the trip from Pennsylvania to Ohio (nearly Indiana) - with flying colors. They get along with all the other animals (Mabel, of course, is letting them know who is boss). But we've had some health issues - just trying to figure out the best way to help these animals along. I'll admit that we are so new with all of this that there has been a lot of Googling, YouTubing and good old fashion call the vet. Our little Flora, the smaller dairy goat, has been suffering from a nasty cough - we had her on meds and it just wasn't doing the trick for her. We've wormed everyone (with injections and on a maintenance plan with herbal wormers) and nothing seemed to be working for her. When our vet came to check on Itty's broken leg, she had us order an antibiotic online. We got it and gave her a couple of shots of it. It seems that was working, but not quite enough. So we gave her another dose last night and tonight. I'm hoping that she'll finally kick this thing. Itty is doing well with her broken leg. Seems that the fear of bloat has completely subsided. She was pathetic at first...but in much better spirits and getting around really well. Her follow up appointment is next week and I'm hoping that she'll get her cast off and is back romping around the field with her friends. Steve, our black and white CVM, developed a limp on his left front leg, a day or so before we picked him up. There doesn't appear to anything wrong with his hoof...but I decided to give him a dose of antibiotic (Mark is the better shot giver here...I have a hard time, but he is amazing at it), I cleaned out his hoof with a bucket of soapy water and a soft toothbrush and after it was cleaned out, I gave it a good spray of hoof and heel. It seems that today his limp is a little better, I'll just keep an eye on it and mention it to the vet if he's still having issues next week. I feel more and more confident about our actions here. We are making decisions and standing by them in regards to our animals, our land, our family etc. It feels good to know that we have faced some issues with them and helped them get through. Although, at times, I feel like we are the farm of the misfit animals.
Tonight, we made chicken pot pie, from our potatoes, onions, and peas from our garden - we used my Nana's pie crust recipe and played with a pot pie recipe and it was delicious. It goes on the list of "we'll have to make this again".
Mark and I are doing better...and then we aren't. I guess that is just how life goes, ups and downs, goods and bads, better or worse. In seventeen years, this is our lowest of the low moments and I'm hoping that we will continue to find the strength to make it through.
Now I'm off to finish watching a movie with Mark and the kids and then to crash and burn in bed.

NKOTB

More to follow...but just wanted to let everyone know that Steve and Jester, our CVM Romeldale sheep, came to the farm yesterday. They are beautiful :-)

Late in the Game

I keep seeing all these posts about what is coming up in people's gardens...Is it terrible that we JUST NOW put our seeds in the ground? We killed off all of our seedlings...the reality of time got to us. Between animals and barn and kids and life and work and issues...the seedlings now look like a terrible massacre happened.
Our neighbor SO kindly rototilled a huge space in our back yard - the sloped area that lays over our newly installed leach field area. I asked the health inspector if there was a reason we couldn't garden over that space and he said we'd only have to worry about the depth of the blades on the tiller - to make sure we didn't go too deep. Our space is approx. 28 ft. x 66 ft. Finally, today we made the time to plant seeds directly into the ground. We figured that we'd just plant and see what makes it.
We planted:
11 - Roma Tomato Plants
6 - Beefsteak Tomato Plants
6 - Cherry Tomato Plants
9 - Kidney Bean Plants
28 ft. rows of the following:
Cucumbers
Pole Beans
50 ft. rows of the following:
Baby Carrots
Full Size Carrots
Lettuce
Cauliflower and Brocoli share a row
Cabbage
Beets
Eggplant
Brussel Sprouts
Black and Yellow Zucchini share a row
and 2 rows of Corn
...pictures to follow (and hopefully a garden filled with vegetables will follow in the next couple months).

Five Weeks

It's been five weeks since we got our dairy goats. Five amazing weeks. Miss Mabel is doing a great job - we have completely switched over to raw goat's milk (we don't pasteurize or homogenize)...and haven't bought a single drop of cow's milk. We drink it straight, made chevre, and use it to make the best mac-n-cheese ever. Eventually, we'll be making different kinds of cheeses, learn to separate the cream from the milk (for coffee creamer and butter?) and hopefully making soaps and lotions from the milk. We've been learning how to care for the animals and have already experienced so much. One of our angoras likely got her leg caught between the pen walls and snapped her leg in half (poor baby). She's now in a cast and stuck in her pen for three weeks, until we can RE-xray her. She's also coming down with a case of bloat, since she's not as mobile as she normally is. We've learned what to give her and how to massage her belly to get that gas moving. Due to our back and forth weather, our baby dairy goat has come down with a nasty respiratory cold. We are waiting for an antibiotic delivery for her (she's on one now, but it isn't strong enough to fight what she has). I feel like we've been thrown into the trenches and we're doing well. Monday we leave to pick up our sheep (two handsome fellas, CVM romeldales..."Jester" and "Steve") - we'll be adding them to our crew and that should be the last of the new additions this year. Next year...chickens and bees (if all goes well).
On a separate note, there have been some troubles on the home front. I feel like things are getting better between my husband and me...we have a long, bumpy road ahead of us, but we'll be ok.

Milk

Oh my goodness...all this change. My last post was just one week ago, it's hard to believe. On Wednesday, I went to pick up the Angora Goats, Itty and Frankie from Spruce Hill Fiber Farm. The farm is wonderful. Will and Lisa are sweet friends and have been a huge part of our farm - they are where we got Josie and Blossom, our alpacas. While I was there, their last doe decided that it was time for her to give birth! She gave birth to a single, tiny, little white baby. UNBELIEVABLE! I was there to watch her find a spot off in the corner of the barn, away from the rest of the herd. I was there to see her lay down and watch the baby's nose come out, and then head with her floppy ears, and with a couple more pushes, the baby was out! That was an experience that I had never had before and I am honored that Mama decided to share that wonderful experience with me. I got Frankie and Itty home without too much stress - it was a long drive for them and I understand how they were a little stressed out. Once they got home, we got them settled into the existing alpaca/Ollie (our Great Pyrenees) smaller barn (since the big barn isn't quite ready yet). Everyone was getting along famously.
On Friday, I drove about an hour from here to pick up our two dairy goats, Alpines, Mabel and Flora. Mabel is our milker and Flora is just a little one. We are planning on switching back and forth with our breedings, so we can have a constant supply of milk. Friday night was our first milking. That poor Momma was probably wondering what she got herself into. Between my novice hands (prior to this, I had only squirted milk from a goat at a farm Mark worked at...and it was not a full milking...literally just a few squirts) and she being new to us and the fact that we hadn't had a chance to build our milking stand and had to rely on Mark holding her head while I milked...it literally took us and hour and a half or so to empty her. Now that I've done this a couple days, I don't even know that she was completely empty that first night. Saturday was much better..at about 1/2 hour each milking (twice per day). Sunday, Mother's Day, we spent building a milking stand which made life SO much better. SO MUCH BETTER. She's a stubborn goat, when it comes to being lead to the stand, but once she's in, she just eats as I milk and she's a good, good girl.
We made the decision to get a milk goat (ok, two milk goats) so that we could make cheese and soap etc. but we weren't even sure how we felt about drinking raw goats milk. Would it be different from the cow's milk we've been drinking? Would it taste "goaty"? What does that even mean? LOL On Friday night, we decided to make a batch of cookies and have cookies with a cold glass of goat milk to try it out. UM...IT.IS.DELICIOUS! It tastes JUST like vitamin D/whole cow's milk. It takes a second to get over the fact that it came from that {kinda stinky} goat in our backyard, but once you get past that...YUM!
This morning, I did the entire feeding of all the animals and milked Mabel (I milked her dry in 15 minutes!) and it was successful, tiring, but successful. It will be nice when everyone is moved into the new barn. The alpacas are in there now...that's a long story for another post...but they are settled in there, still waiting on Blossom's baby. But once everyone is moved, it will be easier to get in and out and feedings separated etc. Hopefully that will be soon.
At this point, I would be happy to switch completely to goat milk. I am thankful to the milking goat for giving me and my family such delicious and nutritious milk. It's a great experience for my children too.
Today...I am just thankful.

Changes

...and then sometimes life just goes to Hell. Since my last post, we've gone through a wave of ups and downs. I don't want to bore you with the details; however, let's just say that marriages are fragile creatures and even those couples that seem that they will last forever crack under pressure. We've gone through some pretty rough spots and it seems that each day we are deciding whether we can...will...should stay together. I love my husband. He is absolutely my best friend, partner in life and wonderful father to our kids. Sometimes things get sticky though. We'll just have to see how time goes and hearts mend.
On a much, much happier note...after a bit of a hiatus (between personal issues, me traveling to Portland, OR for last week and more...things have been on hold a bit...Mark has been working when he can and my parents have helped a lot too), we have hit the barn in full force. It is looking great! We had all five of the kids at the farm yesterday, as an early Mother's Day present - they all provided me with a full day of manual labor (so much better and more appropriate than anything store bought). It was nice being able to show them how to do something and just let them do it, while Mark and I worked on other things. We have the sheathing and roofing felt up on the roof, the fence braces are going in and the fence is rolled out, two walls on the main level have siding up, all the internal pen walls are complete.
We still need to...
Before the animals move in:

• Finish two main floor sides of siding
• Put in four braces and stretch the fence
• Build the six pen doors (two pens just have one door each, the other two pens have double doors and one pen is just going to be open
• Get feed containers and waterers
• Build the external doors to the barn (or come up with a temporary option for this

After the animals move in:

• Finish loft siding
• Build doors for loft
• Put rails in the loft, for safety
• Finish window vents
• Paint
• Shingles

I'm sure that I am missing some steps...right now though, I'm still trying to recover from a week spent in another time zone (three hours off), including getting up real early and staying out with co-workers - lots of fun and lots of work and now we are back to reality. :-)
Cannot wait to post the "It's Done!" post...but for now, I'll settle with "It looks Great!" post. Happy Monday all...
Let the barn envy BEGIN!

Tiff, Kait and her boyfriend, David started working on fence post braces - they did a great job! Kait and David rolled out the fencing too, it still needs positioned and stretched, but it also looks great!

Another view of the fence brace handiwork!

Inside of one completed pen, just need the doors built and installed.

LOVE the way the siding is looking (unfortunately, so do the wood bees!)

Side of the barn, facing the pasture area. You can see more great fence braces to the right :-)

Full picture of the end of the barn that faces pasture. Above the siding, we are going to put in basic wire mesh windows, with covers build from 2x4's and siding so we can choose to vent or not.

End of the barn facing our driveway.

Mark did an amazing job putting on all the roofing felt. Now the roof is protected if it rains...not perfect, but at least it's not totally exposed. We are going to focus on some of the main floor type tasks, so we can get animals in place and will focus on the shingles in a bit.

Another internal view of the siding that I think looks so nice. I'm happy with our choice.

Siding and pen wall.

All the pen walls built out...looking good.

AND HOW COULD I FORGET! Captain (one of our three outside kitties: "Captain", "Jack" and "Sparrow") had her (unexpected) litter of five kittens last week. She is a beautiful long haired black cat, that the people that lived in the home next door to us previously, just left at the house. All their left cats have claimed out home/yard as theirs now. The kittens are all black, one with a tuft of white on its chest. They are so tiny. Captain is doing an amazing job being a mom. She's always been the more timid (read 'psychotic') cats in the group and I wasn't sure how she'd be as a mom - but she does great...she hides them well, nurses well, snuggles well...they are a great addition and a bit of a much needed distraction. Congrats Captain!