Garden Walk

Our first three summers on the homestead we planted a huge garden similar to what we'd both grown up with. I'm talking about a 100'x30' area. We planted everything in rows far enough apart for a tiller to go between. By the end of the second month the weeds had won. Our vegetable plants were sprawling into the walk ways and there was no way you could get a tiller in there without destroying the vegetables. It was just too much space to keep weeds under control, especially in a previously unestablished garden. Last year I said, "That's it! I'm growing a micro-garden." I only used the flower bed that surrounds our back patio. I combined the methods of intensive gardening and square foot gardening to determine the layout. We harvested a lot of food from that little space! There were lots of tomatoes and peppers along with herbs and other things I've now forgotten.

This year we added two raised beds to our garden space. I really like having them close to the house. It's great to pause as you walk by to pluck a stray weed or two. I did my best to use square foot gardening to determine the layout of these beds.

I was weeding in the garden last night when something caught my eye. It was a cicada emerging from his exoskeleton. It was transitioning from the creepy beetle-like larvae to the beautiful winged insect we recognize. When I first discovered it, it's head was only about 1/2" out of the exoskeleton. In the time it took to get my camera it had already emerged as much as you see below. I took the pictures in the order shown, and he was completely emerged in about an hour's time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

 The camera wanted to focus on everything BUT the bug! This at least lets you see how much he'd emerged.

 He was hanging on the underside of a moon and stars watermelon leaf.

 Finally! I got the camera to actually focus on the bug!

 Coming out a little more!

 Here is a shot of my east raised bed. It has pole beans, tomatoes, swiss chard, kale, cucumber, beets, and calendula. The flower bed surrounding the patio contains peppermint, ginger, cock's comb, Egyptian walking onions, calla lilies, lemon balm, honey suckle, violet, iris, and surprise lilies.

 This is my west raised bed. As you can see it has escaped! We don't have any cattle panels available and are trying to figure out a low cost solution to this problem. We are going to have to get these vines up out of the yard before the next mowing! This bed contains garden huckleberries, tomatillos, yellow squash, carrots, and water melon.

 Here are my tomatillos. I can hardly wait to taste their fabulous flavor!

This is chicken graffiti. It says, "Hen wuz here." This was created by using my flower bed as a dusting bowl, stepping up onto the patio, and shaking. Keeping the hens out of my garden is a constant war. There is a gap under our gate that they escape through, but if I fill it in the gate won't swing properly. At least they are keeping most of the bugs at bay.

 This is a ginger plant. My health food store was running a great sale on organic ginger. The piece I bought was huge, and started getting these sprout-like growths on it. They were similar to the hens-n-chicks plant, but white. I decided to plant a piece and see what happens. Time will tell if this is a worthwhile project, or just a little novelty.

 My cilantro bolted. It is an heirloom variety, so I am saving seed from it. I plan to use some of the seed for my spice collection, too. I adore the flavor of coriander!

A peppermint blossom. I am thrilled to have some flowers to attract the beneficial pollinators, especially honey bees.

 Here's our cicada still working hard to emerge. I was fascinated by the yellow-green appendages. They reminded me of frog's feet. I wondered if they could be his wings.

 Eeeek! At this point it looked like he could simply fall out! Would he plop to the ground once he had cleared his shell?

 A black oil sunflower that volunteered. We feed these to our goats. I let it grow to see if planting them ourselves would be a worthwhile endeavor. It would be SO great to be able to grow some of our own livestock feed!

 Lemon balm in bloom. This little herb makes me so happy. I love it's bright citrus aroma. I've repotted a bit of it to take to my classroom in the fall. I think it will make a delightful addition.

 Five color silver beet. Can't wait to enjoy these as well. I wish whatever is eating them would lay off. I can't ever catch anything on them.

 The first squash of summer.

 Calendula blossoms ready to break forth!

 Still pushing it's way out of that tough exoskeleton!

 A great shot of those yellow-green appendages. They are definitely his wings. It's hard to believe they are all crumpled up like that at first.

 What on earth is holding him in that shell?

 Ahhh!!! Free at last! Isn't it beautiful? I love how his wings are tinted green.

 Just hanging out.He stayed like this of a long time, with his wings blowing in the breeze. I tried to take a video, but it was so blurry you really couldn't tell anything about it. They were soft and flowy.

 

Simply perfect!

Night has fallen. He is all free of the exoskeleton, but still staying put. I have a feeling this is where he will spend the night.

Changes- After the Fact.

In January I added two La Mancha does to my herd. Their names are Tea Thyme and Little Alaska. Tea Thyme is my favorite goat ever. Her personality is as sweet as can be. She is friendly without being overbearing, and she is an excellent milker. Her behavior on the stand is absolutely fabulous. 

Tea Thyme

Little Alaska is also a dear. She has the warmest personality, and will win you with her charms. She is also the most conformationally correct goat I've ever owned. She does have one little quirk. About once a week she will stick her foot in the milk pail, and then look at you with a completely innocent expression, as if to say, "Why is my leg wet?" Despite this, she is a treasure of a goat, producing as much as the big girls, even though she is about 30% smaller than the rest.

Little Alaska

On March 8th Miracle kidded with twin doelings. I don't have pictures of them when they are tiny because I was at my grandfather's funeral 8+ hours away when they were born. Thankfully, Wayne was home and my dear friend, Michele, came down to assist with the birth. I named the girls Blessing and Anise. They are both little dolls with interesting personalities all their own. Blessing is very friendly and always curious. She nibbles at clothing and will climb on you if you let her. Anise is friendly, but not in-your-face. She enjoys being with you without having to be on top of you constantly.

Blessing

Anise

Baby continues to grow and flourish. She has the potential to be a wonderful milker. I am very eager to have her bred this fall and see how she freshens in the spring.

Willow Whip, aka "Baby"

And then there's Miracle. Bless her heart. I am loathe to put this picture up for you to see, but I try to always be honest about what is happening on our homestead. Miracle's condition has been deteriorating for about six weeks. No matter what I do (and believe me, she has been getting LOTS of extra everything), she cannot gain weight and in fact, seems to be losing weight. This past Tuesday I finally got an answer to the problem. She was infected with brown stomach worms. I have been deworming faithfully with Safeguard, but brown stomach worms are not susceptible to the standard dosage. When we ran a fecal exam on her she had no other parasites whatsoever, it was just the brown stomach worms. Just to be safe, since there is a good chance they've developed resistance to the Safeguard anyway, I dewormed her (well, the whole herd, actually) with Valbazen. I will repeat this in ten days and then again in another ten days to ensure I catch all the worms in the necessary life phase. In only five days she is already showing improvement. Her demeanor is better, she already seems to be picking up a few pounds, and her coat is starting to look less coarse.

Miracle

Six standard sized goats is a lot of mouths to feed for this little homestead. I was not prepared for the impact switching from Nigies to LaManchas was going to make on our pasture. I knew that they were bigger and needed more, but WOW! They burned through the pasture at more than double the rate of an equal number of Nigerian Dwarfs. I was also getting way more milk than we could use. I decided that downsizing the herd was not optional. I listed all of the goats for sale individually on both Craigslist and a couple of Facebook dairy goat groups. I prayed about which goats would sell and that they would go to good homes where they would be well cared for. Tea Thyme and Little Alaska have already moved on to their new homes. I need to sell at least one more, and my little herd will be just right for this little homestead. The proceeds from their sale is being used to complete the fencing of our property so that every available inch of pasture will be utilized. If I sell two more, then I will use the money to buy a Nubian doe. I've decided I'm ready to dip my toes in that water. Despite all the warnings of my non-Nubian loving friends, I really think I will like them. However, I am not ready to make a big leap. I'd like to get just one doe and see how it goes. Then I will be better equipped to make more decisions about the direction my herd needs to go.

Dairy Goat Breed Selection

My first goat herd.

I was recently asked about my choice of breed in dairy animals, and my response was rather lengthy. I decided it would make a great blog post!

I think the answer to your question lies more in why I started with Nigies. I always wanted Nubians. They have a reputation for being vocal, pushy, and high strung, though. It took me several years to talk my husband into letting me have dairy goats at all. He grew up with a milk cow, and didn't want the twice daily responsibilities that come with a milk animal. He told me on the front end that he wanted no part of it whatsoever. If I got one it was all on me to take care of it and milk it. Then he gave me his blessing. I researched everything I could get my hands on regarding dairy goats. I knew I needed to choose a breed that I could have a 100% guarantee of success with, and Nigerian Dwarfs seemed to be that perfect breed of goat for my beginner self. Nigies are small enough that you can do anything that you need to with them. It's not like wrestling with an animal that weighs just as much as an adult human. I followed through with that and kept Nigies for about three years. I enjoyed them immensely, but desired larger goats that produced more milk for the same amount of effort in milking and hoof trimmings. (Trimming hooves is my least favorite job in goat husbandry. :-) ) I was given a LaMancha doeling in exchange for her first doe kid very early on. I fell in love with her and the no-nonsense personality that seems to be the norm in LaManchas. Since I already had a LaMancha and I didn't want to run a mixed herd, I stayed with LaManchas when I was ready to transition out of my starter goats and into my permanent herd. I do still dream of Nubians, but I have reservations about how I will like their personalities after everything I've heard. I am definitely not in to having a herd of drama queens! :-)

I cannot say what breed will fit your personality and needs best. My goat mentor, Michele, has kept several different breeds and settled on Nigerian Dwarfs as her favorite. Everyone's personal choice will be unique.

Sleet and Ice Days

On Thursday we were pelted with 3/8" of ice and 4" of sleet. I was concerned that the electric lines would go down due to ice accumulation, and so I cleaned house like a crazy woman all Thursday morning until everything was caught up and spic and span. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy activities I don't normally have time to do. My first project was a simple home cooked soup for us to munch on.

 Since I have an abundance of fresh milk, I decided to make my potato soup a little differently than I ever have. It turned out amazing! Here is the recipe:

Best Ever Potato Soup:

One Gallon fresh, raw goat’s milk
Ten large/medium potatoes, diced
One large red onion, coarsely chopped
One stick of butter
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Sharp cheddar cheese
Three heaping TBSP corn starch mixed in a cup of cold water

Combine first six ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add corn starch to thicken. Return to boil. Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

My daddy has been fussing at me because I never make my own butter. He says there is so much cream in this milk that it is a shame to not skim it and use it. Since I had about five gallons of milk in the fridge, I decided to give it a try. With all the milk skimmed, I got enough cream to make about 2 cups of finished butter. It is LOVELY! Probably not something I will do all the time unless I am blessed to find an affordable separator, but it's nice to know it's an option.

Next, I used that lovely skimmed milk to make homemade mozzarella cheese. Interestingly, the recipe was titled 30 Minute Mozzarella, but it took ALL afternoon! I had heated the milk at 1:00. It didn't cool off enough to add the citric acid, lipase, and rennet until 6:00 P.M.! Just in time to make me late for chores! Argh! It is SOOOO yummy, though, it's hard for me to quit nibbling. :-)

While the mozzarella was cooling I made Lemon Cheese. It is very nice. It has a very light flavor and the lemon juice certainly adds a nice quality to the cheese.

Over the course of the three days I've been home I have been working on making homemade dishcloths. I received two as Christmas gifts, and fell in love with them! They are round and have a rippled edge. They fit so much more nicely in your hand than a square dish cloth. I hope to make an entire set.

Deworming Goats

I was recently asked for advice about what I use for dewormer, and by the time I finished writing my response I decided to make it into a blog post!
I am philosophically opposed to using synthetic chemical/drug dewormers. For the first 2.5 years I had goats I successfully used Hoegger Supply's herbal dewormer with excellent results. When I took a goat to the vet for another issue I had the vet perform a fecal exam and he was amazed to find NO worms in ANY life stage present. That is a huge deal because even with synthetic dewormers used on a consistent schedule they expect to find a few. However, in the fall of 2011 I began to experience some health problems at the same time that my herd grew to an overwhelming size. I was struggling to meet all my responsibilities/obligations and I kept forgetting to give the goats their herbal dewormer. (It has to be given every week religiously.) I kept telling myself I wouldn't forget again, but I kept stumbling. After several times of forgetting their dewormer and having to go through the entire start up regimen which is both time consuming and costly, I decided I was going to have to give in and use synthetic dewormers until I could get things under control again. I bought the Agri-Labs brand of Ivermectin and used it faithfully according to instructions. (I believe it was once every six weeks.) In the spring of 2012 Miracle began having some problems originating with mastitis. I immediately sought medical intervention for her mastitis, but it took three rounds of antibiotics to get her cleared up. In her weakened state the parasites took hold with a vengeance. My veterinarian recommended Safeguard to me, and that is what I have used since then, though I do intend to return to the herbal dewormer protocol upon kidding. (I have reduced my herd to an easily manageable size now, currently two does with a possible acquisition of one more, and selling all this year's kids.)
I know there are people who are expert users of synthetic dewormers who talk about using "white dewormer and clear dewormer." I think it's simply an easy way to keep straight the basic classes of dewormers where the white ones attack one class of parasites and the clear dewormers attack another. I tried to find information about that, but was unsuccessful.

Rather than discuss dewormers that I have never used, I am going to refer you to some websites of folks who are more knowledgeable than I am:

Fias Co Farm is my go-to source for information. They have always been spot on with the accuracy of the information offered.

The Dairy Goat Journal is a good source for continuing education about our dairy goats. I do not have a subscription, though I've asked for one as a holiday(Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day, etc.) gift several times. Their website offers some of their articles for free,  and this one was on the cover when I went to find the link for you. How timely!

This is the author of the above article and also recommended by my "goat mentor."