summer of the goat

As I'm sitting here typing, my back door is open and I can hear my son directing his friend that lives two doors over where to launch an egg into our backyard.  Ahh, summer.  Summer (and Instagram) have swallowed this blog whole.  But today felt like a good day to yarn a story.

 I think I've mentioned here a time or two over the years that I have wanted goats. This summer we decided that the time was right, and we added two goats to the backyard mini-farm!  They are elf eared, mini La Manchas. One is in milk right now and one is pregnant.  They are sisters that have never been separated, and they are sweet, sweet!

La Manchas are a dairy breed that have pretty high butter fat content as far as goat milk goes.  And even though they are minis, we are getting about three quarts a day from our little milker!

I think we have finally blossomed under the responsibility of being goat owners.  Milking is a lot of commitment!  And I knew this going in.  I really did!  But I am slow to warm up to change, and I spent the first two weeks of them being here feeling a little resentful.  Because all of the sudden, we couldn't hit the road at a moments notice and run to Austin for the night.  We can't even go to dinner out of town!  Being the kind of person I am, the "don'ttellmewhattodo" kind of person that I am, I struggled with this.  I felt like the goats were being really bossy, forcing me to be home at 7 to milk!  All the while, knowing that I was being ridiculous!  

We are over that hump now (or I am over it, no one else in the family really struggled with that!).  Now I am just enjoying them!  I love milking and having all the milk on hand I could ever need for cheese experiments, yogurt, etc.  (speaking of which, next on the list is goat cheese cake-yum!!!). 

Goats are a lot more work than we have experienced animal wise.  They like interaction.  They like to eat...a lot.  They get weird illnesses.
They offer us sustenance and companionship.
We're all a little crazy about them!

the garden

borage in bloom

After a very successful spring garden, my summer garden is creeping along.  There is nothing ready out there.  I have tons of green tomatoes, lots of baby peppers, and squash and cuke blooms, but nothing ready to eat.  I am so thankful for the recently opened Home Sweet Farm Market where I can get farm fresh goodies until my garden kicks into action (this is also where I am selling all of my goods- cough, cough)!  And don't even get me started on the stink bugs!  I am out every night picking off stink bugs and throwing them into a bucket of water as I go.  Oh, the smell!  As Moonpie tells me "well, they don't call them stink bugs for nothin'!".

This year I have really tried to focus on my herb growing skills.  The growing isn't the hard part, it's the knowing when and what to harvest.  This book always helps in that journey for me, but it's a learning curve none the less.  So far in the healing garden I have borage (as pictured above), lemon balm, comfrey, sage, mint, and st. John's wort.  I attempted to grow some echinacea by seed, but to no avail.  I am determined for next year!

And with all of this that is going on, and not going on (I'm looking at you green beans!), I am talking with a goat farm about adding two doelings to our backyard mini farm!  I am so excited and a bit afraid.  Like I am probably getting in over my head.  I never can leave well enough alone!  I am currently looking into mini La Manchas with their cute little elf ears!  Any advice regarding these girls would be greatly welcomed!

don't wait

my current spring garden

Anyone else out there dreaming about their own little piece of land?  Somewhere out of town with enough room for chickens and goats and pig and bees?  Maybe enough woods to get lost in, but enough sunshine for a garden?  Oh, and a meandering creek to explore!  Cannot forget the creek!

This is my dream.  

But I learned a while back that I don't have to wait to live my dreams.  My just right property may never come.  My life outside of town may just never happen.  I decided in our last home to just jump in.   To dig up the front yard and plant gardens.  To add chickens to the back.

And now we are in a home that we do not own.  I have not let that stop me.  I may not be building on our forever property, but I'm not going to let that keep me from planting.  I have blueberry, raspberry and blackberry bushes coming in.  Those are things that are supposed to sustain you forever.  For us, it may not be that long.  I didn't want to wait!  

one of our girls getting broody!

We have our chickens.  We have our garden.  We are waiting for fall to add a flock of meat birds, and maybe some dairy goats.  Please let there be dairy goats!

If you are stuck in an apartment with no yard, and wishing for a little extra space...don't wait!

If you are living in the suburbs and dreaming of small town living...don't wait!

If you are in the middle of the city and thinking that you need just a bit more space...don't wait!

the urban community garden begun by my mother in law in downtown Houston

If you are living in small town America where the neighbors will surely talk...don't wait!

By beginning your homesteading journey now you will be living out your dream.  Put the books down and jump in with both feet!  The only regret you will have is not starting sooner!  Trust me- I know this from experience.

Everything doesn't have to be just right.  It doesn't have to be your forever place.  Begin experiencing the life you want right now!

a basking bee on one of our spinach plants

Don't wait!

busy weekend

This weekend John finished the new chicken coop.  I have been a bit obsessed with A-frame architecture lately, and he sweetly took that into consideration when he designed the coop:

The back has a fold down door for easy egg collection for the kids.  And they can comfortably fit in the small run so they can feed and water the chickens.

When the little bits get bigger, we'll place this coop into a larger fenced in area so they can free range.

As I was walking around the coop, surveying the handiwork, I had a little shadow- Mr. Gingersnap kitty.

He kept wrapping around me giving me leg hugs.  He's the sweetest kitty ever.

I got to spend Saturday at Bee Keeping school!  I have been trying to make this school for the past three years.  Now that I actually have space for bees, I was most happy to make it this year.  I learned so much- too much!  I cannot wait to start my bee adventures!

In other news, it is spring in Texas!  And here in Central Texas that means one thing- bluebonnets!  Consider yourselves warned!

out with the old

zinnias from our garden.  my absolute favorite flower.

We are in the midst of the worst drought Texas has seen in 100 years.  In our rural town there hasn't been much talk about water conservation, however I cannot help but be moved in that direction.  In that light, we decided that our small garden was not producing enough to warrant the amount of water being used on it.  So yesterday morning, before we hit 107 degrees, I harvested the last little handful of tomatoes and tore out the garden.  Today I hope to spread some rabbit droppings and let things sleep for a while.  In the mean time, we will get seedlings going for the fall, and pray that the season shift will usher in the rain we so desperately need.

When it comes to raised beds and tilling up a big spot in the yard, there are definite pros and cons to both.  The biggest con to raised beds in my experience has been the amount of water they require to keep things hydrated.  I look at what our CSA farm is accomplishing, how they are still cranking out food like nobody's business while only watering a couple of times per week.  I am so proud of the work they have put into their farm. Our farm!  They are a living example to me on the importance of working the soil consistently.  And how organic really is the best way to go.

Today I end our summer garden chapter.  It is always so exciting to look ahead and dream for fall.

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Grain/ sugar fast- day 2

By the end of the day yesterday I felt exhausted.  My head felt cloudy and my body felt achey.  I was in bed by 7 pm!  Not for good, but really useless after that.  I woke up this morning feeling like I wasn't ready to get out of bed, a bit congested, but clear headed.

What we ate:

B- blueberry, cherry and raw milk smoothie

L- lentils cooked in chicken stock, ginger carrots, spinach salad with cucumber and tomato
     shot of green juice (kale, cucumber, green apple)

D- leftover chicken spiced up for tacos, sauteed bell peppers and onion, avocado, tomato, sour yogurt, wrapped in lettuce leaf.  Black beans on the side.

I want to note that the kids felt the effects yesterday.  They complained all day of not feeling well, and were pretty crabby.  I heard things like "why can't I just have ONE sucker???  They're ORGANIC!!!".  Mmm-hmm.  They are wanting some sugar pretty bad!  There is a lot of fruit being consumed around here by those two!

farewell cocoa

photo credit:  Moonpie

This weekend we lost our last little chicken, Cocoa.  She was a beautiful araucana and laid green tinted eggs.  After we lost Blackberry, she developed a bit of a crow.  We thought that maybe she was crying out for her buddy, feeling a little lonely and lost without her sidekick.  She spent her last days roosting up in our live oak tree- we couldn't get her in her coop at night to lock her up safe.  Poor little thing.

We are still on the quest for the raccoon.  He is old and smart and will have nothing to do with our live traps.

We've decided not to replace the chickens until we catch him and remove him from the area.

It's weird not the hear the cluck-cluck of happy hens first thing in the morning.

I miss them.

hunkering down

In an effort to ward off the carnage that ensued the night before, we did a bit of shifting last night.  The bunny came in to sleep in a dog crate and our one last chicken was placed in the bunny hutch.  I was up with the sun this morning letting Goldie out of the hutch.  As we all know, the early bird gets the worm and she was not happy to be held up in that hutch one moment longer!  I will continue doing this arrangement until John is able to rework the chicken coop and we find a live trap to remove the biggest coon ever known.

Speaking of John...

He is my hero.  Even from afar he was busy taking care of this family of his.

I texted him after the run in with the coon at 4am.  By 8am he had a college age boy I have never met at our house, crawling under the beams and retrieving the carcass.  I couldn't bear to look, but he said it was bad.  Really, really bad.  This boy, he was precious!  Can I say that about a 19 year old young man?  Just don't tell him I said that, ok?  He showed up completely prepared to crawl under my house and come face to face with a beast.  And a completely gutted chicken.  As we were chatting, he mentioned that he was leaving for Columbia today to go work in some orphanages.  See?  PRECIOUS!

the kids were a rapt audience for Tyler.  and kept him busy with all sorts of questions about
Star Wars and Pokemon.  Two things they've seen  at the thrift store and are sooooo curious about!

After my new best friend Tyler removed the body, our friend Farmer Jason showed up to help out too.  He is super busy this week but made the time to stop by to check on us and see what he could do.  Here's my new motto:  a mark of a good friend is the willingness to crawl under your house and scoop up a dead chicken.  The end.

goodbye blackberry

it happened in the middle of the night.  or the wee hours of morning.  depending on how you look at it.  i heard a strange noise, like scraping metal.  after wandering the house a bit, peering out windows, checking on kids, i was stumped.

back to bed.  then it hit me.  metal.  the right side of the house.  the chicken coop!  i scrambled for a flashlight.  by the time i made it to the kitchen window to see, sans flashlight, blackberry was clucking something terrible.  and then i saw it.  the largest raccoon i have ever seen.  and he got her.  i checked this morning.  all i see are feathers.

she's gone.

she was my favorite.

let's talk about mulch

I know.  What can be more exciting than a post about mulch?  The sad thing is, I get kind of excited about mulch!  I feel like now that I understand the purpose of mulching, that I have arrived at some sort of gardening milestone.  So let's discuss it, shall we?

What is mulching?

When I speak of mulch, I am speaking of it more in the verb sense than in the noun sense.  To mulch is to put some sort of top covering over the soil and around the stems of your plants.

Why mulch?

There are several reasons to mulch.  It's actually a crucial step in gardening.  Mulch is good for insulating roots and soil in the colder months and keeping them cool in hotter months.  Mulch keeps moisture in, keeps weeds out, prevents disease, and enriches the soil.  I read an article recently that cited research by Texas A&M University.  According to their findings, well-mulched gardens can yield up to 50% more veggies than an unmulched garden space.  Fifty percent!?!  That is huge!  I put a lot of work into my soil this year before the seeds and starters went in.  I certainly don't want to waste all of that by skipping this step.

It is already very hot here (it got up to 98 degrees today).  I knew that I couldn't put off mulching for many more days, so Monday I got to work.

The girls in their coop.  See Blackberry back there?
She's broody again and gets all puffed up when we go in to get eggs!

In the early spring, after the last frost, we rake up all of our leaves and spread them in the chicken run.  The chickens love having  some new leaves to scratch around in and I love that they break them all down for us, add some fertilizer, and create free mulch!

The chicken run was a mess, so it was good timing.  I got to clean out the pen while mulching.  A win-win situation!

Look at that shovel back there.  The leaves were thick!  The good stuff was underneath...

 I started out by shoveling all of the leaves onto a big tarp.  Why a tarp?  We don't have a wheel barrow!  Let me stop right here and over emphasize how important it is to have the right tools for a job.  My tarp worked great, but lugging that thing from the back into the front nearly killed me.  I seriously had to take a rest after that!

Mama needs a wheel barrow!

While I was shoveling, I had the sprinkler turned on the beds.  I like to mulch after the soil is wet so the mulch can help keep that moisture in and maintain a cooler soil temperature.  

After I turned off the water I fertilized with some fish emulsion.

At this point in the day, it was HOT!  So we all headed inside.  After dinner Buddy and I went back out to finish the job.

Yes- I do yard work in a skirt.  It's the best way to keep cool!

It is recommended in hot climates to add four inches of mulch to your plants.  In cooler climates you want less mulch to help inhibit mold growth.

When I went out Tuesday morning to check on the plants they looked perky and the soil still felt damp.  That is a major difference!  Usually by morning they are a little droopy and ready to be watered again.

This is my first year to properly mulch the garden.  I can't wait to see if the yields are truly higher this time around.

If you want to read more about mulching (and really, who wouldn't?), Mother Earth News has a great article on it this month.

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All you savvy gardeners out there- have you found higher yields with mulching?
Any none mulchers in the crowd?

the farm grows

A few weeks ago Miss Moonpie asked if she could begin saving up for a bunny.  We talked it over and decided that it was a great idea!  Not too long after that discussion, this jar turned up in the living room:

You can see that the jar is empty now!

Look who has come to join the mini-farm-

This is Cupcake.  Also known as Bunny Boy and Little Darth Vader.  He is such a sweet addition to our daily life!

He is a Dutch bunny (hence the oreo markings).  And although he is joining the urban homestead, do not dismay.  This little honey will not be eaten!  He is simply here for the cuddles.

clothes line

We moved into this house four years ago.  Four years ago!  In that time we have done so much around here- rewired the whole house, new plumbing, put in CHA, new roof, built walls, rebuilt the floor, finished the floor, repainted the interior (several times- ahem), painted the exterior, put in garden boxes, put in some grass, built a shed, built a bathroom, rehabbed a bathroom, and 800 other things that I can't exactly recall right now.  One of the things on my list of homesteading needs was a clothes line.  What respectable homesteader doesn't have a clothes line?

I'll tell you who-

 me.

I was that person draping diapers over the porch railing, pinning sheets to the trampoline, tying up ropes in the back yard making make shift spider web lines all over the place.  Call me Anasazi.  But with all of the other real needs, the clothes line kept being put on the back burner.

For my birthday this year, John gave me a clothes pin bag and a set of 100 clothes pins.  I looked at him and without missing a beat said "where is it?".  He had built it the week before and hidden it behind our shed.  After he showed me the poles that morning, he went ahead and set it all up.

Can I say, that I adore this clothes line?  Is that too strong a word?  Well, I do.  I just adore it.  I love that he didn't make it look like every other clothes line.  He made it just for me.  The poles look like telephone poles, he strung the wires to look line phone wires and carefully wrapped them around the porcelain electrical thingies (the technical term) he found in our attic.

And then, there are the love birds.    After he had set them into the concrete he showed me how he placed the love birds facing the west- so they could watch the sun set together.

swoon.

I love this man of mine.

gone broody

Blackberry, my australorp hen, has gone broody on me. This is common for a hen her age, and for her particular breed. I suspected something was up last week when I went out to spread scratch and she didn't come. Typically she is my most voracious eater and chirps happily at snack time. But she was nowhere to be found. And this has gone on for 4 or 5 days now. I began to worry and started forcing her out of the coop to eat and drink. Broody hens can sometimes starve or become dehydrated if they are not watched closely. I realized she had gone over the edge when I was holding her and realized all of her chest feathers were gone. GROSS! She looks like she could be wrapped up in cellophane and sold on the super market shelf!

So what to do with a broody hen? We don't have eggs to hatch and her hogging the coop is discouraging the other chickens to lay. Not to mention that she has stopped laying as well. The best way to discourage broodiness is to separate the hen from the rest of the flock into her own smallish pen. I've read that it's best to make the pen as uncomfortable as possible. John is going to rig up something tomorrow, so for the time being she has been banished- to glory land. Her punishment is free reign of the entire backyard.

Take that, Blackberry!

Signs you have a broody hen:

1. her comb has gone from red to pink

2. her chest feathers are gone (this is so the heat can be more easily transferred to the eggs)

3. she puffs up and pecks when you come near her while she's nesting (fortunately, Blackberry is extremely docile- not one peck!)

4. she doesn't leave the nest- even to eat- and when she does, she guards it fiercely

Those of you that are more chicken knowledgeable than I, please share your experiences and advice!

there's a fungus among us

a fungus has attacked my fingerling potatoes.

on the advice of my friend (and farmer) jenny, i had to dig them up. give the other plants a chance at survival.

i must say, it was a bit painful digging up those five plants. i had such high (read: delicious) hopes for those little guys.

you can see the small potatoes that were forming. there were four to six on each plant. i hope this means that the rest of the plants are producing this many. i still have 41 potato plants. that's a lot of potatoes!

not all is lost. i made buddy gather up all the babies- we're going to eat them anyway!

egg count

Whenever someone mentions that they are casually thinking about getting backyard chickens, I enthusiastically tell them that they indeed SHOULD get chickens! Chickens are so easy to raise. They are less maintenance than a dog, and they bless you daily with delicious eggs! I have been trying to keep track of the eggs being laid around here for the past month. From March 13- April 13 our four chickens (3 full grown, 1 bantam) have laid 57 eggs (and that doesn't even count all the eggs Buddy has broken while on egg collecting duty)! I think that's pretty great for a small backyard flock!

making butter

lately we have been enjoying the taste and experience of making our own butter. since we live in the year 2010, butter making is super easy. easier than loading up the kids and heading to the store. trust me!

we use raw milk from a local source. i buy a gallon specifically for butter/yogurt making. see in the picture below the distinction between the cream and the milk? typically, if i were going to drink it, i would shake it up to mix it all together. but for butter, i need that cream.

1) i slowly pour the cream off into a jar. i let the jar sit out to warm up a bit (room temperature is nice, but not necessary).

2) after the cream is a nice temperature, i pour half of the quart jar into my blender and set it on a medium speed. on my vita-mix it is set on 4. by the way, you don't have to use a fancy blender to do this- any will do.

3) pretty soon (about 5-8 minutes) the butter begins to separate from the milk. it looks kind of clotted (see picture below).
4) in the above picture you can see the solid separated from the liquid. i stop at this point and pour off the liquid into another jar. this is buttermilk. do not pour it down the sink! i use it for corn bread or pancakes. yum!

5)after the liquid is poured off, i give it another spin on the blender on a low speed. by this point it looks nice and smooth. a little more buttermilk will have seeped out, so i add that to my jar. next, i add cool water and pour it off. i do this over and over until the water runs clear. the less buttermilk that is left in the butter, the longer it will last.

6) after the water runs clear i put it in some cheese cloth to drain a bit more. while this is draining i start on the other half of my cream. i just do the whole process over again!

you'll notice that the butter is yellow. that's because it is from nutrient dense, grass fed, raw milk! no food coloring used here!

7) when i'm all done, i spoon it into a little glass bowl that has a lid and place it in the refrigerator.

that's it! super yummy butter, with little effort!

if you'd like to read up on the benefits of raw butter check here.

stretching

ok- i know, i know, i've been away for a long time. and as i sit to strike up the conversation again, i feel like i need to stretch my blogging muscle. i'm out of shape.

just so you know, nothing catastrophic happened. i was just unplugging from the material world for a world, plugging in deeper into the spiritual. and today, on easter sunday, i'm all shiny and new. ready to get out there again.

lots happened last month (me thinks the longest month in history). my old side-kick singer bit the dust and i purchased a new fancy girl. she's so quiet i can sew when the kids are asleep! score! i've had some sewing successes and a major sewing failure. i am for sure enjoying that. our garden is going strong. i can't wait to show some pictures of all that is coming up out there. this is our fourth spring in this house, and i think the soil is finally thriving. after lots and lots of work. lots! we also have expanded our fowl flock with two new sweet ducklings. they are peeping away by my feet while i type. the kids named them clover and rose, and they are precious!

now i'm off to check on some of YOU! my have i missed you...

homestead update

well- i'm bored with 7 days to better health. a little problem of mine, getting bored with the same ol' so easily.
anyway, i thought today it would be nice for you to stop by the homestead, and see what's going on and coming up!

white cloud is our buff bantam. she is our sweet little chicken! the kids love to hold her and wheel her around the yard in their doll stroller. to the left you will see lettuces that were too bitter for us to eat. the chickens loved them.

potatoes snuggly tucked in their bed. this is my first year to try potatoes. here's hoping that something comes up. we've dedicated a whole lotta space to them taters!

this is blackberry- our australorp. i cannot say enough good things about this breed of chicken. they are friendly, smart and hardy layers. i've been putting blackberry in the front beds to help clean them out and do a little fertilizing. she is easy to lead back the run so she has been chosen for the job. the other day she found a baby snake! it was so interesting to watch her take that snake down. the kids were spellbound! at one point moonpie said "this is better than watching a film". that's right, she said "film". don't ask me.

here is the last harvest from our winter lettuce patch (with some broccoli greens thrown in for good measure). that bed has now been planted in carrots and beets.

moving on inside, i have been busy making herbal salves and oils. oh, how i've loved doing this! that 11 pounds of beeswax has come in handy once again, than you very much!

some freshly strained jars of herbal oil. the two larger jars are calendula (see that pretty amber color?) and the small jar is oil of oregano. i'm going to be transferring that one into a small, brown bottle with a dropper.

and lastly, look what's coming up on my window sill! these little guys are striped roman tomatoes. i have planted TWELVE heirloom tomato plants this season. what is my problem??? alongside the tomatoes i've started some peppers and tomatillos.

i love this time of year, when dreams begin to take shape.

(yes- i dream of striped tomatoes!)

have you been putting your window sills to work yet? what's coming up?

the girls are back!

the hens are finally laying again! hooray!

it only took a few threats under my breath to get them back into production. well, that and sunshine.
we are only getting green right now, and 2-3 a day. that's pretty good for 3 full sized hens and one banty.

look at this super cutey! who needs a workbook when you can just sequence beautifully hued eggs???

the final reveal!

the rain harvester is up and ready for rain!

we used a 58 gallon, food grade barrel. john drilled a hole in the side to add the water spigot that we will later attach a hose to. then he ran 20 feet of gutter along the house and used a 'flexi hose' that attaches straight to the barrel. the nice thing is that the gutters are easy to add to, if we ever decide we want more water. he built the stand allowing us to utilize our friend gravity. that enables us to have better water pressure.

one more thing- and this only makes it all the more exciting to me! the barrel and all the wood for the stand were FREE! we did have to purchase the elements for the spigot and all of the gutters.

i am so excited to see how much healthier our plants are going to be on a steady diet of rain water!

now- bring on the rain!!!

sneak peek

a couple of weeks ago i posted on what is going on the backyard. but here's what's going in the front yard....

a little sneak peek until the final reveal! know what he's up to?

(see all those lovely raised beds john made for me!??! they are busy growing broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbages, lettuces, beets, turnips, radishes, brussels sprouts and carrots.)

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and in other news, buddy is practicing using his self-control. we'll be doing it through several different activities, but here he is with his dropper. he carefully had to move water from one bowl into the other, without making a spill. he loved this activity!