Milk, Butter, Buttermilk. We have never had a problem with Buttercup or her calf Flower but Nicole and I have come to a decision that we, as a farm, need to go in a single direction when it comes to the dairy. We want people who see us as a goat dairy farm that delivers great products. Not a farm that dabbles here and there.
We have listed our cows up on craigslist for sale or trade and people are coming full force wanting to trade. But the truth of the matter is this. We got her because we could hand milk her and she is friendly to people. We are not going to be selling/trading her to anyone that doesn't have the same ideals as Nicole and I do. She is primarily grass fed but we do sneak in some grain for her while she was beig milked..... it kept her still because we do not have a stancheon for her, nor would we put her in one. We never milked her dry because we believe that Buttercup should be the one to dictate when to ween Flower off of her. So what we would do is take roughly a gallon in the morning and another in the evening.... Flower got the rest.
We don't believe in tagging her either. When we bought her she had her earring in and that was the first thing we did was to take that out of her. Their is no need for that nonsense on a cow. If the person that wants to get her from us wants her as part of a large herd then we will just keep her because, like all of our animals, they need to be treated with respect and if Buttecup is to be just a number then don't even try buying her off of us.
But with all that being said, we are going to go in a direction that allows us to concentrate on goat milk and goat milk products. Nicole is making wonderful fudges from and I am experimenting on making cheese. I have learned the art of Chevre and Chevrella (goat cheese mozzerella) and Nicole is making a number of different kinds, all of which are really really smooth and creamy. I am not just saying that because I am the first to tell her if the recipe is good or not. And believe me, I have tried some god aweful fudges. But its like anything in life. You cannot expect the first couple of times tried will be successful. What makes anything successful is getting up and trying over and over and over until it is right. And the fudge she makes is wonderful now. I would like to try it against Mackinac Island Fudge.... it would be close.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Everyone Loves The Circus!!!
Nicole has put the finishing touches on the mobile chicken coop. This this is real nice. The only problem is now people are going to start thinking that we are Bulldog fans when clearly we are not..... just take a look at our mailbox. Wolverines all the way baby. It is now an entrance fee for our family. So in order for them to come down and see their grandchildren, they must provide some sort of garb with the University of Michigan logo on it... it is only then they may see our kids. No kidding, if they drive 800 miles and they don't have so much as a U of M hat then they are turned away. Its the only way for me to ever get any type of respectable hat... Lord knows down here (especially Pendergrass) they live and breathe the God awful bulldogs.
Anyways, back to the point of the blog. Our chickens are now part of the Cirque and will be performing daily. Acts include scratching, pecking order disputes, drinking, eating bugs, laying eggs and an occasional race around the yard. They have doing that since we got them, the only difference is now they have a snazzy mobile coop to roost or nest in.
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Anyways, back to the point of the blog. Our chickens are now part of the Cirque and will be performing daily. Acts include scratching, pecking order disputes, drinking, eating bugs, laying eggs and an occasional race around the yard. They have doing that since we got them, the only difference is now they have a snazzy mobile coop to roost or nest in.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Where, Oh Where, Can Our Little Duck Be?
Yesterday afternoon, during the daily "great duck migration" from the pond to the front yard, we noticed there were only 3 ducks in the line waddling up the driveway.
After an extensive search of the pond banks and the pasture we still have not been able to locate our fourth duck.
I know we should not be surprised. The neighbors even warned us when we released our ducks into the pond that there were fox in the area and the other neighbors dogs roam freely without supervision - ever - but I still had overly high hopes that the ducks would be able to fend for themselves.
Looking out across the farm this morning I saw the ducks - teasing the calf like they tend to do in the morning. Only three. I wish I knew what happened to that other duck. At least that way I could try to prevent it from happening again.
Yes, I know, I should be accepting of loss - it is a farm after all and animals die, but I can't help but be sad about this. The ducks are my guarantee for a good day. No matter how bad your mood is, you can't help but laugh when you see them waddling in a line slowly up the driveway doing that little military cadence "quack, quack, QUAACK" as they walk. I just watched them do it again - and for the first time, I didn't laugh, didn't even smile - just felt a bit heartbroken looking at that incomplete line.
After an extensive search of the pond banks and the pasture we still have not been able to locate our fourth duck.
I know we should not be surprised. The neighbors even warned us when we released our ducks into the pond that there were fox in the area and the other neighbors dogs roam freely without supervision - ever - but I still had overly high hopes that the ducks would be able to fend for themselves.
Looking out across the farm this morning I saw the ducks - teasing the calf like they tend to do in the morning. Only three. I wish I knew what happened to that other duck. At least that way I could try to prevent it from happening again.
Yes, I know, I should be accepting of loss - it is a farm after all and animals die, but I can't help but be sad about this. The ducks are my guarantee for a good day. No matter how bad your mood is, you can't help but laugh when you see them waddling in a line slowly up the driveway doing that little military cadence "quack, quack, QUAACK" as they walk. I just watched them do it again - and for the first time, I didn't laugh, didn't even smile - just felt a bit heartbroken looking at that incomplete line.
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| Our Ducks, "Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday" (named by our 4 year old daughter) |
Friday, June 10, 2011
Our Dairy Queen
Alexia, our oldest daughter, is our farms' dairy queen. She is the one who gets up in the morning and milks all of the goats and our cow. By milking I don't mean turning on a surge milker and attaching the machine to the utters of our animals, I mean she hand milks every single doe and cow by hand! And eventhough the does are so docile and friendly that anyone can come over and milk them; Buttercup, our Jersey cow only allows Alexia to milk her. She will stand still for Alexia but if anyone else tries to milk her, Buttercup gets a little uneasy and starts to move around, more than likely this results in her stepping into the milk bucket.
When Nicole and I started the dairy portion of the farm, we decided that we were only going to bring to our farm does that have strong milking bloodlines. To find this type of doe, look at the bloodline of the doe and a strong milker will have an * by their name. For instance, Elliot, one of our youngest does has never been pregnant but is producing about 60 oz of milk a day. It has a lot to do with the fact that she is around all the other does who have had their kids and is from a strong milking bloodline.
So why did I mention the types of does we have on our farm? Because Alexia milks every single one of them, and these girls do not give just a little amount milk. Even if you don't have a clue of what time it is, you can tell just by looking at our does. When their back legs look like they are trying to do the splits then you know that its either 6 am or pm. It is funny looking. By 5:45 in the evening the does start their trek of waddeling up to the barn from the pasture and it looks like they are smuggeling a beachball between their hind legs. We do have a couple of moms that still have their kids so they dont have beach ball-itis. For instance Jane has her daughter Dahlila still on her, Ruby still has Zaxby on her and Prim still has the twins who we haven't named because we are giving them away.
Now when the mom's ween off their kids then Alexia's milk load will increase almost 50%!!!! This is just goats.
Now Buttercup is a different story. She has her calf with her but we have to seperate the two because eventhough Flower (the calf) is old enough to be weened off of Buttercup, she will still take every last drop of milk from mom. So what we do is take Flower from mom overnight so Alexia can milk Buttercup in the morning. Alexia then lets the calf out of her area and then she hits the milk. At around 2 in the afternoon Buttercup and Flower are seperated so around 5 Alexia can milk her. Then the calf is then let out again until about 9 pm when she is seperated from Buttercup for the night and the process starts over again.
We do this for a couple of reasons:
1) Buttercup utter is HUGE... we can take two gallons out of her at a milking and she is still not done, so Flower bats cleanup and gets the rest.
2) Flower on mom helps promote a vast quantity of milk, keeping Flower off of Buttercup will cause her to dry up so eventhough there are days that Alexia isn't on her 'A' game with the milking, Flower will drink her dry and keep mom producing.
3)Mother's milk is best. Eventhough all the traditional farmers tell me that it is time to ween her off, we still think that Flower will be a healthier cow just because she is still getting her mom's milk.
So when anyone meets us, either by coming having a tour of our farm, at the farmers Market or where ever, I will always introduce my oldest, and most responsible daughter, as The Dairy Queen. Because without all that she does, our farm would never be the same. And for that, as well as everything else you do around our farm, our house, and for our family, I want to say thank you for all your hard work. I love you Alexia.
When Nicole and I started the dairy portion of the farm, we decided that we were only going to bring to our farm does that have strong milking bloodlines. To find this type of doe, look at the bloodline of the doe and a strong milker will have an * by their name. For instance, Elliot, one of our youngest does has never been pregnant but is producing about 60 oz of milk a day. It has a lot to do with the fact that she is around all the other does who have had their kids and is from a strong milking bloodline.
So why did I mention the types of does we have on our farm? Because Alexia milks every single one of them, and these girls do not give just a little amount milk. Even if you don't have a clue of what time it is, you can tell just by looking at our does. When their back legs look like they are trying to do the splits then you know that its either 6 am or pm. It is funny looking. By 5:45 in the evening the does start their trek of waddeling up to the barn from the pasture and it looks like they are smuggeling a beachball between their hind legs. We do have a couple of moms that still have their kids so they dont have beach ball-itis. For instance Jane has her daughter Dahlila still on her, Ruby still has Zaxby on her and Prim still has the twins who we haven't named because we are giving them away.
Now when the mom's ween off their kids then Alexia's milk load will increase almost 50%!!!! This is just goats.
Now Buttercup is a different story. She has her calf with her but we have to seperate the two because eventhough Flower (the calf) is old enough to be weened off of Buttercup, she will still take every last drop of milk from mom. So what we do is take Flower from mom overnight so Alexia can milk Buttercup in the morning. Alexia then lets the calf out of her area and then she hits the milk. At around 2 in the afternoon Buttercup and Flower are seperated so around 5 Alexia can milk her. Then the calf is then let out again until about 9 pm when she is seperated from Buttercup for the night and the process starts over again.
We do this for a couple of reasons:
1) Buttercup utter is HUGE... we can take two gallons out of her at a milking and she is still not done, so Flower bats cleanup and gets the rest.
2) Flower on mom helps promote a vast quantity of milk, keeping Flower off of Buttercup will cause her to dry up so eventhough there are days that Alexia isn't on her 'A' game with the milking, Flower will drink her dry and keep mom producing.
3)Mother's milk is best. Eventhough all the traditional farmers tell me that it is time to ween her off, we still think that Flower will be a healthier cow just because she is still getting her mom's milk.
So when anyone meets us, either by coming having a tour of our farm, at the farmers Market or where ever, I will always introduce my oldest, and most responsible daughter, as The Dairy Queen. Because without all that she does, our farm would never be the same. And for that, as well as everything else you do around our farm, our house, and for our family, I want to say thank you for all your hard work. I love you Alexia.
Alexia posing in a demonstration for her 8th grade class.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Fate is what brought us together.
Getting into beekeeping almost never happened; at least it not like it is now. Last year when we were in the discussion stages of building our farmstead, bees were talked about very infrequently, and when Nicole and I did get on the topic of bees it was our agreement that we would get a hive or two so we would have some honey as well as some on site pollinators for our raised bed gardens.
With absolutely zero knowledge of anything related to bees (except for the fact that they sting), I started looking on the internet for bees. This was in July.
Now if anyone out there that knows anything about buying bees will know that you cannot find ANYONE with bees for sale in July. So now we wait… and start looking for bees to buy in February of this year. Now if anyone out there that know anything about buying bees will know that you cannot find ANYONE with bees for sale. But know it’s because their orders are already filled and all of their bees have been spoken for.
Frustrated and desperate, we start scouring the internet for people with bees for sale; craigslist, bee farm websites, bee magazines… everywhere. We find a site who still has bees for sale, and he had a deal going on that if you purchase his bees, the hives and bee suit from him then he will give you a free class on raising bees. Holy cow, he lives 20 minutes from our house and we will even get a free class on raising bees. This was wonderful!
I called the number he had on the website; answering machine. Called the next day; nothing. Again I called the next day; nothing. I did this for weeks and only got an answering machine or a voice telling me that the answering machine was full. I needed to get a hold of his guy. I wanted bees, and the free class. I then got the bright idea to text him…. Maybe the number on the site was a cell number, and then he would get my desperate text. A text telling him that I was willing to give him money for the bees and hives and suits…..nothing. Then, I called one last time… and got nothing. I was just about to give up on him when I decided to call him right back. And I get “Hello”. I almost hung up on him, thinking it was his answering machine. Holy crap I got a hold of him! I quickly told him my situation and asked if he still had bees for sale and he said he did. I almost peed myself. Then I proceeded to tell him that I was willing to buy bees, suits, hives, tools…. Everything from him. I was trying to throw all of my money at him. He then told me that he was up in the mountains and that I needed to call him tomorrow after 1:00p.m. to set up a time to come pick up everything. I thanked him about 10 times and told him I will call at 1:15 sharp and was willing to drive to his house that day to some and talk to him.
1:15p.m. the next day. No answer. 2:00, no answer. 3:00, no answer. I QUIT!
A few days later Nicole gets the most brilliant idea. Post a wanted ad on craigslist for bees.
Within a couple of days a fellow named Stacy emails, or calls us telling us that if we are interested in bees that we need to call a guy he has been dealing with and he will be more than happy to sell us bees.
So I call Don Kuchenmeister. I give him my sad story about how I have not been able to get bees and been wanting bees for our farm. He stops me and tells me that he is willing to sell me bees and to be at his house Saturday. I called him on a Tuesday.
I called again on Thursday to be sure that the bees are going to be ready and he said that they would be there on Saturday. We talked for about half an hour. We talked about why I wanted bees, and what I wanted to do with them. Then he springs on me that I should sign up for his classes. They were individual weekend classes or a commercial bee class. I didn’t want to go into the commercial bee business but it was more economically smart to buy the commercial class then multiple individual classes. So Nicole and I signed up for commercial bee keeping classes.
Now Saturday comes and it is raining. I mean it was coming down in buckets. But we get to his house and he is in his garage putzing around. We introduce ourselves and we start talking about bees and hives and honey and wax and queens and nucs and everything you can think of. We went into his classroom and talked more about nucs and packages and queens. The rain stopped and we got a tour of the place and continued talking about hives and pest control and the next thing we knew, we spent 4 hours there doing nothing but soaking in all that he had to say.
Nicole and I thanked him and paid his wife for two commercial classes. And we drove away without any bees. Not that there wasn’t any available, but we had just ran into a huge turning point in our thinking of the farm.
We talked all the way home about maybe we should get into the bee business as well. We were at Don’s house the next day... no rain. And we started our commercial bee course. We learned hive building…..and for the next 8 weeks Nicole and I were at his doorstep every Saturday to learn and learn and learn.
So I guess this is a thank you blog to the bee guy who wouldn’t call me back.
Thank you for not taking my call. I really have learned a lot about bees because of you.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Japanese Giant Hornets
I guess I could have called this blog post "Something I Wish I Knew Before Getting Into Beekeeping", because, wow - I think I might have reconsidered. Have you ever seen a Japanese Giant Hornet? They are huge. No, I don't just mean large I mean HUGE. These guys are rated one of the "5 most horrifying bugs in the world" - and just in case you don't already know, let me tell you why:
- It is larger than the size of your thumb and sprays flesh-melting poison. (No, I am not exaggerating.) They aim this poison at your eyes. This wonderful poison has pheromones that will bring every hornet in the hive over to sting you until you die. (again, NO - I am not exaggerating).
- They can fly 50 miles in a day - so it is not like you can outrun it.
- An adult hornet will fly miles to find food. I have learned that it's favorite food is a hive inhabited by thousands of bees. A hornet that finds a hive will spray the hive with some acid to call in its fellow hornets. They then descend upon the beehive like an unholy plague of hell-born death engines and the bees do not stand a chance.
Check out this video from BBC about just 30 of these hornets killing off a hive of 30,000 bees.
I swear whenever I see one of these things in my yard it takes everything I have not to scoop up my children and run for cover while screaming my head off. Instead I just bravely wait until it lands and hack it in half with a shovel (secretly hoping that no other hornets were watching and are now going back for reinforcements).
Friday, May 13, 2011
Making My Own "Miracle Grow"
So I have just spent the better part of the morning making my own "miracle grow" potting mix.
Ted and I bought 8 organically grown heirloom cherry tomato plants. Ted decided he did not want to put them in the 3 gallon pots we used last year - he claims the pots "limited the plants growth". So he brought home 8 huge 16 gallon pots.
I filled a few inches of the bottom of the pots with wood chips to help with drainage, and the rest of the pot was filled with my own soil mixture. Let's just say, after this experience, these plants better be freaking HUGE!
I went around my pasture looking for fresh (but not too fresh) manure from the animals. I decided it would be best to find piles that were "full of life" - meaning full of all different kinds of bugs throughout the pile. If the pile is too old, there is no life in it at all so it is not as "good". If it is too fresh, the only thing that likes it is the flies - so, it is also not as "good". Lets just say after a while of looking for the "right" piles - I have become quite the "poop aficionado".
After scooping several piles into the wheelbarrow, I sprayed enough water into it and mixed it with my shovel until it was like very thick pea soup. Then I started adding soil. I added soil until the "soup" started looking more like dirt. I figured when it was no longer required that I breathe through my mouth - the mixture was probably pretty good.
Ok - so here are the important things I learned while doing this task:
Now that the monster sized pots are full, I am hoping it will be quite some time before I have to tackle this job again. But, around here, you never know. This might work so well that Ted will make me fill all the raised garden beds with this mixture. Let's hope not.
Ted and I bought 8 organically grown heirloom cherry tomato plants. Ted decided he did not want to put them in the 3 gallon pots we used last year - he claims the pots "limited the plants growth". So he brought home 8 huge 16 gallon pots.
I filled a few inches of the bottom of the pots with wood chips to help with drainage, and the rest of the pot was filled with my own soil mixture. Let's just say, after this experience, these plants better be freaking HUGE!
I went around my pasture looking for fresh (but not too fresh) manure from the animals. I decided it would be best to find piles that were "full of life" - meaning full of all different kinds of bugs throughout the pile. If the pile is too old, there is no life in it at all so it is not as "good". If it is too fresh, the only thing that likes it is the flies - so, it is also not as "good". Lets just say after a while of looking for the "right" piles - I have become quite the "poop aficionado".
After scooping several piles into the wheelbarrow, I sprayed enough water into it and mixed it with my shovel until it was like very thick pea soup. Then I started adding soil. I added soil until the "soup" started looking more like dirt. I figured when it was no longer required that I breathe through my mouth - the mixture was probably pretty good.
Ok - so here are the important things I learned while doing this task:
- While spraying the water into the "fresh" piles - if it splashes up onto your face - don't use the back of your hand to wipe it off - spray it off with the hose.
- When mixing this up in your wheelbarrow with your shovel - pull in to the middle from the outside edges not from the middle out. Mixing the wrong way causes the wheelbarrow to tip over and spill its contents all over you and your unsuspecting dog who loves to lay at your feet while you work. Yuck! Trust me.
- Make sure you set up the sprinkler to keep the kids occupied on a hot day. Otherwise, your 2 littlest boys will try to swim in the animal's watering trough.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Sometimes You Just Have To Let Go...
I wish I had happier news to report but unfortunately, life being the way it is and nature being cruel on occasion, sad news is at hand.
Last night, little Chantilly Lace "Lacy", moved on to greener pastures. I am very disappointed as she seemed, at least for a moment, like she was going to improve. I am not sure what could have been done differently. She had a very rough start and a difficult, short life - in spite of my attempts to make things "better".
I will miss her, the way she would follow us everywhere we went, the way she would call for me if I was not in her sight and especially the way she would play with Ridge and make him crack up laughing those sweet deep belly laughs that you only see in early childhood.
Good-bye delicate little Lacy. You will be remembered.
Last night, little Chantilly Lace "Lacy", moved on to greener pastures. I am very disappointed as she seemed, at least for a moment, like she was going to improve. I am not sure what could have been done differently. She had a very rough start and a difficult, short life - in spite of my attempts to make things "better".
I will miss her, the way she would follow us everywhere we went, the way she would call for me if I was not in her sight and especially the way she would play with Ridge and make him crack up laughing those sweet deep belly laughs that you only see in early childhood.
Good-bye delicate little Lacy. You will be remembered.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Check Out Our New Logo!
After much discussion and many, many revisions we finally have a logo for our farm!
We wanted something that let people know we were a farm, but we really wanted to stay away from the traditional red barn and silo look - because we are sooooooooooooo not a "traditional" farm. We wanted it to show we were a family farm and that we love our animals. We also wanted to make sure it had lots of blue sky to make people think of the perfect day!
Here is what the designer came up with:
It represents all 5 of our kids interacting with some of the animals we have here on the farm.
Let us know what you think!
We wanted something that let people know we were a farm, but we really wanted to stay away from the traditional red barn and silo look - because we are sooooooooooooo not a "traditional" farm. We wanted it to show we were a family farm and that we love our animals. We also wanted to make sure it had lots of blue sky to make people think of the perfect day!
Here is what the designer came up with:
It represents all 5 of our kids interacting with some of the animals we have here on the farm.
Let us know what you think!
Rollercoaster - What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday morning, Lacy was not doing well. She was so weak she could not stand. By the afternoon she could not pick up her head anymore. After countless online searches trying to find anything - any site that offers a treatment - instead of just the "death typically occurs 24 - 36 hours after onset...." I finally found one little paragraph that mentioned something that might help.
Weak as she was I could not feed her. I had to give her 24 hours of nothing but water mixed with baking soda. And I was only supposed to give her 2 teaspoons of that mixture every 4 hours. An entire day with no food and minimal water. How could I be so cruel on what was probably her last day alive anyway? Well, on the hope that it will work, I was determined to try.
By the afternoon when she could not pick up her head anymore I was certain I was killing her. Really though, what choice did I have? Chances were good she was going to die anyway. So I would pick up her limp little body and wrap it in a towel and take her onto my porch and rock her in my arms as I sat in the rocking chair. Yeah, I know, some "farmer" I am turning out to be.
At 6 pm I laid Lacy outside in the flowerbed where she always liked to be when she was napping back when she was healthier. I helped Alexia with the nighttime farm chores. Around 7pm Ted and I had to leave to go to one of Preston's band concerts. I went and put down fresh towels in our bathtub (Lacy's "bedroom") and went outside to grab her so I could put her to bed before we left. She wasn't where I had left her. She was about 6 feet away - sleeping. I woke her and tried to get her to stand, she couldn't, so I assumed Quinlynn had picked her up and moved her.
This morning I did not want to check on her. I just knew she was going to be dead when I went in there. After all, she never made a sound all night.
After spending much longer than normal getting out of bed I went into the bathroom and turned on the light. I leaned over the bathtub and there she was, sleeping. I petted her back and lifted her head a little. She opened her eyes while I spoke to her. I let her head go and she held it up for only a second before it flopped back down onto her side.
I went into the kitchen and warmed up some milk for a bottle. I brought it back into the bathroom and there was Lacy - standing! Not just standing, mind you, but standing on her back two legs with her front two legs up on the edge of the bathtub and she gave this loud Baaaaaaaah! as soon as she saw the bottle.
She drank the whole thing, by herself, no tube needed. When I set her back down she walked around the tub for a little while, sniffing everything, before she turned back to me and put her front two legs back up on the side of the tub. So, I took her outside and set her in the front yard where she immediately began walking around and chewing whatever weeds she could find.
Ok, I am not trying to get my hopes up here but WOW! What a difference a day makes. Let's just hope this wonderful change continues!
Weak as she was I could not feed her. I had to give her 24 hours of nothing but water mixed with baking soda. And I was only supposed to give her 2 teaspoons of that mixture every 4 hours. An entire day with no food and minimal water. How could I be so cruel on what was probably her last day alive anyway? Well, on the hope that it will work, I was determined to try.
By the afternoon when she could not pick up her head anymore I was certain I was killing her. Really though, what choice did I have? Chances were good she was going to die anyway. So I would pick up her limp little body and wrap it in a towel and take her onto my porch and rock her in my arms as I sat in the rocking chair. Yeah, I know, some "farmer" I am turning out to be.
At 6 pm I laid Lacy outside in the flowerbed where she always liked to be when she was napping back when she was healthier. I helped Alexia with the nighttime farm chores. Around 7pm Ted and I had to leave to go to one of Preston's band concerts. I went and put down fresh towels in our bathtub (Lacy's "bedroom") and went outside to grab her so I could put her to bed before we left. She wasn't where I had left her. She was about 6 feet away - sleeping. I woke her and tried to get her to stand, she couldn't, so I assumed Quinlynn had picked her up and moved her.
This morning I did not want to check on her. I just knew she was going to be dead when I went in there. After all, she never made a sound all night.
After spending much longer than normal getting out of bed I went into the bathroom and turned on the light. I leaned over the bathtub and there she was, sleeping. I petted her back and lifted her head a little. She opened her eyes while I spoke to her. I let her head go and she held it up for only a second before it flopped back down onto her side.
I went into the kitchen and warmed up some milk for a bottle. I brought it back into the bathroom and there was Lacy - standing! Not just standing, mind you, but standing on her back two legs with her front two legs up on the edge of the bathtub and she gave this loud Baaaaaaaah! as soon as she saw the bottle.
She drank the whole thing, by herself, no tube needed. When I set her back down she walked around the tub for a little while, sniffing everything, before she turned back to me and put her front two legs back up on the side of the tub. So, I took her outside and set her in the front yard where she immediately began walking around and chewing whatever weeds she could find.
Ok, I am not trying to get my hopes up here but WOW! What a difference a day makes. Let's just hope this wonderful change continues!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Therapeutic Interventions: How Much Is Too Much?
I have been really struggling with my conscience lately. It all revolves around the little doeling that I have blogged about before. We have named her Chantilly Lace - we call her Lacy. When Lacy was born she weighed only about 4.5 pounds - that's about half the size of a normal, healthy goat kid. She was immediately rejected by her mother who focused all of her attention on Lacy's sister - the 8 pound doeling we named Delilah. I left Lacy with her mom for as long as I could stand it before I took her away to bottle feed her. When I brought her in the house I noticed she was bleeding from her umbilical cord - more blood than I would have considered normal. Even more than I would describe as a "significant amount". I contacted our "goat mentor" and was told not to worry about it. An hour later, with a blood soaked towel in hand, I checked out what I could find on the internet page "Goat 911" (yes, that really exists). Again, it seemed like I was the one making a big deal out of what most would consider a minor situation. The advice I found was to tie off the umbilical cord with dental floss. I did. It slowed the blood loss down quite a bit, but it was far from stopping it.
In the meantime, I was trying to get Lacy to take a bottle. She just couldn't get the hang of it. I tried switching to different nipples. I tried warming the milk, cooling the milk - nothing. Finally I resorted to tube feeding her. The above mentioned bleeding stopped after 3 days. After several days, she seemed to be getting stronger. We would bring her outside and she would run and play with my children. She was your typical bouncy baby goat. Adorable. We finally got to the point where she was taking a bottle for her entire meal - no more tube feeding.
Then, a turn for the worse. She stopped being interested in eating. Taking less and less by bottle and more and more from a tube. Soon it was like all of her strength was gone and she would just lay there. When I would take her outside she would stand - wobbly - and take a few very shaky steps, and fall over. Heartbreaking. I looked it up and figured she had something called "Floppy Kid Syndrome". A call to the vet was not reassuring when I was told "sometimes you just have to let them go".
So here is my problem. I really wanted to embrace the Nature's Harmony Farm model of letting nature take its course. But I can't seem to let this one go. As I spend my 3 a.m.'s tube feeding, I wonder if I am doing the right thing. After all, she would not have survived long "in nature" since her mom rejected her at birth. (Obviously knowing something was seriously wrong.) Am I just prolonging her suffering? Not that it seems like she is suffering at all - but how do I know she is not suffering. I don't. And she is not telling me.
So, against my "original" intentions of not stepping in when nature is cruel - I am currently warming yet another bottle of milk and preparing to feed delicate little Lacy through a tube in the hopes that today is the day she will make a turn around. That maybe soon she can join her sister and half-brothers in the pasture and be the bouncy happy kid she deserves to be.
And yet in the back of my mind I still wonder - Is this right?
In the meantime, I was trying to get Lacy to take a bottle. She just couldn't get the hang of it. I tried switching to different nipples. I tried warming the milk, cooling the milk - nothing. Finally I resorted to tube feeding her. The above mentioned bleeding stopped after 3 days. After several days, she seemed to be getting stronger. We would bring her outside and she would run and play with my children. She was your typical bouncy baby goat. Adorable. We finally got to the point where she was taking a bottle for her entire meal - no more tube feeding.
Then, a turn for the worse. She stopped being interested in eating. Taking less and less by bottle and more and more from a tube. Soon it was like all of her strength was gone and she would just lay there. When I would take her outside she would stand - wobbly - and take a few very shaky steps, and fall over. Heartbreaking. I looked it up and figured she had something called "Floppy Kid Syndrome". A call to the vet was not reassuring when I was told "sometimes you just have to let them go".
So here is my problem. I really wanted to embrace the Nature's Harmony Farm model of letting nature take its course. But I can't seem to let this one go. As I spend my 3 a.m.'s tube feeding, I wonder if I am doing the right thing. After all, she would not have survived long "in nature" since her mom rejected her at birth. (Obviously knowing something was seriously wrong.) Am I just prolonging her suffering? Not that it seems like she is suffering at all - but how do I know she is not suffering. I don't. And she is not telling me.
So, against my "original" intentions of not stepping in when nature is cruel - I am currently warming yet another bottle of milk and preparing to feed delicate little Lacy through a tube in the hopes that today is the day she will make a turn around. That maybe soon she can join her sister and half-brothers in the pasture and be the bouncy happy kid she deserves to be.
And yet in the back of my mind I still wonder - Is this right?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tube Feeding a Little Doeling
Maybe it was all the training we had with our 4 preemie babies, but tube feeding this little doeling has been a breeze. I just wish we didn't have to do it. I wish she was big and healthy like her sister.
She is progressing just like our "real" kids did when they were preemies. First it is the entire meal through a tube. After a few days, there will be some interest in taking a bottle - but only a little - so the rest of the meal is fed through a tube. Then, finally, the baby is strong enough to take a bottle for the entire meal. Once that happens, there is no looking back - they eat like mad and grow like weeds.
The only thing that is a little bothersome is inserting the tube down her throat and into her belly. It doesn't seem to bother her at all - just me. I can't imagine what that feels like - having a tube in your throat. I would think you would have a constant gagging/choking feeling. Yuck! This little doeling just takes it all in stride. No problems. Just insert tube, feed, remove tube, sleep.
Today, she finally took a bottle for the entire meal. Yeah! She is much stronger now. She spends her days playing in the yard with the kids and her nights warm in our garden tub in our master bathroom. She has quite a set-up. A room for royalty. Her bed is lined with soft towels and she has a heater in the bathroom to keep the room at a comfy 80 degrees. She gets "breakfast in bed" at 3am. What a charmed life!!
We just need to pick a name for her.
She is progressing just like our "real" kids did when they were preemies. First it is the entire meal through a tube. After a few days, there will be some interest in taking a bottle - but only a little - so the rest of the meal is fed through a tube. Then, finally, the baby is strong enough to take a bottle for the entire meal. Once that happens, there is no looking back - they eat like mad and grow like weeds.
The only thing that is a little bothersome is inserting the tube down her throat and into her belly. It doesn't seem to bother her at all - just me. I can't imagine what that feels like - having a tube in your throat. I would think you would have a constant gagging/choking feeling. Yuck! This little doeling just takes it all in stride. No problems. Just insert tube, feed, remove tube, sleep.
Today, she finally took a bottle for the entire meal. Yeah! She is much stronger now. She spends her days playing in the yard with the kids and her nights warm in our garden tub in our master bathroom. She has quite a set-up. A room for royalty. Her bed is lined with soft towels and she has a heater in the bathroom to keep the room at a comfy 80 degrees. She gets "breakfast in bed" at 3am. What a charmed life!!
We just need to pick a name for her.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Complaining Gets You What You Want
Apparently if you complain on your blog about getting nothing but bucklings then your next doe will kid doelings. Jane, our eldest and most docile Saanen of our goat family gave birth yesterday to two doelings. We have yet to name them, we leave that to our oh so imaginative 3 year old daughter, Quinlynn.
Quin has named all of our Rhode Island Red chickens (see our first image of our first blog) Larry. The only Rooster of the bunch was named Charlie, our ducklings were named Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She named our calf flower. She even named the puppy that was sewn onto her shirt Breakfast. She's got quite the imagination, for a three year old her vocabulary will amaze you. Everyday she makes me laugh by just what she says. I mean how many 3 year olds say "Thank you for the (whatever), it was extremely delicious and my tummy enjoyed it very much". She used to say words incorrectly and it was cute. Like the word burrfly instead of butterfly, but now she can say it correctly and just for fun if someone calls it a burrfly she will put her hands on her hips and correct how you say it... you might even get a finger wagging in your face while she tells you how to say the word correctly.
So, getting back on topic.... Jane's babies. One of them is healthy as can be but unfortunately one of them is a runt and we are feeding her our self. She is right now residing in our bath tub and will come out when it is feeding time. Her development is slow so for the first 6 feedings Nicole had to tube feed her. This evening our oldest daughter, Alexia was successful in bottle feeding her which is a very important step, it means that she is gaining strength and the will to survive. Since she is staying in the house with us, we put a diaper on her and let her roam the house.
Quin has named all of our Rhode Island Red chickens (see our first image of our first blog) Larry. The only Rooster of the bunch was named Charlie, our ducklings were named Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She named our calf flower. She even named the puppy that was sewn onto her shirt Breakfast. She's got quite the imagination, for a three year old her vocabulary will amaze you. Everyday she makes me laugh by just what she says. I mean how many 3 year olds say "Thank you for the (whatever), it was extremely delicious and my tummy enjoyed it very much". She used to say words incorrectly and it was cute. Like the word burrfly instead of butterfly, but now she can say it correctly and just for fun if someone calls it a burrfly she will put her hands on her hips and correct how you say it... you might even get a finger wagging in your face while she tells you how to say the word correctly.
So, getting back on topic.... Jane's babies. One of them is healthy as can be but unfortunately one of them is a runt and we are feeding her our self. She is right now residing in our bath tub and will come out when it is feeding time. Her development is slow so for the first 6 feedings Nicole had to tube feed her. This evening our oldest daughter, Alexia was successful in bottle feeding her which is a very important step, it means that she is gaining strength and the will to survive. Since she is staying in the house with us, we put a diaper on her and let her roam the house.
Up next is our 2nd Nubian, Primrose (Prim for short). She was bred just three days after Jane was bred so we should be right back in the action of new babies on Thursday if we are lucky. Maybe I should complain more about the boys we got earlier to ensure doelings from Prim..... here's hoping.
so the preliminary names that Quinlynn has given them is "Baby Jane and Little Baby Jane"
Friday, April 22, 2011
Bucklings, The New Way to Network
So we have had two of our does give birth so far, in the beginning of March, Blush, our two year old Nubian gave birth to twin bucklings. This past Tuesday our Clover gave birth to a large Saanan buckling. We are happy that both of the births came without incident and that we were lucky enough to have Nicole right there during both births so she can help the mommy's out. All that aside... come...on... couldn't we get at least one little doe!!!?
Alot of dairy goat farmers call bucklings a useless animal and it is not uncommon to drown the little guys before they have a chance to even make their first baby goat baa sound. I have found that these three little guys, athough not useful in dairy production, have helped us in a way no doe of ours could do. They have given us a contact to some families that really love animals. Some of the families who get these little guys are using them to naturally clear fields and some families are opting to have their buckling registered and using our bloodline as their own stud service. For whatever the reason for buying the boys from us, we get to learn about, and from, their new owners.
Last night Nicole and I spent a good amount of time with really friendly and positive people. They saw our ad on Craigslist for the sale of our Saanan buckling, emailed us, and gave us their phone number to contact them. They arrived at our house around 8 last night and we didn't get back into our house until almost 10.
Right off the bat we found that they were from Michigan (we are taking over Georgia) so if nothing else we already had something in common to talk about. But the talk of Michigan was short lived, we started talking about how we got to the point we are now, why we are doing this and where we are trying to go. We have found so many like-minded people that, if nothing else, appreciate and adapt some our methods to be part of their own.
Now beyond our rant of feed, pasture grazing, our rotational pastures of our chickens, the free range ducks (that would rather stay near the house than the pond), all of our raised vegetable gardens, our bees (and the organic ways to treat them), the soon to arrive turkeys, our cows, and the future pigs (come to think of it, we talk alot); we got to listen to how and why they got their goats, the neat tradition they have every year making and preserving apple cider, their hay bailing business and their overall values of starting and maintaining their new small farm venture.
When they decided they should leave, we ended up with someone we can call if ever we need to bounce ideas off of, and we made sure that if they needed help with anything that they are more than welcome to call, stop by or contact us anytime they wanted.
We, by no means, know all the answers but we have tried and failed enough times in different aspects of this farm and we are more than willing to share what we did, how we screwed up, and help others, hopefully costing them alot less in expenses (and time) than it cost us.
Alot of dairy goat farmers call bucklings a useless animal and it is not uncommon to drown the little guys before they have a chance to even make their first baby goat baa sound. I have found that these three little guys, athough not useful in dairy production, have helped us in a way no doe of ours could do. They have given us a contact to some families that really love animals. Some of the families who get these little guys are using them to naturally clear fields and some families are opting to have their buckling registered and using our bloodline as their own stud service. For whatever the reason for buying the boys from us, we get to learn about, and from, their new owners.
Last night Nicole and I spent a good amount of time with really friendly and positive people. They saw our ad on Craigslist for the sale of our Saanan buckling, emailed us, and gave us their phone number to contact them. They arrived at our house around 8 last night and we didn't get back into our house until almost 10.
Right off the bat we found that they were from Michigan (we are taking over Georgia) so if nothing else we already had something in common to talk about. But the talk of Michigan was short lived, we started talking about how we got to the point we are now, why we are doing this and where we are trying to go. We have found so many like-minded people that, if nothing else, appreciate and adapt some our methods to be part of their own.
Now beyond our rant of feed, pasture grazing, our rotational pastures of our chickens, the free range ducks (that would rather stay near the house than the pond), all of our raised vegetable gardens, our bees (and the organic ways to treat them), the soon to arrive turkeys, our cows, and the future pigs (come to think of it, we talk alot); we got to listen to how and why they got their goats, the neat tradition they have every year making and preserving apple cider, their hay bailing business and their overall values of starting and maintaining their new small farm venture.
When they decided they should leave, we ended up with someone we can call if ever we need to bounce ideas off of, and we made sure that if they needed help with anything that they are more than welcome to call, stop by or contact us anytime they wanted.
We, by no means, know all the answers but we have tried and failed enough times in different aspects of this farm and we are more than willing to share what we did, how we screwed up, and help others, hopefully costing them alot less in expenses (and time) than it cost us.
This is our little Saanan that was sold last night
The above two nubians were our very first bucklings, notice the little diapers we had on them so they could stay in our house.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Farm School Weekend at Nature's Harmony Farm
This weekend Ted and I went to a Farm School Weekend at Nature's Harmony Farm. All I can say is "WOW!". Before I get into the details of all the things we saw and learned, let me give you a bit of the backstory as to how we ended up at Nature's Harmony Farm.
It started with the movie Food, Inc. It is a great movie and I was really amazed at what it had to say. I was touched by the farmers featured on the film - especially one in particular, Joe Salatin. Well, if you are into the agriculture farming sustainable living type of thing you know that Joe Salatin has "rock star-like" status in the farming world. Anyway, when I got the chance, I bought a bunch of his books off of Amazon and started reading.
During that time, Ted and I had signed up for a kind of "on-line farmer's market" called Athen's Locally Grown (ALG). We started selling our surplus of eggs to the online members (at what we considered an amazing price but what was considered "fair market value" for free-range, farm fresh, natural brown eggs). We quickly realized that our chickens were going to be able to pay for all the feed that we need for all the animals on the farm with money left over! We were thrilled and knew we were going to be regular sellers on the ALG market!
During this time I had seen an ad in Acres magazine for a "Field-Day on July 9th" at Joe Salatin's Polyface Farm. It would require us to travel to VA, and have family fly here from Michigan to watch the kids, but I finally convinced Ted that we "needed" to go.
About the third time we listed (and sold out) our eggs on ALG, I was just finishing reading the last Joe Salatin book I had purchased. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am never without a book for long. It just so happened Tim and Liz Young from Nature's Harmony Farm posted their new book "The Accidental Farmers" for sale that week on Athen's Locally Grown. I thought about buying it, but didn't.
That week when I was delivering the egg order placed online, I parked next to the large delivery truck of Nature's Harmony Farm. I saw a couple of people talking at the back of the truck so I quickly checked my purse to see if I had any cash. I headed over to the man and woman and asked if they happened to have any books left over that I could buy. That is how I met Tim and Liz Young.
Our conversation wasn't long or life changing or anything, but I left them with that good feeling you get when you meet someone so nice it really make's your day better. Later that night I started to read the book....and....didn't.....stop. I swear, it was like someone had written my and Ted's story. Obviously, some of the details were different but it was "our story" nonetheless.
Forget Joe Salatin - I had new "farming 'Rock Star' idols" and it was Tim and Liz Young.
Their book motivated me to check out the Nature's Harmony Farm website. While there, I discovered the "Farm School Weekend" upcoming event. This time, it didn't take much convincing at all. Ted saw that Nature's Harmony Farm was only an hour and a half away and that meant no long car rides, hotel costs or visting relatives so he told me to "sign us up".
All winter I was looking forward to that weekend. I was so excited! Then, about a week before "the big event" I discovered that Preston's Solo & Ensemble music festival (which he was in four different events and in one of them was performing a piece of music that he had arrainged himself) AND Preston's prom was on that same Saturday.
Let's just say, I am probably not in the running for mother of the year for 2011. I told Preston that since this was not his senior prom then it really doesn't count anyway and I asked him to ask some of his friends to take him to and home from the music festival. Honestly, I am not as heartless as this makes me sound. I really, really, really wanted to go to the festival - and I probably would have if I didn't know we would loose the $900 we paid for the farm weekend. Although, I do admit, I was indifferent on the Prom thing. Preston is a Sophomore after all, he still has plenty of "proming opportunities" ahead of him.
The Thursday before the "big weekend" Ted and I got in a horrible fight. The kind that makes you change your facebook status to "divorced" (yes, I really did that, I was that mad - LOL). It was so bad we didn't even talk to each other on Friday. Friday evening I asked Ted if he was still coming to the farm weekend with me and he said "I don't know, I'll see". UGH! Needless to say Saturday morning the car ride to Nature's Harmony Farm was tense and I could tell that Ted was not looking forward to spending the weekend with Tim and Liz as I was (what can I say, he didn't read the book - LOL!). We arrived at 8:55am and "school" started at 9.
You'll hear all about Farm School Weekend 2011 in the next post.
It started with the movie Food, Inc. It is a great movie and I was really amazed at what it had to say. I was touched by the farmers featured on the film - especially one in particular, Joe Salatin. Well, if you are into the agriculture farming sustainable living type of thing you know that Joe Salatin has "rock star-like" status in the farming world. Anyway, when I got the chance, I bought a bunch of his books off of Amazon and started reading.
During that time, Ted and I had signed up for a kind of "on-line farmer's market" called Athen's Locally Grown (ALG). We started selling our surplus of eggs to the online members (at what we considered an amazing price but what was considered "fair market value" for free-range, farm fresh, natural brown eggs). We quickly realized that our chickens were going to be able to pay for all the feed that we need for all the animals on the farm with money left over! We were thrilled and knew we were going to be regular sellers on the ALG market!
During this time I had seen an ad in Acres magazine for a "Field-Day on July 9th" at Joe Salatin's Polyface Farm. It would require us to travel to VA, and have family fly here from Michigan to watch the kids, but I finally convinced Ted that we "needed" to go.
About the third time we listed (and sold out) our eggs on ALG, I was just finishing reading the last Joe Salatin book I had purchased. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am never without a book for long. It just so happened Tim and Liz Young from Nature's Harmony Farm posted their new book "The Accidental Farmers" for sale that week on Athen's Locally Grown. I thought about buying it, but didn't.
That week when I was delivering the egg order placed online, I parked next to the large delivery truck of Nature's Harmony Farm. I saw a couple of people talking at the back of the truck so I quickly checked my purse to see if I had any cash. I headed over to the man and woman and asked if they happened to have any books left over that I could buy. That is how I met Tim and Liz Young.
Our conversation wasn't long or life changing or anything, but I left them with that good feeling you get when you meet someone so nice it really make's your day better. Later that night I started to read the book....and....didn't.....stop. I swear, it was like someone had written my and Ted's story. Obviously, some of the details were different but it was "our story" nonetheless.
Forget Joe Salatin - I had new "farming 'Rock Star' idols" and it was Tim and Liz Young.
Their book motivated me to check out the Nature's Harmony Farm website. While there, I discovered the "Farm School Weekend" upcoming event. This time, it didn't take much convincing at all. Ted saw that Nature's Harmony Farm was only an hour and a half away and that meant no long car rides, hotel costs or visting relatives so he told me to "sign us up".
All winter I was looking forward to that weekend. I was so excited! Then, about a week before "the big event" I discovered that Preston's Solo & Ensemble music festival (which he was in four different events and in one of them was performing a piece of music that he had arrainged himself) AND Preston's prom was on that same Saturday.
Let's just say, I am probably not in the running for mother of the year for 2011. I told Preston that since this was not his senior prom then it really doesn't count anyway and I asked him to ask some of his friends to take him to and home from the music festival. Honestly, I am not as heartless as this makes me sound. I really, really, really wanted to go to the festival - and I probably would have if I didn't know we would loose the $900 we paid for the farm weekend. Although, I do admit, I was indifferent on the Prom thing. Preston is a Sophomore after all, he still has plenty of "proming opportunities" ahead of him.
The Thursday before the "big weekend" Ted and I got in a horrible fight. The kind that makes you change your facebook status to "divorced" (yes, I really did that, I was that mad - LOL). It was so bad we didn't even talk to each other on Friday. Friday evening I asked Ted if he was still coming to the farm weekend with me and he said "I don't know, I'll see". UGH! Needless to say Saturday morning the car ride to Nature's Harmony Farm was tense and I could tell that Ted was not looking forward to spending the weekend with Tim and Liz as I was (what can I say, he didn't read the book - LOL!). We arrived at 8:55am and "school" started at 9.
You'll hear all about Farm School Weekend 2011 in the next post.
 |
| Tim and Liz Young Nature's Harmony Farm |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Making Laundry Soap and Window Cleaner
Today I ran out of our homemade laundry soap so I needed to make another batch. We have been using this laundry soap for close to 4 years now - I will never go back to the store bought variety! This works great and best of all, there are no harsh chemicals, no added perfumes and dyes.
We have tried several different types of soap for the recipe but we always seem to go back to Fels Naptha. We used Zote a few times (I kind of liked the mild scent and the fact that it would produce some soap suds - something the Fels-Naptha recipe DOES NOT do). We found that Zote does not dissolve well and creates huge clumps of soap - even when we shaved the soap into very fine flakes. I have never tried Ivory (even though I have over 100 bars of it sitting in my overstock cabinet) - but you CAN use Ivory soap, it is often much easier to find than Fels-Naptha.
Here is the recipe that we use:
Makes 10 Gallons:
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 Bar of Fels-Naptha (or soap bar of your choice)
5 Gallon Bucket with lid
You need to shave the bar of soap into soap flakes. Many people use a handheld cheese grater. Depending on how much time I have, I will too - but many times I just grind up the bar in our food processor. It saves me a ton of time and I have never had any of our food taste "soapy" after using it. Just throw the food processor parts in the dishwasher when you are done. Once you have "soap flakes", dissolve them into about 4 cups of water heating in a sauce pan on your stovetop. Heat and stir until flakes have completely dissovled - DO NOT LET THIS MIXTURE BOIL - trust me - it causes a HUGE mess. Once dissolved, dump the mixture into the 5 gallon bucket. Add in the 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda. (Tip: leave the bucket on the floor and use your kitchen sink sprayer for the next step.) Fill the bucket (stirring occassionally) with hot tap water. Stir it all up - MIX WELL. Put the lid on the bucket and leave it for 24 hours.
After 24 hours you will find it has turned into a gel. Mix the gel up WELL with your hands - you will need to reach all the way in to mix it well so wear a short sleeved shirt. (Tip: let the kids do this step, they love it!) I bought a long 24 inch spoon from lehmans.com to use for this and it works great it just takes a bit of muscle at first. Once the gel has gone (almost) back to a liquid, fill your old Tide (or whatever you have) bottle HALF WAY with the soap mixture - fill the other half with hot water. That is how you turn this recipe into 10 gallons, by diluting the mixture in your laundry bottle. To measure out the soap for your wash, just use the laundry cap that is on the old Tide bottle you are using. If you are using an old plastic pitcher like we do, just use 1 cup.
The only thing you will have to get adjusted to is that there is no soap suds with this recipe. Trust me, it really works great. If you just can't live without the perfumes, add about 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil scent to your 5 gallon bucket. We like that there are no perfumes, it helps us when we are working the beehives........but more on that later.
We have tried several different types of soap for the recipe but we always seem to go back to Fels Naptha. We used Zote a few times (I kind of liked the mild scent and the fact that it would produce some soap suds - something the Fels-Naptha recipe DOES NOT do). We found that Zote does not dissolve well and creates huge clumps of soap - even when we shaved the soap into very fine flakes. I have never tried Ivory (even though I have over 100 bars of it sitting in my overstock cabinet) - but you CAN use Ivory soap, it is often much easier to find than Fels-Naptha.
Here is the recipe that we use:
Makes 10 Gallons:
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 Bar of Fels-Naptha (or soap bar of your choice)
5 Gallon Bucket with lid
You need to shave the bar of soap into soap flakes. Many people use a handheld cheese grater. Depending on how much time I have, I will too - but many times I just grind up the bar in our food processor. It saves me a ton of time and I have never had any of our food taste "soapy" after using it. Just throw the food processor parts in the dishwasher when you are done. Once you have "soap flakes", dissolve them into about 4 cups of water heating in a sauce pan on your stovetop. Heat and stir until flakes have completely dissovled - DO NOT LET THIS MIXTURE BOIL - trust me - it causes a HUGE mess. Once dissolved, dump the mixture into the 5 gallon bucket. Add in the 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda. (Tip: leave the bucket on the floor and use your kitchen sink sprayer for the next step.) Fill the bucket (stirring occassionally) with hot tap water. Stir it all up - MIX WELL. Put the lid on the bucket and leave it for 24 hours.
After 24 hours you will find it has turned into a gel. Mix the gel up WELL with your hands - you will need to reach all the way in to mix it well so wear a short sleeved shirt. (Tip: let the kids do this step, they love it!) I bought a long 24 inch spoon from lehmans.com to use for this and it works great it just takes a bit of muscle at first. Once the gel has gone (almost) back to a liquid, fill your old Tide (or whatever you have) bottle HALF WAY with the soap mixture - fill the other half with hot water. That is how you turn this recipe into 10 gallons, by diluting the mixture in your laundry bottle. To measure out the soap for your wash, just use the laundry cap that is on the old Tide bottle you are using. If you are using an old plastic pitcher like we do, just use 1 cup.
The only thing you will have to get adjusted to is that there is no soap suds with this recipe. Trust me, it really works great. If you just can't live without the perfumes, add about 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil scent to your 5 gallon bucket. We like that there are no perfumes, it helps us when we are working the beehives........but more on that later.
While we are on the subject of homemade cleaner recipes, I thought I would share the one I use for window cleaner. It is really simple and not to mention cheap.
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or dish detergent
2 cups water
Put it all in a spray bottle, give it a shake right before you spray it.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Be Careful What You Wish For......
I have been begging Ted to buy me a dairy cow. My dream was to get one so we can hand milk her at the same time we are milking the goats. I could picture cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter...all the wonderful things that we could make. Well, we answered a craigslist ad for a "very tame, healthy Jersey heifer. Hand milked.". We went out last Friday to look her over. She was a beauty - and if we bought her we had to get her 3 month old heifer calf as well. Also, she had been bred to a Beefmaster bull. So I guess it was like getting 3 cows for the price of one. The farmer was nice enough to deliver her (them) to the farm the next day since we had no way of transporting a full grown cow.
It has been 3 days and I am over my "hand milking a cow" dream. UGH! She won't let me near her - oh, I can get close, and even reach down a milk her a bit but if I want to come near that cow with a bucket.....forgetaboutit! She bucks around like something possessed. I'll be honest - I am terrified of her. She is HUGE and she really throws her weight around if I am making her do something she is not interested in doing. Not to mention, she must have said some bad things about me to her calf because there is no way that little girl will come within 10 feet of me.
Well, this is a very expensive lesson learned. I guess I will see how things go over the next couple of days.
It has been 3 days and I am over my "hand milking a cow" dream. UGH! She won't let me near her - oh, I can get close, and even reach down a milk her a bit but if I want to come near that cow with a bucket.....forgetaboutit! She bucks around like something possessed. I'll be honest - I am terrified of her. She is HUGE and she really throws her weight around if I am making her do something she is not interested in doing. Not to mention, she must have said some bad things about me to her calf because there is no way that little girl will come within 10 feet of me.
Well, this is a very expensive lesson learned. I guess I will see how things go over the next couple of days.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Welcome to Heaven!
Welcome to Seventh Heaven Farm's newest edition - our very own blog! You will now be able to follow along with us on our journey as we learn and grow on our beautiful 7 acres.
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